thepowerofme

As the mayor of my small community, I feel it is my responsibility to provide for the well being of our citizens.  That being said, I have to wonder what has been running through the minds of some of our school principals and superintendents of this school district.  See a long time ago, the school board voted to close our High School, and our Junior High.  By doing so they have started busing the students forty miles a day round trip to a neighboring town.  That being said they have to drive on all sorts of road conditions.  I know that living in the state of Wyoming there will be times that it snows, or the wind blows and have to expect that type of driving adventure.  What I do not understand is when the roads are too bad to be open why in the world the school gets permission by the highway patrol to run a school bus on a closed road.  That’s right folks, they have gotten permission to run the buses on closed roads.  Not once this week but twice so far.

Now, I know what many of you might be thinking.  So what, the road must not be that bad so they just let them go any way.  Well a follow up to that question is this.  If the roads are really not that bad then why do they not allow those of us that commute to work each day go as well.  See I commute to work 120 miles round trip and every time I ask to go to work they say NO.  The town maintenance workers commute the same distance as the school bus and when they ask to come to work they reply with a resounding NO as well.  But it is safe enough for the teachers, faculty and students to make the trip each and every time.  While I drive a small SUV and have four wheel drive it is unsafe for me, but as a person that drives a bus knows, it is much more dangerous for a forty passenger, high profile bus to go even more so.

While I understand the importance of a well rounded and solid education I have to ask myself at what cost.  When does the need to educate, supersede the right to protect our children.  In the days of email, faxes, and computer Internet there is so much that can be done differently.  They could bus the students to the elementary school here in town and bring over the other teachers that commute as well so they can have school here safely on those days.  They could also store extra books for every student so that they would be able to keep up with the lessons the rest of the class are working on.  There can be numerous actions taken to protect the well being of the students, faculty, and staff with out jeopardizing their education.

I close with this.  All across this country schools are closed for below zero weather, but not in Wyoming.  In other places they get closed for high amounts of snow, not here as well.  But one thing I am sure never happens in another part of this great country is to send a school bus full of irreplaceable children on a closed highway just to keep things moving as status quot.

Well folks what can a person say about “Your Dark Passenger”.  Every time my little eyes grace those dark pages, it brings to life in a whimsical way all the dark fetishes a normal person keeps recessed.  From vampire sleeping habits to the ShamWow murder conspiracies.  Jen writes with such a flair of the obscure that she could get a great and humerus story out of your own cat’s death.  When you were done reading it, where tears of sadness once ran down your face joy would fill the void.

Whether she is discussing the world of vampires or cold hearted serial killers, each post is something in itself.  They are filled with whimsical nuances and dark ideas, but after each one a little ray of light permeates from the clouds of death to remind us we are still alive.  I for one look forward to looking at her bright charm and writing styles each and every evening after a day of senseless work.  Nothing brightens up the day more than her gift of charm and wit to make the darkness come to life.  Where once nightmares ran supreme, they are now dreams with just a little darker side.  Get ready to check this one out, because coming soon to a computer near you will be the a brand new theme, “Fear Week“.

So For All Your Goulish Delights Check Out

http://darkpassenger.today.com /

Hello husbands and wives, another great day of posting coming at you live from the desk of Dragon29.  As many of you know I have been married for close to six years now.  It has been a joyous time of discoveries, rants, and just plain fun.  We also live in a small town in Wyoming that currently is 120 miles from the nearest grocery store, round trip that is.  Growing up here I learned very quickly that you buy enough food and supplies to last some time as you never know what the weather will bring.  While living in Wyoming I have had the pleasure of seeing a blizzard strike any time of the year, that’s right folks, I have seen snow while shooting off fireworks on the fourth of July.  But for some odd reason my lovely wife has taken it upon herself to hoard enough food to be able to feed the whole town.

Let me explain, for six years now I have seen the power of the sale ads pull her into stores to drop more and more money than humanly possible for the preparation of our dining adventures.  Where most people buy what they need to survive she purchases whether we need it or not just because it is on sale.  While I can not complain due to the fact of the large amounts of money we save this way it still strikes me odd as to the need.  See we have two very very large deep-freezes that sit in my garage.  One is full of meat that we use to feed our giant dogs, as well as hides that I am getting ready to tan for all sorts of crafting projects.  The other one is where we store our much desired foods of choice.  At any time you should be able to find forty or more pounds of frozen vegetables, fifty to sixty pounds of meat, and what ever else that is readily edible for human consumption.  That is my point, why in the world do we need to have forty pounds of vegetables at any given time.  With the fact that I commute those distances each and every day to be able to purchase what we need.  To me it is all most a staggering addiction of sorts to hoard so much food that the house is about to burst.  All ready I have had to reinforce the cupboard due to the excessive weight of canned foods she has acquired.  When she learned that she was no longer able to enjoy any foods that had dairy in them, we gave some food to the Boy Scouts for the annual food drive.  Wow, should of seen their faces when they arrived to pick up the goods and there were four banana boxes of non perishable delights.

When this hoarding effect first started I just shook my head as to why some one would worry this much about food.  For there has never been a time in her life where she had to wonder if she was going to get something to eat, and even now that is never a question.  Then I began to see how she shops to get the best bang for our money.  That is why she does it, folks if you want to be frugal you need to buy a big deep freeze, no matter what.  No matter where you live they make them small enough for apartment buildings, just get one.  The reason for this is simple, buy what you need to get by when things are high priced.  But when things go on sale, you hoard and hoard some more.  See, when we have forty pounds of vegetables out there, she never spent more than thirty dollars on them.  The assorted meats we own, the average price for pound is less than $2.00.  See if you buy when it is on sale, make smaller packages and freeze, your budget for groceries has finally become something to be proud of.

Like this little tip that she loves to do to the poor butchers in Safeway.  We wait for roasts like london broils to go on sale, a good chuck, round steaks and the such then go in and have the poor butcher grind it up for us.  Just be sure that they do what is called a double grind, many of them bitch about this and if you say just grind it they do just that.  You get a bunch of fat and other stuff in the package that is not even close to mixed.  If you do this trick you can get 85-90% lean for around $1.29-$1.49 a pound.  The other great way to get a good meal for a whole week, is the day after thanksgiving sales, when turkeys go on sale and buy four or five of them at a time.  Get your hams after Christmas and so forth.  And finally the perfect tip for the hoarders in world, if you can do your shopping at 7:30-8:00 AM, this is when the prices for older meat gets marked down even more.  We were able to get family size portions of chicken quarters and drumsticks for as low as $.29 a pound instead of the normal $2.29.  While I may feel that hoarding is a state of mind that one has to enter in, it is one that my limited funds can really prosper from.

Yesterday, I posted a comment on the conflict between Gaza and Israel.  This post stirred up a hornets nest of comments that roasted me on reddit.com as well as some e-mail attacks that followed.  I posted the article yesterday to get a sense of the anger about the abuse the Palestinians received at the hands of their neighbors.  I was moved by some of the comments and for others just shook my head on how we can only look at one side of the conflict and never question about the reason why?  But a resounding response that came from multiple parties is that this conflict is nothing more than an attempt of genocide from Israel.  So the question is, what is genocide?  According to Wikipedia it is as follows:

any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

While I do not agree with that statement, I can see where one can get the idea that this was what Israel was trying to do.  Where I question this outright is that in most cases where genocide has been noted and charged there were hundreds of thousands killed not twelve hundred.  So what would you say to a genocide that has claimed more than 45 million lives, in no more than thirty six years.  Now that my friends is genocide with out a doubt.  In America we have killed over 45 million leaders of our country with out ever asking their opinions, or giving them a chance to bring something to this country - whether it be bad or good.  That my friends is the number of unborn children that have been killed in the United States since the legalization of abortion in 1973.

Now why would a man blog about the atrocities of abortion in the United States?  The answer is simple, yesterday I posted that if you don’t challenge or do anything about a situation then you are supporting it by your lack of action.  I do not want to be considered as part of the problem this country is facing, so I am speaking up now.  Whether a person be a man, woman, or some mixture of the two; we have a responsibility to share the truth about this genocide of convenience.  No longer can we state that this is not a problem in this great country and sweep it under the rug as protecting the rights of women to be able to choose.

All throughout our country my decisions are being made for me each and every day by the U.S. government.  Take for instance the law requiring me to wear my seat-belt.  I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that wearing my seat-belt will increase my chance of survival in a car accident, but shouldn’t I be given the choice of whether or not I want to wear it.  Or, why is it that when a person turns 18 they are mature enough to get a loan, join the military, or get married.  But that same person is not mature enough to walk into a bar and get a drink.  Why?  Because someone in Washington said they are too young and forced every state in the country to follow the national suggestions.  Better yet, who decided that marijuana should be made illegal?  While studies have shown that clean marijuana is less addicting than cigarettes or alcohol.  So many of our choices in this country are made for us by the government, then why will they not make the hardest decision of all to end the right of abortion and begin to save the lives of our unborn children.

I know, I know, what about the cases of rape and incest.  Who am I to tell a woman that she has to carry to term the unborn life of her attacker.  That is true, I can not make that decision for a woman.  But, I found it odd that while that is a reason for an abortion; a chart showing the reasons as to why women have abortions, that reason was given less than 1% of the time.  The biggest reason for having an abortion was due to personal reasons of the woman, a resounding 76%-98% of the time.  Some of which state were, it would ruin my career path.  That is the reason that abortions need to be stopped.  It is not there for the safety of the mother, or in case of rape or incest, it is there and still being practiced because of a bad choice I made in a moment of passion.  It is murder for nothing more than convenience.

I know, many of you folks out there believe that an unborn fetus is not a living human being.  I remember a billboard I saw that sums that up the best, it read “If it’s not a life, then your not pregnant.”  Wow, what an amazing time to be in the working world, because if a woman is not pregnant till the baby is born, then why should their employer provide maternity leave for them until after the baby is born?  Because lets be honest some people believe it really doesn’t matter if the baby lives or dies, because it is not really a person or a living child.

I couldn’t believe the way people were up in arms about the deaths of 400 Palestinian children.  Though, they could care less about the 45 million or more unborn children that have been killed in this country.  Who knows, maybe there was another Albert Einstein, J.F.K, Martin Luther King, or the doctor that would find the cure for cancer or AID’s.  See, we will never know, because it was easier for the woman to end a life than to give it up for adoption after a nine month burden as a result of a bad choice in judgment.  Too bad all our bad choices couldn’t just go away with a simple procedure.  Our prisons would have a lot less residents.  We convicted Kevorkian for helping end the lives of terminally ill patients, who were making the choice to die.  For those that are willing to take the lives of unborn children, we give them offices to make it more convenient.

I have been listening to the comments on the conflict that broke out in Israel and the Gaza strip.  I have listened to both sides of the information and have seen pictures and listened to the stories of the aftermath.  I have heard how people have condemned Israel’s defense department for the excessive use of force.  I for one after listening to all the facts say that is a bunch of garbage.  To see it we must look at the conflict through the eyes of Israel.

First off, Israel attempted to end the violence by putting up road blocks, and trade stipulations, to get the people of Gaza to take matters into their own hands and end the violence.  Instead of addressing the issues with the powers that be, they instead began digging tunnels to smuggle the goods into the country.

Second, when the missile attacks began to go against the country of Israel why did the mass of country that says they are against the violence between the countries not get involved to stop it.  In my belief, if an attack like that happened in the United States from Canada or Mexico the people of this country would want to use all the forces that we have at our disposal to prevent it from happening again.  That is what Israel finally did to try and end the violence.  I know what you all are thinking how does more violence prevent the use of it in return?  It doesn’t, but what it does is create the statement that if you attack us again in this matter, we will return the favor in a much grander way.

Lastly, why I believe there are no victims in Gaza is because of the problem that if you allow activities to go on and not stop them, then you in fact are supporting the action.  Let me explain, if you know that they are launching missiles from heavily crowded areas in your communities and do not rise up to stop it, then you are accepting a role in this attack.  As a community if you do not support the actions of the terrorists but let them operate within your boundaries then how can you say that you don’t agree with their actions.  How is it that the actions of a few hundred control the actions of thousands if they truly do not agree with them.  By not acting, or trying to resolve the problem internally then you are accepting a role in its actions.  While you may be non-combatives, you are still equally responsible for the actions that were taking place.

While I feel they are responsible as a whole country for the retaliation of Israel, America is in the same sad shape.  I am blessed to live in a small community that does not have the problems of the major cities such as gang violence and out of control drug trafficking.  I have the ask the same question, to us as Americans.  If we don’t want drug sold on our corners what are we doing to stop it?  If we believe that the gangs are controlling our neighborhoods, then what are we doing to stop it?  If you have a disease do you not do every thing in your power to fix the problem?  Then why do we just go out and put band-aids on the major problems that are facing our communities.  If we allow fear to control our actions, then we are no better than those perpetrating the actions we desire to go away.

Why is that we are currently bailing out companies that don’t need to be bailed out.  This idea of saving the big three in the United States is just ludicrous.  The idea that we need to save these companies is out of the question.  With the amount of money that they are paying out to employees is beyond what the U.S. government can ever hope to carry over.  Take for instance the rumor that GM employees were getting payed about $70 bucks an hour is for the most part a big rumor.  But what do they get?  No one will really speak about what they are getting, so lets take a look at what we do know.  Average on the floor employee is getting payed $28 bucks an hour in wages.  Estimated income is about $70k for a high school graduate.  What the hell is that, when an average first year teacher in this country gets less than 30k a year.  Then take into reference their benefits package.  Most employees were getting insurance for free, with no deductible.  What other industry in this country should be forced to pay the complete bill for a persons health insurance, and then pay for a policy that does not have some type of co-pay.  Those are the problems with the industry.  That is the reason why the big three can no longer compete with the foreign auto companies.  That being said this government should of let the three fail so that they could renegotiate those outrageous contracts.

Or another choice is to go to the workers and let them decide what they can cut back from to stay working.  I have a tendency to listen to a lot of NPR on my hour long commute to work.  While listening to radio I heard one auto worker complain that they would not be able to pay their mortgage and survive on a $14 an hour wage.  That is a shame, because let me tell you.  I know plenty of people that own a home, drive a newer car, go on vacations, and raise a family on that much money.  Even some that do it for less.  My question to that fella is this, is it better to be working, or living on unemployment.  If so get out quit, there are plenty of folks out there willing to get your benefits and get paid a hell of a lot less.  I for one would take your job for $14 an hour with the benefit package you are receiving.  I am sure there are a lot more out there that would do it for a lot less.

I recently watched this evening the movie “The Bucket List”.  It was a charming movie with a good plot, and an amazing character development.  Enjoyed it imensley, glad my wife chose that movie for our evening enjoyment.  But one line in the movie really seemed to stick with me.  The one where they are sitting on the pyramids and begin to talk about what the Egyptians believed when they died.  See when they died the god’s would ask them two questions?  Question number one, “Did you find joy in your life?”  Question 2, “Did you bring joy to some one else’s?”  While examining those questions, number one is very easy.  Most of us have experienced joy sometime in our meager lives.  Let’s face it we are creatures of joy.  We have the tendency to do what ever makes us feel good in life.  Whether it be drinking till we throw up, or running naked down the streets screaming the word freedom, well did that after drinking too much and mixing it with the movie Braveheart.  But now once again I have digressed from the point at hand.  Best point of that is, this is my blog, if I want to digress, guess what I can.

The trouble with the line is question number two.  Have you brought joy to some one else?  The question is true joy, not the imagined joy we tend to feel we bring into evenings of great passion and ecstasy.  No, true joy, the type of joy that brings a change in a person’s life.  A change that can not be bought, forced, coerced, just happens after a moment of true joy.  See when we are able to create that type of relationship with others we are able to truly bring about a true relationship.  One that will survive the test of time.  Ask yourself one more question.  Are my relationships really true relationships, or superficial encounters that when I leave this world will be nothing more than forgotten memories and brief encounters of happiness?  If the answer to this is yes, then what are you going to do about it.  See to truly change those relationships to bring real joy into the hearts of others means you have to change.  To open up to the level to make yourself vulnerable to what others may think, or say, or react to your life.  To share, really share, the moments in your life that we tend to keep private.  This year take the challenge to bring real joy to some ones life.  Make a relationship that will last longer than, pass the bread.  Make a relationship that when you leave this world, a piece of them left behind dies as well.

While listening to NPR while out rabbit hunting, I was listening to a presentation on affirmative action.  While being a white male I really have no business talking about something that really does not affect me.  While it affects me in a negative way it really does have a place still in our country today.  But does it really?  Take for instance examining this countries last presidential race.  For one we were forced to choose two new categories of running mates.  We could have elected our first woman president, or our first African American.  What ever you chose this was a time of great change that is for sure.  To see America go through the growing changes of race and gender it was exciting to watch.  While I may not have supported the president elect, I for one am excited as an American that we were able to witness this passing of the torch.  So as tomorrow comes make plans to watch this great adventure.  For the first time in our life we will be able to witness an African American raising his lot, to the highest seat of office this country has available.  This just proves to me, that while affirmative action is necessary do to the bigotry that still exists in this country.  It is something that can be overcome if you just stick your mind to it.  Rise to greet the challenge and see what happens next.  Who knows, we still may get the chance of witnessing a woman elected to the office of president.  Then we will have come full circle in the area of change.

Sorry folks for taking so long to get a new post generated.  I have been busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest that is for sure.  But now here we are with the new beginning of a life long commitment.  From previous posts you might have read that I am a smoker.  I have been smoking for the past twelve years off and on.  What once was a habit that I would smoke about one pack a week soon became two, and then more.  I have all ways told myself that I could quit any time I wanted and I really was not addicted to those vile creations.  But as my track record has proven I am addicted and quitting is one of the hardest things I have ever tried to do.

I have always had the will power to do most anything I put my mind to.  I went from drinking like a fish each and every night to a social drinker that now drinks about one to two beers a month if that.  All that be changing my attitude to the social interactions with my friends.  But, when it comes to smoking I have tried everything.  Well just about everything, I refuse to use another drug to replace the drug of choice that I use.  What does that mean you ask, I won’t use patches, gums, or prescribed medications to reach my goal.  While it works for some people to help edge off the cravings it does the complete opposite for myself.  That being said, the power of addiction gets stronger and stronger each and every day.  So here goes from this day forward I am quitting smoking.  Stardate 1/17/2009 is the startdate to my new life being tobacco free.  So for all you folks out there that are smoking as well and looking for a reason to quit just take the step and do it.  I also will be creating this weekend a new page that will contain some helpful tips to quit smoking with out the aids of patches, gum, or narcotics.  As well as updating there each and every day about how each day is going.  If you have any suggestions or comments on how to make this endeavour stick this time please do not hesitate to post them here.

Finally, the Internet is back on and I am free to begin speaking to the public again about the things that interest me.  The joys of satellite Internet is great until you go past your F.A.P-better known as your fair access policy.  What a croc, you spend a ton of money to get nothing near hi-speed Internet to only have to watch your unlimited service get stopped because you use it too much.  Well enough about my situation lets get to the real reason you all are here.

While the good Lord has not blessed my wife and  I with little creations of ourselves, I do have a wonderful niece that fills my life with joy and love.  She is a spit fire creation at two years old that just goes through life filled with energy, love, and happiness.  To her the favorite person in her life isn’t her dad or even me her uncle but her T.V. friend Pongo from 101 Dalmatians.  I think it is great to hear her ask for her little friend every time there is a lull in activity and to watch her parents faces cringe every time the name comes up.  She is going to be a beautiful girl that breaks a lot of childhood hearts and am going to love hearing my brother complain the older she gets when the boys start coming in.  She has an innocent spirit that just exists to have fun and stay out of trouble, but how long is that going to last.

While working at the University is a great experience, at times it can be very tough to keep your mouth shut as well.  Especially when you come into contact with all the young women that have finally broken free of their parents strings of control and are finally able to live the lives they have all ways wanted too, but still on daddies checkbook.  Some are able to deal with things relatively well and others well not so well.  I wonder when it begins that the ideas of being able to fly and a cardboard box is the greatest gift on Christmas is replaced with advertising on your butt, and low cut jeans that would make even a plumber nervous.   I mean for real is there any reason that pants now have to be bought that don’t even cover your hips.  The real crazy thing is that many of these young women that wear these hip hugging nightmares spend a fortune for those incomplete pants.

School is back in session tomorrow and once again my bus will be bombarded with all of these Hollywood want-a-be’s.  Only to be surrounded by the new fishers of woman on campus.  You know the type they represent, they walk into a room filled with women and look at them as if they are a smorgasbord of flesh.  After selecting their entree for their desires, they head in to pick up their meal.  Then comes the lines, about how beautiful they are, how nice they are, and how if given the chance with a date this young man will make this a night to remember.  I have heard lines thrown at women that would make Eddie Murphy blush and yet they leave that day hand in hand laughing and talking.  I do not get it while still in this day of STD’s, date rape, and abuse women still are looking for that bad boy attitude.  The guy that is going to use, abuse, and when bored throw you to the curb.  I have seen the problem day after day when a woman shows up on the bus to begin the constant calling to be greeted with the “I’m busy call back later!”  And they do, again, and again, and again.  Only to get the same answer over and over just with fewer words till they don’t get any at all.

While I will never understand how this phenomenon comes into practice or how it stops I do wonder on how to prevent it.  So here goes from a mans perspective on this self destructive type of life style.  I believe the best prevention is when woman believe they are complete and deserve the very best from each and every person in their life.  To feel that they are special and deserve to be treated that way.  When a woman has it all together there is an air of mystique that they poses and fills their walk with a gant that rivals the glow of pregnancy.  While they still possess the desire for companionship they will not lower their standards to just get a quick fix for the night, week, or even a year.  That’s what it takes to get to that point, when bad boys around the world are left empty with their shallow lines and empty desires.  Then and only then can the world see a change of looking at women as objects of sexual desire and view them with as magnificent people that deserve and will receive the very best this world has to offer.  While I know I can not prevent bad decisions from my niece as she gets older, I still will do my part to show her just how special she really is.  How she is perfect the way she is, and to create a lifestyle of how her life needs to filled with positive people that lift her up and compliment her.  And to forget and run from those that look to her as a conquest to be forgotten and discarded when the joys of the evening are replaced with the hunters next conquest.