In the Wake of the Aurora Shooting

My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those killed and injured in Aurora, Colorado. I can’t begin to imagine their pain.

A horrific crime was perpetrated against innocent Americans in the wee hours Friday morning, as “alleged” criminal James Holmes went into a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises theater in Aurora, Colorado. Dressed as The Joker, the 24-year old unemployed student Holmes reportedly set off smoke bombs, and then proceeded to shoot up theater number 9, killing 12 people and injuring dozens more.

However, in typical liberal fashion, Bill Moyers of PBS fame has placed blame for this crime not with the man who actually carried out this horrific act. Instead, in typical liberal fashion, Moyers deflected responsibility of this horrific act upon those with whom he disagrees.

NRA President Wayne LaPierre, the NRA itself, responsible firearm owners, and American history - including slavery - are apparently responsible for the dead and injured in Colorado, not James Holmes.

Yes that’s right… this new 21st century definition of racism, again, has come out to play. Slavery was abolished in the middle of the 19th century, yet today is still a card being played by the left to somehow deflect blame away from those truly accountable and place it upon those liberals see more fit to ‘deserve’ said blame.

It doesn’t appear Moyers rant is available as an embedded video, so I’ll link to it here. You can read the transcript here, at a website called “The Moderate Voice.” To read the transcript is beneficial, because through vocal inflection alone Moyers has the ability to persuade. That’s what opinion media-types do.

By mentioning that LaPierre gave speeches just before both events transpired, Moyers begins his rant by creating a false link between the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech and this recent crime in Aurora. He quickly turns and calls this “just coincidental and unfortunate” but the theme is created and the tone is set, and Moyers is ready to move on to more important things.

Important to Moyers, apparently, is being sure to lay out the fact that there are an estimated 300 million guns in America, and of course most of them are owned by the most evil of evil beings: men. With those 300 million guns came an approximate 30K deaths and an approximate 300K gun-related assaults (Moyers offers no citation, but I’ll take his word). Moyers also says there is an estimated cost of approximately $100 billion per year; yet again no sources are cited. Again, I’ll take his word.

There are approximately the same number of automobiles in America (250K), and approximately 30K fatalities per year as a result of the use of those vehicles. Should we outlaw cars and trucks? After all, the use of a firearm is predominately with the intent to harm or kill, whereas vehicles are used for transportation and almost never as a weapon. So firearms are doing what they’re designed to do, and cars are killing people when they’re only supposed to take people from point A to point B. Doesn’t this essentially make vehicles more deadly?

Next, the heart=strings are pulled with this classic:

“Toys are regulated with greater care and safety concerns than guns,”

The purpose of a firearm is not entertainment of a child; it is the harm or killing of a live being. There is a reason it is called a weapon. There is zero ambiguity here. The very idea of comparing the regulation of these two entities is beyond stupid. Guns, within their own physical existence, are probably statistically safer than toys. That is the only way a reasonable comparison might be made between toys and firearms.

It is the criminal and irresponsible use, maintenance, and / or ownership of firearms that causes problems. Harm or death is never brought by a weapon itself. To say otherwise reeks of ignorance, period.

Moyers next discusses violence being “[…] Our alter ego, wired into our stone-aged brains, so intrinsic its toxic eruptions no longer shock, except momentarily when we hear of a mass shooting like this latest in Colorado.”

Yet Mr. Moyers fails pathetically here to discuss how liberal Hollywood has, over time, eroded and semblance of morals and values in American culture. Hollywood produces violent images at a rate that is incomprehensible, if not irresponsible. Yet we conservatives understand that responsibility demands a few things from us as individuals in order to maintain our free society; teaching children that what they see on TV is not real unless it is literally a news show, and that cable boxes and game consoles have rating systems that allow adults to lock children out of that which is not for their consumption.

It’s kind of like food, Mayor Bloomberg and Mrs. Obama, but I digress.

It is easier for liberals to blame the NRA and guns, make fun of Ward and June, Wally and The Beav, while mocking conservatives who “want to take us back to the days of white picket fences,” rather than address the sickness that is Hollywood and its leading role in the destruction of any moral compass left in our society.

The very company that produced “The Dark Knight Rises” also had a trailer for a not-yet-released movie called “Gangster Squad” playing in theaters nationwide. That trailer just happens to depict, according to Deadline Hollywood, “an upcoming [pic] set in 1949 about a ruthless Mafia Godfather who runs Los Angeles. One of the scenes in the trailer that’s been playing all morning [today] shows a gangster with a machine gun shooting up people in a movie theater from behind the big screen.”

While we’re at it, may we also discuss violence and moral decay as embodied and embellished by rap music? You’ll never hear The Beatles, Pearl Jam, or any country artist discussing how cool it is to participate in a drive-by shooting, or how they like to call a woman “bitch” and treat her as a lesser being. Yet there is an entire subculture in entertainment that makes a very bounteous income from presenting exactly that lifestyle and behavior as not only acceptable, but glamorous.

But our President is Black, and he hangs with entertainment people. Watch what you say… and please, ignore his White half. Obama's White ancestors (his mother and grandparents) were the Marxist loving Socialists (read his book if you don’t believe me), and those words are now code for something that means I’m a racist.

And now would be a bad time for Moyers to disparage Hollywood, while we’re in the midst of the Hollywood presidency, with the American-Idol-in-Chief whining and dining with Hollywood liberal elites and scooping up the cash as fast as he can.

Remember, as our President once said,

“it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Thanks for being the president of all Americans, Mr. Obama. But I digress.


And in no way do I associate our President with any acts of violence. Let me be clear.


Ah, slavery. Apparently, according to Moyers, America “began with the forced subjugation into slavery of millions of Africans and the reliance on arms against Native Americans for its westward expansion.” No need to remember that we have long since become a civilized nation, when there’s racism to be used to promote an agenda. That, and the fact that were it not for firearms America might never have even been created. America was created in the defense of individual liberties and freedom of man from an oppressive government. You know, the kind of government that believes it can take away from you your very right to defend yourself.

Next, the Gabby Giffords reference. After that criminal act by Jared Loughner, Moyers says, “In Arizona last year, just days after the Gabby Giffords shooting, sales of the weapon used in the slaughter – a 9 millimeter Glock semi-automatic pistol – doubled.”

Yes, Mr. Moyers, that criminal act may indeed have lead many Arizonans to purchase firearms. And given the nature of the political discussion at the time, it made perfect sense. After all, completely innocent bystanders like Sarah Palin were being accused of murder by pundits and politicians on the left, so who knew what a Democrat president and Democrat controlled Congress might try. Americans believe in their rights, and one of those is the right to defend oneself.

Moyers next makes a lame attempt to equivocate regarding The Second Amendment’s Militia clause. This is something liberals constantly fall back on, in the effort to take away from original intent. As James Madison once said, “Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”

That, friends, is original intent… not this “Well, we don’t have government sponsored militias anymore” argument I’ve heard from the likes of Chris Matthews and other drum-beaters of the left.

In a sad closing effort, Moyers tries to put weapons in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists, in the effort to once again pull the strings of bleeding hearts across America. The infamous American jihadist Adam Gahahn was once recorded (and can be seen on YouTube) discussing the ease with which a person may purchase a firearm in America.

Firearms are readily available in Arab and predominately Muslim nations in the Middle East too, although through very different means. Those firearms are not a topic for such discussions by the likes of Moyers, and I for one wonder why. Perhaps it is because those firearms were in the hands of the rebels, which led to the overthrow of tyrannical dictators? Of course, we don’t want to discuss the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood is the likely benefactor of such upheaval, because President Obama early and often spoke out in favor of this al Qaeda born fundamentalist movement. Again, I digress.

Even perhaps the most famous pacifist, Mahatma Gandhi, understood the importance of a person’s right to defend himself. In his autobiography he stated, “Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.” It doesn’t get much clearer than that.

There can and should be reasonable discussions about how easily attainable firearms may be. If weapons can be had by criminals through the same means as law-abiding citizens, that is a problem. All indications are that James Holmes obtained his weapons of choice legally.

I am reasonable enough to understand that there are some weapons that need not be manufactured and sold to the general public. However, I would always argue on behalf of the public being able to have those weapons, over the complete restriction of such. If there is one thing that always must be understood, it is that The Bill of Rights was created for very specific reasons, with a very specific purpose; those are our most important rights as given by our Creator, and they must be protected across the nation under any and all circumstances.

In closing, more strict laws are not the answer. According to cnsnews.com:

Currently in Aurora, Colorado, where the shooting took place, it is already unlawful to carry a concealed "dangerous weapon," discharge firearms, unless by law enforcement on duty or on shooting range, and have loaded firearm in motor vehicle.

However, had one law abiding citizen “broken the law” and carried a firearm into that theater, some might have been spared. But as always, it is not the responsible firearm owners who cause the problems.

Happy Independence Day

In the late 1700’s, independence from a tyrannical and oppressive British government was gained in a new land. Freedom from an oppressive, state instituted religion was one of the most important reasons so many men, women, and children gave their lives. Today people enjoy the freedom to choose their own faith (or complete absence thereof, should they so choose) than in any time in history. This is true not just in America, but largely around the world. For this and this alone, America should be celebrated as the best social and governmental experiment in history.

Yet there’s so much more to celebrate about America.

Taxation without representation was one of the other motivating factors that pushed the colonies to wage war for their independence. It is fascinating today how taxes are as much a part of the discussion in America as ever in my lifetime, certainly… and perhaps as much as ever since our nation’s founding. We are definitely being taxed today more than ever in my adult lifetime, yet those taxes are not solving our most important problem; our debts to other nations.

Instead, our government is imposing itself upon a large portion of our economy, about which it knows nothing and can really no nothing to help. That, and it did so through every illegitimate parliamentary measure available… all the while lying to the public and not calling its imposition what it really is; a tax.

Our government will now spend more than ever before on the medical “care” of its people, under the guise of caring for those “most in need.” We already care for those truly in need. Now, thanks to government, those who are low income earners without the ability to insure themselves will certainly be able to receive insurance, alright – by the mandate of federal law, and a “penalty” for non-compliance. It’s called a tax, people.

And for those who already have insurance? No worries… like I will, you’ll just keep the insurance you have. However, if your insurance is provided by your employer, as is mine, you’d best look out when costs get too high for him to continue to offer that benefit. My employer is already griping about how much our premiums have gone up since Obamacare… excuse me, “The Affordable Care Act,” became a national discussion. Employers will soon be dropping insurance benefits like the L.A. Kings scored goals in the Stanley Cup Finals this year… early and often.

The problem with our “healthcare” system in an economic sense is that we know little to nothing about what costs really are, yet the government believes another level of bureaucracy between doctor and patient is the answer. What it really creates is another layer of people creating nothing of substance and providing no truly legitimate service, all the while taking an income through taxation from those who do indeed truly create products or provide legitimate and beneficial services.

Insurance is a need, but not the way it is organized and used today. Competition would be good for insurance. There was little, now there will be next to none. Oh, yeah.. they’ve said something about “pools” or something… but again, why does the government need to get in the middle of it, and why are they going to “penalize” those who can truly least afford to carry a policy that may or may not serve their need?

The answers to our problems are at the local level. More community outreach, less massive federal imposition. A true “community organizer” understands this more than a rabble-rouser turned politician ever could. Ask your pastor or someone who works in a soup kitchen. Those people are truly organizers within a community, and they’ll tell you the federal government is not the answer to helping those truly in need, because help comes most effectively from those closest to the needy.

Since its founding, America has been a good and noble nation in our efforts to protect the freedom of individuals worldwide, yet today we are becoming fiscally indebted to others at an alarming rate. At what expense? I don’t think we want to know, yet the proof is in the way China treats its people. Oh, and the Middle East. They’re real kind to their citizens, those Middle Eastern governments on whom we depend so much for our oil.

Obviously we don’t know the course history would have taken without the founding of America. However, one must certainly wonder if mankind would have ever seen things like the harnessing of electricity to create a candle-like device that gives us the ability to read at night, just by flicking a switch. Would the world have ever heard the left-handed Jimi Hendrix play The Star Spangled Banner on his strung-upside-down right-handed Fender Stratocaster, through stacks of Marshall Amplifiers, in Woodstock New York? And what would have come of South Vietnam had Americans not stood for the rights of good people, speaking of Hendrix and that era? I’d love to find out how many 60’s era hippies who protested that war own Kia or Hyundai vehicles.

Sure there were things wrong about that conflict, as has been the case with pretty much every war throughout history. But today a nation thrives thanks to American sacrifice.

Oh, and let’s not forget that Hitler guy. Hard to say what would have come of the world if not for America's existence, and our eternal belief in freedom at all costs.

If not for America… We will never know if man would have ever invented the assembly line. Apple, Microsoft, IBM. Baseball, The Dallas Cowboys and their Cheerleaders, and LeBron James thinking he’s the next MJ. Yeah, that’s not the case nor will it ever be, but thanks for your ego, King James.

Today thanks to the sacrifices made by so many who came before me, I can sit on my patio and enjoy this beautiful rainy Arizona day and speak freely about whatever I’d like.

I can freely and responsibly own the firearm in my home that provides me security from criminal invaders as well as personal protection should my government ever become oppressive. I have the right to a fair and speedy trial, by a jury of my peers, should I ever be accused, and if acquitted I’m never to be tried again. I have the right to cast a vote for the person of my choosing at elections local and national, as do all law-abiding Americans. It is interesting that some don’t believe it should be required … proof of citizenship in order to cast a vote. That one I don’t get.

Anyway… Our nation was founded on the premise of more freedom and less government intrusion. More freedom will allow Americans to find our way.

Our way away from dependence on oil is not through government secured loans that are handled irresponsibly. Government should not and cannot tax carbon based energy products in order to force submission by the people to government’s desired outcome. Entrepreneurs; scientific minds with the backing of individuals willing to take risks for the possibility of reward will be the solution to America's energy concerns. That’s been the case every other time an American has invented the next, most amazing thing the world never dreamed it would see.

Freedom. Our founders believed our rights come from God, not our government. What’s best about that discussion is that amongst our founders, even those who did not believe in God still understood the importance of Faith as a part of Man’s Law.

Today it is important that we remember that whatever government gives you can always be taken away. God’s gifts of freedom are undeniable, and eternal.

Today, I celebrate. Happy Birthday, America! I hope 236 years from now people are still saying the same.

Happy Father's Day

Friday at work, I was having a discussion with a coworker that began on a subject completely unrelated to Father’s Day.

The woman with whom I was talking told me stories about her father, but not a thing she had to say was pleasant. She told me about how she and her mother were abused. She discussed her memories of her father beating her mother, and how her mother would always go back to him, and that somehow she always loved the man.

She spoke calmly, with an understanding that this was just what life was, but I could see in her eyes she despised the details of the story she told. She also had been abused during her first marriage, which psychologists would probably say was a direct effect of her childhood experiences.

I’ll be honest, I don’t remember all the details of our conversation at this moment, and all the details are not extremely important. It was amazing to me to hear the stories I was hearing, because this coworker had never talked to me about this aspect of her life. To know her, you’d likely never know she had such a turbulent past.

What was fascinating, though, was how she turned the story on me and asked me, “And what about your father?”

My answer was quite simple, and came to me without hesitation.

“Best man I’ve ever known,” I replied.

Any man can be a “father,” in the biological sense. But to be a Dad… to be a man, and to do the things it takes to not just provide, but to truly help a child find his way?

Thank you, Dad, for all you’ve given me. Life, lessons, advice, experience shared… Thank you. I know I didn’t always show you appreciation, but I suppose you always knew that was part of the deal.

You truly are the best man I know. Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I love you.

Good Times

I haven’t been to a concert in a few years. Today on the way home I heard these guys are going to tour for the first time in nearly two decades... absolutely amazing guitar work.

This is Good Times. I hope you enjoy it!




I’d probably break out of my shell and go see a show if The Stone Roses come to town.

If I'm not here, you might find me on Twitter.

Lilly

I’ve just a quick thought tonight, as I get ready to turn in.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is going on and on tonight about this “Lilly Ledbetter” legislation that President Obama signed into law. I guess it’s time for his media to start ramping up what few positives they believe they can help him with. That, plus there’s new polling out that says Romney is behind but gaining with independent women.

Anyway… this law the President signed. The idea is supposed to be “Equal work for equal pay.” I’d be good with that, except that’s not how these things end up turning out.

The truth is that in a free market, the best employees will rise to the top and earn the most pay due to their merit. As I discussed a couple of days ago about my own situation, if you’re an hourly employee trying to maintain a full 40-hour work week in a manufacturing environment today the key to success is to be better than everyone else at everything available to you and be willing to do it.

So my question is this:

If a woman had the exact same job title as me, but she were a much better employee than I, would it be reasonable of me to expect the same pay as her simply because we held the same job title? I believe it would not even be open for discussion.

So why is it okay for the same situation to be considered mandatory, when the gender roles are reversed?

Other than the typical liberal victimhood play, I can’t think of any reason why this “Lilly Ledbetter” legislature ever needed to be created.

I welcome your opinion, and I thank you for your time.

Check out @wisdomofsoloman on Twitter.

lil' Red, and The Kitties

Today has been a good day. It’s always a good day when I wake up and this little girl is laying by me, looking out the window and watching her birdies.

She is one of my four babies. Her name is CCP, which is short for Cherry-Chicken Pock. I didn’t choose it, but I respect it and that’s her name. I have kind of unofficially changed it to Cici P, so it’s more like an artistic name. she came to me about this time last year, by way of the young lady I was dating at the time. She and I had some good times, and my little family gained a new member.

Wilbur, my eldest, is 6 this year. I rescued him one night late, at an impound yard when I was a tow-truck driver. I was also a drug addict, which is a frightening thought on an amazing number of levels.


Yet the man I am now was the man I was then at some levels, and I understood that this little scared guy needed help, so I brought Wilbur home with me. Wilbur is gentle and kind, and very much a scaredy-cat. I love that little boy.

Chloe is about a year younger than Wilbur… maybe a year and a half. She was one of two Tortie kittens wandering the neighborhood, one of which my then-girlfriend rescued. The other went to a neighbor. Anyway, there was Chloe, and we had a new little girl to call our own.

Today, since that ex-girlfriend is no longer in my life and I was the responsible one of the two of us, I am proud to call Chloe mine. Chloe is a little insecure and therefore pretty pushy sometimes, but we do okay together overall. She's a sweetheart.

At the time she entered my world, Chloe was actually the third cat in my household.

Cassie was the original of this group I'm describing. Cassie was a beautiful solid black cat with a bit of a temper toward the others, due pretty much to over-crowding. She found a new home a couple of years ago, with an older woman who wanted the companionship of a loving pet. I assume they’re doing fine.

Louie, Louie, Louie. He’s my big Siamese boy. He’s a big oaf, and has so much love to give. Sometimes he forgets his own strength and gets a little rough, mostly with Chloe. Louie and Cici P are the best of friends.

One little guy I must mention as I talk about the kitties I called my 'kids' is Buddy.

Just after the aforementioned irresponsible girl left my home (and took all the cats with her) I met Buddy. At the time I was a smoker. I was sitting outside having a cigarette one night and he just walked right up to me like he’d known me forever. I petted him some, and he walked away. Later that evening I was outside again and he came back, so I opened the door and offered him the chance to see what inside looked like.

Buddy stayed with me a while. When I first moved to the apartment I have now, it was just Buddy and me. Then the irresponsible ex showed up one day needing me to take the others, and I suddenly had five kids to raise… Cici P wasn’t with me yet.

There was a lot of tension, mostly Buddy getting picked on. I knew that mess wasn’t going to work for long, so I had to find Buddy a new home. He went to live with a man and his dog. They had had just lost their cat a few months back. The guy said his dog was lonely, and knew one of each type of pet had been a good balance for him in the past.

This guy had pictures of his pets on the wall, and urns with the ashes of a past dog plus the cat he’d recently lost. I know Buddy ended up in a very happy home. That gives me comfort.

I didn’t end up taking my Crate amp and guitars to work last night as I said I would, but that’s okay. I’ve still accomplished a lot today, and the wheels are in motion. Electra and lil’ Red (my Ibanez) plus my gearbox have moved into my primary closet and are in my way, and they’re not going back into hiding.


Today I plugged lil’ Red into my 10-watt amp and tuned her, then strummed some. A little E-A-B blues shuffle, then I picked through the entire fret board to find a little solo-like phrasing that held that tune to the strumming. I played decently enough for someone who hasn’t really played in years and who really has never played a solo. I know with the support of a patient rhythm section I could definitely improve, and maybe even develop some soloing skills. Or, I could continue to develop my rhythm strumming skills and learn to incorporate singing. I enjoy singing.

For now what I might do is record myself strumming rhythm to whatever shuffle feels good, and expand from there.

Today I watched a free MLB.tv broadcast of my baseball team on my flat-screen TV through an HDMI cable coming out of my laptop. However, I find it very disappointing that by Wifi-capable Internet-ready Sony blu-ray player does not have MLB.tv built in and that I cannot install Flash player to the blu-ray player’s built-in browser.

I have such First-World problems.

And yet some would insinuate that I should complain, call myself part of the 99% and go “Occupy Wall Street.”

Bullcrap. Suck it up. Be grateful for what you have, work hard if you want more, and stop expecting the world to come to you so easily. It ain’t like that. Life’s a bitch is a saying for a reason.

The Diamondbacks have a very impressive group of young players. This team has the potential to be a contender for years to come, and that’s awesome if you’re a baseball fan, especially one living in Arizona.

I am. A baseball fan, that is. And I live in Arizona. I love it here.

I’m also enjoying seeing that my Tribe is playing well this year. I do miss the Cleveland area in the summer. The riverbeds are such fun areas to explore when it is warmer outside, but I can’t take the cold.

Every day I find reason to be grateful, and for every living day I give myself a hand.

I can’t tell you how thankful I am for your time.


I tweet, and it’s kind of interesting. Click here to learn more…

Finding My Way

Strummed to a rhythm something like You Make Me Real, with an alternate, deep blues version with an intro something to the effect of Texas Flood.

I made your bed for you baby,
So come on and get in.
I made your bed for you baby,
So come on and get in.
Cause when you’re sleeping in my bed baby,
You know that’s when I win.

I was sorting through laundry and getting ready to take a shower today. My kitten (literally a cat) was watching me. When I'm in the shower she has a certain spot she lays and waits for me, right in front of the sink. I laid some towels down in that spot because I thought she'd enjoy that, and the lyrics above came to me.

I’m a desiring to play, but not aspiring to do so, blues fan. I own three guitars, but play not at all for reasons I understand but won’t justify.

Right now, given the way I am thinking about music, my guitars should be out.

So today I begin to make that happen, in two ways.

First, I wrote that which is written above. I have an understanding of music, and a mid-level ability to strum through some cords. I am beginning to hear inside my head more and more of the structure of a guitar solo, and I need to start exercising those sounds.

I have written other thoughts that have become songs, including a song called “you are where I want to be” that is along the lines of a good blues shuffle… maybe some Stevie Ray influence, I confess. I miss Stevie. And Jim, and Jimi. Kurt, Shannon and Layne too. And Buddy Holly. Boy did we lose a lot of great rock and roll the day the music died.

I need to put “you are where I want to be” to music and put myself on YouTube, at least strumming through it on the acoustic. That would be a major accomplishment, yet is completely achievable.


Second, I will pull out my acoustic and find that song (the one written above) at some level. Then tonight I will take my Ibanez to work with my Crate amp and my box full of pedals and stuff. My workplace is a manufacturing shop, which will be closed when I go there. I have a key, however, and permission from the owner to use his building to work on my car. I know he wouldn’t mind at all if I were to play my guitar there. In fact, he’d probably be darned glad he offered me that place for that purpose.

As long as I am there, I will set up (at least) a basic system and pick through something. Anything. I will find something fun for a while, and turn it up. It will be nice to not be confined with the electric, and should inspire me to play the acoustic more at home.

Now that I think about it, there’s a third, and perhaps most important step to take. Electra must go to the shop. She needs some TLC from someone who knows electronics better than I. What I have lost in time not playing I must accept, but to play I must. It is an outlet I know really will help me find my way.

So Electra will go with me, and she’ll stay locked up at work, because ultimately I should leave work one day and take her directly to the shop.

The name of the song I started this thought with - the one that I opened this blog post with - will be finding my way.


By the time Electra comes back from the shop, I need to at least have the basic structure of “you are where I want to be” down confidently, so I can start really working on it. That song has been in my head for at least a year now, and it's time.

Because I’m finding my way, baby…
Finding my way back to you…

Electra was a gift from my Brother and his wife. I can’t remember if it was for my Birthday or Christmas they surprised me with her, but I know that day changed my life, in a very good way. Nothing bad has ever come from the times I have played guitar, even when I was at my worst. And I know much good has come from those times, and that can only get better now that I’m not an addict.

As they gave me Electra, my brother told me “It doesn’t matter if you never play this guitar, but don’t ever get rid of it.” He knew I never would.

Keep reading, and you’ll understand just how much I am finding my way right now, Perhaps my thoughts might help you find your way too.

Or just keep reading about some guy who grew up in Cleveland but today living in Phoenix, who has interesting insights about things like “big labor” and “right to work” states (I’ve lived in both), music, some sports, and the weather. I moved here to The Valley of The Sun because of the weather as much as or more than any other reason, so you’re darned right I have an opinion about it.


In the near future, I need to write about “a little blow” and how it’s not something to be proud of. I’m a recovered meth addict, and I’ve done a fair share or cocaine too. “A little blow” is never a good thing, and I have the scars to prove it.

Then, I need to write about the intelligent consumption of marijuana, and why decriminalization should be looked at more seriously, re: private industry, which can be taxed without subsidy, regulated reasonably using drivers’ license as proof of privilege, et cetera.

It’s a delicate situation with regards to morality in the eyes of some, but as a person who has very good morals, I’m here to tell you that it’s all about responsibility, and in that respect we can discuss alcohol and text messing in the same manner yet those two things are legal. More later on this subject.

Today I finish here, and I thank you for your time. Let me know if you think I’m a complete idiot, if you find me fascinating, or if you just want to let me know you were here. I always appreciate hearing from you.

Have you followed me on Twitter yet? If you have, I thank you. If not, what ARE you waiting for?