You're not the boss of me...

OHIO.....I am not allowed to say it

2008-03-04T21:23:00.002-05:00

Ohio.

How I wish you were an island, then maybe you could sink under the water.
I know this seems like a harsh statement and you would be right if I were saying it about anything but Ohio.

Now I can hear people say that it is because it is that I am from Michigan and I am just upset that we can’t beat Ohio St. in football and that would be wrong. I could care less about who wins that football game.

No the reason that I would like to flood Ohio is because politically it has to be the most idiotic state in the union.

It is a rust belt state, with a lower to middle class population. Many working class jobs and yet they vote Republican. I don’t understand how these people could constantly vote against their best interest.

They are voting for a Republican party that no longer exists. The party of Lincoln, of Roosevelt, of Eisenhower is not the party of today.

The Republicans no longer stand for American jobs, the Middle class, they don’t even stand for the Military (except to send our soldiers off to fight other peoples battles). And yet Ohioans still vote for these idiots.

Now I must say that I do like something about Ohio, and that would be Cedar Point. For those of you not familiar with Cedar Point it is an amusement park. If I had the ability I would take Cedar Point from Ohio and then use a scorched earth policy on the rest of the state.

Not only would that cleanse the Midwest of this ridicules political farce, but it will also give the earth a chance to recover from this parasite that clearly decays all that is good and proper.

Oh yeah it will also give U of M a chance at the big ten title.

Mr. Bush. It seems that your Political Terrorist have infested Ohio once again. And once again it might be Ohio that slaughters the election process of this once great nation. I hope you and your cronies are happy that you helped to destroy all that is decent in our country.

Stop this Prince insanity......

2008-02-29T22:00:00.001-05:00

Here is another reason I dislike the television media.

Prince Harry.

Did you know that he has been serving in Afghanistan? Did you know he has been doing it in secret? Did you know that he was the first royal to serve in a war zone since his Uncle Andrew served in that huge Falklands Island war with Argentina?
Great now that we all know this important information can we please stop talking about it.

I mean I find it admirable that a member of the upper class would actually put themselves in harms way while rich people in this country (who actually support this war) refuse to sign their children up for it.

But that is where I draw the line. I am not a British citizen. The United States does not belong to the commonwealth of nations. So why must we over kill about a royal family that we no longer call our own.

I respect the young Prince, even though he had nothing to do in gaining the position and novelty that his life is, he has been trying for a long time to be in the midst of the situation that his fellow soldiers are in.

However again I must ask why why do we actually care about this story so much. He went, was found out, and now he is on his way home…. END OF STORY

Mr. Bush (your royal lame duck ness) do you see how that Prince went after the TERRORIST. Maybe your daughters will get the hint and help look for BOMBS instead of getting BOMBED themselves.

Ford tries one more time...

2008-02-26T22:24:00.002-05:00

Well Ford motor is giving the choice of buyouts once again, and once again I am going to pass the buyouts up.

It’s not that I enjoy working on the assembly line, and it’s not that I will miss showing up everyday (ok most days)

The only reason that I will be turning down the buyouts is because I can’t afford to take the buyout.

I understand that to the rest of the world, at least those that listen to the news, think that the higher end payout is a good deal. So did a lot of the people who took it the first time around.

$140,000 as the top prize (for those who are 55 years of age, and have at least 10 years of service, and the ever popular $100,000 for those who don’t qualify for the $140,000 seems like a lot of money. However that is before taxes have been taken out.

A friend of mine who took the $100,000 package received just over $60,000 after taxes. Of that he had to use a portion to gain insurance for his family, some to get his bills in order and then quite a bit to keep the family going until he could find a job (which in Michigan is kind of hard at the moment) of which made nowhere near what he was making, and gave him no insurance.

Now some people did make out with their buyout. They however all had over 25 years, were given about $30,000 in cash, and were allowed to keep their benefits just as if they had retired at 30 years.

A few of my friends took the education buyouts, and a couple of them might have a chance of getting a good job after all is said and done, but there are a lot of rules surrounding these buyouts, and it is not like they just go to school, they still have to get jobs to pay their bills. The funds received for this buyout go mostly for education.

I wish I was in the situation to take a buyout. I would love to wake up in the morning and know that I wouldn’t have to go into the factory anymore. There are many of us that wish that same thing, but in the end we have no other choice but to stay where we are, and hope that the company can get their act together so we can all benefit from the future.

Mr. Bush you only have 328 days, 1hr 31min and 23.8sec left in office. Do you think you might be able to get some real TERRORIST before you leave office, or are you content to just continue to BOMB civilians because you can? Just a question.

I OWE WHAT ????

2008-02-25T22:00:00.002-05:00

So there I am, doing my least favorite thing in the world, sorting through the days mail and opening up a bill.

It is the cell phone bill, one that I was sure was going to hold a surprise for me. Oh let me tell you that I wasn’t let down. The grand total was a whopping $603.

That’s right $603. I thought it was a type-o also, so after I pulled my jaw off of the floor, I checked it again. Nope I was seeing straight it said $603.

I couldn’t believe it. I grabbed the phone and went off to call the phone company. Lets call them the “running real fast” company.

After pushing a series of numbers to get through the system, I was finally able to gain access to a “very nice” (notice the quotes) Indian lady.

I must be fair she was nice, however she wasn’t very helpful. After giving me the run around about not being able to access my account I “kindly” (quotes) said thank you and hung up.

Ok so I just hung up on her.

At this time it was time to eat, and then take my daughter to play rehearsal. I then came home and tried to call the “running real fast” company again. Once again I ran through the push buttons from hell, and then found myself again talking to another “nice” Indian lady.

This one actually tried to help me figure out why my bill was so high. She placed me on hold a number of times, giving the impression that she was looking in detail at my account. Yet each time she came back on the line she was just as confused as before.

I knew what the problem was. We had just up graded to better phones and were supposed to receive in store rebates, but for some reason the company didn’t give us the in store rebate, and now she was telling me that I had to go back to where I purchased the phones to get a mail in rebate.

I tried repeatedly to explain the situation to her but she just didn’t understand what I was saying. I kept seeing the image of Jerry Lewis as the Chinese character in the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” All smiles but no substance.

I finally had to hang up with her(of course I could put more quotes around the way I left that conversation), and decided that I will just go to the store tomorrow to see if I can get an understanding from someone who might actually be able to understand the situation.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not prejudice. I don’t dislike Indians. I don’t dislike people with accents, my Grandfather has a thick accent, and because of it I am able to understand what other people with accents are saying. What I am saying however is that I hate the fact that I have to talk to someone half way around the world, and then not be able to communicate the situation correctly.

All I know is that I better be able to get things straightened out tomorrow at the store or I am going to go ballistic 603 times. Once for each dollar they say I owe them.

Hey Mr. Bush, found any new Terrorist with Bombs lately. “Bad Muslim goes Boom” said Mr. Bush

What does the world think.

2008-02-21T21:43:00.001-05:00

What I want to know is what people around the world think about what is happening in the United States? Not just those who might have spent time in the U.S. but also those who get their information from their local sources.

It is easy to see how things are going from a Michigan point of view, a California point of view, or even a Alabama point of view. But I want to know how people from Brighton England feel about the U.S.

I want to know how people in Tokyo see us, I want to know how people in Kiev see us.

I would like to know if we are truly perceived as the good guys, or the bullies. We in America always think that we act in the best interest of everyone when we act, however there are many times that we find out, after the fact, that we are not doing the right thing.

We also seemed to be vehemently outraged when ever anyone around the world says something against our judgment. (Freedom fries)

We here in America have to remember that every great nation will gradually fall from its power, and most of the time it is because they become singular in purpose while thinking that we are doing so much for others.

We can only be great leaders if we have the backing of those that follow us. We can only be a great world leader if we have the backing of the rest of the world. If we don’t then we look (as we have under the Bush Administration) like fools.

[This is for the wire tappers TERRORIST, BOMBS, ANTI-BUSH]

Exercising my 1st amendment right.

2008-02-20T20:16:00.002-05:00

I am appalled at how my Government is attacking my 4th Amendment rights of protection against warrant less search and seizure. They want the power to tap into any phone line they wish, read any mail, e-mail or snail mail, regardless of content.

They say that they are trying to keep Americans safe from terrorist attacks, and that they will only use the taps on international calls. However I still don’t see what the problem is with getting a warrant. I know I have posted a blog about this subject before but it just blows my mind that my Government would do such a thing.

How are they going to determine which lines to tap? Are they going to grab lines of people they already think are tied to terrorist organizations? Or are they going to blanket the system in search of such words as terrorist, bombing, explosion ect…

I am tempted to use those words in every blog I write just so I know that there is somebody reading it.

Maybe if I am lucky I will get a letter from the President telling to stop being a pain in the Governments collective asses.

Please explain this to me...

2008-02-19T19:40:00.000-05:00

I went to buy my son his very first baseball bat today. He wants to play little league and while he has had a mitt to play catch since last summer, we never got around to getting a bat. So off to the sporting goods store my son and I went. We knew we had to find a bat that was rated for little league.

How was I to know that there would be so many different kinds.

There were balls for little league, tee ball, youth league, softball, slow and fast pitch, and adult fast pitch baseball.

There were thin bats and thick bats, short bats and long bats, wooden bats and aluminum bats. Enough bats for a Dr. Seuss rhyme.

Now this alone was enough to shock me. When I was younger all they had were Louisville sluggers, and now they have bats from Japan and China, but this wasn’t the thing that shocked me the most. What was the biggest shock was the sticker price.
They ranged anywhere to $20.00 to $300.00. I had to pick my jaw off the ground. How in the world could a bat be so expensive. Granted the $300.00 was the adult bat, but the little league bats still topped out at about $180.00.

Of course I bought one that was on sale for $20.00, but even that one regular price was almost $50.00

I would love someone to explain to me just why a bat that a nine or ten year old would use has to cost so much. I asked one of the workers about it but he had no idea as to why this was the case.

It just floors me that a sport, which had once cost so little to participate in, now is beginning to creep up in price.

I just hope he is good enough at baseball as to one day be able to afford his own equipment.

President Bush makes me feel so safe. NOT

2008-02-17T21:06:00.001-05:00

"Good morning. At this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning new attacks on our country."

This has got to be the worst statement Bush has yet to say in his term in office. I can't believe that the so called leader of the freest nation in the world would have the nerve to try and scare the American people this way.
He claims that if he doesn’t have the right to invade the privacy of the American people at his will then there is a problem. Has he never heard of the 4th amendment.

4th Amendment
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

There are many people out there screaming about “we have got to kill the enemy before he attacks us, and the only way to do that is to eves drop on peoples conversation.” There are many people out there that say “if you have nothing to hide then why should it matter?”

First of all.
There have been people since the creation of this nation that have wanted to attack us. There are people in this nation that if given the chance would aid in an attack on this nation. Yes the worlds terrorist are the new threat to us, but they are not the first nor will they be the last.

Second,
The "President" has the FISA court in which to gain his warrants.

What is the FISA court? The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act resulted from extensive investigations by Senate Committees into the legality of domestic intelligence activities. These investigations were led separately by Sam Ervin and Frank Church in the 1970s after certain activities had been revealed by the Watergate affair (see the Church Committee report). The act was created to provide Judicial and congressional oversight of the government's covert surveillance activities of foreign entities and individuals in the United States, while maintaining the secrecy needed to protect national security. It allowed warrantless surveillance within the United States for up to one year unless the "surveillance will acquire the contents of any communication to which a United States person is a party". If a United States person is involved, judicial authorization was required within 72 hours after surveillance begins.

It is a very simple procedure. The President, or the Government for those who wish to defend Mr. Bush, has to only ask the FISA court for the warrant. There has only been a few times in the courts history that they have refused to give a warrant to the Government.

Third
If the Government has the need for the warrant, a need that is so great as to go after the parties as quickly as possible, and they know that they have up to 72 hours after they start the wire tap then why should it be difficult to obtain the warrant. For heavens sake why start problems for yourself if you don’t have to.

I am in favor of going after those who would want to terrorize anyone in the world. However, I am also in favor of protecting the rights of the American people. You can say what you want about “if you don’t have anything to hide then why worry about it.” I don’t have anything to hide, but that doesn’t mean I want the Government to spy on me. That sounds more like the Soviet Union, or China than the United States of America.

People that claim they are for our freedoms but would allow this President to hold us down in fear, should prepare for your rights to be infringed upon. Believe it or not some of our enemies are not foreign at all but the may in fact be terrorist, and one of them may live at 1600 Pennsylvania ave.

Here is an opinion on the whole deal why Bush is getting mad at the House of Representatives. It is not for the surveillance portion of the Bill that Bush is upset about, the House seemed willing to work with Bush about that issue. What they didn’t want was to give the Phone companies immunity from lawsuits for turning over information on Americans to the Government without warrants.

The American people are going to have to wake up. They are going to have to start making their Government accountable for their actions. We don’t have to live in fear. There is a great chance that we will be attacked again, and God knows that the Republicans are hoping that the attack happens under a Democratic administration so that they can say “We told you so.”

We need to live by another motto’; “If you attack us you will awaken a wrath of such magnitude as to curse your people for many generations.” I guess it is a little bit much but we need to get back to we will defend ourselves, but we do not start the fight.

Where can conservatives go?

2008-02-16T10:07:00.002-05:00

I know this is a loaded question.
I know exactly where they can go, but what I am talking about is after the elections.

For years we have heard die hard liberals in this country swear that they would flee the country if Republicans like Bush won the Presidency. Now however the shoe is on the other foot.

When Sen. Obama becomes the President how will the die hard Conservatives continue to make it in this country.
I don't know if they can say the same things as Liberals. I don't think they can make the same statements about fleeing the country.

I mean where could they go.

Most of Europe and South American is more Liberal than we are. I can't see any of them fleeing to anywhere in Africa, I mean there are so many "black" people there. Australia has just elected a more Liberal government, and even though I would like them to all freeze in Antartica I can't see them going there either. This leaves Asia.

I think Conservative would like Asia.

The majority of people in Asia are treated like slaves, (or as Republicans like to call them CHEAP LABOR). Not to meantion that governments in Asia, (notibly China, Indonesia, Vietnam...) know how to crack down on anyone who disagrees with policy.

Asia would be a Conservatives paradise.

The rich are allowed to get richer, and the poorer understand that they are proclaimed by God to be poor and are willing to accept the fact. It is a place that Conservative can be free to be themselves.
They like Asia so much that they have been trying to turn the United State into a place similar to it. You would think they would have left (I mean exported themselves) to Asia a long time ago. I mean it would be cheaper for them to do with themselves as they have done with many of our jobs.

Ship them to Asia.

Obama for President

A letter to Governor Granholm.

2008-02-08T23:15:00.000-05:00

Michigan and Florida voters were shafted during this Primary season. Now there is a chance for our voices to be heard but maybe not the way we want them to. This is my letter to Gov. Granholm.

Governor Granholm,
I am writing to you today about the possibility of a Michigan Democratic Caucus. I understand the hesitation you might have in holding another voting session. It cost a lot of money to put one of these events on, but I believe that there is something more important going on here. Your office released the statement "More people participated in the primary than in any other time in history and we want to respect those votes. We will work toward a resolution to get our delegation seated at the democratic national convention."

Now it is true that all our votes should be counted, however the problem I see is that under the current outcome my vote will not be respected. Both political parties forced a move of the primary date, something that the average voter had no choice in. The National parties then retaliated by telling the Candidates not to participate in our primary. Both Senators Obama and Edwards agreed to request, while Senator Clinton refused to remove her name from the ballot. Michigan Democrats and Independents were given the choice of uncommitted if our chosen candidate were not on the ballot. 40% of the voters took that option. Many other voters voted for Senator Clinton because they believed that their vote wouldn’t count if they voted for uncommitted.

I, myself, voted uncommitted, not so much out of dislike for Senator Clinton, but because of my anger with the Democratic party for placing Michigan voters in the position we found ourselves.

Now that the race is as close to a tie as can be everyone wants to seat our delegates. I want that also, but I, as well as many other Independents, feel that our votes are not being counted. We want to vote for a candidate. Had things not gone awry we would have been able to vote for the person in which we wanted, but it now seems that the Democrat party, especially in Michigan, doesn’t want that to happen.

The only fair thing to do is to allow us to have a Caucus so that all our votes can be counted. If Senator Clinton is successful in winning once again then at least no one can say that there was back room deals made to support one particular candidate over another. The voice of the people should be the only thing that matters in the process of electing our leaders.

Again our votes won't count.

2008-02-07T22:21:00.000-05:00

Well just when we thought it had got as bad as it could the Democrats throw one more thing at us.

SUPER DELEGATES

For the first time in a long time people are energized about the whole election process. All over the country people are coming out in record numbers to vote in the Democratic primaries and caucuses.
They are life long Democrats and some cross over Republicans, but the biggest group is the Independent group looking to help make a change in this nation.

This should be a very exciting time for the Democrats. They seem to have the upper hand over the Republican party. Even though it seems that John McCain will be the Republican nominee the Democrats look to be poised to take the Presidency.

Once again though the Democratic party seems to be on the verge of losing their chance to win.

How can this be?

SUPER DELEGATES.

Even though people have been coming out in strong numbers it must be brought to everyone’s attention that the majority of independents are coming out for Sen. Obama. These are people who might not vote ordinarily, and will not be there for Sen. Clinton if she is the nominee.

Again I say SUPER DELEGATES.

These are the people in the Democratic party that have been given special voting privileges so that in case there is no clear winner for the Dems, then they can vote and help decide who will be the nominee. They are leading Democratic leaders, Senators, Congressmen/women, party leaders, and other specially picked persons.

Normally they wouldn’t be used, but this year Obama, and Clinton possibly be neck and neck going into the Convention. If this is the case then these people will help to decide the winner.

The problem is that there are over 800 SP’s. This means that if Obama is slightly ahead in the number of delegates and the party “faithful” feel that they don’t want to give the nomination to him then they can use their votes to give Clinton the win.

I, like many other independents, may feel betrayed by the Democrats. If this is the case then there is a good chance that most of those Independents will decide to stay home. Or for that matter switch over to McCain.
It doesn’t seem fair no matter which way one looks at it. The leaders in the Dem. Party will try as hard as they can to get who they want as the nominee (which seems to be Clinton.) It also seems that they might do what ever they have to, even if that means taking what the voters want and throwing it aside.

It may be the stupidest thing the Democrats can do.

Am I insane??

2008-02-06T22:41:00.000-05:00

I sit here with a question in my head.

Should I run for the local school board or not?

I am one of those people who have a lot of opinions, and I get very mad at times at those in charge because I don't think they do their jobs correctly.

I guess that would qualify me to either put up or shut up.

Running for any sort of office has not really ever crossed my mind, and while this is a relatively small position, it is one that I have to be elected into.

I always thought of myself as the kind that would watch from the sidelines, give my opinion, have someone else say “hey that’s a great idea, let me get to work on that” and then go on my way.

I understand the concept of if you want something done you have to do it yourself, but I am not sure I am qualified for such a job.

It is not something that I do out of want, but with the situation as it is this may be something I do out of necessity.
I have a little time to think about it but I won’t take too long in making my decision. I just hope I know what I am doing (God help us all :-} )

Some good movie quotes

2008-02-05T22:06:00.000-05:00

These are some of my favorite movie quotes. Some of them you might know some you might not, but I think they are all pretty good.

1. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like victory.Apocalypse Now, spoken by Robert Duvall

2. 'Where gonna need a bigger boat!' - chief Brody - Jaws

3.-"You a bounty hunter?"-"A man's got to make a living."-"Dying ain't much of a living boy
from Outlaw Josey Wales:

4. What you think of as pain is a shadow. Pain has a face...allow me to show it to you, Gentlemen...I AM PAIN. - Pinhead Hell Raiser II

5. “I don't wanna sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't wanna sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed, you know, as a career, I don't wanna do that...right now I just wanna be with your daughter, sir” - John Cusack - Say Anything

6. I'll shove that bat up your ass and turn you into a popsicle. - Ajex- The Warriors

7. Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean? - Marty McFly - Back to the future

8. That's not a knife. [Dundee draws a large Bowie knife] That's* a knife. - Michael J. "Crocodile" Dundee

9. I used to play a little ball. I was small, but I made up for it by being slow.- Earl Pilcher, Jr. - A Family Thing

10. My Chevy shook a shit! -. Jimmer Negamanee - Escanaba in da moonlight

My plead to the west coast

2008-02-05T21:41:00.000-05:00

I can’t stand this.

I am watching the SUPER DUPER ALLY OOPPER Tuesday Primary and I am about ready to pull my hair out.

I can’t believe that Clinton is winning in so many places.
What are people thinking?
How can we allow her to become the Democrat nominee?

Can’t anyone see that she will only hurt the chances of a Democrat becoming President.
She will only bring out the Anti-Hillary folks that might just stay home if Obama is the Dems candidate.

So this is my appeal to those on the great plains and the west coast.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote for Obama.

There is still time to save this nation. We need a person who can build bridges in Washington, not bring a new division to our nations capital.

Obama is that person.

Clinton will only force the two sides to work against one another, and give us another four years of nothing getting done.

So again I plead, vote for OBAMA.

If Clinton wins I might just have to stay home on election day.

REPUBLICANS=Less Government????

2008-02-04T21:43:00.001-05:00

Someone please explain something to me.

I am constantly hearing how the Republican party is the party of less Government.

How they are the party who doesn't want Government to be able to tell you what to do.

I guess however that is unless the situation deals with what you do with your body (ex. Abortion), which Religion is correct(constantly calling us a "Christian nation), trying to make it that everyone should pray in school, telling you have no rights if you are gay(ex. marriage, adoption), who can have sex with who, and calling you out if you have an independent thought that goes against them.

Now we have the latest of the absurdities.

Mississippi Rep. John Read of Gautier (Republican) has called for legislation that would force restaurants to turn away customers on the basis of weight.
He would have it that people that are considered to be obese would not be allowed to eat in any restaurant in Mississippi.

How absurd is this notion?
First, he has tried to place further Government control over peoples daily activities.
Second, he is telling people that only certain citizens have rights.
Third, he has probably setting the state up for many lawsuits by people that will undoubtedly be offended by the proposal.

It is true that there are many overweight people in this nation,(30% of adults in Mississippi according to Rep. Gautier) but is it Governments job to regulate what a person eats, regardless of how bad it might be for the individual?

The Republicans are the same group that find it a travesty that Government would force a business to regulate what it places in the water or air, which hurts more then just one person.
Yet once again they find it ok to tell citizens what they can or cannot do with their personal lives.
I guess the Republican version of less Government means Government giving you less choice in how you live your life.

I am so glad we are protecting WHAT...

2008-02-01T20:17:00.000-05:00

Three of the worlds largest oil companies had a very good year in 2007.

Chevron, the United States 2nd largest oil company, posted a record profit of $18.69 billion, while Americas largest oil company Exxon Mobil broke its own record for net income by any U.S. corporation, at $40.6 billion.

British Shell Oil profits for the whole of 2007 soared to $31.3bn from $25.4bn the previous year.

Now everything we have been told about why we actually went into Iraq makes so much sense to me.

The freedom of the Iraqi people, the Democratization of the Middle East, the Liberation of the WHOLE DAMN WORLD.

We have to send our soldiers around the world so that they can protect pipe lines, refineries, and of course GAS STATIONS.
This just in "the elite 101st airborne has taken up position around the Shell station in south central Baghdad."

Apparently President "Lame duck" is just holding out long enough to let this war become someone else’s problem, while the whole time his buddies are raking in the BILLIONS of dollars.

Oh yeah a few more Americans died this week, along with a over a hundred Iraqi civilians, but then again what am I thinking. What are a few hundred, or for that matter a few thousand lives compared to the Billions of dollars that can be made.

I guess Bush would call it a pretty good FAIR TRADE policy.

I don't know what I should do?

2008-01-30T21:00:00.000-05:00

I, for the first time, don't know how I am going to vote this year.

I have already decided that I can't vote third party. I have seen the candidates for the Libertarians, and the Green party, and know that deep down I can't give either one of them my support.

I can't vote for the Republicans.

I can't get past that they are all idiots. When I watch them it is all I can do not to pull my hair out.All they have is to refer back to Ronald Reagan, who I believe one day people will realize that he wasn't as great as everyone tries to make him out to be.

That leaves me with the Democrats. We are now down to Obama, and Clinton.

Now I have said that I am leaning towards Obama. I believe that of all the candidates running he is the only one that can bridge the gap between parties and actually get things done.

Here, however, is the problem. Clinton cries and people feel sorry for her and gives her their vote. Clinton claims she is snubbed by Obama and the National Organization for Women come out and try to undermined Obama (which I am sure will give Clinton more votes). The more that happens to make Clinton look like a poor helpless victim the more votes she gets.

How can you be a helpless victim while claiming you were First lady of the United States. First Lady of Arkansas, a lawyer who has been fighting the system for over 35 years.

How does that person become a victim? I don't know, but I can tell you that if the Clintons (you know Bill is as much a part of this as Hillary) get the nomination for the Democratic party I might have to do the unthinkable and not vote at all.

No one in this years race, except Obama, has the real potential to be the President of the United States.

It is safe for me to say that this election year really blows.

We shouldn't let Florida vote anymore.

2008-01-29T22:06:00.000-05:00

That's right I said it and I mean it. We should take all voting rights away from the people of Florida.

I don't get it, it should be an easy process, but no, not with Florida.

Just when we had thought that we had gotten away from the hanging chads.

Just when we thought we had seen it all with people being turned away because they may or may not have once been a criminal.

Just when we had thought Florida had cleaned up their election crap I just have to say

"OH COME ON"

What is wrong with this State? What is wrong with the people who live there? Do they get too much sun? Do they have sea salt on the brain? Or are they just idiots?
Oh I don't like to be this way but come on.
Here is what happened today.

1.In Delray Beach, voting was delayed about an hour and a half at a precinct after a poll worker turned off electronic machines, which deprogrammed them.

2.Some Democratic voters was turned away at an Orange County precinct near Orlando after being told there was no Democratic primary today.

3.Some precincts in Broward County had higher turnout than expected and didn't have enough pollsters to run the polls.

4.Some Democratic voters were given independent slips because pollsters and voters didn't realize the mistake.

5. Daytona Beach City Island had voting numbers were off so pollsters had to re-insert the ballots to find the missing numbers.

6. How many absentee ballots we filled back in December? How do you get to vote a month before the election day, do you really know everything about a person to vote that early.

The process should be easy. 1.Go to the polling place, 2.Get a ballot, 3.Vote. How hard can it be.

We are in the mess we are today because people in Florida can't vote. Do we need to buy them a guidebook so they can vote? Maybe we can buy a whole bunch of "Voting for Dummies," books so that the dummies in Florida can finally get it right.

Thank goodness this is his last....

2008-01-28T20:21:00.000-05:00

I sit here typing this with my nose, as I have been tied up so that I cannot hurt myself or others, as I get ready to watch "President" Bush's final State of the Union speech. I have to say that I wasn't going to watch the speech, I am sure I can find some mold growing or paint drying that will more exciting, but I decided that I might as well watch the idiot the one last time.

I, however, am already feeling the heat rising. I have read the excerpts, that the administration has handed out to the press dealing with tonight's speech, and if this is what he is going to say we have been even dumber then we thought by re-electing him.(Of which of course I voted against him)

1. He wants to spend 300 million on helping school age children in struggling school districts get grants to go to private schools or to go to better districts outside of their own. I just don't understand why he has a problem helping the struggling school districts in the first place. Maybe it is because the private institutions are run by wealthier entities that usually treat their staff more unfair then public districts.

2. He plans on calling on Congress to work on the issue of Social Security so that it will be around for our children, and grandchildren. Isn't this the man who spent a great deal of time trying to throw the SS system out, and now he wants to save it. Please.

3. He is calling for Bipartisan relations between the two parties to get things done. This is the same guy who use his majority Republican congress to pass everything he wanted and then if and when the Democrats fought back attacked them as not being relevant to the situation.

4. He will of course talk about the Iraq conflict (we have not declared war on them) and will surely say how well the situation is now. Yet he will not tell us how long we will be there, how much it will cost in lives and money, and if they will have a civil war on our hands when we finally pull out.

5. He will talk about the United States need to use green technologies to help with our dependence on foreign oil. Wait a minute isn't he a TEXAS OILMAN with close ties to the SAUDI ROYAL FAMILY. What part of that relationship says he cares about green technology.

6. He wants countries of the world to band together to help overcome the problem on green house gases. Are you kidding. One of the first things that he did was pull out of the Kyoto agreement that was the worlds attempt to overcome the effect of green house emissions.

7. He will call for the end to pork barrel projects and will say he will veto any of these that come across his desk. Wait a minute. He didn't veto anything during his first six years (how about that bridge to no where) his first veto only came after the Democrats came to power and wanted to pass something of their own.

8. He will try and support his U.S. Middle East policy, even though he didn't try for middle east peace until his Iraq policy fell into the toilet.

9. He will want to make permanent his tax cuts even though they don't help the middle and lower class.

10. He will talk about how jobs have been created, but he will not say that these jobs pay very little and can't help raise a family.

11. Last and not least he will try and make himself look like less of a failure then he really is. But alas he will still look like the idiot more then before the speech.

Like I said thank goodness this is the last time we have to listen to the Idiot in Chief give this speech.

Why haven't we learned yet?

2008-01-27T00:48:00.000-05:00

On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade the two sides of the abortion cause have gotten no further then they were on that day 35 years ago when the Supreme Court decided on the case.

The Pro-Life side wants to abolish the procedure totally, while the Pro-Choice want to expand it.

So why is it so hard for this thing to be solved? who knows.

I myself have to side with the Pro-Choice group.

While I detest the practice of abortion I cannot for the life of me tell a woman what to do with her body.

Nor can I hold a doctor responsible for murder if he/she has no choice but to abort a fetus in the saving of a mothers life.

I understand that the pro-life side is heavily involved in religion, and that most of their views come about from trying to think about how God would deal with this. However that way of thinking is not going to solve this problem. God apparently has decided to not answer the question of abortion, seeing that abortions have been going on for a lot longer than Roe v. Wade has been around.

Now that doesn't mean that the other side is doing a very good job at solving this issue either.

While they are trying to keep the practice legal, they seem to be putting less time into stopping the problem of unwanted pregnancy.

Actually neither side is handling the issue of unwanted pregnancy very well.

We have to bring ourselves into the new century. We have to understand that just "say no" doesn't work in the real world. In the real world young adults are having sex and in the real world they are not being told about prevention.

It should be our ultimate goal to get kids to follow the abstinence route. Not only because of unwanted pregnancies, but also because of sexually transmitted diseases. But it is unrealistic to assume that simple words, or for that matter ancient scripture, is going to do any good.

We have to be prepared to take all avenues in this battle, both sides are going to have to realize that they need to work together to solve this problem. Even then both sides are going to have to understand that the issue will never fully go away.

If abortion is outlawed then women will just go back to back alley procedures, and we remember how those turned out.

For the sake of all women we must keep the procedure legal, but also for the sake of all women we must come up with sensible ways to stop the pregnancies from occurring in the first place.

Kwame, Kwame, Kwame....

2008-01-26T22:43:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe that it's "here we go again."

The Mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick is finding himself in hot water once more. This time it seems that Kilpatrick and Chief of Staff Christine Beatty have been found to have lied under oath about having an on going affair. Now many people have been saying that this is a personal matter between the Mayor and his wife, and that he should continue to serve as Detroit's top official.

Here however is the problem with that.

The reason he had been under oath in the first place was because of a lawsuit filed by two police officers who alleged they were fired for investigating claims that the mayor used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs. The lawsuit ended with the jury giving the police officers more then 8 million dollars in damages.

Now these are not the only controversies that Mayor Kilpatrick has been involved with:

In 2005 the Mayor received an expensive SUV for his family to be chauffeured around in. At first the Mayor had Detroit Chief of Police Ella Bully-Cummings claim that the SUV was actually to be use in drug enforcement stings. Eventually the Mayor had no choice but to admit that he had ordered the vehicle for personal use.

In May 2007 Kilpatrick used $8,600.00 from a secret civic fund, to take his family on a vacation to a 5 star California resort. The fund was controlled by his sister and some friends that was intended to be used to improve the city through educational means. When confronted about this Mayor Kilpatrick grabbed and threw the microphone of the reported asking the questions.
In August of 2007 the situation of the fired police officers came to light with the awarding of the 8 million dollars. The Mayor blamed the verdict on White Suburbanite jurors that were using Racism as a tool against the cities Black Mayor.

As of January 2008 the Mayor, his Chief of Staff Beatty, and Chief of Police Bully-Cummings were all named in a slander lawsuit brought on by two other police officers dealing with an incident in 2004. This is when "Beatty" was pulled over for speeding. An irate Beatty asked the officers if they "knew who the f**k she was," and then called Chief Bully-Cummings to call the officers off. When the news got a hold of the story Kilpatrick, Beatty, and Bully-Cummings all claimed that the pull over had to have been a set up to harass Beatty.

So this latest report, which could lead to perjury charges that could give up to 15 years in prison, and the disbarment of the Mayor.

I along with many other people in the Detroit area had high hopes for the Mayor. A young African American male, with politics in his blood, and many new ideas seemed to be a bright light for the future of a failing city. It didn't take long to destroy those hopes, at least from the suburban stand point. With his fancy clothes, and his street sense attitude, many got the impression that he was nothing more then a well dressed bully. Now with everything that has come to light about how he really is I believe that the man needs to step down.

The city of Detroit has too many problems without having it's leader causing more illegal activities.

If there is anything decent in this man he would leave and allow the city to overcome yet another obstacle that has been placed before it.

Who the hell are these people...

2008-01-25T20:21:00.000-05:00

Has any one ever heard of the Westboro Baptist Church. If not everyone should find out about them. These have to be the most idiotic, back water, and ill-willed members of society that have ever been produced.

These so called "Christians" have made it their sole purpose to go to funerals of fallen soldiers and protest. They say that it is because of homosexuals in the United States that these soldiers were killed.

Now they wish to protest the funeral of actor Heath Ledger because he played a gay character in the movie "Brokeback Mountain."

I cannot for the life of me understand the whole concept behind this groups actions. I have seen pictures of them and I have to admit that if there ever was a stereotype for inbreeding they would qualify.

What makes this all the worse is that people mistake this idiot group as anti-war Liberals. They are by far not Liberals. They have to be the most right-winged conservative pro-war group out there. Their only reason for protesting the deaths is homosexuality.

If this is what Christianity is all about then I have to be happy to say that I don't include myself in this religion.

How can anyone believe in a deity that is so angry, so jealous, so hateful. I hear a little about peace and love but it is always in the context of "only if you are another Christian," and that also means if you are the right kind of Christian.

If God really wanted to lend a hand with this situation then he wouldn't allow people like the members of the Westboro Baptist Church to hurt so many innocent people.

What I should be doing

2008-01-24T20:34:00.000-05:00

I sit here before this computer trying hard to figure what to say tonight. There are so many different subjects that I am interested in yet I have no idea which subject should take tonight's place in blog world.

Yet writing this blog is not what I should be doing at all.

What I should be working on is one of the many stories that I have laying around the house. My wife, as patient as any one person can be, must look at all the papers and just roll her eyes. Though she loves me too much to actually question me about any of the stories, I know she would love it if I finally could finish one of them.

I have no clear reason for why they are all still unfinished,( laziness, procrastination, lack of real creative ability) I really have no idea why. Anything at this point would be nothing more than just an excuse, and just any excuse is not good enough.

Any way there is a character or two that feel like they might wish to speak to one another and I am the only one that can translate for them. At least that is what I am going to attempt to do anyway.

Rambling on...

2008-01-22T22:26:00.000-05:00

Some days I don't have much to say. Now if you ask anyone who knows me they would say that me not having anything to say is an impossibility, but alas this is one of those days. I could sit here and discuss politics but I am more then a little tired of the process at this moment. I could talk about the atrocities that are going on around the world, but I don't feel like being angered about the lack of help. I could talk about the pain in the ass news stations that say there is something to be worried about but they won't tell you what that is until 11pm something. Yes there is so much I could talk about but like I said I don't have much to say today.

It saddens me...

2008-01-21T21:48:00.000-05:00

It saddens me to know that I would never be able to run for the Presidency of the United States.

It has nothing to do with what has gone on in my past, nor does it have to do with many of the opinions I hold on all the important issues. The reason that I can never run for the office is because of one thing and one thing only.

I am not, at least I do not consider myself, a Christian.

Yes that's right, in this great country of ours the only thing that would keep me from winning the position is my religious, or lack there of, preference. I see every single candidate in the race, both on the Democrat and Republican sides, call out that they are Christians, that they firmly believe in Jesus as their personal savior, and how many times their faith has gotten them through hard times.

I can't say any of that. I can't stand in front of the American people and say that I firmly believe in the Christan belief. I can't and won't claim that this is a Christian nation, even though many of the principals of the two systems are the same, I don't believe that is was the Christian fundamentals that were the building blocks for the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

I don't fault most of the Candidates in trying to express their beliefs in the attempts to "buy" the votes of other"believers", although a few of them seem not to good at making us believe that they are very religious.

I do fault a system however that allows only members of a certain religion to actually have a chance at becoming President. I can sit here and claim my belief in God, that I freely admit that I have, but it is not the hateful, dishonest, jealous, bull headed one of the Christian Bible.

That is why it saddens me to know that even though I would be an honest candidate, one that would do his best at helping the American people, I would never be allowed to do the job because of one certain belief that would keep me out of the White House.

REPUBLICANS

2008-01-20T23:15:00.000-05:00

RACIST
EGOMANIACS
PURPOSELY
USING
BLATANT
LIES
IN
CONTROLING
AMERICA’S
NAIVE
SENSES

should we be worried.

2008-01-19T21:47:00.000-05:00

Russian Chief of Staff Yuri Baluyevski declared today that Russia "could and would use nuclear arms pre-emptively if under serious threat." Why should we even be concerned about this statement? Because it is the first time that the former Soviet Republic has ever stated that is would use such weaponry as a first move.

Even when the USSR was a superpower, and our chief enemy, their military doctrine stated that they would not use nukes against the west as a first strike option.

This is clearly a major change of their policy.

Now we can all assume that the Soviet Unions words could only be taken at face value. There was always a chance that they would have used their weapons if the need arose. Fortunately we never had to face that option.

So why all of a sudden do they take this new attitude.

One could assume that it is because they no longer have the military they once had. That they realize they are no longer have the means to assert their authority over others as they did during the cold war. (As we have seen in the recent past they have had a very hard time dealing with the small State of Chechnya)

Or maybe we can see yet another result of the failing policy of the Bush administration with their pre-emptive rhetoric.

Maybe the Russians have just been looking for a reason to announce this chance in their policy and the U.S. policy in dealing with Iraq was the prime opportunity for them to do it.

The Russians have never been our friends, Ally's maybe during the end of WWII, but never our friends, and it would be foolish to assume that they didn't have a pre-emptive policy in place.

However now we have to worry about whether or not the Russians will attempt to even try to settle a situation before such military force is applied.

Yet here is another concern. What if Americas policy pf pre-emption, and Russia's new policy of pre-emption cause such countries as China (for security reasons) to pre-empt an attack on Taiwan, or for that matter India or Pakistan pre-empting an attack on the one another.

We are at another cross roads in the human experience. We have the power to not only attack and destroy our enemies, but also everyone in the general area, and now in the name of "security" many nations will have the excuse to assault anyone they wish in a very devastating first strike.

Show me the money.

2008-01-18T23:11:00.000-05:00

Well it seems that the inept Bush administration and the mentally challenged Congress are trying to put together a incentive package that is supposed to help jump start our failing economy.

I just have to say here we go again with "a little late to the game aren't we folks."

For how long has Washington been saying that "oh no we are not in a recession," and "the economy is doing very well."

Apparently Washington was wrong.

Here in Michigan we have been feeling the rough road of the down turning economy for quite a while now. We have been losing jobs left and right as companies continue to send their business to cheap labor in third world countries.

So what is the magic bullet that Washington is thinking about sending to the common citizens of the great nation. A check for about $800 for single people and about $1,600.00 for married couples.

Now I know that some people are thinking WOW!!! that seems like a lot of money, but if you really think about it you might understand that it really isn't much of anything. I can tell you that most people will use this money to pay some bills. While it might help to alleviate the burden of some of their bills that is money not being spent in the economy.

If Washington really wanted to get things going I think they would need to do more then just this. I believe that they will have to do things that might make many in the upper levels of our Government squirm.

The first thing would be to raise the amount of money that they want to give to everyone. If the checks are less then $5,000.00 then things will not change. If the Government had the nerve to try that much money they might be pleasantly surprised. The majority of people would have all that money spent within the first few weeks. which means that all the money will make it through each level of the economy until it once again rests in the hands of the wealthy. So it's not really a "handout" (God forgive us if we actually help the middle class, especially when the rich will get the money back with more then they could get with interest included.)

The second thing that Washington has to do is realize that the main reason that we get into this situation is the fact that we are losing jobs, good paying jobs. We can talk all we want about the economy growing but if the jobs that are being created are $6.00-$7.00 an hour jobs then we are not really making any progress. Yes these may be honest jobs, but they are not the kind that will allow a family to make the advancements that a consumer economy desires for its growth.

A third thing that the Government must realize is that the old way of doing things is no longer going to work. I am not calling for isolationism but we have to admit that if we continue to to allow so called American business to send jobs to third world countries for the sake of profit alone then we shall never be what we once thought we were. America is facing serious trouble from other countries without beating ourselves at the game. We can only be great if we are working. We can only be great if we are able to take care of ourselves. We can only be great if the average American can look into the eyes of his children as confidently say "things will be alright."

Another quote that makes sense.

2008-01-17T22:12:00.000-05:00

We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.

Thomas Jefferson3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)

I guess when we look back at our history we tend to think about it in a romantic frame. However if President Jefferson said this quote then I can only assume that non-participation was a problem in his time as it is in ours.

Here comes the train wreck once again

2008-01-16T20:52:00.000-05:00

Another season of American Idol is upon us again and all I can say so far is hold on tight because when this train hits the wall it isn't going to be pretty. Again there are so many people that think that they can sing and help us all they can't. I know that many of these people are now only going on the show to get their fifteen minutes of fame. At least that is what I hope they are doing because if they truly believe they have talent things are sadder in this world then I thought they were.

This is what I want to see

2008-01-15T22:40:00.000-05:00

I would love to see these placed in every school room in America. These are the lessons that every American child should learn from the earliest age because this is what sets them above all other people in the world.

Bill of Rights

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

We are so worried about the Pledge of Allegiance, and whether the Ten Commandments should be in schools that we forget what is really important.

Just another example...

2008-01-15T22:30:00.000-05:00

My Letter to MSNBC:

To my former favorite news station;

I can't believe that the one station that I watch for the most balanced news reporting has sunk to the level of FOX news. The whole Dennis Kucinich debacle is just one more confusing item in the course of this election year. How is it that a major debate can be held with out all the candidates being apart of it. How dare an outside entity proclaim who the American people can watch when it comes to the process of choosing their leaders. Kucinich may not have a chance of winning the nomination, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have valid points to make. I don't know if MSNBC made the decision to give an invitation to him to come to the Nevada debate and then take that invitation away because they wanted to focus on the top three candidates, or if they did it because they thought that he would just make a fool of himself. Maybe MSNBC pulled the invitation because their parent owner General Electric decided that their other interest (defense contracts, and nuclear energy) would be targeted. Rep. Kucinich is opposed to the building of any nuclear facilities, and he is definitely against the War in Iraq where major defense contractors are making their money. Maybe GE wouldn't like their money making machine to have any blemishes placed on it if Kucinich calls them out on their ventures that may not be very popular. I don't know what the motives of MSNBC to go this route, to not include all candidates, were. I am sure though that they would never tell us the real truth behind the decision but now I am afraid I will now have to go back to watching another news source as MSNBC has now fallen to FOX status.

Sam Reams (Disappointed in Michigan with in MSNBC)

My top ten....

2008-01-11T22:17:00.000-05:00

I heard someone on a podcast discuss who they would like to meet if they were able to meet anyone in history. I thought about it and I decided to create my own list of the top ten people I would like to meet if I had the chance to.

Thomas Jefferson 3rd President of the United State
James Burke British Historian
Mark Twain American Writer
Theodore Roosevelt 26th President of the United States
Mahatma Gandhi Indian Political and Spiritual Leader
Martin Luther King, Jr Civil rights leader
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart German Composer
Lt. Gen. "Chesty" Puller Most decorated U.S Marine
B ruce Lee Chinese American Martial Artist
Sun Tzu Chinese General/Author of the "Art Of War"

These are the top people I would like to talk to and learn from their experiences.

Pakistan gives out a warning...

2008-01-10T22:32:00.000-05:00

Today we learn that we will never get Osama Bin Laden. Today we find that the man who has created Al-Quida, who helped to plan the attacks of 9/11, and who constantly calls for his followers to attack the west will never be brought to justice.

And why is this?

It is because today Pakistani President Musharraf has said that any action into his country, which includes the tribal regions in the north where Osama has been hanging out, would be seen as an invasion of Pakistan's sovereignty.

That means regardless of who becomes President of the United States, if they get a clear shot at Osama it would be seen as an invasion.

What will Pakistan do to retaliate? That is something we should think about. I don't believe they would use their nuclear arsenal on us. Not if they didn't want a quick death from ours. But then would we use such things knowing that there is a possibility that we could affect India in the process?

Would they help the Taliban to rise up against the Afghanistan government and our troops there?

Would they decide to join with Osama, to save themselves, and support the terrorist actions that we are "trying" to stop?

We can't be sure what this means. There is just no telling what some one like Musharraf would do to save himself. He is hated in his country. There have been assassination attempts on his life, and I am pretty sure he wouldn't want to do anything that would increase those.

This is just another example of how the Bush administration has dropped the ball when it has come to something important. We had Osama trapped in the beginning of this mess. We had the chance to get him and bring him to Justice but decided to go into Iraq instead.

Herbert Hoover gave us the Great Depression.

Richard Nixon showed us just how even the President of the United States could be a crook.

Ronald Reagan proved that we can outspend our enemies while sacrificing the future of our children who will have to pay for all his programs.

George Bush the elder showed us that giving all the money to the rich doesn't mean it is good for the middle and lower classes.

And now the current administration has given us the glimpse of how America can lose its position in the eyes of the world, and for the first time fall from our leadership roll to that of the bumbling idiot.

How many more Republican leaders will it take before the America that we know and love becomes the next Roman empire.

something to think about...

2008-01-09T20:15:00.000-05:00

We are constantly being told that we can't pull out of Iraq. What will the world think if we leave now? How many people will die in the carnage that will follow when we leave?

Both of these questions are legitimate.

Maybe others will think we are cutting and running, but maybe they will just say it's about time. Maybe others are waiting for us to leave so that they can go in and give assistance. I don't know what others think, nor at this point do I care.

I am not sure how many people will die if we pull out now or later. The "innocent" people are dying in the streets right now. Maybe our surge has put a damper on some of the bombings but lets be real, civilians are still being killed. We are only slowing the process down, not stopping it.

I know that there are many people who will start screaming OH WE CAN'T PULL OUT YET THE IRAQIS AREN'T READY FOR US TO LEAVE!!!!!

Maybe if we decide to start exiting their country maybe they will start killing one another, or maybe they will decide that it is time to get their acts together and solve some of their own problems themselves.

Or we can be like the President and his blind followers and say we can be there another 50 years, or McCain and his 100 years.

Lets think about that for a moment. We have been in Iraq for six years now and, as of Jan. 7th, 3911 members of our military have died. That's an average of just under 55 deaths a month. Even if we half that to around 25 a month, and we project it out for 50 years that number becomes 12,000 US military deaths. Of course that is if the insurgents don't pick up their pace during that time.

According to the Military we have around 30,000 wounded soldiers. That averages about 416 per month. Project that out 50 years and that gives us about 249,000 more injured.

I have heard those who support the war say that we have had troops in Germany and Japan since the end of WW II but to this I must respond that both the Germans and Japanese were all German and Japanese. When we defeated them they were both defeated peoples. There was very little fight left to stage insurgent attacks on our troops.

The people in Iraq are Iraqi because that is what we call them. People must remember that some of them are Arab, some are Persian. Still again some are Kurd. Many are still living in tribes. They are Sunni, and they are Shia and they do not get along. They have never gotten along and in all reality they will never get along.

What we have to think about is this. We have lost nearly 4000 men and women to this war. We have had roughly another 30000 men and women injured. We have spent a trillion dollars on this conflict with no end in sight to the cost. While failing to pay for the things that are needed in this country for our people to survive.

We have damaged the reputation of our nation, and the way things are going it will take a long time to rebuild that.

We have to ask ourselves how much more are we going to sacrifice before we decide that it has been enough. Our military has done everything we have asked of them, now it is time to ask them to come home.

I like this saying.

2008-01-08T21:32:00.000-05:00

This is a nice little saying in German "sobald Ihr Ruf dann zerstört wird, können Sie ziemlich frei leben" which roughly translates as "once your reputation is ruined then you can live quite free."

That makes a lot of sense to me, and it's kind of funny also.

I don't get it?

2008-01-08T20:14:00.000-05:00

I wish someone could explain this to me. I am watching the New Hampshire Primary and with only 12% of the polls counted NBC has called John McCain as the projected winner. Now I really don't care who wins the Republican side of this Primary. It just bothers me that they project it so early.

I understand that news stations all do their own exit polling to get a sense of how people may have voted, but they shouldn't be able to call a winner until at least half of the votes have been counted. There was supposed to be over four hundred thousand votes going to the Republicans and only about twenty thousand counted. How they hell can you determine the winner yet?

Like I said I really don't care who wins that race, but I would love it if Romney could come back with a win just so I could laugh at NBC and their projected winner.

Just wait five minutes..

2008-01-07T21:03:00.000-05:00

There is a saying in Michigan "If you don't like the weather just wait five minutes and it will change." This is the week to prove it.

As of January 1st we had nearly half a foot of snow. It has been bitterly cold, with the kind of chill that enters into your bones and doesn't want to let you go. Today however the temp was a high of 62 degrees. Almost all the snow is gone, all that is left is small mounds that just yesterday were large mounds, but I am sure that will be totally melted by tomorrow.

Tomorrow is supposed to 51 and thundershowers, but that will give way to winter again and by the weekend we are supposed to back in the high 20's/ low 30's and snow.

If you live in Michigan and you don't get headaches that fluctuate with the ebb and flow of the weather patterns, then you need to get your head examined. As for me, my head is pounding and I can't wait for winter to be over. Which should be in about five more minutes.

Mark Twain had a great way with words

2008-01-05T20:53:00.000-05:00

Whether or not he meant to, Mark Twain seems to have agreed with me on this subject.

THE BIBLE
It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.- Letters from the Earth

I really like this one.

My letter to the Michigan Democratic Party

2008-01-04T23:57:00.000-05:00

I have to say that I am very upset with the Democratic party right now. I can't believe that I am being asked to vote "uncommitted" because my candidate of choice has decided to make Iowa and New Hampshire happy and not put his name on the Michigan ballot. I have voted for independent candidates in the past and now when I have decided to throw my vote in for a Democratic candidate I am told I can't. Also am I understanding it correct that if "uncommited" gets enough votes then the delegates that are sent can still vote for a candidate that I do not wish to vote for. If this is the case then maybe I should start a campain of the "uncommited" to vote for Mr. Dodd since he is still on the ballot and make the delegates go to the convention and vote for him.

It's a start.....

2008-01-03T22:28:00.000-05:00

Iowa has come and gone. The Caucus is over, the confetti is being swept up, and the candidates are now on their way to New Hampshire. I have to say that I think I finally have a leading candidate in mind. As of right now I am leaning toward Sen. Barack Obama. I listened to his winning speech and I was impressed by what he said. I know he is a politician, but what he is talking about, change, American unity, a better life for all Americans, putting America back as the world leader that we are, that is what we need.
We are at a cross roads. As Americans we have to really start to look at the world around us. We need to realize the broader spectrum that exist. We have to get a handle on the problems that face this country and know that the way things are currently going are not working.
Of all of the candidates out there only Obama really seems sincere in his effort to get the job that needs to be done done.
So as of right now I throw my support behind Sen. Barack Obama. Now everyone can go on with their lives secure in the knowledge that I have made my decision.

I hate stupid mistakes....

2007-08-26T19:47:00.000-05:00

I can't stand stupid mistakes, especially when I make them. What makes it even worse is when I see the mistake after the project is all finished. I have a bad temper as it is, but when I do something totally, unmistakably stupid, I feel like punching the wall.(I don't though since then it would just be another project I would have to take care of, and more then likely I would make a mistake while doing it. It is such an evil spiral)
Oh I know I shouldn't let it get to me, but I just can't let it go.
It is usually the simple things that set me off the quickest. I should know better. All it requires is a little common sense, and some thinking. At times I seem to lose both.
There are times when I can go back and fix what I messed up, and then I feel a little better, but it still doesn't cover the fact that something had to be worked on twice.
And if there is anything worse than working on something once it is working on it twice.
Like I said it's an evil spiral.

Sometimes I wonder..

2007-08-25T21:33:00.000-05:00

My son has suddenly become a baseball fanatic. He has watched baseball (especially the Detroit Tigers) since he was smaller, most of the games while sitting next to his great-grandfather. Now, however, something has changed.
He is eight years old and wants to play travel baseball. Now it must be understood that he has only recently started to learn how to catch the ball (once with his eye). As far as I know he hasn't had any practice at hitting a ball, (unless they tried during the school year) yet he wants badly to play.
It is the end of summer so getting him on a league of any sort at this time of the year is not going to happen. Which may not be a bad thing since he is going to need a lot of practice. This however might be a pretty good bargaining tool. If he wants to play then it should be easy to keep his room clean.
I should be happy that he has an interest in something other then game boy (and I am). I just hope his excitement for the game can be sustained until next spring when baseball starts up again.

"WHERE IS THE MUSIC...."

2007-08-24T21:42:00.000-05:00

One thing about me is that I love music, and when I say that I mean, I REALLY LOVE MUSIC. So one thing that I hate is that when I want to hear music and all there is is Talk shows.

Now I'm not talking about stations like National Public Radio, or the occasional political or sports station on the AM dial. I will listen to some of their programing when the mood hits me.

No, the programing I am talking about it the regular FM stations that are supposed to play music. I have a 45 min trip one way to work, and music makes it a bare able ride. Now there is nothing worse then moving along at a good pace and all of a sudden the music ends and the DJs start talking about what is going on in the world.

It's not just the news that they talk about. They also talk about things such as what kind of interests the crew have, or, help me, the current reality shows from the night before.

If I wanted to know about the shows I would watch them myself, and even then I wouldn't need to hear the morning radio staff talk about it on the radio.

It is so frustrating to turn the station only to find another group talking about the same things. It's like when everyone goes to a commercial at the same time so that no other station seems to have an advantage of any sort.

I keep hoping to find a station that plays music and nothing else. That one day I will be able to listen to my music without endless chatter.

Then again, if that was to happen, I am sure all they would play would be rap.

Maybe Kanye West was right.....

2007-08-21T20:09:00.000-05:00

Remember back after hurricane Katrina when we watched all the celebrities on TV asking for support for the victims in New Orleans. One such celebrity was Kanye West. He stood there before the whole word and announced "President Bush hates black people." At the time everyone responded with shock and disbelief about how someone could have actually made that statement. However maybe, just maybe, Mr. West may have been right.

At the writing of this blog, Hurricane Dean is leaving the Yucatan Peninsula and will soon be hitting (if its path stays as predicted)the Vera Cruz area of Mexico. The devastation has been great so far and if it again intensifies the damage will be even greater.

Now this is where Kanye's statement comes in to play. Today while attending the North American Summit in Quebec he made the statement that "The American people care a lot about the human condition in our neighborhood and when we see human suffering we want to do what we can." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070822/ap_on_re_ca/bush_canada_mexico_48

As a person who has relatives living in Mexico I am glad to hear that the American Government will do all in its power to help the people in Mexico that might be harmed by this Hurricane.

However, as an American I am a little put out that President Bush made his announcement even before the Hurricane came ashore. Even after Katrina had laid waste to the gulf coast Bush made no real effort to help out. (Unless you consider the little fly by that he did)

If I was an African-American I might be a little, no wait, a whole lot PISSED OFF. How dare our President claim to be a caring individual when he could give a rats A-- about the people in New Orleans that were in a worse position. They had already gone through the hell.

So I don't know for sure how true Mr. West words might be. Maybe President Bush was just responding to the situation because the Mexican President was standing there with him, Or maybe just maybe "W" really does hate black people.

Oh this pisses me off..

2007-08-19T10:14:00.000-05:00

We keep hearing about how our education is as low as 29th in the Industrial world in Education.

I have to say that this is appalling. As an American I am disgusted with the politicians in this country for letting this happen to our nation. We still want to throw more and more programs into the mix, with the worst one being "No Child Left Behind." We want to blame the public education system, the teachers, and the unions.

There is one group however that I don't hear any of the politicians crying about, and who might that be? THE PARENTS

It doesn't matter how much or how little you pay a teacher. It doesn't matter how many extra classes a teacher takes to be prolific in his or her subject. It doesn't matter how strong or weak the Unions are. It doesn't matter how advanced the program might be.

What matters the most is how involved the PARENTS are in their child's lives.

You can have a child that goes to a "challenged" school, with little funding, and every thing working against them yet they are successful because they have the total support from their parental figures.

Then on the other hand you can have a child going to a "superior" school with all the advantages that every child should have, and because they are ignored by their parental figures they find ways of screwing up just to get attention.

Americans are so pre-occupied with their own lives that they forget about their children's futures. Children do no ask to be born. They are forced into this world, cold and naked, and all they long for is to be loved and accepted.

The problem is that Americans feel they deserve to have fun all the time. We place so much importance on going to bars, getting drunk, watching the big game, or (God help us) NASCAR. We need to hang out with friends, and waste time fiddling around. All things we place before our children's education.

We have too many divorced parents. Part time moms and dads who are usually fighting with each other, or trying to hard to keep up with the new living situation that cause the children to become second place.

Sometimes its even worse because the parents work so much to have the "good" life, that the start to neglect the children.

Now I am not saying that these other things aren't important. You need teachers who are good at their jobs. You need programs to help guide the children. You need funds to help keep everything running, but where I think the politicians need to spend more time is trying to figure out a way to get parents more involved in the lives of the children.

It is only then that we will see the improvements that are needed for a successful education system.

That went better then I hoped for...

2007-08-18T23:25:00.000-05:00

I went to the store with my eleven year old daughter today and she was telling me about the two dollars she had gotten from the tooth fairy.

Now I must say that my wife and I have been contemplating about how to tell our little girl that there is no such thing as the tooth fairy. She will be going into the middle school this coming up year and we don’t want her to be the only one to not know the truth.

We also understood that telling her this would probably lead us to the question of Santa Claus.
This is why when she brought up the subject I had to take the opportunity of it being only the two of us to tell her.

“Sweetie,” I said, “I have something to tell you about the tooth fairy.” Without missing a beat she says to me “She isn’t real is she?”

Well that caught me off guard. So I told her “how long have you known?”

“For a while.” She said

“How did you guess?” I asked

“I could never understand how a little fairy could get the money into the film container”

(we have always used a film canister for the kids teeth because it was easier to switch the

containers)

“Besides I don’t know where the tooth fairy would get money for teeth anyway.”

To me these were both very logical questions. Not to mention that it was making it much easier for me to break the news to her.

“Are you sad?” I asked her.

“Not really,” she said, “does this mean that Santa Claus is not real too?”

I really wasn’t ready for that question

“Will you cry if I said he‘s made up?” I asked her.

“No.” she said, “I was wondering how he made the game boys.”

“Well that’s a good question.” I said

“And the Easter Bunny,” she said,

“Yeah him too.” I said.

“I guess I don’t have to worry about a large bunny whose feet were hurting from jumping around and hiding eggs.”

I have to admit that this was going much better than I thought it would. She had already had her doubts, and she wasn’t upset about any of it.

“I just have to ask one thing though.” I told her

“What?” she asked

“That you don’t tell your brother,” I said, “I think he is old enough to know but..”

“He’ll blab it to everyone right?” she finished my thought.

I have always thought my little girl to be a genius, but this little moment confirmed it for me.

I have often wondered just how she would react. I had the feeling she would be alright with it, but never did it occur to me how well she would take it.

Now the only thing I have to wait for is the time to come when I have to explain it to my son.

Let us remember the truth..

2007-08-17T19:27:00.000-05:00

I have a wish for today. I wish that all these right-wing, conservative, pro war nuts would remember what happened to us on 9/11.

Yes we were attacked. A terrorist group sent some of their insane members on a suicide mission and it succeeded beyond any ones wildest thoughts. We responded correctly by going after the leader of this group. We even brought down the Government that was protecting Bin Laden, but that is where it starts to go downhill.

We had the Al-Qadia leadership in our sights, we had the world standing with us. We could have done anything we wanted in order to bring them to justice, but instead of taking advantage of the situation, presented to us, we chose to slow those efforts and change our course of action. We decided to invade Iraq.

Now lets get this straight once and for all. There were NO IRAQIS on any of the planes that were used in the attack on 9/11. In fact the majority of the terrorist were from Saudi Arabia yet I haven't heard any of the "Patriotic" folks call out for an attack on the Arabian Peninsula.
We were forced into Iraq by the lies of our President and his administration. We were told they had weapons of mass destruction, which they didn't. We were told that Saddam was trying to get a hold of nuclear technology, which the weapon inspectors weren't allowing.
We were told that Iraq supported and had training areas for Al-Qadia, even though Bin Laden called for the death of Saddam himself.

Every reason that the President gave was wrong, and this whole time the real criminal of 9/11 is still on the run.

The "rebuilding" of the Iraqi nation is not going the way we were told it was supposed to. There was supposed to be people in the streets waving at us, pretty young women handing out flowers, young children with smiles, their only need being the chocolate candy our soldiers were giving away. But that was not the case.

As soon as Saddam was dead the Iraqis wanted us to leave. They didn't want us to rebuild their nation, they wanted to rebuild their nation, they wanted to put their people to work REBUILDING their nation.

I know that people have been screaming that no one is reporting the good things that are happening in Iraq. Yea we built a school, oh wait someone blew it up. Hey we turned on the electricity, oh wait it's only for a couple of hours a day. We have running water, however it's not clean. We are placing people in jobs, too bad they are contractors from everywhere except Iraq. We are building up the Iraqi army, I guess it would have been nice had we not disbanded them in the first place. We are going to use the oil revenues to help offset our costs... no wait that is just wishful thinking on any reasonable person mind.

What good news are the righties hoping to hear? That the Shia (supported by Iran, and Syria) and the Sunni's (supported by the rest of the middle east) have finally come to terms. What gives anyone they thought that this is going to happen? These two groups are going to go head to head as soon as we are out of there regardless of if we leave now or in ten years. They have problems that are beyond Military, and possibly political fixing. Their problems are philosophical, little differences in their branches of Islam that have torn them apart for centuries. We cannot solve those problems, especially when our leader refers to our mission as a crusade. We have no idea of the history of these people, we clearly have no respect for their religion (and before anyone can say "read the Koran, it's filled with hate" maybe we should read the Christian Bible and see all the hatred and death in there.)

Another thing we missed with the whole episode (when I say we I mean the righties and the President) is the fact that the Kurds in the north are on the verge of a whole new problem. Did any one think that the Kurds in Turkey would want their own homeland? Did anyone think that the Turks might want to keep the Kurds in check by threatening to invade northern Iraq? Has anyone even thought about the possible Greek involvement if Turkey invades? (remember that the Turks and the Greeks are still having small exchanges over Cyprus)

We have asked a lot of our Military. They have spent so much time overseas, away from their families, being lied to by their Government.
We asked them to dispose of Saddam, and they did. We asked them to secure the areas they were in and they did. We asked to sacrifice everything and they have. It is now time to thank them by bringing them home.

The righties blame the left for this mess, but please remember it was the righties who got us in this mess, and the righties who refuse to help get us out of this mess.

I know I have been rambling on this subject, but there is so much to say on it. We ,as Americans, are at our best when we fight from the point of view of coming from behind and taking it to the enemy. We are at our worst when we start the fight, and regardless of what any one says, we started this fight.

I am sure I can go on and on, but that would redundant as those who agree with me agree regardless, and those who disagree are just idiots anyway.
We were attacked on 9/11 but we are fighting the wrong people in the wrong place.

FORE!!!!!

2007-08-16T19:41:00.000-05:00

I always wondered about this happening. I was driving home from work today, taking the same road as I always do, and I came to this Golf course. Now I always pass this course with the same thought in mind, “Has any car ever gotten hit by a Golf ball while driving pass the course?” The reason I think about it is because there is no net or fence to block the balls from slicing into the road. There seems to be support beams that a net could hook onto, yet the net is non-existent.
Well today my question almost got answered (the hard way.) As I was going passed, paying attention to my driving (as I always do) one of the golf balls bounced on the road not four feet in front of my car. I had yet to turn up the radio, so it was still pretty quiet, so I actually heard the plunk of the ball as it bounced off of the road (Is plunk the correct descriptive sound for a Golf ball bouncing of the road.) The whole event happened quickly, so quick in fact that I almost missed it. Had I not been in this area I might have thought I had just imagined the whole thing, but it was what it was. A GOLF BALL.

I have half a mind to stop into the Golf course tomorrow and inquire about the netting (I mean I have heard about playing through but this is ridiculous.) I had my window open which means that had I been driving any faster I might have been hit by the ball. It seems to be real irresponsible of the Golf course to not protect the drivers from the drivers (Ok bad Golf pun.) Let this be a little warning to all of those who believe that Golf is not a dangerous contact sport. It is more deadly then anyone might think.

I really like this one...

2007-08-13T19:59:00.000-05:00

No one says it like E.E. Cummings

"she being Brand"

she being Brand

-new;and you
know consequently a
little stiff i was
careful of her and(having

thoroughly oiled the universal
joint tested my gas felt of
her radiator made sure her springs were O.

K.)i went right to it flooded-the-carburetor cranked her

up,slipped the
clutch(and then somehow got into reverse she
kicked what
the hell)next
minute i was back in neutral tried and

again slo-wly;bare,ly nudg. ing(my

lev-er Right-
oh and her gears being in
A 1 shape passed
from low through
second-in-to-high like
greasedlightning)just as we turned the corner of Divinity

avenue i touched the accelerator and give

her the juice,good

(it

was the first ride and believe i we was
happy to see how nice she acted right up to
the last minute coming back down by the Public
Gardens i slammed on

the
internalexpanding
&
externalcontracting
brakes Bothatonce and

brought allofher tremB
-ling
to a:dead.

stand-
;Still)

Of course this has to be spoken the right way to get the real feel for it, but it is a great poem.

What to do about Illegal Immigration?

2007-08-07T19:37:00.000-05:00

This is one of the most debated questions today. Do we set a path for the Illegal Immigration to become citizens? Do we arrest all these immigrants and place them in prison? Do we go after the employers who hire these workers? No one seems to know what exactly to do. I however have an idea that may work and what may that be.... CREATE JOBS IN AMERICA. Americans are upset about immigrants taking jobs because so many of our jobs are leaving this country. China, India, Central and South America are performing jobs that Americans use to do. Soon this trend will extend to the African Continent as countries such as Kenya and Nairobi are setting there people up to be cheap labor.
We need to bring jobs to the good old USA. We need to give American workers the opportunities to grow the middle class not get rid of it. If Americans are working then they don't worry about immigrants coming to this country. A policy that rewards companies who send jobs to other countries not only hurt the American worker, but also anyone who wants to come to this country to better their lives and those of their families.
It will only be after jobs come home that we will honestly be able to deal with those who are here against the law.

Maybe it is time to change my "about me" Philosophy

2007-07-05T00:08:00.000-05:00

Just living the best I can without hurting anyone else in the process.
Yes that sounds like quite a nice, and decent philosophy. It is something that I have tried my best to teach my children to live by. However, lately I have been having second thoughts about this way of thinking.
I love the thought of living in a world where you can get up in the morning, go to work, come home to your family, and getting a good night sleep without having to wonder and worry about having to deal with the daily stupidity that exist.
But I am finding that the rest of the world doesn't want me to live that way. The rest of the world, I believe, wants me to slap them in the face.
Everything from Politics (all the republican and democratic idiots), the American Health system, Education system, Welfare system....
Conservatives piss me off, as do the Liberals. I mean one side wants to keep the American public afraid of everything, so that they can continue to force their way of thinking down every ones throats, and the other side couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag if it meant saving the world from all that was wrong in it.
Racists really piss me off, that means not only Whites, but also Black racist, Latino racist, Asian racist, and yes all these groups can be racists. A racist to me is someone who wants to blame everything on groups not the same as theirs, and/or try to hold them back because of that race difference.
The media really pisses me off. I can't stand that our First amendment has been reduced to twenty-four hours of Paris Hilton, Anna Nicole Smith, and which celebrities are happily married. We have serious problems in this world, and the medias job is supposed to be bringing these problems to the forefront, not to be hidden on page 9 of the Saturday paper, or to be played at the midnight hour.
Religions piss me off, almost more then any other group in the world. How can you tell me that you have the only right way. That God can be placed in such a box that only one group of people have the right to call Him their own. Christians get over yourselves. Jesus was Jewish. He, as far as we logically know, never converted away from the Jewish religion. Nor did he actually try to create a new religion after himself. (Oh yeah, all of you who will want to say "but the Jews killed Jesus", remember that it was the Romans who carried out the conviction, sentencing, the torture, the forcing of Jesus to move that cross, and the Crucifixion itself.)Catholics and Protestants believe in the same basic teachings of the Christian faith, but can they get along, oh hell no. That would be to much like right. Hell the Protestants can't even get along with themselves. Those of the Islamic faith. You guys are in your own world of hurt. You can't even get your act together enough to make a decent argument for your existence. We are a peaceful religion, except for the fact that we will kill anyone who doesn't believe in our way. Hey wait you guy have a lot in common with the Christians you so hate.
Finally, but by no means the last, Americans in general are beginning to really piss me off. How can we consider ourselves the leaders of the free world when we can't even muster more then 45% of the voting population to actually vote. When ever something happens we have to become extremist. School violence has happened in our nations cities for decades, but let it happen in a nice suburban school, such as columbine, and all of a sudden we have to change all the rules.
Instead of staying strong after 911 and demanding justice, we allowed ourselves to become like frightened children who were willing to let the Bush dictatorship begin to tear apart the very Constitution we should be fighting for.
Wow what a way to end the fourth of July. I have now come up with a new Philosophy "Just living the best I can without hurting anyone else in the process, unless you really piss me off and then I am ready and willing to slap the living shit out of you."

My letter to the Speaker of the House.

2007-07-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

I don't know if this will do any good. I have written to many politicians, as should all Americans, but of course I don't know if any of the letters got past the staffers. All I can do is keep hoping that enough attention can be raised by such letters and maybe things will change.

Madam Speaker,
My name is Sam Reams, I am a 38 year old husband and father of two. I am an Independent voter who has a tendency to vote mostly Democratic. I live in the state of Michigan, a state that I believe our Government has forgotten about. However, this is not why I write to you today. On this day, as we celebrate our independence, we are faced with a situation that can no longer be ignored.
This administration has once again shoved all that is moral and decent in the faces of the American people.
By commuting Lewis Libby's sentence President Bush has once again shown us that he has no regard for the Law, or for the Constitution. He has proven once again that he does not have to follow the rules if he feels like not following them.
Libby is just the last in a series of foul ups that this President has committed. Iraq, Katrina, the Wars on Terrorism, and Drugs. Immigration, Education... and the list goes on and on.
These things, as well as all the no bid contracts that have gone to Halliburton, have led this Country down the road to ruin.
I know when you took over as speaker you said that Impeachment of Bush and Cheney was off the table, but I must implore you to please put it back on the table. This great nation of ours cannot take this anymore.
These two men have been allowed to take advantage of everything they place their hands on. We need leadership in Washington, and what we have right now is not leadership, it is more like an attempt at a dictatorship.
Two hundred and thirty-one years ago the people of this nation threw off the clutches of a dictator named George, now it seems that we must do it once again.
Thank you for time,
Sam Reams

All I wanted was some Ice Cream...

2007-06-19T20:03:00.000-05:00

All I wanted was to get my family some Ice Cream, that's not much to ask is it?
Well I didn't think so either, but apparently the Ice Cream Gods thought that was too much of a request.
I had been thinking of Baskin Robbins 31 wonderful flavors, that's my favorite ice cream place, but there was this new place that we have driven past many times, always telling ourselves that we should go in. So instead of going to BR 31 we went to Captain Georges.
Now let me tell you that from a distance Georges looks like a nice place. It has a cute patio, surrounded by plants, where you can sit outside and eat your ice cream. They even mist water throughout the area on hot days to cool people off.
So we thought why not, what harm can it do?
Well I have to tell you there was a lot of harm done. The wife and kids all had their ice cream in a cone, and it looked good.
Me on the other hand, I usually get my ice cream in a bowl. I don't really care for cones, I don't like the taste of them.
So looking at the amount of ice cream that the family received I was expecting the same amount. Oh how wrong I was.
I ordered the medium bowl and waited for my bowl of ice cream loveliness to arrive. What I received instead was a tiny bowl, smaller then the size of a McDonalds sundae, with three of the smallest scoops of ice cream I have ever seen. I have to admit that my bubble of ice cream dreams quickly popped. Especially after seeing how much the ice cream cost.
I couldn't believe it. I paid more then normal, and got a lot less. Oh I was not happy. Ok I admit I acted worse then I probably should have, but I really wanted some ice cream and what I got was ice cr.
Next time, which might be tomorrow since I still want ICE CREAM, I will just go to Baskin Robbins and have the real bowl of ice cream loveliness.

A confession long overdue.

2007-04-12T20:07:00.000-05:00

It was ninth grade, and like most ninth graders I was not very interested in being in school. I was even less interested in being in Mr. Morseys earth science class.
Not that I have anything against this teacher, or the class for that matter, at least I don't have anything against them now. But like I said, "It was ninth grade."
In this class I had a friend named Willie. Willie was a great guy but he wasn't the greatest of students. It wasn't a matter of him being dumb, he was just less interested in school then I was.
One day, in earth science class, Mr. Morsey returned the graded test we had taken a few days before. The grades were pretty much the same as usual. Gary and Joe got A's, Brett and I got B's, Doug got a C and Willie of course didn't do very well. Of course Willie blamed the teacher for not liking him for the bad grade. Never would it cross our minds that maybe the grade was due to the fact that Willie never studied for the test.
Anyhow, Willie was mad and wanted to get some sort of revenge on Mr. Morsey.
This is where the confession part of this blog comes in.
Mr. Morsey had a fish tank, nothing real exciting, just a ten gallon with some goldfish.
Anyway, in this classroom there were all kinds of chemicals, especially acids. I made the suggestion that maybe Willie could put some of the acid in the fish tank, and though I was pretty much joking, Willie thought it was a decent idea.
He gets up out of his seat and walks over to the chemicals, and slowly pours a little acid into the fish tank. Not to be out done Brett and Doug decide to follow Willies lead.
After about fifteen minutes, the whole time the three boys taking turns at adding chemicals to the water, something strange began to happen.
The three fish began to swim slowly, and their scale started to turn white. After a few more minutes all three were doing the backstroke at the top of the tank.
Of course, to a group of ninth grade juvenile delinquent boys, this episode was all the bit funny. Not so much though to Mr. Morsey, who didn't bring anymore goldfish to the room.
But what can I say, it was Ninth grade.

older then what?

2007-03-14T19:55:00.000-05:00

Well here I am, nine days to my 38th b-day. Now I am handleing it pretty well, not being one of those people who worry about getting older. I do however, have to admit that there was something said that did make me think for a moment "I am old." What was this little phrase that made me stop for that one moment? "Oh my God, you are older then Sesame Street." These words were spoken to me by my wife, oh the pity she has on me.
Yes it's true, I am older than Sesame Street by about six and a half months. I mean it has been quite a while since I have watched the show, at least ten years since my daughter was little, and even then she didn't care for it.
I don't see what is so darn funny about it, I mean there are millions of people who are older then this show, I don't see them getting harrassed about it.
So I have grown with Kermit, Grover, and of course the Cookie Monster. It could be worse..., ok ok so it can't be.
I shouldn't think much about it, and after the 23rd I won't think about it again. At least not until my wife reminds me again next year.

Another religious rant.... go figure

2007-03-13T20:48:00.000-05:00

As I sat on my lunch break today I got a good look at the Bible thumper group that graces the area I work in. They were deep in prayer/scripture reading, or what ever it is they do as a group. I thought to myself that maybe, just maybe, I should cut them some slack. I mean they don't talk to me about what they discuss, so I should just let them be. But as I continued to watch them, I couldn't help but think, what a bunch of hypocritical asses they really are.
One of them looks at as much porn as he reads the bible. Two others base their politics solely on what their church tells them (not the do onto others part, but the I don't care what they stand for as long as they are anti-abortion.) One guy won't talk to anyone that isn't in his group. Most of them try to hurry through a door so they won't have to hold it open for any one, and try to get them to say thanks for anything and you might fall over dead first.
They wear their "Jesus" shirts for all to see. Always putting it in peoples faces. Now I know I shouldn't care, but let me try to wear a Anti-Christian shirt and lets see how fast I am in the bosses office.
I really really want to let things be. Let them to their existence, and just try to live mine apart from their insanity. Yet I can't.
All I ever hear nowadays is how the poor Christian church is being persecuted. How their beliefs are being challenged at every turn, and how they have to keep to themselves in their churches because people don't want their load of crap shoved down their throats. Well in my opinion that's too damn bad that they feel that way.
I'm sick and tired of their crap being shoved down my throat.
I don't know if it is my problem, or theirs. Of course it's theirs, what am I thinking.
At least that is what God told me.

What I have learned today..

2007-03-06T21:47:00.000-05:00

What I have learned today is that there is so much I need to learn.
I use to know quite a bit. I was one of those kids who would take the encyclopedia into the bathroom. I couldn't tell anyone about any sports stats, but I could tell you the history of world, and recite Shakespeare.
When I was twelve I was given a test and was told I had an IQ of at least 146.
That is considered to be very superior in comparison to most of the population.
However, today I feel as though a little more of what I have left, is slowly seeping from my skull.
I look at my children and I see some of the wonderment that I use to have for learning.
It is not that I don't want to learn, it is just that after working all day, I just don't have the energy to do so.
In talking to co-workers, I realize that I have forgotten more knowledge than most of them have ever learned, and yet here we are in the same place in life.
There are times, many times, when my hands and head are hurting, that I wish I had taken a different career path. I laugh because I don't have a career, I have a job. A career is something you wake up to every morning and are happy to greet it.
I get up every morning and head off to my job, because I didn't think when it was needed.
I do my best to at least place my children on the right course.
To get it into their heads that a higher education gives you at least a better chance at doing something you want to do in life.
I'm not bitter, really I'm not. I have made my choices, and I have learned to live with them.
However, sometimes I wish I could talk to that little boy, the one with that over sized IQ, and help him give himself better opportunities.

I believe....

2007-03-05T22:13:00.000-05:00

I believe in America. I believe in the Constitution, and in the Freedoms it provides.

I believe in holding my country up to a higher standard, showing the world what it is like to be truly free.

I believe in speaking softly and carrying a big stick.

I believe in tolerance for others, even if they believe something other than I do.

I believe that just because you don't agree with someones lifestyle, as long as no one is getting hurt or being forced against their will to participate, you should mind your own business.

I believe that America is great, but if she is wrong that we should make her right.

I believe that God made us all different not only because he likes variety, but also to see if we could get along with one another.

I believe that just because you're the biggest kid on the playground it doesn't give you the right to push others around.

I believe that you don't start the fight, but you make sure you finish it.

I believe that we must help our own people, before we can tell others how to live.

And I believe that if anyone, for whatever reason, tries to take our freedoms away, they should be held accountable for their actions. This is true even if they are our very own leaders.

Fields of green.

2007-02-27T22:28:00.000-05:00

This is for Shawn, Jason, Mark, Nicole, Joey, Hannah, and to all of those for whom it stopped long before it ever truly started. May you all rest in peace.

What lies beyond?
The fields of green,
A winding path
To a world unknown.

On higher ground I stand
But can only see,
A thinly veiled wall
Of mist and fog.

A group walks past
Their faces known,
I speak, but
They do not hear.

How is it I see them
And they not me,
As I stand beside
The steps they take.

I stand with them
But cannot move,
I try
But cannot go forward.

I want to see the other side
To know what is beyond,
Yet I know it is not my time
So I can only watch from where I am.

One by one
They step and move ahead,
Transforming from what once was real
To that of lucid memory.

One by one they turn and wave
One last smile then vanish into the mist,
Like beacons of a distant star
They shine then fade away.

Not trying to make anyone mad, but

2007-02-25T22:05:00.000-05:00

Empress Bee (of the High Sea) said...
what do you suppose the terrorists are thinking when they commit their acts of death and violence in the name of their god? i often wonder this....

This question was asked to me because a previous post of mine. My religious view.
So what do I suppose the terrorist are thinking? It doesn’t matter what they think. They are just the brained washed right wing of their religion. They are born and raised in a religious system that tells them they are right, that they have the one and only Gods blessings. That they are defending their way of life. They know nothing of other cultures. Their leaders forbid the teaching of other religions as blasphemy, and are willing to burn books in order to protect their way of thinking.
Does this sound like any religious groups we might know? Catholics, Presbyterians, SOUTHERN BAPTIST... We could keep going.
I will admit that the majority of terrorist groups belong to the Islamic faith, but please remember that there are groups within the Christian community that also can be placed in the group. We just have to look at such groups as the Army of God, which has targeted abortion clinics in bombings, and the Ku Klux Klan, which has been performing terrorist acts for decades.
It seems strange to me that people are willing to say how others have performed “acts of violence in the name of God” when the majority of “Terrorist” acts in this country have been committed by what could be described as white Anglo-Saxon protestant males.
I will admit I do have a small fear of an Islamic attack. I live within ten miles of the largest Arab community outside the Middle-East, and I would be a fool to think that there is no one in that community working in support of the Islamic terrorist. Just as it is foolish to think there are no Irish-Americans in Boston, who support the Irish Republican Army, or no one in the Jewish community in New York, who would like the Jewish Defense League to return to its strong arm tactics.
I also however have a strong fear of the beer swigging, gun totting, confederate flag waving “red necks”. These are the “good Christians” that I am sure will start attacking the Hispanic communities, as they have done to the African-Americans, that are springing up all over the country. That is when and if their hangovers kick in.
Some may call these guys patriots, but I call them the reason the rest of the world hates us. It takes more then a gun, and a willingness to go kill people in other countries, to be called a patriot.
Sometimes you have to really look at a situation, to fully understand it.
If you are being a “Patriot“, willing to act blindly on the words of your leader, willing to kill others (whether or not they are responsible for your problems), and help create a situation that is ultimately worse now then when you first showed up, are you any better then the idiot who straps on a bomb and walks into a café.
I wonder about that…

professional driver, closed course

2007-02-25T20:24:00.000-05:00

I just don’t understand these commercials. A car is racing along somewhere, a winding road on the side of the mountain, on a frozen lake, through a deserted city in the middle of the night. Places that clearly they shouldn’t be speeding along on.
But here’s the catch. The small print at the bottom of the screen always says: Professional driver, close course, do not attempt.
Now this would clearly tell you that this activity is dangerous and shouldn’t be tried. Yet there has to be a disclaimer stating DON’T DO THIS. (This must be for those who don’t really qualify to be saved by evolutions selective process.)
Anyway, my question would have to be… If this activity is so dangerous then WHY show it? Why make a car that can race at 100+ mph, and then give a person the idea to drive it that fast everywhere? I mean the highest speed limit on any highway I believe is 80mph. Curves on a mountain are to be taken at what about 45mph, and it is never a good idea to speed along on an “iced over” lake.
I get it. The car company’s are just trying to show the power of their products, but please, what is the sense of showing the car move in a way in which it can’t legally be driven.

Ninja Warriors step forward

2007-02-23T22:53:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been having memories from my childhood that would probably scare most parents. When we were younger my friends and I thought we could be ninja warriors. Now we weren’t deep into any particular martial art, but we all wanted to be Bruce Lee. We wanted to jump backwards into trees, like they did on Kung Fu theater, and we wanted to run around in the night like the shadow warriors.
We ran around the apartment complex that we lived in with Bo sticks, clubbing one another. We jumped down from trees and the second floor laundry room windows in the attempts to ambush each other.
We punched, kicked, and wrestled like we thought ninjas would, though I will admit we didn’t resemble them in any way, shape, or form.
The one thing that we did enjoy was practicing with throwing knives, and Shuriken stars. No we didn’t use them on each other, we used them on the walls of the apartment buildings. Looking back I guess that wasn’t a very smart thing to do. Especially if the management would have seen what we were doing and made our parents pay for the damage.
Some of us even got pretty good at swinging the Nun Chucks, even though today there is no way I would let my kids even touch them without proper training and oh yeah a black belt.
Why would these memories come up after all this time? Well it is simple, my children are now paying a lot of attention to such shows as Yu Gi Oh, and Shuriken School. Their curiosity it sparked, and my son wants to start learning Karate.
It reminds me of how I use to think, but some how I think that both my kids, especially my son, have a better understanding of it then I did.

Did someone say "shock me?"

2007-02-21T21:33:00.000-05:00

Everyone knows this problem. You have a television on in one room, a fan going in the next and the coffeemaker on in the kitchen. Everything seems to be going Ok, but then someone turns on the blow dryer in the bathroom and suddenly everything goes black. This has got to be one of the most annoying things about owning a home.

I have to wonder sometimes about how people wire their homes.

Mine has got to be up there as one of the worst. I swear whoever was the one to wire this house must have been in a rush. When one circuit in particular flicks off we lose power in the living room, a couple of outlets in the kitchen, the outlet in the bathroom, half of the computer room in the basement, and a few outlets in two of the bedrooms.

My wife seems to think it was the people that built the house, but the house was built in the 1940’s, and most of the wires look relatively newer.

I blame it on the people who lived here before us. As electricians they were good painters (ok so looking at their paint job of the house they might not be good at that either)

It really doesn’t matter who did the wiring, all that matters is that I am the one that will have to fix it. And that might be the scariest thing of all.

Another Flip Flopper

2007-02-20T22:06:00.001-05:00

When John Kerry ran for the Presidency in 2004 he was considered the flip flop king of the world. Well I just have to say that the changing of the kingship has taken place, and the new king of the flip flop is (drum roll please) Senator John McCain.
That’s right Senator McCain has recently been showing that he will do whatever it takes to become the President. Even if it means “changing” his mind on where he stands.

Let us take a look at some of the things he has been flip flopping on:

1.Donald Rumsfeld- When the former Sec. of Defense resigned in apparent disgrace John McCain was one of the first people to mention how well of a job he had done. Now McCain is stating that Rumsfeld will be considered one of the worst Sec. of defense in history. I have to agree with the statement, however Mr. McCain, how does someone go from doing well to being the worst in only a couple of months?

2. Ethanol-"Ethanol is a product that would not exist if Congress didn't create an artificial market for it. No one would be willing to buy it," This is what McCain said in 2003, and it has been the way he has thought about it since its conception. Now since McCain has to go to Iowa this is what he says about it "I support ethanol and I think it is a vital, a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects.” Wow Senator do we like it or not?

3.Roe v. Wade- “certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations.” This is what McCain said in 1999, but just this past weekend he has said, “I believe that we would be better off by having Roe v. Wade return to the states. And I don’t believe the Supreme Court should be legislating in the way that they did on Roe v. Wade.”

4. Tax cuts- Up until recently McCain has been against President Bush’s tax cuts calling them “unfair” but now he has embraced the Bush tax cuts. Finding that it isn’t the Tax cuts for the rich that are a problem, but the spending on entitlements that are the wrong things to do.

5. The Christian right- He once called Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell "agents of intolerance," He didn’t worry much about what the Christian right has said, but now he has been doing everything in his power to gain the support that Bush has so successfully controlled, however the only problem is that Bush has been Right Wing Christian for a long time, McCain on the other has not.
These are five flip flops of McCain’s. We could probably go on and on but what would be the use.

McCain is a man who wants to act like he is a balls out fire starter, but he is beginning to show that he is a desperate man that is starting to realize he will never be the President of the United States.

I have to admit that I am also a flip flopper. I used to like Senator McCain, but now I think he is just a sad excuse for a man.

Enlightenment.

2007-02-19T20:54:00.000-05:00

There is a Buddhist saying: 'Before enlightenment he gathered wood and carried water; after enlightenment he gathered wood and carried water.'

Enlightenment- can we really find it?
Is there really a moment where we wake up and see everything anew? Everything fresh?
Is there the moment when the world finally makes sense, and we can say “now I understand?”
This is something I have always wondered.
At times I have thought that I have had such moments.
That all in the world had, for a mere second, become real and known.
It is then the moment slips away.
Is there true Enlightenment?
And if I find it will I still have to work in a factory afterwards?

I demand justice.

2007-02-18T17:12:00.000-05:00

So I’ve seen this commercial, maybe you’ve seen it too. It has to do with a kid doing the rubix cube blindfolded. Now I don’t know if the commercial is real or computer designed, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my rubix cube must have been dysfunctional. I don’t think I was able to get more than two sides completed at one time, and that was using both eyes. Now I know it couldn’t have been me, I am a fairly intelligent human being, with pretty good logic skills, but I couldn’t figure that block out. Yes I know I could have gone the drastic route and pulled the pieces off, and rearranged them, or even worse tried to remove the stickers, (that might get my butt kicked) but I didn’t. I should write the rubix cube company and demand some satisfaction. I should be able to get my money back, only twenty years later. They at least could replace mine with one that works. To think, had they not come up with that commercial, I never would have realized that my cube was broken. I demand justice.

My letter to CNN

2007-02-15T23:02:00.000-05:00

I wrote this because I am tired of hearing about this story. A story that everyone I have spoken with agrees is not worth the coverage it is getting.

"I have a complaint about your excess coverage of the Anna Nicole Smith story. There are many things going on in the world, and most of them are more important then the wall to wall coverage you are giving to this story. It is a tragedy when anyone suddenly dies, but we are talking about a person that only became famous because of the outlandish behavior she was willing to go through for being in the limelight.
I was disgusted with the fact that your cameras were in the room when the attorneys were acting like asses over where she should be buried. It was then I turned your station off.
I feel bad for Ms. Smith, as well as for her daughter, who will have to one day endure all the stories about her mother.
I would hope, for the sake of Ms. Smith’s memory, as well as for the rest of us, that you would finally let this story die with her in peace."

My religious view.

2007-02-14T21:28:00.000-05:00

I’m not what you would call a very religious person. I am in fact a pretty anti-religious man. Don’t get me wrong I do have a very strong belief in God, the Great Spirit, a higher power, or whatever you might want to call it. I prefer to use the word God.
Some think that my problem with religion stems from being raised Catholic, but I think it goes way deeper then that. My problem with religions and religious people is that most of them are hypercritical.
Most religious people claim to be tolerant, and giving, but what they forget to say is that they are that way only with those that are like themselves.
Most of them have no tolerance for others of different faiths, and they certainly have no tolerance for anyone who may question any of their teachings.
They claim to be giving, just out of the goodness of their hearts, but they seem to give only when they are given the chance to convert people to their faith.
They use God when it is convenient. They praise his name, yet many of them do things that seem to be against what they are supposed to believe in.
Can a person be religious and still watch pornos? Can a person claim to be religious and still inflict pain upon others? Can a person say they are worthy of Gods grace and forgiveness when all they seem to do is break his rules, and treat his treasures with disrespect, and cruelness.
Religious people use their faith not to further what is best for the world, they use it to try and change the world into what they want it to be.
That is what I have a problem with. If people are suppose to be a certain way then have the strength to live that way. If you claim to follow the teachings of what is good, then live those teachings, don’t just pretend.
I think that if God wanted every one to be the same, he/she would have made everyone the same.

One of my first memories.

2007-02-13T21:37:00.000-05:00

One of the first memories I have as a child is being on a family trip to Mexico. My mother’s family is Mexican and as a child we would travel to Mexico almost every year to visit family. This particular trip we were visiting my Great-grandmother. She was my Grandfathers stepmother, but since his real mother had died when he was very small, she was his mother.
She lived in a little town, a town of which the name escapes me at this moment. I remember her as being very old, not just the “old” that a child would see someone as, but the kind of old that even after all these years the vision is clear. She was tiny, as many of the women in my mother’s family are, but she had a big smile.
I remember the house. It was small and dark, from the lack of lighting. This would have been in the early seventies so I am sure the need for wall to wall lighting wasn’t a necessity, especially in a small town in Mexico. I remember the main color of the house to be a pale shade of blue, but my memory may be affected because of the lack of lighting.
There was this little black and white kitten, I believed it belonged to my Great-grandmother, and it quickly became the object of my attention. I would chase it around the house, and it would hide under the sofa, and everyone was laughing.
I remember sitting on the front porch, petting the kitten that my Grandfathers brother had finally grabbed for me. I didn’t understand a word that was being said that day, but I do know that there was plenty of love around me, and for that I remember a good day.

This is what we want.. Now to just get it.

2007-02-12T19:45:00.000-05:00

This is what we would like to get, an Eclectus Parrot(female preferred. Which is the red one.) All we have to do now is get it. Yes we know we have rather high standards, but hey you have to admit these are beautiful birds.

Who does this guy think he is?

2007-02-11T19:55:00.000-05:00

Australia's P.M. Rips On Barack Obama

Australian Prime Minister John Howard found it necessary to take a shot at Senator Obama shortly after he made his announcement that he was running for President of the United States. I understand that The Prime Minister is a very good buddy of President Bush, and as far to the right side of the spectrum, as they come. What I don’t understand is why he has attacked Senator Obama, and hasn’t said a thing about any of the other candidates. Of all the candidates running for the nation’s highest position only Senator Obama has firmly stood by his views and not flip flopped on the issues. He is also the only one that seems willing to work with BOTH parties to do what is best for this nation.
Mr. Prime Minister, why are you attacking Senator Obama for his views? Everyone else that is apart of the Iraqi Coalition seems to be pulling out, and you aren’t attacking them on the news. Do you think that only Americans should put their necks on the line, or maybe it is that you just have a problem with Mr. Obama? I would hope that a leader of a free nation such as Australia wouldn’t have a problem with a man that is partially of African decent. Or maybe I am wrong about that, I mean I’m not sure how Aborigines are treated in Australia.
Well I do have one thing I am sure of. This only strengthens my resolve to help the good Senator, not only win the Democratic nomination for President, but also to win the Presidency. How dare a man who has his own problems getting re-elected, start attacking a man who has done nothing but spoke his heart, and told the truth especially in a world where standing by ones views is political suicide.

My letter to Senator Obama.

2007-02-10T21:54:00.000-05:00

Senator Obama,
Thank you for making your announcement that you intend to run for President. My wife and I have been waiting for someone to jump into the race that we would feel good about voting for. My wife tends to vote Democratic, but I usually vote third party because of the lack of worthy candidates within the two major parties. This nation has been failing in many ways for a long time. We believe that you not only have the ability to make the American people feel good about themselves again, but also the talent to inspire them to want to do more for this nation.
We admire you for the stances that you take on the many issues, and that you seem to genuinely wish to help all Americans, and not just those that can afford to attend the fancy dinners.
Thank you again sir for making this move. As fellow Americans it is our hope to be able to follow your lead in moving towards a better America, and a better world.
Sam Reams

There will be many people who will question my decision to support Senator Obama, but it is my belief that in the current field of candidates he clearly is the best of the bunch. He has what it takes to lead us into this new period in our nations young existence. I only hope that others will see this, and also decide to support the good Senator.

Why I love Michigan.

2007-02-08T20:50:00.000-05:00

I love living in Michigan, I have lived here most of my life. I was born in New Jersey, but Michigan is my home. The weather is unpredictable, and it drives my sinuses crazy.
The summers are muggy, and mosquitoes are plentiful, but we are nearly surrounded by water making the beach experience great. I’m 1 hour from both Lakes Huron, and Erie, and about 3 hours from Lake Michigan. Lake Superior on the other hand is nearly 7 hours away, so getting there is not easily accessible.
The winters are cold, and even though I can’t stand most winter activates, I do like watching many of them. My favorite of course is hockey, and I have to admit that snow boarding is pretty interesting. Don’t get me started about Curling.
The best thing about Michigan winters is the contrast of the harsh beauty that Michigan presents. The beauty of snow falling in the middle of the woods compared to the large mounds of snow that form along the Lake Michigan shoreline (with the lighthouses as the back drop is totally amazing)
One of my favorite activities is called GeoCaching (A high tech search and find activity that allows me and my family to spend time in much of Michigan’s woodlands. Check out www.geocaching.com)
I live near Detroit which puts me about 35mins from the Canadian border, which is a great thing except that now I have to buy passports for the family to get across the border. It seems that we in Michigan have more in common with our Canadian family then we do with people in Ohio.
One great thing about Michigan is that we are shaped like a mitten. So whenever we have to show someone where something is in Michigan, we can point to our right hands and show them.
There is another reason that I like the shape of Michigan. It reminds me of when fresh concrete is poured, and you can place you hand in it. I like to think that when God finished making the earth he placed his hand print in it to show he was done, and that print is Michigan.
These are just some of the things I love about Michigan.

Why are these people held up so high?

2007-02-07T20:40:00.000-05:00

What is our problem, and by "our" I am talking about the American public? Why do we constantly take "so called" celebrities and raise them on such a high pedestal? These are just people who have made it in a certain field because of some special talent. We seem to forget that they are just people, regular old people who scratch their asses just like the rest of us.

Why are we surprised when a rock/rap star is arrested for being drunk, or an athlete gets caught using illegal drugs?

Why is it shocking when movie stars jump into bed with their co-stars, get married, and then all of a sudden get divorced?

Now it seems that so called profession Astronauts are getting into the picture. The only reason I even speak about this story is because I can't believe the amount of time it is getting on cable news shows. A psychotic woman, who happens to be an Astronaut, travels 900 miles to do "something" to a woman that may be her rival for the same man. Had this been a waitress no one who have cared, no one would have asked what we could do for the stress level of waitresses.
However, now we have to question how NASA handles things, and should we now change the way it operates. Yet no one mentions that she seems to be the only one who has gone over the deep end.

We have to stop our obsession with all these people. It is ok to have your favorites in every field, but please get a grip. These are just people, PEOPLE, and nothing else. They will faultier, and they will fail, but regardless of how it happens the world will go on.

What is wrong with this picture?

2007-02-06T21:45:00.000-05:00

I'm not an economist, I don't claim to understand everything about economics, nor do I claim to be an expert on anything that deals with economics. What I do know is history, and history tells us that when an empire begins to search for cheaper workers, services, and goods, outside its borders, it is heading towards the end of its reign.
The Romans, the English, the Spanish, only to name a few all headed this way. They expanded their borders and soon began to find cheaper ways of doing things because they found cheaper labor. They began to forget their own working class, they begin to forget about their own people.
America is heading this way. We are forgetting about our working middle class. By sending our jobs overseas we are putting our own people out of work. I don't care what people say, not everyone can be a computer programmer.
Why do we think that everything will continue to be OK the way things are going? Is it that we can look at the situation and say "well it hasn't affected me yet, so why should I worry". That doesn't work with me.
The Governments of China, India, Mexico etc... have a job to do, and that is to take care of their people. By the looks of it they are doing a great job. Our Government, the American government, has been failing the American people for a long time. They are not taking care of our people.
I am not an isolationist, I am not calling to be separate from the rest the world, but I worry more about the man down the street, who just lost his job, and might do whatever it takes to support his family, then I do about someone in another country looking for a job.
Economics make very little sense, especially if you are the one who cannot find a job, and it makes even less sense if you are an American and you agree with the policies that are hurting the American people.

The most important thing

2007-02-05T22:12:00.000-05:00

We are told on a daily basis that the flag is the most important thing. That we have to salute it, honor it, protect it above all other things. That we must pledge our allegiance to it and, if necessary, die for it. If anyone says anything against it, or wishes to burn it out of anger, they are considered to be anti-American and should be jailed. Government officials have tried and tried again to outlaw any activity that may not show the flag in good standing. The American people have been brained washed into believing that our military has died over the years in the name of the flag, but I wish people would understand one thing. If the flag was in the shape of a circle, and was painted green, yellow and orange it still wouldn't be the most important thing. The most important thing is not our flag but instead our CONSTITUTION. Did you read that, our CONSTITUTION is the most important thing going for this country. It is the one thing that separates us from the rest of the world. It is the foundation of our great country, and it is what we should be defending, not some piece of fabric that in all reality is only important because it is visible. Americans would actually have to be smart enough to understand the Constitution, and how important IT is, and that is the challenge. Americans can understand a symbol, it's right there for all to see, therefor you don't have to think about it very hard. The Constitution on the other hand takes thought. It takes an educated attempt to understand its meaning, and the reasons that the founding fathers found it necessary to create it. We must realize that it is the Constitution that makes us free, that makes us strong, that makes us the envy of the world. The flag is a target for others to aim at, and it covers the coffins of those who have died for this country. Without the flag we are a great nation without a symbol. Without the CONSTITUTION we are not free, we are not strong, we are not AMERICAN.

I love gummy bears...

2007-02-04T21:10:00.000-05:00

That's right, I am 37 years old and secure enough with myself to admit that I love gummy bears. These soft and chewy, fruit flavored, tiny little bears, bring a happiness to my taste buds that M&M's never could. Now don't get me wrong I do like chocolate, but when it comes to candy I will always choose gummy bears hands down.
These little German creations first came into being way back in the 1920's and since that time gummies have transformed themselves into other shapes. worms, frogs, hamburgers, cherries, cola bottles, sharks, apples, oranges have all made their way into the gummy world, but for me the bear is still the perfect gummy shape.
They have been made plain, and with a sour coating on them. There has even been a cartoon about them (yes I have watched it.) They even have a song for them.

Dashing and daring, courageous and caring
Faithful and friendly with stories to share
All through the forest they sing out in chorus
Marching along as their song fills the air
Gummi Bears
Bouncing here and there and everywhere
High adventure that's beyond compare
They are the Gummi Bears

Magic and mystery are part of their history
Along with the secret of Gummiberry juice
Their legend is growing; they take pride in knowing
They'll fight for what's right in whatever they do
Gummi Bears
Bouncing here and there and everywhere
High adventure that's beyond compare
They are the Gummi Bears

Dashing and daring, courageous and caring
Faithful and friendly with stories to share
All through the forest they sing out in chorus
Marching along as their song fills the air

Gummi Bears
When a friend's in danger they'll be there,
Lives and legends that we all can share,
They are the Gummi Bears
They are the Gummi Bears
They are the Gummi Bears

Yes I know it sounds sad that a grown man would act in such a way, but I LOVE MY GUMMY BEARS, even if they do give me an upset stomach.

2007-02-03T22:20:00.000-05:00

My cat might as well live in south park. Yes I am talking about south park the cartoon. This is my reasoning for this statement.
Her full name is Izabela Zip Zap, which should give everyone an idea about her personality.
We got her as a rescue kitten from our Vet, and she fit in the family really well.
She is pretty much a friendly cat, but she can be very pathetic at times.
When she wants someone to pet her, she might come up to them and put her head next to their hands.
However, the way she usually lets you know that she wants you to pet her is to first make a strange high pitched purr. Then, when she knows she has your attention, she will bow her head towards the floor, and then does a somersault. At first she looks at you like she is embarrassed by the flipping, but then she will do it again.
When you try to make the bed Izzy will race into the room and jump under the covers. You can't straighten out the sheets until she is done playing.
When our dog Ally chases after her she doesn't even try to get away. She instead flips on her back and plays dead.
Her favorite toy is the ring from the milk container. She bats at it, flips it, runs around with it in her mouth, and every once and a while she will sneak up on it and pounce it to death. Yes we know it is only a small piece of plastic, but to her it is cats meow. (sorry about that)
Right at this moment, as I write this, I can her in the bedroom messing with our other cat Kit Kat. I can only imagine that she has slowly strutted up to Kit Kat and ever so gentle slapped her in the face with her paw. That how it usually starts. Kit Kat is minding her own business, Izzy walks up to her, and pats her on the face. This will happen a couple of times before Kit Kat jumps on top of her sending Izzy running for her life.
Izzy is a great cat, with a personality to make you laugh out loud, or at least will make you scratch your head trying to figure out what she is doing.

2007-02-02T23:25:00.000-05:00

Well today's the day. You know what day I am talking about. It comes on this day every year.
Think about it, I can see that you almost have it. Yes, yes it's coming. That's right, it's
Groundhogs Day.
Today media from all over the world will converge on Punxsutawney Pennsylvania to see the one and only Punxsutawney Phil perform his feats of meteorological magic. Since 1886 the master of metaphysical mayhem has used his gifts to help for tell the coming of spring.
Now I have been around to witness 37 of these wondrous events, and I must admit I still have no clue as to what the signs mean (if he sees his shadow it means early spring or late winter, or if he starts to dance he really likes the music. I can't remember.)
Regardless of which sign means what, I will have to get my calender out so that I can write down the date that Phil says spring Will arrive.
I know it will be in March, he always predicts a day in March, and... Hey wait a minute. What does this say under March 20th "the first day of spring." Can this be? Can the calender people already know when the first day of spring is? Did Phil tell them early? And if so are we celebrating the wrong day as Groundhogs Day?
Or is it something worse? Could Phil be, oh please tell me it's not so, could he be a fraud?
It can't be true. Phil can't be a fake, a phony, a charlatan no better them Madam Zelda over on 18th street and Pembroke.
How shall we go on if we have been fooled all this time? I don't care. That's right, I DON'T CARE. I still believe in Phil. I still love the furry little guy.

2007-02-01T21:42:00.000-05:00

I CAN'T THINK.. AAHHH
OK, so maybe it's not that bad, but I have been staring at this computer for an hour now and I can't think of what to write on this damn blog. I am bound and determined to try and keep this thing as far from serious as possible, but that might not always be the case (I mean there is quite a bit that pisses me off). What I can guarantee is that there will be a lot of rambling. I guess you can say that is what I am doing at this moment. So I might as well stop and just sleep on it. Hopefully there will be no dreams of bats tonight. Oh that is for another blog.

2007-01-31T22:19:00.000-05:00

Where does a clown go to be sad?

Does he cry alone at night?

What lies behind the make-up,
the phony smile?

Who does he talk to,
when the lights turn out?

Is there any way to know?

Does anyone really care?

2007-01-30T21:57:00.000-05:00

Sometime random thoughts lead me down paths that make very little sense. This would be one of those times. Have you ever thought about how the peanuts gang might have turned out twenty years later.
What ever happened to Charlie Brown? After many attempts at sports (failed field goals, losing baseball games) Charlie finally snapped. The final straw was when he finally got an invitation to a party being held by the cute redhead girl. Thinking that after all these years he might have a chance at letting her know how he felt he came across something he that tore him apart. The cute redhead girl playing a tune of her own with Schroeder in the back room while everyone partied up front. Charlie is now serving life in a mental facility for turning a gun on his high school English teacher for that whole wa wa wawa thing.
How about Linus? After trying hard to give up his blanket, something he tried to do after Sally left for the west coast, he found that he couldn't give up the one thing he truly loved. Instead he moved to the Canadian Rocky Mountains where her become a hermit willing to live out his last days huddled in a cabin with his blanket by his side.
What of Sally? Having no real male roll model to help her understand the male gender, she went from one man to another. Having many failed relationships, until finally finding contentment in a strange love triangle with Peppermint Patty and Marcie.
What of Lucy? Having spent most of her life giving advice to everyone in the neighborhood it was thought she would become a Psychologist. But things took a tragic turn. In one of those crazy moments when she was dancing with Snoopy. A tender moment turned into an abnormal animal fetish. She is currently living south of San Diego where she performs an adult animal show by the name of the Tijuana momma.
Finally there is Snoopy. What of the playful sidekick of Charlie Brown? After his little romantic interlude with Lucy, and the total breakdown of Charlie, snoopy found it best to hit the road. Packing his things in his dog house/fighter plane he and Woodstock set of to see the world. They made it as far as the Bermuda Triangle where they unfortunately disappeared never to be seen again.
Yes the world of Charlie Brown sadly turned out much differently then anyone could have ever known. Yet we still have the fond memories of what once was. Thank you Peanuts gang for all the good times. We will miss you.

2007-01-29T21:08:00.000-05:00

The Decline of Western Civilization.
Where did it begin? What was the final straw that started us down this path to madness. It was this simple phase "You might be a Redneck if..."
I know that there will be many sceptics out there about this, but please hear me out. Remember back in the early 1990's when the term Redneck was something to be unspoken. Those who were referred to as rednecks were to be shunned, avoided by the masses, kept contained to the backwoods where they were safely hidden away. Even though they were separated from normal society they were quite content with their washboard music, and their circle track racing.
At this time our nation was strong, we had defeated the soviet union, and kicked Iraq out of Kuwait. Our economy was still first class, our military and education systems were strong, and we were still advancing our technology, science, and medicine around the world.
Then in 1993 those words were uttered and the world as we knew it changed. Rednecks went from something unmentionable to being quaint. From being sad and pathetic to being cute and cuddly almost like a hamster.
Soon everyone wanted to have their very own redneck. They were taken from the safety of the backwoods were exposed to the sights and sounds of normalcy.
Then like with most new pets, the families that took them in got bored with their limit intelligences and talents, and decided to part ways with them. They unfortunately were too big to flush down the toilets so in droves people made their way back toward the ancestral redneck homelands (somewhere near the Georgia/Alabama state line) and set the rednecks free.
It was thought, rather hoped, that the rednecks would just scurry back to their holes, however this was not to be the case. Like the racing they loved so much they only moved in circles.
Left to their own demise rednecks seemed destined to collide with evolutions natural course of extinction, but this was not to be. Lurking in the shadows lived an evil group known as the Far Christian Right. This diabolical group swooped in on the rednecks, like a hawk on a hare, and took them to their temples of brain washing.
By the time the normal people of the world found out, what had happened to the poor rednecks they had set free, it was too late to do anything about it. With a promise of all the red meat they could eat, all the circle track racing they could watch, and the chance to be first at salvation (for the low low price of one tenth of everything they would ever earn) the FCR talked the rednecks into doing their evil bidding's.
At first this only meant attending church services, but then in 1996 the FCR had the rednecks come out and vote for the Republican party and in a shocking fashion the Republicans took over both house of the United States Congress.
This caused many people to suffer, the elderly, the poor, the middle class, gays, minorities, oh lets just say everyone except the richest Americans, and the members of the FCR.
Then in 2000 the FCR called on the rednecks again this time to vote for King W. After that no one was safe. No one in America, and no one in the World, could consider themselves safe from the clutches of the Republicans, the FCR, and the newly formed redneck nation.
So here we are today, fighting for our lives, and our livelihoods. Our schools our underfunded, and failing. Our military is fighting a two front war and possibly getting ready for more fronts. Our health care is floundering, and the only people experiencing an employment boom are the rednecks who instead of working for American companies that might have a UNION would rather work for Japanese companies that have ties to the same Government that attacked this country in WWII.
To sum it up in one last sentence I would have to say. Rednecks have helped to undermine this country, they have helped to destroy the very fabric of this society, all because it has become sheek to be a redneck, to act drunk and dumb, and in a sense lead us down the road to where everything good has become weakened and unsound.

2007-01-28T21:03:00.000-05:00

"Daddy I have a question for you in my bedroom." To most people this would seem like an interesting thing for an eight year old say. The thought that their son, so young, would use those words might just put some fear in a grown mans heart.
This, however, is our little routine every night. My son gets ready for bed, feeds his hamster, says his prayer, and kisses his mother and me goodnight. You would think that is where it ends, but no. Like I said about an hour later he comes out from his room and says that he has an important question for me.
This is our little exchange for tonight.
"Daddy I have a question for you in my bedroom."
(Now those of you with sons might be worried about that sentence, and yes I was. So I went and prepared myself for the worst)
"How hot is it in the desert?"
"Sometime 110-130 degrees"
"Why would people like to go there then?"
"I don't know"
"Maybe they like to look at the flowers?"
"Maybe"
"Birds live in the cactus."
"Oh do they?"
"Yes, because that is where the water is."
"I didn't know that. Now go to sleep."
"Goodnight Daddy."
"Goodnight."
Well the question wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be, but it did fulfill his question of the night. Oh well I guess I just should be glad he's not old enough to ask about such things as..... well you know what I mean.

2007-01-27T18:12:00.000-05:00

What to blog about? That is the question I ask myself. There are so many things that I could discuss. Politics, Work( I work for Ford motor if anyone would like to know), Family(that is the ones I claim anyway), or maybe the voices in my head. I can't decide, not that I really have to decide, I mean I can blog about all of these things and more. I can even blog about the annoying people that complain about the content of other peoples blogs. (that is for Dino, you know who you are.) Or even better I can just randomly blog about nothing, such as writing the word VERY over and over again in memory of my 9th grade English teacher.
I guess I will just have to figure it out each time I come back here. Hopefully though it won't be as difficult each time.