So it has come to this...

I am announcing my withdrawl from xanga from this second until whenever. It may be until a month from now, until 3 or 6 months. Maybe a year. Or quite possibly, I may never post another entry as long as I live. I have speant the last year and three months typing on here and although I don't really want to give it up completely, there are more important things I need to focus on. God, family, music and the like. As I began to think on it, I have no real purpose for typing on here so often. So as I left-click the "submit" button for what is quite possibly the final time, I wish you all the best.

My wishes of Peace, Love, Understanding and most of all Jesus Christ to you all,

-james

This weekend was speant camping with my family. Something I usually like and dislike because I love speanding time with my cousins, but I hate sleeping in my parent's camper. Well, the bitter half of the bitter-sweetness was taken care of because I slept in my car. And I slept well! For some reason, I can sleep on the ground, in a tent, in a bed, in a car, in a hamock, in a chair, etc. but I cannot sleep well in campers! I hate sleeping in them so much! Not to mention, camping in campers is NOT camping, in my opinion.

I walked close to 5 miles barefoot in less than 24 hours. I hope it will help me develope some calused soles... So I can walk on anything (except for razor blades I suppose...).

But the part that I may always remember was when one of my cousins stopped by (he wasn't camping with us, but he just visited). I learned that his best friend for years was killed in Iraq. He left his mom, dad, wife, and baby, not to mention all his other friends and loved ones, behind. And the stories they were telling about how his family was holding up (or more accurately, WASN'T holding up) made me hate this war even more. Rather these wars.

So, as a result of this story, I am going to make a public (well, if Xanga can be considered as being a public place) apology. To anyone I disrespected or downgraded or anything because of them voting for John Kerry, and even to the Senator himself.

Second I would like to apologize to the nation, to the soldiers, and especially to families like I just described, for supporting Bush back about a year ago. And I thank God I was too young to vote! Otherwise, I would have that boy's death on my conscience for voting for Bush.

No longer do I support George W. Bush, and if you or ANYONE is going to support him, then you need to go visit families just like that guy who died. You need to look in their eyes, hear their cries. Tell me then, that Bush's warmongering is worth it.

By the way, he was supposed to be going stateside in 13 days.

Now a note for anyone who says "What about abortion?" and "What about gay marriage?". Well, Bush has done nothing, nor does he show signs of doing anything, to stop abortion. And don't bring up the partial birth abortion. You call that a pro-life victory? I think it was like only 1-3% (maybe even less) abortions are performed by partial-birth abortion! The was Bush's way of appeasing the public. And I do not support gay-marriage. HOWEVER; I think that the government should have MUCH bigger concerns on their minds than whether or not two consenting adults want to get married. They are gonna be gay regardless. But hey, you know, it doesn't hurt you! And no I am not saying I would vote for gay marriage if the issue would come up again because I believe it is wrong. But a little message to all the homophobes out there, GAY PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU!!!

To end this post, I will post some lyrics by none other than the greatest poet of the 20th century, Bob Dylan. Keep in mind, Jesus DOES forgive all and Dylan wasn't a Christian when this song was written.

"Masters Of War"

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks.

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly.

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain.

You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion'
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud.

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins.

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do.

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul.

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand over your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead.

                                                                            Peace, Love and Understanding,

                                                                            -james

You know what? I love stories. I just love stories! I don't really know why, but if yuo start telling a story, you pretty much have my instant attention. Whether it is boring or exciting and eventful. Comedic or terrifying. Informative or just for the fun of it. It doesn't really matter. Truth or fiction. A folk tale or something you read. I am just a lover of stories. I just now thougth of that, and I thought it was interesting.

                                                                                                                 -james

I like this song...

Puff, The Magic Dragon

Peter, Paul and Mary

PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal PUFF,
and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff.

OH PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on PUFF's gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whenever they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when PUFF roared out his name

OH, PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And PUFF that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,

His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
PUFF no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, PUFF could not be brave,
So PUFF that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave.

Oh! PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee,
PUFF, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee

Taken literally as a ballad, it is sad. You can also tell the metaphor for it being about marijuana.

                                                                                                                            -james

John Lennon would have been 65 today, had he not been murdered.

WARNING: Longer post ahead. A good read (in my humble opinion) but you might want to go and get something to drink and pop some popcorn because this may get kinda lengthy.

It kind of makes me think that, although I don't agree with his ideas 100%, what he really wanted is peace. And since his death in the early 80's, we have been through 3 wars, 2 of which are occurring right now simultaneously (Iraq and Afganistan). Not to mention how Bush seems to tack the word "war" onto everything else possible... the "war" on terror, the "war" on drugs... Whether you are a socialist, a liberal, a conservative, an anarchist, facist whatever, you have to admit that Bush is a warmonger. Sort of like when a little kid is excited about something it is all they talk about. Like when they ahve a favorite TV show, or want a toy really badly they try to relate everything to it so you will buy them the toy of whatever it is. If you have been around younger kids, I am sure you know what I am talking about.

Currently the war in Iraq's funds have climbed to almost 200 billion dollars. But you can check that out for yourself here. I don't know, I have questioned most of my once "I am completely republican, democrats are full of crap, and any form of government other than democratic and any economy other that capitalism are not options, America is the greatest ever and we have every right to go in and blow away and police these other countries" attitude about politics, and have realized that that of itself is a view of blind-patriotism (which is not patriotism at all) and ignorance as well as being 100% close-minded to the thought of bettering one's government and humanity at large. Who is to say that we are the greatest nation? Sure we are the richest (somehow, even with national debts in the trillions) country and deffinately the larget. Somehow, this means that God is on our side. If I remember correctly, when Rome was persecuting Christians during the first century Church, they were the largest empire of the time (NOT Isreal. In fact, Isreal was oppressed by Rome! Yep, it's true!). And who could forget the Brittish Empire, a few centuries later. Plauged by superstition, ignorance, illiteracy, poorest of sanitary conditions, and a distorted superstitious and hideous view of Christianity  (during this time, no one except for priests and people like that were permitted to read the Bible, under punishment of death. There were no English copies, only the Latin Vulgate), Western Europe was STILL the most powerful and influential nation in the world!

So what is it with this mindset that just because our nation is rich (not to mention work-a-holics- greedy, materialistic and all the stuff that comes with it), that it means that we are God's favorite nation?Let us look at the fruits of the Spirit, spoken of in the Bible. These are to all be exhibitted by people who are truly following God, so let us look at our nation as a whole, and see if our society (in general) exhibit these "Fruits of the Spirit" found in Galations 5:22 and 23 (along with some commentary about how our society relates):

Love- If we exhibited love like God wants, then why do kids go to school with guns and bombs? Or even make "hit-lists" for that reason?

Joy- I think that joy should have a warning label. Caution: May cause heart-related problems, ulcers and depression. Or is that the OPOSITE of joy that does all that? Perhaps stress... Lack of joy maybe? I am pretty sure that is it...

Peace- Well, war is pretty much the opposite of that so exhibiting peace with others is DEFFINATELY out of the question... Maybe inner peace? Is this why people have to visit phsychiatrists with mental illnesses that cause voices to tell them to kill themselves? Nope... That isn't peace.

Patience- The real question is, can I keep from laughing? We have to have FAST food. But that isn't fast enough, we need drive throughs. Which still aren't fast enough for some people. In this society, everything needs to be done YESTERDAY...

Kindness- Kindness is what drives people to yell at complete strangers behind the counter at Wal-Mart or other places?

Goodness- Goodness... For goodness sake, is more like it...

Faithfulness- Faithfulness to WHAT?! Spouses? Is this why adultry is such a rampant problem? Faithfulness to God? Is this why we have taken His name out of the pledge of allegiance and prayer out of school?

Gentleness- Gentleness is NOT the drive to be nice to people in higher authority that you so you will get a promotion... This is kissing up. But what about the people working UNDER you? What about your family?

Self-Control- Yes... This is why there are prostitutes, porno-shops, and things of the self-gratification nature. Our nation tends to show TREMENDOUS self control! 

For a nation with God on our sides, we don't show it to well, eh? Although I have mentioned a few more of the extreme cases, just sit back and think about what you see and hear about day to day... Parent's yelling at their kids, couples inceasantly argueing, a 40-something year old who just had a heart attack enduced by stress...

Face it. We live in a society that rewards greed and materialism. God says that the love of money is the root of all evil. So given everything aforementioned to this point... HOW are we God's nation?

Well, if you read that, I hope you at least QUESTION some things, whether or not it made you change anything. It is worth pondering over...

"Imagine all the people, living in harmony"

John Lennon-Imagine

                                                                                                    -james