Greetings, one and all, and welcome! Thanks much for joining me, as I sincerely appreciate your interest and support. There’s plenty o’ mail so what say we get right down to it. Let’s check the bag and see what’s up with The Roiling Hundreds.

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n Regarding "The core elements of conservative principals are individual freedom, empowerment, and self determination.": Those are also the core values of liberalism, on which this country was founded.

n Kyle Morgan - Best player in Rushville basketball history. Period.

n I was wondering if any other parents are having trouble receiving their child support payments? We were told to have the money put in our bank accounts or get a debit card. Since this has taken place I have only received one payment. I asked the child support division and they thought it would be deposited every week. My ex has paid the money and the child support division has record of it. Why is my child not getting the money? One payment a month doesn't really cut it and there is no tracking of this money. There are no monthly statements, etc. My ex pays every week and I have no complaints, but how can the child support division keep track of this and how can the parents? Is anyone else having problems with this new system?

n I don't have a problem with helping other countries, but I think we need to help out here at home first. We have homeless people, single parents who can't make ends meet and we have gas and food prices sky rocketing. We have so many Americans without insurance. We are helping out all of these other countries and sending our troops to Iraq. When are we going to help the people in the USA?

n Seems to me that if we have a “licensed” teacher out on medical leave that we would try and fill that position for the time being with another “licensed” teacher.

n A great book should leave you with many experiences, slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it.

n First of all, I want to congratulate the Rushville Lions on an outstanding showing in the IHSAA tournament. The four OT game Monday night was one of the most exciting I have seen — ever. Tuesday night the Lions just didn't seem to have any energy left down the stretch, but I couldn't be more proud of the way they represented themselves, their school and their community.

n For all of you screaming about consolidating the fire departments, are you currently volunteers? I doubt it. I've not talked to one that thinks it's a good idea. Before you spout off about something you don't know about, try joining a department and seeing what is really going on!

n If we were to have a mass demonstration or protest against the inexplicable gas prices, who would we target? Who actually pushes the buttons? No one seems to be able to find out, we just blindly accept the premise that no one is responsible for our plight. Not even the politicians will touch this; the oil companies line their pockets. Has the American spirit died without a whimper?

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Don’t forget to remember to write down your rants, raves, and/or random thoughts and to send them to me. You can do so via the U.S. Postal Service (Rushville Republican, Rants and Raves, P.O. Box 189, Rushville, IN 46173), fax (765-932-4358), e-mail (kevin.green@indianamediagroup.com), through our Web site (www.rushvillerepublican.com – just “add a comment” to any posted story and it’s fair game), or just drop your legibly written comments off here at the office (306 N. Main Street, Rushville).

Until the next time, I’ll leave you with this:

“New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.” — John Locke, British philosopher, 1690.