Sunday, February 27, 2005

Child Support Insanity

I have heard about this story for several days now and as I was reading it this morning I could not help but comment when I remembered my own experiences in family court.

I am happy to say I am done paying child support. Of course my kid lives with me now so I still pay but I do not have to mail a check out each month to my ex-wife. That is the best part I suppose. However consider this.

A man went nuts and killed his ex, shot his own son and shot and killed others at a court house in Texas over some child support issues. Here's the link to the story. Now let me tell you this guy is hopefully burning in Hades about now and he certainly deserves it. He was no doubt insane and enraged due to his post marital situation. I have been through all that, custody battle, where I lost by the way, child support, then more child support. Constant turmoil with a very unreasonable ex. It was a nightmare and some of the worst feelings I had came when trying to get something done fair and just through the court system.

I pride myself on being a reasonable guy and I normally handle a bad situation with patience and a calm demeanor. Yet I have to admit there were times that I had thoughts of doing nutty things due to the frustration I experienced when dealing with the courts, in regards to child custody and child support issues.

My point? Glad you asked. Simply this, we need a more fair system that will not only look out for the best interest of children but will treat Fathers and Mothers in a fair, balanced, unbiased manner. No more giving one parent an unfair advantage just because of their gender. A complete thorough investigation will reveal the truth about people if it is done properly and then the right judgments can be made. The family courts in this country are so full of crap it is pathetic. Idiot judges and lawyers taking advantage of people who certainly can not afford to paying what attorney's charge them and guardian ad litems who are supposed to dig deep to find the real story but only want to find a check in the mail.

Can it be fixed? Do I have a solution? Unfortunately, no. The system is too corrupt as far as I am concerned. I know of no way to purge the system of the bad people who run it. Perhaps if we could bring in new judges and lawyers who are ethical, while weeding out the bad ones (yeah right) and we had time to treat each case properly the system would work better. I suppose that is a pipe dream though. My advice, don't get divorced if you have kids unless it is so bad that know your kids are being harmed by staying with you in a failed marriage. Once you find yourself in family court you will see what I mean.

Meanwhile people will continue to lose their minds and do crazy stuff like this idiot in Texas who shot all those people. Again, I do not condone his violence but I know how insane the court system can make you when you have already been driven nuts by an unreasonable ex wife. By the way, the story focuses on a citizen who returned fire and hit this guy, at least that's what I heard, he may have saved the kids life. Good for him! Sorry for his family though because he was shot fatally. He sacrificed his life to save that of a stranger, the ultimate good deed. Praise God!

Monday, February 21, 2005

Mission Accomplished!

Well, almost.

I have finanlly completed a project over 15 years in the making. Actually I have a couple of small details to work out but I am so close it isn't even funny.

The project? I am glad you asked! It is an anthology of much of my fiction work and some poetry thrown in for good measure. I have compiled the book now and still have a bit of editing left to do and I am working with a cover artist to get that very crucial part of the project done then I will be ready to publish.

The title is: Lost Lore from an Ancient Future. Cool huh! I like it.

It truly is amazing that I finally have gotten this thing nearly done. It is something I have been wanting to do for many, many years and i am really excitied about bringing it to fruition. So I still have some work to do over the next few weeks in polishing this manuscript, I better get going.

Later

JD

PS ~ Here is a little story I picked of the net earlier this morning I thought was interesting. I chose it because I am forever cussing at people who flip cigarettes out of their car window that bounce back at me.

Sweet Justice
A San Francisco man learned the hard way that littering -- especially burning objects -- is not a good idea. Jonathan Fish was driving across the Bay Bridge on Thursday when he tossed his cigarette out the window. But the cigarette blew back into his $30,000 Ford Expedition, igniting the back seat and filling the SUV with smoke. Fish pulled over and leaped from the flaming vehicle, which kept rolling and crashed into a guardrail. "It was in flames by the time he got out," said CHP Officer Shawn Chase. "He had some of his hair singed on the back of his head. (The car) burned down to the frame." Fish likely faces a misdemeanor charge for littering, which carries a fine of up to $1,000.
-- Debra Jones

Thursday, February 17, 2005

The Media, old and new!

For some odd reason I have always been fascinated by the media. Well maybe not always but for as long as I can remember, say over the past thirty years or so.

I am a very literal person by nature and enjoy writing and reading so I suppose this enhances my predilection towards journalism. Which translates to: I suck at algebra but can write a decent essay.

So again the media is something of a hobby of mine. It seems that we are living in a time of great transition with the media. It is changing and has changed in a BIG way over the past 20 years and is still evolving. This my friends has had a tremendous impact on the USA and entire world for that matter.

If you think back just 30 years or so ago we had three major commercial networks on TV and a public station in each town I suppose. The news we were fed came from people we got to know and even trust. Our news also came from our local newspapers and some larger papers such at the NY Times and Wall Street Journal. Then the USA Today came along and we really got a fresh look at the events happening around the globe. We also got CNN with cable TV. Many of us were fascinated and couldn't get enough of the news 24/7.

What so many of us did not realize at the time was that 99% of these news organizations were not just reporting the news to us but they were following an agenda that was formed in newsrooms where a left or liberal mentality ruled. Perhaps they thought they were being objective and just reporting news as it were but we have learned that it was not the case. They or the large majority of them in fact were NOT objective and were trying to influence the public to see things from their perspective.

Then came talk radio, the internet and low and behold FOX news.

Now many of the folks (our friends) on the left believe in karma and the balance of the universe, a yin and the yang, kind of thing. The positive and negative, good and evil if you will. When things go out of balance in nature the earth has a way of dealing with it.

So goes the media.

The popularity of talk radio of which we all know is dominated by conservative hosts was just the media filling the void naturally. The left had dominated it so long that a conservative point of view was almost no where to be found. The balance was way out of kilter and then came Rush Limbaugh. It is my opinion that this man, like him or not, carried the weight of the conservative world on his shoulders for many years and his show alone began the onslaught of the current state of talk radio. The amazing thing is he is still on top of that medium with 20 million listeners.

Now it gets even more interesting.

The internet has also had a tremendous influence on our media culture. The way we are able to access news at any moment from all over the world and from any perspective have given many people a new outlook on what transpires in our country and around the world. Blogging is turning out to have a big impact as well.

Guess what? Politics have been greatly affected by this! Yes my friends in case you didn't know politics in America have changed. There has been a big shift in power from Democratic dominance in the legislature to a Republican (conservative) dominated Washington.

Let's connect the dots. For more than 40 years Democrats (liberals) ruled Washington in the Congress and Senate. For more than 40 years Democrats (liberals) ruled the airwaves and news papers.

The came the 90's. Talk radio erupted and Limbaugh began reaching people, people who vote.

The Republicans won the House in 1994 with Newt Gingrich as the speaker and the Contract with America was born. Talk radio grew and more and more conservative voices were heard across America. People began to correspond across the internet and discuss politics. In my opinion the left may have taken notice and doubled their efforts on the national news scale. People like Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Ted Turner pushed even harder to get their liberal message out. Case in point the latest election. (Is it just me or did people like Dan Rather and others use their national news programs to try and defeat George W. Bush?)

BAM!

Fox news came along and blew them all out of the water. Why, becuase they were able to present both the conservative and liberal side of the message. Republicans in turn have won the House and Senate as well as the majority of gubernatorial races across the country and finally again took back the White House.

So there it is, the parallels are there, the dots have been connected. It is a brave new world in the USA because the message is out. Liberals no longer control the media machine, you can have either point of view you choose and this country has chosen.

What say you?

(Sorry Bill, couldn't help myself)

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

The Blogs

Sounds like a horror movie title from the 50's or maybe a family next door like the Smith's or the Burg's. Yet it is something different and new altogether.

The Blogs of course are this new form of communication, perhaps not so new but a new way to describe communication over the internet, maybe packaged a bit differently than before. It is really nothing but a website. Some folks use them as a personal journal, others like to talk about politics or something else perhaps. I personally like to mix it up.

Anyone who reads this knows what Blogs are or they wouldn't be here. Yet I suppose someone could stumble across a blog if they were just surfing the net and hit one by accident.

The truth is blogs seem to be the craze right now online. Lot's of famous people have them and just regular Joe's like myself although the majority of Americans wouldn't know a blog if it hit them right smack in the forehead.

Here is a little article on blogs I found this morning written by Michael Barone.

On to the news!

Seems that the democrats are gluttons for punishment! Example? They have made Howard the Duck, I mean Dean, their new DNC chairman. Check out this little piece on him by O'Reilly.

On the lighter side here is a piece on Cheech and Chong. During the 70's I was a big fan of their movie's, looks like they are going to make a couple more.

Are you a google head, googler or just someone who googles? You might want to read this.

Remember that little gargoyle in North Korea. He might be full of it, says South Korea, if you know what I mean. Here is a piece describing his latest boast of being a nuclear power.

Speaking of Gargoyles this is a very interesting story. I wonder if this thing is for real?

Write On!

JD

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Social Security

Good morning!

Let's talk about this issue.

The President is touting his idea to privatize the system or to take a very small percentage of YOUR money and invest it into a priavate account that will in turn accumulate at a much larger rate than your currnet SS money is earning. The rate will vary but it will certainly be much more than 1 or 2 percent. If you look at the history of the stock market you could safely say it will be somewhere between 4 and 10 percent.

Many lawmakers, mostly democrats (Wow, what a shocker!) oppose this adjustment to the plan. They say it is a scheme and we can not afford to touch the SS money, it will cost too much to transition the program into private accounts. Blah, Blah, Blah!

I say this!

If the Congress, Senate and folks in the White House down through the years had not stolen that money to begin with, and used it in areas they should not have we would not have a problem at all. Now they are obligated to fix the problem but not by raising our taxes. If the SS program were being run by a business right now, the people in charge of it would be in jail!

They must find a way to resolve this problem without stealing more money from our paychecks to do it. They have and are currently taking too much money from us. We want our money back so that we can invest it and make our own retirement accounts. There is NO reason the government should be taking money away from any citizen and telling them they will hold it for us until we are ready to retire. To be fair about it make the entire program voluntary.

This is outright opression and larceny!

Give me my DAMN money back!!!!

Whew ~

Better take a moment here....

OK, if you want to read a bit about what's going on in Washington concerning this click here.

I also have found some history on Social Security and FDR. This document has some really good information about the subject as well as other historical inf. on other similar programs around the world throughout history. Very intereseting stuff written by Bill Hunot in 2002.

Have a peacful and relaxing weekend.

Many blessings

JD

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Back to work!

Greetings!

It is back to work for me after enjoying a nice week long vacation in Florida with my lovely wife. We went to Palm Beach for some relaxing time on the sunny, sandy, shores of Singer Island. We also spent some time in Key West, a place I had wanted to go for many years. I was not disappointed.

We really enjoyed it and I hope to return there soon. Next time I want to stay in Key west for a week! I had a drink at Sloppy Joe's and got to visit the home of Ernest Hemingway! WOW! What a thrill that was for me. I only hope that some of his karma, perhaps an atom, dislodged from a book or painting in his study, that lingered there for decades, will work it's way into my being so that I may experience a Hemingway moment someday and write something that will be inspiring. I got some great pictures at his house and lots of wonderful memories of the entire trip but alas, it is over and now it is time to tackle the day to day here in Charlotte once again.

I have to comment on this so called professor Churchill in Colorado. It is obvious he has a severely warped view of the United States and is passing on this sickness to his students. This makes him a dangerous man and for this reason I do hope he is fired from his position at the school. However I will defend his right to free speech. As far as I am concerned he does have the right to say what he pleases. I also defend the right of those in power over this nut to fire him as free speech is not without consequence in this country. Many parents do not want the minds of their young ones being corrupted by this dribble.

Mr. Churchill, you may stand on the street corner and scream your tainted views at the top of your lungs as far as I am concerned but if you spew your painful verbiage that is obviously insulting to others you may wind up suffering some type of pain yourself. That is the way of the world my malcontent friend. Karma has a way of slapping you in the face.

So speak on Mr. Professor. Let your views be heard from corner to corner of this great country and you will find yourself on the receiving end of the age old saying, "You reap what you sow." By the way, Bill O'Reilly has a good column on this guy. Check out this link here. This may be the last day for it.

Also in the news it seems the left is out to get Bill Cosby now. My gut tells me they want him to shut up. He is causing some defection from the democratic party so they are digging up some dirt on him to keep him busy in court so he can't continue his speech that is causing many blacks and whites to really look hard at the black community and it's problems. I must say I am not ready to convict the Cos but if this stuff is true, he will also have to pay the piper. You can't behave like that if you are a high profile person and not expect the karma to come back and get you at some point. Especially after you have made enemies like Mr. Cosby has of late. I wish him luck and I pray these stories are false. He is a role model and I want him to stay that way. If you want you can read some of the allegations against Cosby here.

That about sums it up for today! It is hump day so pretty soon it will all be down hill from here.

Have a great rest of the week!