trippydude's Blog

 Where were you when we elected the first black American President?   I was watching CNN, Fox, and on my son's laptop blogging pronouncing Obama will win even before the polls closed. Then I watched in amazement as the electoral count started upward.

 For a person whom grew up in the civil rights era, whose parents were a part of that process of change, My Stepfather,and Mother stood in awe as LBJ signed into law the Voter's Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, and they enjoined in the celebration because they knew a wrong had been righted, We were Whites yes, a minority whom sought equality for all peoples, especially those of color, Other's didn't quite have that vision because they were blinded by hate, segregation  to them meant that they had supremacy over another lesser human in their eyes. To me Tuesday all that died, A wonderful Dream was fulfilled, an ambition of an entire Peoples was uplifted. What started on a bridge in Selma, and sparked by a speech in Washington has come forward, a change for the goodness of all free thinking Americans of all color, Thank You  Dr. King for those words  for it changed my thoughts, my ideals, and now along with other fellow White Americans gave me courage to standby  those whom were oppressed  whom were wronged and shout out with voice and deed  "We Want Change". Yes we are "Free at last! Free at last! thank God All Mighty! We're Free at Last" to seek that which can change all people for the betterment of humanity, and spark the Fires of Unity of minds, and hearts, and by God uplift the spirit of all Americans to erase the lines of color and break the barriers of bigotry,and reap a harvest of prosperity  in human kindness.

Mr. President Elect Obama, This is all I asked of you, Lead us to that Promised Land.......Trippy :(!)                              

How as we Americans show ourselves as good examples to other countries trying democracy for the first time when we can't do our own version right. Voting is a right given to us by law, it's protected it can never be taken away. Yet we abuse the privilege. Makes me wonder why?  Organisations Like ACORN, and others seem to think they have to cheat, mislead, lie, to get the vote out. Voting is a simple process, first you register (lawfully), then when the time comes you go vote. We do our civic duty, and fulfill the right. Where the problem comes in is how we register or whom does our registering. Both the Republican, and Democractic parties participate in register drives, they send out their volunteers with forms to fill out.  But the simple way is to go to your local library, at least you know you'll be signed up lawfully. Voter registration offices are located in some governmental buildings as well. Don't be defrauded out of your right by leaving the registering to others. Remember the responsibility is yours, Protect the right, and the privledge.....trippy

  Reality has struck, we have a woman running as V.P., and it isn't Hillary.  My goodness the Forefathers of our country are rolling in their graves. We have an Black man running for President, a Woman in the running for Vice President. Old George, Ben and Quincy are rockin' heavens acres, Meanwhile MLK is saying "Ya see Lord I was on the right track, all I needed was a little nudge of divine providence from you and how about that,  gee dreams really do come true".  Yes we're coming along way, we've evolved, adapted, grown in our own humanism greeted our future hope with the promise of changing even more. Reality! Could world peace be next? Could hunger, famine, disease, be a forgone conclusion?  Could wars be settled by just saying sorry we've decided ending a human life isn't worth it?   OK so maybe I'm hoping or seeing to much into these small historical steps.  But think about it a minute, reality was we've never had the aforementioned moments in history before, Could this be a changing reality comming to a future near you? I'd like to think I'd live to see it, that would be a reality check I'd like to help spend.....trippy

   "I've been listing to the speeches of , Biden & the Clinton's and  Big O, himself came out to interject more blow & billowing  to the retoric of change. I felt like  I'm being courted for my first date by them saying, "Oh  we're not like all the other ones we're different".   As they're  picking the tune that sounds like they're trying to convince the American people, but mostly the unbelievers & undecided." < From the lips of my Wise & Wonderful Wife.

 The truth is "If it sounds to good to be true then it possibly isn't" And this fit's the adage. It's a politicans job to sell you on his/her promises to promote their agenda, but to me all I'm hearing is , We will We will, didn't that sound like the Devil when he got  kicked out of heaven by saying "I will be"?  Is Obama making the same promises with this change theme? I don't want your promises I want action! I want to feel the Winds of Change early, come on B.O. give me a taste now. Since you've been out campaining how many times have you flown back to D.C. to vote on an important bill concerning the "Will of the People". Oh yeah you can't Pelosi the "Puppet Master" shut down the House.  I'm still skeptic, Let's say for the sake of arguement Obama wins as President what will his first ninety days be like, well ok eighty seven cause he'll probally party  his hiney off.  You know I might be daff but I think he's going to pull some of his agenda stuff off.  For one thing he'll name his Cabinet, Ah yea here we go, of course Sen. Clinton might well be made Secratary of Health Education & Welfare,  Mr Clinton might be made an Ambassidor to something, I shutter at that prospect. Whom to pick as SEC of State hmm, someone with forein policy experience I hope. Ah well I hope the Winds of Change doesn't blow smoke up the American Peoples skirt, or turn D.C. into Bendover Acres..Trippy

Well Folks,

Not only do we have to deal with foreign acts of terrorism but local acts as well. Did you know that over 150 bomb threats are received to somewhere in America daily. Domestic terrorism in one form or another takes place in every country in the free world every 30 seconds It begs the question, How can this happen? We have the best and most expensive Homeland Security operation on going, yet it's not without flaws. Thousands of acts are planned and some carried out randomly from church burnings to threats of violence against public officials and that includes our colleges and universities ergo the recent shootings. Is there a way of preventing these, yes it starts with me & you, it's called Operation: WatchTower of Freedom. This operation involves us the American citizen getting involved, working with local Police, Federal & State, by just doing one simple thing being alert, we have a term that comes from being on the battlefield, "Eyes 360", situational awareness of your surroundings.  While you were standing at a light, or on a subway platform, waiting at a bus stop have you ever really focused on that one person, or something that you found odd.  You wouldn't know what to look for unless you were trained or schooled you think? You don't have to be but it does help.  40 million Americans could've stop these acts, merely by putting to use 2 of their 5 senses. When I travel I pay particular attention to where I'm at, whom I'm making contact with. Strangely many take their situation for granted, but being aware of their surroundings isn't on their minds.

     Two Students as an experiment, done so with the knowledge of local authorities, carried a brief case into a subway along with a backpack, one had an empty coke bottle filled with lighter fluid, the other a stink bomb, both were rigged with phony timer's. One boarded a train the other set his briefcase down behind a trash can then walked away, although they never set these items off, as they later stated not one potential eye witness couldn't even remember what they were wearing nor looked like, some denied wanting to get involved. Bad news for us Good for the Terrorists. There's a book out I'm  not sure who wrote it, but it's called "The Self Preservation handbook ". It's a guide in showing you techniques of how to spot and protect yourself against terrorism, and personal attacks. It shows you what types of behavior, change in surroundings, to steer clear of and to be alerted to. Also  you can contact your local office of Homeland Security for other literature on theses topics. For your own safety I'd advise doing this who knows, you just might save your life and those of thousands of others. Just to let you know, Im always watching my back as well as yours.:(!)..trippy  

 The Dem party's big ballyhoo, Why do we have these conventions?. We could save  humongous expense by just having a pre- primary election, and let the voter's decide on  their choices for Prez and V.P. Do away with the Delegate system the Electoral College and just have a straight popular vote. Ahh No! it's called ka-ching the  $Money Machinery$. The DNC & all the glitz & circumstances surround it power up, millions of $'s are generated for the Dem Partie's treasury & War coffer's. And local economies prosper as well. the Repub's same thing. I watched a little of the Dem's platform adopting process on C-span and was bored to death.This is another reason for the DNC, to ratify their platform, biggg whoop, send my a$$ a memo I won't RSVP in Denver, Not as long as I have FoxNews, ( High 5's ) by the way the web sites a blast!.

 To the FoxAtlanta crew out their reporting, bring me back one of them straw hats and a DNC t-shirt, I'll need something to wear to the polls in November.  Enjoy the Party the taxpayers are footing at least part of the bill. Tell them protester's the White House is the other way East of there. Must be nice to be an Elitist,...:(!)..trippy   

     Well it's going on week three of the job hunt, and things aren't going so well. Not many offerings have come across as a matter of fact posting my resume' has gotten me into some darker areas of Internet searching, Recruiters, have been hitting me with offers from tech schooling, to in home businesses.  Every job I've applied for has had these carnsared aptitude tests. it beats all I've ever seen, I guess they want to test you on character, and honesty before you get hired.  I have a lot of reasons here for not getting hired rather than being hired. One Career Consultant said that I rank down there with Parolee's on the job viability & appeal scale,  because of my lack of positive work references, longevity on the job, and very poor career choices, geewhiz that was a blow to my already fragile ego. But I guess the truth hurts, but it's also something that can't be rectified. Sure I made a lot of mistakes in judgement back down the road, but I've learned from those little hiccups. So where do I go from here ? I've got over Forty years in the work place and my experiences vary sorta like a jack of all trades and a master of none.  well I've mastered one thing so my consultant says, quitting. But I've had a lot of good viable reasons for doing so, I've  sacrificed  good jobs for my family, mainly for my wife's advancement in her career, we moved a lot over the years, relocation also to many is seen as a minus, the willingness not to stay in one place long term, to an employer that's not a good hiring incentive. The reason for quitting my last place of employment was because I could no longer stand the management's master /slave mentality, the brutal work schedule, and the pay versus workload ratio, all viable excuses admittedly, by the way my former company is rated as three on Jobvent.Com's  best work environment scale, ten being the highest. But future employer's don't get your version until the interview, and if they get a bad reference from your former employer then that day never comes.  Another minus on my scale is education, I never finished high school, I dropped out, partly my fault, but mainly my Stepfathers, you see he was an alcoholic and even though he was a tradesman and made very good money, because of his drinking he'd lose job's on a regular basis, so I was forced to go to work rather than school. And what about a GED you ask , well I never really got around to it, not having one never hindered me before in finding work and besides I know how to read & write fairly well, but lack a little bit in math skills. So in looking at my minuses you might concur with my "Career Consultant" But if given the opportunity I could show employer's a great deal of pluses to their benefit. I've got plenty of life experiences ready to be put to good use, So if your an employer reading this and be willing to look over some of my disadvantages, I'm still trainable, eager, ready to impart on a new positive footing , I promise to give my best effort to the endeavor. Thing's I'd like to do in the employment field are yet to be accomplished. Who knows I might be the one your looking for to fill a niche that no one else can, All I have to sell in this market place is whats between my ears and a strong backbone, my willingness to go to the line, and get off to a running start.  By the way many thanks to all whom commented on my other blog. It gave me some good insights, and a great lift of spirit...:(!)..trippy 

  Well here we are again doing our saber rattling & sparing with Russia over the invasion of Georgia.  We're involving ourselves in a high stakes real life game of "COMAND & CONQUER".  Poland has asked for and is receiving a Missile Defence package from us. Shades of the Cuban missiles crisis flashes through my minds eye.  Russia has stated by, some sources that if this is put in place it may launch a nuclear strike or do other measures, to counter act this. Rut Ro! Pooten's got a helluva nerve, well I for one am looking for a place to dig a big hole for my bomb shelter, I don't do well  glowing in the dark. Russia has been placating us for the last few years, it's the old Wolf in sheep's clothing thingy, or I should say Bear in the Berries, the picture looks cute, but the fangs & claws are as sharp as ever, and very real.  I' m wondering what ever happened to the concept of M.A.D. , Mutually Assured Destruction.  A big chill runs down my back on this topic. For a country that on the surface seemed to stand with us in one minute for Terrorism, now is the   Terrorist, And that my friends is something to worry about. Now bring in to the picture Russia's possible allies, Iran , Argentina, North Korea, Cuba, and smaller Warsaw Pact nations.  Russia could use any of these for a base of operations to pose a very deadly  strike or use operatives, sleepers if you will to reek havoc to any place on the globe. I'm not trying to be "Chicken Little", but folks this situation could escalate very easily. And remember we're in the middle of the process of changing the Guard so to speak. Whatever happens next, will have a profound effect on the next President's decisions. After 9/11 we're already skittish, and fearful enough, now with the Iraqi situation & Afghanistan becoming actively more intense, this reopening of cold war wounds couldn't have come at a more dire time. If we're not cautious the start World War III, and folks this WOULD  be a Geo-Thermal War of epic proportions, Without Some sense of a big sanity shot from somewhere to end this Mankind could find himself  on the road to mass extinction very quickly. Let us pray that cooler heads prevail...:(!)..trippy

I recently heard something that really bothered me.  It was where a person was standing in line at the G.D.L., (Ga Dept. of labor) ,  I was about the third in line. This guy was really miffed. It seems he'd been sent on a job interview in a part of the city where it wasn't let's just say a very good part.  He was white and the job was at a black owned business,  well it seems he  didn't get the job or something to that effect, and he was making comments about reverse discrimination, and affirmative action, and how he'd went to all the expense of getting there only to be turned down.  Well when he got to the person at the desk, he flatly asked that he not be sent on a work interview where he might encounter  a person of color as the interviewer, I was a little curious as to how this was going to happen since the case worker never meets the employer person to person.

   Listen, I previously worked at a business where the majority of the employees were of color.  as a matter of fact I was only one of two whites working there. The Supervisor was black, the Manager, and Assistant Manager, there wasn't a single white person in a supervisory position there. Why ?, sometimes I wondered  why weren't there any whites holding any of those positions?  The only conclusion I could imagine was  because no one qualified had applied.  But still, is there some basis for this to be perceived, as perhaps reverse discrimination?  I know the law forbids it, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't happen.  Skin color should never be a factor in getting a job, but yet when a black manager or owner is faced with hiring ether a quailified white or black worker. Does Affirmative Action play a role in the hiring process?,  thus allowing a black owned business owner to get around discrimination laws and hire the person of color over the white person?  Is Ga. a right to work state?   I myself hope to be hired on my quailifications not my color of skin.  Still yet sometimes I wonder "Wassup wiff This ?"...:(!)...trippy       

I heard on the news late last night where our fighting men& women are having to pay as much as $200 for their extra luggage.  Haven't our Airline Companies  got a patriotic bone in their bodies,  These Soldiers are heading to a war zone, and putting their lives on the line so that they can be  gouged. It's shameful!   A disgrace!  That our fighting men & women are put in this position.  Doesn't the military have a transport wing?  Fuel cost be damned. It's our loved ones dying in Iraq & Afghanistan  I think they should be flown First Class Free!  It's the least we can do for the sacrifices they make.  Also the Military should pickup the tab. We taxpayers pay dearly for our military budgets, you mean to tell me that these soldiers have to pay their own transport costs.  These are Patriots going into the mouth of hell to protect our rights and freedoms!  It's an injustice and a slap in the face to every American fighting Man & Woman!  I'd like to see a travel fund set up where the American public can make a cash donation to help defer the cost & travel expenses.  These persons do make the supreme sacrifice, paying with their lives! at least we can do is deliver them on the frontlines with the Honor they deserve...: (!)....trippy                   

I lost my job last week, and am having to put my work applications and resumes online. What a pain to fill out these online apps. Is there anyone who takes the good old paper applications any more? Kroger, Publix, Save-Rite, Walgreens's you must go to their websites to fill out these applications. I've spent more time on this computer doing those than out in the streets finding a job. And then once you fill them out, your told they have 60 to 90 days to  notify you while your application is on file. I'm so frustrated, no contacting them on the phone they just tell you " hey your application is online we'll contact you".  In the meantime I'm facing crisis mode. I guess the fact that the unemployment pool is so saturated  that many of the big name companies have big big pools of application data to sift through. I went to the usual places the Ga.Dept. of Labor center, again you must apply online to most of their work entries, or send a resume, (I'm resume challenged) and couldn't write one if I had to. Being 57 years old and trying to catch up in the telecommunication world sucks big time, all I want is to work!  No wonder the unemployment rate is rising. What peeves me is there's no face to face contact, only if and when your contacted for an interview, which by the way may never come(fact). It use to be that a person got hired by a first contact meeting after all impressions are 50% of the hiring criteria at least that was true when I was coming up in the workplace. Many, many a poor soul are like me trying to find suitable employment but are so bewildered and set a back by the whole process that you get befuddled just trying to complete some of these application processes. Well if I don't find a job soon I'll become another soul on the statistic list you know the one that counts the Homeless!..:(!)..trippy

 Ramp meters what idiot thought up this concept?  What do you think on- ramps were built for?, So you could get up to speed to merge safely on to the expressway right!  Well now with these on-ramp red lights it becomes a dangerous game of  red light stop green light go, Whats safer I asked, to go from a dead stop, 0-60 mph in 8 seconds or to maintain a safe consistent speed  to achieve  a merge?  What the powers that be didn't think of was the fact that there will be more rear end collisions, (which nearly happened to me) and red light jumping. What slows traffic on the express ways isn't merging from on- ramps, but drivers slowing to exit off- ramps or jumping lanes at the last minute to exit. Again this is one thing that effects everyone one, but did we get to vote on this stupid concept, ah nope. We talk of saving gas well does ramming your foot to the floor board save gas more, I don't think so....:(!)..trippy

Well, we heard it being played on the networks, mainly Fox ,now it's full content has been leeched on to the Internet and the "N" word was said. Jessie Jackson's  open mic phoopa is being debated by everyone. Good!  But here's the not so good part. That word  still exist on the lips of black Americans, by use. And so I asked why?  Is it a segregated term used holy within the black American community  for their use to address one to another?, then me being white it shouldn't be used by me  at all then right. No problem here I hate the word simply because of the context in which I grew up hearing it being used, in the um, not so good term of endearment, but as a negative slant toward Blacks as a whole.  Even blacks use it as a slur to one another. In my opinion  I think it shows ignorance, a defaming intolerable term of personal & racial degradement. Another  term is "Cracker", it's a term used in the derogatory addressing toward whites, yep I been called that by a black person or two.   like " You Cracker's don't know how we, n-word feel about you using the n-word when speaking to us!" Listen I'm tired of diatomic  labels altogether, no matter what they are. But what I'd like to see is more of the word "Friend" when we Whites & Black Americans address each other. Skin tones maybe of two colors, but the color of friendship should always be that of opacity, clear, clean ,and true....:{!)..trippy  

   Well, now President Bush has announced the lifting of the ban on off shore drilling.  It took him eight years to finally do that?  And now the ball is in the Congresses court.   He blames the Congress and the Senate for not acting sooner, um W. old buddy it was your Dad that put the ban in place to begin with, when he was Prez.  All this just to shore up McCain's assurance for the election, ah the fix is in. Now all McCain's gotta do is not tee off the conservative right in his party.  Also in the news we're starting high level diplomatic  talks with Iran over nuclear policy, hmm where 'd I hear that before?, hey Obama don't look now but ole W's stolen one of your idea's.  Mr. Bush in his last days in office has done more than he did in the past eight years, paving the way is he?, To make it easier for McCain if he's elected, again the fix is in.  And to quell Obama's issues  rhetoric a little in the process, um that's a thought.  But remember citizens  the power is in the Democratic controlled Congress, and a Liberal is Speaker of the House. Pelosi may have her eye's on much more perhaps a bid for 2012 Presidential nod,  God forbid. In the mean time we citizens haven't a FIXER at all,  My faith though is with the American way of determination, and independence, to be the FIXER of our own governmental miscues, and take action, if vocal protest won't do it, if writing Congress won't help it,  then what's next?  Why we try and try until we ourselves FIX the FIXERS...:(!)..trippy