The following is not necessarily my belief, but more me revealing my thoughts when my mind is allowed to wander...and keep in mind that I didn't come up with these thoughts without a little help.

911 was tragic. How and why it all happened is where my mind wanders...and wonders. I think back to the time just previous to 911 and how GW's popularity and support was slipping. I am speculating that it was at an all-time low for a president. Then 911. Suddenly the whole country rallies around him and he is so powerful that he can act without consent of Congress. What a turnaround.

Then my mind wanders off to some remote village in Pakistan...in some smoke-filled room in the back of some small tavern...George, Sr. and Osama having some conversation. Only God knows what they were talking about...back when George was head of the CIA. I think Bin Laden was on our side back then. I just wonder if they kept in touch?

Of course I let American propoganda sway my thoughts. I go watch Michael Moore's movie, where they talk about the relationship between the Bush family and the Bin Ladens...how they are doing oil business together. Then I watch the movie George W. Bush...I suppose it could just be someone's spin on things...but it sure makes you come out of there wondering...which is what I seem to do a lot of.

I really do a lot of thinking when I drive down the highway for business. I realize that all of this stuff just seems unimagineable...impossible. Then I check my fuel guage and realize I need to stop for gas. It is at this point that I wonder if the day is going to come that they have title loan companies inside the gas stations. You do have to admit that it is some strange coincident that when an oil man takes office the gas price is around a buck a gallon. What is it now? Has anyone paid 4 bucks yet?

Like I said earlier...the preceding is not necessarily my strong beliefs...just me wondering about what is really going on out there.

I wonder too, about many of the same things. The truth is people like you and me will never know the whole story. And you can believe that the movies you saw or any epilouge Moore is spewing, like last night on CNN for example, is propaganda in its own right. That is my opinion.

You want to lower gas prices by a dollar or more? Stop the government from taxing the snot out of it and get the liberals to allow drilling here and build more refineries. Those three things would fix it. The price for a barrel of oil or a gallon of gas, in a world economy such as the one we have now, will ALWAYS be subject to wide price swings. Keep in mind the primary tax on gas was SUPPOSED to be temporary. The Federal Gas Tax was implemented in 1932 as a 'temporary' measure to balance the budget. Hoover conveniently forgot, I guess, to repeal it? Anyway, it helped to fund WWII and the rest is history. We're still paying it - it, and countless other state and local gas taxes. And you'll be hard-pressed to find that money in a budget. It is 'supposed' to be used to fix roads and build better transportation systems, however many states, following California's lead, have repealed it and renamed it such that they can spend it on whatever the hell they want. Now THERE is a real conspiracy if you ask me.

Of course this is not to say GW didn't have an agenda. I honestly don't know, and nobody has ever shown me any definitive proof that he has profited from 9/11. Maybe he has. It is just as easy to speculate in that direction as it is to say Clinton had an agenda when he was selling our tech secrets to China, or that he had an agenda when he COULD have caught Bin Laden back when Oliver North was telling the whole world how dangerous he (bin laden, not north) was - long before 9/11.

It comes down to which side you want to believe. I am of the opinion that there is plenty of truth and bull**** on both sides, but folks like Mendenhall, who speak ignorant crap...well...it's a free country, but I read somewhere that an opinion only has value when it is an informed one.

By the way, that gas we buy at Costco - strictly drilled and refined in the United States. Shouldn't it save us more than ~20 cents a gallon?

Lets not forget Mendenhall is a 23 year old football player...not a diplomat..

Corporate sponsor Champion sporting goods has dropped Rashard Mendenhall as an endorser due to his unenlightened and controversial statements about Osama bin Laden.