General Blog

In doing a bit of research into the Todd Bentley affair (which I am the first to admit is none of my business, but read on), I have come to see that I am seriously questioning the spiritual beliefs I have had for the past eight years.

During this time, I was with Lion of Judah Ministries, here in Bedford, VA. They are literally right across the street from me, which is one reason I moved to this new location.

Lion of Judah was unlike any place I had ever been before. This was the kindest and closest knit community I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of. For the first time in all of my forty some years, I had found a place where I felt safe.

But all good things must come to an end. And it wasn't that long ago that politics reared its ugly head and literally destroyed something incredibly beautiful.

And in the process, I was personally deeply hurt due to the unwilling part I had in the fall of Lion of Judah. Though I would like to go into detail regarding exactly what happened, and how (including a written confession of my part in it), I cannot do this as it would break a promise to a friend. This I am not willing to do.

Bentley was head of the Lakeland, Florida revival. Lion of Judah was somewhat involved in this revival (though I personally was not. I was invited to Florida but I turned it down. Looking back on it now, I feel...?), which is why I was investigating it. These "evangelical nutcases" I have loved hanging out with have taught me a fundamental and charismatic view of Christianity.

Yet what happened with Bentley, not to mention what happened with Lion of Judah, blows everything they have taught me all to hell. Looking at this from a charismatic point of view, how is it possible that so many people could be flocking to his church if he is involved in an affair? Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, yet this is exactly what he was doing. And, somehow in the midst of this, God was rewarding him as He has rewarded few others!

How can this be?

Meanwhile, closer to home, I was one of two people who took the fall for five leaders who were unwilling to do so. My part in the fall of Lion of Judah was minor compared to others, but, unlike others, I am very much aware that what I did was wrong. Unlike others, I have deep remorse over my part in the church crumbling. Taking the fall was not something I wanted to do, it was not something that was planned, but because of the position I held in the church at the time, I was handy. They used that. This isn't to say that I am completely blameless, but it is to say that others who did far more wrong than I did walked away scott free. If there was blame to be placed (and there was), they should have placed it correctly and they did not. They placed it on me instead. All of it.

"They took the load off Fanny, and they put the load right on me..."

More than once through the years, the pastor has spoken of people who had left their churches because the leadership of the church hurt them. Now I have a very clear understanding of why they left.

One thing the church taught me is how we need to depend on God because depending on anyone else is setting yourself up. People are fallible. God is not. Even God's people make mistakes. Todd Bentley is a case in point.

Yet it is so difficult sometimes to separate the two. It seems to me that God chose, for whatever reason, to be reflected in His people. In my life and in my many travels, I have run into many, many people who claim to be Christian, who claim to be Godly.

Yet so very, very few of them actually are. It wasn't until the mid eighties that I finally found someone who truly lived righteously. The princess forever changed the way I looked at God and Christianity. Up till then I hated Him. I hated Him because I had been hurt so many times. I had been locked away, rejected, scorned. Everyone who told me they were a Christian turned around and hurt me. Yet here, finally, was someone who loved as Christ Himself loved. Completely, totally, and unconditionally.

Back in Columbus, I searched for a place where they were all like her. I was unable to find it. But I found it here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. For eight years this place was literally a paradise.

Now I am not sure what it is.

Those eight years were valid, I am sure of it. The leadership was mature and Godly and did right by the congregation as precious few other churches ever did or ever will. But something changed. I have an idea what, but unless I am told (fat chance), I will never be completely sure.

Whatever it was, it slowly crept into the church. It took many months, but eventually Jericho fell.

Just earlier today I was alone in the church, something I have not been for a while. I used to feel as if the walls themselves were hugging me when I was there, yet today I felt it was just another building.

I have been reading various books on meditation and spirituality. Not Christian specific spirituality. I can't bring myself to read anything like that anymore. I am thankful that one does not need to be "born again" to be spiritual. I do believe there is a "spirit realm" beyond our own somewhere. I think maybe I have had some oddball experiences with it. But I don't know anymore if I believe in angels and demons, God and the devil.

When I was at the church earlier today, I had the thought that maybe I should set the spirituality books aside for a time and read up on forgiveness.

If I am to find the answers I seek, I think maybe I will need to start there.

I saw there was an upgrade to the blog software and it crashed the blog. I was using a custom skin (which I miss, I really don't like this one at all) and I had to fix that. And here we are.

I have a few things to write about, and I will get to those. Just wanted you all to know I haven't gone anywhere.

Hi, Mom. I love yew. :)

My father has not been doing well. :( Neither has my friend, the Brigadier's wife. So I was thinking about maybe making a surprise trip to Columbus. I wanted to walk into the house on Christmas and surprise my folks. That was the plan, anyway. But as we all know, the best laid plans of mice and men...

So first I had to find a car.

Mine seems to have died of old age after 227,000 miles. That's okay because as I have told people, 227,000 is a good run for a car.

But it left me without a way to get to Ohio. So I made an announcement at the church, asking for a car to take to Columbus. They did come through for me this time.

Thank you, Glen and Yaura.

So now I had a 1995 Mercury Sable to drive to Columbus. I was about half way there, in Kenova, WV, when I went to unlock the door and the key snapped in half right in the lock!

That was the end of the trip. :(

I had no key to get into the car, much less to start it. To make matters worse, I was pretty much stranded a few hundred miles from home in either direction.

Never have I felt so screwed!

I spent over eight hours at that gasoline place trying to figure what to do? I had to pay someone $70.00 to tow my car for about 30 feet on Christmas Eve.

NOT fun.

I was eventually rescued by some friends in Columbus who braved the elements on Christmas Eve to come and fetch me and bring me back to Ohio. While I certainly appreciate the sacrifice (thanks, guys), that also left me without a car, and here I was responsible for another guy's car, and I had to leave it in WV and I had no idea what would happen?

Oh, cruel fate! How you mock me!

Meanwhile, I had been talking to Jennifer. For 17 years I had known this cute girl and had no idea how she felt about me? What took her so damn long to say anything?

She says it is because I am the guy and I am supposed to make the first move. Probably right, but she was so cute that I thought she would want nothing to do with me.

Tired of waiting, she finally said something.

So now I had a third reason to go to Columbus.

I did two of the things I wanted to do. I saw the Brigadier's wife and I surprised my parents on Christmas. I even gave my dad a nice Christmas present.

That only leaves Jennifer, who is currently sitting to my left and watching me write this. So of course I have to be careful what I say. :)

(Insert her laugh here...)

An extra key was overnighted to me and I received it Thursday, two days after Christmas. So Jenn's incredibly oddball family, in two cars (???), took me back to WV to retrieve the vehicle, which, in a wondrous Christmas miracle, seems none the worse for wear.

(Right about now my mother must be cringing at that run on sentence.)

Now that Christmas is over, it is time to explore a relationship, something I have not had much good fortune with in my life as the three rings given back to me will attest to. I still have all of them. Each one is different and each one is beautiful, both of those things are just like the girls who wore them for a time.

I wasn't sure what to think or how I would feel after 17 years but doggone it, I think I like her.

She is still very pretty.

(Insert her "Thank you. You're so sweet" here...)

So far, we have made truffles, and snuggled, and shopped, and snuggled and did I by chance forget to mention that we snuggled?

She is an expert truffleswoman.

And, if I may say so, not a bad snuggler.

She works doing customer service for a mail order pharmacy. I have to feel bad for her, in a way, because of her long commute to work. She works a whoppin' three feet from her bed. The gas prices must be horrendous for her with all that driving to get to work and back.

She has talked about moving to Bedford to be with me, which would definitely convince me she is serious. Of course, if she is able to bring her job with her (a possibility), she may even be the highest paid person in Bedford.

And the best part is she will be my Jennifer. :)

This has been a Christmas to remember.

(NOTE: By request, I must make mention that the Donna mentioned in the blog below is NOT my friend Donna who I met long ago and is a very good advocate for people with autism. This is a different Donna.)

----------------------------

I was just recently BANNED from the forums on the IC-Network. This is all due to a misunderstanding on the part of the moderator. I am writing this because I am innocent of what she accuses me of. I feel I have a right to tell my side of the story and I am doing so.

Apparently there is a rule that no advertising is allowed in the forums. This is okay with me, I understand it. But they are taking the rule to an almost autistic extreme by banning me.

I put a link to my site in my signature. It was decided this was advertising. I disagree. They said (Well, SHE said) that since the site sold the book, I was advertising and I was in violation of policy.

What she doesn't seem to understand is that the book sales are just one very small part of the site. The site, contrary to what she believes, is not about book sales. It is a site about Thomas. The site is www.thomasamckean.com, it is NOT www.soonwillcomethelight.com but she doesn't see this. I did stop and think about which domain I wanted before I registered it. I decided to go with www.thomasamckean.com because there is more to me than a book I happened to write.

When I went into that forum, I had no intention of trying to get people to buy the book. I do wish Donna would tell me how she feels I think a group of people with IC would even be interested in it? The book has absolutely nothing at all to do with IC!

She thinks my site is all about the book. It isn't. It is all about ME. She thinks the only reason I joined the IC-Network as to promote the book. It wasn't. If I wanted to promote the book, Donna, I would have gone to one (or more) of the many autism forums out on the net. She thinks I wanted to sell the book because I put a link to my site in my signature.

There are so many others at the IC-Network who have links to personal sites on their signatures, yet they are not banned. I am being singled out simply because I just so happen to have a book on the market.

What Donna is doing to me is unfair and unjustified. If she doesn't want links to sites in signatures, it should apply to everyone. It applies to me ONLY because of the work I do. It is prejudiced and it is WRONG.

The great irony in this is that when I receive my advocacy certification in May (Partners in Policymaking, no less), the "work I do" that she has banned me for may one day improve the lives of those with IC, including Donna herself. If Donna doesn't believe this, she can look at my history of advocacy. It speaks for itself.

So now, because of a misunderstanding and an unwillingness to see the truth on the part of the moderator, I have the word BANNED under my name on the IC-Network. That bothers me a bit. I did nothing wrong and I did nothing to deserve this.

I have tried to work this out with her and she has decided she will not listen to reason. Therefore I really have no choice but to post my side of this story here on my blog where I cannot be banned.

I really wish I did not have to post this, but Donna has left me no choice.

I'm sorry it has to be this way, Donna. I wish we could have worked it out. I could have (and would have) done much for those with IC. But if this unjustified banning is the way you want to treat me, I really am not so sure I care about IC anymore.

And with my track record, that not caring is your loss. You need all the help you can get. You had it. You lost it.

Well done.

As we draw near the end of another Thanksgiving, I am pondering the many things I have to be thankful for.

• I AM THANKFUL for the fact that I am not as depressed as I have been the past month or so.
• I AM THANKFUL for what health I have.
• I AM THANKFUL for the food in my belly, the clothes on my back and the roof over my head.
• I AM THANKFUL for the money that comes my way that allows me to live a comfortable life.
• I AM THANKFUL for the awesome beauty of the Blue Ridge that is right outside my door.
• I AM THANKFUL for my friend Christina, currently taking a break. :-)
• I AM THANKFUL for this nice computer so I can blog.
• I AM THANKFUL for all the friendship and love and hugs from my Friend Vicki.
• I AM THANKFUL for all my other friends who make my life worth living.
• I AM THANKFUL for the spiritual community and family I have in the Blue Ridge.
• I AM THANKFUL for my mother and my father and brothers and sister.
• I AM THANKFUL for my cat, Reiki (RAY-kee), who plays with me and keeps me warm at night.
• I AM THANKFUL for my big queen size bed that I can get comfy and sleep well on.
• I AM THANKFUL for my car running well after 227,000 miles.
• I AM THANKFUL for my motorbike that takes me into the beautiful mountains.

• I AM THANKFUL for a loving God who answers prayer and loves His people.

Since it seems some of you out there are following along with this pathetic depressive state and wondering what will happen next (?), I thought I would post the latest for you.

Today I decided that sitting around the house and/or sleeping was getting me nowhere, so I decided to see a doctor.

It is unfortunate that the one who was there was one I had only seen once or twice? I told her I was depressed and I was on three drugs already and I didn't want to be a pharmacy.

I think she got a bit angry at me for that? She said, "Well, what do you expect me to do for you, then?"

And I said, "Well, can't you like say some magic wrods or wave a wand at me or something and just make it all go away all at once?"

She wasn't amused.

But she did offer me free drugs. She gave me a whole month of Effexor XR to take and told me to come back in a month. I told her if they were samples that I would be willing to take them for 30 days to see what happened.

Then, just as she was sending me on my way, I told her also that the pain meds for the fibro had not been working since the weather changed and she quickly wrote me a prescription for double the dose I am taking. That means I go from 900mg a day to 1,800 mg a day. Quite a difference!

I have mixed feelings about this. I don't like that I am pumping more prescription pain drugs into me, but at the same time I have to realize that if I am not feeling pain I am not so likely to be depressed. And even if I am taking twice as much, still they are not (yet) narcotic (hopefully they never will be) and that's a good thing, too.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that she told me since I am depressed, I need to see a counselor. She gave me a card of someone and told me to call her.

I looked at the card and realized I'd rather just talk to Vicki. (Vicki has had training and experience in counseling, just as I have. Too bad I can't just counsel myself?) I'll have to ask her about that when she gets home from Maine next Wednesday.

Meanwhile, viva la' pill popping, I guess.

I really, really hate taking medications, but this doesn't mean I have to do this forever......I hope.

I am still feeling a bit down these days. Yesterday I ordered this book...

http://www.amazon.com/Seasonal-Affective-Disorder-Dummies-Fitness/dp/0470139994/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5/102-0128282-7995346?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194408961&sr=8-5

...I got the ebook version online and began reading it right away last night.

So far I have read the first two chapters. Of course the book says to "talk to" someone because that may help. But yesterday I tried that already with someone here in Bedford and she went all charasmatic on me. Following the nutty charasmatic "name it/claim it" doctrine, she told me I just needed to claim my happiness. *Sigh*

Vicki is out of town, doggone it. Now there's a woman with common sense. Where is she when you need her?

I was pondering seeing a pain management person, assuming of course I could find one around here? But I don't want to be one of those people who pops 17 different prescriptions a day. There must be a better answer than drugs. I've had quite enough of this fibro.

I also pondered buying something like this...

http://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Health-GoLite-Spectrum-Therapy/dp/B000C1946S/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-0128282-7995346?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1194464440&sr=8-2

...but if you read the reviews, you will see maybe that isn't a very good idea.

Anyway, that's where I am these days. I have class next week and homework to do for it, but I find I am not feeling very motivated to get it done.

Life sucks. Then ya die.

I am feeling really down lately. I did a benefit concert about a week ago and I have not felt good since.

I have rarely left the house (except to see my friend Vicki a couple of times) because I am feeling very agoraphobic. I am running out of groceries but I just have no desire to get out of the house.

Parents of kids with autism are loving this because I am spending my days posting on internet autism forums (something they have wanted me to do for years) but I don't know how much it is helping them? I hope it is at least some.

What is happening is the barometric pressure is messing with the autism and fibro and it is making me feel miserable. No energy, no motivation, very depressed. I am aware of what it is, yet there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. I am trying to work my way past it, but that isn't working.

There is a part of me that is feeling guilty because I feel like I should be more productive. But I just don't have the energy or the motivation to do anything. I have been sleeping eight hours a day but now I find when I wake up I have been sleeping for 11 hours! Crying a lot for no reason, too. And don't even get me started on the fibro pain. Unbearable sometimes.

This happens to me every year around this time. (I hate this time of year!) I know that I will eventually get over it, but it will be a rough road to the end.

Bummer.

Sometimes I do not like being Thomas.

Today I did a bit of worship leading at Timberlake Christian Church in Lynchburg. Good times.

I was to do a "special song" before the sermon, and then another "special song" during the communion. The communion one made me a bit nervous, I mean what kind of responsibility is that, doing music for communion? ACK!

So when I got there (Hi guys, I am sure the TCC people are reading this...), I saw they were doing a song, Lord, I Lift Your Name on High - which is one of the songs I really like to play a harmonica with. So I asked to sit in and that ended up sounding pretty much like what it really was, which was unrehearsed.

They told me there that they enjoyed it, but, unlike them, I know what I am capable of playing on the harp. I know I can do better. Far as I am concerned, I totally butchered and destroyed the song. :( A lesson in the value of rehearsal, to be sure.

I have no doubt they will leave me comments telling me I did fine on the song, and maybe I did, after all. But I could have done better. Much better.

The two songs I did rehearse, Here I Am to Worship, and Breathe, those went well. I am glad for that. I played both of those on the guitar. I wanted to play a bit of harp on the first one, but I couldn't locate my holder. I need a new one anyway. So I am ordering soon so I can have it for the fundraiser concert I am doing next month.

So... After the service was over, that keyboardist, Carol (Hi, Carol!) and I sat down and played Lord, I Lift Your Name on High again.

I nailed it.

Why couldn't I have done that before? :( Then we started playing around with a few standard hymns. Like:

Amazing Grace...

Nailed it.

How Great Thou Art...

Nailed it.

This is my Father's World...

Nailed it.

Meanwhile, the few people who were left, they came back and sat down again because they wanted to hear the two of us play. I can see why, really, because I see that she and I do sound pretty doggone good together.

I'd like to explore maybe doing some more collaboration.

My favorite of those was the last one, This is my Father's World. I really like the way we sounded together playing that. No vocals, just a keyboard and harmonica. I think that would be killer for a communion.

ADDENDUM: It is now 9:16pm the same night, six or seven hours after I wrote the above. Earlier tonight I went to a worship service in Moneta, hoping to play a little harmonica. Imagine my surprise when the songs they chose were, Lord, I Lift Your Name on High and also Here I Am to Worship. ACK! I had just played those this morning! There was a rehearsal of Here I Am to Worship and I joined in, playing pretty much harmony. I liked the way it sounded so I decided to pull out the harp later on when they played it at the service. Never got a chance to practice, Lord, I Lift Your Name on High, but figured it would be okay because I had just nailed it this morning.

So... The first song was Here I Am to Worship. That went very well, I think. People told me later that they enjoyed it. Then came Lord, I Lift Your Name on High, and for the second time in less than twelve hours, I totally destroyed the song. :( I have come to the conclusion from this, the only conclusion, really, that I can come to, which is that Lord, I Lift Your Name on High is a very difficult song to play on the harmonica.

So the pastor of that church (also named Thomas) made a comment to me as he was leaving that he would e-mail me the songs for next week as soon as he knew them so I could practice.

Driving home, I realized that, also in a time span of less than twelve hours, I found myself, to some extent, on two praise teams. Not only that, but I am playing the harp, which I totally love to do.

The only problem with it is that neither of the teams are from my home church, which is where I really want to play. :(

Maybe they will see that others feel I have the ability and give me a place on the team. One can only hope.

I do so love playing praise with a harp. :)

For the past few days, I have been working on a new look for the blog. That new look is just about complete, as you can see.

What I wanted was for this blog to be easy to read. I wanted everything out of the way, so you could get down to business. Many blogs have very small, hard to read text. Note the text in this blog is much larger and easier to read. Also note that the "user functions" (such as search, archives, links, etc.) are still there, accessible at the top of the page, yet at the same time they are out of the way. If you click on one of the options at the top of the page, or simply scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will see them.

There have been many comments left on this blog, and they are now easily accessible by clicking on "View Comments" at the top of the page. Read what others are saying. Or, you can add your own comment by clicking on "Send feedback" or, if there is feeback already, "X Feedbacks" to read it and leave your own.

If your browser is not maximized to the fill the screen, doing so will improve the look of the interface.

Hope you like the new look! :)

From reporter Tim Stevens...

...So, we'll just let you draw your own conclusions about a 19-year-old in West Virginia who this week sent a text message to a police officer asking if he wanted to "buy some reefer."

You can imagine what happened next.

The officer set up a meeting with the pot peddler and showed up with some friends in blue where they promptly arrested the perp. As it turns out, the number of the officer's cell phone just happened to previously belong to a friend of the dealer's. Presumably, the number was transferred when the supposed friend canceled his account and the rest is, well, newsworthy. The errant texter was charged with delivery of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver. He's currently in jail awaiting trial.

Sad to say there has been a death in the family. :(

Not my immediate family, but my family here in Bedford.

Rick was out riding a motorcycle in Roanoke on the Blue Ridge Parkway and (according to the news reports) apparently he hit a curb and went flying. That was the last thing he ever did.

he was hidden beneath the grass and trees, it took almost 48 hours to find him. He was found by a cousin who was looking for him. I was going to take my own motorbike out to the parkway (a place I also love to go riding) to look for him myself tomorrow.

His son happens to be here in the area. He was stationed in Kosovo and he was home on leave. Now he is being called back. Without a father.

Rick owed me. :( But I tell you true, I would definately let that go just to have him back. I will miss him. A lot of people will miss him.

He was a regular good man.

Looks like I will be going back to school in September.

I was recently accepted and approved for this class. You have to apply and then go through some kind of screening process because all expenses are paid for by the state of Virginia. This is pretty much a free class. You even have to sign a contract stating that you will actually show up and do the work. I don't really have a problem signing that, I just hope I am not too old to go back to school.

I look forward to learning more about advocacy. Maybe after I take this class, I will feel comfortable charging people for my advocacy services again, something I haven't done since the fibro diagnosis back in 1997.

As many of you have been reading, there has been a problem with the forums on my site. That problem, of course, being the idiot BOT spammers who leave messages about how to see (fill in name here) naked on the web.

Not the kind of stuff I want in my forums.

I thought I had fixed it once, but they came back. This time I think it is resolved permanently. The bots are blocked from writing messasges.

Please visit my forums here...

http://forums.thomasamckean.com

...and say HELLO. :)

I admit, somewhat shamefully, that I am following the current Paris Hilton situation with great interest.

Maybe because it is so unreal and so out there that you just can't make this stuff up.

10 to 1 this all gets made into a TV movie at some point...

Paris was in jail. She was supposed to be there for 23 days. Then she was "reassigned" (yeah, right) to house arrest, where she was to serve all 45 days of her original sentence. NOW, a day later, she is back in jail, serving not the 23 days but all 45 days.

It's about time we found a judge with some common sense.

The story goes that Paris was reassigned due to an "undisclosed medical condition." Conjecture so far, at least in public, is that she was going to "have a nervous breakdown."

Cry me a river.

Okay, so I will admit this much: There is indeed a possibility that Paris does have an "undisclosed medical condition" that makes jail somewhat intolerable, and cruel and unusual punishment.

However...

Being as this is Paris Hilton, and she can't even pee without the world knowing about it, I find this unlikely. It seems to me that such information about her would have been leaked out long ago.

Also, unless or until I personally am made aware of such a medical condition, she will get no sympathy from me.

Polls indicate most are very happy with her going back to jail. Does she truly deserve it? Maybe, maybe not. Did Michael Jackson really molest those boys? Maybe, maybe not. But Paris and Michael do have one very important thing in common.

They have both brought this upon themselves.

Paris and her partying ways have created a negative public opinion of her. Michael and his ...oddball... ways have created a negative public opinion of him. Both of them may be innocent for all I know. But they sure have not helped their cases by being the way they are.

If Paris has any hope of getting her act together, and of truly being the role model that she mistakenly already believes she is, it won't happen unless she knows how the rest of us live. 40 some days in jail is just what she needs to get it together.

Many people believe that when she is released, she will continue her low down ways. Personally, I hope she learns from this (as she already claims she has), and starts hanging out with the right kind of people. She needs to leave Lindsey and Britney and Nicole behind. They are bad for her.

Paris is filing an appeal and may well be back out on the street even before this blog is published. It wouldn't surprise me. But it also seems the judge is pretty hell bent on seeing justice done.

It will be interesting to see where it goes from here, and how long (or not?) it takes for the aforementioned TV movie to air on ABC or whatever.

Whatever happens, I just pray we have a new and improved paris Hilton sometime in the 45 days. I think a lot of people would be happy to see that. Especially those with young daughters.

You go, Paris. I am rooting for you. :)

I want to talk a bit about these e-mails that people insist on forwarding. Most of the time it is some warning or urban legend that is not even true, yet people somehow believe it is true and they want all their buddies to know about it.

Thankfully I don't have many people (currently) who are insisting on sending me these forwards. Those that do, I look it up on snopes.com and send the link back to them, hoping that they will be sufficiently embarrassed and refrain from further forwards.

Unfortunately, this does not always work.

Are there really people who believe that if you "forward this message to three people you will receive money within the next fifteen minutes"? Are there really people who believe that if you "forward this mesage to seven people, a little unicorn will dance across your screen"? Most of all, are there really people who believe that Bill Gates will send them money for each person they forward the message to? ACK!!!!

The thought that there may indeed be people who believe these things is very troubling to me.

Nine out of every ten messages sent on the net are spam. I don't need to know how to get another mortgage, because I don't own a home. I don't need to be the envy of all other other men when it comes to pleasing the ladies, because, contrary to popular macho belief, size does not always matter. And I most certainly have no intention of increasing my breast size, thank you very much. I also don't need to waste my time reading things that obviously are not true.

Other times it is not urban legends that are mailed but some kind of inspirational writing. While these may be very warming and touching to some, I have found that most of the time they are false. I consider myself to be a Godly man. Yet even so, I can still do without these bogus inspirational messages.

I don't know how all of this forwarding got started, but I do know it needs to stop. I also that ain't likely to happen. At least not in my lifetime.

Some people may have time to read all of the forwards they receive. Some people may believe everything they read and go looking for the unicorn on the screen or the check in the mailbox. As for me, I have better things to do.

I know computers well enough to know the kind of programming it would take to get a fairy to bow to you when you forward messages. There aren't many people who can pull that one off. It would just about have to come from the service provider rather than the sender, and any service provider who agrees to this is not going to be a service provider for long.

As for the checks mysteriously appearing in the mailbox just because you forward to a few people, yeah right.

So all of you reading this blog, be put on notice: Any mail I see that starts with...

FWD: FW: FW: FWD: FW: FWD: FWD: FW:

...will be deleted immediately without being read. If you want to write to me, I have no problem with that. I welcome your mail. But I would rather it be from you than from some anonymous idiot preying on the gullibility of strangers.

Say hello and let me know how you are doing if you want to. But take me off the FWD list.

She isn't dead, but apparently her cause is. Click here to see more.

I can't say I agreed with Cindy Sheehan on everything she said and did, but every now and again, she did have some good points that made sense and it was enough to make me think. I am guessing that is part of what she wanted.

Granted I have been leaning more toward conservatism lately (though as long as my mother is alive, I will remain a registered democrat), but I do have some problems with this war. I'd like to think, whether we are democrat or republican, whether we are right or left, that all of us see the pain and hurt it is causing our country, and that all of us would rather we not be there.

As I have watched Cindy (and reports of Cindy) on the news, I have often wondered what her son, Casey, would have thought of her actions. I never knew Casey, so I can't say. But I do know that he must have been a very special man for his mother to do all she did, to sacrifice all she did, to try and stop a senseless war. (And I say this because all war is senseless.)

It would seem, reading her post, that the democratic party she supported has turned on her, simply because she demanded accountability. I had a similar thing happen to me during my two terms on the national board of the Autism Society of America. I was also willing to be held accountable right along with them, and there were some actions I took on the board that I am sure I would have had to account for.

Still, one thing that Cindy and I do share is a strong belief in accountability. This makes me admire her.

Cindy, I don't agree with all you said and all you did, though I did agree with some of it. And even as angry as you are at America, you (and I) can still be proud of one thing. We can be proud that we live in a land, live in a place where we are allowed and permitted to let our views be heard, even when we know there are people in authority who disagree with those views. In many places in the world, you would have been put to death rather quickly. Here, in the good ol' US of A, you are not only still alive, but you were permitted to continue talking, to continue reaching out for what you personally believe in.

God bless you, Cindy Sheehan, and God bless the United States of America.

Boy did I think I was all that and a bag of chips! I had this idea to "pepper" wikipedia with a link to my site on a few of its articles.

But the wikipedia people got wise and deleted the links for violations of terms of service. :(

Ah well, it was a good idea while it lasted. I have to wonder how many millions of others have had the same idea? *Blink*

Meanwhile, it did inspire me to work on the media gallery. Take a look and see what's there.

If you register, you can leave comments about the media. :)

According to the stats, there are people online reading this and the different entries in the blogs are being viewed. But what with the recent spammer problems I have had lately, I don't know if there are actual people reading this, or just the spammers.

Soooo....leave a COMMENT, if you would? Look to the lower left of this entry for the "Leave a Comment" (or "X Comments") link. Let me know you are there. :)

It is nice to be read and appreciated. Especially when your blog is just so doggone boring. :)

I'll try to make it more exciting in coming days.

Somehow those SPAM idiots are getting past the anti-spam controls in the forums. So the forums are down again.

I wish I knew how they were doing it. I have to give them props for being so clever. If only they would use those talents for GOOD instead of EVIL. I don't really care about seeing Jessica Alba give a head, thank you very much.

I wish they'd leave me alone.

Forums are DOWN until further notice.

I decided to give this a high priority because I don't want spam all over my site. So I completely removed the forums, thus deleting all users (sorry if any of you were legit users, you will have to re register. Don't be angry at me, be angry at the spammers), and I reinstalled the forums with some additional security measures.

Note the security code is case sensitive.

If you would like to read (or sign up and write in) the forums, which are now spam free and pure, please go here to check them out.

http://www.thomasamckean.com/forums

Thanks. :)