NOTE TO THOSE BRAVE ENOUGH TO READ THIS: This might be one of my last posts. It seems that I've been deemed too offensive because of religious inferences, or the like. I have tried to keep any sexual references out of this one, to protect the children. Anyway, Steph has given me official warning, and this might be Howard's last post. The people have spoken. For those who want so badly to get rid of me let me tell you how it's done. It's similar to how they pulled my story from Endurance News years ago. Here, I'll even write the letter for you so all you have to do is copy and paste: Dear Steph: This Howard fellow needs to be permanently removed from ridecamp. Doesn't he realize we have juniors on here? His sexual inferences and posts about underwear, religion (including Jesus, Buddha & Mohammed) are inappropriate and quite offensive. Worst yet, he's even gone so far as to question the actions of some of our beloved ride veterinarians. He curses and talks openly about sex. I can't see how we can allow him to continue on in such a manner. When someone calls him to task on such behavior, he actually seems to thrive on such negativity and only becomes worse. I swear the man is quite insane and is a danger to all endurance riders. Please, Steph, please, do with him like you did to Carla and ban him permanently.
Sincerely, Middle of the road, non offensive, self righteous butthole
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OK, so where was I? I forget. This is the one with the Jesus inferences, right? And Mohammed not being able to walk on water, like Jesus, because of all the weight from those explosives strapped to Mohammad's chest? Yea, this is the place. And, if you don't like that kind of talk, please, leave the room immediately. This is not for you. The "holier than thou" room is down the hall, third door on the left! Your buddies, Mikey, Linda, and
Lori B., are all there waiting for you.
So, Jen and I are under the main street bridge, hooking up some live shrimp to our fishing poles, when this Bridge tender comes out of his shack and starts yelling at us. At first I ignored him, I mean, my boat is 23 foot, but it's not near tall enough where I need him to raise the bridge for me, and if he can't see this then he's definitely in the wrong job. I throw out my line and Jen tells me she has to go down below decks and hit the head (that's marine talk for going potty).
This idiot up on the bridge continues to yell down at me. I can't hear him very well, so I turn down the CD player with Leonard Skinnard blasting out the speakers. I hate being interrupted like this. The man is yelling out something about terrorists and I think he's telling me I must leave immediately. I yell back, "If there are any terrorists around I'm not leaving. I'm sick and tired of running away from these cowards. Where are they? I have a gun." Oh, man, was that the wrong thing to say. Then, my daughter, comes out from below decks, wearing that towel around her head, playing terrorist again, she looks up at the bridge tender and yells out, "Is there a problem here, Officer?"
The bridge tender, after looking at Jennifer, goes running, very quickly, back into his shack. I think he's calling the police or the Marine Patrol or somebody connected to the Home Guard. You should have seen his face when I told him I have a gun. What, exactly, is this guy's problem?
And, then it hit me. I remembered seeing on the local news a last week where they said you were no longer allowed to fish near any bridges along the waterway in a boat. I had forgotten about this completely. This was a new law, recently passed, because of the terrorist threats since 9/11. Oh, my, this guy thinks Jen and I are terrorists and are here to blow up the Main Street Bridge.
So, away we go. Zoom, zoom, 49 mph, along the waterway, no time for my terrorist daughter to attempt her water skiing now. I don't feel like being arrested today and I don't think the police will think my daughter, mimicking a terrorist with a towel around her head, is any way to allow a child to act in this day and age. I'm sure he can tell me what the appropriate behavior should be since 9/11. I have yet to figure that one out yet.
Folks, we are losing our freedom here. I can no longer fish under any bridge in my boat, ever, and I'm pretty sure this is nation wide, not just down here in Florida. First, we lose our freedom to fish, then we lose our freedom to go out on the trails because, who knows what kind of bomb you can hide in that saddle bag of yours. I know some of you might think I'm nuts, and you just might be right, but this is exactly what these asshole terrorists wanted to do. They wanted to take away our freedom, make us live in fear, and run our country into the ground. You don't think they're succeeding? Try fishing in a boat under a bridge sometime. Or, go to the airport and try to catch a flight an hour before takeoff. Or, take a good look at what is happening to the stock market. And, this is just the beginning; it's going to get worse.
I gave up my freedom, or some of it, for 20 years while I was in the Air Force. Since my retirement I cannot begin to tell ya'll how darn good it feels to be totally free again. These have been the best years of my life, up until 9/11 anyway. Now, I'm not so sure what is up, what is down, which way to walk, or how to behave. I just know I'm angry and sick of it all.
I believe that folks who are so stuck on their religion that they will go out and kill others who do not agree with them are part of the problem here. And, if your religion cannot tolerate others who don't believe the same as you, than maybe you're barking up the wrong religion. Even the ones who preach "peace," and "love" seem to be bent on doing nothing but "war" and "hate." Just the other day some Baptist Preacher in Jacksonville went on television and stated that Mohammed was a pedophile and Islam is not the religion for anyone to follow. If you don't think words like this will be the beginning of the end for all of us, then one of us isn't paying attention. Most of the other governments in the world do not practice the separation of powers between Church and State, like America does, and some of these countries have nuclear weapons.
How is it all going to end? Nobody knows. All I know is I don't plan on giving up any of my freedoms without a fight. I understand the need for security at airports and I understand that we are at war, even if the enemy is not a citizen of any one nation. My dilemma concerns the very idea of the word "freedom." For me, this is what our country is all about, and for us to give any of it up, because of the actions of those whose only mission in life is to take away the lives of others, then I want a better answer from those in charge than, "That's just the way it's going to be."
First it's the airports, next it's the bridges, and soon it will be our National and State Parks and Forests. It would not surprise me to someday see a sign at our borders, "America closed, come back when things are safe again." Pay attention, because subtle changes are happening here, and we need to be involved or we will lose our voice completely, if we haven't already. I'm not sure what the exact answers are, but I know I have lots of questions. I want those in charge to know that giving up freedom is too high of a price for us to pay and I will not do so without a fight.
cya (hopefully),
Howard
