New post

Well this is the first time in a while that I have posted on this blog, please check out my new blog, at classicconservatives.blogspot.com to read more. I will be looking to transfer over most of the posts from here to that new blog.

RUDE! RUDE!RUDE!

Tonight I spent the evening at the theater. I went to a production of "The Christmas Carol" at my college. Muskegon Community college for those views joining our program late. This show was a one man production done by a Mr. Tom Harryman, who also happens to be my acting teacher. I went to this show for a number of reasons. First I enjoy theater and acting, two I needed to write a review of the play for my acting class, three I wanted to see my professor ply his trade as an actor, and four it was Christmas themed and I'm a Christmas nut! So I purchased a ticket a few days ago and eagerly awaited the performance. As I sat in my seat just a few rows back from the stage enjoying what I think was a very good show it happened, that's right the inevitable. A cell phone went off, and of course it was one of those annoying rings that are so popular today. It of course did it's job and that was to take the focus off of the person performing on stage and put it squarely on the rude person that owned it. I heard the usual murmuring, sign of disgust, and saw many heads turn, including my own. Yet when the lights came up, no one that I saw ( I include my self in this rebuke) had the guts to speak to this person and let them know just how incredibly rude that was. You see since cell phones are a relatively new technology that has emerged over the last twenty years few if any of us have been taught what I like to refer to as cellphone etiquette, it's much like every day etiquette only with cell phones. So I have decided that I am done allowing other people's rude behavior to infringe upon mine, and everyone else's natural order. So from this day forth I will no longer be one of those people who is scared to speak up when others bad manners infringe upon the rights of the rest of us in society. So from now on I will be the one who will speak up when I hear or see jane or john Q public talking on there cellphone while a very nice service personnel attempts to wait on them, forcing that person to make others in line wait, I will no longer pretend that it's ok for someone else's cell phone to ruin my time when in public. Just to clarify for those that might be a little confused as to what places I am referring let me give you a list. Restaurants, waiting in line to purchase anything, when talking with any service personnel, movie theaters, play house, churches, funeral homes, funeral parlors ( this includes the grave side service as well), any public speaking forum, and classes of any kind just to name a few.

This comes down to basic decency, in this age of "whatever feels go is ok" we forget that we are not the only person in this world and that our lives are no more important then the lives of those around us. I guess the reason that I get so made when I see this kind of behavior is because if we are honest with ourselves ( yes there are exceptions to this rule ) 99% of the things we talk about on cellphones are shit, "where you going? What you doing? Do you want to go get/see/ buy so and so or what and what, pick up X from the store, what do you want form dinner" ect ect ect and in my opinion this garbage does not give me or anyone else the right to infringe upon some one else life or to be rude. I know that it involves taking personal responsibility but it really isn't that hard to TURN OFF YOU DAMNED PHONE before going in certain places. Like in the theater, there where two signs that said it and an announcement over the loud speaker before the play began. But hey, that persons need to discuss bullshit at that very moment was more important then common decency and respect for your fellow man. So now I will become what I'm sure will be dubbed as an "asshole" because when I'm around it's no longer acceptable. Oh and if you ever see me do it, call me on it because I would never want to be a hypocrite although I don't currently own a cellphone and still manage to live my life.

My Friend

Catching the scent on the morning air, the scent of winter, of cold. Smiling at the pleasant memories it stirs.
The first signs of frost on the blades of grass, the falling of the leaves, the first morning you need a jacket!
The gray gloomy sky's that tell of things to come, of snow and rain and other wonders.
Having to grip the steering wheel tighter at the first sign of slickness on the roads.
Sitting by your window you start to feel the cold creeping in, not all at once just a bit at a time.
I admit begrudgingly that my old friend is back, every year he comes to visit, each stay is slightly different. Yet
for all of the complaining I do I am glad when he arrives.
To wake up in my warm bed, feeling content and safe and knowing that it awaits, my pal with his icy fingers
and frosty breath.
I face him, to spite the dread, to spite the desire to return to my slumber. I face him, some days he amazes me with his work!
The way he covers the earth with a blanket of white, encasing tree branches with ice, I long for the days as a boy, I would run out to play with him, to make angles in the blankets of white, to torment my sisters and the other neighborhood girls with a volley of snow balls.
How my pals and I would take our bikes and look for icy patches in plowed parking lots to see who could stay up the longest.
The best ones are of grandpa and are they rare, so I treasure when he brings those memories forth. Of granddads lake house with its mighty hill, how he would let me sled it, even though mom said it was too dangerous. The way I would run in all red faced from the wind and cold he, would give me coco or coffee when grandma was off spending his hard earned money. The way I would sit on the foot stool in front of his chair, just happy to be near him. He would listen to the news and read his paper, occasionally asking me how my coco was? I can still; years later when that sweet old man is long in the ground, hear his voice on those cold winter days. Smell him breath as he spoke, a mixture of coffee, cigarettes and peppermint.
It is because of that one that I welcome my friend winter, not for the piercing wind, fridged days, slick roads, head colds, or numb hands, no it's for the smells and tastes and sounds of sitting on that foot stool, with the man I loved most in my childhood, and feeling the scratch of his whiskers as he hugged me. For those times that it was just us! Those winter days, long gone, in a house long sold, with a man long dead. Yet every year my friend lets me go back if just for a moment, long enough to say I love you.
So come snow and ice, you will always be welcome here!

Silver Lining

Last night and much of this morning I have done a great deal of thinking, I have also abandoned any hope of the GOP retaining either house of Congress, that being said I think I may have found the silver lining in this very dark cloud. That lining is that maybe after a few years of wondering in the wilderness ( aka the congressional minority) we can after thinning the heard a bit of the weaker elements we can realize get back to the basics of what our party is suppose to stand for.

Maybe this lose will wake us up. Perhaps we can now get back to those things that are important like reducing the size and scope of government. Reducing taxes, balancing the budget, getting rid of unnecessary regulation, weening the American people off of the government tit that far too many of them have come to think there entitled to! Perhaps we can get back to being the party that is going to vigorously wage the war on terror, and actually fight that war to win it! Perhaps we can stop waisting our time worrying about whether of not gay people get married and focus on making America great, doing the things government is suppose too. So to my fellow republicans it's gut check time! Now we must be the party in opposition, we must carry the Presidents water when he's a conservative and right, and oppose him when he loses site of those principals. So it may be a long too years, but if we make these internal corrections now it won't take forty years for us to once again control the rudder on the ship of state. So lets get to work my fellow conservatives!

Contrasts

Today I listened to the Presidents news conference and had to chuckle at transparent delight many of the reporters where showing because there guys won in the election. I thought that the President showed grace in expressing his commitment to working with the new....democratic majority ( as if he really has much of a choice). I also think this will define him as a president, for the first time he will be able to show the American people the stark contrast between his policy's of cutting taxes, reducing regulation, (finally in the last year or so) attempting to get spending under control, vigorously fighting the war on terrorism, and holding the line on the free will sucking entitlement programs, and the positions of the liberal leadership in the congress, there policy's of raising taxes, increasing spending, remember no democratic congress has balanced the since the 1950's to spite the fact that they held control of the house from 1954-1994, so if you take out Vietnam years of 1964-1973 in which there was at least a some what valid excuse for deficits , that leave thirty -one years in which there was no war, no major economic depression to justify deficit spending and yet in 31 years during which they( the democrats in congress) four Presidents of their party Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton and yet they still could not find the political will and courage to make the hard choices and balance the budget. So on that issue they have NO credibility, yet I digress.

As I was saying the President force the liberal leaders in the house like Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, and Majority Whip Emanuel to show their true colors, that they want to raise taxes, increase regulation, increase spending by at least 15% which was what they wanted in the last budget that they worked on, reduce spending on the war on terror, oppose listening to terrorists phone calls, give terrorists constitutional rights, something by the way that FDR didn't give to enemy combatants during WWII but that was back when democrats still thought there where somethings worth fighting for, besides the U.N. of course., and of course there desire to lose in Iraq and return to a pre 9/11 mind set. If this President can do that while also getting some victory's out of the congress on immigration, a energy bill, and hold the line on there attempt to cut taxes he will leave office in 2009 with a 65% job approval rating.

The next two years will be interesting to watch from a political scientist point of view and scary from the point of view of someone who is able to recognize that our nation is at war and needs one united voice in fighting an enemy with which there is no negotiation, reasoning, aside from our destruction. So we shall see how it plays out.

Election Night Repeat!

I am forced to have a chuckle as I watch history repeat it's self in this election. I recall how a week before the 2004 election all of the mainstream media outlets, where having joygasms at the idea that John Kerry was going to be President, and that the Democrats where going to pick up seats in Congress. They were running story after story about how the American people where fed up with the war and the president and of course the mean old GOP! They were saying how the Republican base wasn't gonna vote and how christians where abandoning the party. Yet on election day the American people reelected George Bush and increased the Republican majority in both house of congress.
Why, because the people chose the party that doesn't want to "negotiate" with terrorists, apologize for 9/11, raise taxes, slash military spending, fund abortions for teens, and increase the size and scope of government, and cut and run form Iraq. Of course this baffled the mainstream media, and the democratic party was stumped as to why they lost. They lost because there wrong on the issues.
While I don't believe that this year we will be as successful as in '04 I do believe that we will not lose control of congress. I believe this because as you look at the polls race by race you see that they are tighting up and even if a lot of races are leaning back towards the GOP candidate. Also as a grassroots memeber, of the Repubican race. I know that we are fired up, we are energized to make sure that we keep control of congress and that we never have to say Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi!
So that being said I would say to those who are disillusioned about this elections, don't fall for the same old bag of tricks from the mainstream media! Keep working hard for your candidates get out the vote. For those democrats that are already gloating, I would say that it's far from over so don't measure the curtains yet!

Not Over Yet

Over the last several weeks I have heard the constant drum beat from the "drive by " media that a Democratic take over of at least one if not both houses of congress is all but certain. They continue to asert that American's Hate Bush, Republicans, Tax cuts, the war, the anti-terror messures, and are aching for a change and we conservatives might as well just stay home because the election is already over. They make these claims even as race after race that according to them is "all over" are tightening up or even showing the GOP candidate leading.
I recently spoke to a Republican friend of mine who was feeling blue about the election and I told him to work hard and focus on the issues cause if we can bring the campaign back to issues we win every time. We win on the issue of tax cuts for tax payers ( that means everyone who pays taxes), on gun control, winning the war on terror, on government spending ( although this congress did waver a bit on this one) on regulation, on abortion, on the death penalty, on economic stimulation, and yes on the war. Only when the democrats are able to make the election about non-issues.
So to my fellow conservatives I would give this advice, don't believe the hype, the media, or the trumpted up polls. Remember that at this point in the 2000, 2002, and 2004 elections the media was telling us that it was all over and the dems where gonna win and how did those turn out? Remember work hard for your candidates, make calls, go door to door, tell your friends and most importantly VOTE on November 7th 2006. The stakes are too high, after all we never want to have to say, Speaker of the House Pelosi!

Voting?

The primary election that past recently selected those candidates that would be on the November ballot. Those that would have a chance to govern and make the policy we all live under. Now I would like to take a minute to remind people of the requirements to vote, you must be 18 years old, you must be a citizen of the United States, you must have been registered for at least thirty days prior to the election, you must be a resident in the precinct in which you intend to vote. There is no poll tax, no voter exam, no gender requirement, no racial requirement, you have the right to a secret ballot so no one has to know how you voted, all you must do is show up at your polling place and show valid I.D. ( which to the NAACP is not racists its to make sure you are who you say you are to avoid voter fraud) oh yes and all of us who are natural born citizens where born with this right. Others hundreds of years ago fought bitterly for this right. Women where denied this right until 1920 , and many African Americans where denied this basic right until the passage of the voting rights act of 1964.

My point is that a lot of people before us gave so much of themselves, their sweat, their energy,and in some cases their very lives for the right to vote. Yet many of us can't be " bothered" to take time out of our busy day to go vote. This very fact disgusts me, I have voted in every major election for the last ten years and it has never taken me more then ten minutes to cast my vote. I know that in those ten minutes I could have been buying something, surfing the Internet, eating fatty foods, talking on my cell phone, or watching reality t.v. But to me, my right as a citizen is worth ten minutes two days every other year( thats if you vote in a primary and general election).
Our society and government doesn't ask a whole lot of us, there is no draft, many of us because of deductions get back more money then we pay in in income taxes most years, and yet many can't be bothered to take a few minutes every second year to go and choose who our leaders will be. That my friends is where the term lazy American's comes from! This I find offensive, it is a disgrace, this lack of inaction is unworthy of such a noble people. Is it so much to ask that we get off our large posteriors one day every second year and go and actually choose who our leaders should be?That we actually have a hand in the shaping of the future of this country that we all claim to love! No It's easier to stay at home with our collective heads buried in the sand, oblivious to what's taking place in our own government, only occasionally coming up to bitch and complain the whole while doing nothing to change the situation.

Having witnessed people in a foreign land, ravaged by war, travel countless miles, many times under the threat of death simply because they wanted the to be able to cast their vote, to have their voice heard, to be able to shape the future of their country I can only wonder why it's worth it to them yet, many of us who have never and will likely never know a tenth of hardships that they have suffered, can't be bothered. So think on that my country men and the next time a pesky election rolls around consider taking action.

The primary election that past recently selected those candidates that would be on the November ballot. Those that would have a chance to govern and make the policy we all live under. Now I would like to take a minute to remind people of the requirements to vote, you must be 18 years old, you must be a citizen of the United States, you must have been registered for at least thirty days prior to the election, you must be a resident in the precinct in which you intend to vote. There is no poll tax, no voter exam, no gender requirement, no racial requirement, you have the right to a secret ballot so no one has to know how you voted, all you must do is show up at your polling place and show valid I.D. ( which to the NAALCP is not racists its to make sure you are who you say you are to avoid voter fraud) oh yes and all of us who are natural born citizens where born with this right. Others hundreds of years ago fought bitterly for this right. Women where denied this right until 1920 , and many African Americans where denied this basic right until the passage of the voting rights act of 1964.

My point is that a lot of people before us gave so much of themselves, their sweat, their energy,and in some cases their very lives for the right to vote. Yet many of us can't be " bothered" to take time out of our busy day to go vote. This very fact disgusts me, I have voted in every major election for the last ten years and it has never taken me more then ten minutes to cast my vote. I know that in those ten minutes I could have been buying something, surfing the Internet, eating fatty foods, talking on my cell phone, or watching reality t.v. But to me, my right as a citizen is worth ten minutes two days every other year( thats if you vote in a primary and general election).
Our society and government doesn't ask a whole lot of us, there is no draft, many of us because of deductions get back more money then we pay in in income taxes most years, and yet many can't be bothered to take a few minutes every second year to go and choose who our leaders will be. That my friends is where the term lazy American's comes from! This I find offensive, it is a disgrace, this lack of inaction is unworthy of such a noble people. Is it so much to ask that we get off our large posteriors one day every second year and go and actually choose who our leaders should be?That we actually have a hand in the shaping of the future of this country that we all claim to love! No It's easier to stay at home with our collective heads buried in the sand, oblivious to what's taking place in our own government, only occasionally coming up to bitch and complain the whole while doing nothing to change the situation.

Having witnessed people in a foreign land, ravaged by war, travel countless miles, many times under the threat of death simply because they wanted the to be able to cast their vote, to have their voice heard, to be able to shape the future of their country I can only wonder why it's worth it to them yet, many of us who have never and will likely never know a tenth of hardships that they have suffered, can't be bothered. So think on that my country men and the next time a pesky election rolls around consider taking action.