72 posts tagged “me”

What do you think are the ideal qualities in close friendships?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and had a long and involved post all written in my mind, but forget all that.  What do you think makes a friendship timeless? What makes it transcendent of shared or not-so-shared interests?  What qualities have you found both in yourself and in your friends that you think have contributed to the "hitting it off" factor?

It's a subject I feel like I could one day write a book about.  Looking back over my life, I realize how blessed I have been to have had good friends at nearly every age.  Growing up, my rough-and-tumble friend was Michael.  Practically adopted brothers, we rode our bikes all over the neighborhood, explored every creek, nearly burnt down half the trees in his backyard, and we learned both how to throw and take punches.  At 14 - quite the awkward age for me - having just run away from home for a couple of days, going to a different high school than all my other friends, I was fortunate enough to connect with Frank, Keith, William, Tami, Alan and Alan (yep, two Alans!).  I had no idea how critical those friendships would be when, at the end of that year, my parents separated.  Not long after, I met Jaime who would soon become my step-brother.  High school turned to college, and I met Jon, Dawn & Micah (to name a few).  In the years to come I would meet Shawn, Kyle, Josh & my best friend and wife Stephanie.

I often wonder which friendships will remain timeless.  I am also constantly amazed at how resilient friendships can be (how many girls did we fight over, Alan?), and how quickly people can pleasantly surprise you (Jon, admit it, you wanted to punch me when we were on the road in St. Louis....I'm sure I deserved it.).

No two friendships are alike, of course.  But I think there are qualities that are common to all the successful frienships I've experienced.  I welcome your input on this list:

• Courage to be vulnerable, and the grace to allow others to feel safe in their vulnerability.
• Humility, and it's close companion, forgiveness.
• Willingness to let the other teach you about their life and experience, and equal willingness to teach them as well.  Many of my closest friends do not necessarily share my deepest passions, but they've never been afraid to ask and listen, and I get the privilege of learning from (and listening to) them as well - even if their passions aren't exactly mine.
• Shared moral values, and a commitment to stick to them.  Yes, this may sound quaint, but a common moral framework makes it possible to show respect, loyalty & love.  Without it, trust cannot exist, and everything boils down to pretense, manipulation and insecurity.
• Frequent communication.  (I might be biased here since "Time" is the primary way I perceive love according to the "Five Love Langauges" book....but I've never seen a relationship thrive that didn't include time interacting.)

So - what do you think?  What would you add or remove from my list?

In a recent White House blog, this was posted:

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care.  These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation.  Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

Not to bore with you the labyrinth of legality (which I don't even fully understand), but if the White House commences with such a "data gathering" program, the information collected will be kept secret - and that information will be around a long time, if not permanently.  This amounts to an enemies list being kept at the White House!  Enough is enough, people - this nonsense has got to stop.  Anyway, being the concerned citizen I am, I felt compelled to report myself to the White House, here is my message:

To Whom It May Concern:

 

     Hello, I'd like to report on some "fishy" information regarding Health Care.  Apparently, someone has been promising that we can keep our private plans, but this is clearly fishy and false.  On page 16 of the House's health care bill, it plainly states "Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" that the bill becomes law.  Want to know what's fishy about that?  That the President says "First of all, if you’ve got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan.  Nobody is talking about taking that away from you.", when that's clearly a lie.  The House bill would make private insurance illegal.  If I chose to leave my job, or change my plan, or buy a private plan outside my job, this bill would make that illegal.  The President has claimed that his health care plan would "be paid for" and that his budget "reduced federal spending over the next 10 years by $2.2 trillion".  However, the CBO says that it projects a $2.7 trillion increase, not cut.  Since a majority of Americans elected President Obama, I find it odd that his health care plan would go against that majority - which is pro-life, by the way - by making abortions part of the government option.  That certainly sounds fishy.  Will the President's plan also cover the grief & suicide counseling for the abortive mothers since, of course, the suicide rate among women who've had abortions is at least 6 times higher?  Will the government plan also cover breast cancer treatment since the argument has been made that abortion raises the risk of breast cancer anywhere from 2-4 times for women who've had abortions?  In fact, doesn't abortion coverage actually cost the country more in health care costs since 65% of women who've had abortions experienced multiple symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, 31% had health complications afterward, 42% have experienced major depression in the last 4 years?  Fishiest of all the fishies is General Electric's involvement in this process.  GE stands to be the major beneficiary from both Cap and Trade (should I email another White House address to report fishy behavior on that?) and Health Care.  What's fishy is that while there was justifiable outcry at Haliburton having no-bid-contract-access to the former administration, no one is acknowledging GE's back-door involvement with this administration, nor are the names of pharmaceutical & health care companies that have met with the administration being released.  The lack of transparency is really fishy.

 

     But the biggest fish in the pond seems to be the fact that the President, himself, said "I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody."  Could you be so kind as to pass this on to the President?  Here's a couple of reasons why, Mr. President:  We, the people, do not want a government option.  We, the people, favor private competition, and we think the best reform would start with tort reform and a move away from a 3rd party payment system to direct payment where patients pick their own providers, have the choice of insurance companies that can cross state lines, have wider range of flexibility in MSA/HSA accounts.  We, the people, want you and Congress to address the more than $50 trillion in unfunded liabilities our nation is facing in our national debt, Social Security and Medicare alone (and address it without inflating the value of our dollar via printing trillions more).  Enough with the bailouts, enough with talk of making us the cleanest Third World country (via Cap and Trade) and enough with the lies about how much "universal" health care will cost, keeping our own plans, and it all paying for itself.  Enough with hiding the reality of comparative effectiveness research, which would empower you to deny treatment and ration care under a universal plan.  Please go ahead and add my name alongside the other 75% of Americans who oppose the plan, since surely we must be basing our views on "fishy" information as opposed to our own intelligence and experience.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Rant alert.  I'm livid and not likely to be so kind.

No offense to the supposed 'millions' of people devastated by Michael Jackson's death.  Believe me, but I don't think anyone's death should be belittled.  However, enough is enough.  The world is on fire with changes that will have terrifying consequences for us and our children, and yet we want to watch washed up has-beens sing at the ticketed funeral of a pop-icon who, while arguably a musical genius, was also obviously conflicted, tortured and misguided person.  Enough doubt lingered over his life to convince many that his relationship with children was anything but appropriate.  <Cue screeching halt and screaming fans />  WHY did I mention that last item?  Because political figures with more power and influence have had their lives destroyed on the basis of mere accusations less controversial than what Michael Jackson was accused of, and yet we have members of the lowest rated Congress in history proposing House Resolutions to honor him??!

Yes, that's right.  Our Representatives - who apparently don't have time to read a 1200 (oh, wait, they added 300 more pages only hours before the vote), make that 1500 page Cap and Trade bill that will literally transfer our wealth to other nations simply by making us pay offsets in a sham-of-an-energy-derivatives market - but they have time to write and bring to the floor a bill honoring Michael Jackson.

Meanwhile, North Korea fired 7 more missiles on our Independence Day - a clear sign of defiance by a rogue state who has a proven history of bullying and bombast (albeit, now backed up by nuclear capability).  Japan - clearly concerned about North Korea, will most likely build up its military capabilities (and some have hinted at a nuclear option).

Then there's Iran.  Simultaneously aiding raids against our forces in Iraq, ruthlessly crushing the people's hopes for freedom (warning: graphic) and still working to build a nuclear weapon, Iran has made utter fools of the US in the eyes of the world.  Some believe that other states, like Saudi Arabia, will seek to arm themselves with nuclear weapons if Iran succeeds in building one.

And....Honduras.  The situation is not as cut and dry as the US Administration says.  Zelaya is not a "good guy" - and the people there are begging for prayer and assistance.  They don't want their government to become yet another pawn of Hugo Chavez.  So, we ignore the cries of Iranians for assistance as they are beaten and shot in the streets, and yet we immediately side with Chavez and Zelaya on Honduras.  "Dude - where's my country?!"

Our government is racked with corruption - from sweetheart mortgages for Senators, to increased pleasure travel on taxpayer money (while condemning auto executives for flying their private jets), to Argentinian affairs - all the while the Federal government has extended its power beyond anything ever intended (and beyond what our system can actually sustain)....and yet, here we are with wall-to-wall coverage of Michael Jackson.

My God, America, get a grip.  You now owe a minimum of $516k per household with our current debt....and that debt is growing (thanks to interest) at least $1.2 BILLION PER DAY.  Oh, and all that money we've been printing?  Is it any wonder that China, Russia and India are just the latest in a line of nations calling for the dollar to no longer be the 'dominant' (i.e. - reserve) currency?  Does ANYONE get what this means?  If our treasury "debt auction" sales drop, we have no way to finance the out of control spending....and we'll be left with an inflated currency, insane interest rates and the inability to fund all the entitlements so many hold dear (social security, medicare, etc.).

But that's ok.  Go watch the Michael Jackson memorial and memorize every fricking detail - because you better be able to describe in utter detail to your children and grandchildren what you were doing when you sold them into peasantry and slavery.

A 53-year-old woman by the name of Janet Contreras wrote this letter, and it's definitely worth a read.  She sums up how so many are feeling so well:

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AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR NATION'S LEADERSHIP:

I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?

Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This isn't to be confused with legal immigration.

Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why ‑‑ what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band‑Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try ‑‑ please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.

Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when hewill rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.

Do you ever feel like you have to give your friends the diet version of yourself?  I'm a naturally intense person - and 99.999999% of the time I'm perfectly content and happy to be that way.  I am constantly in thought, whether I'm reading, driving, eating, sitting outside, sitting inside, putting my shoes on or gassing up the car.  The main issue seems to be the subjects upon which I dwell:  history, culture, politics, theology, philosophy, music, programming, education....  It is impossible for me to see those subjects as unrelated.  I often find myself trying to explain the cause and effect nature of those subjects (and typically along the lines of something happening in the real world) and then I sense the "eyes glazing over" effect with the person listening.  I get so excited about a particular book/subject/article/conversation/whatnot that I find myself "reeling me back in" since there is some default internal response of "C'mon Jim, they don't want to hear the unabridged version".  I completely get the need to be concise; to not overwhelm someone in conversation - and have worked a ton throughout my life to better my skills in that area.  But I gotta admit, the people with whom you can truly let your hair down...the ones that not only don't mind, but actually want to hear the 'unabridged version' of whatever is on your mind....those people are like that first breath you take when you come up from being underwater for almost too long.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about technology – specifically social networking.  I’ve been a software developer for the last nine years and I’ve watched with amazement the dramatic changes in how the web is both produced and consumed during that time.  I quickly learned the importance of staying current (believe me, it’s a full time job).  I am a classic “geek” – I truly enjoy what I do.  However, I’ve noticed a growing trend in my life:  The longer I work in software, the more I attempt to insulate myself from certain effects of technology in general. 

The “All Style and No Substance” Effect

Out of all the blessings and curses of modern technology, this one worries me the most.  I think that so-called “Social Networking” is potentially causing much more harm than good.  Before you write me off as some “backwards naysayer” who just doesn’t get it – remember – I work in this industry!  Through some business connections a few months ago, I had some inside information on what was going wrong with Twitter as the user base grew exponentially.  Nearly every aspect of what I do is geared towards providing our customers the information they need via the web.  Before I lay out my concerns, understand that I think there are some great aspects to sites like Facebook, Vox, Twitter, etc.  My wife and I have met some wonderful people – many of whom have become friends (albeit, mostly long distance).  However, none of that shakes my conviction that the great casualties of our age are substantive conversation, accountability and robust intellect.

Dumbing-Down Conversation

One of the aspects of Twitter touted by friend and foe alike is “you’ve got to work hard to say a lot in 140 characters”.  Right - and those same people have their blogs auto-Tweet when they post new entries, since, after all, some things (try ‘most things of substance’) simply can’t be said in 140 characters.  Facebook status updates are not much different (and many, like me, have Facebook and Twitter linked).  Whether we “tweet”, leave a response on a blog or reply to forum threads, there’s a certain anonymity – even when we use our real name – that subconsciously buffers us from the consequences of harsh words or banal comments.  The more recent joke comes to mind “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler or the Nazis approaches 1”.  Just watching the scathing political comments on Twitter is proof enough.  Even worse, some of those I follow have made sweeping generalizations about people whose heritage, faith or accent I share – all in a nicely packaged 140-characters-or-less insult.  It’s easy, I guess.  If you don’t like the heat, you don’t have to leave the kitchen, you just un-follow someone, or boot them from your friends, un-link them or otherwise block them.  In a world where we’re not talking directly to an in-the-flesh person, and where the usual means of consequences and accountability aren’t present, it’s easy to begin to treat people as usernames to be demeaned & discarded.  I was amazed to hear a comment one responder left saying “These conservatives scare me.  Can’t we just get rid of these Fascists?”  While that statement might be under 140 characters, I’d question who the Fascist is really. 

We are in danger of allowing all our conversational exchanges to boil down to the lowest common denominator.  Real ideas take time to develop and discuss.  While I’ve seen great uses of Twitter and Facebook along these lines, the vast majority of our technological options lend themselves to short, superficial and often rude ‘conversation’.  Seriously!  If you’ve made it this far in this blog entry alone, you are in the minority.  There’s so much downward pressure on the quality of relationship and exchange:  “no one reads long blog entries”, “keep your tweets pithy and intriguing”, “always leave comments on the blogs you read”, “how many followers do you have?”, etc.  Should we be so worried about how hip our status messages sound?  Can we really discuss anything of weight in less than 140 characters?  Is the content we’re trying to direct our Twitter followers to just an expanded cotton-candy version of the “nothingness” so often “tweeted” about, or is it constructive, personal, helpful and perhaps educational?  Too often it’s all style and no substance – a sad & empty flash in the pan of human experience.

Dumbing-Down Intellect & Losing Time

I love that Facebook has re-connected me with childhood friends.  But at some point or another I have to come to the realization that I can’t respond to everyone who super-pokes me, I can’t read everyone’s tweets, I can’t take the 25^th meme I’ve been tagged on – you name it.  It’s fun, sure.  But my close friends are the ones that I talk to – in person, on the phone and yes, even IM.  Two-hundred years ago Americans actually met and talked – in taverns, churches, schools, etc.  They argued about principles and ideas.  They watched each other’s backs.  They actually knew their neighbor’s names.  They could certainly be a raucous bunch, but there was a level of civility and integrity which I believe we have lost.  Today, instead, we allow the great potential of our minds and hearts to be wasted on an overload of TV, web and ever-present-marketing.  We have forgotten the joy of working to be entertained – like reading up on a subject that actually requires thought, learning a game or pursuing a hobby.  We – and I’m right there in the middle – have preferred, instead, to have even our entertainment spoon-fed to us, no thought or assembly required.  We think that a night of “vegging” is just what the doctor ordered, but at what cost and is that truly rest?

While the web has made it easy for anyone to publish “information”, the quality of that information is questionable, and the respect for the veracity of the author hinges on the whim of the reader, not fact-checking, peer-review or other means of accountability.  Many schools have banned (rightfully so) the use of Wikipedia as a source on essays, but Googling abounds.  I love Google, but is anyone contemplating the cumulative effect it will have on an entire generation currently developing the habit of not retaining information over the long term, much less knowing how to look it up if the internet connection is down?  Prior to MS Word, students were taught to outline their points before writing their paper.  This wasn’t just to help the writing process, but the thought process.  Today we are encouraged to just simply write and we can edit it later.  The initial thought process to refine your ideas happens less and less.  Intellect is like any other thing in life – without use, it breaks down.

My encouragement to you (and if you made it this far, thanks!) is to use the technological tools we have at our disposal to make it easier to do substantive things in life, rather than be sucked in by the appealing “brightness” of the brief flash in the pan.  Re-learn what it was to live life prior to the iPhone or CrackBerry temptation of being “always on, always available”.  Take a walk and think, reflect and enjoy your own company.  Then do the same with friends and family.  Go and introduce yourself to your neighbors.  Don’t feel the ridiculous pressure to keep up with every Facebook status change, Tweet, Linked-In update that crosses your computer screen.  Determine for yourself and your family that when the world finally gives up serious individual thought altogether for the sake of entertainment , that someone will be left in the world who is actually qualified to run it.

A while back my mom gave me my grandfather's .38 revolver.  I cleaned it up and had the chance to take it shooting with my brother-in-law (Scott) in Georgia soon after, and I have to say that gun is tough and accurate.  I consider myself a decent shot, but this revolver made me look better than I am (although Scott puts me to shame in general).  I absolutely adored my grandfather (who passed away when I was 10), and having both his wallet - and now - his gun is very sentimental to me. (I jokingly tell people I have his wallet and gun and ask them in what order do they think I got them....)  I also love target shooting, so his .38 will accompany on many more outings to come.  My wife, being incredible as always, agreed to let me acquire an "heirloom" of my own with some of our tax refund money: A Ruger Mark III (on the right below).  This Ruger is a .22LR ("22 Long Rifle"), so the ammunition is about the only ammunition that's anywhere near affordable right now thanks to the run on ammo and some other not-so-smart-and-quickly-rescinded decisions made by certain people in Washington - in fact the ammo is dirt cheap.  It's a perfect match for target shooting (or "plinking" as they say).  I absolutely love the design - it fits my hands like a glove, and seems built to last a long time.  As one reviewer said "If you want something that's accurate, and that you can pass on to your son, get the Ruger."  I took his advice and cannot wait to take it to the local outdoor range in my town and see it in action....  Now that I have two sons, does that mean I should buy two of everything?! :-)

Granddad's .38 and my Ruger...

Things I love:

• Reading thought-provoking books like:
  

  The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents [ROAD TO SERFDOM]
• Music that feels like a life soundtrack:
  

  Mute Math

• When my son sees me coming to pick him up from the two-year-old classroom at church and yells "Daddy" and comes running to me.
• Finding kindred souls who love to talk about volatile subjects in a civil fashion.

• The "red vs. blue shouting match format" on cable "commentary" shows.  PUHLEEZE!
  
• Feeling unimportant to close friends.  Unfortunately, it happens.
• Pretty much everyone in Congress right now, with a few exceptions.
• That some kids thought it was acceptable to destroy 5 mailboxes on my street (including mine).  Where the heck are their parents?
  

I have a tendency to lose sunglasses.  They get crushed, pulled apart by kids, scratched, scorched, dropped in a river while canoeing or they fall prey to spontaneous combustion.  As a result I tend to buy the cheap $10 pairs at Walmart or Walgreen's.  About a week ago, my latest pair were suddenly MIA.  I was dumbfounded!  I had tried SO hard to keep up with them, but they vanished one night between my desk at work and my car.  Keep in mind, the entire week (or more) that they've been missing, I've driven all over town (especially 70-80 mph on the highway), through construction zones, parking lots with massive speed bumps, you name it.  This morning as I was getting into my car, I found them:

FoundThem

On the TOP of my car.  Go figure!

Having just read two books on the history of the Great Depression, covering Hoover and Roosevelt's administrations in a fair amount of depth, I was both shocked and yet not surprised to hear that the infamously ignorant and arrogant Chuck Schumer recently said this about Herbert Hoover:

"Those on the hard right say, “Cut government spending, let’s go back to the old Reagan days.” Well, the last president who did this when we were in this type of situation was Herbert Hoover.  Herbert Hoover said the government should do nothing when we were in a recession, not a depression.  We did nothing and it related [sic] to a depression."

His ignorance of history and economics is astounding.  The recession we're currently in is just now approaching the severity of the early 80's recession.  Reagan cut spending, and cut taxes.  Federal tax revenues doubled under Reagan's tenure, and we launched the longest period of peacetime growth in the 20th century.  JFK also cut taxes, and tax revenues went up as a result as well.  Hoover did anything but "nothing"!  Dear Lord, if only he had done nothing.  Instead his programs were merely substantial appetizers for the anti-business, anti-wealth, heavy tax burden, politicized "stimulus" of Roosevelt's failed New Deal.  I wonder if Schumer is even remotely aware of the role the Fed played in the Great Depression?  Fed policies contributed directly to the deflation so rampant in the 30's, and many economists have argued that the Depression would have still occurred without the 1929 stock market crash.  In fact, Fed policies on the money supply contributed heavily to so much money being used in speculation...a key ingredient leading up to the crash.

Once again, the blame for much our current fiscal crisis lies at the feet of both our government and the Fed.  Looking back, sobered-up economists now realize that the 'easy money' policy of Greenspan's Fed was a bad idea.  So was the strengthening of the Community Reinvestment Act under Clinton.  So was the ability to sell mortgage debt as securities on the world market.  So was the relaxing of loan qualifications - all under the guise of advancing a socio-economic agenda, and not actual market common sense.

The thing that's so sickening is how our politicians grandstand, beat their chests and pour on the holier-than-thou act.  They'll attack the banks, the oil companies, the stock market investors - and ubiquitously - the "rich".  How hypocritical and odd that they've forgotten that we middle class folk are heavily invested in the stock market as well via retirement funds.  Please do not buy into the myth of class warfare.  We are ALL Americans here.  You do not make the poor rich by making the rich poor.  You do not increase the quality of life for anyone by attacking someone who has more material possessions than you.  Crooked CEOs, while a popular news image, do not represent the whole of the wealthy.  We've GOT to face the facts - wealth redistribution is not only immoral, it will drive permanent wedges between sections of our nation who depend on one another, and truly NEED one another.  We've got to STOP being petty and whining about subjective fairness, and do what is JUST.  Justice is blind for a reason.  Our founders intended small and limited government for a reason!  With Progressive ideas and "plans", government spending is the guarantee, and your tax rates will bend (upwards) long before spending drops.  With the largest national debt and deficit in history, does anyone truly think that the higher tax rates for those making above $200k will stop there?  You do not have the right to take someone else's money, whether it be at gun-point or via the IRS.  This is one bed we don't want to make, and we definitely don't want to lie in.

And by the way:  New York, look, I get that you want liberal Senators in office. Ok, fine.  But could you PLEASE elect someone with a brain?  And a moderate grasp of our nation's history?  And at least a basic understanding of business and economics?  Sheesh.

And to all politicians:  Please stop preaching hope out one side of your mouth, and class warfare out the other.  You are a disgrace because you are feeding on divisions in our nation (that you created to begin with) to further your own power and pocketbooks.