Aaron Reddin onLife, Liberty, and Pursuit of Jesusness

Target.  You know….the store?  Surely you’ve heard the latest ranting about their political and financial goings-on. 

If not, you will.  I need not preface this video with an explanation as the video does it well enough. 

THIS, my friends, is the real beauty of America.  Regardless of your political stances or opinions…..you must admit that the ability to do THIS, is one reason we all stay here…..

Thanks to these two, I would like to announce that I am quitting Christianity, American-ity, Southern…whatever, and I will no longer divulge my gun ownership status. 

Anne gave me the guts.  Basil gave me the desire.  Anne told me it was ok, when Basil made me cry. 

I’ve wanted to return to Nashville, TN someday.  However, if this dude goes any farther than a 3 inch rope, it just won’t happen……I don’t even know if I will call myself American ever again.

This is one of the many reasons that I can’t stand to hear the claim that undocumented immigrants are a “drain” on our society….

I’m working on a blog post that takes on immigration and Christianity.  I’m sure it will piss off plenty of my friends, but I think there are some things that need to be discussed. 

What better way to prepare for that, than to show you how NOT funny Ray Stevens is…(still)…

There is just so much crazy awesome stuff out there right now that I can’t help but share with you…..

I can’t keep up with it all! If it doesn’t let up, I’ll never get around to writing another article! That said, this is the greatest picture you’ve ever seen….

First, let me say this:  This “oil spill” sucks.  It’s sad.  It’s horrible.  People died.  It sucks. 

But, if you haven’t even laughed one time at a BP joke that you’ve heard or read, then you have no business on my trashy blog!  :) 

Now….

If you Twitter, surely you have noticed the last, greatest Twitter-er….. @BPGlobalPR

This has been one of the most amusing things I have ever seen.  Some dude does satire very well, and has aimed all his energy at BP.  It’s a freakin’ riot!! 

Here’s one of his Tweets for example:

“The oil leak was caused by a natural gas explosion, or sea fart, which is now having silent but deadly consequences. #bpseafart “  6:26 AM Jun 1st via Twitterrific

If you can’t laugh at that, you should never be allowed to laugh again!! 

So yesterday the dude “behind” this Twitter account “came out” and revealed his partial identity.  In one of the most well written and stated posts regarding BP thus far, please welcome…….

Mr. Leroy Stick!!!! 

Oh….You have to click on his name….my bad.  Or as we are now saying, “My BP”.

Some of us were boycotting BP long before boycotting BP was “cool”.  Yeah, like for at least 3 years.  That’s when Eddie Vedder first clued us in to just how bad their track record and behavior seems to be. 

In 2007 Pearl Jam began to publically denounce BP for it’s environmental negligence.  That year at Lollapalooza in Chicago, they really made a scene when they played a little ditty that they had written specially for our friends at BP. 

If everyone was a rocker, then maybe we would have all stopped these idiots before they started wasting lives and water.  Crank your speakers up, and rock out to this catchy little left hook to the jaw-bone of BP!!

guess I should have had on a bowtie!!!

Really, what makes you think that your name on a sign in the grass is going to prove to me that you deserve my vote?  Not a thing!  I don’t give a crap what your name is or what you are running for….

And your little bumper stickers that you’ve tagged onto them claiming “Pro-Life” and crap like that really aren’t going to get you my vote either.  Instead of telling us where you “stand” on the issues that are basically your only platform, try telling us something about YOU and what makes you worthy of having your name on the side of the freakin’ road. 

Where does all this crap go when it’s over??

There, I said it. 

Two men.  Both have a need.  Both are searching for a way to meet that need. 

One of the men has resources, but is looking to either increase or maintain those resources.

One of the men has nothing.  He likely wouldn’t know where to start, if a “starting point” were even available, to begin to obtain his own resources.  Maybe he’s crazy.  Maybe he’s lazy.  I don’t know.  And neither do you. 

Both men realize that the quickest and most beneficial method of obtaining said resources is to get help from others.  Both men realize where to go to find the most “others”. 

An intersection.

One man goes to each car with a rubber boot.  That’s right, a rubber boot.  People roll the windows down and fill that sucker up with cash!  And they’re happy to do so.  They smile big and hurry to get him some money before their light turns green.  The world seems right.  The man got what he wanted, and the people are happy that they got to be at that intersection to help.   I mean, firefighters need more money don’t they?  I mean, don’t all of their funds come from private donors and such?  Oh….

The other man is lucky if he isn’t arrested.  And when I say “lucky”, I mean he lives in paranoia and has to watch over his shoulder about once per second.  No smiles for him.  He doesn’t even have a rubber boot!  Who does he think he is?? 

He doesn’t come to your window unless you tell him to.  But most of the people at his intersection won’t even tell him to have a nice day.  He is ignored.  Made fun of.  Dehumanized.  And likely either arrested, or told by police to go away. 

His need does not get met.  And all those people leave that intersection never thinking twice about the fact that this man has nothing.  Never mind the reasons why because only he and God know. 

I’ve seen the police here in Little Rock run people off over and over and over.  Even arrest them. 

Because they panhandled.  Because they asked for help.  Because they’re homeless. 

Nobody minds if a firefighter stands on the corners begging for change.  They celebrate it! 

But when it’s a homeless man, the standard is changed.  Is that OK? 

I’m not saying that I condone panhandling.  That’s a post for another day.  But I do have to ask why one can do it and be celebrated, and the other is treated like a piece of trash and forced to leave the area. 

What are your thoughts?  Even if I just pissed you off, leave me a comment and tell me what you think.  You won’t hurt my feelings. 

Just being honest, I think a hangover might be more enjoyable than this book.  I guess it’s accurately titled because that’s exactly how it left me feeling, like I had just finished an 8 hour hangover. 

But, you may like it.  If you’re a total political junkie you would most likely eat it up.  Especially if you lean to the right. 

I keep up with and pay attention to major politics, but I’m no political guru.  This book flew right over my head as a result.  From the lingo to the “plots” and historical references, I was lost from the start. 

With all of that said…..

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is without question well versed in his subject matter.  You don’t even have to know what he is talking about to know that he certainly does. 

So, I can’t really say that the book was bad.  It was just a bad idea for me to take it on.  I stuck it out (because I had to), but I know few people who would have. 

If you can’t ever get enough to scratch your political itch, buy this book!  It’s for you!  If your dad still reads book, buy it for him!  It’s for him! 

Sorry y’all…..it just wasn’t for me. 

(This review was written in exchange for a copy of the reviewed book, through Thomas Nelson’s Book Sneeze program)

There is a reason that John Locke began planting the seeds of a wall dividing government and religion. Well, I’m sure there are many reasons. Those reasonings evidently had a large impact on Thomas Jefferson as he gave the concept a giant boost.

Not only is it a safeguard for religious rights, and a protection thereof, but it also protects the government by restricting it’s influence on something that it has no business influencing.

Separation of church and state. Today, I believe that only 50% of it is practiced and effective. I use the term “effective” VERY loosely.

Christians and churches will fight tooth and nail to make sure that the government stays out of their religious business. But they have no problem pushing religion into the government. That is the 50% that is messed up.

Where is the proper balance?

You see, I can’t stand when Christians spend all of their time and money trying to legislate morality. I think Jesus made it very clear what he wants us concentrating our time and resources on. I never saw where legislation was a part of that. He taught a better way, but never forced His desire (or law) on any one’s life. Why do Christians think they have a right to force their “morals” into legislation?

Here in Arkansas, we just had a judge declare that “Act 1″ was illegal. Act 1 was an underhanded attempt by “Christians” to keep homosexuals from adopting kids who had no home/family. Though they couldn’t come right out and say that, it’s no secret that this was their MO.

They sought out to keep “unmarried people who live together” from adopting children. An attempt to legislate their “moral agenda”. Almost every gay person that I know would provide more love for those kids than these so called “Christians”. God forbid they find a home with individuals to love them.

This is not a homosexuality debate. I’m not getting into all that crap here. I’m simply going after the point that if the government is going to be held to staying out of the Church’s business, then the Church needs to remember it’s place and stay out of the government’s business.

The really comical thing about all of this is that it’s generally the ultra-conservative Christians who do this junk.  The same ones who fight to minimize government, are the same ones who fight to create more and more “moral” legislation. 

Since the “separation of church and state” is not working so well in this aspect, I propose that we switch it around and call it the “separation of state and church” to see if this will help Christians remember their place. Maybe even help them remember their instructions from that Jesus guy. Remember Him? Anyone?

You can never again accuse me of never stepping outside of the little bubble of a world that I live in!

I just ordered this book from Booksneeze…..After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery. 

This is outside of my norm for so many reasons.  A couple of which being that I’m only about 1/4 conservative, and the fact that R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. ruffled my feathers with the analogy in itself. 

But I haven’t even recieved it yet, and am committed to reading it with an open mind to what it has to say.  :) 

I’ll have my review posted……sometime….

As you well know, I’m not the sharpest cookie in the Crayon box….

I don’t know much about anything really.  I just know enough to get me by. 

While I’m making a confessional booth out of this, I may as well go ahead and let you know that I’m not as much of a liberal as I will make you think.  The truth is, Republicans are really easy to piss off.  Quite frankly, I find it to be very entertaining. 

So, what does any of this have to do with my stance on health care reform?  Not a freakin’ thing.  Like I said, I don’t know much.  I pretty much just shared with you the extent of my political knowledge. 

Until yesterday I didn’t have a definitive stance on HCR.  If it happened, fine.  If not, fine too.  Let me hang it out there like this:  The very last things that I want my life to be defined by are political views, patriotism, or the fact that I happen to be an American citizen.  Quite honestly, I couldn’t give a crap less about those things. 

Yesterday, however, I formed an opinion on HCR.  I took the side that may shock you. 

I’m against this trash.  Yep, that’s right.  I only have like 2 reasons though.

1.  The government is going to FORCE every American to purchase health insurance.  If they do not, they will be “penalized” for not doing so.  I’m sure that “penalization” will be of some type of monetary consequence.  This is asinine.  Do you know why people don’t have health care now?  Mostly because they don’t have the freakin’ money!!  So, if they don’t have the money, they’re going to have to pay “extra” money AND magically find the money to get health insurance.  That makes a lot of dang sense, huh? 

2.  Many have argued this as a comparison to the government making you obtain and maintain car insurance.  They’ve said, “You pay it without complaining, what’s the difference?”

Hello!!!  This is a no-brainer.  I CHOSE to buy a car.  I CHOOSE every day to keep said car.  I knew upon purchase of said car that I would be required to carry said insurance on said car.  Cool.  That’s acceptable. 

What’s not acceptable is that I did not CHOOSE to be born.  I surely did not CHOOSE to be born in America.  Sorry if that offends you, but it’s the truth. 

Now, since I was born, and it happened in America, I will be forced to pay for something that is outside of my control that I certainly did not CHOOSE.  If I do not purchase health care, I will be penalized for the same reasons.  I will be penalized for sucking air over the dirt that makes up this land.  Again, outside of my control.  I can’t afford to move to another continent or I just might have done it already. 

So, here’s my official stance and proposal to the US government at the same time:

If you’re going to force me to pay for something that’s outside of my control (because I didn’t choose to live, or live here), then you should NEVER be allowed to write me another speeding ticket.  As a matter of fact, if you’re going to force me to pay for insurance on my car AND my health then I should be able to drive said car as fast as I freakin’ want to.  And if I want to buckle up, I will.  If I want to eat a double meat bacon mushroom cheese burger with mayo and everything while I drive, I will.  If I want to text my smokin’ hot wife while I drive, I will. 

I paid for the roads with my taxes.  I paid my car insurance and health insurance so now everything is covered.  YOU CAN NO LONGER TELL ME HOW FAST TO OPERATE MY CAR ON MY ROADS, SINCE YOU MADE ME INSURE SAID CAR AND MY PERSONAL HEALTH!  DEAL??

I think it’s brilliant.  And I’m pretty sure Sammy Hagar would even agree……