The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Not long ago, Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul sent this e-mail on behalf of the National Association on Gun Rights: "Dear fellow Patriot,     Gun-grabbers around the globe believe they have it made.     You see, only hours after re-election, Barack Obama immediately made a move for gun control…     On November 7th, his administration gleefully voted at the UN for a renewed effort to pass the “Small Arms Treaty.”     But after the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut — and anti-gun hysteria in the national media reaching a fever pitch — there’s no doubt President Obama and his anti-gun pals believe the timing has never been better to ram through the U.N.’s global gun control crown jewel.     I don’t know about you, but watching anti-American globalists plot against our Constitution makes me sick.     This Spring, the United Nations went back into session to finalize their radical so-called “Small...

Right-wing website Capitol Hill Daily sent the following e-mail to Citizen United's listserv earlier today: "Dear Concerned Reader, Fearing the very worst, the nation's super-rich are unloading their stocks at an alarming rate. Even more troubling, the wealthiest 1% of Americans, who typically know the most, are the ones most anxious to sell. You see, Obama just allowed 13 new tax increases to further slow the economy, wreck the stock market and make it even harder on the 12 million Americans already looking for work. The bigger question is this... Is Obama's Latest Tax Screw Up Grounds For Impeachment? The poll results are likely to shock you. Cast your vote now to see what America thinks. Yes, impeach President Obama? Or No, higher taxes were necessary?" This e-mail couldn't have been sent at a better time. You see, the e-mail implies that the stock market is wrecked as it is and President Obama is only going to wreck it further, yet on ...

The Republican Party has had a tough mountain to climb as far as winning over women voters. Most of the party has held steadfast on three issues very important to the fairer sex. They've: 1) ...tried to make abortion illegal in any and all cases, 2) ...tried to make it more difficult for women to get their birth control covered through employer-based insurance, and 3) ...fought against women receiving equal pay as men for performing the same jobs. In addition to all this, the party has been notorious for treating the act of rape as not that big of a deal. Then Missouri senatorial candidate Todd Akin said the following in the run-up to last year's election: "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Then Indiana senatorial candidate Richard Mourdock said the following during a debate in the run-up to last year's election: "I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is th...

While I would do anything but describe myself as a Republican, I will give credit where credit is due, regardless of a politician's party affiliation. So, in light of Republican Ohio Senator Rob Portman writing an op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch where he shared his evolutionary thoughts and feelings regarding gay marriage, I sent the senator an e-mail welcoming him to the fight for gay-marriage rights. He just responded with: " Dear Craig,   Thank you for taking the time to contact my office to share your support for my position on recognizing marriages between gay couples.  I appreciate your kind words and encouragement.  My son Will is an amazing young man, and I am very proud of him.    In case you missed it, I wanted to share  my op-ed on this issue, which was published in the Columbus Dispatch on March 15, 2013.   The Freedom to Marry By Rob Portman   I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to mak...

Richard Mourdock - an Indiana Republican who lost to Joe Donnelly in his Senate bid last month - has recently sent the following fundraising e-mail via his finance director, Ashlee Walls: "After a bitter, hard-fought campaign, many Republicans all over the country were forced to accept defeat rather than celebrate victory. In our case, we found our campaign caught in the liberal media crosshairs. Never has Indiana seen a more obvious example of media bias by reporters more interested in defeating conservatives than reporting the news..." In the e-mail, Walls also added, "We fought back and invested heavily in a last-minute push to combat the slew of false accusations Democrats and the liberal media churned up to distract voters." Right... What were these false accusations? During a debate, when asked about a woman being impregnated through rape, Mourdock responded with the following words: "I struggled with it myself a long time but I came to realize th...

Alright, so that's not true. I receive at least one e-mail per day suggesting I donate money to a Democratic candidate. I'm then told of a single poll which showcases the Republican opponent as being tied with or ahead of the Democrat and that he/she needs my donation asap! Of course, I've often found that these very panic polls are outliers or they were released a couple months prior. I'm certain that both parties are guilty of this, as they want to raise as much money as is possible to run ads and defeat their opponent. However, as understanding as I am about that, it's also dishonest. I received an e-mail just today about a Pew Research poll which showed that Mitt Romney is ahead of Barack Obama by 4 points among likely voters nationwide. Of course, every other poll has the two candidates tied or at worst, Romney ahead by 1 among likely voters and Obama up by between 3 and 5 points among registered ones. This isn't even mentioning Obama's advantage wh...

So, I had an interesting back-and-forth the other day via e-mail. This lady, whom had just started e-mailing me, exchanged some dating stories with one another. After I told her about my recent bad luck when it comes to dating/love, she responded by saying something along the lines of, "It's one thing to be a nice guy (not a jerk) and another to not try to understand the communication of women. There's a book I think you should read. It'll help a lot more than you'd think. You've probably heard of it. It's called, 'Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus'. It sounds like you have quite a bit to learn." No, this woman didn't know me well at all (for about two days), but still... For anyone who genuinely knows me could state, if anything, I try to understand women's communication too much. ...and come on? That book? The thing I don't like about such books is they generalize/stereotype the two sexes. While there may be some trends as...

Never did I think I'd receive such a lovely e-mail and be defriended due to poll results I posted on my Facebook page. I read about this very poll at the following site - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/fox-news-viewers-less-informed-people-fairleigh-dickinson_n_1106305.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false The full poll results can be read at this site - http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2011/knowless/ What was the headline regarding this very poll? That regular Fox News viewers are less informed due to the network's stories and commentary than if they didn't watch the news at all. The poll focused on three questions. The first pertained to the protests in Egypt which helped bring down the regime there. The question asked if the protests were successful in attaining this very goal. Of twelve prominent sources (NPR, The Daily Show, Sunday Morning Political News Show, National Newspaper, Political Blog/News Website, National News Broadcast, CNN, MSNBC, Talk Ra...

Like the other two, this poem can be found in my book, "Seasons Come, People Grow: A Poetic Journey" (pages 58-60) Logged on, Into the fantasyworld, All whom I talk to, I may never know, Signed in, Ready to live a life away from my own, Wanting to forget about my life, Wanting to start over, Every word I type is ambiguous, Every word I read has no tone, I can make of it whatever I wish, From a fantasy to true love, Like a fictional character in a story, I can make of you what I want, Let visions fill my head, Let my imagination go to work, Logged off, Back to reality, Away from the fantasyworld, Away from my dream, Signed off, Away from reality, Denial of all around me, Wanting to sign off indefinitely.

I've always been a firm believer that communication (along with trust) is perhaps the most important factor in any relationship, especially between spouses. As I've aged (an elderly 30, I know), however, I've noticed a trend of de-emphasizing communication and its significance. I can only imagine what the next wave will be in this very trend. We started with face-to-face interaction, before expanding our communicative options with the introduction of the telephone. Years later, Al Gore founded the internet(s) and through the keyboard, a computer screen and Mr. Gore's magic, we were able to contact one another through e-mail. Not too terribly long ago, through our cell phones, we became able to type quick notes to other people with text messages. It seems like just yesterday Twitter became the new smash hit, as people could type up to 140 golden characters of random information and express it to friends, family, the world or to simply amuse themselves. So, what's n...

Why is it that some bloggers feel the need to preach? I don't mean that they start writing scriptures and giving blogified sermons. No, I mean that they preach and lecture about different topics. Many times, the blogs are directed towards a "you." So, when I read it, I'm thinking, "Me? What? What did I do?" There are obscenities thrown around, insults and the lecture usually consists of how a person or persons needs to go about something, how they can't go about something, what they have to do in order to better a situation, what they can't do, etc. I don't enjoy preaching blogs that make me feel like I'm at the back pew of a church and the pastor is looking right at me as he raises his voice. It's not a very comforting feeling. It doesn't give me a fuzzy feeling inside if I open a book and it says, "You need to stop being so stupid and break up with that girl! She's an idiot! She doesn't deserve you! I hate her! Ah...