It’s Been A Year!

One year ago today, I posted my first blog on this site.  Thanks to those of you who actually read it. hehe

 

I Didn’t Realize I Could Think Less of Cindy Sheehan, But I Can

What an atrocious waste of time, resources and energy for Ms. Sheehan. I guess she has nothing better to do.  And I guess there’s no need to worry about money since she’s profited so largely from her son’s death. 

I’ve always believed that she’s a psycho, but until this point I’ve felt sorry for her.

Now I think she is nothing more than a pathetic puppet for a wacky, left-wing extremist movement who is using her to gain sympathy, thus supporting its own propagandist agenda.

Actually, upon second thought – I’ve known that all along. 

I Think This Ruling Is Insane

It is ridiculous that insanity will keep Ms. Yates from spending life in prison. She will be institutionalized and attend hearings regularly to determine whether or not she is still insane. At which point, she could be released. I’ll admit, I don’t know the time table for these hearings, but I’m curious. What would stop her from having another family? She’s not so old that there is no possibility that she could create another family. And the world is full of slime balls so it may not be hard for her to remarry and have another child. What will be done at that point? Who will protect that child, in the event she, once again, becomes insane?

It is my personal opinion that any human being, who drowns her babies in a bathtub, is insane. But I sat through Criminal Law, and I understand that in order to commit a crime, there must be intent.

Ms Yates should be locked away for life, with no opportunity to rejoin society. The jury who convicted her in 2002 agreed with me. But after appeals it was overturned, giving this psycho the potential opportunity – at some point, to do it all over again.

I Concur, Mr. Buckley

I don’t like posting something like this, but I’m afraid it’s true.

William F. Buckley, a long time conservative, has spoken out on his notion that our president is not a true conservative.

PRD’s Stem-Cell Plea

I’m bringing this to the front page because I think it’s important. We all have different views, I know. But stem-cell research should be on our minds. It has taken a lot for me to consider this, and I still go back and forth. But take a few minutes, and read what he wrote.

Touching, my friend…

“Hello,
I post today with a heavy heart, and a sense of overwhelming sadness. Not necessarily sadness in my life, but sadness for those whom I love. I have been struggling with something all weekend, and I feel I need to share it, to get word out, to change the current political climate and direction of this country. There are times that the people on the other side of the political aisle do things
that disgust me. I am sure there are times those same people are sickened by my politics and my theories and thoughts. There are times when I wonder if we all even live in the same country, or if we are even all on the same side. Sometimes, and both parties are guilty of this, but sometimes we put “our party” in front of our better judgment and morality. Sometimes, for a few thousand votes, we sacrifice all that has made this nation what it has become. We sometimes don’t think
about the consequences of our actions, as long as we (insert your political party here) win. The conservatives will often justify irrational and hurtful policies with Biblical text, etc., even though
it’s quite obvious to the objective observer that they have no leg to stand on. As a liberal, I am sure I sometimes justify particular ideas and concepts with a certain arrogance. I am sure my party is as guilty as the other when it comes to defending itself with less than legitimate rationales. My point is, there are two very different political philosophies in this country.
However, those differences shouldn’t lead us astray. We need to realize in the end that we are all Americans, and it is the fact that we have such open political debate that makes us who we are. I am writing this as a plea to Republicans everywhere. There is an issue that I am going to address herein that Republicans oppose, for what they say are Christian ideals. However, I think such opposition is the exact antithesis of Christian behavior. I am not writing this to attack
conservatives. Quite the contrary. I am writing with the hopes that perhaps something I say here today may touch a nerve, and hopefully allow some to reach a realization that their belief system, at least regarding what I am about to discuss, is flawed. There are lives depending upon it.

Now, let me get to my story. When I was 18 years old, I moved away to college, like most of us did. That first day on campus I met a woman named Tanya Whitmer. Evidently, we had met
each other at some brief moment earlier in our lives, but neither of us recalled this meeting. Upon my arrival at college, her parents and my parents made sure we met each other
immediately. From that first day forward, she has been my best friend. She is the one I confide in. She is the one I share my problems with. She is my biggest and greatest supporter outside of my nuclear family. She is like a sister to me. That same first week that I arrived on campus for my freshman year, I met a guy named Jeremy Young. He and I bonded immediately. We were two peas in a pod. Someone I would want my sister to marry, for instance. He has since become
a great friend as well, and someone I spent several hours on the phone with this weekend. Anyway, many years after I met Tanya and Jeremy, who were just acquaintances of one another
at the time, I was the best man in their wedding. They have been married for about 10 years now, and this is where my story really begins.

Tanya is a polymer chemistry professor at Ohio State University. This is a position she accepted about three months ago after holding the same position at Kansas State. Jeremy has a law degree, but doesn’t use it. Instead, he works in the copyright office at Ohio State University. Anyway, about 7 years ago, these two beautiful people had a son. His name is Nathaniel, and he was born four months premature. He was literally the size of my thumb when he was born.
None of us figured he would make it through the day, but due to the miracles of SCIENCE, he was able to go home from the hospital about two months later, and progressed like a normal little boy thereafter. It wasn’t until he was about 3 that it became obvious that he wasn’t quite normal. Although he was very smart, and seemed to be normal in almost every way, he was incredibly tiny. He reminded me of a poor, skinny, starving, African child. The kind I had seen growing up. However, he was well nourished and had very excellent parents. He just wasn’t really growing. The doctors blamed this on the premature birth, and basically just said his growth had
been stunted, but other than that, he was a normal little boy. We all took that for what it was worth and never really delved into the topic again. Then, about six months ago, Nathaniel began to tell his parents that his legs hurt, and he reverted to crawling once again. He told his dad it was too painful to use his legs to walk. Of course, at first, his parents thought he was just being a baby, and thought nothing of it. Then it got worse. About the time they moved to Columbus three months ago, he lost all power in his legs. He would crawl, and was unable to stand up on his own. Obviously, something wasn’t right. Tanya and Jeremy took him to a doctor. After about two months, and hundreds of tests, they were told to come in to see the doctor last Friday. They were told on Friday that their son has Muscular Dystrophy. Now, that disease in and of
itself is horrible. However, there are two basic types of MD. With one, onset occurs in one’s thirties or late twenties, and those individuals can generally live well into their 60s. With the
other, onset begins around the age of 5. The patient becomes completely unable to perform most basic tasks by the age of 10, and the average age of death is 17. On rare occasions, these people will live into their 30s, but that is the best of the best case scenarios. This is the disease poor
Nathaniel has. This little boy will most likely be deceased in 10 years. He won’t be able to experience high school graduation. He won’t experience driving a car. He won’t experience the
gift of growing old. Now, I say all this in pretty dire terms, because it is a dire situation. Both Jeremy and Tanya spoke to me on Saturday, and we all cried together for quite some time. At this point in our history of mankind, all that we can hope for is to slow down the disease. We know, however, that there is no cure.

The most promising place where a cure could and would most likely be found is in stem cell research. As we all know, our President has chosen for “Christian” reasons, to not allow the
study of stem cells in the United States. This is where I have been going with this post. Not allowing stem cell research, though his objections may be couched in “religious” terms, is the antithesis of Christianity in my opinion. I would like George to look Tanya and Jeremy in the eye and tell them he’s sorry they will lose their son at 17, but for moral reasons, he is unable to allow the study of stem cells. He just can’t sacrifice a few stem cells, which from a scientific standpoint ARE NOT LIFE, for an actual living, breathing child. This is hypocracy at its finest.
I certainly don’t think my God would prefer we let little children die, rather than allow stem cells, created in a lab, to live. I have always had my issues with the President, but this one is personal. For all you conservatives out there who follow Bush because he is your president, now is the time to take a stand for righteousness and rationality. It’s time we stop living in the middle ages, and wake up. God gave us minds to solve complex problems. Using the President’s logic, if
God didn’t want us to study stem cells, he wouldn’t have given us the opportunity to do so. I am as Christian as the next man, but enough is enough. Let’s let science do its thing, and quit being scared about offending God. He provided us with an outlet even if we do offend him. I just don’t want to have to see my best friends tell their son when he reaches the proper age, that he is going to die. I don’t want Tanya and Jeremy to have to get out of bed every day for the next 10 years, and look at their son, and cry. Let’s put partisan bickering aside for once, Mr. Bush, and do what is right. Don’t let the Jerry Falwells of the world tell you how to live your life. Don’t let the religious right, most of whom are quite uneducated, determine your morality. Make up your own mind, and do what is right sir….

To end this, I want to say one more thing. This disease is genetic. This disease was inherited from Tanya’s side of the family. Tanya is not only my best friend, but she is also my COUSIN. Little Nathaniel is my cousin.

If you were to look at Tanya and me you would think we were
brother and sister. That’s how similar we look. The Whitmers are a close nit family, and they allshare similar physical attributes. Let’s hope that Muscular Dystrophy isn’t one we will share.

Sincerely,

Ryan P. DeArman, Esq.”

Probably The Coolest Moment of 2006

é

You promised me you’d be around
You took my smile and gave me a frown
You embarrassed me
You made me cry
And you’re not man enough to tell me why

You gave me something good
You took it away
You told me about your dreams
And said in my arms you wanted to stay.

You sang me songs
And played Scrabble with me
We listened to the Phantom of The Opera
And Michael Bublé

How could things be so right?
Then turn so wrong
All I wanted was to know you,
But now I’ll sing a different song.

I’ve just one last thing to say:

I wish I hadn’t met you
But more than that
I wish I could forget you.

I’m Not Trying To Be Hypocritical, But…

The sensationalism and stupidity in the media still amazes me at times. I don’t know why I’m surprised; I guess I’m not. Looking at Drudge earlier, I saw a report from Tulsa regarding a crackdown on illegal immigrants in Oklahoma. “Operation Return To Sender” is targeting illegals in Tulsa all week. The operation should be complete on Friday.
Thanks for telling us – and them. I suppose stories like this should be blamed on the media’s liberal bias, more specifically, their anti-Bush agenda. Either way, it’s absurd. And it is another small reminder that, overall, the media has lost all journalistic integrity.

I Need To Learn

“Don’t see some men as half empty; see them half full of shit.”

I’ve been guilty of being full of shit, and I don’t know many who haven’t. It’s aggravating isn’t it? If the saying is true, “what goes around comes around” then I guess I’m getting mine now.

All week I’ve been racking my brain, trying to figure out how I could justify taking blame for offenses I haven’t made. And I’m tired of it.

People hurt us; people let us down. That’s life, and we all have to deal with that at some point because none of us are perfect. I know I’m far from it.

I’m trying to learn how to let go of things without answers, realizing at some point maybe I’ll see the big picture. People say “things happen for a reason.” If the above clichés are true then I guess I need not worry. It is hard, however, not to do so in the interim.

All I Ask Of You

I’ve been listening to “All I Ask of You” from Phantom of The Opera all day.  

Someone told me that the kind of love Raoul had for Christine was healthier than the love the phantom had for her.  True – they both loved her.  But the phantom was interested in what Christine had to offer him while Raoul was consumed with what he longed to give her.   

Raoul says:
“Let me be
your shelter,
let me be your light;
you’re safe,
no one will find you,
your fears are far behind you.”

One thing I noticed as I listened to this song on repeat today is that the love Christine and Raoul had for each other is the kind of love we should all hope to have…I want to take care of someone and be taken care of in return.    

This song touches me in a different way each time I hear it.  It has reminded me this week of what I want and what I have to offer to someone else.   

It’s beautiful.  If you haven’t heard it, change that.  You can listen to it here.

Take a look at the lyrics.