Let's assume for a moment that we want to have unbiased information for making decisions. I don't know that this is a good assumption, but it is a premise. If that were true, then we would want to have information that laid out fact and accurately portrayed numbers and statistics.
Unfortunately, beyond the difficulty of finding such information, there is a growing reliance in this country on conflated information that is tailored to the desires of the recipient. I would submit the entire content of MSNBC and Fox News as examples. You can watch reporting and information on the same story on both networks, and find opposing numbers, statistics and "facts".
Most of my friends are happy to agree that MSNBC is highly biased. CNN as well. Less often do I hear recognition of the opposing bias at Fox. When I do, I literally get told it is necessary to balance the scale. People listen to the advertising and forget to engage their discernment. Fair and balanced has never been true, on any of those networks.
I am not condemning anyone that watches Fox or MSNBC. All I am saying is that we cannot assume unbiased information from those sources, and when we cite those sources as incontrovertible proof of our point, we are actually contradicting ourselves. It is not that there is not some fact found on both channels, there is. But it is couched in opinion, and explored as part of dogma. Very, very dangerous fuel for politics. The foggy memory most of us have about hearing about yellow journalism in the role of politics and the reform movement. (Yes, I see you kind of nodding..) This era is the electronic version of that print era.
It was dangerous then, as it poorly informed an electorate that came to regret some of the candidates and positions that it came to favor from that biased journalism. I would just urge you to not take what you hear on any of these channels as gospel for your vote. They are telling you a piece of a story that does not contain all the context. For example, the "budget deal" that just got passed by the Senate. It is a "kick the can" event for both sides of the dial. You will hear that phrase equally as many times on Fox as on MSNBC. Nothing that meets either ideal, or gains either side superiority in the ongoing cage match for hearts and minds.
For 2 centuries, we celebrated that kind of legislation as the hallmark as to the strength of our governmental design. We did not all win, 100% of the time. We got some of the most urgent of our desires, while subscribing to the sense of some of the most urgent ideals of the other side of the debate. We used to be able to see sense in the opposition argument. Whether we agreed or not, we did understand their point and their position. Today, it is a violation of what it means to be an American to have some kind of accord with the other side of the aisle. It has cost the Speaker his job, and all but crippled the Presidency.
I urge you, do not be lulled into believing the all or nothing argument you are hearing articulated throughout this campaign. It is lunacy and won't happen. We are not built that way on purpose. Understand that basic compromise is essential and welcome. The opposition is what keeps us in the land of reality. The candidates that demand 100% of their program and swear they can accomplish it, are LYING to you. Whether that is Clinton, Sanders, Trump or Cruz, it is a lie. The last eight years are proof.
Look for a candidate that does not fit into the Fox or MSNBC windows. That is where we all live, every day. I think that sanctuary cities are incredibly dangerous and illegal. At the same time, I understand the reality of dealing with 12 million people that are here already. I won't get my whole agenda accomplished, it is impractical and impossible. Part of what the other sides of the argument want are necessary counterbalance.
The same goes with entitlements. I think that the ballooning entitlement spending is the number one risk to our national security. I also think that giving any of that over to the unprosecuted criminals that gave you the 2008 economic collapse, in the private sector, would be an even bigger risk. There is a place in the middle, and some of both sides of the conversation is going to be required.
Look for that candidate. There are some out there, Kasich, Webb, Christie. They recognize that they must work with others, that there is a path to accord, not mutually assured destruction. Our politics should not resemble a replay of the US/Soviet Cold War. These are good people on both sides of the aisle that grasp equally valid images of the total solution. Melding those images together is supposed to the be the American super power. At least it used to be, and can be again.
Think for your self, if it sounds too good to be true, or too crazy to be possible, you are right. No matter how much you want it or fear it, you know deep down that we are not going to get it. Trump will not get Mexico to build us a wall. Creepy lunacy. Sanders will never get college to be free in this country. Crazy lunacy. But, somewhere short of the lunatic line we will find the solution, if America is to survive.
That should be what we are hoping for, and electing people to do. Electing someone because of their desire to never bend, is electing someone that would be comfortable as a tyrant. And, it does not matter if they are inflexible on the right or left of the issue. Tyrants are supposed to be a huge allergy for our nation, so I don't understand the attraction we have for those wanting to see that kind of structure. It is scary.
God loves your and so do I. He does not love this country. He loves the people, the right thinking and pragmatic people that made us the standard in education, quality of life and potential at one point. God does not love our government, or our nation. But He loves us, and He expects us to do a better job of using that intellect and choice He gave us. Please, because this is starting to get ridiculous.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Pitiful
There is a wave of pitiful sweeping across our country. I imagine that I will receive some feedback over this content, but you know, call it as you see it. I expect better out of us as a whole, and there are moments when I seriously worry about the population as a whole.
Look, the shooting of that 12 year old kid, the one with the fake gun with the orange cap pulled off the end, waving it around, by himself, in a park, yeah that one...who is responsible there? The cop that got dispatched to a report of a man with a gun? The kid, who did not react correctly fast enough? No, I don't think so in my mind. It was the pitiful ass parenting that let that kid be out in that park alone with that toy. I am not interested in how kids do things we don't want them to do. I raised my own children, and while that is true, there are some bedrock rules they never violated.
Second example, Michael Brown...yeah, I will go back there. Look, he was a thug, just a thug. Can you imagine what a thug he must have been? I mean, the Obama administration's Justice Department did an "independent" investigation (witch hunt) that resulted in clearing the cop. That boy had history, there was verifiable forensic evidence that backed up everything the cop said, and probably eye witness accounts that supported the cop, which will never get played in public. They were already burning the city down. Who is to blame here? Michael Brown. How do I know that it was no surprise, Michael Brown's family.
Full up on Al Sharpton's personal brand of ignorance juice, their behavior illustrated exactly what is failing in most of our communities. There is a sense of entitlement, of something owed to them. There is a public appeal for additional violence and destruction. Where does the behavior come from? It comes from home.
A kid in New Jersey, body slams his teacher over his cell phone. Not allowed to be out in class. Another student, equally wrong, had theirs out and filmed the assault. I watched as the entire classroom moved away, until the end, after the teacher was slammed down, when another punk comes running in to escort his friend away. The best thing I can say of either is that they did not kick the man on the ground.
I watch the news in Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville every night. There is an endless stream of crime, violent, reprehensible crime, committed by people, men and women that are by and large less than 24. Where does this start? Where does the behavior stem from? It stems from home. There is no way to explain to me how a 16 year old has a good home life, when he is riding in a car with his homies, and opens fire on another vehicle, shooting and infant and killing her.
Then, inevitable, there will be some barely intelligible interview with a woman, who claims they just don't understand, he is such a good boy. No, he had the potential to be a good boy. But, being left to his own devices and in the presence of undesirable influence, he failed in his potential. And, it is up to the parents. I completely understand that many of these events are associated with broken homes, often a result of drug related incarceration. Many of these situations include a history of foster care and being "in the system."
That is what is pitiful. And I feel for our judges. What a choice, leave them with some of the most worthless, drug addicted scumbag parents, cooking meth with their kids in the house, or dump them in the system, and watch the system create much the same output that horrible parental situation would create. Not even Solomon would find that appealing.
It is pitiful that we have allowed entrenched poverty in this nation, create these conditions and situation. I do not see a racial component, or a tie across the specifics of these cases that is ethnically identified. It is about poverty, fractured families reinforced by an entitlement system that penalizes familial stability. It is about the poor preparation our public schools now provide, for anyone but a dedicated student. There is almost no skills training or vocational counselling and programs available. You see, there is a tangible impact to the quality of schools to the neighborhoods they serve. Show me a "bad" neighborhood, and I will show you a string of bad schools.
If you have no future, if you have no preparation, if you have been socially promoted without regard to literacy or accomplishment, if you have been instructed in a series of arcane facts that are assembled in a core curriculum, if you are never introduced to problem soving and critical thinking skills, you are doomed. There is nothing for you to do but the drive through window, or a paving or roofing crew. And, if the school system cares more about your standardized test scores than your employability or capacity, you are poorly served.
We have made it substandard for our children to want to be a mechanic, or plumber, or welder. That is not considered a desirable outcome. We only see the value in continued and detailed education that we have priced out of the middle class' range. Why does the issue of poverty remain unchecked? We have built a system that requires abject poverty for assistance, with no requirement for training or improvement in life skills. So, to survive on assistance, you have to not be employable, you have to continue to grow your family. You cannot have a relationship that is public with someone working or earning, or you risk the only income you have.
That is the system we have created. That is the future as well. Either we get serious about combatting our poverty issues, or get used to how your news sounds today because it only magnifies from here. If we were to require corporations that receive subsidies to provide 1% of that in community training and employment improvement, we would build a work force that rivals what we had in the 50's. If we required every school system to have a vocational program for every sport it offered, we would have the basis of a working population again. If we made education free, we would be the standard of the world again.
Why is this pitiful? Because we have made a system that builds poverty and ignorance, and we don't even see it. Instead, we couch it in terms of racism and illegal immigration and unjust incarceration. That is pitiful, and we will not fix it this way.
GLYASDI
Look, the shooting of that 12 year old kid, the one with the fake gun with the orange cap pulled off the end, waving it around, by himself, in a park, yeah that one...who is responsible there? The cop that got dispatched to a report of a man with a gun? The kid, who did not react correctly fast enough? No, I don't think so in my mind. It was the pitiful ass parenting that let that kid be out in that park alone with that toy. I am not interested in how kids do things we don't want them to do. I raised my own children, and while that is true, there are some bedrock rules they never violated.
Second example, Michael Brown...yeah, I will go back there. Look, he was a thug, just a thug. Can you imagine what a thug he must have been? I mean, the Obama administration's Justice Department did an "independent" investigation (witch hunt) that resulted in clearing the cop. That boy had history, there was verifiable forensic evidence that backed up everything the cop said, and probably eye witness accounts that supported the cop, which will never get played in public. They were already burning the city down. Who is to blame here? Michael Brown. How do I know that it was no surprise, Michael Brown's family.
Full up on Al Sharpton's personal brand of ignorance juice, their behavior illustrated exactly what is failing in most of our communities. There is a sense of entitlement, of something owed to them. There is a public appeal for additional violence and destruction. Where does the behavior come from? It comes from home.
A kid in New Jersey, body slams his teacher over his cell phone. Not allowed to be out in class. Another student, equally wrong, had theirs out and filmed the assault. I watched as the entire classroom moved away, until the end, after the teacher was slammed down, when another punk comes running in to escort his friend away. The best thing I can say of either is that they did not kick the man on the ground.
I watch the news in Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville every night. There is an endless stream of crime, violent, reprehensible crime, committed by people, men and women that are by and large less than 24. Where does this start? Where does the behavior stem from? It stems from home. There is no way to explain to me how a 16 year old has a good home life, when he is riding in a car with his homies, and opens fire on another vehicle, shooting and infant and killing her.
Then, inevitable, there will be some barely intelligible interview with a woman, who claims they just don't understand, he is such a good boy. No, he had the potential to be a good boy. But, being left to his own devices and in the presence of undesirable influence, he failed in his potential. And, it is up to the parents. I completely understand that many of these events are associated with broken homes, often a result of drug related incarceration. Many of these situations include a history of foster care and being "in the system."
That is what is pitiful. And I feel for our judges. What a choice, leave them with some of the most worthless, drug addicted scumbag parents, cooking meth with their kids in the house, or dump them in the system, and watch the system create much the same output that horrible parental situation would create. Not even Solomon would find that appealing.
It is pitiful that we have allowed entrenched poverty in this nation, create these conditions and situation. I do not see a racial component, or a tie across the specifics of these cases that is ethnically identified. It is about poverty, fractured families reinforced by an entitlement system that penalizes familial stability. It is about the poor preparation our public schools now provide, for anyone but a dedicated student. There is almost no skills training or vocational counselling and programs available. You see, there is a tangible impact to the quality of schools to the neighborhoods they serve. Show me a "bad" neighborhood, and I will show you a string of bad schools.
If you have no future, if you have no preparation, if you have been socially promoted without regard to literacy or accomplishment, if you have been instructed in a series of arcane facts that are assembled in a core curriculum, if you are never introduced to problem soving and critical thinking skills, you are doomed. There is nothing for you to do but the drive through window, or a paving or roofing crew. And, if the school system cares more about your standardized test scores than your employability or capacity, you are poorly served.
We have made it substandard for our children to want to be a mechanic, or plumber, or welder. That is not considered a desirable outcome. We only see the value in continued and detailed education that we have priced out of the middle class' range. Why does the issue of poverty remain unchecked? We have built a system that requires abject poverty for assistance, with no requirement for training or improvement in life skills. So, to survive on assistance, you have to not be employable, you have to continue to grow your family. You cannot have a relationship that is public with someone working or earning, or you risk the only income you have.
That is the system we have created. That is the future as well. Either we get serious about combatting our poverty issues, or get used to how your news sounds today because it only magnifies from here. If we were to require corporations that receive subsidies to provide 1% of that in community training and employment improvement, we would build a work force that rivals what we had in the 50's. If we required every school system to have a vocational program for every sport it offered, we would have the basis of a working population again. If we made education free, we would be the standard of the world again.
Why is this pitiful? Because we have made a system that builds poverty and ignorance, and we don't even see it. Instead, we couch it in terms of racism and illegal immigration and unjust incarceration. That is pitiful, and we will not fix it this way.
GLYASDI
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Life storms
There are storms in life, chaotic and immense washes of confusion and emotion. There is nothing that can be done to prevent them. I think there is a cycle to life that requires the storms. Things are not able to stay stagnant and calm, because the world is not a place for that. Nature abhors a vacuum, so when there is calm, there is a tendency for chaos to gather and fill the hole.
So, we see things brewing, but do not take the warning signs to heart. As it is chaos that is building, there is no good way to determine what will happen when the storm comes. But, it is safe to assume that whatever you plan or propose will most likely not work out in the storm.
I am in the midst of several. It is strange, in that I used to have serious issues and anxiety over these storms. I spent a lot of energy doing my best to avoid them, planning for overcoming them, and picking up the pieces after them.
I have faced them all, money, health, loved ones, relationships, loneliness, seperation, you name it, and at some point, that particular hurricane has blown through my life. I am still not an expert sailor on the ocean of chaos. It is still a scary and treacherous sea, with reefs, squalls and currents that can take any ship down. I have not learned the leeward tack, the course to the following seas.
So, now, when I feel the wind freshening and sense a storm coming, I have learned how to make my little ship at least a bit more seaworthy. I thank several folks on the internets, that posted their ideas, that distilled down into my "weathering in" process. I am borrowing with abandon, but from some most unlikely sources.
I have this outlet. I made a pact with myself that I would not keep it bottled up in my head anymore. If I could not say it or write it, without being offensive, I had to let it go, cause it surely did not belong in my head or heart either. It has taught me to identify those thoughts and feelings as my own baggage and weight, and to keep myself slimmed down. Those thoughts come from a bad place, and I am better off not visiting it.
I have started a prayer journal. I put it down, as I am praying and thinking. If you have not tried this, I highly recommend it. I have lots of things that don't go in the journal, because as I think of how to write it, it becomes clear that it is not something I need to pray for. It has truly helped me to keep myself focused on what God's will for me is, and what my will for me should be. This has only been in place for a few weeks, but there are a remarkable amount of things that have already been given us.
I am not any more blessed than I have ever been, I am just much more cognizant of my blessings. I have asked for those things, and I have believed on God for those things, and I have received those things. I know that has always been true in my relationship with God, even when I was careless of that relationship. It took me recording and detailing our relationship, to be aware of just how truly blessed I am. God has always been careful in our relationship, thankfully. I did not need to be.
I have had the blessing of a wife that has helped me pare down my life significantly. There is simply so much less to worry over and stress about in our lives now. We have more than we ever need, much more than we deserve. And, what we have, we see and appreciate so much more. It is not about the numbers, but about the needs, and all of those are bountifully met.
Now, when the winds are blowing hard, when emotions are overloaded, when others are hurting and confused, I have a place of refuge to approach it from. There is a safe harbor in my life, that lets me be aware of my blessings, sure of my Father's presence, and content with what I can do, and accepting of what I cannot. And, I am well aware of the fact that I mostly cannot do anything, the doing is really all on God. My role is much more about believing, showing faith and not letting my hope die in despair.
So, as I navigate this week of chaotic seas, with all of its sorrow and drama and tension, I am still calm. I know that in all things God works to our good, and that is regardless of whether I can see it. I know that my emotional display will not be a good reflection of my Lord, nor change one thing about how hard the wind is blowing around me.
I am still learning, but I am confident. I am still sometimes confused, but I am not afraid. I am still sometimes afraid, but I know I will be comforted. That is how I get through, how I stay above water. Doesn't mean I don't still need the Xanax occasionally. Just means that I don't need it every day and in every situation.
GLYASDI
So, we see things brewing, but do not take the warning signs to heart. As it is chaos that is building, there is no good way to determine what will happen when the storm comes. But, it is safe to assume that whatever you plan or propose will most likely not work out in the storm.
I am in the midst of several. It is strange, in that I used to have serious issues and anxiety over these storms. I spent a lot of energy doing my best to avoid them, planning for overcoming them, and picking up the pieces after them.
I have faced them all, money, health, loved ones, relationships, loneliness, seperation, you name it, and at some point, that particular hurricane has blown through my life. I am still not an expert sailor on the ocean of chaos. It is still a scary and treacherous sea, with reefs, squalls and currents that can take any ship down. I have not learned the leeward tack, the course to the following seas.
So, now, when I feel the wind freshening and sense a storm coming, I have learned how to make my little ship at least a bit more seaworthy. I thank several folks on the internets, that posted their ideas, that distilled down into my "weathering in" process. I am borrowing with abandon, but from some most unlikely sources.
I have this outlet. I made a pact with myself that I would not keep it bottled up in my head anymore. If I could not say it or write it, without being offensive, I had to let it go, cause it surely did not belong in my head or heart either. It has taught me to identify those thoughts and feelings as my own baggage and weight, and to keep myself slimmed down. Those thoughts come from a bad place, and I am better off not visiting it.
I have started a prayer journal. I put it down, as I am praying and thinking. If you have not tried this, I highly recommend it. I have lots of things that don't go in the journal, because as I think of how to write it, it becomes clear that it is not something I need to pray for. It has truly helped me to keep myself focused on what God's will for me is, and what my will for me should be. This has only been in place for a few weeks, but there are a remarkable amount of things that have already been given us.
I am not any more blessed than I have ever been, I am just much more cognizant of my blessings. I have asked for those things, and I have believed on God for those things, and I have received those things. I know that has always been true in my relationship with God, even when I was careless of that relationship. It took me recording and detailing our relationship, to be aware of just how truly blessed I am. God has always been careful in our relationship, thankfully. I did not need to be.
I have had the blessing of a wife that has helped me pare down my life significantly. There is simply so much less to worry over and stress about in our lives now. We have more than we ever need, much more than we deserve. And, what we have, we see and appreciate so much more. It is not about the numbers, but about the needs, and all of those are bountifully met.
Now, when the winds are blowing hard, when emotions are overloaded, when others are hurting and confused, I have a place of refuge to approach it from. There is a safe harbor in my life, that lets me be aware of my blessings, sure of my Father's presence, and content with what I can do, and accepting of what I cannot. And, I am well aware of the fact that I mostly cannot do anything, the doing is really all on God. My role is much more about believing, showing faith and not letting my hope die in despair.
So, as I navigate this week of chaotic seas, with all of its sorrow and drama and tension, I am still calm. I know that in all things God works to our good, and that is regardless of whether I can see it. I know that my emotional display will not be a good reflection of my Lord, nor change one thing about how hard the wind is blowing around me.
I am still learning, but I am confident. I am still sometimes confused, but I am not afraid. I am still sometimes afraid, but I know I will be comforted. That is how I get through, how I stay above water. Doesn't mean I don't still need the Xanax occasionally. Just means that I don't need it every day and in every situation.
GLYASDI
Friday, October 23, 2015
Travel time
I used to be a terrible traveller. The thought of crowds at the airport, stinky little seats in packed planes, using a bathroom that is a prototype for a design to infect someone, these were not favorite pastimes.
Honestly, the old, retired, broke, shuddering, lowest possible cost airplanes the military subjected me to are mostly to blame. When you have to walk out of the terminal and across the concrete, because the airline that you have never heard of, doesn't have gate privileges, it makes you think. When you think about the plane, in terms of whether it ferried Eisenhower and Patton,it leaves you a bit concerned.
I guess, the fatalism that I now have, to face air travel is also from the military. There is just not anything to do about it, one way or the other, once you board the plane. You are the one that decided to do that, so it is your decision that puts you there. Does not help to think about it ahead of time.
Now, I just do it. I don't like it, and never will. But, it is what it is. I don't worry about what will be, that is all in God's hands. I worry more about what it will feel like. Nothing about flying bothers me, except for the landing. If you bite it on takeoff, or during flight, it is catastrophic, and you will never know. Falling 5 miles or more out of the sky before paying the piper for the gravity ride, that has to suck.
Long as we stay in the air, we are good. Let me explain to you how terrifying that makes bad turbulence to me. I rode dirt bikes and most every kind of vehicle you can imagine as a kid. I have a very good sense of motion and directional change, as my body feels it. Dropping a 1000 feet is a singular kind of feeling. You recognize it immediately. The turbulence goblin follows me around.
But, a few years back, I gave up driving everywhere. I don't have the patience or the time for it anymore. I still enjoy driving, if we are not bound by time. But, I will put up with putting myself entirely in the hands of a person I have never met, and never will meet, for the convvenience.
Truth be told, airplanes are extremely safe, much safer than driving on I40 here in Raleigh, or living in Fayetteville. I get overly concerned for no good reason. Xanax helps, but still doesn't make me like it. I just take comfort that it is not an eight hour transatlantic flight. For those, I make the doctor give me Ambien. The stewardesses don't know it, but they are deeply indebted to that doctor.
It is worth it today. I would walk if I had to. I am just grateful that we are blessed with the ability to go and try to help our dear friends. I don't have good words, I don't have any magic potion. I just know that we need to see them, we need to tell them in person we love them, and we need to hear that back from them.
All of yall take care, and be safe. We will see how the weekend goes. GLYASDI.
Honestly, the old, retired, broke, shuddering, lowest possible cost airplanes the military subjected me to are mostly to blame. When you have to walk out of the terminal and across the concrete, because the airline that you have never heard of, doesn't have gate privileges, it makes you think. When you think about the plane, in terms of whether it ferried Eisenhower and Patton,it leaves you a bit concerned.
I guess, the fatalism that I now have, to face air travel is also from the military. There is just not anything to do about it, one way or the other, once you board the plane. You are the one that decided to do that, so it is your decision that puts you there. Does not help to think about it ahead of time.
Now, I just do it. I don't like it, and never will. But, it is what it is. I don't worry about what will be, that is all in God's hands. I worry more about what it will feel like. Nothing about flying bothers me, except for the landing. If you bite it on takeoff, or during flight, it is catastrophic, and you will never know. Falling 5 miles or more out of the sky before paying the piper for the gravity ride, that has to suck.
Long as we stay in the air, we are good. Let me explain to you how terrifying that makes bad turbulence to me. I rode dirt bikes and most every kind of vehicle you can imagine as a kid. I have a very good sense of motion and directional change, as my body feels it. Dropping a 1000 feet is a singular kind of feeling. You recognize it immediately. The turbulence goblin follows me around.
But, a few years back, I gave up driving everywhere. I don't have the patience or the time for it anymore. I still enjoy driving, if we are not bound by time. But, I will put up with putting myself entirely in the hands of a person I have never met, and never will meet, for the convvenience.
Truth be told, airplanes are extremely safe, much safer than driving on I40 here in Raleigh, or living in Fayetteville. I get overly concerned for no good reason. Xanax helps, but still doesn't make me like it. I just take comfort that it is not an eight hour transatlantic flight. For those, I make the doctor give me Ambien. The stewardesses don't know it, but they are deeply indebted to that doctor.
It is worth it today. I would walk if I had to. I am just grateful that we are blessed with the ability to go and try to help our dear friends. I don't have good words, I don't have any magic potion. I just know that we need to see them, we need to tell them in person we love them, and we need to hear that back from them.
All of yall take care, and be safe. We will see how the weekend goes. GLYASDI.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Sunset slipped past me
I was on the phone with my Dad. He sounds so much better, and is healing well. I was so focused on that, I did not see the sky change and notice that the sun set. It has happened an incalculable number of times in my life. Poignant tonight.
As sunset was occurring here in North Carolina, my closest friend, my brother from another mother, that guy that we all have in this life that we could not do without, he experience a sunset in his life. He watched as his Mother passed on to the glory of heaven.
There is nothing, not one thing that I can say to him, that will change the pain, or the loss. Though I have walked this road before him, there is no landmark, no route marked, no path to relate that makes his journey better.
All that is available to us tonight, is all that has been available as this time drew near. We lift him up in prayer, with his family. We ask God to grant them peace as they face this loss, to bring them together in love, to strengthen them through each other, and through prayer.
I do not discredit the power of God, or prayer. I do not think anything is beyond the power of prayer or God. But, our effort never feels enough. That is what eats at us, we don't feel what we do is enough, because enough does not lay within our power. Enough only lives within God's power.
I have friends that I respect and honor, that do not believe in God. I don't know how they face even one day of life, without the renewal, peace and comfort that God gives me. Every day has trials, demands, moments of chaos that we do not feel equal to, and against that, if we do not have God, to be enough, how do we stand? I could not, and would not be able to do it.
So, tonight, we are trusting God to show up and be enough in my friend and his family's life. It is beyond our power, their power, anyone's power, but not beyond God's. They are faithful children of the Lord, and the Lord loves His own.
As sunset was occurring here in North Carolina, my closest friend, my brother from another mother, that guy that we all have in this life that we could not do without, he experience a sunset in his life. He watched as his Mother passed on to the glory of heaven.
There is nothing, not one thing that I can say to him, that will change the pain, or the loss. Though I have walked this road before him, there is no landmark, no route marked, no path to relate that makes his journey better.
All that is available to us tonight, is all that has been available as this time drew near. We lift him up in prayer, with his family. We ask God to grant them peace as they face this loss, to bring them together in love, to strengthen them through each other, and through prayer.
I do not discredit the power of God, or prayer. I do not think anything is beyond the power of prayer or God. But, our effort never feels enough. That is what eats at us, we don't feel what we do is enough, because enough does not lay within our power. Enough only lives within God's power.
I have friends that I respect and honor, that do not believe in God. I don't know how they face even one day of life, without the renewal, peace and comfort that God gives me. Every day has trials, demands, moments of chaos that we do not feel equal to, and against that, if we do not have God, to be enough, how do we stand? I could not, and would not be able to do it.
So, tonight, we are trusting God to show up and be enough in my friend and his family's life. It is beyond our power, their power, anyone's power, but not beyond God's. They are faithful children of the Lord, and the Lord loves His own.
"but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." That is what I pray for the whole family tonight. They need fear no evil, for He is with us, His rod and His staff, they comfort us. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives, and we WILL dwell in the house of the Lord FOREVER, together. Jerri just got there ahead of the rest of us, and that is a joy for her, though it is a sorrow for us.
The sun sets upon us all, in the time and manner God has decreed. Nothing will change one grain of sand in the hour glass. The trick is to not let the sunsets that matter slip past. Eric and his family did not, and neither did Jerri. The one promise made is that the sun will also rise, just as the Son rose. God bless you and keep you, God make his face to shine upon you, God lift up his countenance to you, and give you peace. Love you brother. I can't wait to give you that hug. I am coming.
GLYASDI
GLYASDI
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Random thoughts
Tonight is a random thought night. I get these occasionally. Times when so many things bump around in my head that I struggle to put order to them. I am no more immune to overload than anyone else. I just usually manage it a bit better than tonight.
At any rate, random point #1. Lamar Odom. Don't know exactly where to start here. But, first, let me say that I honestly had no idea who he was before he OD'ed in the whorehouse. So, I have no wish for evil for him or any of those around him. But, as I did not know him prior to the whorehouse incident, being found comatose in a whorehouse does not commend him to my knowing. Quite honestly, I don't understand why anyone wants to follow this, this fellow, or the scummy little tragedy that was his life.
No, I do understand, it is because a subsection of us, feel that because we watch this wretchedly disfunctional family of rich and self-servile go through their scripted show, that we know them. We feel a connection to them, an affinity for them. I don't condemn anyone for that feeling, or watching the show. To each their own. But, watching their show (that has a script and is the furthest from reality you will ever encounter), does not let us know them. We do not. We can guess rather easily that they are all damaged and disfunctional, that is on display. We don't know them.
So, the overly dramatic messages and tweets that are flooding the internets, he is never going to see, read or respond to. The prayers are helpful and useful, and because he will never know or comment, thank you for them. To my point, there are people all around you, that you interact with constantly, that do not have that level of scum in their lives, do not have the support network of Mr. Odom, and would appreciate your interaction, prayer and genuine smile. Spread it to them, do yourself and them some genuine good. That is reality, for real.
Random point #2. There is little that is less appealing to me, than to think about the state of the VA, nor the society that accepts it. When I look at the things wrong in the system, I continue to see the same issues. Those in charge are incompetent. I really wish that we had political leadership that had just enough courage to say that, to root it out, and to jettison those in place that cannot do their job. People that served, sacrificed and were willing to die for this society are left to the care of the incompetent and corrupt. We continue to pay them instead of prosecute them, and that absolutely infuriates me. It should you too, especially if there is anyone you know that relies on the VA.
We should demand to see this fixed. If you can read this, you can Google your Representative and Senator's email address. Take 30 seconds to send them an email a day. "Get busy and fix the VA, or I will vote for whoever runs against you." You can copy and paste it. Want to make a difference, start there. Tell everyone you know to do the same. Simple messages work best. Keep sending it, and follow through. Somewhere, a veteran dying waiting for care will thank you, without ever knowing you.
Random point #3. It should be wrong, what the government makes the drug companies put in their advertisements and labels. Scares me to agree to take most everything you see advertised. There is some drug, I can never remember to pay attention to the name, that can cause a brain infection. This infection is normally serious and permanently disabling. I don't know what kind of condition you have, but trading that possibility for whatever sickness seems rash to me. I understand that the ambulance chasers have forced this upon us.
You should not need to choose from contracting a case of raging tropical anal herpes or having pain in your back. And, because someone travelled to Cameroon during the trial and contracted the disease, does not mean you will have it. Honestly, I am facing some decisions about medicines, and this is not helping. I don't want tuberculosis. I don't want what I have either. When the docs say, "we have been using it for 10 years" I respond with "smart, educated people like you put asbestos in shingles today, and have for 100 years." I am not comforted. Nor do I know how best to prove/disprove the claims in either direction. Really, who do you trust?
Random point #4. I don't have much else to relate. I have friends and family that are hurting tonight. I am going to go pray for them, pray for me, and try to get this mess out of my mind. Hope you all have a great evening.
GLYASDI
At any rate, random point #1. Lamar Odom. Don't know exactly where to start here. But, first, let me say that I honestly had no idea who he was before he OD'ed in the whorehouse. So, I have no wish for evil for him or any of those around him. But, as I did not know him prior to the whorehouse incident, being found comatose in a whorehouse does not commend him to my knowing. Quite honestly, I don't understand why anyone wants to follow this, this fellow, or the scummy little tragedy that was his life.
No, I do understand, it is because a subsection of us, feel that because we watch this wretchedly disfunctional family of rich and self-servile go through their scripted show, that we know them. We feel a connection to them, an affinity for them. I don't condemn anyone for that feeling, or watching the show. To each their own. But, watching their show (that has a script and is the furthest from reality you will ever encounter), does not let us know them. We do not. We can guess rather easily that they are all damaged and disfunctional, that is on display. We don't know them.
So, the overly dramatic messages and tweets that are flooding the internets, he is never going to see, read or respond to. The prayers are helpful and useful, and because he will never know or comment, thank you for them. To my point, there are people all around you, that you interact with constantly, that do not have that level of scum in their lives, do not have the support network of Mr. Odom, and would appreciate your interaction, prayer and genuine smile. Spread it to them, do yourself and them some genuine good. That is reality, for real.
Random point #2. There is little that is less appealing to me, than to think about the state of the VA, nor the society that accepts it. When I look at the things wrong in the system, I continue to see the same issues. Those in charge are incompetent. I really wish that we had political leadership that had just enough courage to say that, to root it out, and to jettison those in place that cannot do their job. People that served, sacrificed and were willing to die for this society are left to the care of the incompetent and corrupt. We continue to pay them instead of prosecute them, and that absolutely infuriates me. It should you too, especially if there is anyone you know that relies on the VA.
We should demand to see this fixed. If you can read this, you can Google your Representative and Senator's email address. Take 30 seconds to send them an email a day. "Get busy and fix the VA, or I will vote for whoever runs against you." You can copy and paste it. Want to make a difference, start there. Tell everyone you know to do the same. Simple messages work best. Keep sending it, and follow through. Somewhere, a veteran dying waiting for care will thank you, without ever knowing you.
Random point #3. It should be wrong, what the government makes the drug companies put in their advertisements and labels. Scares me to agree to take most everything you see advertised. There is some drug, I can never remember to pay attention to the name, that can cause a brain infection. This infection is normally serious and permanently disabling. I don't know what kind of condition you have, but trading that possibility for whatever sickness seems rash to me. I understand that the ambulance chasers have forced this upon us.
You should not need to choose from contracting a case of raging tropical anal herpes or having pain in your back. And, because someone travelled to Cameroon during the trial and contracted the disease, does not mean you will have it. Honestly, I am facing some decisions about medicines, and this is not helping. I don't want tuberculosis. I don't want what I have either. When the docs say, "we have been using it for 10 years" I respond with "smart, educated people like you put asbestos in shingles today, and have for 100 years." I am not comforted. Nor do I know how best to prove/disprove the claims in either direction. Really, who do you trust?
Random point #4. I don't have much else to relate. I have friends and family that are hurting tonight. I am going to go pray for them, pray for me, and try to get this mess out of my mind. Hope you all have a great evening.
GLYASDI
Monday, October 19, 2015
President Trump
First, I would not advocate for, vote for, or otherwise endorse a Trump presidency. Do I think he can be President? Well, he certainly meets all the requirements under the Constitution, unless we decide being born a Bazzillionaire is like being born in another world. We decided earlier that being born in Hawaii is synonimous with being born in Kenya.
I have heard it all, but I don't quite understand the way this whole thing is flushing out this time. I mean last time, it was Herman Cain and aint no Romney, cause they aint no way Romney wins. I get the fascination with the fringe candidate, the outspoken idealist that channels frustrations and regrets.
I see the boomlet for Sanders. I see the boomlet for Ben Carson. These are very similar, and predictable around races with top tier candidates that nobody can stand. Honestly, I have no use for Hillary, never have. I don't find her compelling, I don't find her authentic, I don't find her interesting and I don't particularly find her honest. In fact, I am pretty sure it is the opposite.
But, she has punched all the tickets. There is no one in the Republican race that has anything like the governmental pedigree she has...no, John Kasich does. But, no one likes him, he isn't bat crap crazy enough. Hillary has put in the work, had all the titles and managed or bought her way to everything you are "supposed" to do to be viable. Yet, still her most compelling story is that she has girl parts.
With any other leading candidate on the Democratic side, Donald Trump would be the new version of Sarah Palin. But, everyone is so over this estimation that we have to give the Presidency to Hillary, because she has girl parts, they are paying attention to the Donald. It is actually quite terrifying.
Look, if I had a junk bond corporation, I would love to have Donald run it. If I had a bad real estate investment to declare bankrupcy over and walk away richer for it, I would love to have Donald do that again. If I wanted to start a reality TV show about insulting as many kinds of Americans as possible in the shortest period of time, we need the Donald.
To be the custodian and controller of the most powerful military in the world, I just don't see it. "You're FIRED!" takes on a whole new meaning when you are dealing with cruise missiles and ballisic submarines. There used to be a standard of competency that was required, before things got this far. I mean, running Godfather's Pizza was no qualification for the Presidency, and neither is running an Atlantic City casino into the ground. Nor for that matter, is being a neurosurgeon.
I think these are fine occupations. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them. But, I am not sure that we are going to be real happy with a President that has never been in the government. Now, hear me out, I don't think that the government is any great shakes at running anything, but the military. However, it does run a significant portion of the economy. Almost, 49% of spending is in entitlements. Another 18% in military spending is also on the program. That means approximately 25% of the spending is what is driving all this posturing and foolishness.
Donald cannot do anything about Social Security. No one would or should trust him with that program, it looks too much like one of his casino deals already. Donald cannot do anything about health care. It is legal, Supreme Court says so, and all this talk of repeal sounds really good to some, but is not going to happen. It just isn't.
That is the problem, as usual, in our election cycles. We have candidates that pay a lot of money to people that pick out several very small, and ultimately inconsequential, fringe issues, and storm around shouting each other down over them. Like Planned Parenthood. This is about less than .002% of North Carolina's spending for the year. I know the moral implications loom large, and I am not dismissing anyone's moral outrage. But, to shut the government down over this, to suggest that, to forment that, is patently ridiculous, and quite frankly, frightening among reasoning adults.
The government provides services for huge segments of our population, that are most in danger due to disruption. Elderly, impoverished, veterans, special needs, students, these are the main "customers" of the governement. Turning off the money to Grandma, because we want to spit up on each other over negligible money that has been repeatedly held up by the Supreme Court, is just plain wrong.
It is not principled politics. It is not reasonable behavior. It is not feasible. And, yet, we will face another round of this. We will not do the hard work of trying to build cohesion and cooperation to do the heavy lifting required. We ignore the repetitions that make up history. These are not new concerns. This is the same kind of landscape that gave us the Civil War, the World Wars, the Great Depression. No, honestly, I am not kidding. Different arguments, same political climate.
And, oddly, predicated on the same geographical split. Lay the last presidential results over a map of the Confederacy. See if the Red and Blue don't look oddly the same, for the parts of America that were states then. I do not draw some racial distinction, I just point out that there are deep roots of dissension that we have not overcome.
But, the Donald, the Donald is going to drive something. Donald appears to me to be unelectable, but history says stranger things have happened. But, when those strange things happened, they had consequences. But, the first consequence, for all my deeply conservative friends, is in the Democratic party. As long as Trump appears to have a shot at winning, more and more extreme positions will be staked out on the Democratic side. No one believes Trump can win, so that must mean the Hillary is weak.
The further to the left that this pushes Hillary, pushes the outcome of the election. Trump, Carson, Fiorina, they are not going to beat a Democratic candidate. The Dems have professionals running, against a deep pool of amateurs and rookies. Put an amateur up against a pro, and you can almost guarantee what will happen. You have to have a gifted, naturally gifted amateur. Bill Clinton is an example, as is Obama. These are naturally gifted amateurs, that beat pros. Mostly because of who the pros picked to run with, and run on.
None of the Republicans are amateurs in the league of Clinton and Obama. I am not leaning on principle or dogma here. Look at them. They are not going to make it. Everyone wants Rubio to be, but he isn't. Good guy, and going to be something as he comes into his own. But, he does not have the "it".
Bernie Sanders, he has the "it" right now. Look, regardless of what you think about his policies, lets face reality. You can win all the corn fields in Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Kansas. You still won't beat New York and either Pennsylvania or Ohio. And, Trump is not going to win any of the corn fields. He is novel, because he is so crazy. Look at the mess he is saying about 9/11. That is going to destroy him in the general, that crazy talk. So is the Hispanic bashing, which is all that it is.
The ability to look at a problem and see a fringe that needs exploiting is a time honored talent of our political class. The Republicans are not recruiting in the SEC for this one. Bashing the fastest growing demographics, threatening to shut down everything if they don't get their way, and promising more tax cuts that are really about the rich, and not being able to figure out what fool is going to be given the Speraker position, yeah, that is not top tier talent. I hope we all remenber enough civics to know that the Speaker is 3rd in line to the Presidency. No, really, look it up.
Making college free, while Donald pays for it, universal health care, stop locking up 25% of the males that live below the poverty line, equal pay for women, a national chairwoman of the party, pissing off the NRA, the only institution more rigidly dogmatic than House Republicans, those are first round draft picks.
It is not a laughing matter. The Dems know that. The Republicans, they have not figured it out. They are still playing in the clown convention. Everyone worries about Biden running out of time...I worry about the reasonable voice of the right that is required to balance and moderate the best progress of this country. That is what is running out of time to get straightened out and flying right.
President Trump, that should terrify and embarass us all. He has exactly the same qualifications as Donald Sterling (the guy that the NBA is going to divorce), all the Walton kids, Jerry Jones and Sheldon Abrams. That is not a qualification, that is an income scale. If you listen to him, it shows. Ineffective and incoherent politics from the reasonable right is damaging to all of us. We should not continue to support it, not even the part of the population that lives in Bernie Sanders' love-in compound.
Ignore it if you think that we can get Mexico to build a wall for us, and pay for it. Ignore it if you think that Putin will be afraid of the combover. Ignore it if you think it is in our best interest to have a robber baron in charge of 1.6 trillion dollars of spending on our most at risk citizens. It is after all, ignore at your own risk. Don't forget, I warned you.
GLYASDI
I have heard it all, but I don't quite understand the way this whole thing is flushing out this time. I mean last time, it was Herman Cain and aint no Romney, cause they aint no way Romney wins. I get the fascination with the fringe candidate, the outspoken idealist that channels frustrations and regrets.
I see the boomlet for Sanders. I see the boomlet for Ben Carson. These are very similar, and predictable around races with top tier candidates that nobody can stand. Honestly, I have no use for Hillary, never have. I don't find her compelling, I don't find her authentic, I don't find her interesting and I don't particularly find her honest. In fact, I am pretty sure it is the opposite.
But, she has punched all the tickets. There is no one in the Republican race that has anything like the governmental pedigree she has...no, John Kasich does. But, no one likes him, he isn't bat crap crazy enough. Hillary has put in the work, had all the titles and managed or bought her way to everything you are "supposed" to do to be viable. Yet, still her most compelling story is that she has girl parts.
With any other leading candidate on the Democratic side, Donald Trump would be the new version of Sarah Palin. But, everyone is so over this estimation that we have to give the Presidency to Hillary, because she has girl parts, they are paying attention to the Donald. It is actually quite terrifying.
Look, if I had a junk bond corporation, I would love to have Donald run it. If I had a bad real estate investment to declare bankrupcy over and walk away richer for it, I would love to have Donald do that again. If I wanted to start a reality TV show about insulting as many kinds of Americans as possible in the shortest period of time, we need the Donald.
To be the custodian and controller of the most powerful military in the world, I just don't see it. "You're FIRED!" takes on a whole new meaning when you are dealing with cruise missiles and ballisic submarines. There used to be a standard of competency that was required, before things got this far. I mean, running Godfather's Pizza was no qualification for the Presidency, and neither is running an Atlantic City casino into the ground. Nor for that matter, is being a neurosurgeon.
I think these are fine occupations. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them. But, I am not sure that we are going to be real happy with a President that has never been in the government. Now, hear me out, I don't think that the government is any great shakes at running anything, but the military. However, it does run a significant portion of the economy. Almost, 49% of spending is in entitlements. Another 18% in military spending is also on the program. That means approximately 25% of the spending is what is driving all this posturing and foolishness.
Donald cannot do anything about Social Security. No one would or should trust him with that program, it looks too much like one of his casino deals already. Donald cannot do anything about health care. It is legal, Supreme Court says so, and all this talk of repeal sounds really good to some, but is not going to happen. It just isn't.
That is the problem, as usual, in our election cycles. We have candidates that pay a lot of money to people that pick out several very small, and ultimately inconsequential, fringe issues, and storm around shouting each other down over them. Like Planned Parenthood. This is about less than .002% of North Carolina's spending for the year. I know the moral implications loom large, and I am not dismissing anyone's moral outrage. But, to shut the government down over this, to suggest that, to forment that, is patently ridiculous, and quite frankly, frightening among reasoning adults.
The government provides services for huge segments of our population, that are most in danger due to disruption. Elderly, impoverished, veterans, special needs, students, these are the main "customers" of the governement. Turning off the money to Grandma, because we want to spit up on each other over negligible money that has been repeatedly held up by the Supreme Court, is just plain wrong.
It is not principled politics. It is not reasonable behavior. It is not feasible. And, yet, we will face another round of this. We will not do the hard work of trying to build cohesion and cooperation to do the heavy lifting required. We ignore the repetitions that make up history. These are not new concerns. This is the same kind of landscape that gave us the Civil War, the World Wars, the Great Depression. No, honestly, I am not kidding. Different arguments, same political climate.
And, oddly, predicated on the same geographical split. Lay the last presidential results over a map of the Confederacy. See if the Red and Blue don't look oddly the same, for the parts of America that were states then. I do not draw some racial distinction, I just point out that there are deep roots of dissension that we have not overcome.
But, the Donald, the Donald is going to drive something. Donald appears to me to be unelectable, but history says stranger things have happened. But, when those strange things happened, they had consequences. But, the first consequence, for all my deeply conservative friends, is in the Democratic party. As long as Trump appears to have a shot at winning, more and more extreme positions will be staked out on the Democratic side. No one believes Trump can win, so that must mean the Hillary is weak.
The further to the left that this pushes Hillary, pushes the outcome of the election. Trump, Carson, Fiorina, they are not going to beat a Democratic candidate. The Dems have professionals running, against a deep pool of amateurs and rookies. Put an amateur up against a pro, and you can almost guarantee what will happen. You have to have a gifted, naturally gifted amateur. Bill Clinton is an example, as is Obama. These are naturally gifted amateurs, that beat pros. Mostly because of who the pros picked to run with, and run on.
None of the Republicans are amateurs in the league of Clinton and Obama. I am not leaning on principle or dogma here. Look at them. They are not going to make it. Everyone wants Rubio to be, but he isn't. Good guy, and going to be something as he comes into his own. But, he does not have the "it".
Bernie Sanders, he has the "it" right now. Look, regardless of what you think about his policies, lets face reality. You can win all the corn fields in Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Kansas. You still won't beat New York and either Pennsylvania or Ohio. And, Trump is not going to win any of the corn fields. He is novel, because he is so crazy. Look at the mess he is saying about 9/11. That is going to destroy him in the general, that crazy talk. So is the Hispanic bashing, which is all that it is.
The ability to look at a problem and see a fringe that needs exploiting is a time honored talent of our political class. The Republicans are not recruiting in the SEC for this one. Bashing the fastest growing demographics, threatening to shut down everything if they don't get their way, and promising more tax cuts that are really about the rich, and not being able to figure out what fool is going to be given the Speraker position, yeah, that is not top tier talent. I hope we all remenber enough civics to know that the Speaker is 3rd in line to the Presidency. No, really, look it up.
Making college free, while Donald pays for it, universal health care, stop locking up 25% of the males that live below the poverty line, equal pay for women, a national chairwoman of the party, pissing off the NRA, the only institution more rigidly dogmatic than House Republicans, those are first round draft picks.
It is not a laughing matter. The Dems know that. The Republicans, they have not figured it out. They are still playing in the clown convention. Everyone worries about Biden running out of time...I worry about the reasonable voice of the right that is required to balance and moderate the best progress of this country. That is what is running out of time to get straightened out and flying right.
President Trump, that should terrify and embarass us all. He has exactly the same qualifications as Donald Sterling (the guy that the NBA is going to divorce), all the Walton kids, Jerry Jones and Sheldon Abrams. That is not a qualification, that is an income scale. If you listen to him, it shows. Ineffective and incoherent politics from the reasonable right is damaging to all of us. We should not continue to support it, not even the part of the population that lives in Bernie Sanders' love-in compound.
Ignore it if you think that we can get Mexico to build a wall for us, and pay for it. Ignore it if you think that Putin will be afraid of the combover. Ignore it if you think it is in our best interest to have a robber baron in charge of 1.6 trillion dollars of spending on our most at risk citizens. It is after all, ignore at your own risk. Don't forget, I warned you.
GLYASDI
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Medical Frustrations
In the interest of full disclosure, I have the highest respect for the medical profession. There is absolutely no substitute for the care of doctors and nurses. I would be blind today, due to the particulars of my condition, if not outright dead of pneumonia, had it not been for the care of many doctors and nurses.
I see a lot of medical professionals. I have several doctors I see all the time. Because of that, I have some things that end up being requirements. I can't have a doctor that I routinely wait 30 or more minutes after my appointment time, just to be seen. I can't have a doctor, where no one returns your calls, until after the third time you call. I can't have a doctor that does not make me comfortable that they know more than me about what is going on inside of me.
But, in terms of care for my family, I have unrealistically high expectations. Most medical professionals are generally good natured about it. I have tried to be a better person over it. But, I will admit to my part of the issue. I am not reasonable about it, in most cases. It is from the right place in my heart, because I want to protect and care for my family.
The latest chapter has been the recent hospitalization, surgery and treatment of my father. I am not sure that he has been cared for at all times, but I think he has received good treatment. That is the face of the issue that is hardest to describe, and most unfair to those that provide health care. There are also those that provide medical treatment. That seems like a repetitive statement, but the outputs are radically different.
Medical care is made up of thought, personal concern and compassion. Medical treatment is the application of procedures, protocols and processes. Medical care comes from the heart. Medical treatment comes from journals and articles. I never want to be treated again, I want to be cared for. I know everyone does. But we don't do enough, on our part, to make it the reality in the norm.
We put up with treatment, because it is uncomfortable to demand care versus treatment. We have come to expect treatment, because the processing plants that our health care facilities have become reinforce it. The bean counters in the administration of the organization demand it. Try to get any one part of the system to talk to the other part of the system. Ask any doctor what any other doctor put in your record, even if you have personally provided copies, and they will not know. You get treatment, which is just response and remediation of the immediately available data. There is no hope of reviewing any previous data or testing, history has become irrelevant.
Care means a relationship between you and the professional. When I was young, 4 or 5, our doctor knew my name, knew me from my brother, knew my mother's name. I knew the nurse's and the tech's names. I was not an appointment, I was a patient. Important word, in other context it means to be calm while waiting for input. In this context, it means being calm, because there is trust in the input that should be coming. We are none of us, patients any more. We are clients.
Because we have given up on the personal relationship in the health care industry, we should not be afraid to act like the clients we are. If you do not get the services you retained an attorney for, you would demand them, or fire the attorney. If you do not get your house listed by the real estate agent you contracted, you would demand it, or fire them. These actions seem alien to us in the health care world.
We cannot believe that a doctor does not care personally. I won't judge you, even mentally, but has it ever struck you that most doctors treat you like you treat homeless people?. When forced to interact with you personally, they are extremely uncomfortable, dispense just enough to get you to go away quickly and compulsively wash their hands as they run from the room you are in. Bet you never noticed before, but will never miss it again.
It is okay to be a client, and not a patient. I gave up on patient. I am only patient when someone else in my family is with me and they are extremely uncomfortable when I handle things as a business transaction. I do not accept ignorance of my history, nor incomplete diagnosis. I demand to know why I am taking tests, before they are performed. I don't leave unless my questions are answered, not the other way around. I do not accept that because it is insurance money, it is not my money. I work extremely hard to pay for that insurance, therefor, I work extremely hard to pay for that care. If I get treatment instead of care, for what I am paying, you best believe it is going to be complete and of equivalent value. That is, after all, my responsibility in a business transaction. If I do not believe I have received adequate value, I don't leave till I do, or I don't pay.
Did you know that you can call your insurance company and tell them that you did not receive adequate care, provide details and help them refuse to pay the claim. And that, if disputed properly, you do not have to pay for inadequate service. As health care becomes a service industry and less a profession, we have to continue to evolve with it.
I have found doctors that care about me, and provide care for me. If you have not, or do not have the option, as in a hospital, be not afraid. Consider it the same thing as any other transaction and demand the performance of service you expect for the value you are paying. Do not allow the facade of expertise and arcane language to concern you. Every facility you go to has a sign hanging somewhere that says they are dedicated to explaining things in understandable language. This includes having the nurse come in and translate if the doctor struggles with English fluency.
Make them explain why they are injecting anything into you. Make them explain how they know it is not hazardous to you. Make them explain what they expect to see in the test results. Make them show you the results. ASK FOR A COPY. Never worry about what they might be thinking. You are paying them, that means they have to worry about what you are thinking.
I hate car dealerships, but as a whole, we are better able to negotiate and protect our interests with a used car salesman than with a nurse or doctor. You shared your information with them, make sure they give their information to you. If they don't, pretend it is just like the cake you ordered for a special occassion. If it pisses you off enough, figure out how not to pay for it.
Oh, and go to rateadoctor.com and tell the world they paid no attention to you, they treated you like a commodity and not a person. Give the fellow behind you fair warning. It works. Especially if you find the right person to tell you are going to do that. It is almost always the Office Manager, or Care Coordinator. That is the real seat of power in the industry. If you find that person, you will suddenly begin to receive care.
Patient advocates, they are also beneficial partners in gaining care, especially for a loved one. There are requirements to report details and names, when you get the patient advocate involved. They will try to bring five other people to you first, to resolove the situation. But, I suggest you stick to your guns and speak to the advocate. That is the only way to ensure that the event becomes visible to the bean counters. As this is now a service industry, the bean counters are the real power and the real motivation. That is how you make doctors and nurses modify their behavior or find a new home.
It is not out of malice that I suggest this. They have families and lives and issues, just like me. I have compassion for that. I did not make the rules of this engagement, but I guarantee that if those are the rules, I am able to play that out better than they are. I have been doing that in every other part of my life since I was 17. The medical world, this is all new and strange to them.
This is not about good and bad people. This is not even about their desires or wants, as professionals. This is about what they have made the system into, and having to live within the world they created. I don't worry if the waitress is going to be mad or think I am difficult, if they bring me the wrong meal. I don't worry if the sales clerk thinks I am whining if I bring back something that was broken in the box. We, as a nation, have to understand that is how it is in the medical world now. These are good people, who have made rules they do not understand themselves.
I think the rules are unsustainable, because there is nothing being done to train and equip these professionals to deal with their new reality. That is your tactical advantage. Don't make it personal, because they are not. Really, "they" the organization is not taking you personally at all. The individuals may, and those are who I look for. But, the business, it does not care, you are just another number. Best we all realize that up front and change our expectations and our process.
If we don't, we kind of deserve what happens to us as a whole. And, we are stuck with it, at any rate. Might as well make it work as well as you can.
GLYASDI.
Because we have given up on the personal relationship in the health care industry, we should not be afraid to act like the clients we are. If you do not get the services you retained an attorney for, you would demand them, or fire the attorney. If you do not get your house listed by the real estate agent you contracted, you would demand it, or fire them. These actions seem alien to us in the health care world.
We cannot believe that a doctor does not care personally. I won't judge you, even mentally, but has it ever struck you that most doctors treat you like you treat homeless people?. When forced to interact with you personally, they are extremely uncomfortable, dispense just enough to get you to go away quickly and compulsively wash their hands as they run from the room you are in. Bet you never noticed before, but will never miss it again.
It is okay to be a client, and not a patient. I gave up on patient. I am only patient when someone else in my family is with me and they are extremely uncomfortable when I handle things as a business transaction. I do not accept ignorance of my history, nor incomplete diagnosis. I demand to know why I am taking tests, before they are performed. I don't leave unless my questions are answered, not the other way around. I do not accept that because it is insurance money, it is not my money. I work extremely hard to pay for that insurance, therefor, I work extremely hard to pay for that care. If I get treatment instead of care, for what I am paying, you best believe it is going to be complete and of equivalent value. That is, after all, my responsibility in a business transaction. If I do not believe I have received adequate value, I don't leave till I do, or I don't pay.
Did you know that you can call your insurance company and tell them that you did not receive adequate care, provide details and help them refuse to pay the claim. And that, if disputed properly, you do not have to pay for inadequate service. As health care becomes a service industry and less a profession, we have to continue to evolve with it.
I have found doctors that care about me, and provide care for me. If you have not, or do not have the option, as in a hospital, be not afraid. Consider it the same thing as any other transaction and demand the performance of service you expect for the value you are paying. Do not allow the facade of expertise and arcane language to concern you. Every facility you go to has a sign hanging somewhere that says they are dedicated to explaining things in understandable language. This includes having the nurse come in and translate if the doctor struggles with English fluency.
Make them explain why they are injecting anything into you. Make them explain how they know it is not hazardous to you. Make them explain what they expect to see in the test results. Make them show you the results. ASK FOR A COPY. Never worry about what they might be thinking. You are paying them, that means they have to worry about what you are thinking.
I hate car dealerships, but as a whole, we are better able to negotiate and protect our interests with a used car salesman than with a nurse or doctor. You shared your information with them, make sure they give their information to you. If they don't, pretend it is just like the cake you ordered for a special occassion. If it pisses you off enough, figure out how not to pay for it.
Oh, and go to rateadoctor.com and tell the world they paid no attention to you, they treated you like a commodity and not a person. Give the fellow behind you fair warning. It works. Especially if you find the right person to tell you are going to do that. It is almost always the Office Manager, or Care Coordinator. That is the real seat of power in the industry. If you find that person, you will suddenly begin to receive care.
Patient advocates, they are also beneficial partners in gaining care, especially for a loved one. There are requirements to report details and names, when you get the patient advocate involved. They will try to bring five other people to you first, to resolove the situation. But, I suggest you stick to your guns and speak to the advocate. That is the only way to ensure that the event becomes visible to the bean counters. As this is now a service industry, the bean counters are the real power and the real motivation. That is how you make doctors and nurses modify their behavior or find a new home.
It is not out of malice that I suggest this. They have families and lives and issues, just like me. I have compassion for that. I did not make the rules of this engagement, but I guarantee that if those are the rules, I am able to play that out better than they are. I have been doing that in every other part of my life since I was 17. The medical world, this is all new and strange to them.
This is not about good and bad people. This is not even about their desires or wants, as professionals. This is about what they have made the system into, and having to live within the world they created. I don't worry if the waitress is going to be mad or think I am difficult, if they bring me the wrong meal. I don't worry if the sales clerk thinks I am whining if I bring back something that was broken in the box. We, as a nation, have to understand that is how it is in the medical world now. These are good people, who have made rules they do not understand themselves.
I think the rules are unsustainable, because there is nothing being done to train and equip these professionals to deal with their new reality. That is your tactical advantage. Don't make it personal, because they are not. Really, "they" the organization is not taking you personally at all. The individuals may, and those are who I look for. But, the business, it does not care, you are just another number. Best we all realize that up front and change our expectations and our process.
If we don't, we kind of deserve what happens to us as a whole. And, we are stuck with it, at any rate. Might as well make it work as well as you can.
GLYASDI.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Men of honor
I have had the privilege to know several Silver and Bronze Star recipients. I have met Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. I have known several Navy Cross recipients. In all these highly decorated men, (and I am sure women too, though I have not had the privilege of knowing female recipients) I have never met a braggard, or a buffoon, or a dishonest man.
I am sure that there are. No sample of people is devoid of bad people. It is either too small a sample to be statistically significant, or it contains a number of bad people. So, just because someone has a medal for valor, it does not mean that I assume they are immediately saints.
My personal experience is that these are uniformly good people. Some were flawed, none were perfect, but my experience is that they were uniformly good. And, I think that perhaps we would find that as a subset of the total American population, there is no better pool than those citizens decorated for valor on the battlefield.
It stands to reason, if you understand what typically, at least since WWI, is required to be awarded a decoration for valor. This is not an award for popularity, nor is it a gimme. An investigation into the facts of the matter occurs. Multiple levels of the chain of command must all agree and sign off on approval for the decoration. And the particulars are generally in the realm of the nearly unbelievable.
Most decorations involve similar themes. They all indicate exposure to deadly hazard throughout the incident cited. They all indicate a disregard for personal safety. They all indicate a driving and unstoppable will. They usually indicate the annotation that injuries were received in the course of the actions, and ignored while more feats of bravery and valor were accomplished.
Given that, it is much more likely that a man or woman that is willing to behave as described above, is at heart a genuinely good person. It is hard to behave in the fashion described in times of ultimate stress and chaos, and behave oppositely at any time of less stress. A person who is not basically good at heart does not dive on top of a live grenade to protect the platoon. A person that is at heart selfish or self centered, does not charge, alone, at a machine gun nest to protect the platoon. A person who is not basically worthwhile, does not enter a burning engine room, not once, not twice, but three times to extract shipmates that were trapped, and die on the fourth attempt.
The reason we know so few, any one of us, is that far too frequently, the actions found worthy of citation as valorous are deadly. One does not win a decoration for valor, one receives it, and generally posthumously. The citations, the write up that describes the behavior, will make you weep that you did not get to know the man or woman, that died so bravely.
If they are not killed, almost all are severely wounded. They then routinely read that they refused medical care, while they continue to engage and combat the enemy. It really does work that way. "I am fine, but that guy over there needs help." Then they run off, tossing grenades, using captured enemy weapons because they exhausted their own ammunition. That sort of stuff.
And, it is not like the movies. In the movies, there is that quiet moment, chaos flowing all around the hero, where there is this compelling sense that the hero knows they are doomed, and it is okay. No, these folks do not know they are doomed, do not recognize that they are behaving out of the normal. They are so focused on the need of the mission at hand, they disregard every other priority.
If you have never, I highly recommend that you search and read Medal of Honor or Navy Cross citations. In them, you get the true essence of why America is great, and why we have been so successful in arms. Good people. They deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Yeah, the Jim Webb thing started me off tonight. But, he is a capable man, well equipped to handle his own issues. But, there are folks all around you, that don't know. Don't let them ever question the patriotism of these heroes. And, whether they be Presidential candidates, or homeless and alone, they have earned your respect and concern.
Oh, and they almost all swear they are not the hero. The heroes are those that did not make it home. They cry over their lost comrades and friends. Those tears, they are worth more than all the gold in Fort Knox. If you ask me, what is the magic that keeps making America work, I would tell you, it is those tears, and the men who shed them.
GLYASDI
I am sure that there are. No sample of people is devoid of bad people. It is either too small a sample to be statistically significant, or it contains a number of bad people. So, just because someone has a medal for valor, it does not mean that I assume they are immediately saints.
My personal experience is that these are uniformly good people. Some were flawed, none were perfect, but my experience is that they were uniformly good. And, I think that perhaps we would find that as a subset of the total American population, there is no better pool than those citizens decorated for valor on the battlefield.
It stands to reason, if you understand what typically, at least since WWI, is required to be awarded a decoration for valor. This is not an award for popularity, nor is it a gimme. An investigation into the facts of the matter occurs. Multiple levels of the chain of command must all agree and sign off on approval for the decoration. And the particulars are generally in the realm of the nearly unbelievable.
Most decorations involve similar themes. They all indicate exposure to deadly hazard throughout the incident cited. They all indicate a disregard for personal safety. They all indicate a driving and unstoppable will. They usually indicate the annotation that injuries were received in the course of the actions, and ignored while more feats of bravery and valor were accomplished.
Given that, it is much more likely that a man or woman that is willing to behave as described above, is at heart a genuinely good person. It is hard to behave in the fashion described in times of ultimate stress and chaos, and behave oppositely at any time of less stress. A person who is not basically good at heart does not dive on top of a live grenade to protect the platoon. A person that is at heart selfish or self centered, does not charge, alone, at a machine gun nest to protect the platoon. A person who is not basically worthwhile, does not enter a burning engine room, not once, not twice, but three times to extract shipmates that were trapped, and die on the fourth attempt.
The reason we know so few, any one of us, is that far too frequently, the actions found worthy of citation as valorous are deadly. One does not win a decoration for valor, one receives it, and generally posthumously. The citations, the write up that describes the behavior, will make you weep that you did not get to know the man or woman, that died so bravely.
If they are not killed, almost all are severely wounded. They then routinely read that they refused medical care, while they continue to engage and combat the enemy. It really does work that way. "I am fine, but that guy over there needs help." Then they run off, tossing grenades, using captured enemy weapons because they exhausted their own ammunition. That sort of stuff.
And, it is not like the movies. In the movies, there is that quiet moment, chaos flowing all around the hero, where there is this compelling sense that the hero knows they are doomed, and it is okay. No, these folks do not know they are doomed, do not recognize that they are behaving out of the normal. They are so focused on the need of the mission at hand, they disregard every other priority.
If you have never, I highly recommend that you search and read Medal of Honor or Navy Cross citations. In them, you get the true essence of why America is great, and why we have been so successful in arms. Good people. They deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Yeah, the Jim Webb thing started me off tonight. But, he is a capable man, well equipped to handle his own issues. But, there are folks all around you, that don't know. Don't let them ever question the patriotism of these heroes. And, whether they be Presidential candidates, or homeless and alone, they have earned your respect and concern.
Oh, and they almost all swear they are not the hero. The heroes are those that did not make it home. They cry over their lost comrades and friends. Those tears, they are worth more than all the gold in Fort Knox. If you ask me, what is the magic that keeps making America work, I would tell you, it is those tears, and the men who shed them.
GLYASDI
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
The word and the Word
I hate the word. It has stolen more time from my family and my loved ones than I can express. It has stolen them away from us, and left us with holes in our lives, and just memories.
It is so evil, the word, that when it steals those we love away, it tortures and racks them. We get no relief or rest from the word, given the damage and drain and waste it wreaks on them. Those images, those memories forever taint all the other memories.
We often feel guilty, should we have done something sooner, should we have asked more questions, should we have insisted on different directions. We often feel responsible, as if we had only done that one thing, if we had only made or not made that one decision.
We feel powerless. The word is relentless, tireless and remorseless. It attacks and attacks and attacks. The pain and discomfort are continual byproducts that we are incapable of preventing. The "medicine" for the word is literally poison. Even the professionals cannot bring themselves to call it medicine, they refer to it as the "program" or the "treatment". You must hurt and damage the whole, to fight the word.
Power, wealth, status, prestige, none of that has any bearing on the word. Nothing in this world is effective at completely preventing the word. The word exists, as a byproduct of genetics, a byproduct of environment, and/or a byproduct of exposure. Nothing tells you what exactly will bring the word into being, no one knows. There is just loose causal indicators, and observational data expressed in percents and statistics.
People were not meant to be percents and statistics. People were meant to flourish, to live complete lives of unbridled potential. People were not meant to require "programs", "treatments", or worst of all, protocols. People were meant to connect and to emote and to interact. People were meant to look each other in the eye, to focus on each other. The word almost cannot be communicated directly. None of us seems to have the power to maintain connection and communicate the word.
The word is an evil. The word is an enemy. The word is a product of the Enemy. The word is totally contained within our physical being. The word cannot exist outside of us, its host. The word is a parasite, a terrible, deadly, evil parasite.
But, that means the word is corporal. The word is solely contained to this world, this existence. The word is not eternal, and can never be eternal. The word is darkness and corruption, and can never exist in light and perfection. The word's days are numbered, and have been from its inception. The word is a temporary, terrible, but powerless tool of the Enemy to impact our eternal and forever soul. The essential part of us that is the image of God, it can never experience the word. It can never be infected, and it is our complete defense against the word.
I hate the word. It has caused an unimaginable amount of pain throughout my life, and throughout my family. It is unwelcome, it is unwarranted, yet it is undeniable. There is nothing to do, in combatting the word, other than to go to the source of the eternal. The word is only defeated by the forces of the eternal condemning it to this life and this journey. The word will never travel the next phase of our walk with us. It is wholly and completely defeated, as are all corporal problems, by the light of God within our souls.
I know much about the "treatment" of the word. I have vast experience in its symptoms, its effects and its corruption. I have prayed over it, and prayed about it, and prayed through it, and prayed to understand why it was allowed to defeat me again. But, I will NOT give up. I will not quit, and I will not shirk from facing it, from hating it, from fighting it, from forbidding it to have any power or hold over the essence of me.
Tonight, not only does Eric face this battle with the word with his own family, but I learned that I face the word again in my family. I have another member of the family fighting the word, which means I am again fighting the word. And the weapon I choose, the strategy I will take is to use the Word, the Way, the Truth, the Light.
When you face the word, use the Word, rely on the Word, live within the Word, and trust the Word.
To the word, to cancer, I say the Word. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth do change," The earth, the word, cancer, do change. The Word, it has not, does not and shall not.
Pray for Daddy as he faces cancer the fourth time. Pray for Jerri as she battles cancer. Pray for us all, as we fight in support of them. Do not give up. Do not fear. Do not be discouraged. "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."
We will praise God again. We will have salvation. We are saved. It is already done. Cancer is done. We have only to go through it, without allowing our soul to lose faith and trust in God. We will prevail.
"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"
GLYASDI
It is so evil, the word, that when it steals those we love away, it tortures and racks them. We get no relief or rest from the word, given the damage and drain and waste it wreaks on them. Those images, those memories forever taint all the other memories.
We often feel guilty, should we have done something sooner, should we have asked more questions, should we have insisted on different directions. We often feel responsible, as if we had only done that one thing, if we had only made or not made that one decision.
We feel powerless. The word is relentless, tireless and remorseless. It attacks and attacks and attacks. The pain and discomfort are continual byproducts that we are incapable of preventing. The "medicine" for the word is literally poison. Even the professionals cannot bring themselves to call it medicine, they refer to it as the "program" or the "treatment". You must hurt and damage the whole, to fight the word.
Power, wealth, status, prestige, none of that has any bearing on the word. Nothing in this world is effective at completely preventing the word. The word exists, as a byproduct of genetics, a byproduct of environment, and/or a byproduct of exposure. Nothing tells you what exactly will bring the word into being, no one knows. There is just loose causal indicators, and observational data expressed in percents and statistics.
People were not meant to be percents and statistics. People were meant to flourish, to live complete lives of unbridled potential. People were not meant to require "programs", "treatments", or worst of all, protocols. People were meant to connect and to emote and to interact. People were meant to look each other in the eye, to focus on each other. The word almost cannot be communicated directly. None of us seems to have the power to maintain connection and communicate the word.
The word is an evil. The word is an enemy. The word is a product of the Enemy. The word is totally contained within our physical being. The word cannot exist outside of us, its host. The word is a parasite, a terrible, deadly, evil parasite.
But, that means the word is corporal. The word is solely contained to this world, this existence. The word is not eternal, and can never be eternal. The word is darkness and corruption, and can never exist in light and perfection. The word's days are numbered, and have been from its inception. The word is a temporary, terrible, but powerless tool of the Enemy to impact our eternal and forever soul. The essential part of us that is the image of God, it can never experience the word. It can never be infected, and it is our complete defense against the word.
I hate the word. It has caused an unimaginable amount of pain throughout my life, and throughout my family. It is unwelcome, it is unwarranted, yet it is undeniable. There is nothing to do, in combatting the word, other than to go to the source of the eternal. The word is only defeated by the forces of the eternal condemning it to this life and this journey. The word will never travel the next phase of our walk with us. It is wholly and completely defeated, as are all corporal problems, by the light of God within our souls.
I know much about the "treatment" of the word. I have vast experience in its symptoms, its effects and its corruption. I have prayed over it, and prayed about it, and prayed through it, and prayed to understand why it was allowed to defeat me again. But, I will NOT give up. I will not quit, and I will not shirk from facing it, from hating it, from fighting it, from forbidding it to have any power or hold over the essence of me.
Tonight, not only does Eric face this battle with the word with his own family, but I learned that I face the word again in my family. I have another member of the family fighting the word, which means I am again fighting the word. And the weapon I choose, the strategy I will take is to use the Word, the Way, the Truth, the Light.
When you face the word, use the Word, rely on the Word, live within the Word, and trust the Word.
To the word, to cancer, I say the Word. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth do change," The earth, the word, cancer, do change. The Word, it has not, does not and shall not.
Pray for Daddy as he faces cancer the fourth time. Pray for Jerri as she battles cancer. Pray for us all, as we fight in support of them. Do not give up. Do not fear. Do not be discouraged. "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."
We will praise God again. We will have salvation. We are saved. It is already done. Cancer is done. We have only to go through it, without allowing our soul to lose faith and trust in God. We will prevail.
"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"
GLYASDI
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Dem Debate
So, tonight, is the Dem debate. I expect that Bernie Sanders will do very well. The man is a fireball, and the exact opposite of Hillary. I don't agree with a whole lot of stuff he says, but I do with some of it. Yeah, go figure. I think college education should be affordable, that schools should be good, that people should have access to affordable health care, and that those things do not come outside of government.
Government is supposed to be there, it is codified in the Constitution. That document that says we can all have guns, and worship as we please, and publish radical ideas like these, that document defines, describes, empowers, enlightens and ensures the establishment of the central government of this nation. It prescribes powers to the branches of the government. These powers are supposed to be held in checks and balances, to prevent one branch from exercising control beyond its merit. But, they are powers, this is real.
This election will be about the role of government. Trust me, right now, we are all about flip flopping, trust, blah, blah, blah. But, this election is either going to elect a person that constrains and constricts the government, creating greater and greater wealth in the already wealthy, while stagnating the wealth of all the rest of the populace, or a person that blooms the government and constrains the wealth of the wealthiest, while increasing the wealth of the rest of the populace.
What do I mean? Simple. And, follow along, I am not describing Democrats and Republicans. Candidates from either party are equally capable of being either of the Presidents described. This is not parties, this is reality.
We have bridges collapsing. We have rail lines deteriorating. We have inadequate power grids. We have inadequate delivery systems for commodities inside the country. We have a work force that is becoming increasingly dumb. We have a populace that is aging. We have a savings system that is non-existent. We have a job market that is not robust. We have an overpriced, inefficient health care system. We have a failed veterans network of care. We are not creating energy sectors, but doubling down on an energy commodity that is all too finite.
We are missing the window. We are doing it because of a lack of vision, because of a lack of courage and because of a lack of empathy. Vision is lost, when it is acceptable to be an elected official, and consider it a victory to make sure nothing gets done. Courage is not in voting/vetoing to make a statement, it is in doing it to make a difference. Empathy is completely absent, when the VA is continually allowed to be what it is, and we have 20% child hunger in at risk homes.
Does it cost money to do these things? Are any of these things going to energize every base of support? Is there any spine left in any of our government officials.
Roads, they cost money, and you can't make Mexico pay for it. Electric grid instability, antiquated sewer lines, inadequate water supply, decimated military structures, burgeoning elder care costs, education pricing out of even middle class house holds, continuing failure of public services, these are the things we all see.
Yet, we all look for the candidate that promises to fix it, and spend less. We have been listening to the spend less lie, and big government lie since the 90's and continue to fall behind the curve we need to be on, to revitalize and maintain our entire economy. We have spent foolishly, but that is over. Nothing can be done to recover it now. But, to make that the reason we cannot build roads, hospitals, energy plants, educate a work force, and contrive outcry over the most egregious outliers on both sides of the debate, to forestall any progress, just makes the price tag go up.
That is the lie we are being told. No one, regardless of party, can go to Washington, in any capacity, and spend less and keep this country from crumbling underneath us. We need to spend differently, reprioritize, reorder, reconsider, compare, contrast, and worst of all, compromise to make it happen. We may not be able to make the Caucus of Dorks happy all the way, and Berkenstock Caucus happy all the way at the same time. But doing nothing just makes all of us unhappy all the time, and still does not forestall the spending.
Try to not focus on the lie, and focus on finding a candidate that is willing to take 80% of the total right thing, and keep moving forward, instead of clinging to the myth of 100%. I have tried to avoid names here, but I mention one, Ted Cruz. He is cheered for the attitude that it is okay, in fact valued, to be obstinately rigid in public policy, and place the security, good credit and influence of the nation in jeapordy.
We have had these men and women in our system since exception. We don't remember Garfield, consensus worst President we have ever had, he basically oversaw the start of the Civil War. Lincoln's election created movement but Garfield refused to act in any way to forestall the issues (Ted Cruz) and we paid the price for it over 640,000 times.
Don't focus on the lie that Fox and CNN feed you, that you have to promise the moon while squeezing the nickel. Focus on the ideas that sound good, the proposals that impact you, your situation. Ignore the money, demand the substance. Then allow them to do it.
Nothing is free, and the Constitution doesn't allow us to have no government. It is a ridiculous world, on both sides of the aisle, and a deadly cycle we need to break. Just food for thought. We need to think about this election really hard. We need to set a path forward, and soon. Look for a leader, and then follow. It is important.
GLYASDI
Monday, October 12, 2015
Connect the disconnection
Random thoughts of disconnected things. We'll see how I do tying it together.
First, I don't like the Dodgers, nor the Mets. I have no stake in that series either way. But, Chase Utley was not being a dirty player. I am not a professional athlete. But, I am a baseball player. I played middle infield and third base. I was not a gifted athlete, but I was a gifted learner.
Let's just cover a couple of things real quick, for all the commentary floating out there by people that have experienced, at most, watching baseball. First, it is Tejeda's fault. I am sorry his leg is broke, I certainly wish it was not. But, even at 9 I knew not to plant my foot with my back to the runner on the basepath. You better know he is coming down that line and going for your legs. You better know not to plant, that late in the play, with Utley's speed. Tejeda has no protection, has the runner too close, and was not going to make that double. He just was not.
Second, Utley did what every base runner is taught from tee ball on. You get your body in the center of gravity of the fielder. He/she will not be able to throw if you disrupt their center of gravity. Get them to dive, jump, or just knock their butt down. That is hard, fundamental baseball. Of course Utley was not sliding to prevent being out. He did not slide late, he slid exactly on time to get his hand on the bag, his mass directly under Tejeda's center of gravity, and not spike him. I would have probably given him the spikes in the legs.
I had enough of them in my legs playing short. I learned about not turning your back to the runner, playing second, the hard way. I learned about not planting your foot in the midst of a double play, when a squirrelly little fart cartwheeled me like a pinwheel. The only reason I did not break my leg was because I was still young enough that I was mostly made of rubber bands.
We have forgotten a lot of things about what made sports great. Like winning being important, but not more important than integrity. Next topic, some high school in Utah, the football coach suspended the entire team because there were players bullying other students, skipping class, and just acting the fool. Again, this is old man rant material, but what I could not believe was the response. I literally grieve for our nation.
There were men claiming that it is unfair to the kids that were not acting the fool. Who honestly thinks that there were any of those kids, "not being bad", that did not know exactly what was going on with the rest of those kids? It has been a while, but I remember high school. Everyone knew who was doing what. That cannot have changed, and good on a coach for having had enough. Judging from the crying and snivelling, this coach is obviously laboring with some poor candidates for athletes.
Parents, sadly, claim this is no way to treat the part of the team that wasn't being bad. I swear, there is going to be a movement that declares that every team wins, regardless of the score, because some of the kids are just hurt to lose. It ought to hurt to lose, it ought to hurt you like a deadly disease. That is how you know you don't want to do it anymore. That is how you know you want to work harder, want to try harder, want to want it more and more. That is the whole point. Losing sucks, it just sucks, that is the whole point.
Losing hurt me, every time it ever has happened to me. I despise it. But, it did not damage me. It built character, perseverance, determination, dedication. I still hate it, still cannot stand to do it. But, it happens, and I respect those that beat me, because I surely did not give it to them. But, if you can't do it with character and can't get the kids to understand that character is more important than the game, then turn it all off. That is what the coach, the adult, the mentor, the teacher, is supposed to do.
This coach took a stand that the quality of the character of his players was much more important than their performance on the field, their record, or their short term feelings. God bless that man, and I wish they made him talk to every professional football team. Every fool that jumps up after making an 11 yard catch and does some stupid celebration dance ought to have to go apologize to this Utah coach and give him 25. Have some class, some character, do your work, work your team and be an athlete, not just an athletic thug.
Oh, and most discouraging, there were the arguments about how this was supposed to be the highlight of some of these kids lives. What kind of retarded and worthless town is this in Utah. Sports are fun, good for the mind and body, but they are not highlights. Holding my newborns, highlight. Kissing my wife when she said I do, highlight. Watching my grandmother pass with peace and dignity, sad but highlight. None of those had anything to do with sports, but were influenced by lessons I learned there.
So, connection time, Chase Utley, playing hard, doing what he is expected to do, is unlucky in that a player with way more skill and experience than should be needed, did not play the ball right. Tejeda got the unlucky break, but because of where he was. The response is ridiculous. We suspend a guy that was playing hard, heads up ball, because we are afraid to admit the guy that got hurt should have known better. That is our response all around.
However, if you set the whole team down for being buttholes, and not outing their butthole brothers, you are the villain. So, when they are actually jacking it up six ways to Sunday, the apologist, ribbon for 6th place crowd has a fit. Hard charging guy on the dirt that belongs to the runner gets suspended for playing like it has been played for 100 years, same crowd cries from the other direction.
Ask my kids, they have never won any contest against me, that they did not earn. Scrabble, checkers, Trivial Pursuit, baseball, whatever, I played to win. When they did finally beat me, which they have, it meant something to them. They got to talk a little smack. There was value in the contest. Not because the contest was consequential, but because they played it the way it was intended and earned it. Chase Utley wasn't dirty, he was earning it. The Utah coach, wasn't mean, he was teaching it.
What broke my heart is how few people see the world that way anymore. Since the American Revolution, we have won, and won, and won, and won. Now, we just want to participate. Why are the jobs going to China...ever watched the Chinese at the Olympics? Athleticism is important, wanting it is more important. There are no small lessons in life, only people that try to make them small, because they don't have the fortitude to stand up to big lessons. I love Jesus, and all the rest of my fellow man on this Earth, but that don't stop me from wanting to play hard, play like I was taught, give it my all, and come home with the win.
That is what is changing. GLYASDI.
First, I don't like the Dodgers, nor the Mets. I have no stake in that series either way. But, Chase Utley was not being a dirty player. I am not a professional athlete. But, I am a baseball player. I played middle infield and third base. I was not a gifted athlete, but I was a gifted learner.
Let's just cover a couple of things real quick, for all the commentary floating out there by people that have experienced, at most, watching baseball. First, it is Tejeda's fault. I am sorry his leg is broke, I certainly wish it was not. But, even at 9 I knew not to plant my foot with my back to the runner on the basepath. You better know he is coming down that line and going for your legs. You better know not to plant, that late in the play, with Utley's speed. Tejeda has no protection, has the runner too close, and was not going to make that double. He just was not.
Second, Utley did what every base runner is taught from tee ball on. You get your body in the center of gravity of the fielder. He/she will not be able to throw if you disrupt their center of gravity. Get them to dive, jump, or just knock their butt down. That is hard, fundamental baseball. Of course Utley was not sliding to prevent being out. He did not slide late, he slid exactly on time to get his hand on the bag, his mass directly under Tejeda's center of gravity, and not spike him. I would have probably given him the spikes in the legs.
I had enough of them in my legs playing short. I learned about not turning your back to the runner, playing second, the hard way. I learned about not planting your foot in the midst of a double play, when a squirrelly little fart cartwheeled me like a pinwheel. The only reason I did not break my leg was because I was still young enough that I was mostly made of rubber bands.
We have forgotten a lot of things about what made sports great. Like winning being important, but not more important than integrity. Next topic, some high school in Utah, the football coach suspended the entire team because there were players bullying other students, skipping class, and just acting the fool. Again, this is old man rant material, but what I could not believe was the response. I literally grieve for our nation.
There were men claiming that it is unfair to the kids that were not acting the fool. Who honestly thinks that there were any of those kids, "not being bad", that did not know exactly what was going on with the rest of those kids? It has been a while, but I remember high school. Everyone knew who was doing what. That cannot have changed, and good on a coach for having had enough. Judging from the crying and snivelling, this coach is obviously laboring with some poor candidates for athletes.
Parents, sadly, claim this is no way to treat the part of the team that wasn't being bad. I swear, there is going to be a movement that declares that every team wins, regardless of the score, because some of the kids are just hurt to lose. It ought to hurt to lose, it ought to hurt you like a deadly disease. That is how you know you don't want to do it anymore. That is how you know you want to work harder, want to try harder, want to want it more and more. That is the whole point. Losing sucks, it just sucks, that is the whole point.
Losing hurt me, every time it ever has happened to me. I despise it. But, it did not damage me. It built character, perseverance, determination, dedication. I still hate it, still cannot stand to do it. But, it happens, and I respect those that beat me, because I surely did not give it to them. But, if you can't do it with character and can't get the kids to understand that character is more important than the game, then turn it all off. That is what the coach, the adult, the mentor, the teacher, is supposed to do.
This coach took a stand that the quality of the character of his players was much more important than their performance on the field, their record, or their short term feelings. God bless that man, and I wish they made him talk to every professional football team. Every fool that jumps up after making an 11 yard catch and does some stupid celebration dance ought to have to go apologize to this Utah coach and give him 25. Have some class, some character, do your work, work your team and be an athlete, not just an athletic thug.
Oh, and most discouraging, there were the arguments about how this was supposed to be the highlight of some of these kids lives. What kind of retarded and worthless town is this in Utah. Sports are fun, good for the mind and body, but they are not highlights. Holding my newborns, highlight. Kissing my wife when she said I do, highlight. Watching my grandmother pass with peace and dignity, sad but highlight. None of those had anything to do with sports, but were influenced by lessons I learned there.
So, connection time, Chase Utley, playing hard, doing what he is expected to do, is unlucky in that a player with way more skill and experience than should be needed, did not play the ball right. Tejeda got the unlucky break, but because of where he was. The response is ridiculous. We suspend a guy that was playing hard, heads up ball, because we are afraid to admit the guy that got hurt should have known better. That is our response all around.
However, if you set the whole team down for being buttholes, and not outing their butthole brothers, you are the villain. So, when they are actually jacking it up six ways to Sunday, the apologist, ribbon for 6th place crowd has a fit. Hard charging guy on the dirt that belongs to the runner gets suspended for playing like it has been played for 100 years, same crowd cries from the other direction.
Ask my kids, they have never won any contest against me, that they did not earn. Scrabble, checkers, Trivial Pursuit, baseball, whatever, I played to win. When they did finally beat me, which they have, it meant something to them. They got to talk a little smack. There was value in the contest. Not because the contest was consequential, but because they played it the way it was intended and earned it. Chase Utley wasn't dirty, he was earning it. The Utah coach, wasn't mean, he was teaching it.
What broke my heart is how few people see the world that way anymore. Since the American Revolution, we have won, and won, and won, and won. Now, we just want to participate. Why are the jobs going to China...ever watched the Chinese at the Olympics? Athleticism is important, wanting it is more important. There are no small lessons in life, only people that try to make them small, because they don't have the fortitude to stand up to big lessons. I love Jesus, and all the rest of my fellow man on this Earth, but that don't stop me from wanting to play hard, play like I was taught, give it my all, and come home with the win.
That is what is changing. GLYASDI.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
First in line
So, I started a new Facebook page, Joe Hill Jr, for just me. And we are doing great, she was just tired of wading through pictures of old Navy ships and indecipherable Navy posts. I was really not interested in the Lilly Condren or Erin Pullitizer stuff either. It just had gotten confusing, and we were both hard pressed to keep up with what we wanted to keep up with.
Having done that, figured I would start a new blog. Hopefully, shorter and more direct, and more regular. I promise there will be really long, long ones, it just sometimes has to be. But, I am also going to try to edit a bit more significantly.
Topics will continue to be mostly old man rants, things that just strike me wrong, things that I wished we did more of or more often, and things that none of us should ignore. It is mostly a chance for me to get it straight in my head, because my process requires writing it out. That is if I ever get it figured out.
I always welcome comment, just leave out the obscene stuff. You can and hopefully will sometimes disagree with me, just leave out the Fbombs and we will debate away. I usually win, but give it a shot, you never know. Just kidding, I always win. LOL.
Tonight, it is going to be about me. I guess, since it is my blog, and I am sharing my thoughts, it probably always will be about me...confusing, never mind. There are posts that are me, my thoughts, and then posts about me.
Bio stuff, for a new blog, though not new to most that will see this. I am nearly 48. We have 4 adult children, all successfully living their own lives, in their own homes, on their own terms. We could not be prouder of the 4 that belong to us, nor the 4 that belong to them. We have a furbaby, as we are not yet gifted with grandchildren. I estimate that Tuff, our Chihuahua is the most spoiled dog in North Carolina, potentially America.
I am in great shape for all the things wrong with me. That applies equally to us all. I have some chronic health things that I routinely deal with, however, it does not keep us from enjoying the things we want to do. Mostly, that involves our camper at the beach, seeing family and being together. Oh, and I work at a job that I love.
But, that is not newsworthy. Here is the newsworthy part of the night, and the reason I am kind of taking on a new blog. I have finally set up my baptism for November 22nd. Yes, I was baptized in the Catholic Church as an infant. I do not have a personal hangup with infant baptism, I know the verses used to defend it, and to condemn it. In the grand scheme of my dogmatic dilemnas, this one does not register for me.
My new church, C3, here in Clayton, however, recognizes adult baptism. Fairly certain that they would happily allow me to continue on as a member of the congregation, even if I did not do this. But, there is a point to making a commitment and committing to the making. I am and I told them I was, and that means something.
I also told the family and friends, at the time, that I would let everyone know when it was happening. I would love to share it with you all. We would love for you to be there, to share in the experience with us, and to see and enjoy the church family we have found. I will warn you up front, it is kind of a high energy service, not quite the church scene from the Blues Brothers, but it gets close.
We will post all the information on Facebook, and the dates. We are happy to see any and everyone come. It is a great worship service. And, it is a great group of people. At least for us, it has filled a void of significant need in our lives.
When the lady at church asked me why I did not want to do it right away, I told her that I wanted to at least give some of the family a chance to get together for it. Right now, we are all seeing one another around visiting my father in the hospital, as he fights a pretty significant health issue. Even if they can't attend, then at least it is a good news event to think and talk about.
I have found that the only thing that defeats IFS (Illness Fatigue Syndrome, a proprietary term I developed on my own through much more study than any man should have to go through), is to be mindful of and communicate good news. So this will be some good news to share.
Daddy is going to be okay, we have faith, and good indicators so far. It is hard to explain just how tough Joe Beans is, but he is already a 3 time cancer survivor. And, he is a hero to all the men in our family. That Jr. that goes with my name is probably my prize possession.
So, as we become full members of this new congregation, and build our lives within that church family, we hope as many as possible can attend and be part of the day for us. Nothing more required.
I historically have closed blog posts with the closing I love you all. That is an awesome closing, if I do say so myself. But I think I will close this one with GLYASDI. God Loves You and So Do I.
Having done that, figured I would start a new blog. Hopefully, shorter and more direct, and more regular. I promise there will be really long, long ones, it just sometimes has to be. But, I am also going to try to edit a bit more significantly.
Topics will continue to be mostly old man rants, things that just strike me wrong, things that I wished we did more of or more often, and things that none of us should ignore. It is mostly a chance for me to get it straight in my head, because my process requires writing it out. That is if I ever get it figured out.
I always welcome comment, just leave out the obscene stuff. You can and hopefully will sometimes disagree with me, just leave out the Fbombs and we will debate away. I usually win, but give it a shot, you never know. Just kidding, I always win. LOL.
Tonight, it is going to be about me. I guess, since it is my blog, and I am sharing my thoughts, it probably always will be about me...confusing, never mind. There are posts that are me, my thoughts, and then posts about me.
Bio stuff, for a new blog, though not new to most that will see this. I am nearly 48. We have 4 adult children, all successfully living their own lives, in their own homes, on their own terms. We could not be prouder of the 4 that belong to us, nor the 4 that belong to them. We have a furbaby, as we are not yet gifted with grandchildren. I estimate that Tuff, our Chihuahua is the most spoiled dog in North Carolina, potentially America.
I am in great shape for all the things wrong with me. That applies equally to us all. I have some chronic health things that I routinely deal with, however, it does not keep us from enjoying the things we want to do. Mostly, that involves our camper at the beach, seeing family and being together. Oh, and I work at a job that I love.
But, that is not newsworthy. Here is the newsworthy part of the night, and the reason I am kind of taking on a new blog. I have finally set up my baptism for November 22nd. Yes, I was baptized in the Catholic Church as an infant. I do not have a personal hangup with infant baptism, I know the verses used to defend it, and to condemn it. In the grand scheme of my dogmatic dilemnas, this one does not register for me.
My new church, C3, here in Clayton, however, recognizes adult baptism. Fairly certain that they would happily allow me to continue on as a member of the congregation, even if I did not do this. But, there is a point to making a commitment and committing to the making. I am and I told them I was, and that means something.
I also told the family and friends, at the time, that I would let everyone know when it was happening. I would love to share it with you all. We would love for you to be there, to share in the experience with us, and to see and enjoy the church family we have found. I will warn you up front, it is kind of a high energy service, not quite the church scene from the Blues Brothers, but it gets close.
We will post all the information on Facebook, and the dates. We are happy to see any and everyone come. It is a great worship service. And, it is a great group of people. At least for us, it has filled a void of significant need in our lives.
When the lady at church asked me why I did not want to do it right away, I told her that I wanted to at least give some of the family a chance to get together for it. Right now, we are all seeing one another around visiting my father in the hospital, as he fights a pretty significant health issue. Even if they can't attend, then at least it is a good news event to think and talk about.
I have found that the only thing that defeats IFS (Illness Fatigue Syndrome, a proprietary term I developed on my own through much more study than any man should have to go through), is to be mindful of and communicate good news. So this will be some good news to share.
Daddy is going to be okay, we have faith, and good indicators so far. It is hard to explain just how tough Joe Beans is, but he is already a 3 time cancer survivor. And, he is a hero to all the men in our family. That Jr. that goes with my name is probably my prize possession.
So, as we become full members of this new congregation, and build our lives within that church family, we hope as many as possible can attend and be part of the day for us. Nothing more required.
I historically have closed blog posts with the closing I love you all. That is an awesome closing, if I do say so myself. But I think I will close this one with GLYASDI. God Loves You and So Do I.
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