Diplomas denied for fat students

According to the Associated Press, Lincoln University, a historical black University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will not give a diploma to students with a BMI of 30 and above unless they first take a "Fitness for Life" class. A BMI of 30 or above is considered to be obese.

This class is not a mandatory graduation requirement for the general student population but only is required if your BMI is too high. The course will involve various physical activities including walking, weight training, and aerobics. It will also include material on stress, sleep, and nutrition.

Here is some of the rationale from the University.

Officials at historically black Lincoln University said Friday that the school is simply concerned about high rates of obesity and diabetes, especially in the African-American community. (My Way)

"We know we're in the midst of an obesity epidemic," said James L. DeBoy, chairman of Lincoln's department of health, physical education and recreation. "We have an obligation to address this head on, knowing full well there's going to be some fallout." (My Way)

DeBoy stressed that students are not required to lose weight or lower their BMI; they must only pass the class through attendance and participation. (My Way)

"It's the sound mind and the sound body concept," DeBoy said. "I think the university, to its credit, is trying to be proactive." (My Way)

The reaction from the student body does vary but below is a typical reaction.

Tiana Lawson, a 21-year-old senior, wrote in this week's edition of The Lincolnian, the student newspaper, that she "didn't come to Lincoln to be told that my weight is not in an acceptable range. I came here to get an education." (My Way)

In an interview Friday, Lawson said she has no problem with getting healthy or losing weight. But she does have a problem with larger students being singled out. (My Way)

"If Lincoln truly is concerned about everyone being healthy, then everyone should have to take this gym class, not just people who happen to be bigger," she said. (My Way)

There are questions on the validity of using the BMI measurement.

Costello, an assistant professor of nursing at Villanova University, also noted that body mass index can be misleading. Since muscle weighs more than fat, "it is possible to be overweight and still be physically fit," she said. (My Way)

I have no issue with Higher Education Institutes determining that their students need to have a better understanding of health and wellness with a focus on diet and exercise. I had one of these courses in my undergrad program. But it was a general graduation requirement.

I believe this school is discriminating against their calorically challenged students by requiring more out of them than their thin students to receive the same diploma. On their same logic, should they not require a course for students that are too thin and may suffer from Anorexia?

Do they really believe that only students that are overweight in college will be overweight in life? I was a thin boy during my college years. I am working on getting back down to an appropriate BMI and weight but that is my decision and not someone making me work out to graduate. It will do no good to strong arm students to take this class unless you can change their inner motivation. I had to change my internal motivation to lose 60 pounds. I would have never lost the weight by the external motivation or strong arm tactics of Lincoln University.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

My thoughts on Healthcare Reform

I have not blogged on politics in a long time but I desire to get out my thoughts on the Healthcare Reform Bill which currently is in the Senate and has passed the House. As most people who read this blog know, I am a fairly moderate conservative.

1) I have heard of very few true reforms in this legislation. I have heard the debates on public options, adding more people to government coverage, and whether on not it will or will not lead to a government takeover of medical coverage (socialized medicine). Where are the discussions of true reforms? Where are the reforms to allow me to buy insurance from a company in any part of the country? Where is the reform to not allow two major hospitals in a city control all of your healthcare options and make you chose between the two with insurance? Where are the reforms to reduce the costs of healthcare for me and for the company I work for?

2) Did you realize that the Congressional Budget office declared that Medicare will go bankrupt in seven years and Social Security will go bankrupt in the 2030s (not as far away as it seems)? We are expecting our Congress and Senate to fix healthcare but they can not take care of their current responsibilities. Before we add Billions of more yearly entitlements, should we not fix the ones we currently have? What good will this bill do if those entitlements are just going to go bankrupt in the next generation? We know Congress can not keep their hands out of the cookie jar for money that is suppose to be set aside for these type of programs which is why Medicare and Social Security is going bankrupt.

3) There are two main factors continually raise my healthcare prices: Corporate Greed and Medicare/Medicaid. Corporate greed has been rampant. Some of these corporations have a desire to continually grow their profit margins for their stockholders no matter the cost. Every business needs to make a profit to remain viable but some of them seem to go to the extreme to make a buck.

On the other hand you have Medicare/Medicaid undercuts the going prices for a service. Since hospitals and most doctors’ offices need to take Medicare/Medicaid to survive, they raise the prices they can charge regular insurance. This will then in turn get passed onto me as my rates continue to rise. It is insane to see the rates that are paid by companies for group insurance.

4) You can not have competition with a Government ran health plan. As I stated before, the government can set the rates their insurance will pay and most healthcare providers will take it. Competition implies that there will be not be an unfair advantage. If the public option can set their own lower rate but the insurances can not, then that is an unfair advantage for the government ran plan and regular insurance will not be able to compete.

5) It should not be this difficult to find ways to help keep prices down so people and companies can purchase affordable health insurance. We should be able to do this without adding people to government roles or creating new programs. We should be able to do this while allowing businesses to make a decent profit. We should be able to do this without spending an extra dime.

Unfortunately, it appears that partisan politics on both sides do not want this to happen. The political right does not want President Obama to pass any healthcare reform because it will make the President look good. The political left's desire for this country to move towards Canadian like socialized medicine will not allow them to give us needed reforms without their increase in social programs. I wish these politicians were looking out for us rather than themselves and their idealogies.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Happy Birthday Sports Jabber!

My great friends, Deb and Reg, at Sports Jabber are celebrating the 1st Birthday of Sports Jabber. Reg and Deb are the masterminds behind Cowboys Pride and Cowboys Pride Radio. Sports Jabber is an all encompassing sports site of forums, original articles, and a social network. I like to refer to it as the "Wally World" (Vacation reference) of Sports Sites.

If you are a member of SJ, make sure to stop in and wish them happy birthday. If you are not, please check them out as a guest and see how great this website is. They would love you to visit and consider becoming a member.


These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Thank you Veterans

Today we take time to pause and honor all of the men and women who have severed our country in the Armed Services. Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. For me and my family, we deeply appreciate you and your service. I am sure most of our fellow Americans feel as we do.

I made sure to thank several veterans personally today. I wish I could personally thank everyone of you but that is not possible. If you have served our country, please take this post as my thanks and appreciation and honor.

To those that are currently serving our country, I will keep you in my prayers and thoughts. May you return to your families and loved ones as soon as possible and remain safe while you sacrifice for us.

I would like to honor all of my friends that have severed over the years. Thank you my friends from my youth: Paul, Keith, Danny, Billy, and Brian. Thank you my friends from college: Bobby and Tim. Thank you friends from work: Barry, David, Shaun, Dean, and Chris. I know I am missing some of you and I am sorry. Thank you my friends.

These have been a few grateful thoughts of my complex mind.

Review of "The League"- Episode One

When I first heard the concept of a half an hour sitcom about a group of guys in a fantasy football league, I thought it was a great idea. Outside of the typical stereotypes, you could develop a fun show with great characters. My mind instantly brought up images of TBS’ My Boys with all the characters and plot of that show. Right away, I set my DVR to record "The League" on FX.

I sat down to watch the show with my wife in the same room. I figured my wife would be tuned out since the show is about a group of Fantasy Football guys. The first scene got my wife’s attention because it started with a simulated sex scene which did not show much but was pretty explicit in the language. As the show moved along, the foul language continued to dumfound me because of the randomness of where it was inserted. The topics turned to smoking pot and then to pubic hair. One of the characters who is a stoner, wrote and sang an inappropriate song for a kid’s birthday party about the night of passion the parents must have experienced when the child was conceived. The draft is held at a loft where the owner decides to throw a social party along with the draft- are you kidding me?

There were moments of laughs and enjoyment in this opening episode. The champ from last season had a webcast to taunt the other owners, which was very humorous. There is a scene where the commissioner of the league has the other owners draw numbers out of a hat and then informs them that it is not for draft order but rather for the number on the child in the sack race at the birthday party and the position that the child finishes in will be the draft order. I loved the portrayal of the fantasy owner who accidentally chooses a retired player every year and this year he chose “Keyshawn Johnson”. The best scene was the defense attorney dealing his number 1 overall pick in the fantasy draft to the assistant DA to get a better deal for his client.

Overall this show is a miss. I did not care for any of the characters. Is the thinness of the plot supposed to be masked by the inappropriate scenes? It appeared that the creators did not know much about fantasy football or the people who play.

I will check out next week’s episode to see if it gets better and hope for more laughs and less disgust. But I have a feeling that it will be removed from my DVR record list shortly there after. Watch it at your own risk.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

V- The new series

Is anyone else nervously excited about the new "V"series? I know I am both nervous and at the same time excited to see this series. The two mini series from the 80s were sensational and uber cool. The revolutionized what sci fi could be on television. I look back so fondly on the mini series but not so fondly on the poorly written regular series that followed.

I am hopefully that this series will have the feel of the original miniseries but different enough to keep me intrigued. I hope it does not flop like remakes of the Bionic Woman and Knight Rider.

I want to love this series because of the original but I hesitate to even like it until it makes it a year. Maybe it could be the next Battlestar Galactica and be a great re-do. Maybe.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

What is new with Larry

Here is a update of what is new with me.

1) 7 months ago, my wife and I welcomed our son into the world. The addition of our son to the family has added a lot of joy but also a lot of stress and a lot less free time. He is very worth it. His sister loves her little brother and is a huge help.

2) Last year at this time, I was moved to a new area at work. I am now moving back to my previous area next week. I have learned a ton in the new area and feel that I have add skills but it was not a natural fit for me. Trying to learn a new area is exhausting and has left me brain dead most evenings. I hope my brain will not hurt so badly after moving back to my comfort zone.

3) I have been spending a lot of time working on one of my other blogs, the Fantasy Sports Counselor. As I have unintentionally neglected this blog, SToCM, I have cultivated FSC. I have had two staff join on at FSC with one moving onto a paid writing position with a major website. I plan on getting back to cultivating this blog very soon while I keep growing FSC.

4) Last year I won the election for President of Cowboys Pride. Since that time, I have become the co-host of Cowboys Pride Radio which is webcast live weekly at 9:30 pm on Thursday nights on BlogTalkRadio. This summer, Cowboys Pride merged with their sister site, Sports Jabber. I spend a good portion of my free time on the Wally World of sports websites, Sports Jabber, reading, commenting, and posting. If you are a sports fan, you should check it out.

5) I am on the verge of losing 60 lbs over the last year and a half. I am less than 10 pounds away from finally being in my ideal weight range. I have taken up exercising 4-5 times a week and love it. It could be said that I am only a portion of the man I once was.

Well that is where I have been. I am attempting to commit to regular posts both on FSC and SToCM and to bring this site back from the grave.

Super Hero Facebook posts

The fine folks at Comics Alliance have a very amusing post Super Social Networking. This gives the reader a feel of the kind of posts of the Super Hero and Villain Community. Check it out.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Dr. Horrible's Emmy's appearance

Last night Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog won an Emmy. Here is the broadcast interruption. Enjoy!



Here is their acceptance speech from winning.



These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Disagree with me?

I have noticed that people have become very comfortable demonizing those that they disagree with them. I am not talking about possession by spirits but rather being painted with the worst of negative traits by another. Name calling, extremism, and assuming the worst of someone's motives are common place when someone disagrees with you.

This has been extremely apparent during the healthcare debate. The extremes of one side have portrayed the democrats as socialists and murders. The extremists on the other side paint the republicans that disagree with them as gun toting wackos that are in the pocket of the mega insurance companies. Even when people try to be civil, the liberals will state that the conservatives just want things to remain bad for people and the conservatives will say that the liberals just want to bankrupt our country.

People, it is time to get over yourselves. Just because someone disagrees with you does not mean that they want to ruin our country. It does not mean that they are in the pockets of big business or the unions. They are not the anti-Christ because they disagree with you on stimulus, healthcare, or gun control. Maybe we should start to listen to each other with open hearts and hear what people are saying and try to understand why they think what they do. We do not have to agree with them.

I know I have several very good liberal friends that I completely disagree with on several issues but I usually can understand where they are coming from. They do not want to destroy the U.S. but rather to make it better. I may not agree with their methods and conclusions but I can not deny their motivations are pure.

The problem is that we see our leaders constantly acting like this. When leadership and authorities display such poor behavior with each other, then the country has a propensity to follow suit. With every major political campaign, the demonizing appears to get worse. There is no wonder that regular people are jumping on and reacting with extreme distrust and hatred. But that does not excuse the behavior.

I am not saying that we should all just get along. I am saying we can discuss, argue, and debate issues without personal attacks against those that do not think like we do. We need to stop using name calling to cover up the flaws in our arguments. Lets get back to basing our debate on facts and not on how evil we believe our opponents to be.

It is time that we started acting better than our politicians.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Transcript of the President's speech

Below is the transcript that was released for the President's speech for tomorrow. Read it before you judge if you want your child to watch it or not.

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning. I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country. Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter. Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try. That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals. And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country? Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America

Quote of the Day

Here is a great quote from the television show Castle from an episode re-aired tonight. I found it extremely funny.


Beckett: (Clears throat) "Ahem. What's the deal with men and boobs, anyway?"

Castle:"Biological. We can't help it."

Beckett: "But doesn't it bother you that they're so obviously not real?"

Castle: (Pauses) "Santa's not real. We still love opening his presents."


These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

President Obama's Speech to School children

This upcoming Tuesday, President Obama will be broadcasting a "talk" to school age children around the country. Springfield Public schools will be showing the speech and using parts of it in their lesson plans for the day. Below is what the White House has to say about the speech and also what Springfield Public School District.

At noon on Tuesday, September 8^th the President will be welcoming America’s students back to school – after all, sometimes they need a little extra motivation after a glorious summer. The President has spoken often about the responsibility parents have for their children and their education, but in this message he’ll urge students to take personal responsibility for their own education, to set goals, and to not only stay in school but make the most of it.
Whitehouse.gov

On Tuesday, Sept. 8, President Barack Obama will broadcast a speech at 11 a.m. intended for schoolchildren throughout the country. Parents and community members have inquired about whether students will view the speech during the school day. Springfield Public Schools is not mandating that all students view President Obama's speech. However, some teachers throughout the district will choose to incorporate the President's address into their instruction that day. Students who wish to be excused from viewing the President’s address will be offered an alternative educational activity during that time. If parents prefer that their child not view the speech, they should send a note to their child's teacher.
Springfield Public Schools

Here are my thoughts on the speech. I think it is great that the President of the United States is concerned with our nation's students. He wants to encourage my daughter and all the kids to be responsible, set goals, and stay in school. These are all good things. Why are people so upset about the President speaking to their children?

I believe the issue has to do with a lack of trust and respect for the Office of the President. Some people are upset because they think the President will try to indoctrinate their children with this speech to support him for healthcare, economics, or whatever. Most children would not pay a bit of attention to a political talk by anyone. And if he did, then I have a firm belief that my influence with my daughter on those issues is greater than a speech from the President.

I think it is very sad that we have come to this place in this country where we have lost our respect for the office of the President. I started seeing this happen during the President Clinton's administration by the right. The left took this to the extreme with President Bush and claimed that he was not their President. Now the right is trying to equal or top the disrespect for the office for President Obama. It is time to stop. He is my President. I do not agree with him on many things but that can also be said of President Bush. It is time to get back to showing respect to the office no matter who is the President.

These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

CP Radio NFC East break down

Tonight I will be the solo host of the Cowboys Pride Internet radio and will be having a panel discussion of the NFC East. Please tune in support me and our my guests. The show starts at 9:30 pm CDT. Here is a link to the show.

These have been a few pimping thoughts of my complex mind.

California sterotype

This is just too funny. This really plays into the California stereotype.



Remember that not all Californians are high when they speak in public.

These have been a few funny thoughts of my complex mind.

A Tribute to A Wilson Phillips

On Friday July 17, my pastor, friend, and spiritual father, transitioned from his mortal body to his spiritual body and went to be with the Lord. I would like to share a few things that Bishop Arron Wilson Phillips taught me over my 18 years with him.

1) Pride is your biggest enemy. It is very easy to get prideful in life. I must guard against pride in my life or I will slip into it and never realize it. It caused the fall of Lucifer and it will bring me down also if I let it grip my heart.

2) Always release forgiveness no matter what someone has done to you. God forgave our sins at the Cross. We can only walk in His forgiveness if we forgive others. Unforgiveness only hurts the one holding onto the unforgiveness.

3) God is not an angry God looking to spite us. God so loved us that He gave His Son to die for us. He paid the ultimate price for us. He loves us as a good Father and wants us to be successful. He does have to discipline us from time to time but not because He is an angry, mean God. He does it because He loves us.

4) We are not junk. God create us in His image. He paid the price of Jesus to purchase us back to Him. Something is worth the price someone is willing to pay for it so we are very valuable and precious in His site. Our Identity is in Christ: We are sons (and daughters), heirs of the Father, brothers (and sisters) to Jesus, Co-Heirs with Jesus, ambassadors for Him, lights unto the world, beloved of God, and many, many other positive relationships with the Father.

5) God desires all His Children prosper and be in health. No God is does not want all His children to drive Ferraris and have Donald Trump money. God's prosperity has to do have prospering in all areas of life: emotional, physical, mental, social, and financial. He gives me His wisdom how to handle these areas and I prosper in them. I can make a below average wage and still be prosperous financially.

6) God has set every authority over me. This is true from my boss at work to the police officer on the street to the political authorities of the land. I have to keep a humble attitude and submit to their authority unless they asking me to violate my conscience and morality. I can respectfully disagree with them and speak my mind appropriately but I am to submit to these authorities. Our authorities do have to answer to God who is the ultimate authority.

7) Be a dedicated worker. He shared with me and many others often that the secret to success in the market place was to be a dedicated worker. You need to show up on time, dress appropriately, work hard while you are there, and do what you are told. I have found this to be very true and that many people do not realize this truth.

8) Live a good life today and enjoy it. Bishop Phillips had a great day his final day. He went walking with friends, played 18 holes of golf, swam in the pool and raced (and won) one of the kids in the Church, and then laid down for a rest. We need to work hard but also enjoy life today.

9) Love those that disagree with you. We need to build relationships with and love those that are different from us in our beliefs and life choices. I saw Wilson numerous times befriend people that disagreed with him on most things. He was never shy about sharing what he believed but he always showed them his love.

10) Hate sin but love those that sin. Jesus would confront sin in those He came in contact with but He always did it with love. I saw this time and time again with Pastor Phillips. He always wanted to help people and bring reconciliation. He always spoke the harshest to those in leadership of God's Church but still wanted to bring them to a better understanding. This also followed Jesus example with the spiritual leaders of His time.

These are just a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Snake Eyes Poster

This is a really cool poster for the upcoming G.I. Joe Movie. Snake Eyes has always been my favorite Joe Character (as with most of us). I am not convinced that this movie won't blow chunks. But if it does, it is not because Snake Eyes does not look cool.



These have been a few Yo Joe thoughts of my complex mind.

Futuristic PSAs

I saw these on IO9 and had to re-post them. There are three futuristic Public Service Announcements back to back. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.



These have been a few simple thoughts of my complex mind.

Pictures of Philly trip

Here are photos of our trip into downtown Philly.

The Liberty Bell, Constitutional Hall in the background, and family.

This Photo is a bit more clear.

As a History Geek, I was in heaven.

This is the visitors' center.

I thought these building were cool.

Nuff Said!

More shots of Constitutional Hall.

Photos of the Philly Subway. It was my first subway ride. These people were thinking it and Yes I am from Missouri and have never seen a subway.

It was an fun ride.

Looking down the tracks and no Cloverfield baby monsters.

Which way are we going?

Chris and I have lost 100 lbs between us. After Genos, make it 90 lbs.

Ummm! Still tasty!

This was an authentic Cheese Steak!

These have been a few pictorial thoughts of my complex mind.