Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Modern Politiking
Ugg. I'm tired of Republican and Democratic games of politics. When the people of a democratic system are frustrated with the way that their government is being run how can this corruption and finger-pointing be fixed? I don't know, do you? All I understand is I'm tired of the government being full of 55 year old seventh graders.
Now let me specify that by no means does this make me 'Anti-American' or 'Un-Patriotic', quite the contrary. I'm a very proud American and one that grew up in a military family that taught their sons to be patriotic. I would die for my country, as unusual as that sounds, I quite literally would give up my life for this country. This does not mean however that I do not get to express my opinion or my anger.
None of our political parties are doing anything right. Election after election we keep looking to one party or the other and election after election we're fooled again and again. Since 2001 we've looked to the Republicans to solve our problems, keep us safe, and keep us in some constant form of fear. Now I see a shift to the Democratic side that wants to tell us that our problems are easily solved by simply pulling out, that we are safe, and that there is no need to fear. THEY ARE BOTH FULL OF CRAP!
I stick by my long time view that the truth lies in the middle ground. We have something to fear, no matter how safe we may think we are or how locked tight we may think things are, there are gaps. Gaps HAVE to exist for our very freedom to be what it is. But the gaps that we do have are not as blatant as the gaps we had only six short years ago. The point of all this is simple: accept that the country is under attack as long as people like Fidel Castro and the war Lords of Nigeria exist we will be hated. People want what we have, plain and simple. Anyone can point out where we've made our mistakes by opposing one group or another. They can point out the fact that once we backed Saddam Hussein and are now directly responsible for his death. Who cares? Regardless of whose fault it was, whose fault it will be, it's still all finger pointing.
The solution is not simple, of course not because no solution is simple. Adherence to a policy is simple. Adhere to the policy that the people want. Individuals are elected and because individuals are always selfish in some form there will always exist legislature that is motivated by the individual and not the people. For God's sake, make at least one law or rule that is based off something the people want and not something to get you re-elected.
The problem I believe is that government officials are paid too much. It's now a game of who can get paid how much and when money is the motivating factor nothing moral or good ever profits. I think it obvious that if you cut the money politicians made you would see a VAST drop in the amount of people running for office. However, holding our politicians accountable for what they do, both good and bad, without the pay would force them to make decisions that would benefit the country as a whole rather than what benefits themselves.
I'm just another man born and raised in the best country in the world and I'm frustrated. I just want my children to be proud of the country they live in as I am but I see it becoming harder and harder to do so.
Sometimes I wonder if this is how the general citizens of Rome felt before it fell.
Now let me specify that by no means does this make me 'Anti-American' or 'Un-Patriotic', quite the contrary. I'm a very proud American and one that grew up in a military family that taught their sons to be patriotic. I would die for my country, as unusual as that sounds, I quite literally would give up my life for this country. This does not mean however that I do not get to express my opinion or my anger.
None of our political parties are doing anything right. Election after election we keep looking to one party or the other and election after election we're fooled again and again. Since 2001 we've looked to the Republicans to solve our problems, keep us safe, and keep us in some constant form of fear. Now I see a shift to the Democratic side that wants to tell us that our problems are easily solved by simply pulling out, that we are safe, and that there is no need to fear. THEY ARE BOTH FULL OF CRAP!
I stick by my long time view that the truth lies in the middle ground. We have something to fear, no matter how safe we may think we are or how locked tight we may think things are, there are gaps. Gaps HAVE to exist for our very freedom to be what it is. But the gaps that we do have are not as blatant as the gaps we had only six short years ago. The point of all this is simple: accept that the country is under attack as long as people like Fidel Castro and the war Lords of Nigeria exist we will be hated. People want what we have, plain and simple. Anyone can point out where we've made our mistakes by opposing one group or another. They can point out the fact that once we backed Saddam Hussein and are now directly responsible for his death. Who cares? Regardless of whose fault it was, whose fault it will be, it's still all finger pointing.
The solution is not simple, of course not because no solution is simple. Adherence to a policy is simple. Adhere to the policy that the people want. Individuals are elected and because individuals are always selfish in some form there will always exist legislature that is motivated by the individual and not the people. For God's sake, make at least one law or rule that is based off something the people want and not something to get you re-elected.
The problem I believe is that government officials are paid too much. It's now a game of who can get paid how much and when money is the motivating factor nothing moral or good ever profits. I think it obvious that if you cut the money politicians made you would see a VAST drop in the amount of people running for office. However, holding our politicians accountable for what they do, both good and bad, without the pay would force them to make decisions that would benefit the country as a whole rather than what benefits themselves.
I'm just another man born and raised in the best country in the world and I'm frustrated. I just want my children to be proud of the country they live in as I am but I see it becoming harder and harder to do so.
Sometimes I wonder if this is how the general citizens of Rome felt before it fell.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Lucid Dreamings
Red wings afloat of the harbor bed,
I sat upon the dock,
A cup, a bird, and a fish that's dead,
Kissing a gilded rock.
The glee near wrought to a blue-green sea,
The sky aflame again,
The sun, his brothers do call to me,
In search of gentlemen.
A music plays to the peaceful few,
Some pungent sight I see,
Akin to gods an elegant crew,
The serene set us free.
A wonder of the resplendent mind,
The soul delayed to burn,
Within the cavernous place you'll find,
The neoteric churn.
I wish a wish of some wishing well,
A pity I do feel,
I swim a swim of the swimming swell,
The beach does come appeal.
A life I lost in the weirded brine,
Of simple time below,
Swoop around in the underglass shine,
Of measure, ebb, and flow.
Consonance pray shredded night and day,
The hiss upon the pale,
Cold grain-ed eve of exemplars flay,
Meanwhile mothers fail.
Evanesce lone world, sound will call,
Contend a day, shall die,
A field of trees where tart apples fall,
Peace driven spear, good-bye.
I sat upon the dock,
A cup, a bird, and a fish that's dead,
Kissing a gilded rock.
The glee near wrought to a blue-green sea,
The sky aflame again,
The sun, his brothers do call to me,
In search of gentlemen.
A music plays to the peaceful few,
Some pungent sight I see,
Akin to gods an elegant crew,
The serene set us free.
A wonder of the resplendent mind,
The soul delayed to burn,
Within the cavernous place you'll find,
The neoteric churn.
I wish a wish of some wishing well,
A pity I do feel,
I swim a swim of the swimming swell,
The beach does come appeal.
A life I lost in the weirded brine,
Of simple time below,
Swoop around in the underglass shine,
Of measure, ebb, and flow.
Consonance pray shredded night and day,
The hiss upon the pale,
Cold grain-ed eve of exemplars flay,
Meanwhile mothers fail.
Evanesce lone world, sound will call,
Contend a day, shall die,
A field of trees where tart apples fall,
Peace driven spear, good-bye.
Interesting Day
I've stolen a small break from work to update on the happenings of my day. I put up my resume on Monster the other day just to play around with the possibility of other job options. Much to my surprise I have received about 3 calls and numerous emails indicating that I would be a great candidate for this or that position. I've even got some offers from far away as Seattle. This makes me wonder how marketable I really am and what I really should be making from the job I do. Interesting to the think about.
My frustration with work and life comes out most often in poetry or writings that some say are good and others report as horrible. I place them here because it helps me keep track.
On a side note, I got some weird looks when I informed some individuals that my blog was called the Musings of a Bearded Wanton. I think I should update the explanation my expressive meaning of Wanton: i.e. headstrong; willful
My frustration with work and life comes out most often in poetry or writings that some say are good and others report as horrible. I place them here because it helps me keep track.
On a side note, I got some weird looks when I informed some individuals that my blog was called the Musings of a Bearded Wanton. I think I should update the explanation my expressive meaning of Wanton: i.e. headstrong; willful
Monday, April 16, 2007
History Repeats
Sword alight, shield asunder,
The knight lifts a hand,
The moors' sunny dispense,
Awash his face's brand.
Horse thrown a rider,
Mud dirtied a fall,
Basks in recompense,
Of a banner turned nival.
Tears torn from rosy cheeks,
Life blood from the neck,
Death a bittered incense,
Forward a gloomy wreck.
Cheers memory stilled in wood,
Trumpets turned a molten,
Battle's maiden yet alive,
Generations ripped open.
Blue Rose and Black Swan,
Red Bear and Silver Fire,
White Cold and Chiseled Stone,
And the Lonely Crier.
Aptly taken from on high,
War will live forever,
Men and women and children die,
No matter the endeavor.
Peace, Hope, and Life,
The End is why is fought,
Yet nothing to remember,
None know what is brought.
Millennia pass over head,
Memories under foot,
War rages again,
Now with ash and soot.
Damnation be not needed,
If only they would see,
None would falter or die,
If they remembered me.
Yet battles rage and wane,
Songs seen and sung,
The proud rattle on and on,
Spilling forth their vile dung.
Victors yell their wins,
Swim in happy mirth,
The ages sew the truth,
Beneath the ruined earth.
War shall return anew,
Years from now and then,
Men will learn humility,
But how, where, and when?
The knight lifts a hand,
The moors' sunny dispense,
Awash his face's brand.
Horse thrown a rider,
Mud dirtied a fall,
Basks in recompense,
Of a banner turned nival.
Tears torn from rosy cheeks,
Life blood from the neck,
Death a bittered incense,
Forward a gloomy wreck.
Cheers memory stilled in wood,
Trumpets turned a molten,
Battle's maiden yet alive,
Generations ripped open.
Blue Rose and Black Swan,
Red Bear and Silver Fire,
White Cold and Chiseled Stone,
And the Lonely Crier.
Aptly taken from on high,
War will live forever,
Men and women and children die,
No matter the endeavor.
Peace, Hope, and Life,
The End is why is fought,
Yet nothing to remember,
None know what is brought.
Millennia pass over head,
Memories under foot,
War rages again,
Now with ash and soot.
Damnation be not needed,
If only they would see,
None would falter or die,
If they remembered me.
Yet battles rage and wane,
Songs seen and sung,
The proud rattle on and on,
Spilling forth their vile dung.
Victors yell their wins,
Swim in happy mirth,
The ages sew the truth,
Beneath the ruined earth.
War shall return anew,
Years from now and then,
Men will learn humility,
But how, where, and when?
The First of Hopefully Many
So you figured you would try this new fangled fancy blog thing, though it's neither fancy nor new fangled.
You're starting this blog simply because you need a creative outlet 'en masse' lately. Acting is back, comedy your dream and now poetry and prose return to your hearts delight. You're compelled to increase your vocabulary back to it's formal glory and relive the feelings of an inspired writer that made you feel more alive.
You're bored on a day home from work taken because you feel ill though you're not sure if its because you are hit with a bit of wanderlust or because you actually are sick. You're not sure if this blog will keep as long as any other writing endeavor you've started will and you're pleading, begging even for a spot at fame.
Though somehow you feel you're not worthy of fame, that for some reason you are less of a person in the eyes of your friends and thus must be. You struggle to fight what you think your friends feel and say and what you want to be true. Ordinary is frightening but is it because you are slave to the whispers and promises of a loving parent giving you some hope to cling to as a confused half-parent beat his failures into you? Or is it because ordinary means your name dies with you and those closest to you, that history will swallow up your deeds because they did not effect globally.
Or is this all a ruse from the beginning, hoping someone will read this a give way to promises and whispers similar to those you received as a child? Mayhaps you feel that if someone unknown to you would simply send out a word of encouragement or a word of admiration then somehow what your 'friends' say and the trap you feel you are in will be any less true than it was not a moment before the word hit your ear.
You are lost in the massive cavern of your own mind and yet you share the burden not with anyone, you stumble the maze alone, walking in the dark without sound, hoping your failing luck will save you once again.
Light your torch, child. Speak with those you can trust, crawl no longer in the cavern of your mind, start your path into the world once again before you are too lost to return. Break all chains keeping you with then maze, free yourself as you have before.
You're starting this blog simply because you need a creative outlet 'en masse' lately. Acting is back, comedy your dream and now poetry and prose return to your hearts delight. You're compelled to increase your vocabulary back to it's formal glory and relive the feelings of an inspired writer that made you feel more alive.
You're bored on a day home from work taken because you feel ill though you're not sure if its because you are hit with a bit of wanderlust or because you actually are sick. You're not sure if this blog will keep as long as any other writing endeavor you've started will and you're pleading, begging even for a spot at fame.
Though somehow you feel you're not worthy of fame, that for some reason you are less of a person in the eyes of your friends and thus must be. You struggle to fight what you think your friends feel and say and what you want to be true. Ordinary is frightening but is it because you are slave to the whispers and promises of a loving parent giving you some hope to cling to as a confused half-parent beat his failures into you? Or is it because ordinary means your name dies with you and those closest to you, that history will swallow up your deeds because they did not effect globally.
Or is this all a ruse from the beginning, hoping someone will read this a give way to promises and whispers similar to those you received as a child? Mayhaps you feel that if someone unknown to you would simply send out a word of encouragement or a word of admiration then somehow what your 'friends' say and the trap you feel you are in will be any less true than it was not a moment before the word hit your ear.
You are lost in the massive cavern of your own mind and yet you share the burden not with anyone, you stumble the maze alone, walking in the dark without sound, hoping your failing luck will save you once again.
Light your torch, child. Speak with those you can trust, crawl no longer in the cavern of your mind, start your path into the world once again before you are too lost to return. Break all chains keeping you with then maze, free yourself as you have before.
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