Just a follow up to yesterday.

An e-friend responded to what I'd written about Joe The Plumber as follows:

Everyone knows that in a capitalistic society (which by the way, Hong Kong is more capitalist than our current American market is) that there has to be a lower class.

Sure I believe in the American dream but to everyone who is 'scared' of higher taxes on the rich 5% are the same ones who believe that the poor are somehow lazy and inferior to them and fight the war for the rich and the corporations when there is little chance they will be seeing any of that money in a lifetime annually.

When you are in the 250K bracket THEN you have a legitimate argument, but discussing hypothetical situations and demonizing Obama for being socialist when our own government funded a Bush-proposed bail out plan for Wall Street is moot.

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And my response was:

Every person who pays taxes in this country has a say. Actually and more accurately, every person who is a legitimate citizen in this country has a say, whether they make 0 dollars per year or billions upon billions.

And when you get right down to it and step away from the republican versus democrat debates that will always fly fast and furious, this isn't a demonization of Obama. The discussion here was generated because of OP's condemnation of Joe the Plumber - a working citizen of this country with a dream who asked a question on national TV. It just so happened that Joe was speaking to Obama.

And so, again, I'll put this out there - you or I, all of us "Joe" 's here in the U.S.A., who work our 9 - 5 jobs, hoping to pay our bills and put food on the table, dreaming of something that will take us one step ahead of where we are now and somehow, some way, realizing that there might be a way to actually make that happen if we take chance X. Is it appropriate for the government to look any of us square in the eye and say, "I wish you well but be forewarned, we will take more of your money should you succeed in order to make sure people who don't have the wealth you enjoy can share in some of your profit."

Is that ok?

That's a question we should all take to heart and contemplate. I know you've recently fallen on some hard times from your posts here, sword_. If you were suddenly struck with a lightning bolt of inspiration regarding a realization of a dream that would kick-start a lucrative business - would you be ok with the government pulling extra money away from you just because you happened to come up with a successfully implemented idea? And would you be comfortable with the government levying unforetold fines upon you if you failed to implement a pre-approved health care plan for your employees?

If the answer is yes, then there's no further need for discussion. If the answer is no, or you're not sure - then there's a need and an obligation for you to think about more than the basic Obama vs. Mc Cain bullshit that is thrown at us all, ad nauseum, via the media.

And no matter who proposed the bail-out plan, the bottom line is rather simple, in my estimation - we have a conglomerate of inept men and women at the helm of our country's leadership. And it was a fully heterogenous agreement inside the senate to pass what was proposed. It was neither fully republican nor was it fully democrat.

Everybody voted together to pass the proposed bill. 74 - 25.

Akaka, Daniel K. D-Hi. Yes
Alexander, Lamar R-Tenn. Yes
Allard, Wayne R-Colo. No
Barrasso, John R-Wyo. No
Baucus, Max D-Mont. Yes
Bayh, Evan D-Ind. Yes
Bennett, Robert F. R-Utah Yes
Biden, Joseph R., Jr. D-Del. Yes
Bingaman, Jeff D-N.M. Yes
Bond, Christopher S. R-Mo. Yes
Boxer, Barbara D-Calif. Yes
Brown, Sherrod D-Ohio Yes
Brownback, Sam R-Kan. No
Bunning, Jim R-Ken. No
Burr, Richard R-N.C. Yes
Byrd, Robert C. D-W.V. Yes
Cantwell, Maria D-Wash. No
Cardin, Benjamin L. D-Md. Yes
Carper, Thomas R. D-Del. Yes
Casey, Robert P., Jr. D-Pa. Yes
Chambliss, Saxby R-Ga. Yes
Clinton, Hillary Rodham D-N.Y. Yes
Coburn, Tom R-Okla. Yes
Cochran, Thad R-Miss. No
Coleman, Norm R-Minn. Yes
Collins, Susan M. R-Maine Yes
Conrad, Kent D-N.D. Yes
Corker, Bob R-Tenn. Yes
Cornyn, John R-Texas Yes
Craig, Larry E. R-Idaho Yes
Crapo, Mike R-Idaho No
DeMint, Jim R-S.C. No
Dodd, Christopher J. D-Conn. Yes
Dole, Elizabeth R-N.C. No
Domenici, Pete V. R-N.M. Yes
Dorgan, Byron L. D-N.D. No
Durbin, Richard D-Ill. Yes
Ensign, John R-Nev. Yes
Enzi, Michael B. R-Wyo. No
Feingold, Russell D. D-Wis. No
Feinstein, Dianne D-Calif. Yes
Graham, Lindsey R-S.C. Yes
Grassley, Chuck R-Iowa Yes
Gregg, Judd R-N.H. Yes
Hagel, Chuck R-Neb. Yes
Harkin, Tom D-Iowa Yes
Hatch, Orrin G. R-Utah Yes
Hutchison, Kay Bailey R-Texas Yes
Inhofe, James M. R-Okla. No
Inouye, Daniel K. D-Hi. Yes
Isakson, Johnny R-Ga. Yes
Johnson, Tim D-S.D. No
Kennedy, Edward M. D-Mass. NA
Kerry, John F. D-Mass. Yes
Klobuchar, Amy D-Minn. Yes
Kohl, Herb D-Wis. Yes
Kyl, Jon R-Ariz. Yes
Landrieu, Mary L. D-La. No
Lautenberg, Frank R. D-N.J. Yes
Leahy, Patrick J. D-Vt. Yes
Levin, Carl D-Mich. Yes
Lieberman, Joseph I-Conn. Yes
Lincoln, Blanche L. D-Ark. Yes
Lugar, Richard G. R-Ind. Yes
Martinez, Mel R-Fla. Yes
McCain, John R - Ariz. Yes
McCaskill, Claire D - Mo. Yes
McConnell, Mitch R - Ky. Yes
Menendez, Robert D - NJ Yes
Mikulski, Barbara A. D - Md. Yes
Murkowski, Lisa R - Alas. Yes
Murray, Patty D - Wash. Yes
Nelson, Bill D - Fla.L No
Nelson, E. Benjamin D - Neb. Yes
Obama, Barack D - Ill. Yes
Pryor, Mark L. D - Ark Yes
Reed, Jack D - RI Yes
Reid, Harry D - Nev. Yes
Roberts, Pat R - Kan. No
Rockefeller, John D., IV D - WV Yes
Salazar, Ken D - Colo. Yes
Sanders, Bernard I - Vt. No
Schumer, Charles E. D - NY Yes
Sessions, Jeff R - Ala. No
Shelby, Richard C. R - Ala. No
Smith, Gordon H. R - Ore. Yes
Snowe, Olympia J. R - Maine Yes
Specter, Arlen R - Penn. Yes
Stabenow, Debbie D - Mich. No
Stevens, Ted R - Ak. Yes
Sununu, John E. R - NH Yes
Tester, Jon D - Mont. No
Thune, John R - SD Yes
Vitter, David R - La. No
Voinovich, George V. R - Ohio Yes
Warner, John R - Va. Yes
Webb, Jim D - Va. Yes
Whitehouse, Sheldon D - RI Yes
Wicker, Roger F. R - Miss. No
Wyden, Ron D - Ore No

Take a look, man. There are both repubs who voted yes and democrats who voted yes. There are dems who voted no and repubs who voted no. This isn't a republican versus democrat issue. This is a citizen of the U.S. versus elected official of the U.S. issue. Our tax dollars are already being funneled into the black hole these same people have created and the effect has been... negative.

Washington does not have a clue how to fix a broken thing they created in the first place.

Obama doesn't. Mc Cain doesn't. Paulson doesn't. Frank doesn't. Pelosi doesn't. Bush doesn't. Biden doesn't. Palin doesn't.

None of them do.

And you wanna know what the worst part is, to me? They're all getting richer while this is going on - our elected officials. This economic meltdown isn't affecting any of them in a significant way, their lifestyle remains the same. So, to them, whether or not "joe" has to pay more taxes into the mess really doesn't matter. It's just more money pulled from your paycheck and mine.

There's a real and disturbing disconnect between the focus of the issues in this election - the focus of where we're going as a country and what we want as a people - and the ability of the populace to figure out where to put the blame for the wrongs we have been dealt. Where were all the financial experts 4 weeks ago when someone should have at least mentioned the fact that we were just maybe on the verge of financial collapse? The same "experts" who now say we should be prepared for a volatile Wall Street for some time to come?

Washington needs an enema, it needs to have the shit flushed out - and by that, I'm talking about the two-party, same-old, same-old "that's the only choice you have, America" falsehood perpetrated by the media time and again that is gobbled up by people trying to live their lives and pay their bills - lock, stock and barrel.

The world isn't ending and it won't, no matter who gets into the White House. But it is unfortunate, in my eyes, that the people of this country have become like sheep in that they eat whatever they're fed by the media and bleat it out like it was written in stone.

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And he got it, where I was coming from.

Anyway, such is life.

Joe the Plumber

Yesterday, a man asked Obama about his tax plans for people and businesses making more than a specified number of bills per year. Obama's answer was that he would be taxed extra to spread the wealth around.

The media and the Obama-lemmings went after him full force, attempting to tear him apart - because he asked a question.

On the forum I frequent, there was a discussion started about the event which started out with this -

"ROFL @ joe the plumber
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/play...p/?cl=10234011
HE DON'T EVEN MAKE ANYTHING NEAR 250K A YEAR
HA HA HA HA AND LOTS OF THE DEBATE WAS ABOUT THIS GUY MAKING 250K A YEAR" - poster's name withheld.

What followed was a ridiculous assault on Joe for asking the question and for not making 250,000. Insane.

My response was as follows -

"It's a dangerous state of affairs in this country when a citizen asks a question of someone who is not only a politician, but a politician running for President of the United States - and he is summarily blasted by the media and all the other lemmings who have swallowed the pro-Obama pill just because they've been told it's the cool thing to do.

He asked a question. That's it.

Perhaps there should be some attention paid to the answer he received - that of taking money from him if he should be so successful and spreading the wealth around.

To me, that's a thought just as scary.

What "Joe" makes is irrelevant.

"Joe" is you and me.

"Joe" wants to make something of himself, right here in America, the land of opportunity and is being told that if he is successful in his endeavor, he will have his money taken from him to hand out to others.

That's ok with all of you who are blasting him for asking a question?

Where did the number 250,000 come from that Obama quoted? What if it starts there and then, suddenly, it's decided to be 150,000? Or 75,000? Maybe 50,000?

Are you going to tell me that it could never happen?

We just had our politicians meet and implement a financial bail-out plan for 700,000,000,000 dollars of our tax payments - our money, for those of us who work and pay taxes. That just happened what - 1 week ago? Two? Already there's talk about rearranging the plan, that the bail-out will amount to more than a trillion, etc., etc.

Think about what's going on here."

The state we're in here, in America right here and now, with the fanatical and blind fan-dom surrounding Obama seriously threatens to tear this country apart.

Taxed extra to spread the wealth around? Just because he happens to make a successful business? What's going on here?

Living The Truth

I started a literary, self-help journey of sorts today - or, at least that's what it's been coined by both Howard Stern and the author of the book himself. The title of the book is the same as that of this entry. It's all about finding the pain, disappointment and other various pieces of the past that we, as human beings, tend to repress, re-write in our own minds and / or otherwise "forget" in an attempt to extinguish anything and everything we either don't want to be a part of our selves or refuse to acknowledge as parts or ourself.

I'm an angry man and I tend to hide that anger (or try to) in often-lame attempts at humor, surface-type relationships without any attempt or ability to dive deeper, booze - and the funny thing just this second is how long it took me to actually write that word. I sat here for a few moments thinking about whether or not i wanted to write it, whether or not I thought it was actually valid and pertinent and important enough to put it down. I'm a whiskey drinker, not a booze drinker. I grabbed my Type O Negative flask this morning before I left and filled it with some George Dickel Bourbon so I'd be able to have a drink on the train ride home - and yet, right now, while i was sitting here writing this ntry, I had to pause in order to decide whether or not it was important enough to jot down booze as a means of coping. Anyway, that's the kind of thing I'm hoping to get to the root of, to accept who I am and why I do things the way I do. To identify the pieces of my personality that sit outside the concept of the ideal ME and face them while simultaneously facing the not-so-honest pieces of the ME I present to the world and telling them to get the fuck lost.

Damn. That's a tall order and I've got some work ahead of me. The author, Dr. Keith Ablow says up front he's going to make things worse before they get better (or at least stimulate enough emotion and self-exploartion to feel the lows more profoundly, I guess), if he's doing his part of the job successfully. Ok. I can handle that. I think I can, anyway. I expect that I'll confront past-demons I've avoided for years and probably decades. The payoff, I hope, will be a more positive outlook toward life, fatherhood, marriage, work and friendship. And actually, not just outlook - approach and involvement.

Friendship. Yeah. That's a word that used to hold such joy for me in the past, when I was a kid. And has taken on a surface meaning at best when it comes to my interactions with others as I've grown, if only because I don;t take the time to maintain and develop friendships outside of work or home.

I need to go pick up a notebook from the General Store. That'll help with the exercises.

Catch ya soon.

Tired of hairy boobs.

I shaved my beard yesterday. Quite a bit of hair tossed blithely into the trash.

Jackie hung out with me in the bathroom while I shaved and enjoyed playing with swome shaving cream during the process. She berated me for wasting the shaving cream when i shaved my face, hands on hips, etc. Apparently, my rants about not wasting anything in the house because I have to pay for it hasn't fallen on deaf ears. The fact I had some cream left on my hand after coating my face was enough for her to get on her high horse.

Anyway, the full bush of beard is gone and I'm back to the trimmed goat. I'll likely dye it again since the blonde is prevalent now and maybe, just maybe there's some gray peeking through. And I imagine I'll regrow it over the winter but at least, for now, I can enjoy my wife's soft skin without the intrusion of all that hair.

Yuck.



That pic above was taken at Blue Hills State Park. We went on a hike there yesterday and it was pretty damn nice. The countryside was absolutely beautiful once we reached the top. The kids had a ton of fun and I got to carry Grace for a while on my back. You can see the backpack in the pic. It was an experience having her in the pack while I climbed up the rocky hillside. It was a challenge, that's for sure and it got me thinking about doing some cardio at some point to improve the ol' ticker's health.

Trish was pretty psyched about the shave. She couldn't keep her hands off it and she kept kissing me. That was nice. I think she put her family up to telling me over and over how "nice" it looked, and how I looked "good". Whatever. Maybe that's tue and maybe it isn't.

I'm back at work today after a week off - and I'm not sure whether or not I'm really aware of the time off I just spent. It doesn't feel like I've been out of here for the pst week. I've gotta call Brian and find out whether or not he finished moving into his house. Trish is one week into her orientation and we spent a decent weekend with my parents on the 11th and 12th. All-in-all, lots of stuff done over the past week but none of it really registered as time off, I guess.

Such is life.

Hanging with Nick

Nick and i are in the den right now, waiting for my parents to show up. He's switching back-and-forth between Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone and the playoffs - Sox vs. rays. Hermione just tried to fix Potter's eye sight on the train ride to Hogwart's. She's so young in this one - it's really odd to think that there's an effort out there in the cyber-world to find nude photos of her. Life stands still for no one.

Anyway, i started a book the other day called The Real Shark texts, or something like that. It started out pretty decent and then took a nose dive. That's not to say the book's poorly written - just the opposite, actually. The author's British, so there's that small piece to get over but after you move past that, it's fairly well packed with intrigue. From what I've been able to get so far, some dude with a dissociative disorder is trying to figure out who he is because he wakes up at the beginning in an almost death state. I really have no idea where the book's gonna go because so much happened inside the first chapter - however, I felt my interest wane when it started to slant itself toward dissociative disorders and fugue states. Does that mean I'm burnt out on psych disorders and psych stuff? Who knows.

On the aside, I picked up a couple books from Barnes and noble the other day with a gift card from Kathleen and Ed and I wanted to start reading them. I put Shark Texts away for now, anyway and started reading Tommy Land - Tommy lee's autobiography. Hopefully, it'll satisfy.

I spent the last two days cleaning the house for my parents' arrival - and Trish just finished watching a game with her dad - hockey. She's on her way home.

There's a writing contest coming up. Short Shorts. Stories in 1500 words or less. Sooner or later, I'm gonna have to get my stuff together and begin writing again or else I'll have to start rethinking the whole, "I'm a writer" mantra I use online.

Time of Change

My wife started a job on Monday. It's the first time she's working outside the house for about 3 and a half years. We've spoken about this before, trying to figure out who would be the best person to start a new job in order to brign some extra cash into the house. Trish told me, while I was putting together a game plan, that she would prefer I stay home at least one day a week and spend time with the kids. She said that she would go out and find a job, that she would bring home an extra paycheck. Immediately, that started fights inside the house.

Why? That's the question I fought with internally immediately following our initial arguments. It didn't make sense. My reaction didn't make sense. Trish is a registered nurse. Trish has worked outside the house before and I think I'm used to her being home. My world has been solid while i was out earning a paycheck, without concern for what's happening at home. Trish has been here to take care of it.

So, why did i react with anger when she told me she had a job and was ready to start.

I think, at the core of things, I'm just a person who reacts in a knee-jerk fashion to anything that causes a change in my level of comfort and stability. Is that a sensational statement? No. I'd say that's just about par for anyone who enjoys building a life and a lifestyle and is able to glean security from putting a life together as such.

Now, on the flip side, I'm a psychiatric nurse who is known, for the most part, as someone who is able to adapt to whatever situation is thrown my way. I'm understanding of differences and open to varied, often sensational and bizarre events as a matter of course. So, why, when I'm presented with something in my own home that is outside the status quo, did i react in such a closed-minded way?

I need to explore myself. I need to start putting ideas like this down so I can reflect back when needed to expand my mind, expand who I am as a man to be a better person.

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The other day, I was joking around with Nick and i said something to him along the line of - Isn't it awesome to have a dad who's so patient with you and who never gets upset?

I was joking, of course but Nick's answer really hit home.

His face contorted to a look that basically said - WTF are you talking about? "No.", he said. And he wasn't joking.

We did have a few jokes go back and forth after that but his reaction remained stuck in my head. I need to work on who i am. I'm not the man I want to be.

Work Stuff

Today has been a helluva day at work. Two people here in APS hen I got here this morning. One was a drunk dude who wound up heading out of here a little after 8 a.m. The other is an 8 yr. old from N.H. who came in yesterday and is essentially a familial nightmare.

He's in the back right now with his mother and father awaiting DSS to either give the family their blessing and absolve them of all supposed sins, or they will remove the child from the parents' custody. It's a roll of the dice. Either way, I expect to get involved with both mom and dad before the end of the night in a not-so-friendly way.