Post Election Results: To Friend or Defriend?

Another Presidential debacle (race) has come and gone. I am proud to say, I did go to the polls and cast my vote. Unfortunately, there was little to sway my vote in the way of choosing the “best” candidate. Based on the pre-election campaign advertisement and media coverage, we were left with not much more than smear campaign tactics and rhetoric.

I was amazed at the numbers of people who publically displayed their grievances and persuasion of political party on Facebook and other forums. To be honest it was embarrassing and appalling. Name calling, bias, and threats have no place in our constitution and should never play a role in a political campaign or an election.

Our government has been created on principles of freedom to choose. The bedrock of our country is the willingness to accept one another in spite of difference. I witnessed disgruntled business owners, upset their candidate was not elected into office, disgracing our nation by flying an American flag at half staff upside down. If they had half a clue they would realize by doing so, through their ignorance and intolerance they are indicating to other countries, to nations worldwide, that the United States has been defeated and is surrendering its soil to all nations worldwide, and we are, at war and defeated. Talk about treason!

In addition, I had many friends defend their right not to vote by attacking those who vote. Listen, if you choose not to exercise your constitutional right to vote, so be it, but don’t condemn those who choose to be American. The argument that you don’t want to be responsible for putting the wrong person in office is in the least the weakest argument you could make. If both candidates are so “wrong” and you are so right, why are you not pro-active and on the ballot. I’ll tell you why, because you are weak, you are looking for someone to blame for the “wrong”, and you are the first to complain (and the loudest). You’re despicable!

There were many friends, or so-called friends, who actually argued so ferociously they defriended one another over political points of view. I began to wonder if political points of view or religious points of view were something people considered when they became friends. Are differences not tolerated? Perhaps these so-called friends offered little in the way of friendship and more in the way of hindrance. Are we not judged by our appearances, our circle of friends? If I choose to hang with a band of automatic weapon wielding drug lords or a group of PhD’s, by association and appearance I am perceived on my level of association with the people I hang with. As far as I am concerned, you can keep your bigotry and racism, your superficial fake friendship and I assure you, I will lose no sleep if you defriend me!

If one person in a friendship can walk away from the relationship based on a difference of opinion over political likeness, it was a shallow friendship to begin with. Every person has a constitutional and moral right to have an opinion, even if that opinion differentiates from mine, and yes that includes the bigot and racist. I don’t have to like it, I don’t have to agree, and I can always walk away.

So I ask, why is it so important people control other people’s opinions? I can offer my opinion and if it is more sensible and intelligent then you have the alternative to accept or disregard, but not to force your opinion as the supreme authoritative final word. I get to make the choice! And yes, you get to make the choice.

To be American is to embrace change, difference and the freedom to choose. To be American is to do whatever it takes to elevate your country and its policy makers to new heights by holding them accountable and exercising your constitutional right to vote. To be American is to love this great country we call America.

If you are so inclined to be disgruntled with your government to committing treason, opposed to allowing individuality through difference of opinion, perhaps the country you desire to reside awaits on some third-world continent where you are welcome to hate America and live in the stone-age in a society full of bigotry and bias. However, I would warn you to educate yourself on the other country’s laws. Most other countries will not allow such behavior — they erase it!

Love America!

Learn More About Elections: http://brian-bigelow.blogspot.com/2012/11/elections.html

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Election Tuesday: Smear Campaigns & Politics

Since the turn of the twentieth century and the age of the Industrial Revolution most every political campaign has consisted to some degree to contain a smear objective. To capitalize by way of exposing your opponents flaws and inconsistencies in a sort of self-promotion of moral standards.

These days it is so out of hand it is appalling. Twist the truth to fit your objective no matter the consequences to your running mates, their careers or their families. Here  is a humorous idea; as a politician, tell me what you can do for me if elected, not what your opponent has not done or done wrong. After all, isn’t that what it is suppose to be about, what the person elected to office is capable of? If your only qualifications for successfully securing votes is your opponents short-comings, well, that says little of your qualifications except perhaps that you are conniving, desperate, and will go to any measure, except honesty and hard work, to secure a position in the White House.

“Well, he said this, and she said that and I must respond.” A “get even” attitude has no place in American politics, except perhaps in wartime decisions and even then it better be a darn good reason. Remember the childhood lesson on sticks and stones? Political campaign managers are really the bottom of the barrel these days.

When considering GOP operatives such as Nick Ayers, the youngest campaign manager to be assigned to a political campaign at the age of 28, when I consider life’s inexperience the young aspiring campaign manager brings to the table it is no wonder the smear campaign’s are so appealing to this young mind. He knows no other way. “Smear” is what he grew up with and what he learned throughout his short life. Ayers admits while growing up his political idol was and still is former President Bill Clinton perhaps the single most smeared name in Washington.

Left and right, republican and democrat constituents are polar opposite, we get that. These days, a refreshing difference would be truth and honesty, does it exist in Washington? Anywhere? Election day is upon us and once again we are faced with choosing the lesser of two evils, which for everyone we must decide individually what that means for us and live with our decision.

The cable television stations have been inundated with smear commercials and within days of the final results we will be gifted with a much deserved reprieve from the ache in our ears and the pains in our neck – television will return to normal.

However, for months following the election the papers, news, and radio talk shows will be analyzing and scrutinizing every move the elected official makes, then second guessing the country’s decision regarding the appointment of our fearless leader. And of course, if the elected official makes a mistake, not one person will admit to voting him in office.

Although Presidential elections are held every four years, we will not have to wait that long before we are hammered with local city mayoral elections.

I wonder what the candidates would do if not a single person showed up at the poles? I’m sure there would still be the smear campaigns, the millions of dollars (mis)spent on campaigns, and by default, one of the candidates would still “win”. But wouldn’t that be one hell of a societal statement?

America is in need of reform. She requires a government that thrives on the very things our country and constitution has been formed from. Our government needs a good old swift kick in the pants. What is democracy if it is based on lies, deception and an ever increasing cesspool of political debauchery driving her further into debt with every passing moment. America needs a backbone.

Well, shortly I’ll be off to the polls to vote for the candidate less likely to harm my beloved America, land of the capitalist and home of the opportunist!

This has been a… View From My Loft

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If you enjoy View From My Loft join Author Dane Ladwig on View From My Loft radio live at

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http://holmesmurdercastle.wordpress.com/

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Senate Candidates, God & Rape: Why the Wrong Choice May be the Perfect Choice

Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock

Here’s the deal, I don’t normally get into political debates. However, this issue sparked a milieu of idiocracy throughout society, which happened to spill over to Facebook and other platforms. Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock stated, “God intended” pregnancies, which would happen as a direct result from rape.

Now, I am not coming to the defense of a misguided and theologically incorrect individual, however when this statement hit the airwaves people went bananas. I read post and heard things such as, “This God is evil if His plan includes intentionally raping women,” to “God is a mean God who intends rape and that’s why I refuse to follow this Christian God,” and “God must be a rapist and a criminal if He ordains rape.”

People, we are talking about the ramblings of a senate candidate who clearly does not have a clue regarding the concept of who God is!

In the first place, there is a difference between “intends” and allows. Those who are aware of the God of the Bible realize His plan allows humanity to have a certain little fringe benefit called “free-will”. That free will is what we, and the senate candidate from Indiana, mistaken as an intention.

Thus, the question at hand is; would it be in God’s plan to allow pregnancy as a result from a violent crime such as rape? Unless you have heavenly knowledge of Gods ethereal plan, that question is unanswerable.

Why does a loving God ordain war, hate and retaliation (yes folks it is in your Bible, read your Old Testament)? Why does a God who creates man (humanity) after his image does so by creating a frail body and creates it in a fashion, which it is susceptible to disease and longevity? Why, is the eternal question?

God allows events to take place and we do not have the answer to the big question — why? That’s what burns us, and that’s what causes segregation among church, state, science, and society. If we did have the answers… who would need a God?

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney

There’s no surprise Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock makes foolish public statements and tarnishes his candidacy, but then again, Presidential Republican candidate Mitt Romney came running to the defense of Mr. Mourdock and Romney says he will continue to back his pal, despite the outrage from the public over the Senate candidate’s poor choice of words.

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney & Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock

Perhaps this is an indication of one time when God should have been more of a before thought than an afterthought and the concept of “God allows” vs. “God intends” and free-will as opposed to pro-choice should have been considered. Then again, that would take effort and I do not think there would be much controversy or news coverage over a politically correct religious reference in today’s multi-sensitive non-discriminatory socially acceptable culture. In this case, the wrong choice of words just may have been the perfect choice, after all, it did get people like Mourdock and Romney noticed and a whole lot of people talking about God!

This has been a… View From My Loft

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If you enjoy View From My Loft join Author Dane Ladwig on View From My Loft radio live at

Blog Talk Radio:

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Visit Dane Ladwig’s blog’s:

The Infamous Diabolic Dr. H. H. Holmes:

http://holmesmurdercastle.wordpress.com/

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Rainbow Cause ~ Gay Pride Week 2012

What is Fair is Equality and What is Equality Should be Fair!

This week is Gay Pride Week. Now more than ever, everyone and their brothers and sisters wish to be recognized as socially and politically correct, including many so-called left-wing conservative Christians, as they hop on the gay trail and join the rainbow cause. I say if you are not on the bandwagon throughout the entire year then why do you join the cause one week out of the year – it is hypocritical people!

The lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual (LGTB) community has existed with little to no help in the past and it will continue to thrive in the future. As there is no shortage of happily married (and single) straight sexually oriented folks out there, the LGTB community grows.

Then you have the Bible-toting morons bashing the LGTB community taking a Christian stance in the name of a “purer society” and turning it into a civil rights atrocity. Christian protestors carry signs reading “God Hates Fags” and “Fags Burn in Hell.” I recall a time in history when a certain dictator committed heinous acts of genocide to create a purer society because at that time, he believed “God Hates Jews” and he said “Jews Burn in Hell.”

Christians get your Bible straight! There is no sound Biblical argument for or against a sexually Arian society. However, the only sound argument is; homosexuality goes against the forces of nature. I realize those who are reading are saying, wait a minute, you said…

Here is a fact. If all of society succumbed to homosexuality humanity would cease to exist. Procreation is a necessary means to a necessary ends: evolution. If all men and all women decided that sex within their own gender was their preference, short of global artificial insemination, within the timeframe of forty-five years, give or take, the time frame within a woman can safely carry a pregnancy, humanity itself would become extinct. Now that is the only sound argument against homosexuality!

Getting back to Gay Pride Week. I recall a situation a year ago. During the Gay Pride parade in Chicago, a family who was unaware of the whole Gay Pride Week parade was visiting family. While walking down the street in the middle of the day, their small child was introduced to several drunk gay men’s genitalia as they flaunted themselves in a bar window. Needless to say, the child and the family were devastated. I would not think of flaunting my package in a bar window during a Straight Married and Single Pride parade, it is just as unacceptable for any individual to flaunt or flash him or herself naked in public.

And what of other “oppressed” peoples? We are told over and again, “We just want to be accepted”. Well, I believe that you should be and you should be equal! But equal means you get no “special” privileges. You wish to be equal then equal it is! You say you want equality, but you petition for so much more, you demand all the attention – the spotlight. Equal does not equate to special recognition and privileges. If I do not get special recognition for being a straight Caucasian male, why should you get special recognition and privileges if you are other than straight, Caucasian, or male? What is fair is equality and what is equality should be fair!

With that said…

Happy Gay Pride Week!

Happy Straight Pride Week!

Happy Equality, Everyone, Everywhere.

This Has Been a View From My Loft!

Recap: G8 NATO Summit Protesters: Time to Take Your Civil Disobedience Elsewhere!

So, here I am living in Chicago, where they held the NATO G8 Summit. The media – television and radio –  had been relatively uneventful until Friday evening when we heard a small news blurb about a house, in the Bridgeport area, which had been raided based on a hunch of “possible illegal activity” connected to the summit and protesters, but we’ll get to that later.

“Peaceful Solidarity,” rings out from protesters as a journalist from the local news radio station broadcast live from the Daley Center on Friday evening. “We just want our side to have a unified voice. We want to show the nation we matter and that our cause is one that will not go away. We will fight for our civil rights.” Somehow, the words peaceful, solidarity, and fight, do not sit right with me. For the protesters and the residents of Chicago, Friday was primarily uneventful.

Saturday was a complete mirror opposite of Friday. It began with news that the home raided in Bridgeport allegedly revealed the operation of a terrorist operation. It seems nine people were taken into custody, three held for conspiring to commit terrorist acts by building incendiary devices, and the other six were release. The three “self-proclaimed anarchists” being held claimed the swords, knives, a mortar gun, a hunting bow, the bottles, rags, and flammable liquid assembled into Molotov cocktails, were “to make home brewed beer”, later rescinding their statement saying they were, “subjects of an elaborate scheme concocted by police, and they were victims of police entrapment.”

On Saturday at 7:00 PM, I had been in my car and had over an hour drive ahead of me, I turned on the local news radio station and listened to the coverage of the Summit. The protesters were marching in downtown Chicago. They were getting physically forceful with police, shoving them and attempting to stop police vehicles with their bodies. One protester punched a police officer, several shoved officers, and many had thrown water at the officers. The object of the protesters was clear, to incite the officers into a brutal confrontation. I wondered about the “Peaceful Solidarity.”

I do agree some protesters have a very valid reason to assemble, and it is their civil right to protest, but as we are hanging our hats on this all-important civil right, we cannot ignore its entire context. According to the US Constitution Americans have the Right to Assemble and the Right to Freedom of Speech. However, according to the US Constitution, those Civil Rights are waved once those who are assembling and speaking out incite “lawless action”. I would venture to say, attacking police constitutes “lawless action.”

Why do I care? I have members of my family, and several friends, who are civil servants. They are working the NATO Summit. Converging on my sons vehicle while wielding a knife stabbing at the vehicles tires, concerns me (why would a “peaceful” protester bring a knife to a rally in the first place?). The officers wielding batons, attempting to bring order and safety not only to an out of control crowd, but out of concern for their safety as protesters are grabbing at them and kicking them, is indeed necessary. If you do not want to be on the receiving end of a police baton, you probably should not be in the vicinity of one in the first place.

And seriously people, do you really think, rescind that… think, does your anger fed messages of stop this or do that matter to a room full of politicians who are oblivious to what is going on out in the streets. You are motivated by anger and civil disobedience. The folks living in quiet neighborhoods surrounding the area do not deserve your “voice.” If you really want to do some good, take your do-gooder asses over to Calumet City, or the West side of Chicago, the drug infested, gang riddled areas, and help take back the streets. Oh, I forgot, that’s reality; real life people with real guns and real issues, not a place you have the balls to go fight the real war, beside your stop war overseas is more important than the war here on America’s turf.

On Sunday, the protesters numbers increase as do the level of disorderly outbreaks and acts of civil disobedience. Protesters, on live television, accuse the police for the outbreaks stating, “They have no right to tell us where we can or cannot go”, as the protesters attempt to march toward McCormick Place, where the NATO Summit is being held. Well, yes, as a matter of fact they do. When considering national security measures, they do have a right to tell you not to go near the Summit dummy.

Every protester grabbing for a media microphone and the attention of a nation captivated by the idiocracy in the streets, begins bashing the police for their presence and police department crowd control policies. While these “dirty pigs” as they were referred to, attempt to maintain some kind of order, and you as a protester direct your rage and physical aggression toward the man or woman dedicated to serve and protect, here’s a bit of advice. The next time you are in need of police assistance, or for that fact let’s include fire, and ambulance since they all work for the same civil service agency, don’t bother the “dirty pigs” deal with it yourself.

If your wife is involved in an accident, let it be her problem. Your daughter get’s raped, she can deal with it. You are robbed, tough, your problem, deal with it! Your house is on fire, piss on it and hope your neighbors and fellow protesters have full bladders and they will help out by pissing on the flames. Grandpa has a heart attack, zap him with an electrical cord and call it a day. If you don’t have any respect for the system, for my family members and friends who are civil servants, why should they put their lives on the line, in harm’s way, for you, and respect or help you?

And the ex-military who bash the police for their tactics are the worse, they are the biggest hypocrites of all. Out of everyone, they should understand the police have a duty to follow orders and maintain order, after all, is that not what the military does when it is at war or when it is called in to maintain order? For those of you who are ex-military, throwing away military medals and speaking out against war, pardon me but if I am not mistaken you voluntarily entered the service. Voluntarily deciding to enter the military, to defend your country’s freedom, then speaking out against military involvement or action, is ridiculously hypocritical.

Bottom line, the protesters are out of control. The police are well with the rights of the Constitution of the United States to control the violence. The Occupy movement has lost focus of its Peaceful Solidarity purpose. We know from example of the Million Man March in National Mall, Washington D.C. in 1995, when people unify for a cause peaceably, and organized they march for the benefit of a single purpose, they get results. This NATO G8 Summit protester’s march is anything but unified, and there are a number of hundreds of causes people are attempting to bring attention to.

But hey, a few people, like the masked man who refused to show his face on television claiming how the “real problem is the people sitting in the NATO meeting deciding who we will go to war with next, they hide behind war and walls of police barricades, but they can’t ignore our demands any longer.” I hate to break it to you masked man, but taking attention, and resources, from the city to have your fifteen second of fame while we see you interviewed in a baseball cap, sunglasses, and a bandanna covering your face (no he’s not hiding anything!), those dignitaries who are meeting a mile away from you, don’t hear you, don’t know you exist, are not watching this broadcast and they are preoccupied with running the world you masked idiot!

I am truly heart broke for the plight of many of the groups of legitimate protesters who see this as a final attempt to be heard. The teachers, the elderly, the nurses. It’s the snot-filled bratty little punk ass kids and do-gooders who are attempting to incite riots and provoking negativity, they are the ones who piss me off and ruin it for the legitimate protesters. I am a writer, I believe in the right to free speech. I believe in all civil rights. I also know if I abuse my rights, I lose them – as should the protesters who disregard the authority of police and incite civil disobedience.

We as a nation need to unite and give those who deserve the attention, the legitimate protesters, the people who have valid concerns, the platform. Those so-called do-gooders who band together in the name of solidarity whose aim is to incite hate and civil disobedience have no place in the protesters voice of reason. As a nation, the leaders of our country must listen to our plea, as a band of renegade terrorists and unruly dissenters, we lose any possibility to be heard and taken seriously. Changes in our histories legislation came about through great battles fought with courage and controlled tongues, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King, these are just a few of the many who men, who led by example, while attempting to effect change in government policy, perhaps we should follow in their footsteps.

This has been a… View From My Loft

A Presidential Gift, From the First Family

About a dozen years ago, I was employed with a security firm.  The Secret Service, now known as Homeland Security, contracted with our company.  When my superiors approached me with the prospect of taking special training classes and working with the Secret Service when they requested personnel, I jumped at the opportunity.

I was trained in self-defense techniques, which would prove useful when apprehending people.  I learned about surveillance and the finer art of reading people.  I finished at the top of my class in explosives and proper procedure of deactivating explosive devices.  The instructors recommended me as a “lead” security agent within the ranks of the security firm I had been employed with.

It was the summer of 2000.  I had been asked to work alongside the Secret Service.  Normal protocol, they ran me through the gamut, legal background, financial profile, psychological testing, I passed.  My job: help insure the safety of the former 41^st President of the United States George H. W. Bush and the former First Lady Barbara Bush.  The location – the LPGA US Open Championship held in a northern suburb of Chicago.

Every morning at daybreak, we swept the parameter for explosives, wires, and taps, anything that may have presented a possible threat.  The President and First Lady slept comfortably in the mansion of the country club, while Secret Service provided round the clock surveillance and security.  I was posted in the rear of the house, at the gate where the Presidential entourage would be entering and exiting several times each day to attend the national televised event.  My job – nobody beside the President, First Lady and Secret Service are allowed through the rear gate.

Everything was fine, the first couple of days.  The event lasted five days and on the third day, early in the morning, a man approached the gate and said he was the son-in-law of the President and First Lady.  He said he wanted to get to the house to make his appearance as a surprise.  I was not born yesterday, nor was he going to get past me.  I checked his credentials, driver’s license and such, and when I radioed to the Secret Service Agent in the house the man at the gate became slightly agitated.  It was apparent he was upset his cover was about to be blown.

The Agent instructed me to make sure the man did not suspect anything, he and another Agent would be assisting me shortly.  The man must have heard the transmission.  He began to grab the gate and tried to squeeze his way through, all the while repeating his plea of knowing the First Family and wanting to surprise them.  I had no alternative.  His behavior gave me reason to believe he was now a suspect rather than family.  I tackled the suspect to the ground and handcuffed him.

It seemed like hours, but a few minutes after apprehending the man, the Secret Service Agents showed up.  They stroked my ego by telling me what a great job I had done and they escorted the man away.  Feeling good about my heroic efforts, I walked around for the next few hours proud as a peacock.

Later that afternoon, while on break I took a stroll and visited the gift tent on the golf course.  When I returned from my break, and check back in to inform the Secret Service I was back at my post, an Agent came by to inform me the man I apprehended was indeed a member of the First Family.  I was royally embarrassed.  The Agent assured me I had no way of knowing and the fault lie with them as the Secret Service blundered and should have informed me of his status when I radioed in for assistance; that did not ease my discomfort.

About an hour after receiving the embarrassing information that I had apprehended a member of the First Family, the Presidential entourage came blazing a trail from the mansion making its way to the gate I guarded.  The President was not there, the First Lady was there as was the man I apprehended and several members of the Secret Service.  I began feeling flush as I expected to be chastised by the First Lady for placing a member of her family in custody.  As she gracefully dismounted the motorized golf cart, my knees began to feel like soft butter.  It was difficult to look her in the eye.

“Good afternoon”, she said with a grandmotherly smile, “I understand you met my son-in-law earlier today.”  The man I apprehended, Robert Koch, whom I should have known, and the Secret Service really had no excuse for not knowing, although they said there was confusion because he was not on the guest list, stood behind the First Lady.  Mr. Koch then turned to walk back to the golf cart.

“Can I ask you your name?”

“It’s Dane, Ma’am.” I said in a shacking voice still in awe I was standing before the First Lady and actually holding a conversation.

“Well, Dane.  You are doing a fine job and we apologize for the commotion my son-in-law has caused you.”

I thought; the First lady is apologizing to me, that’s a first.  I’m nobody from nowhere and she is standing here offering an apology, this is too much.

The First Lady shook my hand, gazed around the yard, and said, “Such a beautiful day today, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Stunning!”  I responded.

Mr. Koch approached me with a package in his arm.  He was smiling, he shook my hand and said, “Thanks for watching out for my family.”  He handed me the heavy package and began walking back to the golf cart.  I opened the gate to allow them onto the golf course.

After they were out of sight, I opened the package.  I could not believe my eyes.  They had given me a plaque.  Earlier in the gift tent, I had been browsing the overpriced memorabilia.  One item in particular caught my attention, a commemorative plaque depicting Payne Stewart at the men’s US Open in 1999 wearing the W.W.J.D bracelet given him by his son.  Shortly after winning the men’s Open, Payne Stewart died in an airplane disaster.  I admired Payne Stewart as a golfer and I fell in love with the plaque.  I did not purchase it because it cost several hundred dollars and I did not have the expendable cash at the time.  The plaque was given to me from the President’s family for protecting them, when I was simply doing my job.

I have no idea how they knew I was admiring the plaque.  The best I could figure is the Secret Service did not inform me of everything and possibly, they had a camera in the gift tent.  Perhaps, a member of the First Family followed me into the tent, I simply do not know.  It could be mere happenstance.  The one thing I do know is that was a very strange surreal day.

Each time I saw the First Lady from then forward over the next two days, she smiled, waved, and once she even stopped by and inquired how I was doing, just a brief matriarchal inquiry.  I did met the President, he was not so inviting.  The First Lady was definitely the more outspoken of the two.  From the first time I met her, it was as if she were family.

This has been a… View From My Loft