Speak Up

Sometimes we need hope. Not hope and change. Just hope.

Every now and then, we get a boost. It may be as simple as a smile when you’re feeling down. It might be a simple, sweet surprise from one you love. Maybe you see someone you haven’t seen in a long time, and it cheers you up just to talk to them. Maybe it’s a baby, laughing and giggling without a care in the world, that reminds you of a time when you had about as much concern as he or she does.

Today’s world is dangerous. A lot of places are dark, and dirty, and so, unfortunately, are many of the people in them. People no longer seem to care about their fellow man. Or care what impact their actions might have on those around them.

Sometimes it seems  like the world is just full of hate. This group wants to kill that group, and that group wants to kill them right back. Another group wants to take rights away from people, while another demands that their government subsidize their way of life.

It’s enough to make even the most cheerful person want to scream. Or cry. Or both. That’s when we need hope the most.

The news people seem to want to keep us at each other’s throats, since that’s what sells advertising, and pays their salaries. Hate mongers want to keep us at each other’s throats because that’s what keeps their coffers full, and allows them to go around the nation, spewing their hate filled diatribe to any and all who are willing to listen.

Politicians certainly want us at each other’s throats, since they can point at ‘the other guys’ and expound why you should trust them and only them. When in reality, we can’t really trust any of them.

Some people ask how long will this continue? The simple answer is, as long as we let it. We’re the one’s who have to finally stand up and say ‘enough is enough’. We don’t want to hear it anymore.

Someday’s it’s all I can manage just to get through the day without yelling that at the top of my lungs. Maybe I should stop managing. Maybe all of us should.

It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s never had to be this way. We let so few people decide the direction of this nation, while we stand back and wonder what we can do to change it.

Speak up. Demand that our government answer to us, instead of the other way around. We don’t work for them. They work for us.

Speak up. Hate mongers don’t speak for us. They speak for themselves, and what it can bring them.

Speak up. News reporters don’t tell us what to do, what to like, what to say, or who to vote for. They don’t decide what’s important to us. We do.

Get mad. Let these people know that you don’t want to hear their crap anymore. That you aren’t going to be afraid to live and love like YOU want to. That you’re tired of being held prisoner by someone else’s words or actions.

Demand accountability. Personal responsibility.

Demand your country back. If enough of us do it, we can make a difference.

Pass it on.

Books and Movies and TV oh my

Sometimes I post my own reviews about books I’ve read, or shows I’ve seen. I haven’t done it in a while, and thought I’d play some catch up.

Recently saw Wrath of the Titans. Excellent movie. If you liked the first one, then you’ll enjoy the sequel. It’s not for everyone, that’s true, but if you like the genre, it’s time well spent.

At long last finished Koontz’s Frankenstein series. The last book wasn’t terribly bad, but it was, in my opinion the weakest of the them. All the strings were tied up nicely, mind you, but it lacked the drive that the first four novels had. Again, though, if you like the genre, and I do, then it’s time well spent. Koontz is an excellent tale spinner.

Larry Correia’s Dead Six is another book I recently read. Loved it. The ending hints at a sequel, and I hope there is one. Correia also writes the Monster Hunter series, which is top notch entertainment. Hope there’s a movie deal for it somewhere.

I’m through season Six of Supernatural. Have to watch it on DVD since we can’t get CW here. Somehow the writers manage to keep life in the story, and keep the show fresh. It’s great entertainment.

Same for Doctor Who. I’m through season Six there, as well, and find myself eagerly awaiting Seven. Never got into the Doctor as a kid, but the new BBC series is wonderful. Great characters and special effects.

Saw a trailer recently for Dark Shadows, with Johnny Depp. Being a fan of Dark Shadows from waaaay back to the soap opera days, I was disappointed to see that this new movie seems to be a mockery of those days. The short lived television series with Ben Cross was a great salute to the Barnabas Collins story, but if the trailer is at all representative of the movie, then it’s some kind of comedic re-write that will be sure to offend old time fans like myself. I’m sure it will do at least fair at the box office, with Depp heading a fairly string cast, but that won’t make it right.

Recently watched the Captain America movie as well. Missed in theater, and now I wish I had been able to get in to see it on the big screen. As a lead in to the Avenger movie it was excellent, but stood well on it’s own merits, too. Great cast, special effects, and story. Really liked it.

Well, that’s not all, but it covers the high points. I’m always interested in what others are reading or watching. If you’ve encountered something really great recently, by all means share!

 

Bonespear Update!

Hey all!

Posted a new chapter in the Bonespear Tales this morning. I know it’s taken too long, and for that I apologize. Thanks for your patience. Remember that I’m working on this one in my copious amounts of spare time (that’s sarcasm, since I don’t really have a lot of spare time at the moment, lol) so I’m doing what I can. I really like this story, and I’m trying to make sure that it retains at least some of the dark humor I wanted to see in it while working on it.

I’m planning, as time allows, to make this more of a serial, than a novel. Showing odd and end stories about Kalef’s encounters as a Pole Police detective, and perhaps even back when he was still a uniform.

In the meantime, I wanted it to be humorous, and a little dark, since it’s making fun of the North Pole Industrial Complex.

I have sort of a surprise ending in store for the this tale, if I can work the story in that direction.

Thanks again for the comments, and for reading. I’m glad you’re enjoying it!

Bully

A nine year old girl in Alabama was forced to run until she died this two weeks ago because she ate a candy bar.

Until she died.

If anyone doesn’t think that’s wrong, they need serious help. Or a good ass whuppin. The grandmother who did this should be handcuffed to a treadmill and forced to run until she dies. Instead she’ll probably get treatment of some kind. The step mother who watched this happen should hung up in one of those cages until the birds have pecked her apart.

No, I’m not kidding.

A neighborhood watch ‘captain’ just recently shot and killed a teenager who’s crime, apparently, was wearing a hoodie and looking suspicious. Turns out the shooter is a wannabe cop who apparently was washed from the program. The police dispatcher told him NOT to follow the ‘suspicious individual’, but the shooter made the comment ‘these assholes always get away’.

Turns out, the teenager was armed with an especially deadly pack of skittles, a brisk tea, and an MP3 player. The man followed the boy, pursued might be a better description, there was an altercation, and a seventeen year old boy who apparently had never been in trouble in his life is dead. And the shooter, claiming self defense, is still a free man.

Now there’s a real bully for you.

What the hell is wrong with us as a nation when we can produce people like this? What is wrong with us as a nation when we do not, with one voice, demand that these two women pay the ultimate price for this travesty? Demand that this man be held responsible for killing this teenager.

We see people abuse others so much that we have become insensitive to it. Desensitized is the word most used to describe this kind of acceptance. It’s pathetic.

Children are bullied at schools all the time. Often with tragic results. And nothing is done. Oh, sure, they have bullying ‘classes’, teaching everyone to respect other people. Great work. I’m sure it’s very successful. But you want to know how to stop bullying against your child?

You hold their parents responsible for their actions. When your child is bullied, you go see the bully’s parents. Let them know, with no room for misunderstanding, that every time their child bully’s your child, you will beat their ass into the pavement.

Every time.

Every time your child hurts my child, I will hurt you. Only worse. You will be held accountable for your child’s actions. Every. Single. Time.

Then there are the thugs who wander our streets, with actions like the ‘knock out game’. When you see this happening, of course call the police. But don’t stop there. Take up your trusty two by four, and knock the ‘playas’ out. Let the police find them there, knocked out. Play their game by their rules.

When you see elderly abuse, of course, call the police. Then, show the abuser what it feels like to have broken ribs. Fingers. Bruises and contusions.

When a man hits a woman, it’s usually because he needs to feel manly. When a man or a woman beats a child, it’s usually because they lack the courage to strike out at the people they are really angry at. They are cowards. Scum. Worthless, wasted skins breathing air that better people may one day need to live. They should be taught the error of their ways.

Since violence seems to be all they understand, speak to them in their language. It’s long passed the time when people need to stand up to this kind of thing. Too often we ask ‘how long will this continue?’. The answer is, it will continue as long as we allow it too.

It’s time we established the rules. We the people. Are tired of your wanton violence against those who cannot defend themselves. We say NO MORE.

Be the anti-bully. Bully the bullies. Let them live in fear for a change.

That’s the best therapy for the bully sickness.

We The People. . . .

Have you ever thought much about the Constitution? I know we all learned about it in school, or at least I did. Now days, who knows? But that’s another post.

The Constitution is supposed to be the supreme law of the land. I should capitalize that. The Supreme Law of the Land. It’s that important.

It seems nowadays that our Constitution is being trampled upon more and more. It’s almost as if we’re waking up to find out that the Constitution has been spirited away in the dark of night. Taken away, all at once.

But that’s not accurate. It didn’t happen all at once. Like the boiling frog, it happened to us slowly. Over time. A little here. A little there. That right wasn’t important to us, so we ignored it. This one didn’t really apply to us, we decided, so it wasn’t a big deal.

That’s a dangerous road to walk, my friends. When we start thinking that any part of the Constitution isn’t worth defending, then we set the course to lose it all.

Who is responsible for this, you may ask. Well, the answer is unpleasant.  All we have to do is look in the mirror.

Yeah, I said it was unpleasant. We the people sat by and let it happen. Since it wasn’t important to us at the time, we didn’t take note.

And we should have. It’s our responsibility. What’s that you say? It’s our Representatives, our Senators, who are responsible? Okay, I’ll grant you that. But who put those Representatives, those Senators in office?

We did.

Can’t escape the responsibility of citizenship. As citizens of the greatest Republic the world has ever seen, we had the responsibility of making sure that Republic was safeguarded. Making sure that the people we chose to run that government were solid citizens, intent on protecting the Law of the Land. Protecting our rights. Not on garnering more power for themselves. Lining their pockets. Setting themselves up to run for higher offices.

But somewhere along the way, we stopped doing that. Being responsible. We had too much to do. There was money to be made, social functions to attend, Twitter status’ to update. Television to watch.

So, we ignored the threats to the Constitution, to our way of life. To the very thing that makes this nation what it is. We The People, we dropped the ball.

It’s time for us to get our priorities in order. It’s long passed the time to get our house in order.

It’s time for We The People to pick the ball up again. And run with it.

Updates

Finally got the latest chapter of Bonespear up and posted. Again, for those of you who have been following my writing, I’m sorry for the delays. Sometimes Real Life is just too much on it’s own, and leaves me no time for my writing.

Thanks to all of you who have commented, and encouraged. On any of my stories.

Hopefully there will be more Bonespear on the way. Sometimes I have to catch the mood just right to be able to write in these first person stories. It’s fun, but very challenging sometimes.

Bad

Goodbye 2011, Hello panic!

I know it’s been too long since I updated anything. Sorry about that. Wifey has been big time sick, and then I caught it. Vicious cycle I guess. Anyway, I’ve been too busy to do much.

For those of you interested in Billy, thank you. I’m considering publishing it through an e-publisher like Amazon once it’s finished. Depending on what I find out, I may not be able to put anymore of it here, since public domain tends to kill any publishing effort. If I DON’T publish it, however, then the entire story will eventually be available here.

As for the others; Parno was here as a preview, and no other chapters will be posted until I hear from the publisher. No idea when that will be.

Bonespear started as a lark, and may stay that way, but I’m still working on it. Might have a new chapter for it up in the next few days, depending on what happens.

My fanfiction is available at fanfiction.net, under the firefly stories section, in the name bad_karma00. I think there’s about twenty odd stories there in my name right now, including the Shade series, which has been pretty popular. If you’re not a fan of the series, or haven’t seen the movie Serenity, then they may not interest you. On the other hand, if you like the stories from the ‘verse, it might make you a fan. It has others.

Citadel is under going a severe re-write, but the premise is still the same. Again, it was intended as a preview, since I hope one day to submit it to a publisher as well.

Thanks for all your comments to date. I really appreciate it.

On to other news, lol.

According to professional ‘doomsdayer’s’ this is the year the world ends in a cataclysmic destruction, long prophesied by the famous Mayan calendar. Get your military survival gear NOW!

Kidding. I don’t believe that the calendar really predicts the end, and have seen reports from several modern day Mayan Elders who say that. The calendar simply runs on a cycle. No idea if it’s true, or not. For me, I’m a Christian, so it’s my goal to always be ready to meet my Lord and Savior at any time. I admit I’m not always good at that, but I work on it every day.

I do support personal preparedness for emergencies, as anyone who reads this blog much knows. I’m not a ‘doomer’ or a ‘survivalist’. Don’t want to overthrow the ‘gubermint’ or any of that crap. I just think that responsible people owe it to themselves and their families to be prepared for emergencies. Growing up in Tornado Alley, and in the shadow of the New Madrid Fault Zone does that to you. It never hurts to have that grab bag, or a few days or even weeks of food and water stored for such times. I think FEMA has increased it’s recommendation to a minimum of two weeks, up from the original three days. I feel sure that’s a result of lessons learned from Katrina, where relief supplies simply couldn’t make it to the affected areas in three days, due to the severity of the damage, and the flooding.

Remember that water is especially important, since flooding and lack of power often make it impossible for municipal water treatment plants to produce/provide safe drinking water in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

Expect panic this year, however, as the ‘date’ grows near. Those who do believe in the Mayan ‘prophesy’ will be working hard to try and be ‘ready’. I don’t know how to be ready for the end of the world, except to be on good terms with the Almighty. There’s really nothing else to be done, in my opinion, if the whole world’s ending.

Added to that is the election cycle. It’s vicious this time, more so than in the past it appears to me. Makes me wonder about us as a people sometimes.

Anyway, I hope that all of you have a safe and fun holiday, and that next year is better to you, even of this year was a good one.

Bad

In it to quit it

Sorry I haven’t posted lately. I’ve been very busy lately, and sick to boot. Also a friend’s house burned down while he was in the hospital. His wife left the hospital to get a change of clothes and check on things, and arrived to find their home in ashes. Thankfully they were insured, but the loss of personal items that can’t really be replaced will never be made whole by insurance, no matter how good.

Everyone knows by now that Herman Cain has quit. For those I convinced to support him, I apologize. I sincerely believed in the man, and his ideas, and I thought he meant what he said when he told us he was ‘in it to win it’. Obviously that wasn’t entirely accurate. To add insult to injury, many people who had ordered signs, buttons, etc from the campaign, at their expense, received these items after Cain had ‘suspended’ his campaign. No refund possible.

His entire campaign was run sloppily. I put a lot of that off as the fact that he wasn’t an experienced politician, and was just making mistakes that anyone might make. But those running things behind the scenes were not doing their jobs well, if at all, and that, at least in part, played a part in Cain’s  downfall. He trusted people that just didn’t get the job done.

But then, neither did he, so there ya go.

I have no idea who I might vote for now, and I won’t ever use this blog to support another candidate again. I probably shouldn’t have this time, but we live, we learn. This blog is supposed to be about my writing, and from now on, that’s what it will be. I’ll still post my little rants once in a while, of course, heheheh, but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t do that.

In the next few days I hope to add to all of my stories currently running here, but bear in mind that I am now working on the sequel to Parno, just in case it get’s published. And oh, what a grand thing that would be, *sigh*.

Meantime, I hope all of you had a great thanksgiving, and will have a safe and merry Christmas.

 

Bad

Parno’s Company

Parno’s Company, for those of you who enjoyed the snippets I posted here, (the reason I started this blog in the first place) has been sent to the publishers.

I don’t know when I will hear from them, though it usually takes a year to year and a half.

In the meantime, I’m still typing. Thanks to all of you who have encouraged me.

Now, I’ll hush and get back to writing!

Are we missing Phil yet?

Three seasons have come and gone since The University of Tennessee fired Phillip Fulmer as head football coach. He had a losing season. There had been discipline problems.

He also had the best winning percentage of active coaches in Division 1 football. He was also a great recruiter. He led us to a National Championship, and within two or three plays of another the next year.

Then, he has a bad season, and once loyal fans are screaming it’s time for him to go. Hypocrites.

Seems some couldn’t remember when it was the high point of the decade for us to beat Alabama, and finish with a record good enough to get a bowl invitation. Years when we were clobbered at home. Years when we might as well not fielded a team.

Fulmer changed that. And we fired him.

Enter wonder boy Lane Kiffin. In one season he managed to wreck the program, and leave behind how many NCAA violations? And he cost us John Chavis, who consistently fielded one of the top defenses in the country. He’s now at LSU.

Now, Derrick Dooley. He’s got a tough road to travel, with a young team, a wrecked program, reduced scholarships, and a team that lacks confidence and direction. We expected a bad season last year, as he struggled to get things going again.

This year, we have yet to win a single conference game. Not one. I can’t even remember the last time that happened.

And there are ugly sounds in the background that he might go to Georgia, if their coach can’t make things happen this year. (He seems to be, at present, however.)

So are we missing Phil yet? I damn sure am. To all of you who screamed for his head, you get what you ask for. He’s gone. Be careful what you wish for.

We’ve gone from looking for a win against Florida, to praying for one against Vandy.