I am the only person who knows exactly how I feel, exactly what I think, how I feel and what I believe. Nobody in the blogosphere, or anywhere else has that information, but I am still characterized by many of those who disagree with me as a card carrying member of any club that gets under their skin just because I may hold to a part of what those clubs believe or support.

I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the God of Creation and that He is my only path to salvation. That does not make me a bible thumping religious nut. It doesn't mean that I adhere to or agree with any part or whole of what any particular sect of Christianity preaches. It only means that I am a man of faith and I try not to read anything into the bible that isn't there. It does not mean I think less of those of no faith or belief system and I do not think of non-believers as stupid, as they so often think of me for my beliefs. It does not mean that I think you are a bad person if your church has a different view than I have and I will never force my views on my detractors as they so often do with me. My faith is my business and yours is yours.

I am a conservative. I believe the government should stay out of my life and my business, both personal and professional and allow capitalism to flourish in the free market and allow the people to think for themselves. I believe that I shouldn't have to donate 17.8% of my income to the government(10% should do), but since I DO make that donation, I should have a say in how it is spent. I belive my income should belong to me and not to someone who hasn't worked as hard as I have to earn it and I don't think people should be penalized for being successful. That does not mean I am a right wing whacko or some conspiracy theorist who spends my time looking for chinks in the armor of those with whom I disagree. It doesn't mean I agree with or support every decision the president(or any other Republican)makes and it doesn't mean I think liberals are stupid, I simply disagree with them on most points, but it is possible to be a conservative and still see good points the other side makes.

It doesn't seem to matter though because mentioning any of my views to the vast majority on the other side of the issue causes them to immediately lump me into groups to which am am neither a member nor subscriber. I am suddenly the enemy, the bad guy, the problem. My detractors don't seem interested in my true views, but only in their general perception of who and what I am based on views they own.

When I discuss an issue with someone I like to find out what they truly think about every aspect of the issue so I don't end up lumping them into a general group with who's view I DO take issue. That seems right and fair to me and should be the nature of a mature, intelligent approach to any discussion, but so many folks tend to look at me as if I lack the ability to think for myself, which I assure you is inaccurate.

So, next time you think you know how and what a person thinks, feels or believes just because they are(insert opposing view), ask some questions, close your mouth, open your ears(or eyes, as it were) and learn a little about the person before making another assumption.

It had been awhile. Time had passed, the seasons had changed, I had changed, my situation in life had changed, things at work had changed, but in the face of all these changes one thing, as I was to be quiclky reminded, had not changed. Not one bit, and that was that moving still sucks. I was reminded of how much more enjoyable an icepick to the ear would be than to move. It doesn't matter who you are moving, how close or how far you have to go, it still sucks.

Last November it was my Mom moving across town. No big deal you say except that Mom is a pack rat. She has report cards from my sophomore year in High School(1975), one of my first paycheck stubs from the Railroad(1979), and myriad other odds and ends, this's and that's, knicks and knacks and then there are still all of the essentials, of which she had many. In all that stuff, I couldn't find one. Anywhere, and I looked! Not one single icepick to jamb into my ear to get out of helping!

In December I made the first haul to get my daughter and grandson back here from Vegas. It wasn't bad. The weather was cool and we only filled up the back of my pickup. We would return another time for the rest of her things. That time came in April when I borrowed my Grandson Ryan's enclosed bike trailer and returned to Vegas with Cassie to retrieve the rest of her belongings. I had planned to get most of her stuff the day we left but I had a blowout just east of Barstow. Not a good omen! It was late when we got to Vegas so I dropped Cassie off at her Mom's(where she had her things), got a motel room, dropped the trailer, parked the truck and rested(after some gambling, of course).

It wasn't until I backed the trailer into the the no parking zone at the apartments the next morning that it dawned on me that we would be moving all her stuff from an unpstairs apartment. Oh joy! Cassies Mom(my first wife)is also a pack rat and it took us quite awhile to sift through the third grade writing assignments and dolls with missing limbs to get down to just the stuff she actually wanted. When we got to the dresser it was obvious that the women weren't going to be able to help. Thank God for neighbors with nothing better to do. I slipped the guy a twenty and he was more than happy to give any assistance he could in between swigs of the forty he purchased on receipt of my largess, but still I was tired and sweating like the guilty guy in a line up. I scoured Nannette's bathroom and kitchen toward the end and was unable to find a razor or a knife sharp enough to slit my throat and end the misery of the zig-zag staircase and the burden of the loads traversing it and the knowledge of unloading it all at home after a four hour ride.

This weekend it was my girlfriend moving from Dustin Acres to her new apartment in Bakersfield. I should have broken up with her on Friday and made up with her when she was all moved in! I am always amazed at how much stuff people can end up with. You never really know just how much crap you have until you have to move it and when it's someone elses stuff I am REALLY amazed! I am NOT a pack rat. My view is that if I haven't used it in six months, I don't really need it and it will soon be at Goodwill or the landfill, and I wish more people felt the same way! She has three daughters, who have all the requisite stuff daughters should have. Then there was the stuff they DIDN'T need, and in many cases, probably didn't realize they still even had! What a great opportunity to toss a boatload of stuff! Three full loads of everything that would fit in her car, the back seat of my pickup, the back of my picup and a twenty foot trailer, and then she realized that it wasn't all going to fit in her new place, so we have to haul a load back to her Mom's place for storage. All of this in 90-100 degree heat. I'm getting to old(or maybe just lazy)for this crap! I wonder if there is any rope in her stuff.

Eminent Domain was set up to ensure that the expansion of America, states, counties and cities would not be interferred with by private landowners and businesses intent on being greedy or just hardheaded by giving the government the power to take over certain land for the good of the many as opposed to the will of the few or the one.

OK..I get it. Some public projects are very important to the growth and financial security of a given area. I had a friend who lost his place to eminent domain when Hwy. 58 pushed into Bakersfield. He had an old one bedroom shack in a field between Mt. Vernon and Oswell. He was given notice and a fair market price and went on his way. He liked his place, but had no real qualms about the whole thing. He moved moved on and the good of the people was served.

That's all well and good, but the definition of the "good of the people" seems to have changed these days. Interstates and public works projects are vital to the continued survival and security of cities, etc, but another strip mall? Privately owned condos? I'm not the one to say what should and shouldn't stay or go, but i DO think there should be more discussion of the limits of such authority. I don't think local deevelopers should be involved in any way in such discussion either. Thre have no concern about anything but filling their pockets, which is fine once the decisions have been made for the right reasons, by the right people.

In cities across America sweeping changes to the landscape have been made in the name of attracting more business, and thus tax dollars, to a city's fold. Many of these changes have had life altering effects on people who have been uprooted in the name of local economic expansion in the form of malls and condos, some of which failed even after they were built. Now the people who gave up their homes get to drive by the darkened, broken, empty storefronts that stand where their family home once did.

I get the instances where a block of run down, overgrown dwellings are taken over, but that's not always the case. Sometimes it's just a prime location a city decides it wants to develop for nothing more than the attractive area and it's commercial real estate value sa it was with New London, Ct. in 2005. With the vague and broabased laws of eminent domain, the good of the people is sometimes overshadowed by the good of the local, state or federal coffers.

Now there is a bill before the assembly that would limit these powers so they would only apply to public projects. I think this is a good thing. If a developer wants to expand into a new area, let him do it with his wallet and not his buddies on a city council or some othet government board. The government has enough(too much?)power as it is at all levels. Let's take this small measure back. Call or write your representatives and voice your concern on this issue. Right or left, it could affect us all. It's not alot, but it's a start!

NEWSFLASH!!! DATELINE CANADA!!!!!

Canadian Indians theaten to block CN Railroad mainline railroutes in protest of poverty, lack of education opportunity and poor healthcare!

HEY! Wait just a doggone minute! How is this possible? Canada is a socialist society. A Classless society(no pun intended) with nationalized industries and free universal healthcare! How can there possibly be a class of people left behind in such a progressive country boasting such an envied and utopian societal system? I'll tell you why..Socialism doesn't work. Free and universal health care is a sham, an illusion. There is no such thing as a classless society because there will always be the have's and the have not's. There will always be persons in power to subjugate those who are not. It has always been that way and it always will be and that won't change because the "feel good now" folks think it it should.

Canadians pay outrageously high taxes to fund all the "free" stuff they seem to enjoy and it still doesn't work the way it was intended and Canada doesn't have the criminally duplicitous, system abusing population America has. It doesn't have illegal immigration problems(THEY know what to do about that crap), they don't have the sheer population numbers of America and still the system is chaotic and uneven. Imagine the problems such a system would face here at home.

Socialism, as a rule, spurs laziness and lack of motivation. If you are never going to get ahead why try so hard? If the people are all supposed to be so equal, let the work output be the same way. Why work any harder than the other guy? Go put in your eight, go back to your home that looks like everyone elses and use what little you have left after taxes to drink the Moosehead you bought at the state liquor store. Then when you get sick, hurt or addicted to the Moosehead, you can can get in line at the local healthcare store, hope they decide you actually need to be seen and your condition warrants the dispatch of a doctor and if it does THEN you can put your name on the list to actually SEE a doctor. Great system, Huh? And theirs has been in place for quite some time.

All the supporters of universal healthcare complain(and rightly so)about the ineptitude of every single government program on the books but they want this same government running their healthcare? They can't even run the programs that have clear cut guidelines right now and they want to turn the medical care of a sick child over to this bloated, self serving bueracracy?

My former son-in-law came here from Denmark, another bastion of socisalistic prominence, in 1999. He payed over 50%..FIFTY PERCENT in income taxes to fund programs he never used, and in some cases, wasn't even eligible to use! Where, when you turn eighteen you go to university, trade school or the military. Those are your choices. Not going to work at McDonalds or the railroad, just those three items. They have universal free healthcare there too and it is no more reliable than a Yugo. He has no desire to ever return to Denmark.

What about the educational problems faced in that classless society in Canada? I guess their "no child left behind" program is no better off than ours. Maybe Ted Kennedy was largely responsible for theirs too. Like all government programs it is a failure that can be cited, honestly, as a reason not to pursue such a program, and cited, erroneously, as a shining example of how we should seek government intervention for public problems. I choose the former.

Classless societies, free healthcare and equal education for all. All are fantasies. It just doesn't work. Is the system we have here, now, perfect? Hell no! It's a mess, but at least it doesn't cost another quarter of our income for us to be no better off, and likely, worse off, and we get to, for the most part, choose our own doctors!

So next time you get all warm and fuzzy about these socialist examples, why don't you try looking at the whole picture and do it with a bit more objectivity before telling me how wonderful it all is.