Category Archives: Commentary

What Do You Call All This?

Commentary Political No Comments

 

It has been nine days since my last visit here- the longest I have yet been away. Lots going on but no excuses. I need to get back to my daily routine. It’s kind of like working out- good to do every day and it winds up making you feel better. Well, maybe.

So much going on in the world and a lot not good for us, for this country.

Did the Russians really shoot down or aid in shooting down the Malaysian jet liner bound for KL? Where is the outrage? Where is the U.S. response to Putin?

For how long will our southern borders remain basically open to all? When will we do anything about it? What problems can we expect down the road from all this?

When will the administration and its taxing Gestapo arm, the IRS, be called to account for what is obvious misuse of power? When will we wise up and neuter or eliminate these out-of-control bureaucracies such as the IRS, the EPA, HHS, DoED, and so many, many others? Why does that power grow unseen and, for sure, unchecked? Why do we allow this and why the hell do we pay for it? Stupidity.

When will Hillary Clinton be prosecuted, not just simply be held responsible, for the deaths of the four Americans in Benghazi? There is not much discussion about her role and responsibility but she is as guilty as if she had been there in person. Maybe she should have been there in person and shared the fear and fate of those sacrificial souls. Shameful. Wicked. Terrifying.

When will this country finally, finally wise up to Obamacare and repeal it and then really, really fix the health care system. So much could have been done, can be done, without such a boat anchor of a bill being passed and implemented. More free stuff, mo’money, and, in the end, no solution to the real problems. Our government at its finest.

When will our free press be free again? When will it return to real journalism, objective and non-political reporting as envisioned as necessary by men such as Thomas Jefferson? At least Pravda had no real option to change.

Will we ever stand up for, and with, our ally, Israel, and recognize the real, real threat that is radical Islam? How many of them are there out there? Is it really radical or just Islam? Do we not see that they see us as bigger devils than they see the Jews in Israel? Talk will not dissuade these people. There is ultimately only one solution- they must be completely defeated before they defeat us- why is that so hard to understand and why does our press not report on this either?

I wonder if our government will ever stop spending like spoiled, rich college students who have an open account with mommy and daddy. Those are the type of kids who just want more and, oh, by the way, hate their parents…but still need them for the money. Can you say the 99%ers? What if the 1%ers just go away you frickin’ idiots? You ain’t really all that smart is ya? Sooner or later it has to end, one way or another.

When will our tax system be revised to something more fair- as in those who don’t pay nothin’ now need to start payin’ somethin’ soon? Simplify it and make it more fair. Stop milkin’ the people that make our economy move, creating jobs and opportunities and actual wealth…not welfare. Welfare is what the government produces.

When will people get off there asses and get off the government teat? More and more people are being made dependent and don’t really seem to mind or realize that if you exist off what is given you will cease to do so when it gets taken away. Simple enough?

Free birth control and free reefer. Money from home so no job needed. No real responsibility. Sure sounds like a lot of college kids I used to know.

Stand up people and fight. Enough. Enough. Enough.

Let (Real) Freedom (Still) Ring

Commentary Personal No Comments

 

I would like to wish a happy birthday to America this day.

I am still very proud to be an American but I must say I am not very proud of what our government is trying to do to her. Indeed, what they HAVE DONE and ARE STILL doing to her.

I am reminded somewhat of what a once-great American company, one where I worked for over twenty years, went through.

Started in the 1920’s in Illinois Motorola became a very good company under its early leadership. It then became an even better company under its second generation of leadership starting in the 1950’s and peaking into the 1980’s when I had the good fortune to be hired there. As the company passed into its third generation of leadership it began to slowly, then more swiftly, fall apart. One can just look at what has happened to Motorola and one can logically assume that can happen to just about any company…and maybe just about any country. Even our own.

The Founding Fathers (I capitalize that with decided purpose) would obviously represent our initial leadership with George Washington at the helm. The second generation yielded Abraham Lincoln of course- no more needed to be said. The third generation began I think with Wilson and while it produced the Greatest Generation they were simply plain folk, as those of them still left would likely tell you. But the leadership passed from Wilson and later on through Roosevelt and Johnson and Carter and has perhaps reached its nadir Under Obama. True there was also Coolidge and Kennedy and Reagan in that stretch as well but all that they might do to slow the slide has been easily overcome by the counter efforts to hasten it. Intentions do not matter; consequences and results do.

I believe that people are beginning to just start to wake up about all that is happening and they are realizing that it is not a good situation we find ourselves in. In fact, it is a very dire situation and one that may not be able to be reversed before much longer.

So I would like to give my country the most special gift that I can.

Sure, I could give money to causes and organizations- and I do- but that is hardly enough. No, what is needed is education so that people can understand what is happening and what the impact all of that might likely be.

I begin with myself and my children- that was long-ago started. I continue with a site like I have here but it is time to go beyond and reach out. Until now this has simply been my own test site and lab and it needs to spin out to much, much more.

I believe that above all else the effort needs to be focused on our young people as is always the case. To teach them all that they are not getting in our schools when it comes to the correct and accurate representation of history and also to instruct them as to how our system was meant to work and how it is now not doing so.

Only with such education at the younger ages might we finally be able to turn the tide.

But right now our government has gained control of our youth in so many ways. It will not be easy to wean them away but with all that I have left in life to give I plan to try.

Will you join me? For yourself and your children? For your country and all that she has been and can still again one day be?

Happy Birthday America and God please still bless our country and give me and others like me, the strength and determination to help promote the changes that simply must be made.

It might not, hopefully be too late.

Freedomerica

Commentary Political Social No Comments

 

It is Thursday and a brand new day in wonderfully brand new world…or at least a country.

It must have been very hard back in the early days, the days when the fight was so very young and vital. I think now to our heroes then, the men and women who struggled so mightily and tirelessly to bring about the change that since then has so brilliantly defined us.

Back then, the few freedoms gained were then held at such a cost. Then so many more secured and, in the end, perpetuated. There seems in these days of victory surprisingly little that remains to secure. We are now indeed free.

Certainly before our heroes were able to achieve there was struggle- at first for the equal rights for women and then later for the equal rights regardless of color or race.   But these were long struggles and ones that many felt were simply overlooked or perhaps sidestepped in the original and outdated constitution of that place. Many said it was due to necessity or perhaps expediency for the need to get things in place but we have always felt that a poor excuse. And so very much was ignored…but not for long.

Things came quicker then.

The right to clean air and a healthy earth. The right for renewable energy sources that do not rape or pollute our kind host. The right for certain religious freedoms for some and the freedom of certain religious restrictions for others. It has been about balance when necessary I suppose.

Perhaps the defining original freedom then became the right to love whoever I choose and to secure that right with the implied bonds of the legally recognized commitment known as marriage. The need for that old institution has of course fallen by the wayside but the right to love or couple with whomever and whatever I so choose had been so fundamentally at the base of our continued progression. It may be restricted at times for health reasons but this is clearly sensible.

And with that expression came also the right to healthcare as defined and administered by our selected government officials and proper agencies. No longer did we have to burden ourselves with the need to choose what was best for us- we are free to have these others choose.

And it is really unnecessary to say that the rights as defined by our founders, especially of course Wilson, Roosevelt, Clinton, Obama and, yes, even Johnson, are now as much a part of our social fabric as is the right to select our wards. A place to live with some food to eat. There was, for a while, those rights to work and gain a sponsored education but it was necessary to deem these unnecessary and free us all to pursue our dreams. No bonds, no worries.

And the freedom from those horrible guns. It is so very reassuring now to know that only the appointed are allowed to be armed. We are all now guaranteed the freedom from worry that we will be shot except in the cases, of course, where it is warranted by decree. And as an added benefit of course comes the reduction of the need for courts and prisons and also from the need to actually formally sentence anyone to death. The decree frees us from such worry.

All that is needed is now provided. And it has been so efficient that what is needed is pre-decided. We no longer have that burden to bear.

There are those who have tried to warn against the system, to misrepresent the situation as “unsustainable; the money will simply have to run out” but they conveniently ignore the fact that the goal has always been to eliminate the need for money. All will be provided and all that is needed is indeed provided. Except of course in the times of shortage. And they might say that those times are occurring more often but, again, they would ignore the fact that the goal is always to eliminate the shortages. There is always a bottom to be gotten to.

But that is truly no matter for the ability to express such lies has been replaced with the right to state the truths as outlined in the annul revisions to the charter.

And those who continue their attempts to speak lies against such truths are justifiably removed. I am sure that the removal is backed by words somewhere but I cannot recall at present where that is recorded but it is certain that it is. That much we have been told.

Life is now so free. Without borders there are no restrictions except in those places which have not yet agreed to remove their own borders. Some have said that those “countries” have gained tremendous power and pose an extreme threat to the world order as seen by those selected but those selected wisely ignore such imagined threats and, here as well, those who speak to the contrary have been removed.

We are now so free. No longer do we have to worry about elections or any such old rituals. The wise have been selected and the wise then select the more wise. It is a beautiful system and should have been implemented so long ago.

We are free and have no worries. We can pursue all that we wish to pursue with the things deemed as needed now provided. We can pursue all that we wish as long as it is not disallowed.

And all that is not disallowed is of course allowed. How can a provided right to such freedom ever be seen as anything but a wonderful thing?

Are we lost?

Commentary Political No Comments

 

I don’t come here as often as I did. Probably because it’s summer and there is a lot going on with the kids at home and all the activity that surrounds that.

But it’s all good. I try to keep a positive outlook on things around here and I know that it is a very tough time for our family for a number of reasons but I think we’ll make it through and out okay. On that I can hopefully lead by example and also just remain calm in most cases. I have covered some of that already.

It’s not all good though with our country my friends and I think that we all know it or at least suspect it. When you find yourself supporting and even defending a particular elected official who you know is not performing or in many cases these days violating his or her office or, worse, violating the law and you are doing so simply because you voted for that person, or because you are of the same political party, or because that person is a certain sex or a certain color then don’t you think there might, just might, be a problem?

It is time for you to wake up America. Seriously. All of what you have is at risk whether you know it or not. It can all be lost in an instant and history is filled with such valid examples.

Why would our government try to keep its peoples stupid and indoctrinated at an early age?

Why would they jump to a defense that always involves not what a person does but how a person is classified- not by any character content but rather by biology or skin pigment or religious affiliation or sexual orientation or any such number of exhausted and exhausting defenses?

Why would our government want to allow so many illegal-entry people to come into this country?

Why would our government want so many people owing it in so many different ways- loans, welfare, disability, unemployment, healthcare…? Why would they want to make it harder for individuals to succeed?

Why is our government allowed to deny responsibility and claim no knowledge of almost every single thing that happens under its purview? How are they not held accountable?

Why do most news and reporting agencies, media networks and outlets, and so-called journalists not report any, repeat, ANY, of this?

Why do our government officials seem to be ignoring, bypassing, and even dismantling our very Constitution?

Why don’t you know what that document contains- what it says and the individual rights and general freedoms it seeks to protect by saying what the government is allowed, and more importantly, NOT allowed to do? If you read and understood any of it you would see some of the real problems and recognize some of these very real threats.

Why aren’t our voters encouraged to become more informed rather than just be told why the other guy, the other party, is so bad and what everyone is trying to take away from you when at the same time they ignore telling you the fundamental freedoms that their own positions and party are destroying on an almost daily basis?

Why aren’t you reading this? Why are you sitting there and playing video games all day long?

Oh, right. Playing video games may be very bad for you but it is very helpful to your government. Reading or learning something of value is just the opposite. Stay dumb, get dead.

How ignorant will you become before you wise up just in time to bow down one final time before the man?

It isn’t very far away I fear. I just wish I could think of a way to show you, to prove to you that all of what I say, and what others say in more depth and detail, is true.

Maybe if I just keep trying I will stumble upon a way. Maybe.

It is Good

Political No Comments

 

Good. Something not bad. Something that helps to promote or advance the general welfare of a person or thing toward a useful end goal. Something constructive or helpful in some way.

Good. Something that we try to teach our kids to be while still striving, throughout our lives, to be the same way ourselves. Something we hope we find in everyone we will encounter and possibly engage with today.

Good is something right, something more than simply beneficial by mere chance alone. Good is promoted, good is pursued. Good is desired and recognized as essential to any society.

Well, almost any society. There are those throughout history which managed to escape good altogether but most of those went far enough to become downright evil. Couldn’t happen here though.

Take our own government for example. It is good, they are good, are they not?

They take from those who have and give to those who have not. And it matters not if those who are diminished earned what they have and it likewise matters not if those who are enhanced are made so without the slightest expenditure of any effort of their own making. It is simply good that those who can make it so do make it so. And it is good for them to have those devoted patrons to depend upon come the Fall.

It is good that we have reduced our international standing, both economically and militarily. The respect paid our country continues to erode and that must be good because it makes those who were so far behind now closer to us. Not through their own speeding up but by our own slowing down. And never mind the more powerful countries who will then edge into the lurch- they mean no immediate harm.

Or so they say.

It is good that our officials can now have us under constant watch and know what we are doing. We remain suspect in all we do while those who would bring us down are treated with all desired respect and essentially left alone.

It is good that those who disagree with the administration do so with the fairly likely assurance that they will be targeted by the mighty IRS. Is there any organization more powerful than that?

And the fact that the Department of Justice continues to cherry pick the cases of lawlessness that they will choose to pursue and prosecute must be good for they say it is so.   Never mind the actual law.

And it is oh so good and just that the Department of State continues to neglect its function and put so many in harm’s way. They seem inept and quite incapable but, at this point, what difference does it make?

We choose to not pursue any sensible path toward energy independence but continue to pursue technologies that cost far too much and yield even farther too little in return. How can that not be good? Some day when we no longer need it we will have it- cheaply and in abundance.

The world moves and so do we. Our largest and most dangerous enemies are granted more and more appeasement, by us, and that, too, is good. If we want them to move toward the leadership spaces we are vacating at an amazing rate then it must actually be very good.

Our good remains intrinsic and personal. It remains good. Focus on legalizing illegal residents within our borders. Perpetuate racism and sexism as catalysts for change regardless of the legitimacy involved. Make gay marriage an inalienable right and a primary focus on all fronts. Allow the federal government to dictate the re-education of our children; to completely control the medical care of its citizenry; to regulate our living based on false assertions of global warming or climate change, all based on indefensible data; to have more people pay no taxes while consuming more and more tax-provided goods and services; to promote the general demise of any decent cultural norms; to promote Islam while denigrating all things Christian; to raise wages where small businesses, and any competition to nationalization of such provided goods and services, can no longer exist; to control the media and all but eliminate objective journalism; to override state sovereignty more and more with each passing day; to vastly and continuously raise our national debt; to take away our right to speak freely and bear arms; to dismantle or completely neuter out very Constitution.

To allow our supposed leader pass after pass on all things of any importance. To allow such a tremendous intellect to time and again avoid any responsibility at all for these things that happen on his watch. How could he possibly know?

How could he possibly not?

In all regards, though, that too must be good or we wouldn’t allow it to happen would we?

 

Responsibilityless

Observations Political No Comments

 

Things may not always go as planned; or hoped; or desired; or as we think that they should if there is a God.

Nope, things often just go. And how we respond to that may just determine who we are and how we will do with our own existence. How we react to the good and how we react to the bad. All responses are telling; all responses serve to mold us and, hopefully, instruct us for how to better respond in the future.

Responsibility is something of a rare commodity as of late. Many of us avoid it, many of us disdain it. Fewer and fewer of our children are instructed on how to accept it. Why is that, have you ever wondered?

I, for one, blame the parents- us. It’s as if whatever our kids do reflects completely on us- not just on us in terms of our ability to raise them but on us as people, the very core of what we are, of who we are. If my son has failed, I have failed; if no son flunks a test, it is me who flunked it; if my son strikes out looking it is me who could not pull the trigger…and I should hang my head in shame. Or, better yet, I can just blame it on someone or something else and shirk and responsibility whatsoever- that saves him and in saving him I am saving myself. Perfect!

But what happens when no one anywhere will accept responsibility for what they do, for what gets done under their watch?

If my kid hits another kid who is at fault? There will be those who take it (the abused) and those who think it is okay or just simply decide they were not responsible for their behavior. Sound ridiculous? Not really. Happens all the time.

Sometimes we can just claim ignorance- we just didn’t know. “I didn’t know Johnny was struggling with his math” (never mind the 3 D’s and 2 F’s he got in his last 5 assignments); “If Billy wanted to pitch he should have said something” (he did, coach, several times, and, like most kids, just finally gave up asking); “You mean my yelling at you was causing problems? I never knew…” (all tears ignored)..

Nothing could have been done to avoid this. I never had any idea. No one is special.   You’ll get your chance. It’s not your fault and it sure as hell isn’t mine. It really wasn’t my decision. There’s nothing I can do about it; there’s nothing you can do about it; there’s nothing anyone can do about it; there is nothing at all that can be done about any of this by anyone at any time…

When responsibility is evicted excuses move in. And before long even excuses aren’t needed any longer. No one is at fault and no one is to blame. So it would then follow that any action, that any activity is completely acceptable. Nothing at all is off limits.

Impossible? Maybe not…

Have you checked out our federal government lately?

After the previous 30 years of so of moving in this direction are you surprised?

Well, I still choose to bring up my kids differently and I hope that somehow it will make a difference- for them and maybe for those whose lives their own touch. Maybe it is not too late to re-inject some responsibility into this world- ourselves, our families, our children, our schools, our communities…

Our government? You can keep the “our” stuff- none of that was my fault.

And No One Answers

Commentary Political No Comments

 

So much is going on and so much is not.

So much needs to be said and there remains so much on which folks should remain quiet.

So many need help and too many do nothing to change that- for others and for themselves.

Many days have sunshine and many have rain. Some are cold and some are warm. Some days the wind blows here without surcease and nothing without weight should be left unattended. Nothing is safe, nothing cannot be blown away.

Some days there is a feeling unlike any that has been felt before and there is hope within that this day should be one of those…for me. But still there remain all the questions.

There are many that I wish to ask and there are many answers I have never been able to secure. Perhaps I have not found the right ones to ask- either the questions or the folks I question. Often I question the ether so should not be surprised when the ether does not answer.

Our government: there is so much that they are doing and so much that they have done and so much of all of that should fall under extreme scrutiny and so much of that even seems to border on the illicit, the unconstitutional, and the blatantly illegal. Why is no one answering the questions put forth regarding these actions and this activity? Why do the American people just sit back and accept all that is being put upon them? When will we all wise up and the rise up to save what is left of the best that there could possibly be?

We were indeed the best at one time. This is what our founders envisioned and planned for accordingly and this is indeed what we once were taught to pursue. Why have we so willingly abandoned that?

Now we just pursue what feels good. Now we just ignore all that threatens us. Is that Nero on the fiddle?

I’m flat this morning and my mind has not recovered from certain things. I am just still troubled by all that is happening all around- immediately around my family and pervasively around our world.

Will we survive? Will we thrive? One thing at a time I suppose.

I ask. Who will answer? Will anyone answer? Will no one answer?

Time Left for Man

Commentary Social No Comments

Utash, Hughes, Jackson & Sharpton

 

I know that the world is changing.  I can feel it and I can see it.  It reveals itself in so many stories from so many sources.  It is inescapable.

I know that the world is changing and I am not smart enough to know into what exactly though it is likely not very good.  I’m not sure that I would want to know even if I could.  Would you?

I see and feel that the world is changing and I know that I am no longer young enough to do much about it.

But is that really true?

I believe that there is a certain amount of goodness and a certain amount of badness in this world.  I call it badness because as a counter to evil the word “good” just doesn’t seem to cut it.  But I believe there are finite amounts of each at any given moment and that while it can be changed it cannot be changed all that much in a short amount of time.  The armies are massed and the battle lines drawn.  The outcome is not necessarily a given though.

Or is it?

I believe that in this day and age the dark forces have been emboldened and are stepping en masse out from the shadows.  And with that stepping out, the forces for good have stepped back in.  The balance has shifted and it has not shifted in our favor my friends.

Doubt this?  Okay.  But rather than attempt to list the reasons why I am right can you simply give me the reasons why I am not?  Please, I’m listening.

Too many good people have just given up.  They have either been worn down or exhausted or just don’t care much anymore.  And with each ounce of good that retreats more than an ounce of bad advances.  I believe that.  Just look at a mob beating as it serves as an easily accessible reminder that you can view more and more often these days.

Just look at what happened to Steve Utash.

Someone who is a better position to provide a comment on what happened has to tell me what that man did to deserve the beating that he received.  In fact, when does anyone deserve such a beating?  And our present and supposed forces for good would, hell, do, openly, loudly, and repeatedly decry such things like the evils of our advanced interrogation techniques and label them disgustedly as torture.  On this other thing though they remain silent.

It is not a black on black crime.

It is not a Latino on Latino crime.

It is not a Latino on black crime.

It is not a black on Latino crime.

It is not a white on black crime.

It is not any of these that receive at least some media coverage, some liberal outrage, or some street marches as led by the spectres portrayed by those long-time players Jackson and Sharpton.

Where, oh where, are those good right reverends in this case?

Silent.  Back in the shadows.  Bad rarely advances to confront bad in cases such as this.

No, this is a simple crime of black on white.  Many blacks on one white.  And no matter what the supposed reason for the reaction it is clear that what happened was an accident and in the process of trying to do the right thing this white man was savagely attacked and is now in a coma.

While there may have been high emotions due to the fact that a young boy was hit by a truck, accidentally, and the group of thugs (can I say that without being considered racist?…okay, so I will call them assailants instead, is that okay?) is it true to say that the man driving the truck was beaten simply because of the color of his skin?

There are different colors of skin in the world are there not?  Or does white skin only count when it is reported as being on the wrong or presently unpopular side of the issue?

If you disagree then that is your right of course.  And you are more than likely a racist in the full and horrible true fashion of the word.  Hate is hate.  Bad is bad.  Wrong is wrong.  Evil is evil.  Don’t matter where; don’t matter who.

So into the midst of all this madness, hatred, and racism steps an older black woman.  And this brave and courageous woman manages somehow to stop the beating.  There are almost no words that can describe my own personal admiration for this woman.  I don’t know what she thinks of white people but I see what she thinks of human beings.

The armies are massed and the battle lines drawn.  From out of the shadows emerges both good and bad, in constant battle for control of this world.  It is bad, it is indeed evil, that is the bolder and lately much more prevalent of the two forces.  And it is winning, I fear, and the good is in retreat.

I read a good bit of history and realize that battles, and ultimately wars themselves, can turn on a single event, can change with the heroic or simple but timely action of the few; or just the one.

How much time there is left for man may well depend on such courage and actions as exhibited by one solitary woman.  I wonder though just how many more of Deborah Hughes’ make-up and mettle are out there, out of the shadows and into the light.  Woman or man.  Black or white.  Rich or poor.  Tall or short, fat or thin, young or old- Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist…   Human.

I wonder.

Chopping the Oak

Commentary Political No Comments

Brendan Eich

 

How dare you?  How dare you propose to exercise what some say is a right to free speech.  Where the hell do you think you are, 18th century America for chrissakes?

You gotta get wise friend.  There are many areas where you best not travel.  Well, I guess that you can go there but you best leave your voice and your thoughts, your opinions and viewpoints, behind.  In fact, don’t just leave them; get rid of them if they don’t line up with mine ok?

Things have a way of catching up to you ya know?  So maybe you didn’t figure anyone would ever find out but we did, we did man.  We never stop lookin’ for slugs like you who think they can hide behind that old bullshit Constitutional crap.  The screen is down man don’t you know it?

When the bullets start flying it sure as hell pays to be on the right end of the gun.  We’re taking aim and we aim to take no prisoners.  All’s fair y’know.  Think I’m kidding?

Hate speech is just that- speech that I hate.  I hate it when you try to speak so just shut up.  And if anything you do or say is something I don’t agree with then we will chop you down.  Who’s we?  We are all those who are not you.  And we hate you but our speech is simply in defense of what you disagree with and, as such, could never be considered as hateful.

Beautiful ain’t it?  We hate what you say or do, express that hate in defense of something that is protected from any speech or actions that we have worked to define as hateful, and then if you try to defend what you said, or your thoughts, or your position, we are able to just simply rack it up as more hate speech.  Game, set, match.  Pardon me while I chuckle at your total ignorance toward the inherent beauty of this new artform.  Folks like you, you’ll never learn.

You don’t get it?  Who cares.

In the end it’s simply the fact that we win.  And if we win then I guess you lose.

You can’t fight it if you can’t win so just get out of the way.

Yeah, okay, we’ll let you resign.  This time anyhow.

Just Kidding, Right?

Commentary Observations No Comments

No Kidding America

 

I fixed the creaking floor.  It’s creaking again.

The navigation system in our expensive new vehicle continues to place the location as off-road and, instead of telling us how to get to where we are going, it keeps trying to tell us how to get back on to the road we are already (and still) on.

There has been another shooting, with deaths, at Ft. Hood.

I heard another white liberal who has spent his life in academia talking about racism again.  He had the support of some high-ranking Democratic officials and some black activists who managed to stray out from their mansions in the suburbs.  I managed to miss the precise nature of the accusation but they assure me it must be true.

At school my kids are learning all about their country.  Correction, all about “their” country.  They learn about how we… screwed the Indians; raped the land; polluted the waterways; shut women out from the workplace and voting booth; exploited the working man; planted the seeds for hatred in so very many countries around the world and are now being served our just dessert; were responsible for just about every war in every corner of the world over the last couple of centuries; immorally treated illegal aliens; unethically pursued the sin of the American Dream; allowed and even aided big business to screw over every single person in the country, again and again and again; obstructed a woman’s right to produce, not produce, or un-produce; denied people of the same gender the right to couple, marry, and assume children; withheld the natural right of healthcare by not allowing everyone to insure regardless the risk or even the need; polluted outer space; allowed far too much free speech in the wrong areas; prevented unions from assuming their natural positions as the only allowed owners of labor; shut minorities out from business and school opportunities; unfairly imprisoned people who have broken the legally and properly enacted laws; and enslaved millions of blacks even 171 years after they were declared emancipated by none other than A. Lincoln.  I love the look in their eyes when they return home after a hard day learning all of this (and maybe just a bit of math and science)- it just bursts out as “God I am so proud to be an American”.  No time for any good stuff even if there was any.

The news media continues to flee from the unfair label of being a “free press”.  Their free use of their freedom of speech to deny the same freedom in others is, what, ironic?

It sure seems to cost a lot of money to win a campaign these days.  But that’s not buying the office, that’s just the way it is.

When I was a kid youth sports coaches managed to teach a little and expect a lot- win, baby, win.  If you weren’t all that good they would cast you off at the end of the season anyway.  Nice to see how much that has changed.

I recently tried to tell a kid that he was responsible for his actions.  I managed to escape hard time but was placed on probation.  One more offense and I’m in deep doo-doo.

The programming on television has never been better.  So much great stuff to choose from nowadays.  Good people with positive messages doing good things 24/7.

People still complain about the money poured into pro sports and yet still go to the games and still buy all of the endorsed products.  And then again complain that the amount of money these guys command is obscene.  Hypocritical of course but still good to know those that complain would never take such an offer themselves if they ever got the chance.

Everywhere I turn I encounter good role models for my kids.  It is comforting to know that there are still so many famous and popular folks who still step up to the plate on this.

Heard that Gwyneth Paltrow (or however the hell you spell her name- ain’t gonna look it up) thinks she has it much worse than the average working mother.  Wonder what her salary is; wonder if she cleans her own house; wonder if she washes her own car(s); wonder if she has a nanny (does she have kids?); wonder if she writes her own checks at the end of the month when the bills come due and it’s time to make meager ends meet.  I’m sure that none of us would want to be her.

White people are the only ones who should ever feel guilty about anything…ever.  Correction, mainly white males.  Correction, mainly white conservative males.  Correction, mainly white conservative males who are married to a woman.  Correction, mainly white conservative males who are married to a woman and dare to have more than one slave-owning, gay-bashing, woman-hating, immigrant-fencing, tree-cutting, job-producing, free-market-promoting, Constitution-supporting, air-polluting, responsibility-bearing, victim-causing, global-warming, fossil-fuel-consuming, income-tax-paying, SUV-driving, nice-house-owning, anti-union, capitalistic, property-tax-paying, personal-freedom-loving, non-socialist, light-skinned, home-grown, home-schooled, fascist, charity-giving, bratty little American kid.  God forbid it is another male and, worse still, possibly a Republican.  Oh the shame.

Do the celebrities who have made a ton of money off of the problems we face think that we don’t see they will lose their allure if ever things got better?  I’m not sure that some of them are not worse than those who cause all the problems.  But rock on.

The government will take care of you always.

The temperature is twenty degrees lower today than yesterday and there is a rumor of more snow in the forecast.

My kids don’t listen like they used to and certainly nothing like I think that they should.  I try to tell them all about life but they keep ignoring me.

I just heard the Dems have another plan to save the country and the Repubs are doing nothing about it.   The Libertarians are plotting how to come in 3rd again.

The price of gas shot up again right after winter ended.

The dogs need to go outside again.

It’s election year again.  Mid-terms.  We can elect more do-nothings and just let them gather in the aisle- no need to cross it and waste all that valuable energy.

This winter was so bad that we now have over 5 major cracks in the driveway.  Never happened before now.  Something else to fix.

Finding it harder and harder to get a good night’s sleep.  Keep waking up and then just end up getting up early.  Every single day.

Will continue to pay property taxes even if the kids go to a private school.  Education in this country has really gotten pitiful.  But we still have the teacher’s unions thank God.

I heard that God is dead.

Have a leak in the wall, likely from the roof, that will need to be fixed when the weather gets better.  Something else to fix.

I’m working out pretty regularly and still can’t drop ten pounds.  And my feet hurt all the time and I have ringing in my ears and I am almost always so tired.

It sometimes seems that the world is closing in around me and my days are now numbered.  These are the bad days and the days when very little seems right.

I believe that our country is dying and there is not much a person like me can do to stop it, to save it for the future, to save it for the kids, for my kids.

It’s dying and no one is doing very much about it are they?

You have to be kidding me.

Are you freaking kidding me?

You gotta be frickin’ kiddin’ me…

No one looks up and no one, for damn sure, ever answers.