A Moment of Thanks for Nick.

 My son-in law Nick, leaves September 3rd. to travel to the middle east for his second tour of duty with the Air Force. His first tour was in Iraq during combat operations. This one is in Saudi Arabia, so we are confident that there will not be any real danger or threat. He leaves my daughter, his wife to continue on with her education and the daily day to day grind while he serves his country. His level of commitment and passion for my daughter, his job and his family is far beyond any expectation that I could have possibly set.
  My daughter Samantha met Nick when they were both in High School. I knew Nick had to be special because my daughter didn't have the patience or the time to spend on dating because she doesn't do "drama" very well. She was generally pretty happy in doing her own thing without the high school boy flavored arm candy attachment. Nick turned out to be what we fathers call in the Biz as a "keeper". He was respectful of my daughter, sober, a non-smoker and a musician. I must admit that there was a time when I was expecting him to crash into my house 3 hours past my daughter's curfew with Sam passed out on the front seat while he vomited outside the driver's side window yelling "Ha Ha...Sucker!!" This of course did not happen. They married right out of high school. Nick went into the Air Force, Sam went to college, they got a really nice apartment, they met a great group of friends and have been happy and in love ever since.
  I must admit that I do carry some guilt, because they made the transition into adulthood so effortlessly that I forget that I have this fantastic young man in my family. I never worry about them or for them because I know that without Nick, Sam would be 2000 miles away from home. I never think of her being 2000 miles away from me, I think of her being with her husband and that she's safe. And for that I thank him. Thank you for loving my daughter. Thank you for your service to our country and most of all. Thank you for coming into our lives.
  I read in some books that women use their fathers as a measuring stick against the men that they date and eventually marry. If that is indeed true than I am the one who should be honored as Nick is twice the man that I think that I am. Maybe when I grow up someday, I will be just like him.

Forgive me Glenn Beck for I have sinned......

Bless me Reverend Glenn Beck for I have sinned against you….


  After Mr. Beck’s grandiose made for T.V evangelical tent revival on Saturday, he was back on "Fox News Sunday" the very next morning basking in the glow of his own self righteousness. Like most religious poseurs who manipulate the true meaning of a religion to support their own twisted world view, Beck puked up a particularly extra putrid puddle of cancerous phlegm.

  Like most neo-con troglodytes who have finally understood that they have absolutely zero facts to support the fact that President Obama is a Muslim, they know must now define the “type” of Christian he is. Beck claimed that Obama "is a guy who understands the world through liberation theology, which is oppressor-and-victim." He also added "People aren't recognizing his version of Christianity." And of course la pièce de résistance is when he said "You see, it's all about victims and victimhood; oppressors and the oppressed; reparations, not repentance; collectivism, not individual salvation. I don't know what that is, other than its not Muslim, it's not Christian. It's a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ as most Christians know it."

  Holy Shit! I haven’t stepped foot in a church for a number of years, but I did spend a majority of my life as a Roman Catholic. I had 12 years of Catholic school education and theology courses. I have 5 of the 7 sacraments under my belt and can recite the required 10 “personal crazy penguin stories” that all Catholic school kids born before 1970 are obliged to tell when we are drunk and amongst ourselves. Now it is my recollection that Jesus Christ traveled and preached to the poor, right? I remember his Gospels saying things like:


“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39


“If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” Matthew 19:21


“But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:13 &14


  I happen to believe that Jesus was a Liberal. I know Holy Shit right?!! I believe he taught his followers that they did not need to follow in the strict, orthodox views of God, religion, and life. I believe that he rejected greed, violence, the glorification of power, the amassing of wealth without social balance, and the personal judging of others, their lifestyles and beliefs. I know, I know, it’s tough for you Bible thumping, conservative bigots to comprehend but it’s true. Jesus Christ was a filthy, tree hugging, hippie, socialist.

  Forbes magazine calculated Glenn Beck's earnings for the previous year (March 2009 - March 2010) to be approximately 32 million dollars. This is the guy who is preaching against social justice for the poor? Let’s all be honest about what this is. This is the new Christian ethic. It is that the poor are lazy and undeserving of God’s love. Those of us who are lucky enough to be born into privilege or have not to have had any tragedy in our lives that have cost us our livelihoods are blessed by God. So why would people who are blessed help people who are not? And it only makes sense that if the government helps the poor and the needy then they are taxing and taking money from the blessed to do it. Thus the Government is socialist and anti-God and the righteous must take it back from the evil Black man disguising himself as a Christian.

  Is anyone shocked that Beck has become a preacher now? What separates people more than anything? Religion. Glenn Beck and the rest of their ilk understand this more than anyone, and will now exploit it to its fullest extent. Everything now will become the “us” and the “them”. The “We the people” and the “Others”. With people like Beck and Palin and Hannity on the television it will not be very long before the righteous will lock and load and start doling out some old fashion biblical justice.

Something Wicked This Way Comes......

  I love Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451 was the first novel that I ever read and loved. He is the reason why I became an avid reader, an author who gave purpose to my burying my face into novel after novel. He wrote a book in 1962 titled "Something Wicked This Way Comes". If you've never read the novel, it is a story about two young boys who have a dark encounter with an evil traveling carnival that comes to their little Midwestern town. I remember how terrified I was reading that book as a young 13 year old, and how I never got the image out of my head of that strange lightening rod salesman foreshadowing the storm that was soon to ravage their small community. Foreboding. Prognostication as the traveling salesman in The Wizard of Oz would say. That is what I have been experiencing for the past few years, but now the feeling comes at an accelerated pace.
  When Georgie W. was elected back in 2000, I remember turning to my wife that agonizing November morning and telling her that when this man leaves office the world would be a different place. Now, Nostradamus I ain't, and I don't think that you have to be a seer to have made that prediction, but I think everyone can agree that the world is a very different place. It was then when I first thought about that mysterious lightening rod salesman warning of the impending storm. Now I feel as  though the carnival has arrived and G.M Dark is here.

  I didn't think that it could possibly be worse after Bush left office, but as I look around and see what is going on in this country I realize that it has. We have a president who is is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. A man who is the American dream. A working class kid who worked his way to be President of the United States of America, right? Wrong. There is a large portion of the population who believe that he is a Muslim terrorist who is bent on destroying the country. They believe that health care for all Americans is Marxism. They believe we should abolish the 14th amendment to the constitution. They believe that the Bush tax cuts stimulate the economy when every economist in the world tells them that they do not. They believe that all Muslims are terrorists. They believe that Liberals are the enemy and should be destroyed. They Believe that Ronald Reagan was the greatest President this country ever had. But what they actually believe is whatever Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck tells them to believe. The evil carnival that rolled into town is Fox News and they ain't goin' nowhere.
  Now, I am not the smartest guy in the room by a long shot but I sure feel like I am when I watch Glenn Beck. As I suffer through his inane diatribes, I find my head slowly cocking to the right, like my dog does when he's watching a bug on the wall. While my dog Louie tries to wrap his mind around how that bug crawls up that wall and how it might taste, I wonder how how anyone with an I.Q over 11 can possibly listen to this drivel let alone actually take it seriously. He is a wild eyed carnival barker compelling his dullard audience to enter the tent to view the freak show that he has gathered. The rabid illegal immigrant out to rob and kill you then steal your job. The Despicable Muslim who will force your wife to wear a burka while he pisses on the American flag. The filthy African president who wants to turn our wonderful country into a Stalinist state.
  I'd like to think that it is just a vocal minority who Fox panders to, but alas it is not. I have friends and family who share some of these insane views. These are sane, educated people.  And yet these kind gentle-hearted people  suddenly change when the name Barrack Hussein Obama is muttered. It's like I have suddenly slipped a hot steamy turd under their nose as they wince at the name. I feel as though they have become entranced by the carnival barker and nothing that I say can break the spell. I explain how they are being duped and present them with facts and evidence that shows how the Blowhards from Fox are manipulating them, but nothing seems to matter. I tell them to read Paul Krugman, and Jonathan Alter. To watch the BBC and God forbid perhaps listen to Rachael Maddow!!! I am told that they are all liberals and that I am biased. I hang my head in sadness and frustration.
  The storm has passed. The carnival has pitched its tents and lit its midway. The madness though, is just beginning.