The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Following the mass shooting in New Zealand a couple weeks ago, I took to social media to speak out against gun violence and advocate for stricter gun laws. While roughly four-fifths of the responses were positive, the other fifth was not. These individuals tended to reply with, "Now is not the time," "It's too soon," or "Show some respect and sympathy for the grieving families." In a utopic society, I could understand this train of thought. Hell, I used to be in the same camp as these negative-responders. I used to think, after a mass shooting, it was insensitive to make things political while the victims' families continually sobbed for days on end about the loss of their loved ones. But things change, people evolve (well, some of us), and in saying that, my viewpoint on the subject at hand has evolved as well. Do you notice there seems to never be a good time to talk about gun violence and what we, as a nation, can do to condense the high fre...

After the horrific mass shooting in Orlando, Florida over the weekend, I can't tell you how many times I heard the following statements: - "Let's not politicize this tragedy." - "It's too soon to talk about this." - "Let's hold a moment of silence and pray." - "Let's discuss at a later time." - "I'm so sick of talking about mass shootings and guns!" Well, guess what? We're all sick of having to discuss this subject on a seemingly weekly basis, but you know who's sickest of all? The victims' friends and family members. Time after time we go through this same cycle: 1) A mass shooting occurs 2) The GOP says we'll discuss gun violence at a later date 3) That discussion never takes place 4) Another mass shooting occurs We are in this continuous deadly cycle of ignoring gun violence. Every time we don't talk about this subject, we place more lives at risk. Thoughts and prayers...

While the Republican Party has, largely due to gerrymandering, the Citizens United decision, and enhanced voter ID laws, made the most of midterm elections in garnering control of both the House and Senate, they've regularly failed in the general election the past several cycles. Over the past 24 years, the Republican Party has won the popular vote just once, when George W. Bush defeated John Kerry in the 2004 election. If the Supreme Court had ruled differently in the 2000 election, it would have been possible for the Democratic Party to have reeled off six consecutive victories in presidential elections. While history dictates the eventual Republican nominee would have a 50.1%+ chance of winning this coming election due to the fact we've had a Democratic president over the past 8 years and Republican voters are likely to be more energized to vote than Democratic voters, the GOP is finding a way to set themselves up for disappointment yet again in the general election. The G...

When it comes to the gun debate, this country seems to be in a continuous cycle which shows no signs of being broken anytime soon. The cycle goes like this: 1) A tragic mass shooting occurs somewhere in the country 2) We briefly mourn 3) We attempt to find scapegoats 4) Progressives and Democrats fight for stronger gun laws 5) Conservatives and Republicans say, "Now's not the time to talk about such things." 6) The NRA and similar groups push for more guns and weaker gun laws 7) The issue gets pushed to the side after a week or two 8) Another mass shooting occurs I'm frankly getting sick and tired of this seemingly never-ending cycle. Within the past week or so, there was a mass shooting in Oregon, school shootings in Arizona and Texas, a shooting in a parking lot following the New England Patriots/Dallas Cowboys game on Sunday, not to mention cops accused of shooting people who were unarmed. At what point are we as a nation finally going to look in ...

I don't typically post about this kind of thing, but thought it may aid at least one person out there who may be in a relationship and uncertain if he/she wants things to continue. Due to an awful relationship from what seems like my distant past, the moving transition from Nebraska to Ohio that took place 4+ years ago, and a mysterious two-year illness I battled, it took an extremely long time for me to date again or even get interested in it. After I began feeling well again in early 2011, I suddenly felt a new-found sense of joy, aspiration, hope, and appreciation I hadn't felt before. I felt a drastic change in myself following my healing from the ailment. I can only imagine what others saw. Prior to my recovering from the illness, I had always been extremely shy and insecure around women I liked. I feared rejection if I were to ask them out. I feared making things awkward if they said no, and wondering if we'd be able to maintain a friendship. I feared getting my f...

I honestly don't mean for the title of this blog to come across as arrogant or like I have all the answers. I don't. However, political debates are becoming a bigger joke than the NFL replacement refs. The thing about it is, I don't even need to make my opinions known in most of these debates. I don't feel prompted to get involved in a debate unless I read or hear something which I know to be false. Unfortunately (for them and for me in a way), this happens quite regularly. I read, research and fact-check with more regularity than meteorologists give an inaccurate forecast. I've found that most people don't do this. They resort to partisan opinion-oriented shows in order to provide them with "knowledge" and seem to then often times mistake opinion as fact and vice versa. So these debates often times go something like this: Them: "Barack Obama is a Muslim, socialist born in Kenya and his wife thinks he deserves the presidency because he's...

Have you heard or seen this? Someone adamantly declaring the following - "I'm not a Republican. I'm not a Democrat. I'm an American and I want my country back!"? This makes me laugh, because I'd say a good 9 out of 10 people who say this are indeed either a Republican or a Democrat. When President George W. Bush was in office, what did many Democrats say? "We want our country back!" Now that Barack Obama is president, what are Republicans saying? "We want our country back!" Indeed. What these people today are really saying is, "President Barack Obama and the Democrats have destroyed this country! This isn't the America our Founding Fathers wanted. I'm voting for Republican Mitt Romney to take my country back!" When a Republican is next in office, Democrats will utter similar words and the cycle shall continue. It's all pretty silly, misleading and hyperbolic. What irks me slightly is the part about being an ...

President Barack Obama has been leading his opponent Mitt Romney in most polls and stats-geek (I mean that in a good way), Nate Silver of 538.com, is giving Obama a 76.3% chance of winning the election in November. Yet it seems like almost once a day, I either hear or read via a major media outlet that Republican voters are more enthused about this year's election than Democratic ones and/or that Democrats aren't as enthused as they were for the 2008 election. This is nothing new. It is very common for the party that has been out of power in the Oval Office to be the more pumped up of the two parties. This happens almost every time. After two terms of Democrat Bill Clinton, what happened? Let's not forget that Clinton had a pretty high approval rating, especially during his second term. Yet after he held office for 8 years, the Republican voters were more geared up to get a Republican in there to replace him and they did that with George W. Bush. After 8 years of Bush, ag...

I just saw the new film "Ted" last Sunday and while I found the movie to be utterly hilarious and wouldn't mind seeing it again sometime, I found it to be interesting on a personal level, for as I soon came to discover, I am like someone's "Ted". She and I have been friends for 10 or so years now and while we've gone through some rocky times and have had some rather large gaps between communications, we've found a way to pick up right where we left off whenever we do communicate and maintain a decent friendship. The problem for us has always been that she's always wanted something more than the friendship and it's never happened. Either I was involved in a relationship at the outset (with my girlfriend of 2 years) or she was married (for a few years) or engaged (for a year or two) or I moved a ways away, which would complicate matters quite a bit, especially with her having a kid. So things just have never developed into anything greater ...

Here's a poem I just recently wrote (last night, as a matter of fact) "A Vicious Cycle" A vicious cycle, I'm unable to break, Seeking answers, To learn from my mistakes, Retracing my steps, Rehashing my words and actions, Wondering where I went wrong, What else I could have said or done, Do I push too hard? Or not hard enough? Am I too open? Am I too honest? I do everything in my power, To put a smile on your face, To stimulate laughter, To instill happiness, Then seemingly ignored, As the distance inevitably grows, Pain fills my heart, Aching to know the truth, A vicious cycle, I long to break, For the words and actions to be reciprocated, For another to put a smile on my face.