Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of extra time these days. Babies
require time. Benjamin is the cutest little boy you could imagine.
He started smiling at six weeks, and hasn’t stopped since. He is the
happiest little baby. He is also a lady killer in a kilt. Quite the
match for his sister at ren fest.

Just got started writing, and already have to go. Oh well… maybe
if this works, I can finish a post later.

Seems I don’t get a lot of time to write these days. Something about
having a 15 month old baby, a job that works me to death, and a dirty
house that always needs cleaning. I guess that’s life, eh?

I could rant about a lot of stuff. My full disillusionment at working
for NASA might be one, for example. About how it doesn’t matter how
good you are at your job, or how bad other people are, but rather how
much butt you kiss and who you went to high school with. I could rant
about how people want me to admit that somehow it’s my fault that
someone would stand and scream obscenities at me. I could rant about
how hard it is to continue working here knowing that there is someone
in management actively trying to push me down. Yeah, I could rant
about that, but what’s the point? It is what it is, and at the end of
the day, I decided to stick it out for a while. At least until I can
sell my house without taking a loss on it, so there. We’ll reevaluate
my options when I actually have an option.

Brianna is doing good. great, actually, other than the occasionally
sickness like we have now. (transmittable eye infections suck, btw.)
She’s growing more and more every day and is working on cutting her
sixth tooth now. She occasionally says random words to keep us on our
toes, but then won’t repeat them. like applesauce or astronaut. She
finally has hair. It’s growing in, and she has a little curl in the
back. One little curl. She got started on her terrible two type
fits about a month ago, and man, she’s getting good at them. It’s
brought up lots of interesting questions, like disciplining a 15 month
old. What’s the best way to do it? I recommended duct tape and a
ceiling fan, but I was vetoed. We toss the sanity stick back and forth
around here, and it was Deedee’s turn to have it.

Considering teaching martial arts for the city of pearland. That would
be interesting. More on that if it actually happens. Which I doubt it
will.

oh, I’m also no longer on the HOA board of directors. I’m not really
heartbroken about that. It was quite stressful. The job itself, not so
much, but dealing with all of the personal attacks that come with it,
yes. Maybe I’ll try again later.

Also, I miss my family. Got to see my nephew Conner a couple of weeks
ago. He’s something else. Growing up fast, too. I’d love to be there
for him, and to have Brianna grow up with him. and yet, I’m stuck here
in Texas. (see earlier comment about not having options). and yet, I
don’t really have anything to do in Memphis. Maybe I could get a job
working at Abner’s. That’d get me a good, $7 – $8/hour. Enough to
raise two kids on, right?

ok, time to go. hopefully won’t be as long between entries. maybe…

It’s enough to make me acknowledge that maybe there are some rare exceptions to the fact that people are stupid.

“Why did 2% of our population suffer death or maiming? Over the issue of state sovereignty and the interpretation of the Tenth Amendment (ratified in 1791). The text is simple enough: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” But we also have the Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the Constitution, which say, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

Simply put, 11 southern states seceded from the Union in protest against federal legislation that limited the expansion of slavery claiming that such legislation violated the tenth amendment, which they argued trumped the Supremacy Clause. The war was indeed about protecting the institution of slavery, but only as a specific case of a state’s right to declare a federal law null and void.”

I was deeply disappointed to read the language added to your statement about the Civil War that read “the institution of slavery led to this war.”  It is precisely that sort of revisionist history that will lead to our children not understanding the full reasons why such a terrible conflict occurred.

I have visited museums across the US, and the constant themes I have found is a battle cry of “preserve the union” in the north, and “states’ rights” in the south.  I have never seen one piece of history that shows slavery as the primary reason that conflict occurred. 

There is strong evidence to the contrary, actually.  Let me ask these questions:  1) Why, if slavery was the point, did over 90,000 FREE black men fight FOR the confederacy?  2) Why, if eliminating slavery was his motivation, did the Union general allow his wife and family to own slaves?  I could continue, but hopefully have made a point.

Believe me when I say that I am not some redneck southerner who believes the South will rise again.  I am an educated professional who happens to believe that revisionist history is one of the worst things we can let happen.  It is an insult to the memory of our combined culture and history and the people who lived it to say that man never walked on the moon, or the holocaust never happened.  Yet, these ideas exist today. 

It would equally be grave insult to the men and women who died in our country’s history to say that they gave their life fighting for/against slavery when in reality, the issues of the day were incredibly complex, very heated, and very similar to the problems that caused us to break away from England and form this great country to begin with. 

Similarly, saying the Civil War was fought over slavery is like saying the American Revolution was fought over tea.

I’m sure all my comments have no bearing on, well, anything.  But at least they’ve been said.

Sincerely,
me

I’m still getting the email set up on here.  Almost all my posts from my other blog were by email, which was usually pretty easy.   It’s a bit more of a hassle to open up this page from a browser and type up something.  Not quite as subtle as just writing another email.   Point is, posts may be limited until I get that set up.  

Then again, that’s like saying water may be sparse in the desert.  I wasn’t exactly being very prolific with these posts before hand. 

Not much else to comment on.  I could rant about politics and health care and how stupid people are, but what’s the point?  Our “democracy” doesn’t listen to the voice of the people anymore anyway, so I’m just inclined to be quiet.  

Instead, I’ll give you my new favorite phrase in latin:  “Te audire non possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.” 

Translated:  “I can’t hear you. I have a banana in my ear.”

Although, this was also a very good one:   “Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam. – I have a catapult. Give me all your money, or I will fling an enormous rock at your head.”

Ok, back to work.  Hopefully I won’t fall asleep.

We’ll see if it works or not.