Looking for a Financial Wizard

I've been blogging for some time about the real issue in the fall campaign, THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF OIL and the looming world wide crisis that could easily devolve into a world wide depression.

Both John McCain and Barack Obama have been terribly slow to pick up on this crisis. The winner this fall will be the candidate who first identifies with this issue and proposes the most intelligent, fast acting and complete economic plan, concentrating on the absolute need for energy independence.

So I was especially pleased to read Thomas Friedman's excellent op-ed piece in yesterday's New York Times, Anxious in America.

Come August, though, I predict both men will be looking for a financial wizard as their running mates to help them steer America out of what could become a serious economic tailspin. I do not believe nation-building in Iraq is going to be the issue come November — whether things get better there or worse. If they get better, we’ll ignore Iraq more; if they get worse, the next president will be under pressure to get out quicker. I think nation-building in America is going to be the issue. It’s the state of America now that is the most gripping source of anxiety for Americans, not Al Qaeda or Iraq. Anyone who thinks they are going to win this election playing the Iraq or the terrorism card — one way or another — is, in my view, seriously deluded. Things have changed. Up to now, the economic crisis we’ve been in has been largely a credit crisis in the capital markets, while consumer spending has kept reasonably steady, as have manufacturing and exports. But with banks still reluctant to lend even to healthy businesses, fuel and food prices soaring and home prices declining, this is starting to affect consumers, shrinking their wallets and crimping spending. Unemployment is already creeping up and manufacturing creeping down.

At this point John McCain is substantially ahead in proposing the clearest and fastest energy independence plan. I urge you to read McCain's Lexington Project. It will be tough to implement, but we must begin now. This cannot wait.

Barack Obama is a little like a deer caught in the headlights. Obama's really poor and ill conceived attack on McCain's (belated) oil drilling strategy, i.e. "It will be at least 5 years until we seen any significant oil" sounds especially hollow when all Obama has proposed is an alternative energy strategy that produces only minor results after 25 years.

I've written extensively about the expanding impact of the oil crisis on all parts of society. This problem is really severe. Thomas Friedman is so very right and the candidates need to wake up. The future of our economy dwarfs all the other issues.

Wesley Clark Is An Idiot

There are really important things to write about. General Wesley Clark simply isn't one of them.

I have so little respect for Wesley Clark, I will simply refer my readers to the most right wing commentator I know, Michelle Malkin. Read her short essay, Confirmed: Wesley Clark is an idiot

Fortunately Clark's stupidity won't hurt Barack Obama....... unless it's part of a larger strategy within the Obama campaign.

The Poor Suffer Most from Continuing Oil Crisis

I'm now very hesitant to call the current economic crisis in the United States and the world just an "oil crisis." The skyrocketing cost of oil may well be the engine that is propelling the economy toward the abyss, but virtually every person around the world in on board and strapped in for the ride.

I have been writing about the oil crisis and especially the virtually complete lack of action by Congress to begin to solve this problem. Now Congress has recessed for the "holiday" without taking any action beyond holding what may be the stupidest hearings I've ever witnessed.

Trust me when I tell you it will be a cold day in hell when Congress members actually take any action against their largest benefactors. Of course, a cold day in hell is exactly where we are headed.

I am working on a comparison of the Obama and McCain strategies for handling the oil crisis. But you already know my position: Let's implement BOTH sets of strategies and work for genuine energy independence in our lifetime.

What Congress has so far refused to acknowledge is the great extent the current crisis has spread beyond the pump. Sure we see that $4.09 price per gallon on the pump, but we are so far ignoring the massive increases in collateral costs.


Sadly, some of our nations most important charitable organizations cannot ignore their real cost increases. One that is simply being devastated is Meals on Wheels. Talk about getting hit from every direction!

First the number of people who volunteer to deliver the meals is dropping at an alarming rate. Estimates indicate a drop as high as 38%. Volunteers must pay their own gasoline costs and it is often fellow seniors on a fixed income who deliver the meals. They simply can no longer afford to volunteer.

Second food costs are skyrocketing. Meals on Wheels admits it is being forced to dramatically reduce the use of fresh foods, fruits and vegetables and substitute frozen meals. Part of the problem is the reduced deliveries outlined in the first point above.... fewer deliveries and fewer volunteers mean seniors cannot get daily meals.

Third, obviously, is that donations are greatly reduced. This is affecting virtually all charities. People are spending their money on food and fuel. They do not have the disposable income to donate to any charity. The New York City Meals on Wheels is facing a $3 Million Dollar shortfall this year. Smaller towns and cities are even harder hit.

How about this 4th if July we all cancel our road trips and create some real fireworks by contacting our Senators and Representatives (who are no doubt home for the holiday) and demanding real bipartisan action to begin to take the steps needed to permanently solve this problem.

And take the money you would spend on gasoline and donate it to your local Meals on Wheels.

The Supreme Court Gets It Right.... Again

I really like this Supreme Court! And Justice Kennedy may well be my favorite judge.

Not only did the Supreme Court get the Death Penalty case right yesterday in limiting the application of the Death Penalty, they nailed the 2nd Amendment Case today. Read the CNN Report: High Court Strikes Down Gun Ban.

Washington D.C.'s handgun ban not only failed to reduce gun deaths (they have actually increased since the ban), it seriously infringed on the 2nd Amendment and our rights as American citizens.

And, once again, the Court interpreted the Constitution and the law rather than legislate from the bench. They left intact the ability of states to REGULATE gun ownership, but prohibited an outright ban.

And those who wish to outlaw gun ownership will be forced to travel the legislative path toward a Constitutional Amendment and that is exactly as it should be.

By the way, Justice Scalia's majority decision is absolutely brilliant. Read it here.

The Death Penalty

It might come as a surprise to many of you that I am generally a supporter of a conservative Supreme Court and like, as John McCain calls them, "strict constructionist judges." I generally don't like judges who legislate from the bench. I applauded George Bush's selection of both John Roberts and Sam Alito as Supreme Court Judges.

So while I generally like decisions from this type of court, I dread decisions involving civil rights, women's rights, abortion and, especially the death penalty. A constructionist court is also generally a conservative court and protection for the individual can often take a back seat.

So I really applauded yesterday's decision that prohibited the Death Penalty except in the most severe cases of murder. I was relieved and surprised that Bush's newly minted conservative court rejected the use of the death penalty. In general I'm no fan of the Death Penalty.

But, in the ultimate political irony, the most liberal candidate for President in recent history, Barack Obama, roundly condemned the Supreme Court decision and continued his personal support for the death penalty.

Any choice we make for President (or Senator or Representative) involves a compromise in our often conflicting positions on the issues. This year will be no exception.

Democrats Don't Believe in the Future

I've just had a breakthrough revelation. Democrats don't believe in the future!

Now I'm not saying that Democrats aren't the party of hope. No, what I'm saying is far more specific and fundamental. I'm saying that the Democrats don't actually believe the future exists. To the Democrats, the future is some sort of science fiction.

The year 2017? Nope, that one doesn't exist. Or 2030? Ha Ha, tell us another joke. 2053? Well that's certainly never going to happen.

It's just like the folks who used to deny the world was round. Or people who refused to believe that the earth revolved around the sun. These concepts were simply too absurd to even consider.

To the Democrats, the future need not be planed for, because it simply doesn't exist.

Barack Obama was just the latest Democrat to leap onto the future doesn't exist platform this week. Faced with the greatest world wide crisis in the last 100 years, the growing Energy and Food Price Crisis, Obama made it perfectly clear that his plan was to do absolutely nothing except to demagogue the issue, ridicule anyone who made any proposal to resolve the crisis and to absolutely refuse to acknowledge any plan that involved the science fiction concept of the future.

Speaking in Florida and then at the governor's conference Obama practiced the now perfected Democrat technique of proposing nothing and opposing everything.

Obama has already learned that only politicians who actually are brave enough to make a proposal ever get criticized. And he watched John McCain make the classic Republican error of actually making a series of concrete proposals that might solve the energy and food crisis or lessen it's impact on the American people.

Obama leapt to the attack, careful to never propose anything himself. The closest Obama came to actually saying anything was to pontificate that IF he actually thought something might work (and he most certainly didn't think anything would work) then he might study it.

For example, faced with John McCain's actual proposal to build nuclear power plants, Obama said he might study it, but "I don't think that nuclear power is a panacea."

Don't ever actually propose anything. It's a winning strategy. An the press cannot ever question anything you don't actually say. Propose nothing and you're home free.

Well, here is another exact quote: "I would consider off shore drilling if there were any evidence it would reduce prices. But it won't and John McCain knows that."

Actually John McCain doesn't know that, but that little white lie is the least of Obama's problems.

The really big problem is what Obama does know (in his own words) but refuses to acknowledge. That would be that pesky concept of the future. Here's the money quote: "Offshore drilling would not lower gas prices today; it would not lower prices tomorrow; it would not lower gas prices this year; it would not lower gas prices five years from now. In fact, President Bush's own Energy Department says we would not see a drop of [offshore] oil until 2017."

Please explain to me why we wouldn't start working today toward energy independence in 2017 (or even later)? That also would give us time to develop improved energy conservation methods and alternatives to oil and natural gas.

Sadly, we've been hearing this "ignore the future" mantra from Democrats for the last eight years. They have effectively stopped all oil exploration, all new offshore drilling, all development of the ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) resource using the denial of any existence of the future excuse. "We just can't do that because it won't help until sometime in the future."

Haven't Democrats ever heard the saying that "every journey starts with a single step?" We can only presume that Barack Obama doesn't believe in the year 2017. Or, at the very least, he realizes he will be out of office by then and it will be somebody else's problem.

This is the exact approach the Democrats took in 2005 with Social Security. As President Bush foolishly made a series of proposals to actually save Social Security, Democrats steadfastly held together and REFUSED to make any proposals of their own. As George Bush went on television and literally BEGGED the Democrats to come to the table and join in a truly bipartisan effort to save the system before it's failure in 2053, Democrats made it clear that they would make absolutely no counter proposals. See articles here and here.

You see, to the Democrats 2053 doesn't exist, so no action is necessary.

Democrats simply denied the existence of the year 2053.

I, for one, am looking for change I can believe in. And that change would be our two political parties to actually come together and solve the issues we face today, even if the solutions require years to achieve.

2017 is just around the corner, whether Barack Obama believes it or not.

Things are Proceeding Exactly As I Predicted

"So, as fast as you can, think of something to do. We have to get rid of Thing One and Thing Two..."

Dr. Seuss, The Cat in The Hat

Just keep reminding yourself - America could easily be oil and energy independent today. We could supply 100% of our own energy needs. We could actually be in control of our own fate. One two little Things stand in our way - The Republican and the Democrat Party.

Sadly, the last twenty four hours have gone exactly as I predicted in my column yesterday. In fact, you would think I was writing a script and the country's leaders were Hollywood actors, really, really bad actors.

President Bush gave a good speech outlining the immediate steps needed to begin to increase nation's own supply of oil and natural gas. The President's proposals were spot on and every single proposed step should be implemented by Congress without exception and without delay. Each proposed action was logical and intelligent.

Unfortunately, the President was partisan in his delivery, never missing a chance to blame the Democrats for our energy woes. While, sadly I must admit as an aside that President Bush was correct, I wish he had omitted the histrionics and instead held out an olive branch and a pledge of cooperation to the Democrats.

The Democrat response was completely predictable and, unfortunately, bordered on a level of stupidity seldom seen in modern man. The demagoguery, insults, flights of fantasy and hyperbole were simply awesome to behold.

But the bottom line was exactly as predicted, the Democrats promised, vowed and swore that they would do absolutely nothing what-so-ever to increase energy supplies or reduce demand. They would not take even a single step toward energy independence.

But the Democrats did promise they would find somebody to blame. Big oil companies were a likely target. They might investigate Wall Street, I guess because they hope to find hidden supplies of oil there. Oh, and they promised to make it a "campaign issue."

And they did promise to repeal the laws of supply and demand. And, even if they did allow more exploration and drilling, they guaranteed it wouldn't affect oil prices for at least five years. Unfortunately, most of us remember that they told us that five years ago. Planning ahead is just something the Democrats don't do. I guess if they did it might eliminate the sacred "campaign issue."

I know the Democrats have a raft of good ideas, too. We must increase the mileage standards on automobiles. And we must fund research and development of alternative energy resources. Certainly we must protect the environment and prevent windfall profiteering.

All day yesterday and today I have been waiting for a single lone Democrat or Republican to wake up and say, "The American People are hurting. The economy is in serious trouble and we are facing a personal and an economic disaster. Let us end the attacks and stop the blame game, combine our best ideas, compromise and solve this problem."

I could end up waiting forever.

Paul Richter wrote a really excellent and even handed article just a few hours ago in the LA Times. "Runaway oil prices have set off a furious new blame game in which political leaders and key economic players are scrambling to deflect responsibility for the deepening crisis."

"With outraged consumers protesting in the streets of many countries, oil producers are blaming speculators, speculators are blaming consumers and politicians are blaming one another. Consequences could entail not just a tarnished image but real damage to economic interests and political fortunes."

Follow the link above and read every word of Richter's article.

At our regular breakfast this morning I sat with our usual group of laborers, lawyers, bankers and small businessmen and women. The restaurant owner, a good friend, was reworking her menu prices because her food costs have nearly tripled in the last few weeks. Raw cost and undoubtedly increased, but the transportation costs are really driving up prices. This is the hidden danger of inaction by the gridlocked U.S. Congress.

Call Thing One and Thing Two in Congress today and tell them a thing or two. Let them know they simply must compromise and show some real leadership in bringing the USA toward energy self sufficiency. This is not a "campaign issue." It's a real problem and we need and deserve real leadership.

McCain, Bush and Hundreds of Lemmings Change Position in Offshore Drilling, Thank God

"The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house All that cold, cold, wet day..."

Dr. Seuss, The Cat in The Hat

It's just damned frustrating to realize that America could easily be oil and energy independent today. We could easily be free of the influence and control of the Saudis, Iran, and Sean Penn's close personal friend Hugo Chavez.

The only THINGS that have prevented energy independence are Thing One and Thing Two, aka the Republican and Democrat Parties.

Thing One and Thing Two have long preferred demagoguery to actually serving the American Public. I hope you all have followed the antics of Thing One and Thing Two over the last eight years. Never Compromise. Always stake out opposite sides of all Energy issues. Never Compromise. Never actually pass any legislation. Blame the other Thing for the stalemate.

Steps needed for lower energy prices and energy independence have already been thoroughly outlined. Expand drilling in the United States, including off shore and in what is perhaps the single most environmentally safe area in the nation, the Arctic refuge (ANWR).

Increase Automobile Fuel Standards. Provide Tax Support for development of Alternative Energy Sources.

Clear the road for increased Nuclear Power. It's simply stunning that Iran is smarter than the United States. Hell, let's let Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad run the US Nuclear Energy Program. At least he actually believes in energy independence. O.K., that's a joke, but you get the idea.

End the incredibly stupid tariffs on Brazilian sugar based ethanol imports. Brazil, in case you hadn't noticed, is our friend.

In short, implement all the good energy policies from both Thing One and Thing Two.

John McCain, President Bush, most Republicans and many, many Democrats did prove they can read the POLLS today and suddenly switched sides to support off shore drilling. Good for them.

But can we actually get Thing One and Thing Two to compromise and pass legislation?

Well, remember The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss? Thing One and Thing Two only created a mess. It took the children (i.e., the American Public) to actually clean up the mess.

A "tip o' the Wizard's pointy cap" to Senator Harry Reid, who first used Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat to illustrate the log jam in the US Congress (courtesy of Wikipedia).

Timetable? We Should NEVER Leave Iraq

Aided by blind hatred and near sickening political demagoguery by those who simply despise George Bush, America stands on the verge of making one of the worst foreign policy decisions in all of history.

And George Bush and his aides are so wounded, not to mention virtually incompetent in all matters political, they are doing nearly nothing to prevent the coming disaster.

This textbook failure will make Viet Nam look positively heroic.

Put simply, America stands poised to snatch defeat (and so much worse) from the jaws of victory. Bush and the military leaders in Iraq have virtually won the peace. We've gone from Invasion, to War, and then on to Occupation. FInally we are on the verge of peace.

I believe the occupation is now at an end and we are ready to enter into a period of mutual support, cooperation and even friendship.

And the Iraqi Government clearly believes the same thing. We should see troop withdrawals begin this fall.

If intelligent forces were guiding the foreign policy of our country, instead of electioneering and demagoguery and the flames of personal hatred, we would be entering into a long term agreement of mutual support and protection between our countries. The agreement would absolutely mirror our agreements with Japan, Germany and dozens of other countries.

Instead, Bush is unable to negotiate such a treaty. Not because the Iraqis are unwilling, they are actually begging for such an agreement, but because Bush is terrified by our Congress and the mood of the electorate.

He cannot bring a treaty before a Congress that most certainly will fail to ratify it.

No the mood in this election year is retreat, submit, withdraw and abandon. There are no facts on the ground that will ever placate a Congress effectively controlled by Moveon.org.

Bush is so inarticulate and so inept he cannot speak to the American people and convince them to do the right and intelligent thing. He lacks the powers of persuasion of his predecessors and the current Democrat Presidential candidate.

Instead Bush has "promised not to tie the hands of his successor." No treaty, no agreement, no nothing.

And Obama will most certainly leave a very fragile Iraq to fall under the control of a religious dictatorship that will become the greatest enemy ever faced by any power on earth.

And it's so damned unnecessary. The war is won. The occupation is over. All we need to do is support the people of Iraq, exactly as we have supported the people of Germany, Japan and South Korea. Trade, financial aid, rebuilding, mutual aid. Iraq is ready to govern. If we don't abandon them.

Please read the entire Wall Street Journal article from Friday, How Prime Minister Maliki Pacified Iraq.

America is very close to succeeding in Iraq. The "near-strategic defeat" of al Qaeda in Iraq described by CIA Director Michael Hayden last month in the Washington Post has been followed by the victory of the Iraqi government's security forces over illegal Shiite militias, including Iranian-backed Special Groups. The enemies of Iraq and America now cling desperately to their last bastions, while the political process builds momentum.

These tremendous gains remain fragile and could be lost to skillful enemy action, or errors in Baghdad or Washington. But where the U.S. was unequivocally losing in Iraq at the end of 2006, we are just as unequivocally winning today.

And while you're in a reading mood, please read the news report from this morning, Iran police start wider crackdown on un-Islamic dress. Is this really the future we want to grant to the women of Iraq?

Tim Russert

I join virtually the entire nation and perhaps much of the world in mourning the tragic and premature death of Tim Russert. We have suffered a great loss, the magnitude of which we will feel for years to come.

Curiously, I was working on an essay about the very sad state of news journalism today. The laughable excesses and hyperbole of FOX News and the tragic fall into a cesspool of tainted journalism by MSNBC have simply destroyed the great legacy of Edward R. Murrow, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley and Walter Cronkite.

With Tim Russert's passing we are left with the mere shell of old fashioned journalism. Today we are force fed clowns who substitute ambush interviews, bombastic rants and one-sided political commercials for any real reporting.

Russert was great. His trademark of hard hitting and probing questions were always delivered with civility, manners and grace. But he got the answers. In the process he made Meet The Press the most important forum for any politician or government official.

While NBC will no doubt audition dozens of potential substitutes, Tim Russert cannot be replaced. That is the magnitude of our loss.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The best reporting and consolidation of stories I have found this afternoon is found on The New York Times at this link: NBC’s Tim Russert Dies

The photograph above was provided by NBC News and was taken by Virginia Sherwood.

Evil

I really hate to post so frequently because I feel posts often get overlooked. Please do take time to read my post on $8.00 Gasoline immediately below.

Having said that, occasionally I read a post on another blog that is so important that it DEMANDS to find a larger audience. Rachel Lucas has, once again, written such a post. It's short. And I'm not reprinting a single word of it here. It's titled Who’s the hottest ring in hell reserved for? Click on the link and read her post.

We often get so absorbed in our local politics, especially during a Presidential Election, that we lose all perspective. Thank you Rachel for reminding us that we need a wider vision.

Gasoline $8.00 a Gallon Within 1 Year

"Gasoline Prices will hit $8.00 a gallon by Memorial Day, 2009."

I've made this prediction in the comments sections of several of my favorite Blog Sites, but I thought I ought to lock it in here. I don't make this prediction lightly.

I am prompted to enshrine this prediction by the Democrats blocking the Republican backed "American Made Energy Package" in Congress today without allowing it to go to the floor for amendments or come up for a vote. The blockage in committee was strictly along party lines. And the blockage was block headed. This measure can, should, must (and eventually will) pass.

Things are about to get worse. Frankly, if Barack Obama wins the Presidency (which I have firmly predicted on this website here), I think we could see much higher prices. A McCain Presidency (unlikely as that might be) will still lock in $8.00 plus by June 1, 2009.

Make no mistake about it, this is a disaster that will throw the United States into depression. If Obama is elected and IF he implements the massive tax increases he has outlined, he'll be the most spectacular one term wonder in US history. However, I'll bet he tones down the tax increases once he is actually in office.

The disastrous political posturing going on in Congress (and by both parties) spells doom for the United States in terms of oil prices. Republicans want one set of actions (all of which are excellent and much needed), Democrats want another set (many of which are also excellent and much needed). As a result, nothing will happen at all except for the insanely stupid moratorium in adding oil to the national reserves.

In short we've taken the only step that hurts our country, but fails to make a dent in the price of oil.

Look at today's headlines:

Stocks fall sharply as oil prices surge

Oil may peak at $150-170 soon: Commerzbank

Oil-price meeting to involve heads of state: OPEC chief

U.S. corn soars to record "Corn prices on the Chicago Board of Trade have surged 80 percent over the past year, with nearly 17 percent of that tacked on just this month."

A deadly combination of environmentalists (who fight every possible energy source from coal, to oil to nuclear to wind to....), politicians (pandering for votes instead of solving problems), lobbyists (purchasing the finest Congress money can buy), futures traders (who are getting very, very rich) and oil producing nations, are effectively creating deadlock.

Drill in Anwar? Not a chance.

Build new refineries? Not in our backyard!

Build or even upgrade a nuclear power plant? Never!!

Raise Automobile Mileage Standards? Not if the cabal of Republicans plus the Democrat Representatives in Michigan have any say?

When the market crashes (it was down another whopping 200 points today) and food prices skyrocket, the public will want to blame someone. And heads will roll.

This will be the number one issue in the upcoming election. And because of the election, absolutely NOTHING will be done to avert the crisis.

Bobby Jindal for Vice President

The Wizard sits in front of the television once again on a Tuesday Night and opines on the day's primary results........

If you were smart or lucky enough to switch over from MSNBC to FOX NEWS, you might have caught Bobby Jindal's stunningly brilliant introductory speech for John McCain. You would have also caught McCain's entire speech start to finish instead of hearing Keith Olbermann slobber shamelessly over the Barack Obama nomination. Thanks to TiVo I got to do both. Only FOX carries McCain's entire speech.

MSNBC is rapidly becoming an insult to journalism, their viewers and to everyone's intelligence. If FOX leans to the right (and it does), MSNBC leans so far left they literally capsize the boat every night. Don't get me wrong. I watch MSNBC all the time. I just recognize how pathetic they have become.

FOX and MSNBC. What a sorry state news television is in. What happened to integrity and intellectual honesty?

But back to Bobby Jindal. Bobby Jindal gave an excellent speech. He was bright, articulate, knowledgeable and he is a gifted speaker. Jindal is the future of the Republican party. Nominating him puts him in position to carry the party's banner in 2012 or 2016.

Regular readers might assume I will endorse Barack Obama in the general election. Certainly I've written much more about Obama than I have McCain. But hold your horses. I endorsed BOTH for their primary nominations. I will discuss my views of their strengths and weaknesses and, much more importantly, their positions in the issues over the next few months. I genuinely have not made up my mind. I promise I will endorse one by October and I will have thoroughly aired my reasons.

BUT...... but.... but, I'm going out on a limb tonight. I confidently predict Barack Obama will be elected the next President of the United States.

Anyone who did watch FOX NEWS tonight and listened carefully to EVERY WORD of McCain's speech and EVERY WORD of Obama Speech knows the results right now.

That doesn't mean I think Obama should win. I have many, many problems with his candidacy. But I think he will win.

A Little Slice of Heaven at the DFW Airport

Some of you have noticed my absence this past week. Thank you for the emails and instant messages. I have been on a business trip to Las Vegas for a week and I really want to write more about that trip later. You learn so much by listening to other people. And I will share some things I learned in a later post.

Before that I will write my traditional Tuesday Primary Night post. It will be the very last Tuesday Night Primary Post. We will all be pleased about that. Let the general campaign begin. I am so thrilled that the two candidates I formally endorsed back on January 26th have won their respective party's nominations. This will be a great general election for America.

But the good news I want to share with you right now is that weary travelers can have an exceptional culinary experience in the Dallas Fort Worth Airport. Perhaps the finest barbecue beef brisket on earth can be yours across gate C-6. Dickey's Barbecue is right there in the airport.

I lived 20 years in Dallas, Texas and I ate at Dickey's Barbecue nearly from the day I arrived. Unlike many barbecue joints who somehow manager to serve up dry, tasteless beef, Dickey's literally melts in your mouth.

Hand cut right before your eyes, slices can be as big as an inch thick, but you can easily cut them with a fork! The portions on the beef plate (and on the beef and sausage combo plate I always enjoy) will exceed your appetite and probably the time you have to change planes!

Since American Airlines controls most of the flights nationwide, you're likely to eventually find yourself on a layover at DFW. Don't miss the wonderful opportunity this layover presents. There are other barbecue joints at DFW. Pass them by. Go to gate C-6 and enjoy a little slice of heaven.

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POSTSCRIPT: Well, Damn!!

Two side notes I learned after completing the above story. First, USA TODAY beat me to the punch. They identified the DFW Dickey's as one the nation's top airport eateries last January.

Second, Dickey's is rapidly going nationwide and is one of America's hottest franchises. They have over 90 stores today from California to New York.