Life’s Curveballs

I am sick and tired of people always pushing their personal crap on someone else, and it’s mostly spam.  There are many people that just think too much of themselves and they’re just pushers, Bull Shit Pushers.  I have other blogs and one forum and some asshole always has to come along and post some bull shit on one of them.  The blogs pretty much take care of themselves because of the excellent program, Akismet on WordPress blogs that kills hundreds of spam messages sent to them on a daily basis.  However, the forum is another story.

When I first created the forum, I mistakenly thought that I could just let people sign up and start posting, man was I ever wrong.   I had the forum up for less than a day until someone or some computer program scouring the Internet found the forum and posted adult photos on several of the forums.  It caused me to increase security so that people had to confirm their email address before being able to post.  Now people are signing up just so they can post personal agenda stuff, some of which makes no sense or its just gibberish.   These are just people with nothing better to do so they just have to screw with everyone else.  I’m just sick of it.

To all of the Spammers and Bull Shit Pushers out there, please get a life and stop F’ing with the rest of us.

Larry

After my last post, I received a personal message from someone asking why I am conservative; meaning, “With a stance on killing like you have, why do you considered yourself to be a conservative.”   I guess they are confused because being conservative has nothing to do with senseless killing and violence, which I’m completely opposed.

I found a website, even though it’s somewhat dated, that list the meaning of conservative and liberal with all of the issues and a view from each perspective.  It’s on the Student News Daily site at www.studentnewsdaily.com.  I say it’s somewhat dated because it was copyrighted in 2005 but most of the issues are still in play and I invite you to review it.  I’m not going to repeat any of the issue definitions here because the Student News Daily website has done an excellent job defining them, but I will give my view on each of the issues here below.  However, since some people may not know the difference between Conservative and Liberal, here are the definitions from the Student News Daily Website:

CONSERVATIVES – believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong national defense.  Believe the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals.

Conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems.

LIBERALS – believe in governmental action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all, and that it is the duty of the State to alleviate social ills and to protect civil liberties and individual and human rights.  Believe the role of the government should be to guarantee that no one is in need.  Believe that people are basically good.

Liberal policies generally emphasize the need for the government to solve people’s problems.

My View

The Conservative definition above could have been written by me and it precisely reflects my views.   However, when we look at individual issues, I do take a liberal stance on some and I will explain my differences below.  I will list the issue, my view (whether Conservative, Liberal, or In-Between), and my reasoning.

The Issues

• Abortion - In-Between

I hold the conservative view that life begins at conception, however, I am a realist and believe if the mother’s life is in danger or if there is something horribly wrong with the fetus it should be aborted.  Baring these two things the fetus should be brought to term.

There are many people in this country that cannot have children and we need to make it much easier for them to adopt unwanted children in this country.  There should be no need for a loving couple to travel to a foreign land to adopt a child.

• Affirmative Action – Conservative

There is no place for the past when hiring or admitting someone for a job or school.  Reverse discrimination is not a solution for racism.

• Death Penalty – Liberal

I have to admit that I flip-flopped on this issue.  There was a day that I held the conservative view on this but OJ and a Nunn made me see the light.  As good as our judicial system is, and we have one of the best on earth, it is not infallible.  Just look at how many people are released from prison every year when it has been proven that they are innocent.  My biggest concern is an equable defense and it is most evident with the OJ Simpson verdict.  If OJ had been a poor black man he’d be in prison or dead by now.  Life without parole is just as effective.

Note – I can’t see how conservatives can be pro-life on abortion and for the death penalty.  To me it’s an oxymoron.

• Economy – Conservative

I favor a free market system and less government regulation.

• Education – School Vouchers – Conservative

Parents should have the right to send their children to the school of their chose.  In fact, vouchers should be issued to every student and the parents should select the best school for their children.

I’m in favor of privatizing all public schools.  If schools had to compete for dollars, our education system would most definitely change for the better.

• Environment – Conservative

Over restriction by extreme environmental policies limit jobs and damage the economy.  Yes, we should be exploring alternative energy sources but just look at how our policies have harmed our national security by our need for foreign oil.  Need I say more?

• Gun control – Conservative

Owning a gun is one of our basic rights.  If a criminal wants a gun they will fine one and gun control may slow them down but not stop them.

• Health Care - In-Between

I agree that some sort of health care plan is needed for everyone but I’m completely against socialized medicine.  Waiting a month to see a doctor or waiting a year to have an operation is not my idea of a viable health care system.  I don’t have the answer but I know it’s not socialized medicine.

• Homeland Security – Conservative

I’m firmly for the Patriot Act.  We need to be protected from people that will harm us and better intelligence is one way to combat the problem.

• Immigration - Conservative

The government should strictly enforce the immigration laws currently on the books.  Our borders should be secured and all illegal’s should be rounded up and deported.  I do support legal immigration and believe we haven’t done enough in this area like a guest worker program and allowing more legal immigration for workers south of the border.

• Religion – Conservative

The phrase “separation of church and state” is not in the Constitution. Our country was founded on Judeo Christian principles and our founding fathers were firm believers in God.  God can be found in many early documents, on our money, and our symbols.  The only thing that our government should not do is interfere with religion and religious freedom.

• Same-Sex Marriage – In-Between

I firmly believe that marriage is between one man and one woman.  However, I see nothing wrong with same sex unions as long as it’s not called marriage.

• Taxes - Conservative

I’m for lower taxes and less government, and I firmly believe money is best spent by those who earn it.  The only way to create jobs and expand the economy is for the people to spend their own money not the government.

• Welfare – Conservative

People on welfare only want more welfare and even the poor need to work.  If we made the poor work for their welfare check we’d be spending less on welfare.  There’s a distinction between people that can’t work because of health or disability and those that are able bodied that just want a handout from the government.

I think that I have covered the main issues and there should be little doubt where I stand.

Larry

Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn!
~ Robert Burns

The Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759- 1796), also known as Rabbie Burns and Scotland’s favorite son, was passionate about freedom and respect for humankind.  Burns’ work was a source of inspiration to the pioneers of liberalism and socialism and he was, and still is, regarded as a political activists.  He campaigned for Scottish self-government and ironically even conservatives became drawn to him.  This conservative was drawn to him by the quote above.

While out photographing tombstones for Find-A-Grave,  I saw this quote on a tombstone and it made me stop and think of how true this is.  If you search the Internet for this quote you will find references to the Holocaust and Auschwitz.  Yes, the Holocaust is probably one of the best examples of the inhumanity of man but my thoughts at the time focused on much smaller events.  I thought of the federal agent killed in front of his daughter at a Florida post office over a road rage incident.  The nephew killing his uncle in the small town of Tallassee Alabama over an alcohol related argument.  You can find such incidents in every news venue on earth everyday.

Humans are the only species on earth that kill for sake of killing.  We do it in the name of religious, we do it for a cause, and governments do it to teach lessons as in the case of Russia and Georgia.  We kill for sport, for greed, and the thrill of the hunt.  We have an insatiable hunger to kill while countless thousands mourn.

We strive to make life better, and in fact, the twentieth century saw unparalleled progress in science, technology, human freedom, and equality; yet during this same time we witnessed many wars, the unspeakable atrocities of the Holocaust, and ethnic cleansing in many parts of the globe.   To this day our inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.

Lord hear our prayer!  Stop the killing.

Larry

I’ve been intrigued by psychic phenomenon for many years now and have read a few books on the subject.  I’m currently reading the book, The Psychic in You: Understand and Harness Your Natural Psychic Power by Jeffery Wands.  The book has really made me think about things that have happened in my past and I know now that these things were not coincidences.

The first thing that comes to mind is the death of two friends from high school.  I was about 16 or 17 years old at the time and working at a bowling alley as a pin setter and mechanic.   I didn’t know a great deal about the machines, just enough to get them running again.  One night about an hour before the end of my shift, two friends from school stopped at the rear entrance of the bowling alley and started beating on the door.  They knew that I was working for my car was parked near the rear entrance.  Even with all the noise from the machines and pins I was able to hear the pounding and went to the door.

There they both stood laughing and cutting up as they did and ask if I wanted to go out with them after work.  They were just going out cruising around town and they ask if I wanted to join them.  After all, it was the 60s and that’s what teenagers did in the 60s.  To this day I really don’t know why I turned them down but something in the back of my mind told me not to go.  It was really out of the ordinary but I just felt danger.  That night on RT 322 my friends died in a head on collision and it wasn’t even their fault.  Was there someone looking out for me that night?

Another significant incident happened a few years ago when my wife was working at a credit union.  A girl that she worked with asks us to dinner one evening at her home.  My wife called me to ask if it we should attend and I said, “Sure, we can go.”  Her friend lived down in Ramer which is about 30 miles south of Montgomery.

We had a very nice visit with her and her family and a nice dinner too.  They lived in an older home and on the way home my wife and I talked about it and our visit.  However, for some reason I felt just a little uncomfortable in their home and told my wife about it.  I told her that I had concerns about the furnace in the house.  It was kind of strange since I don’t normally think of things like that.  Why would I even think of the furnace as having a problem?  A week later the home burned to the ground and the family just barely made it out of the house alive.  The fire department investigator’s report blamed the furnace for the fire.

There have been many such incidences that I can name, some not so horrific but incidences just the same.  I have since started to heed these warnings and to pay closer attentions to these feeling that I get.  Thus, the reason for purchasing the book mentioned above.

A couple months ago my wife was heading to New Orleans on a mission trip.  It was the second such trip that she was to attend.  About a week before the trip, I had a concern about the van that she was to travel in.  I didn’t say anything because I didn’t feel that anything serious was about to happen, but I did sense something about wheels or a small possibility of a rollover.  But as I said, I didn’t think it would be serious and I didn’t think anyone would be injured.

On the day that I drop off my wife at the church of her trip, I just blurted out for her to ride in the middle of the van and away from the windows.  She looked at me and said WHAT, and then she asks me if I felt something about the trip and got on to me about not saying something sooner.  I told her that I didn’t think it would be serious and I didn’t want her not to go.

My wife sent me a text from her phone shortly after leaving and told me that she was riding with someone in a car instead of the van.  The guy she was riding with had to return early from the trip so he needed to drive his own vehicle.  I was relieved but I did have some concern for the people in the van but as I said I didn’t think it would be serious.

Later that evening my wife called me after they stopped at a restaurant and told me that they were just about an hour from New Orleans and that everything was fine with the van.  I was relieved but the trip wasn’t over yet.  She told me that one of her friends riding in the van questioned her as to why she decided to ride in the car instead, and she told the friend that I felt something was going to happen with the van.  My responds was, “That’s great, now she probably thinks I’m nuts.”  Twenty minutes later my wife sent a text from her phone again.  A tire on the van had blown while on the Interstate and there was nothing left of the tire.  Everyone was ok but they were a little shaken by the experience.  As soon as my wife’s friend saw her she asked my wife, “How does your husband feel about the trip home!”

Are there no coincidences as Jeffery Wands says in his book?  I for one am going to pay closer attention from this point on.

Larry