Brian T Shirley

Brian T Shirley
Jokers Wild, Atlantis Resort

Monday, December 30, 2013

Giving is Better Than Receiving. Really!

                                    
I wrote this for The Weekly Telegram a week or so before Christmas, but I still think it's timely!

                                  Giving is Better Than Receiving. Really!
 
 
 
I've always been interested and sometimes aggravated by "Words of Wisdom" or "Wise Sayings" since I was a young boy. Sometimes I did not understand them and a lot of the time I made fun of them. I have plenty of proof to the latter claim of poking fun at proverbs. That proof comes in the form of my first two comedy books "Make Love Not Warts" and "Four Score and Seven Beers Ago...". These books have about 400 proverbs and silly sayings I've come up with over the years.
 
 Life has a way of teaching you things whether you want to learn them or not. People try to teach each other in many ways, such as proverbs, but sometimes those sayings are not understood until a life experience shows us the way. Many of the sayings I have made fun of I now understand all to well. Now I look at these words of wisdom a lot differently. I can still make fun of them, maybe even more than before because the life lesson or lessons that reinforce the meaning. Wisdom does not come easy or cheap if it does come at all.
 
I don't know when I first really understood the real meaning of the phrase "It's Better to Give Than Receive.". I think it was when I realized that by making people laugh I was giving out the God given gift I had received. I really do enjoy seeing or hearing someone laugh at something I wrote or said. There's no way for me to describe the feeling. I thinks it's the same as when someone cooks a meal and watches people eat the food. Or when someone builds something with their hands and presents it to a friend or family member as a gift.
 
 I really enjoy this time of year when I have the money to get people presents. When I'm struggling financially, this can be the worst season. This year I'll give what I can and be thankful for that. I don't have children myself, but I do have nephews and that's the best. I love seeing their faces when they open what I've brought them. These are the times it really is better to give than receive and when the meaning of the words take root and grow!!
 
There are all kinds of ways and presents one can give if you really look hard enough. If you are struggling like a lot of us are, there's still things you can give. Your time, your attention and kind words. I also believe this can be done year round. Every year I hear folks say "I wish it could be like this all year." First we should enjoy the time people are kind to one another and then worry about stretching it beyond the Holidays. Let's be in the Holiday mood more than we have ever been and keep stretching out the time until we go back to letting life control our outlook. Then, maybe one day, we'll stretch that time we are full of joy to all year long. Truth Be Told, the Holiday Spirit is always inside us, we just forget to keep bringing it out!
 

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Tis the Season to be Politically Incorrect

Happy Holidays and have a very Merry Christmas!!


                                      Tis the Season to be...Politically Incorrect!!!
 
Here's wishing everyone of any or no religion a Happy Holiday Season!! Merry CHRISTmas!!
 
I hope I did not offend anyone by writing Merry Christmas, but if I did, OH WELL!! Here's what really burns me up about the whole "Political Correctness" thing, especially during the Holidays. This "movement", which is more of a B.M. (That's a different kind of movement) ,is supposed to be about tolerance and peoples feelings. That's fine, but PC (PC= Political Correctness), is only tolerant  to certain religions and certain groups of people. This charade, PC that is, should be put by the waste side. It has no place in a Free society. It is the bastion of Socialistic Ideals and hypocritical "Do as I say and not as I do" elitist propaganda. How can anyone in their correct mind say that Nativity Scenes at a Public School is offensive, but Muslims who block traffic by praying in the streets is perfectly fine?
 
PC is not open minded by the way. This mindset is not tolerant!. I've written this before and I'll write it again. If you are only tolerant of people who you agree with or whom you share a similar ideology you are not tolerant!!!! This is why PC is a LIE! I have a radio show called The BTS Radio Show where I play music, comedy clips and interview entertainment professional from across the spectrum. (No, this is not a plug). I have folks on from all across the political spectrum, some of who I don't agree with, but I don't  or I try not to, discuss politics on the show. Sometimes something political is talked about, but it's impossible not to. Even though I have people on that I don't agree with politically, I do not treat these people any different than anyone else and they get as much air time as everyone else. That's practicing TOLERANCE!!! PC does not do this. PC seeks to SILENCE the people that it deems incorrect politically. This is dangerous.
 
 I sent some online Christmas cards out recently. Most people said "Thanks", some people sent one back and I got a different response from one person. This person wrote that they did not celebrate Christmas, but thanks for the warm wishes. There's a person that I can respect. We need more folks like that on Earth, it would be a better, more tolerant planet. People who complain that a elementary school play during the Holiday Season can not mention "Jesus" are the scum at the bottom of a radioactive waste barrel! In other words, when the Earth takes a crap, here's what's produced. This is where my tolerance ends, I have no tolerance for people who are intolerant themselves. We should ignore these idiots and hope their family fails. You can hide behind the "Separation of Church & State"  phase all you want. These are children we're talking about, let's quit taking away their childhood and let them pretend. Let them sing "Jesus Loves Me", let them pray and let them play, before they grow up to face this PC BS.
 
 I know, I don't sound like a good "Turn the other cheek" type of Christian. I've never said I was perfect and this is the truth I feel. This is the truth I write, I don't hold back. I see the hypocrisy and it makes me ill. This year I'm not staying silent. If I read any reports about these idiots trying to ruin Christmas, I will do my best to reach out to them and let them know exactly how I feel in very plain words. Truth Be Told, people who are offended during this season of Peace, Love & Joy will never know any of those things themselves.
 

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Diversity isn't all that diverse!

Can people be forced to accept behavior or cultural differences they strongly disapprove of? Should we force changes on a majority of the society according to the ideology of a few? How can folks who only see things from their perspective consider themselves qualified to talk about diversity?


                                               Diversity Isn't All That Diverse!
 
 
I'm really struck by how hypocritical some people and some ideologies are. The biggest example are the people who profess to be " Open Mined" or "Accepting" while they look down their noses at people who they deem to be close minded. How can they not see the obvious double standard? I've wrote it before and I'll write it again, being open mined to people who agree with you does not make you open minded!  If you think you're better that ANYONE else then there's no way you can consider yourself "Open-minded", you're a Narcissist!
 
 Then came DIVERSITY! Here's a big buzz word, diversity, we must be diverse. Wow, I've seen the hypocrisy this mindset brings first hand. When we try as a society to engineer racial diversity and cohesiveness we will always fail, it must happen naturally. Case in point is a Christmas show I had the pleasure of being the entertainment for over the weekend. I had to DJ this event for 5 hours. I was told by the booker to play Christmas music for the first hour and then mix it up from then on. First off, I met with my contacts, who turned out to be a lady who was not listed on my paperwork. The person I that was listed was not there and my other point of reference was a man who turned out to be the guy who ran the Corporation I was entertaining for that night. I was told by the woman to play " a diverse mix of music" since the employees were from different backgrounds, races, sexes, ages, etc. I understood and did my best.
 
 I was playing Christmas music when I was approached by another gentleman I had not talked with and he requested some "Collective Soul", to lighten up the mood. I could not find the sing he wanted, but some "Journey" made him happy. I also noticed that the employees were seated at big round tables, banquet style and they had segregated themselves. It's funny how some people in society try to push people of different races together, but when people are allowed true freedom, they sit with folks of the same color, for the most part. I think there were one or two tables with a mixture of people, but mainly people were seated, on their own, by race. I've done comedy shows in this environment and they are the toughest one's to pull off. You can't be edgy, you'll offend the older folks. You can't be to cerebral, some folks will get bored. You can't be too Blue Collar, the higher ups will be tight and so will their underlings. You don't know these people, so you don't really know who you can mess with or if you should even do crowd work. Translate this along musical lines and you can imagine what I was dealing with.
 
On with the show, that's what one must do. I did the best I could. The lady who I had spoke with and asked me to play music that was "Diverse" kept coming up and requesting music that only her and the table she sat at would dance to, mostly Rap. I tried to accommodate the best I could, but my selection of songs did not include some of the stuff they were asking for. She even went as far to roll her eyes at me when I told her one of the songs that her colleague at another table had requested. So much for being "diverse"! By the end of the night, a handful of people had loosened up enough to get up and dance. I saw my contact person leaving and went to say goodbye. I told her I was sorry that more people did not dance but I had done the best I could. She just pointed at the folks who were dancing and said "What ever, just cater to them".  I was not sure how to take that, but I've been in the situation before.
 
In summation I can only say that when you try to please everyone who has such "Diverse" tastes at the same time, you're bound to fail with a certain percentage. That's if you don't fail completely, complete success is hardly ever reached. This is why Political Correctness, people who think their "Open Minded" and cars with "Coexist" bumper stickers are all lies. These people believe that they are the arbiters of fairness, when in fact they leave people whom they disagree with out of the equation. I like different types of music, but like anyone else I have my favorites. No one forced me to listen to these different genres, but I had folks suggest bands or songs and that's how I grew  to have the eclectic taste of music I do today. At the same token, you can't force different cultures of people and tell them they must accept them, it takes time. This is my main point here! Truth be told, diversity is not a seven course meal, it's a buffet! 
 

Monday, December 2, 2013

Voter Fraud?What Voter Fraud?

 Do we really need to lower our standards, especially when it comes to selecting our government officials? I believe people are trying to lower the standards on all types of things and anyone who opposes this is called a racist. Sooner or later they will be exposed as the frauds they really are. They are the true racists.


                                            Voter Fraud? What voter Fraud?

 On a recent segment of "Pros & Cons" I was challenged by Will and Johnny Hotshot to prove that voter fraud, in particular with the group "ACORN" does in fact exist and is rampant. I did some research and found there was truth on all sides, but also a lot of lies or just plain ignorance. (NOTE: This is NOT a column about VOTER RIGHTS, I'm not making points about that right now.)
 
While voter fraud does not run rampant and is not a threat to our form of government, it does exist. However, we still need to make sure we protect the integrity of this essential right and the practices of ACORN surely make a glaring example of why. With just a few keystrokes in my search engine I found a mountain of stories on this subject with ACORN. I don't usually do this, but there's people who say " I never heard anything about that" while their heads are stuck underground. Here's an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal column on the subject and you'll notice that even DEMOCRATS were getting sick of dealing with this group.
 
On Monday, Nevada officials charged Acorn, its regional director and its Las Vegas field director with submitting thousands of fraudulent voter registration forms last year. Larry Lomax, the registrar of voters in Las Vegas, says he believes 48% of Acorn's forms "are clearly fraudulent." On Thursday, prosecutors in Pittsburgh, Pa., also charged seven Acorn employees with filing hundreds of fraudulent voter registrations before last year's general election.
Acorn spokesman Scott Levenson calls the Nevada criminal complaint "political grandstanding" and says that any problems were the actions of an unnamed "bad employee." But Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada's Democratic Attorney General, told the Las Vegas Sun that Acorn itself is named in the criminal complaint. She says that Acorn's training manuals "clearly detail, condone and . . . require illegal acts," such as requiring its workers to meet strict voter-registration targets to keep their jobs.
Other Democrats on the ground have complaints. Fred Voight, deputy election commissioner in Philadelphia, protested after Acorn (according to the registrar of voters and his own investigation) submitted at least 1,500 fraudulent registrations last fall. "This has been going on for a number of years," he told CNN in October. St. Louis Democrat Matthew Potter, the city's deputy elections director, had similar complaints.
Elsewhere, Washington state prosecutors fined Acorn $25,000 after several employees were convicted of voter registration fraud in 2007. The group signed a consent decree with King County (Seattle), requiring it to beef up its oversight or face criminal prosecution. In the 2008 election, Acorn's practices led to investigations, some ongoing, in 14 other states.
 
While this may not seem like a bombshell or people on the Left will say, "Yeah, but that was the employees trying to keep their jobs", that's exactly what's wrong with the country today. To many people want us to lower our standards. If you're going to defend this because it fits your agenda, then your agenda is CRAP! I'm sure there's idiots on the right in some areas who feel they have to stack the deck to win and I'm just as ashamed of them to be my fellow countrymen as well. I brought up ACORN, was challenged about it, did my research and made my point. If you want me to bring up a Republican example, you obviously can't read past the title of this column and are to stuck in your political hack ness to get the point. It's the same thing over and over. When we people get over this "If my side is wrong it's OK, if the other side is wrong, they're EVIL"  B.S!!! 
 
No, voter fraud is not widespread, thank God. As you can see, and I challenge you to search for yourself, we need to educate ourselves and each other. The Republicans did grandstand on this issue, but Obama also downplayed his involvement with ACORN. In the end, what Obama or the Reps. did, is not the point. The point is that there was a story to begin with, that's called having high standards. There's folks in this country that want us to lower our standards instead of insisting people raise themselves up to be the best they can be. There's where your real EVIL is, the people who excuse the activities we see with groups like ACORN.
 
Truth Be Told, fraud looks the same no matter what side of the fence you're on!!