White Wolf for President!

[cue Hail to the Chief, White Wolf comes on stage to sound of excited typing all across the world. He approaches the mike.]
I was born in a log cabin, in .... No wait, that wasn't me.
I cannot tell a lie, I did not cut down that, or was it inhale? Hmmmm...
Okay, okay, enough silliness. My son appears truly believes in me. He believes in my wisdom and that I could change the world for the good of all people. In part because he truly believes in me and part because he thinks he will get a bigger bedroom at the White House. It was an interesting conversation that night. He truly believes that I should run. How did I react to this news? Well, after counseling my kids time and time again that they can be or do anything if they set their minds to it, I caved like a house of cards in a hurricane. I went on to explain that the first limiting factor to this outcome is my lack of funds. Okay, that is a MAJOR factor. Maybe if we had true election reform, people like me might stand a chance. Another limiting factor is that I am what they call in Massachusetts, unenrolled. You see, you are not allowed to declare as an independent, you have to belong to a party or you are unenrolled. So I don't have the backing of a party, either major or minor. Of course, with each "excuse" why I couldn't, I was becoming more and more of a hypocrite. The next limiting factor is that I am an unknown entity, no really, just because you guys know me, the world is not quite ready for me. Of course, I am really digging a hole, hypocritically speaking. As a last reasoning, I reminded him of the breakdown I had about eight years ago. I told him how that would be brought out and would become prime ammo for anyone running against me. We couldn't run the family through that again. So now, I have the full hypocrisy going. So how do you tell your kids that they can be or do anything they set their heart to, while you come up with every excuse why you cannot? So for the past few months, this has kind of been bothering me. So I prayed on it as I usually do. I was told why not? The people are looking for another option. You could always be a write-in. You haven't got a chance to win, but hey, it could be fun. So what the heck. Here I go.
My friends, today, I announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America. I will not be filing papers as I would not know where to being, but hey, this seems like a good place. I will be running as the write-in candidate. You know that spot on the bottom of the ballot with the open line that just is craving for you to write Donald Duck. I mean, what have I got to lose? It is not going to cost me anything, so I don't need to have fancy fund raisers that none of my friends could ever afford. Especially since none of my friends work for Monsanto or Exxon, least none that I know of. I won't be taking donations either, because I don't want to risk having someone sneak in some cash from some PAC or Big Business and then announce it and me as a hypocrite. Okay, maybe in my sons eyes. I also won't be touring the country, except by keyboard. I can't afford the fare and besides, I am for stopping global warming, so all that traveling will just adding to the problem. That was something that was mentioned about that concert on global warming. The person commented about how committed could someone be to stopping global warming when they were flying stars and their entourages all over to do shows. So here is my campaign. I will sit here in my den and type away on my laptop and campaign from the comfort of my couch. Wouldn't it be cool if we could have a debate online? Of course, who would debate me? Hillary was overheard telling Obama that they needed to get rid of the others and just debate each other since they were the only ones that mattered. I feel just the opposite, the more the merrier. That is how we get ideas by exchanging visions. Okay, so here I am folks, write me in. Oh yeah, I have to have a platform. Dang it, near forgot that given that you can't nail any of the other candidates down to one. Well, I will give a couple of things to chew on.

The New Manhattan Project
Okay, FDR said in his goodbye speech that we had to beware of the military industrial complex. Whoops, guess we slipped up there. They have grown and grown and grown and grown. Imagine what we could accomplish if instead of sending all that money to arms dealers, we put it into finding low cost, clean, environmentally friendly, safe, power? We created the Manhattan Project to come up with the biggest explosive that the world has ever known. We pulled together the most brilliant minds across the world so that we could build a bomb to blow up most of it. We continue to pour billions if not trillions into new weaponry and ways to kill our fellow man. Let me borrow a bit from my friend inlink on Zaadz. I will include the link for the full article. This is a very wise man who has walked this earth a long time. http://inlink.zaadz.com/blog/2007/11/nothing_but_the_truth_conjecture_iii
Here is what he wrote:
Nicola Tesla, with his own insight, plus his knowledge of electricity, thought in his mind's eye, and nothing else to go on, the alternating current dynamo. His invention made electric power transmission available to billions of people in the world. It allowed voltage to be stepped up to overcome the resistence of long distance transmission. Tesla figured that the spin of the earth was like a dynamo. If he could figure a way to capture this energy, he could provide the world with free electricity. The tycoon, J.P. Morgan, was Tesla's financier. When he heard that Tesla was using his money to work on free electricity without transmission lines, Morgan fired Tesla. Morgan's reason was that Tesla was trying to put him out of business.

So here is Tesla who was looking to provide free electricity to the people. He gets fired for it. How many others had found better ways of providing energy but had the patent bought out from them or got fired for even considering low cost energy? Note, the first part of this sentence, had the patent bought out.... Anyone following me here? Our government has all the information it needs sitting right there in the patent office. Every idea worth keeping or protecting has had a patent applied for. My CO in the Air Force told me once that his son had designed a carbeurator that used water to increase mileage. It atomized the water into hydrogen molecules and burned that. That was back in the 70's. Supposedly, his patent had been bought up. So he could no longer work on it or put it into production. How many other ideas such as this are tucked away in the patent archives because they were bought to squash ideas that may have ruined some companies? So with the Manhattan Project, we would use the patent office as a resource for discovery of new ways to provide energy, clean, and safely. As part of this, we would also test some of these patents and if they truly do work, we would go after those who put their profits over the lives of millions. I know, some will say that we can't just take these patents. I say why not? How much money do those of you who take part in the gift giving during this time of the season have left after paying ever increasing oil prices? What if you found out that there were more ecological and economical ways of providing power but the oil companies had bought up the patents and thus the right to  produce these products just so that you would be stuck paying their high prices? Is that not criminal? I know, its got some kinks to work out, but I think it is a much better option than making bombs.

Speaking of war, we would not get involved in another war unless we were directly attacked. We were not attacked by Iraq. As a matter of fact, we had no fly zones on the north and south, Hussein was contained. It was Osama Bin Laden who attacked us, not Saddam Hussein. Why are we in Iraq? We have killed Saddam Hussein, yet Osama walks free. This guy orchestrates one of the most heinous mass murders going and he walks. Are you telling me that our intelligence community does not know where he is? Fire them all! Especially since it was their intelligence, or should I say, lack of, that has us in this fix. Part of the reason that the Muslims are against us is because we keep meddling in their affairs. We want control of their oil fields or at least preferential pricing and supply. I won't jump on the bandwagon and say it is all about oil, no, it is way too complicated. I will just say follow the money. Companies like Halliburton and Blackwater are making plenty on this deal, while our good warriors are dying so they can line their war chests. And let us look at Halliburton for a moment. They were being investigated for overcharges and what did they do? They moved corporate headquarters to Dubai, out of reach of our government. did we pull the contracts? Noooooooooo! We continue to pay these thieves. They are no longer a US company and not abiding or binding to our laws, then pull the contract. Then we put together a team to devise a plan to bring our warriors home. Halliburton wants to continue to make money, let them put their people on the front line, see how many stay. It is time that Iraq stepped up to the plate. It is time for our men and women to come home. The next time out, before we engage a country that has not attacked us on our soil, including embassies, we ask the simple question, who stands to profit from this action. Then have them send their people and let ours stay at home. Oh, and we took the lead from the Iroquois for our way of government, lets take their lead on war, put the generals out on the front line. Let them lead the men into battle. Maybe then they won't be so eager to play soldier with our men and woman's lives. Oh, one more thing before I move on. Regarding the military, I know that there are a lot of proud traditions withing the branches of service but for economies sake, maybe it is time to combine the forces into the United States Defense Force. I can elucidate on this idea if asked. I base it on history. Like the fiasco in the desert, the first go round with Iran. Or when the Air Force helicopters were not allowed to land on the Navy ships with wounded because they weren't certified. Oh, and note that third word, Defense. That means that our men and women are here to defend. That means Full time duty soldiers would be our front line of DEFENSE. National Guard would be just that, national guard, they would not leave these borders. Kind of like in chess how you leave that one man back to protect your king. Hey, and if I am going to be king, er um President, then I want my military here. It is pretty sad when you hear how National Guard members are dying in Iraq. This should never be. This is not a war, but a policing action despite what President Bush wishes you to believe. Let's start before the election to bring the Guard home. We have active duty and reserves that were meant for this purpose.  Well, not this purpose, but they are more trained for war.

Economy. Well this is another complicated subject. Our economy is going in the tank. Why? Because our government has allowed the financial people to call the shots. There used to be a release mechanism for people who got in over their heads with debt due to illness, death, or loss of income, it was called bankruptcy. However, the credit card companies and other financial institutions pressed for tighter restrictions on who could and couldn't file and how you could file. Now think about this, the financial markets who send credit card applications to my daughter when she was six, with preapproved limit. These irresponsible lenders want to give credit to every schmo who sneezes, but want to stack the deck to prevent them from claiming bankruptcy when they can't pay anymore. We won't even go into the mortgage schemes that have been allowed to go forth that now threaten to undermine our economic stability. I saw on a news mag, I think 60 minutes, how the credit card companies are fining companies like TJ Maxx for not keeping your information safe, information that the credit card companies are demanding that the companies keep. The credit card companies all ready have the information, so why do the stores need to keep it around to get hacked? I think it would be more secure to have just the credit card companies keeping the data. One place to protect instead of thousands of stores of varying size from mom and pop to your Best Buys and Amazons. So with their new racket, they tell the stores that they have to keep the records instead and failure to comply with certain measures gets you fined big time monthly. What a racket and all approved by your government. It is time to put the responsibility back where it belongs, with the financial institutions. If they want to give a credit card to a six year old, and she runs up her bill and cannot pay because hey, she's six. Well, don't come after mom and dad, take the hit like a big boy. Oh, on the mortgage front, we stop the selling of mortgages, you make a mortgage, you own it. Your customer should not have to deal with six different lenders in the life of the loan. Lenders aren't afraid to give out money because they know they have stacked the deck against you. We could talk more on this, anyone want to be my advisor? Director for Department of Banking Oversight anyone?

Infrastructure. Man, you talk about London Bridge falling down. Route 95 is a major thoroughfare. Yet, they just recently closed the north bound side of Route 95 in Pawtucket, RI because the bridge will not hold. Passenger cars and small trucks okay, but semis have to go up Route 146, over to 295 and back to 95 in Attleboro, MA. Just a little out of the way. It seems like every bridge is under construction around here, but how many others are ready to come down and why did they get in such disrepair to start with? Think about the fuel savings if our roads were smooth and not full of pot holes? How many less mechanical repairs to vehicles? I don't know how many light bulbs I have changed in my car from going over rough roads. The Brightman Street Bridge in Somerset has to be a thousand years old. It is an old draw bridge that when they have to lift up, they say prayers it will go down again. Oh, there is a replacement bridge being built. It was being built at the same time as that other boondoggle, the Big Dig, which by the way, has done nothing to alleviate traffic. Oh, why do I say boondoggle? Well, because they put up all the supports and then realized that it doesn't line up, or so I have been told. Um, where were the engineers? Oh yeah, must have been those Bectel Engineers from the Big Dig that leaked like a sieve. Though they finally opened the northbound on ramp from 95 to 195 in Providence. Boy that is so much nicer to travel. So I guess, infrastructure is an either/or. The roads need to be fixed, but at least it looks like they are doing something. We will see if there are improvements in traffic when they get the widening of 128 done, or will it be like the Big Dig, billions spent to get us to the point we should have been in the 80's. Of course, maybe if we weren't spending all that money on wars, we might have the money to get more of these projects done.

Global Warming. Yeah, it exists, the ice caps are melting, lets get the government out of denial. Their own scientists say it is so, but are ordered not to say anything when they go to conferences. Maybe by having the New Manhattan Project we can find ways to cut our carbon dioxide output. Um, let's put aside ideas like firing a rocket filled with reflective material into the upper atmosphere to reflect the suns rays back and cool the planet. I think we have enough junk in the sky as it is. I all ready see more and more people getting the idea on this and this is heartening. We need to step it up though. We all need to be thinking in new ways about how we can reduce our footprint on the planet. Maybe on how we can reverse some of the polluting effects, like say um, planting trees?

Development. Speaking of planting trees, oh yeah, that isn't what developers want, they want to destroy every tree so they can put up more buildings and strip malls. I say we slow down development. More and more houses are going into foreclosure, so why do they continue to destroy acre upon acre when all these houses that people are losing because of the mortgage games, are on the market? Why can't they take some of the old abandoned properties and redevelop those areas? There is an old factory that has sat abandoned in my neighborhood. The windows are broken, vines crawling in, yet no one has ever done anything. Take it out of there and clean up the site, you could get two or three houses there. Though it has this great archway, that I wish could be saved, but I think it is too far gone. My commute down Route 1 is going to be a nightmare. There are all ready all kinds of car dealerships and stores, but the development continues, the biggest being the new Patriot Place at Gillette Stadium. You think it was hard to get to a Patriots game before... You continue driving south and on the side of the state forest you see the land for sale signs. Across the street there is a large for sale sign by the pond. Further down is the new Target/Stop and Shop, and a brand new Lowes. Oh yeah, we need that with another Lowes just fifteen to twenty minutes down the road. I read in the paper that Plainville is becoming jealous of Wrentham's new developments, so they want to open their stretch of Route 1. When does it end? We won't even talk about over in Mansfield and the new mall/shopping center that went in. When do we hit the saturation point? When do we get to the point where these mega-stores are going in but there are no shoppers left. Partly because they are stretched over too many stores and part because by now they can't afford to go to the store because it costs $200 to fill the tank.

I know, I have rambled on and on. I have spoken on many issues here and frankly didn't really provide true answers, but then again what candidate does? Part of this is tongue in cheek. I would never expect a single person to vote for me. I mean this more to stir conversation, to get people thinking, asking questions. Australia just had a monumental election in that many were put out of office. I have espoused that here also, though I don't think anyone is listening. What changes will be brought about for the people of Australia? What changes can we do to make the United States one of the great nations? Or are we going to just keep voting in the same people with the same agendas until China is the new greatest nation? Can we turn things around?
Let's get each other talking, not about what the media and politicians want us to talk about, Lindsay, Paris, and Brittany, but the things that affect our lives most.

Help me out here, become my cabinet, what do you think we need to do to bring about change? What issues should we all be talking about? Forget the politicians, they stopped listening a long time ago. What do you want for this country? Think about it, then do something radical, vote for who you think would best bring that result. Educate yourself about the candidates, don't vote by popularity and follow like sheep, vote with mind and conscience. Oh, and if that vote just happens to fall on the blank line and the name White Wolf should appear, you will make my boy very happy.

My heart to your heart, one heart, one spirit.
Your next President, White Wolf