wb , not that we ever agree on anything ,but I enjoy hearing your opinion when you are around. If he was going to actually do something, he'd already be doing it in Congress. I like that so we have had a republican congress from 1994 till 2006 and now they are a minority by a small amount (not near fillibuster proof) so what did thsoe republicans do , well under them earmarks went from 1400 to 14000 the last time they had a majority and voted. they gave us a complete roll over for all the corporate abuse going on (pick a head line) , they sat silent and complicit while the US engagaed in torture , and illegal domestic spying , err illegal, clovis says (why else would telecoms need blanket immunity when they have not even been charged with anything?) we have had a republican president for 8 years rolling back regulation on every thing from toys ( we can trust the chinese ) to food (we can trust the chinese) to hamburger meat (we can trust the meat plants ) to the financial markets (we can trust Bear stearns , enron ) etc . to your ever so deluded ass on global warming the science is there. and the republican candiate promises more of the same ( side note john mccain is an honest candidate and his service should be respected unlike how bush and rove treated him in 2000) as for the dumb ass trucker . I dont consider you that , but far be it from me to decide your definition of self . would and could go on and on but actually am going out , wb .

here ya go click here

I've read his legislative record. If you want to send me something amusing, look up his replies when asked about the Illinois Live Baby Genocide or whatever they call it. :)

Same answer: they promised the world, you fell for it, and even I was inspired. You're the one that thinks there's actually a difference. At least the Republicans let me keep some of my money, and work hard to get it. If the Dems had kept their promises we'd be out of Iraq, oil would be a nickel per gallon, we'd have socialized health care, and every lawn would be green.

We've been eating meat, buying Chinese junk, etc. for years. That didn't start in 1994.

You're the one that thinks there's actually a difference. At least the Republicans let me keep some of my money, and work hard to get it err lets think of another president that would have invaded iraq for short terms solutions . and if you really thing k it doesnt matter who we elect why do you post your addle pated opinions ...because it doesnt really matter right ? all I have to say the proof is in the pudding . WE are living voting republican results .. vote another 8 years of republican policies this past 8 has gone so swimmingly elect a republican congress this last 12 yrs has done so well . results matter .you evidently think things are going well .,kind of scares me as to what looks bad for you if you were a 12 stepper i would tell you you have a low bottom.

you evidently think things are going well

Which level? Personally? Better than ever. Family? Better than ever. Friends? Better than ever.

Leadership? About the same. We're still not out of Iraq like the Dems promised. There will never - and I do mean never - be a serious investigation to see if the Bush White House gave the green light to torture, etc. Personally I hope they did. Some fuckers just need tortured. Infrastructure? The roads and bridges are caving in, and have been for years. We don't have enough oil refineries, we don't have enough nuclear power plants, and we have too many idiots worrying about spotted owls, and not enough leadership telling them to fuck off instead of going to a "rally" in their Mercedes. We have too many people whining because they're unemployed, and not enough people willing to put a Mexican out of work. Our border security is so bad we don't even have a clue how many illegals are here, and nobody - especially not the Dems - are going to do anything about it. If you think all those things are me bitching from a Republican standpoint, just remember this: I'm not registered anything. I think they're both full of shit on different platforms. But if you think for a second that the Dems are going to fix any of those things I've mentioned then you need to send me a pound of whatever the fuck you're smoking down there. If they were gonna fix that stuff, they already woulda. They've got enough power already, and all three of the major candidates can introduce legislation to fix those things. None of 'em have. And they won't after you pull the lever for 'em either. You'll just see more food stamps instead of jobs, and more taxes for you and I to pay for it. I post my "addle pated opinions", whatever that is, because I can. It's my right as an American. I think Bush was a better option than Gore, and still believe that. I think McCain, Clinton, and Obama are a waste of my time.

Monetarily? I'm doing better than ever. Half the country is bitching about the economy, and the other half is giggling all the way to the bank. I think it's just attitude, an open mind, and a willingness to change business practices.

I bought a truck and trailer last year, and I'm brutal on that "just say no" policy. I brutally selected which carrier to lease on with, and was accepted due to my stellar safety performance and on-time record. Really.

If it doesn't pay, I don't haul it, and the pay's getting better every week. People want to complain about the oil companies making 10% profit, but I'll guarantee you one thing: if I don't make at least 30% profit I won't even start the truck. I make Exxon look like frat boy amateurs.

Shippers pay a fuel surcharge to the carrier, and the fuel surcharge is keeping pace or outrunning the fuel price increase. It keeps my cost under a buck a gallon. Really.

The line haul rate - the other half of the equation - is increasing even though my costs are mostly staying flat. I pull a flatbed trailer, and if the shipper wants it covered with a tarp, they gotta pay. I don't do it for less than $100, and it takes me about 1-2 hours. $50 to $100/hour sounds like alot of money until you tarp a flatbed load. Whiners, crybabies and pussies need not apply. Try tarping in a 30 MPH wind while you're holding a 20 foot by 25 foot kite. And that's not even considering rain, snow, 100+ heat, whatever. I weigh a buck forty soaked with sweat, but I can lift those tarps over my head to get them on a tall load. It needs tarped, so I just tarp it. End of story.

It's shitty work but somebody gets to do it. You know why they'll pay me $100? So they don't have to do it. But those same guys who won't stoop to tarping a load will make a third of what I take home a week, then go sweat in a gym with a bunch of other dipshits and pay for the privilege. Geniuses.

The first week I did it, I thought it was going to kill me. I ate a whole bottle of Aleve like it was coming out of a Pez dispenser, and I barely had enough energy to sit down to pee. In the first couple of months I ended up with two hernias. Now I get into tarping because I'm probably in better shape than I was when I was 18. The harder it gets, the more I like it. I loaded one day right after a "kid" from TMC Transportation that was no older than 25, and you shoulda seen the look on his face when I finished securing and tarping first. I looked at it as an opportunity, and he looked at it as a pain in the ass. Attitude wins.

And I still have the hernias. I keep them like trophies. They're not the kind that can kill me, they're just a breach of the abdominal muscle wall. I did 'em to myself, no one else is to blame. They rarely hurt unless I push or pull on something the wrong way. What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger. Attitude wins. It's just a switch inside your head, just like the economy.

I don't buy chrome cuz chrome don't getcha home. I absolutely won't burn extra fuel to make up for lost time when a shipper can't get his product on my truck in time to make the delivery. If it's late when you ship it, it's still gonna be late when I get it there.

But there's the flip side to this business, too. There are the guys who won't do the research on companies and lease on to a carrier who pays $0.91/mile because it sounds like alot, and they don't usually know their expenses. They were making $0.32/mile as a company driver, and that's less than half of $0.91/mile so we're gonna be rich!

But wait a second ... fuel is $4.00/gallon and they're getting 5 MPG in that big ol' Peterbilt at 75 MPH so there's $0.80/mile, leaving them with $0.11/mile for maintenance, repairs, tires, and what else am I forgetting ... oh yeah! A check to take home for the lil woman at the end of the week. But they'll make up for it next week by running more miles, by God! Or go out of business trying. Usually the latter. And they'll blame it on the oil companies, and the shippers, and the brokers, and the DOT and highway patrol and on and on.

I've got a good friend who's doing that same exact routine, trying to outrun the costs. He bought his truck the same time I bought mine. He bought the shiny newer one, I bought the uglier older one. His payments are scary, mine are laughable. He's stressed all the time, and I feel like I'm on vacation while I'm in the driver's seat. He's still running 75-80 MPH like we did before, but I've slowed to 60 MPH. He's been home 6 times - about 10-12 days - in the past 6 months, and I've taken 4 weeks off in the past six months. I'm sitting on my ass at home right now, as a matter of fact, and I'm getting ready to deposit a check that has a comma in it after all my expenses are paid.

I've tried coaching him on several lengthy phone conversations and he's just not getting what I'm saying. And he's sinking like a rock. I've walked him through the differences of running 3,000 miles in a week at 5 MPG compared to 6.3 MPG. One uses 600 gallons of fuel at $2,400, and the other uses 476 gallons at $1,905. He doesn't "get" the part where he'd give himself a $500/week raise if he'd take his foot out of it because he's trying to think like a trucker: more miles equals more pay. But that only works when you're a company driver, and the company is charging enough to pay for the fuel. Now he's getting a flat rate per mile, and he makes less the harder he runs, but the company makes more because they're making the same flat rate. Him and I are both businessmen, and we're both truckers, but I take care of business first and trucking last. He's the opposite. He runs freight like a freight hauler, then looks back to see if there's any money in it.

It's sad to watch, and I pray he'll "get" it sometime soon, but he's on the verge of bankruptcy because he's got his head in the wrong place. He had to have a shinier, newer truck than mine but it's been in the shop more than mine, and the payments are scary. I've tried to talk him into leasing on where I am, but he knows it's a 4-week approval process because they check everything and will probably check stool samples eventually. He doesn't think he has "time" to sit that long, waiting for background checks, etc. I think he'll have unlimited time before the end of next winter.

He gives me hell because I haven't yet pulled an oversize load for less than $3/mile and he's getting less than a buck a mile to drive his truck like he stole the damn thing. He'll say "yeah, but that's not many miles." Exactly. And they force me to sleep every night because most states I run in won't allow oversize loads to move after sunset or before sunrise. I don't even set the alarm clock on oversize loads, and he's working like his ass is on fire. None of the oversize I've hauled hang more than 9" off the sides of the truck, and they're way lower than normal weight so the fuel cost is low, it drives like a go-kart, less wear and tear, etc. What I'm netting in any given time period makes his net look like chicken feed. I see his wife drive past my house more times in a month than he sees her at all. I saw her drive past yesterday because I'm goofing off at home again, taking care of minor stuff on the truck, gonna have 'em look at my A/C tomorrow, chase my wife around a little, beat my kids. You know. Dad stuff.

Still, I can't get him to see the difference. Six months ago, the freight business was doing ok, and we both knew we could make a damn good living by making a big sacrifice. But now the economy's gone in the shitter for him because he's playing the game wrong. He's grossing more than I do per week, but his expenses are way higher because he's trying to make it up in volume, and you can't do that the way he's trying to do it. Like I said, it makes me sad. I don't get a bit of glee or pride or anything else out of it because he's my friend. We were friends instantly when we met, and I'm sure he'll be a friend when I die. If he loses his truck, it'll have a big "For Sale" sign in the window at the bank, right across the street from where I live, and I'd hate to see it sitting there. But I can't seem to help him find that switch in his own head so he can do what it takes to make it instead of accelerate, no pun intended, his business failure.

The economy's gone sky high for me because I looked at the numbers and made up my own rules. So here's the secret if you wanna get into trucking. Oil costs around $100 for a 42-gallon barrel, so that's $2.38 per gallon of raw crude. Now, if the oil companies were screwing us over like everybody says, they'd double that price and we'd be paying $4.76 per gallon for refined gasoline and diesel fuel. There's the old rule that says every time another entity in the supply chain touches a product it doubles in price. Here in OldGuyVille, we're paying $3.29 per gallon, so they're marking it up 1.38 times. But I'm smarter than the oil companies.

I know to the penny what it costs per mile to roll my truck down the road including maintenance, repairs, insurance, my take-home pay, everything. It's $1.20. If I marked up my price the same way the oil companies marked up theirs I wouldn't take a load for less than $1.66 per mile. You shittin' me? I won't even think of touching it for less than $2.25 per mile. I turned one down a while back because it paid $2.25 a mile from the midwest to California and back. I told the broker I won't take freight into communist countries for less than $3 per mile. California won't let me idle the truck to stay warm or cool, they have a whole host of methods to fine you and empty your pockets for idiotic shit, and their fuel is over $4 per gallon. The broker laughed pretty hard when I explained it and said he didn't blame me. He even knew he was going to have a hard time getting rid of the load, and it was still available the next day, already one day late. He said "well, you can't blame me for trying." I said "nope, I can't, business is business." He told me not to hold it against him, then laughed, and said he'd call me occasionally to see if I'd take other loads of his. I told him I sure would, except for California. Then I told him I had the cure for California loads. "I'll swing by and pick you up so you can watch it in action. We'll take it to Reno, Nevada, then let the fruits and nuts come and get it their damn self." He thought that was a damn fine idea, and he calls me now occasionally ... I made another new business contact.

Hell, 4 of my 5 kids have jobs making $10/hour working for me. One of 'em is 10 years old. Some make more than others because they're willing to work more. Working for me isn't a requirement by any means. Me handing out money for them to have fun isn't a requirement either. It's negotiable, same as business.

Of the four kids I still have at home, the oldest one didn't get the Lead Maintenance Dude position, and neither did Kid #2. Kid #3 slid into it because he worked his ass off, showed up every time, did what I asked of him. He doesn't have an official title and he won't be given one. But it sure is amusing to me to watch when Kid #1 and Kid #2 have to ask Kid #3 what to do next. And if there was an Assistant Maintenance Dude position, Kid #4 would get it hands-down. And Kid #4 's claim to fame is that he had to show Kid #3 how to do an oil change because Kid #3 couldn't work when Kid #4 and I did the first oil change. It's amusing as hell watching a 10 year old teach his teenager siblings how to do an oil change on a truck whose tires are taller than he is ...

So I told you all that to tell you this, but I think you already know it. Attitude wins. I'm not waiting for a government handout or legislation to make fuel cheaper, because it's not gonna happen. We don't pay near as much for a gallon of fuel as most of the world does anyway. If you can plainly see your biggest expense is fuel, then figure out why, and figure out how to change it. I charge more a mile than my friend because I just won't haul it if it doesn't pay. He tries to make it up by running more miles. He says it doesn't pay to sit, you need the miles. I say it pays very well to sit, and you need profit margin worse than you need to drive. Polar opposite reasons, and polar opposite outcomes.

Attitude wins. If the only job in America is picking lettuce, you'll find me out there picking lettuce. I may not get rich at it, and it might be hard work, but I refuse to live off of someone else if there's another option. I feel bad for people who have an Adjustable Rate Mortgage and were already on the edge, but I didn't put them in that spot. I feel bad for people who bought a 52" wide screen and now they can't keep up with their credit card payments, but I didn't put them in that spot.

all I have to say the proof is in the pudding . WE are living voting republican results .. vote another 8 years of republican policies this past 8 has gone so swimmingly elect a republican congress this last 12 yrs has done so well . results matter .you evidently think things are going well .,kind of scares me as to what looks bad for you

I couldn't afford pudding the last time the Dems left the White House. You're right, results matter, but I'm guaranteeing you you're not gonna get 'em if the Dems get in this time either. Same ol' shit. And "as to what looks bad for you", you've caught on about me by now, haven't you? I don't want government solutions for much of anything, and the things I *DO* want, they don't deliver. When things look bad, I do the same thing I do when they look good: I go out and seize the day. I think of God first, my family second, business associates and customers third, etc. I always come in last. It's not about me. It doesn't matter if I feel like working, or have a headache, or have a hernia, or pulled a groin muscle, or menstrual cramps, or the forklift driver just doesn't like me, or ... blah blah blah. I eat another Aleve, try not to kill anyone in rush hour traffic, find the place I'm delivering to, and do anything possible to get a smile out of them if I can't get them to bust out laughing. I put my best foot forward even if my shoes have holes. I'm not a whiner, and I refuse to live that way. So I agree with you that results matter. But I think attitude is more important than "me", and I think failure is not an option, so I just keep on keepin' on. Keep on truckin'. Government isn't a solution for much of anything for me, it's more of a hindrance. I could expand business wildly if I didn't have to fork out so much money for so little services. Still, I'm hiding the extra in the back yard like a dog hiding bones. Sure, I could fall on my face tomorrow and be out of business before the sun comes up. But I doubt it. I know me pretty well, and I sure wouldn't bet against me. Neither would most people who know me either. I just have to make do regardless of circumstances.

So yeah, I'm doing very well, thank you for asking. I'm pondering over a load that pays $2.65 per mile to San Marcos, TX so warm your coffee pot up, I just might take it. And I found out recently I'm gonna be a grandpa.

you managed to not comment on his take on race ? roll on that you arent bashful . god forbid we actually have a public dialog on it, in a public forum

I couldn't care less if he was a one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater. Race only matters to people who are racists. I'm not. Apparently you have something on your mind?

its not that you are a racist , I have never thought that . its the fact that its a discussion that has need to be held for a while, and his take on it is quite good . shrugs , racism these days is covert because its not politically correct to talk about old ladiies beign scared of black boys etc. but its real , why not talk about it , rather than slam his ass for talking about it like a lot of people want to . ,

Do you think that's a common feeling among people? I don't, but I could be wrong. Little old ladies are sometimes scared of me too. Are you scared of blacks? I get the opposite feeling when I go somewhere new. I meet new people every day, and SOME of the time I get the very distinct impression that the black people that have to deal with me automatically don't like me from the start. I just frankly don't give a shit, and it's got nothing to do with race. I get the same reaction from whites. I look at those people as a challenge, no matter what their race. I just try to make them laugh about something, and then we're on level ground, regardless of race. I've heard plenty of blacks knock Obama's need to discuss it because they're not racists either. I don't know, I have the gut feeling that race doesn't matter to most Americans. Am I wrong?