The Write Blog

Blue Belt Test

2011-11-19T13:13:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

Today I passed my Blue Belt test in Combat Hapkido.. I am also injury free for the most part and able to continue on to test for my 1st Kyu in Aikido soon (fingers crossed) maybe in a month or two which will allow me to finally start my training for my Black Belt test. I am eager to get there after alot of hard work. Last Thursday two of my good freinds from Aikido class took their Black Belt tests together. I filmed the majority of it and just burned it to a DVD to share with the class in fact. It was a great test and they both did exceptionally well. Conratulations to both Noah and Yuka!

By the way, I have learned to play "Night Moves" by Bob Seger on the guitar over the past few weeks. What a great song! If I could only sing it like he does.. (grin)

Thanksgiving is next week so I hope you all have a blessed and safe week.

Peace

OWS for what it's worth

2011-11-04T04:13:00.000-07:00

I have been paying close attention to the OWS movemeent. Considering the so called Arab Spring or (Sharia Summer) as I like to call it, many have predicted this would come to America and it finally has. Violence has broken out on Oakland, California - Surprise! Who'd have thought!

After watching this transpire for several weeks now I must admit I am glad this has happened. No, not the violence but the coming out of the Marxist, Communist, Socialist Democrats here in the USA. You see these college kids have all been turned into some form of Marxist by their college professors and they have all been indoctrinated into believing Capitalism is bad, Communism good! Now they are demanding that the capitalist system be destroyed and that a communist state take it's place. It is wide open for all the world to see and most all the Democrats including Obama have embraced them.

So, all the fools who ctiticized FOX News for breaking the stories about Obama and his Marxist pals 3 years ago can now sit back and say, oops! We have now inadvertantly proven their point! The right has been trying to tell the public for years about the leftists and communists that have infilitrated the higher learning institutions of America and what they are doing to the college kids. The so called main stream media leftists are the result of those college classes in journalism and whatever else it is they are required to take. The President and his wife are both results of the indocrination machine at Columbia, Yale, Harvard. They all teach the same stuff. America bad, Socilaism good.

So America, the proof is right before your very eyes on the news every day. Can you see it now?

The Grid, Music and Martial Arts!

2011-10-10T02:40:00.000-07:00

There's alot of talk about dropping off the grid these days. I wonder if it is even possible to do such a thing. Sometimes I feel like I would like to to try but when it comes down to it I don't think it is very realistic. Yet, I think we should all consider planning ahead in case something drastic happens in America.

For example a major earthquake, hurricane, tornado or flood could destroy everything you own so it is nice to think you would be prepared for such a scenario. I mean by storing food and clothes somewhere other than home. Sounds extreme but how grateful would you be if your house was destroyed and all contents like in Joplin Missouri or in the recent tsunami in Japan. What if you had the forethought to store food, clothes, even money in a place somewhere other than your own home. Not saying that I have but the thought just came to me in this regard. I will have to ponder the logistics of such an idea.

Now moving on to lighter subjects, if you have ever read this blog you know I am into martial arts. I love to practice it and to watch it on TV or in person. I have been and am still pursuing black belts in two arts, Aikido and Combat Hapkido. I am still making good progress towards these goals and am about to test again in Combat Hapkido, this will be my Blue Belt. In Aikido I am still a couple of months away from my next test but it is a BIG one. First Kyu, which will be my last test before Black. Very exciting! My ultimate goal is to teach self defense. Private lessons or perhaps in a Dojo of my own someday.

One of my other passions is music. I have always loved singing, ever since I was a small boy singing around the house and to the radio. I had a knack for remembering lyrics even when I was six or seven. I began playing guitar at thirteen and only played about a year. I got good fast and even helped instruct in my music class in the 8th grade in Stockbridge Ga. but my circumstances changed and I moved away from Ga., back to NC. I lost interest in the guitar and although I usually had one in the closet I rarely took it out and played unitl a few years ago when I began playing again. I do remeber taking lessons about 20 years ago, I think I took two or three lessons but alas I once again put the guitar back up and failed to go any further.

Today I am into guitars BIG TIME! I own about five of them and I play every day! I love it more and more! I suppose there is a time for every thing and this is my time for the guitar. I intend to keep playing until I get good enough to be a professional. I am playing some small gigs now for very little money but it is a start. My goals is to make $5,000 a show! Someday I will get there.. (wink)

Been Away but I'll Be Back

2011-08-18T14:38:00.001-07:00

Been away from this blog for quite a while. I suppose Facebook has allot to do with that. I thought I would do an update and try to start working my way over here more often.

First - Politics!

Life has been challenging for many of us self employed folks for the past two or three years. When the Democrats wind up in power business usually takes a hit so I was not surprised but I was surprised by the extent of damage they managed to do to the economy since they took over the congress in 2007 and then once Obama came into office.

Hopefully with the help of the TEA party we will see BIG changes in 2012 and perhaps business can begin to grow again in America. I know many people disagree with me on this and we can debate or argue much of this stuff all day but let me put it this way. It is VERY simple.

When you raise taxes on BIG business of any kind it will be passed on to the consumer, it always does. So, raising taxes on Big Oil, Big, Pharma, Big Teleco, Big Tobacco, etc, always comes back to hurt the consumer... Also, when you raise taxes on the so called "RICH", it hurts charities and investments. So it hurts the poor and those who are trying to start and grow businesses. Your not hurting the RICH because it really does not change their personal lifestyle but it does hurt those who they give money too and who they invest in.

If you can wrap your mind around that then you understand why conservatives are against raising taxes, period!

OK, on to other things.

Martial Arts

I am starting my preparations for my next BIG test in Aikido. This will be my 1st kyu test which will put me on step away from achieving Black Belt. This will be a challenge both physically and mentally. There are many techniques to memorize and demonstrate. I hope to be testing in 8 weeks or less. It all depends on Sensei Orlando. When he deems me ready he will let me know.

I am also training in Combat Hapkido in a distance learning program. I went to a seminar in Southern Pines two weeks ago. Really enjoyed getting to work with Grand Master Pelligrini again. I received my purple belt about a month ago and have been working on Blue Belt Arts since then. Will have my first MAT time on these techniques this weekend. This is the beginning of the advanced arts in this system and I really like it! I hope to move on to Brown Belt very soon.

My plan is to acquire my Black Belt in both arts in early 2013 if not sooner. Once I do this I will begin offering personal self defense training here at my home dojo. Along with music lessons this is part of my retirement plan. Of course it will be another 10 years or so before I can really think about giving up my delivery business but I will go as the Lord leads me.

MUSIC

I have been working very hard on playing the guitar and singing. I have learned 30 to 50 songs over the last three years since I began playing again. I can do a short gig now and am working towards being able to do a 2 hour gig playing and singing. I also am giving guitar lessons. I have one student already and another who wants to start next month.

Well, that's enough for now. I have to get ready for Aikido.

In the words of the Terminator,

"I'll BE BACK!"

Until then may the Peace of Christ be with you and yours and may God Bless America!

2nd kyu ~ Tomiki Aikido

2011-04-22T03:17:00.000-07:00

Greetings

Big News at the Dojo this week! Sensei's Tony & MaryAnn are leaving for Japan this morning to help with the disaster cleanup. They will be hauling supplies back and forth to one of the hardest hit areas and also helping with animal recovery efforts. We are very proud of them and we hope they stay safe and we know they will spread the good news of Christ while they are there. It will be different around the dojo with them gone for a month. I myself will take a week off after having my 2nd kyu promotion last night. I made it through the (test) even with a bad knee, thanks to many prayers and the grace of God.

I am looking forward to getting back in the groove and learnin my next set of techniques (Di Nei) for the 1st kyu promotion. Once that is behind me it will be black belt test next! I am very glad I stuck with this class. Not only have I learned excellent Aikido but I have made great, lifelong friends here, many of who are good christians like myself and we have a llot of fun outside the dojo too.

By the way, I passed my greenbelt test in Combat Hapikdo a few weeks ago and trained a bit for my purple belt last weekend. I am looking forward to a few more training sessions with Sensei Flagg and then on to test for purple at Master Doyle's dojo in Mooresville. This will be a fairly easy test for me since many of my aikido techniques are in this test.

Happy Easter Folks and God Bless.

2010-12-13T13:08:00.001-08:00

OK, so it has been many months since I last blogged.

This blog has become mostly about my Aikido and Combat Hapkido training over the past year and I am happy to say I am still working on both arts, learning and improving at a fairly good pace.

I should be testing for 2nd kyu in Aikido within the next 6 to 8 weeks and my next CH test will also be very soon for my green belt or 7th GUP. I will update more on that later.

Today I want to work on my latest little experiment from a music site I joined recently called Reverbnation. I will try to place a widget here and see if it works.

Check it out!

Peace and Merry Christmas to you all!

JD Pearce

NMB ~ Under The Pier

2010-07-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

Aikido update 2010

2010-05-08T02:55:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

Well it's nearly Mother's Day and I am about to take off for Spartanburg, SC or near there anyway to visit my Mom. We will be taking off to Georgia to go to our annual family reunion later this morning. So Happy Day Mom, I hope the weekend is special for you and all the other deserving Mom's out there who work hard to raise their kids or have done so many years ago and are enjoying the grandchildren...

However I digress, I am here today to discuss my Aikido class. I finally was tested (and promoted) to Brown Belt last week. It was a grueling 1 hour test that really pushed me physically. I learned a thing or two about my cardio health no doubt. Yet I was very pleased with the out come. Sensei Tony was very gracious and said I did a really good job and he was very happy with my progress. I have been at this Dojo for 14 months now and I hope to continue for as long as I can.

The test itself consisted of the 15 basics right side only Tori and Uke. Then the solo Jokata, which is 21 techniques. After that I am paired up with Uke again and run through the more advanced 22 techniques both sides Tori and Uke. Once I was done there it was time for Randori or freestyle. I took on about 7 attackers one at a time for three go rounds, grabs, punches then knives. Then came the two man attacks for several more rounds. I did surprisingly well in freestyle and was able to show many different techniques as I fended off my attackers.

Aikido has become a way of life for me and I would not want to stop learning and practicing. It really helps my stay in shape and keep the extra weight off too! I also will be training for my orange belt in Combat Hapkido over the next few weeks. My CH Dojo was closed for a while but has re-opened now and I will be headed back up to Mooresville soon to work out again with Sensei Flagg.

Sensei Handy and I are also working out in Monroe NC, most every Wednesday night in Tomiki Aikido. It is good to get the private instruction from him. He is a very talented 3rd Dan and helps me tremendously with my technique.

So now I often work out in Aikido @ the Dojo in Stallings, NC on Tues. & Thursday, Monroe on Wednesday and then Mooresville on Saturday in Combat Hapkido. Recently I have been invited to an Aikido Seminar on Saturday not too far from here in Weddington, NC just down the road a few miles.

Peace and Blessings

American Thinker: Barack's Bi-Polar Nuclear Policy

2010-02-19T04:30:00.000-08:00

This is an interesting article.

Some folks believe that Obama is using this call for new Nuclear plants as a ruse to lure in some independents and moderate republicans who have all but abandoned him completely. The new building of these new facilities will add thousands of jobs and take many years to build but once they are near completion we will find out that they will never be licensed or brought online due to massive amounts of government red-tape and of course the radical environmental lobby groups who are dead set against nuclear power. In fact Obama himself has said in the past he was NOT a proponent of nuclear power. If this is true it will be another colossal waste of government money and just more of the same dirty politics we have come to expect from Washington.

American Thinker: Barack's Bi-Polar Nuclear Policy

February 19, 2010

Barack's Bi-Polar Nuclear Policy

By John Leonard

President Barack Obama recently took drastic steps forward to carry through on his campaign promise to close the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility before it ever opens for business. His Department of Energy (DOE) successfully petitioned judges hearing license requests for the dump site to cancel the hearings. The final step in Obama's effort to kill the project for good will be to completely withdraw the DOE application for Yucca Mountain.

Yucca Mountain has been designed as a specialized storage center to keep nuclear waste safely contained in an underground facility deep inside a mountain, long after the material is believed safe and no longer radioactive. The storage center is on a military base almost one hundred miles from civilization (and that's Las Vegas, for what it's worth), in the middle of the Nevada desert.

It may sound like the Yucca Mountain site is in the middle of nowhere. Actually, it's under the middle of nowhere.

Interestingly, the actions of Obama's DOE are in defiance of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which a bipartisan Congress overwhelmingly approved in 2002.

Gilles Whittel, reporting for the Times (U.K.) online, wrote the following about the Yucca mountain facility:

About $9 billion (£5.6 billion) was spent on the first phase of concrete tunnels and chambers designed to keep waste safe for at least a million years.[my emphasis] A 5 mile (8km) U-shaped tunnel was bored into the side of the extinct volcano, which is inside the Nevada nuclear test site.

Closing Yucca Mountain will leave 130,000 metric tons of nuclear waste stranded at 131 different sites spread across 39 states. The federal government will be at risk of breach-of-contract lawsuits for breaking agreements with utility companies. Some estimates indicate the potential for the Obama DOE could incur more than 50 billion dollars of legal liability in the case. [Hat tip: Nye County YMIC]

That is the biggest drawback to Obama's bright new idea for creating green power, which is to add two new nuclear reactors in rural Burke County, Georgia. What will we do with the nuclear waste produced by these new reactors? And for that matter, what about the waste from the current reactors in Tennessee and South Carolina?

One may be wondering how critical the problem of storing nuclear waste has become. According to an article on CNN.com, "Currently, 70,000 tons of radioactive waste are stored at more than 100 nuclear sites around the country, and 2,000 tons are added every year."

How is all this stuff being stored today? Expended nuclear waste is typically kept in special canisters stored above ground and constructed of concrete, steel, and lead at the reactor's plants, which generate them as a temporary solution. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has certified the expected lifespan of these containers to be ninety years, though how that number was determined is unclear. Nuclear energy didn't exist ninety years ago, and therefore nuclear waste hasn't been kept in one of these containers for ninety years to test the theory.

The rub lies in a fact that CNN also reported: "After uranium has been used in a reactor, the spent fuel remains radioactive for thousands of years."

Okay, so our means of storage is good for ninety years, but the threat from this radioactive material could last for two thousand or more. I'm not a nuclear scientist, but that doesn't sound like a viable long-term solution to me.

Harry Reid chimed in on the debate and said, "Leave it on-site where it is. You don't have to worry about transporting it. [Not transporting nuclear waste s]aves the country billions and billions of dollars."

Harry, I never claimed to be a math whiz, but the numbers just don't seem to add up. It might save a few dollars in transportation costs over the short term, but what happens in thirty or forty years when these temporary above-ground containers expire?

Why would Obama close the only viable answer to long-term storage of nuclear waste while he simultaneously calls for additional nuclear power plants? One reason, though not a very good one, is that he made closing Yucca Mountain a campaign issue. Another would be his obligations to radical environmental groups opposed to the facility. As for rational reasons, I'm still trying to think of one.

America on the Brink!

2010-02-18T04:37:00.001-08:00

We are living in unprecedented times. Our political class has failed us, no let me re-phrase that. They have lied, cheated, robbed, and molested us all the while enriching themselves. Most of them should be in jail for what they have done to the country and to us, the citizens of this great nation.

Let’s face it folks, America is BANKRUPT! We owe more money than we can ever pay. If you add up all the un-funded liability of America’s social programs and the debt we have accumulated over the past several years it is well over 100 TRILLION dollars. Yes, it is true. However the politicians still refuse to stop spending money we don’t have and cut the programs that got us in this mess. I’m not here to blame one party or the other, they are both guilty of this malfeasance but I will say the party in power at this moment is the worst I have seen in my nearly 50 years on the planet.

With all that said here is where we are today. There is a movement in America called the Tea Party movement. Although it has been impugned by the so called Main Stream Media, which if you have not noticed lately is no longer main stream, it is a movement of grass roots people. Regular folks like you and me who love America and want to see her restored to her former glory. We have awakened from a long slumber and we don’t like what we see around us today. For far too long politicians have been allowed to run roughshod over us and it is time to take America back.

This is just the beginning, we have allot of work to do. I will be writing more on this in days and weeks to come. For now I just want to encourage each and every one of you to get involved in some way. Try to spend some time, if only and hour or two a week, getting informed and preparing yourself for what is to come. Like I said earlier America is BANKRUPT! We will have to suffer some dire consequences before we can re-right this sinking ship. We may crash before we can rebuild so be ready for the worst. Prepare yourselves for a rough ride in the next few years.

Start by reading our history. Read about the original Tea Party movement and what lead up to the Revolutionary War. You will see many parallels in how we are being treated by our leaders today and how England treated the colonists. We The People will have to take our country back from the crooks in Washington, they will not give up their power easily. Knowledge is power and history repeats itself. We can learn what is to come by knowing what has happened in the past.

Peace through preparedness!

JD Pearce ~ Patriot

American Thinker Blog: Evidence of Climate Fraud Grows, Media Coverage Doesn't

2010-02-16T14:32:00.000-08:00

You would think the American media would want to cover this story. FOX News has and talk radio has but the MSM is MIA....

American Thinker Blog: Evidence of Climate Fraud Grows, Media Coverage Doesn't

Aikido ~ Hapkido Update

2010-01-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

Greetings

Just wanted to update my progress in the world of Aikido and now Combat Hapkido.

I am now working towards my brown belt in Tomiki Aikido at the Carolina Martials Arts Dojo in Stallings NC. My first year anniversary is fast approaching and although the past few months have been very slow progress towards my brown belt it seems that Sensei Orlando has finally decided to allow me to work on my kata and other techniques needed to test.

It looks as though it will be a lengthy test including the basic 15, the dynamic 22 and then some weapons technigue as well. The final phase of the test is usually free style so I can imagine it will take a full hour or longer depending on how I do.

If all goes well I would hope to be testing next month around the last week or perhaps the first part of March.

I also have been working at the Flagg Dojo in Mooresville training for my first test in Combat Hapkido. I probably would be testing next weekend for my yellow belt but I have a conflict with my Church schedule so I will have to put it off another month. I am really enjoying that class and look forward to my continued progress there. I am already into the orange belt techniques and will probably be ready for both tests by the time I get to meet with Sensie Doyle of whom I have not had the pleasure as of yet.

I have also been working with Sensie Handy off and on at the Dojo in Monroe, NC and intend to start training with him regulary on Wednesday nights as soon as he is back from vacation. This will be advanced training in Tomiki Aikido.

I am healthy and mostly injury free at this time other than my old shoulder, neck and lower back issues I have leanred to live with. My flexibility is improving and I am looking forward to a great year in martial arts.

Peace

2009-10-05T16:19:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics from the Seminar and from my latest workout at the Flagg Dojo. I have decided to go ahead and start the Combat Hapiko system this month. I have trained 4 times in the past two months and am ready to get the process started so I can get my belts and certificates so I can use the training I have up to this point. It is somewhat costly but I think I can work it out.

The belts are:

white

yellow

orange

green

purple

blue

brown

red

red w/black stripe

black w/white stripe

black

1st dan

2nd dan

etc...

It will take about 3 years or more to get to shodan or black belt. This is of course if all goes well and I can stay on course and injury free (Praise God). Once shodan is reached then it is only the beginning! (smile)

I have been working on the twenty two of the Tomiki Aikido system on Tuesday and Thursday nights for the past couple of weeks. I am learning these quite well and hope to get the first two sets (11) down in a couple more weeks and then work on the next two sets. It is very exciting to delve into the martial arts finally. At my age it is good to have so many things to learn and to keep me working hard and staying in shape. It is so easy to get out of shape and can happen very quickly. You have to mantain a regular routine of working out to keep fit these days. If I can get control of my diet I will have it knocked! That seems to be the hardest part for me. I travel a lot and it is so easy to eat badly. Yet I am more determined than ever!

Grace and Peace

4th Kyu Test

2009-09-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

Greetings

An update on my Aikido training. As of 9/17/09 I have been training at Carolina Martial Arts under Sensei Orlando for 6 months. I was tested for 4th kyu on Tuesday night of this week and received my new stripe last night. Now it is onto the next step which will be brown belt. The new techniques are the twenty two. At this point we go from a static starting position to Uke attacking from a moving or fluid attack. This should really help me to improve my free style and become more fluid myself. Hopefully the next six months will allow me to learn to relax more, be less stiff and more circular in my movements...

I have enjoyed the first six months, the class is good. Maybe a bit too slow paced at times for me but overall I am well pleased. I intend to train hard and reach brown belt as soon as I can, perhaps in six months or less.

I have stayed injury free for the past few months and I hope it continues. I really need to work on my cardio but my flexibility is really good now compared to the beginning. My goal of black belt is in sight and I hope to reach it in three years or less. Many have said that this particular martial art is very difficult to learn and I felt that way at first but now I am feeling much more confident about my own ability to learn Aikido.

I am also working with another friend of mine who is a 2nd dan in Combat Hapkido. I attended a seminar in High Point NC about a month ago where I met and trained with Sensei John Pellegrini, Grand Master of Combat Aikido. It was a great seminar and I am now working with Sensei Flagg to learn this art too. I hope to move into this art as soon as I can for certification. I will train in both arts for now but my goal is to reach shodan in both forms of Tomiki Aikido and Combat Hapkido.

In fact I am traveling to Mooresville tomorrow morning for a two hour work out with Sensei Flagg, this will be my second work out with him since the seminar.

Peace

Conservative America awakened?

2009-08-28T18:36:00.000-07:00

I have often wondered what it would take to wake America up. Many of us said before the election of President Obama that we believed it might take America, seeing first hand what a true radical liberal would do to our blessed country, before we would truly wake up and then stand up to these secular progressive liberals and take our country back.

Well it looks as though we were right. Obama and his radical ideas as well as the leftists and communists he has surrounding him in the Whites House and in Congress are pushing the limits of what regular hard working Americans can stand and I believe the sleeping Dragon has awakened. You are now seeing the beginnings of a revolution stirring at these town hall meetings across the nation. I say this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Obama and the liberal left are not only pushing the envelope they have gone over the cliff and are trying to take the country with them. The policies they are forcing on America make no sense whatsoever. Instead of doing what we know would stimulate the economy today they are enacting policies that is crippling America. Many of us believe they are trying to create a vast number of Americans, even more dependent on government for their sustenance so that they in turn can offer more policies like universal health care, welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and all of the new deal type social programs that have put America in debt to the tune of 100 trillion dollars! Yes, it is true! 100 trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities are tied to just three of these programs. Now that our unemployment is over 10% they try and push through cap & trade as well as universal health care two programs that will increase our debt and tax burden by trillions more. This is a purposeful plan to ruin the American economic infrastructure so that they can rebuild it in their own way, a dependent America who can do nothing without the government providing for all the people's needs.

Is that the America you want???

If we do not throw the liberals out of office in 2010 we are in deep trouble. I myself am a Glenn Beck fan as well as Rush Limbaugh. Although I don't always agree with everything anyone says I think these two for the most part have it right about Obama and the radical left. They must be stopped. Their polices will destroy America as we know it so it is time America to stand up and shout! We must not be afraid to speak our minds and to go down to City Hall or wherever we have to go to make our voices heard. We must let the liberal politicians know that we the people want our country back and we will do what we must do to protect the Constitution of the United States of America!

Let's go America! Obama has also said he wants to build his own civil army as large and well funded as the military. What does he mean by that? Let's not wait to find out. Let's throw these liberals out of office in 2010 and in 2012 we will put a real conservative in the White House! We must start today!

Update on Aikido and life

2009-07-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

I'm back! I have ignored this blog too long. It is time for an update.

Aikido training is progressing at a slow but steady pace. I thought I would have tested by now but it looks like it could be another month or so. I just past the four month mark and it looks like six months is a more realistic time frame for the second test. I am on number eleven (Kote mawashi, hiki taoshi) of the fifteen basics and still need much work on these in order to do well on the test yet I am getting much better each time we work on these techniques. Numbers eight, nine and ten are somewhat complicated and it is taking me some time to really get the mechanics worked out.

I am also working out with Jeff now one night per week until further notice. I have to start choir practice again in a few weeks on Wednesday so that will throw a monkey wrench into the schedule but I will still try and go at least once or twice a month if I can work it out. Jeff just began teaching at a school in Monroe a few weeks ago and I made it to his class last week. We had been working out at his house previous to that. The other Jeff and I had lunch Friday and I hope to attend a Hapkido seminar with him and the guys later this fall.

Life is good right now although a bit complicated and busy. Allot going on between Aikido, Church, Business and life in general. I suppose it is good to stay busy, keeps one on his toes! I am in the process of trying to sell one business and start up another, this too is keeping me very active these days.

So that is it for the update. I hope that by the next time I write here I will be 4th kyu and on my way to brown belt.

Peace

Aikido Update!

2009-05-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings

Just dropped in to update on my progress in the dojo.

I am very pleased to say I am still hanging in there and very eager to go each week to learn more and work towards my next test. I am studying the 15 basics in the dojo and enjoying the company of many other students at all different levels of the art. Sensei Tony is a super guy and his wife Maryann is also very nice and personable. It is a great pleasure to work out with this bunch and I am progressing well with no major injuries so far (knock on wood) to prevent me from continuing. I have learned about 6 of the first 15 so I hope to be ready to test in about a month. My birthday is in 5 weeks so perhaps it will be a nice birthday surprise to be able to test for my next stripe.

I also am working out again with my friend Jeff who is a 4th degree Shodan in Tomiki Aikido, one hour every two weeks. He is teaching me some more advanced techniques I will encounter later on to give me a head start on my testing at the dojo and some good street self defense.

Peace and Prosperity!

JD

Aikido is like Marriage

2009-05-02T03:42:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

It is Saturday and the weekend brings time to do some work around the house and reflect on the week past. It was a slow work week for me which is good and bad. Joe, my main IC, was out all week due to his wife being hospitalized, we certainly wish her a speedy recovery and pray for God's healing. Since Joe was out it seems that it was a good time for business to slow down. I hope it is not a trend however since the bills must be paid and therefore business must pick up to get it all done. Let's hope that May will see a nice pick up and we can all get back on track in this withering economy.

Business and life are challenging at times and we have to learn from the good and bad experiences, very much like a marriage. Marriage is not always good, so to make it work a man and woman have to learn to blend with his/her spouse. This is the essence of Aikido, blending with Uke or your partner.

For those who are not familiar with Aikido it is a martial art that teaches us to blend with our attacker and use their energy and momentum to our advantage. We do not confront power head on and collide but circumvent and blend using our opponents energy to our own advantage or to diffuse the attack. Like in marriage when confronted with a problem you do not crash into your spouse you find a way to avoid the pain of a collision by blending and diffusing. It is simple and effective.

I have recently passed my first test that takes my rank up a notch to 5th Kyu. I am now learning the first set of techniques that I will test on for the next stage of the Kyu system. I have been working on the first 15 techniques for one week now and have learned the first eight of the 15. Hopefully I can learn the rest in the next two to three weeks, take another week or two to polish them and then test by the end of May or early June for my 4th Kyu. I am very excited (and sore) form all the workouts and back falls. (smile) It is challenging for me but I am very eager for each class and really hope to continue this for a lifetime. I think Aikido will be the key to keeping me focused on my health and living a better life into my 50's and beyond. I have lost about 15 pounds and am feeling pretty good. I still have some issues I am working through, neck and shoulder, hip and lower abdominal but I will continue to fight through the pain and make it work, no excuses.

I want to thank all my new friends at Carolina Martial Arts for being so supportive and teaching me each week as we all prepare to advance to our next levels. I also want to thank Mr. Handy for working with me and giving me a head start. I hope that he and I will be able to continue our advanced Aikido workouts beginning sometime this month.

By the way ~ I have a family reunion coming up May 23rd. Looking forward to seeing everyone again. I am bringing my guitar and have learned a bunch of songs for the event. I hope to get a sing-along going and some of the other folks will also have their guitars. Should be lots of fun!

The very next week I will be going to Jacksonville Florida for my Son's graduation from Navy Air School. I am also looking forward to that. In other news I have a colonoscopy scheduled next week, not so much looking forward to that. Getting old is fun! (grin)

Peace and Grace

Torture vs Morality

2009-04-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

As I rode around today in the Van I listened to NPR and a show concerning the release of some classified memos by the Obama administration. The pundits on the show debated the issue of torture and whether it was a good idea to release these memos. At least two of the debaters made statements on several occasions that America, under the Bush administration had lost it's moral bearings by using harsh interrogation techniques to gain information from captured terrorists. They in essence were lecturing those who think it is OK to use enhanced techniques on these people in order to get information that could save lives.

Now from what I gather the techniques used included water boarding, slapping, humiliation, sleep deprivation and even caterpillars. Now from what I have been told our soldiers go through training that is worse than this in their military careers to prepare them for the battlefield, especially Navy Seals, Army Rangers and other Special Ops soldiers. Not to mention we have people in our culture that pay to have stuff worse than this done to them in fetish type sex businesses.

Now here's where I get angry! I am sick and tired of being lectured by a bunch of people who support murdering tiny babies in the womb and outside the womb in abortion clinics yet they want to tell me I have lost my moral bearings!

Give me a break!

(AP) Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may have a lot of explaining to do.He voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive. He supported allowing retired police officers to carry concealed weapons, but opposed allowing people to use banned handguns to defend against intruders in their homes. And the list of sensitive topics goes on.

Someone needs to get a clue and speak the truth to these elitists liberals and tell Obama and the rest of his minions to their faces what hypocrites they really are on this subject. The truth is 99% of those people would sacrifice or torture anyone of us to save the lives of their loved ones if it came down to it. Yet they want to preach to use how morally Superior they are on this subject....

I hate to say it but this one really burns me up!

What say you?

2009-04-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

Greetings

After only three full weeks of Aikido I am progressing well. I have begun preparing for the test which will grant me the 5th Kyu or first stripe on my belt. It will be another 4 weeks or so before I have the time in to test according to the requirements. That should give me enough to to try and gain a better understanding and practical application of each hand and foot movement, judo taiso and the first eight quick release techniques. I feel sure I will be able to perform these requirements in that allotted time.

I have enjoyed each class and look forward to each new workout. Although I am working through some injuries I hope that I will be able to attend each class without missing any until at least May when I have to go out of town to see my son graduate air school in the Navy.

Our class is a good one and all the people are very easy to get along with and helpful. I hope to make some lifelong friendships here. The Sensei and his wife are both really good people and fun to work with.

I will continue to post as I progress.

Peace

2009-03-25T04:45:00.000-07:00

Recently I was chatting with a friend and told him I was taking Aikido lessons. He responded negatively which surprised me some but I tried to explain to him why a man my age, 47 , would want to do this.

There are many reasons:

One ~ It has been a lifelong dream of mine to be an expert martial artist but one I have failed at achieving so far and I want to rectify that failure.

Two ~ I like the discipline that it brings to my life when I am part of a Dojo and practicing on a regular basis. I leads me to be more responsible in my eating habits as well as exercising and keeps me in much better shape.

Three ~ I have always been a big proponent of self defense, especially in such a violent culture as we live in today. The wife and I like to travel and we often find ourselves in places we have never been. Over the past several years we have been to Memphis, Chicago, Nashville, Washington, Sedona, San Francisco and many other places. I have been in situations where I was not totally comfortable with my surroundings as we explored these cities. If I were to be attacked I want to be able to protect my wife and myself from harm. It would be easy to just not go places that might be dangerous but I am an explorer at heart so this is really not an option for me.

There are other reasons but I will leave it at this for now. Aikido is a very effective art from what I can tell. It is so much different than the other forms I have seen and participated in and I really enjoy the sense of camaraderie at this Dojo. With me getting close to 50, this seems like the right time in my life to try and kick things up a notch or two and be more active and healthy. I am looking forward to some day achieving the goal of black belt and then progressing even further in the art. Wish me luck!

The Martial Way

2009-03-21T04:44:00.000-07:00

Aikido, "The Way of Harmonious Spirit".

Ai = Harmony

Ki = Spirit or Energy

Do = The Way

I have been interested in Aikido for over 20 years and have been a martial arts fan since the days Bruce Lee was introduced to America as "Kato" in the "Green Hornet" TV show back in the 60's. Unfortunately that show was canceled but Bruce Lee went on to become a legend in the area of martial arts and still 35 years after his death is talked about and seen in martial arts magazines around the world.

Steven Segal brought us Aikido back in the late 80's with his first movie "Above the Law". He, being a 7th degree black belt and Aikido Master was the first westerner to open a Dojo in Japan. I had dabbled in jujitsu and karate but never seemed to find my place in the world of martial arts until a few years ago. I met a fellow who is a 3rd dan in Tomiki Aikido and he and I started working out together. We did this off and on for a couple of years and I recently joined an Aikido Dojo here in the Charlotte area where I am starting from scratch to earn my credentials in Aikido.

Although I have some serious training like anything else you must practice constantly and often to acquire the skills necessary to achieve a high level of skill. I will be documenting my progress through this Aikido school here from time to time so check back in when you can to see what happens next.

One thing I like about Aikido is that it is a defensive art. The training provides you with a way to neutralize and attack from one person or multiple attackers, yet it allows you to defend yourself without causing serious injury to the attacker unless you choose to do so. In most cases it is not necessary to break and arm or dislocate a joint but if your life or the life of a loved one is in jeopardy then you do have the skills to eliminate the threat completely.

Aikido teaches you to evade and attack and re-direct the attackers energy and momentum. The key is the balance point and Aikido training teaches you to know where that point is and to take advantage of your opponents weakness in this regard. One other key to Aikido is recognizing that your strength comes from your core or center. This is where the Ki originates and is the fulcrum for all your Aikido techniques to be performed.

I Am looking forward to each training session as I try and learn these skills and perfect each technique available to me. I am grateful for this opportunity to learn from an experienced Sensei and some of his excellent black belts.

I am not mentioning any names as I do not have permission to do so and it would be disrespectful to the both Sensie's and the Dojo until I have that permission.

Aikido is also an art that promotes peace and well being, as a harmonious spirit is a peaceful spirit.

Peace be with you!

2009-02-24T05:19:00.000-08:00

By the way it snowed here a couple of weeks ago. Got some good pics! Wanted to share.

2009-02-24T04:49:00.000-08:00

It is nearly March and I have not blogged since Thanksgiving! What's up with that? Guess I have been too busy playing WOW! As always I have just about gotten my fill of that and have begun to read more news and do more emailing. I signed up for Twitter and have been playing around with that.

So, on to the news of the day! (uuugh)

It seems we are living in a bad episode of the Twilight Zone! I half way keep expecting Rod Serling to show up any minute now and tell me what's going to happen next. I guess Obama is Seriling in this new 2009 version of that show.

I sent this email out to some friends the other day and wanted to post it here.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

Do you see the fruition of a pattern of behavior here? Looks like their diabolical plan has finally worked!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a7PZO..IJU.s&refer=worldwide

It starts when they are born. First they pay young mothers to have more babies, and incentive to get pregnant and stay single by offering more money for each dependent child. Then as they begin school they (the government) say, we can't let our people go without a hot meal each day so we will give all those who can't afford it a free lunch, soon they added breakfast. Then it was, we can't hurt their self esteem so no more F's on the graded papers or report cards. Soon they even changed ink color because RED was just too confrontational. After that they stopped playing games that had winners and losers because it just wasn't right for some kids to be better than others at a sport. Then after they were out of K-12 school and on to college they said we have to make sure they get a fair shake in college so we will pass laws forcing Universities allow for a certain amount of minorities so it will be fair. Then in the job market they said we can't let out people go out and not be able to get a job so we will make it easier by instituting quotas, mandating that companies hire so many of this color and that color. We do not care about the content of their character or the quality of their work, just give them a job. Then they said we can't allow these folks to live on the street or walk to work so we will subsidize their housing and transportation. After that they said it is not fair that some folks own homes and others have to rent so we will force banks to give them loans even if they don't qualify. Now they say it is not fair that some folks can't pay for their house and others can, so we will force the banks to let them stay in the houses that they can't afford by giving them billions of dollars and then we will act shocked when the money disappears and the banks say well, you really didn't tell us how we had to spend that money you only suggested that we lend it to folks.

Does that just about sum it up? Some use the term from the "cradle to the grave". I'd say it fits quite well.

What ever happened to life being a struggle? That's what builds character in people when they have to overcome obstacles and learn from the hardships. In the Democrats efforts to create some kind of a weird utopia where everyone is the same and government makes sure no one struggles for anything, they are destroying the Great America we have all loved so dearly. What a shame. They have created a bunch of dependent zombies who cannot take care of themselves and each time they get in trouble will reach out to government to solve it for them. What does this do for the Democrats and Republicans in charge of this mess? It keeps them in power for life, which is obviously their goal. They are the elite class in Washington who never have to struggle since they have a Senate or House seat that will be a 30 year career for most. They have a separate pension plan, unlike yours and mine. They have insurance for life and many have a limo to take them back and forth to work. No buses for them. They also have lobbyist who wine and dine them providing luxuries that none of us can have unless we work hard and become wealthy, something they frown on in Washington these days. They now want to pass laws saying you can't make more than X amount of money if you are a CEO because it just isn't fair. Yet they will be pushing through another pay raise for themselves before you know it!

Give me a break! It is time for change people, real change......

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

OK, I was on somewhat of a roll there and I wanted to share it with more folks. It is time for this madness to stop! We can't allow this government to continue to enslave people to a life of dependency. We have to stand up and fight! We must take this power away from the Democrats and elect some Republicans or other folks with the right conservative principals to take this country in a positive direction. We can't make the entire country a welfare country. This MUST STOP!!!!

We have to pray people and work hard to change this country. I feel confident that in 2010 we will have a great opportunity to take the House back. Perhaps by 2012 we can take back the Senate and the White House. This time we have to elect a President that will not spend us into Oblivion!

God Bless George Bush but he made some grave errors when it comes to the future of this country and our financial state of affairs. The TARP legislation was a terrible mistake on his part and now Obama has run with this idea and is spending 2 Trillion dollars! That's TRILLION!!!!!!

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving!

2008-11-29T04:22:00.001-08:00

I am really thankful this year to have the great family and friends that I have and such an awesome Church family too! The fall was extraordinary this year with colors that were amazing! Plus on top of all this, I am and AMERICAN! This is reason enough to be thankful beyond all measure but most of all, I must be thankful to God for his transforminging power and love. He has worked miracles on me and changed me into a man who is striving to be one of his true servants and shake of the dust of the devil's trail, leaving it in my distant past.

Thanks be to God!

So, another Thanksgiving Day is behind us and time to move ahead towards Christmas! This is a great time of year in many respects and in some ways it's not so great. However I am willing to put the bad aside (business is slow this time of year for me) and concentrate on the good. Getting to spend time with family is great! My Mom and sisters came to visit us on Thanksgiving Day and we had a great meal. I cooked the turkey or course, as is my tradition and we had all the trimmings too. Christmas will be extra special as my son will be here for a couple of weeks and we will all drive down togetehr and have dinner with the girls is Spartanburg Christmas Day.

Now there is Church. Always lots of good things going on there this time of year, especially in the choir. We will be singing some beautiful music and we have lots to do as the session meets and discusses Church business. Room In The Inn starts up soon and I will be cooking breakfast again this year. I am also cooking for the Men's Breakfast once a month so that is great fun!

Oh by the way, David, Jim, John and I sang a song at Church the other day called "The Highland Hymn". It was really fun singing in a quartet like that. I want to do more of this kind of music.

OK, that's about it for now. One more thing though.

I may be going out today and picking up my new gear for the DJ/Karaoke business I am putting together. I am finally getting back into the business after about 5 years off. Since I am not sure what the future of the delivery business is I am going to get back into the Entertainment business, something I know and love. I plan a different approach this time. With nearly 12 years under my belt as a DJ/MC/KJ and singer, I intend to use my prior experience and really put together a great show and become a booking agent as well. If this works out well enough I may get out of the delivery business eventually and take up something else during the day to keep me busy. I will have to wait and see what happens. With this uncertainty in the economy all options are on the table.

Grace and Peace to you all

Happy Holidays

JD

Too Much Election and other stuff!

2008-10-28T03:54:00.000-07:00

WOW!

I am sick of this election season. Enough is enough! I can't wait to get this over with and see some normalcy in our lives once again. With that said this is a very important election and we need to really work hard to get out and vote. Looks like Obama has inspired lots of folks to get out and vote be it for or against him.

I was telling my wife last night I would love to see a black President some day as I think the example would be great for some black Americans and perhaps it would really spark many folks to try and do better in their lives if they had that kind of a black role model. However I do not want it to be this one. and here is why.

He is obviously a Socialist and if you look at the people he has had relationships with over the years he is either the poorest judge of character in the universe or he believes as these associates do, or something akin to what they do and that is just unacceptable. He is also a wealth redistributer and that is Socialism plain and simple, that is NOT the American way of Capitalism. Unfortunately circumstances may usher him right into office. I suppose we will have to wait and see.

On the other hand John McCain is not my first choice for President but at least he will try and continue to capitalistic system that has made America the most wealthy country in the world and not tear it apart piece by piece. He is a brave soldier and will also fight for America not bow down to the terrorists around the world. I think Obama is a passivist and it is too dangerous a world to allow him to kneel before the bad guys and allow the liberals to run amuk in Congress.

OK, nuff said.

A friend of mine named Jim and I performed a song or two at church this past Sunday along with a fellow named Grey. I want to post the video here so I will try and do that now. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=956580821544314190 It is a little small but you might enjoy it!

Janet and I had a great vacation a month or so ago in Sedona, Arizona. WOW! I can't say enough about that place! I will post a few pics here.

Obama's Speech

2008-08-30T04:44:00.000-07:00

First of all allow me to take a moment to congratulate Mr. Obama for what he has achieved here. Although I think he has done this by not being completely truthful about who he really is, he has managed to make history and allot of people, especially black Americans have seen the fruition of a lifetime of hopes and dreams in this man. Congratulations sir, you have become a historic figure in America.

Now, after reading the transcript of Obama’s speech for the second time today, I have many comments but the first thing that really stands out as a grave omission is the fact that he never mentions God until the very end and he uses the standard, “God Bless America” line as just a cookie cutter, political ending of a speech.

The reason I question this is that Obama has worked fairly hard to convince the American people that he is a born again Christian who attends Church regularly and has brought his family up in the Church. Now I am also a born again Christian and when anything good happens to me I always give God credit for it. You would think that this man would have found a place to thank God in his speech, for his current position as the Democratic nominee, a historical moment for all America, for all African Americans and certainly in his life but alas he failed to do so. That leads me to wonder if God really does play an important role in his life at all.

Another thought that dawned on me about this whole affair is this. I think it is quite obvious that Obama is the affirmative action candidate. He comes to this position as the less qualified person beside Hillary Clinton. Were they both to apply for a job and he was hired over her, it may well be to fill a quota for hiring minorities over whites. She has much more experience than he does in the Senate and she lived in the White House for eight years as the “Co-President” First Lady. She has been a staunch Democrat all her adult life working in and around Washington. The real ironic part is that she and her husband Bill have fought for affirmative action their whole political careers and now when it comes down to her and Obama, the less experienced black guy gets the job! I would say that is the MOST ironic thing I have ever seen in Washington politics. To top it all off, she should really have no reason to complain because she is now seeing, in this historical event, her life’s work coming to fruition!

The speech itself was a bit lack luster from the way I read it and from what I heard about it in the news today. It was a good speech but not a great speech. I think Bill Clinton’s speech earlier in the week was rated much higher than this one.

Much of what he said in the speech itself was just not plausible or true. For example: In my opinion and many experts agree, it is completely impossible to get us off of foreign oil supplies in 10 years. It will NEVER happen. The more realistic number would be 25 years or even longer.
To say that John McCain would not even go after Osama Bin Laden in his cave is ridiculous. First of all we bombed the crap out of the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan when we thought he was there and since then it is thought that he is hiding in Pakistan. We can’t invade Pakistan to look for Osama. That would be a major, foreign policy blunder.

There is much to criticize here but I will just add this. The Obama - Biden ticket is a weak ticket to say the least. With McCain’s new running mate, Sara Palin, I think the Republicans can win this election hands down. Perhaps Obama will be a formidable candidate down the road but for now he is just too young and inexperienced to be Commander and Chief of our armed forces and the President of this United States.

In closing I will add I am still not convinced that Obama is not brainwashed by his former pastor, Reverend Wright. Considering his relationships with so many radicals over the years and his mentors all being extreme socialists. Obama may be much more dangerous than we even think. The fact that he is this close to being President of our country should be a wake-up call for all Americans who love their country. The apathy must end here and we all need to get more involved!

I will quote my good friend Poppa Flagg -

Peace through Preparedness!

JD for President!

2008-08-26T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well I finally did it!

I am sick and tired of the same old same old in Washington!

It is time for REAL Change!

Vote for me,

JD Pearce for President!

Hope and Change

2008-08-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

It is August and things are getting hot, not only here in the Charlotte but up in Washington as Republican leaders stand up and deliver messages of hope and change.

We need hope and change if we are to get a Congress that will listen to the people of America when it comes to our energy needs, not the same old same old. Instead of working to resolve a serious energy problem for the American people the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, decides to go on a book tour. I think instead of touring the country trying to fatten her purse she should be in Washington allowing our Congress men and women vote on some new energy legislation. I hear her book tour is really making quite and impact! Thud might be a better term in this case.

It seems pretty obvious we need to drill here and drill now in America. We also need to conserve the resources we have and do our best to come up with alternate sources of energy but the Democrats have decided to take a five week vacation instead. They ride in their private jets and take limos back and forth to book tours while we are stuck out here in the real world paying nearly $4.00 a gallon for gasoline and our truckers and airlines are going bust over $5.00 a gallon and higher diesel and jet fuel.

I guess the Democrats are so confident that they will win BIG in November that they can just do what they want and ignore John and Jane Doe American. OK so be it. In November we will have a chance to really tell the Democrats what we think of their apathy towards the problems we face when it comes to energy.

Now I hear the Senate has come up with a plan and five Republicans have joined hands with five Democrats to try and work something out. WAIT A MINUTE!

Hold it right there guys! We have a winning issue here and you are compromising with the Democrats and caving in to their demends? DON'T DO IT! From what I have read the legislation they are proposing is terrible. I hope like heck this does not pass. We need to drill off of each coast, in the gulf and in Anwar. We also need the oils shale fields opened up for exploration so we can continue to perfect the technology needed to acquire the billions of barrels of crude available in the midwest! This is a must!

Moving right along.

Now I also hear the vacation bug is catching. It seems Obama is going on a week long vacation to Hawaii for some much needed R&R. With McCain closing in on him in the polls he is taking a break. This is either the epitome of arrogance or the essence of stupidity on his part. I am not sure which but I suppose it could be a combination of the two.

All I can say is McCain better take advantage of this opportunity that Obama has laid right in his lap. In Fact I am quite sure that Obama has already dealt his campaign a near fatal blow and perhaps this is a sign that he is giving in. It all started when he stumbled his way through a question by a seven year old girl earlier in the week and he basically told her America is a terrible place and he has to fix it before he can allow his kids to grow up here.

WOW!

This is the same America where a young 47 year old black man can win the nomination of the Democratic party for President. A country where he could grow up and go to an elite North Eastern law college and become a lawyer, marry another lawyer and live in a gated neighborhood in a 1.6 million dollar home. Yeah I would have to agree he has it rough and changes need to be made. In fact until he can live in a ten million dollar mansion it is obvious we need more hope and change.

All I can say is I hope he doesn’t change his current campaign strategy because it is a BIG loser from where I sit!

RIP Mac Man

Peace out!
JD

Another day in America!

2008-07-31T15:50:00.000-07:00

I Love America!

There I said it. I'm sorry if I hurt any one's feelings. NOT!

What a great country we live in. It is such a privilege to live here and to have the opportunities that come with being an American. Praise the Lord!

Well Congress is about to adjourn for the summer and Nancy Pelosi will not allow a vote to come to the floor on drilling. She knows it will pass, that is why she keeps fighting it, hoping prices will go down so she can say the crisis is over. I have news for her. Prices may come down some and have for that matter but the American people are fed up with her and we are demanding action on this subject. The Pelosi do nothing Congress better get it in gear or they will pay come November!

Now Mr. Obama and his supporters are out there saying if we just inflate our tires and get a tune up we could save about as much oil as we could get at if we drilled offshore. To use a modern term, OMG! Can you believe this guy? He has a Harvard education but obviously has no common sense.

Truth is we have more oil here in America than all of Saudi Arabia! All we need is the OK from Congress to go and get it.

Well on to more local issues. Janet is doing much better. On cast is off and one left to go. She is driving and working again and will be back to normal in a month, maybe two.

I'm working hard and have noticed a slow down on the printing side of my business. Most of my customers who are printers or printing related have really slowed down. Fortunately the Telecom business is booming and that is keep me busy.

I sang my first solo at Church last Sunday. "Peace In The Valley" and old gospel song from the 1950's and covered by Elvis in the 60's. It went over well and I had Lot's of great feedback. The Lord really worked through me that day!

Now some Tech News!

I finally got a flat screen TV! A Samsung 40" LCD-HD 720DP. It was on sale for a very cheap price at Circuit City and I could not pass it up. It was less than half the 46" model and the 720 dp I am told is just as good as the 1080 dp if your not watching blue ray, so I went for it. I love it!

The picture is great and the sound is too. We have really been enjoying it and I am now not going to see certain movies on the big screen that I otherwise would have gone to see just so I can see them first on my big TV. I will eventually save enough money that way to pay for it! I found a real nice stand for half price too so we are set!

Well before I go I will end with this. I donated money to the John McCain campaign this year and it is the first time I have ever donated to a Presidential campaign. I would have never believed that I would be supporting McCain even six months ago but I have decided an Obama Presidency is just too dangerous in this day and age, so I am pulling for the old guy.

Right now he is holding his own in the polls even though the MSM is in love with Obama and have been giving him more coverage than Micheal Jackson at a pre-school sleepover! Yet Old Man McCain is nearly dead even in the polls. If he gets tough and really hammers Obama between now and November I think we can win.

So if you want Sky-high taxes, Government run health care (puke), constitutional rights for terrorists, more libs on the Supreme Court and socialists running all three branches of government then vote for change and hope. If you want an America we can be proud of with a President who will fight the war to win, keep taxes low and will continue to put strict constitutionalists on the court then vote McCain.

See you in November!

Peace

JD

A day in the life

2008-07-09T03:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends

WOW! Life is interesting sometimes. Keeps us on our toes dealing with what each day throws at us. First off I want to say to my friend Doug I am praying for you and your family. I hope your Dad can come through this chemo with flying colors. Good luck my friend!

Next I want to let all my friends and Church family know how much Janet and I appreciate the cards, food and prayers since Janet (my wife) broke both her arms two weeks past. Yes, she did. A sudden fall and life changed drastically for us. Fortunately her bones will mend and she will be back in action in a couple of months. It has been a challenge but not one we can't overcome.

Now on to the news of the day.

I just read where Nancy Pelosi has asked the President to release oil from our petroleum reserves to help bring down the price of crude oil in America so that our gasoline prices can also go down. I know crazy Aunt Nancy is not the sharpest drill bit in the pack but does she even realize that she is admitting that if we had access to more oil that gas prices would go down, yet she and her fellow Democrats will not allow us to go after and use our own natural resources here in America.

We have more oil reserves in our country than all of Saudi Arabia and possibly the entire middle east if you combine Alaska, both continental shelves, all of the gulf and the oil shale and tar sands of the mid west. Unfortunately our highly esteemed (9% approval ratings) Democrat Congress will not open up any of this for exploration or drilling so we will have to sit and wait for the country to wise up and elect Republicans back to the Congress so we can have a common sense energy policy.

On another note:

I was thinking about the wildfires in California just yesterday. The wacky liberals in that state keep re-electing the same nut jobs to the legislator who will not allow logging companies to go into these forest lands and clean out the undergrowth and dead wood. They will not even allow home owners to clear out dead wood and undergrowth on their own properties. This stuff fuels these fires and makes them burn uncontrollably. This in turn destroys peoples homes and lives as well as pumping millions of tons of carbon into the air, the stuff the left is blaming global warming on. So it is pretty obvious that the libs out in California hate your SUV's and air conditioning but do not have enough sense to pass legislation to really do anything to help stop global warming when it comes to these fires.

Is is a law you have to be an idiot to be a politician or does it just work out that way in California due to the public school system?

By the way, I have read allot of good news coming out of Iraq lately. Looks like General Petraeus has really worked wonders in that battle field. We have nearly wiped out Al Qeada in Iraq. I hope he turns his sites towards Afghanistan next.
God Bless him and all our troops for doing a great job and defending our freedoms from radical Islamic nutcases.

Seems like we live in an alternate universe sometimes when it comes to politics.

I could be wrong.

What do you think.

Peace

JD

Why liberal democrats HATE America and poor people!

2008-06-13T04:37:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me while perusing the news the other day and after reading many articles about oil prices and energy policy in America I could reach only one sensible conclusion.

Liberal Democrats Hate Poor People (and America)!

How did I come to this conclusion you might ask, well it is really quite simple. Let's look at our current energy policy. If you do the research you will find that we have billions, even trillions of barrels of untapped crude oil just waiting for us to unleash it's energy right here in the good old USA. That's right I said TRILLIONS. By some estimates just the crude from oil shale in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado would be enough to power American auto's for 200 years. Yet liberals, mostly from the Democratic party but some Republicans too (John McCain) will not allow us access to that precious energy. So what is the cause and effect?

First of all it leaves us dependent on foreign sources of oil which is a National Security nightmare! Second it has lead to high oil prices and $4.00 a gallon gasoline. Now who is hit worse by this high priced fuel? You guessed it, poor people. People who struggle from week to week to pay the bills are now paying two and three times what they were just a few short years ago to fill up the tanks of their SUV's and other vehicles.

Keep in mind poor people also are the ones who cannot afford to take their cars to the shop on a regular basis and have the kind of work done to make sure it gets optimum gas mileage like regular tune ups, oil and filter changes, fuel injection cleaning, etc. So, may of these folks are riding around in vehicles that get 10 or 15 miles to the gallon or worse. The guy who used to live across the street from me a couple of years ago drove a Ford Excursion and had a job where he commuted 200 miles per day. Can you imagine what happened? He had to sell his SUV, buy a used compact and get a job closer to home making much less money. How terrible!

Now I read today that the current do nothing but screw up Pelosi Congress is trying to pass legislation re-regulating the railroad business. The railroads are able to ship freight very inexpensively moving, get this, one ton of freight 423 miles on one gallon of fuel. It is estimated that the railroad industry has reduced it's fuel consumption over 48 billion gallons since 1980 and reduced carbon emission by 538 million tons! You would think the Democrats would be screaming this from the rooftops with all their man made global warming hyperbole but no, they are quietly trying to put the railroads in the same shape as the airlines and trucking industries...

There is a lot more I could add but I think this is enough to prove my point.

What do you think?

Pray for our country!

Peace

JD

Do you complain about gas prices?

2008-06-05T03:57:00.000-07:00

If you are a Democrat, Independent or a Republican who has voted for or supported in any way the people who have blocked drilling in ANWAR (mostly Democrats) or off-shore or anywhere else in the USA, then how can you complain about soaring gas prices?

It is obvious that the left has an energy strategy in America and part of that strategy is to see gas prices go as high as possible, damn the consequences! You see they are accomplishing some goals here. First they are forcing many folks to take public transportation. Since they can no longer afford to drive they WILL take buses, trains and light rail.

Second they high gas prices are forcing US Auto companies to STOP making large trucks and SUV's. This is a big WIN for the liberal left as they have HATED SUV's since they first came out. That is of course unless they drive one themselves then they only hate yours.

Next it gives them ample opportunity to demonize the BIG OIL companies they hate so much for making profits of about 7.5 percent. Oh how terrible!

Finally it gives the left fodder for arguments that we need to make alternative energies like bio-fuels, solar, wind, hydrogen, etc. Now don't get me wrong I am a big alternative fuel fan and I am ready to see some new solar plants being built in the desert as well as a hydrogen powered vehicle in my driveway but until then we need to use the oil we have in America to help ease the pain of the current pump prices.

Why do you think they are trying to push through this cap and trade idiocy in the Senate today which has been estimated will raise the price of gasoline from .40 to 1.00 per gallon?

They WANT high gas prices to force us to behave in certain ways....

Here is a column by George Will from Townhall.com that I read this morning prompting me to write this little blurb up above. If you don't believe me take it from an expert.

******************************************************************

Holding the Key to Gas PricesGeorge WillThursday, June 05, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Rising in the Senate on May 13, Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat, explained: "I rise to discuss rising energy prices." The president was heading to Saudi Arabia to seek an increase in its oil production, and Schumer's gorge was rising.

Saudi Arabia, he said, "holds the key to reducing gasoline prices at home in the short term." Therefore arms sales to that kingdom should be blocked unless it "increases its oil production by one million barrels per day," which would cause the price of gasoline to fall "50 cents a gallon almost immediately."

Can a senator, with so many things on his mind, know so precisely how the price of gasoline would respond to that increase in the oil supply? Schumer does know that if you increase the supply of something, the price of it probably will fall. That is why he and 96 other senators recently voted to increase the supply of oil on the market by stopping the flow of oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which protects against major physical interruptions. Seventy-one of the 97 senators who voted to stop filling the SPR also oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

One million barrels is what might today be flowing from ANWR if in 1995 President Clinton had not vetoed legislation to permit drilling there. One million barrels produce 27 million gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel. Seventy-two of today's senators -- including Schumer, of course, and 38 other Democrats, including Barack Obama, and 33 Republicans, including John McCain -- have voted to keep ANWR's estimated 10.4 billion barrels of oil off the market.

So Schumer, according to Schumer, is complicit in taking $10 away from every American who buys 20 gallons of gasoline. "Democracy," said H.L. Mencken, "is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." The common people of New York want Schumer to be their senator, so they should pipe down about gasoline prices, which are a predictable consequence of their political choice.

Also disqualified from complaining are all voters who sent to Washington senators and representatives who have voted to keep ANWR's oil in the ground, and who voted to put 85 percent of America's offshore territory off-limits to drilling. The U.S. Minerals Management Service says that restricted area contains perhaps 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- 10 times the oil and 20 times the natural gas Americans use in a year.
Drilling is under way 60 miles off Florida. The drilling is being done by China, in cooperation with Cuba, which is drilling closer to South Florida than U.S. companies are.

ANWR is larger than the combined areas of five states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware) and drilling along its coastal plain would be confined to a space one-sixth the size of Washington's Dulles Airport. Offshore? Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed or damaged hundreds of drilling rigs without causing a large spill. There has not been a significant spill from an offshore U.S. well since 1969. Of the more than 7 billion barrels of oil pumped offshore in the past 25 years, 0.001 percent -- that is one-thousandth of 1 percent -- has been spilled. Louisiana has more than 3,200 rigs offshore -- and a thriving commercial fishing industry.

In his "Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of 'Energy Independence,'" Robert Bryce says Brazil's energy success has little to do with its much-discussed ethanol production and much to do with its increased oil production, the vast majority of which comes from off Brazil's shore. Investor's Business Daily reports that Brazil, "which recently made a major oil discovery almost in sight of Rio's beaches," has leased most of the world's deep-sea drilling rigs.

In September 2006, two U.S. companies announced that their "Jack No. 2" well, in the Gulf 270 miles southwest of New Orleans, had tapped a field with perhaps 15 billion barrels of oil, which would increase America's proven reserves by 50 percent. Just probing four miles below the Gulf's floor costs $100 million. Congress' response to such expenditures is to propose increasing the oil companies' tax burdens.

America says to foreign producers: We prefer not to pump our oil, so please pump more of yours, thereby lowering its value, for our benefit. Let it not be said that America has no energy policy.

Copyright © 2008 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved.

The Future of Energy

2008-05-30T19:32:00.001-07:00

I was watching Glenn Beck tonight and he interviewed a guy named "Raymond Kurzweil". This guy is some kind of genius inventor and idea man who is also somewhat of a futurist.

He is big into technology and he explained how technology is growing exponentially and how that will lead to the rise of solar power as our number one source of energy for the planet. I have always thought this was our true source of energy and have wondered why we have not reached that point in our technology yet.

This guy says that in seven years we will have reached that point and by building massive solar plants in the desert we will be able to generate enough electricity to power the country. He also stated that the sun provides us with 10,000 times more energy than we need to consume worldwide....

Here is a link if you want to read more about him. He has been inventing stuff for years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil

Times up!

2008-05-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well folks, the time has come for us to stand up and do something about our government. The incompetance and stupidity, the greed and gall of these people who are supposed to represent us is just way out of control.

They have allowed us to get into this mess concerning energy prices by dragging their feet, fighting against energy independence, cutting back room deals with whacko's and just plain being too stupid to see the what's right in front of them.

We must make our voices heard in this election and toss them all out!

Here is a link to a website that has it right. The common sense is refreshing.

Take a look... http://www.americansolutions.com/

Energy solutions

2008-05-10T04:37:00.000-07:00

I had to share this cartoon. It is halarious!!!!

WOW! I have been away from blogging for too long!

Good to be back. I think if we could harness the energy Hillary has put into her campaign we could run the country for another year or two! Yet I digress and here is why.

I am really irrititated by something I read last night about congress so I got up this morning and started writing to all my legislators and to some talk show hosts I listen to.

Here is basically what I have sent out, of course I modified it depending on who I sent it to.

Dear NC Legislators

I drive for a living and it is now costing me $65 a day on average to run my Delivery Van. That's over $15,000 a year and it is having a tremendous negative impact on my small business and so many others in the transportation industry in our great country.

I urge you to focus your attention on the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005), and push Congress to continue to pass legislation allowing the US oil companies to work the vast amounts of oil in the Western United States Oil Shale deposits. Your positions have a tremendous influence in our country and perhaps other legislators will follow suit if you take up this challenge. Our Congress passed this legislation in 2005 opening the door to this potential American energy solution but the current Congress is now trying to stop it.
Please help your fellow Americans by shedding more light on this subject!!!!!

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1146906/oil_shale_the_future_of_us_energy_security/index.html

Here are a few excerpts from the above linked article that explains all of this in detail.

While oil shale occurs in much of the world, the western United States is home to the world's largest deposits. Most oil shales are fine-grained sedimentary rock containing high amounts of organic matter from which oil and gas may be extracted via a distillation (heating) process.

Oil shale was formed millions of years ago by the deposition of silt and organic debris on lake beds and sea bottoms. During time, heat and pressure transformed the materials into oil shale in a process similar to that which forms oil; however, the heat and pressure were not as great. Oil shale can contain enough oil to burn without additional processing, so it is also known as "the rock that burns."

Total world resources of oil shale are estimated at 2.6 trillion barrels of oil, with the Green River formation in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming containing an estimated 1.2 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels- the largest deposits in the world.
Even by conservative estimates, there are 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from oil shale in the area, an amount three times greater than the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.

In public opinion poll after poll, an overwhelming majority of citizens-nearly 85%-express strong support for weaning the U.S. from increasing foreign energy addiction. They want America to be as energy independent as possible. Soon, new American technologies can help Western oil shale do just that.

The greatest challenge to realizing the vast potential of oil shale in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming has been technology, extracting the resource in an economically viable and environmentally responsible way. With U.S. demand for petroleum products topping 20 million barrels per day, oil shale could be used to meet a quarter of that demand-800 billion barrels of recoverable resources, which would last more than 400 years.

Please help us out.
JD Pearce - A very concerned citizen
Charlotte, NC

So there you go. I believe we must reach out to our legislators from time to time and let them hear from us. I also sent it to our President and Governor. Speaking of Governor, I hope pat McCrory wins the office in the upcoming election in NC because I know him personally and I think he will be a great asset to Charlotte and Mecklenburg county. We have been ignored in Raliegh for far too long.

Anyway what do you think about Oil Shale?

I will be posting more about it in the coming days.

Peace be with you all

Christmas 2007

2007-12-21T03:09:00.000-08:00

Greetings and salutations this Christmas season

I hope this message finds you all well and enjoying the experience. It is a wonderful time of year for many folks although a bit stressful for some. Life is often full of stress and we have to deal with problems from day to day that make things a bit tough on us as individuals or as families. I have found as a Christian that the best way to deal with trouble and turmoil in my life is to ask Christ to takes those burdens from me and help me deal with it all. Once you do that, give it all up to him you will find a peace you have never known before.

Let me tell you a story about an experience I had recently. It was a few weeks ago. My dear, sweet grandmother Grace Britt, God rest her soul, had passed and life was knocking me around a bit. My wife had wrecked her car (she was not injured thank goodness) and a large tree had fallen in the back yard onto the neighbors shed. I had also had a minor accident in my van and I was in training to become an Elder at Church while my only son was in Navy boot camp near Chicago. Of course all this was on top of the normal day to day stress of running a small courier business where I am the CEO, salesman and accountant as well as the primary driver who does the bulk of the deliveries. So needless to say I had allot on my plate and was becoming kind of frazzled around the ends.

One morning I walked out on my deck at home and it was a cloudy day. I raised my head up to the sky and spoke a silent prayer asking our Lord Jesus to please help me shoulder all that was burdening me. I said I knew I was unable to handle it all without his help. With me eyes still closed I suddenly felt a warmth on my cheek as if a hand was caressing my face and in my heart I could hear the words do not be troubled my son I am here with you. I opened my eyes and looked up and the sun had just peaked through the clouds shinning down on me for a few minutes. It truly felt like the hand of God on me, as a father would caress his child.

Of course I knew then I would get through it and all has turned out well. My wife has her car back, my son has graduated and moved on to Florida, I am now a fully ordained Elder and the neighbor said do not worry about the tree. Finally of course Grace Britt is with the Lord preparing for the day we will all meet her there together with many others that have gone before, singing praises to God in our mansions beyond this earthly realm.

Life is good if you have the proper perspective and know who to turn to when the going gets rough.

Have a blessed Christmas and a safe and happy new year!

Peace to you all!

Changing and evolving

2007-10-22T03:22:00.000-07:00

The world changes, evolves, moves on. Each of us who live here upon this planet have some kind of destiny or fate I presume. Why else would we be here if it is not to complete a task or mission while here on earth? The sad thing is many if not most of us do not know what our mission is. We must learn this as we grow older and with age comes wisdom and enlightenment. The purpose becomes evident as time goes by and we learn from the mistakes made in our youthful arrogance and ignorance.

What part does God play in this? As a Christian he is the central figure in my world. He is the great creator of all things in the universe and gives me life and hope. His love is the most powerful force in this universe and it was proven when he became flesh and died on the cross to exonerate me from my sinful ways. Blessed be the name of the Lord! Once I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior it opened up a whole new existence for me and I found the way or the path. The void within me was no longer aching to be filled with carnal or worldly goods but is now overflowing with pure love and truth. Amen!

Now my path is clear. I have accepted my fate and I am pursuing it. As a leader, an Elder, a Christian, a Father, Husband, Brother, Son and Friend. I am many things in this life and have begun to walk the true path. In life we take many roads and one of these roads has lead me to meet a man who has become a friend. I will not name him here as I do not have his permission at this time but needless to say he is a wise man and has become somewhat of a mentor and teacher to me. He is a devote Christian and was an instrumental part of me turning my life around and receiving Christ. Since that time I learned that he was a Sifu (teacher) in Aikido and I have begun training in this martial art under his tutelage. I have wanted to learn a martial art since I was a teenager and have dabbled in it from time to time over the years but never found a school that I felt comfortable in. However I truly believe that now I have found the right art and the right teacher to advance within the world of these ancient martial skills.

The art that I am now studying is called Aikido. This is one of many arts such as Judo, Jujutsu, Karate, Kung Fu, and there are many more. These are some of the more well known arts in America. Aikido was created by a Japanese man who is now referred to as simply O'Sensei or Great Master. His true name is Morihei Ueshiba and he was a very religious man. He was born in 1883 and died in 1969, it is said he trained until his last days and was always in great fighting shape. He began training in his late teens in traditional jujutsu and kenjutsu he joined the military soon after that and was a great soldier known for his toughness and character. He continued his study of martial arts during that time and after he left the military. He studied under many masters where he learned various styles including the kodokan style of judo. He also earned a certificate in yagyuryu jujutsu.

O'Sensei eventually began to mix his considerable martial arts skills with a more spiritual philosophy and developed his own methods then known as aiki-bujutsu as he continued to hone his skills and develop his system it became known as aiki-budo and around 1941 his art had become known as Aikido. Ai (joining or harmonizing) Ki (energy or spirit) Do (the way or path). Needless to say he was revered in Japan as a great master of martial arts and many people came to train under him.

One of his students was Kenji Tomiki. This man also studied under the founder of Judo, Jigoro Kano. Sifu Tomiki was a great martial artist who founded the style of Aikido known as Shodakan. He wanted to incorporate some competition into the art so that his students could test their skills. It is said that he and O'Sensei
had a disagreement over this and parted ways. He was awarded the first 8th dan in Aikido and also held a 8th dan in Judo. He like O'Sensei was a superior martial artist who was renowned in Japan and around the world. He was born in 1900 and died in 1979. It is the Tomiki or Shodokon style that I now am learning.

What I have learned about Aikido so far is that it is more of a defensive art than an offensive style such as some of the Karate styles I have studied. Where many Karate arts use kicks and punches to decimate your opponent, Aikido uses your opponents energy and aggressiveness against him. Many joint locks and throws are used in Aikido that were derived from O'Sensei's training in jujutsu and judo. The training allows the Nage to flow with the energy brought by the Uke when attacked. If you use these skills properly you can easily subdue your opponent with minimal force in various ways. However depending on the force needed in any particular situation Aikido can be applied with deadly force that can easily break bones and dislocate joints causing very painful injuries or even death. We are taught only to use this kind of force if our lives or the lives of the innocent are threatened. Each situation is different in the world but if attacked, a skilled Aikido practitoner can size up the situation and decide what kind of force is needed. Aikido also teaches one to deal with multiple attackers.

Of course I am just a novice and have many years of training to develop the skills to become proficient, however I am eagerly learning and hope to continue training for many years to come.

Peace be with you.

2007-10-17T02:56:00.001-07:00

October and Fall is finally winding it's way down into the Carolina's. It is still too hot for this time of year but it has cooled substantially from what it was last month. However now that Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize I am sure that the man who invented the Internet will find a way to stop global warming an all will be right with the world. Just think, if he had been elected President in 2000 he would not have been able to win this prize or make his movie that won the Oscar and Emmy. So do you think he would trade all that in for the Oval Office? Who knows but I digress.

Things are going well for me these days. Work is steady and life is chugging right along like an old steam engine train moving down the tracks. Church is really good. I have my last week of Elder training coming up and I will be ordained soon. Then I will find out what committee I will be placed on. The Choir is sounding great and we are preparing for the holiday season. Operation Christmas Child is under way and we brought our boxes home last Sunday.

The biggest news is that Jason (my son) has joined the Navy and is in boot camp. In fact today is the first day of his third week. He has about five more weeks then he will graduate. I am very happy and excited for him. I hope he does well and I am praying hard for him every day! I'll bet he's doing more push ups than I am these days!

Janet and I are doing great and really enjoying our new house. The dogs have adjusted and are lazier than ever! I have increased my workouts and am up to 60 push ups a day, I made 70 one morning but I have to do them first to make that many at one time. I am benching again too. Still working on the diet. That's that hardest part to control. I am at 185 steady now. I have cut way back on the juicing and it is taking it's toll. I need to get back into it again. The move kind of discombobulated my schedule and I never have gotten back on track. Shame on me! I will get back to every other day soon. I have been taking Aikido lessons from a private instructor who is a good friend of mine. I guess we have been doing this for about four month maybe five now. I have another lesson on Thursday. I am really enjoying this martial art more than any I have studied. I hope to stick with this one for many years. It is more a defensive art than offensive but it is very effective.

The Lord has blessed me no doubt. My life is great and I thank him for it. I am having Thanksgiving here this year and inviting the family up for a feast! Janet and I are going to the mountains this weekend to enjoy the scenery and eat at the Daniel Boone Inn. We have scheduled our next vacation for Sedona Arizona next September. I am finally going to get to the Grand Canyon! Yahooo!

I'll check back in later.

Peace be with you!

A fool such as I?

2007-08-25T05:43:00.000-07:00

I must be a fool to come back from such a great vacation.

Maybe I should just pack my bags and go back to Nashville tonight!

WOW!

It's tough to go from a relaxing seven day vacation to a hectic work day in just a matter of hours but that's the way it is. After leaving Nashville, Tennessee Wednesday afternoon we arrived back in Charlotte around 10:30 PM. In bed by 12:00, I was up early and back at it making deliveries and picking up where I left off the week before. Thursday and Friday were both hectic and very busy days. I have to close my eyes and only believe I am back in my cozy hotel room in Memphis to get away from it all but hey, that's alright.

The guys who took care of things for me while I was away did a great job with little or no trouble although they were very busy. Looks like I picked a bad week to go away but it is hard to predict when business will be slow or hot in this line of work. My hat's off to Bob, Ken and Harry for taking care of business while I was away.

Janet, my good luck charm, and I went to Memphis Tennessee for a few days, had a side trip to Tunica, Mississippi and then finished up our vacation in Nashville. The Memphis part of the trip was centered around the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. We went to the BIG concert at the fed ex forum on the 16th after visiting Graceland that morning. This was my fourth trip to Graceland and Janet's first. She really enjoyed it and so did I. We will have great memories from this trip for a long time to come. Check out this site to see more.

Graceland - Elvis

Here is a couple of pics from inside Graceland I took.

The concert was fantastic and we met people from all over. I plan to do an in depth review of the concert later but for now trust me it was Awesome! There were fan clubs there from nearly every country in the world. To name just a few there were folks from Canada, Japan, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, and many more of course. Many folks decided to follow that dream and come to Memphis for this one and I am sure they all found it too much to handle in one trip. Many will return again once they have been to Graceland, the promised land of rock and roll.

Here's some from the concert.

We toured Beale street where the Blues music style was born and later had lunch at Corky's BBQ on Poplar St. We also visited the Peabody Hotel downtown and saw the famous Peabody ducks. We went to Sun Studios waydown Union Ave., where Elvis recorded his first records and was discovered of course by a young lady named Marion Keisker. Sam Phillips owned the studio and was not really interested in Elvis but the persistence of Marion finally broke Sam's will and he had Elvis come in about a year later and record some songs. One thing led to another and Elvis started singing "That's Alright Mama" and Rock and Roll history was begun. It was fun to see all the history of Rock music right there including the very same microphone Elvis sang into. I myself was able to sing a few bars from Jailhouse Rock into that very mic Elvis used. I was glad they let me be there do just pretend I was Elvis for a moment in time.

This is the mic as we saw it, standing in the middle of the room and then in the past as Elvis used it.

Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash also used that mic and were artists that got their starts at Sun Studios. You can't really mention Memphis and Sun Studious without mentioning that Sam Phillips was into the Blues. He started the studio to record the black blues artists of the day, living in Memphis playing down on Beale Street. Some of those included BB King, The Howling Wolf and even Ike Turner playing piano with a band who recorded what many call the first ever rock and roll song entitled "Rocket 88". Later when the studio had closed then reopened again in the 80's many more recent artists recorded at Sun Studios like Tom Petty, Def Leopard and U2. Check out the website it is a good one

www.sunstudio.com

Here is an interview with Scotty Moore Elvis's first guitarist if you want to read something nostalgic about the early days of Elvis.

Moving on I must say that Memphis is a nice city in places but all in all it is a poor city with most of the areas we saw being very downtrodden and in need of a Renaissance. It seems that Elvis is bringing a much needed influx of money to the city but I do not see where the local political structure is using it. Perhaps they are spending it all downtown but it is hard to tell. They are in dire need of major change in that city. I would venture to say if it were not for Elvis Presley, Memphis would be in serious trouble and on the verge of becoming like New Orleans before Katrina. There is a great history of the Blues in Memphis and from the looks of the city I can understand why people were always singing the blues. For the most part however when your in any particular part of Memphis you'll find yourself in the ghetto.

We stayed at the Memphis Hilton right off Poplar street and let me tell you it was as nice a Hotel room as I have ever stayed in. The bed was so comfortable I hated to leave. We picked a good place although it was about 8 or 10 miles from downtown. For the price it was more than I expected. It was more for business folks than Graceland tourists but we enjoyed it anyway. Our room was on the 14th floor so we had a nice view out over the area.

We went to Tunica for one evening and gambled a bit. We wound up winning a little money while we were there and ate at one of the buffets. It was fun and I hope to go back there again someday. Tunica was only about 45 minutes from Memphis so it was an easy drive for us. There were three casinos right next to each other in one spot so we settled in there and tried them all out. It was over 100 degrees outside so it was nice to spend the day indoors where the air conditioners were on full blast.

We stayed at the Wyndham Resort of Nasvhille just across from the OpryLand Hotel and where the knew Opryland building is located. The Hotel was amazing, I've never seen anything like it except maybe in Vegas. I would like to stay there next time I go to Nashville.

Inside the Opryland Hotel complex.

While in downtown Nashville we toured a place that is legendary to Country music and Elvis fans alike. It is called Studio B and Elvis recorded over 250 songs there. many more folks recorded there including Jim Reeves, Waylon Jennings, Roy Orbison, Charlie Pride, Chet atkins, Floyd Cramer and Dolly Parton to name only a few. The tour guide told us about Dolly's first recording session. She was so nervous when she pulled into the parking lot she hit the wall and knocked some of the blocks out. In other words she had a tremendous impact on country music and the studio itself! (hehehe) They had some of the original equipment set up in the studio that these famous artists used to record with. There is a 1939 piano that Floyd Cramer used and Elvis also played many times during the 20 years he recorded there.

We walked up and down Broadway which is the main drag where musicians play and various clubs in Nashville. It is full of bars, saloons, souvenir shops, and restaurants. We ran across a small Charlie Daniels museum there while we looked around and I of course had to go in and check it out. He is one of my all time favorites.

The Country Music Hall of Fame was a very interesting place with lots of exhibits and memorabilia. We enjoyed our visit there and it was fun to see the history of the music I grew up with. Here is a link that that website.

Country Music Hall of Fame

We also visited the Zoo while we were there and it was nothing special, just another Zoo. After you have been to the Zoo in any city they all seem to look the same, it was too hot to be walking around outside anyway and since we visited during the week hardly no one was there. Perhaps it's better on the weekend when they gear up for the bigger crowds.

So that's about it. another vacation under our belts. I am thankful to God that he has blessed us with the good fortune to be able to travel and see things we like to see. Next we plan to go to the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone Park. Still trying to decide which one to go see first.

Well I hope this little blog allowed you to walk a mile in my shoes even if it was only make believe for a few minutes of your day. For now it's over yet if your ever in Nashville or Memphis Tennessee one night and you run into Elvis just tell him Jim said hello.

He'll know what you mean.

Global Warming VS Global Terrorism

2007-08-11T05:45:00.000-07:00

Global Terrorism VS Global Warming

It is said that today we live in a global society. It is a true statement and it seems that two of the biggest problems we face today are global problems. Here I wish to examine which of these two problems we should be most concerned about. If you look at it from a left VS right political perspective then we know which side you probably come down on.

Global Warming.

Many Scientists agree we are currently experiencing a period of global warming. The crux of the problem here is whether it is a natural phenomenon or a man made problem. Many environmentalist groups are certain that this problem is caused by man’s use of fossil fuels and they are determined to disrupt our economy by trying to hinder peoples use of energy derived from those fuels such as oil, natural gas, coal, etc. They insist we are destroying the planet’s atmosphere with our greed and need for bigger vehicles like trucks and SUVs
or sports cars that use more fuel than the smaller more energy efficient cars they tend to drive. They want us to take steps that would certainly do damage to the economy in America in order to preserve the planet (in their view). Many on the other side of the argument disagree and point to science that leads to inconsistencies in their arguments. Many scientists whole heartedly disagree that man’s use of fossil fuels has a veritable impact on the earth’s atmosphere and our need for energy to run the systems that keep our economy moving is more important than their diaphanous theory that we (man) might be causing global warming.

The left has blamed just about every weather condition of late on their global warming theory and has taken and alarmist approach to try and scare the public into believing that the most dire consequences are in store for us all if we do not fall into lock step with them and follow their prescriptions necessary to save the planet and all mankind from certain destruction. One example would be the hurricanes we experienced two years ago, Katrina and Rita. Many of the global warming alarmists said that these were a result of our poor stewardship of the planet and we were in store for even more destruction in the next hurricane seasons to follow. However we did not have one single hurricane touch the US coast the following year and so far this year their predictions of wide spread destruction have been just as paltry.

Another example of their trepidation is that the polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate and that the coastlines of our country and around the world will be submerged within decades if we do not stop our burning of fossil fuels. However it has been proven by scientists in Greenland that the temperature has been steadily decreasing there for the last decade or so and the glaciers are in fact getting larger.

Another bit of information that seems to slip past some of the more prominent media is that the temperature readings being used by the man made global warming theorists have come under scrutiny. It has been pointed out recently that many of the surface temperature stations that are monitored by the government, providing data to the global warming alarmists are returning bad data due to the location of the units themselves. The government has guidelines about where these monitoring stations should be and in many cases they are in violation of these standards which in turn returns bogus temperature readings causing the data to be askew. Here is a link to a web-site that points this out in detail.

http://www.surfacestations.org/

In conclusion the global warming phenomenon is something to be concerned about and monitored but the science behind it is not conclusive enough to determine if it is being caused by man’s use of fossil fuels or if it is just another cycle in the earth’s vast and powerful ecosystem which changes and evolves constantly. The people who want to try and raise taxes and cut our energy use by banning fossil fuels or the systems that use these fuels may well have a different agenda than what they pretend. The UN for example has embraced the global warming theories championed by Al Gore and his supporters. They want to take enormous sums of money from the richer more affluent nations and distribute it to the poorer less affluent countries around the globe. As we have seen with the UN in the past, corruption can run rampant when millions and even billions of dollars are at play and they very well may have the same agenda as the left whose global warming scare tactics are currently at their highest levels.

Global Terrorism

Now lets look at Global Terrorism. Just like Global warming it seems that many people come down on this subject differently. The political sides of the argument or Right VS Left have taken opposite stands. The right, lead by the Bush administration and some of it’s allies is heavily behind fighting what it calls a, “Global War on Terror.” Many on the left however seem to take a position that it is not as big a threat as the Bush team says it is and is more of a law enforcement problem than a military problem. In fact many of these folks believe we should let many of the terror suspects held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba go and bring any that need to be tried here to America and allow them all the civil liberties that our citizens are afforded. Most on the right of course vehemently disagree with this approach and want them to be dealt with as enemy combatants.

Most people who follow the news are aware that terrorism has been a problem around the world for decades. In 1983 over 240 US Marines were killed in a bombing in Lebanon, since then Americans and American interests and allies around the world have been attacked over and over again with terrorist style bombings and even more brutal forms of terrorism on individuals like beheadings. Just to name a few more in 1993 the World Trade Center in New York City was bombed by Islamic terrorists. In 1996, 19 Americans were killed in the Khobar Towers bombings in Saudi Arabia. In 2000 the Navy Vessel, USS Cole was attacked and 17 US Sailors ere killed. Of course the big one was 911 and that needs no further explanation. Here is a link to a web-page that outlines many more terrorist attacks around the world.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001454.html

Needless to say it is obvious we and others around the world are under attack by terrorists and Islamic extremists from the middle east and other Muslim nations around the world. This President decided enough was enough and has taken the fight to them and declared War on Terrorism. I can see no other way to describe this other than a Global War on Terror, considering the terrorists are striking not only here but all over the world where they want to bring their brand of war into communities and countries where the governments do not cooperate with their fundamentalist views. Although many on the left here in America want to say the “War on Terror” is nothing more than a bumper sticker slogan for the right wingers it is far more than that in the view of many if not most Americans and others around the world.

The final question here is which do you find to be the biggest most urgent problem to deal with today?

Is it Global Warming or Global Terrorism?

Global Warming - Again

2007-08-07T04:06:00.000-07:00

I read an editirial in the USA Today that set me off. Here is the link to it.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/06/god_goes_green.html

Now of course I just had to respond!

First of all you have to accept the left's premise that global warming (GW) is caused by man to swallow this malarkey. I don't and millions of others do not either.

There are a few points to cover here.

First that the human race is like a cancer on the earth. I can see why some folks would look at it that way since they consider mankind as a pariah anyway but I have come to realize that it is not true. We have advanced tremendously since we came to be and the technological society we have become is learning to live in harmony with mother earth to some degree. We do have a long way to go but America imparticular has done wonders in cleaning up pollution in the lakes, rivers and oceans as well as the air. There are many countries who have a much longer way to go in that respect but in time they can be persuaded to do their part.

The earth is a BIG organism we are but a micro-organism compared to the earth itself and all the other parts and pieces that make up the entire Eco-system including insects, plants and other animals as well as climate and atmosphere. The truth about GW is that we do not know for sure if we have any real impact on it or not and it may well be nothing more than the earth's own built in way to evolve and survive, heating and cooling itself from time to time. Floods, droughts, fires and bad weather on this planet are just normal for the earth. We happen to get in the way of these occurrences because we like to build our houses and business in areas that are prone to these types of natural phenomenon. The left likes to use their associates in the media to hype this stuff up and make it look as if we are on the precipice of disaster each and every day. Why? Because they want your MONEY!

Second let's talk about religion and the earth for a minute. Yes God owns the planet and he has graciously allowed us to live on it and use it for our needs while we are here. So we in turn should be good stewards of the resources. In fact I think many religious people are, especially evangelical Christians. Despite the fact that this clown thinks we are pretty much all Republicans out to destroy the planet for our own greedy purposes many of us are willing to sacrifice and try and do our best to not pollute and to live in a clean safe environment free of toxic chemicals, hazardous waste and other pollution. Just because we do not subscribe to the notion that our cars and SUVs are killing the planet and we are not driving Priuses, riding bikes everywhere and wearing hemp clothing does not mean we all hate the planet and want it to die!

In fact I have read that it takes more pollution causing energy to create a Prius than it does a Hummer, mainly due to the large batteries in them that are made in Canada. Here is some detailed information concerning the left's most prize, environmentally efficient automobile, NOT!

Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. As already noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the 'dead zone' around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles. The plant is the source of all the nickel found in a Prius' battery and Toyota purchases 1,000 tons annually. Dubbed the Superstack, the plague-factory has spread sulfur dioxide across northern Ontario, becoming every environmentalist's nightmare. "The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside," said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper. All of this would be bad enough in and of itself; however, the journey to make a hybrid doesn't end there. The nickel produced by this disastrous plant is shipped via massive container ship to the largest nickel refinery in Europe. From there, the nickel hops over to China to produce 'nickel foam.' From there, it goes to Japan. Finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip required to produce a single Prius battery. Are these not sounding less and less like environmentally sound cars and more like a farce?

So does that make you greenies feel better about your carbon footprint? I know where I would like to leave my carbon footprint!

Just ask Red!

Now let's look at the compact fluorescent bulbs they have been trying for years to get us to use. Did you know that some of these bulbs contain mercury? Guess what, mercury is a potent neurotoxin, and it's especially dangerous for children and fetuses. Yes and when you dispose of one, or God forbid break one suddenly you have a hazardous waste situation on your hands. One lady in Prospect, Maine found this out the hard way and when she called the Dept of Environmental Protection, to ask advice on what to do, What did THEY do? They quarantined her house and it cost her over $2,000.00 dollars to replace one what used to be .99 cent light bulb before it was all over. How's that for energy efficiency?

In the end this guy admits that the science is confusing. That is his sly way of telling you that it has not been proven that GW has anything to do with what you and I do, there is not data to support that theory, it is only a theory at this point. The climatologists around the world disagree on this subject and many say our burning of fossil fuels has little or no effect on the atmosphere. For a little comparison there seems to be some scientific proof that there is global warming happening on Mars and the last I checked we were not there with our SUVs as of yet. Maybe someday though!

Also it seems that there IS proof that our planet has been through these kinds of warming cycles before and it was well before the industrial age. So that should give you pause to think about if we are causing GW or not.

So in the end yes, I believe God does want us to be good stewards of his creation. I like many other Christians try and do my part. That's why I do not trust or support most Democrats and many Republicans since they tend to lie like so many politicians do out there, yes I know many Republicans lie too but they will tell you the truth more often than a Democrat. The Dems want your money just like the Republicans but they will not be honest with you about how they are going to take it. They will make up stuff like (GW) and tell you we are causing all this havoc and claim that they need to raise your taxes to solve the problem that YOU created by driving your SUV. All the while they will be stuffing their political pockets with PORK projects amounting to millions and billions of dollars of wasted taxpayers money as they cry and moan that they need more and more money to fix the societal problems they have absolutely no intention on fixing!

GW seems to be their religion of choice at the moment and like some unscrupulous ministers they will preach to us about our tainting of the earth and how if we give up our cash they can try and fix what we have broken. The whole time they will not truly fix anything. They will keep the problem alive and well so that they can continue to fleece us for years to come.

Take the Social Security debacle. They have had plenty of time in the past twenty five years to fix that little problem but have they? No, and when the Republicans tried to push legislation through a few years ago to actually do something about it they stopped it dead in it's tracks. They do not care folks, they want to use these issues to keep blaming the other side and taking YOUR money!

The truth as I see it is that we must all use some common sense on this subject which seems to be sorely lacking in the above article and in politics in general, especially on the left.

What say you???

General rantings

2007-07-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning!

I am up early as usual drinking coffee and reading news on the internet. I just wanted to make a few comments about life in general. I have always been a person who tries to be honest with people, I tell the truth and it often gets me in trouble. Especially where liberals are concerned. I have a friend who passed away recently (God bless his soul) who once replied to my negative email about Bill Clinton saying that he did not want to hear my opinion and for me to delete him from my email list. I have had similar emails from other liberals. It seems they just do not want to hear an opposing view. I don't get it. Is that not how we learn in life by listening to and evaluating both sides of an issue before we make up our own minds on the subject? I would hope that people whether liberals, conservatives or moderates for that matter would be a bit more open minded and learn to debate these issues with folks they disagree with and respect others opinions no matter what side they come down on.

No let me say something about Character and honesty. I will not name names but I have encountered some people lately in my life who are just plain dishonest. They seem like nice enough folks but they flat out lie and then do not seem to think twice about it. I do forgive them of course and will pray for them but it is all I can do to keep from really laying into them for their dishonesty and lack of integrity. What is it with folks who do not honor their word? I don't get it!

Well in truth I do get it I suppose. I know that many folks are under the influence of the great deceiver in this world today. They lie and cheat with giving it a second thought because Satan has a tremendous amount of influence over the world we live in. There is no two ways about this one. Most folks just simply do not uphold the teachings of Christ and the commandments God gave us all to live by and yes I mean in and outside of the Church. They live their lives in the world being a part of this culture ignoring the real truths that we as children of God should hold as the most important truths to live by.

Yeah, yeah I know many folks will say there he goes preaching again. Yet the truth is the truth!

Amen...

Global Warming? Really?

2007-07-20T03:11:00.000-07:00

Greetings

I just read an article that compared Al Gore to Elmer Gantry who is a fictional preacher in an old movie played by one of my favorite actors of all time Burt Lancaster. Although I find the comparison interesting it is hard to picture AlGore as the character since Burt Lancaster was well Burt Lancaster and AlGore is well you know, he is not quite as handsome as ol' Burt was. Yet the Charlatan that was Elmer Gantry fits the persona of AlGore in many ways. It is quite obvious that he has managed to persuade many Americans with his movie (that I have avoided watching so far) that the world is about to come to a disastrous end due to man made global warming. Yet the truth is that many scientists disagree on his conclusions and this phenomenon we are seeing may be nothing more than a natural process of the earth's climate change. We as the human species and what we do very well could have no impact at all on the earth's very formidable climate apparatus. In fact many scientists say that the climate here on earth is so complex that they do not even begin to understand it all and how it may or may not effect global warming.

One thing that really makes me wonder about all this Global Warming talk is that I can remember when Time magazine published stories about the new Ice Age back in the seventies. How can we go from being nearly extinct by a new Ice Age to being nearly burned up by Global warming in only 25 years? Is that good science? I doubt it. I also understand now how politicians work and I know that environmentalists like AlGore like to take issues that they can peddle to the people like so much snake oil and use it to promote a hidden agenda. These people are tricky and because many Americans seem to fall under their spell for one reason or another they unfortunately are easily persuaded.

All this leads me to compare AlGore to another character played by Burt Lancaster in yet another great movie called "The Rainmaker" where he played a fellow named Bill Starbuck. WOW! What a great movie that was and like Gantry, Starbuck (and AlGore) was a fellow who rode around the countryside convincing people to open their wallets and pay him to do something he knew he could not do, make it rain. This comparison might be even better than the first since it has to do with the climate and he was obviously a BS artist much like our former Vice Perpetrator. If you love old movies this one is a must see, it had Katherine Hepburn as well and was one of Lancaster's best films! I could go on about old movies and Burt but I digress.

These predictions of doom and gloom have been happening since man was young and able to write about the earth. This is just another phase in men trying to fool other men into reaching into thier pockets and handing over the cash.. Mark my words, 30 years from now the left will have found another way to try and squeeze money from their supporters and this global warming farce will be a long forgotten memory...

Peace to you all!

The Move

2007-07-18T02:50:00.001-07:00

Finally we are all moved in!

We bought a new house last month and picked up our belongings and moved it all over here over the Fourth. Thanks to some help by very good friends and my trusty van we have managed to get just about everything we owned moved over here and we are no longer living in East Charlotte. As much as I loved it there, the place has changed too much for my liking. No longer the peaceful neighborhood of my youth it was time for a change. Being only a pistol shot away from Eastland Mall you 30 year plus Charlotteans will understand why I had to leave.

Our New home is off Providence Road near the Arboretum. The shopping within a two mile radius is fantastic as well as the fact that I have at least three movie theaters within five miles of me now. The restaurants in the area are great as well. Many places to choose from and on top of that I am now less than ten minutes from Church! The proximity to all these will save us a ton of gas in the long run.

We almost feel like we are on vacation living here. The bedroom is nearly twice the size of our old one it seems and the master bath is awesome! We have less storage space in the house but we now have a two car garage so the trade off it worth it. We also have a HUGE walk in attic. I intend to put in a fan that will cool it off up there so maybe I can use it to make up for the lost storage space.

Anyway I will post some pics soon. I suppose we will be here for the next 15 or 20 years because I DO NOT want to move again! What a pain that was!!!!!

Peace to you all!

JD

Gone but not forgotten!

2007-06-29T04:42:00.000-07:00

I have been gone, at least from these pages but I have not forgotten about the blog, completely anyway.

As I am starting to get back into my daily browsing of the internet news I am inclined to comment on some of it along with filling you in on some stuff going on in my own life as well.

First off we are moving this coming week. I am really excited about getting into our new house. I go into detail about it more later but I will say it is a much nicer house although about the same size as this one. It is in a far nicer neighborhood and closer to shopping, Church and many of my friends. I will miss this house but not the neighborhood or some of the neighbors. Although they are mostly nice folks most of them do not take care of their properties. The new place is quite different in that arena and we have some really nice looking houses on the block that should make our new home a much better investment in the long run.

Now the news: Iran is in turmoil and is rationing gasoline. The people are revolting and burning the gas stations. If they will just destroy the refinery Iran's economy will collapse and they will be over.

The immigration bill did not pass in the Senate, it was doomed in the house anyway but this is good news for America. I am glad to see the people coming together over this one and defeating this BAD piece of legislation.

My son just turned 21 and has joined the Navy. May God bless him and protect him is my prayer. Does this mean I am old?

The wife and I celebrated my Bday, Jason's Bday and the closing at Ruth Chris's steakhouse on Wed. night. WOW! That's a great steak!!!!!!

Later

JD

It's Official

2007-03-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

Well I have really attained a goal here that I had been shooting for but it is still somewhat of a surprise anyway. I weighed in at 178 this morning down from 199.5 just 4 short months ago.

The secret? Well as you may well know I have been juicing for three months now. I have cut sweet tea and sodas from my diet and cut back on deserts. I also am eating less BBQ, french fries etc., and have had NO fast food in that same time period except some Chick Fila every once in a while....

I have also been working out daily and have only missed a day or two here and there the past few months. Some weights in the evening, bench press, curls, etc., and some push ups, crunches, stretching, and so forth each morning.

What a lifestyle change! I am feeling much better and looking slimmer too! Here is a picture below of me at my largest several years ago. Check out that belly! Looks like I could eat that fish whole!

I'll have to take a new picture for the slimmed down version...

We can all do it you know, it only takes some will power and discipline. If you don't think you have it, you must know that the real power comes from above, all we have to do is ask. Remember these words, Seek and you will find, Ask and it will be given. Just ask, sincerely and the power is yours!

God Bless you all and may you find yourself on the road to good health very soon!

Peace to you!

300 The Movie

2007-03-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

I just returned from the movie 300. I saw it again tonight, this time with no children in the theater. I enjoyed it as much if not more this time around. What a movie! This is the epitome of a ancient war movie and the special effects blended with the acting, fight scenes and the subject matter have made this one of the best films I have ever seen. I am truly blown away by the story, with the history behind it, with the cinematography, special effects, acting and directing. This movie is a true example of what a film maker can do with an exceptional script, great actors and a crew of people who know what they are doing....

Now before you rush out and see this movie you have to understand that it is EXTREMELY violent. There is nudity and sexual situations. It is not for kids under 17 or is it for the faint of heart. This movie is for hard core action film fans who do not mind seeing blood and gore as well as some sex. I can deal with all of this if it is in the right context and not done just for the indulgence of a perverted film maker.

I grew up reading Robert E. Howard and other great story tellers who knew how to present these things in a story properly and this is along that vain. So if you are a Howard fan and enjoy writers like R.A. Salvatore, James Silke's "Prisoner of the Horned Helmet", Hercules and other similar heroic adventures you should really enjoy this movie....

It is one for the collection.

Have a great weekend and God Bless!

Still Juicing

2007-03-12T03:42:00.000-07:00

Here I am about 50 plus days into my juicing experiment. What have I learned so far? Well I have lost close to 15 pounds. This change in lifestyle has worked for me. Of course you must consider I have dropped soda's and sweet tea from my diet and most deserts. I do splurge once in a while in that arena (deserts) but not often. Since I am still working out regularly I am adding a good bit of muscle to my frame. I suppose muscle is just as heavy as fat so I probably could have lost even more weight than I have. I am at about 185 right now down from 199 a few months ago.

I am not juicing twice a day as I had intended. I tried it and it just did not work with my schedule or lifestyle. I am trying to stick with once per day and now I am playing with the idea of moving my juice time to later in the evening. I am one of those folks who will get the urge to eat around 9:00 PM if I have and early dinner which I prefer. Then I put all that food (often a sandwich or a bowl of cereal) in my stomach and it sits there over night turning to fat. If I replace that urge to something substantial with a nice glass of fresh juice I think it will have a tremendous positive impact. I did it last night and I feel great this morning other than a headache from going without food for more than 12 hours. I will get used to it and I may add a banana to the equation in the future or some other fruit. That should also help with regularity.

It will of course take some experimenting and tweaking but I think I am on the right track here to continue my journey back to better health and to great shape. So far so good!

In the meantime go see the movie "300" and you will see the kind of body I am trying to build.

Good health to you and may God bless you, me and the USA!!!!

March 2007

2007-03-11T05:53:00.000-07:00

Wow! It is nearly spring time again and I am loving it! It is probably about 60 degrees outside now if not more on March 10th and I hope this is the beginning of the warm weather. I know we have a history of one more cold spot during March but hey, I can be optimistic can't I!

Yesterday I went to see a movie called "300". It was breathtaking! It was Violent and bloody no doubt but it was the context of the movie, so I expected no less. I dislike senseless violence in a movie but when it is about a war I can deal with it. This was done by Frank Rich, written anyway. He also wrote "Sin City" which I thought was over the top in violence yet was still entertaining. This one was more to my liking since I am into ancient history and battles of this nature. I did some research on this historic battle and the movie was surprisingly very accurate historically from what I have read so far. I will do a little more study to see if it holds up.

Update!!! It looks like "300" has broken all March records for opening weekend. I am not surprised, this movie was brilliant in many ways and the story was extremely compelling. I am looking forward to seeing it again on the BIG screen before I get the DVD, this is a must to add to any collection of Gladiator style movies....

I will comment more on this movie after I see it again but I will give it a quick two spears up and rate it an 8.5 for now.

later....

Debate on Iraq and Terror

2007-02-03T04:42:00.000-08:00

I have been in a constant debate for quite some time with a friend of mine who I call a Liberal. He claims to be a moderate but I see no real difference. Six of one, half a dozen.....You know the cliche.

Anyway our latest back in forth resulted in me sending him this email. I felt like posting it here today so anyone else who wandered by could read it.

Enjoy!!!!

Like a typical liberal your hatred for Bush unhinges you and your thought processes.

Perhaps you remember that the executive branch under Bill Clinton was the administration that first drew up the plan to remove Saddam. Regime change was our only solution to protect the middle east and America from his WMD. Every Senator who now bloviates about how Bush lied over WMD stood right up on the Senate floor and called for Saddam to be removed and went on and on about what a threat he was while Clinton, said almost the same exact things President Bush said before we went into Iraq.

You might also remember that Saddam ignored about 13 UN resolutions over a period of as many years that ordered him to give up all his weapons programs and fully disclose everything to the inspectors which he refused to do. After 911, the only safe and smart thing to do was to take him down since all the intelligence supported that fact that he either had or could make WMD at the drop of a hat. Keep in mind he had plenty of time in the run up to the war to dispose of, hide or ship his WMD to Syria or elsewhere.

With that being said, Iraq is the perfect strategic base of operations to deal with Iran so that probably was a dream for the military strategists who also knew we would have to deal with the Iranians since they have been trying to go nuclear. Now that we can squeeze them from both sides it really gives us a great opportunity to force that regime out hopefully without a full scale ground war. North Korea, Venezuela, and Iran will get their turn. We can only depose one murdering dictator at a time. Since we are on this subject why is it that you folks constantly complain about us taking out Saddam then turn around in the same breath and criticize Bush for not taking out these other nut cases?

The sad thing is all the anti war wackos in America are trying their utmost to replicate their glory days when they were able to stop the Vietnam war with their marches and protests. The 24/7 news cycle is a BIG help to them now and the fact that the MSM is made up of 98% liberals is also a HUGE advantage to the anti war pacifists.

The fact that Saddam was a brutal dictator and killed, tortured, raped and oppressed the Shiites and Kurds (300,000 or more) while building 50 Palaces for himself, his perverted murdering sons and the many Sunni's he kept under his wing, means nothing to you libs. You seem to conveniently ignore these facts while you spew your vile hatred for George W. Bush, the ONLY President with the courage to take a stand against the terrorism that has plagued this country and the world for the past 30 years or longer.

You folks do not seem to realize the threat that the Islamic Jihadists pose to the world and your country today. Your hatred for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the others seem to leave you unable to think rationally on this subject at all! You never comment on the fact that in a four year ground war we have managed to kill tens of thousands of terrorist insurgents while only taking about 3000 American troop deaths which is less than we lost on the first day of the first battle of W.W.II. You seem to ignore all the Iraqi Kurds and Shiites who have stood up and thanked America for saving them from Saddam and helped them restore most of their country to a peaceful, prosperous place for the first time in 30 years. You seem to ignore the fact that Saddam was a contributor to the Palestinian suicide brigades providing 10,000 dollars to the families of those Arabs who would send their children to Israel or elsewhere to blow themselves up and take out as many Jews as possible. You seem to ignore the fact that in Iraq, 30 mins from Baghdad their was a terrorist training camp, Salman Pak, where jihadists routinely were trained to highjack American and European airliners as well as other terror related training.

It seems today all the left wants to do is criticize Bush because this war is not over yet or because he didn't plan for the insurgency. The plain and simple truth is; we have most of the terrorists in the world, concentrated in one central location in the Middle East, (NOT IN AMERICA) where we can use our military to kill them and you folks want to pull out of it and leave.

That just blows my mind!

I say lets keep them in the desert and continue to take them out for the next ten years if it takes that long. Each one we kill is one that will not be blowing up and innocent civilian in America, Israel, France, Spain, London or Bali. If we stay the course perhaps they will eventually run out of money or terrorists or at least the fortitude to fight us any longer.

If you would look seriously at history and the rise of Hitler you can see how the rise of the Islamic Jihadists is eerily similar to the that of the Third Reich. Hitler grew in power while Europe stood by and did nothing. Diplomacy did not work with him and it will not work with terrorists. Some folks in our government recognize the danger this poses to all of Western Civilization yet you folks on the left or middle or wherever the hell you want to put yourself just do not get it....

WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!

Put your disgust for conservatives and Bush away for the duration of this war and get on board so we can fight and win these battles. We must fight and kill these terrorists in order to survive. Do you want a nuke detonated on American soil? If we do not stop these people that will happen. Do you want a bio-attack in a major city? How about 10 cities at once? If we do not continually disrupt, disarm, displace and debilitate the terrorists in Iraq, Iran, Syria and elsewhere we will surely be attacked again. Stop the constant complaining and whining and stop your morale killing diatribes in the liberal left MSM! The troops need moral support and they are not getting it from YOU!

Honestly, I pray that my fellow Americans be they liberal, moderate, conservative or just plain ignorant about it all will see the importance of what we face in the middle east. We must all come together to win this war and stop the forces of terror in the world who have SWORN to destroy Israel, America and our allies....

God help us all!

Oh yeah and one more thing!

Have a nice day! (smile)

15 days

2007-01-28T04:18:00.000-08:00

It is the15th straight day of my juicing experiment. I have to say this has been quite a life changing experience for me. What started out as another of my excursions into the unknown has become something that I have decided to incorporate into my lifestyle. Here are some of the benefits I personally have found thus far.

I have lost about 6 pounds
I have lost about 1 inch off my waist (maybe more)
I have lots more energy
My body and mind are rejecting bad foods
I am eating less meat and am off fast foods
I am drinking less sodas and sweet tea
I am drinking more water
Taking Bee Pollen every day
Eating at least one banana per day
I am getting my daily recommended allowances of Vitamins B, C, D and A
My skin is less dry than normal for this time of year
My stomach is not bothering me like it normally does
I am almost completely off the acid reflux medicine
The normal lethargic feeling I would have at the end of the day has disappeared
I am exercising more and daily
I have gained a good bit of muscle tone
My attitude is great!
My mind is clear and my health goals seem very reachable

Now I know that is a lot of positive feedback from juicing and it my sound a bit over the top but it is exactly on target. I have been out of shape for about 6 or 7 years and getting bigger each year it seemed, never really finding a way to commit to an exercise routine or diet that would stick but it looks like this one is going to work.

Here is what I am still eating from my normal lifestyle.

Chinese food twice a week for lunch
Chicken Marsala last night with all the trimmings and a glass of wine
Pop corn and a coke at the movies on Friday
Country style steak w/gravy last week for dinner
Breakfast including smoked sausage and hash browns once last week
Cereal and milk for breakfast or dinner a few times (Special K and Cherrios)
BBQ for lunch one day last week (with broccoli and apples instead or fries and beans)
Fried fish sandwich and Fries one day for lunch
Smoked Turkey sandwiches with mayo and chips for lunch and dinner once or twice last week

So you can see I am not depriving myself of the things I do like for lunch and dinner most of the time. However I am drinking water with these meals now instead of sweet tea. I also have cut most all of the soda out of my diet. I had the one at the movies and a few small glasses of JB/sprite the other night at the poker game but that is about it for sodas.

Now if I go hard core and really start cutting out some of this regular eating of mine at lunch and dinner and replace it with something less fat and more healthy I could probably double the weight loss and inches too but I am in no hurry. My goal is to do it slowly and just peel away some of the bad stuff from my lifestyle one layer at a time until I get down to a comfortable weight of about 185 or 180 and beef up my muscle tone a bit more especially in the mid section. The health of my insides is even more important as I want my kidneys, liver, heart, lungs and stomach in the best shape of all.

My current goal is to continue down this path of one glass per day until I hit 30 days and then kick it up to two glasses per day. That will in turn allow me to cut even more of the fat and excess from my diet. I will make sure to continue to get all the fiber I need from bananas and cereal as well as fresh veggies for lunch and dinner on occasion but much of my nutrition will be derived from my juicing, bee pollen and bananas.

Around the end of next month I hope to work on my first real juice fast. A short one at first, maybe two days. The purpose is to completely detoxify the body. I have been reading up on this and it is very good for the body to get rid of these toxins and replace your body's fuel with healthy and nutritious juice. The blood and all the major organs will be cleansed and detoxed. It is a good way to cleanse the spirit as well by spending quiet time praying, meditating or reading. There are folks who do this for 30 days but I am not that advance or do I even really want to go that far at this point. I will take this one small step at a time.

Well that is my progress report.

God bless you all and good luck on your own journey back to good health!

Wanted: Alive or Dead

2007-01-24T03:35:00.000-08:00

Just a small twist with word play there to grab your attention.

My topic is not terrorism, well maybe it is really, terrorism of the body! We as a population have been ingesting such terrible foods and drink for so long it is nothing short of terrible for our health. Even though some of us live to be 80 or 90 (a smaller percentage even past 100) the larger majority of folks in this country are obese and will drop dead in their sixties if they make it that long!

Did you know that the human race is actually supposed to live to 120 or 140 years of age? Due to our bad diets and all the toxins we live with it is a rarity indeed for a human to live to be 120 although there are recorded cases of it.

Most of this early death today is due to obesity, toxins in cooked food, chemicals, pesticides, etc. Here is a quote from an article I found on the web from a press release from the University of Pittsburgh.

During the past 20 years, obesity rates among U.S. adults have skyrocketed with 30 percent of adults 20 years of age and older over 60 million people now categorized as obese and 9 million as severely obese. Over the past 25 years, the percentage of young people who are overweight or obese has more than tripled.

Need I say more on that subject. Well I have found a weapon to fight off this monster and it is called juicing! Of course if you know me you know I have been doing this for a few months now off and on and my last two blogs of course are dedicated to the subject.

I am at about day 10 of regular daily juicing now and I feel great! I am working out daily too and that is a result of my higher energy levels and my more focused mind. The psychological aspect of knowing I have this healthy juice in my body makes me want to eat better and exercise more.

Now to the main topic. Live Juice Vs dead juice.

One of my friends told me he was having a V8 each day now instead of sodas which I think is fantastic! Yet don't celebrate too much. If you in turn get a juicer and replace or add to that V8 some live juice (you will forget all about the V8 once you have tasted live juice) it would be so much better for you body!

Here's why.

When you choose live juice you get all the live enzymes that go with it. These live enzymes are what the body uses to rebuild and repair cells! In other words dead foods or heated, cooked or pasturized foods and juices have had all the enzymes along with much of the other nutrients, killed by the heating process and is not nearly as nutritious for you body.

While grape juice, orange juice and a V8 are much better than coffee and soda all day it is not nearly as good as fresh juice made from carrots, apples, celery, etc... When you get the live juice it will make your body feel live and energetic again! Dead food and juice is just that, (mostly DEAD) and your lethargic body will not respond to it like it will to live juice.

Here is a link to a lengthy article that goes into detail about live food vs dead food. It is more centered around food than juice but you can learn a lot from it.

OK, I am NOT an expert by any means but if you are curious go on the web and look it up. Here are some links that might help you.

http://www.healingdaily.com/juicing-for-health.htm

http://www.rawveganbooks.com/

http://www.living-foods.com/articles/benefits.html

And one more thing!

If you want a juicer try Ebay, the books can also be bought used on Amazon.com!

God Bless you and Peace be with you!

Good luck on your journey back to good health!

The Juicing continues

2007-01-20T10:19:00.000-08:00

It is about day 8 now since I started shooting for a daily dose of fresh juice. After a couple of months of juicing off and on a couple of days per week I finally have gotten serious about it. I am feeling real healthy and good about this experience. I have also been taking 1000mg of bee pollen with my juice. I had a glass of juice with a light dinner yesterday and it went down quite well. Although I have lost a few pounds and will probably lose more I am not really focused on that aspect of this new diet. It is more about quality of my health than the quantity of what I weigh.

I am working out daily and have been increasing my routines, adding new exercises and some additional weights to my curling bar and dumbbells. I will have to dust of the bench soon in the basement when the weather warms up. Right now the dogs sleep down there so I can't deal with the smell but I will evict them come spring time into the back yard and clean it all out so I can start using the bench press. For now my weights upstairs will do just fine.

My wife is sharing in the juicing experience with me and she is really enjoying it. She encourages my quest for good health and is an excellent partner in this. One great benefit I have found is that I do not need my acid reflux medicine every day now. I just went six days without a pill and that is the first time I have been able to do that in over 5 years. I am really happy about it. Once I get more of the bad foods out of my diet I may be able to get off the Nexium once and for all.

I still like to eat Chinese food about two or three times a week and drink coffee in the mornings. These are really bad for my stomach but I will wean myself off the bad stuff slowly over time. I have cut tea and sodas to a bare minimum. I now have water with my lunch each day instead of sweet tea. I stay away from cola most all the time now and have not been to a fast food restaurant but once or twice in that past couple of months. I also have cut BBQ out of my weekly lunch routine. I have only had it once this month and I went to a BBQ restaurant last week and ordered grilled salmon. That is will power! (grin)

We have pretty much gone all organic with our juicing. After doing much reading I have found it is recommended by most all the experts and it only makes sense. Too many pesticides and chemicals in regular farming of the fruits and veggies. They tend to soak it up through the roots and it becomes part of the juice as well as sticking to the skins. Organic is so much healthier!

I just had my glass of Carrot, Apple, Celery and Ginger juice and I can feel the tingle as I type. It is almost like a head rush! I am shooting for two glasses a day by next month. One a day this month will do. Some of the guys I have read about do six glasses a day! WOW, that is a lot! Not sure if I will get that far with it but who knows what the future may bring.

I am in the market for a bigger juicer with a more powerful motor. I have found that many of the newer models get a lot more juice from the fruits and veggies than the one I have is capable of doing. Ebay is a great place to go for this and Amazon.com is the best place to go for books on the subject as well.

Next blog I will talk about fresh juice Vs store bought juice...

Have a great day and be healthy in mind, body and most of all sprirt!

God Bless

Juicing is For Life!

2007-01-16T15:13:00.000-08:00

Juicing fad or fate?

I saw a commercial on TV many years ago and was intrigued when the man was selling a machine that looked like a food processor but he called it a juicer. He claimed that the juice was like a fountain of youth and that it was delicious. If you drank this stuff it would fill you with energy and blah, blah, blah.

I was skeptical since I have been bombarded with infomercials over the years with everything from the pocket-fisherman (which I once had) and the Ginsu Knives (which I always wanted). I was snooping around the cabinets one day at home and lo and behold I found a juicer my wife had brought with her when we were married. I cleaned it up and used it a few times and thought it was pretty good. I talked to some friends about it and kept seeing Jack Lalane on TV making juice and looking real healthy and strong in his eighties. Of course he is the picture of good health so I now started getting more curious. I began juicing about once or twice a month on the weekends when I would really try and get up and exercise and eat a healthy meal. A good friend of mine and I were discussing it one day and he too had a juicer but he said it was a pain to clean up after juicing and he just didn’t want to go through all the trouble very often. I knew he was right so we both just kept doing it once in a while mostly on weekends.

Late in 2006 I decided to try and get back into shape and eat better. After being embarrassed by my large manboobs I had had enough! I started buying more veggies and fruits and set the juicer up on the counter permanently. My goal was at least once a week then I decided twice a week. Well today I am shooting for every day now, sometimes twice a day!

I have found that juicing each day gives me a huge boost of energy and most of all it fills my body with live enzymes and all kinds of pure vitamins, minerals and nutrients. The benefits to the human body that come from juicing are tremendous! It acts as a detoxifying agent by causing the colon and liver to expel toxins that tend to build up over time after eating bad food and drinking sodas, alcohol and coffee for so many years. It also rebuilds cells since the live enzymes are the basic building blocks of the cells in your body. It cleanses the blood , lungs and kidneys. It is also said to help eyesight, skin and hair be rejuvenated. There is so much more to write about juicing I could go on and on.

Fortunately for me my good friend Jeff is also enjoying juicing as much as I am and we constantly challenge each other to juice each day. It is fun and so good for you I am hoping to keep this up and make it part of my life. The health benefits are enormous and will provide so much goodness for me and anyone who does it, I see it as a no brainer at this point. God made us to enjoy all this fresh food, not cooked and pasteurized food so when we go back to what our bodies were designed to be fed we are allowing ourselves a chance to heal and get back the vitality we were always suppose to have.

I am also working out again with weights and exercises like crunches and push-ups. I did not have the energy to do that before I started juicing regularly. I am well on my way to being back in good shape and in good health again for the first time in a decade. I hope my story can provide some information and inspiration to you to do the same thing.

My new motto is “Juicing is for Life!”

Tim & Dawn

2006-12-12T03:49:00.000-08:00

Greetings and Salutations!

I have been up most of the night unable to sleep after attending the funeral service for my old friend Tim Rhyne yesterday. Tim, a strapping young fellow all of 46 years old was far too young to die. I suppose the good Lord needed a smart and savvy warrior up in heaven to prepare for an Epic battle of Supergalatic proportions. Tim was definitely they guy to help with the preparations for that.

Tim was a guy who had lots of friends and most of them were there yesterday. Many of us went back to his house afterward and had a celebration of sorts with Tim's brother Lyle and his wife Dawn along with a few other family members including Tim & Dawn's (not to be confused with Lyle's Dawn) kids, Dallas and Megan. Dallas was constantly amazing everyone with his playing the drums in the air as his fingers slapped against each other sounding like he was really beating an invisible drum while beautiful Megan was very busy running around with her friends and cousins and also reading some of the many letters her classmates had written to her.

Ray, Mark, Drew and I were hanging around with Lyle, Dawn, June, Marti and others sharing stories about Tim and looking at old photo's of Tim and Dawn's wedding and vacations. Captain Morgan was there and I think Sonic Man was also present somewhere. Of course Dawn passed away only about a month ago also of cancer and again much too soon for someone so young and beautiful. It is a sad tale no doubt and She is missed terribly too. I wish I had a picture of her here on my computer but I do not.

I myself feel lucky to have known them both. Although I was in no way Tim's closest or best friend. Hell at times he did not even like me I am sure. Yet we did go way back and there was a time in our lives, long ago, when we spent so much time together he was like one of my brothers.

Tim was a unique individual, as Mark was saying yesterday he was truly one of a kind, nobody else like him. God broke the mold I suppose on this one. Tim will be missed by so many people but he will never be forgotten. His Timizms will also carry on with each one of his friends.

Squibber, Sclib, Gibby, Baby Rhino, all great nicknames by the way. He was here with us so briefly now it seems but while he was here he made a tremendous impact on all those around him. Especially me. I always admired the guy and felt good knowing he was around somewhere even if I did not see him that often anymore.

Farewell brother Tim, may your days in heaven be long and peaceful.

Warm vacation in January

2006-12-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

Greetings Folks

Janet and I have booked this resort for a week in January of 07 and it looks like we are not going to be able to make it. We are going to try and sell this week to someone who would like to get away from it all. We have not been to this resort yet but I have linked to it so that you can check it out. Most all of the places we have vacationed at through RCI have been very nice, upscale resorts. This is an Oceanfront room.

Jan13 thru Jan 20... 1 bedroom with kitchen, 1 bath, Queen bed & sleeper sofa.

If you are interested in buying this week of vacation we will take $650 for it. That gets you 7 nights at this resort. Check in and check out is on Saturday. Hollywood Florida is between Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. There are several casino's in the area with horse racing too.

If you booked this straight from the Resort website it would cost 1,468.00. If your not interested but might know someone else who is, feel free to forward this along to your friends and family.

http://www.ramada.com/Ramada/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=13027&brandInfo=RA

Thanks

JD & Janet Pearce
jdddd@hotmail.com

New Links

2006-11-24T06:10:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to take a look at all the new links I have added.

If you like John Wayne, Bruce Lee, Elvis Presley or Charlie Daniels your gonna love these web-sites I have linked to. There is other good stuff there too like bible.org I use it all the time in my research for my bible study groups.

So check it out and enjoy your weekend!

By the way here is a picture of me and my buddy for you to enjoy too!

Thanksgiving message 2006

2006-11-23T03:12:00.000-08:00

Once again we come to the time of year to give thanks to God for what we have, who we are and all that we cherish in life. What am I thankful for today? I am so very glad to tell you!

First and foremost I am thankful to God and his son Jesus Christ for my mortal life and for my eternal life given by the grace of God and the sacrifice made on the cross. The faith I have is also a gift I am thankful for as it is what allows me to believe in the everlasting life promised to us by Christ.

I know many non-believers in the world and there are far too many of them, who think we, the people who follow Christ and worship God are just a bunch of nutty zealots. However, the one thing I would say to them all is that this faith fills the void in our souls. When we live in the world there is an emptiness within us that we try to fill with worldly passions. Sex, booze, drugs, entertainment, money, and stuff will never make you happy or fill that void within your soul. I have found that only God fills that void in me and my cups now are overflowing with joy!

Praise God!

Yes friends I am truly a thankful man for my story is much like yours I am sure. Living in a world where I did not know God was a lost world for me. I stumbled around blindly and made hardly any progress in life getting hurt every time I turned around and finding myself clawing my way out of some deep pit of sin an despair. When I finally came to God and gave my life up to Christ, surrendered all my worldly power, submitting that I can do nothing without him, I was truly reborn. Now I am a different man. Sure I may look the same and even sound the same but if you dig a little deeper you will find I do not behave the same or think the same as I did before.

My needs and desires have changed for example. I no longer crave the all the worldly treasures that I once did. I can now take it or leave it and it means nothing to me. Now does that mean I will sell all my belongings and live in a shack? No, not at all, I still want to live a comfortable life and have nice things but my life no longer centers on the pursuit of these things. Now I am focused on constantly improving. I want to improve my relationship with God first and foremost then my wife and family. I want to be a better father, friend and co-worker, I want to be a better business man and customer. I want to be a better neighbor and a better Christian. The Lord gives us the desire to be a better human being and to work hard at being someone who is helping others, in and out of the Church here on earth. The Church meaning the body of Christ or all his chosen. We are called to be his hands and feet doing his bidding while we are here, spreading the word of his glory and helping our brothers and sisters, yes including the faithless and the non-believers along the way. Remember Christ said he was here to save those who needed saving not the righteous men, as illustrated in, Luke Chapter 5:

"I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

I am very thankful for his love and what he has taught me about sharing my gifts. It is all his anyway he just lets us have some to use while we are here. If we use it wisely he gives us more. Now does this mean everyone who is rich has been blessed by God? No I think not. Remember Satan has rule over the earth so he loves to use wealth as a tool to get some folks to do his bidding, so do not be mistaken on that matter.

If you are a true believer you will find your treasure in heaven but if you are a good steward here on earth you will also be able to partake in the bounty here as well. If you are not a believer I pray that you will pick up a Bible and read God's word. Once you do that you will become curious and want to know more. This will be the first steps on your journey to find peace with God.

Peace be with you as you journey towards the light of the world. Once you reach that light and accept Christ (who is the light, the truth and the way) you will find that your heart will be filled and your soul no longer empty.

May the blessings of Christ be with you all today and each day until his glorious return!

Amen.

Lost Lore EBook Update!

2006-11-19T02:57:00.000-08:00

Back in February of this year I posted a blog about finishing up a project I have been working on for a loooong time.

Actually over fifteen years in the making if you mark the very first short story I ever wrote as the beginning of this project. I really only started putting this thing together a few years ago after I decided I had enough material for my own anthology. After having several stories and poems published in various other anthologies I decided why not just put my own together and now here it is.

So, I am finally ready to really put a finished product our there for you folks to take a look at. I did send out a few copies before but it was rough, unedited and without artwork. I am very pleased with the way this came out as an ebook considering I did it all myself and it was mostly by trial and error. I downloaded most of the software I used for free. I am still not exactly sure how I did it but it finally started falling into place the other day while I was playing around with it in my MSWorks word processing program and found a way to get the art in there and save it to my .pdf file without losing it.

I have not found an outside publisher as of yet so I am self publishing it for now. I still have some copywrite issues due to much of the artwork inside being borrowed from the web, (smile) so I can not sell this work but can give it away until I get my own artist to illustrate it for me then I may try and sell some.

In the meantime I hope you find time to read some of the work within. I had some help with the editing by my good friend Alan Woods, I appreciate his efforts. The Cover art was done by a nice lady named Alistar Fall, I found her on the web somehow and she was extremely patient with me when I kept asking for changes. I think she finally had enough of me and moved on but I was able to change the colors too get the effect I wanted for the most part. I want to thank her for bringing the concept I had in mind to life for the cover. She was terrific!

I have posted a note in the links section of this blog that will give you access to the ebook as well as the title of this blog page itself! You will need a .PDF reader to open it. I converted it into an Adobe Acrobat .PDF file which is pretty standard on most Windows based PC's. Once you open it it is best to click the "fit in window" icon on your reader to scroll through the book and see the artwork and how it is all laid out. Then when you want to read it you can enlarge it as much as you need to be comfortable for your own eyes. I will add an additional link to it here as well.

Lost Lore from an Ancient Future

I would love to get some feedback on this so feel free to post comments here in the blog or email me directly.

Enjoy your Sunday and Gob Bless you all.

JD

GOP Defeat

2006-11-08T03:49:00.000-08:00

What does a GOP defeat mean for Conservatives?

To begin with this was a defeat for the GOP, not conservatism. From what I have read so far this morning the conservative agenda is alive and well in America. Our main guy ÂTom TancredoÂ on the illegal immigration issue won by a handy margin in Colorado. Gay marriage bans won in 3 states and imminent domain was squashed as well. The conservative agenda in fact does not correlate well with the GOP agenda in many cases but since the alternative to the GOP is the DNC we have no choice but to stick with the horse we rode in on or ÂelephantÂ in this case. If you consider that many of these house races were run by ÂBlue DogÂ Dems posing as conservatives you can understand why this nation is truly a conservative nation with real family values. If Dems have to act like conservatives to win then that obviously speaks volumes.

Being the eternal optimist I have to say that this defeat is a good opportunity to wake up the GOP and force them to recognize why they lost. It seems that their open border agenda is a big part of it, many conservative voters may have walked away from this one and the GOP also failed to gain the independent votes needed to retain control in this contest. The Iraq war may be a big issue for some folks out there due to the constant hype and 24/7 negative reporting by the OLD media or MSM and the coverage of the scandalous behavior of some Pubs (Republicans) no doubt but I have to believe it was just as much the borders and the outrageous spending that defeated the GOP on this one. When Republicans govern like Democrats they will loose support from the conservative base.

On thing is for sure, my simple mind cannot process the War in Iraq being a reason to vote for Dems since their policies will cause us to loose this war all the while we are capturing and killing terrorists by the thousands over there after deposing Sadaam and sentencing him to hang. We have done this all the while freeing over 20 million people from the bonds of that tyrannical regime who brutally killed millions over a 30 year rule. If we did the same thing in Darfur we would be hailed as saviors but letÂs not go off on a tangent here. The fact that the GOP has managed to keep terrorists from hitting us again with the Patriot Act, the NSA surveillance program, and the offensive tactics of fighting the jihadists in Iraq and Afghanistan are all positive things in my eyes. I think the big screw up here is the fact that the Pubs did not force the closing of the borders and crack down on illegal immigration within months of 911. This to me has always been a big problem and hit hard at the credibility of the Bush administration.

One thing is for sure millions of Americans are FED UP with politicians in Washington in both parties and see the entire political process as a sham. The government does not seem to be working for the people at times but working against us. The Dems claim to be for the poor but their policies have kept the poor in the same poverty stricken, inner city neighborhoods by giving them hand outs instead of teaching them to work and move up and out of the projects. The Pubs on the other hand have not learned how to govern as true conservatives and keep trying to placate everyone instead of doing what it takes to protect our borders, cut spending and stop all this PC nonsense and win this war.

They are fighting an uphill battle no doubt sine the vast majority of the media is on a 24/7 jihad of itÂs own trying to defeat conservatism wherever it exists and the GOP has not figured out how to combat that enemy as of yet. The rise of the NEW media is having itÂs own impact but it is not nearly as powerful as the OLD media or MSM as I call them. Someday perhaps that foe will be vanquished but until then it will be like going into battle with 50 pound boots and a 100 pound rifle.

I do know this, The Lord works in ways we cannot comprehend at times and this must be one of them. I am sure there is a hard lesson to be learned for the GOP and I hope they wake up and smell the napalm on this one. If not, they will surely get pummeled again the next time and in this seriously dangerous world we live in today it could mean life or death for the USA.

Election Day

2006-11-07T02:32:00.000-08:00

This is one of the most crucial elections I can remember in my lifetime. With it being a mid-term election that makes it even more astounding since most mid terms are yawners since there is no Presidential race to get the folks really revved up and motivated. This one is very different. Now I am a partisan political animal who follows this stuff daily all year long. So I know it is different for the normal Jane or John Doe who could care less about politics. I hope that some of those folks who really do not follow it or really care nothing about it just stay home because it is dangerous for an uninformed voter to vote in my humble opinion. However if they do by chance go to the polls today it is likely they will vote Democrat. Why? Because the Old Media or MSM as I fondly refer to them, has done nothing but support Democrats and Bash Republicans for so long most of the regular folks out there have been brainwashed into believing George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and most House Republicans are nothing more than hellish demons who want to molest your children and dominate the world, all while they are taking gobs of cash from Exxon and Haliburton under the table and doing there very best to fry the planet with complete global warming as their true and ultimate goal.

Does this sound a bit extreme to you? It should but if you watch CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and read the NY Times and about 250 other liberal papers out there this would pretty much sum up what they say about the Bush administration and the Republicans in general.

The truth is that the MSM is no longer a viable source of news. It is nothing more than a propaganda machine for the Democratic party doing it's utmost to get all Democrats elected in each and every election. The problem is that the vast majority of the country is conservative and these liberals just can't or won't admit it. If you look at the red and blue map of the country you can see it plain as day. Why do you think the rise of conservative talk radio has been so indomitable over the past 10 years or so? Look at the success of FOX News. These came about and shot to the top of the ratings due to the complete and utter collapse of sanity and fairness in the MSM. The pundits of the MSM are still so arrogant that they will not admit talk radio is anything more than entertainment but they better wise up before all their profits dry up and blow away. They are destined to become the fringe news if they do not open their news departments up to a more conservative POV and try and serve all their potential customers with fair and balanced reporting. For more proof of my claim here I read a story this week that stated that out of all the stories done by the MSM in the run up to this election 77% were favorable to Democrats while only 12% were favorable to Republicans.

How's that for leaning left? Click here for that report.

If the Dems do not win this election by a major landslide it is a prophecy for the future demise of the Democratic party and their lackeys in the media. With all the power of the MSM at their disposal it looks like the Conservatives will still put up a very good fight in this election. Trouble is looming for us all if the Dems do win but it is even more telling for the liberals that they can't beat us hands down with all their buddies in the media pulling for them 24/7.

As you can see many of the Dems are running their House races as conservative Democrats, they know you have to be conservative to win in fly-over country and in the south but will they govern as conservatives if elected? I say no. Their liberal party leaders like Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, and John Kerry will not allow it. Pray for a miracle my friends because if we can beat them at the voting booth today that would mean the end of the Democratic party as we know it and the MSM will have to change it's tune or it will sink along with their liberal brethren .

In the words of a once great liberal Icon, Dan Blather, I bid you good luck and farewell with one final word, "Courage".

Vacation Bliss

2006-10-28T04:19:00.000-07:00

My wife and I just recently returned from a weeks vacation in the Shenandoah Valley Virginia where we spent seven nights and six days in what I like to call paradise. It was difficult to come back to Charlotte after spending so much time away in a place that was 180 degrees opposite from where we normally spend our time. We also went to Washington DC, a place I have wanted to go forever. We really enjoyed that visit too if you leave out the fact that I walked my feet off going from our hotel down to the Museums and visiting all the sights in that town. Needless to say it was a vacation to remember and we took many pictures to prove it.

One place we saw that was really cool was the Ford Theater where Abraham Lincoln was shot. We actual sat in that very same theater and watched a two man play that was really well acted. We also saw the bedroom in an apartment across that very same street where the former President died. It was a thrill to be so close to such a historical place.

We of course had to go to the Smithsonian. It turns out that there are about six or eight museums in that area. We focused on two of them, the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum. Those two kept us busy for hours. Now I was warned by several people not to drive into Washington but to take a tour bus. Of course I choose to drive and it was no big deal. We parked at our Hotel parking garage and never used the car until we left. Then we managed to find a parking place near the Vietnam Memorial Wall and roamed around a few mores hours until we had to go. It was not the hassle I was lead to believe it would be.

Meanwhile our resort was a place called Massanutten in Harrisonburg Virginia. It was a large ski resort with a huge water park (indoor) and all kinds of amenities. We intend to go back again in a couple of years. The condo was nice and we had a great view since we were on the side of a mountain. There was so much to do there we only got to experience about half what they had to offer. It was one of the best trades we have ever made with our timeshare. We also spent one day visiting Luray Caverns and driving on Skyline Drive. That too was awesome.

I’ll leave you with some of the best pics.

Grace Britt

2006-10-08T03:49:00.000-07:00

You know there is nothing like a Grandma. I have one that just turned 90 and my son Jason and I traveled down to Spartanburg to visit with her and all the gang who also gathered there to celebrate. Grace Britt or "Granny Britt" as she is affectionately known, lives in Northern Ga. with my uncle and aunt (Franky and Sandy), Bless them both for that! Most of my other relatives live in Georgia too and I of course was born and raised in and around Atlanta. That is another story for another time, just wanted to give you a little background.

My mom and sister live in or near Spartanburg so we all met there for a big dinner at a nice seafood restaurant. It was good to see aunts, uncles and cousins as well as my own immediate family. Many of these folks I only see once a year at our family reunion which we have been doing for over thirty years now, a major miracle in itself I would say for any family. We are blessed no doubt. Anyway it was a good times and I took quite a few pictures, some of which I will try and post here.

Finally I want to say this about Granny Britt. I have her in my mind and heart always, she is that warm feeling deep inside me that creates a sensation in my heart that can only be described as true unconditional love. I have memories from childhood that are good and bad but when it comes to Granny Britt she is the only person I can think of that conjures up nothing but good things in my mind. For me, next to our Lord and Savior, she is the true definition of Grace.

Here are some more pics, enjoy!.

Love Log Cabins!

2006-09-26T04:35:00.000-07:00

How I would love to own a Log Cabin.

I have always had a desire to own a log house or cabin every since I can remember. My wife and I spent the weekend in one this past, for our 7th wedding anniversary. We had a very nice, peaceful, relaxing weekend. It rained a good bit and it beat down on the tin roof like a million tiny drummers.

The mountains around Asheville, NC are full of these little vacation getaways and for a small fee you can rent one for a weekend or longer. We hope to go back and do this again each year until we finally buy one for ourselves to escape to and perhaps rent out to others for them to enjoy. What a life it must have been in years past to live out in the wilderness with no cars, TV's, computers or airplanes buzzing overhead. Only the sounds of the critters that lived near you to pierce the night air. It was hard to sleep due to the change in sound from the city to the country.

Our anniversary was one to be remembered and we took a few pics of the cabin and the surroundings. I'll post a few here if I can get them transferred to this computer.

Farewell and a long life to you all...

Iraq, United we Stand?

2006-09-13T04:17:00.000-07:00

It seems that today one of the greatest dividing issues in America is the War in Iraq. Many Americans feel that we should not be there and that we have focused too much of our energy on Iraq and not Afghanistan. Perhaps the latter part of that statement is true yet if you look at this battle from a Macro perspective I think you come away with a different POV.

First, I have heard many say that we should engage the radical elements of Islam in a diplomatic way. Talk to them, try to understand why they hate us and work in a humane way to change their minds. Many on the left say this is they way to deal with the terrorists and if they do not respond we should arrest them and put them on trial here in America. Of course they also want to give the terrorists the benefit of the rights afforded Americans under the US Constitution. This will not work and is a dangerous approach.

Now take a look at what President Bush is doing. He is trying to plant the seeds of democracy in Iraq which is in the heart of the middle east. If he is successful in this extremely difficult task those seeds could grow and spread across the entire region. Once that happens you may see the radical elements of Islam shunned by their own people and discarded into history as the fanatics that they are much as the Nazi's were after the fall of the Third Reich.

Unfortunately this quest is one that will take many years, perhaps decades to complete. If we are to change the hearts and minds of the people in the middle east we must radically change the way the people are governed in that part of the world. Democracy is the best chance of bringing about that type of change. When people taste freedom they want more. When they experience the financial benefits of capitalism they also want more. We can bring these elements to the middle east with the plan that Bush has in place but it will take patience and hard work along with the sacrifice of Americans and our allies.

Remember the sacrifices made in WWII. We lost about 200,000 soldiers in that conflict. Yet America saved the world from a lunatic and his perverted vision of molding the world into something he had declared was God's will of a Nazi rule. This current struggle is eerily similar to that bleak time of our history. The Islamic fundamentalists want to mold the world into their perverted view of what their God wants. They want to subjugate us all into Islam or slavery to Islam. If not then we die, that simple.

President Bush has decided that if we plant the seeds of democracy and freedom in the middle east it is the best and brightest chance of spreading change throughout that region. It is the only hope for the world to defeat their radical view of dominating the west. If we can unite the worlds free peoples to rise up with us and help in this endeavor we may have a chance of stopping the forward push of the Islamic maniacs and their carnage. Keep in mind the radical Muslims have declared that Osama Bin Laden himself has marked Iraq as the place where the deciding battle for Islam against the west is being faught.

Once democracy takes hold and spreads perhaps a more moderate government will emerge in these areas and education will change as well as the poverty that grips the common folks. If they have jobs and can provide for their families they may have a reason to live instead of martyring themselves for money. If kids are taught to respect America in their schools instead of the hate that is taught now, then in a few generations the whole attitude of the people might become friendly towards the west.

Yes this is a tough struggle and will be a long one but if we unite it will make it easier for our side to win. Think about it and decide which side you want to be on if the battle comes to your neighborhood.

Can we win this war? You bet, but we will have a better chance if America unites behind it's leaders to fight it together.

9-11 2006

2006-09-11T06:19:00.000-07:00

I am home this morning watching all the coverage on 911. I have watched the replay of the Twin Towers being hit and coming down and the Pentagon on fire after the plane slammed into it, as well as the plane downed on the field in Pennsylvania. I had a chill as I remembered how I felt that day watching it for the first time.

I watch this on the heels of watching the movie last night called "The Path to 911" and it really gives you a new perspective on the years leading up to that terrible day. Most of us regualr citizens really had no clue that our government was already aware that Osama and his minions had declared war on America. We went about our business and enjoyed the bounty and abundance America provides without really being worried we would be attacked by suicide bombers in jetliners. Now that I have seen this movie I see that it was there being plotted and planned as we vacationed, worked, went to the movies and out to eat, never imagining an event like 911.

So what do you do five years later? Do you keep sniping and laying blame Right vs Left, Conservative vs Liberal, Democrat vs Republican? Or do we find a way to unite the country and fight a common enemy?

I think we all know the right answer to that question but can we unite and put our differences behind us? Will the power brokers in Washington lay down their rhetoric cannons and pick up an American flag and march together towards a solution? Can they stop their own pursuit of personal power long enough to defend America?

I hate to think what will happen if they do not.

I will pray for all our leaders, both Red and Blue staters. I hope they can get their priorities in order and stop the blame game long enough to save America from a nuclear or bio attack from the lunatics that want to destroy what we have here in the USA.

I hope you will too.

God Bless America!

Censorship

2006-09-10T05:02:00.000-07:00

Today's Topic - Censorship

It seems that our former President William Jefferson Clinton is a bit uneasy about the upcoming Mini Series called "The Path to 9/11". In fact he wants it banned and not shown on TV at all.

I remember a couple of years ago a movie that was released in theaters that made the Republicans and President Bush look incompetent and somewhat responsible for 9-11 made by Michael Moore. I did not here anyone from the Bush Whitehouse call for it to be banned or not shown. In fact the writer/director/star was heralded by the Democratic party and was an honored guest at the Democratic political convention that year with a prestigious seat right next to Mr. Jimmy Carter.

Freedom of speech is our first right under the constitution. We allow folks to protest our government, burn our flag and go to colleges around the country calling America an evil capitalist pig of a country, many say we deserved 9-11 and worse. We do not censor these folks, we let them speak and then allow the capitalist market place to do it's own kind of natural censorship.

So should we then not allow this filmmaker to show his movie that gives a point of view that calls into question the actions of a certain President and his administration?

What say you America?

Here is a letter from the Clinton legal team to the ABC/Disney producers of "The Path to 9/11".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Bob,

Despite press reports that ABC/Disney has made changes in the content and marketing of "The Path to 9/11," we remailn concerned about the false impression that airing the show will leave on the public. Labelng the show as "fiction" does not meet your responsibility to the victims of the September 11th attacks, their families, the hard work of the 9/11 Commission, or to the American people as a whole.

At a moment when we should be debating how to make the nation safer by implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, "The Path to 9/11" calls into question the accuracy of the Commission's report and whether fabricated scenes are, in fact, an accurate portrayal of history. Indeed, the millions spent on the production of this fictional drama would have been better spent informing the public about the Commission's actual findings and the many recommendations that have yet to be acted upon. Unlike this film, that would have been a tremendous service to the public.

Although our request for an advance copy of the film has been repeatedly denied, it is all too clear that our objections to "The Path to 9/11" are valid and corroborated by those familiar with the film and intimately involved in its production.

-- Your corporate partner, Scholastic, has disassociated itself from this proect.

-- 9/11 Commission Chairman Thomas Kean, who served as co-executive producer on "The Path to 9/11," has stated that he raised concerns about the accuracy of several scenes in the film and that his concerns were not addressed during production.

-- Harvey Keitel, who plays the star role of FBI agent John O'Neill, told reporters yesterday that while the screenplay was presented to him as a fair treatment of historical events, he is upset that several scenes were simply invented for dramatic purposes.

-- Numerous Members of Congress, several 9/11 Commissioners and prominent historians have spoken out against this movie.

-- Indeed, according to press reports, the fact that you are still editing the film two days before it is scheduled to air is an admission that it is irreparably flawed.

As a nation, we need to be focused on preventing another attack, not fictionalizing the last one for television ratings. "The Path to 9/11" not only tarnishes the work of the 9/11 Commission, but also cheapens the fith anniversary of what was a very painful moment in history for all Americans. We expect that you will make the responsible decision to not air this film.

Sincerely,

Bruce R. Lindsey
Chief Executive Officer
William J. Clinton Foundation

Douglas J. Band
Counselor to President Clinton
Office of William Jefferson Clinton

Random Thoughts on a Friday

2006-09-01T02:07:00.000-07:00

I can remember younger days when we practically lived for Fridays. Especially in school but even after that. Now it is not such a big deal but at 45 I still enjoy knowing I have my weekend ahead of me to relax, go to the movies or work around that house a little (very little). hehe

I have my business set up to where we do not work on weekends so I can still take advantage of the opportunity to be lazy. We do travel often so that also gives us some mini vacation time too. We like to go to the beach now and then or visit relatives, maybe drive up to the mountains and look at log houses. (we love them)

Of course our dream is to buy a piece of land in the mountains and build our dream house (log house) and spend our golden years sitting on the porch watching the sunrise or set, drinking coffee and working in the garden. Have a couple of horses and some dogs running around, maybe a goat or two. Yep I said it a goat!

Life is good here in America where a boy from cabbage town can grow up without finishing high school, start his own business and make a good enough living to make a dream like that come true. My wife comes from a different kind of upbringing but her dream is the same as mine. She is a bit more educated and was raised in a more middle class world but we are a lot alike in our dreams. We both want to live a laid back lifestyle, not the party people but the stay home and watch football kind of people.

Let's hope the bad people in the world do not stop us and millions like us from achieving these dreams.

I just hope I live long enough to see it all happen. I go back to the cardiologist today for another round of tests to see how well my heart and all the arteries feeding it are holding up. So far I have had the stress test, ultra sounds, EKG's and MRI's. NO results yet (except the EKG, it was normal) I suppose I get those next week. I should finish up all my testing today with a couple more ultrasounds on my legs and neck. All you liberals out there can just hold your breath to see if one more conservative is going to bite the dust.

Truthfully I am not really concerned. I know who holds the key to my eternity and I am not afraid of dying in fact I welcome it. This old world can be cruel at times and I have had my share of it. I will gladly relinquish the bonds that hold me here and move to the next life. It will be much, much better. Yet if I am destined to stay here and deal with the devil a while longer I will enjoy the fight and take what it gives me until that final day comes. Praise God!

Well no political comments today, SURPRISE! Although I do have a few in mind I will wait until another time.

Farewll my friends.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your laborday!

The Black Renaissance?

2006-08-26T04:54:00.000-07:00

Earlier this morning I was reading an article by Thomas Sowell about basic economics. You might find it interesting so I will link to it here. As I was reading I began to think about some things I have read and heard lately and was prompted to write the following.

Thomas Sowell is one of the leading black economists and writers in the country. He has published more than thirty books on economics and other subjects. He graduated from Harvard even though the dropped out of high school and grew up in Harlem. He is currently a senior fellow at the Hoover institute in Stanford Calif.

Yesterday as I was listening to Rush Limbaugh's program, he had a substitute host named Dr. Walter E. Williams who holds a doctorate in Economics from the university of Los Angeles and has written many books as well. He is on the boards of several institutes including the Hoover institute in is widely known as a very smart and prolific writer as well as being a highly respected professor of economics at George Mason University in Virginia.

These are but two examples of highly successful black men from humble backgrounds who have lived through the 60's and prospered throughout their lives due to persistence and hard work. Dr. Williams was interviewing Juan Williams who is also a very successful black man, a senior correspondent for NPR and contributor on FOX news he has a highly regarded career as a journalist. Juan is known as a liberal Democrat yet he has written a book recently called ENOUGH! His book is in the vain of Bill Cosby's latest speeches where he has chastised the black communities in America for their behavior and lack of personal responsibility.

My point here with all of this is that I am seeing a trend in the upper and middle class of the black communities around America. They are recognizing that their lower income brethren are caught up in a self made stew of victimization and blame everyone but themselves attitude. This has been shepherded by liberal politicians and race baiters who have urged poor blacks and other races to depend on the government and not tried to foster personal responsibility in these communities. Many things have lead us up to this point in America, hurricane Katrina being a turning point in my view.

It is also my view that an unintended consequence of the recent invasion of America by illegal immigrants, mostly Latino (12 million or so) has put enormous pressure on the black communities since these illegals are taking jobs traditionally held by poor blacks and whites. Now blacks are being forced to go on the public dole or get and education so that they can take higher level jobs. Many are moving up into the middle class as they experience this move from working at Mickey D's to working at Wachovia or Bank of America. Once this happens and they start earning a middle class income they find out quickly what a large bite the tax man takes from their hard earned paycheck and they acquire a more conservative viewpoint concerning those that choose to stay at the bottom, living off of the government or (me, you and our new middle class black brothers and sisters). Some quickly take the attitude, if I can do it then so can they! Then they see the world from a new perspective.

I think (hope) we are seeing the beginnings of a renaissance in the black communities of America as more and more successful blacks speak out against the victim mentality that has been created and nurtured by liberal politicians here in America and around the world for that matter, for the past 40 to 50 years.

I say it is about time and I applaud those who are stepping up and making their viewpoints known.

Why I don't vote Democratic

2006-08-23T03:36:00.000-07:00

I have a good friend who is a liberal. Even though he admits he often agrees with me, we have e-debates all the time and he is very good at taking the liberal position in arguing the left's POV.

He sent me a good email yesterday that I felt like I must share here so that others could read it. In this case he was just forwarding something to me that he knew I would agree with.

Here is my response followed by the original email he sent.
****************************************************************

I agree with this insightful message.

I would add this.

You know me as a conservative who preaches that the Democrats are a sorry lot who are not fit to lead this country yet I do support Republicans in most cases especially concerning this war. After reading this man's evaluation of the danger we face it makes it crystal clear that those in this country namely Democrats like (John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, John Edwards, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Jimmy Carter, and others) are smart enough to recognize the danger we face and the world faces from impending Muslim tyranny. However they have put that danger aside in order to try and regain power back from the current Republican controlled government.

This in my simple mind is treasonous behavior that I can not stomach. We all know how much danger we are in yet we watch each day as these Democrats try and neuter our current administration and take away their ability to fight this war against terrorism. The Patriot Act, and the NSA surveillance program are two of the main tools we are using to find, capture and incapacitate terrorists. The so called Main stream Media and their constant barrage of criticism against the soldiers who allegedly tortured Arab prisoners in Gitmo and Abu Grahib, is another facet of this treachery. Most of the Democrats were right on board with this effort as well.

This is why I cannot support the Democratic party.

I will add that many so called Republicans have also been on this bandwagon and our own President is not taking control of our borders. I think this is a severe mistake, Yet at least he is willing to go after the terrorists and has managed to prevent any further attacks on the USA. Fight them over there NOT over here!

So you see why I am so adamant about the Democrats not regaining power. They will allow terrorists to complete their mission to destroy us all by trying to negotiate with them and understand them. They have already halfway destroyed this country with their liberal policies that have created the victim mentality instead of helping to teach our folks that individualism and hard work is the key to success.

The, hold out your hand and we will help you (because your to stupid to do it on your own) mentality has given us the great implosion of New Orleans and the ghetto's of Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Detroit. etc... and all the crime that goes with it.

No, I am not willing to fall prey to their promises of having government do it all for me. I will make my own way in life and stick up for those who agree with my conservative philosophy. Conservatives are not always right but they have it hands down over the liberals in Washington, no contest.

Democrats and Liberalism = dependence, poverty, crime and death by terrorism.

end

*******************************************************************************

>>
>>
>> THE WAR
>>
>> Please take the time to read the attached essay by Dr. Chong. It is
>> without a doubt the most articulate and convincing writing I have
>> read regarding the War in Iraq. If you have any doubts please open
>> your mind to his essay and give a fair evaluation.
>>
>> I had no idea who Dr. Chong is or the source of these thoughts... so
>> when I received them, I almost deleted them - as well-written as they
>> are. But then I did a "Google search" on the Doctor and found him to
>> be a retired Air Force Surgeon of all things and past Commander of
>> Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio. So he is real, is
>> connected to Veterans
>> affairs in California, and these are his thoughts. They are worth
>> reading and thinking about!(the same Google search will direct you to
>> some of his other thought-provoking writings.)
>>
>> Subject: Muslims, terrorist and the USA. A different spin on Iraq war.
>>
>> This WAR is for REAL! Dr. Vernon Chong, Major General, USAF, Retired
>> Tuesday, July 12, 2005.
>>
>> To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our
>> country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we
>> know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes
>> WWII).
>>
>> The deadly seriousness is greatly co mpounded by the fact that there
>> are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even
>> fewer who realize what losing really means.
>>
>> First, let's examine a few basics:
>>
>> 1. When did the threat to us start?
>> Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United
>> States is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with
>> the following attacks on us:
>>
>> * Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;
>> * Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983;
>> * Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;
>> * Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York 1988;
>> * First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
>> * Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996;
>> * Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy 1998;
>> * Dares Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998;
>> * Aden, Yemen USS Cole 2000;
>> * New York World Trade Center 2001;
>> * Pentagon 2001.
>>
>> (Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581
>> terrorist attacks worldwide).
>>
>> 2. Why were we attacked?
>>
>> Envy of our position, our success, and our freedoms. The attacks
>> happened during the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan,
>> Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2. We cannot fault either the Republicans or
>> Democrats as there were no provocations by any of the presidents or
>> their immediate predecessors, Presidents Ford or Carter.
>>
>> 3. Who were the attackers?
>> In each case, the attacks on the US were carried out by Muslims.
>>
>> 4. What is the Muslim population of the World? 25%.
>>
>> 5. Isn't the Muslim Religion peaceful?
>> Hopefully, but that is really not material. There is no doubt that
> > the predominately Christian population of Germany was peaceful, but
>> under the dictatorial leadership of Hitler (who was also Christian),
>> that made no difference. You either went along with the
>> administration or you were eliminated. There were 5 to 6 million
>> Christians killed by the Nazis for political reasons (including 7,000
>> Polish priests). (see http://www.nazis.testimony.co.uk/7-a.htm )
>>
>> Thus, almost the same number of Christians were killed by the Nazis,
>> as the six million holocaust Jews who were killed by them, and we
>> seldom heard of anything other than the Jewish atrocities. Although
>> Hitler kept the world focused on the Jews, he had no hesitancy about
>> killing anyone who got in his way of exterminating the Jews or of
>> taking over the world - German, Christian or any others.
>>
>> Same with the Muslim terrorists. They focus the world on the US, but
>> kill all in the way -- their own people or the Spanish, French or
>> anyone else. The point here is that just like the peaceful Germans
>> were of no protection to anyone from the Nazis, no matter how many
>> peaceful Muslims there may be, they are no protection for us from the
>> terrorist Muslim leaders and what they are fanatically bent on doing
>> -- by their own pronouncements -- killing all of us "infidels." I
>> don't blame the peaceful Muslims. What would you do if the choice was
>> shut up or die?
>> 6. So who are we at war with?
>>
>> There is no way we can honestly respond that it is anyone other than
>> the Muslim terrorists. Trying to be politically correct and avoid
>> verbalizing this con clusion can well be fatal. There is no way to win
>> if you don't clearly recognize and articulate who you are fighting.
>>
>> So with that background, now to the two major questions:
>>
>> 1. Can we lose this war?
>>
>> 2. What does losing really mean?
>>
>> If we are to win, we must clearly answer these two pivotal questions.
>> We can definitely lose this war, and as anomalous as it may sound,
>> the major reason we can lose is that so many of us simply do not
>> fathom the answer to the second question - What does losing mean?
>>
>> It would appear that a great many of us think that losing the war
>> means hanging our heads, bringing the troops home and going on about
>> our business, like post Vietnam. This is as far from the truth as one
>> can get.
>> What losing really means is:
>>
>> We would no longer be the premier country in the world. The attacks
>> will not subside, but rather will steadily increase. Remember, they
>> want us dead, not just quiet. If they had just wanted us quiet, they
>> would not have produced an increasing series of attacks against us,
>> over the past 18 years. The plan was clearly, for terrorist to
>> attack us, until we were neutered and submissive to them.
>>
>> We would of course have no future support from other nations, for
>> fear of reprisals and for the reason that they would see, we are
>> impotent and cannot help them.
>>
>> They will pick off the other non-Muslim nations, one at a time. It
>> will be increasingly easier for them. They already hold Spain
>> hostage. It doesn't matter whether it was right or wrong for Spain to
>> withdraw its troops from Iraq. Spain did it because the Muslim
>> te rrorists bombed their train and told them to withdraw the troops.
>> Anything else they want Spain
>> to do will be done. Spain is finished.
>>
>> The next will probably be France. Our one hope on France is that they
>> might see the light and realize that if we don't win, they are
>> finished too, in that they can't resist the Muslim terrorists without
>> us. However, it may already be too late for France. France is already
>> 20% Muslim and fading fast!
>>
>> If we lose the war, our production, income, exports and way of life
>> will all vanish as we know it. After losing, who would trade or deal
>> with us, if they were threatened by the Muslims. If we can't stop the
>> Muslims, how could anyone else?
>>
>> The Muslims fully know what is riding on this war, and therefore are
>> completely committed to winning, at any cost. We better k now it too
>> and be likewise committed to winning at any cost.
>>
>> Why do I go on at such lengths about the results of losing? Simple.
>> Until we recognize the costs of losing, we cannot unite and really
>> put 100% of our thoughts and efforts into winning. And it is going to
>> take that 100% effort to win.
>>
>> So, how can we lose the war?
>>
>> Again, the answer is simple. We can lose the war by "imploding." That
>> is, defeating ourselves by refusing to recognize the enemy and their
>> purpose, and really digging in and lending full support to the war
>> effort If we are united, there is no way that we can lose. If we
>> continue to be divided, there is no way that we can win!
>>
>> Let me give you a few examples of how we simply don't comprehend the
>> life and death seriousness of this situation.
>>
>& gt; President Bush selects Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation.
>> Although all of the terrorist attacks were committed by Muslim men
>> between 17 and 40 years of age, Secretary Mineta refuses to allow
>> profiling. Does that sound like we are taking this thing seriously?
>> This is war! For the duration, we are going to have to give up some
>> of the civil rights we have become accustomed to. We had better be
>> prepared to lose some of our civil rights temporarily or we will most
>> certainly lose all of them permanently.
>>
>> And don't worry that it is a slippery slope. We gave up plenty of
>> civil rights during WWII, and immediately restored them after the
>> victory and in fact added many more since then.
>>
>> Do I blame President Bush or President Clinton before him?
>>
>> No, I blame us for blithely assuming we can maintain a ll of our
>> Political Correctness, and all of our civil rights during this
>> conflict and have a clean, lawful, honorable war. None of those words
>> apply to war. Get them out of your head.
>>
>> Some have gone so far in their criticism of the war and/or the
>> Administration that it almost seems they would literally like to see
>> us lose. I hasten to add that this isn't because they are disloyal.
>> It is because they just don't recognize what losing means.
>> Nevertheless, that conduct gives the impression to the enemy that we
>> are divided and weakening. It concerns our friends, and it does great
>> damage to our cause.
>>
>> Of more recent vintage, the uproar fueled by the politicians and
>> media regarding the treatment of some prisoners of war, perhaps
>> exemplifies best what I am saying. We have recently had an issue,
>> in volving the treatment of a few Muslim prisoners of war, by a small
>> group of our military police. These are the type prisoners who just a
>> few months ago
>> were throwing their own people off buildings, cutting off their
>> hands, cutting out their tongues and otherwise murdering their own
>> people just for disagreeing with Saddam Hussein.
>>
>> And just a few years ago these same type prisoners chemically killed
>> 400,000 of their own people for the same reason. They are also the
>> same type of enemy fighters, who recently were burning Americans, and
>> dragging their charred corpses through the streets of Iraq.
>>
>> And still more recently, the same type of enemy that was and is
>> providing videos to all news sources internationally, of the
>> beheading of American prisoners they held.
>>
>> Compare this with some of our pres s and politicians, who for several
>> days have thought and talked about nothing else but the "humiliating"
>> of some Muslim prisoners -- not burning them, not dragging their
>> charred corpses through the streets, not beheading them, but
>> "humiliating" them. Can this be for real?
>>
>> The politicians and pundits have even talked of impeachment of the
>> Secretary of Defense. If this doesn't show the complete lack of
>> comprehension and understanding of the seriousness of the enemy we
>> are fighting, the life and death struggle we are in and the
>> disastrous results of losing this war, nothing can.
>>
>> To bring our country to a virtual political standstill over this
>> prisoner issue makes us look like Nero playing his fiddle as Rome
>> burned -- totally oblivious to what is going on in the real world.
>> Neither we, nor any other coun try, can survive this internal strife.
>> Again I say, this does not mean that some of our politicians or media
>> people are disloyal. It simply means that they are absolutely
>> oblivious to the magnitude, of the situation we are in and into which
>> the Muslim terrorists have been pushing us, for many years.
>>
>> Remember, the Muslim terrorists stated goal is to kill all infidels!
>> That translates into ALL non-Muslims -- not just in the United State,
>> but throughout the world.
>>
>> We are the last bastion of defense. We have been criticized for many
>> years as being 'arrogant.' That charge is valid in at least one
>> respect. We are arrogant in that we believe that we are so good,
>> powerful and smart, that we can win the hearts and minds of all those
>> who attack us, and that with both hands tied behind our back, we can
>> defeat an ything bad in the world!
>>
>> We can't!
>>
>> If we don't recognize this, our nation as we know it will not
>> survive, and no other free country in the world will survive if we
>> are defeated.
>>
>> And finally, name any Muslim countries throughout the world that
>> allow freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion,
>> freedom of the press, equal rights for anyone -- let alone everyone,
>> equal status or any status for women, or that have been productive in
>> one single way that contributes to the good of the world.
>>
>> This has been a long way of saying that we must be united on this war
>> or we will be equated in the history books to the self-inflicted fall
>> of the Roman Empire . If, that is, the Muslim leaders will allow
>> history books to be written or read.
>>
>> If we don't win t his war right now, keep a close eye on how the
>> Muslims take over France in the next 5 years or less. They will
>> continue to increase the Muslim population of France and continue to
>> encroach little by little, on the established French traditions. The
>> French will be fighting among themselves, over what should or should
>> not be done, which will continue
>> to weaken them and keep them from any united resolve. Doesn't that
>> sound eerily familiar?
>>
>> Democracies don't have their freedoms taken away from them by some
>> external military force. Instead, they give their freedoms away,
>> politically correct piece by politically correct piece.
>>
>> And they are giving those freedoms away to those who have shown,
>> worldwide that they abhor freedom and will not apply it to you or
>> even to themselves, once they are in power.
>& gt; They have universally shown that when they have taken over, they then
>> start brutally killing each other over who will be the few who
>> control the masses. Will we ever stop hearing from the politically
>> correct, about the "peaceful Muslims"?
>>
>> I close on a hopeful note, by repeating what I said above. If we are
>> united, there is no way that we can lose. I hope the factions in our
>> country will begin to focus on the critical situation we are in, and
>> will unite to save our country. It is your future we are talking
>> about! Do whatever you can to preserve it.
>>
>> After reading the above, we all must do this not only for ourselves,
>> but our children, our grandchildren, our country and the world.
>>
>> Whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal and that
>> include the Politicians and media of our country and the free world!
>>
>> Please forward this to any you feel may want, or NEED to read it. Our
>> "leaders" in Congress ought to read it, too. There are those that
>> find fault with our country, but it is obvious to anyone who truly
>> thinks through this, that we must UNITE, share our concerns and hold
>> the blind accountable for misleading the masses!
>>
>> If you would like to see who this fellow is go to this Air Force web
>> sight and look him up.
>> http://www.af.mil/bios/alpha.asp?alpha=C
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>

Monday again, a few thoughts

2006-08-21T03:03:00.000-07:00

I have just been reading about the missing FOX news guys. I will pray for their safe return and I hope we will do something about the kidnapping. My question is what should we do? Will we ignore it and let the Hamas group responsible suffer no repercussions?

I also have been somewhat disturbed by the fascination of the media with the Jonbenet Ramsey resurrection. They have gone off the deep end again. This weird guy that has confessed to the murder is a dellusional pervert. Why they are feeding him the attention he so obviously craves is beyond me.

I myself have just returned from Georgia. We had a little weekend visit down there and went to Stone Mountain. Wow, has that place changed. They have added all kinds of stuff there making a mini theme park out of it. It was better than I remembered and a lot more people at $22 a head for an all access ticket. Money, money and more money!

I have to say something about parents and how they raise their kids these days. It seems to me that parents are lazy. They find it easier to allow their kids to get away with about anything and then give in to their kids whims and wishes without much of a fight. It is obviously the easy way for parents to react to stressful situations. Discipline is a tough job and your kids will not like you when you do it. Yet they will love you even more if you take a tough stance and stick to your guns than if you roll over and allow them to always have their way.

I have been faced with many examples of this lazy behavior on the behalf of parents over the years and it saddens me to think that these folks shy away from the tough work in raising their kids. Not willing to deal with the consequences of saying no or spanking a kid when they really need it. Unfortunately if you don't you wind up with a kid that runs your house and makes you look like a fool. This has even more dreadful consequences as the kid gets older and has not had proper discipline. Sometimes they turn out OK but you never really know until it is time to see them go out on their own. I know first hand what some kids turn out like who were not raised properly and it is not pretty. You parents need to wake up!

My advice, teach your kids early what it takes to survive in the real world and do it with discipline. They must learn to respect you. I don't mean beating on your kids but they need to know that you have the authority in the house not them. When they get out in the real world, working for different bosses, they will have to deal with authority and it is harder for them to adapt if they never took you serious as an authority figure.

Just my two cents.

Walmart is Evil?

2006-08-18T02:52:00.000-07:00

I am sick of hearing about people trashing Walmart. Why do you suppose many politicians on the left want to demonize this company. They seem to think Walmart is evil! I do not shop at Walmart that often but when I do the prices are very low and that would seem to be a good thing for lower income people. They seem to be providing a lot of jobs for people all over that country and that is also a good thing for lower income folks. A steady paycheck is a good thing right?

One Senator said this:

"My problem with Wal-Mart is that I don't see any indication that they care about the fate of middle-class people. They talk about paying them $10 an hour. That's true. How can you live a middle-class life on that?"

Hmmm, since when does every American have the right to live a "middle class" lifestyle? I thought that was something that you earned by years of struggle and hard work. So is this Senator saying that all Americans should be living a "middle class" lifestyle now? Is the government going to provide this for everyone? Also, what is so bad about $10 an hour? That sounds like a good salary to start off with to me. My son just started a job at that salary. I think it was generous.

Perhaps Walmart is supposed to provide all it's employees with a big enough salary to live a "middle class" lifestyle. How about $20 an hour, yeah that will be a good start then a $5 raise after 3 months. Honestly, what planet does this nut come from. Has he lived such a cushy lifestyle that he does not understand the basics of starting out and working your way up the ladder? Does he not know that businesses like Walmart have to pay starting employee's lower salaries then allow them to work their way up into management for the higher paying jobs? This guy has probably not worked a day in his life.

Senator Biden, let me explain something to you. In America and throughout the world most societies have three classes of citizens. That would be upper, middle and lower class, or you can substitute the word income for class if you find that too politically incorrect. No one has the right to be either of these classes this is something we as Americans have the opportunity to earn. When you work hard, make good life choices and find yourself succeeding in life you can make it to middle and upper class life. If you choose to stay uneducated, lazy or you make really bad decisions in life you may wind up staying in the lower class bracket. America has many of those people and believe it or not they do have a role to play within our society.

This is common sense Senator you might want to try it sometime.

OK, I will step down now and allow someone else to comment. What say you?

Have a nice day

JD

To Blog or not to Blog

2006-08-15T23:53:00.000-07:00

Greetings

It is early on a Wednesday. We had a powerful storm last night that knocked out our power around 9:00 PM just as James Bond was coming on. It was pitch dark so I went to bed. The dogs woke me up about 2:00 AM and I could not go back to sleep. So here I am with my hot black coffee with honey and a tingling head ready to write something so moving and worldshaking that even the terrorists will stop what they are doing to read this blog.

NOT!

I suppose you would have to know me to know I'm just being sarcastic about the fact that I know no one reads this blog but me and maybe a friend or two, perhaps a random stranger from time to time. There are millions of blogs out here in cyber space and mine is about as interesting as the rest of them I suppose so I expect very little.

As today is August 16th I must comment on the fact that Elvis died this day in 1977. It is a shame that such a talented man had to lose his life in such a tragic self inflicted death. His downfall being the many drugs he found himself hooked on and his own celebrity which made it nearly impossible for those around him to convince him he had a BIG problem. I wrote a pretty good short story about Elvis's death a few years ago that can be found in my anthology called "Tales from an Ancient Future". If your interested let me know I'll send you a copy.

Another date in August of interest to me and the world is coming up soon. August 22nd is the day many believe that the President of Iran will begin his mission to bring about the apocalypse which for him will usher in the return of the Muslim Messiah. It is speculation at this point so we do not know if he will do anything or it is just an awful, scary worry. Some say he secretly has acquired a nuclear weapon and intends to use it against Jerusalem. If so it could be the beginning of the end of the world.

For me personally I have an appointment with a cardiologist to find out what is wrong with my heart. I seem to have a slight problem that was found after my last checkup. The doc says it looks as though I may have a hole in my heart. The question is how big is it and will it require surgery to repair. I guess all these questions will be answered in time.

Patience grasshopper.

Changing the subject completely I finally got to see one of my favorite bands last weekend. Steely Dan! They were AWESOME! It was a great pleasure to hear them live and the music was impeccable. There are a few concerts I have to put in my top honors category and this was in the top five for sure along with Paul MaCartney and Pink Floyd. Kudos to those guys for putting on one fine show!

Finally I will sign off saying hello to Elvis wherever he is. I know he was a believer even though he did not live a very Christian life at times (neither have I). I hope he made it to heaven anyway. If so I intend to meet him someday, hopefully not too soon.

Absent for awhile

2006-08-08T03:42:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends

I have been away for a while taking a long break from blogging and emails. I have gotten back into the emailing somewhat but this is the first time I have even looked at my blog in months. I almost forgot the password.

Life has been good although very hot. Been in the upper 90's here in NC for the past week or so with very little rain. My delivery business seemed to slow a bit as the weather became hotter so for this I am grateful. The less I am out in the heat the better.

Much has happened around the world since I have been away. Of course Israel is bombing Lebanon, has been for a couple of weeks trying to destroy the terrorists of Hezbollah. I am all for it. We need to remove this cancer from the world. We on the other hand need to get tougher with some of our adversaries in Iraq and Afghanistan along with taking out Syria and Iran. When we decided to really fight a war let me know. This lame attempt at fighting a PC war is dangerous. You must be willing to kill civilians when the enemy hides among them. Plain and simple.

Crime here in Charlotte is out of control. The majority of it is committed by young blacks. The liberals have given us this problem by creating a culture of people with no responsibility to themselves or society. Now they just exasperate the problem by calling them victims of a failed home life and they do not want to hold them accountable when the rob, rape and murder. Liberal politics are DANGEROUS! We must turn this around if we want out cities back from these thugs. We have to make these parents accountable for the actions of their teenagers. We must also punish these thugs when they commit crimes.

I am tired of this PC culture we live in. It is time for people to talk straight about black crime. Don't get me wrong I know whites commit crime too and they also should be punished but when you have 12% of the population committing 80% of the crime it is time to crack down on that 12%.... Seems like common sense to me.

I also look to my Lord in heaven to guide us all through this. We must pray for those who we know are bad and hope that they will change. If they had the Lord in their lives and their hearts they would change but it is not part of the culture they currently live in. I would like to see more of the older blacks step up and try to solve the problems with their young people. Take responsibility for their own. There is hope but it starts with recognizing the problems and taking responsibility for them. Then roll up your sleeves and start fixing them. Too many people want to blame it all on someone else.

Oh well, I will step down from my soap box. If you disagree with me let me know. I will gladly debate this issue with you.

Have a blessed day!

Tax Day Blues

2006-03-29T03:44:00.000-08:00

Tax Reform

April 15th is fast approaching and it looks as though my wife and I are going to have to pay double the amount of taxes we did last year. It seems ridiculous that we work hard all year, sending in quarterly taxes then at the end of the year we have to send in double what we have already paid. Sure our businesses grew and I am happy about that but the taxes we must now pay are a dis-incentive. I am so fed up with paying these taxes that I am about ready to throw in the towel with this business and say to heck with it! Just when you have a little money in the bank and it looks like your going to be able to save a few thousand dollars for your retirement, healthcare, or perhaps buy a new home. BAM!

The IRS takes it all away.

I must say I am also embarrassed that 500,000 Latino or Hispanic people will come out and protest a proposed law that would finally try and stop the flow of ILLEGAL immigration to the USA and punish those who have come here illegally while trying to get a handle on the problem. These people are demanding that they have the RIGHT to be here. I am sorry but I do not see it that way.

However, I will commend them their peaceful protest and the fact that they stood up for their cause. My point is that they are willing to gather, march and protest while we, the American public, paying taxes out the wazoo, will just sit here and take it without getting out and letting our government know how upset we are.

I say it is time we organized a march and protest of our own concerning the current state of the convoluted tax code and demand that the government do something about it. It is time to enact a new tax code here in America! I am all for a Fair Tax or a consumption tax, anything that uses common sense and not this giant, voluminous, monstrosity of a tax code that no one understands. Nothing will get the attention of the Washington politicians better than millions of voters coming together as one voice.

The current state of affairs will be an incentive for me to shut down my small business if we do not change things. I am not going to keep working my but off to send my tax money to the Federal and State Gov. to be wasted and thrown away. They have proven that they have no idea what they are doing with the money. You might as well burn it.

However I will pray that they wise up. That is about all I can do until we can get together in force and show Washington that not only I, but millions like me are fed up!

Let's march!

An open letter to the American Press

2006-03-25T01:37:00.000-08:00

What if the media in the United States was really objective and balanced?

What if they really tried to gives us a balanced view or both sides to every story?

What if they did not have an agenda that was aligned with one of our two political parties?

The so called Main Stream Media here which some might say includes "ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, NYT, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, I think you get the picture, (For the record the WSJ does have a decent editorial page) has an agenda which is not truly to just report the news but to report the news as they see it.

You know what? I agree! Surprise, surprise, surprise! Thanks Gomer!

If you remember the Vietnam War it was a war where the USA was trying to stop the spread of Communism from North Vietnam to South Vietnam. We wound up losing that war or pulling out due to pressure back home because the press was able to turn the opinion of Americans sour on this war with their reporting of body counts. This pullout by the way lead to the death of over 2 million Vietnamese. Thanks uncle Walter!

Now I'll admit that the body counts were unbelievable (58,000) and I can see how it would have been hard to support that war. Yet in this current conflict the American media is trying to pull the same stunt with the Iraq war but since they no longer have the ear of the public they way they did in years past they are struggling in their endeavor to change public opinion.

In fact it seems that they are willing to now make up stories and rig polls to make their POV jibe with what they want public opinion to be. Over the past few years the press in this country has been caught with it's hand in the proverbial cookie jar time after time. From Dan Rather and his memos to Jason Blair and the NYT to recently this ABC exec and his email stating how Bush makes him sick. For some reason the institutions of the free press in the USA only seem to employ a bunch of lefty's who hate Bush or are anti-military. This is not what our founding fathers wanted the press to be. They wanted it to be free and report on the goings on of the political crowd but not this one sided.

I challenge you folks in the press to be more objective. Hey even us conservatives are not always happy with Bush, Cheney and Rice but we say it when we think they are out of line. Yet we are willing to support them when they are right. Let's get a balanced view of Iraq. Give us some stories about how much progress has been made in all aspects of the country not just the latest death toll. Can you do that? If so I might actually watch one of your news stations for more than a millisecond as I am channel surfing.

So far, thanks for nothing!

JD Pearce

Government and Taxes

2006-03-18T03:08:00.000-08:00

Greetings Folks

I have heard enough about the Feds and how they spend money like it was so much confetti that can be tossed about as if it were a party. The latest news is that the Congress just passed a bill that would allow the debt ceiling to be raised to 9 Trillion dollars. Yes that is right 9 TRILLION dollars. You and I can not even fathom how much money that is, not even Bill Gates can count that high with his fastest computer.

All the news that has come out of the Katrina debacle about how the Federal bureaucracy wasted BILLIONS of our tax dollars is just plain pathetic. We, the American people can no longer trust out government to collect and spend our money. Something must be done here to stop this idiocy. I don't care who is in the White House or in control of Congress this blatant lunacy must stop!

Here is a list of money thrown away or paid to contractors, that was not used or needed by FEMA.

3 million for beds that were never used.

10 million to renovate and furnish rooms that were used by 6 tenants then closed.

Semi's full of Ice (tons) that were driven round and round then disposed of due to lack of co-ordination.

Nearly 2 billion spent on trailers that were bought and paid for where nearly 11,000 homes are left unused by evacuees due to the governments own rules about placing mobile homes in a flood plain.

Millions of dollars in debit cards given out to thousands of evacuees that were not checked and had not restrictions on what they could be used for. Over 900,000 of the applications were found to be fraudulent after the fact. Some items bought by these cards include; jewelry, hand-guns, adult entertainment and gambling. Over 5,000 applicants received duplicate payments.

Hotel rooms for evacuees, paid for by the taxpayer for between $350 and $425 per night some beachfront and some in New York City.

FEMA is bad enough but what about this?

An 80 BILLION dollar Medicare prescription drug plan that has been described as confusing and difficult to figure out by seniors. In fact many polls showed that seniors did not really want this plan to begin with.

Add to the FEMA debacle and the Medicare waste the earmarks or pork projects that pass year after year. Earmarks being little pet projects thrown into a budget at the last moment. Mostly pet projects by greedy senators trying to buy votes in their districts. From bridges and roads in Alaska that go to nowhere to bike-paths in New York or bridges and roads in West Virginia named after Senator Byrd, BILLIONS have been spent on these pork barrel projects over the years that is nothing more than wasted money.

In my opinion you could get a class of sixth graders with a week of economics training to run the federal budget better than the US Congress. The reason? They would not be corrupted and greedy like these lifelong politicians are who cater to the special interests and the lobbyists on capital hill.

What can we do? Well we have to push our legislators to stop this insanity and if they don't we throw them out of office. If that does not work we take this government back anyway we can. Of course I am speaking of a peaceful way of doing things. We must use diplomacy and intelligence if that fails then we have to re-group and see what our options are.

Finally we are told to pray for our leaders so that they may have divine guidance to complete their tasks of stewardship. In the days of old the leaders of the church were greedy and corrupt, they failed to recognize the arrival of the messiah and had him crucified all while trying to protect their wealth and power. The people we have running our government seem to be much like those in Jerusalem when Jesus was killed. Please pray every day that the Lord will see fit to enlighten those who lead us and to send wise men and women who love the Lord, to use that will be elected to office so that we can get our country back on track working to glorify GOD not themselves.

May Christ be with us all...

Terrorism and the Media

2006-03-08T03:39:00.000-08:00

There is a trial going on in California concerning terrorism that is not getting much attention from the Old media. Follow the link for the story.

http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/joelmowbray/2006/03/07/188849.html

This is the first I have heard of this story in a while. I vaguely remember a mention of it when it first happened. Why would the so called main-stream media not pick up on this and follow it like they would a Scott Peterson or OJ Simpson? I guess you must be a celebrity to get media coverage in this country. Being a terrorists doesn't rank in their eyes.

There could be another angle. If you are on trial for terrorism links then that might make the current administration look good, like we are winning a small battle in the war against terrorism, we can't have that now can we.

Keep in mind we just had a terrorist attack at UNC Chapel Hill and already the liberal papers are refusing to use the word terrorism in their stories. Will they try and sweep this one under the rug?

What will it take in this country to get the liberal left media to wake up and see terrorism as the danger it is. Our country is infiltrated with Muslims who wish to kill Americans and all infidels who they say is anyone who does not believe in Islam.

Just like a virus, they will eventually cause great harm to us if we do not take steps to eradicate them or neutralize them somehow. The media seems to be on the wrong side of this issue time after time unless of course they can somehow use it to make the Bush administration look bad, like in this Dubai Ports deal. This is a perfect illustration of the bias they work under. Although I agree that this Port deal is a bad idea it still highlights how they will pick up on an issue only if it is at odds with the Bush team and prominent Democrats are against it.

Now ask yourself this question. If President Bush had come out against this from the beginning would the Democrats and the left wing media be calling him and his people racists for profiling the Arabs in Dubai and labeling them as terrorists???

Think about it, it would be consistent. That is why I think this whole deal is just politics and nothing more and that is on both sides of the aisle.

Finally we must pray for our leaders as Christ said we should and it wouldn't hurt to pray for the media as well. I think they need divine help just as much as anyone....

Political Blunder

2006-02-27T01:39:00.000-08:00

Greetings

I normally take time and space here talking about how Democrats have opened the door right into their own nose on one issue after another. Today however I am talking about President Bush and his latest blunder over this Port deal.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/2/26/192738.shtml?s=tn
Check out this link for a good article on said deal.

There are many angles to look at this situation from but let's explore two here. First from the Presidents POV and then the perception of the majority of the American people.

The President says it is all OK, don't worry about it his people have checked out the deal and there are no problems because the UAE is an ally in the War on Terror. Normally I trust this President to do the right thing but in the case of border security he has a very scketchy history and it seems the same here with ports. Why? I just can't explain it but when all else fails follow the money or the votes. I say if what the administration has said about top level cabinet officials not knowing about this deal is true then they are negligent in their duties. Some heads should roll.

Now let's look at it from the peoples POV. We see on the surface of this deal that an Arab company with ties to 9/11 purchasing ports into our country. It's that simple. Why give people (who have the potential to do us harm) access to our Port security? Even if they will not actually run the Ports but only sign the checks as some have said, they still could have access to sensitive security intelligence that could compromise our safety.

So you tell me. Do you want this deal pushed through without a complete and open investigation?

I must break ranks with the Administration here and join with both Democrats and Republicans who are calling for such and investigation.

Sunday Morning

2006-02-19T06:18:00.000-08:00

I have been up since six. It is a beautiful day, Praise God! I am filled with the spirit today no doubt. I did my normal routine this morning and after reading the news and sending out my emails I went for a dip in the Hot-Tub. We have really been using it a lot since we had it repaired this past fall and I am in it nearly every day lately. In fact I have been working on the circuit board trying to determine what makes the pump work intermittently. I think I have it fixed now after disconnecting some contacts that seemed to be causing it to malfunction. It has been working properly for the past few days.

Anyway on to my original point.

As I was in the Hot-Tub this morning, submerged up to my neck and enjoying the sensation of 100 degree water surging all around me I thought about how this invention was just another copy of what God has already created for us in nature. Most everything man does is a copy of something God has already done in nature. His omnipotent intelligence dwarfs anything man has or ever will accomplish.

Since I have been saved and baptized I have been ascending higher and higher into the spiritual realm of God, learning from his scriptures and casting off my own sinful nature. I am at peace in my mind, heart and soul knowing that I truly am a disciple of Christ and that my name is sealed in the book of life for all eternity.

PRAISE GOD for his grace and mercy, his forgiveness of my sin and his sacrifice for all mankind.

I was deep in thought this morning with nothing but the words of God and his goodness cascading through my mind. It was pure and clean and I felt as if I was so close to God that it was like the Holy Spirit was moving through my body and mind just as the water was surging all around me. Once my experience was over I was just left amazed at the power of the words I had thought and felt in my heart and soul and how God has changed me as a person.

Looking back at the man who lived a life of sinful thoughts and deeds for so many years I hardly seem like the same person in my own mind. Even though I was probably considered to be a nice or good person to most who have known me nearly all my life I was not. My mind has been so full of sinful thoughts and my actions were always tainted with the sinful nature I was born and raised with. Until I was sealed by the blood of Christ I was not worthy to carry this new mantle of a true believer, a Christian.

Praise God for his power to transform a sinner and his mercy for my soul. I hope and pray that God will use me as his instrument to help bring others to his fold, forgiving them and opening their hearts to the forgiveness they must afford others. Alleluia!

My journey has been a long one full of struggles to pale to mention here but I have come to a crossroads in my life now. I have begun to shed my shell, the old life, the old skin, no longer can contain the light and grace of God found within me. The new creature to emerge from within me is bigger, stronger and more pleasing to God than ever before. I will fly with the wings of grace and share my story with all who will listen. With Gods mercy all those who seek the truth may come to understand the freedom of Christ in your heart and the goodness that follows with it. With the hope of Jesus those who trust in him will learn to shed their true sinful nature and follow in the footsteps of he who is sinless.

Praise God for his words and his truth opened up before me and all Christians who follow in that truth. My cups surely do overfloweth with his love and the peace of knowing that I will eat from the tree of life in a kingdom eternal.

Praise God for his mercy on us all who have sinned and dropped to our knees begging for his forgiveness. Praise God for his love and his kindness towards the poor unfortunate souls who have been lost but now are found.

It is my hope that all who are lost and blind will be struck down in the middle of the road like Sol (Paul) on the road to Damascus and the lord will tell them to no longer deny him or persecute him so that they too will share in the glory of eternal life and peace.

It is my hope that all my brothers, my family and all Gods children will see his glory and accept his sacrifice as the way.

My hope springs eternal for all of my friends who I want to share these words with and share my eternal life with.

May the peace and love of Christ be with you and I for all time.

Wealth Envy

2006-02-15T03:03:00.000-08:00

I found this while browsing some of my morning news sites today and decided to share it. I would love your feedback on this subject.

From Neil Boortz at Boortz.com

SHOOT THE RICH

Lately I've been collecting examples of wealth envy from various sources; mainly newspapers. The topic interests me for a number of reasons:

Wealth envy is usually an excuse-making or defensive mechanism for those who have failed to become what they would consider to be "rich." These people can't understand why this is so. After all, they're good people aren't they? And they work just as hard as anyone else does! Yet they're not wealthy! It can't be them! It must be the other guy! So, they take comfort in believing that wealthy people must have acquired their wealth through dishonest means. By cheating people, exploiting people, and by using crooked lawyers. The real problem with this, other than the fact that it simply isn't true, is that the person who develops this wealth-hatred is really programming himself or herself to remain in their present economic situation. If you have convinced yourself that to become wealthy is a bad thing, then why in the world would your subconscious mind ever allow you to make the decisions or take the actions that would lead to wealth?

It's no secret that I'm a general aviation nut. I love to fly, and I celebrate the fact that I live in a country where people are free to get into an airplane and fly almost anywhere they want; just so long as they follow the rules set down by the FAA. As an advocate of general aviation I've been following anti-airport and anti-general aviation activities for literally 20 years. Two areas of specific interest to me are the two airports where I base my airplane; Atlanta's Dekalb-Peachtree airport and the Naples (Florida) Municipal Airport. Both airports have active anti-airport groups. In both groups there has been ample evidence of wealth envy. In Atlanta we have complaints from people who don't like "those rich people from Dunwoody flying their airplanes over our houses." In Naples they have a new city councilman who, in a previous campaign, supported closing the Naples airport, saying that moving the airport out of the city would give those people in their limousines a chance to sip more wine on the way to the airport. In the Sunday Naples newspaper another anti-airport resident referred to the people who use the Naples airport as "a few wealthy commuters."

Wealth envy is an emotion that is eagerly exploited by politicians for power. We can thank wealth envy for our present tax code. The 16th Amendment would never have been ratified if it had not been presented to the people of this country as a way to punish the rich. Like it or not, our economy is powered by people who take chances. If they couple their risk-taking with good choices they will likely become wealthy. In the process they create hundreds of thousands of jobs and produce tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue for government. You doubt this? The next time you need a job, ask a poor person; and why don't you tell us of all of the wonderful government programs like roads, libraries, health clinics and public safety departments that have been funded with taxes on the poor.

And then I found this posted on some Internet site yesterday relating to the vice-president's shooting accident:

"This may be an opportunity to open a new Global Free market: Shoot the Rich. They are vermin regardless which country they live in. Of course we should take advantage of the "trickle down economy" by issuing hunting licenses and stamps as we do for ducks. There are enough of them to have a year round open season - no bag limit bur must measure at least $1 million. .... For those of you who object that this suggestion may be illegal, just remember that the Rich do not follow rules or laws, so why should we?"

There we have a posting by someone who just can't understand why they are not wealthy. After all, they've followed the rules, right? So why aren't they rich? The only excuse this person can come up with is that rich people "do not follow rules or laws."

Wealth envy is irrational and damaging, both to the individual and to our society.

Good one Neil!

Back to JD. I read this and thought about it a bit. I must agree with Neil. I think wealth envy is a favorite tool of the politicians to play the haves against the have nots. I have been saying for a long time that in America you can achieve whatever you want to. All you have to do is be willing to work hard, sacrifice, and be semi-smart. Sometimes folks who do not make it have to blame it on someone else. Other times perhaps it is just bad luck but there are so many success stories in America of people who tried and failed then tried again over and over until they got it right then BAM! They struck gold! I would still be working for someone, making 30K or less had I not got off my butt and decided to do better. I have a long way to go but if I had gotten my act together in my 20's instead of waiting so late in life who knows what I might have accomplished by now.

I always go back to the Col. Sanders story from the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise. He supposedly tried to sell his chicken recipe to 1,000 restaurants before he found a buyer but he never gave up until he struck gold. There are thousands of stories like that one, all true. The kicker is you do not have to be dirty or cheat anyone to make it in America. It can be done honestly and lawfully.

Carpe Diem!

Email and friends

2006-02-09T04:01:00.000-08:00

As I peruse the news each day I find interesting little stories I like to share with my friends. Since we all have busy lives and do not get to spend real face time together very often it gives me great comfort to know that they are checking emails and reading some of my comments on the news of the day. That connection is important to me and I hope that they find it equally important in some small way.

Although many of us do think alike on some issues sometimes we differ on others and that is what makes us all unique. I enjoy the debate when we disagree on a given topic as it stimulates the thought process and opens up other views to be considered. Some folks have a hard time dealing with another point of view on a subject they feel strongly about but I have learned that through taking each view and giving it an honest chance to be considered, it is a good way to expand my own personal horizons in the way I approach each subject.

Believe it or not I know I am not always right about everything. GOSH! I have and will more than likely have my view changed slightly from time to time on a subject after and exhaustive debate in which all the facts are poured over and I have seen other perspectives and given them merit.

Not often, but it does happen. (smile)

The internet, email, blogs, etc., have really opened up a whole new world out there for many folks to express their POV and expand their knowledge about world affairs, politics, and news of all kinds. I am certainly one of those who has benefited from it and I admit it, my name is JD and I am an emailaholic.

I love to correspond this way even though I know folks who have computers and valid email addresses but they just do not check their email but once a month or so if that often. Although this baffles me to some degree I accept the fact that in their lives they have their own set of priorities and computers and email is just not one of them.

In closing today I will say this. The way I see it, if you do not return the email someone sends you in a timely manner it is like not returning a phone call left on an answering machine. If your computer works and you do check your email on a timely basis then it is very rude to not reply to an email if someone is sending an email in which they ask for a reply.

I think that is the key. So many emails go out each day you can’t and even shouldn’t reply to most but if the individual asks for a reply then you should by all means return that correspondence within a reasonable amount of time. That's just one man's opinion, take it for what it is worth.

Have a fabulous day and may God be with you this day and all the days ahead.

Quote of the Day!

2006-02-05T03:48:00.000-08:00

A day without laughter is a day wasted.

Who said it?

Charlie Chaplin

Suggestions for change

2006-02-04T03:55:00.000-08:00

We need to fix the problems in the broken, corrupt political system in Washington.

Here are a few ideas on how to accomplish the needed change.

1. Term Limits

2. Lobbyist reform

3. Internal affairs unit in Washington (watch dogs)

4. More citizen involvement. (citizen leadership lottery) more on this later

5. New campaign finance reform.

6. Federal balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

7. Strong Third Party (The reform Party)

9. Elimination of Earmarks or pork (this is currently being looked at)

10. Prosecution of lawbreakers in the system!

What are some of your suggestions???

Time for a change!

2006-02-02T12:17:00.000-08:00

We need a third party in American politics.

There is no other way to break the hold that the two party system has over America. We can not expect the current system to reform itself. Yes they may try to make some changes here and there but the system has evolved into something that protects itself over all costs.

I am a firm believer that the Democrats are by far much worse than the Republicans when it comes to this but they both need to be reformed so my call is for the people who indeed want to see a change in politics as usual let's start a movement to reform the system. We can call it the Reform Party for now.

We must recruit from those current politicians who are sick of the way things work in Washington and will join us to make a better America. We will also ask the Libertarian party to join with us as we can use their strength in numbers to help us kick start this new party. I want to draft someone like Newt Gingrich to lead this revolution to change Washington and Change America for the better.

If you are with me then give me some feedback. Who's ready to make America the leading example of clarity and honor in its government. Who wants to work for the better of the people instead of the party. Let's elect a government that is there to represent us and work for us, rather than talk down to us and try and tax us into oblivion.

If you are ready to reform American politics and take America back to the days when morals and ethics were important then start here by sending me your feedback with ideas and suggestions.

God Bless America and may the good Lord bless us all as we try to make a difference!

Here is a link to a really good article that may inspire you like it did me.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060129/news_mz1e29gingri.html

America, it's time for a change!

2006-01-31T02:59:00.000-08:00

After reading an essay by Newt Gingrich this morning I have been prompted to write my own message to the American people and to all those politicians in Washington who truly care about the future of America. I for one and sick and tired of politicians acting on their own behalf or walking lock step with their own party to try and keep power or win back power. I would love to see a politician that loves his/her country so much that they are willing to break from the partisan politics and go out on a limb for America. We need a change and we want it now!

Let's face it America our government is corrupt! Perhaps not every individual but the way they do business and how they hold onto their power is not in the best interest of America but in the best interest of the party. The two party system has evolved into something that is not good for America. Government will not clean itself up because it is too busy covering it's own butt. The greed and lust for power is so strong within the individual party that their seems to be no way to have it take out it's own garbage. Sure there is a sacrificial lamb every so often to make it look as though someone cares but we need to clean house and change the way we do things in Washington.

My solution?

I know this may sound lame but bear with me a moment. We need a new committee or panel not to be made up of politicians. This one needs to be made up mostly of regular citizens who are willing to take an oath to not be corrupted by the system and to work hard to change the system. This new wing would be like the Internal Affairs Dept. Within the law enforcement community. It would require a couple of liaisons to each branch of government but other than that it would be made up of regular everyday people from all walks of life. Good law abiding citizens who have credibility and common sense. They would have a location outside of Washington to meet and brainstorm to come up with ideas and would have the power to bring in politicians and question them about their duties and how Washington operates in order to get the information they need to make the changes necessary. They could also bring in former politicians who know how the system works but hold no particular allegiance to the parties as they stand now.

This committee would work in 6 month intervals making recommendations to government on how to improve the system. These ideas then would be put into bill form an introduced into legislation where applicable. After each six month period new people could be added, others that needs to leave and go back to their own businesses could be let go. No one should stay on the committee more than 2 years. These people should also be compensated for their work just like freshman Congressmen.

Now this is all off the cuff so as I think this through I will have better more lucid ideas for this new government cleanup crew such a a good name or title for it. Perhaps you can help me come up with one. Send your ideas to me at jdddd@hotmail.com or any of my other emails that you may have.

The bottom line is government in Washington needs to change and we want to be able to trust them to do what is right. The apathy in America is pathetic and this may be one way to solve that problem. If the people in America can learn to trust their representatives then more folks will get involved. We all must work hard to make this happen so join with me and write your local and national leaders suggesting this method or your own ideas on how to make government better.

Now go out and have a joyful and prosperous year and may the blessings of our Lord be upon you and your family as well as the USA.

The truth about Liberalism

2006-01-22T04:42:00.000-08:00

I have long been an advocate for conservatism and much of the political ideology that goes with it. That in itself tells you that I am not a supporter of liberalism and the policies that follow along with that mindset here in the United States and abroad.

It seems to me that if you look at liberal policies in America objectively and track the progress we have made over the last 40 years or so it is impossible to NOT see where liberal social programs and policies such as the welfare system and the public school system have been the catalysts for crime and poverty in the America we live in today. The failure to invest more money into the judicial branches of government, such as hiring enough prosecutors, cops and building enough prison cells for violent offenders can be directly tied to the constant pouring of money into other areas of local budgets such as perpetual social programs like welfare and the failing public education monopoly. The results have been disastrous for the inner city families.

While it sounds good and feels good to spend more money on education than incarceration, it is bad policy when the education that kids get is poor and the dollars spent per child continue to rise as test scores drop. The conservatives in this country have long been supporters of a voucher system where lower income parents who care about the education their kids receive, can take the government money (our tax money) normally reserved for their child in the form of a voucher or tax credit and spend it at any school they wish. This kind of program is working in different areas across the nation and study after study has proven it to be true that the graduation rates and test scores for the kids who have choice in education is far superior to those who are stuck in the Public School monopoly the government controls across the nation.

If you look at crime and gang activity in any given city it can be directly tied to the worst public schools and inner city neighborhoods where many of these kids are trapped. The horrific welfare system in our country has been the catalyst for these inner city slums and the gangs thrive in these areas, recruiting kids from the schools themselves. If a caring parent has the ability to take their kids from these schools and is motivated to get out of the inner city slums by being weaned of welfare and taught to work for a living the chances are that their kids could be saved from a life of criminal behavior and gang membership and the violence that goes along with it.

If we as a society tackle these three problems, public school reform, welfare reform and judicial reform we could make life better for those lower income families that so many liberal politicians claim to care about so deeply. Yet politics in this area seems to be more about dollars, promises and votes, not effective problem solving to elevate people and eliminating inner city slums and the multitude of problems that eminate from these neighborhoods.

If we as Americans truly want to solve the problems in the inner cities of our great country we must break the cycle of poverty created by the welfare system and offer better education opportunities to our kids by destroying the current monopoly the government holds with the public school system. Introducing competition into that arena is the only way and voucher or tax credits will do it. Common sense tells you that if you do not have competition you have no reason or motivation to improve services in a non-profit organization. Yet when you do introduce competition for the massive amount of education dollars (Billions) that government spends, schools will be forced to perform better or else lose those dollars!

Think for a moment about some of the government agencies that we deal with on a regular basis and tell me if you believe they could be run better if they had competition to spur improvement. The DMV comes to mind and most government service agencies are just as bad. Look at how the Post Office changed (for the better) when UPS, Fed-Ex, DHL and other businesses were allowed to compete for the overnite package business. If all government, non-profits knew another business down the street was competing for their customers and they had to provide better service to keep their jobs, you can bet we would not have the problems we do with most of these places.

It is the same with the public school system. Without condemning all schools and teachers in it, since some do perform well, it is honest to say the system as a whole, across the country is a staggering failure when it comes to providing the best education for our kids. We should be turning out the best and the brightest in this, the richest country in the world but sadly we are way down on the list even though we spend more money per child than any other system in the world.

If we continue down this road allowing these ineffective, liberal policies to further erode our ability to educate our kids and perpetuate our inner city slums, America will not reach it's fullest potential as being the great beacon of hope it once was in the world. Crime, poverty and education are tied together my friends and liberal policies are the glue that binds them and that's the truth about liberalism.

Here are some links to a couple of articles about education in America.

http://www.reason.com/hod/js011306.shtml

http://www.reason.com/hod/ls110405.shtml

King Kong 2005 - Review

2005-12-18T02:32:00.000-08:00

I have seen allot of movies in my days and I must admit this one is definitely one of the most amazing fantasy adventure films of all time. The computerized visual effects (especially Kong) are simply breathtaking at times in this film. However someone lost their perspective and went a bit overboard with certain scenes, I’ll get to that in a minute.

I personally loved the character of Kong although he was a totally computerized version of the giant gorilla he had great personality and he looked awesome. He was so huge and such a gigantic, even heroic figure I just could not get enough of him. I already want a sequel or prequel in this case and have figured out a storyline that will work perfectly.

Well Done, is all I can say to the folks who created Kong in their minds eyes and transferred that to the screen. Mr. Jackson I suppose gets the credit here and his team of software folks and art directors. Now with all that said here is the downside. There is some rough language which was offensive to me as a Christian however I realize that many people do talk this way so it will be no big deal to most adults but Not for Children.

People, you must learn to leave the young kids at home! There was a baby crying throughout the entire movie and the so called parents would not remove themselves and the baby from this theatre. There was nearly a fight in the place afterwards.

The special effects although marvelous at times were way over used. There are two or three sequences that I would have cut from the film had I been the editor which would have shortened the total time maybe by 30 minutes or so. I could have cut some regular footage as well from the first hour and made this move much closer to two hours instead of three. There is a sequence that ran for nearly 10 minutes it seemed where the crew is running from a stampede of dinosaurs that is just plain stupid and looks so horribly unrealistic that I was shocked that it was left in the movie. I can only think that Mr. Jackson lost his perspective while making this film and no one had the guts to sit him down and tell him how bad this looked. It really does take away from a movie that could otherwise be called a masterpiece. There are other scenes that are nearly just a bad and unrealistic but I will let you judge them for yourself.

The acting was good enough for any special effects driven film. Jack Black was really convincing as a shrewd film director with no-morals, basically a con man willing to do whatever it takes to get his picture. Naomi Watts was really great as Ann Darrow the woman who Kong falls in love with and her with him as well. I also thought the natives of skull Island were very well done. They were very evil and scary looking.

The rest of the cast including the writer Jack Driscoll played by Adrian Brody was well played considering the unusual circumstances they had to deal with. Amazingly enough, I have to say it was the directing and perhaps the writing that needs improvement here. Although Jackson shows brilliance as he did with the Rings trilogy, he dropped the ball and lost his perspective along the way. He tried to make us laugh at times in scenes that would have been so frighteneing for a normal person I felt it was just way out there.

Finally, what could have been the greatest special effects movie of all time was a miss-fire in my book. King Kong was a really good movie that could have been much, much better. Don't get me wrong it was worth seeing on the BIG screen as only King Kong should be seen but many will walk away with a feeling of what could have been.

I give it 3 out of 5 banana’s .....

John Kerry compares US troops to terrorists!

2005-12-06T03:38:00.000-08:00

I did a search on this today after I heard on the radio that John F. Kerry (who was in Vietnam) had said this on one of the Sunday news shows. Of course no one in the so called mainstream media is commenting on this story at all that I can find. I thought it was worth mentioning. I finally found a mention of it in a blog called Captains Quarters.

John Kerry: American Soldiers Are Terrorists

John Kerry appeared yesterday on the CBS talking-head show, "Face The Nation", to discuss the war in Iraq with Bob Schieffer. Just as in his speeches on the Viet Nam War, Kerry has slipped into deep Left-speak in an attempt to gain national traction for his pose as a party leader. In fact, in language reminiscent of his infamous "Genghis Khan" speech before the Senate in April 1971, he yesterday referred to American soldiers as terrorists -- and then suggested that we leave terrorism to the new Iraqi army.

From page 3-4 of the CBS transcript, emphasis mine (h/t:CQ reader Dave Z):

SCHIEFFER: All right. Let me shift to another point of view, and it comes from another Democrat, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. He takes a very different view. He says basically we should stay the course because, he says, real progress is being made. He said this is a war between 27 million Iraqis who want freedom and 10,000 terrorists. He says we're in a watershed transformation. What about that?
Sen. KERRY: Let me--I--first of all, there is so much more that unites Democrats than divides us. And Democrats have much more in common with each other than they do with George Bush's policy right now. Now Joe Lieberman, I believe, also voted for the resolution which said the president needs to make more clear what he's doing and set out benchmarks, and that the policy hasn't been working. We all believe him when you say, `Stay the course.' That's the president's policy, which hasn't been changing, which is a policy of failure. I don't agree with that. But I think what we need to do is recognize what we all agree on, which is you've got to begin to set benchmarks for accomplishment. You've got to begin to transfer authority to the Iraqis. And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs. Whether you like it or not...

SCHIEFFER: Yeah.

Sen. KERRY: ...Iraqis should be doing that. And after all of these two and a half years, with all of the talk of 210,000 people trained, there just is no excuse for not transferring more of that authority.

End of quotes.

Now I heard the tape on this and Kerry stumbled and bumbled through that part of his speech after he likened the US troops to terrorists. He is an eloquent speaker but at times he trips himself up when he gets carried away or perhaps when he lies. Again Kerry is comparing the US troops to terrorists just as he did when he returned from Vietnam in 1971 and again he has no evidence for this claim just a firm belief in his anti-military heart that all soldiers are terrorists. Is he concerned about Iraqi women and Children? Obviously not because he says in the very next sentence that it is the Iraqi troops that should be doing the terrorizing of Iraqi women and children.

Now my next question is to Mr. Kerry, how long will it be before you accuse American soldiers of raping, killing and mutilating the bodies of these same Iraqi women and children just as you did on Vietnam? You might say well it did happen in Vietnam, he was right. Yet he has since backtracked and said he never witnessed any of these events happening but he had been told by other soldiers that they had done it. This is after he testified before Congress saying that he personally witnessed and took part in said atrocities.

In Conclusion John Kerry is a documented liar who will say anything to further his political ambitions, including accusations that our troops are terrorists. I will bet that his words will be repeated by the press, yes-sir the press in the middle east where more Muslims will be enraged and take up arms against US troops when they hear this kind of talk coming from and American Senator.

Why be Thankful?

2005-11-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is upon us once again and this year I want to just mention a few things I am thankful for.

1. Jesus Christ, first and foremost. Only Christians will understand this one of course.

2. My lovely wife Janet. She puts up with me, what a trooper!

3. Family and friends. I have some good people in my life who care about me. That's priceless! A special mention to my Grandma, she been ill lately, bless you granny!

4. A successful business. Been working my buns off this year! Thanks to my customers and my #1 driver!

5. Being born an American! What else can I say!

6. Our armed forces. Without them we'd be speaking German or Japanese.

7. Our President! W - Love him or hate him he's trying to save us from terrorists and has a great economy
working for us thanks to some wisely crafted tax cuts.

8. My new Mustang. Gotta love a man's first new sports car.

9. Finally, a good attitude. I thank God I was born an optimist!

Price Gouging?

2005-11-19T04:48:00.000-08:00

While talking about the price of gasoline and so called price gouging with my wife I came up with a good analogy of why the oil companies are and should make billions in profit.

Here's my explanation. Tell me where I am wrong.

If I had a large delivery business that covered the USA and abroad like say, UPS (let's check their profits by the way) and I made 50 million deliveries per day charging $20 per delivery that would equal 1 billion dollars per day or 365 billion per year. Now that would be gross profit. Once you back out operating costs of $15 per delivery it would leave me a net profit of roughly 90 billion dollars per year.

Now look at the Oil company Exxon. They sell a product that is used all over the world, including America. You can look on just about every other corner in Charlotte and any other major city and find an Exxon station. They sell gasoline and many other products and by-products of oil. Let's say that any given day around the world the sell 50 million gallons of gasoline at 10 cents net profit per gallon. That would be 100,000,000.00 or 100 million dollars per day profit which in turn would be over 3 billion dollars profit per year just on gasoline sold here in the USA. Again they sell oil, gas and the by products from each barrel.

My point is that when you have a large company that is spread out over the world and sells a product that is purchased by millions of consumers each day you will make huge profits!

So, the US Congress who in fact has blocked legislation for over 25 years to drill for more oil here at home and build refineries in order to process more fuel (increasing supplies in the USA which would in turn lower prices) all the while putting restrictions and regulations on the oil companies and how they can produce and refine their product is going to hit Exxon and others with a windfall profits tax. Why then should they not go after any other company that has made billions in profit?

(Don't forget that the federal tax for a gallon of gas is 18 cent. They pool billions per year in Washington from this single fund and spend it as they wish. It's supposed to be for roads but take a look in your city and tell me if that's where it is being spent.)

I suppose they already have. Microsoft and Phillip Morris comes to mind. When will they get UPS or GE.? Who's next? When will they decide in their socialist wisdom that no company should be able to make too much profit and once you reach a certain point of profitability you have to turn over the rest to the government? Where do we live in America or North Korea????

Then go a step further and ask yourself what does the government do with the money they confiscate from You, me and Exxon? They spend it like a drunken sailor on every stupid little thing they can find in order to buy votes in their home district. They give it away to foreign countries like it was candy at Halloween. They enter into contracts with companies they have under the table deals with and buy millions of $300 hammers. They have a blank check book and can spend, spend, spend with no regard for a balanced budget.

No, no, no! I think we may have it backwards here! We have to fight against these so called public leaders and let them know we will not stand for their legal thievery. It is Congress who is stealing from you and I not Exxon. Exxon is creating millions of jobs and providing a very important product to us so we can get to our own jobs and make a living.

All the while Congress is constantly patting us on the back smiling and whispering in our ear how much they care for us and want to help us while they slip their hands in our back pockets lifting money from our wallets!

Whew!

That feels better...

The Pendulum Swings

2005-11-12T05:42:00.000-08:00

Greetings

If you have kept up with the news the past few months you will know that the old media has been in a feeding frenzy when it comes to President Bush and his Republican administration. The poll numbers reflect that his popularity has taken a dive and the press has taken to the water, feasting on Bush like a bunch of hungry Pirana. I must admit it was looking pretty bad for a while but if history is a guide it looks as though the President will survive this hit and rebound.

Lately there have been some good signs. The lack of an indictment of Carl Rove may have been the beginning of this turnaround but some important events have happened in the past few days that may really increase the momentum of this upswing. The recent bombings in Jordan have produced a backlash against the terrorists by Muslims who are sick of being the targets of these murderers. They have taken to the streets protesting. Only this time instead of Muslims protesting America, they are screaming for the death of the terrorists. There also has been a video released of the Kurds in Iraq thanking America for setting them free. President Bush stepped up to the plate and scolded the left just yesterday for making ridiculous false claims that he manipulated intelligence in order to go to war with Saddam all the while knowing everything that he knew and voting to approve the Presidents actions. Also the current riots in France are a good illustration to Americans and the world of what leftists policies can lead to and that bodes well for the American right. The way I see it there is a change coming and you will see the approval ratings of the Bush team climb back up from the current lows.

The President has some bold ideas and wants to change America and the world for the better. The American left stands in his way as they do not want to see Republicans get and credit for such bold and positive change in the world. Since they have no good ideas of their own their strategy seems to be to do everything they can to slow down and stop Republicans from making forward progress.

This is a bad policy and will lead to more of the same from the Democrats in years to come should they take control back from the Republicans. Just think about all we could accomplish if the left would work with us instead of against us. We could reform Social Security, the Tax Code and make America less dependent on foreign oil if only the left would help us. We could also continue to make America a more prosperous place economically but if the left gets control of the purse strings they will only tax us more and spend even more than the Bush administration has.

In the end we will wind up with a more socialist government should they prevail. However I have a theory that I think will allow Republicans to make strides in years to come. I will share that with you next time.

Agree or disagree?

Feel free to leave your comments here.

Democrats gone wild!

2005-11-03T04:38:00.000-08:00

The Impeachment of Sanity!

JD Pearce 11/3/2005

The Democrats in the Senate have decided to hold meetings to discuss issues related to the President's decision to go to war in Iraq, removing Saddam Hussein from power and establishing a front against terror. They say he manipulated intelligence and lied to the American people over reasons to go to war.

Funny but I seem to remember just about every single one of those pompous jackasses pontificating at the top of their lungs on the Senate floor about how bad Saddam was and how he was such a threat to the US and should be stopped! This kind of bloviating was in vogue in 1998 up until and after President Bush was inaugurated in 2001. Not only did the Senators now screaming Bush lied do this but their own President and Vice President in 1998 and 1999 both made speeches declaring Saddam had WMD as did the former Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor. Let us not forget every major newspaper and magazine in the country also proclaimed the danger and wickedness of Saddam. These Wackos seem to forget that they are caught on tape as it were and must be living in some drug induced dream world where they do not remember what they did or said past last week.

Let me assure you that the goal here my friends is to impeach President Bush! Yes that's right. Fortunately for the sane people in this country it ain't gonna happen. These dolts in Washington are all smoking crack if they think that they can win on this issue. (Fire it up Ted, don't bogart the pipe!)

My personal view is that this is nothing more than payback for the impeachment of their golden boy, their knight in shining armor, their chief cook and bottle washer, the first black President, William J. Clinton. They are so hell bent on paying the Republicans back for that embarrassing episode (hold on, I am lighting my cigar) that they will go to any and all ends to try and punish President Bush and his brilliant team of advisers. The fact that Bush defeated Gore (stole the election) in 2000 and their latest idiot, John (I have a plan) F. Kerry is also a bitter pill to swallow for this bumbling bunch of clowns on the left side of the isle in Washington.

Mark my words they want to impeach Bush but they do not have the votes and will not win enough seats in 2006 to

Git-R-Done.

What is so unforgivably sad about this is that we are at war with terrorism. This country is the lone super power in a struggle to stop the spread of terrorism in the free world and that world depends on us to win this battle. The leftist here in this country are undermining our ability to fight and win this war. It is treasonous in my opinion and the majority of people of this country want no part of their hypocrisy and foolishness!

Energy Prices and Big Oil

2005-10-28T03:19:00.000-07:00

Many of us are suffering today due to high gasoline prices and home heating costs and it may get worse this winter, at least with the cost of home heating oil and natural gas. I have heard like most of you that the BIG OIL companies are reeking lavish profits during this time of severe energy problems for the average Joe. It is very easy to point fingers and jump up and down, crying foul. The Energy giants are gouging us, profiteering at it's worst is being spouted all over the news and at water coolers around the country. Blogs and webpages also mimics these ideas.

So, I am going to try and explain why this is not as bad as some would lead you to believe. First of all we do live in a capitalist society where companies are allowed to sell their products in a free market where prices fluctuate up and down. Any company has the right to charge what it can get for it's product as long as it does not break any laws in the process. BIG OIL does not have much competition so unlike the Walmart's of the world no one is going to slash prices to out sell the other guy. The oil market is a global market where prices are generally set by OPEC and by trading of oil on the world stock and futures markets. The BIG OIL companies from the USA use these prices as well to sell each barrel the pump out of the ground. The price of a barrel is way up now and that leads to profits that are way up.

In addition to this we are in the midst of a refinery crisis due to the latest batch of hurricane related weather disasters. Many refineries were damaged and pipelines were shut down so this proposes a large problem for those companies and for the end users of the products. Our refineries normally run at near full capacity so this kind of interruption creates supply and demand issues that drives up prices in a hurry.

Why do we not have enough refining capacity? You can thank congress and the environmental movement in the USA for that situation. There has not been a refinery built in the USA for nearly thirty years due to the pressure put on politicians to keep the BIG OIL companies from building these behemoth plants in any given city or town. Nobody wants one in their backyard yet everyone screams now that the price of gasoline as well as home heating energy is out of control.

What can we do about it? Well this is the question. Individuals can now buy smaller most fuel efficient vehicles if they choose to do so. You can also cut back on energy consumption around your home in a myriad of different ways. You might even carpool or ride a bike or bus to work. However if you are not so inclined to do these kinds of things you can invest in the markets and buy stocks or mutual funds with energy related holdings. This way you might pay more at the pump but you reap the rewards on the back end in dividends. Keep in mind too that the longer the price of gas stays high the more car companies will invest in alternative technologies to give you the consumer more viable alternatives to the gas guzzling SUV's you have grown accustomed too.

I will continue with this subject in the next blog!

Until then please feel free to give me some feedback on your ideas about BIG OIL and their windfall profits!

The War on Terror - World War III

2005-10-14T02:54:00.000-07:00

I agree with Bill O'Reilly that this war is WWIII yet I do not agree with the way he spins the war news in his so called "No Spin Zone." In fact I think that 90 percent of the news coverage we get from the press here in the USA is negative and harmful to the effort.

Just imagine if the press were not anti-war in the country and if this was a war waged by a democrat such as Bill or Hillary Clinton. I'll bet the coverage would be vastly different by the so called "Main Stream Media." Instead of news reports each day saying, "Another US soldier was killed today when a road side bomb exploded as the unilateral US forces continue to combat the insurgents in Iraq. More and more people here in the US are voicing their concerns about high US casualties blah, blah, blah.

You might here it reported like this. "Only one casualty today for the US in Iraq as the US continues it's war against the radical terrorists in the middle east. As we are well into our second year in this conflict we have only lost 2000 soldiers. Although all soldiers are important and their sacrifices significant if we compare this war to others from the nations history we have made some major progress in the way we conduct ground wars. In Vietnam for example where we had lost nearly ten times that amount by the 2nd year of the conflict. With the Iraqi's about to cast their historic votes for the first constitution in that country's long and brutal history we may see the beginnings of change sweeping through the middle east as the Iraq's embrace democracy with this vote...

Wow, you see how the perspective can change when you look at this war from another point of view!

Think about it....

JD