Writing
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A Right to Life
In 2015 the CDC reported that 188 out of every 1000 live births were aborted/terminated. There are 49 reporting areas (the District of Columbia [DC]; New York City; and 47 states, [excluding California, Maryland, and New Hampshire]. If California, Maryland, and New Hampshire reported to the CDC, the number could be much higher. Think about it. Almost 20% of all pregnancies in the United States are terminated.
The unborn child is murdered. That’s what has to happen. Whether you believe that it is a child at the point of conception or a clump of cells, it’s still murder! Do you understand partial birth abortions? Do you understand what they they do to the child that is partially out of it’s mothers womb? Look it up!
If you murder someone in a western nation, you have a right to a defense lawyer. In the United States and other western nations, if you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to you by the state. The unborn do not have a lawyer! The state affords them nothing! They have no rights in modern society!
What if one of the estimated 20-50 million aborted babes could’ve grown up and discovered a cure for cancer? My best friend growing up had epilepsy and several other issues. When he was a baby, the doctors told his young parents that he wouldn’t ever be able to do anything on his own and would be a drain on them and society.
His parents put him up for adoption in 1968, before the era of Roe v. Wade, and a loving couple, the husband a veteran, adopted him and another young boy. From the second grade until his death in 2001, he was my best friend. He married and divorced twice, worked every single day he could, and he lived on his own.
He contributed to society; in fact, society changed because of him. My life was forever changed because of him. He had bad seizures and had learning disabilities but was absolutely brilliant with numbers, a savant, really.
He could memorize books like a robot. I, still to this day, have not met anyone that could recite literature from any page in a book like he could do.
If his parents could’ve had him aborted, the world would be a lot dimmer today. He, along with my own family, taught me that I could do anything and to never use a disability as a crutch. Ne never did!
On February 4th, Senator Ben Sasse(R., Neb.), called for unanimous consent to put S.311 (A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.) on the floor of the Senate, but the only democrat on the floor that evening objected to the bill. Per rule 14 of Senate rules, it was read for a second time on February 5th, but it has been pushed further up the Senate calendar. Senator Sasse introduced this bill or a similar one in 2017. All it does is protect the life of the child if it SURVIVES the abortion attempt. Medical practitioners at abortion clinics, doctors offices, or hospitals would be legally bound to provide the child all the rights and privileges that we all take for granted every day. It is a sad day in America, when we have to legally make people do what is morally and ethically right!
45 Senators, all Republican, have cosponsored this bill, yet not one democrat has bothered to cosponsor it. I would be shocked if they did! Why would they? Even the decent democrats are worried about their voter base and the implications of voting on such a bill. If the democrats would spend more time explaining to their constituents the meaning behind such bills and how it is not at all anti abortion, but anti murder after birth.
As it stands now in several states, if a baby survives a botched abortion, he or she is left to die…alone with no attempt to assist in the viability of the child. That’s what this bill protects. It ensures that if a baby does indeed survive a botched abortion, everyone involved must take whatever measures necessary to ensure the babies survival from that point forward.
If you were in a car wreck and your heart stopped due to impact on your chest, would you not want the emergency medical team to use measures to bring you back to life? The unborn have no voice. Will you not stand for them? Will you not be their lawyer? Will you not stand in defense of them and their right to life? I will! At the very least, you could take five minutes and call your Senator and ask them to support this bill.
If you’ve made it this far, let me ask you to please read one verse, Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”. (In this verse the LORD is talking to Jeremiah, but if you believe in God at all, you can surely understand from this one verse that God did indeed know Jeremiah before he was formed, as he did you and the millions of babies that have been aborted by nefarious means.
If you have something to say and don’t want to say it publicly, you can use the Contact page to get in touch with me. Thank you for reading this post. May we all speak for those who cannot speak and stand for those that cannot stand.
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Perfect Storm
Imagine yourself the captain of a boat with a group of friends and family. You are caught out in a torrential storm of epic proportions. You’ve never seen anything like it in all of your years sailing amongst the waves. Amid the midst, rain, hail, and confusion, you see a titanic wave that you know will surely swallow your small boat and crew whole and push you to the deepest depths of the seaa where the souls of sailors of yore reside.
Everyone on the boat screams that you should turn the boat around at full throttle and try to outrun the wave. Your own weary mind starts playing the odds of whether you’d survive or not. Everyone on board begs you to turn around before it is too late.
But, your heart, soul, and every fibre of your being tells you to go full throttle straight into the waive and crest its top before it collapses on your small ship. Your family and friends begin to pull you away from the captains next, but you manage to fight them off. You look straight into the depths of the unforgiving wall that approaches like a lioness, quiet but deadly.
It is here that start the steadfast approach begins. The banging on the captains nest doors and screams do not distract your unending stare. It’s you against the wave. You know it is too late to turn around. You know in your heart that the only way to overcome this wave is to go over it.
There will be times in your life when only you will know what is best for you. Friends and family, though meaning well, will not always know what is right for you. Use their wisdom to help guide your way, but make your own decisions and carve your own path on this crazy planet.
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Is the grass always greener?
We tend to think, especially when we are young, that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. An idiotic idiom, aye? The truth is that the grass is rarely greener. Whether it be relationships, jobs, or locations on this crazy rock we call home, the next person, job, or locale is rarely better than the last.
Let’s discuss careers. I was in a job that was incredibly dangerous. The pay was decent, but I worked crazy hours. I never knew when I’d get off of work. It had its positives, but the money, although good, wasn’t good enough to counter the risk. The job I have now is consistent. I work the same hours every week, but the money is laughable. I go into work before dawn, but I get off at the same time every afternoon. It definitely has its positives, but like anything in our lives, it has its negatives as well.
Let us now discuss locations. Since I was a wee lad, I dreamt of a mistical land, called Hibernia. I read every book I could find on this phantasmal island on the edge of Europe. I read of myths and legends of yore. As I got older, I read of rebels, rebellions, and political and religious upheaval. I still love Ireland and will love it until the day I die, but I am not Irish. Genetically speaking, yes, I am majority Irish, but what is it to be genetically Irish or Irish at all? A question for another day, perhaps?
Now, let’s discuss the elephant in the room. Perhaps you didn’t pick up on it, but I placed relationships first for a reason. My heart is heavy. I’m sitting in my office with a hot cuppa Earl Grey. The sun is setting below a layer of ashen clouds as blackbirds fight for the scraps of summer. They know, as I do, that mother winter is near.
When we are young men and women, we tend to jump from one relationship to another like we’re playing hot potato or musical chairs. It’s hilarious, really, but it is how we learn what we like and what we don’t. As we get older, we grow as people and we hopefully gain a wee bit of wisdom along the way. Some people never learn.
I can, of courser, only speak from my own male perspective, so I’m going to stick to that instead of wrongly giving examples for both sides. In my younger days, I’d be with my girlfriend and see another woman with a bigger butt, longer legs, or red hair, and think that I needed that woman. I’ve always been a sucker for a redhead. It’s in my DNA. As I found out the hard way, that other woman with a different physical attribute or a better personality wasn’t always better. Sometimes, I’d wish later on that I’d stayed with the woman I had been with.
These are things that we should learn in our teens. The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. That new job is not always better. That magical place that you think you can run away to will not solve your problems. Your problems follow you wherever you go. Face them and keep moving. Life will knock you on your arse. Get up, dust yerself off, and keep moving.
The girlfriend and I are going through a bit of a rough patch. That would be putting it mildly, but I’ll refrain from airing our laundry in public. I met a friend for supper the other night that I’ve known for about a year. I needed a night out. She obliged. I had no other intent except to talk and catch up. I am an honourable man. At least I like to think I am. Nothing happened between us. In fact, I spent a lot of the evening talking about my little lady.
There’s only one woman that is my heaven on earth and my Oppenheimer. The woman terrifies me. She could destroy me with a sentence or raise me to the highest mountain with a word. She’s as bold as brass but fragile as glass. I’d travel to the end of the earth for that woman. There’s a lot going on in my life, but the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing on my mind as I fall off to sleep is her. In some ways, she is my world. That’s something you have to be careful about. You can lose yourself in a relationship. No one wants to date themselves. A subject for another day, perhaps? I’ll leave you with a wee poem. Until tomorrow? 🙂
Diamonds
Eyes that sparkle with brilliance,
like brilliant diamonds carved
from the purest of azure seas.Dazed by your light,
I staggered into the shade
to admire your exquisiteness.Now, in the darkness,
I relaise what is absent
from my existence, you.
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Free Agent
A camera has been my constant companion for over a decade. I started my own photography business in 2015. As expected, it was slow at first but it gradually picked up. By the winter of that year, it had slowed down to a trickle. I was desperately seeking work, and quite frankly, income. The only things free in life is the air we breath and light from the glorious sun.
At that time, I started working as an IT Consultant for my families business. I enjoyed working for them. I love my family and was grateful to get out of the corporate environment I had been in for years. I sorted every IT problem that I could and wasn’t really needed on a daily basis, so I wished them well and am now a free agent.
When a person works for someone else, their income is usually consistent. When you work for yourself, it is rarely consistent. It was time to go. I’m a much stronger and better person, when I have to be quick on my feet. I don’t have the option to sit back and pick and choose projects or clients. I am willing to work with anyone. I don’t have the benefit of a large surplus of cash to sit on, and I don’t believe in taking welfare from the government when I’m able to work. In other words, I better get to work!
What do I do?
I am a landscape, architectural, and portrait photographer. I cover several areas of photography. You have to today in order to survive. I sell landscape photographs on several stock photo sites, but I also do local portrait sessions, weddings, and events.
I also do photo retouching that usually consist of removing blemishes and color correction. I have been a constant user of Photoshop since the days of MS-DOS.
With the help of friends, I produce a weekly podcast about life, liberty, and the unending pursuit of happiness. That consist of setting up mics, setting up and managing the software and settings, audio editing in Adobe Audition, and publishing on the site as well as producing a video version for youtube in Premiere Pro CC. The podcast taught me about time management and logistics. At one time, we had co-hosts from the East Coast of the US, Ireland, and Australia. As you can imagine, managing the time table and getting everyone to show up at the same time in three different time zones can be a nightmare.
In addition, I have also written and published five travel photo books. Four of these are about Ireland, a project that took years to complete. I am still working on the last piece of the puzzle, a book of my adventures across the Emerald Isle and the misadventures I managed to get myself into over a decade.
My academic background is varied. I started out majoring in IT Security. I love all forms of tech, so it was right up my alley. After a few years, however, I started to hate the idea of spending the rest of my life in a dark room staring at monitors. I love the outdoors too much to dedicate the majority of my remaining days in a cubicle or server room. That may sound vain to some, but it is a matter of choice. I passed every class and certs with an “A”, so it wasn’t a matter of failing. I was minoring in Art at the same time.
At that time, my family was having some problems, so I did somewhat of a 180 and changed my major to Criminal Justice. I minored in Forensics, so there was still technology involved. I graduated with honors in less than two years. It was a great decision. I had some of the best professors you could ask for. Though we had heated debates, most of them always welcomed debate on the Constitution.
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Convoluted English
Linguistics is a fascinating study of how our ears decipher syllables and audible cues and transform them into imagery our minds can retain. As a Southern American boy, I regularly butcher the English language. Quite frankly, it’s a wonder any of us can understand each other. If you can understand me on the podcast, you’re an amazing specimen of human engineering. 🙂
What I lack in verbal skill, I make up for in the written word. As a photographer, I talk to other photographers, writers, and editors all over the world. Over a decade ago, I started expanding my own knowledge base by reading hundreds of old books from Irish, Scottish, and English authors. Because of this and learning the structure of old English, I know words that I can’t utter because no one else uses them.
I tend to adapt my spelling and writing style depending on who I’m writing. I don’t do this to deceive people. I’m very proud to be an American. I love our Country! But, for the odd person that doesn’t watch much American TV, they may not understand some of the terms I may use. I do this to make it easier on the other person. It can backfire, however. When I was in college, I wasn’t thinking and wrote an entire five page paper in what we would consider British English. I received a fat “F” on that sucker. The professor was under the impression that I couldn’t spell, but after explaining my mishap, I was able to make it up.
The other day, I was talking to a guy(Would use ‘chap’ here, but I’d get yelled at for that.) and used the word, “Row”, instead of argument, fight, or kerfuffle. He was clueless, so I had to back peddle and explain what I meant. Some may perceive using another form of English as unAmerican, but it isn’t in my case. I have little use for the modern shortened version of American English.
Noah Webster set out to standardize American English, but in doing so, we lost the parts of English that make it adaptable. If you look back to Anglo-Saxon English, for example, the letters, vowels, and their organization within a word may tell you of the original linguistic background and sometimes geographical origin.
Knowing the original spelling of words and the history behind them also helped me understand other languages. “Auld”, for instance, is a Gaelic surname. It means old, but it is also a surname. Interesting stuff, aye? There is a story behind every word in every language..
