Step 1

Well this is what lil bit and I did today (picture isn't that good, cell phone) now to watch the video and get started on the regime.

Filed: bowflex, LordNazh, BlogPower, LordNazh

Me

Reposting this from Defending the Blog (BP home) for those of you that read here but not there (and why are you doing that??)

...
There are things I need to do badly, the most important is to right my ship of life as I havn't been able to do since my divorce. I don't post much at my blog and even less here and I feel BP will be growing soon and need someone that is attentive to its needs in my place.

If and when I get my life turned around, I'll come back full force; until that time, I will still be here but not the same. I've avoided taking a look at myself long enough, it's time to fix it (sh$t or get off the pot eh?).
...(link)

Not sure what this means to me and this blog, I may post as normal, may post and not comment, hell if I knew what it meant; then I wouldn't have written it (heh).

I'm still here, send me an email if you need me or comment on here and I'll get with you.

"Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor"

This is the day of the year where Americans the world over celebrate our Independence. We gather together, grill out, play games outside, drink lots of alcohol {and i had to work - LN}. Finally, as the day winds down, the sun slips below the horizon and the dark descends upon the revelers, we crane our necks skyward and proceed to be delighted by fireworks displays which light up the night.

There is a deeper meaning than this celebration. One that sometimes gets lost in our day of joy.

I'm speaking of the original 4^th of July, 1776. The day when our country's Forefathers declared our intentions to bring forth a new nation unto this world. The creators and signatories of the Declaration of Independence worked long and hard and pledged their lives, fortunes and their sacred honor to this new nation they were about to midwife.

It is this time of year that I bring out my copy of the Declaration of Independence and read it. You can find it pretty much anywhere online but here's one link to it (it appears each July 4^th in the Washington Times);

I also bring out a copy of a speech that was given many times by Rush H. Limbaugh Jr (yes, he's the father of the famous radio talk show host). This speech is exemplary and I thought I'd share excerpts of his speech with you.

It was a glorious morning. The sun was shining and the wind was from the southeast. Up especially early, a tall bony, redheaded young Virginian found time to buy a new thermometer, for which he paid three pounds, fifteen shillings. He also bought gloves for Martha, his wife, who was ill at home.

Thomas Jefferson arrived early at the statehouse. The temperature was 72.5 degrees and the horseflies weren't nearly so bad at that hour. It was a lovely room, very large, with gleaming white walls. The chairs were comfortable. Facing the single door were two brass fireplaces, but they would not be used today.

The moment the door was shut, and it was always kept locked, the room became an oven. The tall windows were shut, so that loud quarreling voices could not be heard by passersby. Small openings atop the windows allowed a slight stir of air, and also a large number of horseflies. Jefferson records that "the horseflies were dexterous in finding necks, and the silk of stockings was nothing to them." All discussing was punctuated by the slap of hands on necks.

...

A total of 86 alterations were made. Almost 500 words were eliminated, leaving 1,337. At last, after three days of wrangling, the document was put to a vote.

Here in this hall Patrick Henry had once thundered: "I am no longer a Virginian, sir, but an American." But today the loud, sometimes bitter argument stilled, and without fanfare the vote was taken from north to south by colonies, as was the custom. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

...

Even before the list was published, the British marked down every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of them became the objects of vicious manhunts. Some were taken. Some, like Jefferson, had narrow escapes. All who had property or families near British strongholds suffered.

Francis Lewis, New York delegate saw his home plundered -- and his estates in what is now Harlem -- completely destroyed by British Soldiers. Mrs. Lewis was captured and treated with great brutality. Though she was later exchanged for two British prisoners through the efforts of Congress, she died from the effects of her abuse.

John Hart of Trenton, New Jersey, risked his life to return home to see his dying wife. Hessian soldiers rode after him, and he escaped in the woods. While his wife lay on her deathbed, the soldiers ruined his farm and wrecked his homestead. Hart, 65, slept in caves and woods as he was hunted across the countryside. When at long last, emaciated by hardship, he was able to sneak home, he found his wife had already been buried, and his 13 children taken away. He never saw them again. He died a broken man in 1779, without ever finding his family.

And, finally, there is the New Jersey signer, Abraham Clark.

He gave two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army. They were captured and sent to that infamous British prison hulk afloat in New York Harbor known as the hell ship Jersey, where 11,000 American captives were to die. The younger Clarks were treated with a special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary and given no food. With the end almost in sight, with the war almost won, no one could have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding to the British request when they offered him his sons' lives if he would recant and come out for the King and Parliament. The utter despair in this man's heart, the anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each one of us down through 200 years with his answer: "No."

...

The 56 signers of the Declaration Of Independence proved by their every deed that they made no idle boast when they composed the most magnificent curtain line in history. "And for the support of this Declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

Rush suggests (and I agree) that;

each of you take the time this month to read through the text of the Declaration, one of the most noble and beautiful political documents in human history.

There is no more profound sentence than this: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness..."

These are far more than mere poetic words. The underlying ideas that infuse every sentence of this treatise have sustained this nation for more than two centuries. They were forged in the crucible of great sacrifice. They are living words that spring from and satisfy the deepest cries for liberty in the human spirit.

"Sacred honor" isn't a phrase we use much these days, but every American life is touched by the bounty of this, the Founders' legacy. It is freedom, tested by blood, and watered with tears.

I have read and re-read both the Declaration of Independence and his father's speech more times than I can remember. When I need a reminder of how precious our liberty is and how unique the United States of America is in the annals of history, I simply pull out my hard-copy and receive a jolt of pride and humility up my spine.

Pride in the fact that I'm part of the legacy of those great men and women who have come before me and who have shaped the course of this nation.

Humility in recognizing that we cannot rest on their laurels and must continue to uphold the tenents that our Forefathers held forth.

I pledge to all of you on this day that I will continue to work, in both my private and public life, to make sure that this "American Experiment" will not disappear in the shifting sands of time.

God Bless you all...

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY !!! -{great post Thai, happy 4^th to you and yours too - LN}

Indepence day and an Awards thing

Happy 4th of July to all the Americans that read this (and to the friends of yours that don't).

I'm involved in the Blogger's choice awards... yes I have no shot (they let the big boys play in these) but it would be nice to get some votes :) to vote for me click here (note: you must sign up to vote or nominate grr)

Nothing

I got nothing :)

I feel the urge to post about something, there's lots of news happening out there (you can read it everywhere), there's even my life to post about (nothing actually newsworthy there) and yet I can't think of anything I want to write about.

The need to post something is still there, hence this post; but as of now, the knowledge of what to post is escaping me.

Golf (heh) pictures. Winner, loser and hurt.

Racism goes both ways?

Federal judge rules in favor of Noxubee County white voters

File photo/The Clarion-Ledger Noxubee County Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Ike Brown talks outside the Federal Courthouse in Jackson in this file photo.

The voting rights of white voters in majority black Noxubee County were violated, according to a ruling handed down today. The Justice Department had alleged the Noxubee County Democratic Party, its chairman Ike Brown and the county Election Commission practiced racial discrimination against white voters and candidates. The attorneys for Democratic Executive Committee and Brown have said the government failed to prove there exists a procedure or structure that denies equal opportunity to white Noxubee County voters .

The Justice Department has called the situation in Noxubee County "the most extreme case of racial exclusion seen by the (department's) Voting Section in decades."

A two-week trial was held in January before Judge Tom Lee in U.S. District Court in Jackson. The trial centered primarily on voting during the 2003 Democratic party primary election and runoff.(link)

As most of you know, I am against ANY discrimination, yet most of the people to my left feel that there cannot be discrimination unless a minority is on the wrong end of the charge. Racism is the same way (in that it is bad either way and that hardly anyone thinks it can go both ways). It is wrong to purposefully discriminate ANYONE based on their race; just as it should be considered wrong to 'hate' them or talk bad about them just because of their race, NO MATTER which race they happen to be.

It is for this reason that I vehemently oppose Affirmative Action. How is it possible that people feel justified in discriminating against someone (anyone) to 'make-up' for past discrimination? This kind of thinking escapes me and for that I'm very glad.

Love me or hate me, disagree to your heart's content, but don't try to tell me that wrong is right because the wronged party is not a minority.
_-_-_-_-
Note: I got home in time this morning to make it to the SL Blogpower awards, but... it hasn't rained at my house in about a month, this morning, it stormed until past 11am (and I had to goto bed) and was again raining when i got up (although not much this evening). That means that with my satellite connection, I couldn't get online at all this morning, sorry guys/gals. Reactions to the ceremony here: ThunderDragon; Sicily Scene; Shades of Grey; Crushed By Ingsoc; those are the only ones with updates AFTER the ceremony so far.

Tags: racism, discrimination, Blogpower, LordNazh©

Blogpower Awards Ceremony

Update: the date will change on this post to keep it on top until the awards; scroll down for new posts.

It has been remiss of me not to plug the upcoming Blogpower awards to be hosted by Tom Paine in SL (second life). Global warming got you burnt up? Can't stand the rain in London? Never fear, SL is here.

Follow the link to join us at the awards ceremony on July 1st, 2007 at 2pm (1400) London time (that's 9am New York) at Tom's fantastic location.


Feel free to enter early (to get acclimated if you're unfamiliar) and you can get a free account at the link above (if needed, you only have to pay if you want to own land).

Many thanks to Tom for doing this, we hope to see all the BP'ers out there (and anyone else who wants to stop by).

Tags: Second Life, BlogPower Awards, Blogpower, LordNazh