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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country
of West Texas
Opinion
Tuesday, September 5, 2000
Sage
Views
By Smokey Briggs
Slim's take on Al Gore
I saw my friend Slim the other day. From the moment I saw him I knew he
was mad.
Now Slim's face looks like a road map carved out of leather and stretched
over a sharp rock. When he is happy you can tell it because the crinkles
around his eyes soften a little and the cigarette clamped between his lips
droops a little.
The lines around Slim's eyes were not soft and I was not sure he could
draw on that cigarette the way his lips were clamped around it when I saw
him.
"What's doing?" I asked casually over the fence rail.
"Nothing much," he said as he swung off the bay horse he was working.
"Except I just found out I'm rich. Oh yeah, I'm also mean spirited and
hate my fellow man since I don't want to share all my new found wealth
with every dead beat in the world."
"You win the lottery Slim?" I asked hopefully.
"According to Al Gore and the rest of the Democrat party I did," Slim
said.
"Have you been watching C-Span again Slim?"
"Yeah."
"I told you what that would do to your blood pressure."
"You were right. You know what that roman-nosed, mama's boy, would-be
veteran, son-of-a- rich-senator said?"
"No, but it must have made quite an impression."
"The gist of it was that me and mama are rich because between the two
of us we make more than $40,000 a year. The little twerp also said that
we should be willing to share more of it than we already do with the "poor."
"Well, $40,000 is a pretty fair living Slim."
"That's two people making $20,000 a year. That's a house payment, a
car payment and maybe a few dimes in the savings account. That ain't rich.
That's just hard work and getting buy. Try to put a kid through college
on that."
Slim stopped and took a final drag on the cigarette.
"But that's not what really chaps me," he finally said. "What really
chaps me is that little rich boy telling me I need to fork over a bigger
chunk of what we made in taxes to pay for more social programs. That idiot
can spend my money faster than I can make it."
"Well social programs are not necessarily a bad thing Slim. There are
a lot of needy people in this country," I said.
"So you think it is okay to take a man's money and give it to somebody
else?"
"Well, if they need it and we all vote for it."
"Okay," he said with a thin evil looking smile that told me I had swallowed
the bait. I just wasn't sure what the hook was.
"So will there always be more "rich" people, by Mr. Gore's definition,
or poor people?"
"Well, poor people." I said. "That is just plain economics."
"Okay, so what do you call it when all the poor people elect politicians
who vote to take all the "rich" peoples' money and give it to the poor
people in the form of social programs?"
"I guess you call it democracy, Slim. I mean, voting is a right and
people can vote for whoever and whatever they want."
"Well, voting may be a right, but you got the name wrong. What you call
it is communism. That is where we are now. The democrats are communists.
They buy votes from the poor by promising to take money from everybody
else and give it to them. That is communism any way you sugar-coat it."
I thought about it for a minute and couldn't come up with a good answer.
He was right. That is the basis of communism.
"So what are you going to do?" I finally asked.
"I'm going to vote for George W. He may not be great, but he's no commie.
Then I'm going to go sight in my deer rifle. If Gore wins and tries to
change the name from U. S. of A. to the Peoples Republic of America, I'm
revolting."
EDITOR'S NOTE: Smokey Briggs is the editor and publisher of the
Pecos Enterprise whose column appears on Tuesdays. He can be e-mailed at:
smokey@pecos.net
Your View
Residents of Pyote pray for right decision
I, Patricia A. Matthews and my husband, John B. Matthews, Sr., as residents
of Pyote, Texas, strongly voice our opinion against the nuclear waste dump
in Ward County.
Our families have enough problems. We certainly don't want to add to
them, knowing that the outcome will be disastrous not only for us, but
for surrounding towns and future generations.
There is not wisdom, which only comes from God, in the decision-making
of too many of our leaders. Money seems to be the only objective regardless
of the outcome of their decisions. The decisions that we make today will
come back to haunt us all if we don't prayerfully ask for God's guidance
in making our decisions.
Once someone's health is destroyed, you can't go back and reverse the
outcome. Our children and grandchildren are trusting in us to make right
choices for them and we should be trusting in God to help us to make those
choices to our rejoicing, not to our regret!
Sometimes we are talked about, ignored or even threatened if we make
wise choices.
That's OK as long as we have a clear conscience.
I pray that the right choice for all will be made regarding nuclear
waste in Ward County. I pray that our elected officials desire to be in
office is because they want to help make wrong things done in the past
for greed, etc., to be made right for a change. If that is the case, God
Bless You. Otherwise, remember we do reap what we sow and God will have
the last word as to where we will spend eternity if we choose not to do
what is right.
Yours Sincerely,
MR. & MRS. JOHN MATTHEWS
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Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Peggy McCracken, Webmaster
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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