Hi everybody! You know, I need to catch you all up on what's going on in my life right now so I will call this "BullDog's Fun Time"!
As most of you probably know, I am in the embryonic stages of building a 1975 Harley Sportster. Well, to let you in on a little secret, I have never built a Harley motor before so I have tons of questions and practically noone whom I can ask for enlightenment. Soooo, I did a lot of internet searching and I came across a forum called XL Forum. XL is the designation Harley gave their Sportster line.
Well, I went and registered for the forum and started searching the various threads in the hopes of finding some good technical advice. Lo and Behold, I found it! Well to make a long story short the forum requires you to PAY $25 a year in order to access certain threads or post pictures and I said to hell with that...but that's not I am writing this post. No, this post is to relay to you what I considered to be a fairly arrogant and rude thread in that forum.
See, every forum I go to has at least one area for military veterans and I put my service dates, ships, deployments and whatever else in that thread to share with other vets the stories only we know to be true and can sound outrageous to civilians. So, one of the threads I came across was written by a reservist, he didn't reveal which service he was in the reserve with...what he DID do was ask this question, "Am I the only one fed up with people thanking me for my service?" He talked about how he was in the reserves and whenever a stranger walked up to him and said "Thank you for your service..." he wanted to tell them "...if you're so thankful, why didn't you raise your right hand and serve?"
If you are upset at this, I don't blame you. Before I left the forum for good, I refuse to pay for the privilege of gaining information I can get for free elsewhere, I did my best to convey my feelings for his attitude. First, let me say this, whenever people find out I am a veteran, they always walk up to me and offer a handshake with a "Thank you for your service" and it does not bother me one bit. It does embarrass me somewhat, however, and this is why.
I enlisted in the US Navy in 1987 in the hopes of serving my country and getting an education unmatched by any university in the world. To be honest, the thought of not enlisting never really crossed my mind...I just assumed that was what I was supposed to do. See, my Great Great Great Grandfather was a Civil War Veteran, my Great Grandfather was a WWI Veteran, my Grandpa was a WWII Veteran and my father is a Vietnam Veteran...so I just defaulted to military service. Now, during my service I deployed to some precarious spots on this big blue orb...I am extremely lucky that I escaped with all my limbs intact and just minor aches and pains every now and then.
The point of this is, I never ever thought I deserved a hero's welcome or expressions of gratitude from complete strangers...I thought I was just doing my job. Being in the Navy was my career; fighting wars and deploying to far off places was my job. That doesn't mean I don't like it when strangers walk up and thank me but it does make me a little embarrassed. I hope you can understand my point. I know fellow veterans and my close veteran friends will understand my point. I truly hope the veteran in that forum begins to understand that point.
The American people are appreciative that we took up the mantel of military service...we should be grateful for their appreciation...I know I am.
28 May 2009
21 May 2009
Politics and Jayzus...
Well, we had our run-off election this past Tuesday here in the fair city of Brandon. Before I go any further, I need to fill you in on local politics. As most everybody knows, when it comes time to elect or re-elect members of a city council and/or the mayor certain things will happen and certain things MAY happen. In the case of Brandon, all six wards and the mayor's office were up for election this year.
So, the first round was the primaries...after last year's presidential circus everybody should be familiar with primaries. In our fair city, I live in Ward 6, and as such was bombarded with flyers stuck in my front door, on the flag of my mailbox and knocks on my door by canvassers and sometimes candidates. Every single one of the people running for Ward 6 Alderman was Republican...in fact the entire slate of candidates was Republican. Brandon does not have a Democratic Exective Committee so I am in a distinct minority here.
Nevertheless, I read the flyers and started to make my decision on who I was going to vote for. Out of all the names for Ward 6 hopefuls, only ONE man did not list his church membership as a qualification for elected office. That is the man I decided to vote for because I will NEVER EVER EVER EVER vote for a politican who lists their church membership or any religious connotation on their flyers/signs/websites, whatever. I will not name names but I will tell you that there was one guy who really made a clown of himself and ended up being a joke on primary day.
The primaries ended with my guy and one other guy in the runoff for the general election. Yes, Virginia, there is still a general election even when the other party is not represented...it is a small matter of ELECTION LAW. I tell you this because you are not going to believe what comes next.
After the primaries, another flurry of campaign activity resulted. My guy came to my house while he was canvassing and we had a chat about how STUPID and IDIOTIC it is to list what church you go to and what position you hold in said church and present it as a qualification to hold elected office...I told everybody I knew and anybody I came across how important it was to vote for my candidate over the other but NOT because he listed his church.
Okay, so now you're going "HUH?", allow me to explain. The other guy, on his flyer, in BIG WHITE LETTERS, had a statment saying there would be NO general election because it would be only one person so he needs you to get out and vote for him. Remember I told you that according to election law a general election will still be held regardless of party representation. THIS is why I went against him; I feel this guy is another CLOWN who doesn't understand and can't be bothered to learn election law...and, if he can't be bothered with that how in the world can I expect him to be an effective alderman? So, who do you think won the primary Tuesday?
The OTHER GUY won the primary! What pisses me off SO MUCH about that is the people who voted for him did so ONLY because he proclaimed what a great Christian he was and he goes to church! I am so disgusted with this town it's not even funny! There's like 46 churches in the area for a town of 14,000! How STUPID are you if you vote solely on the basis of CHURCH rather than real qualifications AND knowledge of the law!!? It's almost like this place is like Stepford, Connecticut except that it is everybody that is an automoton incapable of independent thought...they just do "what mah payastor sayed"...maybe they all go to this church...
So, the first round was the primaries...after last year's presidential circus everybody should be familiar with primaries. In our fair city, I live in Ward 6, and as such was bombarded with flyers stuck in my front door, on the flag of my mailbox and knocks on my door by canvassers and sometimes candidates. Every single one of the people running for Ward 6 Alderman was Republican...in fact the entire slate of candidates was Republican. Brandon does not have a Democratic Exective Committee so I am in a distinct minority here.
Nevertheless, I read the flyers and started to make my decision on who I was going to vote for. Out of all the names for Ward 6 hopefuls, only ONE man did not list his church membership as a qualification for elected office. That is the man I decided to vote for because I will NEVER EVER EVER EVER vote for a politican who lists their church membership or any religious connotation on their flyers/signs/websites, whatever. I will not name names but I will tell you that there was one guy who really made a clown of himself and ended up being a joke on primary day.
The primaries ended with my guy and one other guy in the runoff for the general election. Yes, Virginia, there is still a general election even when the other party is not represented...it is a small matter of ELECTION LAW. I tell you this because you are not going to believe what comes next.
After the primaries, another flurry of campaign activity resulted. My guy came to my house while he was canvassing and we had a chat about how STUPID and IDIOTIC it is to list what church you go to and what position you hold in said church and present it as a qualification to hold elected office...I told everybody I knew and anybody I came across how important it was to vote for my candidate over the other but NOT because he listed his church.
Okay, so now you're going "HUH?", allow me to explain. The other guy, on his flyer, in BIG WHITE LETTERS, had a statment saying there would be NO general election because it would be only one person so he needs you to get out and vote for him. Remember I told you that according to election law a general election will still be held regardless of party representation. THIS is why I went against him; I feel this guy is another CLOWN who doesn't understand and can't be bothered to learn election law...and, if he can't be bothered with that how in the world can I expect him to be an effective alderman? So, who do you think won the primary Tuesday?
The OTHER GUY won the primary! What pisses me off SO MUCH about that is the people who voted for him did so ONLY because he proclaimed what a great Christian he was and he goes to church! I am so disgusted with this town it's not even funny! There's like 46 churches in the area for a town of 14,000! How STUPID are you if you vote solely on the basis of CHURCH rather than real qualifications AND knowledge of the law!!? It's almost like this place is like Stepford, Connecticut except that it is everybody that is an automoton incapable of independent thought...they just do "what mah payastor sayed"...maybe they all go to this church...
20 May 2009
Religion is a HOAX
Ok, so I haven’t posted here in a while, I know. Lately I haven’t been finding much to blog about but I have been reading recent news lately with quite some interest, here they are:
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
In Ireland, a report was recently released that Catholic priests and nuns beat, raped and humiliated thousands of children entrusted to their care, i.e.- reform school. This report was 2600 pages long…yes, I said it correctly, Two Thousand Six Hundred pages!
While the extreme details have not (and most likely should not be) been released but the layman (me) reads it like this. Catholic priests RAPED and BEAT young boys for their own sick amusement for sixty years (1930s to 1990s). As if the Vatican didn’t have enough headaches dealing with the American pedophilic priests now the headlines reveal systemic abuse so horrible one can only think this is the death knell for the Catholic Church. The report also reveals that Catholic nuns BEAT and HUMILIATED and yes, sometimes RAPED young girls entrusted to their care for their own sick amusement for the same period of time.
The nuns struck the girls with what I believe would be switches, belts, rope, etc (the report says “implements designed to maximize pain and were struck on all parts of the body”; you get that, implements DESIGNED to MAXIMIZE PAIN! So this, to me, shows the Catholic Church CONDONED this abuse and hid it for decades (“The report concluded that church officials always shielded their orders' pedophiles from arrest to protect their own reputations and, according to documents uncovered in the Vatican, knew that many pedophiles were serial attackers.”) Get this, boys and girls, the orders were called Christian Brothers and Sisters of Mercy! How hypocritical can the church get? I‘ll let you read the article yourself from here: SICKO
The other news story I have been following with great interest is the Minnesota mother who has fled with her cancer-stricken 13 year old son in order to avoid court-ordered chemotherapy: WHACKO
This whacko family belongs to a religious cult founded by a conman! They supposedly believe in “natural” healing methods. To me, that’s not much different than the whackos in Wisconsin who let their daughter die from juvenile diabetes instead opting for prayer to “let God heal her”.
Whether or not you believe in “God” (personally, I have been on the fence with that belief lately) there are laws…got that…LAWS…that require parents or caretakers of minor children (that is any child under the age of 18) to ensure said minor child receives adequate medical care. This is LAW and it is being flouted by religious idiots!
What really puzzles me is these same sets of IDIOTS are the same IDIOTS rallying to make abortion illegal! I saw a bumper sticker while I was on my trip to Myrtle Beach that read, “The GOP and Religious Right loved me until I was born” Sadly that is a truth that cannot be denied. Yet, the sheeple of the Right insist on blindly following their talking heads and demonizing the Left. For me, I will put my view simply as this; if you believe religion trumps medicine, you are an incompetent, easily-led automaton and I have nothing but contempt for you. I have nothing but contempt for organized religion AND the whackos that use religion to deny their children medical care OR use religion as a shield so they can abuse others’ children.
You can believe what you want but leave me out of it. I want nothing more to do with organized religion.
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
In Ireland, a report was recently released that Catholic priests and nuns beat, raped and humiliated thousands of children entrusted to their care, i.e.- reform school. This report was 2600 pages long…yes, I said it correctly, Two Thousand Six Hundred pages!
While the extreme details have not (and most likely should not be) been released but the layman (me) reads it like this. Catholic priests RAPED and BEAT young boys for their own sick amusement for sixty years (1930s to 1990s). As if the Vatican didn’t have enough headaches dealing with the American pedophilic priests now the headlines reveal systemic abuse so horrible one can only think this is the death knell for the Catholic Church. The report also reveals that Catholic nuns BEAT and HUMILIATED and yes, sometimes RAPED young girls entrusted to their care for their own sick amusement for the same period of time.
The nuns struck the girls with what I believe would be switches, belts, rope, etc (the report says “implements designed to maximize pain and were struck on all parts of the body”; you get that, implements DESIGNED to MAXIMIZE PAIN! So this, to me, shows the Catholic Church CONDONED this abuse and hid it for decades (“The report concluded that church officials always shielded their orders' pedophiles from arrest to protect their own reputations and, according to documents uncovered in the Vatican, knew that many pedophiles were serial attackers.”) Get this, boys and girls, the orders were called Christian Brothers and Sisters of Mercy! How hypocritical can the church get? I‘ll let you read the article yourself from here: SICKO
The other news story I have been following with great interest is the Minnesota mother who has fled with her cancer-stricken 13 year old son in order to avoid court-ordered chemotherapy: WHACKO
This whacko family belongs to a religious cult founded by a conman! They supposedly believe in “natural” healing methods. To me, that’s not much different than the whackos in Wisconsin who let their daughter die from juvenile diabetes instead opting for prayer to “let God heal her”.
Whether or not you believe in “God” (personally, I have been on the fence with that belief lately) there are laws…got that…LAWS…that require parents or caretakers of minor children (that is any child under the age of 18) to ensure said minor child receives adequate medical care. This is LAW and it is being flouted by religious idiots!
What really puzzles me is these same sets of IDIOTS are the same IDIOTS rallying to make abortion illegal! I saw a bumper sticker while I was on my trip to Myrtle Beach that read, “The GOP and Religious Right loved me until I was born” Sadly that is a truth that cannot be denied. Yet, the sheeple of the Right insist on blindly following their talking heads and demonizing the Left. For me, I will put my view simply as this; if you believe religion trumps medicine, you are an incompetent, easily-led automaton and I have nothing but contempt for you. I have nothing but contempt for organized religion AND the whackos that use religion to deny their children medical care OR use religion as a shield so they can abuse others’ children.
You can believe what you want but leave me out of it. I want nothing more to do with organized religion.
13 May 2009
Myrtle Beach Hates Bikers...what???
Well hey there everybody! I am back from my little jaunt to Myrtle Beach for the Spring Rally, aka Bike Week. If you read my last post, you know I was going with my best friend Traveller, aka Iron Horse Cowboy. I will tell you my trip was fantastic! Last Thursday I headed out on my Harley and pointed it east towards Lexington, SC. After about 9 hours on I-20 (and a little rain in Alabama) I was in Lexington, chilling at Traveller's house with a cold beer.
Friday morning we headed out from his house in Lexington; he on a Road King and me on my Geezer Glide, heading for or hotel in North Myrtle Beach. If any of you are bikers, you already know that the city council of Myrtle Beach passed 14 new ordinances in an effort to stop the Spring Rally. Of course, what would you expect from a mayor who once announced publicly that he wanted to"nudge" a biker with his car because of the biker's t-shirt.
Once at the hotel we decided to ride around and check out the goings on in the various places. One thing I was sure proud to see was the organizers handed out a brochure with a map outlining all the events and the city limits of Myrtle Beach. You see, Myrtle Beach hates bikers so much they passed very strict ordinances to deter us from coming. A lot of bikers were there but from what I was being told by the locals, attendance was significantly less than the year before.
So, for three days Traveller and I rode to various biker bars with names like Suck, Bang, Blow and the Beaver Bar to check out the bikes, babes and beer. We had a wild time that we enjoyed immensely!
On Friday night we ate at the Hooter's in North Myrtle Beach, where a waitress told us the whole brouha was not about our Spring Rally but about another group that holds their "Black Bike Week" shortly after Spring Rally Bike Week. She told us the tale of a group coming in to the restaurant last year running a tab of about $200 and walking out on the tab. She was held responsible for it. Now I am not picking on anybody and I am certainly not a racist by any means but in my time in Myrtle Beach I noticed that there were no fights, no races on public streets, nobody walked out on their tabs, nobody got shot, nobody drank to the point of puking and everybody generally had a good time and behaved.
I am not accusing anybody but I have to ask this question. If the majority of problems the Myrtle Beach community complains about are occurring only during "Black Bike Week", why is it racist to ask them not to come to Myrtle Beach anymore? Why is it when this group gets together there is almost always a shooting, there is rampant shoplifting, drag racing on the streets, people are walking out on their tabs in restaurants and bars and people are driving off from the gas stations without paying? How is it possible that the NAACP and the ACLU are able to sue a city for racial discrimination when it is the very group they are defending causing these problems?
Is there anybody out there that can honestly answer this question without crying "racism"? Anybody? I am all ears waiting for your answer.
Friday morning we headed out from his house in Lexington; he on a Road King and me on my Geezer Glide, heading for or hotel in North Myrtle Beach. If any of you are bikers, you already know that the city council of Myrtle Beach passed 14 new ordinances in an effort to stop the Spring Rally. Of course, what would you expect from a mayor who once announced publicly that he wanted to"nudge" a biker with his car because of the biker's t-shirt.
Once at the hotel we decided to ride around and check out the goings on in the various places. One thing I was sure proud to see was the organizers handed out a brochure with a map outlining all the events and the city limits of Myrtle Beach. You see, Myrtle Beach hates bikers so much they passed very strict ordinances to deter us from coming. A lot of bikers were there but from what I was being told by the locals, attendance was significantly less than the year before.
So, for three days Traveller and I rode to various biker bars with names like Suck, Bang, Blow and the Beaver Bar to check out the bikes, babes and beer. We had a wild time that we enjoyed immensely!
On Friday night we ate at the Hooter's in North Myrtle Beach, where a waitress told us the whole brouha was not about our Spring Rally but about another group that holds their "Black Bike Week" shortly after Spring Rally Bike Week. She told us the tale of a group coming in to the restaurant last year running a tab of about $200 and walking out on the tab. She was held responsible for it. Now I am not picking on anybody and I am certainly not a racist by any means but in my time in Myrtle Beach I noticed that there were no fights, no races on public streets, nobody walked out on their tabs, nobody got shot, nobody drank to the point of puking and everybody generally had a good time and behaved.
I am not accusing anybody but I have to ask this question. If the majority of problems the Myrtle Beach community complains about are occurring only during "Black Bike Week", why is it racist to ask them not to come to Myrtle Beach anymore? Why is it when this group gets together there is almost always a shooting, there is rampant shoplifting, drag racing on the streets, people are walking out on their tabs in restaurants and bars and people are driving off from the gas stations without paying? How is it possible that the NAACP and the ACLU are able to sue a city for racial discrimination when it is the very group they are defending causing these problems?
Is there anybody out there that can honestly answer this question without crying "racism"? Anybody? I am all ears waiting for your answer.
05 May 2009
Myrtle Beach!!!!
I can't wait for this Thursday to get here! That's the day I will be leaving my home and riding my Geezer-Glide to South Carolina to my friend Iron Horse Cowboy's house to go to Myrtle Beach Bike Week. Click on his name to read his blog. I will bet once you read his blog and compare it to mine you will wonder how we could be such close friends with such different opinions. It's very simple, folks, he and I are both veterans and we are both dedicated to protecting the right to free speech for everybody not just those who agree with us...but I digress.
Actually, we are going to be in North Myrtle Beach since the town of Myrtle Beach doesn't want us anymore. It seems that the good folks of Myrtle Beach don't care about the millions of dollars bikers pour into their community every year, twice a year. They would rather have quiet and not have to deal with a bunch of rowdies like us. Good for them, they can try to raise money for the city in other ways. We, on the other hand, will be pouring dollars into North Myrtle Beach and surrounding cities on the Grand Strand.
Now I know that some of you probably shudder when you see a guy on a Harley in black leather from head to toe. What you most likely don't know is the vast majority of those guys are just like us, regular guys who work and pay taxes, same as you. Sure, there are the 1%ers who are outlaws but, believe it or not folks, they are in the minority when it comes to motorcycle riders.
So, if you happen to be on I-20 Thursday heading east, be a little more careful and watchful before you change lanes, ok? As always, stay safe to all my friends and keep the shiny side up!
Actually, we are going to be in North Myrtle Beach since the town of Myrtle Beach doesn't want us anymore. It seems that the good folks of Myrtle Beach don't care about the millions of dollars bikers pour into their community every year, twice a year. They would rather have quiet and not have to deal with a bunch of rowdies like us. Good for them, they can try to raise money for the city in other ways. We, on the other hand, will be pouring dollars into North Myrtle Beach and surrounding cities on the Grand Strand.
Now I know that some of you probably shudder when you see a guy on a Harley in black leather from head to toe. What you most likely don't know is the vast majority of those guys are just like us, regular guys who work and pay taxes, same as you. Sure, there are the 1%ers who are outlaws but, believe it or not folks, they are in the minority when it comes to motorcycle riders.
So, if you happen to be on I-20 Thursday heading east, be a little more careful and watchful before you change lanes, ok? As always, stay safe to all my friends and keep the shiny side up!
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