I’ve had it up to here….and then some!

You know that place? Somewhere above the eyebrows and the peak top of your head! Well I’m there!

Now before I go any further I must give props to the deserving one…my wife. Kim puts up with all my mild and severe idiosyncrasies, such as being up at 4:30 this morning to run (which is actually a plod, but at my age I’m moving and I am in training for something much bigger), and rather than devoting my attention to her on this fine Saturday morning she knows I need this therapy time to write. She has also made it clear many, many times in our soon to be 32 years of marriage that my rants and raves are great moments of comic relief to her. I take a much more pragmatic approach to the explaining of these fits…my health! Yep, these are opportunities to flush out my arteries!

So let’s break it down!

To all the hard core Republican, Right-wing, “Bachmann backing”, “Palin pushing, “Beck bragging”, O’Reilly opining”, uber conservative thinkers, believers, and supporters, would you please stop already with the recycled rhetoric. When you get down to it what you are really saying is “we will do all we can to make sure the rich…us get richer and “f” the rest of you!”

WOW! That debate the other night was AWESOME! 

Would you please stop with the spouting of such shallow, ridiculous verbiage of “homosexuality is a sin” and “gay marriage will doom our country”! Really! It is old, stupid, immature, hurtful, hateful, and WRONG!

I have to confess however something at this time. I do not know what is worse, these types of things being said, or the people who believe it and hang on to every word these people say? 

Come on people...THINK on your own!

Would you please stop with the referencing of Biblical scripture, taken out of context to simply support your narrow stand and belief. Come on! Penalty! Foul! You can not take just what you want out of a passage and ignore the part you do not like! Nope, it is the whole enchilada or nothing at all! So before you go on telling all of us “sinners” how wrong we are, pull out that mirror!

Would you please stop with the spouting of “NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT” responses to killing the “Taliban” in retaliation for the tragedy of American soldiers being killed in action. Will you please wake up and stop it! This is why war sucks! People get killed. Lives are destroyed. Families, homes, countries are fractured beyond belief. This idea of “someone has to pay” has really gotten us far! Just bomb all the Afghanis, the Pakistanis, the Iraqis, the Iranians, hell why stop there…”nuke the entire Middle East! GREAT! These dearly beloved people are not all part of the Taliban or al Qaeda any more than all Germans were Nazis during World War II.

What bullshit! You claim all these “Christian” values and sanctity this and that, and never did the Dude, the Man ever say or do the things you hold Him to saying or doing! Stop it! 

Why are we even there in the first place? Come on! Has not anyone read up on the history of this part of the world? No one has ever successfully overtaken and controlled this region of the world. The only ones who are able to live and survive in this environment are the natives of this land who know it like the back of their hands!

Want to see an end to our soldiers dying in Afghanistan, Pakistan, get the HELL out! COME HOME!

Would you please stop with the “this is God’s plan” belief and mentality. Please stop with the belief that our country, as great as it is was founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs. NO! The good ole United States of America was founded on the beliefs and mentality of white, privileged, empowered, mostly white men who stopped at nothing to gain all they wanted including stealing and pillaging the land from Native Americans, raping their women, forcing them to adapt to the “American way” or die, to encouraging and maintaining slavery even to the point of owning slaves, to denying women the right to vote until 1920.

This summer I was at a family gathering. The key point here being “was at”, for this so called “family” member (oh there is always that one that comes along in the marriage deal) would have been escorted out the front door and to the end of the driveway in our home. For a period of time as we were gathered around and visiting, this by default family member was going on and on with his ever present “Ramdoesque” talk making racial comments and innuendoes, and when it came time to eat he says in that “good ole boy” southern drawl, “Ain’t we say’n grace?” I didn’t eat that day! He has a "Vote for Palin" bumper sticker on his hemi-pickup! Way to keep it "GREEN"!

I saw a “church sign” (not an omen…a real sign…don’t want to confuse anyone!) while running this morning. It read, “Community Breakfast 8-11 Donations Accepted”. Seriously!

Would you please stop with this charade of righteousness and holiness! Why not just be truthful and say, “$5.00”, or whatever you want to charge? If you are collecting a donation, make it clear the money is for some charitable organization. Is that OK to do. Give to the needy without them earning it? Again, I go back to the Dude, the Man, when he rallied everyone up to eat, He didn’t ask for donations. Either you are going to feed the people or cover expenses. Which one is it?

Now would probably be a good time for me to say to all the hard core, over the top, Left-wing liberals who hang on to any and all fly by the seat of your pants beliefs that you need to be in check as well. I have a friend, the most liberally minded person I have ever known (I take that back, my Uncle John was so far left I think he was on the rebound), and yet my friend is also the most intolerant, closed minded person when it comes to dealing with anyone who does not share his same far left liberal beliefs. He needs to chill out just as well!

Here is the point. We need to start seeking “common ground” and stop throwing around beliefs, attitudes, and words as absolutes. We need to start re-examining all those things we were taught and all those things we have believed in simply because they made us comfortable and padded us in our safe and peaceful existences. We need to recognize that the 21^st century and beyond will be a different world than what was seen in the past.

Can we all please stop saying, “God Bless America”? How about “God Bless the World”! The last time I looked, we are all in this thing together! It is time we start looking for the likeness in each other and stop focusing on the differences. For those who opt to remain focusing on the differences, beware, when the focus is on you it may not be all that flattering!

Let me remind you of one of my all time favorite quotes by G. K. Chesterton. “We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.”

Well, I’m feeling better! Blood pressure is down! Time to enjoy the moment!

PEACE!