Why do you do this…..

I was asked this question this past weekend a couple of times while standing over a bbq pit in a fair amount of pain that is part of recovery from surgery I had on Thursday. No, they didn’t have the gumption to ask it openly with their voice, but I could see it in their eyes. One after another staring at me wondering why in the heck I would stumble outside to stand in pain to watch the meat of some animal slowly turn colors and become a thing of beauty.

I never answered them. Just didn’t figure I need to, to be honest. So I started to ponder that thought while I rested in between trips back to the pit to ensure all was well. Don’t get me wrong my father and brother-in-law were both plenty capable at handling the task. I wasn’t there to undermine them. It wasn’t about them, it was about me. This unsaid, unseen but most certainly heard and felt calling of legacy. It was me being selfish, I do realize that.

See I my grandfather died almost two years ago. He was the greatest bbq-er, man of God and person I have ever known. My grandfather was a quiet, humble man. He was a sight to behold. He never raised his voice that I can remember, but when he spoke the whole world seemed to listen. He wasn’t a towering or physically imposing figure. He was just this spirit that you could feel enter the room. You could feel his eyes on you and you knew when he was thinking about you. You were always reassured when he said he ‘was praying for you and would be thinking of you.’ That alone was enough to make you stay on the right path. Not that he was mean at all, just the opposite in fact. He was the most giving person I have ever seen. He was poor and happy and would gladly give you his last vegetable out of the garden along with a nice helping of the word of God if you would listen. He was a great man. He was and remains in my mind what ever man should be. Strong, without having to make a fuss about it. Confident, almost stubborn but not to the point of being unyielding. Honest when asked a question, but never feeling the need to make commentary about everyone or everything.

My father and I started down the bbq path again a few months ago. Its something that is just in our blood so to speak and it has been my way to rub shoulders with my grandfather again. Admittedly doing the bbq thing with our last name and lineage has its own set of standards, baggage and not without pitfalls. Everyone expects you to be good, immediately. There is little room for error and you get compared to everything that was done right or wrong to the previous generation.

Thankfully we have had pretty immediate success and everyone has been rather gracious, even perhaps when they shouldn’t have been. Things have moved along much faster than I had anticipated and I cant help but feel its nothing less than my grandfather watching over us. I know I can hear his voice in my head when Im cooking and while my dad hasn’t ever said anything I am betting he has the same thing going on.

Sure I could attribute our success to a 6th sense of culinary intuition and perhaps that plays a role in all of it, but if I/we do have that its because we spent the time with my grandfather to develop it. I never got to watch him cook from beginning to end, but I was around enough to know what needs to be done. Aside from that just eating his bbq was an experience that I will never forget, never mind some of my first memories being inside of his bbq restaurant. He is the measuring stick where I am concerned and if I can come even close to him then I am truly standing on the shoulders of a giant.

The truth is no one in their right mind would bbq if given a choice. Its days of prep work, hours upon hours of sucking in smoke and eyes watering and getting very little in return. So why do I do this? Because quietly and humbling my grandfather did it. There is a quiet joy in making other people happy with your food and your creation. I don’t doubt that’s why he did it. Its hard work. It takes a steady head and hand. Its not for the faint of heart or anyone looking for a quick fix or win. In the end the more I think about it bbq and the life of a bbq-er are the perfect synonyms for my grandfather.

I do this because he did it and that is enough for me.

So this weeks blog wasn't completely inspired by this song but, I'm still giving this song credit because it just gets stuck in my head….and well these guys don’t get enough credit for being a really good band. So go buy all their albums. Really…go on get them all. They are all good.

Big Head Todd and the Monsters “These Days Without You” on their album Beautiful World. They have some more well known songs so go stumble through You Tube and see what you find. I'm sorry I couldn't find a good link to the playable version of These Days Without You. If I had better internet connectivity today I would upload one myself. All the more reason to go get the album I guess :)

No Excuses.....

I woke up this morning and read through the tweets from last night and found a strand of thought that just struck a nerve with me. Before I go on anything that resembles a rant or tirade let me make a few points that will hopefully keep this on the track of opposing views of two people instead of it being about me going after someone more famous than me.

First off it is not my intention to play ‘neighborhood political sniper’ here. I realize the tweets were sent by this person as a thought, not as a debate and leave no avenue of a rebuttal on his part.

Secondly I realize Twitter leaves this person a bit naked and unable to defend themselves. Out respect for the person, the artist and free speech I will not reveal who posted this strand thought. Personally who posted it doesn’t matter to me, the view point and ideas expressed do though.

Lastly in no way does this person’s view make them any less American, nor does it make me any less American because I completely oppose their view points. We are both Americans, we are both right in our own way. By virtue of being American’s we have the right to argue and debate until our dying breathe. Being a Veteran nothing makes me sicker than one American calling another un-American because they disagree.

Here are the Tweets, posted in order that I received them. I have left all punctuation, spelling, everything just as it was sent in an effort to preserve the sender’s sentiment and not taint it in anyway.

1. watching my first "towne hall meeting" on c-span. the resistance is madness on health care reform. why is there so much hostile resistance?
2. seeing alot of greedy "why are my hard earned tax dollars going to....." action. i didn't hear this anger of "dollars" for bush's war...wtf?
3. could be naive. could be i have a heart. but why deny treatment to ANYBODY in this world who is sick? that logic is cruel.

In an effort to keep this short I will refer to the Tweets by Tweet X from here on out. I want to take each post and fully consider and examine them.

There are two main things that stick out for me with Tweet 1. The first is that this person is taking the time to watch the town hall meetings. That is good; I applaud the effort in being informed. I can only take issue with this if watching the town hall meetings are this person’s only source of information. Not knowing that, I cannot comment one way or the other. I personally think the town hall meetings are at this point staged, prescreened, preselected events for the most part. There is so little real information being exchanged that they have become nearly worthless in my opinion. When you have one side accusing the other being Nazi’s and then physically attacking members of the opposing view then it is no longer a useful venue to exchange info. Nor are the staged “phone hall meetings” for that matter. All the callers are handpicked and given prescreened questions and topics. My second issue that sticks out for me in this Tweet is the reference to hostile resistance. If one cannot understand why so many American’s vehemently opposed ObamaCare then they haven’t been listening. Many American’s see ObamaCare as little more than enslavement, trading civil and personal liberties for one group’s idea of health care. Don’t get me wrong I understand why some people support ObamaCare but I don’t think they have really thought about the cost. This is little more than a deal with the devil. It looks great in the onset; it fulfills your every need and is very tempting. The problem is in the delivery. What happens when the Government refuses your care? What are you left with then? Oh I know, ‘they would never do that.’ Yeah, and they take great care of Veteran’s after they spend their life serving America as well. NOT. If you support ObamaCare it is because you have never dealt with the brooding, demanding behemoth that is our Government on a first person basis. Look at the IRS and our tax system as a small example. You are guilty until proven innocent in their eyes and that won’t change with ANY government ran entity. It is the few rationing time, services and resources to the many. I won’t even get into the cost of such a system and its 98% likelihood of failure. Just because Obama and his teleprompter eloquently promise you that we can afford it DOES NOT MAKE IT TRUE. He is a politician, by virtue he is a liar, they all are. Being cognizant of that does not make anyone less American or make me hostile. It does however make me realistic.

On to Tweet 2. There are few things that stick out to me here. First calling those who disagree or question ObamaCare “greedy” isn’t right. Since when does wanting to know and debate the facts on an issue make one greedy? Do I not have the right to know where, how and why my tax dollars are being spent? I was the one who earned them. I track every dollar I make and know where it goes, that is no different for my tax dollars. These people won an election, not the lottery and they need to start spending our money accordingly. This is not a Republican or Democrat problem; it is just flat out a problem without party affiliation. It was with the Bush administration and is even worse now. It is a Government problem. The indebting and enslaving of the next two generations to the Chinese must stop ASAP. “You didn’t hear this anger about dollars for “Bush’s War.”” First off how dare you trivialize the lives of Americans fighting in that conflict by labeling it as “Bush’s War.” No matter how you feel about the conflict, the President or the circumstances men and women are fighting for something they believe in everyday. I know you get to jet around the country and not worry about an insurgent killing you while you sleep or running over a land mine in your Benz, but our war fighters do. I could give a flying frack what you or Michael Moore thinks about it because people are still dying while you are trivializing. You want to know why you didn’t hear the anger over dollars for the war effort? Because American’s were united for a common goal. This is something the Obama has not been able to do. Oh yes, I know here it comes….Bush was only able to unite America through the lies of WMD. Believe me Obama is lying just the same. Lies like: “We have to pass this bill right now or the banks will fail”…We are still failing there Messiah-In-Chief. “50% of American’s aren’t covered under an insurance policy” even though the numbers are so doctored and altered that not even your staff members know where you got that figure. “70% of America wants ObamaCare”…even though polling data shows a very different story.

Next….Tweet 3. Yes, you are likely naive and you do have a heart. I do not blame your naivety all American's are naive to a degree. I do think that you have been sold a bill of goods though. ObamaCare, UtopiaCare, Single Payer System, GovCare, whatever name you want to give it sounds great. It is an absolutely beautiful concept, sentiment and at face value is well intentioned. The problem is in the implementation. The best laid plans of the government continue to screw us over. There are NO government ran systems that run under a reasonable budget AND that are also effective. There are NO government ran systems that provide everything to everyone they were designed to. There will always be those that fall through the cracks. No, I don’t think anyone should be denied treatment and as long as they can afford it or it’s an emergency they aren’t. I’ve seen some pretty bombastic payment plans where hospitals and health care providers all but take it in the a$$ in an attempt to allow everyone the chance to play and pay. The truth of the matter is a simple one…no matter how cheap we make health care there will be those that will squander away the means in which to obtain it. At some point these people have to look to themselves and ask what is wrong with what they are doing that keeps them down. Is this logic cruel? Perhaps, but so is life. Those who hunt for food and put effort into staying alive, live. Those who manage their resources live to make fight another day when disaster strikes. Our God is not a cruel God, he is a just God. Never forget that. We should never be cruel, we should never step over those in true need, but we should never allow those in need to step over us either. That is exactly what is going on here. We are attempting to implement a system that will bankrupt (this is not just a reference to money) everyone and will do more harm than good all disguised as "helping those less fortunate."

So I ask you sir, who’s being cruel? The one who is willing to look beyond the idea of a free handout and question the future of our nation or the one who says pay for it now and we will figure it out later?

Who is being unrealistic? The one who expects our sworn leaders to work for us and stay within the confines of our Constitution or the one who just wants their immediate needs met no matter the cost?

Who is being naive? The one who doesn’t believe this country has enemies or the one who wonders which wolves will be at the door first when American has been weakened enough to fall?

Who is being unfair? The one who wants to give everyone, everything or the one that expects people to put forth some effort in obtaining things in life?

See I still believe in the fundamental truth that man should work for what he has. That if he wants a nice car, home, etc that God and hard work will provide, not the government. Hand outs are fine as they are acts of love and grace, everyone stumbles every now and then. The truly righteous will humbly accept the grace of those helping him back on his feet and will do everything in their power to return the favor tenfold. They never expect anyone to provide from them as they take pride in providing for themselves. See the problem with living off the grace of others is that before long the hands that holds you up becomes the hand that holds you down. THAT is why American’s are resisting ObamaCare with such fervor. It is NOT because they don’t love their neighbors, don’t care for immigrants, or are hateful. American’s are not a hateful people the history of the world and the fallen men and women who fought for the freedom of people who were not their countrymen prove that. If you cannot see or understand that then I sincerely hope one day you do and you two can understand that those who oppose ObamaCare do love America, we are just fearful of the repercussions this slippery slope has in store for generations to come.

This week’s blog inspiration gets attributed to Alice in Chains’ “No Excuses” (lyric link) as I was driving in this morning I formulated this argument with myself while listening to AIC’s Unplugged album. Easily one of the all time great acoustic albums bar none. Man I still miss Layne Staley and I am very much looking forward to the new AIC project to be released very soon.

Know Your Enemy

Conservatives the time has come to identify our enemies. Our enemies might not be who you think they are. They may not work where you think they work. When I sat down and really considered who my enemies were I found some very surprising results.

Why should you care who your enemies are? Well as Sun Tzu so plainly said it in the 6th century BC:

“It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.”

I’m not suggesting in any way that we should be taking up arms against people in this country. That is not what this is about. There are a great many ways to have influence over an enemy that has nothing to do with a firearm or weapon. What I am suggesting however is that we be vigilant, watchful and forever cognizant of the things, ideas and people that threaten our country, our way of life and ultimately our children, grand children and even great grand children.

What I have to say is not popular. That’s ok I’m not trying to win a popularity contest. I think if more of our leaders (and I use that term loosely) felt that way we would have some amazing men and women to follow. To steal the sentiment from a saying in the Marines I think what we have now are managers, not leaders. A leader leads people and manages problems. A manager manages people in hopes they don’t become a problem. Our leadership has far too long treated us, the voters, and their constituents as a problem. The fact of the matter is that people are seldom the problem, but rather a symptom of a problem.

Many Conservatives would tell you that their enemies are Democrats and Republicans. That they look a whole lot like people named Obama, Pelosi, Frankin and Geihtner. They might say that they are anyone who takes power from people and gives it to the government. These things and people may all be enemies of Conservatism and Conservative values, but I think they are just the faces of what Conservatives have allowed to happen over the past 15 years.

After much consideration I have come to realize my true enemies are compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission, ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality and the elite. At first I thought these were just words and never really thought about the detriment that is caused by these words. None of them alone has great power. None of them have a shock and awe capability, but what they do have is the ability over time to erode. Slowly weakening those people, ideas, values, etc that they come into contact with. So from now I will be vigilant of these enemies and will not succumb to their force. No longer will I:

• Compromise myself and values the sake of making sure we all get along. It is perfectly ok to consider my values as a key component in decision making.

• Conform to an idea or movement just because everyone else thinks its a good idea. Just because a voice or group of voices are louder DOES NOT MAKE THEM RIGHT.

• Assimilate into any organization that does not have my core values at its base.

• Submit to a government that treats me as a source of revenue as opposed to a living, breathing person.

• Be Ignorant of issues ongoing in my government. No longer is "not knowing" and not being involved an acceptable excuse. We have to educate ourselves and learn the facts and challenge our government.

• Allow hypocrisy in my presence. The Constitution was written for all men and we are all equal. The Congress, Senate, White House, ect does not get a free pass on this one.

• Accept brutality. Shouting down ideas, people and groups is not ok. Our forefathers wanted us to debate issues at length NOT force feed ideas to people. Discussion and honest debate are required on all issues.

• Consider the elite just as the rich. How can the government point fingers at the rich without also considering themselves in that number?

These enemies use their power to undermine me and my voice every chance they are given. They try to convince me that I am powerless, that I am weak and cannot stand against their Goliath. They try to convince me that a little compromise never hurt anyone and is for the greater good, when the truth is with every ounce of compromise we lose a pound of flesh to underwrite the debt that is created. They refuse to debate and discuss topics and shout down anyone who attempts to refute anything they have to say. They rely on the ignorance and lack of drive of most American's to quietly usurp power from the masses.

So how do you fight an enemy without a name or face? Two words, D E F I A N C E and E D U C A T I O N. Defy those that tell teach the ideas of compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission, ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality and the elite. Educate yourself. READ, listen to many different news outlets NOT just those on main stream media, don't accept everything you hear as fact, recognize every news outlet has an agenda.

So yes I know my enemies. I know they are not who I originally thought they were. I realize my enemies can be dealt with. I recognize my lack of patience for complacence is one of the most catastrophic weapons to my enemies. Me taking action, being an active participant in the quest for truth and using my voice as a candle to light the room of darkness and ignorance is the first step.

I realize a lot of this sounds radical if not alien to most Conservatives. We by our nature are a bit more passive about most things. We are not typically the ones in a crowd with our fist raised demanding action. I assure you we don't need permission to be sick of complacency. Action must be taken.

Giving credit where credit is due again, I have to thank Rage Against The Machine and their song Know Your Enemy for the inspiration this week. I know Zack De la Rocha never wrote this song with the inkling that it would be used by a Conservative as inspiration, for that Zack I am sorry. I have to say though that even though we may have different issues in mind the sentiment fits either way.

Are You An Active Conservative?

I’ll ask this question a few times over the next few lines. When you see the words “are you an active Conservative” consider the question and the lines preceding it before answering. There is no right or wrong answers to this question, but I think there is great value in knowing where you stand.

If you understand the basic principles and fundamental truths brought forth by Ronald Regan, George Washington, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, Thomas Sewell and Abraham Lincoln you probably are a Conservative and possibly an Active Conservative.

If you think all these people are about is the rich getting richer, keeping the impoverished down, taking away rights of Americans, perpetuating racism, being a religious zealot, warmongering, homophobia, opposing all immigration, arming everyone with a firearm and and are only old hairy, white men then you are not a Conservative and most certainly NOT an Active Conservative.

Scholar R. J. White wrote : "To put conservatism in a bottle with a label is like trying to liquify the atmosphere […] The difficulty arises from the nature of the thing. For conservatism is less a political doctrine than a habit of mind, a mode of feeling, a way of living."

I think this is a pretty accurate description and a nod at the nature of what it is to be a Conservative. What it misses is that by our very definition we are used to being more reserved and less likely to be vocal. We are taught keep your head down, work hard and all will be well. Don’t cause a scene, don’t rock the boat, work hard and it will all work out. That has brought on complacency and has brought forth a need for Active Conservatives.

An Active Conservative is someone who is not considered to be part of what is any longer accepted as normal. They look a little different, talk a lot different, are not generally accepted because of their belief in themselves and their disbelief in government. An Active Conservative can usually be identified by believing in and actively promoting the following:
- Placing ideas and principles above desire, fear and regret.
- Never ending quest for truth.
- Devotion to the principles of justice.
- Teaching self-help vice help yourself hand outs.
- Recognizing the power of the free market.
- Self control and self reliance as opposed to self indulgence.
- Supporting self defense.
- More examples here.

Now look at yourself, are you an Active Conservative? I know I am. As a matter of fact I couldn’t live with myself if I was anything else. If you are a Conservative then you owe it to your children, your grandchildren, your conscience and America to stand up and speak up. Accept the following realizations and use that knowledge both as comfort and cause for action:
- Your voice has power in spite of what the state run media and the government would have us to believe.
- Your actions are the catalyst for others actions and reactions.
- Other people feel the same as you do but are afraid to speak up or speak out against things they know are wrong.
- Your core beliefs are not the problem. Society and the government and their move away from God, the Constitution and the framework provided is the problem.
- This is still America and you are still free. Free to speak, free to stand, free to protest, free to oppose. Doing these things DO NOT MAKE YOU UNAMERICAN!
- That nagging voice in your head crying out for action doesn’t make you a bad person. It’s the same voice the founding fathers heard and used to construct the Constitution.
- Do whatever you can. Not everyone can be Glenn Beck or famous, but we ALL have the ability to pen a letter, send an email, make a phone call or send smoke signals to our Representatives and let them know where we stand and that we will vote according in all coming elections.

Are you an Active Conservative? There is only so much time left in this crazy world and we are losing the things that made America the greatest country in the world and the greatest Republic in history every day. Wake up Conservatives and realize what is going on around you. Recognize, educate yourself, educate your neighbors and get active. Take back your existence or watch it wither and die.

All this lends itself to the old military slogan of “Lead, Follow or Get the F Out of the Way!” A short phrase meaning little more than stand up and take action either by; leading me if you are a better leader, following me if you aren’t a better leader, but at the very minimum don’t get in my way and prohibit me from taking action and making a difference.

I want to give a tip of the hat to Big Rube and Outkast for the inspiration for this post. I was riding into work this morning and heard “True Dat (interlude)” and couldn’t help but make the connection between the two. So I have to give credit where credit is due. When’s the last time a Conservative cited a rap group as an inspiration? Hmm…those wily Conservatives they will do anything to surprise a Liberal.

Shane