Have you ever tried to roll a tire down a hill? Tires never roll in a straight line; in fact, they are notorious for their unpredictability. Tires wobble from side to side, worse than a bowery drunk. In fact, if you were at the bottom of the hill and you stood still, and you allowed a fellow at the top of the hill to roll a tire toward you, you chances of being hit would be almost nil. Try as you might, you just can’t roll a tire straight.

Why am I spending so much time on such a ridiculous topic like tires rolling down a hill? I’m trying to make an analogy between tires and worries! Have you ever known someone who worries a lot? I’ll bet you have. In fact, you might be one of those “worriers”. Now, some things you should worry about. If you find drugs in your teenager’s bedroom it’s time to worry. If your husband has lipstick on his shirt it’s time to worry. If your spouse runs the family credit card balance into five-digit territory it’s time to worry. But most worries are like a tire rolling down a hill; they’re not going to affect you.

I know people who worry about global warming, bird flu, and the national debt. As I said in my blog over two years ago on Sunday, May 14, 2006 (“Don’t Sweat the Big Stuff”), it’s counter-productive to worry about these things.

Today I’m not dealing with the big stuff; I’m talking about the many small things that people worry about that never materialize. These are the “tires rolling down a hill” type of worries. Examples of “tires rolling down the hill” worries are: “Gosh, I hope we can get all of our suitcases in the trunk tomorrow!” “I hope I’m not late for that appointment on Tuesday.” “I sure hope that we don’t get salmonella from those tomatoes we ate yesterday.” “Gosh, I sure hope the Twins don’t get swept in the next series in Kansas City.” “Gee, I hope Emily doesn’t think my dress is ugly.”

These worries are like tires, for sure. They are meaningless and will never affect you. If you don’t get all of the suitcases in the trunk, you’ll simply have to repack and make adjustments. If you’re worried about being late for your appointment on Tuesday, leave 15 minutes earlier. There’s not a darned thing you can do about baseball game outcomes. If Emily thinks your dress is ugly, who cares? Should you really be concerned about the fact that you can’t control Emily’s thoughts?

Today, when various worries and concerns go through your mind, ask yourself one question: “Would I be worrying about this thing (my dress or my baseball team) if my Doctor just told me that I had an incurable disease?” Probably not; you’d find that virtually all of your worries are insignificant in comparison. So, don’t sweat the small stuff. Maybe you’ll live longer if you don’t worry about being hit by those tires rolling down the hill.

There was a time in this country, not that long ago, when men were admired for mining coal, drilling for oil, running railroads, producing steel, and running massive turbines to generate the nation’s electricity. Man was viewed as having dominion over nature, molding it to serve his needs. Now, and for the past twenty years, the people and media in the United States are excessively influenced by politicians, philosophers, and opinion leaders that are, frankly, Anti-Man.

Over the centuries, by harnessing the power of his mind, man has acquired knowledge and developed technology that has conquered disease, virtually ended world starvation, and has given the average world citizen a standard of living that couldn’t be imagined even two centuries ago.

For the past two decades an “anti-man” philosophy has slowly imbedded itself into our culture and has now become a dominant theme. It masks itself as environmentalism, and makes mankind out to be the enemy of the universe. Nature, we’re told, has intrinsic value which supersedes even that of human beings. Some philosophers have even gone so far as to welcome the extinction of human beings.

Paul Taylor, an “environmental ethicist” and professor Emeritus at Brooklyn College, in his book Respect for Nature: A Theory of Environmental Ethics (Princeton University Press, 1986), states: “Given the total, absolute, and final disappearance of Homo Sapiens, not only would the Earth’s community of life continue to exist, but in all probability, its well-being would be enhanced. Our presence, in short, is not needed. And if we were to take the standpoint of that Life Community and give voice to its true interests, the ending of the human epoch on Earth would most likely be greeted with a hearty “Good riddance!”

Not only are many “environmentalists” Anti Man, but they are often hypocrites. Al Gore gets my vote as the winner of the “Hypocrite Olympics Gold Medal.” The Nobel Prize winning author and speaker warns us about the “inconvenient truth” of excessive carbon emissions, while he consumes more electricity in his 20 room, eight bathroom mansion in Nashville than the average American household does in a year. According to a February 27, 2008 article by Bruce Nussbaum in Business Week, “The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.”

We do need to protect the environment, but the pendulum has swung way too far toward extreme views. Over the last 30 years we haven’t built a single nuclear power plant or oil refinery in the United States. The government won’t allow oil companies to drill on two-tenths of one percent of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge on the outside chance that we’re going to disturb some caribou.

Now the American economy and the American people are feeling the pinch at the gas pump. Due to soaring world demand for oil from Chindia (China and India), coupled with politically-restricted supply of oil and nuclear energy in the United States, prices of gasoline and electricity can only go up in the next twenty years. And, by the way, ethanol, conservation, solar and wind power are not the answer; they can never contribute more than a small portion of our growing energy needs. Anyone who thinks otherwise is hopelessly uninformed.

Twenty years of political, Anti-Man neglect is no excuse not to act now. It’s time NOW to drill offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, regardless of the fact that the impact won’t be felt overnight. It’s time NOW to build tens if not hundreds of nuclear power plants to power short distance electric cars and to heat and light our homes. Not only will our children’s energy costs be less than ours, but they will also not be subsidizing world terrorism every time they fuel their cars.

Even as this article is being written some of the Anti-Man politicians are starting to re-think their environmental stance. It is about time we started again to admire and respect coal miners, oil men, nuclear engineers, and other men and women of progress and stop worshiping solely at the alter of environmentalism. Continuing to listen to those who skillfully wrap their contempt for mankind in the message of environmentalism could be our downfall.

I remember the first Tuesday of November, 1998 like it was yesterday. When I looked at the ballot I saw the names of three candidates for Governor of Minnesota. On the ballot were the names of Norm Coleman, Skip Humphrey, and ex professional wrestler Jesse Ventura. Sleazy Norm had just changed from a democrat to a republican. Skip had the magnetism of an accountant and no more common sense than his father, Hubert. After looking at the names of these sad sacks from the republican and democratic parties, I looked at the lone name remaining; Jesse Ventura. In a nano-second I pulled the lever for Jesse! I never regretted it!

Now Minnesotans will be looking at the name of the same Norm Coleman (incumbent) and his democratic challenger, Al Franken when they gaze at their ballots for the U.S. Senate I this November. Franken is nothing but a comedian, and a bad one at that. Mainly he’s an unabashed liberal who hasn’t had an original thought since birth. Coleman is still a stereotypical sleazy politician. He’s done nothing to hold down spending in Washington and might as well be Amy Klobuchar’s lap dog. I won’t vote for either of them.

PLEASE, JESSE, RUN FOR THE U.S. SENATE! PLEASE!!!!

In my opinion, during his term as Minnesota Governor Jesse was refreshingly outspoken, honest, blunt, and refused to back down to the narrow interests of the democrats and republicans. Without legislative support his vetoes were overridden many times. But he was right on most occasions. The media hated him and thought he was an embarrassment to the state. I think otherwise; our country needs people who will advocate smaller government and less intrusion into the private lives of its citizens.

During Ventura’s first and only term as Minnesota Governor he obtained the highest approval rating of any governor in Minnesota history. Light rail service in the Twin Cities wouldn’t exist if he hadn’t pushed for it. Jesse lowered license plate fees. He also advocated a unicameral (single house) legislature, similar to that in the state of Nebraska. It would have saved Minnesotans millions and millions of dollars, but (surprise, surprise) the politicians in the state legislature preferred job security!

I’m not kidding when I say I want Jesse to run. I’m also not kidding when I say that I’ll vote for him again. A recent poll of Minnesotans gives Jesse 25% of the vote if he runs. That’s before he has even decided to run.

Sleazy Norm and Humorless Al, I’ve got some news for you; if Jesse runs, he’ll be the next U.S. Senator from Minnesota!

In my hometown of Winona, Minnesota a steel bridge has spanned the Mississippi River since 1941. In fact, about every 30 miles along our part of the mighty Mississippi there’s a bridge connecting Minnesota and Wisconsin. Thousands of vehicles cross our bridge every day. The river passes below, an obstacle long forgotten. Everybody has taken the bridge for granted since the day it was completed 67 years ago, until last week.

Last week a Minnesota Department of Transportation inspection team found rusted gussets on the Winona Bridge and closed it down immediately. Further inspection needs to be done to determine if or when the bridge might open again. For the sake of public safety no one can use it now. The bridge closing makes it necessary for drivers to travel an additional 70 miles, crossing the river at La Crosse, WI or Nelson, WI. At $4 for a gallon of gasoline this addition to their daily commute is less than welcome. Ferries are now in use, but it’s not the same as having a bridge.

During the past 67 years our old bridge never complained about the constant use we gave it. It never called a state legislator or a congressman to demand attention. It didn’t form a political action committee to demand more resources for inspections. It just sat there silently and did what bridges do; allow people, autos, and trucks to pass over it constantly.

It’s too bad bridges can’t vote. If they could, our infrastructure in the United States would be in a lot better shape. We’ve chosen instead to cater to the shrill cries of special interest groups, from welfare recipients, to farmers, to large corporations. These special interest groups have carved up the tax code with the assistance of politicians from both political parties. Meanwhile our bridges, highways, airports, and mass transit systems have been allowed to deteriorate.

There are potholes in Chicago streets that will blow your tire in an instant if you’re unfortunate enough to hit one. In rural Minnesota two-lane highways are a patchwork of asphalt and concrete; even some sections of interstate highways are bone-shaking. When states don’t fix roads, drivers bear the additional expenses of wheel alignment and vehicle repair.

Provision of infrastructure is one of the most basic and legitimate duties of government. The recent collapse of the I-35 Bridge in Minneapolis served as a wake-up call for Minnesotans, but throughout the country we’ve built up an incredible liability for future repairs, maintenance, and replacement of infrastructure. It’s time to wean special interests from the government teat and start fixing stuff that counts. Infrastructure isn’t a luxury; it’s an absolute necessity if we wish to continue to have commerce and prosperity in the United States of America.

During a recent interview at the Cannes film festival, actress Sharon Stone suggested that China’s earthquake may have been bad karma for its treatment of Tibet. This prompted French fashion house Christian Dior to drop Stone from its Chinese ads. Predictably, Stone ended up eating her words and apologizing after a strong reaction from the Chinese media. She is now “willing to take part in the relief work of China’s earthquake, and wholly devote myself to helping affected Chinese people.”

I probably shouldn’t even be wasting both my time and yours by writing about another Hollywood “know it all” who has spouted off nonsense, but nevertheless has received world media coverage due to the fact that he/she is a celebrity. Sharon Stone is an actress. She can speak authoritatively about acting, but she doesn’t know any more about Tibet than you or me. As such, her opinions on Tibet and other subjects might be of some interest to those who read celebrity magazines, but they won’t have any meaningful effect on public policy.

The rub is that Stone doesn’t just consider herself an international expert on Tibet; she’s also got a pipeline to the workings of the universe! She truly understands the cause and effect relationship of “Karma” in our world! While the rest of us know that the Chinese Government has a lousy human rights record and that there was a terrible earthquake in China recently, only Stone has a complete enough understanding of the complex laws of the universe to inexorably tie the two facts together! How brilliant, Sharon! My goodness, you should be advising US Presidents on foreign policy every morning over coffee.

I’m not saying that a person needs to be an expert in something in order to express an opinion; heck I do that every day. Stone has a right to be critical about China’s policies toward Tibet. It’s the “karma” comment that pushes her over threshold of rational discourse and into the abyss of stupidity. Give it a rest, Sharon. Make movies and shut up.