The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I'm sorry for the lack of posts recently. I was in Michigan a week/week and a half ago for a cousin's high school graduation party. My brother, sister-in-law, and niece flew in from Omaha, and then traveled back to Ohio, before heading back home yesterday. So I've hardly had time to breathe, let alone write. Things should be a little calmer around the area starting tomorrow, though, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get back into a good, regular flow, release another book or two before too terribly long, and explore some options as far as podcasts are concerned. Thanks for your patience. I haven't forgotten about you. Be expecting some new writings very soon!

Unfortunately, due to technical problems, Tracy and I have to postpone today's show to a later date, possible tomorrow. I'll be sure to update everyone with the latest regarding the matter once I first hear about it. https://twitter.com/TracyFortShow

I'd like to apologize to my readers. It's been a slow month for me when it comes to blogging. I haven't forgotten about you, though. With the radio show, the upcoming election, marketing on Twitter, trying to finalize a new book before November 8th, and attempting to balance work with pleasure, I haven't had a great deal of time to post blogs. I will definitely try to become more active again when things settle down, but in the meantime, please check out The Tracy Fort Show  at this site - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thetracyfortshow ...and for those who are planning on watching the debate tomorrow night and are fearful of suffering a migraine, check out my live tweets here - https://twitter.com/CraigRozniecki Well, I'm off to relax for a bit before attempting to place the finishing touches on my next book. I'll be sure to keep you all updated. It's my ultimate goal to have it out before November 8th, election day. Stay tuned...

Between seemingly constant technical difficulties and both my co-host and I feeling under the weather, yesterday's episode of The Tracy Fort Show  was one to forget, one I hope to place in the distant rearview mirror soon, and one I hope Tracy and I can learn from to provide better quality shows in the future. I'd like to apologize to our listeners for the less-than-stellar show (that's putting it nicely) and sincerely hope you stick with us, mishaps and all, as we continually try to grow as a program and as individuals, in hopes of moving this country forward. In order to make this happen, we're going to need your help. If you're able to provide any monetary support, even if it's just $5, we'd greatly appreciate it. We're paying out of our own pockets to provide you this show and can't keep doing that forever, so if you want to keep hearing Tracy and I discuss issues back and forth, go to this site -  https://www.gofundme.com/thetracyfortshow .  ...

I recently read an article by Steven Skeldon, entitled, "This Is Not My Republican Party," and felt the need to respond to it. The article starts with this: "An Open Letter to America My fellow Americans, As a Republican, I'm sorry. We have failed you, as a party, and as individuals. We didn't see this coming, and we absolutely should have. We should have been able to see what the instigators of frustration and outrage were fomenting within our base. We should have understood the implications of the last eight years, the rise of the Tea Party, and that its foundational frustration and obstinacy towards progress would lead to a monster of our own creation. We didn't, and now it's here. But please believe me when I tell you that it is not what we stand for as a party, no matter how it may seem on the surface. This is not what I was raised to be a part of, and it embarrasses me to see what our public face has become today." I'm sensing...

Mistakes are a part of life. I've made them; you've made them; even Gandhi made them. We've all said and done things we haven't been proud about, wished these moments never took place, and often promised ourselves we'd learn from such experiences so we didn't repeat them. When another is hurt by our mishandling of a situation, it's common to make amends by apologizing. While some may be more hard-headed than others when it comes to admitting mistakes and apologizing for them, I think a large majority of people whom aren't in serious denial know when they've done wrong and when it's time to offer a sincere apology for this wrongdoing. So long as the same mistakes aren't being committed, leading to the same apologies, a sincere apology can be quite a helpful tool in calming a situation, regaining another's trust, and helping progress the relationship. Apologies aren't always sincere, however, and it's during these very instances w...

Following President Obama's "ISIS" speech last week, former John McCain running mate, Sarah Palin, had a few words for the president when she appeared on Hannity  (the show, not the man). During this discussion between the clueless and clueless-er, Palin said this: "To claim last night, also, our president saying ISIS is not Islamic, um, ISIS says they're Islamic. They are so full of deception that America should be concerned with the policies that are going on. And, as I watched the speech last night, Sean, the thought going through my mind is 'I owe America a global apology. Because John McCain, through all of this, John McCain should be our president.' He had the advice, today, still giving it to Barack Obama, and he will not listen to it, about the residual forces that must be left behind in order to secure the peace in Iraq that we had fought so hard for." That's ironic - Sarah Palin issuing a global apology for not being the current Vic...

While I'm by no means a fan of confrontation, especially in relationships (dating, friendships, or otherwise), it is essential at times to either check the status of a relationship or to move it forward in one manner or another. However, I've noticed two common problems with these confrontations: 1) Some people refuse to engage in such discussions, and 2) When confronted on an issue, many refuse to completely own up to their mistakes. While I understand the mindset of those in group 1, as I've come to learn, the longer people ignore problems in a relationship, the more likely it is that said problems will come back to bite them somewhere down the line. As the saying goes, the first step to solving a problem is admitting one exists. If one doesn't admit this problem, how will he or she know one is present, and how will they then tackle and defeat said problem? It would be strange to hear someone say they enjoy confrontation, but whether or not we enjoy it, it's nec...

Former NBA All-Star, current NBA analyst, and future Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O'Neal has run into some hot water of late due to the fact he mocked a man with ectodermal dysplasia via a picture on Twitter. Of course, O'Neal wasn't aware of this at the time due to his ignorance on the condition, and has since apologized to the man he was mocking - Jahmel Binion. After he apologized, O'Neal said, "Made a new friend today when I called and apologized to Jahmel Binion. Great dude." Once this story broke, a line of Donald Sterling defenders rushed to the scene, and said, "He (Shaq) should be banned from the NBA for life and fined $2.5 million for his comments (mockery)! Let's see how hypocritical Adam Silver is! Both Sterling and Shaq made derogatory comments against people! They did the exact same thing!" Others even pulled out the race card and said that Shaq, like other African-Americans, was getting a free pass, which wasn't fair, because ...

Missouri State Representative Chuck Gatschenberger (yes, a Republican) recently defended his controversial bill, which would force women to have ultrasounds before undergoing abortions, by saying this at a hearing this past Tuesday: "In making a decision to buy a car, I put research in there to find out what to do." Yes, the Missouri lawmaker compared pregnancy and abortion to buying a car. Fellow State Representative Stacey Newman (Democrat) responded to Gatschenberger's awful analogy by saying it was "extremely offensive to every single woman sitting in here," before adding the following: "Do you believe that buying a car is in any way related to a pregnancy decision? That kind of attitude is demeaning to women, regardless of what they decide to do." After hearing the backlash from Newman and many other women, Gatschenberger apologized for his analogy, and added, "I'm just saying this is a life-ending decision. You should think abo...

Last night, Nina Davuluri was crowned the winner of the 2014 Miss America Pageant. She's an Indian-American woman who was born in Syracuse, New York, and is believed to practice Hinduism. What did some lovely commentators have to say about this via Twitter? Oh, just the following: - "9/11 was 4 days ago and she gets miss America?" - Luke Brasili What does an Indian-American woman winning a Miss America Pageant have to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks? Anything? Anything? Bueller? - "I am literarily soo mad right now a ARAB won #MissAmerica" - Dallas Robinson I'm "literally" so mad that Mr. Robinson can't correctly spell the before-mentioned word. - "How the f**k does a foreigner win miss America? She is a Arab! #idiots" - John Amick I'm quite happy Mr. Amick included the hashtag of idiots, because that's exactly what he is. True or false, Mr. Amick - is the state of New York a state in the United States? I'...

Television talk show host Dr. Phil (McGraw) has come under fire for a tweet he posted Tuesday on Twitter. The tweet said, "If a girl is drunk, is it OK to have sex with her? Reply yes or no to @drphill #teenaccused" This has resulted in a Change.org petition going around, which has already resulted in over 800 signatures. It's also resulted in some angry responses before the tweet was finally removed. Here are a few examples of these very responses: - "Dr Oz was saving lives today and Dr. Phil is trying to hook up with drunk girls where is @oprah she needs to have an emergency team meeting" - "If Dr. Phil is drunk is it okay for him to tweet?" - "If a person is a misogynist, is it OK to just refer to him as 'Dr. Phil' from now on? #DrPhilQuestions" Now, it's ridiculous to think that Dr. Phil was "trying to hook up with drunk girls," as one responder claims, since the talk show host was likely just trying to gar...

Not long after Oklahoma was ravaged by tornadoes, Republican Representative of the state - Jim Bridenstine - decided to make this intelligent statement: "Even climate change alarmists admit the number of hurricanes hitting the U.S. and the number of tornado touchdowns have been on a slow decline for over 100 years. But here is what we absolutely know. We know that Oklahoma will have tornadoes when the cold jet stream meets the warm Gulf air, and we also know that this President spends 30 times as much money on global warming research as he does on weather forecasting and warning. For this gross misallocation, the people of Oklahoma are ready to accept the President's apology and I intend to submit legislation to fix this." Ah, so Mr. Bridenstine is a scientist. Who are these "climate change alarmists" and what's the source of this information exactly? Take your time. I'll be waiting... In the meantime, Tom Karl - Director of the National Climatic D...

So, it appears as if radio show host Bob Davis - co-host of Davis & Emmer - has apologized for his angry rant at the expense of the Sandy Hook victims in Newtown, Connecticut. Let me first play back what sparked the controversy. Not long ago, Davis said the following on his radio show: "And here's the other thing that drives me crazy. They trot out the victims. And I have something I want to say to the victims of Newtown, or any other shooting. I don't care if it's here in Minneapolis or anyplace else. Just because a bad thing happened to you doesn't mean that you get to put a king in charge of my life. I'm sorry that you suffered a tragedy, but you know what? Deal with it, and don't force me to lose my liberty, which is a greater tragedy than your loss. I'm sick and tired of seeing these victims trotted out, given rides on Air Force One, hauled into the Senate well, and everyone is just afraid -- they're terrified of these victims." H...

I love old grumpy neighbors. One such neighbor lives across the street, is retired, and if he had to list his top hobby and was honest about it, it'd be complaining. Just a few days ago, I was walking my dog around the area and this very neighbor started talking to me. It was garbage day and he was asking if there were some lights on the driveway which somehow broke and wound up in his yard and on the street next to his yard. I knew this wasn't the case and told him of this, but he didn't seem to believe me. He obviously wanted someone to clean up the mess. A day later, with the help of family, we cleaned up the mess, even though it wasn't ours. Yesterday, I bumped into him again as I was walking my dog and he said he owed me a thank you. I said it wasn't a problem, but again let him know the lights weren't mine. He then seem puzzled on why we cleaned up the mess, and I responded, "Oh, just being nice." I think this made him guilty, for he gave a...

As anyone who knows me could tell, I love satire. I enjoy reading it, writing it, viewing it, etc. From The Daily Show to Saturday Night Live to The Colbert Report to written works by Al Franken and beyond, I love satire. Likewise, there have been several articles on the site The Onion that have made me laugh quite hysterically. I've had to laugh even harder when a story gets reported of a politician believing an Onion article as being real. However, having said all that, I can't for the life of me find anything amusing about the now very well-known and controversial tweet made by The Onion last night during the Oscars. Quvenzhane Wallis, the 9-year old actress who was on hand at the Oscars last night, as she was nominated for Best Actress in the film Beasts of the Southern Wild , was the subject of this very tweet. The tweet read, "Everyone seems afraid to say it, but that Quvenzhane Wallis is kind of a c**t, right?" How is that funny exactly? How is that su...

I guess, even when the state of which one is Governor has been struck by a hurricane, a Republican Governor is still not to cooperate with a Democratic President for the benefit of his or her people. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has run into this very problem. Jersey was struck by Hurricane Sandy and for the benefit of citizens in the state, the Republican Governor worked with President Obama and even complimented the president on the work he's done with regard to the devastating hurricane. What has been the reaction of many Republican talking heads? They've more or less thrown Christie under the bus - some even going so far as to insinuate that if Obama wins the election on Tuesday, Christie may be to blame. Rupert Murdoch of Fox "News" tweeted the following, "Thanks Bloomberg right decision. @Now Christie, while thanking O, must re-declare for Romney, or take blame for next four dire years." Seriously? Chris Christie was the keynote speaker on be...

It only took 17 days. Not long after the "47%" video made its rounds on the web and television, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke at a conference that the words he used in the video were "not elegantly stated." He seemed to continue with this language for the coming few days, even defending the accuracy of his video comments, before realizing that this strategy was doing him no good and began telling the American people that he was about the "100%." However, he refused to apologize or admit he was wrong about his remarks. Through these 17 days, Mitt Romney saw polls which showed the gap widening between he and President Obama. He saw other polls which illustrated just how much his "47%" comments had hurt him. Then, 17 days after the onset of the video, he finally altered his tune. Last Thursday night on Fox News, Romney said this: "Well, clearly in a campaign, with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and question-and-...

Over the past 3+ years, Republicans have laid claim that President Obama went on an apology tour early in his tenure and has consistently apologized for America ever since then. To these Republicans, for one to admit this country isn't perfect, that we made a mistake is akin to apologizing. I don't understand this. If I tell a woman that I'm not perfect, is that me apologizing for who I am? No - I'm simply being honest and I'm sure she'll appreciate that. I could do one better by telling her I'd work on these imperfections in an attempt to better myself and in turn, our relationship. That's not me saying I'm sorry. That's me being realistic and honest. There's a stark difference between the two.  Every fact-checking site out there has looked over these Republican accusations of the president apologizing for America and every one of them has come back with the same answer - it's not true.  Let's be realistic here - foreign ...

Is it just me or does it appear as if Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, is unable to admit he's wrong or apologize? Why is that exactly? President Obama wasn't afraid to admit he's made some mistakes during his speech at the Democratic National Convention or in recent interviews. He knows his 3.5 years in office have not been perfect and has admitted this much. So why is it so difficult for Mitt Romney? I guess my hunch is if Romney were to ever apologize for something he said or admit he was wrong with regard to a statement he made, the conservative base would not be pleased, would see him as weak and be less motivated to support him. On the flip-side, however, how many independents and undecided voters would be more prone to supporting him if he showed a sense of humility in owning up to some misstatements he made? In a relationship, if I made a mistake, would a woman be more prone to forgive me if I owned up to that mistake and promised to learn from it...