McKinneyKev's Common Sense

I work for myself from my home office. Friday, I was having a particularly frustrating day and have had generally a bad month and even worse year when it comes to finances and bills. It seems like no matter what I do, something goes wrong. Every time I think things are starting to turn, something else happens and knocks me back to square one again. I keep praying for help with my business and for some relief from my stress, but it never seems to get better.

I have been a Christian my whole life, but when it comes to completely trusting God in every area of my life, I am a pathetic weakling. I say I trust God, but when things go wrong, I start taking everything on my shoulders and get stressed and angry. I do everything but lay it down at the altar and let God handle it. It's human nature, I guess, but I am supposed to know better. I end up increasing my emotional pain because I am too stubborn to just give it up and let God work.

So, while I was sitting right here in this chair on Friday, lamenting the failings of my business week and just basically having a self pity party, my home phone rang. I almost never answer my home phone unless I know who is calling. Most of the time lately, it's bill collectors. The number on caller ID was a local one, but one I didn't recognize. Something told me to answer even though I didn't want to. When I answered, the voice on the other end of the phone was that of a woman, obviously older than me, but very soothing and kind. She asked me if I would mind if she shared a couple of verses from the Bible with me. I said ok, so she proceeded to explain that the verses were about finding peace through Jesus Christ in our struggles. WOW, talk about hitting me where I live! She shared 3 verses with me about praising God in our storms and peace using Jesus' example. I wasn't ready, so I didn't write down the chapter and verse, but I listened intently. They were verses I knew, but couldn't tell you exactly where they were in the Bible. She told me thanks for listening and told me to have a blessed day and that was that.

The long and short of it is, this changed my whole day. I was angry inside, and her phone call, which was truly inspired by God, settled me down and put me at peace the rest of the day. Sometimes God uses people and situations you would never expect in order to answer our prayers and provide us what we need. He gives us a little nudge that says, "I am always working for you, and I have a plan for you, so listen for my voice and trust me". I have no idea who this lady was, but God used her to help lighten my load and let me know he's still there. I hope somehow she will know what a blessing she was to me.

My family was on our way to church this morning and I had to make a quick stop at Walmart on the way. When we pulled into the parking lot at the local Walmart here in McKinney, we drove past a young lady, probably 13 or 14 years old. She was standing on the corner of the entrance to the parking lot, all dressed up in her Sunday best, holding a large posterboard sign. Written on that sign were the words, "I stole from Walmart and I hurt those who trusted and love me". Her parents were sitting in the car behind her.

I am so proud of these 2 parents who love their daughter enough to teach her a life lesson that will surely stick with her for the rest of her life. This young lady will be telling her children and grandchildren about this experience. Some might find it cruel, but this is a brilliant move by 2 parents who want their daughter to grow up right and be a respectable, contributing member of society. It especially made me happy to see that in a culture that has suffered so badly from fatherlessness and has been defined, fairly or not, by the gangsta rap culture, huge drop-out rates and excusing crime because of poverty (the family was black), that this girl had 2 top notch, loving parents trying to make a difference in, not only her life, but in the lives of others that may be influenced by seeing her. It certainly had an impact on my wife and I. I want to stand up and applaud these people! Way to go! I know your daughter is going to grow up to be a strong, respectable and moral woman. Parents like you are the real HEROES!

The fact that Mark Cuban funded this movie, "Redacted", which graphically depicts the rape of a 14 year old Iraqi girl by U.S. Troops is sickening. Yes, the act itself, is sick, and those soldiers should be punished to the full extent of the law. The simple fact is that bad things can happen in war. There is no excuse for this act, but where there are men, there will be some bad ones. That doesn't mean that you punish the entire military by funding and creating a movie which will be shown in the Middle East and used to incite more violence and outrage at our troops. The great majority of these troops are there doing an incredible job and trying to create peace and would never participate in such vile acts. They do not deserve the backlash that these movies can create. To show such a movie is NOT supporting the troops. It is ENDANGERING the troops!

I have some predictions that you can write down:

1. This movie will be responsible for increased attacks and deaths of Americans in the Middle East.

2. The media will be all too glad to point out the increasing number of deaths.

3. The media will not point out that the increasing number of deaths coincides with this movie being shown in the Middle East.

4. Liberals will claim that these deaths are on George W. Bush's hands, while not putting any blame on Mark Cuban or the Producers of this movie.

This was sent to me by my mother. It was written by George Carlin or well, someone. Apparently, there is some question as to whether he actually wrote this. I don't know if you have seen it before. It's worth the read.

A Message by George Carlin (allegedly)

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. W e plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones,because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. 

George Carlin (or somebody else)

This post is dedicated to all the liberal bloggers across this great country. I’d also like to give a special shout out to some of my favorite bloggers on this site. You know who you are. In an attempt to think like you, I have come up with a new spin on some old sayings and clichés for you to use.

If at first you don't succeed, quit.

Winning isn’t everything, it’s the worst thing.

When the going gets tough, quit.

It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how politically correct you play the game.

If you love something set it free. If it doesn't come back, blame it on George W. Bush.

If you fail to plan, you plan to blame it on the Republicans.

Never count your chickens before they are slaughtered by right wing, nazi meat eaters.

Do unto others before the right wing, fascist, nazi, warmongers, do to you.

Even a blind squirrel finds an attorney to sue the Bush Administration for his condition sometimes.

The family that prays together stays a group of right wing, nazi, religious nut, warmonger, and hateful, bigoted fascists together.

It's never over till it's been declared lost by Harry Reid.

Rain, rain, go away, you’re not helping our global warming arguments.

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can march against your country for.

You can't have everything. The Republicans want to make sure you never get it.

Into each life, a little acid rain must fall, thanks to George W. Bush’s environmental policies.

If at first you don't succeed, lie, lie again.

Deny everything.

If a tree falls in a forest, and there is nobody around to hear it, it was caused by some right wing nazi, nature hating, Republican who wants to kill you by poisoning your air and water and causing global warming.

A bird in hand is worth flipping to Bush.

If it ain’t broke, don’t give Bush credit for it.

The best defense is a good retreat.

Behind every great man, there's a Hollywood actor who dropped out of high school.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't let him drink it because the Republicans poisoned it.

A mind is a terrible thing

If you can’t say something nice, say it about George W. Bush

Blood is thicker than water; at least it was before Exxon.

Don’t bite the hand that feeds you because it sure won’t be the hand of a greedy, selfish, hate monger Republican who doesn’t care about you.

Don’t let the brown, global warmed, Republican poisoned, grass grow under your feet.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Use a bag made from cornstarch.

Every cloud has a silver lining caused by the Mercury the Republicans released into our water to create more autistic children.

The grass is always greener on the other planet thanks to America causing global warming.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be hidden from the right wing, nazi, warmonger, gun toting hunters like Dick Cheney.

Money is the root of all our favorite web sites. Thanks, George Soros.

Out with the old, in with the new Clinton.

You reap what you sow, and even if you don’t sow, we’re gonna give it to you anyway, and if the Republicans try to stop us, it’s because they hate you and want your kids to die.

Stop, look and listen, unless of course, a conservative is trying to speak on campus.

Take time to smell the roses because there won’t be anymore unless Al Gore saves us all.

The way to a man’s heart is useless because women don’t need men anymore.

What goes down usually comes up, because the religious right wing bigots think it’s a big deal for the greatest president ever to get a little on the side.

In Bill we trust.

May what we conceive as our own personal idea of what a higher power may be if he or she existed, bless America.

I hope you enjoyed these. If you have any to add, let me know. Which one is your favorite?

It took me a long time to come up with all of these because it’s really hard to think like a liberal! Uh, did I say “think”????

 A special thanks to daniel_b for the new title of this post.

I watched the video on this post before I even noticed who wrote it. Please go and see it. It is from LostHwy's blog. I watched this and by the time it was half over, I had tears streaming down my face. You cannot watch it without being moved. Lost, we've had our differences, but thank you for bringing this link to this blog. I am going to share it with everyone I know.

1. If at first you don't succeed, quit.

2. When the going gets tough, quit.

3. If you love something set it free. If it doesn't come back, blame it on George W. Bush.

4. Never count your chickens before they are slaughtered by right wing nazi meat eaters.

5. Do unto others before the right wing, fascist, nazi, war mongers do to you.

6. The family that prays together, stays a group of right wing, nazi, religious nut, war monger, hateful, bigoted fascists together.

7. It's never over till it's been declared lost by Harry Reid.

8. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can march against your country for.

9. You can't have everything. The Republicans want to make sure you never get it.

10. If at first you don't succeed, lie, lie again.

11. Deny everything.

12. If a tree falls in a forest, and there is nobody around to hear it, it was caused by some right wing nazi, nature hating, Republican who wants to kill you by poisoning your air and water and causing global warming.

13. The best defense is a good retreat.

14. Behind every great man, there's a Hollywood actor who dropped out of high school.

15. You can lead a horse to water, but drinking it will kill it because Republicans poisoned all the water.

I just read Lost Hwy's latest blog entry and I must admit that I am stunned. I wish he would have left his comments on, but he says he is done blogging here, so I guess I understand why he wouldn't. I have been one of Lost's biggest rivals here on Fox 4's blogs. I have had very little respect for most of his views and for his lack of thought and his name calling and vile hatred for anything conservative.

About 3 weeks ago, I wrote a cease-fire blog dedicated to Lost Hwy. No more name calling, just civil disagreements. To his credit, he agreed and kept up his part of the deal. I actually didn't think he would.

Now, comes his latest entry into the blogosphere. It is stunning and it seems very sincere. He says that watching the movie "Reign Over Me" has changed his mind on the war on terror and that he apologizes for calling those of us who support the war effort all kinds of names. He now says the war must be fought until we win. WOW! I never thought I'd live to see the day! I have to admit that I never thought he would open his mind enough to see the other side. I am truly inspired by this. Lost, I apologize for thinking of you as smaller than you really are. It takes a MAN to stand up and admit that he's wrong, and you, sir, are a man! I applaud you. It is truly rare for me to see someone make a complete 180 on their stance and have the honesty to admit their thinking was flawed. Lost, I have a new found respect for you. God bless you! I hope you will come back in the future. You're a good man!

I just read Lost Hwy's latest blog entry and I must admit that I am stunned. I wish he would have left his comments on, but he says he is done blogging here, so I guess I understand why he wouldn't. I have been one of Lost's biggest rivals here on Fox 4's blogs. I have had very little respect for most of his views and for his lack of thought and his name calling and vile hatred for anything conservative.

About 3 weeks ago, I wrote a cease-fire blog dedicated to Lost Hwy. No more name calling, just civil disagreements. To his credit, he agreed and kept up his part of the deal. I actually didn't think he would.

Now, comes his latest entry into the blogosphere. It is stunning and it seems very sincere. He says that watching the movie "Reign Over Me" has changed his mind on the war on terror and that he apologizes for calling those of us who support the war effort all kinds of names. He now says the war must be fought until we win. WOW! I never thought I'd live to see the day! I have to admit that I never thought he would open his mind enough to see the other side. I am truly inspired by this. Lost, I apologize for thinking of you as smaller than you really are. It takes a MAN to stand up and admit that he's wrong, and you, sir, are a man! I applaud you. It is truly rare for me to see someone make a complete 180 on their stance and have the honesty to admit their thinking was flawed. Lost, I have a new found respect for you. God bless you! I hope you will come back in the future. You're a good man!

That's it. I am putting an end to it. I am sick of this stuff. I am officially calling for a cease-fire. I am going to attempt to make peace with Lost Hwy, with whom I have had an ongoing battle of words. While I feel that I have been unjustly attacked by you, Lost, I am willing to admit that I have lost my temper and fired back at you perhaps a little harshly at times. I am telling you right here, right now, that it is going to stop. When I address you in your blogs or anyone else's I will not insult or call names, even if I am really thinking it. I will expect you to extend the same courtesy when you comment on my blogs. No more coming in, ignoring the blog and just hurling insults. I apologize for the things I have said that went over the line, and for your service in the military, I salute you. This doesn't mean I am going to agree with you. I probably almost never will. But we can disagree with civility. I am extending my hand to you and I want this to be a blog site where I can be proud of my contributions. Sadly, I have let my temper get the best of me with you at times. As a Christian, I must ask you to forgive me for my comments, whether they started an argument or were a response to an insult. My Bible tells me that I am going to be persecuted for my beliefs and I have never found it to be wrong about anything. After some prayer this evening, I feel this is what I need to do. I will also pray for you, as I have in the past. I don't hate you, but I am very passionate in my beliefs and when someone rips them to shreds, the human part of me fights back. Unfortunately, I have not mastered being perfect yet, and I never will. Only one was perfect and he is who I aspire to be like. I fail miserably sometimes, well, most of the time.

So, that's it. If you want to agree with this, I will uphold my end. But you have to understand that I am allowed my opinion too. This is America, the greatest nation on earth because we are free to speak our minds. I will remember that in regards to you too. If you don't want to agree to this, I will just stay out of here because I don't need this. It's not good for my relationship with God. Your move.

In the true spirit of the liberals who like to copy and paste stories from left leaning websites, I post this blog. I ran across this story today. I don't completely agree with it because it appears to be written from a liberal viewpoint and continues the assertion that the Bush Administration lied about intelligence to go to war with Iraq. I would like to know what the leftists on this site have to say about the story. It asserts that Democrats who came out in favor of the war and also quoted the intelligence were warned that it wasn't correct. This makes all those Democrats, knowingly, liars also. It also shows how Clinton had made the same arguments and that it was he who originally was obsessed with Saddam, saying he had re-started his WMD program. I would like an honest liberal (oxymoron, I know) to read this story and have the guts to admit that either Bush didn't lie or their guys also lied, which means they need to stop calling Bush the liar and calling for him to be impeached. Be honest!

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1127-20.htm

In my opinion, after reading this story, Democrats who supported this effort are guilty of far worse than Bush. It is obvious by this information that the Democrats were warned by plenty of sources that Bush's intelligence was faulty. It is also obvious that Bush's poll numbers were way up at this time and the Democrats wanted to be popular, no matter what. If they knew the intelligence was wrong, yet they voted for the war anyway, knowing that this information would come out, and they could then say that Bush lied or misled them, that means they were just playing politics with war, and they can ignore the finger they are pointing at Bush and look at the 3 fingers pointing back at themselves. If Bush lied and people died, what can we say about those who played politics with peoples' lives just to win a political victory down the road?

I have recently had quite a spirited debate with this Gurkha person over some various issues. Well, I should say, I have tried to debate, and he just calls me names related to feminine hygiene products when I ask him for a specific example of where he says I am wrong. But I am used to that tactic from liberals. He recently posted a pure propaganda piece from CNN in which they intentionally ignored facts in order to do a hit piece on Bill O'Reilly. Well here is what Gurkha posted:

The infamous TV and right wing talk radio hack from "Oh! Really?" Factor had a lunch with Sharpton in Harlem's Sylvia's restaurant. This is what he had to say on his radio program:

"couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship." O'Reilly added: "There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea.' "

Billy thinks Blacks are still living in a primitive ages, have no sense of manners etc etc. The guy needs to go around more. If he would spend some time mingling with Blacks and other minorities rather than spewing hate and lies, it would help him....But on the other note, might not...the guy is too far gone....living in an ozzzy world!

I decided to post a link to the actual 35 minute segment, he is referring to, in which O'Reilly was talking with Juan Williams, a black liberal. I pointed out how CNN had run a bogus story on it even after they had been told what the whole context was. Then I pointed out how he went ahead with it, probably also knowing it was bogus. They took a couple lines WAY out of context, and created a hit piece to claim more conservative racism. It's pathetic and it is how the left wing blog world, and sadly, mainstream democratic party anymore, operates. It is cut and pasted all over the internet on their whacky blog sites and then taken as fact. It does nothing but create hate, and they wonder why conservatives fight back. Listen for yourself. This coward Gurkha decided to delete my comments, which contained no insults, name calling or swearing, because he couldn't handle the indisputable truth being thrown in his face. He doesn't want anyone else to decide for themselves. Pathetic, but oh so typical of the liberal bloggers. So what do you think? Here is the link:

I recently posted a comment on a newspaper website about an editorial on President Iminajihad's visit to Columbia University. It was written by conservative writer, Cal Thomas. I couldn't believe this paper ran no actual stories about the visit. The liberal comments that were left after the editorial only attacked the writer and conservatives and George Bush. Nobody was willing to call this terrorist what he is. So, I decided to post the following just to see how people would react to it. I came up with the most vile hate speech I could think of (that could be printed) and posted it under an assumed name. It goes a little something like this:

"It's hard to believe such a dumb bigot could call anybody a terrorist. He is part of the Bush lies and propaganda machine. I believe this country would be better off with Ahmadinejad as President than with a member of the Bush crime family. Bush has lied about everything. He might as well have personally shot every dead soldier. He should be tried for treason and mass murder. This country has no freedom of speech because of him. He wiretaps our phones illegally. He is as stupid as a rock. He only went to Iraq because Saddam was mean to his daddy. Whaaa! Poor baby. Because he made up lies and faulty intelligence we have lost thousands of our own kids. Why does he have our soldiers dragging innocent civilians out of their houses and shooting them? We piss on their holy book and then wonder why they keep killing us. Bush's daughters need to go strap on a gun and do his dirty work for him. War criminals like Bush deserve the gas chamber, not the White House. Wake up you blind conservatives."

Now, I would have written more, but you are limited to 1000 characters. Unbelievably, better than half the people who read it gave it a favorable review. It frankly scares me that people actually go along with this stuff. I guarantee you somebody will quote it to somebody else. This is how the left in this country operates now. Any of them can post anything, true or not, logical or not, and the other bloggers will run with it. This, then, makes it fact. Then certain bloggers, like my favorite liberal here on this site (no names mentioned), will copy and paste it and tell you if you don't agree, you are a moron.

Well, Lost Hwy strikes again. He comes by my post for a quick drive by shooting off of his mouth full of insults and void of any points. Then, he cuts and pastes all of his 2 week old posts, er uh, the ones he copied from moveon.org, and reposts them all again. Typically, he has nothing new to say. Just insults and hate speech hurled at anybody to the right of George Soros. And, of course, he rants like a baby about freedom of speech being denied, and then keeps his comments turned off so that nobody else is allowed freedom of speech. Lost, your act is old. Your insults are pathetic. Your refusal to answer even one question posed to you shows a true lack of intelligence and just pure myopia. You tell us all that we are not allowed to talk about the war since we have never served, which is pathetic logic. Yet, you feel free to comment on all kinds of things you have never participated in. More hypocrisy. I guess I will continue to respond to your posts on my own blog since you don't want anyone disagreeing with you. Too bad there is nothing to argue since you have no new idiocy to write, just reposts of old lies and misrepresentations.