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 There is no sometime, there is only "Yes I do" or "No I don't".
I'll explain in a moment.
Let me tell you a bit about me first, MY political orientation.
I was raised by CONSERVATIVE Democrats. (A lost breed it seems.) I was raised in a conservative Southern Baptist home and I was raised to believe in the principles of "God and Country". Those same Conservative Democrats that raised me, still vote conservatively. 16 or so years ago, they took a close look at Bill Clinton, and changed parties. Well, they became Independents and began voting for the good of the country, selecting their candidate for who he was, not what party he was in. A strong statement from straight party ticket voting Democrats. You want another strong statement? Ask them about Barack Obama and what he might do to this nation.
I'm not a Democrat, no, I'm not a Republican either. I am a conservative though, do not doubt this. More than this however, I am a PATRIOT. Period.
I've worn the U.S. Flag on my heart from the time I was old enough to understand where, by the grace of God, I was from. My first girlfriend, the very first woman I ever fell in love with and am still madly in love with today, stands alone in a harbor on the east coast of this great nation. I think of her daily. As a traveling man, an American Trucker, I need only breath in to smell her perfume, that rich, seductive scent called Freedom. Everything I see and everything I touch, reminds me of her, the sound of children playing, the roar of American diesel engines, the thrumming sound of tires on American asphalt, the dreams of the young and the memories of the old, reminds me of why she stands there alone.
Though I would gladly stand there with her, her position tells me that I must pursue my own destiny as she fulfills hers. Her very strength, her dedication to principle, her commitment to Freedom, regardless of cost, tells me that This is Right and is as it should be.
She need only Call.
There is no sometime, there is only "Yes I do" or "No I don't".
Michelle Obama made a statement in the past that has been loosely translated as I don't like America, its just mean. Again this is NOT the actual content of the statement, but a dumbed down translation.
Last time I was home, speaking with friends and family, I quoted the dumb version. 2 women, that I love very much, stated that "Sometimes, they didn't like America very much either". They made these statements independent of each other.
There is no sometime, there is only "Yes I do" or "No I don't".
Because of my feelings for these two women, I was completely unable to respond in any way. I just walked away.
There is no sometime, there is only "Yes I do" or "No I don't".
Reread my statement above about where I stand on America. There is no middle ground here, there is no fence to sit on, this is black or white. There is only the belief that America is the greatest nation in history, or there is some other belief that is totally unacceptable. There has been times that America has not been 100% "right", but by GOD, we have never been "wrong".
There is no sometime, there is only "Yes I do" or "No I don't".
I believe that American needs a strong, experienced leader. One that has walked through the flames of war and emerged a changed man. A better man. A leader who will put the country first and build on that model. One that has the steel in his back and at the same time the humility in his heart to cross party lines and do what must be done for America. Give me a leader that has fought for me, one who understands that I don't want a hand out, I just want to make my way and teach my family to do the same. A leader that will require me to be personally responsible. But most of all, give me a leader that fervently, fanatically LOVES America as I do, Believes in America as I do and will fight us all to save her. When the man said "Country First", he said all I needed to hear. But don't make the mistake of believing that this simple statement was all it took to get my vote. I've been in John McCain's Presidential corner since 2000 and I've always liked him. Maybe I'm just one old warrior that would have a real hero lead him.
Love America?
There is no sometime.
Terry
Tags: America Conservative Freedom Hero InnFromtheNight John McCain Liberty
Heavy Haul, ie, the moving of over sized material and equipment is done with a very specific set of rules and laws. Its the very nature of the beast. For the sake of public safety, the safety of the driver and the security of the load, these laws MUST be followed and no-one is exempt from them. There are people that seem to think they are and while this might surprise those that do not work in the field, local police are the top of the list. Here is the story, in all it's gruesome (and slightly amusing) details. We loaded in Delcambre LA yesterday morning, but due to a scheduling mix up, our escort did not arrive until 2:00PM. It's a bit over an hour and a half to Port Allen LA from there, getting us into the Baton Rouge curfew at 3:30 PM. The load is over 12 foot wide (13 foot even) so we have to wait it out until 6:00 PM. Law requires that we are safely parked out of public traffic by dusk. Per the national weather service, dusk on the 23rd of Sept was at 6:54 PM. This gave us roughly an hour to get though Baton Rouge and out to Hammond so we can get a good start this morning. Heavy Haul drivers plan movement to the moment, trying to get the most work done in the shortest amount of time. Curfews and daylight rules make this a very important skill. But then you get to Murphy's Law, a set of rules that doesn't give a ***** about State and Federal Regulations or the convenience of the driver. We left Port Allen on time, 6:00 PM exactly. At the end of the ramp, we find ourselves in a traffic jam. Now we had expected heavy traffic, but not what was to follow... In the next hour and a half, (remember we had 1 hour) we managed to cover approx 16 miles, getting us to exit 10 on I12, the beautiful town of Denham Springs LA. There is a Pilot truck stop there and not much else in the way of services for trucks. We HAVE to park, there is no choice in this matter. For those of you traveling on I12, just pass right by exit 10, the Pilot is a total waste of time. I had to park on the side of the ramp and send my escort into Denham Springs to find a place to park. No parking at the Pilot, no trucks allowed in the Bass Pro lot, no other place to park. But We MUST, it's full dark at this time. My escort found a dirt lot, next to a hotel with room for some trucks. The escorts are going to need rooms anyway and the lot had one truck in it, a day cab the we figured was rooming in the hotel. (wrongly assuming this was their lot) We got in the lot safely and shut down. Our second truck was a few minutes behind us but we got him in the lot by radio. Now we are going to learn something about Denham Springs LA. This is BMW country, these people, their elected Mayor, the city counsel, DON'T LIKE TRUCKS, period. At 4 AM this morning I am awakened by the sound of a siren. I look out my window to find that day cab frantically trying to back around the front of my truck then there is a very loud banging on my right door. When I look out that side, I find one of Denham Spring's "finest" screaming at my partner to get the truck out of the lot. When he notices my face in the window, I get some of his "oh so professional" treatment. Not a good start sonny, It's 4 AM and I'm not afraid of you. I get my shoes on and hit the ground, but Barney Fife is gone somewhere by this time. I do notice at least 8 more trucks very quickly leaving the lot. I gain a bit of understanding as to why Barney might be in such a bad mood. He just got to talk to 8 to 10 roadside lawyers. Walking around the front of the other truck, I find Barney in his car, on the other side of the street, watching me. We are the only trucks left and we are not moving. Here he comes, in a very safe peel and slide maneuver into the dirt lot, sliding up to within 4 feet of me. Citizens of yuppyville, you deserve this clown. The highly professional screaming starts again. Staring him in the eye, I sighed and waited for him to wind down. This got an immediate response. "I want your license, YOU are getting a ticket for improper parking!" "Not a problem buddy, let me go get my wallet" "GO GET IT!" I returned with my wallet and handed him my license. "The name is Smelser, that's S.M.E.L.S.E.R" The lack of fear on my part got another immediate response, he calmed down a bit. "You HAVE to leave this property NOW." "I'm very sorry sir, I would love to, but state law does not allow me to. I must wait for daylight." Observe the following exchange, I wish a local Constitutional watchdog had heard it; "I don't care about state law, there will be no parking of 18 wheel trucks in Denham Springs!" "Excuse me?" "There will be no parking of trucks on private property or on the sides of the roads in Denham Springs, Get these trucks out of here NOW" " Again sir, I can not, at the very least I will need a State Trooper here to advise me and with luck escort me to the state scales down the road." In the mean time, exchanges were taking place between Barney and my partner Jess and my escort operator. While this is amusing in retrospect, it was not helping. He was calm speaking to me, and heated speaking to them. I explained the traffic issue that landed us in his nasty little town to begin with, our remorse for not getting where we wanted to be and the simple fact that the private property he was so professionally defending, is NOT posted in any way. He threatened to tow us. (not with out permits you won't) He stated the mayor didn't want trucks in his town, He stated that the lot had the logs laying around it to keep people out and someone had moved the one where we entered. (while possibly true, these were LOGS, nothing short of chaining on to one of them with a tractor would move it and there is NOT an extra anywhere in site, that entrance has always been there.) He even stated that the trucks were damaging the lot. (It'd DIRT! how the hell is anything short of a chemical spill going to damage it?) I explained the laws that we were bound by, and that we would have to take the parking ticket before we could violate them. Finally, after all this screaming, he did what he should have done 30 minutes before. Visibly shaking himself, he ignored Jess and the escort. Addressing me, he very mildly ask; "Daylight?" "And not a moment longer bud." "Ok, I'll give you till daylight so you can move legally" "Thank you sir." We never did get those tickets. Here is a point that I am quite certain of; Barney has absolutely NO idea that there are special regulations concerning trucks marked "Over Sized Load" . While we were "possibly" trespassing, (unposted lot) we had tried to take the high road concerning public safety and the observation of the laws and regulations governing our chosen field. If you are reading this and you are Barney of the Denham Spring LA Police Department or you are a local police officer or a sheriff's deputy, please let me pass on what is meant to be friendly and very professional advise; If you find yourself in the ugly situation above, call the Highway Patrol and request the advise and assistance of a DOT officer. Friends, I will NEVER stop in that town again, not for so much as a cup of coffee at the Pilot. I request you consider doing the same. They don't want you, they don't need the money from sales taxes or fuel taxes but most of all, they very much don't like you. So much so they force what might be a decent law man to ignore state law and the safety of the motoring public.
Tags: Barney Fife Boycott Clueless Denham Springs Heavy Haul Police DOT Regulat
When people that know me read this article, they'll cringe. Those that know me, know what my reaction will be, those that know me well (only a few) know why. For those that have not, Read this news article: Busch Sells Out I'm going to have a stroke I think, perhaps an aneurism, I've been known to swear for 10 to 15 minutes without repeating myself, maybe I'll do that or maybe I'll just rant. None of the above will help in the least I'm sure, prolly won't even make me feel better, but I will settle for the least offensive of my many possible reactions, I'll write. First let me explain something about myself that is going to offend some of you: I don't like Europe. I don't think it's cool, I don't do things because "that's what they do in Europe". After recent world events, I don't believe we should even speak civilly to our so called "allies" in Europe. They don't deserve our time, our friendship, our support, our advise, our military presence, our MONEY or our established businesses. My family came here more than 300 years ago to escape the stupid attitudes of European kings and despots, yours most likely did the same. All that's left in Europe are the descendants of peasants that lacked the ambition to immigrate to the Americas or the courage to rise up and over throw their evil little duchies. I stole that last line from Tim Slagle, but I endorse it 100%. I would rather see Anheuser-Busch go to Pedro and Juan down in Mexico for $2 American, than to ANY European concern for $52 billion. This take over will allow these Europeans to make decisions, based on profit margin, about AMERICAN JOBS. Thousands of JOBS, not only in the brewing industry but in transportation, warehousing, retail, etc, etc... Please, if your comments are going to include drivel about the "global economy", don't. Just go have a glass of French wine and tell your friends about the writings of that American barbarian you saw online. Our first responsibility AS Americans, is TO Americans. Only when our house is clean, our children strong, well fed and educated to the tops levels of industry, only when our great nation is truly, utterly invincible, should we even consider assisting any others grow so much as a bean plant. I accept that we do have one or two true friends in this world, and they would be the exceptions to any rule. It should not be possible for a 4 year old European company that owns brewers, to purchase a 150 year old American brewer. It just makes no sense. Ibev has been smart about this, they are offering LARGE incentives to stock holders to keep them from fighting this. Most will fall for it. I think this may be far more important to the American economy and to American moral, than it seems at first glance. Is Anheuser-Busch in trouble? do they need propping up? Or is this just the board of directors counting profits? Don't wait for the bad decisions of greed to threaten the jobs of Americans. Advise your lawmakers of your opinions. Stop drinking Anheuser-Busch products, or imports owned by Ibev (Beck's, Stella and others) Find a nice little American mirco brew. Write a letter to Anheuser-Busch and state your opinion of American companies being bought by Europeans. Remember this is just my opinion, it was written to make me feel better. No, no thought was given to how it might make others feel. Terry
Tags: America Bud Beer Europe
Well, it really sounded more like, “I’m willing to cut you some slack brother, but you got to get out of town before the mayor sees you. Sigh… He was a young cop, in some small New Jersey town, I was some place I didn’t belong… nothing new there. The office had put me into shock, I had just unloaded this mess.
And was looking for that Petro in Bordertown NJ. I got a phone call, about 3 hours sooner than expected, sending me to Upstate New York for Tuesday morning and a 12′9″ load. I was distracted and of course took a wrong turn. I always get lost looking for that Petro and the Pilot (my fuel stop for the beginning of the new trip) The cop was cool, I think he thought it was pretty funny. We got out of town quick and found the truck stops, grabbed some breakfast and some fuel and headed out. Sitting in Gouvernuer NY right now, waiting for over size permits… why is NY so slow with these? It can take up to 48 hours for permits to come through, and thats just for small common loads like this one (12ft 9in wide, legal all other ways) BIG loads can take weeks. Ah well. Whats really eating at us is that we are sitting about 80 miles from Steve and Debbie, our dearest friends up in Canada, and can’t get there. We probably even have time for a quick visit. ***** you Murphy! Grumble, grumble… Latest big load was a 14 wide cooler to Garyville LA.
On IM with Steve, playing with some web services he’s working on. Something to do while the state drags it’s feet. Stay tuned. Terry
Tags: Trucking Oversized Permits New Jersey
That's ok Trish, I love a good spanking now and then. Well, I started off on the wrong foot, but hope to make it up to some of you. (can't please everyone, it's against my nature) I last wrote that I was somewhere on the left coast, waiting for a crane. I'm now here in Tornado Alley (Tulsa) waiting for a under funded, make believe maintenance team to do a couple of minor items to my tractor, Like some simple welding and replace a leveler valve. If they would give me the valve, I would do it myself and maybe get out of here for the weekend. Oh well, I can't weld worth a toot, so I'm stuck with their tender and misguided mercies. The news has been very interesting over the last couple of days; The Supreme Court finally got off their collective cans and did something concerning the rights of Americans and the attacks of special interest groups on those basic freedoms. In a land mark decision, the high court stated that a law in Washington D.C., banning the ownership of hand guns was unconstitutional per the Second Amendment. (About bloody time). More important, they define the language used in the original document. Many people, especially the special interest group that have attacked the Second Amendment, have believed that the "Right to Keep and Bare Arms", only applied to the rights of the individual state to keep a militia. Not true then, not true now. So says the Supreme Court. I own hand guns, but am not much of a "hand gunner" I prefer high powered rifles and assault weapons. I do believe that there needs to be a certification process before the owning of a hand gun or any firearm/projectile weapon. If you have ever been in a sporting goods store, and seen some of the people buying guns, you know exactly what I mean. I do NOT support the registration of weapons for any reason, but I would favor the qualification of owners. I've stopped hunting, because I've seen the people I would be in the woods with.... shudder. In other news, that little savage in North Korea blew up the cooling tower on his nuke plant to prove his commitment to discontinuing his weapons program. Have you ever stepped in a cow pie in the pasture, and KNOWN it was a cow pie? Megalomaniacs and dictators do NOT give up their toys, they hide them, ie. dear old Saddam... Well, there we go, I covered two or three subjects and tried to make as little sense as possible, this may be the prefect blog post. Off to the forums to see if I can start a donney brook. t
Tags: Maintenance Shops Tulsa Tractors Guns Nukes Rights Supreme Court
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