Category: Random Thoughts

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NBC made a big mistake


The Pledge of Allegiance in the United States ...

NBC made a big mistake when they tried to edit out the words one nation under god from the televised pledge of allegiance before the US open. Political correctness is getting out of hand and censoring out any reference to a religion is nothing but plain discrimination. I know that there are those who do not believe in a god or in the same god as the Christians and I respect their choice to believe in the way they choose. I do not see how having the word god in the pledge can be considered offensive to anyone. It isn’t stating your pledging allegiance to god, it’s a pledge of allegiance to our country which is under god. I will even go as far to say if you don’t agree with the god part of the pledge then when you say it then you can omit it but don’t remove it from the pledge and or edit it out when its broadcasted via television or radio.

Our founding fathers were Christians and they believed in the separation of church and state. They meant far as political control, they believed in religious freedom and so do I. To say having the 10 commandments in a court-house or city hall is wrong is taking it to an extreme. To be perfectly honest if a city hall in the us wanted to put a quote from the holy scriptures of any other religion on their walls I personally would not be offended. That’s freedom of religion in my belief. Far as prayer in school I support the idea with the condition that the child can elect to either pray to the god of their choice or abstain from prayer if they are atheist or they don’t want to pray.

NBC of course made a sad attempt at apologizing and even pulled the big business “we will deal with it internally and not publicly” speech. That’s basically saying they supported the actions of the individuals responsible. More and likely nothing will happen to those who chose to edit out god and eventually this will fade away from the minds of Americans. Sad to think that God has become like a dirty word in our modern world. Far as boycotting NBC as suggested by some of the outraged viewers, that’s no problem for me for NBC hasn’t had any shows I liked on it for quite a while.

NBC has the right to edit out what ever they choose, They just have to deal with the backlash created by their editing. Hopefully the lesson has been learned from this incident, I feel that it hasn’t but I always try to be positive. This little editing job I believe is just the beginning of the removal of religion from the airwaves. I pray to god I am wrong, only time will tell.

Well have a good day
Raymond Barbier

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Just a Monday night Political Rant


Paul Jacob, during oral arguments of U.S. Term...

We allow greed, fear and the lust for power to be more important than community, family and common sense. We seem content in leaving the great decisions such as which freedoms are to be had as well as which freedoms are withheld from us. We complain endlessly about how ineffective our governments are yet we continue to vote for the same candidates over and over again.

We seem to have become apathetic and we seem unwilling to be a part of change. We all seem more into letting things stay the same or get worse than to stand up and get our voices heard in Washington. We allow news agencies to shape our opinions instead of seeking out the facts and making our own. We are like a nation of sleeping people who needs to wake up before it is too late. Many nations have walked this path and many of them are waking up to reality and are in turmoil due to the fact they slept too long.

Wake up America and seek out the truth about our congress and the capital hill gang. They are out of touch with what is really important. I don’t know if they are ignoring the people the represent or if the people are just not expressing their selves enough to get them to listen. But if enough people shout they will have to listen or they will be voted out next term. That’s the reality of politics and one of the good parts of our nations political system.

I believe that both the house representatives and senators have been in office too long. There should be term limits on congressional seats so there can be fresh blood and ideas flowing through each term. I also believe that their pay should be based on performance so they will work harder for the people who elected them as well as pay their paychecks. I also thing that there should be more regulations on the lobbyist. Laws that are brought up  should be simplified and have no ear marks or hidden clauses. We don’t need a 3000 page law. If the congress does not read the full thing then it should not be allowed to be voted on or passed.

 

Okay enough ranting for now
Raymond Barbier

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If they are unaware or if they just don’t care


012   Another day has passed and I have done my usual feeding of stray cats at work and have done my daily roadside photography. Thoughts of how people can abandon their animal companions in a parking lot as well as litter the streams, rivers and mountain sides of their beautiful home still disturbs me. So much love those pets had to give and the were thrown away like trash and so much beauty all around and they neglect it as well as abuse it thoughtlessly. No thought of the damage done to the things they abuse and no idea of the wonderful things they have cast a side. I don’t know if they are unaware or if they just don’t care. I really hope they are ignorant of what they do, I would hate to believe such malice could be in the hearts of so many people. At least I do know there are those who try to restore the beauty of the natural wonders around us as well as try to take care of the abandoned pets that roam out streets but there is so much that needs to be done.

For a species capable of such fantastic and wonderful things we still have along way to go when it comes to being responsible for the world around us. If we can send men to the moon and robots to mars, why can’t we take care of our beautiful blue planet and all the animals that live on it. It is time for mankind to grow out its teen years and become mature and wise enough to set the correct priorities. If we take care of our home and all that lives within it then the earth will provide us with what we need in return. Of course if we continue to ignore the problems created by our neglect and abuse of this blue planet we will sooner or later  start paying the price.

God has given us this planet to live on and we should take care of such a wonderful and rare gift so the future generations will have a place of wonder and beauty to enjoy.

Just some Tree Hugging Thoughts For The Day

Peace

Raymond Barbier

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To put blind faith in a human being is not a good idea at best.


002

I am not a great fan of organized religion,but I am a great supporter of religion on an individual/personal level. Organized religion gives too much power to the church over the beliefs and doctrine of individuals. Each person should have their own personal relationship with Jesus and God (or the god of their personal choice). I am a firm believer in freewill and the right to choose you own spiritual path to follow. No man should have the right to force his own beliefs upon another. This is not to say I am against spreading the word of your chosen religion, just you should respect the rights of others to believe differently.

I have seen too many times people putting faith into religious leaders who wind up leading their followers into hateful and hurtful beliefs and actions. There have been many of times that religious leaders have led their followers to mass suicide or created holy wars that caused the destruction and killing of many innocent people. To put blind faith into God is okay but to put blind faith in a human being is not a good idea at best. No man is without fault and no one man should be followed blindly. Read your scriptures and keep faith god will reveal truth to you so you may not be deceived by man or any other force out to lead you astray. Use that freewill god gave you to seek out the truth along with the right path for you to follow.

I believe freewill was a gift to us from god and he gave us the right to choose our own way to live and believe. Freewill is a great blessing but it has the cost of being wrong or making the wrong choices and having to pay the price for such. Luckily most of us live long enough to make many mistakes along the way and learn what is and isn’t the right path hopefully before our time is up.

Though I know my opinions are not always  right or popular , they are of my own choosing.

May Truth be your Guiding light
Raymond Barbier

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The future is never set in stone


011 Every day we wake up is a blessing and is another chance to start again. Each morning we start off with a blank slate and have the opportunity to change not only our own lives but the lives of all those around us. Before the day is through we will make choices and take actions that will affect everyone and everything within our world. Every positive or negative word, attitude and action we take can shape the future.

What we have said and done in the past is what helped us get to where we are today and still has some influence on where we may be tomorrow. The good thing is the future is never set in stone and what we do today can change what tomorrow has in store for us. Of course there are some things that are beyond our control or influence and all we can do is to try to handle those as well as we can. One thing I have learned is the closest one can get to a perfect life is when they have  learned to live life being happy with what they are blessed with.

Just some thoughts for you to chew on.

May you count your blessings and learn to overcome your curses.
Raymond Barbier

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Live life instead of just trying to survive


002 I look back on my life and see the days,weeks and years I wasted in depression, denial and in self-deception. How many times I lived my day to please others or longing for approval by my peers. Always looking for my happiness through those around me and ignoring if not neglecting the one person that can make me happy, “ME”. Others may be able to contribute to my happiness along with my unhappiness but the decision to be happy  is mine alone. The opinion of others can be a double edge sword for some will like you and others will either despise you or be jealous of you for some stupid reason or another. The only persons opinion you should care about when it comes to yourself is your own. If you do not like, love or appreciate yourself  then no one else will either.

All that time I wasted worrying about if I met the standards of those I cared about and if I was good enough to be where I was in life could have been spent trying to be the best version of the real me. If a person does not accept you for who you truly are then that person is not one that will ever accept you and you should move on. Being we all have both good and bad points to our personalities and that we all make mistakes along the way I can see no reason why we all can’t just accept each other as who we really are. Too many masks we have to wear in our daily lives to satisfy the many people we interact with. Shed the masks and be yourself, succeed and fail as the real you and refine your better qualities while trying to control the less needed ones.

By being your true self you may find that people will like you even more than before and those that don’t wont matter as much to you once you accept yourself as is. One thing I do believe is each and every one of us are unique and possess our own strengths if not special qualities. Figure out your strong points and find your unique abilities and use them to their fullest. Live life instead of just trying to survive, enjoy the simple things and avoid making life more complicated than it really is.

Well that’s just some of my thoughts for you to think about.

Peace be your guide and be yourself.

Raymond Barbier

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Walk the path you choose and beat your drum the way you like


HPIM0611  The life you live is yours to lead and is fully your own responsibility, you can ether take control and live your life the way you choose or allow others to make the choices for you. If you choose to make your own choices or not you still are responsible for the choices made and are liable for any negative results that come from the choices. Responsibility for your actions be they actions of your choice or actions created by the situation around you is fully yours.

It is better to be responsible for the choices you have made than to pay for the choices made for you by someone else. Plus you would probably make far better choices for your own self knowing that there are consequences that come along with the actions and decisions you make. I read somewhere that there are two type of people, there are those that follow and those that are born to lead. I think that is a load of hogwash, every person has it within them to be a leader and to be a follower is to rely on the judgment of others and that usually never ends well for the follower.

I myself for many years allowed others to lead me and make decisions for me only to find myself usually unhappy and paying the cost for living in that way. The problem is I can not even have anger towards those I allowed to control my life for it was my own decision to allow them to do so. So I am stuck with the consequences  from the things that I was lead into and feeling guilt for the damage done. I have recently started taking my own life into my hands and facing the wind on my own. Fully responsible for my choices and proud to fail as well as succeed as an individual. I follow my own path and dance to the beat of my own drum for now on.

Do I always make the right choice? no. But at least when I do make a mistake it is my own and it came from my own choice not a reflection of someone else’s  choice for me or from a perception of what I think others want me to be or do.Where I will end up in the end and if I am happy or not is now in my hands and not one person can or will choose that for me again.

Be a leader of your own life, and cast off the chains of societies ideal of what you are supposed to be. Choose to be the best of who you are regardless of what others try to say you should do or be. Walk the path you choose and beat your drum the way you like. For it is your life to live not anyone else’s.

 

Well that’s my thoughts on this subject anyway.

May peace be your comforter and love be your guide

Raymond Barbier

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Wake up, open our eyes and Listen


alarm clock, bought from IKEA
Image via Wikipedia

The alarm clock has been going off for years yet we sleep through it.

The warning signs are everywhere one can look yet we seem to be blind.

The truth is in our own hearts and still we remain ignorant of its existence.

Too many distractions to pull our attention away from what is truly important.

Too many times we choose to overlook the obvious only to embrace the obscure.

Dreaming in a wakeful state is the way a lot of us tend to live.

Sleep walking humans in a world full of deception and misdirection.

Time to wake up, open our eyes and listen to our heart.

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You are a Unique and Wonderful Being


003 I have noticed in the human society we tend to set standards for what we consider beautiful , successful  and many other attributes. Most of the standards now days are forced upon us via the visual media such as television and movies. Constantly we are bombarded with images of what we are supposed to look like and how we should behave by the media we watch. This can create a very negative self-image in some people because we all can not be super skinny.

  We need to look within ourselves for the truth about what is beauty and what we see as success and be realistic when setting our own standards instead of trying to reach the unrealistic standards of the media we enjoy, We all can not be super models, business tycoons, inspirational leaders or the perfect friend. We are all different in both our potential and in our creative capabilities. Instead of trying to be something we are not for the sake of being  as good as what we see on t.v. we should try to be ourselves and put our energies in molding ourselves into the best possible version of who we truly are.

Being social creatures we also tend to rely on the judgments and opinions of others to evaluate our self worth instead of relying on our own selves. It may be nice to be liked and appreciated, but to be liked or appreciated for pretending to be someone or something you’re not only leaves you unhappy in the end. There will always be those who do not like you and others that may be jealous of who you are that will try to make your life hard. But there are also a lot of people who will like you for who you really are and will always be there for you through your life.

God made every one of us, so each and every one of us are wonderful and unique. So live your life being the best you can be and worry not of anyone’s opinions for you are a unique and wonderful being.

Well enough of my early morning babbling for today.
Peace and Understanding be you Guide.
Raymond Barbier

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Good old days and the here and now.


Neighborhood watch sign in Jefferson County, C...
Image via Wikipedia

I listen and read about how every one misses the good old days, back when crime was low and the streets were pretty safe. back when neighbors knew each other and watched out for one another. Back when the word community meant a town that worked together for the common good of all who lived there. Those days may be gone, but it does not mean they can not ever return. We chose to become distant from our neighbors and chose to become less active and interested in our communities. The crime rate is one thing that was a result of the lack of community effort as well as lack of neighborhood interaction.

The loss of the closeness of neighbors striped away the network of communication and the concern for each other allowing crime to enter in without anyone or anything to stop it. We used to call the police or our neighbor when we saw a strange car driving and parking near their house. We also used to watch over the children in the neighborhood to make sure they didn’t get hurt or any trouble. We have become apathetic and blind to what is going on around us unless it involves our own property and family. This gives the criminals an easy way in to the neighborhood and allows crime to grow unchecked.

When I was a child I knew at least 30% of the neighbors on my street and my parents knew over half of them. If I were to had been hurt, harassed or even kidnapped more and likely my parents or the police would have known almost instantly. We all cared about the safety and wellbeing of all our neighbors, even the ones we didn’t like that much.

We can recapture a lot of the things we had in the good old days though the innocence we all had back then is forever lost. A neighborhood who are as a community and band together for the good of each other is a neighborhood that creates an unattractive environment for  crime and criminals. For when we band together we are harder to intimidate and we are strong enough to overcome fear. Alone we are potential victims and together we are a potential threat to criminals. Plus being friends with your neighbors makes for a happier environment for both you and your children to live in.

Basically we may bot be able to go back to the good old days but we can create a good days for ourselves and our families to live in here and now. The choice is ours and has always been ours to choose.

Raymond Barbier

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