Just a Simple Question

How do you say something to someone that you really don’t want to say? Well, you do, but you don’t. What I mean is this: if there is something that you want to talk about to someone, but you don’t know how they will react to it, how do you broach the subject, especially if it isn’t a big deal if you don’t bring it up?

Sometimes I wish my mind wouldn’t work as hard as it does and there are other times when I wish it would work harder. Know what I mean? If my mind didn’t constantly keep those electrical impulses flowing between transmitters and receptors I probably wouldn’t come up with the quandaries that I do, but if those impulses would move faster and more frequently I might just come up with the answers I need without having to ask aloud those questions. Maybe I should have paid a little more attention in psychology class.

Back to the first paragraph and the subject of the moment. Let’s say that you have a friend, someone you care a lot about, that has said, or done, something that is so out of character it makes you wonder where it came from. Do you just let it pass as something that never happened and hope it doesn’t again or do you find some discreet way to question him/her about it? If you decide to question, how do you start that conversation? “Oh, and by the by, did you actually mean what you said/did the other day, or, were you just being funny?” Yeah, that should do it. They would be like, “What the eff are you talking about?”

I can see it now, plain as the nose on my face and the blue of my eyes:

Me: Hey there, friend, did you know that you said/did such and such the other day?

Friend: You crazy? I wouldn’t say/do that!

Me: I know it’s not you but you did.

Friend: I didn’t. What are trying to pull? Screw this… stay away from me.

Me: I swear to God you did. I just wanted to know if you were joking or not. Guess you weren’t.

Isn’t this how the conversation would go? I know it is. So, how do you approach it, or do you? Maybe I should just leave it alone; after all, it isn’t that important really. The Earth won’t come to an end if I don’t find out the answers that I am looking for. It all comes down to an insatiable curiosity and we all know what happened to that bloody cat. Still…

Cryptic, vague and totally insane is what I can be and I strive to not let out any information that might be too personal to anyone, other than myself (and I let too much of that out at times). Most of what I ask is, more than likely, something that someone else has gone through. I would like to tap into that experience and learn from that person. If there is anyone, anywhere, that can help it would be greatly appreciated, even if you’re from Alpha Centauri and have never been to Earth.

This Bud's for You (or You're Doing a Great Job, B.M)

          I have started reading Buzz Malone’s blog. I need to let you know that Buzz and I do not always see eye to eye on things politically, but his blog is one of the most entertaining things that I have read for some time. I have never met him personally so I don’t know him; I do know his sons, Tony and Jesse, who are friends of mine. Not that it is important for anyone to know that small piece of information other than I do know some of his family.

          I guess I really don’t know where I want to go with this post other than to just ramble about unimportant things until something pops into my twisted mind that could, maybe, be of some use to someone. The thought had occurred to me that I was going to make this another political statement, that is where the Master Blogger (Buzz Malone) and I differ; he, the Democrat (Liberal, maybe?) and I, the Independent (Political Conservative, definitely!). I just don’t think that it is to anyone’s best interest to start arguing politics on an entertainment forum (unless that is what you like to do, which I do most of the time).

          What I would like to do is let it be known that, although I am a published author of a work of literary trash that hasn’t done so well in the reading market, Buzz seems to have done a fairly decent job of getting people to read his works (albeit I have not but hear his is MUCH better than mine). He has been posting blogs on Literary Agents and the skirmishes that take place between the unknown author and the set-in-stone-bull rap Agent requirements. It is a bleeding nightmare. To be published is a great thing; to be read is a monumental achievement. Kudos to a local writer that has a following of his work.

          I know that Buzz’s blog is one of the most entertaining things that I have read for quite a while. He is funny, informative and, at times, downright insightful; all in a forum that is easily read and understood. I should probably take lessons from him on how to keep it simple. (I do tend to wander a lot and use language that most people don’t.) This is not supposed to be an advertisement for his blog or a way to endear myself to him; this is just a way of me telling people that actually read that there is a blogger out there that isn’t serious all the time and has something that is worth reading. I guess it could be called an endorsement if I were a famous writer such as JK Rowling or Stephen King. Alas, I am just a lowly unknown that has been privileged enough to have his story published, in paperback form, and is available to anyone that really is hard up for a good story that is written badly.

          Buzz, this Bud’s for you! Keep up the good work and never, ever give up the battle to get out there to the masses. For what it’s worth, you have my utmost support and good wishes.

I Just Want You to Know Who I Am

          Iris by Goo Goo Dolls… a song that I have heard several times and liked the lyrics of even though I wasn’t quite sure what it all meant. As I was listening to YouTube today I heard it as a soundtrack for something and decided to look up the lyrics.

And I'd give up forever to touch you
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
'Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

          

          Some of this is, of course, self-explanatory. I think the problem I have is not what the words are actually saying, but the meaning behind them. What, exactly, was the writer trying to say? Think about that. I mean, does the world actually understand anyone who is different than what the world seems to deem ‘normal?’ Every human being on the planet is different in one way or another and even I, who has spent a lifetime studying the human race, find it hard to understand a lot of what people do and say.

          “When everything’s made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am.” Everything today is made to be replaced. Most cars made today are meant to be traded off within three years; after that, they start breaking down. The days of quality over quantity are over and throw-away is the name of the game. What I can’t seem to get through my thick skull is what does getting to know who he is got to do with a throw-away world? Is he referring to the throw-away relationships where the two are in it just for the sex and don’t care who their partner really is as long as they are a sexy beast?

          The last verse is probably the best one as far as I am concerned. There is so much truth in those statements. The way I am interpreting this verse is: The emotional roller-coaster that most kids are on these days makes it to where they don’t want to cry but they can’t keep from the feelings that need to come out. As for the ‘moment of truth in your lies…,’ every lie does have its’ moment of truth where the lie just doesn’t keep up. I could probably write page after page on just this one verse, but I won’t bore you with that.

          The last two lines, ‘when everything feels like the movies yeah you bleed just know you’re alive…’ Wow! What more truth could anyone speak? Think about this; the whole world is hooked on fantasy lives through movies, the telly, YouTube, etc. We can’t handle reality so we go into that world of make-believe by watching movies, playing video games, soap operas, etc. We don’t live in reality. When the mood strikes we peek out of our make-believe world and, as the line says, we make ourselves bleed just to make sure we are still living in the real world.

            Music makes the world go round and without it, this earth would be one boring place. I grew up in the 60s, 70s and 80s, a time when anti-war songs were the popular thing with teens, through disco and the advent of acid rock. Now days, music is making another turn of the cycle and my kids listen to Screamo and hip-hop/rap and some stuff I have not a clue as to what they call it. It’s nice to find that there is real music still being made that you don’t have to have the lyrics in front of you to actually know what is coming out of the singer’s mouth.

          This song just happens to be one that I enjoy listening to that is ‘new’ to my generation. It’s not AC/DC, Metallica, Styx or Queen, but it is good music. Do yourself a favor, open up a new tab, go on YouTube or Spotify or whatever other music site/service you use and just sit back and listen to some good music. Try something different from what you are used to. My Mexican sons have played the Screamo and rap and all that for me from time to time and, even though it gives me a headache, I listen just to keep in touch with them. In Fear and Faith has a song called Enigmatic that is all piano-from a screamo band! Kingdom Hearts has some of the most beautiful music I’ve heard for some time-from a video game, no less!

         So sit back and enjoy some peaceful time. Put in your earphones and block out the world, go to your music service of choice and play it, man, just play it. Relax and unwind and live in their world for a time.

     Ciao, baby.

Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll

     Zeus and Ganymede- do you know the story? In a nutshell Ganymede was the most beautiful boy on Earth and Zeus fell in love with him, snatched him away from his home and took him to Olympus where he served mead to the gods. Needing to protect the boy from his jealous wife, the god placed him in the heavens as the constellation Aquarius where he still resides in the night sky.

     Pretty fascinating stuff that Greek mythology. As with all mythologies, the Greeks had to have some way to explain things that they did not understand or to, I don’t know, maybe justify the things they did in their personal lives. The ancient Greeks were known for their open sexuality and from what I have been told by a few Greeks, and doing some research, most of the men are bi-sexual and a lot of the women like anal sex as a way of contraception.

     As for the boys liking boys, it was an honor for a boy to be chosen by another male and there was actually money and gifts involved to the chosen one. To deny the ‘suitor’ was to dishonor him and to not be chosen by a certain age was a dishonor. Strange culture back then, about three millennia ago.

     I don’t know if the Greek culture still does this or if that was something that passed away with time. It does not really matter. That is not the point of this post. Ancient Greek stories and customs are just the stepping stone to another controversial post that someone will get upset over.

     Okay, on with the information. It wasn’t just the Greeks that like both sexes. The Romans, also, had their little quirks when it came to sex. Caligula was probably the most famous, thanks to the movie that was made about him, but it wasn’t just this Caesar, it was several of them. That was one of the reasons the Roman Empire fell. They became too decadent and complacent, becoming more and more hedonistic instead of watching over that vast empire.

     Sodom and Gomorrah were supposedly destroyed by God, Himself, for being this way. That is where we came up with the word ‘sodomy.’ This brings me to the point I wanted to make. For over two hundred million years the Earth did pretty much as it pleased. As the solar system formed and the Earth and moon separated and became what they are now, all was as nature intended.

     Now, if you believe in the Holy Bible, which is great, at least you believe in something, then you probably believe the Universe is somewhere around ten to fifteen thousand years old, twenty thousand tops by my reckoning of the Bible’s timeline. I am not judging you for your belief. Not at all. Science has dated rock back millions, even billions, of years, three or four ice ages have passed and the Earth has changed at least that many times. But…

     The Bible says different. The Bible does mention the Romans and Caesar, but no mention of the Greeks, or the Celts for that matter. It is strange how in just a few millennia that a very young religion can change so much. How Christianity can dictate values and morals, laws and punishments and how an entire planet can be consumed by it so quickly is beyond me.

     Celtic mythology is over fifteen thousand years old and is still around today. Norse mythology is about the same. The Greeks were around for a couple of millennia as were the Romans. Christianity powered its’ way throughout the world forcing all other religions aside.

     There have been more wars and more death because of Christianity than any other religion, or any other reason for that matter. It is also the only religion that seems to force its’ way into people’s lives. Paganism does not force its’ way into anything. Tolerance and acceptance of differences is its’ basis. The Christian faith is what changed the world from the old ways to what we have now. Back then, as long as no one was harmed, so bit it. Now, if it’s fun, it’s a sin and your soul will burn in hell if you do it.

     The Pagan gods are not jealous, nor restrictive. They watch over the earth and take care of her. People take care of themselves unless they ask a particular god for something, then Zeus, Odin, Mars, Tyr, Frig, Venus, Persephone or whatever god/goddess it is may help out. Maybe, if it strikes their fancy. Hmmmm, just like the Christian God; He may, or may not, help for whatever reason some preacher comes up with.

     It was Christianity that made everything bad. You can’t eat this or that, you can’t do this or that, you can’t believe this way or that or you will spend an eternity in a pit of all consuming fire. Really? God is a jealous god and we are not to have any other before Him, even our children. Don’t worship idols; does that mean we can’t have pictures? Even the Christians break that one by worshipping the Cross, the symbol of death. The Catholics worship their saints and the Virgin Mary. Does this mean they are all gonna die and go to Hell? I hope not, my mom is one of those people.

     I do have to say this though- the Bible has some good guidelines to live by; don’t steal, don’t kill, honor your mum and dad, don’t lust after anyone’s wife and things like that. A lot of it, though, is rhetorical B.S. I prefer the pagan way of harm none and what you put out comes back threefold; tolerance and understanding of other beliefs and a respect for life, all life.

     Boy, did I get on my soapbox this time! Started out with sex and ended up on religion. So like me. I’m surprised I didn’t change subjects more than I did. When Mi Hijo and I have discussions they run like this, starting out on one thing and the go through about a dozen without missing a beat. We know what we’re talking about, but for anyone else to try to keep up-good luck with that.

     I would like to make a note here on one important topic; IN NO WAY AM I TRYING TO CONVERT ANYONE TO MY WAY OF THINKING. I have my beliefs and you have yours. If you decide to change your core values and beliefs that is up to you. I do not try to change anyone’s mind. All I do is try to get people to open their eyes and see all sides of a topic. It doesn’t matter if it is politics, religion, sex or the New York Yankees… you keep right on thinking the way you do. All I ask is that you consider all the information that is put into that mind full of mush (as El Rushbo would say) and then make up your own mind.

Facebook: The Gods' Gift to Humanity

     I want to try something different for this post. I am so prone to write cryptic, serious posts that have a message that I want to get across and forget that there is more to life than that. What I want to do is some actual literary trash that means nothing but giving some entertainment. So, here goes. Imma gonna give it a shot!

     Facebook, the social network that isn’t very social will be the topic. Come on, you know you’re addicted to it. You get up in the morning thinking, “Damn it! I’m late for Facebook.” We all go through it, even yours truly. I get up and immediately check my FB for new comments from friends and people I don’t even know. Then I check my email to see if FB sent me anything that I didn’t catch on the newsfeed. Pathetic isn’t it?

     I saw a post not too long ago that asked this question: If someone from the 1950s was to suddenly appear today, what would be the hardest thing to explain? The answer: I have a device, in my pocket, that I can access the whole of human knowledge and I use it to look up pictures of cats and argue with people I don’t know. HOW TRUE THAT IS! I, myself, don’t look up pictures of cats.

     You may ask why I said that FB is not very social. I got a message from them a while back that said that I had tried to add people I didn’t know as friends so I was blocked, for a week, from adding people. A social network that denies people the act of being social. Wow! Really? How can I be social if I don’t add friends?

     I don’t know why they did that. I haven’t tried to add anyone for months. My daughter told me that it was probably from someone that I had sent a request to long ago that denied even knowing me. That was probably a family member that would prefer not to claim me. I don’t try to add people I don’t know personally, but will add them if they send me a request. Funny how that works….

     I get all the gossip I need on Facebook. I find out things about my friends that I wouldn’t even guess at. I see people get together, break up, get with someone else then break up with them, all on Facebook. Some people should just keep their relationship status as: Its’ Complicated instead of changing it every other day from In a Relationship to Single and then back. It would save a lot of time.

     I also find out interesting facts about people’s personal lives; like some people like cats while others like dogs and there are those that hate broccoli. All of this posted as their status. Oh, yeah, and then there are those statuses that make no sense whatsoever. You’ve read them, I know you have. You may even have posted one. Things like: ‘STFU…’ or ‘U b a ho,’ or maybe ‘u no who u r an i gonna kill u.’

     The thing that I like the best is that when people post things on Facebook grammar and spelling don’t matter to them. It’s like they totally forgot everything their English teacher taught them. Punctuation doesn’t exist and it takes a two year old to understand the ‘simplification of words’ into some form of code that only pure FB geeks can understand. Those of us that are ‘older’ are even doing it more and more. Mrs. K would be appalled at what is written on FB most of the time.

     Then there are the cats. Kitteh this and cat that. Cute kittens and ugly cats, cats in weird positions with captions that make it humorous, cats being human in the way they are dressed and the accoutrements they have. Wow… I didn’t realize that there were so many people that loved cats so much. (I like dogs, myself.) Post after post after post of cats and kittens in all sorts of situations doing things no honest cat would even consider. I know the few cats that I have had in my life would rather die a horrible, painful death than be put in some of those pictures.

     You have the motorcycle lovers, horse lovers, cowboy lovers, tattoo lovers, big boobs, boys, girls, emo, alternative, gay and lesbian, Conservatives and Liberals, those into politics and those that couldn’t care less, all within the ‘social community’ of Facebook. If there is something out there in the world that is of interest to even one person on the planet, you can find it on Facebook and it will be posted as a status for the world to see, unless you have your profile set to ‘Private.’ Then only the people you want to see you can.

     My profile is open to the public, after all, I am not hiding from anyone and I really don’t care who sees it. I understand when an underage person (child for those of you from Chariton) that isn’t really old enough to have a Facebook profile anyway puts theirs to Private. We wouldn’t want any unsolicited pervert contacting you at all, even though you should be old enough to know not to trust anyone online if you are old enough to put your life out there on a ‘social network.’ Isn’t that what ‘socializing’ is? Getting to know people that you didn’t know previously?

     To be honest, and I try to be, I don’t know but about a quarter of the people I have has friends personally. I have become ‘online’ friends with several people from around the country and the world but have never met them in person. That is the great thing about the internet; you can meet people from anywhere. Isn’t that what a ‘social network’ is for? Facebook thinks you have to know the person to add them as friends. Yep, the ‘social network’ that isn’t very sociable because you have to know them before you add them.

     I guess I can stop now. I have made a lot of comments, both good and bad, about a site I use daily. With all the humor, arguments, relationship changes, totally useless things and information that is posted on Facebook it is probably one of the most entertaining sites I have found. Keep it up Facebookers. In a hundred years people will look back at this and laugh at how idiotic we all were back in the early 21^st Century that we had to tell the world every little aspect of our lives no matter how trivial or how important. Thank the gods of Valhalla there is a place we can go to voice our little opinions to a world that doesn’t care. Viva la Facebook! 

The Eagle and the Hawk

     “I am the eagle I live in high country, in rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky. I am the hawk and there’s blood on my feathers, time is still turning they soon will be dry. All those that see me and all who in believe in me share in my freedom I feel when I fly. Come dance with the West wind and touch on the mountaintops. Sail o’er the canyons up to the stars. Reach for the heavens and hope for the future and all that we can be, not what we are.” John Denver, The Eagle and the Hawk lyrics.

     Think about what John is trying to say here. If you see the video it makes a lot more sense than just reading the lyrics. Imagine yourself flying through the canyons of the Rocky Mountains, soaring up into the sky then back down towards the valley below. The sun shines over the land through sparse high clouds, just wisps of white in a blue sky. The freedom that is yours to have with no restraints is exhilarating. But, the last line is the one that I want to talk about.

     “Reach for the heavens and hope for the future and all that we can be, not what we are.” Think about this really hard. I don’t mean, “Oh, yeah. I get it. If ya try for the stars ya won’t come up with mud.” What I want you to do is to actually THINK about what Denver is saying here. Throughout the entire song he is talking about freedom and what it would feel like to have absolute freedom from everything. So, if we reach for the heavens and have hope for the future, maybe, just maybe, we can become more than what we are.

     Buzz Malone has a great blog where he talks about past things (especially since he just turned the big 40) and how things have changed with time. Not just that, he has a lot of good posts that are well worth reading but, he also looks back to where we came from to where we are now. I would like you to continue that and imagine where we can be in the months, years and decades to come. Will we be the free people that we have been in the past or will we become the slaves of a tyrant? That tyrant could very well be ourselves. Freedom is not free, that is the part about the ‘blood on my feathers’ in the song.

     What does it take to get where we are going and where, exactly, are we going? I really don’t know. I have dreams and hopes for humanity but I also have my fears and misgivings. I want to reach for the stars, dream of a future that is as free as the eagle and the hawk, soaring above the mountains in a crystal clear sky. I want to dance with the West Wind while living a life without care. Will it happen? Who knows? I know that with a simple blog, one man can make a difference. For good, or bad, one voice can change the world.

An Important Lesson Learned

     Today’s post is on a very important subject, not that all my subjects aren’t important but, this one is probably more so than most. Please, read on to find out.

     Last night was not a good night for a couple of friends of mine. Both of these boys are under the legal age to consume alcohol but, boys will be boys and they were inebriated. Actually, if you think about it that, in itself, is not really that bad. Underage drinking is a recurring theme across America whether we like it or not. It doesn’t matter how much the government, the parents, the schools, churches or anyone else warns kids about the dangers of drinking period, much less driving while under the influence, those kids are going to consume that fire-water and ale.

     These two boys, in their drunken state of mind, decided to drive to Casey’s to get something to eat. Mind you, knowing that kids will drink regardless of warnings, I have told innumerable kids that IF they are going to do it, STAY WHERE YOU ARE! Don’t get behind the wheel of a vehicle. I don’t want anything to happen to anyone because of someone else’s stupidity. So, knowing the warnings, knowing the danger, knowing that they could get caught and into trouble with the law, they drove the eight or ten blocks from where they were to Casey’s, for something to eat… You gotta be kidding me! There wasn’t something they could munch on in the cupboard?

     Back to the story: On the way back, the owner of the vehicle was not driving and his friend ran his truck into a tree, thereby totaling, or at least making inoperable, a perfectly good vehicle that didn’t belong to him. Thank the gods in Valhalla that no one got hurt. The only damage was the truck and the tree. The bad part was that the driver ran. Yep. He ran and left the owner to take the fall for him. Why, you ask? Because he would go to jail for drinking. The owner took the blame and ended up in jail overnight. A person with an unblemished record, never been in trouble at all.

     Now, loyalty is a good thing. You should be loyal to those friends that deserve it. Did this kid deserve the loyalty that the vehicle owner showed him? Not at all. Why? Because he ran. He left his comrade to fall just so he wouldn’t end up behind bars. That is a low-life not worth the time of day. His friend, who had never been in trouble, could have, possibly, ruined his career, therefore, his aspirations in life.

     Fortune prevailed and good sense came to the driver, though. He turned himself in and let the local constabulary know that it was he, not the owner, that was driving and, at this time, the charges have been dropped on the owner. This is, however, Chariton “Black Hole,” Iowa and Chariton Law. I hope, beyond all things, that he does not get charged with anything. He doesn’t need that on an unblemished record but, he was inebriated in public, he allowed someone inebriated to operate his vehicle and therefore was in the wrong, also.

     There are two points that I am trying to make here. Point Number One: If you are going to be drinking, doesn’t matter if it is one beer, one shot or a case and a fifth, do not, under any circumstances, get behind the wheel of a vehicle. Stay where-ever you are and don’t leave. You are protecting yourself and others by doing this. If you stay where you are you are not only keeping yourself from being arrested if caught but could be saving someone’s life.

     The second point I want to make is this: Loyalty is earned, not given. It is good to be loyal to your friends, expected even. But, if you give someone loyalty you damn well better be sure that person deserves it. In the story above I honestly believe the loyalty was misplaced. The driver ran, for gods’ sake. That shows that he would leave a comrade in time of trouble. Granted, he did do the right thing and turn himself in after the fact but, that does not make up for his running and leaving someone else to take the blame for his screw-up. How is the owner going to replace his vehicle? I believe the driver is going to be going to jail for some time because this was a parole violation. So here is the owner, without a vehicle, being arrested for something he didn’t do. Is this someone who deserves loyalty? He would have to work damn hard to earn it back.

     Don't get me wrong, both of these boys are friends of mine. I think the world of both of them. I do, however, realize that one is going places and the other is going to stay here in Chariton and live the life of a Charitonian, which isn't exactly that upscale. Does this one have potential? Of course he does. It's a matter of whether he will take that potential and exploit it or leave it to wither and die on the vine. Only he has control over that. It's the choices we make in life that make us who we are. It isn't our environment or the way we were raised. Each and every one of us has the choice to do good or bad in life.

     I know that I have been hard on the driver here while not being so hard on the owner. Believe me when I say that both of these boys were in the wrong. My topic was drinking and driving and loyalty, not to be the judgmental arsehole that most believe me to be. I wanted to make a couple of good life lesson points here and I think I did. These boys both know me well enough to know that they will not be able to use their delicate derrieres for a while once I am done chewing on them when I see them next. 

     Will Owner still be friends with Driver and still be loyal to him? Of course he will; that is just the way that man is. I would expect nothing less from him. It is just my general observation that he probably should re-evaluate his priorities when it comes to Driver. But, alas, I know him too well and know that no matter what, they will be comrades-in-arms until the day they pass from this life to the next. Once, again, that is just the way things are, not to be challenged lightly or changed easily. That is what being loyal to a friend is.

Honesty Is Such a Lonely Word

     Honesty. It’s such a simple word. It is much easier to be honest than to lie about anything. If you lie, you have to remember that lie and who you told it to. If you are honest, there is no worry about that. So why is it that everyone has to lie about so much?

     There are some people that will tell a lie so many times that they actually start to believe it as the truth. For generations mankind thought that the world was flat and if you sailed too far you would fall off. Really? Now, I understand that we were a very young and naïve people at that time but, common sense should tell a person that you can’t just fall off a planet. I could be wrong on that presumption, and I probably am, but still, me being the 20^th century person that I am I cannot understand any differently than I do. I did say 20^th, not 21^st, for a reason; I haven’t entered the 21^st century yet.

     Back to my topic: honesty. If people were honest instead of the lying, back-stabbing rumor-mongers that they are, the world would be a much better place. Politicians wouldn’t get elected that want nothing more than power, innocent people wouldn’t be incarcerated, or executed, for crimes they did not commit. Corruption wouldn’t exist because those that are corrupt wouldn’t have to be or they would be replaced by someone who wasn’t. Yes, if people were honest the world would be better off.

     The problem with that is that people aren’t honest. It seems to be ingrained into the human psyche to be dishonest and deceitful. It seems as though people have this inherent need to talk behind other’s backs, to lie to get what they want, to be corrupt, greedy, vain and hedonistic. People seem to need to downgrade by lying and rumor-mongering (a form of dishonesty) against others to make them feel better about themselves. People have to be intolerant of others because of differences then lie about those people.

     How about some examples? The Liberals vs. the Conservatives is a good one right now. Liberals are telling lies about what the Conservatives are saying and doing and the Conservatives are doing the same about the Liberals; and no one is willing to call either one of them out on their lies. The Muslims believe that the West is full of infidels and are the evil of the world (not that we aren’t in some ways) and the West is saying the same about the Muslims. There again, no one is willing to get to the bottom of anything because our respective governments are lying to us about everything. Lastly, every day, there is someone telling tall tales about someone else just to get them into trouble or destroy their lives.

     If King Obama was to be totally honest with the American people we would impeach him and throw him to the wolves, along with most of Congress. If ANY politician would be honest during their campaigns and then during their term of service, the country wouldn’t be divided against each other and most of those politicians wouldn’t even get close to being elected. I can say this about the King: he told us all, in his first campaign, what he wanted to do. He told us that he wanted to change the face of this country. He was honest in that respect, the people of this country just didn’t listen to what he was saying.

     If G.W. Bush would have been honest about Iraq and why he wanted to go back to war with them, would we have? Probably not. I don’t think that this country really would want to go to war against another country just for oil (which is why, in my opinion, we did not because of any terrorist act against this country). If the government was honest with the people I think we would have changed it out a long time ago. Why did G.H.W. Bush bomb Bagdad for three days and nights in 1990? It wasn’t to free Kuwait from Iraqi control. It was to free up the oil fields for us.

     Right now, with the Obama Administration fighting so hard to disarm America, would there be all these mass killings that are being mis-reported? Would the government cover up a lot of what they do to get what they want? Not if they were honest. I understand that there are some things the government cannot be forth-coming with or honest about when it comes to real national security but, most of what goes on inside the borders of this country should be totally transparent and open to the people. But, dishonesty and deceit are the name of the game.

     On a more local, personal side of this topic there are the innumerable times that some guy will go to a girl and tell her anything, anything at all, just to get down her pants. Girls will go to any length to keep some guy or destroy his life if they break up. If there was honesty, none of that would happen. My son, Mi Hijo, is as honest as they come. He will tell any girl that he will hurt them. If I can borrow a phrase from Zero Dark Thirty: I am bad news. I am not your friend. I will not help you. I will destroy you. Now, he isn’t that bad. He is one of those types that every girl should want. He is honest, kind, caring, a hopeless romantic and will do anything for anyone. The problem is this: he is a twenty year old guy that likes sex. Imagine that! He is true and loyal but he is also very particular. If a girl lies to him, he’s gone. He will be brutally honest with you and will do his very best to make you into the best you can be, whether you want to or not; therein lays the part that he will hurt them. He knows what he wants and if you can’t give it to him he will go elsewhere. He tells them that, what they do with it is up to them.

     Let’s get down and dirty now. How about those people that have to spread lies about someone because they don’t like them or because they are mad at them? I am the subject on this one. I have had my hometown turn against me because of lies. Rumor-mongers spread around that I am a dope-smoking, drug dealing alcoholic. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am subject to random drug tests because I drive a truck. I would lose my vocation if I got caught with drugs in my system. I don’t have money so I can’t be a dealer, unless I’m smoking or snorting up my profits which I can’t be because of my job so that lets that out. As for being an alcoholic- I drink a few occasionally. No one sees me inebriated because if I drink, I drink at home and don’t leave. The rumor-mongers, the liars, have gotten a whole town to believe that I am what I am not and no one is willing to even talk to me about it. Why should they? I am bad news and no one should even talk to me and, of course, I would lie about it if asked.

     I opened a gift store on the square, priced everything to save people money and tried to carry things that the people of this town would drive to Des Moines for. Saving money two ways: cheaper pricing and don’t have to waste gas. The liars, the rumor-mongers, spread that I opened a head-shop. Really? Candles, figurines, jewelry, incense, new age books and CDs are all things that are drug related. The only thing I carried that could be used as drug paraphernalia would be some tobacco pipes, rolling papers and cigarette rollers, priced cheaply because this town, this county, is extremely poor and a lot of people roll their own smokes. Yet, I opened a head-shop and no one, not one of these liars, would come in so that I could prove I was not what they said I was.

     Honesty would have kept my store open and probably saved a lot of people a lot of money. But, there again, people are not honest and people are not kind and people want to hurt others to make themselves feel better. Honesty is such a lonely word, but mostly what we need from everyone. Will anyone take this post to heart and even try to be a little bit more honest? I doubt it very much. It goes against the grain of most people to be honest. They act like they want to be, they say they are, they demand it from others when it would hurt them to be dishonest but, they can’t be honest themselves. Such a sad state of affairs and I wish to the gods in Valhalla that I could understand why it is so hard for people to be honest.

Questionnaire Page

I am posting this as a place for comments on a big question that I have. Are you a Liberal? Can you explain, fully, how and why you believe the way you do? I put up a page (Questionnaire) explaining my intent on this question. Please feel free to check that out, but, in a nutshell: I want to be able to understand the opposing viewpoint. I, of course, am a political conservative, social moderate and far-right fiscal conservative. I, hopefully, can explain why I believe the way I do to where anyone could understand it. Hopefully.

What I ask is that you don't just pick one topic and go off on a tirade. Isn't that what Facebook is for? Discussion leads to understanding and argument leads to war. Let's discuss so that everyone can understand the other side. This is one country divided by a two party system that is failing miserably. If we could understand each other then, maybe, we could get our country back from those that would take it away from us.

Please, help me out. Let me know where you stand and why. When I get enough responses to make an educated presentation, I will post what I find. Both Red and Blue, equally.

You can email me at: evans.jayd@gmail.com or message me on Facebook, just search for JDEvans and the one with the old fat Scot as a profile picture would be me or you could do it the really easy way and just comment here on my blog. Thanks for your help and support. Oh, by the by, pass this on so that I can get as many responses as possible.

The Wisdom of Nicolas Flamel

     To those that actually know me, the realization that my interests are varied would be an understatement. Science fiction, fantasy, history, religion, politics, mythology and a myriad of other topics are a constant source of entertainment and enlightenment to me. My ‘adopted’ son, Julian, and I are constantly discussing the worlds we live in. By ‘worlds’ I mean the different places in history and mythology that have existed both literally and in the minds of mankind. Rarely do we discuss the present as that is a place that is in total chaos and is insufferable to a logical mind. When we do navigate the intricacies of today the historical aspects are always brought into play. After all, history repeats itself.

     This morning I was surfin’ the ‘net and realized that one person in history that I had not researched at all, other than to discuss his importance to the Harry Potter series, was Nicolas Flamel. Julian and I have discussed this man a few times but I never really researched his life. I found a treasure trove on one site: A Detailed Biography of Nicolas Flamel by Reginald Merton. I was amazed at the humility of a man that was supposed to be a legend. Flamel was a real historical figure in France. He was an alchemist. What his profession was is a little less interesting: a bookseller.  Wow! The man that allegedly possessed the ‘fictitious’ Philosopher’s Stone was a bookseller.

     According to Merton, Flamel was obsessed with immortality, alchemy and a book by a man known as Abraham the Jew, which he possessed through sheer chance but could not translate. He was obsessed with the desire for enlightenment and knowledge and this book contained it all if he could only understand the hieroglyphs it contained. He went to Spain to seek out a Jew that could help him (Jews had been driven out of France at this time). He found a man that helped him with the few pages he had copied and they decided to return to France to finish the job with the total book.

     As I said, Jews were banished from France at this time so the man converted to Catholicism so that he could travel to Flamel’s home. Unfortunately, this poor soul did not make the trip alive, dying and being buried in Orleans. Flamel continued on and translated the rest of the book, alone, with the knowledge the old Jew had given him. He learned the science of transforming metals into gold and did so, according to Merton, only three times in his lifetime. He detested the thought of having money but used it to contribute to the homeless, the poor; he built churches and convents and still lived a simple life as a bookseller. He died somewhere around 1418 and was buried alongside his wife, Pernelle. Years later the graves were opened to find them empty and legend has it that the two were never buried, that they were still alive in India, the home of enlightenment.

     Ok, so, here I have given you a very concise history of a legend in the fantasy world; a legend that actually did live, albeit in the 14^th and 15^th century and, presumably into the 18^th century. Why have I done this? I came up with some really good quotes, that’s why.

     “For everything good and great that happens to a man is the result of the co-ordination of his own voluntary effort and a malleable fate.

     “It is possible that beautiful fantasies which are pictured with love and sincerity may become realities in the dream of death.

     “To distinguish a man's superiority, there is but a single sign: a practical and not an alleged-contempt for riches. However great may be a man's active virtues or the radiant power of his intelligence, if they are accompanied by the love of money that most eminent men possess, it is certain that they are tainted with baseness. What they create under the hypocritical pretext of good will bear within it the seeds of decay. Unselfishness and innocence alone is creative, and it alone can help to raise man.”

     These three quotes are from Reginald Merton in A Detailed Biography of Nicolas Flamel. Each has its’ own earth-shattering truth to it, which I am planning on discussing. I know, BORING. Really? I think that each has its’ own merits on what is happening today and today is what I like to dissect most often. Here goes everything.

     The first quote contains a truth that a lot of people today cannot, or will not, even consider. That truth? You have to put effort into anything to get something back. What we have in America today is a bunch of little, whiny sissy girls that think they deserve to be given everything they want. We also have a government that thinks it is the answer to everything and if we give up our rights and freedoms it will be more than happy to give us everything we need. I watched a YouTube video of a woman, whose significant other had been put in jail, complain about how she could not support her, are you ready, FIFTEEN children. She stated that “somebody needs to take responsibility for these kids.” She thought that someone, other than herself, should support those kids that she had given birth to; fifteen little lives that she brought into this world, knowing full well about birth control. Why would anyone in their right mind do that? This is America not Africa. We have the means to keep this type breeding from happening. (That, my friends, is a whole other topic.)

     What the point of this tirade is about is this: Here is a woman, maybe in her late thirties, that expects someone to give her a living because she was too stupid to take precautions. This woman is not taking responsibility for her own life and will go nowhere because of that. She will not put in any effort of any kind. Thank you American politics and King Barack Obama.

     The second quote is more cryptic, more elusive. What, exactly, does Mr. Merton mean when he says that ‘fantasies become realities in the dream of death?’ Dream of death? Is he implying that when a person dies said person is not really dead? I believe that is exactly what he is saying. There are some cultures, some religions, that believe in reincarnation. For those that don’t understand that concept it is when a person ‘dies’ they are sent back into life as another to finish what they started: the path to enlightenment and knowledge. Until a person gains all there is to gain, knows all there is to know, spiritually, they continue to return to the land of the living after they pass.

     So, what about the fantasies becoming realities in that dream of death? My interpretation is this: All fantasy, all dreams, are obtainable. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. When a person ‘dies’, all fantasy is possible in that state of transition. The worlds a person can travel to in dreams are endless and when a person falls into that sleep of death, he/she dreams. While the dead are just that to us, the living, means nothing to that person that has passed from this world to the next. To them, they are just traveling from here to there and back again. When we dream, don’t those dreams seem real? Have you not woken up from a nightmare scared out of your wits? I know I have. Dreams are reality in a different form. Dream characters, locations, props if you will, are all metaphors from your own mind trying to tell you something. Dreams are just a metaphoric interpretation of reality, and death is just a dream while we are waiting to return to life to continue our journey to enlightenment.

     The last quote is the best as far as I am concerned. In a nutshell what Mr. Merton is saying is this: The LOVE of money, and power, is the root of all evil. It doesn’t matter how you act, it is what is in your heart that really matters. The Holy Bible, which so many people today believe in, says the same exact thing. The problem with that is most people misquote it to say, “Money is the root of all evil.” Solomon was a rich man, given those riches by God. Was he evil? Nope. He was also given all the knowledge of mankind by God because he was a selfless, virtuous man.

     What is in a person’s heart, their core beliefs and values, that is what makes that person. It isn’t their acts of valor or selflessness that count, it is the REASON behind those actions. Many, many corporations and philanthropists give millions and millions of dollars away to help less fortunate people out or to promote something good. Why? Why do they do that? It isn’t out of the goodness of their heart. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gives billions away so that they can lower their taxes. Corporations give because it promotes their name and makes them look good to the spending public. This is just a couple of examples and there are thousands more.

     To live a selfless life you must give with no expectation of return. That is what makes a virtuous person. Mother Theresa was a saint, rightfully canonized by the Catholic Church simply because she gave everything she had of herself to help the poor and needy without any thought of herself or gaining anything from it. That is the best example I can think of that exemplifies the last quote of Mr. Merton. Selfless acts of love for the sake of love, nothing more. That is the measure of a person.

     Julian once asked me what the measure of a man was. At the time I really didn’t know how to answer him. I do now. The measure of a man is what is in his heart, Son. If there is kindness, empathy, love and devotion, respect and loyalty then you are a great man. If there is hatred, greed, vanity, disrespect and disloyalty then that is what your measure is. You, my son, are a great man. Your selflessness and empathy to those in need; your loyalty to those you love; your respect for everyone; the love and devotion you give so freely to those around you are all what makes you great. You are, though you hate to admit it, a kind and generous man that will continue to grow and be even greater. What is the measure of a man like you? More than most will ever come close to achieving.

     Hmmmm, went from the history of Nicolas Flamel to philosophizing to a personal message to someone I love dearly. Not bad for one blog post.

Our Endangered Freedoms (or What Would You Do If You Couldn't Speak Your Mind?)

     With all the controversy over the present administration wanting to bastardize the Second Amendment, you know the one, it says that we have the right to keep and bear arms, I think a lot of people on both sides really don’t understand the implications if Barack Hussein Obama and his minions actually get it done. I mean, think about it, if the President signs an executive order changing ANY part of ANY amendment, especially the first ten we call the Bill of Rights, what will keep him from doing it to the rest of them?

     First of all, the president does not have the power to change the Constitution in any way, shape or form without the consent of Congress. Congress does not have that power without the consent of the people as this government was originally set up. The people that compose the House of Representatives and the Senate are supposed to be there representing their constituents, not themselves, not lobbyists and certainly not any foreign power. Unfortunately, that has not been the case for some time. Congress has done what it damn well pleases whether the people they represent want it or not.

     If you look at all the laws that have been passed over the last, I don’t know, fifty years, you will notice that slowly, but surely, our rights have been taken away from us. Now, I realize that it may not seem like it but if you think about it, it’s true. Over the last fifty years, we have gone from being a totally free nation, enjoying life without restraint as long as we didn’t harm anyone else, to a nation with a government that tells us what is best for us. We now are required, by law, to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle; to wear seatbelts while in a moving motor vehicle; instead of dealing with problems ourselves to call the law or go to court, and a myriad of other regulations that should be the choice of the people not the requirement by law. (Note: I am writing this trying to think of all the things that have changed in my lifetime but most have been so ingrained into my thinking now that they seem to have been there all along, which is what the government really likes, makes it easier to control us.)

     I remember a time when it was something to be ashamed of to be on welfare, to get charity from the government. I remember when parents had control of their kids, not DHS. I remember when you could go get into a fight at the bar, kick the shit out of each other, then go have a beer together without interference from anyone, much less the law. I remember when kids could congregate on the square to talk, hang out, throw a football or baseball without being harassed by the coppers. All this has changed thanks to governmental interference and regulation.

     I know that some of you will say that all this is for the better; that society has changed and we are more civilized than that; that life is more complicated and these new regulations are necessary for the safety of the people. I say that it’s all governmental control over our lives. When we allow the government to tell us what is best for us, what is right or wrong for us or that we need to report to them some ‘suspicious activity’ of a neighbor that might be illegal, immoral or threatening, we become another Nazi state. Isn’t that what Hitler did in Germany? It isn’t my responsibility to call 911 or DHS when I see a parent try to control their unruly child. If I threw a fit in a store as a child my mother would grab my arm, take me to the nearest secluded spot, if available, and whoop my delicate derriere. No problem as it was taken care of. Now, if a parent does that they get a visit from the worst Child Protection agent and the kid is taken out of the home for their ‘protection.’ Protection from what? Discipline? That’s what is wrong with kids today, they have no discipline, therefore, they have no respect for their parents or anything else. I’m not saying that there isn’t child abuse. There is. It seems to me, though, that the real abusers are left alone while the parents that are just trying to keep their kids in line are the ones that lose those kids.

     Now, as far as those bar-fights; there was a time when you got into an argument in a bar, took it outside, beat the crap out of each other then went back in and drank another beer, together. Fight over, no foul. Try that today and see what happens. Johnny Law is there in a heartbeat to arrest both of you for public fighting. If you’re lucky you won’t get tased in the process. Why? Why does the law have to get involved in everything we do? Why does the government have to get involved? They don’t. They just want to just to prove they can.

     What is the cause of all this governmental control? Liberalism. As Michael Savage would say, “Liberalism is a mental illness.” The far left-wing liberals that enjoy the same rights and privileges that conservatives fight for are trying their damnedest to do away with those rights and privileges. Liberals want government control over the lives of everyone because that way they don’t have to make any decisions on their own. With total government control, there comes total government dependency and that is what they want: a government with a country, not a country with a government. This is what is commonly called communism, fascism, Nazism or totalitarianism. It is something that the colonists rebelled against 237 years ago. It is something that 237 years ago thousands of people died to get away from and people put their, and their family’s lives and fortunes at stake to fight against. Today, the far left-wing liberals would take us back to that tyrannical rule that those people fought against.

     I know, all you liberals will tell me that I have been brainwashed by the conservative propaganda put out by the Republican Party. I tell you that this is NOT the case. I don’t listen to propaganda and insert it into my brain as truth. I research anything that someone is putting out there as truth. It’s like during a presidential campaign when the liberals will accuse the conservatives of being racist. Really? Five years ago, way back in the good old days of 2008, the Democrats kept calling the Republicans racist, that they were just against a black man in the White House. Who kept pulling the race card? The Democrats. I really didn’t care whether the Democratic nominee was black or white, male or female, pink, polka-dotted or bi-sexual. I didn’t like the man’s viewpoint on anything; if he actually had a viewpoint. I would have voted for Colin Powell in a heartbeat. Why? Because I liked him and I liked his political views until he turned his color to liberal.

Contrary to popular belief, there are more than two parties in this country. The Republicans and the Democrats are basically the same now. What happened to the Constitution loving candidates that we had years ago? When did politics become only about getting more and more power regardless of what it did to the country? What happened to the Jack Kennedys, Richard Nixons, and Ronald Reagans? When did the patriotism of Eisenhower and Truman disappear? More importantly, WHY did it disappear?

     In 1960 this great nation did something that it had never done before; it elected a Catholic to the highest office. A lot of people thought that Kennedy would take orders from the Vatican. He didn’t. He loved his country and wanted the best for it. A week before he was assassinated he made a speech where he indicated that “something is wrong here and I will find out what it is.” Not a direct quote, but close enough. Kennedy died because he loved his country and wouldn’t cave to anyone. ANYONE! That was a true American hero; a true American President. He was a socialist Democrat to boot. His liberalism was so far to the right of what the conservatives are today that it’s scary.

     Since the time of Kennedy, each successive administration has done its’ part in taking away our freedoms, a little at a time. I don’t know about before that, I was born in 1960 and my earliest memory was watching John F. Kennedy’s funeral on the telly. I remember seeing John, Jr. salute his father’s casket and that is about as early as I recall anything. So, I am, and will, talk about the last fifty years. That is where most of the changes have been made anyway, especially in the last twenty years, since William Jefferson Clinton took office.

     Here is an example of how this nation has changed its’ attitude toward government. In 1972 Richard Nixon was impeached because of Watergate. For those that don’t know what Watergate is I will explain. The Nixon campaign decided that it would break into the Watergate hotel and find out what the Democrats were up to during the said campaign. Needless to say, they got caught, Nixon lied and was impeached. He left the office. Fast forward to the Clinton administration. Slick Willy lied to the American people, during impeachment proceedings and stayed in office even though he was found guilty. The Constitution states that any president that is impeached and convicted of high crimes and misdemeanors must be removed from office. Why wasn’t Clinton? Was it because it was just over whether he had sex (“Define the word sex”) with Monica Lewinsky or not? He lied just as Nixon did. I think the answer to that question is this:  the American people’s morals and judgment have been so impaired by liberalism that they just don’t care what the government does as long as it doesn’t immediately affect them. Clinton’s immorality didn’t matter mostly because that is the morality of the people. Leave him in office, he’s doin’ a good job of giving us what we want.

     The more government gives the people, the more the government takes away. Everything has a price. This is the ‘Gimme Generation.” This generation actually believes that it is entitled to everything whether it works for it or not. They want more and more entitlements (hmmm, wonder why they call them ‘entitlements?’) from the government because they don’t want to go out and work for what they get. They all want it handed to them. What they don’t understand is that when the nation becomes that dependent on the government, they give up all rights and freedoms to that government. And the government is loving it! The liberals in Washington, D.C. are having a field day with this. “Oh, look! They want more from us. Good. That means we have more power over them and more control of their lives.”

     The right to keep and bear arms is one of the most important amendments to the Constitution. Why you ask? Because that amendment guarantees us that we can protect ourselves from anything from a thief breaking down our door to a tyrannical government trying to control us. The Founding Fathers knew this and that is why they put that in the Constitution. The Constitution is the Law of the Land, not to be messed with. The right to free speech, religion and peaceful assembly will be the next to go. Hang on, I believe the peaceful assembly part of that is already been screwed with since teenagers cannot assemble to just hang out without harassment and being disbanded. What happens when we no longer have protection against illegal search and seizure? That’s already being compromised by the law with the statement, “Probable Cause.” What, exactly, is ‘probable cause?’ It can be anything that lawman wants it to be, even if it’s just the fact that he/she doesn’t like you.

     See how giving up one freedom will lead to losing others? I hope so. King Obama will rule supreme if this country doesn’t open its’ eyes and see what his agenda is. I saw it the first time around. He said he wanted to change the face of this country and he is; every day. He started during his first term with his “Apology Tour” and he is continuing it with his attacks on the Bill of Rights. It is you, the liberal left that has put the entire country at risk. It is you, the liberal left, that is destroying this country with your anti-everything attitude. You are anti-gun, anti-oil, anti-white, anti-religion and anti-American. What you want is somewhere else. Someplace like China, Korea, Cuba or Venezuela. Go live there if you want government handouts and government control of your lives. If you think that King Obama will let you keep your freedoms when he gets done, you’re wrong. You want to take the freedoms away from the conservatives because you hate them but, what you don’t realize is that if you take them from the conservatives you take them from yourselves, also.

     Our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, our Declaration of Independence is unique to this world. They are totally ours, totally American. Even our republic is unique as it was a grand experiment in government. The world had been ruled by kings and czars and dictators and here we are, a republic that will elect a different leader every four years because we know that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Constitution and the Constitutional Amendments guarantee our rights and freedoms against the tyranny of that corruption and here the liberal left is doing its’ very best to do away with that guarantee.

     I am not, obviously, a liberal in any way, shape or form. I am not a conservative. I am an American. I believe in the Constitution of this great nation. I believe in the idea that everyone has the God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I believe that everyone has the God-given right to think and do as they see fit as long as it does not infringe on that same right of someone else. Voltaire said, “I may not agree with what you say but, I will fight to my last breath for your right to say it.”

     You don’t have to agree with me. You don’t even have to listen to me. All I ask is that you be tolerant, accepting and respectful of my beliefs. I don’t condemn you for your beliefs nor do I hate you for them. I listen to what you say. I hear every last word. That I don’t agree with you has no bearing on whether we get along or not. I have good friends that hate the way I think but are respectful and tolerant and accepting enough to listen and comment and correct me where I am wrong. We co-exist on the same planet, in the same solar system, in the same galaxy, in the same universe. We all bleed red and we are all human so why do we have to hate each other so much?

     I have been accused of being racist many times. I am. I hate everyone equally. I am so racist that I have very close friends, friends that I trust and love, that are Mexican, Russian, Ukrainian, Korean, Irish, Italian, German, Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Pagan, Wiccan, black and, god-forbid, white English. Some are immigrants, others are second, third or fourth generation American but, they all have their heritage. Yes, I am racist. I also have friends that are gay, bisexual and heterosexual. I have married friends and single friends. I have poor friends and rich friends. I really don’t care who, or what you are. You come to me with respect and tolerance and that is what you get back. You come to me with disrespect, hatred, and intolerance and that is what you will get. I have the freedom and the right to choose. No governmental law will ever change that.

     This is the United States of America, not Nazi Germany, nor Fascist Italy, nor Communist China (at least not yet). We have our rights and freedoms guaranteed by a 237-year-old document that has survived, relatively, unscathed. Let’s not let a corrupt, tyrannical government take that away from us. It is up to us, as a nation, to protect that document and its’ contents. The government would take it all away if we continue to allow it. Don’t be one of the sheeple and follow blindly the tyrants that rule us. The Declaration states that it is the ‘right of the people to throw off such government.’ Let’s do it, let’s vote the tyrants out and put in real Americans that love their country and what she stands for. Open your eyes and see what is going on, research what they tell you. Believe in what this country has stood for all these decades and centuries. Believe in yourself.

The Idiocy of the Human Race

     As I sit and ponder days past I am amazed at the total idiocy of the human race. We are a people that are bent on self-destruction. From the earliest days of history to the present day we have endeavored to destroy as much, and as many, as we could. Mankind, from Neanderthal to Cro-Magnon to Homo-Sapiens we have killed each other relentlessly. For what? Power, greed, status, you name it, we have killed for it.

     In the movie Star Trek: First Contact Captain Jean-Luc Picard made the statement that the Vulcans were not interested in Earth simply because we were too primitive, too violent. In other words- not worth their time. Now granted, Vulcans are a fictional race of otherworldly beings invented by Gene Roddenberry (aka The Great Bird of the Galaxy) that live by the rules of logic, burying their emotions because emotions bring on violence and illogical behavior such as murder, greed, vanity, dishonesty, etc. The thing you have to realize is that Mr. Roddenberry was a genius with a vision of a bright future.

     Back to my topic now that I’ve put a good word in for Star Trek and its’ creator, after all, I am one of the biggest Trekkies in the area. TGBOTG had this dream that mankind would, somehow, become peaceful and co-exist without war, without greed, without poverty, hunger and sickness. Everyone would live in harmony and equality without prejudice. The problem with that is this: people can’t seem to get past their prejudices and bigotry, their greed and vanity or even their malice toward anyone that thinks differently than they do. I understand that everyone has their own opinion and outlook on life. Fine! Just don’t push it on me and I won’t push mine on you.

     Utopia is what Roddenberry envisioned and Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto was all about. Utopia cannot exist as we, mankind, cannot get past our own mindset to see someone else’s point of view, much less try to understand it. So, what do we do? We have war. We kill people that are different than us, that think differently than us, that believe differently than us. We are a violent race and have no intention of changing that. What is the first thing we, as a generalized race, do when faced with an unknown? We try to kill it. We don’t try to understand it; we just want to kill it. We don’t try to co-exist with anything peacefully, we want to conquer and destroy, take over and control.

     Do I agree with Karl Marx, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse Tung or any of the other communist leaders that used equality as a tool to control? No. Do I agree that everyone is created equal and society should "give according to their abilities to those according to their needs?” No. I believe that if a person works hard and receives an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s labor he should keep that pay for his own use, not share it with someone that is too lazy to go out and hoe the garden. If ya don’t work, ya don’t eat. It is not society’s responsibility to support the lazy, unmotivated, drug/alcohol addicted or criminal people. It is society’s responsibility to help those that cannot support themselves, not the ones that will not.

     Here I am, on my bloody soapbox again and off subject. Then again, not really; it is those lazy, unmotivated, drug/alcohol addicted criminal types that are the most unequal, the most violent and the most illogical. It isn’t the rich and powerful that kill for no reason other than their own greed. Or is it? Governments the world over are breaking the banks of their nations trying to support those type people. In order to get more resources to support them, governments go to war to steal the resources of other governments.

     Why did the United States go to war with Iraq in 1990? Why did the government bomb Bagdad for three days and nights relentlessly? Sure, Iraq had invaded Kuwait and was being naughty to them. What did Kuwait have? Oil. The Iraqis had captured an oil reserve that the US wanted. The United States, according to some high ranking people that know more than I do, has more oil than the entire Middle East but doesn’t want to use it. So what does the greatest nation on the planet do? Kills people to get what they want.

     Osama bin Laden and his soldiers, followers, zealots or whatever you want to call them are on a jihad against Western Civilization because we are the worst thing to happen to the planet. We, for the most part, believe in a Christian god, that freedom from a dictator is the only way to live, that Christianity is the only religion anyone should really believe in and that truth, justice and the American way are right and everyone else is wrong. Well, I think that everyone else in the world kind of thinks that their way is the right way and ours is the way of the school-yard bully.

     The point I am attempting to make here is that we, as a race, are violent, temperamental idiots. If I believe that Odin, the All-Father, is the one great god and you believe that Buddha is the one great god and Sally down the street thinks that Yahweh is the one great god, who the heck cares? Tolerance is the key. Understanding one another is the lock. Living together on one planet peacefully is the door. It doesn’t matter what, or who, you believe in. What matters is that we all bleed red, we all have the same emotions, hopes, dreams, we are all built the same (a head, torso, two legs, two arms, ten fingers and toes, two eyes and ears, a mouth and a nose) and we all, every bloody last one of us, live on the same little rock in the same little solar system in the same little galaxy in a huge universe. Why can’t we all just get along?

     I like to say that I am not racist, that I hate everyone equally. I do. The more I see people the more I like fish. Why? You give fish a little bit of food every day, clean their tank once a month and what do they do? Nothing. They swim around their little world and don’t tell you anything, don’t hate you, don’t love you, won’t cheat on you, and won’t try to kill you; fish are quiet little entities that survive without care. I like that. People, on the other hand, will do their utmost to destroy you in any way they can. Whether it is steal from you, talk about you, persecute you or whatever, they are out to get you. People are violent, illogical creatures that the Christian god gave dominion over the earth to. Did he have a sense of humor or what?

     Just as the republican governmental system that the United States instituted about 230 years ago, God’s plan was an experiment that went totally wrong because mankind cannot live in peace and harmony. Mankind has to fight, has to argue, has to win, whatever the cost. What I believe is right and what you believe is wrong and I am gonna make you believe the way I do or you will die. What you are is foreign to me so you must be destroyed. I hate you because you are different than me. I don’t understand you at all so you have got to be evil. Does it sound familiar? Probably not. Want to know why that doesn’t sound familiar? It’s because, no matter how much evidence is put in front of your eyes, you don’t want to think that you could be wrong in any way, shape or form and that is why the human race is nothing but a bunch of idiots.

     Self-serving, egotistical, maniacal megalomaniacs with delusions of godhood is what we are as a race. We allow tyrants to rule us while we hate those that would be tyrants. We disdain violence while destroying nations. We abhor murder while we ‘humanely’ execute criminals. We believe that stealing is wrong while we take other nation’s resources as our own. The funniest thing is this: it’s all right to do unto others as long as they don’t do unto us.

     Here is an example of that last statement. Let’s say that a person has someone that steals from them. To go further, that thief constantly steals from his victim because victim believes in the ultimate good in people and thinks that this thief can be saved from his path of destruction. Victim is in need of something that thief has but isn’t using so victim takes what he needs, after all, it isn’t like stealing since thief is living off victim. Thief goes insane with rage because victim had the audacity to take something from him. I see it every day. Not this exact scenario but in general.

     From the beginning of mankind, no matter how you believe, we have been killers, killing off those that we believe are against us, whether they are or not. Cain killed Able and they were the sons of the first people God put on Earth according to the Bible. Wow, does that tell ya anything? Free will does not entitle people to kill for no reason, or any reason for that matter. A difference of opinion is just that, a difference. It doesn’t make one right and the other wrong. It makes for a discussion for understanding the beliefs of each other.

     Man makes laws because mankind doesn’t know how to act. It’s against the law to let a twenty year old soldier drink alcohol yet that soldier is old enough and responsible enough to go into battle with a billion dollar piece of equipment and die for his country. Does that make sense? No. But, at the same time, it is against the law for a twenty year old slacker that would steal the gold out of your teeth just to get a fix to drink, also. That does make sense. Laws are give and take. Some make sense while others are sheer idiocy, just like the human race. It’s against the law, now, to tell a woman that she’s hot. Really? How is that sexual harassment? (Thank you Anita Hill.)

     Ok, a little on the overboard side with those examples; I got on my soapbox again. If a person can’t understand that it’s wrong to go to the bar, get totally FUBAR and then get behind the wheel of a vehicle then that person is living proof of how the human race is idiotic. It happens, though, so man has made laws to make that illegal. If only people weren’t idiots. It’s against the law to have sex with someone that is unwilling to do the act. No kidding? Common sense. But, once again, laws were made because people are stupid, idiotic imbeciles that have to be told what is wrong and right. It’s really sad to think that we, as an entire race, have to be told by someone else what we should know by instinct.

     Because we have to be told what to do and what not to do, we have allowed governments to make laws concerning our entire lives. We have to wear seatbelts because that saves lives, at least that’s what government thinks. We have to go to school until we turn sixteen because the government says so. We have to do this and we can’t do that simply because governments know that we’re stupid and have no sense of propriety. The human race is nothing more than a bunch of moronic baboons running around, dressed as civilized beings and pretending to be the top of the evolutionary chain. I’d rather be the monkey in the tree.

     I know that there are those that will adamantly disagree with me on everything that I have stated. I know that there are those that will say I am the idiot and that mankind has done great things and will continue into eternity as the governing force of the universe. Those are the people that are the biggest idiots. Those are the worst of the self-serving, egotistical megalomaniacs that think they can do no wrong and those are the ones that are the biggest part of why we will be extinct before even the smallest species of insect goes extinct. Those are the ones that will bring this planet to extinction. That is when the universe will rejoice because this young, violent race will no longer be a threat to anyone, or anything, out there.