Americans have no clue what a basic human right is.

Yesterday, which just happened to be the day after the presidential inauguration, was the Women's March on Washington.  After seeing many of the protest signs people were carrying it was clear that the majority of these "protesters" have no clue what a basic human right is.  So, apparently we need to go over this, again.

Interestingly enough the list of all of the basic human rights were are due to be afforded was actually detailed by God back at the time the Isrealites were liberated from Egypt.  They were listed in this handy little thing called the 10 Commandments.  Now before we go into what they are, let's highlight some of the things that are NOT basic human rights.  It would appear that many people assume that things that we take for granted are actually privileges, and luxuries, not "rights."

Heath insurance, is NOT a basic human right.  It is something that YOU pay for in order to minimize the cost of health care.  To assume that someone else should pay for this so you can have proper health care is actually in violation of one of the actual basic human rights.  More on that later.

Health care, is NOT a basic human right.  It is a personal responsibility, which may, or may not, cost a lot of money to maintain.  Which is why we have health insurance to offset the costs of dealing with health issues.

Abortion, is NOT a basic human right.  It is actually murder of an innocent human being, which, incidentally, is a violation of one of the actual basic human rights.  More on that later.

Earning a "living wage," is NOT a basic human right.  It is a personal responsibility to earn enough money to pay for the things you consume.  So if you are not earning enough money to pay for the things you want, or "need," then you need to find a way to get more money.  Preferably by finding a job that pays more than say, "minimum wage."  Obtaining money through other means is, arguably, in violation of one of the actual basic human rights.  More on that later.

Being treated with respect, is NOT a basic human right.  It is a fundamental societal duty, and a way to indirectly bring glory to God by treating those around us the way we want to be treated.  Matthew 7:12

I could go one, but lets actually get to what the true basic human rights are, shall we?

First we must look at the source.  Exodus 20:1-20

Roughly half of these commandments indirectly highlight what our actual human rights are:

The First Basic Human Right: This is actually encapsulated within the first four commandments and it has to do with honoring God.  Yes, it is a basic human right to honor and worship God and not put anything in His place.

The Second Basic Human Right: You shall not murder.  This means you have the basic human right to not have your life taken from you.  This also means you do NOT have the right to take the life of another human being.  Yes, this includes the unborn ones.  Also, this means we have the right to defend ourselves from anyone who wish to do us harm, by any means necessary.

The Third Basic Human Right: You shall not commit adultery.  This means you have the basic human right not to be cheated on by your spouse.

The Fourth Basic Human Right: You shall not steal.  This means you have the basic human right not to have anything stolen from you.

The Fifth Basic Human Right: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  Anyone other than you is your neighbor.  This means you have the basic human right not to be lied to, about anything.

Anything that can stem from these could be considered secondary basic human rights, but don't get what I mentioned at the start of this article confused with these.

Any questions?

It is The Donald's Game.

And he is playing it very well, quite frankly.

The latest in the race for the Republican nomination is seeing quite the strategic move from Donald Trump in regard to his attack on Ted Cruz.  Ted Cruz has been attacking trump about his many flip-flops and inconsistencies in his rhetoric.  Trump is hitting back that what Cruz is saying is lies (even though Cruz is using unedited clips of Trump doing exactly what Cruz is asserting).

This, in my humble opinion, is a very well calculated ploy by Trump to either get the nomination by eliminating Cruz, or completely discrediting the RNC (Republican National Committee) and will cite that due to the lack of loyalty they are showing he will run as an independent, and he will look like a hero in doing so.

Quite honestly this is just another reason we need to get rid of the two party system, and just have a general election without nominees by these parties.  The current system is antiquated and rigged to the point that we the voter really has no direct say as to who is elected to the white house.

Consider what happened with the Democratic primary in New Hampshire, which is very much akin to what happened on the Republican side during the last election between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.  Even the DNC chair admitted they use "Superdelegates" to prevent grass roots candidates from gaining too much of a foothold, which completely flies in the face of the purpose of this kind of election.

The establishments agenda will be pushed at all cost, and unless we see a significant change happen this will go on for years into the future.  No real representation of the people, and everything being decided by a select few.

The Price of Oil is Bigger than just Field Workers

Please take a moment and read this post by an oil field family.

Something else people don't realize is that the people who work in the oil fields are not the ones who set the price of oil, and ultimately the price of gasoline at the pumps. It is much much bigger than the people who work in the oil field. It has to do with the world economy and how it is affected by wars, greed, and ego. The reason we are seeing such a low price for oil right now is that foreign producers are flooding the market with their easily produced crude (most of their wells are free-flowing) trying to hurt American based companies who require a bit more capital to get the oil out of the ground.

Another thing people don't realize is that oil is not just used to make gasoline. It is also used to make engine and gear oil, it is also used to make plastic products. So it is highly likely that you are holding something made from oil in your hand right now.

So to fault someone who works in the oil fields because of how much are, or are not, paying at the pump is extremely ignorant and naive.

Do a little more research before criticizing someone you don't know.

Trump is Delusional

Last night was the most recent GOP debate, which was another opportunity for the currently remaining candidates to boost support for their campaigns heading into the Iowa Caucus on Monday.  Unless you have been living under a rock you know that Trump did not show up because he doesn't like to be confronted by women.  In this case Megyn Kelly from Fox News.

What is really telling about last nights debate is that without him the ratings were just as solid as they were when he was on the stage.  Which means it is not him and his ego that draws a crowd, but people wanting to apply their own personal vetting process on the candidates that are wanting to run this country.

Instead of attending the debate he decided to have an event for Veterans.  Which is all fine and good, if he was only doing it to raise awareness, and funds, for Veteran Affairs; but it is clear that this was just another publicity stunt to distract people from the debate.  It didn't work.

What this is really showing is that Trump has lost his sparkle.  Sure, it took longer than many figured it would, but people are starting to get tired of him, and looking to the real candidates for a better choice for President.

Sure the candidates took their pot shots at him during the debate, but really the fact that he didn't show up was relegated to being a foot note on the evening as a whole.  But the things that actually got more attention were the comments made about Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.  From only being qualified to run for President of Sweden, to looking down the barrel of an indictment, instead of a sure-fire nomination from the Democratic Convention.

Things are heating up with this election and after Monday's vote we will start seeing the lesser powerful candidates drop out.  Hopefully, we will eventually see Trump drop out as well, but that may not be until after the nomination.  Which may end up leading to him running as an independent.

We shall see.

But Everybody has these Pipes!

Not sure how many of my reader(s) are following the Flint, Michigan water crisis, but they recently released a statement that many other cities have the same kind of lead pipes that their water system uses to deliver water to their constituents.  Because that is a valid excuse for falling down on the job of maintaining the city's infrastructure.  In this case, the piping system that delivers water to residential homes and commercial locations.

Here is a little bit a reality check for those city officials of Flint (who are all democrats, by the way); regardless of what the infrastructure of other cities are made of it is still your duty to maintain yours.  If you know the pipes in your city are aging, and they are made of a material that can be harmful to your residents, it is your responsibility to find a way to replace those pipes.  It is just common sense!

The only reason you should be looking at other cities that may have the same problem is to find out how they addressed and fixed the problem, not find their situation as some sort of excuse for yours.  Quite frankly if you had been on top of the problem you would not have had to declare a state of emergency.  It would have been a non-issue.

Stop sitting behind your taxpayer supplied desks whining about the state of your city and actually find a way to fix it!

Pickin's are Slim, Part 2

As stated in an earlier post, which was put up during the previous Presidential Election, the pickin's are rather slim.  Sure there are quite a few different people from which to choose, however, are they really that electable?

We have Donald Trump, the supposed front runner.  But is he really electable.  His idea for solving the immigration problem is to build a huge wall on the US/Mexico border.  I don't doubt he would be able to find a way of paying for it, though it could wind up being at the taxpayers expense.

While we are on the topic of big things they candidates want to pay for, Bernie Sanders wants to provide free college and other programs, but has stated he would raise taxes to do so.  Which means these programs will not be free.  His method of socialism will continue to drive a wedge between the richer and poorer sections of this country.

The lesser candidates are really not worth mentioning as they are obviously not saying anything that is earning them any kind of significant following.

Yes, this blog has endorsed Ron Paul in the previous election and is certainly backing his son, Rand Paul in this one.  When it comes to his campaign you cannot rely on polls put together by any of the mainstream media sources as they are vehemently biased against him.  You need only look at how Ron Paul's campaign was continually marginalized, or ignored, the last time around.  Rand's is getting the same treatment.  It would be very interesting to find out who is behind this blatant, albeit somewhat subtle, boycott against the Paul family when it comes to these elections.  Media sources on both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of this.

We do have Ted Cruz, but he is just another candidate who has come out saying he would go to war against other countries, yet has not given any clear indication as to any sort of resolution to the current conflicts that have caused such hatred toward the US from other countries.  Even many of our allies view us with trepidation.

Hillary Clinton is a criminal, plain and simple, and should not be running, but be behind bars for her atrocities committed while acting as Secretary of State.  She should seriously be relegated to being a footnote in the history of this country.

Honestly, this country should be taking a more isolationist approach to foreign policy, reduce government intrusion in the lives of civilians, and build up our national defense, so that we are better equipped should anyone attempt to this country harm.

There is truly only one candidate worth considering, and he isn't even really a Republican, much less a Democrat.  But that gets into a bigger issue to be discussed in another post.

We need a business man, not a megalomaniac

With the presidential race heating up it may be unclear as to who we should throw our support behind, but one thing is for sure, we need to be extremely careful who we pick in regard to foreign policy and economics.

There is a certain candidate running who, for lack of a better description, is anything but ideal when it comes to these topics.  Sure, he may be a savvy businessman, but do we really want someone who may launch a war because someone insulted him.  I do agree that we should not get involved in another countries military or economic problems without a clear benefit to our country, but to throw out diplomacy for the sake of "getting what's ours" is extremely dangerous and will only end up causing other countries to hate us even more.

Not something we should be promoting, but should be working toward doing away with.

Quite honestly with how poorly we have handled things globally in the past few decades we should really start taking a step back and take a long hard look at what we should be doing.  That being embark on a period of moderated isolationism.  Meaning, we should refrain from getting involved in the problems of other countries until we have fixed the bigger issues facing our own.

For some reason our government seems to think we should be involved in everyone else's business while at the same time causing our own country's economy to be put under undue stress.  We should be bringing jobs back to our shores, instead of indirectly causing companies to move their operation outside of our borders due to the inhospitable policies we have put in place.

Really, the only candidate I have seen who aligns themselves with this kind of thinking is Rand Paul.

The big problem many people have with him as a candidate is that he is too isolationist for their liking.  Though really if you take a close look at what he wants to do for this country you really have no better choice.

He is not anti-military, he just believes we need to get better at defense rather than running blindly into showing a good offense.  Which ultimately results in spending more money than we should.

To find more information on his view you only need to visit his official website.  It is rather enlightening.

Some Experiences Are Forever

A while back, long before I got married or was even dating, I had to have my appendix removed. And with any experience there are things you will always carry with you. Of course in this case there was also something I did not take with me.

It pretty much started one weekend while I was working at a renaissance faire. I thought I was having some digestive problems, but thought it would “pass” in a few days. Well, five days later and it was not getting any better. So, I figured I would take the day off, go to the urgent care center, and find out what the problem was. This was on a Thursday. I called in sick and went to the clinic. After I got there I checked in and went to wait my turn.

Now I might as well mention that at the time I looked like a bit of a loser. I had long hair, wore faded jeans and worn out baseball cap.

I was finally taken into the exam room and it just so happens that the doctor who comes in to check me out is a rather attractive young female doctor.

Sure, not only am I in a bit of “discomfort,” but now I am nervous, as I usually am around good looking women, and rather tongue tied. I was, however, able to get over my nervousness when I noticed a ring on her finger, as if should she had been single I would have had a shot. Anyway, the awkwardness came back when she stood on the other side of the room with her arms folded while I try to tell her the problem I was having. I mentioned I was having some pain in my lower abdomen. She asked some pertinent questions, called some other, male, doctor into the room, had me lay back on the exam table and check me out. After that they suggested I go to the ER for an ultrasound.

At this point I was wondering why I didn’t just go there in the first place, but I guess I figured it wasn’t that serious.

So, I get directions to the closest hospital and headed over there. Once there of course I have to retell my story, after which the ER doc recommends I get a CT scan rather than the ultrasound. Their reason being that should they not find anything with the ultrasound they would have to do the CT anyway. Of course since I have had no experience with CT scans I agreed to it, though in hindsight I would have preferred the ultrasound. Here is why:

They took me to the radiology department and explain what is going to happen. In order to get accurate images they needed to put two kinds of “contrast” into me. Not knowing what that meant I figured “why not.” Well, first they have me completely disrobe and put on one of those awesome hospital gowns. Once I get changed they have me lay on this table and put an IV in my arm. The first contrast, it turns out, had to go into my veins. As the tech is pumping this stuff into me he says to let him know if I start itching.

Great.

He also says I may experience a metallic taste.

Also great.

As the contrast is pumped into me I start feeling “puffy.” When that is completed the tech then goes into another room to run the CT machine. He tells me as he is about to put me in the machine to take a deep breath and hold it for 30 seconds. Even though I was a little uncomfortable due to the puffiness I felt I would still oblige. I took a breath and held. He slid me through the machine and back out and that was it. Or so I thought. Nope. Next he had to put more contrast into my colon!

Now my philosophy regarding the back door is that it is “exit only.” But apparently this needed to happen. So the tech shows me how this is going to work. He was going to take a hard plastic tube with a bit of a balloon around the end of it and stick it where the sun don’t shine. Once the thing is in there they inflate the balloon so it doesn’t slip out.

Needless to say I am rather nervous, for a different reason than before, but I am sort of glad else is going in there. And that I had showered that morning.

Anyway, after the thing is “installed” the tech pushes the contrast in. Now, not only am I puffy, but becoming painfully bloated as well. After the tech finished putting the stuff in he goes into the other room. Then tells me once again to take a dog breath and hold it for 30 seconds.

Let’s recap shall we? I have contrast in my veins and in my back door. I am both puffy and having an artificially induced form of constipation. I couldn’t take more than shallow, quick breaths if my life depended on it. But I did my best. I took as much of a breath that I could and held it…for about 2 seconds.

How is it possible to take a deep breath of something when you already are having trouble breathing?

Well, I get all done with that and they take me back to the ER to wait for the results. At this point you would think they would just let me wait it out, but no. The ER doc decides to do his own little “test” to confirm that I am not “faking it.” He reaches down to my lower abdomen presses right down on my swollen appendix and asks if it hurt. If I hadn’t been in so much pain and shock I probably would have punched him in the throat.

A little while later the doc comes back with the results and it just so happens that my appendix was large enough they could have easily seen it with an ultrasound. And that, some people would call irony.

Well with the results showing that my appendix was quite on the verge of asploding, which I am sure the little “test” from the ER doc didn’t help, they quickly made arrangements for surgery.

While I was waiting for the OR to be prepped I called my roommate to let him know where I was and what was happening. “Hey, man. I am in the ER about to surgery. I won’t be home for dinner. Could you call my sister and let her know?”

They then take me to get ready for the surgery. While waiting the nurse asks if I had been able to pee recently. I said “no,” to which she told me I need to make sure I do or they will have to put in a catheter. Well that wasn’t going to happen, especially after what happened with the CT scan, so I said I would try. Now I would not have had a problem, but just as I was positioning myself, on the gurney, to go the anesthesiologist was putting the anesthetic in my IV. So, while I was trying to do my business I passed right out and probably sprayed anyone within range.

The next thing I know I was waking up in my hospital room feeling groggy. But the moral of this little story is to always ask for the ultrasound. Especially if the only other option is tech induced puffiness and constipation.

Getting the Word Out There is Sometimes Difficult

I have recently decided to take one of my hobbies and try to make a business out of it.  The hobby to which I am referring is Marlinspiking.  In other words, rope work.  Some may even call it Macramé, but that is an unflattering term applied to a craft that has been handed down through generations from the men who would ply this trade on sailing vessels all over the world.  Here are a couple of pieces I have made using only three simple knots:

The first one shown is made with quarter inch white nylon rope, the second is made with eighth inch white nylon rope with a loop, or lanyard, incorporated into the design.

Both of these items utilize diamond knots, a star knots, and normal plaiting.

Let me know what you think.

A Movement is Hard to Start

Recently I had started a series of posts in regard to bringing awareness to a long overdue movement to bring more accountability to our political leaders.  I had referred to this movement as voting for None of the Above.  I decided to do a little searching online and stumbled across this website.  It appears that the makers of this website have a similar directive, including putting the call out to have an amendment drafted to the constitution that would put the option of None of the Above on every Federal Ballot.  As great as this sounds, what politician in their right mind would want to sponsor this?  I know this sounds like I may be contradicting myself in regard to this movement, however, it does seem impossible to even get a sponsorship for this type of amendment even if the right amount of signatures could be gathered on a petition supporting it.

Regardless of how impossible it may seem to actually have None of the Above as an official option on a Federal, much less State or local, ballot, there is a rather simple way to do it.  That is obviously the option to just write it in when you show up on election day and enter the booth to place your vote.

Quite honestly I hope it never comes to that, but with coming off the heels of the Iowa Straw Poll, where Michelle Bachman won a nice little victory for herself, it also became clear how little stock other politicians and the media put in this event.  Which of course begs the question: Why did they even bother having it when it literally has no bearing on who eventually becomes the nominee for the Republican party, much less an actual contender for the Presidency of the United States?  Though, I guess one positive came out of it.  It eliminated at least one potential candidate who did not have the stomach for some serious competition.

Then, of course, we see a late-comer to the race in Rick Perry, who describes himself as George Bush on steroids, which really wasn't the best way to launch an campaign by associating yourself with one of the most unpopular Presidents in recent history.

There is also the other option I mentioned in a previous post.  That being the site that allows anyone to setup a profile and eventually debate issues and ultimately will actually choose someone from the general populous to run against the two major parties' nominees.  And possibly Donald Trump, but that remains to be seen.

Let's spread the word, shall we?  And, get the awareness going about the option to vote for None of the Above, if there is no clear choice to lead our great country and get it headed in the right direction again.