We have now left the surface of the Earth on our voyage of discovery. Soaring far beyond where the Langoliers fear to tread, far beyond the point of no return, far past the point where Chuck Norris is denied entry – a world that is so strange and unusual that mere mortal men have not ventured...

And thusly we have begun our journey and so we shall remain until we have reached the end...

But on this journey the end is just a fixed point from where the journey continues on to another point, and that other point is but an end that signals the beginning of yet another journey. And so it is...

And all those who makes this journey are safely cocooned in a chrysalis of steel and aluminum, and they shall emerge at the destination renewed and better than before – all bright and shiny with new wings with which to soar. And their flight may not take them far from the ground, but they will all reach heights that they had never thought possible in this or any other lifetime...

Their minds will race with the realization that they now have so many more possibilities than they had just a short time ago. Thoughts will bounce about in their heads of all the new experiences that await them at the end that is in all actuality a new beginning. Such is the strange life that we lead in these strange times. A life so strange that a mere generation ago we would never have imagined it possible, and yet it is more than possible, it is in fact a reality that we all most face, experience and thrive in...

We all sit here and await the mysteries of the end, and we look forward to what we will find when the time arrives. A nervous anticipation runs like waves throughout this strange ship in which we find ourselves. What does the end have in store for us? What discoveries will be made? Will the natives accept us or will we need to fight for our survival? What became of those who went before us? Will we find them living in harmony or will we find their bleached bones scattered in the sun? So many questions for which we do not have the answers for as of yet, and only our reaching the end will provide the answers we are seeking...

And onward we travel. We have our destinies to face, and we show no outward signs of fear. We are the brave new explorers on this journey of discovery, we are the Eriksons of the Twenty-first Century, we are the Lewis and Clarks of the modern world. We shall not weigh anchor until we reach the shores of this uncharted land, we shall not disembark this ship until we see the native plant and animal life, we shall remain seated until we have come to a complete stop...

And yet there is never a stop, just a momentary pause then the journey begins anew. And what a journey it will be, a journey that shall be recorded in the annals of history for our children's children's children to study in there classes in their schools in some far off distant future that we can never imagine. And maybe one day they too will undertake their own journeys of discovery and maybe they too will document their journey and pass their story onto their children's children's children and so the cycle will continue until this planet reaches it final destination, which in fact will be a beginning of a new journey...

Since my last rant I have discovered that there are other things that have been on my mind that I need to get out of my system. I probably would have thought of them whilst I was writing the previous rant, but my brain doesn't always begin to function in the hour it took me to scrawl my thoughts upon this page...

For those who generalize the GOP (and I am a member of the GOP only because this is the closest party to my way of thinking though I never have and I never will agree with everything in the Republican agenda) as the ultimate evil: please come vote me out of office in 2012. I'm tired of hearing all you have to say to me about my political views. It is tiring also to assist those who have no idea of the issues to vote – why bother casting your vote if you have no clue what you are voting on? I wonder if the amount I make justifies what I need to go through to make it...

I failed to bring up Global Warming again, another thing I'm sick and tired of hearing about. What if the rise in temperature was due to the fact that the planet was coming out of the Little Ice Age? If anyone knows at least a little about the history of this planet, they should realize that a millennium ago the planet was warmer. Greenland had far less ice on it when the Vikings settled it. England exported wine to the Romans. I could go on and on, but a 1000 years ago the Earth was a far different place with a different climate. Was it mankind who caused these temperatures to be at the levels they were? I am not in anyway in favor of polluting, but I am not going to blame the human race when it could be a natural cycle of this planet...

Global warming leads my brain down the avenue of the Going Green movement. I am looking forward to the day when every square foot of desert, every bit of available land is covered with solar panels; and every hilltop, every mile of coastline is dotted with wind turbines. If they are serious about renewable energy just do it or shut up about it. Then we have the electric cars. The power grid in this country is already stressed enough especially in the summer months with some parts of the country experiencing rolling blackouts. I am looking forward to the day when tens of thousands of people get home from work and decide to recharge their cars. It is so nice to dream of a day when electric cars will be the norm, but the reality of it is without more electricity production it will remain that – just a dream. Oh, but we can't build any new power generating facilities, the EPA has seen to that as well as environmental activists. When was the last time a nuclear plant went online in this country? That would happen to be 1996. And look at how the world has changed since that year. How many home computers have been added to the grid? How many rechargeable items like cell phones, Ipods and the like have been added in those 14 years? Supply definitely has not kept up with demand and now we want to add cars to the equation? This is madness! This is SPARTA! And maybe that's the goal all along – returning the human race to a level it achieved a thousand years ago. Or at least return the evil empire of the United States of American to that level...

I am an evil American Conservative, you may hate me freely for this is a free country or that is at least what we are taught. It is funny how many of my friends were up in arms about the Patriot Act and yet they are silent on all the “change” this new regime is instituting. I guess it is a crime when a Republican does this sort of thing, but it is all well and good when a Democrat does the same things to limit the freedoms of the masses. If you wish to debate this point, give me proof of how this regime has rolled back the restrictions of the last and has not gone above and beyond the groundwork laid by their predecessors...

This time of the year with the elections getting closer and closer drives me nuts. I should just vow to forego all all media outlets for the foreseeable future. My weak and feeble brain is far better off not hearing, reading, or watching any of the goings on. For the most part, I do not care in the least to listen to the propaganda spewed forth from either side of the aisle. I already know were the candidates stand on the issues; I have a good feeling I know how they will vote on any legislation, and I know in what direction I think the country should go. I am hoping that one day there will be a Congress that passes no new laws for the ones we already have are adequate to handle any given situation, but I know this will never be the case for the legislature is judged on how much they the “get done”, and heaven-forbid if they are judged to do nothing except collected their salaries. Adding layer upon layer of rules and regulations only does one thing – it erodes the freedom that our forefathers bestowed upon us. I have a feeling that if I had a means to bring George Washington here, he would be appalled at what he saw. And I have a feeling that when I returned him to his proper time, he would just call it quits and go back to farming deeming the sacrifice his men made was not worth results...

It's that time of the year when I can plead temporary insanity and rant like the lunatic I am...

Blessed are those who have read this rant...

Go ye now in peace...

It is that time of the year when I decide to rant about everything that I am so inclined to rant about...

No one has ever adequately explained to me what is wrong with 'legally' entering this country. Maybe I cannot comprehend why it is that people who do enter illegally are rarely punished for something that is clearly against the law. If I illegally enter someone else's home, I surely expected to be punish if I get caught doing such an act. Why is it that people who illegally enter my homeland are given things in return for an illegal act? What is the lesson to be learned from this by the young people of this country?

I read a lot of what my friends have to say mostly on Facebook now and still to a lesser extent by the friends that I still have here on Mindsay, actually I probably read way too much. Anyhoo, I would say a slight majority are liberal with some being extremely liberal with most of the remainder being conservative and a very small percentage politically agnostic. To those who feel the need to constantly express their viewpoints upon yours, I would just like to ask, “How many of you actually have direct knowledge of what you feel the need to condemn? Or do you just base your opinions on what others have written about and just follow blindly their agendas?” Case in point, I asked a friend why he was so much against the Restoring Honor Rally and so much in favour of the Rally to Restore Sanity. The answer didn't satisfy my curiosity so I then asked what was so wrong with the Beck rally that he had to counter rally? Again the answer lead me to another question and that was did you even watch the Restoring Honor Rally? To which the answer was, “No, I didn't have to. I knew what it was about.” Interesting, very interesting. How does one know what the rally was about if one never had taken the time to watch or listen to it? Personally, regardless of my beliefs, I enjoyed hearing Albert Pujols and Tony La Russa speak, and I really loved the music. And I'm sure I will watch the Rally to Restore Sanity before I pass judgment on the goings on, but somewhere in the back of my empty cranium I have a feeling that it will be like watching Stephen Colbert testifying before Congress, which was a mockery of the entire process in my opinion...

Being in the insurance industry, I know some of the changes that are in store for anyone who currently has private health insurance, and the changes aren't pretty. Brace yourselves for massive increases to your premium over the next two years. Personally this isn't a bad thing for me being that an increase in premium will result in a potential increase in my commission cheques – that is of course if the clients can afford to keep their policies. It is so wonderful that people who do not know how the industry works can pass such sweeping changes to the industry. There are reasons why lifetime limits were in place, there are reasons why certain people, treatments, procedures, therapies, etc were not covered or restricted – namely to keep the costs down. Someone will pay for all these changes and I know first hand it will be the customers. As I've said, being in the industry I have some inside knowledge that is never reported in the media and that is chiefly that after 2014 most health insurance as we know it will be gone, and the government will have its wish for a single-payer plan, but I have a feeling that was the plan all all along. For my business, this is a bad thing, but for business in general it is a very good thing as they drop coverages for their employees thusly increasing their profit margins though tax rates will need to be higher to pay for the government run insurance policies...

Another thing I find funny in a dark creepy sort of way is the call to increase taxes only on the rich while at the same time throw bail-out money at these same individuals. So in turn, everyone is paying for these individuals to make more money instead of just letting them keep the money that was theirs so they could fund keeping their businesses alive. Not that it matters much anyway, most people in the upper income brackets have accountants and lawyers to help them pay the least amount of taxes as possible. The thing that really really amuses me is those rich individuals who say they should pay more in taxes – why don't you put your money where your mouth is and cut a cheque to the IRS and pay your fair share? Talk is cheap, put your money where your mouth is or shut up...

Blessed are those who have made it this far in the rant...

And please note, more than likely I will not debate any of these points with anyone, but your comments are always welcome...