12 years ago, 10:05 AM, the bell rang to let me out of Algerbra 2. I was met by a friend, who informed me that terrorists had hijacked airplanes and were ramming them into buildings. I arrogantly informed him "No one would be dumb enough to attack the United States" (Oh how foolish of me) I walked into US History, and saw one smoking tower on the TV, and heard Peter Jennings say that the other had collapsed minutes before, and that a third plane had hit the pentagon. When the bell rang to start US History class, the teacher stated simply, "This is history." And we watched the TV in silence for the rest of class.

NFL 13 week 1 synopsis

What a week 1.

The Colts started off, well, not that great. Last year, most games they lost were ones where they started big, took theif foot off the gas, and lost it. That's kinda what happened in this game. Reggie Wayne, had one heck of a game, including a TD. But in the end, when needed most, Luck still showed he has some magic in him, and made big plays through the air and on the ground. Our defense looked tired early in the game. They need to do conditioning if they're going to play four quarters.

Rest of the League:
Broncos-Ravens. The Ravens didn't have their two top guys, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. The Broncos had Wes Welker, and what was that other guy's name? Oh yeah, Peyton Manning. Manning went out to prove he is still Peyton Manning. He did, trying an NFL record for most TDs in a single game. My mother said "Poor washed-up Manning..." I'm not ready to hand them the Lombardi trophy, but man they looked good. It was like the Manning at his peak with the Colts. Come out and play around the first half. Game plan with what you learned at half time. In second half, take apart opponents. Also, gotta mention that it was good to see Peyton Manning, Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, Dallas Clark, and Brandon Stokely together again, even all are former Colts. They needed Marvellous Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Jeff Saturday, and Tom Moore, and they'd have their entire offensive key!

Fins-Browns. Man, the Browns were terrible.

Lions-Vikings. Once again gotta say, I love Matt Stafford. The Lions D earned a lot of credit. After the opening TD by AP, they made adjustments and shut him down entirely. Stafford had a new toy, Reggie Bush. I hope the Lions can keep this up. They've had a lot of bad years and deserve some good.

Chiefs-Jags. Every single point was scored in this game by the Chiefs finding the endzone. Just one it was their own.

Saints-Falcons. This one was fun to watch. Possibly best game of the week.

Titans-Steelers. This game, by contrast, was ugly. Time to let Ben go.

Niners-Packers. This game was uglier. And you hate to see a game's outcome effected by poor refereeing. It sounded like the replacements again.

Cowboys-Giants. This game was ugliest. The Cowboys weren't that good. The Giants were THAT BAD. They beat themselves. They last time they looked that bad in the beginning of the season, they beat the Pats in the Super Bowl.

Pats-Bills. Speaking of the Pats losing, they almost lost this game. Every year they start in Buffalo, and almost lose! EVERY YEAR! You'd think they'd learn not to overlook their opponent. Buffalo pours out everything in this game every year, and seem to leave nothing left for the rest of the season. Oh, and just because you missed it: Tom Brady's a chump. Here's to hoping Tom breaks his leg and it's Tebow Time again!

Syria

Let's look past rhetoric to some truth.

Truth #1: You should judge people by their words. Senator Obama would impeach President Obama for attacking Syria. Eating crow doesn't quite cover it.

Truth #2: For once there is bipartisan support for something in Washington. It's amazing how many in Congress think we should do something in Syria, despite surveys that say EIGHT-SEVEN PERCENT of American oppose action in Syria. This shows just how disconnected Washington is from the American people. We've got to kick these guys out and start over.

Truth #3: The international community won't back the play because of reports that say that groups within the rebels, actually Al Queda terrorsts and affiliates, took the weapons and killed their own people to force our involvement. Putin publicly said so, and the Obama administration responded "That's stupid." No facts, of course, just that they don't like the report.

Truth #4: Sun Tzu (the guy who LITERALLY wrote the manual on conducting warfare, called "The Art of War"), thinks this is a bad idea. He said that the loser attacks, and then determines the terms of victory. The winner decides terms of victory, then attacks. We have no objects, and innocent people will die by us dropping random bombs, then we may spark retaliation again Israel and other allies in the region, not to mention our own embassies. Oh wait. Obama's fine with those being attacked.

4b: Sun Tzu also said the deception and surprise were keys to success. We have neither. If we were going to do something, we should have done it first. It's easier to get forgiveness than permission, especially if the world thinks you are as weak as Obama.

Truth #5: We can't hope to win. The President of Syria is evil, but he's holding a greater evil at bay, just like Egypt and Libya. Hopefully we learned out lesson. If Al Queda wins in Syria, we lose, big time. If we go in and accomplish nothing, we've just ticked off the entire world for nothing. If we help the Syrian President, then we've added to the more than one hundred thousand deaths there already. Let's learn from history, and just keep our noses clean and mind our own business.

VMA response

I don't want to say something in poor taste. How about "Ew..."

How about I let someone else say it better.

http://heseltonhappenings.blogspot.com/2013/08/vma-debacle.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FDTEnZ+%28Heselton+Happenings%29

I Have a Dream 50th

What is the dream? The Dream is that we realize the truth found in Scripture and stated simply by our founding fathers: that all men are created equal.

Created by who? MLK said it was "God Almighty." That's the thing. This isn't about what the government who gave us freedom. It was God. In fact, Dueteronomy warns us that governments oppress people. And they still do.

MLK's dream was for racial justice. This still doesn't happen. Whites are "evil rich people." Blacks are "dangerous criminals." Everyone else is here illegally. Yes, prejudice is everywhere.

MLK also said "Don't blame our white brothers." As he pointed out, many white people where there marching with them. Racism isn't a White issue, or a Black issue. It's a sin issue. That's right, sin. God said in Christ there is no difference between race or gender. We're all equal in sin, and made equal again if we accept God's grace and repent of those sins. We need freedom that is found in Christ Jesus. This includes Americans and non-Americans, rich and poor.

Today we are still fighting these battles. Democrats keep people locked in ghettos and in chains of government dependence. Republicans ignore people. Both parties act their way because all they care about is taking power, and not about the people that they step on to get that party.

Some say "We're doing better. We have a black president." We're doing better. But that's not why. MLK wanted people judged by content of character, not race. Voting for someone because he's black is the same as not voting for him because he's black. The fact that race is noticed is still racist. I've made no secret that I agree with little that Obama does, but those disagreements are philophical, not race. Being a minister, baptizing whites, blacks, hispanics, you just celebrate because they're people that matter to God.

I have a dream where all people realize God's love and treat each other just as that: people.

Still nothing

When I was first looking for a job, every posting said they wanted 5+ years experience. Now that I have 5+ years experience, no one wants me. It really stinks. I took this step of faith as I felt like God wanted of me, and I still believe that was the right thing. But I thought I'd get a job quickly. I didn't want to find another one and start over metting new people (which I hate because I'm shy), but I was going to do it. But finding nothing? When I've interviewed for a job, they change the job description and disqualify me. Plus, churches that post looking for an associate, well, most of them want a Youth Minister but are too stupid to post in the Youth Ministry section. It's just aggrivating.

Playing with Fire

Sorry for the long-time-no-post.  Moving will do that to you.

So yesterday I spent a day burning a brush pile.  A big, old one.  I, being a responsible person, watched the fire all day, making sure it didn't get out of control or light up the neighbor's yard.

I had a lot of time to stand and think.  Two things went through my mind.  The first of them was all those survival shows.  Second was all those places in the Bible where God chose to represent Himself with fire.  Those things combined into some interesting thoughts.  So here are some ways how God is like fire.

Fire is powerful.  Some might even say dangerous.  And God, well "He's not tame, but He's good." (C.S. Lewis)  God has terrible destructive power, which is not to be underestimated, just like a fire, or it will consume you.

We depend on fire for nearly everything.  Those survival shows (even Survivor) talk about how fire is life.  Cooking, clean water (boiling), warmth, protection, even transportation.  Yet it's something we take completely for granted (until it isn't there).  In the same way, we depend on God for everything, yet we take Him for granted as well. 

Fire is very fickle.  Fire is tough to get going.  I started the brush fire in five places, and only one of them worked.  Some of them were too wet.  I needed wind (but not too much).  I needed fuel.  I had to babysit it all day, or it wouldn't work.  Ok, God isn't like that.  But our relationship with Him is.  It is tough, like most relationships.  If we let it, sin, laziness, or even busyness will take us away from God.  It will put out that fire before we have a chance.  We have to work hard at it, or it simply won't work.

Equality?

Our nation took another step away from freedom in the name of tolerance.  The Supreme Court said that states had no ability to define marriage.  Gay marriage is now ok.

Here's the problem.  The Federal Government doesn't issue marriage liscences.  Marriage is 100% a state issue.  I know.  I've performed weddings in four states. 

This is just one more case of the liberals in Washington stripping away our rights, especially the first amendment.  This isn't equality.  In truth, in everything that is right, the government should recognize "civil unions" for hetero or homo.  Marriage should be left where it started, in the church, ordained by God.

Enemy of the State?

So... our country seems to have some trouble lately.  With Fort Hood shootings, Sandyhook Elementary, the Boston bombings, we are under attack.  There are nearly regular shootings by the mentally unstable and attacks by terrorists.

Yet, our government seems to be confused as to who the enemies of our nation are.  The State Department went after our dead ambassador.  The DOJ went after the media.  The IRS went after conservatives.  The NSA is going after everyone.

This, for some reason, is surprising.  I don't know why.  They've been doing it for years.  We knew they were doing it.  There's a movie called "Enemy of the State" staring Gene Hackman, John Voit, and Will Smith.  We're living it.  Political opponents are enemies, while people trying to kill us must be our victims. 

That said, if you're asking me is this Snowden or whatever his name is is a hero for leaking, my answer is no.  If he thought he was being brave and doing the right thing, he wouldn't have run away.  He would have stood in public and taken the consequences.  That's the difference between standing for a conviction and just being a turd.

In the mean time, our nation's leaders need to learn the difference between our friends and our enemies.  The IRS did this political bullying because Obama has created a culture of corruption and favoritism.  He's McCarthyism and Nixon all rolled in one, and no one cares.  It's really sad.

ObamaCare hits home

I hate to say "I told you so."  Especially when it's bad.  But I told you ObamaCare sucks.  It destroys jobs. 

My mom just found out yesterday (Monday) that she has a difficult decision.  She can either have Health Insurance, or a job.  That's right.  Because Obama's regulations, my mother's insurance has skyrocketed.  The school that she works for is voting Thursday to get rid of insurance for the teacher's aides.  She's been at that job for 27 years, and has been told she either has to retire before the vote on Thursday, or she has to go without insurance, knowing that she can't afford ObamaCare, which she is required by law to have.

That's right.  She has just entered government enforced poverty.  She either can have insurance or an income.  Her thought is she might be able to get an income, but she absolutely cannot get insurance.  So she has to leave a job which she loves to afford health insurance.

And she's not the only one effected.  Other aides that were hired after a certain date are not only losing their insurance, but also their hours.  Since ObamaCare not requires employers to provide insurance for those who have more than 30 hours, and companies still can't afford to provide benefits, then not only do these people not have insurance, but have less income.  That's what happens when idiot politicians like Obama and Pelosi who have never held a real job or done anything in real life make decisions for the rest of the country.  They had excellent intentions, but reality is simply different.  The road to hell, and national poverty, is paved with good intentions.

Cleveland hostages

On the news this morning I heard about three women that were kidnapped by a psycho, locked in his basement, and used as his own personal sex slaves. We are horrified, but this happens EVERYDAY. Ten year old girls are taken from their homes and sold as sex slaves everyday. Many are even smuggled into this country as cargo. For more information and how to help, talk a look at www.ijm.org

Confessions

I hate me sometimes.  I know people say that, but I mean it.  And today is one of those days.

I walked into work this morning and found a post-it note on the floor.  I'd written it to myself as a reminder that a close friend of mine was having surgery this morning.  I'd promised to go to the hospital and have prayer with her this morning (even though she tried to talk me out of going).  Still, I'd given my word, and broken it.  My word is all I have.  I've got nothing else.  No talents or skills that the world cares about.  I'm pretty well mediocre and anything I am good at.

Then, to make up for it, I snapped at a friend.  I'm mad at me, and so I took it out on him (I will be apologizing next time I talk to him).

"Big deal.  Nobody's perfect."  Right?  I hate that.  It is a big deal.  I want to be perfect.  No one is harder on me than me.  I'm better than I used to me.  I used to hate me all the time, and everything about me.  I've finally become more comfortable with me, but I still hate me some of the time, like today.

I've also not had a regular devotional time since November.  I'm talking twice a week on a good week.  I work for God, for crying out loud, and I can't motivate myself to turn off the TV in the morning and give him fifteen minutes of my day.  I pray for a living, and don't pray for me.

I hate meeting new people, especially dating, because I'm supposed to talk about me and I have nothing to say.  "I like teaching people about the Bible and was raised in a family where passing gas was a sport."  That's about all I got. 

I've not done well at keeping up with this blog lately.  And that makes me feel guilty.

I hate it when people compliment me, because I feel like it's a lie.  It feels like a slap in the face because I know they aren't true.

I hate it when people run me down.  I've been run down most of my life.  I hate it because I don't need to be told things that I already know.

I don't like spending time with people because I feel like I'm constantly being watched and secretly think that everyone has expectations of me that I'm not meeting.  This was especially true of the girl that I dated for a year back when I was in college.  She had this image of what I should be and when I didn't match that image, she knew right where to stick in a spear to hurt me the worst.

When I went to work with my dad, he used to run me down the whole time I was with him, then come home and tell my mother that I worked really hard and he was proud of me.  That's probably why I hate compliments today.  That was my relationship with my dad.  I loved the him that was around other people, but hated the occasionally abusive him that was at home (he used to lose his temper and hit me when he was mad at anything).

I feel like no one really knows me.  I don't really think that I want them to.

I don't want to get married because to me, a wife is one more person with expectations that I will let down.  Diddo with kids.

Like many men, the reason pornography is a temptation for me is because it is a woman who offers herself to me sexually without demanding anything from me.  And that is why I won't have Internet at home (that and I'm cheap). 

I hate it when people try to cheer me up, because I feel like they only do it because they have to.

Sometimes I wish I could become a hermit so that I'm only letting down me and God.

I feel like a hypocrite.  I hated preaching a sermon on a series from the Beatitudes because it was on having a pure heart and I felt like a fraud for preaching it.  Same with teaching on having a devo time while mine ranks somewhere with the Titanic right now.

I feel like right now that God is trying to tell me that He loves me, that His power is made perfect in my weakness, and I really don't want to hear it.  In fact I'd rather not talk to anyone right now.

I've often used my intellect to keep people at bay with facts.

I sometimes (like today) consider quiting at my church, because I feel like the church would be better off if they hired someone more competent than me.  I've thought that for years.  There were times I almost quit.  The only things that have stopped me is: 1) I'm stubborn. 2) I feel like God wants me here.  3) I'm not good enough at anything to do anything else, nor is there anything else I want to do.

My boss said something to me before (years ago) about being too insecure.  Now I'm insecure about being insecure, and feel guilty for feeling guilty.

I hate making decisions, and the smaller and more inconsequential, the more it's crippling to me.

I want to be something better than myself, but I don't know how or what.

I read books about warriors because I feel like a coward and a failure.  That why I like knights and swords.

I beat myself up for typos.

My life's motivations are love for God, guilt, and fear of failure.  One of those three is the reason behind almost everything I do.

That's enough feeling sorry for myself right now.  I have work to do.

Choose life

There is so much happening lately.  If you've not followed the trial of Dr. Gosnell, I can't blame you.  This is an abortion Dr. that is on trial for multiple counts of murder.  Not just of children, but of one woman as well. 

Many stories have come out in this trial, but one that set it up to begin with was a woman who came into his office, and heard the heartbeat, and decided she wanted to keep the baby.  He said that he wanted to sedate her for further examination, but when she woke up, he had aborted her baby anyway without her consent (so much for "choice").  This guy failed to abort several babies, and after listening to them cry for a few minutes, stuck scissors in the back of their heads.

When asked about all this, he said, "I hope my daughter receives the same treatment that I have given to patients."  Really?  You hope people stab your daughter to death with scissors?  Really?  I doubt it.

I thought people like Gosnell believed abortions should be "safe, legal, and rare."  Gosnell violated all of the three, hence the murder charges.  I know so many people who have struggled to have kids and couldn't.  On my dad's side of the family, eleven of my cousins are adopted.  When a child in conceived, from that moment, that in a unique DNA code that never existed upon the face of the earth, and people chose to extinguish that.  How can it be part of a woman's body when the DNA doesn't match?  Why is suicide illegal, but abortion not?  If someone kills a woman walking into the abortion clinic, they will be charged with two murders, her, and the baby, but it's not murder when she does it.  It makes no sense.

Life is a grand miracle.  Choose life.  Choose life for the unborn.  Choose life for yourself.  Choose not to give into hate like the Boston bombers.  Choose life.

Where is God?

This week has been active.  Boston Marathon bombing.  West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion.  Tornadoes.  Ricen poison in the mail.  Dr. Gosnell infanticide trial.  The questions comes if God is real, how do these things happen?

There are a few things to be said about this, but the bottom line comes down to choice.  When God created everything, he gave Adam and Eve choice, by planting a "tree of knowledge" in the garden.  He warned them that when they ate of it, death and evil would enter the world.  It's the true story of Pandora's box.  They rebelled against God, and there were consequences for their actions.  Death was unleashed.  Evil abounded.  The perfection of creation was marred (which is why tornadoes and out of control fires are a problem).

Since then, God continued to give people choice.  Adam and Eve's son Cain used choice to murder his older brother, just as Dr. Gosnell murdered 40+ infants and madmen created bombs and poison.  We were given choice, and some choose to abuse this precious gift to destroy another gift, life.  Others bully.  Or lie.  Or rape.  Or steal from the poor.  Or any other number of bad things happen because people make bad choices.

So why did God allow choice?  A girl at my church has a Winnie the Pooh doll.  She loves that doll and carries it around.  But does the doll love her?  Of course not.  Why not?  Because it can't.  It has no choice.  God gave us choice because he didn't want dolls.  He wanted us to choose to love.  I choose love. 

I choose to be with the soldier named Tyler who comforted the hysterical woman.  I choose to be with the soldiers, officers, and civilians that ran toward the explosion to try to help people.  I choose to be with the fire-fighters who tried to help in West, Texas.  I choose to be with the tornado victims.  I choose to love.

How about you?

Celeb double standard

I'm sick of the Hollywood exception.  You know, like preaching Global Warming while smoking a cigarette in their SUV.  Or that the White House is closed to the public, but not Justin Timerlake and other washed up musicians.

Or how about that celebs support evil?  Sean Penn went to Hugo Chavez funeral, calling him an innovator while ignoring his crimes against his own people, especially the poor. 

Or why was Dennis Rodman not arrested for violating trade embargoes against North Korea so that he could go visit a fellow madman, who is now trying to bring the world into Nuclear War.

Or how JayZ and Beyonce got visas to Cuba, to engage in illegal commerce with a nation that still gives little civil rights to people of their own race. 

Why?  Because they're "cool" I guess.  Sigh.  I guess I'm just tired of being bossed around by those who sit on top of their pedastals.

Warren family values

What the heck is wrong with people?  Rick and Kaye Warren are famous pastors, people of faith.  Now, I don't particularly like Rick.  I don't agree with him on some things, plus we just have personality differences.  But right now, my heart goes out to the Warren family.  This weekend, they experienced the worst loss someone can experience.  They lost a son.  Worse, they lost a son to suicide.

If you've never known someone who attempted suicide, you are lucky.  Even if unsuccessful, the attempt still leaves you with guilt and pain, always wondering if you could have done more.  Depression is a terrible, impossible thing to struggle with, and doubt will always remain. 

But, thanks to the wonderful world of the internet, the Warren family, while suffering, is under attack.  People are criticizing Rick for the Purpose Driven Life.  They are also saying he deserves to suffer because of his politics.  These cruel, twisted, evil people are crossing a line.  They need to knock it off.  Stop spitting on their son's grave before he's even in the ground.

In the mean time, Jesus said in the Beatitudes, "Blessed are those who mourn."  He also said, "Blessed are you when people hate you because of me."  The Warrens are double blessed.  It may not be a good idea to try to harm those that God has double blessed.  Just saying.

Leave us Alone

So there’s been a lot going on lately that I want to just say “Leave me alone.” There has been way too many people trying to get into my business.

For example, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is running ads in eight states, not New York, advocating people to call their Congressional Representatives and Senators to get them to pass gun control. Dude, you are the mayor of New York not the United States. You have gun control where you live. What I do, what those that represent me on a federal level do, is our business, not yours. Leave me alone. (I would also be remiss to fail to mention that the commercial featured some of the worst gun safety ever seen.)

Then former funny man Jim Carey released a video against guns, claiming Charlton Heston didn’t go to heaven because he liked guns. Didn’t mention that Heston was one of the early civil rights advocates in Hollywood, you know, before it was cool. The video also featured Ghandi, who once said one of the worst things England did to India was to deny them the right to bear arms. Think about this: Carey is famous for talking from his butt, literally, and for trying to make it illegal for me to vaccinate my kids, despite the fact that more people died from the mumps last year than guns. Hmm… Here’s an idea Jim, why don’t you try to get a career again, and keep your talking rear out of my business. Leave me alone.

Reverend Lyon of St. John’s Episcopal Church said that as a Christian, I have to be racist, pushing “blacks back to the back of the bus.” I hate to tell you, you idiotic psychopath, but it was DEMOCRAT governors that turned the fire hoses on people protesting for civil rights. Who were those protestors? CHRISTIANS!!! Even Dr. King was a Reverend. So stop trying to rewrite history and stop trying to tell me what I’m supposed to believe. Leave me alone.

A Princeton Alumnus sent a letter to all female students telling them that they needed to get married before they graduated. (In that letter, she also said that blue collar people are stupid. For one, some of the smartest people you’ll ever meet are blue collar. You want the guy who fixes you car to be smart. One of the smartest people you’ll meet is a construction worker, who needs to decided how many braces go into your ceiling and at what angles to keep your roof from collapsing when you get three feet of snow.) What is it any of your business when they marry, or who? Leave them alone.

Personally, I believe in freedom. I don’t want the government to tell me to buy Health Insurance, let alone require it after making it more expensive for me to do so. I don’t want overregulation for the sake of giving some government paper-pusher something to do. I’m an American. I want to be left alone, to seek to live my own life.

Debt talk

So, recently there's been some talk about the debt.  On one of the cable news shows, an Obama supporter came out to speak on the deficit.  He said, "the deficit is not out of control.  We just cut it back from one trillion to eight hundred billion.  So we're fine."

Let's look at this logically.  Last year I made about 35k.  Now just imagine for a second if I spent $100,000 more than I made, and put it all on a credit card getting 20% interest, compounded monthly.  Would you say I have a debt problem, spending 3 times over and above my income?  Of course you would.  Now if I cut it back to $80,000, would you say it's under control?  Of course not.  You would say that I have a MAJOR spending issue.

President Obama followed this up with another statement.  He said that $17 trillion is not a problem.  It won't be until we his $30 trillion in debt that we have a problem (which the way they spend our money sounds like a goal more than a limit).  Again, using the same example as above, if I was make $35k and was $1,700,000 in debt, would you say that I don't have a problem until I reach $3 million in debt?  No, you'd say I was in debt now.

Here's the think.  This is also a moral issue.  In Proverbs, the Bible says "The borrow is slave to the lender."  We're a slave to China.  We already see it as we're forced to bend the them in the UN and in other international issues.  We're a slave, so we have to do what they want.

Another reason this is a problem is because it is out of control, nearly unrecoverable.  Cyprus found out their debt is unrecoverable, so their solution is to close the banks and just take money from people's savings account.  Forget being responsible, just steal it.  This is a problem, and if we don't do something to fix our spending issues, we're going to become desperate as a nation and they will find a way to steal from us too.

Fake cuts

So I'm so sick of hearing about these fake cuts.  Obama makes it sound like we are making huge cuts in the budget.  He closed the White House.  He's made cuts to the military.  He's made it sound like we made drastic cuts.

Only, we didn't.  We're still spending more than last year.  The only reason to close the White House is because he doesn't like people.  We are beneath him.  But it's not his house.  It's ours.  We just loan it to him. 

The thing it that Obama is a wonderful campaigner, but that's all he knows how to do.  He's trying to make things bad, just so he can blame the Republicans in the 2014 election.  Well, instead of blaming others for your mistakes, man up and do something about it.  Stop ruining our country for political points.  We're sick of it.

Sequestration explanation

Ok, so the talk on the news is sequestration.  I just have to say, I'm so tired of Washington playing politics with people's lives.  The newest proposals are cut farming subsidies (because, you know, higher food prices don't hurt lower income people at all), cutting air transit (I guess theoretically this would mean less TSA employees and traffic controllers.  Again, this only hurts lower income people because it doesn't matter if you have your own plane), and raising taxes on the middle class.  President Obama want to hurt people, because he's spent time on a smear campaign, trying to blame the Republicans for this, which was his idea.  He even said in 2011 that he would veto any attempt to circumvent sequestration.  He wants this to be painful, because what's bad for us, he can blame on his opponents and gain political power.  That's why he's become a do-nothing-President.

Let me be clear.  We need cuts.  We need to reduce government spending by 10%, instead of cutting the increase by 2.4%.  We are hemorrhaging money.  So what's the plan here?  Eliminate waste?  Prosecute corruption, like embezzlement?  Reduce bloated salaries for unproductive workers?  Nope.  Their plan is to play politics. 

Let's not go after fraud.  Let's make it more expensive to eat.  Let's not take on special interests.  Let's make travel prohibitive.  Let's not fire some worthless people.  No, give those people a bonus for finding ways to steal our money.  I'm so sick of this garbage.  They're too busy playing partisan chicken (as in, "I'll bet they'll swerve first.") to realize that they are destroying people, making it harder for the average family to just exist.

I for one, am sick of it.

Bad advice for women

So there's been some bad advice making the rounds lately.  Colorado State Rep. Joe Salazar (D) said last week that women shouldn't be allowed to own guns.  He argued that women can't be trusted with guns, because if they feel like someone is following them, they might "pop off" at them with the gun, fearing being raped.  He argued that women don't need guns in case of rape, because there are call boxes were you can call for police, as well as whistles that you can blow to scare them away.

Another Colorado lawmaker advocated that women that are being raped should claim to have an STD and pee themselves to dissuade an attack.

Vice President Joe Biden had the best advice for women, saying "Go buy a shotgun."  That's great defense for at home (one that I too would advocate for).  Then he proceeded to be dumb.  He said he told his wife to take the double-barrel twelve gauge, go out on the balcony, and fire two blasts into the air.  That's great to scare off a burglar, but what if someone is actively seeking to harm her?  Now she's trapped with no where to go and a shotgun with no ammo.  Now all she's done is give away her location.

I have a widowed mother, a sister, and a one-year old niece.  I told my mother that if someone breaks into her house, take a shotgun and blow them away.  More accurately, I told her to cut them in half.  I'm not going to mention what my mother or sister possess, because that's no body's business but theirs.

My point is, who is to say that men are more responsible than women?  One of the best hunters I know is a lady from church.  And I would guess (just guess mind you; I didn't look it up) that most violent crimes are committed by men.  This is the same "women can't drive" or "women shouldn't vote" crap, at least from these CO representatives (though probably not the Vice President).  And conservatives are accused of sexism!

So let me give some more accurate advice.

1. Don't buy a double barrel shotgun.  By the pump action.  It holds more rounds, plus every bad guy in the country knows the sound of a round being chambered by the pump.  That in and of itself is usually enough to stop the robbery.
2. Vice President Biden said a twelve gauge is harder to handle than an AR-15.  That's actually backwards.  Most AR-15s are not fully automatic, and the smaller round give them much less kick, so they're actually easier to handle.  Shotgun kick so hard they hurt.  A lot.  Still, though some choose the AR-15 for self defense, I would rather stick with the shotgun.  For home defense, I would recommend a 20 gauge (the larger the number, the smaller the round).  This would be much easier to handle.
3. Shotguns are great for home, but you get odd looks if you carry one all the time.  Mace and stun guns can help, but if you live in a dangerous area and feel you want a gun, go with a 9mm.
4. This is the most important rule.  ONLY get a firearm AFTER you have had proper training.  There are a few basic rules, like always treat a gun like it's loaded, even if it isn't.  Because sometimes people think its empty, until they shoot their friend.  You also need to know that you always treat a gun like the safety's off, because accidents happen.  And you never point a gun at ANYTHING that you don't want to kill/destroy.  You also need to learn how that particular weapon operates, how to aim safely, and how to maintain the weapon.

One last thing.  Rape isn't a political argument.  It isn't hypothetical.  And it isn't "no big deal."  It's a huge deal.  And it should not be used for political gain.  It's a terrible crime and does not deserve to be taken lightly.  Neither do the victims.  So just stop it.

Longing for Chivarly

Saturday night I did something that I've never done before.  I called the cops.  I was sitting at home, watching a DVD on my couch when I heard a "smack" sound, followed by a muffled sound.  So I paused the movie and listened.  That's when I heard it.  It was a much louder "SMACK!" (The distinctive sound of flesh hitting flesh.) followed by a woman's scream, then a woman crying.

I jumped up and ran outside, barefoot in temperatures in the teens, and listened.  It was coming from the apartment next door, which I confirmed standing outside the door.  I could hear the crying woman saying "I'm sorry!  I can't help it."  There was a reply from another female voice.

I ran back inside and paced for but a moment, trying to decide whether to go in, or call 911.  I finally settled on the latter, though it took every once of restraint to not go over there with a baseball bat or the hatchet I use for camping and try to rescue the person who had just been beaten.  I reported in great detail who I was, where I was, and what I had heard.  The only thing that kept me still from going over there was fear of cops showing up to find me breaking into an apartment armed.

Here's the really disappointing thing.  Two and a half hours later, when I went to bed (I had to work the next morning), no cops had come.  No one even came to investigate.  What's the point in calling for help if you report that you are an eyewitness (or in my case earwitness) to a crime and they don't even come to investigate.  This isn't New York.  I don't live in that big of a city.  I shouldn't take time to get someone there, especially is a person is in danger.

Maybe that's why chivalry is dead.  It is legally inconvenient.  If I tried to help, I'd be charged, while the assailant would get away with it.  But every instinct, every longing within me, wanted to be the hero, wanted to come to the rescue.  Most men want nothing more than to be seen as a hero in the eyes of the woman they love.  That's why men love action heroes.  John McClain rescues Holly.  Kyle Reese gives his life to stop the Terminator and save Sara Conner.  James Bond shoots the big bad and gets the girl. 

Yet, at the same time, men watch movies and play video games because we're afraid.  We're afraid that we're too weak, just like Adam.  Most people don't know this about the early chapters of Genesis, but Adam was made first.  God told Adam not to eat from the one tree.  Then God made Eve.  Adam told Eve what God said.  When the serpent came around, he asked Eve "Did God really say don't eat that?"  She looked at Adam, and he SAID NOTHING.  He could have stopped it, but he failed.  He was there, and he didn't do anything.  It's right there in Genesis 3:6.  He was there and did nothing.  That's why he got the harsher curse.  1 Timothy 2 explained that Eve was deceived, while Adam sinned willingly.  And we (men) all fear that when we are put to the test, that we won't be enough.  So in our fear, we hide.  We try to avoid the test.  In doing so, we fail by our silence, just like Adam did.

So I hope I did the right thing.  I did what I legally could do.  I wasn't silent.  I spoke up, and put my name to it.  Still, I wish I could have been a knight in shining armor instead of some guy with a cell phone. 

Happy Singleness Awareness Day!

To all you single people out there.  Enjoy.

Stop Digging-The Problems

There's an old saying.  When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.  You cannot get out of the hole by digging out the bottom.  That just puts you deeper into a hole.

We are in a sixteen trillion dollar hole.  That's a sixteen with TWELVE ZEROS behind it.  It's an addiction to spending.  When we have a trillion dollar deficit each year, not including interest on the debt, we have a problem.  Yet the infamously hypocritical and stupid Nancy Pelosi said that people are lying when they say we have a spending problem.

So I guess GSA execs spending tax dollars on clowns, gambling, and alcohol isn't a problem.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to make an aquatic treadmill for shrimp (yes, I said shrimp) to run on so we can see what it looks like isn't a problem.  Paying bloated salaries to members of congress who don't even read the bills they pass isn't a problem.

According to a survey done over the weekend, 83% of Americans say we have a spending problem.  The 17% that don't must all work for the government.  We have record waste and fraud each year, and Nancy Pelosi has the gall to say that we don't have a problem.

President Obama will admit roughly that we have a problem.  His problem is he thinks the solution is to dig faster.  Spend money on bridges.  Spend money on special interests.  Spend more money.  He calls it a stimulus.

Only we've tried that.  Over.  And over.  And over.  Bush tried it, and Obama called it stupid.  Then Obama walked into office and said "Hey you know that thing that didn't work?  Let's try that."  That's INSANE!!!  Einstein said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."  Congrats to both Democrats and Republicans.  You are insane.  He's even said that he's going to raise the tax on gasoline to give us more spending.  Because, you know, paying more for gasoline really helps low income people like you and me.


On another note: the minimum wage.  I am big on social justice.  I want to help the poor.  But I'm also a pragmatist.  That means I do things that work.  Raising the minimum wage sounds good, in theory.  That's why we raised it $2.00 a few years ago.  That's why he wants to raise it $2.00 again. 

The problem is it doesn't work.  Yes, you bring home more money (unless you work for tips.  Or on commission.  Or on a salary.  Pretty much, it screws most people because we aren't hourly like the unions.).  But that tank of gas costs $2 more.  That trip to McDonalds with your family?  $2 more.  Everything from food to gas to utilities goes up, more than you raise did.  Plus, businesses don't hire as many workers.  That's just what we need right now, higher prices and less jobs.  Again, I love the idea behind the higher minimum wage, but in practicality it hurts those you are trying to help.  Ideals don't pay the rent here in the real world.  What actually works is if those few dollars we do bring home go further, but that involves reducing the debt.  Short term pain equals long term solutions, just like it does in personal finance.  But that's never going to happen, because those that work in Washington won't deign themselves to step foot in the real world.

Search for the hidden God

I was asked a question by an atheist friend that I've very rarely been asked about how God acts.  Anyway, I thought I'd share the question that my friend asked as well as my response.  If you've ever asked this question or been asked this question, I hope you might find my few humble thoughts helpful.

The Question:

So help me with this... the question of the day. If we presuppose that God exists, then he has two options; full revelation or reliance on the faith of believers. So my question is, why would he choose faith over full revelation? After all, if I was trying to convince you of something you didn't believe, I would show you exactly what I wanted you to see. Why does God choose to rely on faith rather than fully revealing himself?

My Answer:
It comes back to choice. At first God was fully revealed to Adam and Eve. But he also planted a tree and said "Don't touch!" So like any other child, the first thing they did was to go get it. As a parent, I'm sure you can relate to that. Anything we do that displeases God is called sin. God is Holy and pure, meaning He cannot even tolerate sin in his presence. So humanity was separated from God because of our sin. But that didn't stop God. He knew before He created the world ever sin you and I would ever commit. And as God laid out punishment for Adam and Eve, He also told them that He would send someone who would crush Satan's head. This was the first promise of Jesus.
Then God told a son of Adam and Eve named Seth that this person would come through his bloodline. He also chose a son of Noah. Then He began to reveal Himself to a man named Abram, who He renamed Abraham. He chose Abraham's son Isaac and Isaac's son Jacob, who He renamed Israel. Then He chose Israel's son Judah. All the while He revealed more of Himself. Then from the nation of Israel, He called Moses to be a prophet. God warned Moses that he could not see God's face, because no one can see Him and live (Exodus 33:20). Before that God spoke to the nation of Israel, revealing Himself to all of them, and they were terrified. They said in Exodus 20:19 (NIV), "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die." When He tried to reveal Himself to everyone, they said no because they were afraid.
From that point forward, God revealed Himself through prophets, who spoke for Him. He even provided miracles to back up their words. But still the people rejected Him and disobeyed Him.

When Jesus came, He performed mighty miracles in front of people. Matthew and John saw for themselves and wrote their books of the Bible. Mark wrote down the stories told by Peter. Luke identified and interviewed many eyewitnesses in order to create an "orderly account." These writers recorded many miracles of Jesus. The lame walk. The blind see. The deaf hear. The dead were raised. Yet this was not enough to convince everyone. Then Jesus was killed and rose from the grave. When He did so, he didn't just appear to those that believed in Him. He showed Himself to Thomas, who doubted. He revealed Himself to His half-brother James, who had told people that Jesus was crazy. He also appeared to Saul, later called Paul, who not only didn't believe, but persecuted the church until he met Jesus.
In the end, it comes back to choice. Think of it like this. Debbie didn't have to marry you, but she chose to be with you because she loves you. When Jesus comes back, the Bible says that everyone will bow and say "Jesus is Lord." For some, that will be joyful. For others, it will be more "Oh sh*t. Jesus really is Lord." But by that point it is too late. Choice has been made. God wants us to chose to love Him just like Debbie chose to love you. She didn't have to. She chose. That's why God doesn't just mass reveal Himself. He wants to give us time to make our own choices.
Even back then, people asked what was taking God so long. They wrote to Peter to ask him. Peter replied, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 NIV) So that's why He's waiting to reveal himself. He's waiting on us to chose Him.

So I don't know if that answer will fully satisfy you. I doubt it, but that's ok. Like there's no courage without fear, there is no faith without doubt. I can tell you this: the deeper my walk with Him, the more He has revealed Himself to me. When I have faith, He proves faithful. I wish that I could transplant my memories and experiences to show you why I trust in God. Just know that I'll keep researching, keep digging, to answer your questions to the best of my ability.

Super Bowl XLVII

Called it.  2001-2013, my streak of calling the Super Bowl winner day of the game continues, though it nearly didn't (More on that later).

First things first, Best Commercial goes to Dodge, for the farmer tribute.  My dad grew up on a dairy farm.  I grew up in Indiana around a bunch of farmers.  We even had a garden where we grew corn and tomatoes.  I love farmers.  Politicians and business men can keep their fancy suits and cars.  Give me a guy who knows the value of an old pair of jeans, having dirt on your hands, and most of all, working your butt off with no guarentees of success.  They don't know if there will be a drought or a flood that ruins their crops.  They just no how to work. 

--> Side rant.  I hate people who think blue collar workers only do it because they aren't intelligent enough to do white collar work.  I've seen construction workers do trig in their heads because they have to figure out at what angle to put in that bracing so that the roof can support the maximum amount of weight.  If you think farmers are dumb, spend a year working with one.  You'll figure out that they are some of the best and brightest that America has to offer.  They choose to do something that matters, producing things that we need, as opposed to white collar people who produce things no one needs, like social media, a scientific study on the running habits of shrimp, and anything you can buy from Skymall.

Then the game.  Ravens came out and blasted the Niners, pure and simple.  The first half, the Niners couldn't do anything.  Ravens got a sack.  Then a fumble.  Lot's of score.  Dickson had an amazing catch.  Then an interception.  Then Jones had one of those "Are you kidding me?" Touchdown catches. 

Then there was the halftime show, also known as a chance to go poo out everything you at during the first half to make room for more food.  Then the Ravens ran back the kickoff.  It was lights out football.

Then, ironically, the lights went out.  And they went out on the Niners' side of the field.  NOrleans has had this problem in the stadium during prime time games in the past.  A big part of me says that if I were going to try to generate revenue for my hurting city, I'd fix the power problems in the Super Dome to make sure it doesn't hurt my bid to host a future Super Bowl.

Thirty-five minutes later, I was almost asleep despite being surrounded by people at a Super Bowl party.  Aparently, so were the Ravens.  Touchdown Niners.  Touchdown Niners.  Rice fumbles, touchdown Niners.  Suddenly we got ourselves a ball game.  But when it counted, Flacco put together a big drive, ate some time off the clock and won the game.  Well deserved MVP.

Good game.  And the best part is: a Chump free Super Bowl!

Political Points

Allow me to make a few bullet points about current issues.

Why does it matter?
Hillary Clinton said during a recent congressional hearing "Four people are dead... What does it matter [who did it and why]?  We need to figure out what happened to keep it from happening again."

She answered her own question.  She took some unfair flack from the "What does it matter?" comment.  In context, it wasn't as bad as some tried to make it seem.  She wasn't saying that the four dead didn't matter, only that the false information linking it to a youtube video didn't matter.  The fact that they refused requests to provide more security didn't matter.  The fact that there was a CIA report and a separate military report saying that they were ordered to stand down didn't matter.

That said, she did answer her own question.  Why those things matter is because if it could have been stopped but wasn't because it was politically inconvenient matters.  The fact that it was deemed too dangerous to send in the FBI to investigate while the New York Times walked through the facility matters.  If there was neglegence on behalf of whoever and it lead to four dead it is the same as pulling the trigger.  It is murder.  And even ignoring that, you can't fix a problem you don't know about.  So covering up the problem doesn't help.

Debate?
President Obama said recently that we could have a reasonable debate if people would stop disagreeing with him.  I hate to tell you, but a debate it where people present two opposing viewpoints and defend them to each other.  In other words, you can't have a debate without people arguing with you! 

Higher taxes do not mean higher revenue.
Seems simple, right.  Raise the tax rate and you raise more money.  Fair share, and all that.  California has the highest rate of personal income and corporate taxes.  To alieve their financial problem, they're raising taxes again.  This means more revenue right?  Wrong.  Higher taxes means more people are moving their businesses to where taxes are less.  In Texas, more people paying in means much more revenue than higher taxes would bring.  It's exponential growth.  It's even simple multiplication.  Go back to high school and do some math.

Semi-automatics aren't what you think.
There is a push to ban semi-automatics.  This is because people don't know what they are.  Semi-automatic means that if you pull the trigger once, it sends one bullet (as opposed to revolvers, where you have to click the hammer back before you pull the trigger).  People are confusing semi-automatic with sub-machine gun.  A sub-machine gun is where you hold the trigger and it empties the clip.

Assault weapons aren't what you think.
Assault weapons aren't sub-machine guns.  The fact is, assault weapons don't include automatic weapons.  They include specialty weapons.  For example, a sub-machine gun is legal, but a sub-machine gun with a scope isn't.  A shotgun is legal, but a shotgun with a pistol grip isn't.  This is the same thing as the illegality of switch-blade knives.  Switch-blades aren't more dangerous than any other knife.  They aren't easier to conceal.  They just look scary.  So assault weapons are scary looking guns.

Assault weapons bans don't stop Newtown. 
No assault weapons were used at Sandyhook.  The guy used two pistols.  The proposed weapons ban doesn't stop that massacre.

The reason for the Second Amendment.
For right or wrong, whether you agree or not, our founding fathers put in the second amendment to defend the rest.  Freedom and security are opposites.  The point of the Bill or Rights, and that one in particular, is that government can easily take away the rights of the people.  Guns allow the people to defend themselves.  This is exactly what the Arab Spring was about.  People were throwing rocks while being shot at.  Dictators, whether solo or parlamentary, can easily arrise.  The founding fathers didn't want that, so they guarenteed us the right to defend ourselves from all threats, whether personal (like a break in) or national (like a rogue government or invading enemy).

Weapons bans don't work.
I know.  You've already got your mind made up about this one, but hear me out.  One of the fathers of the Sandyhook victims put it well today.  He said that by doing what he did, the madman was already breaking the law.  Adding a new law for them to break doesn't matter nearly as much as enforcement of current laws. 

By the way, I can't believe I have to explain this but I do.  The City of Chicago, the President's home base, has the strictest gun laws.  They also have the highest gun crime.  And their violent gun crime went up 18% last year, the only major city in the US to see an increase.  And Mayor Immanuel needs to butt out.  As soon as the massacre happened, he came out and said he was against putting armed police officers in each school.  In the mean time, he sends his kids to a private school with armed guards.  If he believed what he was selling, he'd send his kids to public school with yours.  He should smell what he's shovelling and leave the rest of us alone.  Because basically what he's saying is that he doesn't care about protecting your kids, because you are poor.

Unbiased media

The big three news organizations, NBC, ABC, and CBS, always claim to be unbiased.  And people believe them, right?

Their lack of partisanship was on display this week.  Did you see Al Roker from NBC go fanboy on the President and Vice President during the parade?  He never did that with Bush.  And to think, he is criticized for being not liberal enough by a guy on the same network, Matt Lauer. 

But that's not the real story.  CBS's political director, John Dickerson, wrote an article saying that Obama should "destroy" the Republican party.  "Go for the throat."  "Declare war."  He also wrote "This approach is not a path of gentle engagement."

Yesterday there was yet another shooting.  Is the idea of killing another party the best language to use?  I hate to say it as this is way overused, but this is similar language that was used in Germany in the 1930s and 40s.  This type of language led to "The Night of Broken Glass" on November 9th, 1938. 

I recently heard someone say that when a conservative disagrees with someone, they believe that person to be wrong.  When a leftist disagrees with someone, they believe that person to be evil.  And in case you're wondering where the Nazi's stood, Nazi is an abreviation for the "Nationalist Socialist Party."  That's right, Hitler was a socialist dictator. 

This media is not just biased, but actually encouraging violence in a culture that has far too much already.  I guess a failed bombing attack by OWS protestors and their general rape and rioting behavior was not enough violence.  I guess an attempted shooting at a pro-life organization isn't enough.  I guess neither was Sandy Hook, or yesterday's shooting near Houston.  You need more.

You know what Dickerson?  The next act of violence may be an activist bombing Chic-fil-A or a pro-life group or a coal mine or GOP headquarters.  If so, I hope you're proud of yourself and the inflamatory rhetoric you use.  Because the next one is on you.  So go ahead.  Keep your bias.  But tone down the talk before someone takes your words too literally.

NFL 12 Championship week

Niners-Falcons.  I didn't really care about who won this game, I just wanted a good game.  Boy was I ever not disappointed.  Hotlanta started out on fire, but San Fran started Frank Gore going to settle things down.  At first, the Niners had a hard time because of crowd noise and got several "Delay of Game" penalties, but still, once they got the running game going the settled down the Falcons and their raucous fans, they really made a game of it.  It was a blast to watch.  The pressure did seem to get to Matt Ryan a little bit, which you could see through the interception and moreover, the fumbled snap.  But after that he settled down and went back to work.

That said, the end of the game was not so great.  On that 4th and 4 at the end, whoever that Niners defender was, draped himself all over that receiver like a cheap suit.  I was watching with several other people who also did not care about the outcome of the game, but we all agreed that it should have been pass interference.  Both teams really fought hard and both deserved the win, but I hated to see Atlanta robbed like that, especially with the possibility being of the end of Gonzalez legendary career.


But let's face it.  If you're a regular reader of this blog, you want to know about the other game.

Ravens-Pats.  Let's get it out of the way.  Tom Brady is a chump.  This game illustrated it.  At the end of the first half, Brady ran and slid.  Now if a QB gives himself up like that, you are not allowed to touch them.  That said a Ravens' player had too much momentum to stop, so as is customary, he was going to jump OVER Brady to avoid touching him.  Brady raised his foot up and cleated the guy.  Now as someone who played soccer, I can tell you that in soccer, this is dirty.  In football, this is unacceptable.  Brady intended to injured the player and should get fined for it.  Harbaugh went half nuts screaming at a ref for not calling anything on it.  The ref finally walked to were Harbaugh couldn't get to him anymore.  It was a dirty play by a dirty player on a team that has been caught cheating before.  I believe in sportsmanship, but it is aparent that Brady doesn't.  This is just another illustration as to why I can't stand The Chump.

That said, this year, even though The Chump still gets all the press, the Pats had a great defense.  They had probably the best defense that I can remember from a Patriots team.  But for some reason, they declined throughout the season.  Maybe they got sick of not getting any of the credit.  I don't know.  What I do know is that they did little to stop a Raven's team which seems to get better each week.  The Raven's defense, they did their thing.

I would love to see Ray Lewis go out with a Super Bowl ring.  The Ravens have been improving throughout the playoff run.  San Fran has also been making a statement through their wins.  I think this is going to be a good game.

NFL 12 Divisional week

Ravens-Broncos. Holy Cow this was a good game. I mean a “I can’t look away” good game. It had 5 ties and 6 quarters. I wish both of these teams could be back in the AFC Championship this week. That said I do have a few observations about this game.


1) Yeah, he’s still Peyton Manning.
2) The refs were too one-sided for my taste. There were many times where calls weren’t made that should have been that hurt Denver, and times where calls were made that shouldn’t have been that helped Baltimore. The Broncos shouldn’t have had to play the Ravens and the refs. The Ravens were good enough without the help.
3) The Ravens had their way down the right side, and beat Champ Bailey all day.
4) Raheem Moore let his team down. He was the safety that was supposed to be over the top, but cut inside, not only blowing his coverage, but also stopping the corner from covering inside. He allowed the final Ravens TD, and thereby the win. I feel bad for the guy, because he’ll have to live with that till next season.
5) Yeah, I was rooting for Manning (and Jacob Tamme and Brandon Stokely) because even if they’re playing for the wrong pony, I still love these former Colts. But I’m also glad for Jim Caldwell, former Colts Head Coach and current Ravens play caller.
6) To me, the most disappointing thing about this outcome is that I think the Broncos stood a better chance of beating Tom “the chump” Brady and the Pansies. The last thing I want is them to be in another Super Bowl.

Niners-Packers. Just another great game. This was fun to watch (until I went to bed). Again, I’m sad that the Packers lost, mostly for Jeff Saturday. This was a shoot out, and again both of these teams deserve to go to the championship.

Falcons-Seahawks. Sad to say I turned this game off when it was 20-0. I thought that was it. While Seattle secretly won all season, they secretly came back. However, it was not enough to overcome Hotlanta, which looked as good as they ever did this season.

Pats-Texans. Poop. This game went just how I thought it would, but I’d still like to see the NE loose. Why? Because Tom Brady is a chump.

Made with Real Girl Scouts

Yes ladies and gentlemen it's that time again, when little girls are supposed to bug you about buying their sugary goodness. I'm not opposed to this. I did many a door-to-door fundraiser myself.

But now it's different. When fundraising season comes around, whatever it is, I will buy from the first kid that asks me. Only now, I don't get asked by the kids at church. No. I get event requests from their mothers on facebook.

I'm sorry, but I'm not doing this. If the kid wants me to buy, they need to ask me. This sales tactic is seen everyday. My spam folder is full of e-mails trying to get me to buy viagra and porn. I'm not buying those and I'm not buying your stinking cookies from facebook.

Consider this a growth opportunity. If you want something, do the work (there's a novel concept). Consider this a chance to make people skills. Whatever. But go sell your own darn cookies.

The Hobbit

So, from time to time, I try to write movie reviews of what I watch (which is not much these days).  I went to see the Hobbit.

It is good.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I've seen the LOTR movies and loved them.  I also have read the Hobbit, twice.  There is so much in there, that just the Hobbit is going to have as many movies as the LOTR.  This movie centers around Bilbo, Frodo's uncle and finder of the One Ring.  This movie includes the finding of the ring, first meeting Gandalf and the Elves.  It also includes the history of the Dwarves. 

The battles are epic.  The characters are deep.  The movie is fun.  Highly recommended to all.

2013 finances

So I've been in the job where I'm at for just a few months shy of five years.  It that time, my paycheck has gone up by one forth.  Here's the thing though.  In that time, gas prices have doubled.  Groceries have doubled.  Meals out more than doubled.  Health care may double this year alone.

Now, because of my job I have to eat out.  A lot.  And my work doesn't reimburse these.  I have to at the beginning of each year designate part of my paycheck toward meals, and that amount gets withheld for expenses.  In other words, it's like I don't get paid that amount, but can use it to pay for those meals.  They are completely tax defered.

That said, if you look at my income and subtract this expense, each year I in effect make less money. 

During the debates, President Obama said that inflation was a sign of a strong economy.  Then our economy is awesome, because it is getting harder and harder for middle class Americans to pay our bills.  Inflation may not effect wealthy politicians, but it's driving the middle class into the poor house.

So let me say this to all politicians.  Stop spending us into the poor house.  As our debt climbs, the dollar devalues, and it becomes harder for people to cover their bills.  So both parties, stop screwing around with our lives and cut the crap from the budget.  We can't afford your "help" anymore.  I hope you vote not to raise the debt cieling, because all that does is dig a deeper hole.  You should work on solutions instead.

Ok, rant over, for now.

NFL 12 Wild Card week

I was nervous about this game going in. The Ravens were getting back Ed Reed (one of the scariest guys in the NFL) and Ray Lewis (the heart and soul of the Ravens). Ray Lewis announced his retirement at the end of this season. That gave the Ravens an emotional edge that has been what gave the Colts and edge all season. This was only compounded when Bruce Arians, who served as Head Coach in Chuck’s absence, Offensive Coordinator, and Play-Caller, went to the hospital instead of the game. There went our strategy.


The Ravens and Colts both started with some strong drives, both resulting in losing fumbles. Ray Lewis and Ed Reed both made their presences felt quickly. It’s a tribute that this was the longest the Colts were held without a score this season. Finally, the two teams exchanged field goals, then the Ravens closed out the first half with a touchdown, the Colts with a Field Goal.

The second half was a lot of TDs traded for FG attempts. The huge offense of the Ravens wore down the Colts D. The Colts offense just couldn’t find the end zone all day. The Ravens kept tipping the ball and almost picking it off, and finally Luck’s luck ran out, but to his credit, he saved the touchdown by running down the DB.

As I’ve said, the Colts’ offensive line really wasn’t very good, as Luck was shaking hits all day long, and Reggie Wayne was the only reliable receiver. I hope in the draft we work on building Luck and offensive line he can count on for running and pass protection. Then, let’s get Reggie some help out there.

I also have to acknowledge the Ravens fans. Their noise gave us huge problem. Beyond that, I’m glad Ray Lewis gave the home crowd one last win. When things were decided and they began chanting “We want Ray,” if even got me choked up. I wish we could have given players like Manning, Saturday, and even going back to Bob Sanders to send them out like that.

Rest of the League:
Texans-Bengals. Houston managed to get hungry again. J.J. Watt was dominant and the Texans D looked like it did early in this season. The Bengals looked like they might put up a fight with that INT return early, but they didn’t do much after that.

Packers-Vikings. This wasn’t a game. It was a beating. The only shame was that was a sad way for AP to end a great season.

Seahawks-Redskins. That’s a shame. I wish RG III could have finished his last game healthy. Poor kid probably feels like he let his team down. But, he and Luck have been right there together all season, so I guess it makes since that they get kicked out at the same time.

NFL 12 week 17 synopsis

This was one of the most exciting week 17s I can remember. Being a Colts fan, I’ve seen a lot of seasons going 10-0, 12-0, 14-0, (0-12 thanks to Curtis Painter). I’ve seen a lot of games with pulled starters. I’ve seen a lot of games in week 17 that did not matter.


Some might say that the Colts had nothing to play for. They would be wrong. They had a lot to play for. They were playing for Chuck. They were playing for pride (Houston has never won in Indy, even when it was one of their two wins). And they were playing for momentum.

Momentum matters in the NFL. That’s why one big play can swing an entire game, allowing for the comebacks that make football so much fun. It also matters in seasons. Don’t believe me?

Ask the Giants, who, with nothing to gain, took it to New England, giving them momentum which they carried through the playoffs to ruin Tom “the Chump” Brady’s perfect season in the Super Bowl.

Or ask Houston. I said early in this season that Houston was unbeatable if they stayed hungry. They sat in first place for so long, they stopped being hungry. Then they lost momentum. Then they lost games. This week, they lost their first round bye.

The Colts came out emotional. Chuck was back on the sideline. That same emotion that boosted them to an amazing comeback against the Packers helped them topple the best team in their division. They had a drive that Greg Gumble summed up well: “nearly perfect.” They kept it up throughout the game for the win.

Is that momentum enough to help them beat the Ravens who will have a returning Ray Lewis and Ed Reed? Only a week will tell.

Rest of the league:
Bears-Lions. Lions end the season as they played the season, barely losing another game.

Steelers-Browns. Browns may have lost, but the fact that the Steelers are out of the playoffs is like a win to them.

Giants-Eagles. Man the Eagles suck. And where were these Giants all season? I still bELIeve in Eli.

Bills-Jets. Coach Ryan, please release Tebow so he can go to a team like Miami and we can get some Tebow Time.

Broncos-Chiefs. Yeah, just in case you were wondering, he’s STILL Peyton Manning. Congrats on first place.

Patriots-Dolphins. Yeah, just in case you were wondering, Tom Brady is STILL a chump.

Vikings-Packers. I’ve always thought AP was overrated. Not this day. He showed how he’s carried the Vikings all season, but was nine yards short of the record. That’s simply incredible.

Redskins-Cowboys. What a way to finish RGIII’s epic year.