President Barack Obama

I'm actually in tears.

CNN has just called Barack Obama - PRESIDENT ELECT BARACK OBAMA! California has just checked in and his electoral count is 299. I just can't believe that we are here. After two years of campaining. After fighting the powerhouse Clinton's, after fighting the dirty lies of John McCain and his GOP croanies, Barack Obama has come out on top. AMERICA's FUTURE has come out on top.

Thank God for this day, and this opportunity, and this achievement.

THBM

E Minus 9 days "The Palin Factor"

If you love something, you want to see it thrive. You want to see it flourish. You want to see it being the very best that it can be. This applies to everything, your friends, your spouse, your kids, and even your country.

I love America.

I do.

I think America is the greatest nation in the world, and I wouldn't want to wake up anywhere else in the world except for AMERICA. Now, while I say this - I want it clear that I respect any citizen of any other country in the world to feel the exact same way about their country. It can be just as true to them as it is to me.

But is that statement as true to John McCain, as it is to me?

Case in point: Let's suppose that John McCain believed that he was going to be the next president of the United States, this is reasonable and quite true I assume. So, if he thought that he was going to be president and the Commander-In-Chief of our armed forces and the leader of our great nation, that I assume he truly loves, why would he not intrust our nation to a qualified partner in his vice-president?

We're all human, none of us are immortal. We are all sharing this moral plane on even footing. Within reason we all need to make plans, contingencies if you will, to assure that the things that we love are able to thrive and flourish in the unexpected event that we are no longer present or able to care for and support them the way we believe they should be cared for and provided for. That's why many of us that are fortunate enough to afford life insurance, purchase it - we want to help provide for our loved ones financial security if we can't do it any longer; that's why some people leave large endowments to schools, churches, colleges and organizations - so that that can thrive and continue for years and generations anew.

But John McCain has told America and told the world that if, 'I am elected the next president of the United States, a counrty with the most powerful military in the world, a country that is a central hub of global finance, a country with one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world, a country that is a 232 year old democracy, and if I am unable to complete my four year term in that office, I shall willingly turn over control of that nation to Sarah Palin."

God, I wish I could insert the silence that should follow that last sentence.

He is telling not just America, but the whole world that he really doesn't give a damn about our country. Now I have no idea how bad a president John McCain will be. Maybe not as bad as Bush, but close I'm sure. But I certain of one thing - SARAH PALIN would be worse than George W. Bush. In fact, I'd rather have 4 more years of Bush than two years of Palin. Now think about that. Four more of Bush v. Two of Palin.

Now, I don't dislike Sarah Palin, the woman, the mother, the Governor, the big game hunter - I don't know the woman. But what I have seen from her scares me. She's worse than Bush in an interview - My God, did anyone see her with Couric? Sure, she was thrust upon the national stage - but she has shown day-by-day that she is not smart enough or politically saavy enough to play on the main stage. As I've heard older folks say, "She plays well in the 'sticks'." The Sticks being the small venue of Alaska. I've got no beef with Alaska, but being the mayor of a small town where she wanted to ban books she didn't like, and where she wanted to allow guns in schools, and where she let meth overrun the streets and then the Governor of a state for a year or two where she voted for a 9-figure bridge to-nowhere, and tried like hell to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from his job in law enforcement, it doesn't qualify you to have a shot at possibly being the next president of the United States. When you hear her trying desperately to explain how living across the Bering Strait from Russia gives her National security experience I feel terrified knowing that she might end up as our President.

I find it strange that no one in the big media talks about the fact that her and her husband are staunch supporters of the "Alaskan Independence Party" a group that has publically called the Government of the United States their sworn enemy, and pushed for legislation that would allow them the ability to secede from America. How is it that no one is crying foul on this one? If someone caught a picture of Barack Obama lighting up a Newport, the three major networks would interrupt broadcasting with a "Special News Report."

John McCain is telling all of us that he really doesn't have our nation and its best inteests in his heart and in his mind. He picked Sarah Palin because the shock value she brought the the table - she was a woman, and moreso, a woman that almost nobody had heard of. She is probably one of the most unqualified individuals in this country to be the next vice-president of the United States and the Republicans know it - unfortuantely for the rest of us - the die-hard Republicans care more about their party than they do about about our nation and its future.

I think what turns my stomach most of all was something that Sarah Palin herself said. When asked what she said when McCain offered her the VP spot, she replied, "He asked me if I wanted to be his vice-presidential running mate and I didn't blink an eye. I immediately told him yes!" To me, this is the most troubling thing of all. It's either an arrogant lie, or it shows that she has no regard for our country. I think that a decent, humble and intelligent person would have acknowledged the scope of the request and would have needed a little bit of time to think about the question, to look at their personal capabilities, to maybe even pray about it - but they would have taken a pause to make sure they were the best for the job or at least mostly READY for the job. Not her, not Sarah Palin - she jumped in head first without hesitation and without giving our nation any real thought. She saw her name in lights and she saw hubby Todd making snow angels in the rose garden. Sadly, she is a vice presidential joke.

This is a serious time for serious people, and Sarah Palin is just not ready for the job.

TTBM

E MINUS 10 days: "A Time to be Smart..."

"This is the most important election in our lifetime."

I think this is the second time that I've heard this phrase, and its the second time I have believed it.

The first time was in 2004 when Bush stole yet another election from our country by using dirty, underhanded politics and singing the same old song to the same old people.

Now we find ourselves as a nation, under the gun again. Another narrow-focused, conservative-minded, protect-the-rich and piss-on-the-poor Republican threatening to further our doomed effort in Iraq, to keep his foot on the neck of the non-wealthy in America and to insure the continued prosperity of his mega-rich base.

I find myself very very scared lately. Our country has put George W. Bush in the White House TWO times. George W. Bush is probably the last American that should find himself in charge of our great nation. And now we find ourselves being told the same old distorted lies and twisted pipe-dreams again - by the same old party - on a somewhat different day.

I'm worried.

Sure, the polls show that Barrack Obama is ahead in almost every way possible, but the Republicans are scared and they are backed into a corner. We should expect them to come out fighting... fighting AND cheating. It's funny how you ONLY hear about cheating and questionable ballots, and harassment of voters where Democrats are threatening to take Republican seats and so called "Red" states. Republicans... excuse me... some Republicans are the most devious and underhanded people in the world and their party means SO MUCH more to them, than OUR country does. Some of these Republicans are so scared of change and so fearful that they may have to pay an extra bit of tax on their "upper class" incomes that they are willing to bend. break and sometimes burn the Constitution to get their way.

These are dangerous times for Americans. Not because George Bush has allowed bin Laden to stay alive and be the multi-billion dollar face of fear to us, and not because George Bush has allowed big banks and corporations to run rough-shod with no regulation and bring the world to the edge of complete financial collapse... NO - These times are dangerous for us because John McCain and his inept number two, Sarah Palin, are supported by fear mongering cheaters and criminals that will stop at nothing to put them in The White House. We cannot allow this election to be stolen, we cannot allow 4 more years of Bushesque politics to run and ruin our once great nation. We can't allow the lies and hype to take center stage.

It is time for us all to be smart, to vote, to not be deterred, to watch these people closely on November 4th, and to encourage everyone we know to get out to the polls and vote. We honestly may never have another chance at the pace we're going now. And heaven help us if Sarah Palin ends up as president... but I'll talk about that at E Minus 9 days.

TTBM.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone that has stopped by my blog in the last few months to try and catch some random thoughts from this Brother.

I wish I had some glamorous, Earth-moving reason for not blogging, but sadly I don't. I think life just stepped in, along with some changes in the computer use policy at my job, and I figured I wasn't quite ready to give up my salary to blog during my lunch hour.

Anway, I'm going to see if I can find my voice again and I'm going to get busy checking out my old friends in the blogosphere - I can't wait to see what you all have been up to.

-TTBM!!!

What on Earth are they doing?

Why do I know that this will NOT be the last time the American media makes this current election a racist, ignorant, fear driven, sick-minded, debacle? I guess because, I have a brain.

It appears that the ignorant, talking-heads that we have so graciously planted on cable-TV and given their own news shows, loud microphones and bright lights - want to be heard. They want to be heard and they want to say THEE stupidest things so that someone will pay them some attention.

It seems as though Barack and Michelle Obama gave each other a little "dap" onstage last week in St. Paul and the media appears to have gone ape-sh*t over the gesture. Media people on all of the big networks were asking what was "meant by that gesture," and "Why did they do that?" and "What do you call that hand thing?". WHAAAAAAAAAT???

These people claim to be able to present NEWS to the masses. They are supposed to be intelligent enough to present world events, history making events, once in a lifetime events and they are unnerved and baffedly beyond words by a little "fist dap." Give me a freakin' break.

I started to define "fist dap" right here... but then I thought about it. If anyone is kind enough to read this, and living in the United States, and has NOT, repeat - NOT been living under a rock, then they should already know what a "fist dap" or "a pound" or "some dap" is. Therefore I won't waste your valuable blog-reading time.

Back to the talking heads - one Fox News reporter, E.D. Hill went as far as to call the gesture "A terrorist Fist Jab." Hill was promptly repremanded by Fox in public; behind closed doors I'm sure she's a water-cooler hero at Fox, and she probably got a neat little bonus check for the dig against the Obama's.

But, this kind of foolishness, what I call "racial foolishness" is certain to spread in the coming months. I think Barack is going to come under fire for his party of choice, that's a no-brainer, but what we are going to see and read is an amazing amount of racial foolishness from the mainstream media. We are going to see the big media windbags from Fox, CNN, ABC, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, etc. saying things and making accusations that are going to sound nothing short of insane. The media is going to attack the Obama's because they are not White. Note that I didn't say Black, I said, "Not White."

For the simple fact that the media picked up the gesture and noted it, shows that even the tiniest of things that may not be done by "mainstream" Whites are going to be presented as alien, foreign, void of logic, you-name-it. Every little thing that Barack and Michelle will do overthe rest of this election is going to be hyper-scrutinized. John McCain can drag his wife out onto Pennsylvania Avenue and cover her in whipped cream and chopped nuts from head-to-toe and the media will glance over it with a chuckle and a grin and move into a detailed, three-part, round-table discussion over "Why the Obama's picked NOW to paint their Volvo station-wagon beige?"

We are going to be flooded with some of the dumbest, saddest, most ignorant news reporting in our country's history over the next five months, and I'm sorry to say The Obama's are going to be at the heart of most of it. We are at the most crucial time in our country's existence, employment is down, the economy is down, thousands of Americans are losing their homes each day, crime is up, education is WAY down, we are deep in a recession, gas is approaching $5 a gallon, healthcare is a joke, and our media is acting like the Black guy running for president is sharing a mysterious pact of some sort with his wife.

Until we demand our media to take us seriously as Americans. they never will!!!!

Michelle Obama

Last night as I sat glued to my TV watching Barack Obama acknowledging his history making ascension to the Democratic Party's nomination for President, I was overwhelmed.

Here we are in 2008 and there is a very good chance that the next President of the United States could be an African American man. I am nothing less than astonished. I'm astonished and tremendously proud to be an American on this day. The majority of Democratic voters were able to look [for the most part] past race and they were able to vote for a Black man. WOW! Way to go America!

I was on the edge of my seat for the whole speech. My wife and I were exchanging high-fives and clapping and giving our love to Barack Obama and the future of hope and optimism that we pray he brings. Then he finished with a couple of "God Bless America's" and then suddenly my whole perspective on the night's events changed. Michelle Obama took the stage with her husband.

I have become quite a Michelle Obama fan over the last year or so. I think that she is a very dynamic, intelligent and downright likeable person. For Barack Obama to have captured the heart of a woman like her, it says a lot about his character, and I admire the relationship the two of them appear to have. That is why my perspective changed. Michelle did not appear to be her usual happy and cheerful "potential future-first-lady" self, she looked worried.

She tried to hide it, that stunned, worried look that people get when their spouses step into harms way. It was the look of spouses that kiss their loved ones goodbye before they head off to war. It was the same look that I imagine police officers and fire-fighters spouses give their loved ones when they leave for work. It was the look I assume Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz gave their husbands when they went out to change the world.

I have an optimistic streak deep within me, it is in this streak that I believe Barack Obama will change the world, I believe that he will beat John McCain and move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and he'll do amazing things and he'll grow old and gray and write memoirs and give lectures and be an American icon for generations. But, my optimism aside, we live in a world of fanatics, lunatics, racists and hate mongers. We live in a world of danger.

I think this is why My Girl - Michelle looked a little worried last night. She's given us her husband. She's allowed... YES allowed... our country to have a chance for renewed greatness on the back and shoulders of her best friend, her husband, her man, [in her own words] her babies DADDY. She's a smart woman, she knows the dangers that powerful people face, she knows the dangers that powerful men face, she knows the dangers that powerful Black men face - and yet, she's allowed her husband to try and improve our lives.

In all the wonderful and deserved Barack Obama hype that we are now celebrating, let us not forget Michelle. Let us not forget that behind every good man there is an even better woman.

LUV U OBAMA'S!!!!!!!!!!!

TTBM

Auschwitz or Buchenwald... who cares?

Auschwitz or Buchenwald... who cares?

Barack Obama's Grandfather and/or Great Uncle helped to liberate tortured Jews from a Nazi death camp in World War II. That is a great thing and the Obama family should be proud beyond words at the role their family members played in such a significant event.

It seems as though the Democratic Heir apparent, Barack Obama, was speaking before a crowd yesterday in New Mexico and he mentioned that his Great Uncle had helped to liberate Auschwitz in World War II. It didn't take Republicans long to wikipedia Auschwitz and discover that Soviet troops in fact, liberated the death camp in January of 1945. "Oh, he's a liar! Tar and feather that Boy!" They were quick to yell!!! (okay, maybe they just whispered the tar and feathers part - but I'm sure someone said it!)

Barack has since corrected himself. I believe he got his death camps mixed up. Don't you just hate it when that happens?

You have Auschwitz, where between 1.1 and 2.5 million Jews were killed, and then you have Buchenwald were 56,000 Jews were killed. That is what drives me to ask - Who Cares?

No... NOT "Who Cares about murdered Jews?" I mean - "Who Cares about an error in which camp was liberated?!?!?" You had hundreds of thousands and millions of people that were imprisoned, tortured, murdered and you have crazy Republicans trying to hold a slip of the tongue against a man and his family's military history. Someone is REALLY trying to make that an issue! My God - people, we have to get serious here!!!!

Auschwitz or Buchenwald? Who cares? Why is it that people can't just embrace what Obama's family did? Why create such a furor over something like that? Especially when so few Republicans on The Hill have their own children in Service to our country. Why blow Barack's comments so far out of line. So he said one camp and not the other. Big woop. The Bottom line is this - His Great Uncle was out there in the snow and mud and blood of Germany's battlefield. He was probably getting shot at and watching his fellow soldiers [or Marines] getting killed, but he and many brave others pressed on until a Nazi death camp was put down and liberated. As a lot of people like to say, "He was doing The Damn Thing!" Something like that should not be chewed on and chewed up and used a political fodder by anyone.

This is a serious time America and we need serious people to get our mess straightened out. Play time is over.

TTBM

As bad as it could be...

I filled up yesterday and I paid $3.79 a gallon, for regular. When the pump stopped ticking my money away, the damage came to $72.02. "My God." I thought.

To say I wasn't happy is putting it mildly.

The whole time I stood at the pump and stared at my money disappearing, I found myself in my usual rage over the oil companies. This was so unfair. These rich bastards are making quarterly profits that are bigger than the Gross Domestic Product of hundreds of countries! Now they wanted my money too! It just wasn't fair! I was pretty pissed.

Then I oddly thought of a woman that I saw on the cover of the newspaper today. It was the woman in the picture accompanying this post. The picture was a little different but the woman is the same. In the picture I saw, she was alone, kneeling and crying and the caption said that her daughter had died.

Her DAUGHTER had died in the recent earthquake.

Her DAUGHTER had died.

My gas cost me $72 dollars... and her DAUGHTER died.

My children were home, safe and sound with their mother. I was with them just a few minutes later. We had spaghetti for dinner. It was pretty good... and her DAUGHTER died.

It is so very easy to overlook your blessings. For me, I suppose I get pissed off just a tad bit more than the average person. I'll be the first person to tell you that I can be a bit of a jerk sometimes. If you've read my blog before, I'm sure you'll agree with that. But, yesterday I really allowed myself to take in the good fortune that I have.

These gas prices will not be the end of my life. $4, $5 even $6 a gallon will not be the end of my life. I won't really feel any pain from it. All that may happen to me may be... I won't be buying an X-Box 360 or a flat screen HD television this year [or next]; I may have to get rid of my SUV and buy a neat lil'hybrid; I may have to give up $200 Hugo Boss shoes and buy $60 Kenneth Cole's instead; I may have to stop fussing over $7 cooking oil and $6 a gallon milk. But, God willing I'll still have my wife and kids. I'll have what is really important to me.

I have to remember to practice what I try to preach to my kids... I have to remember that I'm a citizen of the world and not just a citizen of my town, state and country. With 100,000 dead and dying in cyclone ravaged Myanmar and 50,000 feared dead in parts of earthquake shattered China, and dozens and dozens of families left homeless in the central plains of the United States after weeks of tornadoes - My Problems don't seem as bad as I sometimes think they are.

Now, I'm a little less worried about my next trip to Citgo.

TTBM

Blue Justice

You have got to be kidding me.

I am usually one of the first people to defend police officers. Sure, as a Black man raised in a big city I have enough reasons to dislike police in general. I've been stopped and sometimes harrassed by them growing up as a teen of the '80's and I know that all police share the one major flaw of being human. But, I will tell anyone that being a cop is a tough, dangerous and thankless job. I probably couldn't do it. I'm not sure if I'd want to.

One of the usual points I like to bring up when police debates flare up is the fact that I think cops first promise should be to come home at night safe and sound to their familes. The second promise should be close behind and should be to protect and serve. I never think I have those two mixed up because if I were a cop, or a fire fighter, or a plumber or a truck driver - my FIRST promise is to always come home to my wife and kids!

I think when police are in a dangerous and life threatening position, they should use as much force as needed to protect themselves, their fellow officers and the public in general. They should be brave and smart and shoot straight and true.

But then you have cops like New York's Mike Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper. Murderers.

(In fact, I'm not even typing their names in blue, because they are not true cops)

These guys murdered Sean Bell in cold blood. And worse than that - New York Judge Arthur Cooperman decided that they were justified in shooting 50 times at a car containing three unarmed Black men. 50 TIMES!!!

Okay, granted. When this event was going down in the early hours of November 25, 2006 outside of a strip club in Queens. The shooters didn't know the car was empty, but they damn sure knew that NO ONE WAS SHOOTING BACK AT THEM! One of this men actually lowered his gun, popped a clip out, pulled a fresh one out, popped it back in, charged his gun and continued firing. 50 TIMES!!!

And this judge basically told them, "Nice job guys. No harm, no foul. One Black guy dead and two injured. Next time shoot straighter, see if you can get'em all."

That's what he told them. And, yes - I know that two of the cops where Black [looking].

This verdict is nothing short of a slap in the face of all minorities. This verdict is a sham and a travisty of justice. It shows that in New York, you can gun down Black men wholesale and as long as you are wearing a badge. You are teflon; you are safe, you are golden, you are held harmless to accountability.

This is sadly not the last time that New York cops are not going to murder a minority in cold blood. The NYPD... excuse me... not the [whole] NYPD, just the arrogant NYPD assholes that equate gun caliber with genitalia size, will consider Cooperman's verdict as a free pass to claim "fear" as justification to rain down hot lead on innocent civilians.

If there is a spirit of justice in this country, if she is blindfolded and truly issues her verdicts without bias towards race or stature, then today she must be sheding a tear, she must be sad, she must be blue.

TTBM

Wright and wrong...

I haven't blogged in a while and I certainly hope I haven't lost my voice... let's see.

This whole Jeremiah Wright thing has rubbed my nerves raw.

The media is eating these little sound bites up- CNN, FOX, MSNBC and the rest are burning the airwaves to snatch as many ratings points as possible with the words of Barack Obama's hometown preacher.

I've heard most of the comments, which were clearly snatched in segments which guaranteed the most shock value to the American listener. While I think the entire sermon should be heard in its full context before anyone should make a blanket denouncement of Rev. Wright, I live in America and I know 95% of the people complaining aren't going to go beyond 7 or 8 keystrokes to try and learn anything.

But, full context aside, Rev. Wright's comments are his own, he believes in them and frankly that should be that. Barack Obama didn't make these comments, so for anyone to try and hold Wright's comments to Mr. Obama is utter foolishness. Stupid, shallow, dim-witted election year foolishness! That's like people around the world holding the dumb stuff that George Bush says all the time to the citizens of the United States. Does anyone with an IQ higher than a bullfrog stand up and say, "George Bush's thoughts and feelings are mine?" No.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing Rev. Wright to George Bush, but I am truly saying that one man's comments should not be transposed over to another just because the two of them are associated. I am embarrased that as an American, my fellow voting adults are so easily manipulated and herded like a flock of dumb sheep into these little political columns as defined by the Republicans [and or Hillary Clinton]. Someone shows some nicely edited clips of Barack Obama's preacher, and suddenly Barack is a hate monger and a racist and a bunch of other nicely scripted catch words. I'm stunned.

I was reading some websites today and I am stunned by the number of people, [white people] saying dumb things like...

"I didn't know blacks hate America so much. It's like an eye opener. Since it is a view shared by almost 100% black churches throughout the country (according to a black FoxNews guest), it explains theoverwhelming anti-socieity tendency of the black community..."

I can't help but say, "What the hell????" "Blacks hate America?" "A view shared by almost 100% of Black churches?" What kind of dumbass wrote that? I will bet my next paycheck that this person has never been within 50 feet of a Black church! I feel so sad for this person that they are so weak minded and so prone to think just the way the MEDIA wants her to think. This is a great example of the power of the American media on people that are not strong enough to think for themselves. The media gave her a broad brush, and she ran off to paint with it. (Just a little knowledge for her - Blacks do not hate America! Many Blacks may have issues with various aspects of America, but we do not hate America. For my two cents - ANYBODY of ANY RACE that hates America, needs to get the hell out of America! ANYBODY!!!)

Then I read:

"Barak sold his soul to win in Chicago and it's coming back to bite him. I voted for him for Sen. but will never vote for him again..."

I have to ask, how does going to a church for years and years before you ever think about running for Senate count as "selling your soul." I hope this person didn't just vote for Barack because he went to church in Chicago, because frankly, that would be stupid. Use your head fellow voter - don't let the Media lead you by the nose like a little puppy!

And lastly, this one just stunned me:

"Barack Obama has deliberately infected his own family with 20 years of anti-American racist hatred. He must not be allowed to similarly infect America. The Reverend Jeremiah Wright mentored Obama. They have hijacked Christianity in the same way as Osama has hijacked Islam. Obama and Osama really ARE the same person. Obama's fellow churchgoers simply haven't arrived at the point where the vests are strapped onto the children....yet."

I've tried to cut down my profanity on my blog, but for this one, I'm gonna' dust off a 10 pointer... (here we go) What the Fuck? Are you serious? Are you really serious? Infected his family for 20 years, huh? Obama and Osama are really the same person, huh? See ,these kinds of people scare the shit out of me. So narrow and so easily brought into line. Pitiful.

I think what gets me in all of this is the fact that so many people that have never heard of Jeremiah Wright until this week and who know nothing of this man are so quick to pass judgement on him and a member of his church after hearing 30 seconds of a partial sermon by him. I'm not saying he was right or wrong, and I'm not saying what I agree or disagree with in the SNIPPIT's of his sermon. But what I am saying is that I know Rev. Wright does not spend every Sunday taking shots and America, American Racism, and American Imperialism - sadly, many sheeple have been lead to believe this.

And on top of that - folks have to pick their argument when it comes to Obama and religion. Plenty of narrow-minded folks are worried about his name and assume he is Muslim [these people are an American embarrassment]! Yet, now we have a new cluster of folks that are taking arms against his relationship with his Christian pastor. So, somewhere these people have to decide - is he a Muslim or a Christian and for which one are they going to hate him!!!

How are we going to ever get a decent person in the White House as long as so many Americans are weak minded, mailable, vote clumps. So few people seem to be willing to look at the REAL political issues with clarity. People need to stay focused here - the consequences to this country and our future are so great! We have suffered under 8 years of George Bush's mismanagement of our economy and our military and we have to get serious. Let Jeremiah Wright be Jeremiah Wright and let Barack Obama be Barack Obama.

Armageddon has fallen upon DC!!!

Oh my God!

It's snowing in the District of Columbia! I see it with my very own eyes, right outside of my office window. Big fluffy snowflakes that seem to be melting on the sidewalk far below.

Snow in the District of Columbia spells catastrophe for men and women of all ages! People in DC, inside the I-495 beltway, loose their minds and all of their driving skills at the first sign of a snowflake. A mere dusting will guarantee countless pile-ups, road closings, and hours and hours of traffic. All is lost! All is lost!

Lock your doors and say your prayers because snow is falling in the nations capital!

How am I going to get home? Will I ever see my loved ones again?

I admit that I haven't been posting much lately on my blog - but, I still love my blog! I still love my readers! I still love reading the comments! But with snow on the streets of DC, my life will be in complete jeopardy as I set out to the subway!

Am I man enough to walk several blocks and cross several streets in the District under a (gulp) raging snowfall?

Pray for me.....

TSBM.

A special little place...

I'm a dad.

Being a DAD is a special thing. It's not the same thing as these numb-skulls that get women [and girls] pregnant and just roll out and treat their kids like lost socks... things you don't go back for.

Dad's do the damn thing!

Dad's worry about their kids; Dad's feel all of their kids pain 100 times more than the kids themselves; Dad's hear the sneezes and the coughs in the middle of the night and we go pull the covers up on our babies; Dad's protect and place nothing at a higher premium than the safety of our children. While very few of us will say we deserve it, there IS a special little place in heaven for real Dads.

But there is another little "special place" I hope, for fathers like Lam Luong.

Lam Luong is the guy that threw his four babies off of an 80 foot bridge in Bayou LaBatre, Alabama last week.

I hope that there is a special little place in hell for fathers like him.

Things effect me very deeply, usually to my detriment - the night after I heard about this insane and senseless quadruple homicide I barely slept. I tossed and turned and tried to keep my eyes closed for more than a few minutes at a time, but it didn't work. I sat on the edge of my bed for a long time around 2:30AM. I just keep thinking about how confused and terrified those children felt as the man that was supposed to be Dad, was murdering them. I just couldn't get the feel of drowning babies out of my head. I wonder if they understood that they didn't do anything wrong. I couldn't understand how this could happen. I found myself praying that God snatched these babies souls before they hit that water and they never felt a thing. (This is what I usually hope and pray when people die, especially from violence.)

I found myself wishing that I could have just two minutes alone with Lam Luong. Two minutes to reach into some of the darker places in my primal being and two minutes to show him the terror and pain his dying children felt. But I knew that that wasn't right. He had broken the rules of our fraternity, not me, and there was no reason that should corrupt my soul because of his ill deeds. So I could only hope that there was a special little place in hell for fathers that murder their babies.

How was I to get to sleep? After a long bout with my own rage and anger, I wandered down the hall to my kids room and watched them sleep. MY KIDS. MY SONS. MY ANGELS. I went over and sat on the bottom bunk bed, where my youngest sleeps. After a few minutes, I laid down and pulled the covers up over myself and drifted off into a peaceful sleep next to him. Maybe I was the one who needed protecting that night.

TTBM

Pardon the interruption...

Today, I did something very rude. It was incredibly thoughtless of me and I want to apologize. And, the worst part is - I do this very often, and I never seem to learn. But today, I felt compelled to blog my concerns and MY APOLOGY.

Let me tell you what happened.

I went to buy a couple of dress shirts. I picked up three different colors and took about 20 minutes to match them up with appropriate ties. I looked at cuff links and then made my way to the register. This was in a place where everybody lines up in one aisle right in the middle of the store and the line feeds perpendicular into a row of 6 cash registers.

When I got ready to pay, no one was in front of me, so I stood at the point where the sign reads "line starts here". There were two women standing at registers directly in front of me and they were talking. One was in her 20's and one was in her 40's. The younger one glanced at me and then went on talking. There was third woman working her register to my left and ringing-up a customer. To my right was a young man ringing up a couple of people. The ladies in front of me were still chatting and I assume almost a minute had gone by.

Now I'm wondering if maybe I was standing in the right place. I checked and sure'nuff I was in the right place. Both women glanced back at me, they knew I was still standing there! I'm pretty hard to miss! The young one looked annoyed with my lingering presence and finally asked me, "Can I help you?" I looked at her astonished and said, "Yeah, that's why I'm here." She rang me up, folded my ties and tossed everything in a bag and moved on to the guy behind me.

On my way out to my truck it dawned on me. I was very rude to that woman.

I mean, when you think about it... I left MY house to come to HER job. I decided that I wanted to spend some of MY money at HER place of business. Honestly, how rude of ME was it to pick up shirts and ties that are sold at HER job and expect HER to take MY money for them? Really... what a complete jerk I was to wait so quietly and so patiently while she finished talking and didn't even want to be disturbed and do her job of taking MY money.

I've learned my lesson.

I'm a rude dude.

So, to the young lady at the cash register at that men's store that I like so much - I apologize for interrupting your conversation. It was thoughtless, foolish and rude of me to expect you to be working while you were at your job. I'll try to do better next time by not expecting anything of you.

TTBM

We're smarter than THAT! Aren't we?

Okay, Hillary took New Hampshire. Nice job, Hill.

It wasn't a blowout over Barack, but at this level of a campaign, and in a contest of this magnitude, a win is a win and every vote pushes you closer to your party's nomination for President.

Today, I couldn't help but hear all of the laughable pundits claiming that Hillary's shaky voiced emotional comments from this past weekend were the reason she scored so well in Tuesday's primary. All of these expert, genius windbags were saying that voters saw Hillary's emotional side as a winning trait and suddenly the so-called Ice Queen had thawed. I couldn't help but say to myself, "Good Lord! Please let us [as American voters] be smarter than that!"

Now, granted, George Bush won the last election and he is quite possibly the worst President in the history of the world - so we Americans HAVE done some stupid stuff. But, voting for a person because SHE ALMOST CRIED!!! Please God let us be smarter than that!

For the record - I don't think of Hillary as an Ice Queen. Personally, I think Hillary's broken voice spoke her true and honest feelings, but the looks and the sounds were as staged as a Broadway musical and about as real as a seven dollar bill. Hillary and her handlers went fishing - they tossed a line to the media and the weaker minded voters and tried to see who they could catch. In my heart, I'd like to think she didn't really catch many people. I'd like to think that the people of New Hampshire voted on real issues and real concerns like the people of Iowa did when they voted for my man Barack.

I can only hope and pray that American voters can't be bought or swayed by some well acted blinking and some misty eyes. If that is all it takes, then maybe I should be running for President - as bad as George Bush has ruined our country, I find myself trembling with emotion damn near every day.

TTBM

Damn... I think.

Damn.

I haven't posted in a while, so happy New Year to all of my fellow bloggers and those wonderful folks who peek in on my ramblings from time to time. I hope you all have a great year and I truly wish you the very best!

Back to uh, uh, oh yeah - Damn!

Everybody that knows me, knows that I'm a Redskins fan. I love football and I love my burgundy and gold.

As I type this, the curtain has closed on the 2007 season for us. Seattle just beat us 35 to 14. Ah, there is the wonderful number 21 yet again. The same number worn by our fallen favorite son, Sean Taylor. Damn.

Actually, I am far from disappointed in my Wildcard Skins. We lost a lot of games this year that we should have won; We missed a lot of catches we should have caught; We threw a lot of passes we shouldn't have; We called a lot of plays that we should have thought through. But, when all was said and done, we ended up where we wanted to be all along - in the post season. Damn.

We flew to Seattle and we got beat by a better team. It was their day and it was in front of their fans. So, these things happen. We didn't play bad, we just didn't play as good as we should have. I would love to be able to point a finger at someone. I'd love to blame our veteran rookie quarterback Todd Collins, but he has had an impressive 5 games. I'd love to blame Clinton Portis, but he's put down over 1200 yards this year, impressive. I'd love to blame the defense, but hell - I love all of those guys!!! Damn.

So, I'll just let my images of beating Dallas in round two of the playoffs fade from view. Training camp starts in seven months and I'll just make due with the NFL network until then.

Hold your heads up fellow Skins fans, the loyal followers of 20 other teams were green with envy at us before our game today and even now, we've had quite a season - lets be proud!