A little bit of youthful political perspective

To start: a few years ago my youngest and I were talking and somehow or other the conversation got around to winning the Lotto and how much in taxes would be taken out. My nice innocent child all of a sudden went on a multi minute tirade that would have brought more than a few tears to the eyes of the most diehard Republican. Her immediate anti-tax stance was pretty amazing to behold.

Fast forward to today or actually last night. We were watching TV and a commercial came on and the comment came up “ the Clintons are so 90”s” Yep, from the mouth of babes, the realization that Hillary is not the answer for this country going forward. You really do not want to hear what she said about the Bush family especially if you are too into the Da Vinci Code thinking. And yes I know the Bushes aren’t Catholics. The good thing is she is staying strongly independent.

If you read my blog regularly you know I have suggested to the Democratic Party they may want to find someone else. Their assumption that 2016 is going to be the coronation of Queen Hillary is something I do not think is going to work out for them.

The rationalization behind this is that both parties are really not moving forward. Quite frankly neither party is productive anymore. Sure they pass laws here and there, but neither party actually has a new agenda for this century. Both parties rely on outdated ideas. And many party diehards disagree with me, but if you really examine what each party says, it is a big bag of nothing. So my question is: if the two main parties are not moving forward, how can either move the country forward?
Again from the mouth of babes the realization we need new leadership. I am so proud.

And by the way

GO MAVS!!!!!!

Working, parenting, and a note to the Vatican

First of all, spring fever just makes you want to retire.

And then there are those who spend extreme amounts of their life making someone else’s life successful. I agree that working hard, making the extra effort can be worth it and pay off in a nice retirement and other items, but what does it say about you if that is all you do. Life is too wonderful, the planet is too beautiful, and time is too short to dedicate your life to someone or something else. If you really are a type “A” personality my only suggestion to you then is to start your own business or be self- employed. If you are going to work away your life, at least do it for yourself.

And then there are the extreme examples of above. I do not care how much is the paycheck, if you are on call 24/7 for some CEO or billionaire or other corporate giant and you have no control over your life, you have no life. Shoot except for the paycheck you are virtually a slave. Sure you may not think so, and you can look up the definition in Webster’s which will not say this exactly, yet if you choose to give your life away in this situation, you are a slave. Yes this is true; if someone controls your every move and you are at their beck and call all the time then you have given up your most valuable possession: your life. I don’t care how much Smithers thinks he is in love with Burns, he is still a slave.



I am not one to talk most of the time. I lived in some razor thin glass houses in my life and many times you still couldn’t see in due to the fog. And yet, there are times you have to say something. Letting your 8 or 9 year old child crowd surf at an Edgefest concert is just not good parenting. No, it is not cute, it is absolutely stupid, unless of course you care absolutely nothing about your child, then it is criminal.

Not even at my “best” moments in life do I think I would have let a child of mine even come close to this activity. It might be different if you aren’t there to know what is going on, that is bad enough, but to allow the activity is, well, crazy. Technically child endangerment is illegal and child neglect can get you a wonderful little visit from your local CPS. I do not like the nanny state government, but sometimes you understand why we have it. So folks better education helps to prevent excessive government intrusion in our lives. Otherwise you have to accept CPS as an entity if parents can’t realize what it means to be a parent.



Well, if by chance a small young boy from a third world country who likes playing soccer, but doesn’t even have the money to pay for socks says a life size statute of Mother Mary came tumbling down and he caught it and came to life before it broke into pieces and then says she told him she is distraught with the world today, well I have a couple of questions for him. Otherwise, PEACE

Couple more variety posts and continuation of the disaster series

Most TV ads are boring and bland. Some are irritating. Some are downright bad such as the one Jeff Goldblum is in for some apartment locator company. I like Mr. Goldblum as an actor, but him trying to be or play himself in this commercial is impossible to watch. In my opinion there are two really good ones out right now. The first is the Taco Bell commercial with the elderly couple in the car. If you haven’t seen it I do not want to give it away. The second is the old man getting some weird massage on the kitchen counter for some disinfectant wipes. So much of our consumer society revolves around this medium you would think there would be a much better job being done overall. Unfortunately, not so.

I am curious. Do people really believe the establishment Republicans really want to stop Obamacare? Do you really think so? Think about it: with all the effort being put into trying to derail it you would have thought there would have been some success in breaking it up. It won’t be. The medical industry is big business. The more people are insured the more they make in the long run. They know this, the Republicans just play this huge game, that a couple of candidates take too seriously, ramping up the ignorant portion of their base to get votes. Obamacare did nothing to over haul the medical business or really help the consumer. This is just another rouge to use the government to make more money out of the majority of us poor slobs. The President may have had some good intentions, but he failed.

And back to the disaster posts. I mentioned earlier how Islam is perpetuated by ignorance and poverty. Another way to look at this is the Western world came out of the dark ages and eventually over time developed a growing civilization, the general masses slowly became educated and there was some spread of wealth. I am not going to say a great civilization, but we still have a chance to reach new heights. The world ruled by Islam has been kept in the dark ages by individuals bastardizing a belief in God for their own benefit. These so called leaders never really developed a society. For the last thousand years or more, a large portion of the world has not moved forward, instead kept in the dark ages for the benefit of a very small group of people that had no desire to make their followers better.

Then came the oil boom which only exasperated the situation. Now a wealth divide has grown. So you have very poor ignorant people observe some people become rich, but they aren’t given the same opportunities, throw in a scapegoat (the West) and continue aggravating the situation over two or three generations as the differences become more glaring in the light of modern technology. Sure this is a simplistic description of the problem, but it does give a foundation as to why there is no easy solution to the problems in the Middle East and why the problems keep growing. The West has no answers and well unfortunately they have a stake in the problem for many reasons: one they helped create the modern version of the problem, two it is spreading towards the West and far East and will dramatically infiltrate modern life, three fighting the wars is a heavy cost burden to the taxpayers, four ignorance and poverty is a crime against humanity, and much more educated people than I have better broken this down in a variety of publications. The end result is no answer. No one politician can stand up and say I can solve this issue, yet over the next year and a half or so we will hear all sorts of hyperbole on how we need to get tough etc…

I once proposed on another forum that we need to recreate a radio free Europe type of approach, but this would be only one piece of the puzzle to just begin to resolve the situation. At best and I mean at very best it will take 2-3 generations to begin to move the bar in a different direction. Somehow someway, we need to find a way to get a message across there is a better world and hate is not the answer. And while we are trying just to create a message, we will be fighting a very entrenched message that will counter every move that is made to change the status quo.

And what will also compound this problem, there are powers that be in the West that want to continue with this downward spiral of hate in the Middle East. There are people who benefit from conflict who want these blood baths to continue. And this is just one group that is profiting off the insanity over there. Any institution or person that profits off of commodity prices, not just oil, also wants this malaise to continue.

It will take such a concerted effort to regain some control over the Western governments, by the people at large, so we can change how we approach the Middle East I fear we may never see a resolution. Right now it is hard enough to convince enough people in the United States they are being taken for a ride by our economic leaders to change policies here I do not see how we can take further steps to help the rest of the world. And these types of changes also need to play out in Europe. We do not need socialism or any other massive change in type of government, we just need the people in the Western Democracies to actually take on the responsibility of doing what they are suppose to do and that is become informed active participants in their countries. And if we don’t then lack of education and poverty will begin to overwhelm our side of the fence. And of course this finishes the circle and mankind may never reach the goals of enlightened world. Yes this is a bleak outlook, but one that can be overcome.

The next question is: how do we take back our world? Hopefully one day soon we find the leaders we need.

continuing various thoughts

First of all, why is it and especially among liberal news sites you have to sign on using a social media account. I am really ticked off at the news sites that require this. It seems they all want you to use Facebook. What if I don’t want to make Facebook richer by becoming another user to let them rack up more advertising sales. If a person wants to join, find, but why do I have to give money to both the website and Facebook. I am also ticked off at these sites since almost every post I make on a liberal site doesn’t post. I do not know if they are monitoring and they show up later, but with other sites they come up pretty quick.

And while trying to make a post on Salon dot com I ran across someone who made a point that I agree. The point was made by a commenter named chickendork and said that both Bill Maher and Bill O’Reilly “are both just bullies and cheer leaders for their opposing sides” I was thinking on Saturday morning pretty much that they are very similar and was trying to make a comparison. Now this wasn’t chickendorks’ main point, but I like the comparison stated above and wish I had posted the thought myself. They offer nothing new and continually berate people who disagree with them on their show. I was going to comment that these two individuals are tied for the #2 spot for worse TV personalities. I could be verbose and pile on, but let’s keep it simple tonight.

I am still supporting my Mavs and the playoffs are getting close. Unfortunately some chemistry is still needed to turn what is on paper into something special on the floor. My fear is this team will be broken up over the summer due to the number of free agents and one and done contracts, however, if they did manage to keep most of this team together, maybe add a bit more defense this team has the potential to be a real special team. A training camp and a full year would be a great benefit to who is there. I am the optimist though and the talent is there, lets’ hope they find their way this week as we go into the playoffs. I like our chances against SA, but I really don’t want to see them in the first round again. GO MAVS

If you are not getting a tax refund, H&R Block’s ads are getting very very very old.

Mrs. Clinton threw her hat into the ring today. Hmmmmm, still standing by my earlier post on her. I guess since people were expecting this there were quite a few articles this week discussing whether she is the best pick for the Democrats. At least I beat the punch on this thought.


Have a great week

Start of some various thoughts

Hillary is supposedly about to announce her candidacy for president on Sunday. This makes her the third person into this nonsense. First of all the democrats need to read a previous post of mine, but more importantly, how burnt how are we, the people, going to be by the time the first actual primary occurs? The money, the craziness, the hyperbole, the lies, and more coming way too soon to a commercial near you. Could the press just do us a favor and just not report anything on these people till January 2016? Oh well a person can dream.

It is bad enough they don’t care about the people of this country, why do we have to have extended BS time that doesn’t produce one poop that actually does something for this country? Or as you probably have figured out, they are dumbing us down once again by overloading us with the BS. Our brains will be more fried than Timothy Leary on a good day.

Does it bother you when you watch all these commercials for all the new medicines and there are more ways to kill you than the disease the medicine is supposed to help you survive? I know comedians have even made jokes on this topic, but at some point there has to be a stop to this insanity. Our healthcare companies are out to kill us while taking our money simultaneously. Some commercials seem to have such a long litany of side effects that you wonder why the drug was ever created. I wonder how good the “extra” pension fund is at the FDA?

And speaking of pension funds, you got to be kidding me about the New York City pension fund having spent $2 billion on fees for their money managers. There is another “extra” pension fund that the rest of us aren’t getting. If I go to a store I still get my money back when they screw up, too bad Wall Street figured that racket out a long time ago. Oh wait, there is a commercial for that, but oops no solution to the problem. Hmmm lets see, SEC anyone???


I would say have a great weekend, but if you read some of my stuff you might feel more like hiding under the bed sometimes, its not me though, just being the master of the obvious.

Should the Democrats nominate Mrs. Clinton?

First of all, this is not about any of the email situation. That is her concern, not the Democrats.

I had thought of this post idea on Saturday, then I saw an article from NPR that discusses this topic. They gave three reasons and did the pro and con on whether or not these topics affect her being nominated. One of them was the email situation.

I have my own reasons I would suggest the Democrats may want to look elsewhere for the 2016 nomination.

The first one is partly to mainly the problem with the Democrat faithful in general. There is the general assumption in the liberal press and especially among the commenters to the articles is that the Republican group is so far off base that Hillary is a shoe in. They feel the Republicans will not be able to nominate someone that will appeal to the general public.

Two problems with this: a) anytime people think someone is a shoe in is a recipe for disaster. Complacency at the very least could set in or complete apathy as to a reason to go vote. People get the impression, if we are going to win, why bother making the effort. You never want to be the “shoe in” candidate. b) Next is the elitist thinking of the Democrat party can get them in trouble. There is this we are smarter than them attitude so whatever we do will win out. I know many Democrats will balk at this, but you really need to do some party soul searching right now. And if you don’t, then don’t be surprised by the results in 2016. You can think you are smarter, but you still have to prove it to enough voters to win. This will take effort and ideas which leads me to my next thought.

Hillary Clinton has not espoused a new idea. I almost want to say ever, but I cannot definitely say that. I know I haven’t heard one. She is a tried and true Democrat. And believe it or not, the Democrats need new ideas. Sure President Obama’s spending at the first of his administration got us out of the recession, but I feel only temporary. There are still many underlying problems with our economy that need to be addressed. The 21st century needs much more than the same tired politics of either the Democrats or the Republicans. Unfortunately the bases of both parties are still listening to the past. This is spelling disaster for our country. And since she has not created a whole new platform or outlined a new vision there could be trouble if some dark horse Republican does create a new vision. People understand we need something to rebuild our middle class, but no one has really come up with true new ideas, so the worst thing that is happening is the leadership is touting the old methodologies that are failing, but trying to repackage it and get people excited about it. A Republican who sounds truly different might be trouble.

Another reason is the impression people have of her and the Middle East. I am not talking about Libya. I am talking about the feeling people have that she could not handle the morass that is the Middle East. The Democratic faithful will feel differently, but they better get their pollsters out there speaking to the independents and maybe the moderate Republicans. The answer may surprise them. This also goes back to the “shoe in” situation. Just because you think you have the right answer, don’t expect everyone else to feel the same way. Is this a risk the Democrats want to take?

And there are a few more that need to be considered, but the Democrats should look deeper into this, I can’t do everything for them.

As you know I am not a fan of either the current Democrat or Republican party, but I am not afraid to offer my two cents to try and get one of the parties to start responding to the true needs of our country. I have outlined and offered my own solutions in previous posts. I care more about my country than my ego, okay maybe they are tied. Hahaha Anyway I think there are many good ideas out there, it is just both parties are failing in their responsibility to accept the need for true change. If you want to lead our country, sooner or later you actually have to lead instead of spitting out tired slogans.

My lunch is over, Have a great day

Less is more

There is nothing I can say that compares with what was given for us to lead us up to this day.

HAPPY EASTER

Stopping and smelling the roses or at least thinking about them

The born again Christian theme seems to be once saved always saved. It is like you receive a get out of jail free card to carry around with you.

Or there is the idea of some Christians that we do not have free will. There is no choice in what we do, we are preordained to be good or bad. Some of this is that only certain people are chosen. Or it doesn’t matter what you do.

And I hate to be critical, but this thinking seems to me to be a selfish type of Christianity. I am not held responsible for my actions as a Christian. Sure this is a statement that carries the above thinking to its extreme side, but I see way too much of as long as my soul, and my friends, is saved everything is good. And I know many of this group of Christians will work very hard in missionary work to convert people. I am choosing the word convert. Some will say I am trying to save people, but it is always through a conversion to their Christianity.

And this thinking also carries forward the thought that only our Christianity is the right Christianity. And yes all this is to beg the question: what is the “right or correct” Christianity?

Just one question to ask yourself this Good Friday; the day we recognize that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us.

And then…..

Remember our Creator gave us Jesus to show us that humility, sacrifice, love, and faith, should be our goals. Jesus lived and made his sacrifice to free us of our own failures, to strive to reach these goals, and to give us one command. What else we do in life, whether we are President or a janitor, is secondary to how we treat others.

And this goes back to free will, we choose how we treat others. No one else makes this choice, but us. This has always been since the beginning. (and there will be more someday on the concept of free will)

So the concept is pretty easy and granted to be successful at anything will take hard work, however, why is it how we treat each other on this planet is so contrary to the most fundamental aspects of what Jesus taught us.

And whether you are Christian or not, why can’t we treat each other with respect and dignity? Why is this so difficult? And if you find this difficult to relate, try observing the genuinely happy people you know in your life and you will probably observe they give respect to all.

A few more thoughts to ask yourself this Good Friday.



Faith Hope and Love