What have we become?

This morning I watched a video on YouTube that really has me wondering where we as a country have gone. The video I watched was Governor Rick Perry's Presidential Campaign ad. Below, you can watch the ad for yourself. However, if you are not able to listen to the sound at this time, I have posted the ad's transcript below the video itself.

"I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian, but you don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. As President, I'll end Obama's war on religion. And I'll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage. Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again. I'm Rick Perry and I approve this message."

I really don't understand where we have gone so wrong in our society to think that this is okay? We HATE people that are different than ourselves. We HATE people that don't believe the same way. We HATE people that look different than us. We HATE people that talk different than us. We HATE people that like people different than us. Why so much hatred towards other people? I'm not saying you have to love every single person on the Earth, but I am saying that you shouldn't hate them all either. Why so much hate? Love one another. It makes the World we ALL live in, a better place.

Oh my God! A militia? Here? Why?

Some people are wanting to start a militia here? Oh shit! What has happened to people and their sanity? Sure, it starts out as a nice little shooting club that meets once a month to "talk about going-ons", but it will eventually start to become a VERY BIG PROBLEM. People want more business for our area, and for more revenue to come in to the area. How in the hell do people expect that to happen with a bunch of crazies running around playing war games?

Topix and the problems that post on it

Cherokee Village Hiring Black Police Officer

Posted in the Cherokee Village Forum

     I'm not sure why I go onto this stupid website, but every once in a while I go to it, and all that happens is me getting upset by the shit for brains that live around this area. I have a very strong hatred for some of the people that write things on there.

     This morning for example, I went to that site to see if anything had been said about the earthquake from Sunday night, but the first topic that caught my attention was this (you can click on the name to see what all was said).
     Who are these people from around this area? If they feel so strongly about not having "colored's" in this area, then why don't they actually put their names on this site for the world to see? You can say whatever you want on any website that you want, but at least have the balls to say it with your real name showing. I think most of the people on these types of sites are too scared to actually put their real names with their thoughts because they are terrified of what people may actually think about them. Terrified that people might actually call them out on the "ideas" that they talk about. They want to be able to say things without the repercussions of what is actually said.
     It disgusts me to know that my daughter will grow up in an area that is so blatantly racist and offensive that even the school mascot is a Confederate soldier and the school flag is a REBEL FLAG. No wonder hardly anyone new moves here, and usually the only people that do are white people. Do you blame people that aren't white for not coming here? You should just put "no one but whites will be accepted here by the majority of people that already live here" on all of our city limit and "Welcome to _____" signs.
     I hope that our school board some day realizes what the mascot and flag represents in the eyes of what the "real world" actually sees it as. I mean, come on, really? You cannot honestly believe that a Confederate soldier holding a Confederate Battle Flag isn't offensive. If you do believe that to be the truth, either you are lying to yourself or are just to ignorant to understand what it stands for.
     I'm going to have a little history lesson today. If you don't want to listen to it or feel that you already know about the Civil War and the history of the Confederate Battle Flag then you can skip to the paragraph that has a (*) at the beginning of it and you won't have to read what really happened 150 years ago.
    Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America, also known as "the Confederacy". Led by Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy fought for its independence from the United States. The U.S. federal government was supported by twenty mostly Northern free states in which slavery already had been abolished, and by five slave states that became known as the border states. These twenty-five states, referred to as the Union, had a much larger base of population and industry than the South. After four years of bloody, devastating warfare (mostly within the Southern states), the Confederacy surrendered and slavery was outlawed everywhere in the nation.
     In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against the expansion of slavery beyond the states in which it already existed. The Republicans were strong advocates of nationalism and in their 1860 platform explicitly denounced threats of disunion as avowals of treason. After a Republican victory, but before the new administration took office on March 4, 1861, seven cotton states declared their secession and joined together to form the Confederate States of America. Both the outgoing administration of President James Buchanan and the incoming administration rejected the legality of secession, considering it rebellion. The other eight slave states rejected calls for secession at this point. No country in the world recognized the Confederacy.
     The main reason for the Southern States receding from the Union States was about slavery. They didn't want to end slavery. The main reason they fought in the Civil War, was because of slavery. When those States were fighting, guess which flag they carried into battle? That's right, the Confederate Battle Flag, better known as the Rebel Flag.
   * So a few months ago, our area high school, and my alma mater, someone started a HUGE rumor about our new superintendent "doing away" with the school flag (which is the confederate battle flag) and the whole area went absolutely bat-shit crazy over the whole thing. We literally almost had our own little civil war between the people that wanted to keep the flag and the ones that stood up and said that they wanted to get rid of it. It seemed to me that a lot of the people that pro-keeping the flag had the argument of "it's meaning is not for racism, or anything of the sort. Instead, it is a representation of our way of life as southerners". Okay, I'm confused? How is your life as a southerner different, present day, than that of a person from let's say Nebraska?
     Another history question. Can anyone tell me where the Mason-Dixon line really is? I'll wait while you look and your mind gets blown about where it actually is. It is NOWHERE near the south. It is between Deleware, Virginia (present day West Virginia), Pennsylvania and Maryland. The "common known" version of what most people call the Mason-Dixon line, is actually called the Missouri Compromise. It was an agreement in the year 1820 between PRO-SLAVERY and ANTI-SLAVERY states. So, to say that the Civil War wasn't fought over slavery is nothing but ignorant. There may have been other factors involved in the fighting, but the real reasoning behind the succession of the Confederate States from the Union was slavery. Which brings me back to my former argument of, the Confederate Battle Flag (rebel flag) brings nothing to the table besides bigotry and racism.

Down in the dumps

   Ever since I woke up today, I have been feeling like someone just killed my dog. Just down in the dumps, don't really wanna laugh, don't really wanna smile, nothing. It's actually pretty hard to even write a blog about it, but I'm just hoping by writing something it will help me figure out what the fuck is wrong today.
   I don't want to put forth any more effort to write my thoughts today. This didn't help at all.
   I'm sorry to anyone that actually read this, as I am hoping that I didn't bring you down with me.
  

Do you know how to catch a wild pig?

I received this e-mail at work today. My rebuttal is below the actual e-mail.

CATCHING PIGS

 

There was a chemistry professor in a large college 

that had some exchange students in the class. One day 

while the class was in the lab, the Prof noticed one 

young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his 

back and stretching as if his back hurt. 

  

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. 

The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his 

back.  He had been shot while fighting communists in 

his native country who were trying to overthrow his 

country's government and install a new communist 

regime. 

  

In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor 

and asked a strange question. He asked: 

  

"Do you know how to catch wild pigs?" 

  

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the 

punch line. The young man said that it was no joke. 

  

"You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in 

the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs 

find it and begin to come every day to eat the free 

corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put 

a fence down one side of the place where they are used 

to coming. 

  

When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the 

corn again and you put up another side of the fence. 

They get used to that and start to eat again You 

continue until you have all four sides of the fence up 

with a gate in the last side. 

  

The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to 

come through the gate to eat that free corn again. 

  

You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole 

herd.  Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. 

They run around and around inside the fence, but they 

are caught. 

  

Soon they go back to eating the free corn . They are 

so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage 

in the woods for themselves, so they accept their 

captivity." 

  

The young man then told the professor that is exactly 

what he sees happening in America . The government 

keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps 

spreading the free corn out in the form of programs 

such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned 

income, tax cuts, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, 

dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), 

welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually 

lose our freedoms, just a little at a time. 

  

One should always remember two truths: 

  

1) There is no such thing as a free lunch 

  

2) and you can never hire someone to provide a service 

for you cheaper than you can do it yourself. 

  

If you see that all of this wonderful government 

'help' is a problem confronting the future of 

democracy in America , you might want to send this on 

to your friends.  

  

If you think the free ride is essential to your way of 

life, then you are part of the problem and you will probably delete this email. 

  

But God help you when the gate slams shut! 

    

AMERICA  The home of the Free  Because of the Brave. 

Like I said before I received this e-mail at work today, and it made me think about our country in general. I absolutely do not understand how people can just cast other people out of "their" country. Who gave you the power to kick people out? Were you here first? Without even a shadow of a doubt, I can say that there was only one people that can call this land truly "theirs", and they are the actual Native Americans. If you believe in our country at all, you should want to bring people into it. To help them. To get away from their home country  so that they can build a better life for themselves and their families, just as you and I do everyday. The Statue of Liberty, which is THE symbol of our country, states this:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus, 1883

Again I say, if you truly love your country, do not wish people out of it. Wish for them to come here to have a better life for themselves and their families.

     I love that the e-mail refers to the people that are "invading" our country as pigs, because I found a verse in the Bible that correlates very closely with this e-mail. Here is what the New International Version: Book of Matthew, Chapter 25, Verses 31 - 46 states in this matter:

The Sheep and the Goats

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 

32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 

33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 

36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 

38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 

39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 

42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 

43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

I do not claim to be a Christian, but just because I am not one, doesn't mean that I can't follow along in the "good book" and try to live my life as a good person. Although I am not a "Christian", I do try to be loving and caring, just as Jesus would want of anyone else that does claim to be a Christian. And wanting to stop someone from trying to prosper for the good of their family is just like condemning them and their families to death just for wanting to better themselves for their family.

     If there is a Heaven, I hope that I am able to go there. I don't believe that it would be only a place for one religion. I think it would be a place that God would want everyone that was ever good to someone else, and tried their hardest to not be a dick to everyone around them. That is the Heaven that I see. I don't claim to know for sure, but I hope that is what it is like. Something where no matter what religion or sexual preference you happen to be, as long as you treated everyone nicely, you get in. 

     I hope that no one passes these kinds of e-mails along. And if you do, before you do hit that forward button to everyone on your e-mail contacts, think about who you might be hurting in turn. I personally take offense to this e-mail because I am only a couple generations out of my family coming here on a boat from Italy and Austria. Are you trying to kick my family out of this country? If not, why aren't you? What makes my family any different than the people (or pigs) in this e-mail? My ancestors came over in the early 1900's before the First World War. Does that give them enough time here to be left off of the "kick list"? Does my family get the okay because you know them personally, or are we still on the "kick list"? I would love to hear some thoughts about this. I would like to have an actual discussion with someone that believes the same way that this e-mail states. That "God help you when the gate closes" mentality kind of person. I want to know why they don't want people here. Maybe you are "the wild pig that needs to be caught".....

Happy Valentines

Mrs. Rega,

     I wanted to write you and tell you that I love you very much. You are my absolute everything and I don't know where I would be without you. You helped me change my life around from my blurry past to this wonderful life I have now. I have a wife that is amazing and a daughter that means more to me than I could ever imagine anything meaning to me. All of the things that have happened recently have only made us closer as a couple, because it shows our resilience to the shitty things that people have said about us. People think they can bring us down with their harsh words, but I say no, we are too strong with each other for you to bring us down. With you, I feel that I can accomplish anything. Because I know together, we can accomplish anything. I love you sweetheart. Always and Forever!

 

Love

Last night my grandmother on my dad's side passed away. Although she was my granma, I could never say that we were very close. I never spent the night at their house. I never really saw them unless it was holidays. These grandparents I am talking about only lived around 15 miles away from me since I was born. I loved her, but not the way that I see my wife or many other people loving their grandparents. I never really thought about it being a bad thing or anything like that, I just took it as that we weren't close. Now that I have a child whose grandparents (both sides) love her with every single ounce of their being, I see how it is supposed to be. Their eyes light up when they see her, the same way her eyes light up when she sees them. I am so thankful that my daughter will have such a close bond with her grandparents, in a way that I never had with mine. So here I am, laying my heart out on the line saying thank you so much to my parents and my wifes parents for loving us so much, and our daughter even more. You guys don't know how much it really means to me for my child to have grandparents that no matter what, would do anything at all for her. It means more than you will ever know.

Westboro Baptist & Religion in General

     This morning I was looking at my normal websites to catch up on all the news from overnight.  Something bad happened and I wondered what the Westboro Baptist Church people have been up to in the last week or so. Ever since the shootings in Arizona, it seems like the people from that Church have been in the news, and what seemed like every channel on the tv, more than the people who were actually in the shooting itself. Which is exactly what those people want, all the publicity they can get. The phrase popped in my head "any press is good press", and I'm sure as long as they have a camera around them they are happy.
     They say they are spreading the "word of God" and "doing his work", but I really have to question God's motives here. I don't think that God really wants them to pick on a dead 9 year-old little girl. On their website they have pictures of their pickets that they do at funerals, in Washington D.C., college campuses, and this past week at the Sundance film festival. According to their website, they have done almost 50,000 pickets. FIFTY THOUSAND PICKETS? And to make matters worse, the very large majority of these pickets have been at deceased soldiers funerals. They say that God smited them for fighting for a "fag nation". They hate everyone no matter what race, religion, sexual orientation, everyone must die. It pains me to see people like that in this world that harbor SO much hate for other people just like them.
     There are around 70 or 75 people in this church, that a man named Fred Phelps started. Most every single member of the church is either a direct descendent of him (child or grandchild) or a cousin or nephew or niece. I saw something on their website that really irked me. I saw small children around probably 3 or 4 all the way up to in their teens holding up signs like "God hates fags" and "thank God for dead or crippled soldiers". How do these people sleep at night?
     I wouldn't call myself a Christian or a Muslim or Buddhist, or any kind of spiritual religion follower. I like to think that I have a mind of my own and with that mind I have been given free will. In no way, shape or form am I saying that someone who is a Christian or whatever religion they might be is wrong or stupid in any way. The same way I have free will to not have total faith in something, they have the free will to have that faith. I have VERY VERY dear friends of mine that go to church every chance they get, and I would never think different of them for that fact. Just because we have different views on this world doesn't mean we can't get along like civilized people. In my small, tight knit community I just kinda keep my mouth shut about my views, not because I'm scared of the conversation that would ensue, but because my business that I am in I deal solely on the public and we have very small close minded people around here, that if I said "I don't believe the same you do", I more than likely would lose their business. And if I lose their business, they would more than likely tell everyone they knew about it and I would lose all of their business too, then I don't have a business anymore.
     I'm sorry if I've been jumping around on things, this is my first blog entry. I'll get the hang of it.




Brad Rega