Andrew Nickles

A Few Thoughts on Gay Marriage...

For thousands of years marriage has been the purview of the church. A rite sanctioned, controlled and, in some cases, arranged by the church. That's all well and good BUT... somewhere along the way of America becoming what it is today, the government started giving cetrian benifits to those that are married.

These benifits include special tax rates, survivor benifits for social security, defacto power of attorney, inheritance rights, as well as specific responsibilities and obligations toward children and debts created as a result of the act of marriage.

This creates a special class of people recognized by the government known as "married".

Now, lets leave sexual orientation completely out of the discussion for a moment. Our constitution, as well as several federal, state and local laws make it clear that if the government offers benifits, rights, and privledges to one class of people, it cannot deny those benifits to any other people based on race, creed, color, age, or SEX.

This means that, by default, gay marriage is already legal in the united states. The government doesn't have the authority to prevent such a union.

The only way the government would be able to stop same sex marriage would be to stop recognizing marriage of any kind. Cancel all the benifits and rights assigned to straight couples, then marriage would revert back to the church and they could decide who deserves to experience such religious rights (rites?).

Until that happens, I don't see any legitimate reason to ban same sex couples from getting married and recieving the same rights and benifits as opposite sex couples.

If you have a legitmate argument against that I would love to listen to it. Otherwise I think it's time to admit that gays getting married was never the problem. The problem is the government usurping religious rites and practices and then being obligated to provide those same benifits to all citizens.

(Not original, unable to locate original post, if this is yours contact me and I'll give due credit)

Tell me if you change your mind...

Lately I feel like I'm waiting on your word.

Waiting for the clock to turn and my heart to stop.

You don't wanna love me,

I'll only let you down.

But tell me if you change your mind.

Now I don't really wanna be there, if you walk away.

Don't tell me that your mind's made up now

there nothing else to say.

I don't wanna scream out but you can read my mind.

Now tell me do you feel alive?

You're the last thing that I think about, when I close my eyes

and when I rise up with the morning sun

you're the first thing on my mind.

But you don't wanna love me, I'll only let you down.

Tell me if you change your mind.

I don't wanna beg

I don't wanna steal

and I don't wanna taste this bitter defeat.

I don't wanna hide

I don't wanna run and I don't wanna face this world alone.

Cause my heart beats so quickly whenever you're around

and I lose myself easy

your kiss is my weakness and your love grows deeper,

leaving my chasing time, tell me do you feel alive? 

Tell me if you change your mind. 

Something to remind you...

So this is it
I say goodbye
to this chapter 
of my ever changing lie

And there's mistakes
The path is long
And I'm sure I'll answer for them
When I'm gone..

So when the day comes
And the sun won't touch my face
Tell the ones who cared enough
That I've finally left this place

That's been so cold
Look in my face
All the stories it will tell
I can't erase

The road is long
Just one more song
A little something to remind you
When I'm gone

When I'm gone...

The road to hell
Along the way
Is paved with good intentions 
So they say

And some believe 
That no good deed
Goes unpunished in the end.. 
Or so it seems

So when the day comes
And the sun won't touch my face
Tell the ones who care enough
That I've finally left this place

That's been so cold
Look in my face
All the stories it will tell
I can't erase

The road is long
Just one more song
A little something to remind you
When I'm gone...

When I'm gone...

So this is it
I say goodbye
to this chapter 
of my ever changing lie

And there's mistakes
the path was long
And I'm sure I'll answer for them
when I'm gone

When I'm gone...

What happened to the nice guys?? You did.

I see a lot off girls ask this question….

What happened to all the nice guys? 

The answer is simple: you did. 

See, if you think back, really hard, you might vaguely remember a Platonic guy pal who always seemed to want to spend time with you. He’d tag along with you when you went shopping, stop by your place for a movie when you were lonely but didn’t feel like going out, or even sit there and hold you while you sobbed and told him about how horribly the (other) guy that you were fucking treated you. 

At the time, you probably joked with your girlfriends about how he was a little puppy dog, always following you around, trying to do things to get you to pay attention to him. They probably teased you because they thought he had a crush on you. Given that his behavior was, admittedly, a little pathetic, you vehemently denied having any romantic feelings for him, and buttressed your position by claiming that you were “just friends.” Besides, he totally wasn’t your type. I mean, he was a little too short, or too bald, or too fat, or too poor, or didn’t know how to dress himself, or basically be or do any of the things that your tall, good-looking, fit, rich, stylish boyfriend at the time pulled off with such ease. 

Eventually, your Platonic buddy drifted away, as your relationship with the boyfriend got more serious and spending time with this other guy was, admittedly, a little weird, if you werent dating him. More time passed, and the boyfriend eventually cheated on you, or became boring, or you realized that the things that attracted you to him weren’t the kinds of things that make for a good, long-term relationship. So, now, you’re single again, and after having tried the bar scene for several months having only encountered players and douche bags, you wonder, “What happened to all the nice guys?” 

Well, once again, you did. 

You ignored the nice guy. You used him for emotional intimacy without reciprocating, in kind, with physical intimacy. You laughed at his consideration and resented his devotion. You valued the aloof boyfriend more than the attentive “just-a-” friend. Eventually, he took the hint and moved on with his life. He probably came to realize, one day, that women aren’t really attracted to guys who hold doors open; or make dinners just because; or buy you a Christmas gift that you mentioned, in passing, that you really wanted five months ago; or listen when you’re upset; or hold you when you cry. He came to realize that, if he wanted a woman like you, he’d have to act more like the boyfriend that you had. He probably cleaned up his look, started making some money, and generally acted like more of an asshole than he ever wanted to be. 

Fact is, now, he’s probably getting laid, and in a way, your ultimate rejection of him is to thank for that. And I’m sorry that it took the complete absence of “nice guys” in your life for you to realize that you missed them and wanted them. Most women will only have a handful of nice guys stumble into their lives, if that. 

So, if you’re looking for a nice guy, here’s what you do: 

1.) Build a time machine. 
2.) Go back a few years and pull your head out of your ass. 
3.) Take a look at what’s right in front of you and grab ahold of it. 

I suppose the other possibility is that you STILL don’t really want a nice guy, but you feel the social pressure to at least appear to have matured beyond your infantile taste in men. In which case, you might be in luck, because the nice guy you claim to want has, in reality, shed his nice guy mantle and is out there looking to unleash his cynicism and resentment onto someone just like you. 

If you were five years younger. 

So, please: either stop misrepresenting what you want, or own up to the fact that you’ve fucked yourself over. You’re getting older, after all. It’s time to excise the bullshit and deal with reality. You didn’t want a nice guy then, and he certainly doesn’t want you, now.

I have never been sinless, but I sin with good intent; And I speak from the heart, so everything I just said, I meant..

Damn, I haven't blogged in a while. Well, here goes:

They say you can’t turn a bad girl good,

but once a good girl’s gone bad…

she remembers what she never had.

It’s like she’s never cried,

never laughed.

She looks those men in the eyes and realizes,

there’s no coming back.

Nice guys finish last,

if they finish.

So if you think that I’ve been an ass,

mind your business.

I have never been sinless,

but I sin with good intent.

And I speak from the heart,

so everything I just said,

I meant.

Some seem to get pissed

and consider me a hypocrite.

I call those people

simpletons

who get pissed over simple shit.

Reminiscing on my past

bliss filled ignorance.

If only I could go back,

but I don’t want to go back.

I’d hope that you would know that,

I’ve never cared more.

But why care when you never feel cared for?

Do you think Japan is at fault for the earthquake?

You will find, if you read newspapers from the period, that a certain type of people in the US have always blamed others for their own misfortunes and insisted that the misfortune would not have happened except that God is angry with them. It is not surprising to see this continue.

It is called Calvinism, and was brought to the US by people of European descent. People of European descent often use Calvinism to inform their morals and ethics when it keeps them from having to help others or allows them to look down on others. These same people will stop using Calvinism and utilize a different set of Christian tenets--the more forgiving, accepting, and "do-gooding" ones--when the misfortune has been visited on themselves. Well, unless it is something like 9/11, and then they will use a militaristic form of Christianity.

The main issue is that such people in the US are not particularly well educated (or ethical) and move between ethical systems in the blink of an eye, always choosing the one that benefits themselves the most, because they do not understand that one should have principals and stick to them both when they benefit oneself and when they do not. People in the US--we can look at Beck or O'Reilly as examples--do not have the courage of their convictions because they don't have convictions. They have various ethical systems to randomly select from with one main goal--me and mine first, last, and always.

Why is this at all surprising? It's been this way for a very long time. Not everyone in the US is like this, but too many always have been.

Dear Tea Party People

Bush.

Bush's own actions belie the claim that he felt remorse for sending Americans to war under false pretenses:

"No one was more shocked or angry than I was when we didn't find the weapons. I had a sickening feeling every time I thought about it. I still do," writes Bush.

A sickening feeling every time he thought about it? Really? Let's recall March 24, 2004. Washington's political and media elite had gathered at the Washington Hilton for the annual Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner. As thousands of DC's moneyed establishment swells enjoyed their elegant meal, Bush was the entertainment. Bush displayed a photo of himself looking for something out a window in the Oval Office. His narration: "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere." The audience laughed. But the joke wasn't done. After a few more slides, there was a shot of Bush looking under furniture in the Oval Office. "Nope," he said. "No weapons over there." More laughter. Then another picture of Bush searching in his office: "Maybe under here." Laughter again.

In joking about the missing weapons of mass destruction, Bush made fun of the reason he had cited for sending Americans to war and thus to death, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress and maiming, turning his stupid blunder into a running gag.

What He Does Not Say:

Bush was the man in charge the day terrorists attacked the United States on 9/11. He had been warned in Presidential Daily Briefings in August that Bin Laden intended to attack US.
Draw your own conclusions about the effectiveness of Bush in protecting the United States before 9/11.

Bush emphatically assured the American people that the war in Iraq increased national security. Many conservatives believed and still believe that, even though the 9/11 Commission (which the Administration did not want to convene) showed no link between Iraq and al Qaida, and no link between Iraq and 9/11.

Nor does the book discuss the National Intelligence Estimates that showed that the US occupation of Iraq served to recruit and train jihadists, thus decreasing national security.

Bush also, though masquerading as a fiscal conservative, ballooned the national debt by slashing taxes on the rich and the energy industry while increasing defense spending. In fact. he was the first president foolish enough to cut taxes in wartime, the most fiscally foolish thing he could do. In fairness, his fiscal policies benefited the richest two percent.

Don't expect to find anything in this book about how the gap between the incomes of rich and poor has seriously widened in the Reagan and Bush years. And the percentage of poor Americans has seriously increased. This data is available to readers of the national weekly news magazines or even readers of USA Today---but not to readers of this book. Bush favored big business and especially big oil at the expense of the working and middle class, who have to pay interest on his bloated deficit.

Interesting that no conservative groundswell against deficits occurred until Obama became president.

Since his sympathies are always with the rich and wealthy corporations, he provided a drug program for the elderly that has no bulk purchasing for their meds, which would drive down their costs but also drive down the profits of big pharma.

He sponsored an energy bill with no conservation measures. And compromised protections of forests, water, and air quality--cynically calling these anti-conservationist measures Healthy Forests and Clean Air.

Again as an anti-conservative, Bush expanded presidential power at the expense of the US Constitution. For 750 bills he signed, he used the signing statement reservation by which he exempts himself and his Administration from the will of Congress. All previous presidents combined used fewer than 350 signing statements. Bush thus set the all-time record of contempt for Congress as he centralized power in the executive branch, contrary to conservative principles.

Jesus vs. Jeezus

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Georgia Homeless Shelter Refuses to Serve Gay People