Hello, you sick freaks.

I love Glenn Beck. Glenn had a talk show here in the Tampa Bay area before he became syndicated and moved to New York. I listened to him daily in the car when he was local; sometimes even calling in or e-mailing him. He always replied to those e-mails. I am willing to bet he no longer has time to reply to everyone now. When the horror of September 11 happened, Glenn’s show was extended to multiple stations around the country and I am pretty sure that was what led to his syndication.

I still listen to Glenn as often as possible. I miss him talking about local issues, and I don’t always agree with everything he says, but I adore his sincerity, his level-headed approach of topics, and his blatant self-flogging attitude.

Plus, the guy is flat-out funny. And I don’t mind saying that even though I thought he was cute even back when he was chubby and had a haircut that reflected questionable taste, he has morphed into quite a hotty of late.

It’s amazing to me how “big” he’s made it in life. I know his book deals alone would be enough for him to live off of for life, and then some. Add to that his radio contract, TV contract, his tours and shows – and you have quite an amazing career for someone who made it based on giving his opinion on everything and anything. I have to love that.

Speaking of his tours, Glenn’s got a Summer Political Tour happening right now and if you can’t catch him in your hometown, the Dallas show on July 17th is going to be broadcast live via FathomEvents to select movie theaters nationwide. Now you don’t have an excuse for missing it.

I was talking to one of my friends today about our job searches. We are both certified to teach and looking for positions. There is a hiring freeze in my county. She is one county north and although they have positions, they are filling them first with the teachers who have been displaced down here after the budget cuts.

We got to talking about how careful we have to be now when accepting a position that is not close to home. Gas prices are prohibitive and the estimates of what they might be in a year or so mean that working too far from home is counterproductive.

Her family goes up to South Carolina every summer where they know of some particularly reasonable Hilton Head rentals. This summer, though, they are spending her husband’s vacation time at home and just doing a couple of local fun things, like Busch Gardens and camping. She said that once they figure in the gas, the vacation is no longer as inexpensive as they are used to it being.

We just cannot do it. That is my message to our politicians. If we have to be dependant on foreign oil even one more year, backs will break here in the United States. Going to a 4-day work week or school week will be necessary. Transportation costs are out of control. Food costs are subsequently up, as are the prices on most consumer products. Our budgets just do not fit anymore.

Nancy Pelosi is an elitist fool. Opening up the reserves once is not going to solve the crisis. They do not want to drill, because oil prices will not be affected tomorrow? That’s not the point. We need a long-term solution.

Not even one more year. That is my prediction. We cannot do this even one more year without falling into mass depression.

I voted for Ross Perot. Twice. I happen to love the man. And, I miss having him around the political arena like he used to be.

I take some comfort in his recent public comments that our nation needs to focus more on national debt. Not that I take comfort in our astounding national debt, but I do take comfort in knowing Ross is still out there trying his best offer solutions. Of course, politicians refuse to listen to his wisdom.

Back when Ross ran for president in 1992 he garnered 20% of the vote. That is impressive and I wonder if it is not the absolute best anyone not affiliated with either the Republican or Democratic parties has done in the recent future. (As an aside, it pisses me off to no end when people refer to the USA as having a two party system. We have two dominant parties, but endless other BETTER parties that would do our nations a lot of good if the money of our two mammoth parties would stop trying to crush the little guys.)

My man Ross has a new website all about our national dent. You really ought to check it out. He conjures up lessons we should have learned after the Great Depression. I suppose too many people who lived through the Depression are dead, otherwise we would not be on such a collision course to repeat history.

I have tears in my eyes. I have had tears in my eyes several times since the earthquakes in China hit. The world has been watching this tragedy and mourned along with the people of China.

The tears I am shedding now are from happiness, pride, and soft-heartedness, though. The story of policewoman Jiang Xiaojuan is just amazing.

She is the mother of a 6-month-old son, who she breastfeeds. After the quake, she took it upon herself to breastfeed some of the orphaned infants. At one point she was feeding nine babies.

She modestly chalks it up to a mother’s instinct and her duty as a police officer. She is actually embarrassed by all of the worldwide attention she is getting and says, “This was a small thing, not worth mentioning.”

I love this woman. I nursed my own daughter for an extended amount of time and I understand the emotional side of the process. I can see how it felt very natural for her to step and in and help the motherless babies. Her body also probably stepped up to the task, naturally producing enough supply. Still, she does deserve recognition. She is selfless and loving and it our modern world this is rare.

I’m not a fan of Hillary Clinton. I’m not all that fond of Barack Obama, either. John McCain doesn’t offend me, but he was never my first choice. I actually long for the days when the Reform Party had a national candidate.

Despite what I think about one presidential candidate or another, one fact remains the same. I am sick to the point of blood shooting out of my eyes about how Big Media is handling their reporting of the primaries. Reporters should report. News should be objective. Still most articles that come across the wire masquerading as hard news contain opinion statements suggesting that Clinton should have dripped out of the race by now and that Obama is the winner.

Mathematically, as anyone won yet? No. West Virginia and Kentucky are sure to go to Clinton and all the media can focus on is which candidate has how many “superdelegate” votes. Let’s not even start on how undemocratic the entire notion of a superdelagate is. What in the world happened to true representation in the voting process?

Democrats: get it together and stop showing the world just how divided you are. Media foghorns: shut up. Just. Shut. Up. Go home and dig out your old journalism textbooks. Study up a little on objectivity and factual presentation. It would do us all some good. As much as I dislike Clinton, I actually feel a little sorry for her right now.

Here in Florida, we have a selection of over 100 specialty license plates. Nearly every cause seems to be represented and for just a small additional fee, drivers can show the world what they stand behind ideologically.

The University plates are popular, as are the ones for education and “Choose Life”. Now, Florida Legislature is considering a specialty plate that includes a Christian cross, a stained-glass window and the words “I Believe.”

If it gets approved, Florida will be the first state to have a license plate featuring a religious symbol (that is not part of a college logo).

There are other new license plate designs under consideration as well. One is an “In God We Trust” (also the official motto of both the United States and the state of Florida) plate that would benefit the children of soldiers and law enforcement officers whose parents have died.

It’s hilarious to watch some of the locals duke it out in discussion forums on this issue. So many people cry “separation of church and state,” but they fail to understand that that said separation is only generally implied in our Constitution. The actual phrase was “building a wall of separation between church and state” and was only was written by Thomas Jefferson in a January 1, 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. It is a concept and an idea, but not law exactly.

I wrote on April 18 about how Florida was probably going to ban ”truck nutz“.

Thank goodness for a glimmer of good taste in our state. Today,  the bill that makes  hanging “truck nutz” from your vehicle a moving violation passed the Senate by 37-2. The odd-balls who voted against it were  Republican Sen. Bill Posey and Democrat Sen. Frederica Wilson.

Finally, someone stood up and said something about the tacky fake bull’s testicles that too may low class morons are hanging from the back of their trucks.

I have a 5-year-old daughter and there is not way in the world I want to have to explain to her what they are. Not yet. And, to those who feel I should just make up some clever reply to cover it up for her: I do not lie to my daughter, ever. Therefore, talking to her about testicles is something I want to just put off for a few years.

This week the Florida State Senate started discussions about products like Your Nutz and BullsBalls. One senator suggested that the owners be subject to a $60 fine. The fate of the proposed bull could be decided as early as next week.

The sellers of the lowbrow accessories insist, “It’s a First Amendment thing.”

That is what most people say when they cannot think of a better rebuttal.

They are lewd and classless. I am all for finding those who insist on driving the roads with them attached to their vehicles. If they want to display balls, let them hang some from their rearview mirrors, where they can admit the ornaments themselves. Don’t; put them where all the drivers behind have to look at them.

I had a dream last night in and it I was driving down the road and I passed a gas station where the regular gas cost $4.50 a gallon.

I’m not sure that is really only a dream. I could indeed happen.

Here is Florida Gov. Charlie Crist may introduce a proposal that suspend or reduce state gas taxes. He wants the cut, but admits that he has to look at the numbers carefully, since the state has such a tight budget currently.

Right now Florida has a 15.6 cent per gallon gas tax.

Crist’s suggestion on Wednesday came the day after Republican Presidential candidate John McCain suggested a suspension of national gas taxes during the summer. The federal tax, which is on top of the state tax, is 18.4 cents.

Currently, gas in Florida averages $3.42 in Florida, compared to $2.91 a year ago.

Many lawmakers in Florida did express the concern that the full tax savings would actually be passed on to consumers.

While I would look forward to a break that might make me feel as though I could afford more summer road trios, I still want to know what the United States is selling Alaska’s oil to Japan when we obviously need it right here at home.

And, if you really take a look at the breakdown of oil prices, $30 -$40 is added to each barrel due to commodities trading. Talk to the fat cats sitting at home smoking off the oil profits with their Cuban cigars.

The latest flack in the McCain campaign surrounds a handful of family recipes that were placed on the John McCain campaign site and attributes to Cindy McCain.

Yesterday, the recipes were removed from the website. It seems that some members of the blogging community noticed that some of the “McCain Family Recipes” were identical to recipes on the Food Network website.

Of course, it would have been much more impressive had all of the recipes on the McCain website genuinely been recipes that had been passed down through the family for generations. Or, perhaps recipes that Cindy developed over her years as McCain’s wife.

It seems a tad picky, though, to let this get to you. How many of us find a great recipe online, give it a try, and add it to our own collection? This is how the majority of us accumulate recipes, rather than developing them all on our own.

It was a clumsy move, but ultimately forgivable.

I am fully behind the scientific process. I think things need to be tested and retested in order to make sure we are on the best track and heading toward innovations that better the human condition, I understand that in the United States, the university system tends to be one of the largest collective entities for scientific study. I get that.

I am also into making sound environmental decision, for the greater good.

What we, as regular American citizens, trust in is that those conducting scientific studies will have the best interest of, …well everyone in mind when they plan and implement situations that entail hazardous waste, dangerous chemicals, or potentially unstable lab environments. Do the universities have a solid disaster plan in place? Are the backups, cross checks, and systems of accountability? Is the disclosure they offer the public transparent?

All we can do, sometimes, is just trust. OK, that’s not true. We can question.

Currently, there is a movement in New York called the Stop Columbia’s Expansion Project. The movement was born out of concern surrounding Columbia University’s proposed campus extension in West Harlem, which would include a subterranean portion for biohazard chemical laboratories.

I’m certainly only a layman, but it seems to be that the employment of basic logic would say that this area is in a designated flood zone that also happens to be situated on a fault line may in fact not be the wisest place to work with or store biohazardous chemicals.

There is a large contingent that feels this project places the people of Harlem (and surrounding) in potential danger. If nothing else, the information surrounding this controversy is an interesting read. It also gives you the opportunity to read about the little-heard voice of the people, free from big PR agencies or slick spin.

My mother has been calling my attention lately to the chem trails we keep seeing in the sky over our home in the Tampa Bay area. They are generally present on clear, windy days and last week, my 5-year-old daughter even looked up and said, “Mommy, look at all the stripes!”

You see, although we live near a major airport, the places coming in and out of TIA are not leaving checkerboard pattern trails. They just don’t. These trails are left by smaller, faster airplanes.

A microbiologist did an analysis of the trails over Tampa a little while ago and found influenza strains. According to the website robertghostwolf.com, the theories as to what the Chem Trails are FOR include “weather modification, radar interference experiments, creating electromagnetic reflectors for HAARP emissions, broad spectrum immunizations, broad spectrum poisoning of the population,” but are nearly impossible to prove, since the government will not acknowledge the actual action of these small planes.

Go to your favorite search engine (anything but the one that begins with “G” — as I cannot endorse a company who wishes to rule the internet with an iron fist) and do an inquiry on “chem trails”. If nothing else, it makes for compelling reading.

Am I solid believer in this concept? No, not really, but I am wise enough to read and listen and keep my mind open to what may indeed turn out to be startling truths.

Yes, we all know that Joran Van der Sloot lies. The joke is on him, though. While he thinks he has the wool pulled over the collective eyes of the world, that we have believed his ever-changing stories and smug expressions, we all know that when he is telling people he lied about admitting to having a hand in the dumpling of Natalie Holloway’s body that he is lying then as well.

A judge in Aruba has ruled that the case against van der Sloot will be reopened. This comes after Dutch television aired an audio clip where Van der Sloot admitted that he was with Holloway on a beach near her hotel when she died, and that he subsequently arranged for a friend to dump her body at sea.

What he said was, “He went out to sea and then he threw her out, like an old rag.” Van der Sloot said this is a recording that Aruban businessman Patrick van der Eem made is his car while riding with Van der Sloot on January 16.

And now, Van der Sloot admits he said those words, but that he was lying at the time.

Riiight.

“I didn’t lose a minute of sleep over it,” he later said.

Here in Florida, our Governor is quite well liked. So, it is big news that Charlie Crist has endorsed Senator John McCain. With our primaries coming at us fast, the timing on this endorsement was crucial.

Crist announced the endorsement at a Pinellas county GOP dinner in St. Petersburg. It should also be noted that Florida Senator Mel Martinez is also backing McCain. Although I voted for Martinez, he has fallen out of favor with me over the years so I take his endorsement with less authority. Crist, though, I still respect greatly.

Winning Florida means 57 delegates for the count. That’s huge. Consider that Romney had to win Nevada, Michigan, and Wyoming just to rack up 67 delegates.

Oddly, McCain and Crist differ in their options about one topic very near and dear to Floridians. McCain does not support a national catastrophic insurance fund for Florida and other hurricane-prone states. He says he would rather develop a relationship between industry and government to protect homeowners. Crist does support a national fund. I assume most Floridians also support a national fund.

Just like some things in Florida are bigger, like the mosquitoes, lemons, and star fruit; some things in Florida are smaller. In particular, our deer are tiny, especially compared to the typical northern White Tail deer I used to see up in Virginia.

We have a type of deer down here called Key Deer and they are almost exclusively found, not surprisingly, in the Keys. I spent a lot of time on the particular keys (like Big Pine Key) where they are normally spotted looking around to see if I could find a Key Deer, but the only ones I have actually seen are at Homosassa State Park. They’ve got some that have been injured in the wild and are in the park to be kept safe.

Anyway, it turns out some sick freaks have been killing these endangered animals. There are only about 700 Key Deer. Last month, officials found three severed Key Deer heads together on federal property. Another Key Deer was found alive, but with a 3-foot-long spear running through its neck. That poor little thing eventually had to be put to sleep.

Since the Key Deer is protected under the Endangered Species Act, people caught killing or injuring the animals could face jail time and stiff fines.