Rules of Positivity

Life throws out enough curveballs and enough tough breaks throughout the years to give us heartache, headaches and backaches! But thru this all there seems to be a resilience in us human beings that always seems to bounce back and take the world head on. The common thread for me at least has always been surrounding myself with positive , honest ,energetic people, the people that never say never and will always be there to kick you in the ass or pat you on the back whenever needed. I relish the fact that my few select friends are all the things I require and want in no drama, low maintenance pals. And to know that when the bell rings and things get tight i have my back and front covered, always there with the positive outlook providing solutions instead of problems, thats a good place to be. on the other hand, I as a friend and confidant must provide the same and give of myself to those in need, which for my crowd is few and far between. But the way we handle each and every situatiomn in life is in my eyes more important than the issue being dealt with, simple problems can turn into nightmares if mis-handled. My world, my home is a simple yet complex web of daily tasks, all hovering arounfd the mutual respect and admiration for the ones we love and care about. being a father and an example is a key and pivotal role as a dad, however as a parent I can only stress responsibility, accountability and the knowledge of right and wrong, once these children walk out of my doors I can no longer rule or govern their actions, they in fact being the masters of their own rewards or demise! By stressing the positive things and giving them the living examples of consequences and life lessons from somebody who has already been thru it seems like the parental thing to do, whether or not they heed the knowledge and utilize it and not stumple over bumps already travelled is their responsibility. With my friends, and my family "keeping it real and being honest and ultra realistic is the only way i dcan survive. i want to know what I am dealing with, not some prognostication or prediction but an actual knowledge of what I'm doing, how i'm doing it and with whom I am doing it , this may seem extreme and overbearing, but has kept me in line for years and the only way I know how to do things is the right way, which in the end puts us all in that postive zone of knowing where we are and helps us to get where we want to be. People talk about the glass being half empty ,half full, glass too large, whatever it may be it is how we perceive it, the pessimist will see it as half empty, the positive see it as half full whereas the observant person see the glass as too big! I see it as I need to put more in the glass ,I hate half full anything so a full recharge is the only way in my eyes. But the bottom line will always be, think of what we can do, instead of what we can't, be thankful for all that we have instead of dejected for all that we want and don't have, see a negative situatioin as an opportunity to rise above and shine. Be resourceful and enjoy the moment and worry not about that which is beyond our fixing. The solutions to lifes issues are at most times very simplistic, we can sometimes make an easy fix into a dramatic drawn out laborious ,head banging,knuckle dragging hate driven experience (kind of like this sentence ) if we allow it to happen. Think of Can, Will ,Am instead of can't ,won't or don't. negativity can be a cnacer and spread to those around if you aren't positive , you are negative... stay away, fix it or forget it!

Labor

The place I call home, over 53 years old and my childhood home that was purchased from my family some six years ago. Well the place is still on Septic tanks and still requires pumping every now and then, on average once a year. The modern age of sewer system has been introduced to us in the neighborhood and we can now hook up to a main sewer line in the street. First off we had to dig the 100' trench leading from the backyard sewer main to the street hookup in the front. I hired some coworkers kids and my own and a few neighbors to assist in what I was calling "the big dig" to start this past weekend at 10 am! The boys all showed up and dug their asses off , 4 hours of digging and the front deepest part of the trench was dug, half of mission accomplished. The next day we had a full crew of boys and the work was on and going at a fever pitch, boys swinging picks and shoveling the dirt/sand mixture until we had to wheel barrow the dirt as it was too far to throw. This process took over 7 hours and a total of 45 total manhours to complete the job. i paid the boys a $12 per hour wage and fed them Pizza and Rockstars and gatorades on day one and Nathans hot dogs chips sodas and rockstars for day 2. Even made some of the boys Chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast as they arrived. It was a dual purpose job to integrate the boys into hard manual labor and get my job done quickly and moreso to show them how valuable an education is and to work with the mind more than the hands. Now that this is done the inspectors will come by and check the gradiant of the ditch, then will put the pipe and inspect for leaks, the fully assmble and then check for compliance, bury the trench and start on the tanks, cracking the bottoms and then fill to the top with dirt sand or whatever we can find. This has been in the works for many years now , even when my parents were in the home but finally gets done and we can now take the longer showers and run the washing machine drain and live like normal people septically at least!

Racial Injustice

After Our new President was elected as the 44th President of our incredible country I felt a real sense of Pride about us, how far we had come as a country to elect a man of color to the most powerful office in the world! Even thought to myself that people of color had to get off the race card thing and stop crying racism for every injustice or mis-appropriation as they saw it. I was tiring to hear people of color, black, brown, Asian, whatever the case may be say that it was because the color of their skin that they didn't get the job, or get accepted in to the college or whatever that particular case was, the fact that it was overused and getting old. Here i am, a Hispanic man of nearly 47 years and have never openly felt discriminated against ,or not given ,or even given something based on my heritage or skin color. I speak proper English and carry myself in the manner that I was raised, to be representative of myself and my family name. I do realize that some of the tensions could in small part to the "reverse discrimination" that non ethnic folks feel when they become part of the reverse cycle and get shut out because they are not minorities. I can understand this anger and two wrongs don't make a right, it's kind of like what the Government is doing for the American Indians, I'm sorry , Native Americans and their casinos that are not taxed ,or taxed very little if at all. This over compensation is not fair to the rest of the tax paying society but Its something that i suppose we could protest if we really wanted to, obviously not many do!
Move to current times and the overzealous and hateful fear mongering that the supposed religious right is taking on as we speak. Funny how religious people can be the wolf in sheep's clothing when it fits their purpose. To be religious is to be fair and supposed to work for God to help and Love all people for all of their strengths and all of their weaknesses, doesn't say anything about color or political or church preference! But apparently there is a divide, when you make policies, or in Obamas case try toi make sweeping new policies it somehow becomes un American and socialism to try to help people who are need of reforms to get health care, to find jobs, and to afford and refinance badly written home loans. Take into consideration that the cask for clunkers program sold over 700,000 new cars that probably wouldn't have been sold otherwise and kept plants and dealerships open and people working so they can live, play and breathe like Americans should, FREELY and with spirit. But that was even called Big govt gets involved in the private sector socialism. Everything the religious Republicans stand for is essentially the opposite of what our new Administration is trying to change. The Way it was is still good enough for them because it was their guy George Bush who made it the way it was , a complete failure and yet these narrow minded people do not want things to improve, based on their antiquated mindset of Being Theocratic instead of Democratic, this country needs a change and what makes it so great is our ability to do so. To hear the nut jobs say that they hope our President fails just speaks of the old buddy system, where it "ain't our guy in there" so we hope he fails and we can say "HaHa" i told you so. there are too many people that have too much to lose to think like these backwoods, slow churners and get back to reality of changing things for the better, leaving things the way they are is bringing Bush back in and giving him another 8 years to fuck it up more so. So rather than sit here and call the right extreme racists, there are some that feel this way I'm sure, but the fact that their religious based ideology makes them, think the way they do makes me proud to be an Atheist, to not subscribe to the belief that a christian in good conscience has the ability to hate lie this and the power to spread lies , fear and deceit with words, signs and rallies, even to embrace a New network ,FOX news to be your mantelpiece of spreading the lies, hate and disrespect for our leaders and our countries. We need to start thinking with our minds, and hearts and consciences again, the guilt fear and lies is old testament to the ways they did things 2000 years ago and you saw where that got those people.

Who amongst us has not used a racial slur, or thought when angered by a certain person, we all have and that makes us human, not racist, but when we stay there and play there and think that everything somebody does or doesn't do is based on the color or creed of their ilk is truly Racism. I've called a black person a Nig Nog, or the n-word, a Mexican a Wetback, cheddar, taco Bender, jews called kikes or jerw fuck oir Auschwitz survivors, Asians dinks, japs slant eyes and so on so forth. But these were all used when these people were acting ridiculous and put me in a state of rage where It was a quick lash out of stupidity on my part based on my anger at the time, Yeas it was wrong and yes i felt bad afterwards for doing so, but for me to get to that point took a catastrophic occurrence to make me explode like that. regardless it was wrong i take responsibility for it and know I was wrong for it. I have good friends and people i call family who are all of the above and varying in all nationalities and genders and sexual preferences and i make no determination other than the fact "are they good ,honest, trustworthy and loving people"?Obviously they are and they are called my internal circle, but am i a racist for slipping up ,NO! Can religious people put in a political circle who pass laws , or don't pass bills that affect peoples lives seemingly done based on origins and skin color and the fact that others don't eat ,sleep and breath biblical terminology and lifestyles? What would you rather be, a typical married couple living in hate and misery, cheating on each other and raising kids to be and do the same as their examples in front of them? or an gay couple who loves and cherishes each other and goes against the norm and is forever penalized for their happiness? Sucks to be different Sucks to be Happy. the system and the priorities of our far right govt needs to be real Christians and do what is best for today's living American people, not what worked for Cain and Abel.... Ok my work is done here!!!!

More Peaves

Got a few things on the mind these days, just a few more things that infuriate me to the end of restraint! I am tiring of all the negativity towards the new President and all of his new proposals, granted the complaints continue to come from the far right Religious nutjob based Republican party. Living in the past on on their judgemental ideal and forgetting times have changed but their arguments are still the same and will never change. If there is a democratic President we hear them the most, the hypocritical rights is getting a bit old and hopefully people will see this transparent hate and fear mongering group for what they truly are"wolves in sheep's clothing" When people call for change the first thing the narrow minded do is say NO, No to anything that Isn't comfortable or their idea. for the past 8 years our former President was allowed 8 years of bad policy, bad diplomacy and horrible decision making and yet got a free pass and was a hero to the republican side, yet 2 ongoing wars and deficit numbers that sent us to the brink of depression are still being cleaned up by the new administration. the absolute disrespect and outward hatred towards President Obama is beyond comprehension. the rumors of Nazi, fascism, socialism and racism form this administration would have put people in jail for treason if the tables were turned and people were calling President Bush these very things. People showing up to rallies with guns and invoking their rights to inflict fear upon others for the sake of being jackasses. This republican world is getting smaller by the day but as they get smaller they seem to get louder and more ridiculous, more so fueled by shock jock radio and TV personalities, Hannity, Beck and limp dick pill popper Limbaugh with an O'reilly chaser to fuel the ignorance. I've never been politically active and still don't vote, but this past election has brought upon a new awareness of seeing our country go from status quo and failing to something bigger and better, where an opened minded approach is now being taken and the republican sector does not want this to happen. It is a sad state when a Sara Palin can even get airtime and yet she is a trophy for their cause with her overabundance of misinformation and closed minded thinking, this is the cancer of our society, not the fact that we are changing at a rate that they are not comfortable with and that they have lost power and control to inflict their views on the masses anymore. This is very evident with their refusal to assist in the health care reform and continued "NO" status on everything that the President runs forward, this roadblock is stopping our growth as a country and as a people, it has become the Hatfield's and McCoys all over again. The solutions are to pass bills with the majorities and stand up against this "NO" brigade of Republicans. As a Nation and a People of intelligent thinking Americans we need to put difference of a few aside and do what the masses voted for, CHANGE, the direction is change and the time is now. this country cannot be totally run by Big business and religion anymore, actually they seem to be the same these days but special interest groups to include religious sectors and big business have enveloped themselves with politicians fighting for their cause. with insurance companies being threatened to lose billions if health care reform passes of course they are lobbying their political friends to not pass this and thus get many financial gifts for impending fund raisers and campaigns! We as people need not show up with guns and threats and signs of negativity ,but demand that Democrats stand up to the close minded agenda driven GOP when the American public is all hurting financially , medically and socially with all the looming gloom and doom being created. I hope our President stands up and makes a stand and passes his agenda, the majority of those who voted for him did so with that in mind, change is here so lets implement it Now. I am sick of the narrow minded,religious based, bible thumping goons trying to push their worlds views on the rest of us. to quote Frank Schaeffer"The extremist right should go to the mountaintops and wait for the Apocolypse and let the rest of us make the world a better place to live" paraphrased but close, this is so true and I hope i live to see the day when the far right is a mere distant memory and calling real Americans whose fathers were POW in WWII who fought for us ,the American public to be free, free from the anti-American right movement from and allowing us to prosper in the worlds greatest country.