ARRGGHH! Hulk mad!. . . .Hulk smash puny humans!

Wednesday October 1, 2009

. . . .Playlist is what it is, I'll change the order from day to day, put some other things in. I like it, you all have to get used to it. I may be the only person you know who's MP3 library includes everything from The Chicken Dance to Seek and Destroy by Metallica, and likes all of it.

. . . .Zombieland! Zombieland! Finally a movie that reflects the actual mental state and EEG of most people I know. What an incredible documentary!

. . . . .Caprica on the SyFy Network is coming. Anyone who reads me regularly knows that as far as I'm concerned, Ronald D. Moore put the most thought-provoking, incredibly smart, insightful, spiritually tuned-in series on television in Battlestar Galactica. The new series is a prequel, a background to the Battlestar universe.

. . . .And the best program on television just gets consistently better. Sons of Anarchy, Kurt Sutter's creation that Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman, Katie Sagal and host of other incredibly talented actors breathes to life each week manages to (1) accurately portray outlaw life (2) explore incredibly complex emotional themes about the relationship between fathers and sons, between brothers who are closer than real brothers, and between families, big , extended ones, (3) have some huge, awesome, laugh out loud, lunatic moments and (4) very slyly, very smartly be completely up to the minute topical. Witness this last week's absurdity in the Emergency Room of a hospital as Tig was laying there with a bone sticking out of his leg and the ER admin nurse was very dryly telling him that his plan didn't cover them, and he'd have to go to another hospital; and of course the theme every week knowingly and very, very accurately protrays the racist National Socialist scum as what they are in real life; the "capitalist", the "white businessman" who's scared for a "small town" and the "real America". And the real salvation, the salvation of independent trade, of self-determinism, of caring for your families, your brothers, well that would be the black-wearing, jeans and boots, swearing, live out loud bikers who aren't afraid to throw down when they have to, and the local lawmen who understand the difference between justice and the legal system, and know which side of if they have to be on in order to live with themselves at night. Which really is the overarching theme; what are you willing to do, to be, how are you willing to live to be a free man?

. . . .Which takes me to a theme that I have to go into. I'm asked two questions often; why aren't you a Democrat? and why do you fight the Republicans so hard?

. . . . Easy answer. I'm a Libertarian, educated and schooled in that philosophy. Classical Libertarian life and philosophy, not a "Republitarian" (make a little bit of vomit come up in my mouth), not a Ron Paul faux-Libertarian (liar!). A Libertarian, which means, for those of you, who don't know that philosophy, the facts behind it; what it means, is that on matters of personal and social liberty, a Libertarian is so far left of left it will make your head swim, and on matters of economics, a Libertarian is so far right of right that it will be all but incomprehensible to most of you. A Libertarian believes that there is absolutely no place in governance or policy of even a whiff of religious influence. The rights of the individual are supreme over the rights of the community or society, period. A Libertarian believes that each person, each individual owns his own life, his own property and has the right to defend both, by any means necessary, including deadly force. Now, the converse of that, a Libertarian also believes that his neighbors life and property are his own as well, and has every right to those, and every right to defend them. In other words, we make great loners, and as long as you leave us alone, we'll leave you alone. It's why Libertarians despise Republicans and modern day neoconservatives, a Libertarian would never even conceive of trying to impose his beliefs on another individuals life or property. We honor and respect our neighbor's choices and decisions, and expect the same to be returned to us. We would never start a fight, but if one's started with us, we will finish it, and if you're the one who started it, you probably won't like the outcome. A Libertarian isn't an Ayn Rand Objectivist, isn't a Glenn Beck 9/12'er with their mob mentality, not a Limbaugh ditto head with their hatred of all that isn't white, male and middle-class, it's not a Palin-ite with their whacked out Christian viewpoints, it's definitely not a Republican of the last 30 years, the most spendthrift party in history, contrary to much of what you might have been lead to believe. Three of the Founding Fathers were Libertarians (Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry), and were called Liberals, as the two philosophies closely align with one another in many instances. Their opponents, the Whigs, the Tories were the conservatives, those who wished to conserve money and property for the State, and wanted to have religion have some of it's poisonous sway over governance and policy. The best example? I firmly believe that the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States doesn't grant me those rights, I was born with them; they are inherent and a natural condition of life; as were my sons, as are all of you, you just don't believe it, nor act on it. And no, neither Lyndon LaRouche nor Ron Paul are Libertarians, both are poisonous idiots. The actual philosphical underpinnings of Libertarianism extend back to the English philosopher John Locke. For those of you that slept through Freshman Philosophy 101, yes, the television character on Lost is named for him deliberately, and that character's actions and decisions more often than not, reflect a Libertarian mindset. A classical, true Libertarian believes each person to be the sovereign over their own thoughts, their own body, and their own "property", and I put that in quotes, because I probably define property a little differently than you do.

. . . .My property isn't just my land, or my "things". It's my thoughts, my words, my body, anything that is uniquely mine. I, and I alone, have the sovereign power of choice over those, not a Governmental body, not any other person on the face of the Earth. And most importantly, not some deity, or God, or Supreme Being.

. . . .Before you get your panties in a bunch, that is not an atheistic or agnotic statement. Far from it, as a matter of fact, I am a Deist (look it up) and my spiritual practices are thousands of years older than Christianity or Islam or Judaism. I am priviliged to practice that on the Rosebud Reservation, and am fortunate to call myself a member of that family.

. . .What it does mean, if you're still following, is that ulimate responsibility and acccountability for my choices and my free will fall on me, and only on me. There is no outside force that is responsible for my actions, no outside force that interferes with my free will. My choices, the things I do, the things I say, are mine and mine alone, and I bear the ultimate reponsibility for them.

. . . .And in case you're wondering, yes, it's wonderfully freeing. I don't fear death, and I have to face, literally, everything I do and say. All guilt, shame or remorse for some of the dumbass things I do and say point back to me and me only.

. . . .What makes us very different, the true Liberatrian, of the classic kind? The social beliefs and extreme insistence that each individual owns his own life, and how that plays out societally.

. . . .Drug laws? The war on drugs? A completely useless exercise and waste of money and time. Each individual has the right to put anything into their body they choose, period. And each individual bears the ultimate responsibility for what that might do, and anything they may do while under that influence.
. . . .Crimes like prostitution? It's not a crime, period. Sex between consenting adults (notice that I used the phrase consenting adults, and I use language very deliberately, so that would exclude (1) children (2) those who aren't consenting to the act and (3) elderly subject to the same abuse as children) is no one's business at all except those consenting adults.
. . . .Gay Rights? The right to Gay Marriage? Don't ask, don't tell? Not a question to a Libertarian, there shouldn't have to be a debate, a question, or rights enforced at all, since each person, each damn person, is born with the same inherent rights, and if you refuse to recognize those rights, as far as I'm concerned, you're not even human, and don't deserve the privilege of that label. For a government, or a society, your society, to impose their will, their values, their "moral code" on another human being is abhorrent, and completely against the nature of the Universe.
. . . .Discrimination? Gee, I hope the above answer gave you a clue. Discriminating against another human being is inconceivable in Libertarian thought.
. . . .Pro-choice? That one's simple too, especially for me. I'm not a woman, I'm not even allowed to have a real opinion on it. No government, no society has any inherent right to try and tell another person what to do with their "property", their body.

. . . .In other words, smoke dope, have an orgy on your lawn, I don't care, not my business, you don't even have to put a fence up, if you want to use my lawn for it, pay rent for the use of my property, it's all cool by me.

. . . . But, I expect that any choice I make with my property (my body, my lawn, my things, my thoughts, my words) be respected as well. If my choice happens to affect your property, and you need recompense for it, I expect us to be able to sit down like adults and negotiage a fair settlement.

. . . .Now, I mentioned the Bill of Rights in the Constitution up above, and the Libertarian belief that each person is born with them. How does that apply? What's the practical portion of it? It's incredibly simple, so simple, that it takes a little bit to wrap your head around it. Take so-called "freedom of speech". I don't need a Constitution to grant it to me, I was born with it. I have to right to say anything I want to and publish it or broadcast it any way I choose. Now, here's the hook, re-read that last sentence. "Publish it or broadcast it any way I choose.". The onus is all on me, period. It's no one's job or obligation to do so, I don't have an inherent societal right, only an inherent personal right. Should I choose to use my "property", that is the tools and money I have available to me to publish it, that's my choice. No one is obligated, in any way, nor can a court "rule" on it. No one can be forced to publish or broadcast it in any way.

. . . .The same goes for any other personal right that the Bill of Rights covered, I have them inherently, not because that Constitution says so. But it's also my responsibility and accountability to protect them and to use them. No one is obligated, by law, or by Constitution to help me with them, or enforce them, or conversely, enforce an opposite viewpoint to those rights.

. . . .Just a note, I've only covered half of the Libertarian spectrum, the one you would call extremely liberal, the one about personal liberty today. The economic one, I'll go into tomorrow, suffice to say, I've given you a flavor, my money is my "property" too, and it belongs to me and is to be used only as I choose it to be used, so yes, that means government, but it also means that to me, agents, brokers, and the lot are nothing more than parasitic vampires that are suffocating humanity.


. . . . .The last 30 years have convinced me that the Republicans, the so-called "conservatives" and "neo-conservatives" are nothing more than a religious movement, a Christian Taliban, who wishes to do nothing more than impose their rule on my life, and, just as importantly, transfer all wealth to themselves, and, most importantly, interfere with, interpret and tell me what my Constitutional Rights are. I loathe, despise and hate them, and want to drive them from this Continent. Ronald Reagan started the systematic dismantling of the Middle Class, and Bush1 and Bush2 only continued it. Reaganomics, Trickle-down economics were nothing more than scams, a transfer of wealth to their campaign contributors and the wealthiest 2%. A license to steal and move all profits offshore, unaccounted for, unpunished and unabated.

. . . .And my beef with the Democrats? They're a bunch of pussies, a bunch of wimps who won't fight back and refuse to show leadership. Americans don't want wonky policy explanations, they don't want some conciliatory umbrella-building and an understanding. They want leadership. Period. People aren't stupid, they know that the Repubs are lying, but they're not willing to back up a wimp. End of story. All the Dems have to do is stand up and say something.

. . . Why do I get pissed off at Dems? I'm tired of them apologizing for everything, and trying to find excuses for everything. Latest example? Roman Polanski! He raped and sodomized a 13 year old girl, for God's sake! Whoopi, shut up! And no more editorials in the Washington Post or New York Times for any of you writers, period! He did the crime, he has to do the time. Personally, I think he should be taken out and taken care of, save the tax dollars. She was a 13 year old girl! I don't care if he directed Rosemary's Baby, I thought the movie sucked anyhow.

. . . Which leads me to this question, how come the Dems can't get angry about the right thing?

. . . .Because Grayson is right. The Republican Health Care Reform plan is really "Dont' get sick" and "die quickly" if you do. They've already said, they're not going along with anything, they like it just the way it is.

. . . .What else Grayson said that isn't getting reported, and is dead on accurate:
"We can't run this institution based on Republican hissy-fits"

. . . .And finally, someone is stepping up, unfortunately, it's not a Dem. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is breaking away from his party to be refreshingly honest.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, (R-S.C.) offered unusually blunt assessments of the fringe elements of his party and conservative media on Thursday, calling the popular and bombastic Fox News host Glenn Beck a "cynic" whose show was antithetical to American values.

"Only in America can you make that much money crying," Graham said of Beck. "Glenn Beck is not aligned with any party. He is aligned with cynicism and there has always been a market for cynics. But we became a great nation not because we are a nation of cynics. We became a great nation because we are a nation of believers."

Appearing before a crowd of Washington's elite power players and opinion-makers, Graham spoke largely without filter, offering acidic takes on subject well beyond Beck. The Senator called the birther community that questions the president's U.S. citizenship "crazy" and implored them to "knock this crap off" so the country could get on to more important matters.

"I'm here to tell you that those who think the president was not born in Hawaii are crazy," said Graham, who went on to dispel another myth: that Obama is a closet Muslim.

. . . . .And this is the asshattery of asking Representatives and Senators to reform Health Care:
Ezra Klein, in the Washington Post:

This isn't a regular stop on the tour, but beneath the Congress lies an impressive Navy medical clinic called the Office of the Attending Physician that ostensibly exists to deal with emergencies and public health threats and terrorist attacks. In reality, it also provides primary care to an awful lot of congressmen. In 2008, 240 congressman paid $503 each to receive services, "though some sources say congressmen who didn't pay the fee were rarely prevented from using OAP services."

And what are those services? The OAP's offerings "include physicals and routine examinations, on-site X-rays and lab work, physical therapy and referrals to medical specialists from military hospitals and private medical practices. According to congressional budget records, the office is staffed by at least four Navy doctors as well as at least a dozen medical and X-ray technicians, nurses and a pharmacist." Matthew Yglesias comments:

What’s noteworthy here isn’t just the existence of the perk, it’s the specific form. Congress could have voted itself higher salaries. Or better travel benefits. Or larger appropriations so the congressional cafeterias can serve better food. Or just more generous health insurance. But what they wanted here was socialized medicine — health care that’s not only financed by the state but also directly provided by government employees. This kind of state-provided health care is basically universal in the UK, it accounts for an important chunk of the health care in Sweden, and it’s what we give to our veterans in the United States. But most members of Congress regard it as a horrifying prospect. And yet in practice, they appear to like it just fine.

A nationwide network of well-staffed primary-care clinics available to all Americans for a nominal fee sounds pretty good. You could even build off of the highly successful community health center model.



.. . . .Call it anything you want, but it's socialized medicine, paid for by you and me.

. . . From The Caped Shithead at Shitheadery.com, he summarized today perfectly for me:

For the first time since I can remember I went to bed with a smile with on my face last night. Why? Because Congress knocked down the Public Option despite public opinion and polls showing that 76% of people in this country not only want a public option - they'd be willing to pay for it.

"This will do it," I said to my wife. "I can't wait until tomorrow. It's going to be nuts."

I was hoping that today would be the type of day that makes my adrenalin rush and my head explode. One of those days that everything I read on the blogs and in the news is filled with crazed outrage. That maybe just maybe people would take to the streets the way those wimpy cheese eating French surrender monkeys and the rest of the socialist fascist Europeans do when they are denied crucial benefits like a federal holiday, jobs, and band-aids. The next thing you know rocks are being hurled through windows, cars are on fire, and they've taken a hostage.

All I've seen though, reading through the blogs, is more wimpy posts from people whose support for Obama the magic negro ended in November with an "Obama '08" button and a blue t-shirt. As for continuing that support and the fight for why they showed up? Forget it, right? He'll figure it out on his own. It's hard enough to whine about how unfair things are, how it's the same old same old, and that we never win . No sense in causing a scene. We wouldn't want to bother anyone. An certainly don't want to look ridiculous.

Meanwhile the right has throngs of screaming loons, most of whom would benefit most from health reform, mobilizing, protesting, tea-bagging, and screaming with full backing, support, and mobilization from the very groups who stand to lose it all if there were to be a public option. Max Baucus, who receives $2.3 million/year from health insurance companies, has a plan that's been called a gift to the industry by former health insurance executives.

I got an e-mail from a conservative friend (hey, I read Sun Tzu) a few weeks ago that said,

"... sorry to say this but reading the stuff that is posted on your site and the welfare mentality that those on your site have. I have no use for it and really believe this country is gone beyond repair. Gone our (sic) the values of friends, family and self taking care of each other. Everyone now seems to think the government owes them something or should take care of them."

My friendship ended shortly after that e-mail. People like him see Democrats and Liberals as sandle wearing, tree hugging, vegan freaks who lay down and expect to be taken care of but won't lift a finger to fight for what they want.

I'm starting to think he's right. I'm starting to think I might be on the wrong side. I'm starting to think Michael Moore has a point when he says, "Any Democrat that gets in the way of true reform, reform that has to include the public option, we are going to campaign against them in the primary."

I've always been intrigued at the left's inability to fight. That when the right gets loud and mean, the left poo-poos them as if they'll just go away or as we saw yesterday, cowers in the face of adversity.

Jim DeMint, Eric Cantor, and John Boehner (he pronounces it "Bayner") have worked hard to bring us the Rovian town brawls with the "say it loud and say it enough it becomes true" tactics. But the real truth is out there and the left is silent, trusting naively that the truth speaks for itself. Boehner and his buddies know that if this bill fails

Why aren't left wing nuts out there holding signs and slinging truth? Why aren't Liberals shouting louder?

When they say, "We don't want illegals to have health insurance." Show them a sign with Section 246 of the bill in big bold letters that even they can understand:

H.R. 3200: Sec 246 NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.

When they say, "Do you want to end up like France?" Show them that France is #1 in the The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems and hit them with a baguette.

When they puke back the lies they've been told to tell by people whose sole motivation is to run the country and run it into the ground don't sit down and calmly inform them of the facts. Grab them by the back of head and shove their face in a book until they beg for mercy.

And when they say the World is 6,000 years old throw a fossil at their head and walk away.

. . . .And on a personal note, when the say the world is only 6,000 years old and want to take you on a personal tour of the Creationist museum in Kentucky and show the dinosaurs with saddles. Show them this one. Humanity's oldest ancestor was found, and she's 4.4 million years old.

. . . And while I'm getting things off my chest, for those 1 or 2 people left living under a rock who still venerate Ronald Reagan (who managed to raise Federal spending as a percentage of GNP from 21.4% to 23.2% over 6 years, and managed to raise the Federal deficit from the $50 million that Carter left him in only 4 years to $200 million), no he didn't kill Soviet Union, in fact, the dipshit probably doomed us all. I can't think of a more chilling name, Dead Hand. The Soviets built a Doomsday Machine after the fall of the Empire, and it's still working. From Wired:

n the 1980s, the Soviets built a Doomsday Machine — and it’s still active. I learned about it while researching my new book, The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War. It’s also the subject of a story in the current issue of WIRED.

The system would have allowed the USSR to respond in semi-automatic fashion to an American nuclear strike — even one that had knocked out the Kremlin and the Defense Ministries. And one obvious question that people ask when they learn about this system is “Why didn’t the Soviets tell us?” As we all know from Dr. Strangelove, the point of a Doomsday Machine is to convince the other side in a conflict that attack is futile.

The answer to that question is the most interesting thing I learned in my research. Yes, the Soviets were extremely secretive; and, yes, they were worried that, if they told us, we could disable it. But the more interesting reason is that they also built the system to deter themselves. Here’s the relevant passage from the story:

By guaranteeing that Moscow could hit back, Perimeter was actually designed to keep an overeager Soviet military or civilian leader from launching prematurely during a crisis. The point, says [former Soviet space official Alexander] Zhelenyakov says, was “to cool down all these hotheads and extremists. No matter what was going to happen, there still would be revenge. Those who attack us will be punished.”

. . . .Ah, to hell with it, my home state, Michigan, is going to bring Joe Wilson, into one congressional district on Wednesday, Jackson, and for $150 a head, you can have your picture taken with the assface, as he fundraises for a candidate there. If a Republican does it, it's OK, remember that, and please wave to me from your Christian Taliban prison when "they take their country back" We'll go somewhere else, and take the brains from the universities and colleges with us, the researchers, the scientists and the university hospitals, the skilled trades, the entire manufacturing knowhow of organized labor in the Midwest with us; you keep NASCAR and that guy on COPS who's on every episode wearing the white wife-beater T-shirt with his mother-in-law sitting on the trailer's steps with a beer, waving a Marlboro around and muttering "Git him out of here, he ain't no damn good anyhow." This country deserves everything it gets, everything that happens to it, and some days, some days, it just ain't worth the fight.

. . . .And that's how bad it really is.

. . . .We can salvage this shipwreck of a Nation. It will take all of us working together. It will take all of us understanding the concepts of the Great American Experiment, the political process of the Republic. It's amazing, I don't see eye-to-eye on every issue with my friends, but we respect one another's opinion, share information, share facts, and we don't talk over one another or at one another, we talk with one another. It's amazing what happens when a group of people who share the common goal of leaving a better country for their children and grandchildren can do when they sit down with one another as human beings, and realize that we each have power, and together, we are unstoppable.

. . . .I'm going to ask this of you for the next 30 days. Turn your TV off, turn your radio off. Start to use that beautiful mind that your Creator gave you, that your underpaid, underappreciated High School teachers tried to develop. If you hear something, if you read something, if someone sends you an e-mail that says "this bill will do this", or "this politician says this", I'm asking you to check it out. Check it out this way, use some of the following fact-based sites, who exist solely for the purpose of data and fact-checking.
- If whatever you've heard or read concerns a bill in Congress, use the following -
- Open Congress, it's non-partisan and devoted to a complete tracking of every bill in Congress, both houses. How a bill is developed, who is sponsoring it, what the riders are, what the discussion around it is.
- GovTrack, again non-partisan, non-commercial and open source; devoted to the same things, tracking Congress.
- Open Secrets, one of the most important ones, it tracks the lobbying money and campaign contributions flowing to your congressperson, and most of the time is a pretty good predictor of how they'll vote.
- Political Party Time, non-partisan, devoted to solely tracking political fundraisers, and letting you know exactly what parties your Representative and Senators are throwing for fundraisers and who is attending and how much money they're throwing at them to gain influence.

. . . .If someone sends something to you saying "this is so" or "that is so" or "the President/Senator/Representative said this" use the following:
- Fact Check, non-partisan, designed to separate fact from bullshit and fiction
- Snopes, devoted to the same thing.
- Politifact, devoted to getting to the truth, and separating out the lies that are spread.


. . . .I keep doing this not because I don't have faith, but because I do have faith. I have faith in the ultimate triumph of the spirit, intellect and heart of the American people. I have faith that the people I know want to leave something better for future generations, and know that something is terribly wrong, and want to do something about it. I do it because Paine and Jefferson were brilliant, unique singularities and were right.

. . . .I keep doing this because I don't believe in big imaginary friends for adults, I don't believe in alien conspiracies running the Government, I don't believe the Roswell bodies are at Wright-Patterson, I don't believe that a big portal will open up on Dec. 21, 2012, I don't believe that the spaceships will show up.

. . . I do believe that the people who have fucked everything up are greedy, avaricious human beings who have been able to steal from the American people, to harm them, who have run unchecked because no one calls it out for what it is. I believe that if we shine the light of day on it, if the people of this country have had enough, we can change it, and change it for the better.

. . . . I keep doing this because I do believe that people, human beings, unchecked will continue to do what they've done throughout history, and throughout the history of this country. Together, they will find the solutions and provide better for their children and grandchildren.

. . . .I believe in us, I believe in people. I believe in the beauty, power and grace of the individual.

. . . .I do this for everyone who's ever walked that lonely road of knowing what they do, what they believe, what they know is right. I do it for everyone who's ever walked that lonely road of faith, hope, love, hate, justice, war and peace.

. . . .I do it because I believe in justice, in all it's forms.

. . . .I do this everyday for the people and kids who are tattoed, pierced and inked and keep getting told to get "into the mainstream". I do this everyday for those guys who wear black that you don't understand, you just know there's something about them, and that when the chips are down, when you have to walk down a dark alley somewhere, and you know what's waiting for you at the end of it, and you can only take one person with you, that's who you want walking with you, because you know you'll come back out alive, and that guy doesn't care what it costs him.

. . . .I do this everyday for the outcasts, the misfits, the ones who don't fit and who will turn their back on you and walk away when you try to make them fit into a mold. I do it everyday for everyone who does it their way, knows that they're paying a high price for it, but the freedom is worth the cost.

. . . . I do this everyday for outlaws, cowboys, renegades, pirates and fallen angels. I do it everyday for the people who understand that rock and roll can save their soul, that redemption can be found in a 3-chord lick from a vintage Les Paul. I do it for the men and women who aren't afraid to turn it all the way up, who keep looking for an 11 setting on a volume knob that only goes to 10, who know that rock and roll's got nothing to do with age.


. . . .If right now, you're doing something you don't want to do, stop it. If you've surrounded yourself with people who want you to do or be something other than who you are, walk away. If you've got people around you who actually let it slip out that they think you "should be doing (fill in the blank here)" and it involves your life, your future, your existence as an individual, walk away, right now, and don't look back. You don't owe anyone anything. Live fearlessly. If the people around you can't accept it, can't accept you as you are, really are, they aren't and weren't friends anyhow.

. . . .Don't march to anyone else's drumbeat, don't drink the Kool-Aid, anyone's. Right, Left, conservative, liberal, Democrat, Republican, Christian, Buddhist, Pagan. Use your own mind, that's why you were given one. Examine, question, do what's right for you first, everything else will fall in place from there, quit looking for the path, you're already on it.

. . . .Come out of the gate each morning with both barrels blazing, pedal-to-metal, full-tilt boogie, all-in and balls-out, what's stopping you? Do you want to live forever? That'd be boring.

. . . .Got your back. somewhere out there in the night

. . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. Seize the precious moments before they're ripped away from you. This rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one, absolutely no one gets out alive. There aren't a lot of second chances, and we don't get to dictate terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. This ain't no dress rehearsal, and the curtain's gone up, it's real and right now. It's not about yesterday or tomorrow. It's about right fucking here, right fucking now. This, what you're reading, what you're hearing, is the proof, the words, the sounds and the sights of someone changing his own life and his own world and not being afraid to put it out there. What have you done for yourself lately and why are you waiting? Do it now.

The Desolation Angel
from somewhere halfway to Heaven, and just a mile out of Hell

You know someone like me, there's still a few of us left. If we have to, we'll stand at the gates of Hell and hold the last train home for you.. . . . . .