To understand how our government works, consider oil and water and the legislative attention given to each.

Remember a few years ago when people were standing in line at gas stations, telling America and the world, "if you don't act now to create new sources of oil in Alaska or offshore and/or control the foreign countries that hold the oil supplies, we don't solve the problem."

Guess what? Congress and America did nothing: no Alaska oil, no offshore oil, no new refineries built. Even though the insiders insist that the real reason we are in Iraq is because of the oil, the war costs more than the oil that country controls and has destroyed its production capacity. Remember the promise that Iraq's oil would finance the war? Instead, it has been lost through theft and fraud and the war remains a $3 trillion disaster.

Now for the water. The earlier droughts in Georgia resulted in legislative action to create new reservoirs to retain a new supply of water. Then the rains came and the government took a nap, and none of the money was used for that purpose. Our government's attention is devoted only to those lobbyists for special interests, and all our country's money is used to satisfy the interests the lobbyist represent. The lobbyists pay the campaign funds to elect the people who fall asleep at the wheel as to people's interests, but pass bills that the lobbyists support.

However, as a democracy, unlike a dictatorship, we can't blame the government since we control it. We allowed it to happen. Oil companies make money and use it to influence the government so that oil is scarce and expensive, not abundant and cheap. On the other side, no one pays a lobbyist to make the water flow, so it's soon forgotten. Unless the people can gain the power and influence that the oil lobbyists have, don't expect relief.

If it works for Exxon, it should work for the people. The people, however, are not organized and the money they contribute individually buy no promises and get no results. Until the people organize and can demand certain results when they pay to elect representatives, their attention will not be on water for your home or gas for your car. It will be with the guy who took him to lunch and is watching to see how he votes on a bill to reduce taxes for oil companies and/or an create exemptions from water restrictions for nurseries or car wash operations.

For democracy to be successful in today's world, the people must have more power than the lobbyists who represent the special interests. In short, despite the campaign rhetoric, the people must organize or expect to be ignored.

Troy Millikan
Gainesville

Democratic candidates offer weak alternatives
For years we have been fed an unrelenting stream of propaganda about Bush lying about WMDs in Iraq. This allegation was made in spite of numerous, supposedly credible sources that vowed it was indeed a fact. Some of these sources included the Clintons, other prominent Democrats, the U.N. and the NATO nations.

The very idea that Democrats and liberals, which are synonymous, could make such a self-righteous accusation is the ultimate in hypocrisy. Even if you believe GW was lying, I don't; in comparison to Obama and Hillary, he looks like a fumbling amateur when it comes to bending the facts.

Hillary's trip to Bosnia, where she claimed to encounter a nest of nasty snipers when she landed, is a whopper. A prominent columnist has described her well in labeling her a congenital liar. She has earned the title.

Then there is Obama, the big unknown. If anyone is naive enough to believe that a person can attend a church for 20 years and not know what his preacher is preaching, is either deaf as a fence post or lying. I have heard about people sleeping in church, but 20 years? Perhaps he is Rip Van Winkle reincarnated?

First he denied that he had not heard the Rev. Wright spew out his message of hate for America. Then he said he had, but the reverend was still his mentor. If he wasn't listening to his pastor, would he listen to the people if, God forbid, he ever got to steer the ship of state? (Don't you know his sweet wife would make a great first lady?)

Another aspect of this saga that concerns me greatly is the possibility that Hillary could be in a negotiating session with Ahmadinejad or a similar rogue and he says something that hurts her feelings, i.e. picking on her because she is a woman, and she sheds some of those famous Clinton tears. Don't you know that a good old boy like Ahmadinejad would just melt and the rest of the world would be so impressed by the way she handled him. (Hillary, you ain't no Margaret Thatcher)

Another thing that troubles me is what the terrorists are planning. I would think they are doing everything they can to get a Democrat elected for obvious reasons. There is no doubt they can count on the countries that have vowed to destroy us for money and other support to bring this about.

The world is a dangerous place. We need a president who has more experience than planning tea parties at the White House and more than a slick tongue lecturer who speaks in empty platitudes. No liars!

Changes are not always good and the kind of changes Hillary and Obama have in mind would be cut and run, more big government and higher taxes.

G.H. Gambrell
Murrayville

‘Red phone' isn't what it was during Cold War
Enough with the "red phone" already. Will someone please inform Hillary Clinton that the Cold War is over and there is no "red phone."

The new phone is a black phone and is carried by the presidential security detail in a briefcase, and is known as the "football."

If it rings during a Saturday afternoon football game, it may be ignored, as was the case when the CIA had Osama bin Laden in their sights. However, the next time it rings, it will be to inform the president to run for cover because American has been hit again by al-Qaida.

Bob Stone
Alto

Buy US products with your stimulus cash
What are you going to do with your tax rebate? Our government is going to give us some money to spend to jump start our economy.

If you spend it at Wal-Mart, it will just go to China. If you buy a computer, it might go to Korea or India. If we spend it on gasoline, it will go to the Mideast to countries we're fighting or perhaps planning to fight.

We need to keep that money home where it belongs. The next time you need a new car, plan to buy a Ford, General Motors or Chrysler product. Now that would boost this economy like it should have been supported in past years.

Give up your un-American vehicle, support this country or you just may have to give it up! God bless America; I'll see you in church.

Roger Keebaugh
Gainesville