From the time the presidential started almost two years ago, we have been inundated with many candidates, but one by one they have been eliminated and the playing field has been cleared of all competitors except for the Obama team for the Democrats and the McCain team for the Republicans. At least now we know what our choices are.

The one thing that is bothering some people who will vote in November is the fact that we still do not have a really clear picture as to where the candidates stand on many issues.

Throughout the ages countries have used torture of many kinds to try and wring the truth out of spies, traitors, and anyone else who might have knowledge about important matters, especially in the course of a war. Some tortures could eventually bring about the death of the tortured if they did not confess what was expected of them. Then again, some that were tortured would say anything or tell anything just have the torture stop.

Do any of you know about the day our country's water was on fire? If you are my age or older or just a history buff, this day will be in your mind forever. The day I'm talking about is the day Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941.

This was also the day before we entered World War 2. On Dec.8, 1941 our President asked the joint branches of Congress to declare war on the Empire of Japan.

With all the shootings that have been happening all over the world today, the next thing that will come before our nation's government will have to do with our right to bear arms. When any shooting happens it makes these men and women in our government think that to solve these problems is to just take away all rights concerning the ownership of guns.

Do you realize that we kill a lot of people in every war that we had had because of what is called friendly fire? It is a very sad and painful truth about war, and it is sometimes something that can't be helped. This action is usually only used in times of terrible situations and if nothing else can be done.

If a military squad is held down by their enemies and there is no other way out for this squad of men, their leaders will notify their commanders that they will have to put this action into play.

All we, as citizens of these United States, want is to be able to live comfortably with money to spare and not have to worry if things get rough. We all want to be treated equally and fairly without having some strings attached. We want to raise our children as we see fit, not because of this person telling us how or that we can't.

Our rights are being slowly taken from us.

If we voted today who would you vote for? I'm a Democrat and I would have voted for Mrs. Clinton, but now she isn't running. This is the only reason why I'm telling you. If you are a voter then you know that our voting booths are separated, and we vote in secret. Remember this that it is your God-given right to vote and vote we must. Our country is in such bad shape.

Well, we all were wondering when the presidential candidates would begin slinging out the negative advertisements against each other. Would it not be so nice just to have one election of any kind to get to the finish line without having to hear the competitors slinging trash at one another? Is it not much more important for us to hear what things they are planning to do to help this country and the poor pitiful state that it is in?

It never fails that when the finish line draws close, candidates can not seem to help themselves when it comes to dredging up any past scandal their candidate might have been even remotely connected to even if they were not directly involved in any way.

How many times during elections of all kinds do Americans have to listen to and watch political opponents point fingers at each other and make claims about their opponents that may or may not even be true? Americans are sick and tired of all of the back biting and slanderous tactics that politicians use to throw at each other in order to gain ground in there personal campaign no matter what office they are running for.

Are you from the middle class or even the lower class? Do you feel like you are invisible most of the time? Do you feel like everyone wants to be your friend so that they can get something from you or even promise you something so that they can get your vote? In an election year, our classes will set the candidates on fire to get our vote. They will almost promise us the world to give them our votes.

With the election being only one month away, are you sure that your vote will count? With voting machines that didn't work right in the year 2000 to the problem of provisional ballots in the year of 2004, we are once again facing voter registration problems in six states. These states are Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada, and North Carolina with most of these registration problems being connected with the new Democratic voters and a few of them being Republicans.

Do you remember all the fuss that was going on in this country about immigration and all the problems that went along with it? Until this time, did you even realize how many people were in this country illegally? A lot of people knew of some cases where there were a lot of people brought into this country. One place that comes to mind is my hometown in Dakota City, Nebraska.

With our country in so much trouble because of financial mistakes made by these companies, now I see where we have 31 states that are going to ask our government to help them out to meet their budgets. Most are saying that they will have to cut costs with most of these being services for the poor. They are telling us that they will have to cut their costs to hospitals, health care programs for the poor.

Do you remember the last debate that happened here in the state of Tennessee last week when Senator John McCain proposed his plan to bailout homeowners by buying their bad mortgages and then said "no more"? Well, it seems that he changed his mind and now it looks like he will be more generous to financial institutions with it being more costly to us.

Have you ever wondered where our nation's pride went? You used to ask someone about what was the biggest thing that they loved about this country and you could see the fire in their eyes when they would talk about this country.

Now it seems like if you would go around and ask this same question, you might not see this fire as bright. It seems like the spark has all but gone out for some of us because we don't feel like this government is out to help this country or us.

Do you read the papers every day or get on to your computer to check out the world news? If you have you might not read all the news has to offer in the ways of the government and their spending. Our government has gone up in smoke and is now trying to make money appear from out of the air, so to speak. If they can't make enough and find some way to cover this nonexistent money, they will have to ask us to let them raise our taxes.

It does not even have to be asked what is so special about this presidential election when compared to elections in the past. It would seem that the American people are so desperate for a change in our government and leadership, democrats and republicans alike, that they can scarcely wait for Election Day to come around to make sure their vote is cast.

Now our country is at a slow burn as we went to the polls and used our right to vote. It had been at a high burning fire in a lot of people's hearts for the last two years with it coming to a full blaze the last couple of days. Now with everything said and done, we will wait until our new president gets into office to see if we were right. I hope with all my heart that he will be able to do at least half of what he said that he would do for this country of ours.

Have you ever seen the aftermath or damage caused by the military after a war? I haven't, and I hope I never do. I just can't imagine the sights and even the sounds that might be heard in the background after the fighting has moved on. There are buildings that are blown to bits and bodies everywhere. The blood of the dead and dying are everywhere in your sights and even in your mind's eye as you might not be able to sleep because of the damages that you had seen.

For many of us this presidential election was a side of America we have never been able to see firsthand before. This has been the most fiercely fought election process in our time and what a show it was. It really gave us insight on what it is to be American and the real power the people do have when it is put to use in an orderly and determined fashion.