A Day To Remember And Reflect

On November 11, 1918 the fighting for World War I ceased and this is considered the official end of that conflict. It is why November 11 is the day we set aside to honor those who fought and especially those who gave their lives for this country.

We hear a lot these days about constitutes patriotism but on this day patriotism stands before us in old uniforms marching in parades and holding flags.No matter your political affiliation or beliefs about war these men and women deserve our respect and gratitude. Monday is not just another day off of work but rather a day that should be spent in reflection on what veterans have done for us and also a celebration of their accomplishments and the country they helped preserve for us.

Talk to a veteran, especially one who has 'seen the elephant' and survived the experience, and you will get a lesson in history no school could teach.

I have told this story before but it is worth mentioning again. I was in the San Antonio Texas airport with my son who was in uniform. A woman passing by stopped, a stranger,  to thank my son for his service. I realized that day that my son was no longer just my son but one of the many men that become all our sons or daughters when they put on that uniform.  It may have been the proudest day of my life.

The unfortunate thing about life is that there will always be someones son or daughter in uniform and acting on our behalf as protector and defender. Our duty, as those who are being protected and defended, is to stand with them when they need our help.

We owe every veteran our respect and admiration and there is no better way to show it than by thanking them on November 11.

Randy

The Dead And Insane Will Govern

The two party system used in the United States can produce some interesting results when we are allowed to press or mark our ballots for the 'straight party ticket'. It makes voting a no think operation that allows the 'dead' and 'leagally insane' to get elected.

In Florida, Alabama and Texas dead people were voted into office. In all these cases the person running for office had passed away prior to the election and apparently to late to change the ballot. So unless these people become zombies so they can take office; run off elections will have to be held to fill those positions. In a time when money is tight spending more money on a do over is maddening.

But even worse, in my mind anyway, in Illinois a person who has been declared legally insane was voted into a judgeship. You heard me right kiddies; a legally insane person will now be sitting in the courtrooms of Illinois.

I see room for some election reform here!!

While we are on the subject of election reform lets look at our process. It has been over a decade since we have had a president with a clear mandate to rule. By a clear mandate I mean a president who has been elected by a large majority of those voting. This past election the margin between President Obama and Mitt Romney was around 3 million votes. While 3 million votes seems to be a large number when looked at as a percentage of the 110 plus million votes cast it is not overwhelming at all.

Maybe we need to consider a system similar to many other countries in the world where coalition governments are formed to give the winning party a clear mandate. Of course this would mean abandoning a two party system in favor of a multi party one.

Food for thought!!

Randy

Happy Christmas Music!! On November 1~~WTF!!

I was headed out to do some shopping on November first and while riding in my car I turned on my radio and out came Christmas music. The station proudly announced that as of November 1 they would be playing Christmas music until the day after Christmas, 24 hours a day. AMAZING!!

What ever happened to the Holiday Seasons? In September Halloween stuff was put out followed by Thanksgiving stuff the day after Halloween. The week of Thanksgiving Christmas stuff was put out.

Now Halloween, Thanksgiving and even Christmas stuff find there way to store shelves in August. The way things are now from Labor Day through News Years day should be called The Holiday Season. A four month holiday with little significance beyond taking a day off in September to barbecue and drink beer, running around begging candy one day in October, over eating and watching football on a Thursday in November, giving each other gifts in Gods name(who we no longer recognize as being His day) and getting full blown drunk, running around shooting guns, banging pots and pans together and celebrating the start of a new cycle of holidays that hold little meaning to us anymore. Damn that was a run on sentence, lol.

I miss the days when we would concentrate on one holiday at a time. I miss the times when we saved all year to buy a Christmas gift that was purchased in December. Those days when Thanksgiving meant attending a football game followed by dinner with our entire extended families.

I miss taking my children Trick or Treating and being able to allow them to eat homemade treats made by neighbors I knew and trusted.

I miss heading to the Jersey Shore for Labor Day. Sitting on the beach and enjoying shore food. Later after the children came barbecues and games were the thing to do.

Now one holiday crashes into the next like waves against the shore. We are bombarded by advertisements touting that latest 'IN' Christmas gift. Families celebrate holidays hundreds of miles apart.

OUR CHRISTMAS TREES ARE MADE OF PLASTIC!!!!!!!

Yeppers kiddies I am a tad old fashion. Nostalgia over takes me at times and I crave for the holidays of my youth.

Unfortunately all that is gone. People of my generation hold onto our memories for as long as we can but, I must admit, even memories start to fade.

I crave a Christmas Day with my grandparents in control of the festivities, 30 or 40 people gathered for a dinner that starts at 1pm and is still going on at 8pm and all my cousins gathered in one place playing games and sharing our Christmas booty.

I would not even mind sitting at the Children's Table for dinner!!!!

Randy

Jeez Edith The Gays Are At It Again!!

Jeez Edith The Gays Are At It Again!! A statement that could have come straight from Archie Bunkers mouth to the ears of his befuddled wife Edith.

Supposed intelligent people, the jury is still out on their intelligence level, have accused gay men and women of causing hurricanes and other natural disasters. Such religious denizens as the Westboro Baptist Church, Michael Marcavage(of Repent America fame or infamy) and Pat Robertson have made an attempt to develop a correlation between sexual orientation and natural disasters.

So far the only correlation I have found is this graphic showing the movement of Hurricane Sandy in what might be described as Gay Pride colors. Hardly proof and definitely not based in anyone reality.

James Walworth, in his article 'Do Gays Cause Hurricanes', postulates that if gay man and women cause natural disasters, like tornado's, we would expect to find more homosexuals in states that have more tornado's. In reality this theory, which Pat Robertson subscribes to, does not hold water.

But statistics do show, according to James Walworth's research,  a correlation between the number of Christians in a given state and the number of tornado's that state experiences. HMMM!!! Maybe it is not sexual orientation that should have our attention but rather Christianity.

Based on this information I believe that a ban should be placed on all marriages between two consenting Christians in the hopes of reversing this disturbing tornado trend.

I would also call for a constitutional amendments that would severely curtail the civil liberties of Christians. They must be gathered up and retrained. Christians are not born they make a conscious decision to become a Christian and that decision is putting us all at risk for sever weather.

Further proof, at least to me, that gay men and women had nothing to do with Hurricane Sandy should be glaring to everyone.

First, no on in the gay community would have anything to do with shuttering Broadway. The loss of the Broadway musical would be devastating to their lifestyle.

Secondly, no self respecting gay male would be seen in the clothing worn by men after a natural disaster. I can not even begin to imagine Sir Elton John or Neil Patrick Harris standing outside their homes wearing worn out tee shirts and cut off jeans shorts telling some news reporter that "it sounded like a freight train roaring down on my trailer".

God does not cause natural disasters because he is mad at someone for their sexual orientation or their religious beliefs. Natural disasters, whether caused by climate change or a natural progression of seasonal weather changes or a frog farting in a Brazilian rain forest, are not caused by any one group of people because of how they approach or do not approach God.

There is a science to our weather. Natural occurrences of certain conditions that create particular weather outcomes.

They are not caused by a few gay men getting together in South Beach for a Sunday morning brunch or Oklahoma's only two gay men accidentally meeting at a high school production of Annie Get Your Gun.

Common sense kiddies!! Common Sense!!

Randy

Back And Well Rested!!

I am back from my time away from this blog well rested and feeling physically and mentally well. I used my time away to work on other writings and clear my mind of things that were beginning to bore me.

After my month long hibernation I am ready to face the day enthusiastically. So whats going on?

Well Obama and Romney are still running for president and lying to us at every turn. Not much of a change over the past month. Thank God this madness ends in less than a week.

It seems that all the news from the Huffington Post, one of my favorite sources of stupidity, either tells me that something sparked outrage, something emerged from some where, there are monsters all around us unseen and ready to strike and many people are making dating mistakes or ruining their marriages with poor performances in the bedroom. So nothing new there!!

My email tells me that my testosterone levels are low, my penis is to small( there may be a correlation between these two things),  that I can earn a high income at home from my kitchen table, someone in Malaysia wants to share their millions of dollars with me and I can lose weight by using a non invasive gastric bypass.

God I am excited about all that stuff. By he end of the year, if I follow all the instructions in my emails, I will have a monster penis, on a svelt frame, with  the ability to father multiple of children on a daily basis, I will have women lined up around the block to ride my new major monster while helping me spend my new found monies from my kitchen table business and the millions I get from my new Malaysian partners. Geeze I will actually look like my Second Life avatar.

Life is so good, lol!

On Face Book I am finding religion thanks to all my Christian friends who send out those inspirational side bars each day. Combined with my email information I am going to be a rock star.

Also on Face Book I am learning how to buy meats, cheeses, wine, ice cream, save money on my wireless bill, buy shoes, get a new credit card and publish one of my books all by myself. A well rounded life for me indeed.

All in all nothing has changed over the past thirty days. It seems while technology moves at light speed our lives change at a snails pace. I actually like it that way.

So tomorrow will mark a return to all my rants and raves about whatever interests me or pisses me off. I am ready to spew my views on every subject in the hopes that I can wake some people up or piss them off.

Lets the games begin!!!

Randy

Standing In The Back Of The Room Can Payoff Big!!!

On August 22, 2011 I was standing in the back of The Roof venue listening to music on a night that was meant to be my last in Second Life. Second Life drama, and we all know how that story goes, had taken its toll and I had had enough. I had decided that if nothing good happened this night, a new friend or at least something interesting, I was going to log off and, for the most part, leave Second Life behind.

Toward the end of my night I decided to ask someone to dance and had she said no I believe that would have been it for me. Her name was Friendly Story and she said yes. We talked and danced for over an hour hitting it off pretty well.

We have been together pretty much every night since. I am truly blessed. In a short time she had pulled my Second Life out of the crapper but amazingly she did the same for my Real Life. In time we started to enhance each others lives.

When I got sick, earlier this year, she was there at my side to keep me going. There are times that I truly believe that if not for her I would have given up. Like I said; I am truly blessed.

Today, October 21, 2012 we celebrate our first year of marriage. In all my life I have never felt this strongly about any woman or have been as committed to a relationship. That old adage about 'her completing me' is true; Friendly, my Christine, completes me.

I Love You Precious!!!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Randy

Single Issue Voting~~Dangerous, Selfish Or The Right Thing To Do?

 By single-issue voting, I mean casting a ballot for a candidate with whom one is in substantial disagreement on major issues of present public concern, or whom one judges to be inferior to an alternative candidate in character or competence, because one is in agreement with the candidate’s views on a single issue which one judges to be of overriding importance. ~~John Langan(The Morality of Single-Issue Voting)(http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1331)

Now that was a mouthful, lol. I believe that our country is inundated by single issue voters who put their needs or beliefs before the country as a whole. I do not want to diminish the importance of their paramount issue as to them it is their motivation to vote.

Gay Rights and Marriage, Reproductive Rights, Universal Healthcare, Medicare, Gun Control, Nuclear Disarmament, Poverty, Civil Liberties, The Economy, The War on Terrorism, Immigration, plus many more~~all are important issues important to the election process. The problem I see is that when a person chooses one issue and makes that their 'point of choice', with disregard to the consequences of the other issues, they put the country at risk.

I find that I am a Moderate. God I hate that term as it implies that I take no stance on any issues. Of course this is not true. I take a stance on every issue, individually, and do not subscribe to an far right or far left propaganda. I weigh each issue and decide what weight to give it toward my voting choice.

Lets look at how I see the above issues and how I might approach the 2012 Presidential Vote.

~Gay Rights and Marriage~Sexual Orientation is not a choice; it is a fact. I believe people find love where they can and the right to express that love through marriage and raising a family should be given to everyone.

~Reproductive Rights~Personally I do not believe that I could ever abort a child. But having that as my belief does not mean I have the right to tell anyone else how they should behave. It's their body and it's their choice.

~Universal Healthcare and Medicare~Everyone is entitled to the best possible healthcare available at a reasonable price. I do not support Obamacare because I see it as a massive government program that we will struggle to pay for and that will place a burden on generations to come. There has to be a better way.

~Gun Control~I would support the restriction on certain weapons and ammunition, such as fully automatic weapons or armour piercing bullets, but oppose any restriction on my Second Amendment Rights to to own a firearm.

~Nuclear Disarmament~I would be happy if everyone got rid of every nuclear weapon and we went back to using sticks.

~Civil Liberties~Equality is the basis of any society. It is unfortunate that we have to legislate equality and I support laws that try and accomplish that task. I do not support laws that place a burden on today's society for things done in centuries past; such as reparations for slavery.

~The Economy~I am not rich nor do I have desires to be so but I would like to see a return to full employment and a grocery bill that does not require a bank loan to pay.

~The War on Terrorism~Is it winnable? Maybe! Will it end? Never as long as we continue to mix politics and religion and we elect leaders that seem to be paralyzed into inaction or reckless toward action. But it has to be fought to protect this country. Its cost in dollars is tremendous but its cost in the lives of our best and brightest is such a heavy price to pay.

~Immigration~My grandparents came here legally and forged a new life for us all and for that I am eternally grateful. We have created a country that attracts millions of people with Hope and a desire for a better life. I fully understand that and sympathize with their plight. But there is a breaking point for any society and I believe we are quickly reaching ours. A solution to the illegal immigration problem has to be found that balances the hope of America that lived within our ancestors with the needs of our society as a whole.

So I am all over the map with my thoughts. Do I vote for Obama because he and I both support Sexual Orientation Rights and ignore a horrid record on the economy? Do I vote for Romney because I believe he has a better chance of turning the economy around but ignore what I believe is an archaic belief on Sexual Orientation rights?

A predicament indeed!

If I was a single issues voter this would be an easy choice. Screw the rest of the countries needs and vote my issue.

But life is not a single issue entity and voting should not be as simple as a single issue that I strongly believe.

Look at everything my friends and vote for whomever will help this country as a whole. In the long run we all will be better for it.

Randy