So now you've won…

To my fellow Americans who voted for Barack Obama…
It is great and wonderful that you want the government to give everything to you. I'm so glad for you that the government will be paying for children's shows, paying the bills for those who choose not to work, paying for your condoms and abortions. For those of you who voted for Obama because he is black, because he is "hip," or just because he was the Democratic Party nominee - I am happy for you that he won.
To my fellow Americans who voted for Mitt Romney…
My heartfelt condolences. Not because Romney lost but because the choice was made by a contingent of Americans who do not understand the necessity of prioritizing. Citizens who feel they are entitled simply because they are American. Citizens who are like spoiled children - they want what they want no matter the cost and have no comprehension of the cost or that there even is a cost. These citizens are like the Lost Boys of Peter Pan, who run wild with no responsibility for their actions because they have had no authority figure in their life to hold them responsible. Unfortunately in real life the stakes are way too high and left unchecked these entitlements will cause the American way of life to come crashing down around our heads. Sooner or later someone will have to pay the piper. Sooner or later that someone will be you and me. Left unchecked, liberal policies will cause the elderly to be cast aside because there will be no money to pay for them, liberal policies will cause other countries to crumble to fanatical regimes because there will be no money to place our military where they can act as a deterrent. Liberal policies will bankrupt our savings, retirement and pensions (if they haven't been already). Liberal policies will destroy our educational system and scientific endeavors. Our energy dependency on foreign countries will increase, further incapicitating the stature of America in the world and weakening our ability to stave off foreign encroachment upon our soil and financial stability.
So what is the answer? How can we stop these insidious inevitabilities? The only way is to elect conservative representation in Washington. Specifically, maintain conservative control of the House of Representatives and elect conservative candidates to the Senate. The priority of our government representatives must be to reverse our nations financial woes. To do that they must cancel funding for non-necessary programs such as the arts and the sciences, and cease funding grants. They cannot bail out companies that are financially dire (such as the auto industry), instead businesses must be allowed to go through the process of bankruptcy which should leave them stream-lined and financially secure if they are a viable business. The size and scope of government itself must be reduced.
We all must sacrifice to become a stronger nation. For myself the environment and the arts are extremely important but I would rather sacrifice them temporarily in order to save them permanently. We must, as a nation, put our priorities in proper order. First and foremost is national security and that can only come with financial security. We have dealt our country a tremendous blow by electing a president who subscribes to policies that weaken our nation. It is past time to hold our leaders feet to the fire and make them responsible, it is OUR responsibility to put forth viable responsible candidates in the next mid-term election and send them to Washington. We as a nation, not "we as a Republican" or "We as a Democrat" or "We as a conservative," but we as a nation must be responsible Americans even in the face of so many non-responsible Americans. Seek out and endorse responsible candidates NOW!

Fear and Loathing in America

  Recently I purchased the 4 DVD set of Billy Jack movies. For those of you younger generations the name and character of "Billy Jack" may not phase you but for my generation the character symbolized the essence of what freedom means as an American. Billy Jack was cool and hip. He wanted to do his own thing and encouraged you to do your own thing as well. He fought prejudice at all levels of society but he hated violence and only used violence as a means of self-defense or for justice when the system broke down. The films spanned the sixties and seventies and dealt with the very real issues America faced at the time - racial and sexual prejudices, political corruption, the stigma of a questionable war and societies intolerance of any movement deemed radical by society. Sound familiar? As I watched those movies I became aware of how much the world we live in today is the same as the world of that time. Only now the vile rhetoric and violence seems much more instantaneous due to the internet, smart phones and satellite TV.
  Today in America we spread vicious cartoons and photos via Facebook of issues we each deem to be a radical departure from what we believe the world should be. The America founded in the 1700's on the basis of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness no longer exists. We are labeled liberal or conservative and to each group the other group is not to be tolerated and their voice is to be shut down and silenced. Tolerance is no longer a bastion of a free American democracy and has become not just a dirty word but a filthy word. We no longer have the assurance of freedom of speech in America. The liberal left hatefully assault the conservative right for wanting to be fiscally responsible in government, and for being intolerant of sexual ideologies while the right also eschews intolerance of the left for the liberals abasement of biblical principles and their desire to obliterate the border between the US and Mexico.

  No longer can an American voice his or her opinion or belief without suffering persecution from some faction who possesses an opposing view. Each day I listen and watch the news broadcasts, I read posts on Facebook and listen when I'm out in public and every day I get sick to my stomach because of the hate and intolerance we as Americans have for each other. A watched a video of a man berating a Chick-fil-A worker and it made me nauseous. The next day I hear he was fired from his job for his actions. Why? Does he not have the right to say what he wishes to? I certainly don't agree with his action or what he said but he has the right to say it no matter how stupid or foolish it made him seem. Kudos to the young lady he berated however, she showed great poise and professionalism under fire.

  A writer at a Florida paper had his blog removed from the internet supposedly because of the position he takes against conservatives who do not believe in gay marriage. If that is truly the reason for his blogs removal then the paper should be ashamed of itself. I believe marriage should only be between a man and a woman but I do not have the right to force my beliefs on others who don't feel the same and they should not have the right to belittle me for my stand. It is alright to believe in something different, it should be our strength as a nation that we can work together for common goals despite our differences. Sadly though we as a nation have degenerated into a morass of undignified, hateful bullies and it has to stop or we are doomed to follow the paths of the great world empires of history and vanish. It is time we stood up as a nation and love our neighbor. If we find ourselves on opposite sides of the same fence we need to still show good grace and poise and not hate and spite. The answer is to love. It is not an easy answer and to many it is cliché but that does not negate it as the solution.

Mothers Day

My Mom - Charlotte Wiggins

I am fortunate that at the time of this writing my mother is still with us (though it is amazing to me how that can be after riding around town with her driving!). I am more fortunate still that after 21 years of living alone in Virginia since dad passed away that she has finally sold her home and moved to the same town my brother and I live in. I no longer have to worry about her stroking out while cutting her grass as her homeowners association takes care of that now. I no longer have to worry about her being alone all the time or being a target of a break-in (the house she sold was right behind a 7/11 store). When she had minor surgeries I couldn't be there to help her out at home, now I can. Having my mother nearby is indeed a blessing.
But I would like to address this blog entry mainly to my dear friends who's mothers are no longer with us and in particular those who are going through their first Mothers Day without their mother. Mostly what I have to say is nothing they haven't already heard or known but sometimes it helps to be reminded of what a blessing of having a mother really is.
For you, Mothers Day (this year in particular) should be a celebration of the life of the wonderful woman who gave you life. It is a celebration of the values she passed on to you in your youth, a celebration of someone who soothed your ills, fed you, took you places even when she didn't feel good, taught you manners, listened to you spill out your heart when it was broken, cheered the loudest at your ball games or other special events. Mother's Day is a celebration of the love she showed you her entire life - even during those low times when in retrospect you think you didn't deserve to be loved. It is a celebration of the example she set for you that helped mold you into the adult you are today.
The Bible says in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 "To every thing there is season and a time to every purpose under the heaven." The remaining verses further illustrate that there is a time for everything, a time to mourn and a time to weep. But it also reminds us there is a time to rejoice (a time to laugh and a time to dance). Being human means there will be an element of mourning for you this Mothers Day because your loss is heavy, but this day is meant for rejoicing so while you mourn be sure to take time to rejoice and celebrate the wonderful woman who gave you life as well. Take time to celebrate Mothers Day!

ADDENDUM: it is now 2014 and days away from Mothers Day again. In the two years since I wrote the above my mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer for which she had to have her right jaw removed and a bone from her leg removed and installed in place of the jaw. She endured days upon days of grueling therapy, lost her ability to talk clearly (although she is understandable) and eventually got the cancer free proclamation which was short lived when the cancer returned a few months ago. Once again she is enduring the chemo treatments and thankfully the doctor is pleased with her progress and treatment. Time and again in the past two years I have considered how fortunate I am to still have her with us (even though she may not feel the same when I'm driving her around! Lol). Time and again I marvel at her tenacity and determination in fighting the cancer and also to not let it make her depressed. She is strong of mind, will and faith as well as an anchor in my life. Yes, I am indeed fortunate to not only have her still with us, but also to have her as my mom.

ADDENDUM #2: Today is Mother's Day 2015 and it is the first without mom who passed away last month on April 6th. I was so privileged to be able to move in and take care of her for the last six months of her life. I learned so much more about my mother than I could have dreamed possible and I re-realized things about her I had often taken for granted simply because she was there. I was fortunate enough to eulogize her at two different memorials for her. Life goes on and each day I must get out of bed and go about my day, but always there is a void where once there was my mother. That void is just in my mind though because she is not physically here, in my heart it is a different story. My heart has no void, it is filled with love and thanks for having been blessed to have the wonderful mother I had and knowing one day I'll see her and my father once more. But as I stated when I first wrote this blog entry - today I will remember my mother and I will rejoice in the love that she had for me and the example she set for me as well. Happy Mother's Day mom.

Pet Peeves, Volume 1

I say Volume 1 cause I know just as soon as I publish this I'll think of a dozen more pet Peeves I had forgotten about. So with that in mind I'm going to just periodically post five things that irritate me and get under my skin.

1. People who can't count. You know who I'm talking about. You need to run to the store for a single item only to find the line for 10 items and under line has one lady with a cart filled high with groceries. I've been known to ask them if they ever made it out of first grade. They don't like it when you do that, but I really don't care cause I don't like it when they get in the short line either.
2. People who don't use turn signals. I get so irritated sitting at a stop light or sign and can't go because of an oncoming vehicle with no turn signals on and then they turn. Meanwhile I've been sitting there burning about $5 worth of gas when I could have driven on had they indicated they were going to turn. USE YOUR SIGNALS PEOPLE!
3. Businesses that require a minimum purchase for you to use your debit card for the purchase. Really? Who carries cash anymore? All I wanted was a 2 liter or a bag of chips but you're going to make me spend more money to purchase it? No way! Not only am I going to walk away and leave the merchandise on the counter and make you restock the shelf with it but you have also just lost money because I will no longer patronize your business - even if I plan to buy a whole case of sodas and spend much more money, I'm going to spend it at your competitor.
4. WHISPERERS! I despise whisperers. You know who I'm talking about. They'll stand right in front of you and whisper an entire conversation to each other just loud enough that you can catch a word or two but not loud enough to get the full story. So very rude! If you need to speak to someone in private - do it in PRIVATE!
5. Drivers who don't use the zip rule. Well that's what I call it anyway. The zip rule is when two lanes of traffic merge into one the vehicles should merge together alternately - one from the left lane, one from the right, one from the left, one from the right and so on - they merge like zipping up a zipper. Today though people are just too rude and in too much of a hurry and don't want to take the time to be safe and as a result they all try to be the first one at the head of the line. Which leads me to another pet peeve (but we'll still consider it part of this one) - people who drive on the shoulder of the road to get ahead of everyone else when the interstate is backed up. Do like I do and just pull over onto the shoulder a little bit, enough so no one can get by - you'll enjoy pissing the idiots off… I do. :)

Well, that's all for now. I'll come up with more shortly and post them in a month or so. Have some of your own? Feel free to comment on this blog and share with everyone!

Losing Sight of the Point

 A few things have come across my scope of events and happenings in the world in the past few days that just beg for me to indulge and write an opinion on. Here is one of them.
  I came in late on the whole Rush Limbaugh fiasco that happened last Wednesday (Feb. 29, 2012). With all the uproar about what he said I just had to do some research and get the facts. Now I'm not a Rush advocate, though I do agree with him on an occasional issue as well as disagree from time to time and to be honest I just don't care enough about him to listen to what he has to say and follow him like so many do and I feel he is a loudmouth arrogant bully.

  As I understand it, during his broadcast that day he was commenting on the testimony of a Georgetown law student, Sandra Fluke, at a Capitol Hill hearing. Fluke, who is an advocate for government funding of contraception had submitted a written testimony to the committee (House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform) in which she "argued in favor of requiring all private insurance plans to cover contraception coverage, even religious institutions." She further argued that in the course of three years of law school, student birth control could cost $3000 in some instances.
  Fluke's statements in her testimony drove Limbaugh to make the following statement on his show:

"What does it say about the college co-ed Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She's having so much sex, she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex." Rush Limbaugh as quoted by CNN.com

   The sad part of Rush's statement is that his point was lost amid the derogatory slurs at Ms. Fluke. His argument would have been profoundly more persuasive if he had left out the colorful name-calling and stuck to the facts. Fluke's position is she wants the government to require insurance companies to cover the cost of contraceptives. This position dictates that sex is a necessary, even required, activity which must be undertaken in order to graduate. Now I'm all for sex, in fact I think the world would be a much better place if everyone could have all the sex they wanted but it is not the governments role to intervene in the sexual life of the citizenry. Participation in sex is not necessary in order to enroll, attend or graduate from any school or university and for Ms. Fluke to assert that the government should impose upon insurance companies to provide coverage to allow students to have safe sex is ludicrous. If students are going to have sex then yes, they need to practice safe sex - and they should pay for it out of their own pocket rather than cause insurance rates for everyone else to go up in order to pay for it. At some point we each must be responsible for the things we do or don't do and we should be mature enough to take responsibility for our mistakes, be it the result of sex or some other decision we make which results in a mistake or problem of some kind.
  Rush was right in his position on the matter but the words he chose to use to relay his position were in extreme poor taste. I don't believe Rush should be taken off the air but I do applaud those advertisers who have chosen to remove their advertising dollars from his show and in effect force him to take responsibility for his immature remarks.

Men love flowers too!

  Now I like to think of myself as a manly man. I like the outdoors, sports, Jack Daniels, westerns, action films and fast cars. When I'm in the department store I head straight for the tool department. If it's more upscale and doesn't have a tool department but does have a sporting goods or outdoors department I'll hang there instead. In other words I have absolutely no doubts about my masculinity. Even so there is a part of me that enjoys things normally associated with those of the fairer sex. For instance, there are some chick flicks I like such as When Harry Met Sally or Thelma and Louise. There is however one area where I think women are totally lacking in understanding about many men when it comes to Valentine's Day - flowers. Believe me, men love to get flowers on Valentine's Day and more specifically they love to get them at work. Actually men love to get flowers on any day but just like women, Valentine's is special. It's not the flowers themselves we like so much as the attention we get in the office when they are delivered, or when you're seated at the restaurant waiting for her and she walks in with a big bouquet for you. Oh, sure there will be those guys who are snickering about you getting flowers, but those are the same guys who are probably going to be going home to an empty house at the end of the day and in all likelihood haven't slept with a woman they didn't have to pay for in eons. Getting that flower arrangement is a statement for men, just like it is for women, a statement that says "yes I have a wonderful person in my life who knows how to treat me right and that makes me a very lucky man (or woman)."
  So, ladies, take pause and consider the value and benefits you'll reap this Valentine's Day when he discovers the flowers left at the receptionists desk has a card with his name on it! You can thank me later :)