Swoleworld

"I Come to Mock Paul of Farce-Us, Not to Praise Him."

2013-03-07T17:03:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, this happened.

Some second generation southern conservative jackwagon captivated the chattering class for over half a day by filibustering a presidential cabinet nominee about hypothetical drone strikes on domestic soil. This, in turn, led to all sorts of pompous huzzahs, Fake Harlem Shake reenactments, ceremonial releasing of doves, exchanging of fruit baskets, Emo-progressive swooning by lefty political junkies so inspired by the display they christened him "Sir Jack of Wagon, Invincible Hero of the Emo Realm." This decree led to endless sarcasm, brutal mockery and angry scorn heaped upon the heads of Citizens of the Emo Realm by other, more practical progressives who felt the words of a man who desires to disenfranchise 2/3s of a nation's citizens deserve a more cautious, wary response than the one being offered by those who seemed more interested in political theater than political realities. Glibertarian hate-trolling exploded, leading to much wielding of Thine Holy Banhammer® on Twitter. Finally, after generating much praise from the serious and principled folk on the left and the right for his 12 hour dog and pony show, Brave, Brave Sir Wagon was forced to bid his fair subjects adieu when his bladder was about to explode. (ALAS, WILST NO ONE FETCHETH OUR HERO YON PICKLE JAR WHEREWITH TO DISPENSE OF HIS BLESSED ONES AND TWOS??? WHY DOTH THINE KIDNEYS BETRAYETH THEE, SIRE? DOTH THEY TOO HATETH OUR FREEDOMS, MILAWD???? USA! USA! Insert giant foam finger here.) And then, in less time than it took for him to stand on the senate floor and filibuster over his principled position on domestic drone strikes, he reneged on that very position on what will henceforth be christened The Caucasian News Network.

Confusing as hell, you say? Well, there's good news! I wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Well, here it goes.

Rand! (Sung to the tune of "Stand!" by Sly and the Family Stone)

Rand!
In the end, its all about you
Yet Emos will still love anything you do

Rand!
There's a cross for you to bear
aflame in black folks yards till they're out your hair

Rand!
Fight for things you know are right
Who cares if gays and women put up a fight?

Rand!
All your conspiracy theories are real
You've Dad's work to complete cuz he knew the deal

Rand, Rand, Rand! (Every Emo Say it yeah)
Rand, Rand, Rand!

Rand!
You've been simmering much too long
Equal rights on the rise, and you know that's wrong

Rand!
There's a nation standing tall
White male privilege, endangered and 'bout to fall

Rand, Rand, Rand!
Rand, Rand, Rand!

Rand!
On the fringes true Patriots crawl
Mobilized and awaiting your marching call

Rand!
Don't you know you can't be free
Till you take everyone else's liberty?

(Everybody)
Rand, Rand!

(Break)

Rand! (Distorted, maniacal laugh) HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
(Repeat until the imaginary domestic drone strikes hit, or, until your socialist/dictatorial kidneys scream for blessed release)

The 2012 Presidential Debate: "Its The Lying, Stupid."

2012-10-04T15:32:00.000-05:00

First things first.

If you were expecting a combative, in-your-face debate? Obama did not do well.

There were too many opportunities missed, too much of an attempt to be reserved and polite, too many words and too much explaining when he could have been hitting ample soft targets. I thought the president was a bit taken aback at first; not so much by Romney's volume of lies, I'm sure he expected that. I would actually say President Obama might have been more stunned by Jim Lehrer's sudden morphing into a replacement-ref style moderator than the great debate moderator he's been in the past. Lehrer was definitely intimidated into ineffectiveness by Romney's filibustering, non-stop lying and refusal to respect the format. In my view, if a guy walks into your workplace and says he's gonna fire you as soon as he's elected - not only that, you can take Big Bird wit cha, let the door knob hit cha where the Good Lord split cha - the last thing you do is let that guy have all the time he wants while constantly trying to stop the guy who wants to help you keep your job. My summary of Obama's performance would be this: tried to take the fight to Romney early on with the $5 trillion tax cuts Romney promises in his stump speeches, Romney denies it. Revisited same $5 trillion promises again, Romney denies a second time. Expected some type of moderation from Lehrer, who began to evaporate early on and never regained control of the debate. Once it was decided Romney had no intention of taking any of the stances he had before the debate I suspect President Obama decided it was best to pull back, speak to inform the undecided viewers and look for opportunities to draw out more policy contradictions from Romney later. It was not the aggressive style I had hoped for, but in my view the president managed to get plenty of Romney position reversals on record by the end of the 90 minutes. President Obama also did a pretty good job of getting Romney to admit he supports big oil subsidies, turning Medicare into Vouchercare, and - contradictory to what the GOP has been claiming since the day Obama took office - admitted the president inherited a bad economy from his predecessor.

Visually, the whole thing sucked if you were an Obama supporter. The president didn't earn any style points, but I feel he offered plenty of substance to the independent and undecided voters. There were plenty of heads a-splodin' on MSNBC, but the Rev Al Sharpton's comments immediately after the debate ended brings me to my view of the performance of President Obama's opponent.

What we also saw in the first debate was a Romney campaign more determined to win a 24 hour news cycle than a 33 day presidential marathon. The pre-debate conventional wisdom stated Mitt Romney needed to do two things: 1) come off as more likeable than he has in the past and 2) provide more specifics. The GOP shills promised he'd do both of these things, but he didn't. Instead, he validated every perception held about him as the bullying lying shape-shifter who feels he doesn't have to play by the same rules as everyone else. His analogy comparing the president to one of his 5 sons combined with his belligerent lecturing of the president was dog whistling to the worst in American society. He promised to fire the moderator and Big Bird of Sesame Street if elected, reminding everyone of the soulless businessman who made employees feel like they'd erected their own gallows when they were ordered to build a stage that Romney used to announce their termination because their jobs were about to be shipped overseas. Worse yet, the sheer volume of video footage generated in 90 minutes will be replayed endlessly over the last 30 days of the campaign.

Mitt Romney bet his $10,000 on performance art that would remake his campaign in the eyes of the chattering class of the Washington, D.C. beltway and its clear he won that bet quite easily. Unfortunately for Team Romney, the discussion of the candidate's glaring lack of specifics, his absence of empathy and inability to stick with one policy position will last long after the initial spin about his great win subsides.

2012-07-14T14:30:00.001-05:00

Obama 'nem ain't playin' with you, Mitt.

Yesterday, while commenting at PragObots, I said this:

Mitt thinks he can play the dozens with a brother who cut his organizing teeth in Altgeld gardens and married a sister from the hood.

I'm tellin' y'all, he brought a down pillow to a gun fight.

I followed that up in the same thread with this:

They are scurred, ma.

Even Mitt's own party is starting to pressure him into releasing his returns. The poor Black Republicans like Nia Malika can't help but show up on TV with creased foreheads and bustdown bedhead because they ain't slept well since the first day that Uppity Socialist Kenyan Negro in the Oval Office who shot bin Laden in the face went and dared upset Massa Thurston Romney III. Now, the Romney camp's got an entire weekend ahead of looking over their shoulder waiting for President Obama to throw his next haymaker straight to the fat part of Mitt's shiny animatronic dome. They're too outclassed to know what to expect next, but we all know its comin'.

So just chill....until the next episode.

Today, OFA released this:

Down pillow to a gun fight, indeed.

2012-07-12T23:58:00.002-05:00

I'm not a Kenyan, I just crush a lot

Remember this interview with then-candidate Obama from the 2008 primary race? Apparently Mitt Romney doesn't:

2012-07-11T14:37:00.004-05:00

Next on BBC1, its "Mitty Python's Failing Circus"

I cannot believe y'all made me watch this shit. On the other hand, the Hammond B3 play-off as RoboCrock 3.0 walks off stage makes me suspect the NAACP was trolling him. They really should have cut to the guy on the organ to see if he was butt naked or not. No time to comment more, so just watch:

Occupy Wall Street Divided?

2011-11-18T23:44:00.001-06:00

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

If you're Still Wondering Why #OWS Is Protesting, Watch This

2011-10-22T21:50:00.000-05:00

Now, I still have my concerns about the end game and I feel certain "spokespeople" Like Michael Moore and Cornel West are more in it to promote themselves than they are to promote solutions to the ills of this country, but this vid from MoveOn.org does a great job of messaging for the movement and I recommend it to all who are still wondering what all the commotion is about.

FYI: DC Douglas is the handle of the guy who used to do voiceover work for Geico, but was fired after upsetting the Tea Party by leaving an inflammatory voice message to Freedomworks.

My kinda guy.

I Survived the Umpteenth GOP Debate. What I Win? (Also Chirpified)

2011-10-11T23:26:00.002-05:00

One of the two people pictured above is a right wing politician picked by most pundits - at least the ones not currently being carted off to their nearest mental health facility - as the winner of tonight's GOP debate on Economics, broadcast by Bloomberg TV and sponsored by a bunch of right wing think tanks that aired ads featuring eloquent children who peddled wingnut talking points about how great it would be to screw all the old people by fucking up their Social Security. The other is a Muppet who talks like a game show host on a famous children's TV show on public television. Can you guess which is which? How do we know for sure they're not the same person? Have you ever seen them in the same room together?

The guy who's a regular on children's television has been bringing joy to children for decades while interacting with well-known Muppets like Oscar the Grouch, Bert n Ernie, Grover, the Cookie Monster, Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus - all without anyone on the show noticing he lacks a functioning neck and can only speak by using the hinge in the back of his skull to tilt the top 2/3s of his head backward and then move it up and down to facilitate speech. The other guy hangs out with Republicans and regularly talks out the side of his neck - sometimes talking out both sides at once.

In all honesty, the guy on the right (or is it the left? Fuck! I'm all confused right now. Hold me?) should have been expected to win anyway, since economics and business has supposedly always been his strong suit. Republican GOP debate winner guy regularly brags about being the CEO of many, many, many WONDERFUL companies with running a business being the #1 double-plus good thing that gives him all kinds of executive experience necessary to run an entire country. Yes, because taking over a company, sucking out all its profits by slashing payrolls, firing all its people and then cakewalking off into the sunset with a sweet severance package proves you're just what the country needs at its helm right now to stabilize a faltering economy and put millions of unemployed people back to work. He even brags about once being governor of an entire state in the liberal northeast - and not just any state: the great state of Massachoochoo, home of notoriously liberal strongholds such as Bahston, the Kennedy enclave and Sen. John Kerry's hair. While governor, he also instituted a health care plan that was the first of its kind in the nation and the prototype for the federal health reform plan now known as "Obamacare." Except, he doesn't want anybody to actually bring it up now that he's criss-crossing the globe trying to convince unemployed people that he's unemployed and living in his son's basement and screaming "GODDAMMIT THESE WAITRESSES NEED TO QUIT GRABBING MY ASS! Psyche! I was just playin'!" while middle aged women who are forced to dress in hairnets and polyester uniforms while slaving away in greasy spoon diners for minimum wage plus tips look at each other in slack-jawed disbelief.

And no, that's not Sen. John Kerry in either of the photos at the top. Kerry has 1000 times more warmth and humor than either of those characters pictured above.

Anyways. This here brotha (no, not either of those wooden fuckers in the photo above, I meant ME) was online while agonizing his way through the GOP devastation and live Tweeted the whole thing. Its been assembled as a Chirpstory for your amusement. Enjoy.

FINALLY! Someone explains Herman Cain's 999 plan in depth.

2011-10-11T20:13:00.001-05:00

Here it is:

Can #OWS Go From Their "Howard Beale Moment" to How We Do It?

2011-10-11T16:05:00.001-05:00

There's a very good post over at ThePeoplesView.net that spits a little righteous fire about the incident involving civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis when members of the General Assembly spent a full six minutes debating whether or not Rep. Lewis should be allowed to speak. I pretty much agree with Adept2U's take on the spectacle. In the 6 minutes they wasted discussing whether to let Lewis speak they could have just explained the silly "human microphone" parameters and let the guy say a few words. What occurred was captured on vid and posted to Youtube, resulting in what so far has turned into a PR disaster for the Atlanta offshoot of protests that began in Zucotti Park, NYC nearly a month ago. In Adept2U's piece, a link is provied to former Atlanta mayor and fellow cicil rights icon Andrew Young's observations of how the protests have unfolded so far:

“There’s a difference between an emotional outcry and a movement,” said Andrew Young, who worked alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as a strategist during the civil rights movement and served as mayor of Atlanta and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. “This is an emotional outcry. The difference is organization and articulation.”

….Ambassador Young said that to be effective, the protests need a serious discussion component and that leadership needs to emerge.
“I can understand people being frustrated with Wall Street, but this just needs to be more than people voicing their frustrations and a few leaders having their 15 minutes of fame,” he said. “It is important for those who have thought through their values and objections to somehow be heard.”

Andrew Young is reinforcing observations made by Al Giordano, another lifelong veteran of community organizing and civic protest, about the flaws in what's going on with OWS. In a highly recommended piece called "Traité du Savoir-Vivre for the OccupyWall Street Generations" that offers excellent advice to those interested in achieving a positive impact through civil disobedience, Giordano noted in the aptly sub-titled section "Death By Consensus Process" :

The experience of the Clamshell Alliance and the anti-nuclear movement with consensus process is instructive. Once that movement had brought nonviolent civil disobedience back into popular use, other ideological and political sectors sought to wrestle it away and take power over the movement. Indeed, a kind of coup d’etat occurred in 1979, months before the Wall Street occupation that year, the result of a series of long consensus-seeking meetings on what the next action by the Clamshell would be. A group calling themselves “direct action” advocates (“direct action,” to them, was distinct from “nonviolence” most specifically because those people wanted the movement to bring wire cutters to the next protest to cut the fences around the Seabrook nuke construction site) obsessed on this proposed tactic to the point of fetish. This, despite the fact that the local residents of Seabrook who had provided the farmland and staging areas for previous occupations warned that this escalation of tactics would lose significant public support for the movement at its most local geographic base.

The “direct action” faction – overwhelmingly they were activists, students and ideologues from metropolitan Boston – found, in the consensus process, its wedge to blow up and then take over the name of the Clamshell Alliance, even if it meant losing most of the organized bases that had created and built it. At first they used the power of any person to “block” consensus on any decision (and therefore block any taking of action at all) on any and every proposal that did not include fence cutting. This went on for weeks. It was frustrating for many movement organizers, so much so that, one by one, they walked away and stopped attending the long meetings where the same point got debated over and over again. After almost everybody who had organized the movement had been worn down, the last few adherents to the idea that this fence-cutting nonsense would destroy a lot more than mere fences (it would also wreck the cohesion, unity and public support enjoyed by the movement) eventually “stepped aside.” In consensus-speak, that means they expressed their objection but agreed not to block consensus. It was on that day, in the Marigold Ballroom of Salisbury, Massachusetts, across the state border from Seabrook, that the Clamshell Alliance shattered into splinters and for all practical purposes, was no more.

Giordano gives a vivid illustration of how group consensus can be used to undermine the goals of the group, which red-shirted "if we let Lewis speak it means he's better than us" demonstrated in the OccupyAtlanta clip. Instead of embracing an ally an possibly winning over scores of activists and people of color like myself who've taken a "wait-and-see" attitude based on concerns about the direction and ultimate goals of the group, seeing the video of this experience left even more questions in the minds of many and probably did more to undermine their cause than any other action the movement has undertaken thus far.

Personally, I don't need a frickin' civic protest to remind me that all men/women are equal: I learned that in Church decades ago. But the thing about recognizing all people are equal means their title, economic status or political affiliation does nothing to change this basic fact.: being better off, better liked or better looking does not automatically make you a better or worse person than the next. That's where the whole "content of character" thing works in.

If I can simplify why many of us are still frustrated and refuse to get involved with the Occupy Wall Street protests: I would summarize our perspective with a simple alliterative phrase that can easily be rendered by the Twitterati in 140 characters or less: we're still waiting to see if OWS ever transitions from the Howard Beale phase to the How We Do It phase. The people protesting the malfeasance of the 1% and concerned about the malaise of the 99% must begin to transition from the "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" stage we currently see to the "this is what WE intend to do about it!" phase. Here's a few ways I think the protesters can best realize their stated goals (most are identical to what emokidsloveme listed in her Chirpstory, hat tip and many thanks to her for putting them all together and blasting them out)

1) Begin to actively register and educate protesters on the new laws enacted in 31 states designed to disenfranchise up to 5 million voters. Mobilizing the masses to vote is till the most effective way to influence the civic process in this nation and it continues to be the #1 target of those at the top - the so-called 1% - to maintain control of the rest of us - the so-called 99% the OWS protesters claim their movement was created on behalf of - by blocking access to the ballot for POC, college students, basically anyone who tends to fight for the needs of the people and/or vote Democratic in general. Recent studies have suggested that as many as 5 million eligible voters could end up being disenfranchised by these new laws in 2012, most of them people known to vote Democratic.

2) illuminating which party is obstructing and sabotaging our democracy in order to destroy our economy for their own political gain. In the 111th US Congress, 420 bills were passed by simple majority in the House led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi yet died when that two year Session ended this past January. Why? Because the pending bills got no attention at all in the US Senate, even though Democrats were in the majority there as well. Unprecedented abuse of the senate filibuster by Republicans has blocked not only the more progressive elements of the Obama agenda such as cap and trade, but has opened the door to granting too much power to a few centrist Democrats known as Blue Dogs who force Obama and the Democrats to water down almost every piece of legislation in return for their cooperation. These politicians do this because they hear from the lobbyists who represent corporate interests on almost a daily basis, yet rarely do these same politicians hear from their own constituents. Democracy has never been and never will be a spectator sport. If it is to survive at all, them its time the people begin to take a more active role in their own government by composing letters, sending emails, calling the House and Senate switchboards, even using social media like Twitter and Facebook to bombard the accounts of members of Congress demanding they end the grandstanding and self-serving political shenanigans and work to better the lives of every citizen in this country.

3) highlighting how many of OWS "demands" are already being fought for by the president and the Dems and need the protesters to back them as well by being just as vocal and visible in Washington DC where the US Congress meets and most laws are written. This kind of reinforces point one mentioned earlier. From much of what I'm seeing and hearing from supporters of OWS in Twitter, not a scientific sampling of supporters by any means, much of the ire leading to these protests is directed at President Obama and the Democrats, is based on perceptions created by the media and peddled by not only the GOP - who openly admitted less than a month into his term they were began planning to do everything they could to make sure Obama failed, even if the entire country imploded with him - but also by people former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissively christened "The Professional Left" who many of us now refer to as "EmoProgressives". Many of the protesters has voiced opinions and views about President Obama and his policies that mirror these distortions and have to be better informed about the advantages in Obamacare, the number of jobs saved/created by the ARRA, even things as simple as who was president when TARP was passed and why George Bush was only allowed to dole out 1/3 or the $700 billion spent - and how most of the money loaned out in TARP has already been paid back....with interest.

4) stressing the fact the AJA will bring immediate relief to the so-called 99% while using a 5% surtax on the so-called 1% these protests are aimed at punishing. The president has been barnstorming the country since early September trying to build populist support for the American Jobs Act, which economists predict could create as many as 2 million jobs. The Buffett Rule is one proponent of the bill and something the OWS protesters have claimed to be in favor of for weeks. Unfortunately, the OWS protests have so far succeeded in doing at least one thing: drawing most media attention away from Obama's cross country tour that is designed to mobilize populist support behind his plan and pressure Democrat and republican alike to support the plan or face the angry electorate. In the past week, the Senate Democrats tried to address fellow Democrats' concerns about the "pay-fors" originally included in the bill by adding a 5% surtax on people making $1 million or more per year and the CBO scored the bill and found the surtax fully pays for the Obama plan, meaning no one need be concerned it will balloon the deficit and create the debt to China many Americans also say they're also troubled about. Wouldn't it make sense to help push these ideas as an immediate way to help the 99%, or are fears of helping one of the two major political parties score a political victory so great that the plan is a non-starter to the "we won't be co-opted" mindset that seems to have swept over the protesters?
Those are just 4 concrete suggestions that in my opinion will make a tangible difference and millions of Americans will be more than grateful if OWS helped us achieve them. The problem is, red shirted guy in the OccupyAtlanta video isn't the only romanticized, delusional doofus derailing the OWS protest's chances of actually achieving something they claim they desire. Yet, there are thousands of union members who have joined the protests and know that bringing jobs to the masses will go a long way toward stabilizing the lives of millions of families. I just hope they're able to reason with their fellow protesters to convince them that despite their views on how the establishment has failed them there are still ways they can work within the existing system to achieve some of their goals in the short term.

EB

Music to Get Your Shit Together By (NSFW, duh)

2011-10-10T23:41:00.002-05:00

When people get on my last nerve I often fall back onto my Funkadelic collection to purge my mind of the dumb shit I just had to process. Since we're at a particularly confrontational stage of the run-up to the 2012 election there's been no shortage of shit-for-brains trollery going on in social networking apps like Twitter, Facebook, Google Pus (that was NOT a typo, BTW) and so on, so I just thought I'd share this aptly named gem from Funkadelic's One Nation Under a Groove album. Oh yeah, we reissue the older shit and call them CDs now, but this came out on teh vinyl so its an album, muhfuggas. Got it? Good.

Unfortunately, this is the net so you gotta get your own weed to maximize the effect.

Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad a.k.a. "The DooDoo Chasers: Music to Get Your Shit Together By" by Funkadelic

This Song is Dedicated to The Professional Left

2011-10-05T00:58:00.004-05:00

[NOTE: This blog entry, originally posted at a site which shall remain nameless on around August 4th or 5th of 2011, was something I wrote around the time Tavis Smiley and Cornell West were announcing their Poverty Tour. That unnamed prior site somehow decided to shut down for "maintenance" for an entire month (to which you're probably saying "Holy GeoCities, Batman! Who the hell goes down for site maintenance for an entire month in frickin' Two-Thousandty-Eleven?" which is exactly what we all said. No credible explanation has yet been given, but a brotha digresses), and did so in a way that ended up locking out everyone who regularly posted there along with the blog's steadily growing horde of faithful commentariat and lurkilicious site visitors. The posts by myself and others were thought to be lost, but through the magic of the interwebz I was able to retrieve this one. Don't ask me how, though: because if I tell you, then I'd have to kill you.]

I was sitting in the Twitters this morning, just browsing through my feed and minding my own bidniss, when I began to notice the visible frustration of a growing number of loyal Obama supporters – you know, members of that 70-80% of Democrats who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and continue to support him in spite of the media narrative that the president is “losing his base” – irritated about the same non-stop barrage of negativity that bubbles up from so-called progressives every time President Barack Obama signs a piece of legislation, announces an initiative or even does something as simple and innocuous as taking off his shoes and kicking back with his wife and kids at the White House. Now, if you know me at all, I couldn’t help but respond in some sarcastic, snarky way to what the others were referencing. Before I knew it, this song popped into my head, based on that popular ditty by DJ Khalad called “All I Do is Win”. Unfortunately for the Professional Leftists, notorious for making a nice piece of change touring the Beltway Bobblehead circuit on their “So Disappointed in Obama” tour, the chorus came out slightly different from what DJ Khaled came up with. Like to hear it? Here it go:

All I do is whine
whine no matter what
Got griftin’ on my mind
I get paid to fuck shit up
And every time I step in-to the studio
the bullshit saturation goes UP
And it stay there
Each time I’m on the air
fucking people’s lives up
but I don’t care (up down up down up down)
Cause all I do is whine, whine, whine
Its about me gettin mine
while I’m bad-mouthin’ the prez
every Damn time

Don't call it a comeback! Call it "returning from hiatus"

2011-10-04T22:25:00.000-05:00

Based on events that have transpired over the past few months, a brotha decided it was time to get back into this. For those who might know me from Twitter, Pragmatic Obots Unite or another former site that shall remain nameless where I was a part-time contributor, you know I often pull no punches and the colorful metaphors (that's Spockinese for "profanity") just don't stop. I'm not gonna claim to be the most eloquent or the foremost authority on any subject i decide to focus on. I know there are dozens of bloggers out there that are head and shoulders above me in their chosen field of expertise. I can't promise you that I'll be checkin' in e'er day with updates - life happens and a brotha gotta live it just like the rest of the sentient beings in this galaxy; BUT (as in "Brenda got a big ol'") a brotha got somethin' to say and now you'll always have a place to find him if you're interested in hearing him say it.

Peace, chilluns

NEW POST! NEW POST! NEW POST!!!

2005-10-30T19:04:00.000-06:00

Ok.

I haven't been updating.
I have been lax in keeping this going.
The natives are getting restless.
So here I am.

I have been a lil distracted I guess. I haven't posted here since mid-May. Its not that I don't have anything new to say, I've just been too lazy to say it in text.

Well, too lazy to post anything here I mean.

What have I been doing? Well, let's see...

I've been working. And exercising. And dieting. Writing poetry and other musings. Talking to friends online and sharing the joys and pains of their lives. I left one chatroom and started another. I went on vacation. Worked some more. Exercised and dieted some more. I Started taking a class on Mondays. I Had a couple deaths in my family. I celebrated my 45th birthday September 24th. Started looking for a new house. And most of all, I've been trying to be a good daddy.

I guess I've been a lil busy.

Sowwy.

But, its nice to know that people actually appreciate what I have to say here.

I tell you what.

I will start jotting down my jumble of ideas, assemble them into some coherent semblance of intelligent thought, and post each subject here in the coming weeks.

I was supposed to do that this past week, seeing how I was off work and had plenty of time to do it.

But....

During my off week my favorite baseball team decided they would make a run for the title of champions, and went on a tear not seen in these parts in, oh i dunno, 88 years?

Congrats and big ups to the Chicago White Sox. World Series Champions.

Ahhhhhhh.....that felt good.

Anyways.

I will post more soon.

Seeya.

Or as they say in the 'hood:

I'll holla...

2005-10-26T15:39:00.000-05:00

The Most Beautiful Heart

2005-05-17T10:32:00.000-05:00

(Reprinted from a flyer sent out by my union's chaplain)

One day a young man was standing in the middle of town proclaiming he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A very large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart, for it was perfect - there was not a mark or flaw in it. Yes, after viewing it they all agreed it was truly the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was proud and began to boast even more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said "Why, your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine." The crowd joined the young man as he looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars. It had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but because the pieces didn't quite fit there were several jagged edges to be seen. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces of the old man's heart were missing. The people stared. They thought "How can this old man say his disfigured heart is the most beautiful?" After seeing the condition of the old man's heart the young man laughed and said "You must be joking. Your heart doesn't compare with mine! My heart is perfect, and yours is just a mess of scars and tears."

"Yes," said the old man, "your heart looks perfect but I would never trade mine for yours. Every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them. Often they give me a piece of their heart in return which I fit into the empty space in my heart - but because the pieces aren't an exact fit I end up with rough edges, which I cherish because they remind me of the love we shared. The empty gouges you see represent the pieces of my heart that I've given away without the other person giving a piece of their heart in return - but that is the nature of love: giving unselfishly and taking the chance that no love will be given in return. These gouges are the most painful. They stay open to remind me of the love I have for these people, and in hope that someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. Now, do you see what true beauty is?"

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his own old scarred heart and placed it into the wound in the young man's heart. The piece fit, but there were some jagged edges.

The young man looked at his heart - not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever since love from the old man's heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side.

(Love means giving unselfishly, not expecting reward or acclaim but because it is the right thing to do. The person who is unafraid to love has the most beautiful heart of all....)

Mother's Day

2005-05-08T01:39:00.000-05:00

What can compare to the beauty of a mother?
She who has been charged by Almighty God to be the wellspring of life.
She who endures untold pain to bring each of us into the world.
She who's heart can hold each one of us with room to spare.
Her endurance is unmatched.
Her forgiveness is unfathomable.
Her love.....unconditional.
Who is always there to dry your tears?
Who could always feel your pain, and be the first to share in your joy?
Who can you always talk to - even when you don't know what to say?

Mother.

I write this in appreciation.
For all she ever did.
For everything she said.
Because she always knew how to make me smile.
Because she never gave up on me.
Because no matter how much I disappointed, she never stopped loving me.
Because even though I often misunderstood her, I never stopped loving her.

You see, my mom has gone on.

She went home to be with the Lord.

On Mother's Day.

Its been five years now, and well.....

I miss her.

I miss her laugh. I miss her smile. I miss her prying into my business and driving me crazy. I miss her sitting behind me in church and telling my childhood secrets to total strangers. I miss her calling me every year and singing "I Just Called To Say I Love You" on my birthday. I miss the awkward walk she developed from the ravages of arthritis. I miss going by her house and falling asleep on her bed when I just wanted to go somewhere to get some peace and quiet. I miss knowing I had someone in my life that I knew it was always okay to be myself around.

Now.

Don't get me wrong.

My mom is gone.

But I'm not sad.

I'm thankful.

Thankful that in a cold and God forsaken world such as this, I had a mother that never stopped loving and never stopped trying. I'm thankful that she took the time to make sure I knew right from wrong, and made sure I always tried to do what's right. I'm thankful that she demanded we always treat everyone we meet like they are precious in God's sight. And, I'm thankful that she never let me give up on myself.

If I could have one more day with her, I know just what I'd say. The entire day would be filled with the same phrase - over and over, all day and night - but even if I had ten thousand tongues there still would not be enough time to tell her these three words as many times as she deserved to hear them. So every Mother's Day I reminisce. I savor the joys, the pains, the laughter and the tears; the good times and the bad times; the conversations and even the disagreements. I remember everything she was - her strengths and her faults - because those are the things that made her real. But most of all, I remember the love.

Mommy....

I love you.

Still....

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Chat Room

2005-05-03T16:35:00.000-05:00

The imaginary room
where I meet my imaginary friends
and we go on for hours and hours
sending text hugs, smilies and fake flowers
pretending to love each other
from the safety of our homes
found in locations all over the world.

Although its been nearly three years
I still find the technology fascinating
(the conversation, at times, quite stimulating)
the potential of the medium quite captivating
and the thrill of meeting new people
from all over the world
quite exhilarating.

Yet I try to never lose sight of the fact
that what I see
are all just electronic avatars
computer generated fascimiles of people
total strangers
living who-knows-where doing God-knows-what
most of whom will never cross each other's path.

In truth
for most of my online existence
I've never wanted it to be any other way.

But every now and then
even in the emotionless, desensitized, artificial realm of cyberspace
amidst the innocent,
the naive,
the obnoxious,
the overzealous,
the undercover hackers,
the undiscovered stalkers
the all around ne'er-do-wells
even though handicapped by the persistent superficiality
prevalent throughout the medium
forced upon its participants
by rules that hinder real discussion
and surrounded by people
who encourage you to go along to get along
and who discourage any attempt at independent thought
even in this remote intellectual wasteland
every now and then
you can find someone
who can change your life for the better.
Someone you'll cherish meeting forever.

To that someone
who has managed to make me believe
in things I swore were never possible
until the instant our paths crossed
in a chat room
to that person
I pray that I have made their lives better
I hope that I have made their days brighter.
To that someone
I say
Thank you.

Hmmmmmmm.......

2005-03-15T04:16:00.000-06:00

First off, let me say that I thank everyone who actually took the time to read this site, and I especially appreciate those who took the time to tell me so. And, yes, I even appreciate the input of the ones who were kind enough to share their different views of my posts as well as me as a person. You see, I threw this up months ago on a whim, being someone who was fascinated with what was going on in the American political arena who wanted to offer their contribution to the so-called "debate" that was raging in these here United States at the time. Unfortunately, as this political saga unfolded, rather than bring out the best in us as a nation it seemed to play up what was the worst in us. I won't elaborate on that, I'll just say that what is done is done and its time for us to MOVE ON (heh). I have no intention of changing my views or position, but I intend to continue to try to work with anyone who desires to work for the good of man in this country and every other. There are things that we have seen in ourselves that need to be changed for the better, and I pray that "We The People" will always strive to make this a country that seeks positive change here and abroad, and that we do that in a spirit of compassion and not arrogance. Whether or not we will be able to accomplish that under our present political leaders remains to be seen, but the power has never been in the government has it? The Constitution of these here United States claims that our government is elected "of, by and FOR the people" and we the people are supposed to do all we can to make it so. I for one will continue to do that, and I pity those who think they can deter me by slandering me or my views.

Now, as for the long delay between posts? Well, somehow when i upgraded Windows XP on my laptop it caused a problem that prevented me from accessing this site at all. Since I prefer talking to people one on one in person to posting blurbs in cyberspace I kinda drifted away from it for months and had actually forgot about it completely until a few people in a chat room I frequent began to make mention of it after clicking the link in my profile. Since all the posts were over 6 months old - and would have been archived anyway had I kept up with the blog regularly - I went ahead and deleted them all. Old news. Like I said, I've moved on. I would hope that others would do the same rather than gloat in what they might perceive as a "victory."

Speaking of so-called victories, the whole political thing from last November 2004 here in America reminds me of an old analogy I heard in church: A preacher once asked "If a dog and a skunk got into a fight, who would win?" His answer was "well, the dog would win, but they'd both come out smelling just the same." There are some things more important than winning. Things like integrity. Honesty. Compassion. Forgiveness. Patience. Mutual Respect. And, if we never learn how to acquire these things in our lives.....well, then something just stinks........