|
Warner vs. Gilmore. So if you were a political candidate with a twenty point lead over your competitor, would you actually debate your opponent. Hell no. What is Warner thinking? The U.S. Senate race is Mark Warner's to lose. He campaign funds are about 10 to 1 over Gilmore. His lead is over 20 points. And as Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards was so fond of saying, "the only way I am going to get beat is by someone catching me in bed with a dead girl or a live boy." Just for the record, Gilmore scored on a couple of zingers but Warner was great, not allowing himself to get pulled into the defensive position. However, I still don't get where Warner's advisors are going with all of this - the only way Warner can get beat is to screw-up in one of these debates. Refusing to debate never got a candidate beat, but debating poorly has crushed many. I don't get it.
Living In the Ozone. That's where a bunch of Christiansburg parents and kids are living right now after knocking off Rustburg 8 - 5 in the state Dixie Youth baseball championship games. The next round is in Pascagoula, Ms.(the Mississippi Gulf Coast) in late July. And for those of you who are considering making the trip and cheering n the Ozone, do it, The Biloxi - Gulfport - Pascagoula area is growing with hotels, casinos, water parks and more. By the way, for those of you who stay home, the website, NRVSports.com is gearing up to bring the audio of those games to you via the Internet. They need local sponsors to defray the costs and it is a very good thing to attach your name to. For information, contact Randy Thompson at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
. The energy crunch. All this talk about offshore drilling. Don't get swayed in your thinking with this. Offshore drilling, or any new drilling right now, won't put gasoline in your tanks for 7 to 10 years. It is not an immediate cure for the problem, and the problem is only getting worse than what we originally believed. Now, they are telling us that the price of coal is has risen dramatically and that AEP must pass these charges on to the consumers. What's next? A shortage of firewood? The simple fact of life is that no politician can fix this crisis. We must take care of the issue ourselves. Turn lights off when you leave a room. Turn your computer off overnight. Slow down when driving in town - no sudden starts that drain gas quickly. All of these things may seem to be a little "goody - goody" to you but the fact remains that this miser approach to energy will do more now than offshore drilling will ever do. We know from management school that is sometimes takes an event for people to climb aboard and accept a different environment. We need that one "something" that changes the place we live in right now. This crisis will continue until we as a whole just take some simple steps to cut back. The Obama Watch. Why is the country not up in arms, upset over Obama's travels? Instead of letting our boys in Iraq do their thing, Barack Obama is over there securing the absentee ballots. Why is the man over there? Has he not said that he will bring our troops home right away? Is he not seeing that his position has done little more than strengthen our enemies' position and resolve. I am a Democrat, but I am a centered individual with regard to some of the extreme left and right politics. But today I am ashamed of our parties' nominee, Barak Obama. He has made bad decisions all of this career and he has virtually no experience in anything other than being a politician. Have we Democrats created such a zeal for taking back the White House that we have not stepped back and taken a look at who we are sending there? His background, his words, his relationships. his decisions....they deserve more of an explanation than has been provided to the American people. I do not believe John McCain can beat Obama. If I were leading the Republican Party, I'd put up a half-assed fight with Obama but be working for the election and a candidate 4 years from now. Obama will make screw-ups in this time in office. Why? Because he is inexperienced and he will not listen to anyone as he truly believes he is smarter than all of us. 4 years from now, the shine will be off of his name. We Democrats need to get used to the fact that there is no way this man will win a second-term. Our - the Deomcrats - capture of the White House will be brief. This election, I am staying home from the polls as are many, many, many people I know. Treated Unfairly. Shane Adams, CEO of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce pretty much shut the door on those "dark room" critics this week by releasing the results of an independent audit of the Chamber finances. In a nutshell, the report basically said there shouldn't be any worry on the minds of the people. The audit says the Chamber will not have trouble meeting financial obligations. It clearly shows the Montgomery County Chamber is moving forward and is focusing on all of the right things. The trouble is that some of you cannot seem to get past the Blacksburg / Christiansburg Chamber merger several years ago. It is time to let that go and begin supporting Shane. As he'll tell you, he and I had our rounds when he first came to the area but he has since won me over. He's a confident guy and there is nothing wrong with that. It does simply rubs some people the wrong way. Wonder if the other Chambers would release their financial statements? Jobs Coming Home? A few weeks ago the country was abuzz that many jobs were returning to the USA from China. It played out in the media for only few days. The realism of the situation is that it was cheaper to produce certain things, like furniture, here in the US because the Chinese labor and shipping totals were now causing prices to escalate. So, some furniture shops brought jobs back. Let's hope that some of these jobs do come back to the States and let's hope that Pulaski might benefit by a rising furniture industry in the US. Did you catch any of the photos shot by our folks this weekend, Leigh Anne Correll and Larry Middleton? Larry had some great shots - from the water - during the Kayak races along the New River and Leigh Anne had stories, photos and videos from several events. Not all of the pics have hit our slide show yet, but they'll all have been through it in the next day or so, so keep watching. And be kind - there are great shots here. If you'd like to have a copy of some, contact Larry or Leigh Anne and they will provide them to you at a low, low price. Believe me folks, we are lucky to be working with both Leigh Anne and Larry and we know it.
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
OZONE: I hope the community will band-together to support those great young men and staffers; I'm going to do what I can.
JOBS: until we fight the "economic war," as some call it, via not allowing child/slave labor imports and those that are govt. subsidized/dumped, we will we have a chance. One example: textiles: as one Senator recently spoke about the loss of those jobs, he mentioned the loss, but no solution. I'm TIRED of hearing that we need more high-tech jobs/training: pick up the phone for service from Sony, Dell, others..oops, you're "in" New Delhi,Maylasia, etc. Govt. stats show that 85% of jobs in the USA in the next 15 years will NOT require a 4-year degree; specialties will be the forte'. One local major manufactuer rep was speaking to a young audience, recently, about the need for ONE high-tech person; I asked, "but, what do you really need?"...."welders," that was the answer. The little factories that closed in Floyd, Rural Retreat, Christiansburg, and other areas need to come home. They were "neighborhood" jobs, workers didn't have to have a PhD, and walked or "pooled" to work. As a high-schooler, my part-time job in textiles was enlightening; such nice folks. Some sort of tax on unfair imports is mandatory. The demise of the US dollar is helping, but some value added taxes would not impede free trade, it would simply make it fair. Lobbyists have done a good job; no proit-mongers want to give up the profits on a $1.50 pair of sneakers that sells for $150.00 in the US, no matter the lack of pollution rules in many major exporting countries (that export products besides (just) sneakers). Textiles is a relatively "green" industry. Meanwhile, "let them eat cake" is still the attitude of many. Even our President said, this week, that Americans will simply have to "balance their check-books"(regarding energy prices/world-wide demand, etc.) OK: China, #1 "economic enemy." Communist China. Why do we allow them to increase our trade deficit? Money..to many within the USA, with no human-rights conscience. ENERGY CRUNCH
Keep on keepin' on, thanks for "heads-up" EverythingNRV.com