The universe is shaped exactly like the Earth / If you go straight long enough you'll end up where you were


It seems nearly impossible to escape the same road blocks over and over. I suppose maybe it is karma if you believe in such things. When I was a kid, well before I was indoctrinated with any contradictory ideas, I had this hunch that life was some sort of experiment. Almost like a classroom where you will have everything thrown at you that you need to grow as an individual. Some people were very advanced, like Mother Theresa and Gandhi and needed to live here as an example to the rest of us. Some people live lives full of hardship but they need those challenges to grow and perhaps we are born again next time at a higher level.

You could squeeze this theory into a Judeo-Christian perspective, since a benevolent God would only put you through hard times if it served a higher purpose for your life. Today I’m up way too early and over evaluating my existence. It is a waste of time and probably is about as effective as using a stationary bike to get somewhere. A mental treadmill of sorts, minus the inherent health benefits of a real treadmill. Today I’m wondering why I work so hard to keep myself miserable. Seriously, it is a full time job. I spend way too much time sabotaging any chance I have for happiness. I wouldn’t do this to my worst enemy, but every day I do it to myself. I keep a vigilant check list of all the things I should be happy about.


I have relative health, most of my hair and (knock on wood) not a single cavity. I’m not the tallest or richest or thinnest person on the planet, but I’m smart enough to know those things will not make you happy. So what, then, does the trick? There are monks who own nothing but the smile on their face and there are billionaires who can not put enough coke in their nose to get through the day. In the end, if anyone ever finds the key to happiness, they better share it. The Taoists believe unhappiness and suffering comes from wanting. There isn’t anything I want and I’m hardly materialistic. So what then am I seeking and lacking? That is truly the question. Probably just a cigarette.

Have you ever noticed the harder you try and get a cat's affection, the less likely the cat is to come to you? I think happiness is like a cat. If you try to find it and corner it, it will never sit in your lap. If it does, it will be fleeting and bitter you acquired it in such a manner. Instead, one must appear to not be searching for a cat. You simply do what you are doing and inevitably, the cat will walk all over your keyboard or wedge itself between you and the book you were reading. Only when you are not trying to corner happiness will it fall into your lap.

Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.


Lately I’ve noticed everyone sort of falling into their peg. It seems like everyone I know has found a partner or their perfect career or begun a family. It seems like these transitions happen every day and quite seamlessly. I don’t know how people can make these leaps of faith. I have trouble committing to a hairstyle. Perhaps I need to make like Nike and “just do it.” I should jump into something even if it is the wrong thing. I should pack up and move or buy a house and commit to staying put. I always thought when I found someone then things would be easier, but they’re not. We have very different ideas about the places we want to go. I was so very ready to move away and try something new. I understand fully why other people stay in one place. They usually have family in the area that forms their support group. My family is fragmented and always busy doing their own thing. We might get together at holidays. That could easily be maintained by a plane flight home. I love my friends to death, but they’re also getting their own lives in order and before I got into a relationship, I noticed I was seeing less and less of them as they were tending to their careers, education and love lives. It is the natural normal order of things.

Maybe 30 is the most transitional period in life. I thought learning to drive, or dating, or going to college or finding my first job were all difficult stages. Truth is those pale in comparison to the types of decisions I now see everyone making. We’re buying houses, getting married and raising children. These are not temporary commitments. Even in a world were people get divorced half the time, at the very least getting married is a commitment saying someday, should you split, you’ll loose half of everything you worked for. Not to mention you’ll be seeing each other, like it or not, when you pass the kids back and forth for weekend visits. Having kids will be, at minimum, an 18 year commitment, but we all know it lasts a lifetime.

So how then does everyone appear to take these things on so seamlessly? I know I’m guilty of overanalyzing (you’re also guilty of reading it here). I finished college 7 years ago. That staggering statistic blows my mind. It is like the last decade never happened. I’m starting to feel like I’m waking up from a night of heavy drinking and I have 10 minutes to fight off the headache before I’m late for work. The years are slipping away. With action or inaction, my bankroll of time on this planet is growing smaller every day. I’m wedge between 40 and high school graduation and I still have no clue what its all about.

You'll see when you move out it just sort of happens one day and it's just gone. And you can never get it back. It's like you get homesick for a place that doesn't exist. I mean it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I miss the idea of it. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people who miss the same imaginary place.
~Garden State

It seems to be a universal theme at this point in my life. I felt absolutely no love lost when I left the ground to travel and when I got home, I felt zero sense of home. Maybe we are just a generation from broken homes without a place to congregate on holidays or have every memory tied to a house that we grew up in. I hate to get homesick, but I’m homesick. That sensation doesn’t always go away, even in the town you grew up in. I spent the early part of my life grasping for the future and now I’m to the point where longing for the past is almost taking equal measure. I LOVE the now in so many ways, but I get a little more nostalgic each day for a time and place that never really existed anywhere other than my imagination.

Don’t call it a come back, I’ve been here for years!


I’m back in the state I call home. That would be the state of apathy. Well today I drove into work and realized what a rut life really is. I’M sure rock stars and sub Saharan safari guides get bored with their lives, but honestly, are we meant to live like this? I suppose it was easier for our grandparents, since they knew real suffering through wars and depressions. Our generation sees non premium cable as an obstacle to overcome. Alas, I digress.


I liked New England more than expected. Although I have much love for the NYC, I did sort of see why there is a divide between New Englanders and New Yorkers. My wake up call came in the form of a New Yorican mother on the tour train. She got on with her 6 kids and immediately they started being obnoxious. We asked them to quiet down so that we could hear the tour guide and they just started screaming random $h1t. I was about to go all Wayne Brady on them when the next stop came and I decided choking other people’s kids would probably lead to jail time. So I got off, breathed a sigh of relief and then realized why Boston and New York will never get along.

Boston was more subtle than the big apple. It had considerably less to do considering I felt like I covered all the major points of interest in a day. It also had its share of snobs. However, I actually could see myself living there. Many places immediately strike me as somewhere on the “No” list o potential places to live. Boston seemed very livable. Now granted, I didn’t see it covered in snow.

The place is not crawling with the chain stores that make the rest of the nation’s landscape so blah. The Cape itself was almost chain free and reminded me a lot of the Florida Keys, complete with the north’s answer to Key West.
(Chuckle Chuckle “Seaman’s Bank”)

In short, I’m sure it is a miserable place to live when it is covered with ice and snow, but I have to say Massholes love their Dunkin Donuts and they appear to be about the most tolerant people I’ve spent time around. Even in other cities I love like New York and Seattle, I got the distinct feeling that you had to “fit in” or make some effort to act a certain way, listen to certain music, ext. Bostonians seemed to house the type of people that would go out of their way to defend your right to be nothing like them. When the weather grid makes the winters more bearable, I could see myself living there.

System of a Down really picked up the torch where Rage Against the Machine left off. Just like Rage, the message is somehow lost on the masses.

Why don't presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?

This might be the biggest weapon in the war on obesity yet.I remember being a kid and buying things because my favorite character was on the box.

So, I’m almost outtie. I’m heading to New England, which I guess is kind of Old England at this point. The pilgrims came ages ago. My hometown is still older. 1565!!!!BOOOYAAAA you puritan beootches!

Still though, I respect the rich history I’m going to soak up in Massachusetts. By rich history I mean my girlfriend will probably drag me to go shopping in such historic places as Old Navy and perhaps a more upscale boutique like Macy’s. True American landmarks.Then we’ll probably go to a little known local restaurant like Pizzeria Uno. America is so homogenized these days.

My first roommate in college was from Worchester or however you say it. It always came out more like “Wishster.” Accents are funny. Somehow I missed out on one. My Mom really doesn’t have one except when she says “wash” or “burger” and you can tell she’s from the Midwest. My dad, on the other hand, sounds like Hank Hill, so there’s no question where he grew up. I live in a family full of accents since my sister has the southern drawl as well, one of my brothers has lived in Wisconsin for two decades and sounds like a native and my step dad is British by way of Australia. So we are an eclectically accented bunch. While here in the southland, I sound anything but southern and it makes me wonder if, perhaps, when I am up north they’ll detect an accent. The flip side is being home, the Misses might talk more native. That would be a wicked pissah.

Catch you next Tuesday.

Or the one after that.

There is something about a funeral. I’m going to a memorial service tomorrow. My old boss and friend lost his son last Friday. Part of me feels weird because I only knew him in passing. Part of me also knows if I don’t go and show that I care, I will regret it. I feel a certain kinship with his son, because he was only a few years older than me, a fellow Pisces and someone who seemed to be seeking a life different than what everyone else is settling for.

I guess the hard part about a funeral is it digs up your own feelings of mortality and to some degree reminds us of a fate worse than dying, losing the people that give your life meaning. There isn’t much guaranteed in this world. You’ll probably never achieve a perfect body, most of us will not go to Harvard and the slimmest minority of the population ever gets to travel the world or win the lottery. We all die however. Each and every one of us will meet the same ending. Our stories all begin differently and the whole middle part is complete chaos most days, but very predictably our journey comes to the same conclusion.

So of all the things you hold dear in this life ask yourself this… what are you seeking? I suspect if it is money or fame or achievement, then those things are filling some sort of hole. They are weak substitutes for the things that really matter. Would you sacrifice the life of your child to be the richest and most successful person on the planet? I’m guessing nearly everyone would say “no.”

So tomorrow when you wake up your homework assignment is to think of 5 people that you love. Tell them you love them. Any second we walk could be our last or worse yet their last. Don’t ever leave unfinished business with the people you care about. Sorry I have gotten so mushy, but I really believe it is true. No regret is worse than the one you have for not telling someone how much they mean to you while you still had the chance.

I like the guy as an actor, but I still don't see what women see in him. They still find him hot despite the fact he is going bald. WES MANTOOTH!

". . . I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes Awww!" --On the Road

I’m not even supposed to be here today!


You have to love those days were you work on your day off.

Hello Peter, howwwssss it goin?


So I’m here in body, but not spirit. Next week I’m off to the great northeast. I’m looking forward to seeing New England. I’d rather be going to old England, but you take what you can get. I’ve traveled this nation of ours through just about every area except New England. Its nothing personal folks. I watch “Family Guy” so I’m sure it will be exactly like Quahog. That’s my hope. I might get there and decide the mosquito, cousin screwin, high humidity, country music, evangelical Baptist free land is where I belong. It also looks incredibly cold up there which would be hard for a Florida native to adjust too. Things I know nothing about include in no particular order

CSI and or Law and Order
Good mac and cheese recipes
And shoveling snow.

I did a stint in Atlanta and it snowed there for a couple of days. That was enough for me. So when I get on here announcing my departure from Dixie, remember I like my crow sandwich with mayo and lettuce. I can make my own sweet tea.

Tina come get some ham!

So today I came to a very important decision. I’m not dieting anymore. I’ve spent the better part of my life hating myself and struggling with my weight. When I was a kid I was rail thin and sick with a heart condition. After I had surgery I suspect I was fed well to make up for lost growing and heck if your kid almost died I’m sure you’d want to see them pudgy and healthy. Somewhere around puberty I became increasingly uncomfortable with my own body. So I spent the better part of my young life afraid to talk to girls because I wasn’t athletic and thin.


I’m done trying to be something I’m not. There are a few things that work. Going to the gym every day works. I went for a long time daily and did nearly an hour of cardio with weight training. Eating less carbs works. It is miserable and impossible to sustain, but it works. Smoking like a chimney and drinking lots of coffee works. Taking over the counter uppers (IE diet pills) also works. Throwing up after you eat works. These are all horribly unhealthy ways to lose weight, but they work. The catch is they solve nothing because no matter how good you might look you are still harming yourself and you still feel like a piece of crap unworthy of anyone’s love.


So really the problem isn’t your weight. The problem is how you feel about yourself. Eating can easily become the one thing you can control in the chaos (IE when you are “dieting”) or the one escape from the word (when you are throwing back a stack of Oreos with your eyes glazed back like a great white shark munching on a seal). Not eating makes you feel deprived and eating too much make you feel physically sick and worse yet disappointed in yourself. So I am done with that rollercoaster. I’m not willing to make myself miserable exercising all the time and eating twigs. I’m also realizing that the minute you tell yourself something is off limits that is the very thing you will begin to desire with all your heart. Truth is there are worse things in the world than being fat and if you look around I’m sorry to say you are in the majority.

I got soul, but I’m not a soldier.

In case any of you live in the Seattle metro area, check this show out. One of my good friends from high school’s band got a gig opening for Evan Dando.

Fri, July 15
former Lemonheads frontman
EVAN DANDO
SMILE BRIGADE
TBA
9pm ~ $12
www.evandando.com
www.tiltonhouse.net
Tickets also available at Sonic Boom!*

So, I checked out some crazy cool photos online here.
Turns out it is the actor who plays Kip in that movie everyone loves to quote. I sent him an email telling him I like how he plays with light. You can seriously tell he isn’t just some dude with a camera taking photos. He really has an eye for this. Anyway, I got a reply from him. It sounded pretty standard, but honestly how many celebrities even have working email addresses, much less reply to fans?

Your Mom goes to college.

This has just gotten out of hand. Now the poor girl has a handler to answer questions for her.

Since Tom Cruise feels qualified to speak on post partum depression, I’ll consider myself qualified to speak on Scientology. Most of us have no clue what it is. You can visit their official page

Or you can get the facts here.


Anything that controls all areas of your life ceases to be a religion and instead becomes a cult. Now if I come up missing, tell the cops John Travolta came and got me. Talking babies, imagine that.

You gotta hand it to Alanis she gets at the nugget of things. I really dig her lyrics of late (you know not the angry I hate men and I’m going to bite it off first chance I get songs of yesteryear).

I could relate to quite a few of these and I’ve either done them or had them pulled on me.

How to stay paralyzed by fear of abandonment
How to defer to men in solvable predicaments
How to control someone to be a carbon copy of you
How to have that not work and have them run away from you

How to keep people at arms-length and never get too close
How to mistrust the ones you supposedly love the most
How to pretend you're fine and don't need help from anyone
How to feel worthless unless you're serving or helping someone

(Chorus)
I'll teach you all this in 8 easy steps
In the course of a lifetime, you'll never forget
I'll show you how to in 8 easy steps
I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best

How to hate women when you're supposed to be a feminist
How to play all biased when you're really a hypocrite
How to hate God when you're a prayer and a spiritualist
How to sabotage your fantasies by fear of success

(Chorus)

(Bridge)
I've been doing research for years
I've been practicing my ass off
I've been training my whole life for this moment, I swear to you
Culminating just to be this well-versed leader before you

(Chorus)

How to lie to yourself and thereby to everyone else
How to keep smiling when you're thinking of killing yourself
How to know them all too well to avoid going within
How to stay stuck in your life blaming them for everything

(Chorus 2x)

If you are looking for a relaxing evening at the movies, then “war of the Worlds” is not it. I swear there was zero down time in that flick. The special effects were amazing, but it never lets you relax. OK, that’s all I have to say on it.

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force...as if millions of
voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear
something terrible has happened."
Obi-wan Kenobi

Well I am over my initial anger. That is one of the main reasons I don't own a gun. I've cooled down and realized that I could spend the rest of my life hunting down terrorists, but someone would pop up to replace each and every one of them. If only is were as simple as capturing Bin Laden or bombing the crap out of Kabul. It isn't that simple. I'm waiting for the new verse of "Thursday morning, July 7th, a blast rings out in the London sky."

For some reason this song seems as relevent now as it was 20 years ago.


One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come, he to justify
One man to overthrow

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach.
One man betrayed with a kiss

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

(nobody like you...)

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love...

If you have been living in a cave, then read this.


Somehow I managed to make it until almost 11 AM before I heard anything. The one morning I chose the I-Pod over NPR. What a shame. This just makes my stomach turn. Civilians died once again for no apparent reason. Those people were killed for decisions they had absolutely no say in that were done by their government. This was clearly planned since the G8 summit took much of the police force off patrolling the streets and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Olympic announcement had something to do with it.


I guess Bush’s proclamation “if you are not with us, you are against us” goes both ways, because the terrorists obviously see Britain as an equal partner and worthy of being attacked. The worst part is events like this bring out a side of me that I absolutely hate. As someone who always advocates peace and common ground discussions instead of outright violence, if you could strap an AK47 on my back and you could point me towards the people behind this, I wouldn’t hesitate for one second to unload every round into them. That scares me. That is NOT me.

It doesn’t scare me because I’m capable of that level of vigilante justice. It scares me because there are far more violent people who will use this to feed the fire and divert the anger everyone is feeling right now to further their cause. I’m sad today because the worst act humanity is capable of has cost more than 30 innocent people their lives. On top of it, I just want some blood and vengeance. If I knew who to fight, I would. Unfortunately that mystery is what keeps fueling the violence on both sides

Hello darkness my old friend.


I like to pride myself on some level of lonerhood and independence, because A) it is the curse of my sign and B) I rarely, if ever, get what one would call “lonely.” I have been alone many times in my life, but I never feel the overwhelming need to be with human company just to avoid being alone. The few people I do choose to spend time with are there because I genuinely enjoy their company and they enrich my life in some way and I hope I, in turn, enrich theirs. I have zero issue with going just about anywhere by myself and I have been known to go see a movie I’ve been wanting to see by myself or try a restaurant by myself.


Yet today I have to admit I’m more than a little afraid of the days ahead. For one, I volunteered to dog sit for my sister. So I will be staying at her house which is over an hour away from everything I know. Meanwhile, my girlfriend is working nights the two nights before my dog duties begin. So for the next 4 days, I ‘m going to be completely out of my element. Luckily, it is still a busy time, but I do sort of worry about what will pop into my head when there isn’t anyone else but a Jack Russell around to talk to. As someone who once moved to a strange city and lived by himself for a year and a half, I know alone time isn’t all it is cracked up to be, but I also wonder if maybe I have been intentionally avoiding some solitude. I think in some ways it will be like visiting an old friend. In all likelihood, my old pall will tell me I have grown fat and boring and we will part before the meeting leads to fisticuffs. Honestly this is the first time in my life I have ever genuinely feared being by myself and it has unnerved me a little.

Today I heard a very scary remake of a very good Talking Heads song.

Ever hear the one about KFC having to drop "Chicken" from their name? Maybe there is some merit to the rumors about the nasty beasts they are genetically modifying to make their secret recipe. The Beastie Boys don't stick their necks out without putting thought into it.

A little uncertainty in life is good.


Right now I have a touch of it in every area of my life. It seems when things take a turn for the better, they still manage to inspire my nerves. I’m really honestly poised for a level of happiness unbeknownst to me in my prior life. Yet, not knowing what job you’ll have or where you’ll be living in 2 months makes me more than a little uncomfortable. I guess the reality of that fact is that none of us know for certain where we’ll be in 2 months. We think we do, but really we do not.


So here I sit working out every worst case scenario and best case scenario in my head wondering if maybe, just maybe, all the worrying in the world amounts to exactly squat.

Someobody sent me this. Most of these apply to most teenagers. I guess we were all GOTH and didn't know it. OK, I had a trench coat and combat boots. By today's standards, I'd be locked up.


If Your Child is a Gothic, Reform Through the Lord!

Listed below are some warning signs to indicate if your child may have gone astray from the Lord. Gothic (or goth) is a very obscure and often dangerous culture that young teenagers are prone to participating in.
The gothic culture leads young, susceptible minds into an imagined world of evil, darkness, and violence. Please seek immediate attention through counselling, prayer, and parental guidance to rid your child of Satan's temptations if five or more of the following are applicable to your child:

-Frequently wears black clothing.
-Wears band and/or rock t-shirts.
-Wears excessive black eye makeup, lipstick or nailpolish.
-Wears any odd, silver jewelry or symbols. Some of these include: reversed crosses, pentagrams, pentacles, ankhs or various other Satanic worshipping symbols.
-Shows an interest in piercings or tattoos.
-Listens to gothic or any other anti-social genres of music. (Marilyn Manson claims to be the anti-Christ, and publicly speaks against the Lord. Please discard any such albums IMMEDIATELY.)
-Associates with other people that dress, act or speak eccentrically.
-Shows a declining interest in wholesome activities, such as: the Bible, prayer, church or sports.
-Shows an increasing interest in death, vampires, magic, the occult, witchcraft or anything else that involves Satan.
-Takes drugs.
-Drinks alcohol.
-Is suicidal and/or depressed.
-Cuts, burns or partakes in any other method of self-mutilation. (This is a Satanic ritual that uses pain to detract from the light of God and His love. Please seek immediate attention for this at your local mental health center.)
-Complains of boredom.
-Sleeps too excessively or too little.
-Is excessively awake during the night.
-Dislikes sunlight or any other form of light. (This pertains to vampires promoting the idea that His light is of no use.)
-Demands an unusual amount of privacy.
-Spends large amounts of time alone.
-Requests time alone and quietness. (This is so that your child may speak to evil sprits through
meditation.)
-Insists on spending time with friends while unaccompanied by an adult.
-Disregards authority figures; teachers, priests, nuns and elders are but a few examples of this.
-Misbehaves at school.
-Misbehaves at home.
-Eats goth-related foods. Count Dracula cereal is an example of this.
-Drinks blood or expresses an interest in drinking blood. (Vampires believe this is how to attain Satan. This act is very
dangerous and should be stopped immediately.)
-Watches cable television or any other corrupted media sources. (Ask your local church for proper programs that your
child may watch.)
-Plays videos games that contains violence or are of a role-playing nature.
-Uses the internet excessively and frequently makes time for the computer.
-Makes Satanic symbols and/or violently shakes head to music.
-Dances to music in a provocative or sexual manner.
-Expresses an interest in sex.
-Masturbates
-Is homosexual and/or bisexual.
-Pursues dangerous cult religions. Such include: Satanism, Scientology, Philosophy, Paganism, Wicca, Hinduism and Buddhism.
-Wears pins, stickers or anything else that contains these various phrases: "I'm so gothic, I'm dead", "woe is me", "I'm a goth".
-Claims to be a goth.

If five or more of these apply to your child, please intervene immediately. The gothic culture is dangerous and Satan thrives within it. If any of these problems persist, enlist your child into your local mental health center.

~St. Mary's Catholic Church

Happy 4th of July!


So this holiday has me wondering what it means to be American. I just heard the Supreme Court is having a shake up right now which is breaking news. I'm scared at the prospect of who is going where. It seems our government is a living breathing and ever changing entity and that is beautiful. Hopefully we will work towards changes for the better. In America, if we don’t like how things are going, we vote, we protest and we demand change and hopefully that spirit is not slowly dying before our eyes. That is what being an American is all about. We have a say in our government like few other places on this planet and most of those modeled their own government after our’s.

I think our voice above and beyond everything is what I, and presumably many others, love about being an American. Yet we have to remember our obligations. As the biggest kid on the playground, we serve as the ultimate role model. Sometimes we have to step in and help the smaller kids when they are getting beat up. Unfortunately, it seems lately we are spending less time defending the weak and more time taking other’s lunch money. Joey might be the meanest and nastiest kid on the playground, but does that mean you’re entitled to beat him up and tie him down? Not really.

It is with this sense of stewardship that our country rose to its superpower status. Try as they might, the nations of Europe can not seem to unite and form the perfect union we have. Our slave splakin dope token forefathers knew that only in making a nation where everyone is free and equal would they create the utopia that they sought. Over time, that blanket of equality has grown to include people of all colors and genders. Someday soon it will grow even more and there will come a day when a legal gay marriage raises not an eyebrow among the masses. This nation once saw brown people as property and women as incapable of voting. So we haven’t exactly been perfect and with hindsight the way things are now will be comical to our grandchildren.

At this time in history, perhaps now more than ever, we are at a cross road. I’m not going to tell you I want feltching taught to public school kids by transvestites but we do need to start examining what we value. We live in a world of dichotomy were the worst qualities are rising to the top. Kids are taught an inherent sense of self worth that has made them all be beautiful and unique snowflakes. In so doing, the dumbest and most profane aspects of youth culture have risen to the top and kids are walking around doing whatever they want without any concept of consequences. We are letting them run amuck, because we are too afraid to tell them they are not infallible. How can we when our own national leaders behave with the same reckless abandon?

While individual rights are going ape$h1t in the school system, our crazy government is doing anything it can to bring an end to them surreptitiously. Laws are being passed that restrict our rights constantly. While there should be laws that prevent me from walking to my neighbor’s house, shooting him and dragging his wife over to my place, there really don’t need to be laws enabling Wal-Mart to forcefully seize my family farm in the name of progress. Individually we tell our kids they are all perfect only to then send them out into a society that teaches them they have no rights. What will become of a generation that has no rights AND can do no wrong? The answer can be found in history. Look at the Romans. It wasn’t the orgies and bath houses that brought them down, but instead a sense that the entitled class ran the show. The law makers invaded territories and ruled the people with an iron fist. In the meantime, the masses were so preoccupied with satisfying their own lusts that they turned a blind eye to a self destructive government. Their inflated sense of self worth meant that they forgot to think about things like the future or how recklessly feeding their personal desires would eventually leave them ignorant, fat and broke. In the meantime, their emperor was making decisions to serve his own desires in the name of Zeus. Sound familiar?


I’ve been feeling guilty myself lately when I gas up. I had to trade in my SUV. Say what you want, but we are sending kids over to die for these oil reserves. If you don’t believe this war is about oil, then ask yourself why Africa, which is crocked full of genocide and evil dictators has gotten zero military assistance. Why you ask? No gas. Hungry and miserable people, but no gas. Maybe it is because they are brown, but I’d like to think we are a little less discriminatory than that, so I’ll go with gas. Then you have North Korea. Give a guy who wears elevator shoes and is probably hung like a hamster access to the bomb and you are just asking for trouble.


So next time you think a liberal hates their country, perhaps you should think about what this nation was founded on. America was meant to be a land were we worked together to defend our freedom. Individuals had equal rights and would gladly band together to defend those rights and each other. What you didn’t have was a sense of entitlement that is so much a part of our culture today and gets blamed on us “liberals.” Truth is, nothing screams entitlement more than a leader left unchecked. In the past, we policed ourselves and stood up to each other and our own government when one man’s desires were hurting everyone else. Our forefathers framed a constitution built around true Christian values and didn’t lightly toss around words like “God” without considering the weight of their actions. The true genius of the men who founded this country rested in the fact they were intelligent enough to admit that they knew very little. As we grow in knowledge and power, we should never forget that in the grand scheme of things, we still know very little. Only then will we be able to ensure the future of our people and our country.

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's" -Jesus Christ
That sure sounds like seperation of church and state to me.