I did it. I bought the bullet (er, domain) and bought a second domain name when I renewed this domain earlier this year. My new domain, which will also be the home of a blog, will contain my more personal posts, the ones that are not just random rants/dissertations/babblings. This will hopefully allow me to organize my thoughts some and post a bit more regularly. (Anything's possible right?)
So look for my new blog at my new domain in the next few days. You will find it here.
That's all I have to say for now, but with a few days of solitude, maybe I can put out some posts that have been rattling around in my brain (and get some writing done on my book - the clock is ticking on that - I have some serious work to do to take advantage of a bonus I got for meeting the NaNoWriMo goal back in November.
See you back here and at my new site soon.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
Last one of the year!
Well, just barely getting in one last post before the new year. I told you it would be a while before I posted again, I just didn't think it would be two months. Recapping things mentioned before - I did surpass the NaNoWriMo 50,000 word challenge. I typed out 50,126 words in the month of November in a new novel that I hope to finish a first draft of in the next couple of months. My accomplishment got me the cool badge above to post on my blog, which I have now done. I also got excellent discounts on all kinds of software and services, some of which I have already used and others I hope to use in the next few weeks.
This being my last post of 2012, I want to mention a few things that have impacted me over the last twelve months. These are in no particular order, just mentioned as they come to me.
1. I'll combine all of the mass shootings into one post, as my thoughts on them are the same, even if my reactions to each were different. It is always senseless when the mentally unbalanced decide to take out their frustrations on innocent people, especially children, regardless of what tool they use. My stand on the second amendment and gun ownership is the same as it was before all of this happened. I mourn for the losses, especially of the children, but I have not been (and will probably never be) convinced that more gun control laws will fix anything. We as a society are now so hamstrung in dealing with any aberrant behavior, be it unruly children or homicidal gunmen, by a liberal mindset of kid glove handling, that nothing will change until we decide to discipline the undisciplined, take those that are a danger to themselves and others out of the general population, and enforce the laws we have in place already.
2. With the reelection of arguably the worst president ever to hold the office, I want to stand up and say that even in America, no one ever guaranteed anyone equal outcome, just equal opportunity. What we do with that opportunity is up to us, and in a society that has not so denigrated and twisted and broken the family, it should be family that help each other when outcomes are poor, instead of forcing the unfortunate to look to the government as their only hope, for the government should never be the first place anyone looks for help in a civil and just society. Since our society lacks both of those qualities, we collectively have anointed the government to do everything from educate our children to provide food for us, to play parent when we make bad decisions about credit and mortgages, to provide cellphones for our "emergency" use. When over 40% of society in one way or another takes from the government, it creates tremendous pressure on those that give to the government in the form of taxes and "penalties". The current administration unfortunately encourages this behavior. Enough on that sore topic.
3. We (my family) bought a car this year. It is the first car we have bought in over seven years. It was found by accident and happenstance and I can only attribute our success to God and his hand guiding us. We are (and were, our trusty van needed a new battery almost the same time we brought the new car home) blessed by this car in that we can still have our children bring friends along with them and us have cargo space, too. It is under warranty and we were able to afford the monthly payments. It all worked out very neatly and I thank God for his blessing.
4. I now have two books in progress (writing) and have months to go on either one, but I am glad I was able to finish the 50,000 words in November. There is much to do and even more to type, so I hope the ideas keep flowing and I am able to finish both in the coming year. I also hope that someone besides me likes them.
5. My blog has been viewed over 3000 times according to Blogger records. I hope that someone is at least thinking about what I write, even if they don't agree with it 100%. I hope that number goes up in the next year, as I post excerpts from my book(s) and hopefully get published.
Everyone have a safe and happy new year! I hope to have you reading here more in 2013!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
NaNoWriMo Is Almost Here!
This being the end of October, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is upon us again! Thursday, thousands of writers across the country will begin the frantic surge of 50,000 words once again. I will join them again, this time starting on November 1st instead of November 15th, hoping to put 50,000 words into a new novel in thirty short days.
Have I finished my first attempt at writing a book? No, but I have reached a point where I need to step back (haven't I been doing that for months now?) and take a look at it after writing something, anything, else. My new book is set in the near future, but it is not exactly science fiction. It is the story of a man who wakes up from a coma to find that the United States of America no longer exists. That is all I am revealing for now, but I will hopefully be able to put an excerpt here (most likely AFTER NaNoWriMo is over, so don't get impatient) in the nearer future.
The first of November also brings us to Election Day and if you have read my previous posts, you know where I stand. I encourage everyone to get out to vote no matter your leanings because the government belongs to us and the most effective thing that any citizen can do is vote.
I want to mention that prayers go out to the residents of the USA affected by Sandy. The destruction is massive and widespread. I pray that citizens help each other and work together to overcome the fury of nature.
As I mentioned before in this post, I may not post again until December 1st, so in case that happens, let me say "have a great Thanksgiving holiday and spend time with family and friends.
Have I finished my first attempt at writing a book? No, but I have reached a point where I need to step back (haven't I been doing that for months now?) and take a look at it after writing something, anything, else. My new book is set in the near future, but it is not exactly science fiction. It is the story of a man who wakes up from a coma to find that the United States of America no longer exists. That is all I am revealing for now, but I will hopefully be able to put an excerpt here (most likely AFTER NaNoWriMo is over, so don't get impatient) in the nearer future.
The first of November also brings us to Election Day and if you have read my previous posts, you know where I stand. I encourage everyone to get out to vote no matter your leanings because the government belongs to us and the most effective thing that any citizen can do is vote.
I want to mention that prayers go out to the residents of the USA affected by Sandy. The destruction is massive and widespread. I pray that citizens help each other and work together to overcome the fury of nature.
As I mentioned before in this post, I may not post again until December 1st, so in case that happens, let me say "have a great Thanksgiving holiday and spend time with family and friends.
Monday, October 22, 2012
The most important difference...
...between "RomneyCare" and "ObamaCare" is that one was instituted by a state government, and the other by the federal government. What's the importance of this difference you ask? Everything!
I don't understand why the Romney campaign doesn't get this, doesn't use this, doesn't mop the debate floor with this difference and silence the ridiculous rantings of the Obama campaign (and Obama himself) as they try to discredit Romney's opposition to ObamaCare by saying it is "just like the governor's bill".
If the bills matched each other word for word (which they don't because the Massachusetts bill was not two thousand and seven hundred pages long) they would still be fundamentally different. Why is it such a big deal that one is a state program and one is a federal program? For the simple fact that, were I a resident of the state of Massachusetts when the bill became law I could choose to move to any of the other forty-nine (or fifty-six, depending upon who is counting) states and retain my freedom of choice. Would it be easy? Probably not, especially with the economy as it is now, but I would still have the choice.
With ObamaCare, my only choice to avoid the real and potential consequences of this law would be to leave the country of my birth, that is founded on freedoms that are attacked mercilessly by the so-called progressive political movement, and find a more hospitable country willing to take me that doesn't have socialized medicine. Not many choices out there...
It is for this reason alone that ObamaCare is an abomination, never mind the massive amount of spending, taxes, and new government jobs (which do NOT grow the economy). The control that this law gives to unelected committees and governmental departments is repulsive. It was never in the minds of the founding fathers to have the federal government involved in the people's lives from cradle to grave. That thought is the sole property of the current administration and their standard bearer the Narcissist/Socialist/Deceiver-in-Chief, Barack Hussein Obama.
Romney/Ryan 2012!!!
EDIT: Yes, I cleaned this post up - a couple of grammatical errors and a title for the president I was not comfortable with after much consideration. I stand by my assertion that he does deceive, but the title of "Liar" is strong and connotes a feeling of intention. I actually believe (or fear) that he believes much of what he says, which is actually more frightening than him purposefully distorting the truth.
So again: Romney/Ryan 2012!!!
I don't understand why the Romney campaign doesn't get this, doesn't use this, doesn't mop the debate floor with this difference and silence the ridiculous rantings of the Obama campaign (and Obama himself) as they try to discredit Romney's opposition to ObamaCare by saying it is "just like the governor's bill".
If the bills matched each other word for word (which they don't because the Massachusetts bill was not two thousand and seven hundred pages long) they would still be fundamentally different. Why is it such a big deal that one is a state program and one is a federal program? For the simple fact that, were I a resident of the state of Massachusetts when the bill became law I could choose to move to any of the other forty-nine (or fifty-six, depending upon who is counting) states and retain my freedom of choice. Would it be easy? Probably not, especially with the economy as it is now, but I would still have the choice.
With ObamaCare, my only choice to avoid the real and potential consequences of this law would be to leave the country of my birth, that is founded on freedoms that are attacked mercilessly by the so-called progressive political movement, and find a more hospitable country willing to take me that doesn't have socialized medicine. Not many choices out there...
It is for this reason alone that ObamaCare is an abomination, never mind the massive amount of spending, taxes, and new government jobs (which do NOT grow the economy). The control that this law gives to unelected committees and governmental departments is repulsive. It was never in the minds of the founding fathers to have the federal government involved in the people's lives from cradle to grave. That thought is the sole property of the current administration and their standard bearer the Narcissist/Socialist/Deceiver-in-Chief, Barack Hussein Obama.
Romney/Ryan 2012!!!
EDIT: Yes, I cleaned this post up - a couple of grammatical errors and a title for the president I was not comfortable with after much consideration. I stand by my assertion that he does deceive, but the title of "Liar" is strong and connotes a feeling of intention. I actually believe (or fear) that he believes much of what he says, which is actually more frightening than him purposefully distorting the truth.
So again: Romney/Ryan 2012!!!
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Another attempt to kickstart my writing, this time by politicizing...
It has been almost a month (short one day) since I posted last and a lot has happened in the real world, but nothing has happened in the world of my book, as I have written almost nothing in that month-span of time. I desperately want to throw another fifty thousand words into this book before the first of November, when I want to start another book as a participant in National Novel Writer's Month. It seems silly, I guess, to want to start another book before finishing the first one, but I do want to "finish" my first book - I am just not accomplishing that goal at this point. That is the state of my writing - sad, but hopeful.
The real world has had much more to offer in the past month. What is the phrase? "You can't make this stuff up..." When the real world offers the tragedies of a failed administration, a murdered ambassador, and increasing turmoil in the Middle East, and the dark comedies of a teacher's strike, the violation of free speech rights, and criticism of a man who gave 30% of his considerable income to charity by the "champions of the poor", it is hard for writers to come up with more outlandish and shocking stories.
By all measures the Obama administration has failed to live up to the Light-Bringer's promises. The promise of fiscal sanity was thrown out early on with intentionally mishandled auto industry bailouts and with the ram-rodding of ObamaCare onto a people who reject it while stealing from Medicare and using foolish accounting games to convince everyone that this will save us, both medically and fiscally.
The promise to restore our reputation internationally was fully and forcefully broken through the actions of the administration towards Israel, and the attempt to appease a force of evil that does not want appeasement, only total dominion over everyone and everything. Radical Islam's repeatedly stated goals are the destruction of Israel and the apportioning of death to infidels. Current policy failure was at peak uselessness when the American ambassador to Libya was murdered. Sure, radical Islamists (oops, I used a bad phrase!) can be reasoned with peacefully. Keep dreaming, Barry...
Moving on to another topic - not sure about anyone else, but I would love a 16% raise, so I wonder why that was not enough to keep Chicago teachers from striking. Yes, school is back in session now, but the union managed to disrupt an already broken system for a week squabbling over the ridiculous notion of measuring teacher performance based on student performance on standardized tests. I agree it is a flawed system, but it is one of the few tools we have to measure teacher performance. Let's get the kids back into the classroom - they certainly are not learning anything sitting at home... or are they? They might be learning to survive all day on their on while their parents have to work (if they are one of the lucky folk with a job) ...oops, can't have young people learning to survive without government intervention.
And hey, Barry, since when do we take people into custody for speaking their minds? If this is to become common practice let us know so we can grab an American flag as a souvenir on the way out of the country (and not your narcissistic excuse for a flag you are selling in a limited edition on your website).
And please, please, please, all you "champions of the poor" why are you grumbling about a man who donated four million dollars to charity last year? I know, Mitt should have given that money to the government so they could distribute it "properly", right? Or he should have never had that much money in the first place because he earned it in an unethical manner? Sure, keep whining, I am playing the world's smallest violin just for those of you who apparently don't approve of giving to charity in a generous manner.
Seriously, you guys, quit making reality such a tragi-comedy side show, we writers are having a difficult enough time without trying to top your insanity.
OK, so this post was crass and sarcastic and a little critical of "progressive" thinking, but seriously folks, please wake up and vote the amateur out of office in November! Romney/Ryan 2012!!!
The real world has had much more to offer in the past month. What is the phrase? "You can't make this stuff up..." When the real world offers the tragedies of a failed administration, a murdered ambassador, and increasing turmoil in the Middle East, and the dark comedies of a teacher's strike, the violation of free speech rights, and criticism of a man who gave 30% of his considerable income to charity by the "champions of the poor", it is hard for writers to come up with more outlandish and shocking stories.
By all measures the Obama administration has failed to live up to the Light-Bringer's promises. The promise of fiscal sanity was thrown out early on with intentionally mishandled auto industry bailouts and with the ram-rodding of ObamaCare onto a people who reject it while stealing from Medicare and using foolish accounting games to convince everyone that this will save us, both medically and fiscally.
The promise to restore our reputation internationally was fully and forcefully broken through the actions of the administration towards Israel, and the attempt to appease a force of evil that does not want appeasement, only total dominion over everyone and everything. Radical Islam's repeatedly stated goals are the destruction of Israel and the apportioning of death to infidels. Current policy failure was at peak uselessness when the American ambassador to Libya was murdered. Sure, radical Islamists (oops, I used a bad phrase!) can be reasoned with peacefully. Keep dreaming, Barry...
Moving on to another topic - not sure about anyone else, but I would love a 16% raise, so I wonder why that was not enough to keep Chicago teachers from striking. Yes, school is back in session now, but the union managed to disrupt an already broken system for a week squabbling over the ridiculous notion of measuring teacher performance based on student performance on standardized tests. I agree it is a flawed system, but it is one of the few tools we have to measure teacher performance. Let's get the kids back into the classroom - they certainly are not learning anything sitting at home... or are they? They might be learning to survive all day on their on while their parents have to work (if they are one of the lucky folk with a job) ...oops, can't have young people learning to survive without government intervention.
And hey, Barry, since when do we take people into custody for speaking their minds? If this is to become common practice let us know so we can grab an American flag as a souvenir on the way out of the country (and not your narcissistic excuse for a flag you are selling in a limited edition on your website).
And please, please, please, all you "champions of the poor" why are you grumbling about a man who donated four million dollars to charity last year? I know, Mitt should have given that money to the government so they could distribute it "properly", right? Or he should have never had that much money in the first place because he earned it in an unethical manner? Sure, keep whining, I am playing the world's smallest violin just for those of you who apparently don't approve of giving to charity in a generous manner.
Seriously, you guys, quit making reality such a tragi-comedy side show, we writers are having a difficult enough time without trying to top your insanity.
OK, so this post was crass and sarcastic and a little critical of "progressive" thinking, but seriously folks, please wake up and vote the amateur out of office in November! Romney/Ryan 2012!!!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
30,000 Words And Other Thoughts
So, I have passed the 30,000 word mark in my book. ...and I have hovered there for much of August, flailing helplessly against serious writer's block. So as part of my therapy I have decided to throw my $.02 into the whole Akin "legitimate rape" controversy.
If you are unaware of what I refer to, just Google "Akin" or "legitimate rape". You will get loads of hits, most of them from left-leaning or radical-left screamers that are trying to smear the entire Republican party with this nasty, ill-advised (but apologized for) bit of commentary from a previously obscure Senate candidate in the great state of Missouri.
Akin's comments were not only delivered poorly, they were based on a incredibly inept understanding of human biology and the corrosive effects of rape. I feel that he is an outlier of the Republican mindset, and does not represent the views of the majority of the party. I know there are highly conservative elements of the GOP (referring to not fiscal conservancy, but social) who are entirely comfortable with this perspective, just are there are highly liberal elements of the Democratic Party who would be comfortable with the government running everything - giving them everything they need, cradle to grave, but again, these are (hopefully) only a small percentage of the party.
Both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of trying to fit all of the opposing party into one neat box, but it just isn't the case (on either side). My $.02 is simple - let's get back to focusing on the poor economy, high unemployment, world-wide antipathy towards the US and general failure of the Obama presidency that everyone should be concerned about instead of getting sidelined by comments made by minority elements of the GOP.
Just as a man should not worry more about losing the two pennies bouncing around in his pocket than the more valuable currency in his wallet, we should not allow the the national conversation to be focused on the little things like poorly delivered commentary over the more valuable conversation about the need for a new president in 2013.
If you are unaware of what I refer to, just Google "Akin" or "legitimate rape". You will get loads of hits, most of them from left-leaning or radical-left screamers that are trying to smear the entire Republican party with this nasty, ill-advised (but apologized for) bit of commentary from a previously obscure Senate candidate in the great state of Missouri.
Akin's comments were not only delivered poorly, they were based on a incredibly inept understanding of human biology and the corrosive effects of rape. I feel that he is an outlier of the Republican mindset, and does not represent the views of the majority of the party. I know there are highly conservative elements of the GOP (referring to not fiscal conservancy, but social) who are entirely comfortable with this perspective, just are there are highly liberal elements of the Democratic Party who would be comfortable with the government running everything - giving them everything they need, cradle to grave, but again, these are (hopefully) only a small percentage of the party.
Both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of trying to fit all of the opposing party into one neat box, but it just isn't the case (on either side). My $.02 is simple - let's get back to focusing on the poor economy, high unemployment, world-wide antipathy towards the US and general failure of the Obama presidency that everyone should be concerned about instead of getting sidelined by comments made by minority elements of the GOP.
Just as a man should not worry more about losing the two pennies bouncing around in his pocket than the more valuable currency in his wallet, we should not allow the the national conversation to be focused on the little things like poorly delivered commentary over the more valuable conversation about the need for a new president in 2013.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
A Slap In The Face
The Campaigner-in-Chief took a swipe at Congress and made a desperate-looking vote grab today with his announcement that "some" illegal immigrants will be granted a two year deferment on deportation if they meet certain criteria. While he stated that this was not a path to citizenship and definitely not amnesty, it is still a slap in the face of those immigrants who choose to immigrate the legal way.
He claims that by implementing this policy many potentially useful and creative and productive members of our society will no longer live in fear, never mind that they should be fearful because they are in this society illegally. While this is designed to target those illegal immigrants who came here because of the choices their parents made for them, it will be, as most similar attempts to address illegal immigration have been, abused and gamed by those desperate to circumvent the legal path to immigration and citizenship.
The criteria mentioned by the president include being a successful student (whatever that means), serving in the military (a privilege that does not require citizenship, but does require legal immigration status. Any illegal immigrant that was allowed to join the U.S. military was not properly vetted by the enlistment process, but the fact that it has happened is not surprising). Also, the person must prove not to be dangerous or a threat to society (based on what criteria?). They must be under 30 and have (illegally) immigrated before they were 16 years of age. Also, they must prove they have lived here (illegally) for the past five years.
I guess this will not only reward the (illegal) efforts of those who brought their children here when they (illegally) immigrated, but also create more money-sucking, non-contributing, government jobs because someone must vet all these illegal immigrants to make sure that they are contributing members of society and have properly documented their undocumented lives. Who can you trust to do that properly but the government?
As I wipe the sarcasm off my keyboard, let me restate my opinion that this is nothing more than a political move designed to buy more votes without having to raise more campaign funds (another issue that our Dear Leader is struggling with). It also follows a disturbing trend by the Narcissist-in-Chief to simply push his radical socialist agenda using executive orders when Congress won't cooperate (read "rollover and play stupid").
Please be sure to help boot the empty suit out of the Oval Office in November!
He claims that by implementing this policy many potentially useful and creative and productive members of our society will no longer live in fear, never mind that they should be fearful because they are in this society illegally. While this is designed to target those illegal immigrants who came here because of the choices their parents made for them, it will be, as most similar attempts to address illegal immigration have been, abused and gamed by those desperate to circumvent the legal path to immigration and citizenship.
The criteria mentioned by the president include being a successful student (whatever that means), serving in the military (a privilege that does not require citizenship, but does require legal immigration status. Any illegal immigrant that was allowed to join the U.S. military was not properly vetted by the enlistment process, but the fact that it has happened is not surprising). Also, the person must prove not to be dangerous or a threat to society (based on what criteria?). They must be under 30 and have (illegally) immigrated before they were 16 years of age. Also, they must prove they have lived here (illegally) for the past five years.
I guess this will not only reward the (illegal) efforts of those who brought their children here when they (illegally) immigrated, but also create more money-sucking, non-contributing, government jobs because someone must vet all these illegal immigrants to make sure that they are contributing members of society and have properly documented their undocumented lives. Who can you trust to do that properly but the government?
As I wipe the sarcasm off my keyboard, let me restate my opinion that this is nothing more than a political move designed to buy more votes without having to raise more campaign funds (another issue that our Dear Leader is struggling with). It also follows a disturbing trend by the Narcissist-in-Chief to simply push his radical socialist agenda using executive orders when Congress won't cooperate (read "rollover and play stupid").
Please be sure to help boot the empty suit out of the Oval Office in November!
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