Tom's Blog

One of the things that some people do is actually go to their class reunions.  I attended my 30th class reunion on the weekend of August 1st-2nd.  It was really good to see my friends from high school again.  The drive out to Ohio was really nice and uneventful as there wasn't a lot of traffic going out during the overnight of July 31st...or coming back driving along Interstate 86/NY State 17 where there is a lot of different scenery and even the Senaca Casino along the Interstate. 

I always enjoy my trips back to where I was born and raised on Ohio, and going to places like Columbus, the Football HOF in Canton, the Rock and Roll HOF in Cleveland, and other places.  I also enjoy hanging out with my aunt and uncle, except they were out of town the weekend I was there.  My mom still lives there all year and my dad is there during the spring and summer, then he goes to Texas to see my sister and half-brother in the winter.

As for the other stuff...isn't it amazing that when Senator Sununu begins his stating facts about Jeanne Shaheen "his attack dogs are out;" however she can attack Senator Sununu about anything she wants? 

How about some candidates that love to complain about negative campaigns, but then they go negative to prove their point?  Isn't that called being a hyprocrite or the old "do as I say not as I do" syndrome?

And don't you love hearing about people that totally ignore tropical storm or hurricane warnings and go out into the storm anyhow?  That would be like people that ignore the blizzard warnings and go out into the storm and get stuck somewhere for hours before someone comes to their rescue.

Well, its Independence Day again.  My how time flies as it was just a few weeks ago we were talking about the snow and waiting for the baseball season to begin. 

Of course, Independence Day is becoming less important as most people are just glad to get a day off of work to go to watch fireworks or whatever they do.  The main reason why we have this holiday is to celebrate our independence from England and all their taxes.  Prior to our crafting our Declaration of Independence from England, it was more like the people coming over here to farm and mine for minerals and have to pay high taxes to the British Empire.  The Boston Tea Party was the beginning of the revolt which eventually became the Revolutionary War.  After the war, then we wrote the Constitution which became the foundation of how the newly formed country would be formed.  We also added the Bill of Rights and other admendments to the Constitution. 

Now, there has been times where we have to go to war to protect our rights as Americans and we have honored those brave soldiers during the community celebrations across the country.  And we have also had huge groups of people who became American citizens on Independence Day in the past too.  And we have baseball games all over country as well. 

With the freedom we have, there is also the problem of certain groups that are slowly taking away our rights to conform to their world view.  One of the important elections is coming up in which more rights could be taken away if we don't choose wisely. 

As summer is fast approaching, there are a lot of interesting stuff going on.  My vacation is rapidly ending, here are some stuff to maybe think about.

The price of gasoline is continuing to go up, the only thing that is decreasing is the money we have for other things like baseball games and other things that we like to do.  Even the $600 or more we will get to maybe stimulate the economy will do very very little in doing that. 

By the way, if God is compasionate in helping the sick, poor, needy and the hungry, then why is there is suffering in the world?   Another problem I have is that people who like to say that there is no God cannot explain why things like where the big mass that produced the "Big Bang Theory" came from.

As the NBA finals will begin on Thursday, how many people will not watch the Celtics-Lakers final that the league wanted...and how many games will it go in order for the league to maximize the money they will make off this series?

How many people are happy with the mostly nice weather that both Ohio and New Hampshire have had the past couple of weeks?  I have enjoyed it for the most part...except for the Nashua Pride season opener. 

As an Indians fan, I'm waiting for consistancy in their play...or the same lineup for more than one game.  I am sick and tired of one win followed by one loss...at least I  am happy that their defense hasn't suffered because of all the different lineup changes.  Maybe Eric Wedge should just put all the names in a hat and draw nine out and that will be his lineup for the day. 

Finally, I'm so happy all the primary elections will be over very soon!  Of course now its all the other political ads that will be rolled out now...like the Jeanne Shaheen for Senate ads that are appearing on the local channels in the New Hampshire-northern Massachusetts areas.  Why can't we have a break from the political ads?

As I was watching ESPN News this morning, I was saddened to learn that the majority owner of the Columbus Blue Jackets, John H McConnell, passed away yesterday at the age of 84.  He was one of the major reasons why the Columbus Blue Jackets was born as he put up the $80 million for the expansion fee for the new team.  He also felt it was more important to give back to the community as it was to keep building wealth. 

As a fan of the Blue Jackets, I wish that they would of made the playoffs this season so that they Mr. McConnell would of seen them in the playoffs.  However, the spirit on Mr. McConnell will live on as long as we feel the need to give to the community is more important than to build wealth.  There are items about Mr. McConnell in the Columbus Dispatch as well as the Columbus Blue Jackets website.

 Isn't it amazing that every time gas prices go up that people want the government want the old gang to go after the oil companies for all the money they supposidly make from us.  I heard the "top story" about gas prices in the Boston area hitting a record high before the peak vacation period.  Lets look at the record of the government and gas price

In an editorial by Jonathan Williams that appeared in the April 6th edition of the Providence Journal, he states "American motorists pay an average of 47 cents a gallon in state and federal gasoline taxes.  If your vehicle uses diesel fuel, you pay more than 53 cents a gallon on average." 

He goes on to say, "Taxes on gasoline don't end there.  The government collects billions from energy companies in corporate income taxes, offshore royalties, severance taxes, property taxes, payroll taxes; the list goes on."

To give you an idea on how much the money the government takes from the oil companies, Mr. Williams continues "According to Department of Energy data, from 1997 to 2004, federal and state governments extracted $397 billion by taxing the profits of the largest oil companies and an additional $1.1 trillion in taxes at the pump-that's nearly three times what the oil industry made in profits over that same period."

For all the people that want government to do something about gasoline prices, its like all the taxes they have on tobacco.  The government makes too much money off gasoline and diesel fuel to do anything about it.  To end this post, I'll end with Mr. Williams last thoughts, "However, when you feel the pain at the pump, remember who is really cashing in-your good friend Uncle Sam."

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  How time flies when you're getting older.  I was in elementary school on that April day, but over the years I have done some reading on Dr. King and some of the things he was saying back then has come to pass.  However, there are more that we could do to finish the job.  I can see a black President some day...however is Obama the one based on his credentials or will he get elected because he is black?  There are more qualified people like J.C. Watts, Alan Keyes, or even Colin Powell that are more qualified than Sen. Obama is. 

 I just wonder if we can ever get to the point where we can look at a person and not see skin color or whether they are male or female and just see them as a person that can do the task in hand?

     I guess I should write this about the two separate working classes we have in America. 

    The first type are the ones that work in the private sector without union represenation.  Those people have to work hard mostly for less money or they don't have a job.  Cruel that it sounds, you know where you stand in that scenero.  I had the most experience in that type of work enviroment.  Unfortunatly, there are a few people that are lazy with those jobs, but you don't have a high percentage.

    The second type are the ones that work in either the private sector with union representation and the public sector with union representation.  I fall in the second type now as I work in the postal service.  I see so many lazy people at work or ones that just work the least amount of time so that the workers that do the lion share of the work get frustrated at times.  There is really nothing that can be done since management doesn't want to waste their time with those who don't do much except collect their paycheck. 

    When I go to work, I do the best I can and do whatever I can to help those who do their job and avoid those who really are not interested with working.  When I go home after work, I need to be happy with the person I see in the mirror.  Also, vacations and days off help keep my sanity as I can relax and do other things that I enjoy.

      As we inch closer to spring, the weather is more unpredictable as we could get more snow later this week, its time to think about some other stuff.

     What a finish at Daytona as Matt Kenseth won the 50th running of the Daytona 500.  I was listening to a sports talk show yesterday about having all NASCAR races all the same distance.  The problem is not all race tracks are equal in size, so that would be unfair to the longer tracks.  I like the different lengths of the tracks and the different distances of the races.

     Well, I see that you get to host the remaining candidates for President the next couple of weeks.  I would rather get the shorter time with the candidates than the constant stories about the candidates for months on end in New Hampshire and the problems with traffic.  I live across from one of the places where the candidates had town meetings or rallies and some of the news media had their remote trucks parked in front to make people think what was going on.

     Spring training has begun for the pitchers and catchers and soon the remaining players will be going to camp.  So far, we have Carlos Beltran saying that the Mets are the team to beat in the NL East.  Well, as history has proven over the last 12-15 years, never count out the Atlanta Braves.  They always have a good team and always manage to compete for top honors in the NL East. 

     And finally, there is an interesting thing going on in the Republican Party.  On the one side the moderates that are running the party are trying to quiet the conservatives...especially talk radio by complaining that they are too harsh about Sen. McCain.  Well, if the candidate got legislation on the floor of congress with the help of the liberals and ignoring the people who elected him...wouldn't you be critical of him too?  Its bad enough that the liberals want to bring back the "Faireness Doctrine" which would further silence free speech, now we have the McCain campaign whinning about the treatment their candidate is getting on talk radio.  Just wait until the mass media turns on McCain when either Sen. Clinton of Sen. Obama get the nomination.