Dear 2012...

Fuck You

Goodbye and good riddance.

So... It's Christmas

Christmas means nothing to Zeus, it's just another day as far as he's concerned so there's no sleeping in for me. He still demands his breakfast by 7 AM, if I don't cooperate then he'll just start knocking things off of the nightstand until I get up, and when that's empty he moves to the dresser and starts the process all over again. It's a three step process, repeated until I get up to feed him. Step 1 is to use his big hairy foot to slide something to the edge of whatever it's on. Phone, alarm clock, empty drinking cup, it doesn't matter what it is. Step two is to sit there looking at me to see if I'll acknowledge him and get up. Step three occurs when I don't get up, one final pat with his foot and whatever it was goes over the edge and hits the floor. He'll look down at it, then at me, then move on to something else to begin the process all over again.

Damn My Packrat Mindset

If it has value to me I'll save it. It doesn't matter what type of value, be it monetary, practical or sentimental. It's a mixed "blessing" for lack of a better word, this compelling urge to keep. Sometimes it works out well, other times not so much.

Life, Scams And Assorted Weirdness

Life has been pretty boring lately, I've had nothing interesting to blog about and nothing to say for the past month. Then this past week happened. I've now moved again, for the first time since March of 2010 what's left of everything I own is finally all in one place. That's kind of nice, that small bit of familiarity is comforting after doing without for so long. I'm still unemployed, it's been 5 months now and the money is getting short. The job hunt led to the following...

Hypocrisy And The Individual Mandate

Since the passing of Obamacare the biggest point of contention raised by Republicans has been the Individual Mandate that requires everyone to have health insurance. This is somewhat puzzling to me, I simply can't understand the rationale behind the vehement opposition to a policy that was created and championed for 20 years by their own party. Yes, the individual mandate is of Republican origin, was a key point of their own health care reform attempts and has been a key point of their reform policy since 1989. I wonder how many conservatives are even aware of this fact.

A Little Levity or.... A Break From The Hate

Rumsfeld Suffers Romnesia

The day after the Benghazi embassy attack Donald Rumsfeld had the gall to change his Twitter status to, "The attacks on our embassies & diplomats are a result of perceived American weakness. Mitt Romney is right to point that out." Dick Cheney, another murderous bastard, has also previously stated “We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength; they are invited by the perception of weakness.” So here's a few facts I'd like to point out in return regarding "perceived American weakness" during the Bush regime in which these two served:

Hurricanes Are Great Equalizers

Welcome to the 47%.

We Love Our Troops More Than You Do!

I was recently involved in a witch hunt "discussion" centered around a fabricated news story accusing President Obama of sending our troops into hostile territory with no bullets for their guns. Mind you this story was not taken from any news site, only from personal blogs run by far right extremists who will do or say anything to discredit anyone not sharing their exact beliefs. Facts and truth need not apply.

Mason Dixon Historical Society Steam and Gas Roundup, 50th Anniversary

This was the 50th year for this event held in Westminster, Maryland. Hundreds of antique tractors and farm machinery, antique cars and steam powered equipment, some of which is used to give working demonstrations during the day. Some of these things are very ornately decorated, making them as much works of art as valuable, purpose built tools.

There are also a lot of flea market type vendors selling anything and everything including things which you'll look at, scratch your head and ask yourself, "What the heck is that?". A fun way to spend a day, this year they even had tractor pulls with some of the antique tractors.

Video: Republican Deficit Hawk Hypocrites.

No explanation needed, the title says it all. If you need more detail the 5 minutes and 21 seconds of common sense in this video should provide all you need.

The Site Most Resembling Multiply Is...

In my hunt for a new online home I've found only one site which offers the customization features of Multiply. That site is Xanga, one I'd barely ever heard mentioned before. I'm not saying it's the only one in existence, just that it is the only one I've found. Here's why it resembles Multiply more than any other site I've found so far:

Paul Ryan's Speech In Three Words

This is copied word for word from FoxNews.com It is the first and only time I have ever seen anyone from Fox openly criticize a Republican politician, with explanations, clarification and examples. As this is likely one of very few existing examples of Fox's "Fair and Balanced" motto I've copied it here so in the event it should suddenly and mysteriously vanish from the Fox site there will be some evidence that Fox can occasionally live up to its own motto.

It's no secret that Fox News is nothing more than a propaganda machine for the Republican party; passing off twisted half-truths, intentional misinterpretations and even blatant lies as "news" is their modus operandi, anything to advance their cause. This makes it especially important that when Fox News openly criticizes a DC Republican by all but calling him a blatant liar conservatives should really pay attention, especially when that politician is their hopeful soon-to-be VP. The complete text of the article follows:

World's Best Cat Litter

Another natural product I tried as part of my ongoing quest to reduce my impact on what's left of our environment. This is another corn based product, made from whole kernel corn which according to the manufacturer's website "means it has a naturally absorbent structure that keeps nasty odors and smells inside the litter." Being corn based it also weighs half of what comparable usage of typical clay based clumping litters weigh which is also a plus, on a per use basis it requires less fuel to transport.

An Injured Owl

My housemate occasionally works nights at a friend's bar as a bartender. Last night was one of those nights. She woke me up when she got home this morning (at 3 AM) to tell me she needed help. So I go out to her car with her, she opens the door and pulls out a big plastic tote with an owl sitting in it. She had seen it on her way home, it was just sitting on the side of the road so she went back and got it.

My How Things Change

The Republican party here in the United States has changed so drastically in the past couple of decades as to be almost unrecognizable. Thirty years ago the poster boy for conservatism was Ronald Reagan, he could do no wrong in the eyes of the right wing loyalists. Quote him now and the same party that idolized him will call you a socialist, marxist, communist, enemy of the state, blah blah blah and so on.

In 1985 Reagan stated, "We're going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that have allowed some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share. In theory some of those loopholes were understandable, but in practice they sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing but a bus driver was paying ten percent of his salary and that's crazy. Do you think the millionaire ought to pay more in taxes than the bus driver, or less?" The audience responded with an enthusiastic "More."

Cut to 2012 when President Obama states the same points.

Reviewing ipernity.com

As of Apr 9, 2013 ipernity.com has been totally revamped. Accordingly, this review is no longer valid since I've not checked out the new site and have no plans to do so.

Today I see staff from the ipernity website spamming the benefits of their site in multiple group posts on Multiply. If you've never heard of ipernity, they are another entry in the already oversaturated category of social networking sites. Yeah, I know the guy is just sensing a business opportunity but there are better ways to go about spreading the word than resorting to classless spam. Since he so obviously wants attention for his site I thought I'd give him some. Frankly I wasn't impressed.

Good Deal on USB Flash Drives

With Multiply's impending closure of their social networking tools many users will be downloading content like mad in order to preserve their content. For some, this will pose a problem as they may run out of memory on their computers. I just stumbled across a possible solution on Staples' website, they're running a really good sale on a couple name brand USB flash drives.

Cat Hair Everywhere? No Problem!

The best way to stop a long haired cat from shedding all over your house? Vacuum it! As you can see by the amount of hair on the brush it does work, I'd already vacuumed him (and cleaned off the brush) a couple times before grabbing the camera.

Temporarily Relocated

The house finally sold, the papers are signed, the keys handed over, the money wired and the checks cashed. It took a couple hours longer than it should have but it settled and I'm rid of it. I have moved in (sort of) to a new place. It's tough transition, and I'm not sure how long it will last but it's a roof and a shower. I'm exhausted, and just want to sleep. Zeus handled the two hour drive pretty well, his usual barf at the 25 minute mark, then fine the rest of the time. Now he has to learn a whole new home, and deal with the rather energetic little 9-month old kitten already living here. That hasn't gone so well so far, little kitty might be lunch if he doesn't back off. He'll learn the hard way I guess.

Internet here is via satellite so its always slow and about useless when it rains. I had tried to surf a little on Sunday but the slow internet made worse by rain meant that I couldn't go anywhere or do anything so I just closed the laptop and walked away.

I found a Chinese take-out which has on its menu one of my favorite dishes, and it's within easy walking distance. Now I need to go learn my new town and find all the basics like grocery stores and gas stations.

The Final "Pack and Put into Storage" Day

If all goes well, tonight is the last night that I'll spend in my house. Barring more stupidity from Wells Fargo or some oversight by the Realtors, bankers or title company I should sign the papers and turn over the keys at roughly 9 AM tomorrow (Monday) morning, about 18 hours from the time I started composing this entry.

The attic is empty, as is the basement, and the 2nd floor has been emptied and cleaned. A couple more trips to the storage facility and the first floor will be completely empty as well, then it will be time for a final cleaning. I'm pretty sick of packing, storing and cleaning, since it's just me here I've had to do everything and believe me that is no fun at all. I'll be glad when it's over and done.

I'm not sure if I'll miss the house or not, but I tend to think that I won't. There are a couple things I'll miss, like the gardens I've worked on for years and their resultant photo opportunities and wildlife, my 2nd floor patio outside the master bedroom and the large kitchen with more storage space than you could ever need but aside from those few things I have no qualms about leaving.

I'm not really sure where I'm going from here, or when and how often I'll have any internet access, so don't be surprised if I vanish for a bit. See you when I see you...

1:45 AM, Stick a Fork In Me Because I Am Done!

I am done, wiped out, exhaustipated and just plain tired. Trust me on this one, moving out of a house with zero assistance of any kind is no fun at all. None. I had to get creative a couple times but I managed to get the big armoire out all by myself, and the loveseat as well. Believe it or not the loveseat was waaayyyyyyyyy more difficult than the armoire but most everything is out and nothing was destroyed or even damaged. Go me! In between all the packing and moving I've managed to sell, give away or trash well over half of what used to be my life possessions. I've gone from an 1800 ft² house plus a bunch of stuff in the attic and basement, not to mention the shed, to a 100 ft² storage locker.

Another Time Killer To Combat Boredom

It's a free e-card site with cards for all occasions, and some of them are pretty funny indeed. I stumbled across this little gem and had to share it.

There's much to entertain you at someecards.com

Multiply According To Alexa

First, what is Alexa? According to their "About" page Alexa has built an unparalleled database of information about web sites, including statistics, Related Links, and more. Their information comes from internet users who have installed the Alexa toolbar in their browsers. The toolbar collects information about their web browsing; what sites they visit, how long they stay, etc... Alexa then uses this information to rate websites according to parameters including Traffic Rank (how the site compares to the rest of the internet using site visits as a gauge) and Search Traffic (the percentage of site visits coming from search engine results) among others.

The long term results aren't encouraging

Not So Typical Amish Sightings

While on my way home from work this evening I decided that I was going to stop off at the local Chili's to have a beer or two. So I'm sitting there at the bar enjoying a frosty cold Blue Moon draft and chatting with the bar staff when a young Amish guy walks up to the bar and takes a seat. He was wearing the typical Amish attire, black pants complete with suspenders and a light to pastel colored shirt, so he was definitely the subject of a lot of curious looks from the rest of the restaurant patrons. You just don't see Amish sitting at a bar even if they order only strawberry lemonade and some food, as this young man did. Just when the stares and whispering had started to die down a little he pulls a cell phone out of his pocket and starts texting, lol.

When I left Chili's I headed over to Home Depot. As I was leaving there I had to wait for an older Amish man who was pushing one of the Home Depot flat carts down the aisle in the parking lot. He was headed to the far end of the lot where there is a large shed-like structure, the Amish equivalent of a parking garage where they can tie their horses in and keep them in the shade. As I drove past him I glanced at his cart and noticed that the object being pushed to a buggy by this older Amish farmer dressed in regular Amish attire including the straw hat, not to mention the long beard, was a top of the line propane powered gas grille.

The times they are a-changin'

Mothers Powerball 4 Lights Headlight Restoration Kit

I've seen these kits advertised on television before but always thought the ads were full of crap. I just didn't think an abrasive paste grinding away at plastic could produce a clear result. Well, I was wrong because it does.

I finally gave in when headlight restoration was recommended to me when I last took my truck in for service. They wanted $60 for the service, so I figured if they were going to charge $60 for it then it must work. Otherwise they'd be getting so much crap from angry customers that they'd probably stop offering the service.

This kit was easy to find, and only cost about $20 to buy. So for a third of the price charged by the garage and maybe 20 minutes of my time from start to finish I now have crystal clear headlights. It was easy, worked exactly as described and the results were exactly as advertised. Everything you need is included in the kit with the exception of a drill (my cordless drill worked fine) and some masking tape. You get the poofy blue powerball, a bottle of the polishing compound, a nice soft cloth to buff the hazy leftovers off of your clean headlights, and 2 double-sided abrasive pads which are only used for seriously messed up headlights after the rest of the kit has been used to no effect.

My nasty, 13 year old faded and hazy headlights are now looking like new. I can even see where I'm going at night, instead of just seeing where I am at the moment, lol. It certainly is a refreshing change. I didn't use much of it, so I have enough left to use for maintenance cleanings for years to come. All in all it's a good deal for an easy to use product that works exactly as it claims.

Dancing Cats?

While clicking my way through clikr.co I found this photo. How can you look at this and not laugh? Those cats are getting down!

Round And Round And Round We Go...

So here we go again, changing from one platform to another as yet another blogging site potentially discontinues its services. This time it's Multiply, which in my opinion has by far the best toolset, best features, best privacy controls and best/easiest customization options of any similar site. However they have begun reducing their focus on the social networking and media sharing aspects of the site choosing instead to focus on e-commerce.

There's a new CEO now, and their corporate HQ is moving out of the US to Indonesia. I don't have much faith that things there will stay as they are for long so it's time to go out and test the waters. Multiply will be a hard act to follow, I don't expect to find another site which offers everything they do.

Attack Of The Mantid

Today was very traumatic. I was working in the garden when I was suddenly attacked by a vicious praying mantis. The thing was downright brutal! I saw it coming but couldn't do a thing to stop the ensuing carnage. I'm now mentally scarred for life, at the very least I'm sure to develop an acute case of mantiphobia. I'm grateful it was a baby, an inch long at best, had it been a full grown adult mantis I may not have survived! Fortunately my camera was within reach so I was able to document the attack. Now I can show you the evil monster.

There it is, plotting its brutal attack, moments before it threw me to the ground.

Surveying the carnage and its nearly unconscious victim.

A Robin's Nest

A pair of robins decided to build a nest in the climbing rose just outside my kitchen door. They are industrious little buggers, it took them all of 2 days to build the nest, flying back and forth all day long getting little twigs and pieces of plants.  It amazes me that they can build something so solid, which will last for a couple years, using nothing more than a beak.

It's been a couple weeks since they finished so I decided to have a look inside the nest to see what, if anything, was in there. Fortunately for me the nest is low enough that I can stand on a stool, reach up and fish the camera through the rose ending up in just the right position to photograph the nest and its content. I can't see what I'm photographing but after 5 or 6 shots I finally got a decent one. As you can see there are 4 pretty blue eggs waiting to hatch. I'm hoping the parents haven't been scared away by all the activity happening so close to their nest since they are just a few feet from my kitchen door. They probably aren't real fond of seeing Zeus laying in the window watching them either, lol.

I'll keep an eye on them to see if the eggs hatch and if the babies get fed. If they survive, they better learn how to say "Cheeeeeeese".

A Way To Kill Time If You're Bored

If you're bored and have time to kill you really should head over to clikr.co and start clicking. It's just image after image, clicking one randomly leads to another. There are images of all kinds, from nature photography to self portraits to Photoshopped masterpieces (or messterpieces) to cartoons, you name it. Not all are safe for children due mostly to language with a little bit of adult subject matter occasionally thrown in

I'll leave you with a couple gems to start you off on a cute overload. The first image is the one you'll see if you click the link above

The Smell Of Spring

Tonight I was reminded of one of several sure signs of Spring, the smell of Elaeagnus umbellata, or as it is often known either Autumn Olive or Silverberry. Both of those common names are misleading, it's not an olive and usually fruits in late summer, and the fruit aren't silver. Yay for proper botanical names, at least with those you always know which plant you're talking about.

I don't think much of the plant itself, personally I consider it a noxious weed or a trash plant. It's highly invasive, practically indestructible, and it can and does grow just about anywhere and everywhere. Here in Pennsylvania it grows rampant in roadside areas of all types, from full sun to fairly deep shade. It's not much to look at, a scraggly looking mess with no real shape or form ranging in size from a large shrub to a small tree with a lot of very large thorns. Its leaves have a distinctive silver color on the bottom, often giving the entire plant a silvery appearance.

Then there's the fragrance, drive past a few of these in the evening or throughout the night and it's like you're driving through olfactory heaven. They cover themselves with small creamy white to yellowish flowers that are ridiculously fragrant, sweet but not cloyingly so and with a somewhat spicy smell as well. It's one of my most favorite things to smell. If its essential oils were distilled into a perfume base then any woman wearing it within 50 feet of me would need running shoes and a cattle prod. Yes, it's that good!

The fruit are quite good, however much like a persimmon you better wait until they're fully ripened before eating them. Let's see, how to describe the effects of an unripe persimmon or Elaeagnus fruit, hmmmm..... Have you ever seen the old episode of the Tom and Jerry cartoon where the mouse feeds the cat a spoonful of alum, and it shrivels the cat's head down to about 1/4 size? Well, that's about what an unripe persimmon will do to you, and unripe Elaeagnus isn't far behind. It kind of feels like it's turning your mouth inside out, leaving you with an hours long case of dry mouth. They fruit rather prolifically, large clusters of small red berries resembling semi-translucent holly berries. They are supposedly very nutritious, so eat up!

In bloom, in its full scraggly and shapeless glory. Image found at livingafield.com	Here you can see the silvery underside of the leaves. Image found at discoverlife.org
Last but not least, the fruit. Image found at davesgarden.com

How To Solve The Federal Deficit Problem

I saw this on facebook today and found the thought amusing enough to share. It's elegant in its simplicity but will unfortunately never happen because of that very quality (simplicity), and because it might actually work and that is strictly against Congressional policy. It would also hold Congress accountable for its own incompetence, something those self-serving assholes will never ever do. Ever.

"Pass a law mandating that should the deficit ever exceed 3% of the GDP then all sitting members of Congress would become permanently ineligible for re-election."

Problem solved. Of course there'd have to be an exception written in there for times of war but that should only apply to war to defend the US or answer direct threats, it should not apply to wars on abstract concepts, wars on sovereign countries who pose no threat to us and made no threats against us, nor wars waged to meddle in the affairs of other countries.

Funniest South Park Ever: Medicinal Fried Chicken

You'd have to see the show to understand. It starts with the town's KFC closing down because a law forbid selling unhealthy food in low income areas. It's replaced by a medical marijuana dispensary. While the kid is working with Colonel Sanders to set up a black market KFC business in town the fathers are all giving themselves testicular cancer so they can get the weed. You'd have to see the line of two dozen men riding their supersized swollen testicles down the street like hoppity hops to understand, lol.

Bouncy bouncy bounce! Here's a sample:

Here's the whole line-up. Click the "full screen" link and enjoy!

Turkey Hill "Box of Chocolates" Ice Cream

This stuff is awesome! It's co-branded with Gertrude Hawk chocolates and is therefore all different kinds of good. It's Turkey Hill chocolate ice cream with Gertrude Hawk chocolates in it including miniature dark chocolate raspberry cups, chocolate covered almond slivers and chunks of white chocolate. The whole mess is swirled with chocolate chips. The only thing I could find wrong was an error on the label, "12 servings per container" is obviously a misprint.

Urban Dictionary: Christianity

I was researching something earlier today and after clicking numerous links and googling terms from some of those results I somehow ended up on this urbandictionary.com page, much to my amusement. Some of the "definitions" were actually quite funny, while still holding more than a grain of truth. Here's a few of my favorites

"A religion that would have made sense had it not been for the nature and character of its followers."

"The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree."   I laughed out loud when I read that one

"A pyramid scheme based on a philosophy that was fairly progressive 2000 years ago. It has been rendered obsolete by modern scientific understanding largely due to its inability to resolve its inconsistencies through intelligently-applied critical thinking. It now serves as a means of deterring social and political advancement and as a tax on the gullible."

"A really cool religion, because if you follow it then you can go around raping, beating, and killing people, and as long as you confess your sins at the end of the day and repent you'll go to heaven!!!!!"

"A good excuse to write jokes on Urban Dictionary."

"One woman's lie about an affair that got seriously out of hand."   LOL!!

"Nothing more than a Jewish sect with borrowed pagan holidays that got too popular for its own good."

"A Christian is a man who repents on Sunday for what he did on Saturday and will do again on Monday. "

There are seventeen pages of "definitions", some realistic, some not so much. It's good for a laugh if nothing else.

A Pimped Out Amish Buggy

Yes you read that correctly. I know the two phrases "pimped out" and "Amish buggy" don't exactly seem as if they should ever be in the same sentence but times, they are a changin', lol.

I live in Amish country, rarely a day goes by where I don't see Amish in their horse drawn buggy tearing up the road at a blistering 12mph. They are required to have lights and reflectors for safety so they have battery powered headlamps, rear lights and/or flashers as well as the typical reflective orange triangle. Over the past few years the light displays on some of the buggies have gotten more and more ornate as if many of the Amish are using them to express their creativity or individuality. On some of my later nights driving through the more heavily Amish areas I've passed upwards of two dozen buggies in rapid succession, some with over a dozen flashing lights on the rear. I've seen them arranged in all different patterns from stripes to geometric shapes to a big X, all merrily flashing away.

Tonight I saw something entirely new though, the ultimate in pimped out Amish buggies. Yes, a buggy underlit with neon, or probably LED tubes since they have to be battery powered. As I'm pulling away from a traffic light I look over just in time to see the horse, then behind it a blue glow on the road which turned out to be the light tubes mounted under the buggy itself. I headed home wondering if I'd just seen the Amish equivalent of a lowrider.

A bit of Googling turned up the following video to better show you what I saw. If the video does not start at the 59 second mark you'll want to advance to that point manually because the majority of the rest of the video is pretty boring, if not downright irritating. You'll probably want to turn the volume down right away, too.

The "WTF" Quote Of The Day"

This bit of ridiculous brought to you by Rick Santorum. "President Obama once said he wants everybody out there to go to college; what a snob!" I didn't know snobbery was defined by the desire for Americans to get an education, the hope that Americans would have more opportunities to find better jobs that pay more money, and the expectation that American job seekers remain competitive in the world job market as most studies now indicate the US falling behind when it comes to education. Job opportunities in technology and science related fields are on the increase, even as the US turns out fewer qualified candidates to fill them.

I guess that in Santorum's vision of America we would all be high school dropouts performing menial labor or working in dead end jobs with no hope and no future, more easily ruled over by our educated millionaire overlords as we salute the star spangled banner waving over the land of the ignorant and home of the barely employed. I'm not impressed with his vision of the US as a third world country mired in poverty.

He himself has an undergraduate degree, an MBA and a law degree. Of course since he isn't a snob he would never wish that good fortune on anyone, nor would he want anyone else to be suffer through the same opportunities and/or success he has had as a result of that education.

America's Love/Hate Relationship With Tim Tebow

No matter how hard I try I just can't understand the whole Tim Tebow issue. Why does a quarterback in the NFL warrant so much attention and why does the mere mention of his name elicit such fervent commentary from both sides of the love/hate crowd? It all seems rather silly to me.

Yes, I know many of the haters base their opinion on their interpretation of his actual performance but judging from personal experience and what I've seen and heard, this rational contingent is a minority. So he's a Christian and he's not afraid to show it, big deal. Good for him. Whoop-de-freaking-do. Get over it. His choice of religion hurts you how, exactly? The 2 or 3 seconds he spends on one knee ruins your football experience how, exactly? Oh, it doesn't. So what's the issue? It's not like he's the first NFL player to ever perform an on-field ritual derived from or related to religion and I doubt he'll be the last. It's not all that uncommon to see a player raise their eyes toward "heaven" and mouth a simple thank you (or more), or even to see a player make the sign of the cross. So why is Tebow so different?

No, I am not a Christian nor do I hold Christianity as a whole in high esteem, quite the opposite is true so you can forget that argument. I don't consider his brief displays offensive. What I do consider offensive is the generally asinine attitudes of people as a result. It's so blown out of proportion that his 2 second prayers took precedence over the game. More offensive to me is when "news" cameramen rush over to literally shove a camera into the man's face in hopes of catching his prayer on film while completely disregarding the game itself. WTF? The entire free world knows he prays, it's no longer "news". A man's prayer to his god of choice is frankly nobody's business but his own. I have little remaining respect for the religion but I do have respect for his right to practice and observe it.

Even sillier is how perfectly willing so many people are to heap blame on the man when his team loses, but how completely unwilling these same people are to give him any credit at all when they win. Don't you think that's rather hypocritical? Seriously, if he can play bad and be therefore responsible for the loss, why can he not be responsible for the win when he plays well? The Broncos' record improved dramatically when he took over as quarterback, but he sucks. He can throw pass after perfect pass to receivers who are running full speed some 30, 40, even 50 yards down field, passes so perfect that the ball practically falls into the receiver's hands without need for them to so much as break stride for even one step. But he sucks. He set team records, he set records in college, and he set records as far back as high school, but he sucks. So what, exactly, does a quarterback have to do before you admit he may have talent? Oh, that's right, he has to forget his religion when on the field because after all, that's what really determines an athlete's skill. Silly me.

Is he young and inexperienced? Yep. Will he make mistakes? Yep. Funny thing about that, every player on every team in every sport has been there done that. Yes, he and his Broncos got their ass handed to them by the Patriots. Wow, what a surprise. The Patriots are a team led by a veteran quarterback who's been one of the best for over a decade, a quarterback who's been to the Superbowl four times, winning it three of those times. Comparatively speaking the Patriots are an older and more experienced team. It should have been no surprise at all that a team led by a rookie quarterback still establishing himself as the team leader, who has still not played the equivalent game count of an entire season, would lose to a team such as the Patriots. Then again, the Patriots are smart enough to respect Tebow's abilities and properly defend against them, probably why they were the only team able to beat him twice. They beat Tebow by not allowing him to do what he does best, throw the football. No quarterback can be "good" when he has no protection and no open receivers for the majority of the game. The Broncos lost that game, not Tim Tebow.

Then there's the crowd who adore the man, and go apoplectic should anyone dare utter a single negative word about him. Again many of these people base their opinion on their interpretation of his actual performance but judging from personal experience and what I've seen and heard this rational contingent is also a minority. From my observations, most of these people think and speak so highly of Tebow simply because he is Christian, these people have no clue regarding his athletic prowess, most probably couldn't even name the team he plays for. I have family in this category, much to my embarrassment. This religion inspired pro-Tebow camp only know that Tebow is one of "them". However, if he were to unroll a prayer rug, kneel on it then prostrate himself while uttering a quick prayer to Allah I suspect they'd have a significantly different opinion. In fact, I'd bet most of this crowd would be shitting bricks, foaming at the mouth while rabidly demanding such public displays of religion be immediately, permanently, and irrevocably banned. Thus is the hypocrisy of Christianity. "God wanted Tim Tebow to win that game."  How absurd, like any "God" would be even remotely concerned with the outcome of a football game. That's funny.

What I find most interesting about the whole thing is that both sides use the same justification to legitimize their differing viewpoints, and this justification in actuality has nothing whatsoever to do with the issue. "He prays, therefore he is a good player" and "He prays, therefore I like him" are as equally nonsensical as "He prays, therefore he is a bad player" and "He prays, therefore I dislike him." Religion does not define the measure of a man, neither does his publicly displayed observance of that religion. From what I've read about the man he does a lot of good in this world through his own organization and through his participation and/or affiliation with numerous other charities and similar organizations. Those actions tell more about the man than his religion ever could. 

An Awesome Read

One man's story of his lifelong experience with religion, and the effects of his years spent examining that experience and religion in general.

He starts with "God is almost certainly a lie, religion is a scourge upon the world, and you are wasting your life with a cultish devotion to nonsensical superstitions and soul-crushing dogmas. Also, you don’t have a soul." then proceeds to explain his life experience with religion and how that experience led him to that belief. It's a long read, grab a drink and a snack.

http://txfx.net/2012/01/09/why-i-am-an-atheist/