Mission accomplished.....On March 19, 2003, the day the USA (and a small coalition of countries) bombed Iraq, oil was trading at $36 per barrel. Today, Tuesday, June 3, 2008, oil is $127 per barrel. What did we expect when we elected two oilmen to be president and vice-president?

It will be a long time before I vote for another Republican for the White House. I know what I am saying is contrary to most Fort Benders. Bush’s approval rating is currently 28%, according to which poll you believe. I say all those 28% live in Fort Bend County.

So who am I going to vote for in November? As we know, the fortunes of politics can now change very rapidly. Witness Hillary Clinton at the end of December. Everyone expected her to be the Democratic standard-bearer. Women were licking their lips about the prospect of the first woman president (except maybe for Nancy Reagan). Then came January and out of nowhere--Barack Obama.

I gotta tell you, I listen to him. I want to believe. But for some reason, and I can’t put my finger on it, I’m just nervous. I just don’t think we know enough about him and how he would react in extreme conditions. That’s one thing we know about Hillary. She’s lived through an abortive health care plan in her husband’s first term, a (then) teenage daughter, a cheating husband who actually left office in disgrace, and a exhaustive senatorial and presidential campaign. I’d like to see how Obama would react to all those pressures.

But rumor has it that Hillary will announce today that she is conceding to Obama. I just don’t know. I’m nervous.

But not nervous to vote for another Republican for a long time. That really makes me nervous!

Why is it?......How come nobody has arrested some of those break-away Mormon men at the Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado? If the situation was so bad that 400 children had to be removed, then why haven’t some of the men supposedly perpetrating this abuse been arrested?

I have a theory as to why the situation was allowed to go on until someone called about child abuse.

Eldorado has a population of about 2,000 people with a median annual income of about $30,000 per family. No outcry was made earlier because the people of Eldorado needed the money the Yearning for Zion ranch spent in the town. Eldorado had to supply no services, not even educating the school age children. I have other suspicions about law enforcement, particularly since the sheriff bragged earlier that he had someone “inside” the compound. Humph!

And now for something entirely different.....Eura Boehm will be 100 years old on June 9. She was born in Indian Territory in what became Oklahoma the same year of her birth. If you know her or her family who lives in Sugar Land, you are invited to her 100th birthday party at the Sugar Land Healthcare Center, 333 Matlage Way in Sugar Land. The party in her honor is Monday, June 9 at 2:30 p.m., and her friends are invited to come by and give her a big hug and well wishes. It is a come and go affair so stop by for a few minutes. Son Wayne Boehm says no gifts please.

They must really hate me.....Many years ago we did a special story about all the city secretaries in some of the small towns in Fort Bend. We inadvertently left out the city secretary at Meadows Place. I think they’ve had it in for me ever since.

The Meadows called last month and asked me to be the parade marshal in their July 4th parade. Now the Meadows July 4th parade is a lovely and rag tag group of bicycles, tricycles, dogs, and decorated wagons--just what you would expect to find in a family friendly neighborhood like the Meadows.