This is the stage that I absolutely love, the beginning. Here is where I actually start to feel like a storyteller. When I put together a basic storyline in abstract terms and then stop to look at it, I know that when the pencil meets the paper, it could change in any number of ways. It’s those changes that I look forward to the most, the spark of life that a story can sometimes take on, and lead me to places I never imagined.

I’ve been around writers long enough to have heard these statements uttered more than once: “My story has gotten out of control”, or “My characters have taken over my story”. It is a legitimate problem to have, but in my opinion not entirely a bad one. When a story moves itself forward seemingly by its own momentum, or characters appear to breathe on their own, that’s when I feel like I am on to something.

Everything is still in a larval stage at this point. The world is not much more than a skeleton and the characters are still little more than motes of light. However, I already feel like there is something there, more than it ever has in the past. If it continues to go this way, what my mind is conjuring will quickly turn into something that when I close my eyes I will be able to see in crystalline detail.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Secrets of Storytelling: Why We Love a Good Yarn
• Tips and Tricks for Fiction Writers
• Bedtime stories: we all have a tale to tell

I’m over it…

Writing has become a core part of what I am, something that I have to do a little of each day. For the last couple of years, I have relied on writing blog posts to feed that particular need. While I relish the ability to log in and basically talk to myself, I think it’s time I returned my attention to more productive avenues.

I have in the last 15 or so years tried repeatedly to conjure up a fantastic realm with rich diversity and compelling intrigue. Unfortunately, all those attempts fell decidedly flat. I think it’s time I reinvested some of my rapidly diminishing spare time into another attempt. I keep daydreaming about a day when I will see my name on a books dust jacket. Obviously it won’t happen if I don’t get off my ass…

So, I think the plan will be this: A double of Knob Creek and Coke, some select music from Hans Zimmer, Mozart, and the Soundtrack to the Elder Scrolls games. Hopefully the end result will be something I wondrous I can sink my creative teeth into.

Oh, and somewhere in all that I will try to get some paintings done…

WASHINGTON - A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship.

“It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force,” Rep. Paul Broun said of Obama in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. “I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism.”

U.S. rep: Obama wants Gestapo-like force - White House transition- msnbc.com.

Well, there is one thing I am certain of.  The results of the presidential election has given birth to a veritable army of chicken littles…

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bring on the Nutballs
• What we didn’t overcome on Election Day.

By virtue of being elected Obama has already changed the course of history, and there is already speculation that his ascendancy will help alter the course of race relations. While I didn’t vote for him, I can’t dispute this belief and personally I hope those speculations prove true. The closeted, small-minded thinking that has dominated American culture should have died off a century ago, never mind that it should never have existed in the first place.

But I wonder…

Should all these speculations prove true, can you really only give credit to Obama? Let me put it another way. Would Obama have been elected as the first African American President if the majority of people didn’t have a deep seated dislike for President Bush, his policies, and by extension the Republican Party?

Whether it was by accident or by repeatedly pissing people off over the last 8 years, President Bush really helped pave the way for this kind of milestone event. If that statement has some of you scratching your head, I’ll try to explain it.

That old, small-minded thinking I mentioned earlier is a by-product of the status quo and an overly strict adherence to cultural traditions. It’s indisputable that some of the early foundations of this country were less stellar, and that our past as a culture is checkered with some bad behavior. While I believe some traditions need to be preserved, there are a few that should be allowed to breathe a last dying breathe. Blind adherence to tradition often leads to status quo thinking, which has a way of impeding progress. It’s what gave birth to so many knucklehead issues that are still argued today and it’s what would have likely kept Obama from the oval office in any other election.

Deviation from the status quo typically only comes when we are dragged to it because the current situation is just not acceptable. Eight years of a failed Republican administration with the potential for eight more, led to a desire for change so strong that adherence to status quo thinking and tradition was finally ignored. I believe that’s what happened here, and in this particular case I think it was long overdue.

I think the leader of Americans should see himself as a representation of ALL Americans, regardless of color, gender, etc. While Obama is an African American, it’s not something I observed him actively campaigning on and I don’t think he approaches the oval office with the thought in mind of what his ethnicity is, but what his citizenship is. If that holds to be true, then we are all very fortunate.

While there are certainly those who are not happy with the election’s outcome, I have to say it could have been a lot worse. It’s possible that desperation for change could have led to the election of a feather duster.

Now that I think about it; that’s what happened eight years ago…

Related articles by Zemanta

• Mark Weisbrot: After Four Decades, Finally: The Beginning of the End
• Barack Obama - The new era starts
• Congress, Governors, And World Reaction

However, I have realized two things over the course of the last fifteen years:

One, regardless of what education level you have, it doesn’t and should not end there. A diploma or degree does not endorse you as having the knowledge of the ages, nor is it justification to disengage the mind and bring to a close the process of learning altogether.

Secondly, the head that rests atop my shoulders functions as a poor decoration. With that being true, it seemed only natural that I find some better uses for it. As a result, it’s seldom that a moment will pass when my mind is not actively crunching on some train of thought. Bear in mind that when I say that, I am not referring to my current dinner plans, or last nights football score. My ruminations often lead me to deeper matters, to topics typically avoided by saner men.

It does have its drawbacks, the most common one being a sort of mental fatigue. The times when I can let my mind relax and remain blank have become precious. It’s a lot like the bone deep weariness that a marathon runner feels when finally taking a rest after the race is done. However, it does tend to suck at 3 am when all I want to do is sleep, yet my mind is bedeviled with thoughts that won’t rest.

Nevertheless, the benefits cannot be overstated. When you spend a large portion of time sifting through ideas about religion, politics, history, and human behavior (just to name a few), you achieve a deeper appreciation and understanding of each, and how they relate to one another ¹.

While I will never go down in history as being one of the world’s greatest thinkers, I have put myself into a sort of never-ending college. I don’t claim to be an intellectual, or that I am somehow any smarter than anyone else. However, when my time is done, I would hope that no one could accuse me of having never engaged in the act.

But, as it so happens, the end result of such dire straits has begun to tap, tap, tap at my chamber door. As your average suburbanite slob (to quote Dennis Leary), I’ve become the game in the newest open season, preyed upon by companies desperate to preserve a shrinking bottom line. This kind of distinction pisses me off to such an extent that I am in dangerous risk of becoming reckless.

Here is an example: As a homeowner, it’s inevitable to wake up to a day when something is in desperate need of replacing. It’s also inevitable that that something is going to be expensive as hell. This has been the byline of the last year for me, starting with replacing my floors. A new washer/dryer, AC unit, and Television later, I now face the fact that several of my windows need replacing.

Yet, it’s become a necessity, and while I was less than thrilled about the prospect of spending yet more money, I agreed to it. We made a deposit with a (at the moment) unnamed company. From that point, the familiar fun and games of waiting to be contacted, wondering why we haven’t been contacted, and getting pissed about not being contacted began. When we finally did get a phone call, it was after the financial bomb, at which point both my patience and my comfort level with the entire prospect had expired. My inclination was to nix the entire idea and approach it later.

Now here is where things start getting nasty. We have been told by this company that we are under contract, and that the deposit we paid is non refundable. Bear in mind, nothing has been ordered, no work has begun. We have effectively paid for nothing, and been threatened with legal action if we insist on not letting them replace our windows.

I am pretty sure you can imagine my mood right about now…

This long diatribe serves to illustrate something that I am noticing more of the last couple of weeks. Companies have gone from wanting to serve their customers to doing everything in their power to eat them. They feel the pinch of economic tumult just as we do, only in different ways. As consumers, we feel a need to protect ourselves. Companies also feel a need to protect themselves, but by screwing us.

The media loves a crisis; it gives them something to write about. In the end, they only serve to perpetuate or prolong said crisis. The inherent greed of man (and by extension, companies) picks up on it this, and does whatever they can to grab as much cash as they can, regardless of who gets broken in the process. This carnivorous position only serves to irritate people like me, which can and will result in said company losing customers.

I don’t live or die by my reputation, not like companies who are in the service industry do. You can come after me if you want, but in the end, win or lose; you are going to seriously wonder whether or not it was worth it.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to reverse that statement and have it be true…

Surprisingly enough, I am paying VERY close attention to politics now that the election is over. Perhaps its curiosity, or possibly the result of several politically oriented conversations with a friend of mine. Regardless of the reason, I am interested to see if the rhetoric that is being tossed around about change and new directions will actually stick this time.

As a general rule I tend to not believe very much of what comes out of a politician’s mouth. Yet I am somehow inclined to give Obama and the Democrats a very tenuous benefit of the doubt. The first benchmark I have for whether or not I choose to believe them is what will wind up happening to Joe Lieberman. So far, everything I have heard has words like revenge and punishment in their statements. I have to say this is not an encouraging sign.

Apparently it doesn’t seem to matter that he chose to support the person he felt was the best candidate for the presidency, as is his right. It also doesn’t matter that he voted in line with his party on most of the issues. The fact that he made the taboo of supporting the enemy is what has many Democrats up in arms.

Politics should be about leaders making decisions based on how they (and by extension their constituents) feel about the issue in question. It should not be about manning the front lines of a battlefield, standing firm against the onslaught of an opposing army. For each individual politician, it should be about what they believe, not what their party believes.

It’s the same us vs. them mentality that destroys progress when it comes to politics. As a result, he will likely be punished in some form or fashion. Chances are he will lose his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which is being described as the least that could happen.

This doesn’t feel like change, this feels like the same old brand of politics that we have come to know and despise from Washington.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Harry Reid To Meet With Joe Lieberman Today
• Lieberman is Right on the War and the Democrats Hate Him for It
• Lieberman Must Go!
• Jewish Dems Anxious Over Liberman’s Support For Republicans
• Lieberman Likely to Lose Chairmanship
• Lieberman’s antics do not go by unnoticed by Dem leadership
• A Traitor Among Us? The Democrats’ Lieberman Problem
• Is it Payback Time for Sen. Lieberman?
• US election: Senator Joe Lieberman may be penalised for supporting McCain
• Lieberman is learning there will be consequences
• Deciding Lieberman’s fate

BARACK OBAMA knocks on the front door of a 300-year-old New Hampshire farmhouse while his Secret Service detail waits in the driveway. The door opens and OBAMA is standing face to face with former President JED BARTLET.

BARTLET Senator.

OBAMA Mr. President.

BARTLET You seem startled.

OBAMA I didn’t expect you to answer the door yourself.

BARTLET I didn’t expect you to be getting beat by John McCain and a Lancôme rep who thinks “The Flintstones” was based on a true story, so let’s call it even.

OBAMA Yes, sir.

BARTLET Come on in.

BARTLET leads OBAMA into his study.

BARTLET That was a hell of a convention.

OBAMA Thank you, I was proud of it.

BARTLET I meant the Republicans. The Us versus Them-a-thon. As a Democrat I was surprised to learn that I don’t like small towns, God, people with jobs or America. I’ve been a little out of touch but is there a mandate that the vice president be skilled at field dressing a moose —

OBAMA Look —

BARTLET — and selling Air Force Two on eBay?

OBAMA Joke all you want, Mr. President, but it worked.

BARTLET Imagine my surprise. What can I do for you, kid?

OBAMA I’m interested in your advice.

BARTLET I can’t give it to you.

OBAMA Why not?

BARTLET I’m supporting McCain.

OBAMA Why?

BARTLET He’s promised to eradicate evil and that was always on my “to do” list.

OBAMA O.K. —

BARTLET And he’s surrounded himself, I think, with the best possible team to get us out of an economic crisis. Why, Sarah Palin just said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had “gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers.” Can you spot the error in that statement?

OBAMA Yes, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac aren’t funded by taxpayers.

BARTLET Well, at least they are now. Kind of reminds you of the time Bush said that Social Security wasn’t a government program. He was only off by a little — Social Security is the largest government program.

OBAMA I appreciate your sense of humor, sir, but I really could use your advice.

BARTLET Well, it seems to me your problem is a lot like the problem I had twice.

OBAMA Which was?

BARTLET A huge number of Americans thought I thought I was superior to them.

OBAMA And?

BARTLET I was.

OBAMA I mean, how did you overcome that?

BARTLET I won’t lie to you, being fictional was a big advantage.

OBAMA What do you mean?

BARTLET I’m a fictional president. You’re dreaming right now, Senator.

OBAMA I’m asleep?

BARTLET Yes, and you’re losing a ton of white women.

OBAMA Yes, sir.

BARTLET I mean tons.

OBAMA I understand.

BARTLET I didn’t even think there were that many white women.

OBAMA I see the numbers, sir. What do they want from me?

BARTLET I’ve been married to a white woman for 40 years and I still don’t know what she wants from me.

OBAMA How did you do it?

BARTLET Well, I say I’m sorry a lot.

OBAMA I don’t mean your marriage, sir. I mean how did you get America on your side?

BARTLET There again, I didn’t have to be president of America, I just had to be president of the people who watched “The West Wing.”

OBAMA That would make it easier.

BARTLET You’d do very well on NBC. Thursday nights in the old “ER” time slot with “30 Rock” as your lead-in, you’d get seven, seven-five in the demo with a 20, 22 share — you’d be selling $450,000 minutes.

OBAMA What the hell does that mean?

BARTLET TV talk. I thought you’d be interested.

OBAMA I’m not. They pivoted off the argument that I was inexperienced to the criticism that I’m — wait for it — the Messiah, who, by the way, was a community organizer. When I speak I try to lead with inspiration and aptitude. How is that a liability?

BARTLET Because the idea of American exceptionalism doesn’t extend to Americans being exceptional. If you excelled academically and are able to casually use 690 SAT words then you might as well have the press shoot video of you giving the finger to the Statue of Liberty while the Dixie Chicks sing the University of the Taliban fight song. The people who want English to be the official language of the United States are uncomfortable with their leaders being fluent in it.

OBAMA You’re saying race doesn’t have anything to do with it?

BARTLET I wouldn’t go that far. Brains made me look arrogant but they make you look uppity. Plus, if you had a black daughter —

OBAMA I have two.

BARTLET — who was 17 and pregnant and unmarried and the father was a teenager hoping to launch a rap career with “Thug Life” inked across his chest, you’d come in fifth behind Bob Barr, Ralph Nader and a ficus.

OBAMA You’re not cheering me up.

BARTLET Is that what you came here for?

OBAMA No, but it wouldn’t kill you.

BARTLET Have you tried doing a two-hour special or a really good Christmas show?

OBAMA Sir —

BARTLET Hang on. Home run. Right here. Is there any chance you could get Michelle pregnant before the fall sweeps?

OBAMA The problem is we can’t appear angry. Bush called us the angry left. Did you see anyone in Denver who was angry?

BARTLET Well … let me think. …We went to war against the wrong country, Osama bin Laden just celebrated his seventh anniversary of not being caught either dead or alive, my family’s less safe than it was eight years ago, we’ve lost trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, thousands of lives and we lost an entire city due to bad weather. So, you know … I’m a little angry.

OBAMA What would you do?

BARTLET GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said “Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!

OBAMA Good to get that off your chest?

BARTLET Am I keeping you from something?

OBAMA Well, it’s not as if I didn’t know all of that and it took you like 20 minutes to say.

BARTLET I know, I have a problem, but admitting it is the first step.

OBAMA What’s the second step?

BARTLET I don’t care.

OBAMA So what about hope? Chuck it for outrage and put-downs?

BARTLET No. You’re elite, you can do both. Four weeks ago you had the best week of your campaign, followed — granted, inexplicably — by the worst week of your campaign. And you’re still in a statistical dead heat. You’re a 47-year-old black man with a foreign-sounding name who went to Harvard and thinks devotion to your country and lapel pins aren’t the same thing and you’re in a statistical tie with a war hero and a Cinemax heroine. To these aged eyes, Senator, that’s what progress looks like. You guys got four debates. Get out of my house and go back to work.

OBAMA Wait, what is it you always used to say? When you hit a bump on the show and your people were down and frustrated? You’d give them a pep talk and then you’d always end it with something. What was it …?

BARTLET “Break’s over.”

Yeah, we need a guy like Jed Bartlett….

Related articles by Zemanta

• Obama meets Bartlet

On May 15, the California Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal, calling the ban discriminatory and unconstitutional. Same-sex couples were legally allowed to wed June 16. Some 18,000 gay and lesbian couples did by Tuesday, according to the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The “Yes on (Proposition) 8″ campaign — calling to recognize only heterosexual marriage — had raised $35 million and sent out some 100,000 volunteers to fan the state, said Chip White, co-campaign manager. “Momentum continues to be on our side as California recognizes the serious consequences if gay marriage remains legal,” White said.

The “No on 8″ side had raised some $38 million and had about 10,000 volunteers, Smith said.

Dueling rallies often involved shouting and arrests. Election night was no different in Alameda, across from San Francisco.

<name hidden> stood on the corner of Otis Drive and Park Street hoisting a sign approving the ban in the moments before the polls closed Tuesday. Across the street stood those approving same-sex marriage. “I have two kids and a beautiful wife at home, and I believe in a marriage that’s going to create happiness for the family,” said <hidden>, of Sacramento. “Only one man and one woman can make that happen, because the Bible said so.”

California approves gay marriage ban - USATODAY.com.

I don’t see any dire consequences in letting someone marry whoever they want.  In fact, I see dire consequences in letting them NOT.  For one, allowing what is essentially a discriminatory act be made law hearkens me back to my history books when such laws were common, but no less contrary to the spirit in which this country was formed.

The second problem I have with this has to do with the last statement of the above quote:  “Only one man and one woman can make that happen, because the Bible said so.”

Because the bible said so?  Well, lets see… *

- I want to sell my youngest daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. What would a good price for her be?

- Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. What’s a reasonable price for a Mexican? How about a Canadian? 

- When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev.1:9). However, when my neighbors complain, should I smite them?

- Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How should they die?

- According to Leviticus 11:10, eating shellfish is an abomination, but a lesser one than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can anyone settle this?

- My wife occasionally insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says she should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill her myself? Or is it okay to call the police?

- Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Tennessee Titans still play football?

- Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Is it really necessary for me to get the WHOLE town together to stone my father for cursing or blaspheming? (Lev.24:10-16)

Uh huh… that’s what I thought…

The bible is not a sacred tome penned by the hand of the almighty.  It was written by men.  Small minded, fearful of everything, ignorant to a fault men.  Taking something like the bible so literally should be considered foolish.  Allowing it to be a basis for which law is created should be a crime in itself.

* points quoted from an episode of West Wing and a now famous letter to Dr. Laura…

Related articles by Zemanta

• How Did Prop. 8 Pass?
• California voters approve Proposition 8 gay marriage ban
• Passions, Budgets Sky-High Over Prop. 8

Occasionally I will get so frustrated with a particular traffic jam that I break with the norm and take a route I would not normally take. Even if I know the alternate route will add minutes to my drive and potentially take me to places I have never wanted to go, I do it anyway just for the illusion of progress. It’s as though the physical act of movement gives me the feeling of actually accomplishing something.

I pondered this concept this morning while (surprise, surprise) sitting in traffic. I realized that politics are comparable to this. Today the country is either reveling or mourning at having elected Barack Obama as our 44th president. A good number of people are happy with this result, believing this will lead to some real change. However, others are sitting in dark rooms, gnashing their teeth and placing bets on when said changes will cause the sky to hit the ground.

I don’t believe in the Republican Party’s brand of politics any more than I believe in the Democratic Party’s. I prefer to lean more towards sane government. Problems concerning small business owners, religion in schools, union worker rights and gay marriage should take a number and have a seat. When I look around, what I see are issues with health care, education, crime and poverty. If you put a politician in front of me that honestly wants to fix those issues, he can be a mouseketeer for all I give a damn.

The problem in the past has been the partisan pissing contest that never ends in Washington. It didn’t matter if the idea or proposal at hand was a good one, it would more than likely be land-mined by the opposing party. Typically the reason for this is that because it was the other guy’s (read: the enemy’s) idea. Meanwhile the common population grows confused, wondering why on earth the government is unable to get anything done. Both parties share in this particular guilt, yet somehow it’s the sitting President who gets judged based on these outcomes.

People wonder why I am disenchanted with our entire political process…

A few days ago I wrote a post indicating my belief that neither McCain nor Obama would be able to effect any real changes, and that neither one was strong enough to sit in the President’s chair. I am prepared to recant some of those statements based largely on the results of the Senate and Congressional races. Hopefully now that all three are controlled by the same political party, the chance of political gridlock has been reduced to the point of actually allowing the government to move again. While I am a believer in having one party act as a sort of restraint to the other, when taken to excessive levels there reaches a point of diminishing returns.

Partisanship that exists purely for the sake of beating the opposing party, regardless of the issue, is counter productive. While I won’t describe myself as a fan of Obama, this election’s outcome may represent the route taken to avoid the jam. It’s entirely possible that it will take us longer to get where we need to, but at least its movement.

Now, if Obama can do something about the traffic on I65 at 440, I’ll give the man a damn medal…

Related articles by Zemanta

• Obama Is Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls
• Democrats Expand Congressional Control
• House Dems win their biggest majority in 15 years
• In the Democratic Senate, Could Moderates Rule?
• President Obama? That’s good and bad news for technology