Texas Found Guilty in the Court of Common Sense

As you all know, on April 4, 2008, the State of Texas decided to raid the FLDS (Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) compound near Eldorado, Texas. In doing so, the State of Texas took over four hundred children into custody. Apparently, a sixteen year old girl had contacted someone and said that her husband, a much older husband, had been abusing her.

What was Texas thinking? You don't go hijack everyone in a faith because one person accuses another of violence. Go after the guilty parties, not everyone! Many of us in the United States of America believe that we are innocent until we are proven guilty. This could not be further from the truth. What gave the State of Texas the right to raid a religious compound and kidnap all of the children? Has anyone been charged and convicted of violence? Make no mistake, it could be your church next! Don't think it couldn't.

The last time this sort of thing happened in Texas was in Waco with the Branch Davidians. David Koresh and his followers went through similar attacks by the State of Texas and were eventually found to be not guilty of child abuse. Then, Janet Reno and her jack booted thugs in the BATF decided to attack the peaceful people of the Davidians. It doesn't matter whether we agree with the faith of the Davidians or of the FLDS. What matters is, the constitution of the United States of America is supposed to guarantee our "Freedom of Religion." The Davidians were murdered by the United States government and the State of Texas. Luckily, we avoided another murderous moment at the FLDS compound.

The media continues to exploit the fact that a sixteen year old was married to a fifty year old man. Did you know that it is legal in the State of Texas for a sixteen year old to be married with parental consent? The polygamists of the FLDS faith do not really practice polygamy as it is defined anyway. The men of the FLDS faith take one woman, legally, as their wife. They go to the courthouse like other married couples and pay a tax, or a fee, to receive a piece of paper to say they are married. The subsequent wifes are "married" to them only through a spiritual ceremony. The men that are "married" to these women provide for them. What about the man that lives in your neighborhood that has fathered many children with different women, many of those children he is not even aware of? Is he found guilty of polygamy for fathering these children even though he doesn't provide for his offspring? I have a lot more respect for the polygamous man than I do the guy that is running around impregnating every woman he meets.

The truth is, the FLDS and other polygamous groups are discriminated against because of their beliefs. Even though I do not understand why anyone would want to have more than one wife nor do I agree with their beliefs, they still should have the same religious freedoms I have. When you take away their rights, you hurt every American and you violate the constitution of this country.

The leader of the FLDS faith, Warren Jeffs was recently convicted and given a life sentence for giving his blessing when a sixteen year old girl married her nineteen year old cousin. Again, the marriage was legal by Utah's standards. As a matter of fact, at the time, fourteen year old children could marry with parental consent! Where were the parents in this matter? Obviously they gave their consent for their daughter to marry her cousin. It is insane that they would charge Warren Jeffs. Even if you don't agree with polygamy, you get to raise your children with the beliefs you have. Why should you deny that same right to the FLDS? The minimum age that one can be married is decided state by state, but when someone gets married legally, some states like Utah and Texas prosecute anyway. If public opinion, which is so often molded by the media, is against you, you cannot get a fair trial anywhere in this country. Innocent until proven guilty? Not at all. In fact, if you are "charged", people just assume you are guilty.

Polygamist Tom Green was convicted and sent to prison for marrying one of his wife's twelve year old sister. Green married the girl in Mexico and consummated the union there. Since when do we convict a person in the United States for a crime committed in Mexico? Do I agree with Green's actions? Absolutely not! But I can't condone what the State of Utah did either.

This all comes down to our fellow American's civil rights being violated by our states and our country. You should not be a part of it! You should be outraged that a segment of Americans are being victimized because of what they believe. It could be your church next, it absolutely can be! When the powers that be decide they don't like what the Baptist church down on the corner is preaching, they may just be the next group to be illegally raided and the children could be kidnapped just as they have been near Eldorado, Texas.

JayMc

The High Price of Fuel

Yes, I hate to admit it but, I do work for an oil company in a refinery. Now, I won't tell you which one because I don't especially want to lose my job. It is a small, very small refinery. I used to work at one of the world's largest refineries.

Now that we are seeing $4.00 on diesel pumps the truckers in our country have decided to try to sound the alarm. In certain cities today, several truckers parked their big rigs. They simply cannot afford to keep driving when one fill up costs them more than $1,000. Also today, several oil company executives answered questions from congress. Will this make the price of fuel go down? Absolutely not. The oil companies are greedy and want to make as much money as they can. Besides, the oil companies are supporting many of our congress men and women.

What caused all of this? Well, it all started when Bill Clinton was president. All of the major oil companies began to merge. BP went on a buying spree and bought many of America's largest oil and gas companies and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) didn't do a thing about it. Now that Exxon and Mobile have merged, Conoco and Phillips have merged, BP took over Amoco and Arco among others, there simply aren't many big players. Is it a monopoly? Yes and no. No, in that the oil companies are in competition with one another but yes in the fact that they all set their prices according to each other.

When a refinery, every refinery in this country, can make as much fuel as they possibly can, running at maximum throughput every day,, 365 days a year, and then sell every gallon of fuel they make, they can charge whatever they want. Is it ethical when it is destroying our economy? Of course not! Since when is big business worried about ethics anyway? The oil companies should be very ashamed of themselves. But, as long as the CEO's of these companies make their millions, they don't care about you! America needs to brand these men as traitors!

Now, let's go back a little further and give credit where credit is also due. The eco-nuts of our country are certainly partly to blame for the condition we see our country in. No new refineries have been built in this country since 1976 because of the strict environmental laws. Yes, all the refineries in this country have expanded their production capabilities and why wouldn't they when they can make so much money? Also, the eco-nuts have pushed laws through to take the sulfur out of diesel. It used to be that diesel was one of the easiest products to make in a refinery. Just put the crude oil in a tower, add a little heat and the first product you get is diesel. Now, when diesel is made, it then has to be put through a very high temperature and high pressure process using hydrogen and catalyst to remove the sulfur. So that also runs the costs up.

It used to be, that in the very small refinery in which I work, if we made $25 million a year in profits, we had a very good year. Ever since hurricane Katrina, we have made several million dollars a month pure profit. I'm tlaking anywhere from $8 million to almost $50 million in ONE MONTH! This is PURE PROFIT and one of the smaller refineries in this country! Now, what are the big boys making?

Let's face it, the oil company execs don't care about you, they don't care about me (an employee, after all I don't make anymore money and they keep trying to reduce my benefits) and they surely do not care about the state of our country's economy. $$$ is the bottom line for these dillweeds!

Until we are all sick and tired of it and are ready t park our cars for a week, maybe a month, we won't see any change. Right now, I don't think we have that kind of solidarity in America. We all are too worried about ourselves to join together and bring these companies to their knees and they know it. Until we can join together like they have in France in the past, we will not see any change so get ready to see $5 and more at the pump for gas and diesel. And expect everything else we pay for to increase due to increased transportation costs and also realize that almost everything we touch uses petroleum based products or was made by equipment powered by petroleum.

It ain't looking good for us and the oil companies don't care!

Jay Mc