Since I got my old PC running again it's been amazing to open up that time capsule! I'm reading old blog posts the few I was able to save in Word files when 3 of the blog platforms I used closed down, 2005-2006 time frame. I can see my writing style changed a LOT! In fact I like my old style better. I covered everything from the mundane to technical, from the private and personal to the political and religious even. I think one thing that happened is back when I was supporting Obama for President, many of the people in the circle I had been blogging with were on the other side of that fence and I lost like 12 blog friends in the course of 2 weeks! I believe in fear of that happening to me again I decided to play it safe.
I started to blog a photo some captions under photos, the artwork I was involved in at that time, etc...but the part I started to leave out was MY LIFE! Each of us now a-days suffers from ADD. It will be darned hard for most to even make it through this post.
One thing I can say about my state of mind back then; I was determined!! That is how I still am today. I'm def more mellow and have very few needs not being satisfied, although I live a meager lifestyle. The last year I was in NYC my job had really started to eat at me, and I still have PTSD and probably always will have...it was not all bad but the bad ones seem to hang around more in the corners of my mind than the good ones. I'm talking about experiences. Sometimes I squeeze my head between my hands in a effort to forget.
On my last week in NYC before the move back to SC my last day working as a Paramedic was on my birthday the 29th...and the next day I made this post on My Space Blog:
Sept 30, 2006
Dear Blog Family,
By the time you read this Ill be gone...I’ve always wanted to begin a letter that way, well I did once upon a time and you will all read that if you read my book Before Life Got Complicated. I know that my life is getting ready to change again...I don’t have all the answers. I came to New York City in search of something.
Many questions were answered while I was here...and some dreams...look at me soon to be a published author...I lived in my own little shoebox by the sea...I witnessed history in the making, I felt the terror, saw the pain, and tried to help. I became an EMT then a Paramedic...I’ve watched as people died, and I’ve seen infants born, and I've seen infants die. I saw some that I prayed they would die and be out of the miserable life they were trapped in.
I witnessed suffering, seen Kings, and I’ve been a part of it all. New York is a vibrant place; its alive in a way I can't explain to you...you have to see it for yourself, feel it for yourself...and experience it for yourself. But until you live there you really don't know New York City. You might visit, but you have to know the daily heart beat of the city to really understand. From Brooklyn, to Astoria, Washington Heights to Harlem, Sheepshead Bay to Bay Shore, City Island to Roosevelt Island, from East New York to Pelham Bay Park to the Bronx to Central Park West, the East Side, Alphabet City, West Side Drive , Upper, Lower, Midtown Manhattan...its a beautiful place full of beautiful determined people.
When I arrived here I didn't know uptown from down, now I know NYC like the back of my hand. I can tell you how to go local, which train to take, what bus to connect, what highway to take if you have a fast car...and if you want to walk I know all the street names and what corners to take you where you want to go...I’ve eaten in fine restaurants and I’ve struggled to eat take out rice n beans while flying down 5th Ave, lights and sirens blasting, and hoping I can scarf this food down before we arrive and have to jump out and once again try to help someone on the worst day of their lives. You have to learn how to disconnect. Tunnel vision helps keep you sane.
Some days it was almost more than I could bear, I broke down and sobbed in anger, disgust, desperation and yet in the end I made it. I survived a broken heart, anger like you've never felt, suppressed the urge to murder, and I’ve survived a job that takes lives daily. I survived on my own. I went to work everyday missed only 2 days of work due to sickness in 5 1/2 years. I went back to school and worked my ass off for one year solid, putting in 72 hour weeks every week, and sometimes I staggered home looking like a drunk, cause I was so tired I couldn’t walk straight after pulling a double and going to class...and YET I did it! If you can make it here you can make it anywhere...and that is true!
This is a city of immigrants and opportunity. The people here are the most tenacious in the whole world...they will not be outdone, they will not be ignored, and they will never give up! Just the other day I saw 2 men walking on the side of the street each one carrying a piece of 3/4" thick plywood, a full sheet! When is the last time you carried a sheet of heavy plywood a couple miles? Do you know how hard that is??? They had been to Home Depot in Brooklyn and had no way to get that plywood home, so they were carrying it. It wouldn't fit in my little hooptie or I'd have stopped. That reminded me of a time back in my childhood when my Mom was raising 3 kids and had no car of her own...she went to the grocery store and had ended up with 3 bags of groceries, she could only carry 2 so she hid one behind a bush in the park, and prayed it would still be there when she came back to get it as she knew we had to have that food. I did stop many times and gave people rides in my time here; not mentioning the almost nightly rides of co-workers to the train.
I’ve seen people struggle and work 3 jobs just to make ends meet. I had 2 myself for a while, I’ve seen others sit on their ass and do nothing but have babies they didn’t want and couldn't feed. I’ve seen families show affection for each other in public. They practice their religions. I’ve seen them fight and bring blood...I’ve seen riots, I marched in Peace Rallies, and been delayed while the Critical Mass cyclists held up rush hour in Union Square for their cause. I attended the St. Patrick's Day Parade, the New Years Eve Ball Drop, the Gay Pride Parade, the 9th Annual Lesbian Parade, Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, Poodle Parades, and walked in Protest Marches while cops in riot gear dared us to get out of hand. I attended street festivals, Broadway and off Broadway plays, summer concerts in Central Park and in countless other venues, and Mass at St Patrick's following 9/11.
I’ve seen kindness, compassion, and love...I’ve seen incredible cruelty, I’ve seen honesty and loathsome evil people...I’ve seen ultra wealthy and I’ve seen homeless...crack addicts, and alcoholics laying in their own feces on the street while everyone walked around them; when I was off duty sometimes I walked around them too. I hit the bars, and outside seen vampires and drag queen's, beggars, artists, and street entertainers. I’ve been on stand by while buildings burnt to the ground, and firefighters came out with heat exhaustion and burns and taken them to the ER. I’ve seen LIFE happen right before my eyes and I've seen life snuffed out as buildings fell to the ground. I’ve seen the best and the worst of NYC and the people who are NYC and I've been a part of it...sometimes it was good.
Then I’ve screamed WHY WHY WHY.
I’ve been where you will never want to be, reviving dying addicts while their loved ones cried in the circle of death. Watched as men and women on the floor not breathing suddenly sitting up talking to us within minutes after we saved their addicted body, we could not save their minds. I've been swallowed in a city of 9 million, I've been lonely as it vomited me out. I’ve been happy I’ve been afraid, elated..and desperate. I've walked on cloud nine, I’ve known friends and lovers, seen enemies, been in places you wouldn’t dare go and I’ve challenged my right to be there. I’ve turned my back on people, I’ve said yes and I’ve said NO...I’ve carried a knife and been prepared to use it...I’ve been happy and I’ve been destroyed.
More than anything else I’ve been HERE...I’ve see it, I’ve tasted it, I’ve lived it...yes I did IT! So the question I was asking myself before I came here on May 7, 2001 has been answered and the answer is, YES.... THERE IS LIFE OUT THERE, and I found it!
Have a great day bloggers I know I will, cause I'm finally going HOME!!
hen the great scientist of the World agree Climate Change is real and man is partly to blame for it and some still nay say it makes me think WHY? The current USA's administration is trying to hide the science so keep your eyes open. Fake news outlets are always interviewing "Specialists" whom they have no doubt hired to publish what they want to hear that supports their theory, that only GOD can change the climate. A pig in a poke.
Yes the Earth will be here "we" will begin to struggle in the World we have created. It's not that we're destroying the "Earth" we are however changing it and destroying our own environment, the kind of Earth we need to survive on.
An Earth that sustains life. Excuse my language, but this is an old saying I'm sure you have heard before "don't shit where you eat". If you don't believe in Science then you must deny the moon landing, the creation of nuclear weapons, and the genetic coding of your DNA. Unfortunately sometimes the truth hurts. Now having said that, you have to consider the messenger in all the results of this science. If it's a pharmaceutical companies research telling me that I should take this pill....ehhh I don't know about that!! I want to read all the fine print first this is why we need a fair and unlobbyed Food and Drug Administration...a Fair EPA, a fair and inclusive Dept of Education, Agriculture, National Parks, Health and on and on...SCIENCE is not 100% but it's the closest thing to God that we have going for us!
One day our Sun will explode, become a super nova, but until it does, the fragile atmosphere that keeps us alive is being changed by gases that are the by-product of human existence. Maybe if all gases were seen in colors the nay-sayer's would see the big picture. You eat beans you get gas...sometimes it hurts, it disrupts your innards, and BOOM you get an explosion! Anyone who denies that man has a hand in his own destiny is a fool. You smoke you can get cancer, you eat too much you get fat, you use drugs you get addicted, you belch out too much CO2 you get bad air. 1 + 1 = 2 and if you deny Climate Change then you must also deny that simple equation.
The exchange of gases is what makes the world go around, it creates planets, and it destroys them....natural exchange....The Theory of Relativity.
But what if the equation is suddenly messed with? H2O, 2 molecules of Hydrogen combined with 1 of Oxygen=Water. Compare this, H2O2 is made by adding one more molecule of Oxygen, and that creates Hydrogen Peroxide, rut-roh we can't drink Hydrogen Peroxide...yuk! We don't know what the magic bond is that could destroy our Atmosphere...yet! But we could find out the hard way.
It makes sense to me if we continue to add more of one gas than is needed the balance is all wrong therefore the very air we breath and the plants need for photosynthesis will eventually stop working like it should. The balance has to be in the right quantities or the proper gas exchange can't take place correctly. It's like Lucy at the chocolate factory! At first they can keep up "it's easy," but then it goes faster and faster...and suddenly there is more chocolate going unwrapped...this is like the gas exchange...more Carbon Dioxide is left in the Atmosphere.
Simple Math can explain it better than I can... The fifth most abundant gas in the atmosphere is carbon dioxide. The volume of this gas has increased by over 35% in the last three hundred years. (my mind shows me an over inflated balloon) This increase is primarily due to human induced burning from fossil fuels, deforestation, and other forms of land-use change. (stock yards, chicken houses, turkey houses, methane release) Carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas. The human-caused increase in its concentration in the atmosphere has strengthened the greenhouse effect and has definitely contributed to global warming over the last 100 years. Carbon dioxide is also naturally exchanged between the atmosphere and life through the processes of photosynthesis and respiration. If the trend of increasing CO2 continues it could become the most dominate gas in our atmosphere! There is a tipping point to any container, and our atmosphere is a container. Did you know that most of the plant feeding nitrogen in our soil comes to the ground via rain! It's washed right out of the atmosphere because Nitrogen and Oxygen make up 99% of the main components of our atmosphere.
Mainly we all agree climate change is happening, it's what is causing it that separates us. I ere on the side of the scientists...why you may ask? Well if I want advice on my health I go to a physician because they have done the most study and have the best understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the human body! They are the experts...If I have a legal problem I ask the advice of a lawyer...why because they have the most knowledge of how the law works...IF I want my car repaired I don't take it to the dentist. If I want the truth I don't go to unworthy outlets for information who are manipulating news to serve a sector of their audience. Back in the days we called it Censorship and it is becoming more and more mainstream as Conservative Media Guru's are buying up news outlets! If I want the truth on Climate I go to the Scientists who have and are studying it and I go to the reports and papers of these scientists for their results, not faux media. BUT if our Government shuts down the agencies that we have depended on for these facts where do we turn?
So you of course get the meaning of this; the Scientists have studied our Planet, they have collected the data, they know how to interpret that data. Me, I don't know JACK about it...so I'm glad we have these experts who do know and have the know how to pass this info to the free press to get that message out to us.
The whole world can't be wrong.
Paris Climate Agreement, World Bank Will no longer Fund Oil n Gas exploration past 2019.
If our Government will do nothing and it is currently actually doing harm by increasing the drilling for and using of fossil fuels, eventually Citizen Science is all we will have to depend on for our information. In the current belligerent stream funding could be stopped, test results manipulated, and propaganda spread, scientists fired and eventually Science as a whole could be lost for generations to come. In some the elementary level Private Charter Schools science is not being taught to children. What if that ignorance climbed up the chain to the secondary and the higher level of learning? Universities with no higher math or science to study? If say the National Weather Service was no longer allowed to give us weather data from around the world how would we know what's going on? So I keep my own weather gathering devices here on my homestead. That is only one simple idea...I hope the ones blessed with more education and know how are doing the same on a much larger stage than my little weather station that tells me how hot or cold it is. But many people don't even have that to go on. How would you know if the weather man was pulling your leg or not?
Are you aware of the ALT-NPS? The Alternative National Park Service. They have a Facebook page and they just announced they will soon have a website. This is an underground organization who have made it their business to keep us informed of the "shady night deals" that our current administration has been up to...at the bottom of this episode of Writtin's I will post their 2017 year end review of changes made to the Policies of our Government concerning our Environment and Natural World. It's lengthy!! Do take a look at it, then I think you will agree with me it is not just a whim that is driving my attitude it is cold hard facts of a small group of people driving our National Policy in the wrong direction. The $buck$ has to stop somewhere.
In the ruse of more jobs, the Current Administration is opening up our Parks, Public Lands, Private Lands, and Oceans to destruction by drilling, oil and gas exploration, uranium mining, fracking, water pollution by the coal indsutry, and the misuse of fragile ecosystems. (the Arctic for one) There are very few jobs in this industry, not enough to support this type expansion, and where are the graduates to fill these jobs? I read most oil drilling platforms employ roughly a crew of 60. For 60 blue collar jobs we would ruin an entire ecosystem in our Oceans?
I think protecting our Oceans and Ecotourism creates more jobs! Instead of 60 oily guys it could be hundreds of Oceanographers studying how to use warm African waters to create alternative energy, there could be Green technology factories developing solar powered ships, there could be Graduate Students whose thesis help creat new science that could drive entire Green industries..now that is job creation, and not just to benefit our economy but the economy of the entire world Partnerships in Sustainable Energy. This misuse of power is not about creating jobs it's about $$ to the top tier the 1% who control lobbyists and who get unqualified people elected to our Government. Most of the oil n gas jobs are blue collar jobs and not well sought after by mainstream Americans. A small percent of the private sector is trying to control our World. Soon the only science degree you will be able to get is Oil and Gas Chemist?
Already we see a huge decline in insects, birds, and some mammals. Some as much as 70%. Edible plants are being genetically altered to suit an alternative reality...the reality is our ecosystem is beginning to fail.
In closing this post I hope I don't sound paranoid. I am simply watching a disturbing trend. It is scary to me, it was scary when the atom was split. Science is there to tell us what we SHOULD and should NOT do. Pandora's Box is real, we must do what we can, as informed intelligent people, to make sure we don't deny that science is real and insure we have the information we need to make decisions on how we to best use it.
Informed use is the key to our success and the continuance of life on Planet Earth.
Click this image to go to Alt NPS.
An overview of the Trump administrations 2017 acts against the environment and wildlife. This list is not yet complete, but Congress should remember that we are watching and Tuesday, November 6th 2018 is not that far away.
On January 20th, Trump silenced the National Park Service from using social media. On January 20th, National Park Service starts a “resistance” movement on social media accounts. On January 24th, Trump issues several memoranda aiming to hasten permitting from the Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines. On February 1st, U.S. Senate confirms ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. On February 16th, Trump signs a joint resolution passed by Congress revoking the U.S. Department of the Interior’s “Stream Protection Rule.” The stream protection rule, which prevented mining companies dumping their waste into streams, is axed under the Congressional Review Act. On February 17th, U.S. Senate confirms Scott Pruitt as the head of the U.S. EPA. In his prior role as Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt frequently sued the EPA over its regulations, notably leading a 27-state lawsuit against the Clean Power Plan. February 28th, President Trump issues an executive order formally asking the EPA to review the “Waters of the United States” rule. On March 2, U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke spends his first day on the job rescinding an Obama-era prohibition of lead ammunition on federal lands and waters. Also, the EPA, Scott Pruitt, canceled a requirement for reporting methane emissions. On March 7th, EPA’s Office of Science and Technology removed the word “science” from its mission statement. On March 9th, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt that carbon dioxide’s role in the Earth’s changing climate remains unclear. March 13th, White House releases its first preliminary budget under Trump. The budget outlines deep cuts to U.S. science and environmental agencies On March 16th, the Trump administration proposed a 13 percent budget cut to the Park Service funding. These budget cuts would lose 1,242 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, leading to significant challenges at almost every park. On March 28th, Trump issued an executive order charging the DOI with reviewing rules for oil and gas drilling inside the boundaries of our national park sites. Trump's executive order also made the EPA start the process of rewriting the clean power plan. On March 29th, Against the advice of the EPA’s chemical safety experts, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt rejects a decade-old petition asking that the EPA ban all use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos. Research suggests that chlorpyrifos may be associated with brain damage in children and farm workers, even at low exposures. On March 29th, Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary, revoked the freeze and review on new coal leases on public lands. April 3rd, Overturned a ban on hunting of predators in Alaskan wildlife refuges. Including the hunting of bear cubs in and around their dens. April 5th, the trump administration withdrew guidance from federal agencies to include greenhouse gas emissions in environmental reviews. On April 7th, staff members at EPA’s headquarters who specialized in climate change adaptation have been reassigned. Rolled back limits on toxic discharge from power plants into public waterways. On April 16th, Trump issued an executive order calling on the DOI to reopen its five-year plan for offshore drilling. On April 19th, An Interior Department official updates the department’s climate change website, deleting much of its content in the process. On April 22nd, Scientist March on Washington, voicing support for science’s role in society. On April 26th, Trump instructs Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review as many as 40 national monuments created since 1996 to determine if any of Trump’s three predecessors exceeded their authority when protecting large tracts of already-public land under the Antiquities Act of 1906. On April 27th, the EPA delayed a lawsuit over a rule regulating airborne mercury emissions from power plants. On April 28th, EPA scrubs climate change from their website. On May 5th, the EPA dismisses several members of the Board of Scientific Counselors. On June 1st, the U.S. pulls out of the Paris Climate Agreement. On June 8th, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Wednesday ordered a review of an Obama administration conservation plan to protect the greater sage-grouse to determine if that plan interferes with Trump administration efforts to increase energy production on federal lands. On June 12th, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommended that Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah’s red rock country be shrunk by President Trump. On June 26th, the administration called for the repeal of the Clean Water Rule. On July 6th, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a permit that would allow Dominion Energy, to build 17 enormous transmission towers near Colonial National Historical Park, the site of the United States first English colony. On July 19th, the DOI called for a reexamination of rules that protect bears and wolves in national preserves in Alaska from egregious hunting methods, including baiting bears with grease-soaked donuts and killing mother bears with their cubs. On August 7th, The DOI relaxes aspects of sage grouse protection to help with the Trump administration’s efforts to increase energy production on federal lands. On August 22nd, the trump administration has suspended a study of health risks to residents who live near mountaintop removal coal mine sites in the Appalachian Mountains. On October 9th, Trump EPA works on scrapping the Clean Power Plan(CCP). Scott Pruitt gave a speech in Hazard, Kentucky and declared that he will sign a proposal on Tuesday that would eliminate the CCP. On October 23rd, The Department of Interior proposed the largest ever gas and oil lease auction of 77 million acres of federal waters within the Gulf of Mexico. On October 24th, A small Montana company located in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown has signed a $300 million contract to help get the power back on in Puerto Rico. Whitefish Energy Holdings, LLC had only two full-time employees on the day Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico On November 1st, Trump administration proposed a rule Tuesday to federalize regulation of drift gillnets used to catch swordfish on the West Coast. The rule would end California's right to prevent the deadly entanglements of sea turtles, whales, and dolphins in these underwater, mile-long nets. On November 2nd, Trump administration is targeting for review a uranium mining ban that former President Barack Obama instituted in the watershed of the Grand Canyon On November 7th, French President Emmanuel Macron's Cabinet said Trump not invited to climate change summit for the time being. On November 16th, The Trump administration has reversed the ban on elephant trophy imports. They have agreed to allow the remains of elephants killed in Zimbabwe and Zambia to be brought back to the U.S. On November 16th, The Keystone pipeline has leaked and spilled about 210,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota. TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone pipeline has been temporarily shut down. On November 24th, Tucked away in the Senate report accompanying the funding bill for the Department of the Interior is a directive to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to end the Red Wolf recovery program and declare the Red Wolf extinct. On November 25th, Oil drilling in a vast Alaskan wildlife refuge moved a step closer to reality after the U.S. Senate energy and natural resources panel voted 13-10 to open part of the reserve On November 28th, The Cause of Action Institute (a group aligned with GOP mega-donors Charles and David Koch) have filed suit accusing EPA employee of using an encrypted messaging services to protect their jobs. They report that EPA employees were using an encrypted messaging app to determine how to respond to a feared purge of climate science from the new Trump administration. On November 28th, the Trump administration has approved an oil company’s request to explore for oil in the Arctic Ocean. On December 4th, Trump gave a speech in Salt Lake City announcing his intentions to reduce two Utah national monuments Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Bears Ears would be reduced by 1.35 million acres (-85%) and Grand Staircase Escalante would be reduced by 1.88 million acres (-50%). On December 7th, Trump administration drops rule requiring mining companies to have money to clean up pollution, despite an industry legacy of abandoned mines that have fouled waterways across the U.S. On December 8th, the Trump administration will suspend a rule to limit methane leaks from oil and gas operations on federal land. On December 14th, Trump administration removed net neutrality. This now allows broadband providers to block websites like ours. The Internet has played an increasingly vital role in political expression and organizing. Groups like ours have used social media to share information, plan events, and motivate participation. On December 15th, It was reported that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke brought David Smith the superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park to his office to reprimand him for climate change-related tweets the park sent via Twitter. On December 16th, Trump administration is prohibiting officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using a list of words, including "fetus," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," "vulnerable," "evidence-based" and "science-based." On December 18th, Trump announced the US will no longer regard climate change by name as a national security threat. On December 19th, EPA has ended a contract with a group (Definers Public Affairs) that had been investigating any EPA employees who disagreed with the Trump administration agenda. On December 19th, in the emergency supplemental funding bill language was hidden that would exempt Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) from following requirements set by the Endangered Species Act. On December 20th, Toxic chemical bans were indefinitely postponed for methylene chloride, N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and trichloroethylene (TCE). On December 21st, Independent studies were halted that would improve the safety of offshore drilling platforms and another to look at health risks of mountaintop-removal coal mining in central Appalachia. On December 21st, Revoked the Obama-era Resource Management Planning Rule (Planning 2.0 Rule), which advocated new technologies to improve transparency related to mining on public lands. A Federal Register filing said this rule "shall be treated as if it had never taken effect." On December 22nd, The Republican “tax reform” bill was signed and included opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. On December 22nd, Ruled that "incidental" killings of 1,000 migratory bird species are not illegal under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. On December 22nd, Reversed a previous Obama-era Interior Department decision to withdraw permits for a proposed $2.8 billion copper mine in Minnesota. On December 23rd, It was reported that hundreds of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists were barred from attending an industry conference this month. On December 27th, A plan was announced to consider increasing the use of neonicotinoid insecticides known as thiamethoxam, which is proven to be deadly to bees. On December 27th, Allowed oil and gas leasing and development near and even inside greater sage-grouse habitat management areas. On December 28th, Announced a plan to repeal an Obama-era rule that governed fracking standards on federal and tribal lands. The rule would have required companies to disclose chemicals used in their fracking fluids, set standards for well construction, and required surface ponds holding fracking fluids to be covered. On December 29th, Trump administration proposed to remove offshore-drilling safety regulations put in place after the deadly Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Since I got my old PC running again it's been amazing to open up that time capsule! I'm reading old blog posts the few I was able to save in Word files when 3 of the blog platforms I used closed down, 2005-2006 time frame. I can see my writing style changed a LOT! In fact I like my old style better. I covered everything from the mundane to technical, from the private and personal to the political and religious even. I think one thing that happened is back when I was supporting Obama for President, many of the people in the circle I had been blogging with were on the other side of that fence and I lost like 12 blog friends in the course of 2 weeks! I believe in fear of that happening to me again I decided to play it safe. 
