Told ya so

in this post I predicted that this whole fiscal cliff bullshit would be pushed down the road: http://stonepoet.blogspot.com/2012/12/they-created-cliff.html

I was right: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/275061-mcconnell-sequester-will-be-postponed-for-two-months

When will we vote them all out? Oh, never mind, too many people have a stake in the game, on both sides of the political aisle, and from all walks of life.

Slow is the repetition of history, but it does indeed repeat. One day folks will be reading about the "Rise and Fall of the American Empire."

Merry Christmas

Born is Hope;

Arrives a promise;

Unto us, this silent night,

The angels did,

And the words

And the words,

Came to so many

yet

Come harder with time.

Until,

Until the Hope is

Real,

Is felt;

Not connected to the words

But

Inside and around,

Encircling and releasing.

This Hope:

Born,

Celebrated,

Lived.

Honest question

When there are riots and killings over "Zero Dark-Thirty", will this administration condemn itself? Will the President, the Secretary of State, and various other mouthpieces apologize for supplying the information that led to the making of this movie?
Will they apologize for killing the leader of Al queda, which led to the making of this movie?
Will they take responsibility for the deaths that are to come?

They created the cliff

What the heck is wrong with us, the American people? The politicians created this cliff we are about to go over, they voted on, and the President signed, legislation that was supposed to force them to reign in spending and find places to 'increase revenue'. They didn't. Instead they all campaigned to keep their jobs and we, the American people, sent most of them back.
Why the hell are we shocked that this is happening? They told us it would. History shows that they will not fix things, only make them worse.
Prediction: Grand bargain that pushes real decisions to the future...oh, wait...that is were we are NOW.

This is law, this cliff thing was created, voted on, and signed. IT IS THE EFFING LAW, since they did not do their jobs, were too busy trying to get re-elected, they now have to face the consequences, which is going to hurt this country.

Do they care about that? Maybe, a little. What they care more about is getting elected again, to not be seen as the party that allowed this to happen.

Let me clue them in: It was both parties.  

Insanity

http://dailycaller.com/2012/11/20/dutch-sex-therapists-legalize-virtual-child-pornography/

These people want to legalize child porn. Because it is a good outlet for 'good' pedophiles.
But...wait...I thought porn caused men to objectify women. Wouldn't this cause scum to objectify children?
I have an idea, let's kill the pedophiles, that way we don't have to worry about them messing with any kids and we don't have to even have this conversation.

Sunsets and

As I frittered away minutes of my life, wasting time arguing with someone who used generalizations to prove non-existent points, I noticed the sun was setting. Did I grab my brand new iPhone and get a picture? No...I wasted more time showing that generalizations are useless in arguments, one can find generalizations about anything.

And now I have only the memory. But the memory is good. Perhaps someday I will be arguing generalizations and will think of the sunset and maybe, just maybe I will walk away from the useless argument.

I agree with the President

I listened to as much of today's press conference, the first in what? Nine months? as I could before I had to go to work. As I expected, it was mostly repeated campaign slogans about the 2% paying their fair share and the middle class...zzzzzz...

But then someone ticked him off asking about Susan Rice and her lies to the American People through the Sunday news shows 5 days after 4 Americans were killed in Benghazi. President Obama seemed to take offense that the reporter attacked this poor defenseless woman (where are the feminists?). The President told the reporter that if he had a problem with Ambassador Rice, he had a problem with the President.
I agree.
The President admitted today, in the press conference that he told Ambassador Rice to go on tv and LIE to the American People. He said that she was just relaying what the White House had told her. The White house at that time knew that this had been a terrorist attack and yet they had Rice tell us that it was over some idiotic movie trailer. So yes.
I agree that we have a problem with the President. A President that tells the Ambassador to the UN to go on television and lie to Americans should surely be taken to task.

And no one in the media will do so.

They are too busy asking him about General Petreaus and General Allen and a couple of women who enjoyed the company of men. Or about how he is going to make sure the fiscal cliff is avoided, but not on the backs of the middle class.

Oh, and for those of you who missed it. He did not say that letting the tax cuts expire on the rich was his line in the sand, he wouldn't say it. That means that he is going to kick the can down the road, as he has for the last 4 years (along with Congress), and the next President can whine about how she inherited this crappy economy from George Bush.

Just a quick thought

So President Obama won a second term, I didn't think it was possible. I was wrong. Now conservatives are wringing their hands and trying to figure out how to win in four years. The most popular statement from those who claim to be conservative is to distance the GOP from the Tea Party. To take the GOP more to the center.
People. Chill.
The center is defined by the left, and you freaking know it.
50 years ago the center was against legalizing any type of drug, now...
50 years ago the center had pedophiles as criminals, not 'sick, and to be cared for'.
50 years ago the center considered welfare a bad thing.
50 years ago the center created the civil rights act.

Now? Hell, there is no right anymore. If you are not in favor of legalizing drugs, you are far right.
Abortion on demand, including partial birth? mainstream.
Providing jobs and college admissions based on race? maintstream
Free stuff from the government? mainstream


Do you get it now? The center is the new left, the far left extremists are the left wing of the Democrat party. It can't be argued anymore. Move-on, Dem underground, KOS, huffpo are considered mainstream. The communists and socialists hold rallies and they are called the 99%.

Conservatives don't need to move left, that is why 12 million people who held their noses and voted for McCain stayed the freak home this year, because the GOP is pandering to the left, to the new center, which is the old left.

Isn't it time to make the left move to the center? To take back the narrative?

It isn't immigration that conservatives are against, it is ILLEGAL immigration. Why is the media allowed to continue to report it with out the illegal part?

It isn't all abortions that the vast majority is against, just those that are used for birth control purposes (and many have softened on this point).

It isn't all social safety nets that conservatives are against, it is the 3 generations of people who know nothing but those social safety nets and are proud of it.

And conservatives are not against drugs, many of them drink and smoke. Conservatives are for the rule of law. Many will follow the law and smoke right along with you, but change the laws first.

Conservatives must stay conservative, those 12 million will come back.

ObamaCare (PPACA) decision (finally posting)

(This post was stuck in the ether for months)


What a convoluted mess that decision was. Roberts ruled that in two ways the mandate was unconstitutional and a third that it could stand. The most insane part was that for the case to have standing, the mandate was ruled not a tax before ruling, then ruled a tax during the ruling. Huh?
So, for the case to have standing, the mandate is not a tax, but the mandate is a tax therefore the legislation is legal because congress can tax? Huh?
So now all congress has to do to get us (Americans) to do anything is to create a penalty collected by the IRS with our taxes. Getting too fat? Go to the gym or pay the penalty. Smoking? Stop or pay a penalty. Not eating enough (insert vegetable of the week), pay a penalty.
Some say that by ruling in this manner, Roberts limited the commerce clause. I call bullshit on that. He negated the commerce clause. The House and Senate can now ignore it by creating a penalty collected by the IRS, or, simply creating punitive taxes...which is illegal under Article I, Section 9. "No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken." 
The link in the above quote from the constitution is left intact to show that only income taxes are free from the rules set forth in Section 9. This tax, created by Roberts, will never be in proportion, there are too many exclusions and exceptions to the individual responsibility section of the PPACA.   Now, there is the little matter of failing to pay this tax resulting in no criminal penalties, a favorite of my friends on the left. That leaves the civil penalties wide open folks, meaning that fines and fines and fines will be heaped upon those who do not pay the mandate tax. 
Oh, and for those who are under the impression that this is a small tax, go read the text I linked above. The 'small penalty' bandied about by President Obama in his speeches is $695 PER MONTH, per taxpayer over 18. For those under 18 it is only $350 per month. So, a husband and wife with two teenagers who work (taxpayers) would be penalized $2085 per month for each month they don't carry the amount of private insurance that the government decides they must have.  
And that, right there, is the problem folks. What happens when the Republicans take the Presidency, the Senate and the House? All the leftie's out there claim we republicans are in the pockets of big business, including the insurance companies, so why wouldn't the government simply force a family of 4 to buy $2000 of insurance every month? Sure, right now, a family of 4 can get insurance for less than $1000, but if the idea is to make money for the insurnance companies (as the lefties say), then the Republicans are going to kill us all, right?
Nope...look at the money in 2008, more to R than to D, but it was close. Thie year, however, it is leaning R. I say because the insurance companies see the R's winning and they want this mandate to live, to fatten the coffers of the Insurance companies. 
Oh, and just for fun, President Obama received twice the money from Healthcare industries as did Senator McCain in 2008, and D's got more overall as well.

This whole thing is a mess, designed to put Americans on a so-called single payer system. That system is more unfair than that system we have now, it's just that it is more unfair to more people, which is why the democrats I know like it. 
This is all about punishing success, it always has been with the democrats.
.

Insanity and language

"The package will recoup 30 billion euros ($39 billion) for the public purse with a goal of narrowing the deficit to 3.0 percent of national output next year from 4.5 percent this year - France's toughest single belt-tightening in 30 years." 

The above is from this article: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/28/us-france-budget-idUSBRE88R0AK20120928 in which raising taxes to an incredibly insane percantage is considered belt tightening.

What? Oh, that's right, so they can 'recoup' 30 billion dollars.

Let's think about those two phrases. Recoup is "to regain something lost." for this to be the case one must start with the premise that all money belongs to the government, no matter what you do to earn it for your self. The work you do is simply done to borrow for a short time the money that the government someday might need to reclaim.

Secondly, belt tightening is defined by the free dictionary dot com (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/belt-tightening) as increased thrift and frugality, a reduction in spending.

Raising taxes is not reducing spending, and the money a citizen earns does not belong to the government to be recouped. The problem is, we allow our news media, our governments, to talk to us like this.

And we lose freedoms.

Every day.

Life

I keep trying, and just do not have the drive to keep this blog alive. Is it a desire thing? A fear that people will read what I write and hate it? That makes no sense, very few people read my scribblings and the ones who do like it. I enjoy writing, really I do, and I have written well over a thousand words every day for the last few weeks, just none of it fiction.
But it was mostly important, important to me, to the community in which I live. Sure, I have a dose of self-importance, but i realize the world would turn without me. I realize that what happens next Tuesday does not define me, but it is helping to shape me, to create the person I am going to be in 2 years, 5 years, 20 years. Just like the stuff I did 20 years ago helped shape who I am now, but did not define who I am now. That person, while as real as I am now, is a fiction too, a blur, a creation of my mind then, a very muddled mind.
This person is still a creation of my mind, not quite as muddled, and more real, or so I would like to believe, maybe when I check back in 20 years I will laugh at the fictional me I created.
And that is that, life is moving me in directions un-chosen, but interesting for sure.

Hit and Run

OMG, it was only a little pot, they said it wouldn't hurt...

Gun Control

The United Nations wants to control the import and export of "conventional" arms. What is linked is not the many articles on the subject, written from political perspectives, with agendas, but the report of the Preparatory Committee. You see, this has been in the works since 2006 and has touched nerves here and there ever since.
But it is a UN endeavor, it will never come to fruition, it is simply fodder for both sides of the gun control issue. The disarmament at all cost folks will raise lots of money on this as will the NRA, and isn't that what it is really all about? Except maybe for some well meaning folk in the trenches of those organizations, it is about the money (and to a small extent, the power).
I am a firm supporter of the right of the people to keep and bear arms, check my right side bar, in Pennsylvania that right shall not be questioned.
And I am a firm believer in common sense. If you are mentally unstable, you shouldn't be able to buy a weapon, if you are a convicted violent criminal, you should not be allowed to buy a weapon. If you are a minor...and other common sense restrictions.
I don't believe in hand-gun registration, unless voluntary. I do believe in waiting periods, and in the instant background checks available through the internet.
That's me.
Back to the issue at hand: The UN will never come up with a treaty on this issue. Heck, it's been 6 years already and according to the linked document they were barely able to come up with an agenda for this years meeting to discuss the agenda for next year whereupon there might be a report outlining the desires of the 82 member states...
Get it? It is simply another reason for a bunch of do-gooders to get together in some plush hotel, hold endless meetings that accomplish nothing, and then slap each other on the back for the progress they made, ensuring the safety of civilians around the world all while UN troops take off the blue helmets (and uniforms) to rape those same civilians. Or in the case of Syria, allow Hezbollah to re-arm the border. Or allow Iran to continue enrichment...
Get it? This UN treaty, if one ever is written, would never be signed by our government, would hold no sway here in the Untied States, and would carry the full weight of the power of the UN, meaning absolutely nothing.

I was taking a quiz and ran into a freaking liberal lie. Okay, it's a lie of semantics, a lie of omission, but it is none the less disgusting. In 2011 Congress decided to help further destroy social security by enacting a 'payroll tax cut'. That was bullshit. They began taking less from workers for the social security trust fund, that 'untouchable' account that is just about broke. And the coo and coo and coo about how they 'cut taxes'. No they didn't, it isn't a tax to begin with, it is a contribution, mandatory sure, but not defined as a tax in the code. This never should have happened and it should be allowed to expire, or be repealed TODAY.

It is funny though, if you as a liberal if we should be able to privatize our social security, they mostly say no...but...but...

Here is the question with the stupid and impossible to choose answers:

2. In 2012, the payroll tax cut implemented in 2011 to help stimulate the economy was extended another year, sending middle-income workers home with an average savings of $400 more a year. Where do you fall on the extension of the payroll tax cut?

The US Capitol building in 2011. (Carolyn Kaster / AP)

There should be a flat tax rate, no matter what the taxpayer’s income.

If the economy is truly on the road to recovery, why extend the payroll tax cut? Everyone should have to pay his or her fair share.

Times are still tough. The current payroll tax cut is a good idea, and hopefully people will spend that little bit of extra money to help stimulate the economy.

Middle-income workers are the backbone of the American economy and deserve even bigger tax breaks. Next year let’s make the average savings $500.

Middle and low-income workers should be taxed far less than the wealthy. Let's make the payroll tax cut permanent.

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Working again?

I have a post I wrote on Saturday that never posted, I wonder if I can find it now?

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There is my answer. Nope. And I am not writing it again. It was too long to begin with. I guess this is what happens when I write a post critical of the Supreme Court.

This weekend

This weekend I am going to write 4 things.
1. A blog post about the insane Supreme Court decision last week.
2. A blog post about writing.
3. A speech about dealing with local government.
4. An entry for the JR Wagner contest.


And of course this post about writing a post. Remember back when I tried to post every day. I am going to try that again.

Deterrence or Retribution

Pay for your crime or deter the next guy? Why and how do we set punishments?
This is linked to the discussion on another blog about paroling minors who have committed violent offenses. I tend to agree with trying to figure out if the offender is 'cured', but just can't figure out how.
And then the mind works, and I began to wonder if we should set our punishments to deter or for retribution. An eye for an eye is retribution, and, some would argue, a darn good deterrent, but crime rates go up and down, even as punishments go up and down. And they go up and down as punishments stay the same.
Look, we tell our kids, "don't do that or..." hoping the 'or' is enough to keep the kids from doing whatever it was we were trying to deter. With mine it was a grinder for any tattoo. Three boys, no tattoos so far, I guess it worked! And those parents who do not follow through with the threatened punishment soon learn that the threats are largely ignored.
It's the same for criminals, is it not? Capital punishment for first degree murder? Poorly used, and the criminals know that.
According to the article, cited below, during the enlightenment the classical version of criminology took shape and we imperfect humans began to realize that if we wanted people to stop committing crimes, our rulers would have to treat us fairly. So, out goes the torture chambers (sort of) and in comes punishments that fit the crimes, in the hopes that people would be afraid to commit them. It worked for a time, and a large portion of humanity is raised with the inherent fear of punishment.
But then came the humanist and liberals, questioning every punishment, justifying almost every manner of criminal behavior with societal ills, and limiting punishments.
So now criminals know that a simple assault (which could result in serious damage to the assaulted) won't even result in jail time.
Too long, too much to discuss...sorry folks...if you have an hour, go read the journal article.


Deterrence would work if we actually followed through, just like with our kids.

PATERNOSTER, R. (2010). HOW MUCH DO WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT CRIMINAL DETERRENCE?. Journal Of Criminal Law & Criminology, 100(3), 765-823.

Fulfilling a Promise

A very close friend of one of my sons has published a book titled The Rest is Silence. It can not be purchased online, but if you read this post and are interested in purchasing a copy I can broker that deal. And by Broker I mean figure out a way to put you in touch with the author, Shannon, so that she can sell you a copy. Or some such thing.

The story is wonderful, twisty and gritty and written from the heart. Yes, from the heart; and as we know that can cause a few problems, issues that will be solved over time for this young author, because she is going to keep writing. I promised her I would be honest, so I am going to be.

I loved the story. I figured out one of the twists, but not the other (no spoilers). I was drawn to the main characters but wished they had been allowed to get to know one another better so that we could have as well. Keeping one or two characters in the dark is a fine literary device, but we needed just a little more depth. The settings were well developed, each stop on the journey was clear in my mind, from the Hospital to the lake to the apartment to the first 'home'. Distances were a touch tricky, but it didn't take away from the premise or the story.

My one problem was (and this might just be an old guy thing) was the glaring lack of firearms. Right at the start, any weapon will do, but at some point someone needed to break into a Kmart for more than granola bars and oatmeal. I know it would have changed the dynamic of several scenes, but would have helped with the realism. 

Back to the 'from the heart' comment. I only say this because when we write from the heart, we send our 'children' out into the world too quick. We don't edit with the blind determination that is needed to present a polished product.

So, Shannon, keep writing (and you are right, she is dead)(not a spoiler), so she's not an avenue for your creativity. I would like to be on your 'first reader' list for your future stories, I know there will be more, and I am looking forward to what ever comes next!

Contact me to grab your copy of The Rest Is Silence by Shannon Hayes. 

I love Auctions

This one was run by Paisley Auctions and was a bunch of stuff from a local fire house that is moving. I buy junk. It's what I do. Box lots of junk. Or tables full of stuff.
So I am listening to my better half this time and using what I buy or selling it on Craigslist or donating it to a needy something or other.
I bought a 30 cup coffee maker.

So I made 24 cups of coffee to make sure it worked (don't worry, it was half and half). It worked! Now I had coffee to drink, but it's hot. Wait...I bought a bar blender! If I fill the blender with ice, and add some cream...oh, this could work.

A coffee slushy! But...it needs something else...oh, right, sugar!

Now, add coffee, plug in the blender and flip the switch. It works, thank goodness. And the result:

Yummy, frothy, slushy, coffee goodness! Now, what can I do with that 14 inch butcher knife?

Off the cuff rant

I am not in the mood to research this, really, I am not. For instance, I know off the top of my head that when someone in a presidential administration is found in contempt by Congress, normally the DOJ does NOT prosecute. Google it. Many times in my life this has happened. Heck, I do believe there were contempt charges in the dastardly firing of prosecutors by the Bush Administration.

And there is the freaking rub.

Bush politically (as did most of his predecessors) fired some prosecutors. No one died because of his actions. The fall out was purely political and the firing was purely political. Politics suck.

In this case, two Americans are dead (Brian Terry, and Jamie Zapata).  Okay, I felt their memories deserved a little research. And hundreds of Mexican's are dead as well, some of them-GASP-women and children.

Doesn't it make you wonder why the Democrats don't give a rip about people when it suits them? At least we cold hearted republicans admit we want to execute criminals and use enhanced interrogation techniques. We want to be able to use deadly force to protect ourselves and those we love. Not the Democrats, the only killing they admit they like is the newly conceived.  Other than that they claim to love human lives.

Why do the facts not bear this out?  Ruby Ridge, wasn't that a Democrat? Waco? How about that Cuban kid...oh, wait...no one died. Sorry.  Now again, dead people, dead Americans, and the Dems are crowing about the fact that the DOJ is not going to cooperate with Congress, going as far as claiming executive privilege. And claiming that this proves there is no THERE there. Huh? If there is nothing in the documents, release them already.

Let's get this straight:
1. Panties on the head = calls for impeachment
2. Dead border patrol and ICE agents = a win for democrats against those cold, nazi-like repukes.

C'mon, comment folks, it's why I have a blog. I will not block your comment. Prove me wrong, show me where this is about something other than covering up the Presidents knowledge of the death of Brian Terry and how it was linked to Fast and Furious. Don't bring up the Bush admin, I know they had a similar program, but they were able to track the weapons it seems, and none of them were used to kill Federal Agents.

It's tough being an Anarchist in America

The title is stolen from "Pippi Bongstocking" (stolen as well), who is actually Thislte, who was bummed that the Walker recall failed.
My embedding here of this video is laziness, to be sure, but also to point something out. She seems to understand that we own the government, not the other way around, but supported the union sponsored recall that would have increased the size and power of the government.
People are tired, Thistle, of paying for other people. It boils down to that. Those of us who work for a living are tired of supporting those who don't. Did the public sector unions get caught up in the fight? Sure they did, they are the face of the entitlement mentality, especially since anyone who calls for welfare to be slashed is labeled racist. Funny, though, Thistle isn't a racist but she mentions 'black women and babies on welfare'.

No Links Needed

I am not going to link the articles, we all know that the President has used the power of executive order to try to grant amnesty to so-called 'dreamers'. These are those who were brought to this country illegally as children (up to the age of 16, another debate altogether), and so far have been upstanding citizens and are either attending school or are planning on joining the military.
Here is the shock for y'all, other than the insane amount of paperwork and overtime for already stressed federal workers (lol), I agree with the premise.
One caveat however; if an illegal alien fills out the paperwork and does not qualify for the program that illegal alien is immediately deported along with the rest of his family. (I use his to mean both genders, like 'actor', so I am clean there). And if they do indeed qualify, they pay out of state tuition, because they have proven to not be legal residents of the state in which they reside (until the amnesty thing kicks in of course
).
This caveat would make this a bill that would pass both the House and Senate, right? Great compromise, right?
It'll never happen, just like the executive order will never come to fruition, it's unfunded, and impossible to enact.
Pure politics, as usual, from the Constant Campaigner in Chief, a the expense of some hardworking kids who could benefit from the program.

People (deleted)

Cynical this morning. Why must some people be rude? Why do people pull into a grass parking area, after being waved by 4 flags and then completely ignore the 5th one? Why do people think they are the last to arrive, no one else needs to park, so they'll just let the kids run in circles around the car and put all their stuff where the next car needs to go? Why do people who will park in a mall parking lot think that it makes sense to leave 15 feet between their car and the next one, ignoring the person trying to help?

And yes. Those volunteers with the flags are trying to help get as many people parked as quickly as possible, as safely as possible. We are not going to park you in, we are not going to let your car get scratched, we leave that other lot clear for the handicapped, and that spot? that's for the huge truck that needs to turn around, but sure, if you want your Escalade wrecked, go ahead and park there because I am done caring about you and your entitlement mentality.

I'll simply smile and move on to the next 200 cars who will treat me like crap for the next two hours.

So be warned, if you ignore me today and park in a spot that you think you deserve, I am not going to change the overall system. If that means you get parked in, so be it.

Phoning it in

Short story contest...

Check it out, the prizes are usually pretty cool and your story is published on J.R.'s blog if it's in the top five or so (he figures that out!)

The rules are simple, no trendy monsters (vampires, shape shifters) and should be set in the 1600's with the main character struggling with a mental of physical disability. Magic is cool.

Broken promises

I promised a review...not gonna happen unless I get a minute tonight. Instead, I will tell you that I love one Bob Dylan song.
Tangled up in Blue

Not embbeded, go to you tube and enjoy!

Tired, busy, but not cranky

Have had a whirlwind week that will not end for another ten days. Yeah, I know, that makes no sense. But I promise to get back to it today or tomorrow. So much to touch on, so much to discuss. Politics of course, and the incredibly successful launch of Exiled.  This weekend is the Chester County Balloon Festival, so I will be crazy busy with that.
Come on out and see us, it is a great time, you can even buy a copy of the aforementioned book and talk to the author.
I just finished another book, The Rest is Silence by Shannon Hays, very enjoyable read, but not available on line, until I figure it out, if you are interested in reading a dystopian novel written by a young author let me know, I'll figure out how to get you a copy; review to follow.
And I am going to go way out on a limb and opine about the 50 shades nonsense. I have to. I just have to.

Politics for a minute

I started to read this 'editorial/opinion' piece the other day, started to see red and had to stop. I am going to opine myself some on why the author of this attack on the Constitution is mostly wrong. I say mostly because I, unlike the author in question, can see two sides to things. I can find the flaws without calling the entire document "imbecilic".
His third paragraph, in which I assume he intends to show his 'impartiality' by asking the reader to ignore things actually shows his lack of objectivity. The "importation" of people was eliminated in 1808 in the constitution (Article I, Section 9) but Levinson ignores that attempt by the framers to do away with the practice. I never did get the 3/5ths thing, they were way off base with that one, but I chalk it up to the times. Natives were simply not considered human, not by scientists, not by politicians, and surely not by slave owners. Also in the third paragraph is the standard whine about the electoral college. The only reason conservatives don't complain about this odd system of picking a president is because the highly populous cities tend to hold those who take, those who depend on government to survive, and, obviously, vote democrat (yes, that is my bias showing, but prove me wrong...).
Then, the point where I gave up the first time, Levinson claims there are "four branches" in our federal government. There are three; no splitting of hairs will change that. There is the executive, legislative, and the judicial branches. The Legislative branch has two houses, those houses have the check and balance that Levinson wants in the executive branch, popular election. I am not going to go into the make-up, but his claim that the checks and balances actually hinder governance shows that he would prefer mob rule. His lament in paragraph four regarding elections is spot on. We as voters do not exercise our duty to impose term limits on poor performers. All we need to do is vote them out.
Levinson then hits us with his main point. We can't change the Constitution easily. That's the "...worst single part of the Constitution." Really. In his mind, we should be able to scrap stuff at our pleasure, based on what faction has power at any given moment.
I don't want my 'side' to have that power, and if you want your 'side' to have that power, you need to rethink your ideas about freedom and your obligation to your fellow man. He wants to have to President stack congress with like minded people, meaning that every 4 or 8 years we spend time undoing everything the previous administration did. He wants to eliminate Appointed judges. I want to hold judges to a higher standard, and if they rule based on ideology they are removed from the bench. And again, he pushes for 'direct democracy', allowing for citizens to vote on the viability of legislation such as "obamacare" (his euphemism). Considering Mr. Levinson is a critic of the second amendment one wonders what his thoughts would be on direct democracy regarding firearms? 

Real Life

Tonight I was asked "what do you blog about?"
"Everything," was my reply. Because that is the truth. Which is what is lacking in the world of blogging. Blogs about everything.
Okay, so there are too many blogs to begin with, and I know that by blogging about everything I will never be called for my opinion on one subject, but perhaps my small readership will glean some knowledge. Or I will simply benefit by improving my typing skills.
Today was an awesome day. Paintball in celebration of my middle child ending his High School career. With his friends. A group of guys that didn't mind hanging with his father and aunt.
Then food and what-not with close friends and family.

I love life.

I Smelled Blood.

I very much would like to write; to sit at my laptop and create, or, better yet, at some table somewhere with a pen and notebook, scribbling away the lazy afternoon hours. I tell myself there isn't time, I procrastinate, and I waste time doing inconsequential things. Those are the lies. The truth of the matter is that I, like many before me, am afraid of failure. I am afraid that I will not write something that others will want to read. Take the title of this post for instance; I smelled blood. It catches the mind in a way, if we knew who, where, when and why...but we don't. We would know who if this was a line in the middle of a story, and perhaps it will be someday, but for now, let's assume 'I' is a character that we know.
As I stood in the cavern, I smelled blood. Better; at least we know where the character is, sort of. But still lacking. And I know it is lacking because I read...all the time. This is good for a writer, or so we are told, but can be a bane as well. I am constantly comparing my descriptions to those of much better writers than I. I look at faces every day and can't seen to describe them on a page. Oops, that is another post.
The dark, musty cavern held the aroma of freshly spilled blood, the smell unmistakable, firing the synapses of primal fear.
Okay, that isn't bad, I guess. A little work and it might approach this:
The place, by the by, was very stuffy and oppressive, and the faint halitus of freshly shed blood was in the air.
That is H.G. Wells, from The Time Machine (pg, 76, Airmont classic, 1964), and captured the scene rather well. The time traveler was in the cavern of the Morlocks for the first time and was scared. He just didn't know yet that he was scared, that came later.

Of course the object of this post was to stick with writing about writing, by proving to myself that if I take the time to edit my thoughts, I can write.

Drive by post

The Mayor of New York is considering banning soft drinks (sugary) over 16 ounces.  I know, it will never happen, but to be even considered is pure insanity.
And I noticed the 20 ounce margarita wasn't on the list, nor the 24 ounce beer.
When do I get my government sponsored helmet?

Interview with J.R. Wagner

Recently I had the great fortune to spend some time with author J.R. Wagner. We were on bikes and I figured this would be a good time to get that interview I needed for the virtual book tour he is putting on right now. Is putting on the right term? Oh well, it doesn’t matter because by the 5 mile mark I couldn’t breathe let alone ask questions and when we hit 16 miles, pulling back into his driveway (which is a freaking hill), I had forgotten all about the interview. This led me to send the 10 questions in an email. The following is what arose from that email; the answers are in red and my after interjections (in other words, as I type this right now) are in blue.

1.       You have been interviewed several times by other blogs, all of the literary questions have been answered. So this interview will go in different directions, any problems with that?

Depends on the questions   I got approval from the boss for the rest of the interview, so phhhlpt.

2.       Boxers or briefs?

I don't think making my readers nauseous by prompting them to think about what kind of underwear I typically don is a good marketing technique.  Agreed, but I am a product of the ‘80’s and that was the big question back then.

3.       Okay, we have that one out of the way, let’s borrow an idea from Barbra: If you were a Lego piece, which piece would you be? (classic pieces only please.) Why?

I like your obscure reference to someone most likely zero readers will relate to.  Well done!  I suppose I'll humor you with an answer on this one.  I'm the long skinny piece that usually connects two other groups of pieces together -the bridge. The gray one in the second to last row in the attached picture.   Ahhh, but if you were to be sitting at home during the day instead of working to support your family (yes, new authors must hold jobs), you would know that Barbra Walters has a very popular day-time talk show called The View. 

And yes, good choice!

4.       I have heard that you didn’t care for episodes 1 through 3 of the Star Wars franchise. Is that because you are stuck in the past and just can’t accept change?

I appreciate change when it's a good thing.  Episodes 1-3 were an abomination and an insult to Star Wars fans all over the world.         Moving on….

5.       Fuzzy Side Up, Volume II tells of a flying bed. What was your favorite destination?

Unfortunately, my crappy memory can't recall a particular destination.  It was fun just to sit back with my mom, dad and brother and imagine the bed lifting off the ground and slowly rising above the house.  The visualization my dad provided of the house fading away was always right in line with my own.   And your Dad wrote that the destination didn’t matter, it was the closeness of family that mattered, as it does today for you. Your memory isn’t crappy, it’s dead on.

6.       Aren’t you going to tell us all about Fuzzy Side Up? Sheesh, I led you right to it…

Fuzzy Side Up is a collection of my Father's life stories. All true.  Most funny.  His memoirs more or less. One day, they will be properly formatted and released for public consumption.    Formatting is a matter of personal choice, The anecdotes are wonderful!

7.       What weekend this summer/fall are you available to climb several of the state high-points in New England?

You'd better ask my wife that one. But, if I were climbing said high-points, I imagine I'd be climbing them alone unless they allow wheelchairs or walkers up the mountains...do they? You might as well tack a marathon on there too -equally likely to be bested by my one-legged brick-laying friend. What's his name again?   Delaware and New Jersey are on paved roads, the other 3 I picked are less than 5 mile hikes…much easier than say…16 mile hilly bike rides.

8.       Really? Where in Maine are you going?

Boy, your ability to predict my answers needs work!  See my answer to question #7 for this answer as well. If I listened to Google maps, I'd be going down a forest service road at 50mph until reaching... well, nothing.  Touche…

9.       Besides Antarctica, where in the world would you most like to go?

New Zealand. It's been my wife, Lisa's dream to visit Antarctica for as long as I've known her and she's more than earned some dream-fulfilling with all the help she's been during this process.  I couldn't have done it without her -literally.  Agreed; our wives have endured quite a bit over the last few years, what with my silly training and your constant writing…or…almost constant writing. I think we need to hear from a Searcher pretty soon.

10.   Okay, last one; role play. You are one of the spies in Vegas, you have just watched the woman (can’t remember her name) slice her own head off in a broken window and Flagg turns to you. What is your next move?

Ahh yes, another obscure reference unless you're a Stephen King fan.  Me?  I'd put my head between my legs, kiss my butt goodbye and give that detonator a squeeze turning Vegas into a irradiated wasteland for the next few centuries.

 Now I feel obscure, I thought everyone read The Stand!  I should have made you pop a balloon for that last one!

Speaking of balloons, Josh will be at the Chester County Balloon Festival June 15^th and 16^th signing books and answering more pertinent questions (event staff will make sure he knows all the directions you need). If you can’t wait that long, he will be at the Chester County Book and Music Company on June 5 in West Chester. 

Website: TheNeverChronicles.com

Author blog: whatisthenever.blogspot.com

  @JRWagner2   WhatisTheNever Facebook

www.JKSCommunications.com

Interesting thought

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Makes sense right? In your neighbors house, follow your neighbors rules. This idea is credited to St. Augustine, about 390 AD. My question is why? How come St. Augustine gets credit for a concept that was clearly laid out by Paul in Romans 14?

No, this is not really a religious post, this is a question of why something in the Bible is ignored when it it comes to crediting an idea or concept? There are two schools of thought on this (at least in my mind).

One is that the New Testament wasn't written when most think it was written. Generally it is believed that the books of the New Testament were all completed by 100 AD or so, due to the ages of the writers at that time Jesus lived. If ideas from the Bible are credited to later writers, it makes it easier for those who ignore the Bible to ignore the Bible.

Others will say that this is a blatant slap at Christianity; that the Bible is ignored because scholars hate religion. There are many instances of this throughout history I guess, where those of a scholarly bent feel it is important to denounce anything that is faith based...silly if you ask me.

But I tend to fall into a third category, one that  actually fits the meaning of the concept at hand. I think St. Augustine gets the credit so more people will follow the idea. This way one does not have to be a disciple of Christ to agree, one only has to be a student of history.

That God guy is pretty sneaky sometimes!

Obvious, but noteworthy

So last week we were all told we shouldn't elect Mitt Romney because he allegedly bullied someone back in high school. The poor kid who had his hair cut is no longer with us, so he couldn't be reached for comment, but his family said the story was a little 'embellished'. All over the papers, months of research.
Right in our current President's own book are many descriptions of using illegal drugs and then either driving or getting into someone else's car. Crickets from the media in 2008, crickets from the media today.

The double standard has become so obvious to possibly not being noteworthy, you say, and I say that is exactly why it is noteworthy. We simply accept that the people who give us news are in the tank for one political party. Oh, except for faux news, right? Why is it such a big deal that Fox leans right? Every other outlet leans left, admittedly, but it's Armageddon because Fox leans right? And we accept that, hanging our heads in shame if we're caught watching Fox (for the stories of course, we read the stories).

Our President made statements on the campaign trail, heck, all through his life, that were and still are counter to what the wonderful country stands for, and many people just don't know this. Those who do are treated are right wing nuts, or are in agreement with the socialistic direction he is taking the country.

Ahhhhh...yanno what? I am sitting in the shade, selling books for charity. Books I have collected on my own time, not even taking gas money from the proceeds, which will all go to youth groups.


But I'm a heartless conservative.

Words and how we don't use them

Yes, there are words that we don't use so that the items being discussed aren't real. I am guilty of this, more-so lately, and I was wondering why. Not using particular words don't change the outcome of anything, that's for sure. Take dental stuff for instance. Dentures have become symbols of old age, so now they are called partials, or bridges. Really folks, when we lose our teeth we need fake ones, called dentures.

Other words are even more difficult to come to grips with though. Death is the biggest. No one dies, they pass away, leave us, succumb to an illness. No, people die. And I am just as guilty. My aunt didn't die, we lost her, Belle didn't die, she went peacefully in our arms. See, makes things easier when we lie to ourselves.

So I will continue to do so.

Because I can.

Re-read the post, boy am I tired!  But there is another word, one I forgot, that many never use...Love. Too embarrassed, means too much, comes with strings. Tough word, love. Yet an emotion that is palpable, real, and unlimited. This is the one that needs to be used, even if we ignore/forget/refuse to use the other ones.

Tell 'em; today!

Again (because I am a tad lazy)

This one was written in the midst of the building of the third West Chester Area High School, Bayard Rustin. 

The other day, while perusing a storm water management plan, standing in the resulting mess as the plan was not followed, it dawned on me that Government entities have become rather arrogant in their treatment of us common citizens.  Think about this for a minute with me, will ya?

     Imagine, hypothetically of course, that a school district wants to build a new high school.  The first step is to find the land for that school.  It doesn’t really matter who owns the land, they can just take it if they want it bad enough.  Sure, there is the matter of just compensation, but that never truly amounts to the true property value that was taken.  (And in the case of Coatesville, attempting to take land for a golf course; that compensation isn’t even close to the funds that would be realized by the property owners if they decided to sell to a builder.)  Once the land is decided upon, the engineers step in, along with a myriad of environmental groups, ensuring that everything is done as friendly to the bog turtles as possible, neglecting the wants and even needs of surrounding home owners.

     Then the construction companies arrive, inconveniencing all that happen to pass the site.  (Yes, it is a necessary evil, and can’t be avoided,  but it sounds bad so I added it to this rant.)  Noise, dust, mud, and workers that don’t usually live in the community they are working in, so they aren’t too terribly concerned where their Tasty-kake wrappers end up.  They do their jobs, hopefully according to the plans, dutifully ignoring the locals who express any concerns, directing them instead to the supervisors trailers that always pop up on these huge construction sites.

     Now the buck passing starts.  None of the concerns of the locals are the problem of the site supervisor, they are the problem of the township.  The township directs you to the school board, the school board directs you to the engineers who send you back to the site.  It can be inferred that all of this passing around of responsibility is designed to fatigue the injured party to the point where they give up and if this doesn’t happen…well…

“You can always sue us, but you are going to lose.”

     What kills me, figuratively of course, is that we pay for all of this nonsense.  When mistakes are made, no matter who’s fault, the tax paying citizens are held accountable for the bill; that is, if the situation is ever fixed.  The bureaucrats are not responsible for anything, and they let you know that in no uncertain terms.

We were tenacious, we fought, and we won. It helped that I could read site plans and noted that the 'emergency' fix that was being sold had been created with the original plan, omitted from the plans distributed to my Aunt, but part of the package at the Westtown Township Building!

First in a series

Many of the posts that are going to be a part of this series were written in the early aughts, just after the election of 2004. I am going to leave many of them as is, they are still relevant, others I might have to edit to fit the changing times...not this one:

     Ahhh, the Boy Scouts of America;  A wonderful institution? Or a secret indoctrination into Judeo/Christian religious beliefs?  Think about it for a minute with me, will ya?

       Across the Country, on any given night, one can find a group of boys and young men taking an oath.  That oath, among other things, includes a promise to do ‘duty to God and my Country’, and the phrase ‘morally straight’.  These phrases have come under fire recently as the liberal, socialist, atheistic, left-wing nut-jobs rant and rave how the zealous, religious, conservative right-wing nut-jobs are taking over the world.  Somewhere in the middle is the rest of the Country, and we believe that Scouting is a good thing.

     Starting with the claim that Scouting pushes Judeo/Christian beliefs.  It only takes a minute to peruse any one of the many scout guide books to realize that every and all religions are represented.  There is even a disclaimer at the bottom of the page that directs a boy to talk to his parent/guardian about their belief system if it wasn’t mentioned.  With that in mind, if you simply believe that nature is a higher power then yourself, that you do not run things, you can fit in with the scouts.

     Perhaps there is more to this attack then meets the eye.  Let’s eavesdrop on a conversation that must take place in those liberal households:

Little Johnny:  Mom, I want to join the Cub Scouts.

Progressive Mom:  No, Umm, I mean, don’t you think there are better ways to spend          your free time?

L.J.:  But all my friends have joined.

P.M.:  We’re not Christian Johnny, you can’t be a Cub Scout.

L.J.: But Sika is Hindu, he believes in reincarnation and he is a Wolf, that sounds so cool, and even ‘back to nature’ish.

P.M.  Such a violent animal the wolf is Johnny, hardly appropriate for children to emulate, all that clawing and biting and killing…

L.J.:  It symbolizes the pack…and that is how the wolf eats Mom, it has to eat to survive.

P.M.:  Speaking of eating young man, finish your tofu and we will be off to your soccer Awards ceremony.

L.J.:  I would rather go to the Scout meeting tonight, they do such cool stuff, and they earn these badges and pins and ribbons…

P.M.:  You get a trophy for soccer.

L.J.:  Yeah, one in the spring, one in the summer, fall, winter.  And we never win, heck Mom, we have never scored a goal, we just run around in circles.

P.M.:  Your learning to be a part of a team, it doesn’t matter who wins, and besides, they actually have to complete achievements to get those badges and stuff, who ever thought up awarding kids for actual completion should rot in…well, it is so much better now that we recognize everyone equally.

L.J.:  But Mom, they get to go camping, in the real woods, and build fires and whittle and…

P.M.:  And contribute to Global warming with the fires, destroying the forest with their knives and hatchets…no, no more talk of this, we’re going to the soccer awards ceremony and that is final…unless you want to stay home that is. 

     Okay, a little poetic license I admit, but hopefully you are now thinking a little differently about Scouting, or at least thinking about it.  

I am sorry, Patrick Ness

"What a sad thing men are. Can’t do nothing good without being so weak we have to mess it up. Can’t build something up without tearing it down."(Ness, P. 545, 2010)

There, I found it. I am not going to argue the point. What bothered me is that Patrick felt it needed to be stated so blatantly. This was very close to the end of the third book in a series where the above sentiment was pretty obvious. I found it insulting that Mr. Ness implied that the reader was too stupid to get what he had been driving at. Sure, he makes his main character dumb, and then not dumb, and then dumb again so the character can think these things throughout the series, but this one was just too much. I get it Mr. Ness, you hate humans and what we have done to the planet. 

Get over it. 

Please. 

Ness, Patrick (2010-10-18). Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking) (p. 545). Candlewick Press. Kindle Edition. 

Monsters of Men

Finished. I did finish the book, but I am not sure if I am going back if Patrick Ness creates a second trilogy, or a pre-logy, or what the heck ever. and why? For this one two word paragraph, wholly un-needed:

And now I can't find it, but I will, later today. I just don't have the time at the moment.

Love-Hate

Mutually Assured Destruction. From the mind of the Land. Really. And I am not buying it. The Land wouldn’t use terms associated with Earth, no matter the contact with the Clearing. Of course I am talking about the book Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness. His Chaos Walking trilogy is great, and I am happy that I stole the first one from J.R. Wagner after a Toastmasters International meeting a few weeks ago. Immediately hooked, energized actually, enough to want to write, to want to create.

Patrick created characters I liked, that made sense, in a way. Then the envelope began to stretch, right at the end of Book 1. Book 2 had the envelope bursting at the seams, but I still love the story, the characters (the two main characters), but Ness began to weave his political world view into the story. I know, I am to ignore that, to put it out of my head, like I did when reading The Dome by Stephen King (also stolen from Josh). And for the most part, I managed.

Book Three made this difficult, especially when he began to tell the story from 1017’s point of view. This, in and of itself, wasn’t a bad thing. I wanted to learn about the natives of the New World, but it (so far, I began this post as soon as I read MAD) just confuses things. Maybe this is because feelings are confusing, but I tend to think Mr. Ness is trying to justify the violent nature of the Land by making the Clearing worse than they really are. 1017 should have by now forgiven Todd, not held the grudge this long. It just makes the coming epiphany that much more predictable.

All Clearing did not enslave the Land…

Okay. I am going back in, trying hard to remove 2012 political ideals out of it, but if he makes one more good character ‘kill’ based on erroneous emotions, then filling that character with guilt, I might not be able to finish.

Re-joining the blog world

Yes, I am going to come back this week. I am going to sit down and figure out a list of topics, I am going to steal from my list that I told myself was going to be published in the Daily Local News but I guess they only want journalism grads (yes, I tried twice). So mixed with some literary stuff will be political stuff!

GoodReads review

Exiled by J.R. Wagner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A fun beginning to what promises to be an exciting series. It flows a little like that TV show, Lost, with the jumps indicative of the mind of James, the main character. He's at once confused and resolved, strong and questioning; he knows what he must do, knows he has the power to do it, but harbors that nagging doubt in all of our minds.

The settings are well described, the characters have depths that can make you love and hate them, but you know them.

A for sure must read for teenagers of all ages!


View all my reviews

Launch Party Announced

As my three readers know, J.R. Wagner is publishing a book. His launch party is scheduled for June 5, 2012 at the Chester County Book and Music Company in West Chester, should be a fun night! J.R. Wagner will be there, signing books and answering all your questions, every one of them, no matter how intimate...no, really, he will.

Okay, that last bit might be over the top, but I have never known him to not answer a question, so you might want to be careful with the intimate ones!  You can pre-order the book here, even though they don't have the cover image yet...hmmm, I wonder if I can get it for my blog, might bring traffic!

Or, you can click on the ISSUU link in the entry below this one to get a taste of Wagner's writing in The Searcher and the Sentinel.

The Searcher and the Sentinel

This is another chapter/part/installment of a collaboration with the soon-to-be-renowned author J.R. Wagner . His parts, the odd numbered chapters can also be found at the link. More on his forthcoming book Exiled, book one of The Never Chronicles, can be found here. My parts are going to be mostly raw and unedited, unless I find a little extra time. Enjoy:

Open publication - Free publishing - More dystopian

A whole week

I let an entire week pass without a post, that is not the way to keep readership, that is why even my family doesn't bother checking in. Soon though, there will be another installment of The Searcher and the Sentinel posted! Then maybe back on track with writing? Doubtful for now, too much else going on, but I am going to honestly try.
For today a rant about having nothing to rant about. Sure, I could jump on the bandwagon and pretend that the executive order signed by President Obama wasn't simply language clean-up of a long-standing policy but that would be stupid. I could write about the 6 month anniversary of the Occupy squatters at Zucatti Park, but that whole mess is over with...they'll try to ramp it up again, but someone will see a squirrel and the movement will fall apart. Maybe I could rant about team learning and how it promotes laziness, but that has been done and it just makes my head hurt.
So I will not rant, I will be happy to be relatively healthy and working two jobs when it is impossible, just downright impossible, to even find one...

"I yam what I yam"

And why I try to be not what I yam is beyond me.

Block or lazy?

Grant is standing just inside the door, scratching his head, wondering how he got there, and where he is headed.
Sandy is on the floor in front of the fire and David has just started telling her a story that includes a dragon.
Betsy is falling in love with Frankie, but shouldn't be.
Frankie is invading my brain, he is more than he started out to be. He scares me.
The two other projects are only half done, sitting there, waiting.
And school...yeah, another class.
I can see them, those characters, so I am not really blocked I guess, just lazy.

busy, busy, busy

wrote a little today, in three different projects, all at a swim meet! Then came home and worked on another project...no sleep.
Sheesh, craziness. no more complaining. I will be back tomorrow, full bore.

Where is Grant?

Wow...where did I leave him? In front of a crowd I think. Might be time to bring back the talking dog, he seems to get me going...

17 now?

12 killed today over the accidental burning of a book.

In other news, 0 killed in years of "American Taliban" rallies and protests.

Edited at 10pm:

Stolen premise or two

Because I owe a chapter of S&S and I don't have it ready yet, I decided to do the next best thing, steal J.R. Wagner's idea.  I am linking him though, so that makes it okay.
That post deals with rejection, and how getting those letters can make a writer better, or even more hungry. This is true, and part of writing has always been finding the people who like what you write. Sometimes a book is rejected because the editor had a bad day...
Many of the authors listed in the post over at the blog linked are millionaires now, after all the rejection, and many of them, when submitting work under their own names, would never be rejected again. I venture to say, however, had Mr. King submitted "from a Buick Eight" under an assumed name, it would still be languishing in his trunk...sometimes the editors need to grow a set of...thingies...and reject the lesser stories of the big names, freeing up printing space and time for the next big name.

As more of a poet than a prose dude, I know the sting of the rejection letter, very few publishers want poetry from new poets. I don't worry about that anymore, I just keep writing them, filling notebooks and journals and memory sticks. Someday, maybe, my kids will get the stuff published, or, maybe my grand-kids. Then again, maybe it'll all be tossed out when I finally leave this place, around 2055 or so!

Sure, it's all relative

Burning a Koran, because it has been defaced, is a legitimate reason to kill people, right?

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/02/23/Afghan-soldier-kills-2-US-soldiers/UPI-66781330001572/

Right?  C'mon, all you people who have called the Tea Party groups the "American Taliban", post a comment here defending yourselves. Be sure to link to all the articles where Christians have killed people because someone offended them. Please...link to all the people the Tea Party groups have killed, maimed, raped...to all the stories of burned cars and buildings.

What? Can't find them? Keep looking, remember, they are the "American Taliban", they are as dangerous, or even more-so, than the real taliban...right? Right? RIGHT?

Tired and cranky

But now that the number of people who rely directly or indirectly on the government for subsistence outnumber those of us who do not, that war may be lost. Some of us will continue to fight, but why would those who rely on government? Apathy kills freedom, I wish I had saved the text of that speech, the one I gave in 1986 in a public speaking class in college (self serving, I must admit, it was student senate election day and I was running), but the sentiment still rings true.

Those who can’t be bothered to vote, who can’t be bothered to be involved, have destroyed this once great nation. And the political class has loved every minute of it. Who, over the age of forty, or even thirty, can even imagine an America where the a second son of a failed President would even be considered to hold the office? An America where the wife of an impeached President was almost elected? An America where the choice for President is made by the political elite and the media, not the voters?

Life will go on for us, those who work hard to succeed. Some will continue to rise above the middle, others will get by, and still more will find it easier to simply take what is earned by others. The two former classes will shrink, the latter will grow, and eventually, in a hundred, two hundred years, it will all come crashing down. The climate will have nothing to do with it, we’ll start to kill each other for food because no one will remember how to work for it.

They were wrong, sort of

So some idiots in Afghanistan tried to dispose of defaced Korans by bagging and burning. Detainees were using the books to send jihadist messages to one another, so the Americans decided to dispose of the defaced books, the method of disposal over there being burning of almost everything. The only mistake they made was not enlisting Muslim soldiers to do the deed:

Muslims are advised to wrap a worn and unusable copy of the Koran in cloth and to bury it in such a way that people do not walk over the place where the Koran is buried. That would be considered disrespectful.
The other option is to wrap the Koran and place it in a moving body of water, with some jurists advising that the Koran be tied to an object so that it sinks.
Where these two options are not available, some scholars do argue that Muslims can burn a Koran.

And now it is time to move on from this, apologies have been made.  Will there be apologies from the Muslim community for the deaths that are going to happen in the next day or two over this?