Transitions.

I hate Transitions.  I thought that when I stumbled through the last big change in my life, it would be the last one.  But as I evolve as a human.  I have realized that sometimes change is inevitable and required to move forward with ones life.  Many of you have noticed that I have made some drastic changes in the last few months.  I left my partner because I was unhappy with the direction that our lives were going, and I quit a job that I really liked because I could no longer handle the Bi Polar nature of one of my bosses and his readiness to volley verbal abuse at me when he was having a bad day.  I've had to endure enough undeserved verbal abuse in my life and frankly, I am too old to put up with that shit anymore.  If your going to lose your shit with me you better be in the right.  So the job search continues.  I have one offer on the table and I have 1 week to make up my mind.  I know, beggars cant be choosey but suddenly I think I deserve some choices.  I can hold out a little longer and maybe a golden opportunity will come along. 

As far as my relationship.  A good friend of mine and customer used to tell me "life is simple, if you are unhappy, you make a change"  Well as you can see I made a big one.  I am sorry about any collateral damage, but WTF  was I thinking in the first place anyway.  Sometimes no attention at all is better that the attention you are getting.  Thats a hard choice to make. 

Anyway, off to bigger and better things. 

Little things in the land of excess.

Growing up in the United States.  Most of us, or the best of us learn to strive for the best.  Competition is a good thing.  We want to get the best grades in school.  We play high school or college sports and strive to win our event our have a winning season.  As we progress into Adulthood we concentrate on buying the best home we can afford or drive the best car.  I am no exception to this, I prefer to have nice things to a point.  I also believe if its not broke, dont fix it.  Over the years I have worked at some futile jobs for some less than deserving companies, as well as have been hound dog loyal to some friendships that I should have never started in the first place.  Anyway I have matured into a walking contradiction about life.  My everyday clothes usually look like something that came from the free rack at the good will, but I have an almost paralyzing addiction to silk short sleeve summer shirts from Tommy Bahama.  I also have an addiction for anything Ralph Lauren or Polo.  It used to be Nautica, but they all got to looking the same so I gave up on them.  When I used to show horses I could go 6 weeks and show 4 days a week and not have to go to the cleaners.  I did not have to wear each shirt more than once, although I do have several that are the same color.  I have a fetish for nice suits. As well.  Few 40 year old men can wear a different Italian suit every day of the week and have their own tux.  I can and all I do is look at them.  I actually loathe going to anywhere I would have to wear one. I just like having them there.  Recently I have been bored to death with the job I have had for the last three years.  It started out as a real challenge and had great potential.  Its also one of those exercises in futility that I mentioned earlier.  I have never been a quitter and I blindly went along for too long thinking I could right the ship from below.  Truth is sometimes one must have an owner, boss, leader, that does more than take up space, strut around and look pretty. 

My recent quest for a new and challenging job has brought about frustrations and realizations.  I have been very frustrated at the whole process in the first place.  Three years ago when I boarded the sinking ship  the  job market was considerably better that it is today.  Median salary available in the local job market was about $10.00 per hour.  Now analysts may try and tell you otherwise, but when you put all the available jobs together in one pot thats what you get.  There were pages and pages of them in the newspaper, online, and looking with the job service.  This time around, three years later.  The median salary available in the job market is around minimum wage  $8.00 per hour.  Dont even try to argue with me.  Ive looked.  There are hundreds of jobs listed college degree required for under $10.00 per hour.  What I want to know is why.  Why has the base salary being offered dropping.  Is it because the job market is flooded with qualified individuals, if you ask anybody in the HR department at a company you will find thats not the case.  Is it because there are so many college graduates that have never worked before they are not worthy of much more.  Is it because outside influences are forcing both private and public sector jobs to hire part time pay less jobs.  Is it because of the trend to hire free intern help and work them to death.  I dont have the answer but I do have a few ideas.  Mainly I think its because true manufacturing has left the United States.  Working a good steady production job has turned into the least desirable form of employment in this country.  Since high school most of us have been pushed into higher education with the promise of big salaries, management positions, and over inflated salary bases said to be available to those college graduates.  In talking to HR departement managers I have heard some of the most amazing shit.  One in particular said they just pick the least offensive college graduate and put a warm body in that position and hope they can eventually be trained to be an employee worth having.  One was actually told by a college graduate employee that he had to quit because the job required too much of his personal time and he couldnt keep track of facebook during the day.  One graduated with a masters in business and was incapable of making a business plan.  Frankly folks if this is what we are turning out of American Colleges I am glad I am old and on the downhill towards retirement because I damn sure dont want to be here when that group is in charge.  I have had a flawed view of the college process for a long time.  Right after I started actually,  taking courses not pertinent to your chosen major because they are required is a crock.  Those classes should have been covered in high school.  One recent study has shown that 70% of all college graduates have never had a job.  They have never worked in the private sector, they have $80k in student loan dept upon graduation and are looking at working for $10.00 per hour. 

The unplanned degradation of our youth.

     Today while driving I heard the saddest excuse for a commercial on the radio  The sad part is that it was a perfect commentary on what is one of the major problems with how we are raising our youth.  The commercial was about participation.  A young boy is asking his coach about why he gets a trophy, for each game, even if they lose,  a trophy even if he doesn't play, a trophy just for being on the team and not quitting before the season ended.  A trophy for participation in every tournament even if they lost every game.  When asked why the coach gave away so many trophies, his reply,  to help kids build self esteem.  The kid then suggested to give away chocolate milk and that would really make the kids feel better.  It was a commercial by the Milk Producers council.

     I am pretty sure the basic idea of sports is to learn much more than self esteem.  Self esteem is built by achievement.  Sports teach so much more,  how to work together, how to take instruction and constructive criticism.  How to take defeat and how to rise above it to work harder to win the next time.  How to pick yourself up on what you think is your worst day and put one foot in front of the other and keep going.  I have said for a long time participation ribbons for everybody is a bad thing.

     I have competed in life for the last 35 years.  Competition is what has built this country and made it great.  The cross continental railroad was a race between two companies to get the most rails laid. The race to the moon between the United States and Russia not only drove pride in America, but brought about countless advancements in aeronautics, medicine, engineering, and things I am sure the simple people like me have no idea about.  The Olympics have provided a showcase of pride and achievement for countries that have little else to be proud of.  Foreign countries send their smartest students to America to be educated in our Universities and take that knowledge home to build their own economies.  Just look at how China, Shunned by most of the world has learned to work withing the system to develop the worlds largest economy, take home technology learned here and use it against us. Competition drives the world.  The smartest kids get the scholarships, the best athletes get scholarships, the best salesmen get the bonuses,  the best CEO make the biggest bonuses.  Countless numbers of medical advancements have happened because companies know those who get the cure the first will make the big money.  Hell when you apply for a job, you are competing with other applicants for that job.

     You show me a kid who doesn't care that he has lost the game and I will show you a kid that will go through life never making a meaningful contribution to anything.  Those participation ribbon children never learn to go the extra mile.  They may think they are doing the best jobs,  I know a few. They are the ones that have grown up without competing.  Suddenly at 25 they go to the gym,  Next thing you know they are taking steroids to build muscle.  They play games in a fantasy world where you never really lose, you just push reset.  They have zero idea how to do the extra work needed to do something great.  They don't have the foggiest idea how to make Lemonade when the world hands you Lemons.  They expect the world to take care of them.  Provide them jobs, health care, education, housing etc while they perform their daily tasks in mediocrity all the while with their hands out.

     Like I said before, I've competed for the last 35 years, it was my job.  The long days, staying up all night, travelling miles and miles overnight to the next competition,  The exhaustion, pain, working when your sick.  Every single thing was worth it.  I made my best friends that way, paid my bills, earned respect, learned to respect others, and the sense of accomplishment that I felt was far better than any high from any joint.  Self esteem.  That's something that winning those battles.  No matter how small at first will be built.  Winning the small battles give us what it takes to try and win the bigger ones until we are competing and performing on the level that brings each and every one of us to our own peak performance.

   

The ineptitude of the American public.

     Some of you lately have commented that I am too negative.  This post is especially for you.  It is a glorious 70 plus degree day here in Phoenix and everything is going just fabulously right with my world.  I have a partner that I love.  I have a job that I can tolerate.  I have an interview tomorrow for an even better one, we are all healthy.  I have a good car to drive.  Everything is just coming up roses.
     On the other hand, the rest of the world needs to get its shit together.  The recent live burning of a Jordanian pilot is a disgrace on the ass of humanity.  I say ass because in the year 2015, it is inexcusable for one terrorist group to be allowed to rape, kill, pillage, burn people at will without any consequences. The educated enlightened countries of the world are just as much responsible for continuing to turn a blind eye and let these atrocities occur.  Remember the African girls that were kidnapped this summer.  Initial outrage was huge and then it all died down and now nobody has said a word.  Nobody even questions anymore where they are and what has happened to them.  I can tell you that.  Recently young school age girls have been forced to walk into towns acting as suicide bombers.  After 6 months of rape and other unspeakable abuse I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't volunteering to blow themselves up.  All this goes on while here in America we are focused on the trial of Jody Arias.  One crazy bitch who violently killed her pervert Mormon boyfriend.  Really.  Lock her up, throw away the key and lets move on.

     As a country we have spent years wielding our influence on the lesser countries of the earth.  I think its time that we stepped up to the plate and supplied them with the security that they deserve.  If our President wants to do something truly impressive lets see him forge an alliance with Russia, Great Britain, Australia, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, The UAE, India, Turkey and others and start to police theses terror groups.  Somali Pirates,  that is a tragic joke.  The United States and Russia alone posses enough Naval capability to eradicate that scourge in one year.

     The fighting right here at home between Republicans and Democrats, and the ignorance in which the voting public behaves is a tragedy in itself.  We have grown up in to become the me generation.  Hell, some of the largest religious groups in the nation are based on praying to receive the gifts you want.  Not praying for others and doing the lords work.

     I have a great life, as I am sure that many of you do as well.  That doesn't change that fact that the world is turning into a giant shitbox and it's time we took some responsibility.  Raising our voices to bring the negatives to light is just the first step.  Unless of course you really don't care and then if that's the case keep your mouth shut and never complain, Take the world as it comes and blindly go on.  Just stay the hell out of the way of those folks that intend to make a difference.

    Go out and make it a great day.

When the Christians Aren't, the battle for equality is far from over.

    Before you read any further in this piece you need to understand something.  I have friends.  GOOD friends who are shining examples of the best Christians on earth.  Not because they are perfect, not because they sit around quoting bible scripture all day, not because they spend hours a day volunteering to help the poor and downtrodden, and not because they focus on showing non Christians the way.  Because they have found a way to live their lives worshiping god in a way that enhances their lives.  Some of them don't agree with my lifestyle, but they resolve that fact by believing that god will judge me and no one else should.

     Many gay couples have recently gotten married, legally,  This may seem like a huge win for equal and gay rights.  Keep a couple things in mind, less than 50 years ago it was illegal for members of different ethnic backgrounds to marry, current events show us that there are still many powerful racist people in America who have found a way to voice their racism either personally or subversively.  While polls show 60% of Americans approve of gay marriage.  No state has passed an equal marriage law when put to a vote.  Obama originally stated when running for office the first time that he believed marriage was between a man and a woman.  I question his genuine beliefs.  No matter what the supreme court says now.  They are appointed positions and when the case comes up again things can always be reversed.  Some courts have actually already upheld the ban.  Rowe vs Wade is a prime example of why the fight for equal rights must never end.  States, Senators, and Good Christians are continually looking for a way to take abortion, and women's rights away from them.

     Sally Kern, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Al Sharpton, Mike Huckabee, Mary Fallon, Sarah Palin, all have found a pulpit to pound when it comes to gay rights.  I was very slow to come to the side of gay rights.  I felt as a movement, and social body we were not mature enough to deserve them.  In many aspects I still feel that way.  Fact is legally there is enough legal documentation out there to file to protect gay couples rights.  Many young gay people take for granted the vast volumes of shit the rest of us have gone through, and frankly they aren't tough enough to handle it anyway.  I can remember standing in front of a gay bar in Lexington Kentucky in the early ninety's and somebody driving by and firing gun shots into the building.  At the time nobody even called the police because they didn't want to deal with the conflict of calling the police to a gay bar.  So a little bullying during high school, which we all have had to deal with, and some bullying on face book page doesn't really seem such a big deal to me.  Have some balls boys, you have them don't you.

     While there are plenty of Christians who don't oppose gay marriage rights, it does give the far right wing republicans and everyday bigots a pulpit to hide behind.  It gives them the courage to voice their opinions standing behind the veil of religion when they don't have the courage to stand up and declare they are racist and bigots on their own accord.  Hell I am an opinionated son of a bitch and I don't care what you think about it, at least I admit it.  I plan to marry my partner this spring, not because the state of Arizona allows it legally. Not because the supreme court says that I have the right to. Because I believe in the commitment that I want to make to him.   I want him to know the blind love that I have seen my father exhibit toward my mother for the last 50 plus years.    I don't believe that we will have equal rights for gays until we can sit across the table at a romantic dinner and hold hands openly, or stand beside a river, or on a mountain, or a fountain and be moved and kiss openly in public without looks of disdain or disgust.  I believe the fight is not anywhere near over and we need a stable, united voice to respectfully keep on fighting the good fight.  The couples who have been fighting the battle in the courts, who have taken all the social and racial slurs, who have had to stand on the steps of the courts and walk past the protesters carrying viscous banners have earned and deserve for us to keep on fighting the good fight.

The Current Fairytale. or, drink some more kool aid stupid.

     I have missed a few weeks.  I had to travel and have gotten behind in life a little bit.  I had the unfortunate privilege of getting to travel half way across the country last week.  I am not an extravagant traveler when I am by myself. I like to take the boys and enjoy the trip and spend as little money as possible without inflicting any misery on myself. One of my habits is staying at off the beaten path motels.  The kind you find on old route 66 or downtown in small towns.    I like to spend money on real vacations or my hobbies or Dave.  I have been lucky while training horses that for the last 30 years I have traveled all over this country.  I am not one of those driving with blinders on kind of travelers, I an curious and pay attention to most everything around me.  So for the last 30 odd years I have noticed how this country has changed.  Following are some observations.

     If you honestly believe that things are better nationwide now, than 20 years ago.  Drink some more Kool aid.  Small towns are struggling like never before.  Some don't even have grocery stores in them anymore.  Small quaint motels have closed up.  Try and find a good small town cafe.  Some towns don't have them anymore either.  Sure gas may be at it's lowest in 10 years. While I was in Oklahoma I heard at least three companies announce layoffs because the price of oil had dropped so low.  What is good for one part of the public, may be disastrous for some of the others.  Roads in these small towns are frankly embarrassing.  Their condition has gotten progressively worse over the last 30 years.  There are empty Banks, car dealerships, gas stations, motels etc all across this country. Small business is shrinking at an alarming rate.

    Black on black violence is at an all time high. It is a problem which is ignored by the government and the media alike. Why aren't blacks rioting about this.  Why is Al Sharpton silent about this.  I'll tell you why.  As long as they continue to get a government check.  They don't care how many blacks kill each other.  It's all about taking responsibility for their own actions.  Have you seen an episode of Jerry Springer.  Unfortunately their lives are just like that. It's not my baby!!! Blacks also have this awesome way of turning on each other if one is successful and built a good life for themselves.  They want to hang around for the free hand out and be part of the "posse", but ask them to be accountable for breaking the law and suddenly they call each other "uncle Tom's" or "just another porch nigger".  I read an article calling Charles Barkley a "house nigger" when he questioned the actions of the rioters after the Michael Brown incident.  I think that's rich.  Charles Barkley, or any black professional athlete had dedicated his life to his sport.  68% will have filed for bankruptcy within 5 years after retirement because they have neglected their education so much while playing.  That's not progress.

     Hell our own governor Doug Ducey said during his campaign that he would not cut funding for education.  When asked several times he always said no cuts to education.  He does however want to take money from public education funding and offer it to charter schools.  In his state of the state address he announced budget cuts to Arizona's Universities.  Personally I think if you can't back up the platform that you've won your election on, then you need to be impeached.  It's time we held our elected officials accountable for their actions.

    Don't get me started on Democrats and Republicans.  One wants to give it all away, and the other wants to take it all away.  Neither party has a clue whats going on in the real world, they are only concerned with advancing their own agenda.  The American people are going to suffer more and more if we don't find a way to get them under control.

     One last thing I want to comment on.  If things are so good. Why is the religious right fighting so hard against gay rights.  I'll tell you why.  because things aren't so good.  History shows us that organized religion grows when times are tough.  People look for outside support and turn to religion when their lives aren't going so well.  Unfortunately organized religion is here to pick up that slack and that in itself is somewhat of a tragedy.  There is very little joy in organized religion.  It is all about judgement, oppression and one group of people oppressing another.

     My next couple post may seem a little negative.  Frankly its about time somebody started telling it like it is.  In the next few I am going to discuss Obama care,  Equal rights for gays, and the current job market.  So hang on folks it's going to be a bumpy ride.

I don't know if you can read the sign that the guy is holding.  It says Homeless Veteran,

I am seeing more and more of these around town, and frankly if they are homeless veterans, why the hell are they.  I have a great idea.  These bases that we've closed over the years and are sitting empty or we have sold off to private parties. Sometimes the are sold off, more often than not they are sitting empty and completely unused.  Even at bases that are open the military has shrunk so much that housing is empty at bases all over the country.  Could somebody please explain to me why these homes are not being used to house homeless vets.  Why aren't we using them re-train vets when they return.  Can you imagine how efficient that the wounded warrior programs would be if the participants were all housed together.  Counseling, vocational training, adequate medical facilities, athletic and rehabilitation facilities.  Don't tell me that we keep some of them open to house Hurricane refugees because the last I heard from the news, that did not happen at all.  All you have to do is drive through parts of Houston and Dallas and Oklahoma City and you can see exactly where the Hurricane Katrina victims were left.

I'd like to know just exactly what the government excuses are for this.  I realize that nobody in the federal government really gives a shit.  Potus doesn't even have the time to visit a VA hospital.  Let alone write some legislation and invent some programs that would really help our veterans.