Folks, this year’s presidential election is something I haven’t seen in all of my voting years. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, as a proud conservative first, and a Republican second, I must confess that I’m not thrilled with what both major political parties are offering the electorate this November. I recently received a McCain bumper sticker and must admit that I don’t even want to put it on my car. Truthfully, I don’t trust him, especially in the area of illegal immigration. Then, I recently heard his almost Democrat approach to our energy problems. I mean here is a man who could easily be cleaning Senator Obama’s clock with him just uttering this phrase on the TV and radio airwaves, "Drill here, drill now, and let’s pay less at the pump!" But no, he’s out there pandering to the likes of ex-VP Al Gore’s no nonsense take on solving our energy problems with electrical battery cars, wind, and solar power. Come on; give me a break Senator McCain! You cannot fly airplanes, fuel diesel train engines, or 18-wheel trucks with solar power, a giant battery, or a windmill. Gosh, what is it with these two candidates?

Having said what I’ve said about Senator McCain, I probably will vote for him for two reasons: He definitely is stronger on national defense than Senator Obama, and he has promised to put conservative judges on the Supreme Court bench if elected.

As for Senator Obama, I for the life of me can’t find anything credible to his favor. Here are a couple of quotes from Senator Obama that speaks volumes of his shallow thinking: "My friends we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you’ll join with me as we try to change it." Isn’t that just dandy folks? This other quote probably leaves me and many voting Americans scratching their heads: "But understand this . . . you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish." Hello, anybody home?

When I was working as a heavy equipment operator for Precinct Four, we would hire men to work on the mowing crew during summer. The mowing crew consisted mostly of high school or college students working during their summer school break. The job required little to no skill to be eligible for the job. If you could work in the hot sun, trim grass with a weed eater and cut grass with a lawnmower, the job was yours.

One summer, a resident Mexican, Militon (pronounced Me-lee-ton) Gutierrez, who spoke no English, was hired for the mowing crew. Being that I’m fluent in Spanish, I was asked to give Militon his working assignments for the day in Spanish. In time Meliton and I became good buddies. I then found out he was married to a German woman who’s husband, an ex-military man, brought her to the United States. After her husband died she started dating Militon and soon they were married, which allowed Militon to reside in the United States.

Shortly, most of the men at Precinct Four took a liking to Meliton (or Milton, so named by his co-workers). Even the Precinct Superintendent liked him. Reason being was that Milton was one heck of a worker and quickly learned to operate lawn-mowing tractors. However, Milton’s lack of English was a negative for him. His lack of not being able to read a Mapsco to drive to a job site posed a problem for him. My supervisor then asked me to advice Milton to take some English lessons. When I related the message to him, he told me he was too old to learn and felt that as long as he was doing his job, he probably could keep it. In trying to persuade Milton to learn English, I offered to drive him and his wife to three locations in North Fort Worth that taught English at night. Sadly, and even with his wife support, he refused to learn English.

As the summer came to an end, the mowing crew was dispersed. I’ll never forget how difficult it was for me to inform Milton that he no longer had a job. With tears in his eyes he asked me, "Porque me van a desocupar, yo soy buen trabajador?" "Why am I’m being laid off, I’m a good worker?" I told Milton that if he had tried to learn English, I was sure he could have kept his job. However, he chose not to and thus, he was let go. For weeks after his lay off, he and his wife showed up countless times pleading with to my supervisor to give him back his job. Being that my supervisor did not speak Spanish, I was called to interpret the pleas of Milton and his wife. My supervisor then instructed me to tell Milton that if he learned English well enough to read, he could have his job back, if not, he didn’t want to be bothered again. Milton and his wife never came back. It was evident that he was not going to learn English.

Months after Milton’s departure from Precinct Four, I stopped to dine at a Luby’s Cafeteria. As I enjoyed my meal, I felt someone touch my back. It was Milton. After we exchanged greetings and chatted, Milton left my table with his cart to bus the tables at the cafeteria. Folks, here’s a man who had an excellent job opportunity to work for Tarrant County if only he had tried to learn English.

So there you have it my friends, Senator Obama and other pro Spanish advocates want your children to learn Spanish and to heck with English. If Senator Obama can make ridiculous statements on his learning Spanish stance, I can to. I propose that all African American children learn Swahili instead of English! In my books, one stupid statement deserves a stupid response.