Cory the well driller

[MikeForsythe 0]

Mr. Obama,

Given the uproar about the simple question asked you by Joe the plumber, and the persecution that has been heaped on him because he dared to question you, I find myself motivated to say a few things to you myself. While Joe aspires to start a business someday, I already have started not one, but 4 businesses. But first, let me introduce myself. You can call me “Cory the well driller”. I am a 54-year-old high school graduate. I didn’t go to college like you, I was too ready to go “conquer the world” when I finished high school. 25 years ago at age 29, I started my own water well drilling business at a time when the economy here in East Texas was in a tailspin from the crash of the early 80’s oil boom. I didn’t get any help from the government, nor did I look for any. I borrowed what I could from my sister, my uncle, and even the pawnshop and managed to scrape together a homemade drill rig and a few tools to do my first job. My businesses did not start not a result of privilege. It is the result of my personal drive, personal ambition, self-discipline, self reliance, and a determination to treat my customers fairly. From the very start my business provided one other (than myself) East Texan a full time job. I couldn’t afford a backhoe the first few years (something every well drilling business had), so I and my helper had to dig the mud pits that are necessary for each and every job with hand shovels. I had to use my 10-year-old, ½-ton pickup truck for my water tank truck (normally a job for at least a 2 ton truck).

A year and a half after I started the business, I scraped together a 20% down payment to get a modest bank loan and bought a (28 year) old, worn out, slightly bigger drilling rig to allow me to drill the deeper water wells in my area. I spent the next few years drilling wells with the rig while simultaneously rebuilding it between jobs. Through these years I never knew from one month to the next if I would have any work or be able to pay the bills. I got behind on my income taxes one year, and spent the next two years paying that back (with penalty and interest) while keeping up with ongoing taxes. I got behind on my water well supply bill 2 different years (way behind the second time… $80,000.00), and spent over a year paying it back (each time) while continuing to pay for ongoing supplies C.O.D. Of course, the personal stress endured through these experiences and years is hard to measure. I do have a stent in my heart now to memorialize it all.

I spent the next 10 years developing the reputation for being the most competent and most honest water well driller in East Texas. 2 years along the way, I hired another full time employee for the drilling business so that we could provide full time water well pump service as well as the well drilling. Also, 3 years along the path, I bought a water well screen service machine from a friend, starting business # 2. 5 years later I made a business loan for $100,000.00 to build a new, higher production, computer controlled screen service machine. I had designed the machine myself, and it didn’t work out for 3 years so I had to make the loan payments without the benefit of any added income from the new machine. No government program was there to help me with the payments, or to help me sleep at night, as I lay awake wondering how I would solve my machine problems or pay my bills. Finally, after 3 years, I got the screen machine working properly, and that provided another full time job for an East Texan in the screen service business.

2 years after that, I made another business loan, this time for $250,000.00, to buy another used drilling rig and all the support equipment needed to run another, larger, drill rig. This provided another 2 full time jobs for East Texans. Again, I spent a couple of years not knowing if I had made a smart move, or a move that would bankrupt me. For the third time in 13 years, I had placed everything I owned on the line, risking everything, in order to build a business.

A couple of years into this, I came up with a bright idea for a new kind of mud pump, a fundamentally necessary pump used on water well drill rigs. I spent my entire life savings to date (just $30,000.00), building a prototype of the pump and took it to the national water well convention to show it off. Customers immediately started coming out of the woodworks to buy the pumps, but there was a problem. I had depleted my assets making the prototype, and nobody would make me a business loan to start production of the new pumps. With several deposits for pump orders in hand, and nowhere to go, I finally started applying for as many credit card as I could find and took cash withdrawals on these cards to the tune of over $150,000.00 (including modest loans from my dear sister and brother), to get this 3rd business going.

Yes, once again, I had everything hanging over the line in an effort to start another business. I had never manufactured anything, and I had to design and bring into production a complex hydraulic machine from an untested prototype to a reliable production model (in six months). How many nights I lay awake wondering if I had just made the paramount mistake of my life I cannot tell you, but there were plenty. I managed to get the pumps into production, which immediately created another 2 full time jobs in East Texas. Some of the models in the first year suffered from quality issues due to the poor workmanship of one of my key suppliers, so an employee and I (another East Texan employed) had to drive across the country to repair customers’ pumps, practically from coast to coast. I stood behind the product, and made payments to all the credit cards that had financed me (and my brother and sister). I spent the next 5 years improving and refining the product, building a reputation for the pump and the company, working to get the pump into drill rig manufacturers’ product lines, and paying back credit cards. During all this time I continued to manage a growing water well business that was now operating 3 drill rig crews, and 2 well service crews. Also, the screen service business continued to grow. No government programs were there to help me, Mr. Obama, but that’s ok, I didn’t expect any, nor did I want any. I was too busy fighting to make success happen to sit around waiting for the government to help me.

Now, we have been manufacturing the mud pumps for 7 years, my combined businesses employ 32 full time employees, and distribute $5,000,000.00 annually through the local economy. Now, just 4 months ago I borrowed $1,254,000.00, purchasing computer controlled machining equipment to start my 4th business, a production machine shop. The machine shop will serve the mud pump company so that we can better manufacture our pumps that are being shipped worldwide. Of course, the machine shop will also do work for outside companies as well. This has already produced 2 more full time jobs, and 2 more should develop out of it in the next few months. This should work out, but if it doesn’t it will be because you, and the other professional politicians like yourself, will have destroyed our country’s’ (and the world) economy with your meddling with mortgage loan programs through your liberal manipulation and intimidation of loaning institutions to make sure that unqualified borrowers could get mortgages. You see, at the very time when I couldn’t get a business loan to get my mud pumps into production, you were working with Acorn and the Community Reinvestment Act programs to make sure that unqualified borrowers could buy homes with no down payment, and even no credit or worse yet, bad credit. Even the infamous, liberal, Ninja loans (No Income, No Job or Assets). While these unqualified borrowers were enjoying unrealistically low interest rates, I was paying 22% to 24% interest on the credit cards that I had used to provide me the funds for the mud pump business that has created jobs for more East Texans. It’s funny, because after 25 years of turning almost every dime of extra money back into my businesses to grow them, it has been only in the last two years that I have finally made enough money to be able to put a little away for retirement, and now the value of that has dropped 40% because of the policies you and your ilk have perpetrated on our country.

You see, Mr. Obama, I’m the guy you intend to raise taxes on. I’m the guy who has spent 25 years toiling and sweating, fretting and fighting, stressing and risking, to build a business and get ahead. I’m the guy who has been on the very edge of bankruptcy more than a dozen times over the last 25 years, and all the while creating more and more jobs for East Texans who didn’t want to take a risk, and wouldn’t demand from themselves what I have demanded from myself. I’m the guy you characterize as “the Americans who can afford it the most” that you believe should be taxed more to provide income redistribution “to spread the wealth” to those who have never toiled, sweated, fretted, fought, stressed, or risked anything. You want to characterize me as someone who has enjoyed a life of privilege and who needs to pay a higher percentage of my income than those who have bought into your entitlement culture. I resent you, Mr. Obama, as I resent all who want to use class warfare as a tool to advance their political career. What’s worse, each year more Americans buy into your liberal entitlement culture, and turn to the government for their hope of a better life instead of themselves. Liberals are succeeding through more than 40 years of collaborative effort between the predominant liberal media, and liberal indoctrination programs in the public school systems across our land.

What is so terribly sad about this is this. America was made great by people who embraced the one-time American culture of self-reliance, self-motivation, self-determination, self-discipline, personal betterment, and hard work, risk taking. A culture built around the concept that success was in reach on every able bodied American who would strive for it. Each year that less Americans embrace that culture, we all descend together. We descend down the socialist path that has brought country after country ultimately to bitter and unremarkable states. If you and your liberal comrades in the media and school systems would spend half as much effort cultivating a culture of can-do across America as you do cultivating your entitlement culture, we could see Americans at large embracing the conviction that they can elevate themselves through personal betterment, personal achievement, and self reliance. You see, when people embrace such ideals, they act on them. When people act on such ideals, they succeed. All of America could find herself elevating instead of deteriorating. But that would eliminate the need for liberal politicians, wouldn’t it, Mr. Obama? The country would not need you if the country was convinced that problem solving was best left with individuals instead of the government. You and all your liberal comrades have got a vested interested in creating a dependent class in our country. It is the very business of liberals to create an ever-expanding dependence on government. What’s remarkable is that you, who have never produced a job in your life, are going to tax me to take more of my money and give it to people who wouldn’t need my money if they would get off their entitlement mentality asses and apply themselves at work, demand more from themselves, and quit looking to liberal politicians to raise their station in life.

You see, I know because I’ve had them work for me before. Hundreds of them over these 25 years. People who simply will not show up to work on time. People who just will not work 5 days in a week, much less, 6 days. People always looking for a way to put less effort out. People who actually tell me that they would do more if I just would first pay them more. People who take off work to sit in government offices to apply to get free government handouts (gee, I wonder how things would have turned out for them if they had spent that time earning money and pleasing their employer?). You see, all of this comes from your entitlement mentality culture.

Oh, I know you will say I am uncompassionate. Sorry, Mr. Obama, wrong again. You see, I’ve seen what the average percentage of your income has been given to charities over the years of 2000 to 2004 (ignoring the years you started running for office - can you pronounce “politically motivated”); you averaged of less than 1% annually. And your running mate, Joe Biden, averaged less than ¼% of his annual income in charitable contributions over the last 10 years. Like so many liberals, the two of you want to give to the needy, just as long as it is someone else’s money you are giving to them. I won’t say what I have given to charities over the last 25 years, but the percentage is several times more than you or Joe Biden (don’t you just hate goggle?). Tell me again how you feel my pain.

In short, Mr. Obama, your political philosophies represent everything that is wrong with our country. You represent the culture of government dependence instead of self-reliance; Entitlement mentality instead of personal achievement; Penalization of the successful to reward the unmotivated; Political correctness instead of open mindedness and open debate. If you are successful, you may preside over the final transformation of America from being the greatest and most self-reliant culture on earth, to just another country of whiners and wimps, who sit around looking to the government to solve their problems. Like all of western Europe. All countries on the decline. All countries that, because of liberal socialistic mentalities, have a little less to offer mankind every year.

God help us…

Cory Miller

just a ordinary, extraordinary American, the way a lot of Americans used to be.

P.S. Yes, Mr. Obama, I am a real American… www.cmillerdrilling.com

Time and pressure will always show you who a person really is!

[likearock 2]

Bottom line:

• Obama will be restoring taxes to the levels they were during Clinton's term
• If that rate of taxes was so bad for business, why did we experience one of the greatest economic booms in history during the 90s?
• Quit yer whining.

[jclalor 12]

The problem with the right is they want to make everyone believe that some day they too will be making 250,00 or more a year. The fact is 99% wont.
I have always been amazed at how the right convinces people to vote against thier own economic interest; give them false hope of extreme personel wealth. Kind of like Amway.

[jgoose71 0]

Don't worry Mike, You can make up the difference of the higher taxes by firing a couple of guys, hiring illegal immigrants at half the cost and pay them under the table, and the guys you let go can collect unemployment because the government can now afford to shell out all this extra money they are taxing you. In a way you are still paying their salary, they just aren't working for it.

"There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
Life, the Universe, and Everything

[miked10270 0]

So... In order to thrive under either system, all you have to do is be honest as a politician!

Mike.

Taking the piss out of the FrenchAmericans since before it was fashionable.

Prenait la pisse hors du FrançaisCanadiens méridionaux puisqu'avant lui à la mode.

[MikeForsythe 0]

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The problem with the right is they want to make everyone believe that some day they too will be making 250,00 or more a year.

I guess you have not kept up to date HERE . It is now $150,000 and that effects a LOT of people.

Time and pressure will always show you who a person really is!

[kallend 2,026]

You'd think such a successful businessman would have got his economic facts straight.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[kallend 2,026]

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The problem with the right is they want to make everyone believe that some day they too will be making 250,00 or more a year.

I guess you have not kept up to date HERE . It is now $120,000 and that effects a LOT of people.

Desparation is having to use The Washington Times (prop. Sun Young Moon) as your source of propaganda.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[sfc 1]

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The problem with the right is they want to make everyone believe that some day they too will be making 250,00 or more a year.

I guess you have not kept up to date HERE . It is now $120,000 and that effects a LOT of people.

Did you read the whole thing? The 120,000 was not said by Obama, it was a mistake by Richardson. You're getting kind of desperate using a mistake made by someone other than Obama/Biden as proof of future policy.

There is this lady down the road from where I live that gives out information for money, she knows a lot of stuff, apparently the spirits talk through here and she has a crystal ball, I bet she would be able to give you some great facts to support your position and even credit them to reputable (albeit dead) sources.

[lawrocket 3]

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Bottom line:

• Obama will be restoring taxes to the levels they were during Clinton's term
• If that rate of taxes was so bad for business, why did we experience one of the greatest economic booms in history during the 90s?
• Quit yer whining.

Hey. Which was a greater boom? The 90's or 2000's? Both were pretty damned impressive. Both busted quite spectacularly. (How many people feel that we are actually worse off now than we were in 2000-2001 from an economic standpoint. I'd venture to say that we are certainly no worse at this point. We could get worse, but we aren't there. I personally know several people who were fucking ruined when the tech market lost $4 trillion).

The best populist message of all is "tax the rich." Because it means "punish the rich."

I feel for Mike. The first year of my wife and my business we were the lowest paid employees. We struggled and built something successful. I'm leaving it to her and taking on a new job so that we can diversify our income.

Tell me why Mike should have his taxes increased at all? Tell me the reasons why Mike makes too much money. Tell me why you think that he should have more of his earnings confiscated.

This isn't about "we're just doing what we did before." There's a word for that - reactionary. And since we can go back to what we did before, we didn't even have an income tax until the early 1900's. Let's go there.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[Gawain 0]

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Bottom line:

• Obama will be restoring taxes to the levels they were during Clinton's term
• If that rate of taxes was so bad for business, why did we experience one of the greatest economic booms in history during the 90s?
• Quit yer whining.

Senator Obama is lying to you. The growth of the 90s pales in comparison to the 80s and 00s. Easily verified here: http://www.econstats.com/gdp/gdp__q10.htm

About tax rates: http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_brackets.htm
If you are single:
Here are what the tax brackets were in President Clinton's last year (2000):

Tax Year:  2000	

Filing Status: 	Single

If your taxable income is between... 	your tax bracket is:

$0.00 and $26,250 	15%

$26,250 and $63,550	28%

$63,550 and $132,600 	31%

$132,600 and $288,350	36%

$288,350 and up	39.6% 


Here are what the tax brackets are right now (2008):


Tax Year:  2008	

Filing Status: 	Single

If your taxable income is between... 	your tax bracket is:

$0.00 and $8,025 	10%

$8,025 and $32,550	15%

$32,550 and $78,850 	25%

$78,850 and $164,550	28%

$164,550 and $357,700	33% 

$357,700 and up  35%



If you are married (filing jointly):


Tax Year:  2000	

Filing Status: 	Married

If your taxable income is between... 	your tax bracket is:

$0.00 and $43,850 	15%

$43,850 and $105,950	28%

$105,950 and $161,450 	31%

$161,450 and $288,350	36%

$288,350 and up	39.6% 


Tax Year:  2008	

Filing Status: 	Married

If your taxable income is between... 	your tax bracket is:

$0.00 and $16,050 	10%

$16,050 and $65,100	15%

$65,100 and $131,450 	25%

$131,450 and $200,300	28%

$200,300 and $357,700	33% 

$357,700 and up  35%

So, the bottom line is this: Sen. Obama and his supporters have been revising their threshold of success...$250,000/year, down to $200,000/year. Sen. Biden then burped $150,000/year and this past weekend, Gov. Richardson uttered $120,000/year.

Folks, Sen. Obama's campaign has been run nearly flawlessly. There is no way this is people coming "off message"...

You can mark these words: If Sen. Obama gets elected, he will revise his stance on taxes yet again especially if Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Reid have their way. Sen. Obama himself has stated this on the record. It literally will be a President Carter over again...remember how well that went?

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[MikeForsythe 0]

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Desparation is having to use The Washington Times (prop. Sun Young Moon) as your source of propaganda.

Really? So other than my typo that should have read $150,000 are you saying that Biden did not say $150,000? If so, you might want to watch THIS

Time and pressure will always show you who a person really is!

[billvon 2,990]

No Bob the Builder or Oscar the Grouch? I'm disappointed. How can we decide anything in this election without Oscar the Grouch?

[kallend 2,026]

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Desparation is having to use The Washington Times (prop. Sun Young Moon) as your source of propaganda.

Really? So other than my typo that should have read $150,000 are you saying that Biden did not say $150,000? If so, you might want to watch THIS

McCain said you have to make $5M/year to get out of the middle class - did he mean it?

McCain couldn't remember how many houses he has - was it just a slip or is he senile?

McCain called himself "The Deregulator" and then called for more regulations - which did he mean?

You are building a house on quicksand if you want to follow that mode of attack.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[grimmie 186]

What a load of crap! Here is "Rich the Firefighter" story...

What John McCain doesn't tell the American worker is that he is anti labor AND anti union. He wants everyone in a pension plan currently to go to a "Defined Contribution Plan". So instead of paying for years into a pension fund and recieving a monthly pension, he would like you to put you retirement money into a 401k. He flew out to California on his own dime and stood with our fearless leader "Ahnold" in 2005. He was all for taking my pension, my medical benefits and other benefits away from thousands of employees.
Nice move for a guy that has a Navy and soon to be Congressional pension. You give up your gravy train first there John, if it's breaking the bank. Why was he all for breaking up my retirement fund? Because the state wants to raid it to balance the budget. It happened once before under Pete Wilson.
So for every "Joe the alleged Plumber" and "Cory the driller", I can come up with a hundred other occupations McCain would like to screw over!

http://www.iaff.org/Events/08Convention/081408ObamaEndorsement.aspx

[MikeForsythe 0]

The issue here is what is Obama’s position on taxable income this week. If you want to discuss McCain’s position then start a thread on it and we will discuss him there. Do you have anything to dispute the $150,000? Tell me what the official income for tax hikes under Obama is this week.

Time and pressure will always show you who a person really is!

[MikeForsythe 0]

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What a load of crap! Here is "Rich the Firefighter" story...

So what makes you more important than Joe or Cory?

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So for every "Joe the alleged Plumber" and "Cory the driller", I can come up with a hundred other occupations McCain would like to screw over!

100-1, don't you think you are exaggerating a bit there? Oh, and why don't you tell the other side of the story there where McCain does not want to raise your taxes but Obama does.

Time and pressure will always show you who a person really is!

[grimmie 186]

Tax my healthplan as income...Screw him!

No one is saying I'm more important, just stating a position on labor. Such as your all important Cory the driller story.

[kallend 2,026]

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The issue here is what is Obama’s position on taxable income this week. If you want to discuss McCain’s position then start a thread on it and we will discuss him there. Do you have anything to dispute the $150,000? Tell me what the official income for tax hikes under Obama is this week.

Very silly to believe your own propaganda.

www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/there_he_goes_again.html

www.newsweek.com/id/165514

www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/a_new_stitch_in_a_bad_pattern.html

www.newsweek.com/id/166041

mediamatters.org/items/200809280001

ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5huxFz9UzzIQM5OrgZXnhWONwMp6wD94322H80

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[likearock 2]

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Bottom line:

• Obama will be restoring taxes to the levels they were during Clinton's term
• If that rate of taxes was so bad for business, why did we experience one of the greatest economic booms in history during the 90s?
• Quit yer whining.

Senator Obama is lying to you. The growth of the 90s pales in comparison to the 80s and 00s. Easily verified here: http://www.econstats.com/gdp/gdp__q10.htm

There's a difference between responsible economic growth and growth that occurs by mortgaging our future generations. How about comparing the impact on the debt between the 80s, 90s, and 00s? Here's a graphic that might help. If you notice, under Clinton, the debt actually went down as a percentage of the GDP. Contrast that to the 80s, when the debt exploded by that same measure and the 00s, when the debt doubled from 5T to 10T.

It's a lot easier to show economic growth when you transfer all the bills to your grandchildren.

[blueskybug 0]

So are you saying we should Not grow the economy so we can not pass on bills to our grandchildren ? I think that means "paying our own way"...Where have I heard that before ?

[MikeForsythe 0]

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Very silly to believe your own propaganda.

Very silly to quote old sources (that were actually one bad source) that were before they made the changes in their definition of middle class.

Propaganda, no, THEIR own words!

And when you talk about sources don’t bring that silly factcheck crap to the table when it comes to Obama. I guess you forgot to tell everyone how factcheck is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. The same Annenberg that Obama was a part of and has been pounded for their favoritism towards Obama. Barack Obama was a founding member, chairman, and president of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which was also funded by the Annenberg Foundation.

In the end it does not matter, Obama’s own words on video says it all.

Time and pressure will always show you who a person really is!

[kallend 2,026]

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I guess you forgot to tell everyone how factcheck is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. The same Annenberg that Obama was a part of and has been pounded for their favoritism towards Obama. Barack Obama was a founding member, chairman, and president of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which was also funded by the Annenberg Foundation.

That same Annenberg who was a major contributor to Nixon in 1972, who bankrolled Reagan's presidential campaign, was in Reagan's cabinet. That same Annenberg who was a lifelong Republican. The Annenberg that gave $10M to the Reagan Presidential Foundation. Yes, that Annenberg.

Nice of you to remind us all that the "scary" Chicago Annenberg Challenge was funded by a prominent Republican.

You lose that round.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[MikeForsythe 0]

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You lose that round.

Guess again, that was before Obama became the head of it!!!


And there is still THIS that you can’t dispute!

Please keep bumping the thread so that people keep seeing Obama and Biden changing who will get a tax hike, I like it!

Time and pressure will always show you who a person really is!

[kallend 2,026]

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You lose that round.

Guess again, that was before Obama became the head of it!!!


And there is still THIS that you can’t dispute!

Please keep bumping the thread so that people keep seeing Obama and Biden changing who will get a tax hike, I like it!

If you want to keep reminding us of the McCain (R)campaign's lies and distortions, that's fine with me.
Claiming Annenberg's (R) factcheck.org is partisan for Obama just makes YOU look silly.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.