Senator Blanche Lincoln is currently the only candidate from the Democratic Party (and probably will stay that way) for the United States Senate in the 2010 Election, but she has drawn opponents from across the wide spectrum of the Natural State’s Wannabe Population.

It sorta reminds me of roadkill on a hot Texas highway with an entire army of buzzards circling. This feast appears that it will also feature a fruitcake or two. One of her opponents has a history of two statewide races, but he lost both of them. One of those races featured him as the Republican nominee against the good Senator Lincoln the last time she ran.

Apparently, this is the year of the soldier. There are two colonels and a Green Beret that served in Afghanistan in the race. There is a Green Party candidate who favors Medicare for All. There are two guys calling themselves Independents, though one of them spoke at a Tea Party rally where the other person on the stage was Michelle Malkin, a Fox News contributor.

Those of you who have followed my opinions about Senator Lincoln know that I think she really let America down on the health care issue, sort of like might near every other dude and dudette in the United States Senate. You know that rather than 1,700 or 17,000 pages of junk, I’d have preferred just a few short words, "Medicare is available to everyone who wants it." That way, the folks who think their current health insurance is the bee knees could have continued on like nobody’s business. And those who don’t live amidst delusion could have chosen Medicare. The Medicaid program could have been blended in like folding eggs into a cake recipe, and all those administrative costs eliminated. And ol’ Ben Nelson would not be guilty of extortion. But, alas and alack…

Arkansas Political Retirements

United States Congressmen from Arkansas, Vic Snyder and Marion Berry, have announced their retirement. I’ve been a long time supporter of Vic, ever since he ran the first time and walked up to me while I was mowing the yard and asked for my vote. For those who don’t know, Vic’s wife surprised him with triplets not too long ago. And I’m kinda thinking she told him to come home and help take care of ‘em. My wife woulda shot me if she’d had triplets, so I’m thinking Vic is making the right move.

I also applaud Mr. Berry for his decision. Now, I know a lot of folks might think a 67-year old is a young man when it comes to Washington. That, of course, is one of the problems. But Congressman Berry is a 67-year old lifelong farmer. Farmer’s ain’t like other people. They work their butts off. Well, maybe not those corporate farmers drawing huge subsidies from the government. If you ain’t never been up in northeast Arkansas where Mr. Berry hails from, you ain’t seen what farming can do to a body. There was a time in my life when my backyard was a soybean field and just across the road from my front yard was a cotton field that stretched as far as the eye could see. Now, while a lot of things might be modernized, I’ve seen a lot of folks walking that cotton field with a hoe (the tool with a cutting edge) chopping cotton.

I wouldn’t make too much of the fact the McCain carried Berry’s district in 2008. It wasn’t because people liked his politics. And I fully expect the Democrats to come up with somebody that will keep the Republicans out. They been a might testy in that area of Arkansas since 1861. Y’all remember how Arkansas voted to NOT join the Confederacy. A few weeks later, President Abe Lincoln told the Arkansas governmor to send 700 troops to fight against the folks in South Carolina and Georgia – you know, where the Arkansans had moved from and still had tons of kinfolks there. A few weeks after that Arkansas took a vote to rethink their allegiance to Abe. For you historical-buff types, the army of Mr. Lincoln never captured the Arkansas government and folks up in northeast Arkansas know full well in their hearts that Arkansas never surrendered. Add on the reconstructionists and those called carpetbaggers that came after the war, and there just ain’t much taste for Republicans in Berry’s district.

Anyway, things ought to be sizzlin’ in Arkansas during this political season. The folks at Online Little Rock have an Arkansas Elections 2010 section that grows and grows as more folks throw their hats into more rings. You might also be interested in the American Beer Party Movement – don’t be messin’ with Sweet Tea in Arkansas.

Other Websites that Support Uncle Brice

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

Daily Humor to Make You Smile introduced Richard and Terry a while back as well as a few of their friends. Well, let me tell you about the time Terry dressed up Richard as Santa Claus and took him to the mall. Richard sat there chatting with the kids while Terry snapped photos of Santa and the Kid, plus a few additional photos of the young moms accompanying them. You just gotta know Terry to understand. Well, let me put it this way. You just got to know a little something about men. ‘Nuff said.

Well, this one little girl crawled up on Santa’s lap and said she wanted a little brother for Christmas. So Santa (Richard) whispered to her. "Tell your mom to come see me in a minute."

That last story reminds me of Richard and Terry’s friend John. Now you gotta understand that John lives in a small one-horse town in Mississippi just outside Tunica. The receptionist’s desk at the doctor’s office sits in the middle of the waiting room, and there’s no such thing as privacy when talking to the young lady. If that wasn’t enough, she always asks probing questions. So Ol’ John heads up to the doc’s office because he’s having a pretty serious problem.

Sure enough, the young lady looks up and asks, "What are you seeing the doctor about today?"

John answered, "My penis."

You shoulda seen the look of horror that crossed that little filly’s face. "Sir, we’d prefer you be a little more discreet."

John answered, "I ain’t the one who asked the question."

"But, sir," she protested. "You should have said something like, My arm. Then when you got into the doctor’s office you could have talked to him in private." Well, Ol’ John walked out of the office, only to return a few minutes later.

"I need to see the doctor," he said.

"What are you seeing the doctor for today?" the girl asked.

"My arm," he replied.

She smiled at how well the man had followed her advice. "What’s wrong with your arm?" she asked, to which he replied, "I’m having trouble pissing out of it."

Terry and Richard have a friend they call Buddy. I’m not sure anybody knows his real name; he’s just been called Buddy for as long as anyone can remember. Well, Buddy was a victim of corporate greed and watched his job get shipped overseas. What with hundreds of thousands of people losing their job, he simply could not find work of any kind. One day he was standing just outside the labor office and heard people talking about a medical testing company that was looking for test subjects. He got the address and hurried over.

The lady behind the desk looks ol’ Buddy up and down. Then she says, "We only have one test available at the moment. And it’s for men who will mate with gorillas. There’s a fee of $500."

Buddy thought about it for a moment or two. Then he said, "Okay, I’ll do it under three conditions. First, absolutely no one can ever find out I did it. Second, if there is any offspring I want to know that they will be treated humanely. Third, I’ve been off work for several months, so it’s gonna take me some time to come up with the money."

Terry and Richard had been out one night doing some serious damage to the countie’s supply of beer. They flipped a coin to see who would drive home, and Terry won the honor.

He’d driven only two blocks when blue lights began flashing behind him. He pulled over and told Richard, "Keep quiet. I’ll do all the talking ’cause your drunker than me." Richard nodded just as the officer tapped on the driver’s window.

Terry opened the window to see a petite, busty female cop. As explained previously about men, he smiled.

"Sir, would you get out of the car please?" she said.

"Yes, m’am," Terry answered in his best drunk voice. "Anything for you, young lady."

The officer held up her hand. "Sir, I need to tell you that anything you say can and will be held against you."

Terry thought for a moment and said, "Breasts."

Tom the Traveler is another friend of Terry and Richard. They call him the Traveler because he goes to some of the hottest spots in the world for vacation, and he does it every year. Well, the guys wanted to know how he managed to do it.

Tom said, "Well, truth be told, it was a very bad idea. You guys remember that last year it was Hawaii." They nodded. "Well, got back and the wife was pregnant. The year before that it was Paris. Got back and the wife was pregnant. The year before that it was Amsterdam. Got back and the wife was pregnant."

Richard said, "Well, Tom, that sounds like some pretty successful vacations to me. What are you going to do different?"

Tom stretched his back, looked at Terry, than back at Richard. "This year I’m taking the wife with me."

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Other Funny Stuff

Americans are too uptight. We all need to step back, relax and smile. I don’t think anyone would get hurt if you just outright laughed out loud. It’s good for you.

That brings to mind a couple friends of mine: Richard and Terry. These guys, both married to wonderful ladies, have another love in their lives: being on the water, well – that and beer. You can find them out boating rivers, lakes and, on occasion, the ocean. It was one such ocean voyage we want to discuss here.

Things did not go exactly as planned, and Richard and Terry found themselves alone in a lifeboat. Days passed. On Day 14, the signal lamp’s battery died. The guys looked at one another for quite a spell before Terry, lamp in hand, said, "What the *&@$ do we do now?"

Richard, being the fun loving guy that he is in just about all circumstances, said, "Why don’t you rub it and see if a genie comes out?"

Terry smiled. "Why the *&@$ not?" He rubbed it furiously. And, sure enough, a beautiful genie appeared. Richard, so taken by her good looks and great physique, just sat there mouth agape and silent when she explained that she was a genie in training and, because of that, could grant them only one wish.

Terry immediately shouted, "Turn the ocean into beer."

That brought Richard out of his trance. "No, no, wait!" he shouted. Too late. The ocean became beer and the genie disappeared. "Damnation, boy," he shouted at Terry. "What were you thinking? Now we’re gonna have to pee in the boat."

Terry and Richard have a friend named Robert who works down at the local appliance store. One day this devastatingly beautiful blond walked into the store and Robert rushed up to her. "May I help you, young lady?" he gushed.

"Yes," she answered. "I want to buy this TV."

Robert was crestfallen. "I’m sorry, m’am. We don’t sell to blondes."

"Okay," she said, and left the store.

A couple days passed, and she dyed her hair brown. She returned to the appliance store and, once again, Robert greeted her. "May I help you, young lady?"

"Yes," she answered. "I want to buy this TV."

Once again, Robert was crestfallen. "I’m sorry, m’am. We don’t sell to blondes."

"Okay," she said, and left the store just like she had the first time. Two weeks passed. She dyed her hair red and returned to the store.

Robert, for the third time, greeted her. "May I help you, young lady?"

"Yes," she said. "I want to buy this TV."

Once again Robert replied, "I’m sorry, m’am. We don’t sell to blondes."

The young beauty turned to square off with him. "Okay, the first time I came in here I had blond hair. You said you didn’t sell to blonds, so I left. But I came back as a brunette and today as a redhead, and you are still saying you don’t sell to blonds. How do you know I’m blond?"

Robert smiled, "Because this is a microwave, not a TV."

Terry and Richard have a lot of friends. One such female friend, Mary, visited her grandmother shortly after the death of her grandfather.

"Memaw," she asked. "What caused Papaw’s death?"

Her grandmother began to explain. "We were making love…"

"Memaw!" Mary shouted. "Don’t you know that’s very dangerous for people your age?"

"No, no, no, honey," her grandmother replied. "We had a perfectly good system. Every Sunday morning the church bells would ring, and it helped us develop a slow, steady, and perfectly safe, rhythm. Forward on the ding and backward on the dong. It was great for years. But, then, one Sunday morning, a damn ice cream truck showed up."

One of Richard and Terry’s friends, a female, is getting up in years and I ain’t about to reveal her name. In her younger days, she had been the belle of the ball at every night club she visited. She was one in-demand honey, if you know what I mean. Anyway, that was then, and this is now. She comes up with an idea about how to reclaim her glory days. One night she goes to the local honky-tonk wearing only a trench coat. Nothing else. Just a trench coat.

She spies one likely looking guy, walks up to him, opens the trench coat and asks, "Super sex?" He jumps up, screams the word disgusting, and runs out of the bar.

So, she looks around and spots a guy who’s not quite as good looking as the first. She walks up, opens her trench coat and says, "Super Sex." He jumps up, screams the word disgusting, and runs out of the bar.

So, she spots a third guy. This one looks quite nerdy, and she figures he hasn’t been with a woman in a long, long time. So, she walks up to him, opens her trench coat, and says, "Super Sex." He looks at the woman and lets his eyes roam up and down her body. "Soup," he answered.

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Other Websites of Interest

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

January 21, 2010 is a day that just might live in infamy, to use Pres. Franklin Roosevelt’s words, and may become as important in American history as the day to which he referred: December 7, 1941. The United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, effectively changed America’s type of government from a Republic to an Aristocracy.

It really should come as no surprise to those who follow politics and governing on a regular basis. America has been headed in this direction for quite some time, and the Supreme Court has played a part, especially since 2000 when they chose the President of the United States. For those who didn’t pay attention in Civics class, an aristocracy is a government run by the wealthiest people.

The significance of the January 21 ruling in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission is that corporations now have the same free speech rights as an American citizen and that those rights include being able to make unlimited campaign contributions for both candidates and issues.

As pointed out in a previous article, Americans are a diverse people who have been forced into two economic classes: those with lots of money, and those with little or no money. Those with little money reared their heads in the 2008 Presidential Election with hundreds of thousands contributing both money and time to help Barack Obama win the presidency. Corporations were limited by campaign finance laws from squashing "the people" – but, now – the limit is gone.

How SCOTUS Voted

SCOTUS, for those who don’t know, stands for Supreme Court of the United States. Four justices voted on the side of the big corporations: Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy. Four justices voted on the side of the people: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Bryer and John Paul Stephens. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the corporations.

If ever there was solid evidence what the Supreme Court decision to make George W. Bush president in 2000 did to America, this is it. Imagine two appointees by the candidate who got the most votes that year, Al Gore, instead of those two Bushies. The decision on January 21 would probably never have happened. Aristocracy might have been held in check a little longer. It’s time to turn America back to the people, and that’s exactly what The American Beer Party is all about.

If ever there was a reason to elect moderate Democrats and Independents, and to keep Republicans away from the presidency for as long as possible, yesterday’s display of party politics on the Supreme Court is it.

What Others Are Saying

Justice John Paul Stephens, in his dissent, said, "The court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation."

Eric Lotke, Research Director at the Campaign for America’s Future, said, "Today’s decision, Citizens United v. FEC, comes down decisively on the corporate side. It gives advertisers more power than voters, and tilts the balance of power even farther towards wealthy and corporate interests. The newly composed conservative court upset decades of precedent and settled expectations." Click here to read what else he said.

Miles Mogulescu, entertainment attorney, writer, and political activist, wrote, "in a radical act of judicial activism, five Supreme Court Justices overthrew 103 years of American statutory and judicial law going back to the Presidency of Teddy Roosevelt by ruling that corporations have the Constitutional right to make unlimited campaign contributions. This is in effect a bloodless judicial coup which turns the American government over to the biggest corporate interests, to the degree that hadn’t happened already." Click here to read what else he said.

Jason Linkins, writing for the Huffington Post, said, "In one swoop, the court did away with nearly everything in federal campaign finance law, allowing corporations free reign to inject as much money as they jolly well please into federal campaigns." He, in fact, was much more animated in his article, invoking the F-word to describe "concise way of capturing today’s Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission." Click here to read what else he said.

Keith Olbermann of MSNBC likened the ruling to the Dred Scott decision of long, long ago and said, in fact, the January 21 decision put Chief Justice John Roberts in First Place as the worst Chief Justice in history. Click here to read what else he said.

Republican Response to Supreme Court Ruling

As you might imagine, not everyone was displeased with unlimited corporate campaign contributions. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader, said that the court had restored proper rights to corporations. House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio called the decision "a big win for the First Amendment. Let the American people decide how much money is enough."

"I am pleased that the Supreme Court has acted to protect the Constitution’s First Amendment rights of free speech and association," said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "These are the bedrock principles that underpin our system of governance and strengthen our democracy."

The President Responds

"With its ruling today, the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics. It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans. This ruling gives the special interests and their lobbyists even more power in Washington – while undermining the influence of average Americans who make small contributions to support their preferred candidates. That’s why I am instructing my Administration to get to work immediately with Congress on this issue. We are going to talk with bipartisan Congressional leaders to develop a forceful response to this decision. The public interest requires nothing less."

We can only hope.

Learn more about The American Beer Party Movement.

Click here to read American Beer Party – Marriage Equality.

Click here to read about The American Beer Party.

Marriage equality is a topic that produces opponents within families, groups, communities, states and our nation in general. One of the more prominent well-known families is that of 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain. Senator McCain opposes marriage equality for all Americans. Wife Cindy and daughter Meghan support it.

To me, this sort of falls under things like "liberty and justice for all" and "all men are created equal" and the ever-popular, "why are you so worried about who someone else is married to?"

Senator McCain’s office felt it necessary to issue a statement and said,"Sen. McCain believes the sanctity of marriage is only defined as between one man and one woman".

I hear the words sanctity of marriage a lot, mostly when people want to condemn same-sex relationships. So I did a bit of research. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church issued a position paper. In it, they state:

• Marriage is a covenant between one man and one woman and between the participants and God (Malachi 2:14-16).
• God designed marriage to be a lifelong relationship. Jesus said, “What God has joined together, let not man separate (Mark 10:9).” The marriage covenant should be kept sacred and unbroken under those conditions stated in the Bible.
• God-ordained marriage should remain pure in thought, motive and practice. The seventh commandment prohibits adultery (Exodus 20:14). Jesus sets an even higher standard in his statement: “…anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery” (Matthew 5:27-28).
• Out of reverence for Christ as savior and lord of their marriages, Christian wives are to respect and subject themselves to their husbands as to the Lord. And Christian husbands are to love their wives even “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:22-26).”

I see a problem here. According to the EPC, a sanctified marriage is one between one man and one woman that lasts a lifetime in which there are no adulterous thoughts and in which wives subject themselves to their husbands and husbands love their wives as much as Jesus loved the church.

I’m thinking Senator John McCain should have done more reading before espousing the sanctity of marriage since he had an affair with Cindy in an adulterous relationship during his first marriage, which ended in divorce. He clearly fails the EPC guidelines, as do the majority of people in the world. Then again, the Senator’s statement said, "the sanctity of marriage is only defined as between one man and one woman" meaning you can throw out all that other stuff the EPC came up with. As long as the marriage is between one man and one woman, it’s sanctified, I guess.

In fact, the website Catholic.net states, "If someone is able to maintain this attitude throughout one’s married life, ‘I am only there for the other,’ this person becomes a saint." The article title is Sanctity of Marriage. So, if someone qualifies for sainthood by being able to have a sanctified marriage, I’m guessing very few are able to do so.

What is Marriage, Really?

In the United States, marriage is a contract as evidenced by a license signed by both parties, witnesses and the person who performed the ceremony. The contract (license) is filed with a local governing authority, making it a legal document, and making the marriage relationship one that is governed by laws. To get out of the marriage contract, one of the parties must do so by using the court system.

Well, we’ve heard from the religionists and the legal system, but what about the anti-religionists? The website Atheist Heaven promotes itself as, "Propagating Reason, Rationality and Common Sense in the face of Religious Dogmatism." As you might expect, there is an article entitled, The Sanctity of Marriage?, the gist of which is this: "If history and modern trend is of any guide, this utopia version of marriage is so totally screwed."

Should Marriage Equality be Applied to All United States Citizens?

Yes. Forget, for a moment, about religion and the legal system. Marriage is far more. It is a covenant of love. Love is a thought, a spiritual feeling that cannot be regulated by anyone. I love someone because… I want to spend my life with someone because… I want to be the cherry on top of that person’s sundae because… I want to be the olive in that person’s martini because… The strings of the heart that draw two people together cannot be seen but they can be felt. However, they can be felt only by those two people. It is the spiritual feeling between two people that provides sanctity to the relationship. Who am I to say, You cannot feel that way for that particular person because I don’t believe it’s right?

This is just one of many rants and raves that will become The American Beer Party Movement. The original article can be found at that link. You might be interested in American Beer Party Movement – Supreme Court Debacle.

To learn more about Cindy McCain’s involvement, you can visit NOH8. The photo above is from that site, and I’m grateful for being allowed to use it.

Forget the Tea Partiers. It’s time for real change for real Americans, and that means we need The American Beer Party.

The American Beer Party will support no currently organized or disorganized political party, and that pretty much covers all of them. Current political parties in America consist of the Party of Maybe and the Party of No. It’s time for a Party of Let’s Do It.

We need leaders who will shed their inhibitions and fears and stand up for what is right for all America. Beer is very good at helping one shed those things, and that’s why it’s our guiding force.

Americans are a diverse people who have been forced into two economic classes: those with lots of money, and those with little or no money. Before Ronald Reagan destroyed the "ability to pay" income tax system in America with his trickle down economic theory that pretty much stated we ought to give the money to the rich folks and they’d have enough crumbs falling from their table to sustain the rest of us.

If you’re a beer drinker, that didn’t work out too well for you, did it? After you take a moment or two to buy something from the ads that help pay the bills, I’ll be talking about some truth we ought to be holding self-evident.

We Hold These Truths…

Beer drinkers are the backbone of the American economy. They are American citizens who work locally, if they can find a job, to better provide for themselves, their families and the economy in general. Money earned is converted to stuff bought. Stuff bought helps other people have jobs who buy stuff to help other people have jobs.

Corporate America, led by Microsoft’s Bill Gates, screwed beer drinkers by saying foreigners needed to be brought over here on special visas so they could work. Every person brought over on a visa took a job away from an American citizen. But corporate America wasn’t completely satisfied with that, so they began setting up offices in other countries and shutting down offices where American citizens were working. Just ask yourself this: when was the last time you called Customer Service and got someone you could actually understand.

Now, before you get your drawers in a wad, I’m not against people in other countries bettering themselves. I’m more than happy to take in the tired and poor when we can afford it. We could afford it prior to trickle down economics. Right now, America is sitting on 10% unemployment, actually more than that when you count the folks that have already lost their unemployment money. It’s way too easy to say those folks are not trying very hard to find a job, you know, if you haven’t walked in their shoes. It’s been months since there was positive job numbers. When you have more people looking for fewer jobs, it’s pretty much a given that all of them will not find work.

Universal Health Care for All Americans?

Not having health care for all American citizens is really putting us at an economic disadvantage in the global economy. American employers are paying large amounts of money to assist their employees with health care costs. Their competitors in other parts of the world don’t have that cost, and it is a cost that must be figured into the price of American products and services. Employees are not only paying for health insurance but are also paying out-of-control health care costs with money that could be used for many other things like food, clothing, shelter and beer.

Yes, there should be an excise tax on sugary and fatty products. Yes, there should be a tax on high fat content fast food items. Our government did it to "help" Americans quit smoking. Why not do it to help Americans lose weight? Overweight people are just as much a drain on health care as smokers.

What we don’t need is mandatory health insurance coverage for people who cannot afford it. Simply get rid of Medicaid and expand Medicare to cover everyone. How much would that save in administrative costs alone? Require electronic billing for all claims. That has been proven to reduce costs by up to a dollar or more PER claim. Figure a few hundred thousand claims per day and the savings add up quickly. And I wonder how much the savings would be simply by getting rid of the military health care program?

Curb Your Evangelicalism

America ought not be trying to spread democracy to lands that don’t want it. Nations whose governments are based wholly or in part on religion are not candidates for democracy. Yes, we had a revolution in America to tear ourselves away from the control of another country. That does not mean we can have revolutions in other countries because they cannot do it themselves. Going to war in Iraq was as big a mistake as was going to war in Vietnam. And, come on, let’s admit we blew it in Afghanistan. President Obama, like Richard Nixon, said he wanted to correct the "war situation" and, like Richard Nixon, hasn’t gotten it done yet. It took Nixon into his second term before Vietnam was cleared of American soldiers, if it was ever fully cleared of them. I’m of the mind that Obama might not get that second term if things don’t start happening to help Joseph and Josephine Six Pack.

This is just the first of many rants and raves that will become The American Beer Party Movement.

Click here to read American Beer Party – Marriage Equality.

Click here to read American Beer Party – Supreme Court Debacle.

Arkansas Technology seems to have been impressive to a Texican who sent me the basic facts for this important news article. I’m not the author of the basic facts, and if he stole them from someone, please accept my apologies and calm down a bit. It ain’t that life-changing. Besides, I made up most of it myself.

New York and California have been competing with one another ever since we allowed California to become a part of the United States. New Yorkers got quite uppity after they bought Manhattan for twenty-four dollars. I don’t know why they got so uppity about it. Just look at what Manahattan has done to the rest of America. Some folks are beginning to believe they should have left the Wall standing instead of turning it into a street.

Archaeologists dug a hole, like archaeologists do from time to time. It seems that at a depth of ten feet they discovered some old copper wire. Now, you know how archaeologists are. If they find something, they got to make it look like a discovery. So they issued a press release saying that New York ancestors had a working phone system long before Alexander Graham Bell strung his cans together.

Californians grabbed their own archaeologists and had ‘em start diggin. Sure enough, at a depth of twenty feet they found some old copper wire and, sure enough, they issued a press release that California had a telephone system 100 years before the one in New York.

About a week after the California discover, Bubba Smith from Hardy, Arkansas was trying to dig a new well out in his pasture. You might have guessed this, but after digging down thrity feet he did not find any copper wire. None, nada, zip. Bein’ the enterprisin’ Arkansan that he is, he wrote to the local newspaper that an Arkie-ologist had determined that 100 years before the folks in California had their copper wire phone system, Arkansas had already gone wireless!

Uncle Brice Supporters

Say Hey to the Good Folks that make this blog possible:

Online Little Rock.com is where Uncle Brice got his start. There’s a ton of information on this site about Arkansas, Little Rock, dining, dancing, shopping (and shopping online). It’s also a high-trafficked Civil War information site. You can even find out stuff about all the colleges and universities of Arkansas.

Home Business Opportunities is a site that has never been more in demand. You can find legitimate ways to earn money from home as well as a lot of information about Internet marketing, writing, building traffic for your website, and more.

The owners of Online Little Rock have a mission in life to teach everyone about brain injury. They have two websites that have hundreds of pages of information, including visitor-submitted Brain Injury Stories. The sites are Brain Injury Online and Brain Injury Guide.

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is a favorite in the brain injury community. She writes about the good, the bad and the ugly of brain injury and how you must maintain a sense of humor to live successfully whether you are the victim or a caregiver.

Time Magazine asked the question in its October 24, 1969 issue: What if we just pull out? Of course the issue at the time was Vietnam. The United States was deeply embroiled in a war it couldn’t win, nor could it afford the cost. The number of soldiers lost in that war was staggering compared to today’s wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever else we might be engaged. But the question is the same. What if we just pull out and bring our soldiers home?

The United States and its allies are not fighting to win. Richard Nixon ran for president in 1968 with the campaign promise of ending the war in Vietnam. But once he was elected he decided he did not want to be the first American head of state of lose a war…and on and on and on it went. The military industrial gang needed a war, and they controlled Nixon.

Barack Obama stands today where Nixon stood four decades ago. America cannot afford the wars. America cannot win the wars. The military industrial gang still needs a war. And, we continue to fight. Now the military wants to go into Yemen and Iran and only God knows where else.

I wore olive drab work clothes in 1970, shortly after the Time article appeared. I can still sing about the "life of a mortar man" today as if it was still a part of my daily routine. There is no honor knowing the people whose names are found on the Vietnam Memorial, and there is no honor knowing those who have fallen in the Middle East. Over thirty years before the Time article was written my father, a Marine, was stationed in China. He, too, was a soldier in an "unofficial" war. It was called the Second Sino-Japanese War that began July 7, 1937 after six years of intermittent fighting. Japanese propaganda at the time referred to the invasion of China as seisen, or holy war. It was during those first six years that my father served in China. He was back in the states when war officially began in July 1937.

Now, we are involved in another holy war. You cannot defeat a religious belief. If that was possible, there would be no Christian religion. In contrast, Adolph Hitler wanted to expand the territory under his control. He wanted land. The Allies said no, and took the land away from him. Holy Warriors don’t want land. Jihad is not about land. It’s about religious belief.

Take a trip back in history to the year 1095 when Pope Urban promised remission of sins for all Christians who died in the war against Muslims. That was the beginning of a series of wars known as the Crusades. Well, that didn’t work out as planned. Islam is now the second largest religion in the world and, arguably, the fastest growing. You cannot defeat a religious belief.

What If We Just Pull Out?

What would happen if the United States and its allies simply pulled troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan? What if we dedicated 100% of military planning and resources to removing terrorist cells with no need for "boots on the ground"?

We know the opium fields of Afghanistan provide a huge source of funding for terrorists. Why, then, are those fields still standing? Can it be likened to all those years the government of the United States preached against tobacco use while providing subsidies to tobacco farmers?

Is there anyone working in the United States sending money out of the country to be used by terrorist groups? Why haven’t they been located and removed from the workforce?

I’m not talking about leaving the terrorists alone. Find ‘em and dispense with ‘em. Justify the expense of drones and planes and bombs and the CIA. Get the soldiers out of harm’s way. Bring ‘em home.

And, oh yeah, while you’re at it, get rid of the military mindset that the only way to protect America is by going to war against an enemy we cannot defeat.

Quitting smoking is not easy. To quote anyone with good sense, "It’s hard." Oh, sure, the world is filled with non-smokers who act like Bible thumpers out to change the world to their way of doing things. Bible thumpers and those who are former smokers are two examples of the most intolerant people on earth.

Can you imagine a drug treatment program where the therapist stares at you and says, "You should quit. I did. And if I can do it, anybody can." Or, perhaps the Nancy Reagan approach to drugs: look at that cigarette and just say NO.

There is a reason behind the fact that most people who try to quit smoking fail. It’s harder to quit smoking than for a teenage boy to give up sexual fantasies. The American Cancer Society says that 40% of smokers try to quit each year but only 4% to 7% succeed.

An average cigarette contains about 4,000 different chemicals, the most well known being nicotine. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health issued a report in 2006 that showed cigarette manufacturers have been increasing the amount of nicotine in cigarettes, thus making them even more addictive. The average increase between 1999 and 2004 was 10%. The Kool brand increased by 20%.

Nicotine, however, is not the only problem when it comes to quitting. A lot of those other chemicals help get nicotine into the blood stream faster which, of course, produces a quick "happy" feeling. One failing of nicotine patches and nicotine gum is that they don’t address the actual habit of smoking. Habits include a cigarette first thing in the morning or a cigarette with a cup of coffee or a cigarette with a beer or a cigarette following a meal. Smokers have geared themselves to smoking as part of a daily ritual.

There is, however, a solution. And it’s a solution that I began a few weeks ago.

How To Stop Smoking – Without Quitting Smoking

Let me tell you about an electric cigarette. Yeah, I know. That sounds funny, doesn’t it? My doctor laughed when I told him about it. He’d never heard of such a thing. A lot of people have heard about them, though. And there are several different kinds. That’s one reason I’m writing this. There are four-part, three-part and two-part electric cigarettes. Go for the two-part. As hard as it is to quit smoking, you want to go for the simple method and a two-part electric cigarette is simpler than the others.

A two-part electric cigarette contains a nicotine flavor capsule that looks like a cigarette filter and a lithium battery that looks like the other part of a cigarette. Flavors include tobacco, menthol, vanilla, etc. The flavor capsules also allow you to choose the amount of nicotine you need. 16 mg is available. So are 8 mg, 6 mg, 4 mg, and 0 mg. See how you can create your own step down program to get off the nicotine habit – if you want to!

You see, the nicotine is delivered in a water vapor that is astoundingly like cigarette smoke, except that the other 4,000 chemicals are missing. That’s right. All the cancer-causing stuff is gone. All the bad health stuff is gone. So you really don’t have to really quit smoking. Just quit smoking those things that are bad for you. No tar. No ash. No carbon monoxide.

Part two of this wonderful story is cost. Electric cigarettes cost a lot less than regular cigarettes. Of course, your initial cost will include a battery charger and a couple of batteries in addition to the flavor capsules. After that, the capsules are like buying a carton of cigarettes for around $15.00. Down the street at the Tobacco Discount store, cartons run nearly $50 for premium and $39 for generic brand.

So, let’s see what we have here. The electric cigarette is less expensive than real cigarettes. It has no tar, no carbon monoxide, and no cancer-causing additives, but it does allow you to get a nicotine fix. The different nicotine levels allow you to wean off the addictive drug if you want to. It sort of sounds like a win-win situation to me, and that’s why I signed up. That’s why I’m smoking an electric cigarette now.

My wife, who is allergic to smoke, has been the ultimate test. I have smoked on the sofa while sitting beside her. I have smoked in the car with her sitting beside me. She is even more amazed than I am. She can smell it, she can see the "smoke" – and it doesn’t affect her at all.

If you are a smoker in the United States and want to give up the part of smoking that’s bad for you without really giving up smoking, click on the link below for more information and to set up your account.

Stop Smoking without Stopping Smoking

If you live in the UK, use this link: Stop Smoking without Stopping Smoking – United Kingdom

If you live in South Africa, use this link: Stop Smoking without Stopping Smoking – South Africa

Webmasters: If you would like to help others learn more about this product, you can sign up here.