At least that’s a paraphrased version of what I’m getting from one Senator…but I’ll get to that in a little bit.

So I had quite a bit of fun about two weekends ago.  I’ll briefly touch up on it here.  Other than yet another Eddie Deen’s BBQ dinner, I also enjoyed my first visit, since over a decade ago, to the State Fair.   After that, I also enjoyed the Taste of Lexus event…which was cool and not so cool in some ways.

Let’s talk of the State Fair!  Thankfully I recovered my camera in time.  Christine and I did the strategy of taking the train and bus there instead of fighting for parking.  That turned out to be a pretty good idea.  The weather was just short of perfect.  So we paid for the train…well at least I did.  Once we got to downtown, we had to pay for the bus (oh yes, that’s right…ridiculous rip-off prices happen when you want to go to the fair).  We take the bus and make it to the entrance of the fair.  Thankfully we somehow got $2 (or was it three…) off coupons.  Then on to the entrance!  Now, I was told that security had been beefed up in the fair.  I hear they check your bags and run you through a metal detector.  Because of this, and the fact that my car was several miles away, I had completely defanged myself of any weapon on my person.  At the very least, I usually carry a knife.  So as we head for the gate, the lady with the metal detector wand does a karate chopping motion in front of me, then behind me…where the wand beeps at something in my pants.  No follow up.  On the Cole, if we pressed the “Test” button and the wand beeped, whoever was in line at that moment was searched.  Okay, I’m exaggerating…but this was a deficiency in security.  I had my backpack, and she wanted to see in it.  I opened it and let her peer into the somewhat opened backpack (which I’m sure she could see extremely clearly with the bright sunny day, and her face about three feet away from my bag…peering into a shadowy abyss.  I was all clear, all without checking my I made the wand beep and without truly looking into my bag.  I could’ve strapped my rifle across my chest and she probably wouldn’t have known…or cared.

Whatever…inside we went.  We checked out a women’s museum which was a little crowded so we didn’t stay long.  We watched a couple of bagpipers warm up as well.  We then hit the auto show, which is becoming a big deal for a lot of the automakers it seems.  Christine even got to see the Ford Ginormous, which Chip and I shook our heads to several months ago at the Dallas Auto Show.

We went around and pretty much just soaked up the sights and sounds.  I had two main missions, and that was going up on the Texas Star and eating some signature, mildly expensive, fair food.  Well, it wasn’t until I was going on to the line for the Texas Star that I realized that super assassin, Desert Eagle slinging Christine is not a fan of ferris wheels…let alone the largest ferris wheel on this side of the planet.  So lock her up in the Texas Star cage and throw in a bucket of camel spiders and you probably will be able to defeat Christine’s character in a future video game.

So on to food!  Well, let me spare the suspense.  Those that know the State Fair well know that it costs quite a significant amount for anything in general…this includes food.  There are no dollar menus here!  We started off with Fletcher’s corn dogs.  Then continued on to fried cheesecake.  Continuing in fried tradition, we found the much talked about fried Coke.  Then we finished it off with funnel cake.  Our cash was vanishing at an alarming rate and we decided food should end right there.

We didn’t really try to circumnavigate the entire fair.  I was still enjoying the moment, that we missed some sights.  One of those would be the livestock area.  It was fun to see Big Tex, but I sorely missed the laser shows from before.  Instead, we had to enjoy a Midway Light Show…which I personally didn’t care for.  They could’ve lined up five Dallas police cars, turned on their light bars and played music very loud and would have equalled the “Oooh/Aaah Factor” of what I saw.  Personally, for those of us that want a show…just give us back the laser show please!

Taste of Lexus was also fun, to an extent.  Christine would miss out on some things…unlike Mazda, Lexus required anyone wanting to drive to be at least 21 years old.  However, we had an enclosed tent area to keep us away from the…warm and sunny air.  However, the tent was far cozier and more accomodating than the park benches left to bake in the sun that we had in Mazda.  Furthermore, I did not have to pull out my wallet for some slightly overpriced hot dogs.  No, culinary contractors were there to stuff us full of pastas, crab cakes, pastries, salads and what not.  My only complaint, we didn’t get enough food!  The desserts were really good, they had what I called “Peanut Butter Surprise Cake”…and I wanted more!

But it was time to drive.  Still reeling from the fun of Mazda, I did indeed push these cars a bit.  Last year’s theme for Lexus was Performance, showcasing the IS and the ES as well as the RX/RX Hybrid.  This year, it was more of Technology, showcasing the Hybrids in general as well as our opportunity to sit in and drive their newest flagship LS460.

Driving the cars was standard ho-hum.  Actually, it wasn’t the car’s fault.  The tracks were…oh, lacking.  I could get more excitement driving in a Wal-Mart parking lot.  The only exception to this was with the GS and IS track, being sporty cars that they were.  Also, with the exception of the RX, the SUVs were missing in action.  As usual, the SC was probably the overhyped car.  The RX was fun, as were both the GS and IS.  However, the most surprising for me was their newest ES.  The ES has always been the ho-hum expensive Camry to me.  This ES had a fun to drive feel to it, I really wouldn’t mind being in one.  The LS was crazy.  Sophistication all over.  The rear right seat can recline, elevate legs, do all that massage type stuff.  They have their own stereo back there as well.  But the coolest thing was watching the car park by itself, while having everyone in the car stick their hands out the windows, like a comical felony traffic stop.  That was pretty neat.

So that was the weekend two weekends ago.  Very busy, so this past weekend I kind of took it easy.  Also that weekend, got to see Flags of Our Fathers.  That was really good…and the movie actually lasted.  It felt like a movie, even to the point I even began to wonder if it would end!  And in a good way, not like Syriana!

So yeah, I’m stupid.  Or at least that is to the affect what I got our of Senator Kerry’s remarks last night.  While talking at a college in California, Senator Kerry made a comment that has pretty much been the top political news of the day today…

“You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq,” he said.

The conclusion by many, especially on the Republican side, is the implication that Kerry states dumb people make up the ranks of the US military.   Many, including Tony Snow, Rush Limbaugh and John McCain being well-knowns, have demanded that he apologize for those comments.

He countered with a speech today saying he would apologize to nobody and that he was remarking over the failed Iraqi policy made by Bush and the Republican Party and that it was a botched joke.

Now personally, I am not a fan of Kerry.  It is my own personal policy that during a wartime effort (and yes, I do define the War on Terror as a qualified effort…just not to the politicized way that many have contorted for their views), there shouldn’t really be a change of leadership unless the current leader is a complete failure and/or the other candidate has a strategy of marked improvement.  I still do not view Bush as a failure in the overall scope of things, which means Kerry would’ve had to have a really good plan for me to consider him.  I never saw a real plan, there was no point on that alone for me to believe he could be the top commander of my fellow military buddies.

I did not appreciate his comments months ago on a statement that I have yet to be proven of US troops terrorizing Iraqi citizens.  Now this comment.  I didn’t hear anything of it this morning, but was busy at work.  By the time I was ready to go home, I had messages of anger on my phone.  E-mails, fellow bloggers were posting all over the place.  Every talking head with a microphone or TV camera was mentioning something by John Kerry.  What the heck?  I never saw this flurry since Mark Foley a few weeks ago.

I went to conservative, liberal, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, non-partisan websites.  I tried to see everyone’s angles and comments.  I looked through videos to see if anything was left out.  I couldn’t see any other way.  I did not see that comment directed to Bush in anyway, as he claims.  I see no other way that comment could have gone anywhere else.  No matter how many times I moved my head and focused my eyes, I could not see the proverbial crosshairs of that comment ever towards Bush or the Republicans.  They were always squarely upon the various faces of my friends in uniform, no matter how much I blinked.

He can’t be saying Bush is dumb…they both went to the same university.  Bush got an MBA afterwards, if I remember right.  He can’t be dogging them for a failed Iraqi policy, I remember Kerry voting FOR Iraq at a point.

Sorry Senator, I also feel you owe an apology.  I may not be the smartest person around, but I am far from the dumbest person around.  Most of the smartest people I know are/were in the military.  And if defining smart is merely what your diploma or report card says, then you need to wake up a little more.  Every week, I interact with people and they SHOULD be smarter than me.  I just went into the Navy after high school.  The only college I had was a vained attempt in taking Algebra for a PACE course, while dunking my head in a body of water known as Pascagoula.

Yet several of these people can’t come up with as many answers as I can.  And I’m usually the quiet one that hangs back.  Yeah, I already early voted (I’m gonna do that more often…lines are next to nonexistent!)…crazy touch screen computers!  No, I did not vote straight ticket.  I looked up pretty much everyone who was running for something and did the agony of going onto websites, checking news clips they’re a part of, searching databases on how they voted, answers they gave in interviews and debates.  Believe me…there is SO much more I would’ve wanted to do.  But I wanted to know who I would  chose to vote for and who I agreed with the most.  I know, I should’ve just voted across as Republican, right?  I mean…I was in the military…so I must be stupid.

But I faced reality, and reality is whoever wins office and shapes this city, this state and this country in a few weeks.  I don’t like spending more time than I have to in the real world because sometimes it drives me insane.  But I get over it, it is my world.  I’m not going to revolve my life on the Internet or on any particular video game.  What if I find out I am gravely ill.  Do I look back at my life and say, “Ha!  I lived life, I beat Katamari Damacy!”  Give me a break…  If initials and score, or uploading movies is your description to announce to others to remember you by as you leave this world…well, I guess I have no comment.  I respect Senator Kerry’s opinion and what he believes in.

However, his comment as far as I’m concerned does not do him nor his party any good.  It sure doesn’t make him look good in my eyes.  Unfortunately for this Vietnam Veteran, whom by default I should highly regard, has solidified my thoughts that it was a good thing he never became President.  Unfortunately like many stuck to their games, computers and so forth, he looks to much in the world of theory vs. the real world and acts upon that world.  Because it seems he’s spending more effort brainstorming and less acting on the situation that is happening, I cannot give him any positive credit at this time.

However, there’s a load of people in uniform, past and present, that is looking at him waiting for his apology.  THAT is reality.

Hate to see you go, but I would’ve done the same thing if I was in your shoes. I remember having to go into a whole new world a few years ago. You’ll be missed by us, but we do hope we still get to listen to you. Thanks for all you’ve done and good luck with your new national show and your next phase in both you and your family’s lives. Keep up the good work, Greg!

So about an hour ago, the US population hit the 300 million mark. Kind of cool, for coolness’ sake I guess. So we join China and India as the only countries with a population higher than that number. Of course, China and India are farther up…but hey, it makes news…right?

Yesterday, as I was driving into my neighborhood, Greg made an announcement on the radio. He was offered a nationally syndicated show and he has chosen to take that offer. Because of that, this is his final week on KLIF. I want to thank him for his afternoon show of keeping me informed and coming up with many points that I agree with on my way from work. It’s not surprising to see him move up like this. He’s won back to back Katie awards and you really don’t see the talent he and Darrell displays on the radio around here locally. So best of wishes, and I do hope that I get a chance to tune in to your new show in the future.

So it’s been a crazy couple of days…even up to today where I guess it seems New York Yankee’s pitcher, Cory Lidle, was killed earlier this afternoon in an odd plane crash where his plane crashed into a building in New York City.  So yes, that brings about a lot of people initially talking of terrorism.  That was even a topic in the news, and how it was odd, one month after September 11.  Yet, the six year anniversary of the Cole coming up tomorrow is unknown news, even if it is tied into events that lead to 9/11/01.  I don’t know why it’s quiet, as to me the USS Cole is a proud icon for us.  The ship is the country’s symbol of standing back up after being hit a blow from terrorism, and even going further by going right back into harm’s way after terrorism and other threats to the country.

But anyways, a subject change. After much thinking, got another car for MT2…this one the big Nissan GT-R R34.  For those that follow this, I have gotten quite good for being horrible on a racing game.  My first car, a Supra, I lost almost every race.  By the time I got my second car, RX-8, I had done so much better that I wouldn’t lose until the 20th race.  That part has always been hard as the end was after two turns and both Reina and Tatsuya are pretty fast.  Even with my Unauthorized Reproduction (inside joke), I still lost to these two.  I am proud to say that I have finally won over them the first time around with my GT-R.  Yeah, the GT-R may give me a bit of an advantage, but I still don’t drive well on a racing game.  That said, I finally beat the first race with the GT-R on Initial D as well…so I guess I’m getting better!

The weekend’s been fairly good, I’ve been enjoying the past weekends.  I’m looking forward to this weekend as well.  We’ll see.

Though there have been a few things that have irked me.  One is that I feel my cell phone is slowly on its death throes.  When I first got it, I noticed the initial discrepancies in design but thought it would be alright.  Not as much as I want…I have been disappointed in the more recent round of Motorola products…but not to fully dog them, I have noticed that trend with electronic devices in general.

The second thing that irks me is what appears to be a continuation and reaffirming that it must be the “in” thing to go to a school and shoot up the place.  I don’t know how many times I’ve described my feelings for it, so I won’t get into it now.  Just let it be known that nobody wants to be attacking a school with my presence nearby…they may have a few terminal side effects.

So tomorrow marks six years on the USS Cole terrorist attack.  I’ve said it over and over again, but the ship, crew and my time aboard are great and proud moments for me.  Unfortunately, I will once again not be able to make this year’s reunion.  I think I am very close to promising that I will definitely make it out to next year’s.  I haven’t promised my presence before, but I do note that I haven’t made it out there since 2004 and will do my best and make it a mission for me to attend.

Of course, I do have another important goal in life that I had decided upon a few months ago, and have shared it with probably less than five people.  But I’m going to keep it quiet for now.  It’s really for me, I have no motives in what I ultimately want to do.

Anyhow, I guess that’s about it for now.  I know many that will read this entry, this will probably be an reminder…some it’ll be an introduction…of the USS Cole and what happened to her.  But you know, it IS important to understand.  But at the very least, the ship and crew are our only icons of success against terrorism.

Before I go on, I found it kind of interesting today.  Earlier this morning, I went for a walk around the neighborhood…the weather wasn’t so bad.  I don’t always run as I used to, I like walking because it lets me think a little deeper it seems and keeps my senses on a higher scale.  I’m a lot more aware of my surroundings on a walk than a run.  Nothing really special happened through most of my walk.  However, two-thirds of the way through my walk I was making a turn into a street.  I did a quick glance over my shoulder and noticed a car moving about five miles per hour behind me, kind of in the middle of the road.  I’m sure whoever was in the car saw me look at them.  I turned forward and continued on while having my hearing take over as I began scanning the road before me should I need to move quickly.

As I was calculating my options, I saw a beam of light hit some trees across the street from me and moved a little in my direction.  Then the unmistakable pulsing of the LED lightbars that are on Mesquite Police cars came on.  The light then moved a little closer to me.

I stopped and faced the car, which all I could see was spotlight, headlights and lightbars.  I kept my hands in front, but continued to hold my flashlight in my hand.  The car opened and a female officer called out to me in a neutrally friendly tone and asked if I was just out for a walk.  I told her that I was…I was in walking shoes, athletic pants and a tactical compression shirt…all but my shoes were dark (yes, I have no fashion…especially when working out).  She said there had been a call or two about someone in a car and something about a house may be broken into, but no specific street…just the general neighborhood.  I told her I was not aware of anything out of the ordinary while I was walking.  She wanted to know if I had ID and I showed her my two ID cards that I carry when I walk while introducing myself appropriately.  She checked and verified that I did live in the neighborhood and just asked a little about my walking route and time that I was walking, I guess she was figuring which places I passed and didn’t encounter anything and she would later check out the roads I did not go by.  She heard I had a cell phone and encouraged me to call them if I did encounter anything out of the ordinary.  I’m sure she memorized my license number and did a quick check.  I then continued on with my walk and she drove off into a road where I just merely passed by.

Anyway, I’ve been a little ticked since yesterday afternoon once I heard that there had once again been another school shooting.  My heart sank when I heard that it was an elementary school in an Amish community.  What?  Are people trying to one up the other?  Is attacking teenage students no longer “hip” now that we have to attack students that are truly learning, not quite sure of the world and their decisions yet?  So I hear that once the police arrived he started shooting, three girls slayed execution style from what I hear (for the non politically correct translation, that probably means that he fired a round into their heads).  Then this morning, two more that were seriously wounded were finally pulled off life support and they died as well.  The person who did this?  Well, he killed himself and was dead by the time the police made it into the school room.  Sadly in some news stories, they’re describing this guy as a victim to what happened to him about twenty years ago.  Yeah, I don’t care…there’s five dead girls, all victims that day are age ranged around 6-13 years old.  They were victim to him and unlike him, they will never get to make the choice to either be a victim to a bad moment in childhood or if they will turn out better than this person and overcome it.

Sorry, but very few of us in this world have smooth sailing in life.  Life is tough…and in some ways, despite all the advances we have over previous generations, it can be tougher.  But with the advances we have, we also have more opportunities to overcome it.  It’s sad that something bad happened to him twenty years ago (which they’re still investigating, so it isn’t concrete that this is the case, by the way), but you give me a logical explanation that it justifies what he did to this school, this community and these families.

Like other horrible crimes, I despise so much people who desire to attack a school in manners like that…with intent to gravely harm/kill people.  It used to be that school was the one place in the world where parents could send their children and have little to worry about.  That’s not the case anymore, it seems.  That’s not the case with a lot of things.  Babysitters, teachers, other students…even a child’s own house can become a hostile environment in an almost common manner.

Then there are the law enforcement agencies that have to work so hard, because these are ugly situations.  This isn’t the latest school shooting.  Earlier, we had a student shoot a principal in another school.  Then we also had another school attack in Colorado which left a teenage girl and the shooter dead after he killed himself.  This is compounded because I hear this is the same SWAT team that responded to Columbine.  They were criticized by armchair commandos in some circles of not being aggressive enough, now they tried the other approach but it still ended in tragedy.  This just shows these aren’t one-size-fits-all situations.  They should have to deal with the results of their actions on their own, with support from other LE tactical units to help make sure this doesn’t happen again.  They should not have to deal with talking heads from whatever show, internet forum or whatever…who usually have no clue about the countless hours of training they have to go through for a situation where they have to act in a split second and which others will end up judging them for the rest of their lives.

I hope law enforcement everywhere gets the best support and training available to be able to counter this.  This is still a tough situation.  Because it holds the community’s young and future citizens, emotions are strong and this can often affect how the police who are there to protect the community are allowed to act and do their job.

Me?  If I was at a place across from school and I heard gunshots, if I didn’t see anything I’d report it to the police right away.  But if I did see someone running around and shooting people, if I am sure I can stop that person quickly then I probably will.  Then I’ll be judged for the rest of my life if it came to that…but I’ll know that there was someone probably staring at the end of that barrel, praying hard, who lived because I wasted no time in seriously dealing with a problem like that.