Political debates on any subject tend to be heated… there are those for and those against… and those who have no opinion either one way or another… that is the beauty of our particular republic… in Godde we do trust… the question is witch Godde… they never say witch Godde or that you even have to believe in one… that was particular interesting in the way they designed the frame work… they were Masonic in their beliefs so Godde was important to them… they just felt deeply that the choice should be individual not Government sanctioned… some people think this is too easy… some too rigid… most of us take it for granted because we can walk down a main street and walk past three four or more different religious houses… so when we debate an issue race… religion… and political leaning always come into play… I am republican in my natural tendency… I dislike government involvement in my life… yet I also realize that in a society we need rules and regulations that help us all… so I accept some government to do those things… set standards… provide for common defense… set policy after debate on issues that effect us and make sure that all have a fair chance… in that light we need to debate all the issues that come up… if we are speaking of same sex relationships… then we are talking a lot of issues and they are not just who one gets to have a relation ship with… to me that is up to those involved… the issues become one of how does society deal with the relationship… and we should talk about them… because they effect us all… in terms of the work place… there is only one issue… how do we deal with benefits… a big issue in this day and age considering the costs… other then that… fair workplace rules exists… and they exists for us all… no discrimination due to race… creed… or sexual orientation… that is some thing we can all accept… some will not mind you… some will say that in certain areas… we should discriminate… and I guess we do… women are not a majority in police forces or fire departments or correctional facilities… the issues with same sex relationships goes further… as adults we can deal with it… as teenagers high school age it is some what easier… butt what about really young students in schools… how do we deal with those questions… some say that is a silly question butt I think it deals with the issue at hand… that is at the core of a right wing mind… how do I deal with this… how do I explain it… where is the logic to it… remember right wings are the logical standard setters… the establishment… the rules oriented ones that bring order to the chaos… the left is the more open… come as you are… everyone has a place and we will find a way to do it once we are all together side… intelligence exists on both sides… what does not is compromise and movement… so in the political arena what I wish and hope for is change… it is time we had people willing to step forth and disagree in a way that spurs change and movement… lets move forward… so when we have issues of debate lets talk about them in ways that open us to a solution… personally I don’t care who marries whom… as long as they have the same responsibilities as I have… as long as they take on the challenges of life… go for it… special considerations no… additional help… no… if this is what you desire… great… I can see why others find it offensive… butt then… they find sex of any kind offensive…

A long deep breath correlates to a long stretch of the legs or perhaps a long awaited silence… time slips at times between our fingers and presents us with opportunity even if we are unaware of just what that opportunity is exactly we know that one exists in the time granted to us… what we do with the time we are granted will define us… as in all things there are times to move and times to remain in the stillness of the shadows… what is this time that we are in butt a series of opportunities to do what we can… we have not missed the chance to strip away the pretense… we have not missed that at all… we are just aware of the one that slipped by and we are wondering if the same one will come around again… the chances are that the same exact choice will not present itself… butt another one will… so in taking a long stretch perhaps I am just allowing myself the time for another one to come around… or am I just sleeping…

I believe we have better things to accomplish then to divide… I believe we have better roads to walk then the road that separates… when ever we step up to speak in favor or an opposing opinion we are at risk… that risk is what democracy is… that risk is what freedom of speech is all about… I want to hear alternative opinions… I want to hear the other side of the coin… when we stop listening to the opposing point of view it is no longer a democracy… it is a dictatorship… a republic thrives on the debate… it requires the most of its citizens because it requires them to think beyond themselves… to have an opinion to argue it and then to find a way to accomplish what needs to be done… what is the way in the darkness… what direction shall we go… what steps do we take… first and foremost is to step back from the rhetoric and to educate ourselves as to the situation at hand… to find out as much as we can about any issue and to read both sides of the argument… what does the left say… what does the right say… and then what is the hidden meaning in what they each are striving for… for politics is a strange bedfellow and if you lay down with one be prepared to come away with a bug or two…

Whenever one side attacks coverage as being biased what it means is that the one being attacked is not agreeing with what we are saying… it is human nature to be biased… we are by our nature biased to our points of view… to be fair we need to fight that bias… and it is over time that we develop an ability to find the middle ground… just because some one stands up and disagrees does not mean they are against you… it means they have an alternative opinion… that is democracy… that is what we desire… what we want… what we need… one road does not a country take or make… we make mistakes… miscalculations… we do things in our best interests and sometimes they are not in the best interests of others… that is democracy at its best and worst… we argue… we debate… we channel our interests into the far and wide… who am I to question the President… I am a citizen and it is by our very nature that we have the right and the privilege to do so… the President is not of one party or another… of one mind or another… the President represents us all… like it or not… the vote is an important step in the direction a country takes and while I feel this direction is not the best direction… I say so… I say no… to less say in my personal affairs… I want more say… I am by nature a republican… I want freedom to choose my own way with the smallest amount of government intrusion… I over stand that others want the opposite… what interests me about that is that the opposite hangs a great deal on the governments shoulders… and I cannot think of one government agency that runs well does a good job without being filled with corruption… for some reason when the government hands out money or grants or some other form of revenue we forget that it is our money or borrowed money that we have to some day pay back… and be it democrat or republican everyone in the last half century has led us down the road to fiscal ruin… all the while lining their own pockets… perhaps it is time to stand up and say no to the debt… no to the free spending… no to the out flowing of money to the far reaches of the world and it is time to get our own financial house in order… so when I hear the attacks on news media as being biased… I say yea and what about the ones you like… aren’t they biased to your point of view… that is why you like them isn’t it?

Give me the debate… the pros and the cons… strip away all the crap associated with the political correctness and get down to brass facts… what is it going to cost and who is going to pay for it… that is what I wish to know… so when some one can tell me that clearly and concisely… we have a starting point…

When did earning a profit become evil… when did the American dream become mired in political correctness… set the rules and don’t change them and let the players play and see who comes out a winner… all this changing of the rules so it suits one side over another is stupid… free enterprise is the best course… it gives each of us an advantage… the same advantage… and we make of it what we make of it… the rest is up to us… stop all the I have to be my brother’s keeper crap… that we have to pay for the less fortunate… that we have to allow for those who can’t to share in what we have… we don’t have to do that… the less we intrude upon one another the better…

Thee are areas of operation where we extend the hand of government and find that they do the job effectively… the common defense… police… fire… military… are all areas where the individual lets go the individual right for the common good… I am not so sure we will do that well in health care… or education… or insurance… or finance… free enterprise is a motivation… a path to the dream… though some believe it is dead… I believe other wise… so while government does some things well… others we have to be more careful with… the thieves are on both sides of the aisle… ones hides it better then the other…

I have become interested in the divergent points of view… to educate myself I have begun reading the polar opposites… in other worlds liberal and conservative points of view… commentaries… on a range of subjects… I find myself wondering how anything happens… for every side there is another side… another point of view that has merit at times… at others… not so much… butt then that is my side of the story… I find humor in the words of others as well as a sense of being uncomfortable… I ma looking for facts and all I find is sets of rambling numbers that each throws out at the other… so what is the truth when we seek to find fault in comedy instead of telling the truth to begin with… what is the purpose of attacking a news agency because they think not like me… the purpose of different views is to debate them… knot to dismiss them… the purpose is to come to a conclusions… a compromise of action… not to ram one set of theory down the throats of another… difference promotes diversity of avenues to achieve a result… by nature I am a conservative thinker… so when I find myself at times reading a liberal view and thinking they are being more logical then the rant I am reading on the right… I have to wonder… I did not agree with the liberal point of view… just the logical way in witch it was presented… here is what I believe will work… here are the facts as I see them… challenge me… I like that approach… I want more of that kind of logic… here is what I believe will work… this is what I believe it will cost and lets talk about that and what we can get from it… perhaps I am like the majority of people and what I wish to see is actually real debate about the facts and a compromise that brings us forward…

Having an ideology allows me to find a reference for comparison… that does not mean I dismiss out of hand another’s view because it is not mine… I use that point of view to vet my beliefs… and I have at times come at odds to what I believe… in other words some times my beliefs are incorrect for the situation at hand… I would love to believe left to ourselves we will act in a meaningful way… but historically we do not… therefore what is the balance between less control and free markets and government control… that is the debate that is running around… does anyone believe that the government does a good job… does anyone believe that a government employee does a better job then a private one… the truth is overall the government is terrible at managing our money for us… so how do we do what is necessary and stay true to our foundation… to do that requires we put aside the anger the fear and the aggression and do what is right… for every action there is a cost… and that cost must be paid… to think otherwise is foolish… some one has to pick up the cost of what we do… there is no better person to know that in my opinion for me then me… I want the freedom to choose for myself… not be told by another that I must take this or that or be part of this or that… I want the freedom to say get out of my way… to refuse… to decline as well as to accept… I am not my brother’s keeper… I don’t accept that premise that I must or need to agree to another’s profiting at my expense… all I want is a level playing field… where the best person achieves on the basis of being the best… so what is the cost to me… my basic tenant or foundation is that I have the right to refuse to help another if I so choose… I owe you nothing at all… my place is not constructed on your effort… it is constructed on mine… and so should yours… human nature allows us to find the path of least resistance… that does not means we should take it… great achievements come from struggle… therefore in witch we find ourselves…

Am I knot my brother’s keeper… the simple answer is no… my brother is his own keeper… he is responsible for himself… I question a lot of things lately… I question the logic behind the need for granting a pass to others… perhaps that is because I am in that mystical middle ground… in the middle between those that have and those that have not… so I am constantly pinched for what ever I can grant… perhaps I see my choices as moral obligations… if I do than I accept that… what I have difficulty accepting is that I am forced to grant to another what I am increasingly unable to afford for myself… in terms of laws and government my view is less is more… the less laws the better the less government the better… that is not to say that we should disregard any law butt perhaps we should look at some that restrict the ability of people to succeed… each side of the aisle has it merits… I want free trade… yet I also want clean air to breathe… it sounds silly when you say it that way… butt history tells us there were moments when those two elements did not come together… if left to their own ways profit is taken at the expense of clean water… or clean air… when did we step away from our moral obligations as people and grant that to the government witch is morally lacking in every way shape and form… so when did we decide that the government is better at anything… the trick for a politician is to give things away… entitlements… some thing for nothing… they are telling us how we are to save for our retirement butt they have a different pension plan… one that pays them without regard for vesting… time put in… they tells us how we are to deal with medical coverage and yet they have a plan that covers every aspect of what happens to them… a great difference exists between the haves in congress and the have knots witch is the rest of us… so perhaps they should take on the plans they grant to us… perhaps they should be inside the systems they design… perhaps if the government operates in a deficit they should take a pay cut not grant themselves a pay increase… if we are all in this together perhaps we should ask all of our elected officials to take a nice cut in pay and benefits so we can all share the pain equally… it will not happen they love the flow of cash too much to do the right thing… and what is the right thing… to some it is the world of take and spend… to others it is the world of responsibility and freedom… I am of the opinion that while I like to believe we could all get along… the path of responsibility and personal freedom is more likely to give me that… than the path that asks the government to take care of it for me… I am my own keeper… and if I fail to do so… so be it…

Columbus is both… a hero and a villain… aren’t we all… do we all not possess the good and the evil… so here we have this explorer who for want of a better tern discovered the presence of these foreign lands that before him were not known to the European mind… did he discover America… no… it existed before he was here… all he did was run into it and bring it to the mind of others… to say he was a villain is incorrect… to put him on trial by our standards is also incorrect… in our terms so many centuries later he is not a very nice individual… yet I am sure if we look at any person from that age… we will find them to be rather violent in their pursuit of adventure and discovery… they were leaders in their day… so if you must judge them… judge them by the standard of their own time… not by the standard of ours… he is a hero… he was a human being and he did things in his own best interest and while some of that proved to be disastrous for the communities he encountered… it was not like he was aware… some people give the man way too much credit… that he knew he was wiping out the population… that he knew the diseases and illnesses they carried would kill off large amounts of the population… he was in his time… a leader and we should look upon his actions in those terms… hindsight from 500 years away is very good… we can now say this is what he should have done… butt in the moment… it is laughable to think he was thinking of anything butt survival and profit… witch was the entire point of the exploration to begin with…

Certainly there is a Godde and they have a sense of the ridiculous… what more can we say… how does one cheapen the accomplishments of some of the greatest minds and people of the last century… by granting the same award to someone who does not deserve it… perhaps in a few years… perhaps if some thing has been accomplished… butt to give the award based on hope… Shirley you jest… the award is not for what we hope will happen… the award is supposedly for the person or persons who have done the most for world peace… so I can imagine Godde having a good laugh at all of us…

People do things for the strangest reasons… we go about doing what we do and find that even with the best of intentions we can go awry… in this case while the intention is a good one it is not justified… things are done and patterns are set up for specific reasons… and to step outside those constraints is not recommended in a global situation… and especially not in a situation when nothing has been accomplished… to stir hope that it will is some what of a fool’s hope that is… humans will continue to kill humans for nothing more than the fact that we were born… in my many years on this earth I have not yet seen anything that will change that… we fight over property… religion… political ideology…

Settling in two… action and reaction… one move begs another move… a simple swing… a simple step… a simple push…a pull… a stroke of genius… a stroke of ingenuity… a stroke of the oars gentle pushing the water past… a curved expression… a single whisper in the forest of trees lost in the dampness of the summer’s evening… or is that autumn’s… a drink of some thing to trip the imagination… we approach the edge of the edge of the edge that drops away into the abyss that swallows hard anything that tumbles over… and in the leaves there is that gentle breeze that speaks to the skin…

I paint… I draw… I write in color… I find the time in a circular pattern… I wonder aloud if the process is correct for me… and some how the fall is the pallet of the rainbow that colors the world more vividly then I can create in my mind… perhaps it is the way my mind falters…

A walk alone in the haze of morning light… a stroll down a memory… a lane in the fall that speaks to me… a cool… cool… river… a small path unnoticed except by a few who know where the gate is… where to turn off the main road to the side road to the smallest of openings between two trees that opens just enough to spark the imagination… one breathes deep as they walk alone… as time sweeps past… in doing we find our way… in doing we step up and out into the world… in doing we encounter the process of change… and so it goes… and over and over we move ourselves across the earth toward the river… stepping across the pathways one step at a time until we are within the leaves surrounded by the rainbow…

There is this strange concept in religion that one must fear and praise… Recently I received and e-mail… a spam e-mail that had as its tag… fear God and praise him… those two elements of emotion and action for me are not congruent… so I ask myself why fear… the praise part I over stand… what I am unable to grasp is the fear… perhaps it is my ideal of Godde… I fail to see Godde as an entity that I need to fear… the theory for me of Godde has and continues to be a more individual one… so fear is not an emotion I associate with Godde… home comfort… forgiveness… peace… love… those are all ideals I associate… so I ask why is fear so important for some to consider when they think of Godde… what is the purpose for fire and brimstone… is it really a deterrent for those who commit evil… with so much evil in the world and a good measure of it committed in the name of one Godde or another is fear of Godde really a deterrent to doing evil… so while I can over stand the praising part… I am not one who will enter the next life in fear of what will happen… if I fail to be the person I can be… then it is by my own choice and by my own hand that I failed to live up to the possibilities I have been given… that is between me and the Godde within me… I am not in fear of that moment… nor do I fear eternity… so while we move across this day perhaps we should do a bit more of the praising part and a bit less of the fearing… and maybe we would all be a bit better for the time we spent…

Yes is an invitation… a way inside… yes speaks to the affirmative side of one’s desires… a yes invites one to linger… to stay… to spend more time… to be with… yes is that small word that opens up endless possibilities…

I have been off my game for some time now… the possibilities are endless as to why or where I have wandered off to… there are truths and there are lies that coincide with each… finding my way back home has always been difficult for me… home is where I am at any one place in time… moment to moment I am where I am and it is not until I sit and with purpose of mind seek do I sense being out of place… butt out of place I am… and that is some what interesting and some what awkward…

Take a deep breath… and your perspective changes… with each intake to the depths of your being it is impossible not to feel different… when the time is right… when the mind is ready… breathe deep the gathering wonder of time and let it out slowly… in that process you change perspective and see differently the world around you… the possibilities are endlessly floating by… take the high or the low road… take the city main line or the country rolling lane… each gets you where you need to be… each will allow you the opportunity to find your way… when it comes down to it… when it comes up to it… when it floats in or out or squarely in tune with what ever place you need to be… you find that routines are what we strive to provide for ourselves… they are comfortable and easy… they allow us to get things done with purpose and focus… yet the most wonderful of tides are filled with moments when we are in the midst of creating new routines or when we are forced out of one into another… at that series of moments we are challenged at every fiber of our being to sense what is going on around us… we have the need at that place in time to find a new process or pathway… and so we do… find our way… create our own path to the end… and create from the new a comfortable journey or routine… a walk in the colors is in order to rekindle the wonder of fall…

Dawn has engaged the earth… and light has found its way into my hovel… my new place to write is interesting… more to my liking in some ways… it gets me out of the way of the main traffic through our home butt does not give me the total privacy I once had… at times we all need our personal space… with a home filled with others it is difficult to find personal space… that is the way of it… the dawn comes to light the way having passed the torch from the night… so she awakens me… time to breathe…

Fall comes… it is the time of year… if could be summer butt it is not… there is some thing in the air… that some thing allows us to wander a bit more… I am tired and it shows in my attitude about life… about myself… about those around me… I have become some what lazy in mind body and soul… I have good days and bad ones… and some are especially difficult… the house has become over crowded once again and there is no place to go… no place to find solace… this is where I am… the music or harmony of soul is sporadic and I am wondering aloud where the tide is… where is the flood of words that can pull me through… here I am putting mind to the keyboard and seeking the flood and finding butt a trickle… where once there was a multitude of possibilities… now there is a handful… perhaps that is all there ever truly was and I failed to grasp the certainty of that… I am a product of my own choices… some how I feel I have failed… myself… my family… there is no thread to the fabric that is me any more… perhaps this is my true self floating away on the tide… fall comes and reminds me that the cycle of life continues… even though I wish it to slow… that I wish the tide to ebb… the days to grow longer and warmer… this is the cycle of shorter days and cool crisp mornings… it is the beginning of the inside time… the time for deeper reflection and solace within ones self…

Some times at night I close my eyes and I wander… walking was for me an easy flight to take… I have since I was very young had this ability to take flight inside my mind… to fly out amongst the trees… over them… to push my mind further and further… the journeys have been far and wide interesting to the heart and soul… at times I am breathless… and in the stillness of that I wonder… I do so wonder what is with me and what is without… some times I can sit in the silence and be so peaceful that my entire being becomes one with the earth… I lose me in the surface of time… one moment I am there in the moment and the next a speck in the fabric of time… that simple… that quickly… some times when I close my eyes I sense the smallness of existence in time… and I know that to question such is to fail to see the significance of it… we all serve our purpose in the tapestry… we needle and we sow the seeds that spark life… we connect one time to another and we push and some times pull kicking and screaming into the next generation… we love and we fail to love… to take advantage and have advantage taken of us… and when it is over some times all we get is a letter… a single sheet of paper on witch our life is written… that is the course of life… we arrive amidst great potential and possibilities… we live with expectations and we find that at times we have reached further then we imagined… and at others we have settled in… my words reflect on me… they are a reflection of me… of the great potential I have… of the many failures I have weaved as well as the few stretches that have made a difference… for every one that has gone beyond there are a hundred that have fallen short… I am nothing if not persistent… and perhaps that is all that is required of me… nothing more than a sense of persistence… a turtle’s diligence to get from here to there… Some times in the still of the night when the earth sleeps and I am awake I can feel the pulse of time… and all I can manage is a sigh…

I have heard it said that all life is a process by witch we live… learn and enjoy… that every aspect of what we do and who we are is an ongoing process… from the ritual of awakening in the morning to the ritual of entering the warmth of bed at night… we have processes that we follow… the word intrigues me… we have process and we have flow… we have steps that make up the process and steps that lead to the process and away from the process… we are part of the process and some times we are part of the process that works against a particular process… I sense we are more then the process… butt we like process… we like the routines that allow our minds to wander… we like the sameness of the rituals we surround ourselves with… and when we are pushed outside the sameness we learn that being alike while interesting is not as intriguing as the differences… we learn so much more by what is different… that is what our mind captures in a sentence… the One word that is different the One that sparks our interest… leaves fall… colors glow… time stops along a faded road… in a space of moments we find ourselves… here in this secluded sanctuary of time… a capsule falling… and time resting peacefully in the moon light… a certain glow fall has… a cool, crisp autumn sky foretells of winter yet to cover us… and for certain the days will be shorter and the nights longer in comparison… that is the cycle of the process of time… of the seasons…

Morning comes… the light filters in and we open our eyes to her… morning has that female nature to her… while day is masculine… morning and night are feminine by nature… they are the reflected nuances… the wondrous hint of possibility that are all feminine traits…