Don't Take Anything For Granted

 Dont' take a damn thing for granted. Not one bloody thing! It can all change in a heartbeat. Trust me, I know.

Even though everyone in the family knew that my dad would pass away from the tumor in his head, it was still a shock when it actually happened. I was not prepared for it in any way, shape, or form. There have been times over the last thirty six years that I have missed him so much; he was the best dad a person could have asked for.

The same with my mother. We all knew it would happen sooner or later. It was a complete shock to me when I went to see her and she was so frail, weak, and her mind wasn't working correctly. I had just been to see her the weekend before and she was fine, for a ninety six year old woman. The last time I saw her alive was heart wrenching. She wouldn't talk, she was given meds every hour to keep the pain away, she had wasted away to a mere ghost of her former self. I was in Saint Charles, Illinois when my brother called to let me know that she had passed away. It was the longest eight hour drive I had ever made.

My little sister, three years younger than me, passed away, unexpectedly, at the ripe old age of forty five. That, my friends, was a kick in the gonads. She wasn't just my little sister, she was my best friend.

I could keep going on about lost lives of family and friends over the years but what would that do? Not a thing. Everyone loses people in their lives everyday. Death is part of life. I put these here only because of the differences in the way they left this world and how things can change without notice.

For the last thirty five years I've driven a semi truck. Not the entire time, I did take some time away from the road to spend time with my kids and take a break. For the most part, this is all I know. This is what I'm good at. I am not educated in any other field. Now, at the age of sixty two I will have to find some other way to support myself.

For almost seven years I've driven for Hirschbach Motor Lines as a lease operator. For most of those years I've achieved the status of Best of the Best. Remember, things can change instantly. Things changed the first of May.

I was cruising along Highway 24 east of Peoria, Illinois; had the cruise control set at around 58 and the radio was on SiriusXM Radio Classics (this station plays the old radio shows like Fibber McGee & Molly, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, Nero Wolfe, etc.). I wasn't paying attention, I guess, because I looked up at the light I was right at and, guess what, it was RED. I entered the intersection and collided with a van, laid my truck over, and lost a load.

Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. Especially since I was grossing out about 78,000 pounds. The driver of the van could just as easily been killed as walked away from it.

After almost sever years with the best company I've worked for, I lost my job. That's right. In an instant of idiocy (mine), my safe, secure, well paying employment ended. Things can change in a heartbeat. Don't ever take anything for granted.

Needless to say, I did pass the drug/alcohol test, even though I didn't study for it. What I didn't pass was the DOT physical that was due. I got home and took the DOT in Osceola and found out that I am now a diabetic. Over the last week my blood sugar has been all over the place from 135 to 379. Until I get that under control, I can't drive no matter what. Things change in an instant.

Not all has been bad. There is always a silver lining so to speak.

My daughter sent me a message telling me that I needed to do a 23&me DNA test. I refuse to give my DNA to the government willingly so I asked her why. The answer came as quite a shock to say the least.

I have two beautiful children from my last relationship. A daughter, born in '95. and a son, born in '98. When they were little, their mother and I were struggling, badly. Little income, no prospects and, another one on the way. It was too much. Their mother convinced me that the best course of action was to adopt this baby to a good home. She had even gotten hold of an attorney before she talked to me about it.

Let it be said and understood: I love kids. I've taken in more and claimed more than my fair share. I really didn't want to do this. It took a lot of convincing to make me do it. After all, where there's a will, there's a way. KP talked about where we were financially and that the adoptive parents would actually help us out with money. That almost turned the deal off. What was she talking about? Selling our baby to the highest bidder? No, it was all legal and an attorney was doing the legal work.

Since that time, KP and I have parted ways. She walked out of our lives when my daughter and son were seven and five. We didn't hear from her for over a year. I have the utmost respect for anyone, male or female, that raises kids on their own. It was more than a struggle for me. It was hard to find a job that I could do and still be home for them. My son had emotional and mental problems that took years of therapy and tons of meds to take care of. It wasn't until my children were in their late teens that I finally got to a point where I didn't have to worry too much.

So, was adopting this last child out to financially sound parents right? After what my other two went through, I say yes. He was much better off growing up. At least I hoped he was.

Back to my daughter's message. She had found her brother and said that I should get hold of him, which I did. It was awkward but exciting. Here was a son that I thought I would never see again. We talked and talked. He's not ready to come into the fold just yet. It's a lot to process. He knows that he is welcome and wanted. When he's ready, he'll come.

Once again, things can change in a heartbeat. Don't take ANYTHING for granted or as cast in stone.

Don't Be A Dick to Truck Drivers

First, there were regulations on hours of service. A truck driver could only drive so many hours before having to rest for so long. When I started driving way back in 1986, I could drive 10 hours then had to rest for 8. Now, that 10 hours of driving could be divided any way I wanted, as well as the 8 for rest, effectively making it where I could drive up towards 24 hours if I worked it right. What made it good was that we had paper logbooks. If I couldn’t get it done on time following the HOS (hours of service) rules, I’d just get a new book and have 70 more hours to work with. We couldn’t, and still can’t, work more than 70 hours in 8 days.

Thanks to Werner Enterprises and the advent of the Electronic Log, along with the change in HOS where we couldn’t work more than 14 hours after starting our clock, it’s much harder to work those extra long days and make those extra miles. And when you get paid by the mile that can really affect the paycheck. Now, the FMCSA is instituting a new rule to the ELD mandate – if a truck moves more than 5 mph it automatically goes onto the DRIVE line. What this means is: if I am on a DOT mandated 30-minute break it could possibly put me back ON DUTY and the time I had already spent on break doesn’t count. When a driver is on a tight schedule, and most of us are, that can make us late to a pick-up or delivery.

That is just part of what a driver puts up with. Along with the tight DOT mandated rules, a lot of companies are now employing Collision Avoidance Systems and inward-facing cameras. What the CAS does is tell a driver when he is too close to the vehicle in front of him and if he gets too close it will slam on the brakes. Any driver that has any experience at all knows how far away he is from the vehicle in front of him and knows how long it will take to stop in case of emergency. I know that I don’t need to have some computer software tell me where I am on the road. It is for those inexperienced drivers that shouldn’t be operating a bicycle much less an 80,000-pound vehicle. Oh, yeah! This little piece of equipment is also tied into the ELD software, so it is also a tattle-tell to the company about how you’re driving.

The inward-facing camera is, in my opinion, an invasion of privacy. I live in my truck. That camera shows everything that is going on inside the cab and the sleeper (if the sleeper curtains are open). Companies will say that it is to protect the driver and the company in case of an accident. What it does is show what the driver was doing in any given incident. If I touch the center or fog line, my camera will record an event. If I hit a pothole and jar the truck hard it will record an event. If I swerve to miss an object in the road it will record an event. Any recording can, and will, be used against me. I could be lighting a cigarette, taking a drink of coffee, anything and that is a distraction and used against me. If I’m looking out my side window at my mirrors – yep, distraction.

The laws regarding cell phones is another part of it. I must have a hands-free unit to talk on the phone. I have no problem with that. I cannot text and drive – no problem there. BUT, if I pick up my phone to hit a number to call, if I touch my phone to talk into it (so I am not texting and driving) and the camera records an event of any kind that is used against me. Now, include the CAS that just might slam on the brakes because of a road sign on a curve in-line with the radar on the front of the truck the camera will record an event. It all works together against the driver. All in the name of ‘safety.’

Think about this for just a second: every day I must inspect my truck to make sure that everything is roadworthy. Every day, before I even start my truck. That is DOT regulation. If I don’t and I get pulled behind a scale and inspected, they check my logs and I get a ticket for not following the rules. Do you check your vehicle out every day to make sure that there is nothing hanging off it, that all the lights work, that there aren’t any leaks? I highly doubt it. It doesn’t matter anyway. You don’t have to do that. Your POV (privately owned vehicle) doesn’t have to be roadworthy to be driven down the road. Mine does.

In the unfortunate case of an accident, guess what, I get a drug test. It doesn’t matter who is at fault, either. I am forced to pay out of my pocket for a drug screen to make sure that I am not doing drugs or drinking while driving. Do you? Nope! You can be high as a kite and as long as you can act straight you will get by with it. It is almost impossible for a commercial driver to get by with doing drugs or drinking on the road. We are subject to RANDOM drug tests. That means that we can get pulled over for no reason what-so-ever and given a drug test. Yeah! Makes my day when that happens because I don’t do drugs.

With all that being put out there for you to ponder, here’s so more for you to think about: most drivers are on a tight schedule. We have only so much time to get from point A to point B. There is no give most of the time. A lot of us try to drive about 5 mph OVER the speed limit (which is allowed in all states) so that we can make our pick-ups and deliveries on time and still have time to actually eat, shower and sleep. I don’t know about a lot of these newbies out here on the road but I have never had the time to eat right, sleep right, shower every day, or even take the time to have a healthy emptying of my colon.

When I’m trying to get somewhere it never, ever fails that some POS in their little powder-blue Prius decides to cut me off, slow down in front of me, not let me pass, etc. It NEVER fails. I’ve had old men drive 10 mph UNDER the speed limit in front of me then, when I try to get around them, they speed up so I can’t just to slow down again when I get back behind them. I’ve had people pass me on the right on the shoulder just to hit the brakes a quarter mile down the road to make a turn. This, my private citizen friend, is interfering with interstate commerce. It is interfering with me delivering the goods that YOU buy.

With three lanes of traffic there is a hierarchy of where to be. The far-right lane is for grandma and those that are lost. You know, the s-l-o-w drivers. The center lane is for those that are doing the speed limit or a little more, keeping it going. The far-left lane – hammer down! This lane is for those that are in a definite hurry to get nowhere fast. If there is a line of cars half a mile long behind you and no one in front of you – YOU ARE IN THE WRONG LANE! Move the hell over to the right. Don’t impede traffic because you are a self-appointed speed cop. Yes, it takes a truck a ways to get up to speed but, after we get there it’s balls to the wall. We will probably be going faster than you if you only go the speed limit. Don’t pass us while we’re getting up there just to slow us down once we get to road speed.

Remember this: there is absolutely NOTHING that you have that hasn’t been hauled in some form by a truck. Your car was delivered to the dealer by a truck. That cell phone that you’re using to report a driver for being rude – hauled to the store by a truck. The clothes you wear, the food you eat, the TV you watch, the desk you sit at, the equipment you operate, everything in your life was hauled by a truck at some point. Everything. And you want to screw with a driver because you don’t want to be behind him because you think he’s going to slow your dumb ass down. Let me tell you something, cupcake. I have to be there. You have nowhere to go with all day to get there. You could have started earlier to get to work. You don’t have to be first to the stoplight. That truck is what keeps the WORLD going. Without trucks, the world stops.

I really don’t care if you like trucks or not (especially in California, New York, Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois). Commercial drivers have more laws to follow than you could imagine. We are regulated more than most industries. We don’t get paid near enough to be gone from our families for days, weeks, or months at a time and put up with the crap that a lot of personal drivers give us. If you honestly believe that trucks are dangerous and shouldn’t be allowed on the road then stop buying things. Don’t go to Mike’s Mini Mart and get a 4-pack of Red Bull and carton of Marlboros. Don’t run over to Walmart and buy that new T-shirt that has the picture of Iron Maiden on it. Don’t shuffle off to Fred Meyer and get groceries. That new iPhone has no place in your pocket. The PS4 and all the games that go with it need to be forgotten. ALL these things are hauled by a truck.

Professional drivers are tired, over-worked, under-paid, stressed people. There are bad drivers out there to be sure. I’ve run into a lot more of them in the past few years. Too many ‘schools’ are pushing through people that shouldn’t be allowed to operate a bicycle in a wide-open field. We, the old-timers, are still the White Knights. We are still the professional drivers that would love to stop and help a stranded driver, a hitchhiker, someone who’s broken down on the side of the road. We can’t. We don’t dare. It’s too dangerous for us, it could make us use up valuable time off our tight clocks. It doesn’t mean that we don’t want to, we just can’t do it anymore. Why? We can’t because there are too many people in POVs that would kill us, literally.

Think about what you’re doing while on the road. It isn’t rocket science to operate safely and courteously on the highways of the nation. If a semi-truck is being rude to you it’s probably because he’s been treated pretty badly by several POVs that day. It’s easier for a car to slow down and regain speed than it is for a truck. You are not going to be delayed very long by staying behind a truck for a mile or two. We’re governed at a slower speed (this means we can only go so fast and no more – usually between 63 and 70 mph) so you can always get around us if need be. You are not the center of the universe nor are you more important than anyone else. Be aware. Prepare. If the sign says that a lane is closed in two miles, move over now, don’t wait till the last few feet then force your way in because you got a few cars forward. If your exit is coming up, get in the right lane half a mile or more before it, don’t wait till your almost past it.

Is It Really Worth It?

     Is it really worth it? I mean, really? In today’s society where being offended is more important than keeping safe, where madness and chaos rule and sanity and calm are persecuted, where caring about another is looked down upon and hedonism is cherished, is it really, really worth it? Is love just something to be taken advantage of because it shows weakness?

     Ok, we have the liberals that are doing everything they can to destroy the Constitution, except the parts that they want for themselves (conservatives aren’t allowed any rights). They want to do away with freedom of religion (at least the right to practice Christianity), free speech (as long as it comes from conservatives), the right to keep and bear arms (except for law enforcement and their army of security people), protection from illegal search and seizure (except when it comes to their illegal activity which is totally within their rights to do, such as Hillary’s email server). Do you see where this is going?

     The problem is this; the conservatives aren’t doing a damn thing about what the liberals are doing. The Republicans in Congress sit back and cower, kowtowing to the liberal rants and giving them ground instead of standing up and fighting for our rights. Thank the gods of Asgard that Patton, McArthur, Washington, etc., all the great generals in each war we’ve been in since the American Revolution, wasn’t so fucking weak. We would have lost to the British, twice; we would have lost to the Mexicans, the Germans, the Viet Cong (oh, sorry, we DID lose to the Viet Cong). We are losing to the liberal left.

     We are sitting here, spending millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars on bogus investigations against Trump when the Clinton’s and Obama were given passes on all their crimes that COULD be proven. It is only allegations, rumor, mainstream media bias and a lot of ‘anonymous sources’ that are against Trump and Company. Yet, the Republicans are doing just what the liberals want – going along with their game against America.

     Is it really worth it? When actual crimes can be overlooked because they are committed by the liberals and rumored crimes are investigated beyond belief against a conservative it is beyond stupid. It is anti-American politics. It isn’t worth it anymore.

Facebook posts being deleted when they are anti-Muslim (actually anti-ISIS). Is it wrong to put out there what the fucking bastards are doing? Is it wrong to state facts that not all Muslims are terrorists but most terrorists are Muslim? Is it wrong to be wary of ‘refugees’ from ISIS controlled countries?

     I am not politically correct in any way, shape or form. I call a spade a spade and a terrorist a terrorist. I’m not racist or anti-gay. That being said, if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. If words hurt you so bad go live in a bloody monastery. I will not, under ANY circumstances give up my right to free speech because of your feelings. No one bothered about my feelings when I was growing up and I learned to live with it all. If you don’t get your precious little feelings hurt then you don’t grow and learn other’s viewpoints. All you do, if you won’t let anyone hurt your feelings, is live in a bubble and don’t get a thick enough skin to survive this journey we call life.

     Is it really worth it? Stupidity and idiocy run amok while common sense and intelligence is ridiculed and persecuted. All you have to do is turn on CNN, MSNBC, Fox; read the New York Times, Washington Post, Oregonian or even the Des Moines Register; watch NBC, CBS or ABC.       Here in the United States it is getting worse and worse with the open arms policy of protecting criminal illegal aliens but in Europe it is so much more dangerous with their government’s open arms policies. The peace-loving citizens of the world are allowing the terror inducing RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISTS to just take over. They have said for decades that the world would become Islamic. They were right and every other religion, ideology, form of government, etc., are ALLOWING IT AND EVEN INVITING IT.

     Is it really worth it? As an over the road driver I see a LOT of stupid. Never underestimate the stupidity of people behind the wheel of a vehicle. Construction zones where it bottlenecks into one lane is a prime example: people will run up the lane that is ending at full throttle until the lane ends then stops all traffic just to get into the open lane. Three miles back there was a sign that informed traffic what was happening; doesn’t matter: gotta get in front of everyone else. There are also those idiots that just have to get in front of that truck, no matter what traffic laws they break to do it, just to slow that truck down. Where did these people learn to drive???? Stupid, stupid, stupid…. Idiotic, idiotic, idiotic. All because of some undeserved sense of self-worth that makes some think they are more important than everyone else.

     Is it all worth it? We elect politicians to represent us in government. That is the way the Founding Fathers set up this experimental government. Over the years these politicians have learned that they are above any laws they pass. All they have to do is state in said law that Congress is exempt. REALLY? Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Our elected officials have become absolutely corrupted. Once again, listen to the ‘news’ on the radio or television or read the ‘news’papers. When we get someone in office that is NOT a politician, the politicos do everything they can to destroy that person because he is NOT corrupted by politics. He may be corrupted by wealth and business but not politics.

     Is it all worth it? I have been called racist, fascist, bigoted, homophobic, islamaphobic, and a host of other things that really don’t describe me. I AM racist; I’ve gotten to hate the HUMAN RACE. As for hating any nationality, religion, color, creed, etc., nah. I love my black boys that call me dad. I love my Russian/Ukrainian boys that call me dad; I have friends that are Mexican, Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, Korean, English, Welsh, Malaysian, Australian, etc. I have known Palestinians, Catholics, Jews, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Methodists, Hindus, atheists, Pagans, heathens, etc. Yep! I’m a racist.

     Fascist? According to the Oxford American dictionary, the definition of fascism is: 1) a right-wing system of government with extreme nationalistic beliefs. 2) an attitude that is very intolerant or right-wing. Well, I guess they have the ‘right-wing’ and ‘nationalistic’ parts of it right. I have noticed, though, that it is the left that has become very intolerant. I, myself, have been very tolerant of the liberal rants against the Trump Train, albeit with my own comments following said rants.

     I am not even going to go any further with explaining myself or my beliefs. It doesn’t really matter to anyone anyway. Suffice it to say that I am NOT what the left thinks I am.

     So, I ask: Is it all worth it? Is this journey through life worth all the bullshit that the human race piles upon each other? Is it worth the lies, deceit, corruption, greed, etc.? Is it worth all the protests against free speech, owning weapons? Is it worth it to fight against open borders, extreme tax and spend, taking from those that earn and giving to those that refuse to work? There are times that I definitely feel like putting the bottle to my head and pulling the trigger. Is it really worth it?

     There are a few things that I have in my life that make all the bullshit worth every minute: my children (Jennifer, Andrew, Jaquie, Michael), my grandkids (Destiny, Ryan, Oktober, Nova), my ‘adopted’ kids (Travon, Malcolm, Max, Misha, Julian, Josh), even my ‘adopted’ grandkids (Alex, Danny, the Bentley’s, Tucker, Lorelei, and a few others that I claim that belong to friends). I even happen to have a few friends that make it all worth it (actually too many to list, amazingly enough).        Things don’t make life worth living, things make life easier. Family, friends, loved ones are what make life worth living. Even though friends may come and go and family my disown you, it is the camaraderie, the love, the sharing of special moments with those people that make even the shortest time seem like a lifetime. Each person comes into your life for a short time and for a special reason only to leave when their time with you is up. Still, that is what makes it all worth it.

     So, is it really worth it? In a word: yes.

Relationships Today: Just a Little Advice

I think I’m going to do something a little different this weekend. Instead of something really controversial like politics or religion I’m going to delve into the realm of relationships. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, who am I to give out advice on something that I can’t even keep together? In answer to that question I will reply that I am very experienced in what NOT to do. After being married three times, three times divorced, having children with all three, I would like to think that I have a pretty good idea of what is going on. I may be wrong on that but I’m going to go with it anyway.

I got married the first time when I was twenty and she was eighteen. She wanted away from home and I wanted someone there. Trust me when I say that when a relationship is built like that it will never work out. Two years later, after she and I were separated, along came a beautiful baby girl. Was I ready to be a parent in any way, shape or form? Not on your life. Thank the gods that my ex-wife was a hell of a lot more mature than I was. My daughter grew to be a fantastic woman with children of her own that have grown into pretty great young people. When my daughter was around three I surrendered parental rights and let her step-dad adopt her. I thought I was doing the right thing.

Relationship number two, that ended in marriage and divorce, came along a few years later when I was 27. I met this girl while I was servicing a truck where I worked. I was covered in grease and oil and this cute little thing came wandering into the shop and started complaining about being stood up by some sop that had made a movie date with her. As it ended up my buddy and I got cleaned up and we both took her to the drive in movie. It was a triple feature that I have no idea what was playing. We talked through the whole damn thing. My buddy? He sat along the wall of the drive in bored out of his mind.

This girl had a three year old boy that was adorable. He came to me one day and asked if I minded if he called me ‘Dad.’ My heart melted. After we got married I adopted him. He was a great kid and I love him as much as if he was my own blood. But, once again, the fates decided that this wasn’t the one, either. We fought constantly about everything. I was a jealous SOB and she was an eighth Crow Indian and had an evil streak that made her want to stir me up.

I was working for Schwan’s at the time and came home one night to a note on the pillow. Yeah! Can you believe that old cliché? I wasn’t sober for about three or four months. I quit working for Schwan’s and went back to real trucking.

Number three was a few months later. I picked her up in a truck stop where she was hitch hiking. It was in Columbia, MO and she was trying to get to Minneapolis. You just don’t get from the middle of Missouri to southern Minnesota very easily. I gave her ride from there to Indiana and then back to Des Moines and put her on a truck headed to Minneapolis. A couple of months later she was back and in the truck with me.

To make this story shorter, in the ten years we were together we moved from Des Moines to Portland, my beautiful baby daughter was born four months after her mother turned eighteen and my son was born two and half years later. My boy was born in New York while I was still in Portland, OR. Yeah, I’m a dick and she thought I wasn’t paying enough attention to her so she took my daughter across the country for a year. She came back to Portland and then we moved around the country while I was trucking again. We ended up in Fremont, NE where it finally came to an end.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Every time I got married it was forever but, there is that little problem of me being a dick. When I got together with the last one I told her that I didn’t own her and she didn’t own me; as long as my children were taken care of she did what she wanted and I was not going to change my lifestyle of trucking. I didn’t cheat on her. I am NOT that kind of driver. I am loyal to a fault and once committed that is all she wrote. No.3 and I never fought until that last night when she walked out on me and the kids.

Throughout all three of these relationships there is one common denominator: my attitude that I was not owned by anyone and I was going to do what I wanted regardless. Don’t get me wrong, I did my best to take care of my family and my children are my world. That was probably the biggest thing, I paid more attention to my kids than the other half. Not the best way to keep a relationship together.

In any relationship it has to be a two way street. It cannot just go one way. Give and take and if you give a little more than you take then it will, more than likely, stay together; if there is any chance that one is taking more than the other it will end in disaster. Communication is just as important. If you can’t talk things through, you get angry and go to bed that way, you will end up as bitter enemies. You have to be able to compromise in all things. And, this one is very important, if you try to change someone that you are with, you’ve lost. You didn’t fall in love with what you want to change them into. You fell in love with what they are.

In today’s world I’ve watched these kids from 14 to 20 do their utmost to get into a serious relationship and have kids. Stupidest thing they could do. These kids are just as immature as we were back in the 70’s but they think they are much more grown up. I throw down the BS card on that. These girls today think they can be moms at 14, 16, 18 years old. They can’t. And these boys won’t be ready to be dads until they reach about 30.

I’ve seen girls destroy boy’s lives because they didn’t get what they wanted, which was to have a baby, and then if they do get what they want, they destroy that poor boy’s life and her own. Well, maybe not destroy but definitely make it exponentially harder. Life is NOT easier with a baby on your hip. When I was young and you had a child, that child was yours to take care of. Today, I constantly see posts on Facebook or hear girls cry because they need time off from their children. These girls seem to think that having a living child is like taking care of that stupid doll they have in high school independent living class. It isn’t.

Who is to blame for this social problem? I blame us. By ‘us’ I mean the parents of these children that think they are grown up at 14. We have become so complacent and relaxed in parenting that these kids are basically raising themselves. That doesn’t bring about morally adept children. They start sleeping with the opposite sex at 14 just to have someone to sleep next to. Next thing you know they’re doing the dirty with whoever it is next to them without protection and then, BAM, they’re pregnant and think they’re gonna get a Sony TV. Oh, sorry. That baby that is growing in there suddenly becomes one of two things: an income from a poor, unemployed teenaged boy and the government or, it’s an inconvenience and needs to be aborted.

My best advice to anyone from 14 to 25 – stay single, enjoy life, get set financially then start thinking about getting into a serious relationship. The world isn’t going to end if you don’t get serious with someone before you’re 30. Kids are wonderful gifts that require a LOT of work and a lot of money. Stay children for as long as you can. Being grown up is not as great as what it’s advertised to be. Life is hard enough by yourself and it isn’t any easier when you have others that you are responsible for. Relationships don’t last. I’ve known people that were married for decades that broke apart. Children aren’t mature enough to even know what love is much less what commitment and loyalty are. Most girls are out to get into a boy’s wallet and get a baby for an income. Boys are out to get their wedding tackle wet, period.

Those last two statements are generalities; there are those rare boys and girls that are actually loyal and true. If you can find one, keep them. The biggest problem is that those with good hearts, the loyal, are taken advantage of more often than not by those that are so immature that they can’t see beyond their own noses. Hedonism runs rampant in today’s world and that is the saddest thing that could ever happen. Dorian Grey is king; the only problem there is that these modern Dorian’s aren’t immortal.

A Very Sad State of Affairs

First of all let me get this out of the way: I stated at the very beginning that if Donald Trump wavered I would be one of the first to call him out. As you all know, very well, I call out the liberals constantly because I have a very conservative political view. That being said, I will get into the reason for this article.

The past week has been pretty… exciting? Bashar al Assad allegedly gassed his own people with Siran gas, one of the worst, because he’s just an asshole like that. Trump, not having drawn the line but not letting some Russian backed dictator cross it, used fifty nine Tomahawk missiles to level one airfield that the Syrian dictator (and the Russians) were using within hours afterward; this being done while our President was having a state dinner with the President of China. Rex Tillerson was in Russia speaking with his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov and then actually got to talk with good old Vlad Putin, himself.

Now, to top that off, our friend in North Korea decided to test more nukes and the Donald sent a few Navy ships toward the Korean peninsula as a show of force. Having LittleMan Sydrome, Kim Jung Un, the North Korean midget in charge decided to threaten the United States with nuclear war if we so much as fired one shot into his country.

Wow! Just….wow! Nothing like making history or watching it happen before your very eyes; I now know how the colonists felt as the Founding Fathers decided to declare our independence and then war against England.

Is it the end of times? I doubt it. Even though the North Korean midget in charge is a crazy bastard that would actually fire nuclear warheads at one of the two most powerful nations on the planet, I don’t think China would allow it. Although, it doesn’t seem as though China has a whole lot of sway over what Kim does anymore.

So, with all that out of the way, as a side note, if you want to get the shit kicked out of you just fly United Airlines on an overbooked flight. It isn’t enough that you get groped and prodded and interrogated and treated like you’re an Islamic Terrorist by the TSA in the airports, now you get to be treated like that on one of the biggest air carriers. Gotta love America.

Now to get to the heart and soul of what I want to say. This isn’t gonna make any liberal happy. President Trump did exactly what he should have done by tossing some explosives at Syria. I think he may have overdone it a little but, the thought was right. He did what King Obama should have done when the midget crossed HIS red line. Instead, the King decided to hang back and let the little bastard do what he wanted.

Did the Donald do anything to start WWIII? Nope. Hate to tell you this, folks, that war started on September 11, 2001. Even with the controversy (conspiracy?) of exactly what happened that fateful day as the World Trade Center fell, that was when this bloody war started. I know that I have a hard time believing the good ol’ government that it was Islamic Terrorists given HOW the buildings fell and that in the beginning there was actually no airplane in the wall of the Pentagon. That notwithstanding, the war started with George W. Bush against Saddam Hussein.

Now, with the downfall of the almighty Clinton Empire, the liberals are waging a war of their own against fellow Americans because they didn’t get their way; even the Congress is involved within their own hallowed halls, liberals against conservatives. Damn that Donald Trump! How dare he win a rigged election against him. Hillary was supposed to win so that she could finish off turning this country into a Socialist State.

First was the Russian hacking that, by the way, COULD have been our own Intelligence Community pretending to be Russian hackers. Then it turned into Russian collusion with the Trump Team. Then, lo and behold, came attacks on Team Trump associates. Liberal attacks at every level. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reclusing himself from overseeing investigations against the Trump Team then Devon Nunez reclusing himself from the same for the same reason – liberal allegations of biased investigating. Yeah, the war is in full swing and the liberals are flinging everything they can at the conservatives. Unfortunately, it seems as though the libs are in the lead by a league and the conservatives keep holding back.

It kinda makes a person wonder about what is going on in Washington. Is the Donald really ‘draining the swamp’ or is the swamp swallowing his administration one position at a time without any defense against it?

Why is the surveilling of Trump Tower a year before the election by the Obama Administration not being thoroughly investigated with hard evidence that it did happen while the Russian collusion is being beaten into the ground with all the Intelligence Community saying there is absolutely no evidence of it? Why is the Clinton Foundation not being investigated? Why is the Hillary email scandal a thing of the past, forgotten amongst the liberal outcry against the conservatives? Are the conservatives in DC really wanting to lose in 2018, 2020 and beyond?

There are more questions than answers in the world today. Why is Vlad so intent on supporting Assad when he knows that the Syrian dictator broke international law by using chemical weapons against his own people? Why is Kim Jung Un playing big man against an adversary that could wipe him off the face of the Earth? Why does Mexico get all pissed because Trump wants to build a wall to stop illegal immigration when they won’t allow Americans to illegally enter their country? Why do Americans want illegals to stay, no matter if they commit violent crimes against Americans?

The biggest question is this: why do we have to ask these questions? Isn’t the government supposed to be doing a thorough investigation into all things illegal that I’ve asked about? Why isn’t the Congressional committees demanding the ‘evidence’ that Susan Rice left with her unmasking scandal? Why won’t the FBI cooperate with Congress on this? Is the swamp so dense and thick that they don’t care about the law when that law is broken against the conservative party?

Yes, my friends, the war has already started. The evidence is there for anyone to see if they look with open eyes instead of a closed mind. World War III and a Civil War are going on at this very minute, this day, this month, this year and will continue as long as we, the People, allow it to. The question about this is what can we do about it? We are only a country of pampered children that want given to us what our parents and forefathers had to work hard for, fight and die for. So, what can we do? QUIT PLAYING BY THEIR RULES. I’m not advocating a violent rebellion such as the Founding Fathers had to resort to. I’m talking about not doing what the elitists want. Quit fighting about policy. Quit fighting about platform. Quit fighting about civil rights that aren’t being ignored. All these things are just distractions that have been bought and paid for by the richest of the rich.

You really think that Black Lives Matter started out as a terrorist organization bent against law enforcement and the establishment? I doubt it. Do you really think that all these gay rights activists really think that the LBGT community doesn’t have equal rights? There will always be discrimination by some but the majority of the people don’t adhere to such practices. Do you really think that keeping illegal immigrants in this country is really helping us out? Do you really think that we should bring those refugees into the country when there are places in their own region that could house and protect them better while staying with their own culture? The only refugees that WANT to come here are the terrorists and you are inviting them in.

All these things are orchestrated acts to keep us distracted from the real world and what is going on. There will always be war, discrimination, bullying, differences of opinion and viewpoint. Nothing can be done about that. What can be done is forgetting about all the shit that is being shoved down our throats and look behind the scenes to see what is actually going on. They don’t want us to get along. They love us to fight each other. That keeps them in power. OUR TIME IS NOW! Join the passive rebellion and quit doing what they want.  Liberal, conservative, socialist, communist, dictator or freely elected leader, it doesn’t matter, we are all being blindsided by an evil terrorist organization more secret than any other before. We are all just pawns on their chessboard and we are willingly entertaining them.

Open your eyes. Open your mind. Choose what you want. Fight on your feet for real freedom or die on your knees subjugated by the elitists. It’s your choice. 

Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries Just like Erma Said

Life is like a bowl of cherries. Erma Bombeck titled one of her books by that name. I have never read it, at least in its entirety. In fact, I really can’t recall one story in that book as it was many, many years ago that I actually read parts of it but, I know, that Erma Bombeck was a very intelligent author. She wrote her humorous stories around actual events in her life and experiences in a way that was entertaining, humorous and, if read in the right frame of mind, educational.

Why did I choose this as the main topic of this article? I chose ‘life is like a bowl of cherries’ because, through the past week, I have lived that bowl of cherries. Along with that wondrous juicy red fruit that is so delicious, there are always those damnable pits.

I have a friend that has told me for years that I am the only person he knows that can think himself into a bad mood. With my choice of career I have plenty of time to think about things. Amazingly enough, this past week there have been many, many things to think about from the Senate’s agonizing debates about Judge Neil Gorsuch to the bombing of a Syrian airstrip along with enough every day, non-political, work related subjects to choke the life out of anything.

The point I want to make, here at the start of this article is this: Life is actually pretty good for most people here in the good ol’ USA. Most, but not all; I have it decent. I have a pretty good paying job that I really enjoy, a roof over my head and food in the fridge. My bills are paid and nothing is getting shut off so why would I say anything about the ‘pits?’ Without the dark, we wouldn’t know anything about the light. For example, today started pretty good as I got to my receiver at a good time with only a few trucks ahead of me; I waited only a short time before being put into a dock door and it seemed I would get home early. That is as far as the good went. I waited over seven hours to get unloaded and almost an hour after that to get my paperwork. After leaving the receiver I was driving along at the speed limit, got behind a slow pickup truck, moved over to the fast lane to go around and the damn pickup truck decided to match my speed thus making me back traffic up behind me.

No big deal you would think, just slow down, get back behind him and travel on. Let me let you in on a little secret there: personal vehicle drivers do not like trucks. On any given day I will get slowed down by people that speed up when I try to get around them only to slow back down when I can’t and get behind them again numerous times. As a professional driver in a vehicle governed at 64 miles an hour I am at the mercy of a lot of things. I’ve been cut off by people that had to get in front of me, just to slow down or make that exit ramp that I just passed. I’ve had people pull out in front of me with less than a truck length between us. It gets more than a little annoying.

Today, being aggravated by the slow unload, this driver just pissed me off. As traffic is backing up behind me and this idiot not letting me by I blew my horn at him. Now, he could have sped up or slowed down, either way, no big deal; what did he do? He hit the brakes, looked up at me through the window and pulled off the highway. I’m expecting a call from the company about this as I am sure he took down the company name and trailer number because I was being an ass. I could have done more, like start to pull over into his lane to get him to move the hell out of my way for one thing.

As you see, with the day starting as that sweet, juicy, delicious fruit of me going home, getting to the receiver and getting into a door early, there came the pit of taking most of the day to get unloaded and then an idiot driver. Life was definitely a bowl of cherries today.

Another great author that I have come to admire is Sherrilyn Kenyon. For those that have been living under a rock or don’t read anything but Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, Ms. Kenyon writes fantasy/adventure/romance novels (the only reason they are romance is that she does put some pretty graphic sex scenes in there and the main character ALWAYS gets what they want). Maybe you have heard of her Dark Hunter, Dream Hunter, League or Chronicles of Nick books that are international best sellers. My personal favorites are the Chronicles of Nick, the adventures of a teenaged Cajun from New Orleans that has an attitude.

Why do I put her up there with such a writer as Erma Bombeck? Sherrilyn Kenyon was an abused child and she persevered and won the day. She survived and thrived through things that would permanently scar most people. She puts the wisdom of those years and her survival into her writing. Her characters, for the most part, are hundreds, if not thousands, of years old (the oldest that I recall is an Atlantean god that is slightly over eleven thousand years old. When a character has lived as many lifetimes as hers have, they gain a lot of life wisdom.

Ms. Kenyon’s characters have been betrayed by loved ones, been tortured by enemies, lived through hell and, in the end, won the day by perseverance and sheer determination not to let life run them over. Some, the Dark Hunters, have even by murdered in some of the most heinous ways only to be brought back by the Greek goddess Artemis as warriors against evil. Even then, these people have stories to tell and wisdom to share.

The point I am getting at is this: there are a lot of times that the gods make humans their punching bags and don’t give a rat’s ass what happens to us. It is up to us, the human race, to decide whether we will let life kill us or we go over, under, around or through the hardships and keep fighting. There is always something to keep fighting for: a loved one, an important cause, honor.

With all that is going on in the world today, especially since the election in November, there have been a lot of times when people have asked me how my day is, I’ve replied, ‘If it got any better I may as well take off my own head.” After years of fighting depression, it’s getting kind of hard to keep fighting the good fight for me but I do. I fight on because I have things worth fighting for, even if some of those things don’t care about me. As Dom Torreto said in Fast & Furious, “Never give up on family, even if they do.” I happen to have a lot of family, most of which are not blood.

To sum it all up, it doesn’t matter if you are liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, wealthy or poor, mentally balanced or have mental illness, physically healthy or ill, there is always something or someone that needs you, would miss you, would die without you. It doesn’t matter who is in the White House, Congress, Supreme Court, who controls what country, who has done this or that, we all have our roles to play. What we do today, what we say tomorrow, what has happened in the past or will happen in the future, does not matter one iota to the Universe. It will all fade into nothingness through the mists of time. What will remain is whether we kept going, kept fighting for life or whether we gave in and ended it all without a fight.

Over, under, around or through, there is always a way. The gods are childish, narcissistic asses that look at the human race as entertainment. We only get what we earn by working for it and there will be no one there to help us. Friends come and go. We can’t take anything with us and no one gets out of life alive. It is our decisions whether our lives are a beach or a bitch. If you want some good life lessons, some good outlooks on life, read some Erma Bombeck and Sherrilyn Kenyon. There are other great authors out there that, through telling their stories, have wisdom to give but these two are my favorites. Give it try, read instead of staring at your phone or computer screen or game console. Chronicles of Nick, Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries, House of Darke (by Colin R Parsons), Wizard’s Quest (by yours truly) are a few titles for life lessons through stories. Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, Dangerous Minds, Divergent, a few other titles for what life could be, even the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series’ can be more than entertainment if you really sit down and read them.

Don’t let politics, religion, nationality, or ideology cloud your mind. Life IS a bowl of cherries; all you have to do is spit the pits out and keep eating the sweet stuff….  

A Better Health Care System

Congress, that hallowed hall of officials duly elected by the citizens (and in some cases illegal aliens depending on which state you want to talk about), is supposed to represent the wishes of the people from whichever state they came from, has become an institution that represents itself. The House of Representatives and the Senate have become so engrossed in their own power that they seem to do what they want regardless of what the people of the nation want. They write and pass laws on a regular basis based on their own ideals; a lot of times only to increase their own wealth and power within the confines of the political arena.

As of the writing of this article, national healthcare is one of the biggest issues facing the nation, and the Congress. What was passed into law in 2010 was forced through without being read by any of the representatives being able to read it, being told they had to vote it through to find out what was in it. What was in it was a lot of mandates that have shown to be so unaffordable that insurance companies are dropping out of it faster than flies on Raid. The only people that have benefitted from the Affordable Care Act are those that are too poor to afford insurance but too rich to be on Medicaid; in other words, a small minority.

Now, with a Republican Congress that has promised to repeal and replace the ACA for eight years and a Republican in the White House, it seems that changing the government controlled healthcare system should be quite easy. Not so. It has come about that even within the Party there are disagreements as to just how to make a government controlled healthcare system work for everyone. All the while, the people of the nation are becoming increasingly anxious as to just what is going to happen with their healthcare.

For those that are buying individual, private policies, the premiums keep rising; for those on company policies, the premiums keep rising; for those on Medicaid, no worries and those on the ACA, well, they wonder if they will have health insurance. The American taxpayers, the citizens of this nation, are the ones that are worried. Congress, on the other hand, has no worries as they have the best health coverage in the nation totally paid for by the taxpayer.

With liberals and conservatives at each other’s throats arguing for and against the ACA and its failing, complex system, Representatives and Senators sit back and try to find some form of government controlled system that will reap the most money for them and still have people insured for health care. What I don’t understand is what the big deal is about this. I really think that, even though health care needed some restructuring before Mr. Obama decided to get government into the medical field, it wasn’t that bad. Premiums were affordable and the people could go where they wanted. Now, there are people that have no coverage because there are no insurance companies where they are that are willing to stay in the ‘exchanges’ set up by the ACA because they were losing too much money. After all, it is hard to make money when healthy, young people don’t buy into it and sick people are taking away from it. I, for one, would rather pay the ‘penalty’ for not having insurance that is about one quarter the cost of paying high premiums with high deductibles that I would never reach. In other words, I was paying for any health care I received out of pocket anyway.

One way to clear this problem up would be to force our elected officials to use whatever system they come up with just like everyone else. Either that, or get government out of the medical field altogether. Another way would be to regulate the big pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, doctors and insurance companies so that they don’t overcharge for medical services and medicines. Maybe if our elected officials would stop receiving big payoffs from the pharmaceutical companies it would help.

The United States of America is not a socialist country. This nation was not built on any form of socialistic ideology; therefore, it is the people’s responsibility to take care of themselves, not the government’s. Capitalism is what built this country with all its pros and cons. Self-reliance made this country great. Innovation cannot be controlled by government and a socialist government cannot be innovative.

It is time to rein in the abuse of power of a corrupt Congress. Term limits without the ‘retirement’ plan that pays them full salary for the rest of their lives, even after only one term. Time to take back our government and get rid of the corruption and abuse of power; OUR TIME IS NOW! 

Boys in the Girl's Bathroom?

The year: 2016. The topic: Transgenderism. The sub-topic: use of bathrooms. Seems kind of stupid doesn’t it? After all, throughout history boys have been boys and girls have been girls. There has never been a question of what gender a person is. That is, until the 21^st century.

With the advent of an ‘enlightened’ society and everyone more worried about feelings than morality and common sense, the idea of what gender a person is, is now in question. It doesn’t seem to matter now, at least to a very small minority, that when a person is born with a penis that person is a boy and if not, it’s a girl. In today’s world, it all depends on how a person ‘identifies’ him/herself. If that boy, at whatever age, decides that he should be a girl that is what he is. If a girl decides she should be a boy that is how it is. It is all in identification of self.

As stated, this is a stupid topic. There should be no questions about a person’s gender yet, there is. The really stupid part about this is that the United States government, in its infinite liberal wisdom, has decided that it needs to get involved in this idiotic controversy and make laws pertaining to such idiocy. President Barack Hussein Obama decided that boys and girls should be allowed to use whichever bathroom they feel they identify with. In other words, boys are going to use the girl’s bathroom and vice-versa, by law.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I really don’t care whether a person is gay, bisexual or transgender or whatever. It is not my business at all. What is my business is who is in the bathroom with my wife, daughter, granddaughter, mother, sister or aunt. The argument that the liberals give is that a guy will not go think to himself, “Gee, there’s a girl going into the restroom to drop a load or pee. I think I’m going in there to watch.” That guy is probably not thinking that at all. What he’s thinking is, “Wow! There’s a good looking piece of ass going in there where no one can see what I do to her.”

Does it matter how a person ‘identifies’ him/herself? Not really. No one cares if that guy is gay or thinks he’s a woman trapped in a man’s body. If you have a penis, you are a male and need to use the guy’s bathroom. If you have a vagina, use the girl’s. There should not even be a discussion on this. Yet, thanks to the immoral minority and the far left liberals, there is a huge controversy about this.

The world really doesn’t care how you feel. The world doesn’t care how you identify. The world only cares about what is conceived as right and wrong. Right is boys use the boy’s and girls use the girl’s. Only the far left liberals believe that how a person feels is more important that what the majority believe and want. The biggest problem with that is there are more and more of those far left liberals out there every day. Why are they growing in number? The number is growing because our children are being indoctrinated into that way of thinking by going to public schools. But, that is another discussion.

If a man had gone into a woman’s restroom even two years ago they would have been arrested. Now, all they have to do is say that they identify as a woman and, BAM, they have a free pass to do what they want. Too bad I can’t identify as a multi-billionaire and miraculously become one.

What this whole thing boils down to is the liberal ideology is being shoved down the throats of the entirety of the United States regardless of what others want. Because the far left liberals are the only ones that know what is best for the rest of the country, they think that their ideology needs to be law. What they don’t realize is that their ideology is based on socialism, communism and, in some of the more extreme cases, Nazism. There is very little democracy and no capitalism in their way of thinking.

Redistribution of wealth, more government control, bigger government, tax and spend, victimization of minorities, racial division, class warfare… all are parts of their ideology and all are socialistic and communistic. As for the Nazism, it seems as though most of the far left would like to see the destruction of Judaism and the State of Israel. The left would like to see totally open borders, see nothing wrong with radical Islam (believing that Islam is a religion of peace when the Koran specifically states that ANY other religion is to be destroyed and their followers killed in the most horrific ways), they canonize immorality by uplifting abnormal behavior such as sex change, transgenderism and homo sexuality by making it the norm and anyone who opposes or speaks out against such behavior is ostracized and persecuted, Constitutional rights are there only as guidelines and used only when they suit the left, anyone who disagrees with them are xenophobic, homophobic, racist, bigots or fascists.

The Democratic Party states they are more tolerant and accepting of differing opinions, cultures and beliefs yet when they don’t get their way they riot, attack both verbally and physically those that are opposing them and destroy property. This is their idea of tolerance and acceptance. The things that they oppose are closed and protected borders, an armed nation, freedom of choice for healthcare, education and creating wealth, critical thinking, financial responsibility, self-reliance and anything conservative.

They demand that children be taken care of in one breath and the next they want the right to kill an unborn child. They demand that the country take care of foreign refugees yet refuse to take care of American homeless. They demand equal rights for minorities yet want those same rights taken from white, wealthy, Christians and Jews. They demand that Christianity be taken out of public places and schools then demand that Islam be allowed wherever it wants and be taught in schools. They demand that minorities (racial and sexual orientation) not be discriminated against yet heterosexual whites are open season. They demand the 2^nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms be done away with yet government officials and the wealthy liberals are protected by arms. Do you see the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party and the liberals?

What does all this have to do with gender and bathrooms? It has everything to do with it because it is a liberal way of shoving their ideology down the throats of the entire nation. If you are a minority, as transgender, gay, gender reassignment, etc. are, you are above what is considered as normal. We are supposed to be a civilized society. What the left wants is total enlightenment by way of destruction of what civilized society deems moral and ethical behavior.

As I have stated more than once, I am not racist and I have nothing against anyone that wants to do whatever with whomever. What I am against is being forced to accept it as normal. Do I want gays to be put back into the closet? No. Do I want people that want to change their sex to not be able to do it? No, as long as they are adults, have had counseling on the implications, etc. Do I want minorities to be discriminated against? No. I believe that we are all part of the human race and we all should have the same rights and privileges; that whatever two consenting adults want to do is their business, not mine, regardless of their same, or opposing, sex; if someone wants to change their sex, not my business. I don’t believe that government should get involved in any of these topics. The government’s job is to protect the nation against our enemies, provide for the common good, supply a military, roads and waterways and not try to tell me how to run my life.

Dr. Michael Savage has said that liberalism is a mental illness. The more I see the hypocrisy, violence and intolerance of the left; I tend to agree with him more and more. The more ‘logic’ that the left uses the more I see just how illogical they are. The left will say that conservatives are delusional in their way of thinking. When an elected official that is over the age of 50 years and can say, and believe, that a gunman will put down his weapon when he sees that no one else is armed, it becomes clear that liberalism truly is a mental illness.

These are just my thoughts, my opinions. Some of this is based on facts that have happened and some is just conjecture on my part based on observations of events. I leave it up to the readers to make up their own minds; it is not my intent to convert anyone but only to open their eyes and their minds to other ways of thinking. Is it in vain? Only you, the reader, can determine that.

Friends v Enemies

There is an old adage that says, “Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer.” In today’s world, do you really know who your friends really are? It is becoming increasingly more difficult to discern between friend and enemy.

A person used to know, beyond doubt, who would stand up for him or her and who would stab them in the back. Today, your most trusted ally may well be the one to place the knife between your ribs. Loyalty, commitment and friendship are all on a temporary scale. To find a true friend, one that would never betray you no matter what, is hard to find. As long as a person can use you, needs what you can do for them, you are their friend. As soon as that need is gone, when they no longer can use you, they turn on you and leave you in the dark.

That woman, or man, that means so much to you, that you love more than life, has no more respect or loyalty to you than they did for the person before you. Once again, to find someone that is permanent is rare. Divorce rates skyrocket while long-term relationships plummet. Women want a baby daddy; someone that will give them an income for the long term. As soon as she gets what she wants, she is done with you and on to the next man; all the while you are paying for her lifestyle.

That boy that tells you he loves you more than life is only playing a part just to get into you. If you become pregnant, you are history and that poor baby is forgotten about by his/her sperm donor. It isn’t about love anymore. It is all about lust and numbers. The more women he can get between the sheets the better man he is.

As friends, two people can be inseparable for a time, sharing everything from dreams to fears. All it takes is one disagreement and the friendship is gone. “If I show you the darkness within me, will you still think of me the same?” Most will not. If you show your darkness, your demons, most will turn and run away. Why? They run because they don’t want to have to deal with any kind of drama or conflict. Most people today are so hedonistic that they cannot see beyond their own noses. Only their wants and needs and desires matter. If you don’t cater to them, they leave.

You can give until there is nothing left to give to some people and when it’s gone, so are they. It is your fault that they have so little. It is your responsibility to supply them with what they want. A gentle, giving heart must set limits because the takers never will. They will take until nothing remains then they will move on to someone else that can give to them. It is a never ending cycle.

When you do find that one person that will have your back, no matter what, keep hold of them. If someone is willing to be there through thick and thin, through the demons coming out, for better or worse, that person is a jewel to be held onto, cherished. If you betray that person you are doing them, and yourself, a grave injustice. How so? By betraying them you have lost a treasure most will never find and you will have maybe damaged a kind soul to where they never will trust again.

Life is hard. Life is not fair. It has become a dog eat dog world and that, my friends, is the beginning of the end. When everyone must watch their backs to keep from having a blade stuck through it, then true commitments and loyalty will never be able to exist. Only alliances founded on mutual survival will remain. “My enemy’s enemy is my friend.” Like an alliance between Russia and the United States, it becomes nothing more than enemies bound by a common goal. Once the goal is reached, or is found to be unreachable, that alliance is gone and they are still enemies.

Once a person realizes that they are nothing more than the god’s whipping boy, all hope leaves and despair is all that remains. For those that always look for the good in everyone, it will be a hard life of betrayal after betrayal. There is good in each and every person on this planet. It is whether each one wants to let that good out or keeps it buried deep inside so as not to be taken for granted. Instead of ‘do unto other as you would have done unto you,’ it has become ‘do unto other before they do unto you.’ That is why the good is buried in so many.

Greed, lust, gluttony, vanity, envy, sloth and wrath, the seven deadly sins rule this world. Hedonism is king. Chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility, the seven virtues are a thing of the past or are to be taken advantage of. The two have to coexist to keep a balance on good and evil. Today, the balance is tipped in favor of the sins whereas, in the past, the virtues were more important. What has caused this change in the balance of power?

In days gone by, religion and morality were more important than personal feelings. It was taboo to have sex before you were married and even more so to have a baby out of wedlock. Charity started at home because taking care of your own meant your survival. Respect for your elders and those in authority kept you from becoming an outcast in society. Conservatism was necessary to stay alive and prosper.

Today, it is vogue to have babies before marriage, even encouraged. Sex is encouraged at a young age as sex education and contraceptives are handed out to preteens in school. Our children are taught to think only of themselves when it comes to feelings and desires. They are also taught that to be righteous and moral they must give to those less fortunate no matter whom that may be. Liberalism is the only right way to think.

The difference between liberalism and conservatism is this: liberalism today is communism at worst and socialism at best. Why do I say that? ‘From each according to his ability to each according to his wants and needs’ is what liberalism wants. Wealth redistribution in the form of taxing the rich more and giving that money to the less fortunate, whether they work for it or not.

Conservatism today is a capitalist society. ‘You don’t work, you don’t eat.’ If you put in an honest day’s work, you get paid an honest day’s wage. You are responsible for your own actions and welfare. If you need assistance, it will be given but if you are able, but refuse, to be a productive member of society, you deserve no help.

Why did I put those two paragraphs in at this point? Because it gives the difference between how things were and how they are. When conservatism was reigning, friends were friends, loyalty and commitment meant something and morality was important. Today, liberalism reigns and people are against each other and only think of themselves.

We no longer have to struggle to actually survive. We struggle to survive our wants but not our needs. Yes, there are homeless and hungry people, even here in one of the wealthiest nations on Earth but, for the most part, people are taken care of. It’s not like we have to go out and hunt our food and make clothes out of the hides of what we kill. If we need food, there are welfare or food banks. If we need shelter there is welfare and missions. Society is called upon to supply to those in need. Our struggles are to support our wants, our greed, and our gluttony. Because we no longer have to struggle, our battles are now against each other. We take from those that are willing to give because we want what they have. We ingratiate ourselves to the kind, gentle, giving souls just to stab them in back once we are done with them.

If society continues in this fashion how long do you think that humanity will survive? Soon, very soon, we will once again become a feudal society and kill each other off as the ancient Celts, Normans, and Vikings did to those weaker than them. World population will decline to a few of the strongest. Those with money will have the protection of the castle while the weak will only have their hovels to hide in. Once the battles begin there will be no stopping them. Where will those takers and hedonists go then? Of course, to those that are kind and giving, if there are any of those left.

Hopefully, one day in the near future, conservatism, morality, loyalty and commitment will make a reappearance and become the norm replacing the hedonistic society that believes in the seven sins instead of the seven virtues. Hopefully.

Are They Really Conspiracies?

I rarely have been known to mince words. If I think someone is stupid, I say it. That is how I was taught; say what you mean and mean what you say. Honesty is always the best policy. That has not always gone in my favor. In fact, I’ve gotten into more trouble by being honest and forthright than by lying or hiding the truth. That being said, it should come to no surprise to anyone that knows me that I don’t have a lot of close friends.

Another thing about me; I try to research things before I go spouting off about any given subject. Thanks to modern technology, research is MUCH easier now than it was when I was a young lad. Back then, we had to go to….books. The library was the best place to find such things. The infamous card catalogue was where we found what books we needed for any given subject. It was extremely time consuming and tedious. Now, all we have to do is go to Google and type (or say) a few words and – BAM – there are hundreds of thousands of places to go to get information; all those references in a few seconds instead of hours.

As a lot of people have come to realize, I am what most would call a conspiracy theorist (read: nut case). There are things that I believe that the majority of people just can’t comprehend as being real. Things like the UFO crash at Roswell in the 1950s; that Lee Harvey Oswald was not a lone shooter; we are not alone in the Universe; that the world is actually run by thirteen extremely wealthy families (the Illuminati). These things are subjects that people just can’t wrap their tiny, closed minds around as even remotely being possible. Why? They can’t understand it because they have been indoctrinated into the mindset that everything is on the up and up and there are no secrets that the world doesn’t know.

Wake up, Cupcake. There are a LOT of secrets that the world governments keep from the general population. All a person need do is open his/her eyes and see with an open mind. Look around and ask questions. Don’t take things for granted. It took well over 2000 years for mankind to find and use electricity but, for some reason, modern man, since the 1950s, has progressed exponentially in technology. Since 1960 we have: put a man on the moon more than once and brought them back safely; we have gone from computers being the size of a small house that did one thing at a time to being the size of a pack of cigarettes that are capable of doing billions of thing at one time; we’ve gone from basic telephones to instantaneous communication around the world from anywhere in the world. Can you say that modern man is any more advanced, intellectually, than we were even 70 years ago? Are you that naïve?

Now that I, hopefully, have you thinking outside that tiny box, think about this: in the last decade there have been more violent attacks against numerous societies than ever before in modern history. We can go back to the Dark Ages when feudalism was rampant but that was long before modern warfare and ‘civilized’ society. Islam has been a problem since its’ inception about 1400 years ago and they have been terrorizing the world that long. Racism has been a problem since different cultures have interacted with each other. People have always had differences of opinions on everything from what is good to eat to what is right and what is wrong since the beginning of time. These societal battles will always be fought. After all, we are the human race and that means that each of us have our own beliefs that, more than likely, clash with someone else.

There have always been wars. Societies go to war for one reason or another. There have been more people killed in the name of religion than any other reason throughout history. Another reason is greed for power. Rome conquered the known world (except Ireland) simply for more power and riches. Germany tried to take over the world for more power. Great Britain, that once mighty nation that the sun never set on, conquered for wealth and power. The Crusades, all about religion; jihad, all about religion; the eternal warfare in the Middle East – yep – religion.

Now, in the last decade or so, there has been a distinct increase in violence. Racism has escalated to a point that it is worse now than it was in the 1950s. Political division is at an all-time high to where the conservatives and liberals are at each other’s throats over the tiniest of subjects. Radical Islamic terrorists are attacking at will almost with impunity. Riots occur at the drop of a hat. Mass shootings are almost a commonplace thing. No time in history has it been this bad. Why now? What is happening in the world that all this violence is needed?

With technology as advanced as it is, knowledge and information is shared at light speed. What used to take weeks or months to spread now takes seconds or minutes. The collective enlightenment of the world’s population is now controlled by the internet. What happens in the USA at 05:00 on Monday morning can be seen in BFE Egypt by 05:05 that same day. This is not a good thing. That means that secrets can be discovered before anyone knows they were leaked.

The Illuminati have discovered that what they are doing is becoming more and more obvious to those that actually question things. All the violence that is happening is because it has to. To keep some of the more ancient and best kept secrets secret, there has to be things that keep people from questioning, or even noticing, what is actually happening. What better way to cover up some secret deal between governments than to get everyone’s attention on a huge riot or terrorist attack somewhere in the world? The Illuminati don’t want to lose the power they have so they keep the chaos going. Their ultimate goal is one world government under their control.

Why do you think that Barack Obama pushed so hard toward that end? He was nothing more than a pawn doing the bidding of someone above him. He pushed for more and more UN control over the United States. He weakened our military. He bowed to foreign leaders. Why? Was he that weak of a leader? No. He was doing what he was told just as every other politician and world leader has done for decades. The last American President to go against these powers was John Kennedy. He, like Donald Trump, wanted to keep America great, safe, sovereign. When he publicly announced that he was going to find out what was wrong and do something about it, well, we all know what happened then. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas and Lyndon Johnson took the oath of office at the Dallas airport almost before the doctors declared the President dead. Johnson was supposed to be in Washington, not Dallas. Why was he there? Because he knew that Kennedy was going to die and he wanted to take the oath as soon as humanly possible. And, he was ordered to be there to do just that. He, like so many others, was a lackey to the Illuminati.

Why are so many against Donald Trump and doing so much to destroy his administration before it even gets started? Because Trump is not owned by the Illuminati and will not be. He, like Kennedy, wants to keep America a safe, strong, sovereign nation. Rumors and false news reports about a connection between Trump and Putin puts doubt into the minds of a lot of Americans. Scandals, also, instills doubt in a leader. The Liberal Left was calling for impeachment before Trump even took the Oath of Office. THAT is how dangerous a man Donald J Trump is to those hidden controllers of our destinies. Trump is not a danger to America at all like the liberals keep saying he is. The only danger there is that he will take away their entitlements and Communist ideology.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is the problem with those thirteen families. They are so wealthy and powerful that they are above any laws, any reproach. They are corrupted absolutely and they will stop at nothing, including murder and total annihilation of the planet, to keep their wealth and power. They make the Obama’s egos and arrogance look like child’s play.

Granted, all this seems like conspiracy theory. No way could that be happening. The world’s leaders wouldn’t allow it. Really? What controls a country? Money. Where is the money? In the world’s banks. Who owns the world’s banks? The thirteen elitist families that have been named the Illuminati. Think about this: we keep hearing how the world is in debt. Who does the world owe? The world banks. The world owes the Illuminati.

OUR TIME IS NOW! It’s time we quit playing by the rules set forth by the Illuminati. We have become a greedy, gluttonous society that needs money to survive, at least in our minds. That is what they want us to believe. We don’t need anything but ourselves and our ability to survive on our own. If we quit playing by their rules, quit buying every little thing that we think is necessary and start growing and doing only what is necessary, they will lose. We will win. The power will return to the people instead of in the hands of those that are the wealthiest.

We must fight together or we will lose this battle and the war. OUR TIME IS NOW!