Man Up!

I'm convinced that some men are still trying to prove their manhood, well past their 40's.

As a child of the 60's & 70's, we boys were always trying to show our masculinity. I got into some scrapes with other young boys. It was part of what we did. We defended our family's honor. Sometimes that meant a fist fight. I did okay on one or two occasions and not so well on one or two other occasions. I learned from those experiences, it was better to avoid those situations whenever possible.

Then came the 80's and things changed. It started in the late 70's actually. Men and boys started getting their hair done in salons, like the ladies. Then came a whole litany of characteristics men were supposed to adopt.

We were told men should get in touch with their feminine side. Men were considered Neanderthals and needed to change. Keep the chivalry, but lose the brashness. Men were referred to as "chauvinists." But the women kept gravitating to the "bad boys." Women still wanted a man that could protect them. For many guys this made things confusing.

Some of the men who took seriously to the getting in touch with their feminine side, were acting in traditionally female ways. By this, I mean they started having whine sessions (that's not a misspelling) with their "girl" friends. I'm going to call these men Talkers just to make this easier to discuss. You see, men listen to women's problems and want to fix them. Women sometimes just want to talk and have someone listen. Many men (the Talkers) started doing what women do. And who do you think they turned to? That's right, women. I believe this is a dangerous path for most men. Many women will view the Talker as weak. If the Talker is in a position of authority and/or responsibility, some women will take advantage of that weakness. Add to that, if a Talker happens to befriend a married woman or, well, you get the idea.

Even more dangerous than a man appearing weak to controlling women, is the Talker will almost certainly feel threatened by other men. Yep. Men (Talkers) who confide their feelings to women, other than their Wife or closest friends, will lash out at other men when legitimately questioned on various matters. This is especially true of Talkers in positions of authority and responsibility.

If you challenge a Talker's decision on just about anything of importance, they will take it as a personal affront to their manhood. They will then list various reasons why you should respect their manhood. They'll present a past achievement or their title as the reason you should respect them or their manhood. Having served in the military, we used to often say; I may have to respect the uniform, not the man. The man must earn my respect.

Have we gone so far down the path of appeasing the desires of some women and psychiatrists that young men are no longer men? Are men just another animal that can no longer be chivalrous, masculine and different than women? I mean, we had a wildly popular book in the 90's called Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (John Gray, PhD, Harper Collins). The whole premise was that men and women are different. Really? We needed a book to tell us that?

Hmm. What do you think?

Racist or Logic?

We now have a President that, while campaigning for office less than 7 years ago, stated it was "un-American" that President George W. Bush had allowed the national debt to increase from $4 trillion to $9 trillion in his eight years as President. Here in 2013, President Barack Obama has allowed the national debt to go from $10 trillion to $16 trillion in 4 years.

President Obama had a Democrat-controlled House and Senate the first two years of his presidency. The Senate also passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA but referred to as Obamacare, by many) late at night on a Christmas Eve. Candidate Obama said all legislation would be posted online for Americans to review before passage and signing into law. President Obama's supporters (Specifically, Nancy Pelosi D-CA) said the ACA needed to be passed and signed into law so we would know what was in it.

There are other examples of President Obama's contradicting statements, such as saying his proposals wouldn't add "one dime" to the debt or deficit. But as stated above, that has proven to be a lie.

Until recently, I had always been bothered by the statements some made about Obama criticizers being called racists. I hadn't heard anyone directly state it. Now however, Robert Redford has actually said (during an interview w/CNN) people in Washington DC are purposely working against President Obama because there's a body of people in DC that are intentionally crippling the system because, underneath "there's some racism."

Robert Redford may be a great actor, director and lots of other things, but I'm fed up with these morons who proclaim to be experts in fields they have no education and very little experience. These people completely ignore the contradicting statements the President has made. They can't debate the issues and blame all opposition to the President's policies, on racism.

I am disgusted that Hillary Clinton can scream; "we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration," but when people try debating and disagreeing with the current administration, they are called "racists."

Sadly, people are buying into the President's rhetoric. Strangely, I am wondering if those people who ignore the lies and contradictions of the current President are the ones who are really racists because I can't believe they'd make up the same excuses if President Obama where a white man.

What do you think?