Declarations of my secret deeds.

A while back I wrote about addiction in the Blue Road Publishing blog. The controlling force of our desire. So strong that we are all but powerless. We fear domination, so we in turn create excuses for our behavior. Our choices are protected by our need to be seen as influential to the public.

That concept--choice--is in and of itself misuderstood. Try explaining the idea to someone who has never seen any decison as a choice, rather it is and will always be survival. Choice seems to conjure the image of having the ability to pick between two or more scenarios. Choice is the ability to consider possiblities; to have the foresight to determine the best play. Saying we have a choice leads us to believe all outcomes are acceptable.

But what would everyone else have done? I have no choice except to confess the transgressions of my past. For too long I have refused to accept the consequences while enjoying the benefits of my sinful desires which have driven my choices...

I can only pray...

So this is Christmas...

It is the holidays and John Lennon is on my mind. Not the person, but the attitude. Looking back I can see where Lennon has been a driving force in my thinking. It started with the proverbial fixation with the Beatles back in 1971. I was ii years old and just starting junior high school (7th grade). Well before the idiots created the middle school concept and education started on the descent into Dante's 7th circle.
I am not sure what made the Beatles resonate with me. I had been an ardent country music fan. I suppose the Beatles were my gateway into heavy metal a few years later and my man crush on Robert Plant and Roger Waters. But I remember I took rather quickly to John and Paul's writing. Though each of the Fab 4 had a distinct style, John's always held my attention. Paul's was alright, but I was the kid that never thought of love as something to be experienced, rather it was just a feeling to empathize with.
John's writing always took you some place. Though I must admit when he set out on his solo career, I was less than enthusiastic. Double Fantasy was a mixed bag of worries for me. But over the years, I have realized the importance of this album and why Johns felt he had to record it. Now I find myself longing to hear more Lennon songs. To hear that idealistic soul, reaching out to the world, just trying to get us some peace.

So I started with the Christmas theme and digressed to Lennonology. My original point was being here in North Carolina, on December 11, 2011 and it is 55 degrees outside. The Christmas spirit is not moving me. Mary commented the other night how there is a blantant lack of holiday lighting throughout the area. We are just south west of Raleigh near Ft. Bragg and folks here just aren't lighting up.
There are select places that do the Chevy Chase Christmas light explosion, but they are overtly commercial. There is Meadows Lights that require a train ride to see all the lights clearly and another place just east of Raleigh in someone's front yard. But very few private residences light up.


I just expected a little more participation from the Bible belt.

SO Herman Cain's faux presidential run is DOA. I thought he was always just a tail wagger for the republickins. I believe that the real republickin candidate is yet to be revealed. I expect the person to be candidate will arise from the pyre just before New Hampshire primaries. The media will conveniently fail to vet the candidate and he will be hoisted on high as the new GOP saviour. I say "he" because I truly doubt the republickins will not put a woman up against an incumbent. I want to say he will be old, but the GOP just might pull a rabbit out of their ass and hold up a 40 something guy with moderate leanings in the public eye, but he will in turn choose an ultra conservative VP. The GOP is still trying to find a way to discredit a black man who happens to be president without being overtly racist. And the black man is trying to be president without being overtly black?
Time for President Obama to step up and be the leader this country needs. He was elected on a mandate. If King George II could say this with a straight face after the 2004 elections, then Barack can say it with sincerity. This country needs to get over the race barrier and accepot the fact President Obama has to do what a president does; that is to manipulate and coherse others into getting the job done. I for one am tired of this avoidance of the "Angry Black Man" appearance. President Obama was elected by the majority to GET ANGRY and correct the ills of this country.

Watchful Eyes

Thanks for the guest post by Donn Schroeder


One of the best things about living in a neighborhood is that you have neighbors to keep an eye on things while you’re away. This is one of the fundamental benefits of purchasing a home in a neighborhood. Unfortunately, we do not live in a friendly neighborhood. We have lived here for over a year and a half, and not one of our neighbors has offered anything by way of greeting other than a very unenthusiastic wave as we drive by. Therefore, I have little faith in their willingness to watch our house while we’re gone. It’s a sad reality. As with any sad reality, I choose to ignore it. Instead, I enlist the help of ADT LICK CREEK. I pay a paltry amount every month for the peace of mind that having an alarm provides me, in my opinion. I know that if we’re away from the house for work or if we choose to take a last minute weekend trip, our house is protected. If there is a fire, flood, or burglary, my alarm monitoring company notifies me immediately and then alerts the proper authorities. While having an alarm can’t prevent something bad from happening, it certainly makes handling an undesirable situation much easier. It’s worth every penny.

Suffer the Children.

Hav i ng spent my career in education, I have seen it all. Kids beaten, raped, sold, bought, and murdered. Not to say it was education's fault nor the lack of standards and expectations. The majority of kids are are still in the home with some sort of relative. Either biological parents, grandparents or aunts / uncles. Some are abused willfully, others by beingf wrong place at the wrong time. Butthey come to school everyday, unless they are forced to stay home or physically locked down. School is a sanctuary. It is not a treatment facility. A place to fix all the world's ills. But is is a place of respite.

Now we have taken that away. We have refused to see the kid as an individual. We are being forced to see all kids as the same. We are placing every kid into the same round hole, no matter what shape they really are. The singer is forced into college math, the writer into chemistry. The musician has to diagram sentences. Is it any wonder we are losing kids in such large numbers?

We need to raise our children to achieve. We need to teach our children to achieve their personal potential.

When the snark is on

There is always something to snark about. It isn't a matter of having material; it is usually a matter of what is snark-worthy. Those of us, who do snark, do so not to humiliate (seriously) but rather to educate and persuade others of the hidden reality. Sometimes we snark too long on the dead elephant or donkey as the case may be.
I am thinking it might be time to do a few more snarks on those religious zealots. Those self-proclaimed family value folks who never seem to have time to practice what they preach.
This idea is always ruminating in the brain. Not at the forefront, but within the thought process nonetheless. Occasionally people like Steven Colbert will bring it to the forefront. Last week I found his WWJD quote.


"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it."

Now most zealots will point to this and scream heresy on the part of Colbert. In an attempt to wag the tail and avoid any condemnation of themselves, they start pointing and chanting about anti-Jesus rhetoric. Blaming the "liberal" front and the Democrats while upholding the conservative and Republican platform.
And all that is good and holy in the opposing parties will run and hide out of fear they will get caught up in an apologetics argument. One we feel unworthy of winning because we have accepted the fact that we are ungodly. They have convinced us that their right is right and we are wrong.
Those of us on the opposition have surrendered our right to be right. We have let go of God and have tried to fight for our community based on reason, logic and common sense. All the while the conservatives have used irrational, illogic, and the inexplicable acceptance of a god to rally the masses to do stupid things. The god of the conservatives is an old white guy long since DEAD who encourages wealth and status by any means necessary--but not for EVERYONE...

Hubby and the Dog

Authored by Leandro Delgado


When we got Direct tv for my husband at home I was finally allowed to get the Pomeranian I’d been wanting for so long. He told me that if he was allowed to get all his football channels I could get a dog and that’s exactly what I did! I love Penny and she’s my little football dog, at least, that’s what my husband calls her. He even got her a tiny little jersey to wear on game days which I think is a little bit ridiculous! I love him to death but he has some weird ideas about how things work. He says that now that I have Penny he should be allowed to get a Doberman which is what he’s always wanted but I say there’s no way a dog like that is welcome in my home. I’m sorry, but with Penny and the kids around I don’t want to take any chances with a dog that may turn violent, you know? I told him he got his football and he should be happy with that!