Jim Spiri in Iraq

There are three things I’ve learned in my travels around the globe. Well, maybe there has been a few more than three but for today’s purposes we’ll only bring to light three that seem important to me.

1) You don’t tug on Superman’s cape.
2) You don’t spit into the wind
3) And you don’t pull the mask off the old “Lone Ranger.”

After years of living by this so called “survival code”, I came to the conclusion that it works. In every circumstance I’ve ever found myself in, be it good, bad or indifferent, keeping an eye on the basics kept me from all kinds of calamities. So keeping that in mind, I will now do something I’ve not done too often. Some would say I do it too much, but I know the truth and it continues to set me free. It is time to take the gloves off.

It’s the first week in July 2008 now. A little over four months until the general election which will determine our next President. It’s a big one this time, perhaps the most critical one of my entire life. Or maybe it is just seeming that way to me for my life now is entering its 53rd year. I have a lot at stake as do the rest of us. Is a matter of fact, the entire nation and perhaps the world itself does too. This time last year, in a past writing, I wrote a piece directed at all the contenders for President at the time to listen to what I had to say. Two of the contenders’ campaigns at that time listened and responded. One of those contenders is no longer in the race. The other is still in the race and is the Republican (presumptive) nominee.

The Democratic nominee, Sen. Barak Obama, and his campaign, have never contacted me. Therefore, I found it fitting at this time to put out there for all to read what “Jim” has to ask and say. In keeping with my integrity, I will be respectful, but I’ve chosen to take the gloves off and address some hard questions. So…..

Dear Mr. Obama…..You are a man that wants to be President of the United States and Commander in Chief over our military which includes my son. How is it at 46-years-old, which is seven years my junior, you feel that you are prepared for such a daunting task? This is the first time a man running for President is now younger than me. I know how little I know and I know the many places I’ve been and the many, many life experiences I’ve had, and I’m not running for President. I know the constitution says you only need to be 35-years-old, but when that stipulation was written, I believe life expectancy was shorter than it is now. I’m a little perplexed on your lack of life experiences.

Mr. Obama, you and I have a couple of things in common. Both of us did not grow up with our biological fathers. Both of our fathers were from foreign lands. Mine from Italy, yours from Kenya. My father was much darker skinned than my mother, as was the same in your instance. I lived in Hawaii for a long time as an adult, you lived there as a young person. You have two daughters, and I do as well. When I fill out certain questionnaires that ask about my background, I always write in “other”, and then beside that I put the word, “American”. Which box do you select?
The reason I ask this question is many people in your campaign make a strong point that you are black. Even recently last week, you made a strong statement in an intimidating way saying that the Republicans are going to scare the voters reminding them that you are black. Your words exactly were, “oh, and did I mention he (Obama) is black?” I’m a little perplexed on exactly what you meant by this.

Mr. Obama, you have been speaking quite a bit about Iraq and the war there. I was wondering how many times you’ve been to Iraq since you seem to speak about it so much? My understanding is that you went there once for a very short time. Where exactly did you go while in Iraq? I spent nearly three years there I don’t recall ever seeing you there. I saw lots of politicians while I was there and spoke to almost every one of them. But I was loading the wounded at that time onto C-141’s and C-17’s in Balad. Maybe you were down in the Green Zone, hunkered down with some other important people who never got outside the wire. I know I didn’t see you in Mosul on the days I was on patrol with the 1st Cav, as RPG’s and IED’s were going off. I’m sure I didn’t see you on the streets of Fallujah while I was with the 6th Marines getting shot at. Maybe you saw some Marines at the embassy in Baghdad. I know I didn’t see you in Taji when I was on missions with my son. I’m really beginning to wonder where exactly in Iraq did you go and how do you explain being able to say so much and seen so little? I’m very perplexed by this.

Mr. Obama, you talk a lot lately about the economy. I have to say it is in bad shape. Especially the housing industry. At the moment, my housing situation is ok. But as we all know that could change in a heartbeat for all of us. But probably not you. You seem to have received a bit of a shady deal from your friend Tony Resco. I myself have never heard of the kind of deal you got under the circumstances you got it. And when it came to light about Resco, you seemed to have distanced yourself from him, especially now that he’s a convicted felon. I do not know with any clarity what your plan is to solve the housing crisis and the mortgage fiasco that is front and center to many Americans across the land. All I can figure out is that perhaps you are subtlety suggesting we all get our own sweetheart deal with your friend and big time contributor Tony Resco. And then, we too can drop him like he’s hot. I’m very perplexed about your plan for the housing crisis in light of your own shady dealing concerning the purchase of the home you currently reside in, in Chicago.

Mr. Obama, you have expressed a desire to become real friendly with the likes of those enemies that are out to destroy our way of life. It seems that you would like to have a big group hug with the leaders of Iran, North Korea, Syria, Al Queda, and a whole host of other folks that seem hell-bent on killing the rest of us. I’m not exactly sure where you came up with this idea. Perhaps it was from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, another person you had 20-years of dealings with that you seemed to have recently thrown under the bus when the negative publicity about him came to light. Seems to me that you have negated the saying, “walk softly and carry a big stick”, and replaced it with, “walk as loud as you want and carry no stick at all”. This perplexes me a bit.

Mr. Obama, how is it when you come to my state, New Mexico, you come all the way here and not let anyone attend except thirty women from a fancy coffee shop all lined up in front of TV cameras for some kind of image stunt? What exactly was the point you were trying to make because I for one didn’t get it. Is a matter of fact, every time you come to my neck of the woods, I’m never able to get a word in edge wise. Perhaps I’m not of the right demographic. But didn’t I hear you say on many occasions that you want to be the President of all of us? Maybe you or your handlers were afraid I’d ask too tough a question and your response or lack thereof might not look so good to the national TV audience. Either way, I’m perplexed.

And finally Mr. Obama, I can’t for the life of me figure out how you just seemed to pop on the political scene out of nowhere. I can only conclude that there must be a whole lot of folks out there like Oprah, Resco, Soros and others that are continually throwing lots of money your direction in order to keep that “rock star” image on the front pages of all the papers and in the spotlight on the evening news. I have noticed that you seem to get lots more media attention than your opponent. I wanted to ask you about the pledge you signed about keeping with your promise to go with public campaign financing, as your opponent is doing. I guess when it comes to certain matters involving millions and millions of dollars and what that money can buy, it makes no difference whatever you signed or whatever you promised. There seems to be a pattern here and it is very, very perplexing to me.

Senator Barak Obama is a very smart and subtle politician. He has risen to a place that very few on the planet ever get to. But how he got there and how he intends to remain there is quite bothersome and very perplexing to me. He now lives in Chicago and represents the state of Illinois in the US Senate. Anyone from Chicago would have known the lyrics to a song that spoke of how to conduct oneself while traveling around.

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off the old lone ranger and……
You don’t mess around with Jim…!

Sincerely,
Jim Spiri
Jimspiri@yahoo.com

July 10, 2008

It’s all about oil, at least that is what many would have us believe. I tend to usually take a different view on things when I’m not exactly sure what on earth to believe. Such is the case these days when I fill up my little pick-up truck and hand the cashier a $50 bill, and get no change. Let’s take a look and ponder a few choices before I need a $100 bill next week.

Four years ago while home on R & R from Iraq, I made a decision to purchase two vehicles that get over 30-miles per gallon each. It was costly, but turns out it was a wise decision. Glad I did it. My suggestion to everyone is that if you can do without a gas-guzzler, downsize as soon as possible. I do not think that gasoline is going to go down in price. On the contrary, I’m preparing for $7 a gallon gas, or higher. Just the way it looks to me that it is going. Adapting.

On the campaign trail lately, there has been lots of talk about drilling our way out of this so called oil shortage. Obama says no to off shore drilling, McCain says we need to consider more wells in the ocean. No one is talking much about ANWR, (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) up in Alaska, and quite frankly, I hope it stays that way. Here’s why.

Firstly, without inundating the readers with all kinds of graphs, charts, figures, calculations, etc., I choose to just speak (write) in terms most all of us can understand. I know that currently there are literally hundreds of wells drilled both on land in the US as well as in our territorial water boundaries that are not producing one drop of oil for all kinds of reasons which with a little research one can figure out the answer is money. Secondly, there is a real push in the US these days to cut back and tighten our belts which has for the most part resulted in if not a decrease in consumption, at the very least a stemming of the rate of increase in consumption. Simply put, demand is adjusting to supply, or at least it looks that way at the moment. Thirdly, just this week, T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oil and gas baron has made a real timely media blitz telling all of us that this time we cannot drill our way out of this problem. He has proposed a rather large investment into wind generation which for an oilman is a big step. I think he’s on to something. Improvising.

But let’s come back to Alaska and chat a bit about ANWR. I have noticed the oil companies are also doing a media blitz these days. If one looks deeper into the reasons behind the blitz, it is not hard to figure out that what they are saying is, “give us Alaska, we’ll give you all the alternatives you want and maybe a penny or two drop in gas prices at the pump. I for one don’t think I’m going to buy into that one right now. Maybe later, but not now.

I’ve been to Alaska several times in years past. I find the state by far the most beautiful and most intriguing of all 50-states, including my own home state of New Mexico, which I cherish. The first thing one notices all throughout Alaska is how untouched most all of it is. I have yet to go to the far north extremes of Alaska, but, I’ve been close. I do not think now is the time to disturb it and for good reason. I’m a realist. I know that eventually those J. R. Ewing types will get their hands on it. But if they were smart, they’d think about what I’m saying for a moment.

I’m for more off shore drilling in our territorial waters. I believe the technology has already proven itself and new ideas are forthcoming resulting in safe methods to increase our domestic production levels. We’re already in the ocean in a big way as far as oil wells go and increasing the number of wells would indeed help, as long as the owners decide to bring the oil they’ve hit up to the surface to the market place. The same can be done and should be done with the oil fields in the lower 48 states. Just in Colorado and Wyoming alone, the potential in the oil shale reserves are mind boggling. All that is needed is good old fashioned American ingenuity, like we had when we decided to land a man on the moon in 1969. We can do it. Overcome.

The reason keeping Alaska waiting in the wings with its reserves in ANWR is a good idea is strictly economic from my point of view. We are a nation that over the last few decades has watched its’ savings go down the tubes. Basically, the typical family has no savings for a rainy day. Holding the oil in Alaska in the “bank” so to speak, is the best leverage we can use on the global oil market. We don’t need it right now. What we need is to utilize what we have available to us such as the off shore potential that we can readily access much faster than anything ANWR would produce. It’s the conservative thing to do. It’s a smart move if you look at it through an economists eyes. We know it’s there, we know we can use it, but why spend it up when there are other, less expensive options out there that have already proven themselves?

If we do indeed go for more off shore drilling then at the same time we need to build several more refineries and update the ones currently in use. It is a well known fact that a great deal of the problem is refinery related rather than supply limitations which is what we are bombarded with daily by the PR firms assisting the big oil companies. One of these days Iraq is going to come on line in full throttle oil production allowing us to eventually leave the area for the most part, maybe. I say let the Kurds control Kirkuk and the supply of oil will flow. They are the wisest ones in the mix in the region. Let Iran make one false move and they won’t have the capacity to produce one ounce of oil. In the mean time, let the wells in the lower 48 pump to overflowing amounts. Open up more off shore sites. Let American ingenuity loose and watch what we can come up with. Listen to T.Boone Pickens on this one.

And by golly, let’s just leave Alaska alone for a rainy day. Treat it like a really good savings account. Let technology advance to a point where the environmentalists are happy and the methods for getting all that oil up there are perfected to such an extent that even the oil companies will be happy. It’s the smart economic thing to do. Don’t spend the reserves yet. The day will come fast enough. In the mean time, let the caribou run wild, let the wildlife flourish, leave the tundra alone. That oil ain’t goin anywhere. It’s been there for a long, long time. Who knows, maybe with all this global warming going on it will turn into an offshore site anyway and we’ll be more than prepared by then….!

Sincerely,

Jim Spiri
Jimspiri@yahoo.com