I went back ad re-read my 2008 CreativeRightBlog post from days after the election, today, and boy do I feel stupid.

http://thecreativerightblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/after-deep-cleansing-breath.html

I am Charlie Brown asking Lucy to hold the football, over and over. Or like rooting for the Cincinnati Bengals-total disappointment over and over again. I know that I am a creature of my habits, always have been and probably always will be.

My life doesn’t radically change that much, I am comfortable with that. I was worried about what President Obama would do to my exceptional country and my worries bore fruit. I didn’t know it then that I would actually start protesting and become more of a conservative activist. The Tea party spawned and made me feel not so alone. There’s lots of people out there that feel just like I do-millions of so called “angry white men” and radical extreme grandmas and grandpas, racist, malcontents and militia.

I got attacked for standing up for the Constitution and not wanting our country to go bankrupt. My friends and some family members hated and still hate the Tea party movement. I don’t understand their hatred. It doesn’t make since. I’m the same guy. I have principles that are worth standing up for.

But today, the day or two after another humiliating political loss, I am afraid. If the economy double dips, I will most certainly lose my job. That’s scary.

I’m disappointed and angry and have lost faith in my fellow Americans. I always gave the American people the benefit of the doubt, not anymore. I’m afraid that they don’t know what they have done…messages have been transmitted to Vladimir, the fundamental transformation is about to go FORWARD-full speed ahead Mr Parker, full speed ahead.

I’m devoted to the traditional American view and history — vision, as well — of what creates prosperity. The old capitalism, the old arguments of hard work, stick-to-itiveness, self-reliance, charity, helping out in the community. The other half of the country does not and that saddens me.

It seems that over half of the nation just wants their government stuff, they believe they are entitled to it all- free health care-it’s a fucking right, give em their free on demand abortions and contraception and obama phones, food, shelter, EPT cards, childcare, education and union pensions from 55 on. As Rush said today, people are not going to vote against Santa Claus if the alternative is being your own Santa Claus.

This nation of Honey BooBoo’s has suckled up the the Big Gov teat and will never be weaned. I believe in individual responsibility but more than half of the country does not.

Dumb asses.

But why should they, the richy rich stole their wealth and have always held them back for the free and easy success & wealth of there own. Share the wealth, you didn’t build that, pay your fair share, its all for the social justice and shared salvation. Get on board Michel, be team player. Everybody gets to play, winning is optional. You are no better that anybody else. Nobody can answer the question of what happens when the rich take their wealth and leave or it’s just taken from them and spread around. Once it’s gone them what? They will look at the next in line and then the next- that’s you and me folks.

I feel like I have been kicked in the teeth. Thank GOD for gummie bears.

So, I will be a good loser for a day or two AND THEN I’M DOUBLIN’ DOWN! It’s time to study up on the rules for radicals and start practicing the principle of extremism. I’m labeled that already, might as well go all the way. I’m not shutting up, I will expose the truth of the Liberal lie. Politics is dirty, so I’ll get dirty. Or I’ll come up with a smarter communictions approach.

Someone has to say NO to Obama, I’m up for the challenge. So you’re either with me or against me, my back is against the wall. I’m a wounded animal in survival mode. Don’t feed the animals. Enter the pool at out own risk, there are no life guards on duty. Or I may just give up and get in line like the rest of you lemmings.

So my question to you, my progressive friends, is this; Why did you vote for Barack Hussein Obama? Give me your most honest answer BUT make no mention of Goerge Bush, Mitt Romney, angry white men, GOP or any of the other talkin points. I challenge you to change my mind. I promise to consider all plausible ideals. Sway me.

Just when you thought you could unhind me on Facebook.  As I said on Wednesday, I’m down but not out.

Nothing like driving into work, listening to NPR, to get my blood boiling. I think that’s why I love the Stella commute so much, no radio, just me and the road, but that’s another story, another blog.

This story is a about respect or lack there of. As you may know, I post a weekly forum on Facebook on Tuesdays called Polituesday. It’s a lively day of politics, points and counterpoints, passions and emotions with a smattering of propaganda and one sided facts.

As of late, it is a scrum and not so much fun anymore. Not just Polituesday but everyday becomes a mockumentary. People behind their computers say the most heinous things knowing that I can’t reach through their monitors to smack them around.

I personally try not to demean or mock the people that disagree with me. I make a point, listen and then counter point. I know that I am not going to change some people’s mind or position, I attempt to respect their opinion even though I occasionally want to strangle them.

President Obama is mocker. He makes fun of the American people that totally disagree with his ideology. There’s no need for that. A satirical leader is not a leader worth following, he’s a bully. The Tea Party was fostered because we disagreed with the Stimulus which was just a payback to public service unions across the country,  the bank & automotive bailouts, the Affordable Healthcare act, the Cap and Trade tax on energy consumption, the Fed’s destruction of the dollar and the explosion of entitlement programs that we cannot afford anymore. It’s not the Nazi party or extreme in any fashion.

The choices of this election could not be more stark, not snark. The progressives want a government centered society where the field is leveled, everybody deserves their fair share. And everyone pays their fair share. The government and their smart bureaucrats run the show to make it fair, the wealth is spread around so no one is left behind. Income has to be equalized, it’s only fair. They should change the Democratic Part to the Fair Party(OK that was snarky, sorry).

I can respect this position, but I don’t agree with it. So why don’t I get the respect for my position?

The conservative agenda is one of free enterprise, individual responsibility and opportunity. A people centered society where we take care of those in need by helping them get back on their feet. We want a small, limited government that is off the back of small business and not in our Dr’s office. We think that we know better how to spend OUR hard earned money than the government and we would like to keep more of it. Notice that I am not talking about the GOP, they are the problem as well. They don;t want the government to be right sized because they will have to give up their power too. We have the constitution on our side. Eventually we will either prevail of this country. as we hanse known it for 220 years will cease to exist. I believe that.

So what’s the point here. That’s simple and complex.

I’m not going to put up with this crap anymore:

Keidel, you are a freakin’ mess, dude…get a grip already. for crissakes, I see you constantly popping up on Jamie’s stuff, and nothing but diarrhea ever comes out of your brain.

or

hmmmm remind me not to suggest this agency to any producers

Why should I put up with that?

I’m going to reconsider what being my Facebook friend really means. My real friends make fun of me but don’t openly mock me. I’m a big boy, I can handle the heat. I like politics but I’m not crazy about the level of discourse. So you can expect me from time to time to take my postings and go away to post another day. I’m not running away, I’m taking notice.

If you are consistently a dick, I’m going to toss you to the curb and ban you from posting to my threads. I hate to lose actual friends over politics, but if you’re mean spirited, condescending, holier than thou OR you let your foul mouth friends belittle me, well what kind of friend are you anyway?

I am changing the course of Polituesday starting today. I’m going to attempt to lay out the Romney agenda. Feel free to disagree. But keep it civil, at least on my thread. Please agree to disagree but respect my position. That’s all I could ever ask for.

After the last couple of weeks of political folly with both conventions, all the talking head punditry and bloviating, I thought today would be a good day to give thanks.

First and formats, I’d like to thank President Barack Hussein Obama. Thank you Mr. President for being exactly who you are and by governing with such a blindingly liberal/progressive ideology that I was awakened and called to action. To stop you.

Thank you for breaking your GITMO promise, we don’t want those terrorists here on the mainland. And thanks for not trying them in NYC-how are those trials going?

Thank you Mr President for rebuking any partisan cooperation by proclaiming “I Won” on your first and only meeting with the GOP, during the stimulus planning.

Thank you for the stimulus, 800 billion for shovel ready jobs, roads and bridges to nowhere. Because of you cities and and states could add public union employees for a year only to be laid off when the stimulus money was gone. Thank you for cash for clunkers program that took so many perfectly good used cars out of service. Thanks for directing some TARP cash to GM and Chrysler and saving all those union jobs and hosing the bondholders. Thanks for the Chevy Volt, the Solendra of autos that loses 40k per auto. Thanks for giving Chrysler to Fiat, the Italians are happy to have icons like JEEP. Good job, would you like a participation trophy?

Thank you President Barack for apologizing for all the terrible deeds we have done to all the nations of the world. Did that do any good? Does the world love us anymore now than under President Bush?

Thank you Mr President for appointing so many communists to the White House staff, Thanks for Holder the racist, Geitner the tax cheat, Napolitano, the sexist, Van Jones, the useful idiot and especially, thanks for Val Jarrett for pulling your strings. And thanks to all the behind the scene players at the Center for American Progress, the Tides Foundation, the Open Society- funded by George “evil dude” Soros. What a lovable guy.

A special thanks to your wife, Michelle, for demonizing the fact that I am fat because I eat what I want. I like McDonalds, White Castle and Taco Bell.

Thank you for being such an arrogant asshole, you fired up the sleeping conservative universe, you gave rise to the Tea Party, you made Glenn Beck a household name, you ignored the economy to satisfy the urge to take over the healthcare industry.

Thank you so much, President Barry, for the unconstitutional Affordable Health Care Act? Thanks for making me pay 10 years for only 6 years of benefits, for putting my health and my family’s health the the hands of unknown and unelected bureaucrats. I have a colonoscopy scheduled, would you like to put your 2 cents in? I could use the minerals and change.

Thank you for offering such great welfare entitlements, unemployment benefits, food stamps and the free stuff so people can just give up on finding meaningful work. Why work with all the Obama cash around? Vote for me and you live off the other workers for free. Thanks for putting the word unattainable in my vocabulary.

Thanks for mocking me, calling me an extremist, idiot, whacko just because I disagree with everything you believe in. Thanks for the truth squad site. You have emboldened me and millions like me. Thanks for opening my eyes to the progressive lies and distortions and policies that have NEVER worked anywhere in history.

Thanks for putting Pelosi and Reid in charge of the country while you vacationed and golfed and skipped your daily security briefings. We tossed out Speaker Pelosi in 2010 and Reid will go in 2012, thanks to you.

Thanks for dissing our allies like Great Britain and Israel. Who needs friends that have our back when we have the Arab Spring to nurture and support.

Thanks for Joe Biden who, makes Sarah Palin look like a Rhode Scholar. He’s one heartbeat away for your job. Tell Joe to knock off the Osama’s dead football spiking, he’s hurting the feelings of the Islama-terrorists around the world.

Thanks for spending 5 trillion that we don’t have. We’re borrowing it from our children and their children not China. Without us, there is no world economy. Thanks for making the 8% (really 15%) unemployment the new “reality”.

Thank you President Barack Hussein Obama. Enjoy your retirement.

Memorial Day is memory day.

Ahh Memorial Day in the midwest, the first official day of summer. It was my all-time favorite of the triad of summer holidays. Growing up in the small towns of Cleves and North Bend, Ohio, Memorial Days were some of the happiest times I can remember, except maybe for one, so here’s the story.

Back in the day, school was ALWAYS out the week before Memorial Day, always. We didn’t start back to school till AFTER Labor Day, why this changed I don’t have a clue. A union thing, I guess. The level of anticipation leading up to Memorial Day was almost unbearable as you sat in class(unairconditioned), in jeans(no shorts allowed). So much to do, so little time. We had to shop for a new swim suit, decorate the bike for the parade, find the sleeping bags, pool toys, coppertone, flashlights.

You see, Memorial Day meant the swim club would open on the Saturday before. 3Rivers Swim Club, a magical place where kids from Catholic schools and Oak Hills meet to hang out with the local riffraff. We got a new swimsuit every year, because last years was eaten up by mass quantities of chlorine and sun. We wore Speedos back then exclusively. We were on swim teams, that’s all we knew. I didn’t learn that this was unacceptable until college, another story. I remember the water was always ice cold, numbing against the early summer sun. We’d get sun burned lobster red that weekend which would turn coppertone tan by the end of the summer. The swim club had it all, a fishing lake, campground, tennis courts, a 3 and 1 meter board. The snack bar had the best fries-crinkle cuts done just right, just the right amount of salt, ketchup on the side. They had frozen 3 Musketeers bars that would bust a filling. Strangely, we ate jello right out of the box, fingers turning the color of the day. It was a glorious place where my parents could dump us for the summer.

Sunday meant a picnic at Grandma Keidel’s house on Porter Street in Cleves, out on the patio where we had planted fresh flowers in the concrete planters, fresh from a Delhi nursery. We ate steaks grilled on lighter fluid soaked briquets, a jello salad molded into something, corn on the cob with plastic corn holders. Dan used to stick me with those amazingly sharp untencils that never lasted the summer. I would decorate my bike after dinner. I had a purple Schwinn Stingray, the envy of the neighborhood. Banana seat, sissy bar, 3 speed stick shift on the bar. I’d doll it up with streamers and of course the baseball card/clothes pin to make the noise. One year it got stolen the night before the parade, I was 12 and tried not to cry, tried. My grandma, GOD bless her, got me a new bike, two weeks later(a Golden Stingray). Captain Jack Renniger said there was a bike theft ring of gypsies in the area. We never locked anything back then. The bikes were ready for the big day ahead…

Memorial Day in Cleves is a sight to be seen. We got up early, hustled down to Cleves, the back way-Mt. Nebo to US 50 to E State to Porter. Mom walked with the Women’s Club, Dad sometimes marched in uniform with Fingers and Fuzzy and Si, until his uniform wouldn’t fit anymore. We’d ride our bikes up to the Kroger Store, parking lot, where we’d pick up the parade coming from North Bend. It had the YellowJacket marching band with fat assed band leader who shall remain nameless, antique cars with veterans and official people like Grandma Hanlon who lost a son in the war. The parade would take its timedown Miami, past Ann’s Tavern where patrons would come to the door but never step out into the sun. it passed Markland where my grandpa, ole Doc Keidel, would be standing, camera at the ready to take a shot he had taken 30 times before. We’d peel off at CT Young Elementary and ditch the bikes at Grandam’s and catch a ride to the Maple Grove Cemetery. There were speeches, someone would read the Gettysburg address and the best part was the 21 gun salute at each war memorial. I remember scrambling for the brass shell casings like they were gold nuggets. You could blow across the top of the casing a certain way to make a ear wrenching, high pitched whistle. Man I can hear that haunting taps done with two trumpeters.

Then we would all go to the Legion Hall for brats and beers and songs. Years later, Fin Harrold would get Cal Collins to play jazz guitar every year, I will never forget the Legion Hall. I drank my first beer there. It was a prelude of things to come. All before noon.

My family went to picnics on Memorial Day and Labor Day ever year with all the families that grew up with my Dad. Most all had nicknames, Big Daddy Don Crow, Fuzzy, Si Sizemore, Lardo Anderson, Fingers Thompson, the Evans’, Bixy, many more. They all had kids my age. It was at a different house every year my favorite being the Crow house with the bar in the basement. The parents would drink cold beer and burn meat and the kids would fill up on pop and chips and sweets baked that day.

But thing I remember most about the greatest generation that my parent belonged to ,was the songs. They sang patriotic songs, in particular, It’s a grand old flag. For hours they would harmonize the beautiful songs about our country.

They loved this country, loved it.

And that’s what Memorial Day should be about, it is for me.

Hi, it’s March 2nd, 2012, It’s a very special day.

Let me start out by saying that I am a very lucky and blessed guy. I am thankful for it, I thank my GOD for it everyday and only ask for his protection of my family.

Some could say that I have it all.

I cute house in the tony Mt Lookout triangle, a good job that pays me to be creative(and write a blog or two and FB on company time.) Friends that look after me, argue with me, put up with my rants and raves and moodiness and cockiness. My parents still live on Cliff Rd in North Bend. My in-laws are the best that best can be.

But today’s about my partner in life, today’s the 16th anniversary of the marriage to my lovely, wife, Linda. So here’s the story;

A long time a go I lived in Mt Adams row house. It had a great OTR view of Music Hall & Union Terminal, sunsets everynight. It was utopia. Sort of. My neighbor was a Delta Flight Attendant named Polly, we had great fireworks parties together. I’d bring my motley crew of friends, Kegs of Hudy, she’d supply her Delta friends, fresh from the Chicago base. One, in particular was a stunner…always dressed to the nines, totally accessorized, and shoes to die for. She was Polly’s best friend. She was totally out of my league. Sweet but with a hint of reality, she know what she wanted, so I thought. A pretty girl, no doubt a cheerleader, prom queen, heartbreaker, a flight attendant that you can’t help smiling at or flirting with.

I was married, then I was not.

I gave myself a good length of time to get over it. My friends never let me sit still, we partied are ass off back then. I had the Hudy/Schoenling Advertising account, which meant that I had a frig busting at the seams with beers and ales. Debachery.

One day, I asked Polly if she thought that Linda would even consider going out with me. She enthusiastically concurred and then began pushing me to ask her out.

Then, at a Friday Night Club, at Neons, I saw Linda with her friend, Mel(another story, another blog). She knew that I had gone threw an ugly breakup and was getting over it. I told her that I was OK. To this day, I don’t know if Polly told her about our conversation. I asked Linda if she was seeing someone special, she said no, which was a lie.

I called her on a Wednesday for a weekend, I was very nervous, gun shy. I had it all planned out with lots of options about what we could do. So I worked up the courage to ask a beautiful girl, way out of my league, out. My face was flush, heart pumping.

Got the message machine(sigh).

I just went for it right then and there, trying not to sound desperate, I presented my weekend of first date options. I had great seats for a Reds game on Friday, Or. Saturday, Two front row…

The machine cut me off so I had to call back to continue.

Two front row tickets to Tower of Power at Bogarts PLUS a soul food pre-concert bash at Keith ‘n Gumby’s.

or

Sunday we could go on a top-down Westside tour in my trusty Rabbit convertible.

Then I hung up…then called back to say she could do all activities or group them for a fun filled weekend.

Ask her which one she picked.

Since then, my life has been complete. We courted, we married, moved to the suburbs, had two kids, couple of cats and now an adorable dog. My life is not perfect but i can’t imagine not being married to Linda.

Thanks for calling back Linda, I love you, Happy Anniversary.

I knew him well.

We worked together on all my favorite recording sessions. It was always a awesome, belly laughing experience when you had Tommy behind the mic. He brought so much joy to producing a commercial. My friend, John Murray and I would just roll tape and get every ad lib, just to laugh at later. Click to play this spot from my D&E demo:

LaRosas’ Italian Lesson

Tommy could have been a excellent stand up comic, but he was so much more than that. He could sing, he brought character to every voice over. And the characters themselves used to make us laugh for hours.

But Tommy was a great friend. Always. I might not see him for years but when we see each other it was always like we just did a session yesterday. I had the pleasure to shoot quite a few rounds of golf with Tom, it was always the highlight of the week.

One story that I remember vividly was on a golf trip to Myrtle Beach. I drank too  much Jager the first night. Tommy gave me some memorable advice, Michel, all you need is time. I went to bed early, felt shitty at the tee off the next day, buy the end of the day and a few beers, I was back to 100%. Time. Click to hear One take Tommy at his best.

Star64 Drinkin

I wish I had more time to hang with all my old friends, Tom, Curt, & John. It was a great foursome. The time we spent together was priceless. Family life takes over those carefree days. I never lost touch with Tom but I didn’t get to spend the time I needed to catch up, laugh and just hang out with someone so extraordinary.

I wish I had more time to spend with you, Tom.

I’ve been asked to give the story about the FNC many times. Since this blog is all about stories, it only seems natural that I tell it again, with pictures and naming names.

It all started here

The Friday Night Club was born at a tv commercial pre-production meeting in thr mid 80’s. I don’t remember what we were shooting but the central players were Jameison Fuller, Producer/Director of Jameison/James Productions, Richard Craig/Copywriter, D&E, Jerry Donadio/Jay Gilbert Productions and me, Michel Keidel, AD/Producer, D&E. We met at the now defunked bowling alley, Glenn Schmidt’s Lanes in Newport, KY. Now we could have met in my office or J/Js office, but it was Friday and we usually did happy hour anyway, so we cut out early and went bowling. The pre-pro discussion lasted all but 5 minutes, we bowled and drank and talked about how boring the local watering holes had become. A lot of agency types went to Ogden’s in an alley downtown, it was clicky. I worked at a small up and comer ad agency and the Sive and Northlich crowd wanted no part of me or my peops.

So on that Friday, we decided to find some new places to meet after work. Our quest was to find distinctive dive bars, neighborhood juke joints and local legendary bars, close to downtown.  They had to have three distinct qualities; cheap & cold bottled beer, some sort of musical entertainment- a good juke box or band playing later, and finally- something to do, darts, pool, dual flash bar bowling, shuffleboard.

We would call it the Friday Night Club and everyone was invited, everyone. Marketing folks, creatives, long lost friends, family.

We found lots of places.

At first we just called each other, on Friday, decided where to go and went. I’d call you and 5 others, you would call your friends and boom, it’s a party.

So let me back up a skosh, I’m an art director, an artist actually. With the help of my talented coworkers, Ann Small, Steve Weinstein, designer friends, Keith Beckelheimer & Gumby Umbinhour and donated strip tac sticker paper for Libby Remley, we made beautiful stickers so we could identify who was with us. They were stored in an old cardboard 2.25 film can, which I still have. Thousands of stickers were designed and hand cut and stuck in bars across the city. The stickers were the only perk, very collectable and came to be the essence of the FNC spirit.

So we did this every Friday for year or two. D&E had a postage meter, we had just got our first Macs and laserwriters, we assembled a list and started sending out post cards. They were very creative, we took turns doing them. We decided to go to an every-other-Friday schedule, to cut down on odds of DUI trouble. The core group ebbed and flowed, the group started dominating the bars we went to. We widened the circle to the far reaches of the metro area. A few hearty souls went to my hometown of Cleves, twice. We were routinely asked to come back and several bars wanted us every Friday, we resisted. So many good times were had. John Murray and I would play a game of darts for a round every FNC. It was a hell of a ride.

I landed the Hudepohl/Schoenling beer business off of the experience. My Mt Adams apt was stocked with beer for years. So many bars to remember, luckily Steve Weinstein and I went to the top 50 or so and took pictures for full page Enquirer ad to promote Cincinnati. The headline: Cincinnati, a great place for a cold one.

After 10 or so years we slowed down to once a month. It made it more special. As a group, we were only ejected from of two bars, City View for throwing cake and cussing and Mulligans for cussing or something. The FNC record was 98 folks at Frie’s with Cory’s a close second at 96.

So what happened to the FNC? I got remarried & had two kids. My lovely wife, Linda, flies for Delta and leaves on Friday, comes back on Sunday. So I had to stay home on Fridays. I tried to pass it off to the next generation, it takes work and dedication to keep it going.

So we took 15 years off.

Last month I asked Linda if I could have one Friday a month to go out for a beer, she knew why. She will be flying to Paris this Friday but will definitely make the next one.

The future of the FNC is this. We’ll go month to month, starting this Friday, 11/4 at Fries. No more post cards needed because we have Facebook and Tumblr. Join me for a beer or two after work this Friday. Get a sticker or two, bring your friends and ask them to like us on FB. Take pics and post on the Facebook page & Tumblr site. Who knows where this will go but as long as everyone has fun, drives carefully and get’s home safe. we’ll give it a go.

Before there was gen x, gen y, millennials, whatever else they classify themselves, there was just plain folks. Baby boomers is such bullshit box to be put in. We just are who we are. And we are awesome!. Our lives are living proof.

To those of us born 1925 – 1970. To all the kids who survived the 1930s, ’40s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s… First, we survived.

Being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank ,while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes. Then, after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets, and, when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps, not helmets, on our heads.

As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.. Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter, and bacon. We drank kool-aid made with real white sugar. And we weren’t overweight. Why? Because we were always outside playing…

That’s why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. –and, we were okay.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem..

We did not have play stations, Nintendo and x-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no internet and no chat rooms.

We had friends and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from those accidents. We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report abuse. We ate worms, and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given bb guns for our 10th birthdays, 22 rifles for our 12th, rode horses, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and although we were told it would happen- we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little league had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors ever. The past 50 to 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas..

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

If you are one of those born between 1925-1970, congratulations!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good. While you are at it, share this with your kids, so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it ?

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves”.
-Abraham Lincoln

NOTE: this text was emailed to me several times, I didn’t write it, I lived it and loved it.

Shut ‘er down Mr. Speaker. Don’t back down, I’ve got your back.

and then I posted an article about how the shutdown is not really a shut down. You can find that link here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110224/ap_on_re_us/us_what_shutdown

Where's the Senate Budget Bill, Harry. We passed ours 40 days ago!

Both these posts got the normal right/left bloviation as usual from the usual suspects. It makes for good reading throughout a rather boring advertising day. Poking liberal/progressives with a stick is fun, it’s a hobby.

“Hey Keidel, as a fed, I’ll tell you that everything won’t go on as usual if a shutdown happens. Although you’re absolutely right – This could have all been avoided if the Dems simply passed their budget last year. As someone that is going to be directly affected by this (my family as well and most of the people in DC), I find this infuriating. Governments shouldn’t be so fucking infective that they shut down.”

“In this economic climate, it’s actually quite unlikely that the Republican led congress will reimburse our salaries, especially those voted in by the Tea Party movement. So federal employees, as disliked as we may be by the masses, are being used as “pawns” by the politicians. Personally, and obviously unobjectively, I find it infuriating. We vote those sonofabitches into their benefit-filled positions so they can pass budgets and make laws and they simply don’t do their jobs, but they still get paid, still have benefits. I do my job, daily and I lose my salary and my benefits. And I’m hung out to dry to cover my mortgage, rent, car payment, daycare, etc.”

“A shutdown is a big deal. And it’s going to make things a mess. Fuck, if people think that your average federal process takes a long time now, I can guaran-damn-tee you that once federal employees are brought back on from the shutdown, depending on how long that is, it’s going to be a long time before they’re caught up and serving the public in a timely fashion.

Just my two cents pal. How’s everything else by you and your fam? All good?”

Ok, my eyes are wide open. Point taken. I sent back a note that I would cover his mortgage and buy a diaper or two, which I would gladly do. He would never ask though.

I'm smarter than you, dawg.

I sit here at my desk on a Friday morning and some how, some way, it seems like I’m at a crossroads.

It’s February in Ohio, dark, dank, cold and depressing, I’m in serious need of some sunshine and sand between my toes. I don’t feel like working for clients that don’t respect me today. I pity the fool that comes in here and ask me to make to “pop” today. Question my pantone color selection and you may see 185 red. Don’t ask me stupid questions or say to me “don’t mind me asking”. I fucking mind today.

Is this the midlife crises that I have been expecting like the onset of type 2 diabetes? Is this what I’m feeling?

I don’t expect you to answer for me. I will grapple with this myself and today I write a story about it. Comment if you want but know that I am doing this for me and me alone.

So, I turned 50 two and half years ago, we had a party, I drank way too much tequila. I was hung over for 3 days. I had fun and I think everyone there did too. Linda certainly did, she has not touched the Patron since. It was a mix of my westside buddies minus a few of my best old friends, my FNC buddies and my newly adopted HP/Mt Lookout/Kilgour Parents that have diced that I’m OK for a westsider, conservative. I expect that to be the start of my midlife thingy. It wasn’t.

It’s happening now.

But it’s not what I expected. I’m not looking to cheat on my wife or leave my family. I love her and my kids so much.

I’m not looking to buy a Harley and some leather chaps and get a tat and an earring? I’d rather have a Stella scooter- all tricked out. I’m sure all my friends with new motorcycles would be aghast at me riding with them in a sissy red Poe’s scooooter. Don’t care. aha.

I’ve also started to go to mass on Sundays. I’ve been to a different church each Sunday. Big beautiful Catholic churches all over the city. It’s been thirty five years since I’ve really got down on my knees and prayed. That’s been good, but I’m noticing that it’s much more emotional than I remember. I can’t explain that. Something changing deep inside me and it’s good. Very good, but I’m starting to act like the new speaker of the house, if you can see what I’m saying’. I’ve never been a cry baby till now.

And then there’s politics and the world revolution and the bumbling presidency of Barack Hussein Obama. It bugs to no end how callus and lawless that man has been. I should not let things that I have not control of bother me but for the first time on my life I am actually freaked out about what’s going on in the world. I was not a big W fan but I’d take him back in a New York minute over this progressive ass wipe. Hell, I’d rather have bill Clinton(not Hillary-wfw).

And I thought I would feel better after this November’s historic shellacking.

I don’t.

Not with all this greedy thuggish union protesting going on in WI and now my state, OHIO. I’m a proud tea party member and I’m pissed off at the mockery that is happening. This is not about the middle class worker’s American Dream being taken away by evil GOP Governors, it’s about the unions that work for the government contributing to their healthcare and retirement like we all do. Union busting, OK damn right, screw them and their socialist agenda and sheer bribery of the Democratic party. And for the cowards that leave their states to avoid a vote, cut them off, fire them, fuck em. Yes that’s angry rhetoric. Not civil. What they are doing is not right and it’s about time somebody stands up agains the stupidity that’s going on.

And that fact that gas prices will necessarily skyrocket this summer, I’m going to get me the Stella. It’s all by design by the progressive movement to cause chaos-buttom up, top down, inside out(the heart part). Why are we not drilling for oil everywhere right now? Obama and his minions like Cal Sunstein has regulated it out of business. EPA is regulating against the will of the people. Obama’s decided that he will decide what’s constitutional and what’s not. WTF? His healthcare bill now stand unconstitutional according to the law. That has not been overturned yet, I don’t think it will be, it’s over as far as I’m concerned.

I’m going to deal with this anger. Have to. Thank GOD we have the internet and other than mainstream media to get our news from. My guys won the election and I will stand with Gov. Kasich. And in less than two years we throw the bum out of the white house and clean up the mess that the left always leaves behind.

Hopefully then I will have found a new direction for my life. Maybe teaching, or art.

Look out world, I’m getting a scooter.