Nigger.

OK...I said it. I didn't say the "'n' word." Comedian and actor Michael Richards made remarks that were bigoted, shocking, repellent, and deeply offensive. I'm offended by that word and tirade, but why is the Caucasian public-at-large trembling in its boots at the so-called "n-word," when blacks can openly use the word in their public speech and so-called hip-hop culture? When did black Americans get a license they been given a license to use the word? Perhaps while I have had my back turned?

Michael Richards hired a damage control publicist and he met with "leaders of the black community" to make nice. But as Jay Leno asked the other day on his show, what "leaders of the White community" do we have when black people say offensive things about whites?

Despite all of the contrition and the obligatory trip to "rehabilition," the most irrelevant Reverend Jesse Jackson is now calling for a boycott of the Seinfeld box set involving Michael Richards who played "Kramer." I say, let's call on the media and general public to boycott Jesse Jackson, who often exploits these situations to shake down celebrities and major corporations for his own needs and coffers. And then you have the goofy Rev. Al Sharpton -- the same Reverend who associated himself in making false claims about white bigotry in the famous case of Tawana Brawley -- going around making his own tirades in an effort to get his own 15 seconds.

How about asking comedian (in his mind and marketed) Dave Chappelle and his tirades to stop his use of the word and offensive racial references? I know it will never happen, because the situation is different. "Different" at least in the mind of the most irrelevant Jesse Jackson.

"Sometimes with all I have gone through in my life leaves me wondering if this life is truly worth all the pain which is contained within it."

A friend of mine said that to me....and I couldn't agree more.

It is interesting how one gets left behind after everybody tells you how much they are sorry for your loss.... Everybody got all gushy "let me know if you need anything" yet I haven't received one invitation to join anyone for Thanksgiving dinner.... After all of that no wonder I have gotten so cynical about people and relationships.

Thank God for Denny's.

I will never forget one time a friend of my mom's told her about the Dr. Phil Show and how she would drop everything and watch the show religiously. So one day, mom asked me if I knew about the show and it happened to be on. After about 10-15 minutes I looked over to my mom who had a look of disgust on her face. She nodded her head and in her usual laser straight-to-the-point attitude referred to the show as "emotional masturbation." She then took the TV remote and changed the channel.

The same thought when I had the (mis)fortune of turning on ABC-TV's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" with Ty Pennington. The show is nothing but emotional masturbation with the recipients of the home makeover talking looking off camera and balling and sobbing on cue. Then you have Ty Pennington's crew doing the same. Then by the end of the show everybody is miserable and sobbing uncontrollably on cue while Ty Pennington slips in a plug to all of the show's sponsors as he shows the made over house to the miserable family. The only people this show can appeal to are those who are devoid of personal emotion from within and have a need externalize their expression of emotions.

One thing I didn't know about Ty Pennington is that he is a victim of ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and is a spokesman/spokesmodel for Adderall which is used to chemically treat the disease.

There really are a few dumbshits walking around. They have NEVER experienced what a person goes through when they lose someone who has been a part of their history, their life.

Earlier this evening, paraphrasing what was said to me about the extreme grief I've been going through in the past couple of weeks in anticipation of the holiday season, I had someone tell me with such exuberance -- mind you that this individual has his sisters, a close relationship with his mother, God only knows how many relatives...

"I know you are grieving. But you are letting it consume you...grieve and let it go...keep your mother's memory a happy one and close in your heart, but don't let your grief destroy your ability to be part of this world...if you sit and wollow in that big house alone, you will not be a person anyone will want in their life. Bitterness and sorrow will not bring your mother back, let it go."

I had kind of an upset today which came out of something that initially made me happy. Mom's Christmas cactus started blooming and I brought it into the kitchen so I could enjoy it when I would be sitting at my laptop which seems to have found a semi-permanent home on my kitchen table.

"What an interesting time for it to bloom," I thought to myself. Then I realized that in a month it is going to be Christmas. :-(

It was a real blow. I don't know how much more I can take before I fold.

SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT ELECTION DAY 2006...

All of the political ads have been broadcast a million times on radio and television and the voters have supposedly spoken -- vox populi vox dei (the voice of the people is the voice of God). For at least a week now we will be subject to a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking by the television political commentators and the radio talk show hosts. It is interesting though how I hear from liberal friends and acquaintances that their nemesis President George Bush "got a whacking" and how a new political day will be rising....the Republican dark ages are finally over! Happy days are here again! While the Democrats have taken over both houses of congress, the reality is that really nothing has changed, nor will their supposed work in Washington DC will change. The Congressmen and Senators elected to office this round are the same people who have merely exchanged their ties with one another.

The Kool Aid-Cindy Sheehan liberals are the ones who are really deluding themselves as they dance to "Happy Days Are Here Again." They have convinced themselves that just because a new shop sign has been installed in front of the U.S. Capitol Building, their newly elected coalitions are sure follow an anti-war pull out the troops from Iraq strategy. It ain't gonna happen. The Democrats have two years to prove they can improve the situation, and must do so following a centrist position if they are to be kept in office beyond 2008 simply because the Democrat majorities elected this time around does not constitute a mandate. Democrats have 229 seats in the House, 11 more than the number necessary to hold the barest of majorities in the 435-member chamber...last session the Republicans held a similar majority. In the Senate, they hold only 51 seats, with Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman -- now an independent -- with the ability to go either way. And seeing how his fellow Democrats loudly took a political gamble by abandoning him during his run as an independent against bagillionaire Ned Lamont, chances are that Lieberman can very well use a trump card on many issues and is no longer beholden to those who abandoned him. (The best thing for these former Lieberman allies would have been for them to simply not get involved and stay neutral during the Lamont/Lieberman campaign in case Lieberman won.)

Lieberman's win was due in part to Republican support in Connecticut, but also reflects normal thinking centrist Democrats who have not bought into the Kool Aid-Anti War politics of whackjob Cindy Shehaan funded by Gagillionaire-cum-philanthropist Hungarian leftist American politics meddler George Soros.

The only mandate which may have been communicated by the American electorate is this: While the United States clearly accomplished its goal of toppling the modern day Hitler Saddam Hussein who repeatedly violated United Nations resolutions, has established and help encourage the formation of a democratic coalition government in Iraq, the bottom line is that it must withdraw its troops and allow the Iraqis to defend their newly found democracy as soon as possible and grow it. The only role is for United States and NATO to continue to try to keep the peace between the fighting Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish factions.

(Image of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard stolen from The Drudge Report)

I really think the Republican party should thank bagillionaire Sen. John Kerry (D-Taxachusetts) for his utterance in Los Angeles on Monday that if a person doesn't get a good education "you'll be stuck in Iraq." (Thing is this, as a political party fence sitter I am issue oriented and who I feel will follow through on my beliefs in Washington DC will be the person I ultimately cast my vote for. I'm no friend of President Bush, yet how I see the Democrats scrambling in every direction just to influence a popular vote and advance the party makes me sick. Republicans do it to, but lately one sees how the Democrats are panicing in that they have now lost several elections.)

Sen. Kerry claims he misspoke, botched a joke. Just to complete the usual ways how politics works in this country, he will probably now claim he's addicted to alcohol or drugs and will go into rehab. And then pledge after that he will go help build houses poverty stricken people in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans.

The best part of this whole mess is watching all of the Democrats cancelling their upcoming campaign appearances with Sen. Kerry and Hillary saying "no wonder we lost in 2004" and referring to the comments as "downright stupid." It was Pres. Reagan who always reminded his Republicans when things didn't go right to follow what he called the "11th Commandment": Thou Shalt Not Eat They Fellow Republicans. Just when you thought the Democrats may have their house in order with absolute unity, you realize that they are just as fragmented as the Republicans, which only lends credence to new non-partisan political groups as "UNITY 08" who are representing millions and millions of Americans such as myself who are SICK of the partisan infighting/lack of leadership which is so pervasive now in Washington.

The following article just proves my point that we're leading up to a society where finally nobody will be able to say anything to anyone because of the fear of being offended, harrased, harangued, etc.

Police officers need to be fit and trim...because they are a liability in terms of health problems (note I didn't use the latest corporate pinhead numbskullspeak word, "issue."). Then there is the other question...what about the rights of the suspect not to be pummeled and have more damage inflicted on them when they are hit and pounced on by a 300 pound police officer...cruel and unusual punishment? Having a person arrested is one thing, but having a 5'6" 100 lb. suspect being thrown to the ground and have a 300 lb. police officer fall on them and being pulverized leaving innerds behind no different than a large juicy bug? Now that could be considered cruel and unusual punishment???? (Heh....Although I know at least of one person who would enjoy it!....don't ask for details as none will be given.)

I'm sure we'll see "part deux" of this story being carried and played out...strained backs and all.

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Police Chief Paul Goward was tired of looking around his department and seeing blubber hanging over the belts of some of his officers. So he sent out a memo exhorting the “jelly bellies” to shape up.

In the end, the department lost 190 pounds – all of them belonging to Goward. He was forced out as chief because some of his officers took offense at the memo. The Oct. 11 memo bruised feelings on the 80-member force, drew at least one anonymous letter of complaint from officers about the chief's management style and made his department the butt of jokes about fat cops and doughnuts. “If they got their feelings hurt to the extent of 'Do something about it,' then I did what I was intending to do,” said an unapologetic Goward, a trim 6-footer who was forced to resign his $92,000-a-year post last week.

Some of the chief's defenders said his ouster was a big overreaction. “He offered tremendously good advice, yet he was sacked,” wrote Thomas Roe Oldt, a columnist for The Ledger of Lakeland. In his memo, titled “Are You a Jelly Belly,” the chief never singled anyone out, and apart from the title, didn't call anyone names.

Instead, he provided a list of 10 reasons police officers should be in shape. He said overweight police poorly represent the profession, poop out when chasing suspects and might have to resort to “a higher level of force” if a criminal got the upper hand in a fight. He said out-of-shape cops are a liability to the city and their families.

“Take a good look at yourself,” he wrote. “If you are unfit, do yourself and everyone else a favor. See a professional about a proper diet and a fitness training program, quit smoking, limit alcohol intake and start thinking self-pride, confidence and respectability. And stop making excuses for delaying what you know you should have been doing years ago. We didn't hire you unfit and we don't want you working unfit. Don't mean to offend, this is just straight talk. I owe it to you.”

Winter Haven cops must pass physical examinations to be hired but are not regularly tested for fitness thereafter.

Goward, 60, said he is not a fitness freak, was not “asking for a department full of Arnold Schwarzeneggers here” and did not order his officers to stay away from fast-food restaurants or doughnut shops. In fact, the 36-year police veteran, who has also worked in Kansas and South Carolina, said Winter Haven's force is no less fit than the others he has served on.

David Greene, manager of the central Florida city of 30,000, said through a spokeswoman that he was too busy for an interview, but told the local newspapers the anonymous complaint letters made it clear the police department had a morale problem because of Goward's abrasive management style during his 2½ years there. “Emotions within the police department and the relationship with the police chief became raw,” he told The Ledger. Winter Haven officers contacted by The Associated Press said they were told not to talk to reporters about Goward's departure.

One of the anonymous complaint letters described the force as “upset to say the least” about the chief and called the “Jelly Belly” memo “the icing on the cake.”
“This letter shows the type of harassment and hostile work environment we have. The chief of police is constantly 'bad talking' us in every way possible and we have had enough of his arrogance,” the letter read.

Mandy Rohrbaugh, a 40-year-old nursing student and Winter Haven resident, said Goward had the right message, but perhaps could have delivered it differently. “I think honestly our police force needs a lot of shaping up, and I think they should be fit not just when they're hired but through their time,” she said.