Sometimes I think we concentrate on things that are relatively unimportant.

The afternoon opens with a birthday party. Your neighborhood friends are ramping BMX bicyles in the driveway. You're playing 'jacks' with the girl you'll eventually take to Sadie Hawkins when you're 15. Dad pulls up in his work truck with a birthday card from Grandpa with a $10 bill in it. Life at 10 is all cake. It's a beautiful day. It goes on for hours.

The looming cloud towering overhead sends your friends home. The 6 o'clock sun has that hazy yellow tint. The thunder and lightning starts with a moderate rain with a fair amount of wind. Looking up, you can see lower levels in the cloud base moving counter to the bulk of the larger cloud. The moderate rain intensifies as the storm continues to draw air. You can literally feel it rushing towards the storm. Gusting winds intermingle with sheets of rain. It is a chore to stand in the doorway. Mom and Dad rush through to make sure all the windows are closed and Mikey and Dominik (German shepherd puppies) are locked in your bedroom. 10 minutes goes by, the sky is much darker now with just a hint of yellow.

You hear the hail stones before you see them. Suddenly they're pounding down on everything. Its loud. It lets up almost as quickly as it begins, all the while sheets of driving rain pound against the windows.

The lower smaller clouds begin a dance of sorts, darting in and out of one another. It only takes them a minute to organize into a funnel. From underneath, you can see the vortex, spinning like a mini-hurricane.

The spiraling get more pronounced. The next minute is spent getting last minute preparations in order. Pups are in the bathroom now, running back to the front door for one last peek before taking cover and you can see a whispy tail whipping around like a ribbon. It drops down a bit, teases, and then rises again. The lights in the whole neighborhood go out. No streetlamps, no porch lights. Just the faint glow trying to make it's way through the huge dark clouds. The wind becomes unavoidable. It seems to come from everywhere with such a roaring force it pops your ears. During final look, you don't really see it touch the ground. Dad frantically rushes you to the hiding spot. You're hunched under a full sized mattress holding a puppy that doesn't want to be held as the house begins a strange humming noise accompanied by the creak of straining lumber. It's so loud. The roaring wind, the house shaking and shrieking... then you begin hearing quick snaps as boards are being pulled back and released. Then the snaps turn to a chorus of crushing rumbles. Crashing glass, loud booms... it seems to go on and on.

The pitch black of your hiding spot is abruptly exposed to the outside world. You struggle from under the mattress for a peek. The rumble wanes, the snapping becomes more distant, the roar is getting faint. You can barely see anything, but the little bit of light seems very bright from under the complete darkness. The roaring calms and you poke your head out. Everything is rained on. Large pieces of the roof are missing. The rain pouring in. Boards are sticking out and pointing in every direction.

Stumbling into the kitchen and you have a new view of the back yard. The pear tree is missing. The swing set is knocked over. The chain linked fence has all manner of things stuck in it. The back porch is in the neighbor's yard. The washer and dryer are missing. It's the first time you've ever seen an overturned car. Pieces of everything are broken and ruined all over. Dad's truck has been pushed into the front room and is lodged in the wall. That whole part of the house seems to be a few feet shorter. The entire wall buckled in the middle and wooden 2x6 supports from the roof truss sag through the ceiling. The windows are broken, curtains are missing. All the furniture is moved around. You and Mom go around the side of the house as Dad backs the truck out. The glowing orange in the distance you're too young to recognize is actually Atlas Oil Refinery on fire and burning out of control. The drive to Grandpa's takes forever on a flat tire. You didn't take a change of clothes, you didn't get a chance to go your room. You're not even sure your room survived. Between Mom crying, the puppy squirming and Dad in emergency mode... you're not even sure if the last 30 minutes were even real.

The Spring of '78 will forever be the lump in your throat every time the sirens go off.

---

Mine went something like that.

Mark Murphy:Political correctness undermines America's greatest strength--it freedom

Mark Murphy: Political correctness undermines America's greatest strength -- its freedom

Posted: April 27, 2014 - 12:17am

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By Mark E. Murphy

On March 24, 2014, Brendan Eich — the inventor of the Javascript scripting language — was named CEO of Mozilla, the company that makes the popular Web browser Firefox.

It was a company he helped found; indeed, had it not been for Eich, Mozilla would never have existed.

But it soon came to light that, in 2008, Eich had contributed $1,000 in support of California’s Proposition 8, which sought to make same-sex marriage unconstitutional in California. This led to a firestorm of controversy: The dating website OKCupid asked its users to boycott Mozilla. Three of Mozilla’s directors resigned.

Several LGBT activists also called for a boycott of the company. And so, on April 4, Eich resigned, both as CEO and from all employment at Mozilla, saying, “Under the present circumstances, I cannot be an effective leader.”

The United States was founded upon principles of freedom — freedom from tyranny, freedom from oppressive government, freedom to practice one’s religion without fear of prosecution. Freedom of speech, guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, is a right that all Americans rightly cherish. Adopted on Dec. 15, 1791, the Amendment codifies that freedom by saying, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

But apparently that right does not extrapolate to allowing U.S. citizens freedom of thought.

Although there have been no new laws passed restraining free speech, societal limitations, cloaked in the guise of “political correctness,” have emerged in recent years as a means of reining in ideas that are deemed unacceptable.

Americans can now express social, political and religious views only as long as they conform to the principles set forth by the screaming masses of militant, self-righteous bloggers, activists and lay journalists out there.

Us vs. them

The mass media engage in a feeding frenzy of controversy whenever something that is perceived to be “politically incorrect” surfaces. It’s become the prevailing tactic of the left to demonize anyone who does not adopt the official PC position.

The right wing media often responds in incendiary fashion — and the end result is a contentious, us-vs.-them mentality that is tearing the fabric of our nation into tatters. It has virtually eliminated intelligent discussion; howls of mutual dissent drown out any attempts at logical compromise.

Even the government has gotten in on the act, with both the IRS and the Department of Justice (headed by Attorney General Eric Holder) specifically targeting conservative activist groups in a politically-motivated witch hunt.

George Orwell described this sort of culture perfectly in his novel “1984.” Ladies and gentlemen, this is no longer America; it is Oceania. The Thought Police will see you now.

The ironic thing about all of this is the hypocrisy of it all.

For example, President Obama stated publicly in 2008 that his Christian beliefs made him oppose gay marriage. Former President Bill Clinton signed the much-vilified Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) into law in 1996, despite being heavily supported by the gay and lesbian community during his election campaign.

Both have taken the politically expedient step of renouncing their prior position, but do their retroactive apologies make them less complicit today?

One of the great strengths of this nation has always been its ability to encourage individual freedom of expression. Indeed, that freedom is the lifeblood of America. It is what sets us apart from countries around the globe where individual rights are not protected.

Through those freedoms of expression, our nation has successfully advanced the individual rights of women, of people of various ethnicities and skin colors, and of those who have different sexual orientation. I am not so naïve to think that we have not completely eliminated prejudice, but Americans have consistently struck down codified barriers to freedom that were at odds with our Constitutional Bill of Rights.

Many of these barriers have been eliminated during my lifetime — and their removal makes me proud to be an American. Where would we be without brave souls like Dr. Martin Luther King, whose eloquence gave Black Americans hope that institutionalized racism could at last be removed as a legal barrier to social progress?

And the recent cataclysmic shift in public opinion about same-sex marriage has been based largely upon the courageous efforts of activists who have helped people understand that gay people want the same things as everyone else — financial stability, the chance to build a family, the commitments inherent in a long-term relationship, and so on.

Bully tactics

Americans shudder at the stories we read from other nations — in places like Pakistan, for example, where 12-year-old Malala Yousafzai authored a blog about the need to educate young women (a view at odds with those of many fundamentalist Islamic groups) only to be shot in the face in 2012 by a Taliban gunman on a crowded school bus.

We remember the horrors of the Nazi regime, where millions were sent to their deaths because of their religion or ethnicity, but we forget the fact that the crimes of the Nazis were rooted in the truncation of individual freedoms and the brutal suppression of free speech. Educated discourse, not hysterical vilification, are at the heart of what has historically made America great. Instead of turning people with “politically incorrect” viewpoints into pariahs, we should instead each use our God-given intellect to weigh the data and individually gauge what we feel is the truth.

Otherwise, the pervasive intolerance of other peoples’ perspectives could further mushroom into something truly ugly. Shall Scientologists be prohibited from being CEOs? Should we oust government officials who believe in astrology? Will listening to Ted Nugent be deemed subversive? Where does it all end?

The core essence of the Brendan Eich controversy was perhaps best illustrated by blogger Andrew Sullivan — who is gay, by the way. Not that that matters.

“If we are about intimidating the free speech of others, we are no better than the anti-gay bullies who came before us,” Sullivan said.

It’s time that we ended the tyranny of political correctness that is so pervasive in modern society. We need instead to re-emphasize those basic individual rights that got us here in the first place. If we don’t, we’ll continue traveling down a dark road that leads to an even darker place. Before you know it, the Thought Police will come knocking at my door.

And they won’t be happy to see me.

Mark Murphy, M.D., is a Savannah physician and writer.

"Maybe what we need is to spend more on education and less on war, even out the tax laws and rules just a bit, require a standard living wage instead of a minimum one. Some sort of rebalancing. Those aren't answers to everything, but they might be a start."

Life inside the new minimum wage economy.

Three Days Grace -- Just Like You

I could be mean
I could be angry
You know I could be just like you

I could be fake
I could be stupid
You know I could be just like you

You thought you were standing beside me
You were only in my way
You're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you

You thought you were there to guide me
You were only in my way
You're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you

You thought you were there to guide me
You were only in my way
You're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you

I could be cold
I could be ruthless
You know I could be just like you

I could be weak
I could be senseless
You know I could be just like you

You thought you were standing beside me
You were only in my way
You're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you

You thought you were there to guide me
You were only in my way
You're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you
You thought you were there to guide me
You were only in my way
You're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you

On my own, cause I can't take living with you
I'm alone, so I won't turn out like you
Want me to

You thought you were standing beside me
You were only in my way
You're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you

You thought you were there to guide me
You were only in my way
You're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you
You thought you were there to guide me
You were only in my way
You're wrong if you think that I'll be just like you

I could be mean
I could be angry
You know I could be just like you

My band just added this to our set list...

...and I'm learning the lead vocal!

Here is the music with the lyrics...

And here is the original music video, which is fantastic!

Wreck on Ft. Stewart leaves unanswered questions.

A civilian cargo van collided with a Knight Armored Transport Vehicle around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday on Highway 119 on Fort Stewart. The van driver was killed. Two soldiers were injured.

One man was killed Wednesday afternoon in a wreck on Highway 119 on Fort Stewart, and two soldiers were injured, according to Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson.

A civilian cargo van collided with a Knight Armored Transport Vehicle around 12:30 p.m., about a mile south of the NCO Academy inside Bryan County. As emergency crews cleaned up the site, Highway 119 was shut down for about five hours, causing major traffic delays on post. It reopened shortly after 5 p.m. The driver of the van died.

Military police still are investigating the cause of the wreck, and Bryan County Sheriff’s Office deputies assisted at the scene. The victim’s identity has not been released, but he was not affiliated with the military, Larson said.

[Editor's note: Original published in the Coastal Courier on April 18th. Courier contributors Dan Scott and Jeff Whitten collaborated on this report.]

Turn Of Century Midway

Lu Smith shared Pride of Liberty's photo.

1 hr ·

Pride of Liberty

FIVE THOUSAND PEOPLE IN MIDWAY
The following is a news item published in the Savannah Morning News, April 27, 1915, telling of the large crowd that attended the... unveiling of the General Steward and Screven monument.

BIG CROWD WELL HANDLED
Scattered over an area of several acres, there were fully five thousand people on the grounds surrounding old Midway Church at noon yesterday when a recess of an hour was taken between the two ceremonies for a basket picnic. Newly 3,500 of that number traveled to Midway by automobiles from Liberty, Bryan, Tattnall, and other South Georgia Counties. Many more came from that section and from South Carolina and Florida by rail. The seaboard Air Line Railroad operated two special trains from Savannah in the morning, carrying 1,300 from this city to the event, and handled the crowds well.
In spite of the numbers, however, the crowd was in every way orderly and regardful of the sacred respect in which the spot is held by those to whom it is most dear. Not a case of intoxication or disorderly act was observed or reported to the marshal of the day, Col.A. Gordon Cassels, who probable was the busiest man of any who had anything to do with the arrangements, Troop B, First Georgia Cavalry, better known as Liberty Independent Troop of Liberty, under the direct command of Maj. W.P. Waite, did special police duty but had no calls for exercising their authority.
Here and there mingling with the crowds of grey uniforms and whiskers of veterans of the Confederacy were to be seen, proudly bearing their scars and years. Everywhere they accorded respectful attention, for the numerous flags of the Confederacy which decorated graves in the cemetery could not fail to remind one that the occasions was also Memorial Day.
Old Midway church was the center of interest before the ceremonies began. Thousands climbed the winding stairs into the old fashioned balcony and looked down upon the colonial pulpit from which so many ministers of the Gospel of National fame have in by gone days propounded the Presbyterian doctrine. Notably among these was Rev.I.S.K. Axson, the great-grandfather of the late Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, wife of the president. More than 2,000 people entered their names on the pages of the book placed in the church yesterday for that purpose.
MILITARY START HOME
Probably for the first time in the history of commercial telegraphy, a telegraph station was operated yesterday within the walls of such an historic cemetery. All day long the Western union Telegraph Company sent out messages over the special Midway wire direct to friends of the senders as souvenirs of the event. Two messages to President Wilson went over the wires direct from Midway to Washington.
Scores of automobiles and other conveyances met the special trains from Savannah at Dorchester in the morning, but few were on hand to transport passengers back to the station after the ceremonies. Hundreds tramped the distance of one and one-half miles behind the troops on foot. In numerous spots along the road the sand lay four inches deep and it was a hot and fatiguing walk. The returning “specials” reached the city at 6:30 o’clock at night.
Troop A, First Georgia Cavalry, which rode to Midway last Saturday, broke camp late in the afternoon and started on the home march under the command of Capt. Frank P. McIntire. Adj. Gen. J. Van Holt Nash is with them. They are due to reach the city early this morning. The other troops returned by train, (A report of the unveiling ceremonies was contained in another article.)

How to build a gaming computer.

This instructional is technically correct. I only discovered that on the third viewing when I could actually pay attention to the computer.

The Last ARCA/Winston West race at Texas World Speedway, a great track we're about to lose forever.

The Fence Test

The Fence Test 

You can't get any more accurate than this! 
This is straight forward country thinking..

by 
Jeff Foxworthy

 

Which side of the fence?

If you ever wondered which side of the

fence you sit on, this is a great test!

If a Republican doesn't like guns,

he doesn't buy one.  If a Democrat doesn't

like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a Republican is a vegetarian,

he doesn't eat meat.

If a Democrat is a vegetarian,

he wants all meat products banned

for everyone.

If a Republican is homosexual,

he quietly leads his life.  If a Democrat is

homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a Republican is down-and-out, he thinks

about how to better his situation.  If a Democrat

is down-and-out he wonders who is going to

take care of him.

If a Republican doesn't like a talk show host,

he switches channels.  A Democrat demands

that those they don't like be shut down.

If a Republican is a non-believer,

he doesn't go to church.  A Democrat non-believer

wants any mention of God and religion silenced.

If a Republican decides he needs health care, he

goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job

that provides it.  If a Democrat decides he needs

health care, he demands that the rest of us pay

for his.

If a Republican reads this, he'll forward it so

his friends can have a good laugh.  A Democrat

will delete it because he's "offended". 

Well, I forwarded it.

U.S. TO SPEND $400,000 TO PURCHASE PLASTIC CAMEL STATUE IN PAKISTAN

No Joke: U.S. Taxpayers To Spend $400K On Plastic Camel Statue…In Pakistan

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21,258 Shares By Mike Miller 16 hours ago

The average Pakistani makes $1,250 per year. The U.S. State Department is about to spend $400,000 on a plastic statue of a camel. Staring at a needle. For its new embassy in Pakistan. Is it just me?

Via Buzzfeed:

The work, by noted American artist John Baldessari, depicts a life-size white camel made of fiberglass staring in puzzlement at the eye of an oversize shiny needle — a not-so-subtle play on the New Testament phrase about the difficulty the wealthy have in entering the kingdom of heaven.

Officials explained the decision to purchase the piece of art, titled “Camel Contemplating Needle,” in a four-page document justifying a “sole source” procurement.

“This artist’s product is uniquely qualified. Public art which will be presented in the new embassy should reflect the values of a predominantly Islamist country. (Like the Bible, the Qur’an uses the metaphor of a camel passing through the eye of a needle.)

This latest purchase comes on the heels of a similar purchase in December when the Department shelled out over $1 million for what amounts to a pile of rocks for its new embassy in London.

Irrespective of the religious message that may or may not be intended by the statue, should the U.S government be in the business of using taxpayer dollars to buy expensive works of art for its embassies in foreign countries?