Welcome to my blog. You never really know what to expect to find here. Some days, I might think I'm funny. Other days, I'm a little more serious. Sometimes, I'm just sharing a friend with you. Stick around and see what comes up next.
I confess. I'm a smooch addict. I love smooches. Can't get enough of them. I gotta have at least one a day. If my girlie ever stopped giving me a smooch every day, I'd probably go back to giving smooches to strangers just to fill my need.
There's nothing to be ashamed of for loving smooches. Everybody needs them. The only people who think they don't are those who aren't getting any. And once they do, they'll remember how good they are. So, in case you think you're not a smooch addict like me, go give someone a smooch and see just how happy they make you. Go on. Do it. Give your own mom a smooch if you must. Give anyone a smooch. I'm game! Get over here. SMOOOOOCH!
Smooches are the secret to world peace. How in the world could we go around killing potential smoochers to smooch? Smooches are how we should seal contracts too. The next time you make a deal or a bet or any sort of contract, instead of shaking their hand, give 'em a smooch! Imagine how great a world this would be if we each gave others more smooches. Just imagine!
I hope my message gave you a smile. I hope it helps remind you to give a smooch to those you love today. If you don't have anyone to give a smooch to, show them this and by the time they get to this line, you'll have your daily smooch no doubt. Everybody needs a smooch, so go get yours. Like other good things, smooches need to be given as much as they need to be received.
Remember to leave me a "howdy" in the comment section, so I know you stopped by. Okay? Have a wonderful day. (Give me a stumble or a tweet or a share and help me spread the message of more smooching!)
COMMENTARY | In response to another act of ridiculous and pointless violence, federal authorities have charged one Bobby Joe Rogers, 41, with violating federal explosives laws for allegedly setting fire to a Pensacola abortion clinic on January 1, as reported on The Washington Post's website. It seems for some folks, there's just no better way to start the new year out than with some unnecessary act of violence.
Luckily for Bobby Joe Rogers, nobody was reported injured in this latest cowardly act of violence, still, the news report states he could be facing up to 20 years in prison for his actions if convicted. In addition to this fire and daily protests by people carrying bibles and crosses at the clinic, this particular location - known as "The Ladies Center" - has been the center of attention for one or more groups of Christian extremists in Pensacola for decades now, according to an Associated Press report issued today.
In spite of decades of violence - mostly involving arson, explosives and butyric acid attacks - access to abortions for women is an issue which no group of extremists has a right to stop. While there are some elements of American society who believe themselves doing "the Lord's work" in committing these acts, what they're attempting to stop is the safe and affordable abortion procedures which have been legal in the United States since 1973.
Some evangelicals who've managed to catch the public eye on the topic have made vague references to the "personhood" of an unborn fetus, but what never seems to get mentioned is there are no commandments (laws) in the Judeo-Christian bible restricting the termination of a pregnancy. Let's go so far as to put it bluntly to those considering an attack on any client or employee of an abortion clinic anywhere claiming the Biblical law as their reference - the Bible does not recognize the fetus.
In Numbers 3:15, God is said to have ordered a census where pregnant women were not considered two people. Numbers chapter 5 contains the "law of jealousy," where a husband suspecting his wife of infidelity can force her to drink an abortifacient known as "bitter water." With the Bible not condemning abortion - Genesis 38 and Hosea 13:16 even threatening the deaths of unborn children - why are modern American extremists being so violent to stop legal abortions?
I have a lot of difficulty imagining a system so borked as ours allowing a guy like Ron Paul to survive a victorious presidential campaign. He simply has far too many financial interests threatened by his proposals. He's too honest. He's not crooked enough. Many have even called him naive.
I'll even agree with having some issues of my own with the guy. I don't really think he'll succeed in keeping every campaign promise. And if he lets our school's science classes get screwed up with creationist's demands to be included in curriculum, he'll have done a terrible disservice to our youth.
But even with all of these factors considered, we could still stand to learn a few things from him. Hear my 5 reasons I feel we should give him the job for four years, at least, and feel free to comment on the video page. I don't block comments or video responses.
Parental alienation is one of those topics so painful for the person going through, it's quite difficult to discuss. I've tried to bring the topic up without going into a rant. I no longer wish to attack my own ex over anything, but this is still a topic which needs to be discussed among adults, with other adults, and like adults.
For those of you on mobile phones, here's a flash version:
Originally published on YouTube. It's time this form of child abuse is recognized and stopped. Here are those two resources I promise in the video. I'm sure you'll find them helpful: http://www.fact.on.ca/Info/info_pas.htm and http://www.parental-alienation-awareness.com/
Few things in life are more sickening than when a supposed grown-up uses a parent's love of their children as "leverage" of some sort or another, to get their way. Please comment on the video below. Just be mature enough to at least not be vicious. If you do have something vicious to say, and you're not willing to identify yourself, I just might delete your comment. So be mature, or at least be honest about who you are. Thanks. I hope something helps visitors here.
Throughout the history of mankind, we have always wanted to understand the mysteries around us of this beautiful world. Before the rise of science, the human mind defaulted to crediting everything to one sort of god or another. This reliance on some mysterious, supernatural entity was the norm for countless centuries of human history.
As of late though, more and more people are no longer accepting this as an answer. We are turning to various forms of science to understand our world. In the process of learning, we've found evidence of processes far more intriguing than anything religion could explain. (If someone needs support of the rise in the numbers of non-believers, visit this page from NPR, or this NBC affiliate. Here's one more.)
Where we once believed our planet to be the center of the universe, astronomy shows us we're really less than a speck of space dust, compared to the entire cosmos. Where we once held onto the belief that goodness only flows from some spiritual deity, biology now shows the human organism has an innate goodness - and that it is essential to the survival of our species.
Where once, any particular religious leader was the highest authority in any given region of the world, archeology proves mankind has had many competing gods. Even today, among any particular religion's followers, there is division. Christianity is credited with 34,000 denominations throughout history. Islam has 72 sects. Religion has - if nothing else - brought about more division than any other factor in history.
Religion held its power over the individual human mind by the power of fear, more than any other factor. In spite of attempted arguments to the contrary, love existed among all belief systems, so nobody's god can lay claim to it exclusively. No, it was a fear of eternal torment in hell which was used to gain followers. Too often, those who refused still were tortured and/or slaughtered as "heretics" or "infidels" - depending on which religion's terminology a person used.
But the various religious leaders are losing their power to kill non-believers, and they are powerless to stop the trend. Daily, more people around the world are coming to realize slaughtering their own is wrong.
For the most part, Christianity lost its carte blanche pass centuries ago, although there still remain pockets of religious persecution by Christians. Islam is losing its power before our very eyes. Ridiculous "honor killings" are prosecuted as the crimes which they are. This is good.
While each of the world's religious leaders is busy decrying others for not being more like them, we atheists notice you all sound the same to us - divisive, superstitious and lacking a philosophical leg to stand on. The threats of hell from any of you sound like the threats of hell from all of you - and we accept none of it from any of you. We've all come to learn that for all of us to survive, only love will work. As was once so eloquently stated anonymously, "Seeing now that the Bible was so wrong about where we came from, how can we trust it to tell us where we're going?"
Some day, as our future generations look through our history, they'll see that humanity finally woke up to the beautiful reality surrounding us all. They'll see the myths of an afterlife were what kept primitive man back for as long as it did. They'll be able to pinpoint the time wherein we finally realized we're all just people - and tribalism, racism and religions were just myths. They'll see we finally realized we need each other and nobody was terrorized into obeying any superstition.
It never pays to buy into every rumor on Facebook. It's bad enough when someone believes everything they read on the site. It's even worse when someone lets those Facebook rumors make them angry without checking out the accuracy of those rumors. But to go and make a threat to President Obama and his children like California politician Jules Manson did? That's just plain stupid.
First, it's criminal to call for the assassination of the president. Secondly, his children? Come on...his kids? What the hell did they do? And thirdly, to be so pissed off about a Facebook rumor that's just so...inaccurate. Wow. You big dummy.
Well, we're all human. And I wanted to give him the chance to explain himself and what he said. So I sent him a few questions. They are as follows:
'Do you regret the statement? And would you like a chance to rephrase?'
'What motivated you to make such a statement?'
'Do you feel Ron Paul supports your position? And more importantly, would you consider dropping your public support of Congressman Paul to spare him the embarrassment?'
'In case the Secret Service does come to talk with you on this subject, how will you deal with it? Will you try to fight any charges in court?'
'Also, as a dad myself, I really feel you should leave the Obama kids out of all of this. What were you thinking to mention his kids as well? Why drag his children into it?'
'In regards to these statements, on the off chance you do end up facing charges, will you indemnify Ron Paul by stating clearly, your statements do not reflect his position?'”
Thus were my questions. Jules chose to make one solid statement to me, rather than answer each question independently. So, I'm going to share his reply just as he sent it to me. I feel this is the fairest way possible to allow him to defend himself. Other than the combining of individual messages into one paragraph, no other changes have been made to his words. I can provide screen-shots if necessary.
JM: “Sure thing Donald Pennington
Thank you for allowing me to respond to this.
You are all correct. I have since had time to think about what I wrote. I went way too far but it was only an emotional over-reaction to learning that our president had signed away some of our constitutional protections. That is all it was and I meant no harm to come to anyone. For this I apologize to all you good people especially to all black Americans (including the president and his family) who may have been offended at my racial epithets or taken my statements as genuine. I also accept whatever comes my way.
I am a very emotionally driven person and often react before I have had time to calm down. I realize that nothing good can come from such statements. Again I wish to stress that I have many black friends who may find my disgusting statements offensive including many other black people I have never met. For this I deeply regret. I also wish to stress to the president himself and his family my deepest regret and apology.
However, we MUST remain very vocal about what this government is becoming. This is the only land that I know and love. It is why I am so vocal about it. If I had not cared enough, I would have remained quiet like most people.
I do not intend on ever stopping my very vocal dissent about its oppressive policies. It is my hope that this issue may have awakened all Americans to the steady erosion of our constitutional protections. This is the only thing people should be incensed about. Not my careless emotionally driven words on a facebook [sic] page.
My statements have nothing to do with Ron Paul or the Libertarian Party or anything else political. They were really me being human in a very disgusting way as most of us are guilty of sometimes in our lives. This was one such moment for me. I really do not wish for this to hurt his campaign as he really is the right man for the job.” -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In summary of the discussion with Jules Manson, I'll still disagree with his use of the racial slur, the threats of violence against the president and the wholly unnecessary comment about the president's kids.
But everyone, even the most depraved of mass-murderers on trial, get a chance to defend themselves or at least explain their side. And this was yours, Jules Manson. (I'm not saying you are a depraved mass murderer. I'm just saying even they get a chance for defense.)
I will, however, say that you are a dumbass. If this is how you react in anger – to throw racial slurs, threaten violence and attack children – then I am glad for the people of California that you blew your chance in politics. I'm also quite glad you exposed the real you in such a public way, before anyone else gets dragged into your secret room-of-stupid-bullshit-within-your-head. I'm also taking you off of my friends list.
Don't be so quick to believe silly Facebook rumors from other stupid people. Facebook is just like any other community, in that, the majority of the populace are just a bunch of big dummies – big, fat, thoughtless dummies. And you fit right in.
All of us in life, at various times, find ourselves either deserving of good things or bad. But it is not just we ourselves who get what we deserve. Whatever we enjoy or endure is shared, whether we want it to be or not, with others in our lives – our friends and loved ones, co-workers and even strangers we happen across through our day. We neither suffer nor celebrate anything alone, even when we try to.
As an example, think about the prisoner being punished for a crime. While they're the one locked up in a cell, their friends also miss them. Their family does without their contributions. Their absence from society leaves the smallest of holes in the world. They do not suffer their sentence alone. Others are punished alongside them who never see the inside of a cell.
On the opposite side of the coin, let's consider the lottery winner – at least the good side of it anyway. They're not, in any way, the only person who enjoys the benefit of the windfall. The server at any restaurant who gets their table is likely to enjoy healthy tips. Family and friends may find themselves getting gifts. The community in general gets a boost in tax revenue. Should he invest his funds in a legitimate business, he creates jobs. Even if he squanders every last dime, everything he purchases along the way generates a profit somewhere. My examples are simplistic. Real-life scenarios are vastly more complicated, but time is limited.
Whether good or bad, anything a body is enjoying or suffering, others are just as affected. Try as we might, we are never alone. Even those who've abandoned their closest family to find themselves on skid row share their bitterness in their stench for every passerby. Even they, being as far removed the society as possible, have an impact on others.
Perhaps this is what John Donne was getting at in “Meditations: XVII” when he said, in part:
“No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.”
His religious “filter” within his mind may have caused him to be something of a “drama queen,” but he was close. His limited understanding and relative lack of knowledge put into his work a theme centered only on death and his part played within the church. But, even out of his undeserved-guilt-ridden rant, the smallest piece of treasure can be found. He was so close to discovering a powerful truth.
Even if we ourselves feel we do not deserve something good – for whatever reason – we still have those in our lives who very well may. Our families, friends, associates and strangers encountered throughout each day may very well be deserving of everything good. For that reason, if nothing else, we must look for everything good we can in this life. We must strive for all the prosperity, happiness, love, joy and freedom we possibly can during our one trip on this speck of space dust, even if we feel we ourselves, do not deserve something good, others do. It's not anyone's right to deny something good which someone else may deserve.
I've just made a decision about my blog. I've just removed a long-time sponsor from it and for good cause. Maybe you might do better with AdBrite - but me – I'm a little tired of being kicked in the teeth.
I've had a small relationship with AdBrite for years now. And there have been a few times I've made a few dollars, so not all of the memories are bad. But after the month of November 2011, wherein I've had more blog visitors than ever before, I see a whopping total of 19 cents in earnings.
In fact, over the past two years, I've seen such little earnings with them, it's not even worth sweating ever collecting a cent from them. 19 cents for my best blog month. Admittedly, my blog sucks for visitors compared to most others. And that brings me to my next point.
These last couple of years, the advertisers using AdBrite have gone from good to bad to spam-a-licious. When I've addressed this with admin they tell me, when I increase my visitor totals and the quality of those visitors (whatever the hell that means anyway), I'll see better advertisers.
What? In order to get anything much more than “Congratulations! You're today's lucky visitor!” I have to get the kinds of page views that are usually turned off by “Congratulations! You're today's lucky visitor?” Talk about Catch-22. Besides, my visitor totals have been increasing, in spite of this, "Congratulations! you're today's lucky visitor," is all I see. (By the way, who could ever get tired of seeing that ingenious, well thought-out marketing approach? It just gets better every time I see it. Not lame at all, right?)
Awhile back, I was seeing those scummy, lowlife ads where some advertiser using AdBrite is basically trying to trick folks into downloading something, allegedly because their video player wasn't updated. Although I repeatedly rejected those ads, they kept showing up.
Contacting admin, I was told I needed to set my adzone to “family friendly,” and that it would significantly lower my income. So, if I am to ever have a shot at making money with AdBrite, I have to deal with these types. Well, I'm not settling for that. I sell my soul enough as it is.
Dealing with AdBrite has been a lot like being told that, in order to make a living, I have to deal with scumbags. I'm tired of the negative impact their ads have had on my blog. The folks at WoT have told me what shows up on my page from these advertisers AdBrite deals with. They're just not finicky enough to deserve to be on my blog.
Then there are questions too, regarding the way they work anyway. Even though lately, my visitor counts have gone up, the earnings just are not going up accordingly. I contacted admin about that as well and was told – in short and what appears to me as – they just don't have the advertisers. This, in spite of everything I was told previously.
No more. I will not let others dictate what I carry on my blog, for the sake of maybe earning a few dollars a month – unless some other problem arises. I will not be told to jump through hoops to just be denied my prize anyway. Perhaps others might give AdBrite a try and they may just love them but not me. Not anymore. I'm done with kissing the ass of those who would treat me badly. I have been patient enough, to such a point, I have wasted my time. No more.
Goodbye Adbrite. You're off my blog. I'll have better luck relying on the occasional donor. I'll have better luck finding my own advertisers (Hint-hint to anyone willing to sponsor my blog). Regardless, I'm done playing stupid games..
My fellow non-believers and I often find ourselves challenged and/or reprimanded for not having the same beliefs as others do. It is an all-too-popular belief that because we don't accept at least one of the thousands and thousands of interpretations of the hundreds of religious documents presented throughout history that, we are somehow, "evil."
If only there were some sort of a resource so that we can know we are not alone in this life. Well, there is. They call themselves 'The Thinking Atheist.' And I'm here to share with you five of their presentations which have re-affirmed my belief that humanity just might have a chance at making it, after all.
The Center of All Things - I want to open up this introduction to 'The Thinking Atheist' with this particular video, if for no other reason than, perhaps an explanation might help to clear up some confusion about atheists in general. It's not that we have a hatred for those things religious. We only seem angry when others insist that mankind hold itself back out of fear of offending a deity who has not been proven to exist. Religion has served its role in humanity's history. But it is now time for us to move on.
Woman, Be Silent! - The Thinking Atheist Radio Podcast #33 - As the title suggests, this YouTube presentation isn't so much a stand-alone video, but a recorded radio podcast on an extremely important topic. For far too long we, as a species, have failed miserably in cherishing women. This presentation puts into perspective just how terrible the fairer sex has been treated, and how the treatment has been justified by dogma.
Ghosts, Ghouls and Bats in the Belfry - The Thinking Atheist Radio Podcast #31 - Also a recorded radio podcast, this presentation from 'The Thinking Atheist' brings up the topic of the silliness of hauntings and other paranormal claims. I especially wanted to share this episode for my own personal reasons, and found it will probably benefit those struggling with similar issues as I have. The discussion proves valuable.
Divine Protection - It's about time someone comes up with the examples of real-world scenarios demonstrating just how illogical the concept of "Divine Protection" really is. The questions asked in this video is a genuine eye-opener for anyone courageous enough to be honest with themselves.
Welcome To This World - This presentation is not just a well-done presentation, it is - in fact - the greatest summation of religious philosophy I've ever heard. If any believer never hears or sees any other presentation from 'The Thinking Atheist,' I hope they experience this one. Could there possibly be anything wrong with helping the religious leaders of the world to simplify their own message into a digestible bite?
The old man was already seated at his table, as usual. It seemed to me, no matter how early I tried to be, he was already there for each lesson. The thought passed through my mind that he might always be there. As I sat and the waitress brought me my coffee, he began his lesson for the week, in his usual catch-me-off-guard sort of way.
“Everything everyone does, ultimately, is from a noble place in their heart.” For once I had no immediate, smart-ass remark. I thought perhaps he had gone off the deep end finally, as old as he was. After a few seconds of silence, the response which I knew that he knew was coming, did. “What? That makes no sense.” “Of course it does,” was his reply. Based on every other meeting I'd ever had with the old man, I knew he'd eventually win. So, rather than argue, I chose to remember that I knew absolutely nothing, and I prepared myself to learn something, yet again.
“You mean even a homeless drunk on the street, who chooses to stay drunk all the time, rather than contribute to society, is acting from a noble place in his heart?” He said, “Remember, I said 'ultimately.' And you must also remember what 'noble' means. Do you remember?” My head nodded in agreement before my brain was aware it did, in fact, agree.
“The drunk you reference, is he so different than you, when you smoked grass all those years? Why did you smoke so much pot?” After a bit of honest self-analysis, I remembered I was trying to hide from my own pain. “I was hiding from my problems,” I replied. “You were hiding from an onslaught of mental anguish. You were trying to cope with your own failures, shortcomings and previous bad choices, were you not?” Through the stinging harsh truth, my eyes confirmed he had me pegged. The kindness in his eyes reminded me he understood. Once again, I opened the door for another lesson as difficult and painful as it would be liberating. The old man never disappointed me there.
“Is a person not, at least, valuable to themselves, and therefore deserving to manage whatever pain and suffering they may be struggling with?” He saw I was listening actively, and continued. “Although they may be going about in the wrong way, that 'drunken bum' (making air quotes) means well. He's just misinformed. He's merely unaware of a better way, like so many. Like you were once.”
“Thieves steal, because in their confusion about life, it seems to be the fastest way to fulfill a need. Killers kill from a desire for some sense of justice, as perverted as it might seem to us. Liars lie out of a need for self-protection. Bullies on a playground abuse others, as hard as it may be to understand right now, out of a yearning for love, understanding and friendship.”
“So, how could they be shown a better way?” I asked in my naivete. “That's not the point of today's lesson,” he answered. “The point of today's lesson is for you to learn how to cope with what seems to be stupidity from others.” Taking another sip of coffee as I wrestled with the thought, he continued, “Until you learn to completely master your own emotions, forget helping others. You would only amplify the problem – and that's not why we came here. Learn how to not hate your enemies and you'll never waste a drop of energy. That gives you more resources to win the battle ahead of you.”
The waitress, in all her glory, somehow knew this week's lesson was over and brought our check. He grabbed it before I could. “My turn,” was all he said, smiling. Since he grabbed the check, I left the tip. It was the perfect yin and yang arrangement.
My mind is drifting again. It happens more and more as I get older. I'm not high. I'm not drunk. It's drifting all on its own. This happens whether I welcome it or not, so I've learned to just go with it.
I'm another one of those who likes to sit outside and look up at the night sky. I love to look at the stars and try to think about how far away and how very huge they really are. Scientists tell me that many of these stars are sometimes thousands and thousands of times the size of our Sun. And even it could hold a million of our planets within it.
So, how tiny is our world? How tiny are we?
I look up at those stars, so many times larger than our Sun, and even being so unimaginably huge, they're so far away, they appear to be smaller than well-lit specks of dust showing themselves in a sunbeam on a bright morning through a window.
So, how tiny are we?
This perception of something so big, seeming so small, is merely the way it looks from my perspective, sitting on my back porch. Imagining how small we are from a galactic perspective takes us down to smaller than a bacterium, in relation. And here I sit on my back porch.
As if considering our size in relation to the galaxy were bad enough, imagine how small our entire world is in comparison to the group of nearby galaxies, then compared to the Universe. In comparison to the whole of the Cosmos, we'd make that aforementioned dust speck seem impossibly colossal in comparison. In relation to the whole of the Universe, our world is smaller than any bacteria. We're smaller than a molecule. We're smaller than an atom. Perhaps, in comparison to our Universe, we might compete with something on the quantum level. But I'd also wager we may yet only be some sort of a particle within that quantum structure– in comparison.
Perhaps, in the much grander scheme of things, the entirety of our known Universe is also but an atom, in some other unimaginably vast plane of existence. We could be a component of a cell in some other living thing, perhaps some part of some giant creature's ass. Perhaps we're just a part of more dark matter itself, a bubble of space gas somewhere, serving no definite purpose at all.
How tiny are we, and yet here I sit considering it. And how very, very vain of us to believe in some creator having made us, just to worship him.
This page rank checking tool is powered by Page Rank Checker service
A sponsor:
Wondering how to get a website, but don't know how to code? Need to be able to update your website but don't want to hire someone every time? Looking to start earning $ online but don't know where to start? Contact your local Web Designer in Tasmania Working locally to achieve your global marketing goals.
