Chris Estes

So have you caught wind of Congress rolling back the ban on off-shore drilling?  Probably not with the current state of the Economy.  Well on Tuesday the House passed legislation, 236-189, to ease the ban on off-shore drilling.  I would like to point out that the legislative branch of government in the US is dominated by the Democratic Party.  To find out more about the legislative action read the NY Times Article. Write your Congressman and your Senators tell them what you think.

The main point of this is to talk about the atrocity in progress.

I happen to live in Alabama one of those Gulf States that already has off-shore drilling wells.  In fact as a kid, growing up in Central, Alabama, I remember playing baseball next to natural gas pumps.  So drilling and natural resource exploitation is nothing new to me.  In fact the oil and gas industry indirectly put the roof over my head and food in my belly.  Many of my friends, family, and neighbors do not agree with me and think I should be burned at the stake.  They don’t agree with me for the same reason why America’s wealthiest still think the economy isn’t in a state of turmoil.  It isn’t in their best interest!

Tonight on ABC News Nightline. The headline story was talking about Drilling for oil in the Gulf of Maine.  In short, and what I got out of the story, drilling shouldn’t apply to Maine and the cost of heating oil is going through the roof.

Look I get it, people are hurting for money, me too. I worked on Wall Street and not many days past the mortgage fall out.  But, is drilling really the answer?  I can tell you, NO it isn’t.  It’s only temporarily fixes the problem for somebody else to fix.  Exactly what the people before US said.  As a youngster that will be paying for the mistakes of the Ronald Reagan and Cold War Era… Lets Fix the problem! Don’t put a Band-Aid on it.

But again this isn’t my purpose of this post.

My purpose is to address the drilling location issue.  Why should we drill in the Southern Coast?  Because people in Maine Fish?  Lobster?  Why should we drill of the coast of Georgia?  (I really dont have anything).

I try to be objective about the issue.  But, it is hard to be when someone is trying to put an oil rig in your back yard.  When I see pictures of Maine I “aww” at the beauty.  When I hear the name Georgia I think sweet tea, hospitality, and golf.  My images of the south are just as beautiful as anything Maine has to offer!  Have you ever seen the fall leaves in the Southern Appalachians?  The sunset from Key West, FL?  Have you ever had Shrimp?

When the logging industry finally gets to clear cut the last few acres of natural forest to build the houses to pay for the people moving from Maine to the South for work… “There goes the fall leaves”.  What will thousands of tourist come to enjoy a romantic sunset on their honeymoon on the piers of Key West think when they find out that the green poof is from the Oil Refinery in Louisiana. Or, how about finishing off the demise of the shrimping industry with toxic waste from oil rigs raising our dependency on Vietnamese seafood?

My interpretation may be a bit extreme…  My point isn’t.  In fact it is simple. Who wants an oil rig in their back yard?

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The people of the south don’t really want the rigs any more than anyone else. The fact is we need them because you tell us we do and American Survival rest upon our shoulders.  People from the fishing grounds of Maine to California beaches people are counting on our sacrafice.

Over the next few days you will notice some changes to the look and feel of Chris-Estes.com.  In addition to design changes we will be adding some functionality that we haven’t utilized.  Some of the technical changes we are going to make will be changing our feed burner address to a Google feed burner address.  The new design will take care of the bare space around the blog by adding more advertisements.  Yes the advertisers might not be everybody’s favorite thing to see on a page to clutter it up.  Since times are hard I can’t bring you the great and cutting edge stories with out increasing the advertising on my blog. So my entrepreneurship and marketing training is kicking in to utilize the space.

The advertisements are going to be based on content relevant ads that bring in revenue per click and others one I select.  The ones I select will be target to things I think you are interested in.  In order for me to receive revenue it will require you to make a purchase so of course I am only going to put up advertisements you would be interested in.  The banner and content ads are the only type of advertising I plan to us.

There is the thought of sponsored post.  But that would discount the type of post I plan to make.  Speaking of post.  I plan to talk more about politics and a little less this and that.  So for the next few months my theme is going to be Chris Estes on Politics.  I might sneak in a random post or two about just random interesting things.  So get ready and prepare as I plan to bring you coverage of the the National and local races that affect everyone but more specifically the things in my area that matter.  I am going to try and bring fair and balanced information.

Bloggers postings and musings are becoming more and more powerful and I would like for my voice to be heard and addressed.  I have to yet decided on a candidate for president.  Even though I am trending towards one based on the conventions. Within the next few days you are going to witness a change in direction of my blogs change.  As the major changes are in place I will make announcements on how you can utilize the change for you.

My feed url will be changing from a Feedburner URL to a Google Feedburner URL that will need to be updated in your feed aggregator.

Stay Stuned for future updates.

As I have grown older Father’s day has meant much to me. I am fortunate enough to still have my father, My Dad is great. He is one of the most kind hearted peoples I know. He takes care of me even as an adult. Today we ot to sped the end of the day together just me and him. I bought him a set of tools which represents much more than a gift.

I gave him a set of tools that we will use together. I feel very lucky to have a father that has alwasy been there for me. No matter what corner of the world I move too I know I can always count on him for support. He helps move and gives ideas “why don’t you do it these way”. Man that guy is smart. Wise beyond my years.

I love my father and I am not afraid to say it. No matter if it was hgih school soccer game, chaprone for international trips where he would be responsible for for other people’s kids my father has always been there. He is a great man and I hope to live to be half the man he is.

Father’s want their children to be better than them. I try my hardest to live up to the hopes and dream he has helped shape for me. My father is a great husband, great mentor, and a great human being. I love you Dad.