Obama, Will Ferrell, and Another Reason To Hate Hunting


NEWS FLASH is basically news or thoughts that may be changing over time - an update or an evolution of thought that covers a multiple of topics. It is what makes a blogger tick and it is the reason why we read. So, with that in mind, I came up with NEWS FLASH as an acronym that stands for what is going on in life:



News (or current events)
Entertainment (movies, TV, celebrity, etc.)
Work (thoughts on the job or employer)
Spirit (thoughts on God and/or the supernatural)
Family (or friends)
Love
Anxiety (a rant or a trouble)
Sports (also considered should be contests, reality tv, recreation, cards, games), and
Home (house, yard, or even another family type of thought.
___________________________________________________________________

NEWS - I am finally ready to make a prediction in the presidential race. No, this prediction isn't based on any psychic thoughts so those of you trying to urge me to get back into that deal can relax. Nope, this is based on my knowledge of politics and political history. So, with my poli-sci degree held firmly in hand, Psychosomatic Wit projects Senator Barack Obama the winner of the Democratic nomination for president.

Here is the reason: Hillary Clinton has no chance without the super delegates alligning for her. For those of you that do not know, super delegates are those who vote for who they want to regardless of how the citizens voted in their states. The super delegates will NOT vote for Clinton if the majority of the popular vote and elected delegates support Obama. It looks like this will be the case.

The Democrat party cannot afford to have the appearance to steal the election away from an African-American. It would ultimately lose a big portion of their voting base if they did. African-Americans are loyal to a culture more than a party. They were overwhelmingly Republican until 1960 - when the Kennedys championed ML King and the causes of civil rights. As a group with a painful history of oppression, they could easily change allegiances if they feel betrayed. Since African-Americans are overwhelmingly supporting Obama, Democrats will have to tread lightly. They would easily risk the White House this year to the Republicans in return for not losing the African-American portion of their base.

ENTERTAINMENT - I caught the new movie, Semi-Pro, the new Will Ferrell vehicle. If you like all of his other movies, you will like this one. If you are wanting something a little different, you will be disappointed. What bothers me the most about his movies is that they could make them "PG" without losing any humor. Think of the funniest parts of a Will Ferrell movie. They are seldom the things that would cause an "R" rating. I guess we will always be stuck with some content that isn't suitable for kids - or the rest of us for that matter.

WORK - Things are picking up a pretty good pace here. I have a big meeting coming up, an annual report and a budget that has to be done. I also, have to reschedule our big event that was cancelled because of weather. On top of that, my intern disappeared and got married. She is just 17 and still in high school. Poor kid!

SPIRIT - Life is very difficult and confusing right now for me. It feels like I am ALWAYS at a crossroads. I honestly don't know what is going to happen with any facet of my life presently. These are the times when I thank God that I don't have to know. I can let go of the wheel and let God guide me to where I need to be. My best thinking has gotten me to this state of confusion so I understand that surrendering to a higher power is the best way to get me to where I need to be. I just so happen to be able to commune with the highest power. Praise God.

FAMILY - Oh boy, my little sister is in the hospital again and they want to put her in a nursing home. She is not happy about it. Every one in my family has car troubles and transportation now is at a premium. We (my wife and I) are down to one working vehicle. We'll get by.

LOVE - I continue to learn and practice stated learning about how to deal with my marriage. Lately, my wife has been struggling emotionally. It scares me, but now I have been just giving her space. She has told me that she doesn't want space during these times, but I guess I want it. I don't trust myself to say the right things. As thin as I am spread now, I REALLY don't trust myself.

ANGUISH - What is bothering me the most right now is illness. I just can't seem to get and stay healthy. I think it is a combination of being spread too thin, being around little kids that I tutor, and not getting enough rest. Now, on top of this horrible cold that I have, I also sport a conglomeration of cold sores on my upper lip. It is the worst thing. Everywhere I go, I feel like that Tide commercial for the stain remover where the guy is in a job interview, but the stain on his shirt keeps attracting the interviewers attention by shouting nonsense words while the poor guy is trying to answer the interview questions. With me, it is the cold sores that draw the attention of everyone around me like ham sandwich attracts a dog's. Either I have the worst colds on the planet, or I am the biggest baby when it comes to colds. I don't really care which it is, the fact remains that I really suffer through these things.

SPORTS - It is championship week for college basketball. The tournament brackets come out Sunday and I am usually in the middle of several pools. I normally run my own, so if anyone wants to fill out a bracket, let me know. It is hard to be too excited for my Indiana team, though. They haven't done very well since losing their cheater of a coach. I think they are probably one win and done this year, which is a shame since they have all the ingredients to make a strong run.


HOME - The drama of the week around the homestead has to be with my retriever Marley. A while back, I told you about his problem with his hip and back. You should read about it here to get the full effect of this bit of drama. Ninety-nine percent of you are skipping the link and continuing so I guess that is your loss. Anyway, we took him to our new vet (the one my wife now works for) to see what he thought about it. He cleaned out some infected scar tissue and had an x-ray done. The x-ray should have been done last year by former vet because it had an interesting story to tell. My poor dog, Marley, has an arrow head in his back. It is one of those nasty hunter's tips that expand inside its target. It barely missed his spinal cord but is still causing problems. Someone must have shot him from a deer stand when he was just a little pup. The bones have now grown around the arrow head and it will nearly be impossible to get out. The vet has referred him to another vet in another town that is more of an expert on this type of back thing. This will be very expensive so we can kiss Jamaica goodbye.
You know, I really hate hunting and the whole hunting mentality. How someone can get enjoyment out of killing beautiful animals is beyond my ability to understand. It is also pretty scary. I mean, if someone can guiltlessy slaughter a beautiful and graceful deer, how far is that removed from blowing away an ugly and offending human? Now I have a great dog that has been suffering needlessly for years because someone with no sense was, and probably still is, weilding a weapon. It sickens me.

12 comments:

Michelle said...

Poor Marley! One thing I won't miss when we have to move from our house is the hunters. We now live kind of bang in the grounds of a large privat estate. They hunt the pheasants (that eat the bread in our garden), the fox (that nips through the garden now and then) and probably the deer and bunnies we have nibbling the lawn on spring mornings. I hate the sound of the gunshots. :-(

Re cold sore - They occur when your body overheats - as in a temperature (being ill) or even if you go to the beach and tan. It's all in your body going over a certain temperature and being run down.

ince you can't slow down and rest try taking vitamin C and Vitamin B to boost your immunity. Echinacea helps too.

I used to get sick every Christmas in Africa - due to similar family work overload at that time (grandparents in and out of hospital and assorted other family illness and stress) I had bronchitis twice, throat infections regularly and pneumonia once. The Vitamin C taken with Echinacea helped me fight back.

Sayre said...

A very busy NEWSFLASH this week...

Dude - you have GOT to learn how to relax. Find something that works for you and DO it. You will be happier, your lip will be happier and your wife will be happier. No one likes living with a martyr - and the stress of your life seems to be pointing you in that direction. Take something for yourself. Time. Space. Attitude. SOMETHING. You need it because if you don't, you won't last and that would be a shame.

Your sister doesn't want to go into a nursing home? Well, who does? It's an admission of needing help. Guess what? She probably does - the kind of help that it's too hard to get outside if that's what's being recommended. Can she do it on a temporary basis? Who pays? There are lots of questions to be answered there and sometimes the right answer isn't necessarily something she will like.

God seems to work the same way. A lot of times the answer to a prayer is no. Not because God doesn't like you or think that you need whatever it is you're praying for - but because you need the lesson of working through whatever it is yourself.

Poor Marley!!! I dislike hunters already - now I have even more reason. I hope the next vet has some ideas of how to ease his pain.

Sorry if I sound a little rough - I guess I got up in a pragmatic mood today.

Jeff said...

Michelle: I have been loading up on the vitamin C and also zinc and lysine. I hadn't thought of B but have some. Thanks!

Sayre: You can sound a little rough all you want. ;) I don't mind. I'm doing all I can do. Trust me, I don't LOOK for more things to do. :)

I don't begrudge my sister for fighting for her independence. People tend to believe that nursing homes are places where people go to die. I am glad that she isn't giving up. It would be too easy to do that.

You are right about God. I am not even asking for anything but to be aligned with and to have peace with his will. Surely, He isn't saying "no" to that. lol

I can't wait to hear someone defending the hunter. :)

You called me "Dude". LOL You don't seem like a "dude" person. You're the best!!

goddessdivine said...

Are you waiting for me to defend the hunter? ;-) Ok, this particular one is most likely an imbecile; but overall I support hunting. I mean, are you a vegetarian or something....because beautiful animals get slaughtered everyday. But seriously, my dad and brothers used to hunt a lot, and we always ate what they brought home. And they're not your stereotypical hunter-type; they are educated, well-bred, and civilized individuals. Now, hunting is not some hobby I would ever take up, but if others enjoy it, then so be it.

Sorry about your dog though. Poor thing.

I think you're right about the Obama thing. And isn't it sad when candidates get so, political? Why can't they just be themselves and not worry so much about offending?

As per the flu....I think there's just some nasty bugs going around. I was hit with a doozy this year. Get some rest!!

Jeff said...

Kristen: I figured if anyone would defend hunting, it would be you. ;) You know, I could easily become a vegetarian. Recently, I saw the video of those people who abused the cattle in the recent beef recall. There were guys that kicked and beat the cattle and made me sick. The only reason I can eat meat now is because of the disconnect. Still, eating already slaughtered meat is a bit different than going out and killing beautiful, defenseless animals.

The nature of our political system in this country is to use every little thing as a weapon - unfortunately.

Brian said...

It makes me sick to hear about animals being in pain like this. I just can't stand it.

Sayre said...

I guess I'm not normally a "dude" person... but I have been hanging around with an 8-year old. Sometimes that stuff rubs off. One year at his birthday party, he was calling EVERYONE dude. Even my mom. It was hilarious! So every once in a while, when I know I need to lighten up, I call someone "dude". You got to be the guy.

As for your sister, I can understand how she might fight if her idea of nursing homes is as a place to die. It is an unfortunate mindset, as nursing homes are also there to help someone get stronger and more able to live on their own. It's not necessarily giving up independence for good - just for a little while so that you can actually KEEP it. Of course, I don't know her whole story, so I can't really say how that applies to her situation.

Chris said...

Those aren't "hunters" that did that....they are sickos!

The Real Mother Hen said...

You're a doer.
Doer suffers from doing too much. I know, because I'm a bloody doer myself.

Anyway, there is a book which may help to go through life a bit easier. It's Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth.

Hannah Specter said...

On spirituality- I'm with you. Go with the path laid in front of you and you'll be fine.

Sorry about your dog, poor guy :( I'm not a fan of hunting for hunting sake but I've worked among the native populations and the old ways treated the creatures with respect, used every bit of them for meat, clothing and art and wasn't at all Ted Nuggent. Can't STAND that guy! Yuck. So I've become a little less anti-hunting than I used to be. Especially when the hunters throw at me how they'd rather eat their free range, grass fed, chemical antibiotic free deer than anything found in the market.

Jeff said...

Brian: Yeah, I am a sucker for animals - which is better than eating animal suckers.

Sayre: Well, the sister is in the nursing home. She is hoping that it is a stepping stone to another place. We'll see.

Chris: Where I come from, those two terms are a redundancy.

Jeff said...

Mother Hen: I may check into that book - if I can find the time!! lol

Hannah: What a cool name! And thanks for dropping by. I stopped by your blog and it is a group blog, is it not?

Anyway, I think that hunting has a place - maybe in the way you mention. However, for 99% of hunters in the US, it is just a blood sport. No where else do we use killing as an excuse to benefit the group as a whole - except for maybe abortion. How's that for an incendiary remark?