Posted on September 4, 2014 by Billy Ray Chitwood


                                                                         From Where I Sit

Fingers poised over the laptop, looking out across the valley at the far bluff and horizon, how can there be any evil in the world? The silent serenity through that large window encompasses all and sweetly softens my senses. The leaves on the trees, regal and tall, stir not a whisper. The sun shines gloriously down on this natural delight of God’s good work. How dare the scenes of blood, fallen bodies, and war drums beating come as unbidden echoes in my mind…if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there, is there still sound? Dear God, I fear it must be so!

A cloud passes and temporarily blots out the precious sun as though validating those unbidden echoes. I force away the ugly thoughts of dying and evil, at least to the periphery of awareness and think what clever inventions of my mind can endure me to my readers.

To my rescue comes George the Bengal cat (his grandmother was an Asian leopard cat). George stoically stares up at me and meows timidly for his noon-time treat – three little chicken-flavored ‘Temptations’. He eats them quickly and wanders over and lies under one of the great room chairs, looking out that same big window that produces nature’s portrait…and I wonder: does he think? If he does think, what is it he thinks about? Those trees he would like to climb – except he has been deprived his front paw claws?

See how easy it is to get away from the troubles of the world? Sort of like playing nine rounds of golf with basketball buddies at Martha’s Vineyard…

Okay, it’s too important, I have to write something! It is all I’m left to do. I’ll start with this excerpt from a Fox News report…

British Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to confront radical Islam “at home and abroad” and the United Kingdom raised its terror level to “severe”  in the wake of new revelations about Islamic State’s butchery in Syria and Iraq.

Cameron, speaking from 10 Downing Street, said Britain’s problem with homegrown radical jihadists joining the bloody battle engulfing the Middle East and threatening attacks on the west must be addressed with tough action.

“This is not some foreign conflict thousands of miles away that we can hope to ignore,” the Conservative Party leader said. “The ambition to create an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq and Syria is a threat to our own security here in the UK. And that is in addition to the many other Al Qaeda-inspired terrorist groups that exist in that region. The first ISIL terrorist attacks on the continent of Europe have already taken place.”

“We cannot appease this ideology,” the Conservative Party leader said. “We have to confront it at home and abroad. To do this we need a tough, intelligent, patient, comprehensive approach to defeat the terrorist threat at its source.

Cameron’s words came one day after U.S. President Barack Obama said the U.S. is not contemplating imminent action against Islamic State in Syria.

“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. We don’t have a strategy yet,” Obama said Thursday.

No tirade here! It just seems to me we must have a strategy, patient, yes, but aggressive as well.Waiting until the deaths of innocent people mount up, until another extremist caliphate is added to the Islamic empire list, until the wicked warriors and weaponry drift into America, cannot be a sober option.

What is it that I am not getting? These terrorists are cutting off heads, killing infidels, Christians and Jews, vowing to dominate the world. They are criminally rich, recruiting followers all over the world to join them, claiming to ultimately raise their flag at our own US White House. Killing is their culture. It is what they do and have been doing for thousands of years. Why would the US wait until tens of thousands more die before setting goals and objectives? These terrorists want to kill us, and appeasement, rhetoric and diplomacy are not going to solve the problem. The goal is to win the war over terrorists. Losing is not an option!

George is thirteen, old in man-years like me, and he is now napping at my feet…yeah, I know, you’re telling me to take a nap! (And I will, sooner or later.) The sun is still shining and nature’s poetry is just outside my window. Why are the worries of the world out there, too?

I’m just a man who likes to write, a person who tries to keep up with his world… Perception is not always reality, but, from where I sit, that’s the way I see it.

By the way, my new book, A Common Evil, is out…hope you get a chance to read it and review it on amazon.

                                        BUY SITE:  http://authl.it/1r2 (Amazon Worldwide)

                                                               Billy Ray Chitwood

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Posted on August 28, 2014 by Billy Ray Chitwood


                                                                   Was Einstein Right?

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”

Okay, perhaps it is natural that an aging crustacean (as in ‘Crab’!) like me should be writing a post like this…you know how we are: grumpy, bitching and moaning about this and about that. But, know what? We have never been here in this place!

This place?

This place in the chronology of humankind! This place where cell phones are accessories to killing people on our streets…this place where a romantic dinner is interrupted by the musical chime-ring of the latest ‘carry along do-it-all’ world data gatherer and communication gadget that everyone just has to have – sort of like the past when we tried to keep up with the Jones or Smiths…this place where the intellectually informed folks who maybe ought to know what is happening in their country and world are not making the rounds so much…this place where the new games on these weirdly-wired gadgets show the blood and gore of our imaginary kills…

You know this place of which I speak, and, yes, technology has its upside – the dictionary is there in your pocket or your purse to check the big word someone used while trying to impart something boring and unimportant.  That little gadget can allow you to really blast someone you do not like, call her/him names, make threatening and obscene remarks, and you can even do it anonymously. What a sweet deal! You can be the bully without getting punched in the nose!

Oh, there are a few who are not so addicted to this great technology of ours that they have time to see armies clashing around the world…they have time to see the ineptness of our own government in forming goals and objectives for countering the new world of terrorists – or, should I be politically correct and say ‘radical Islamists’? Well, you know of whom I speak, those creepy crawling bugs that have been around for thousands of years spewing their hatred and genocidal actions, vowing to kill all infidels and to rule the world… Yes, those of you playing your monster games, these terrorists are infiltrating our countries, our cities, and the minds of their youth, finding it easier and easier to corrupt and dislodge great historical principles and wisdom, ‘shredding’ documents and laws by which generic man has lived in hope and security.

We have made a few blunders in our living… We have given too much to those who would wish us harm and death. We have misread the tea-leaves of history too often. We have made noble efforts to make our country and the world a better place. Despite our blunders, we are the bold and the good of everyman. Are we now to somehow prove to the world we were frauds in our ideals? Damned tootin! I’m talking about America, the greatest nation on earth. We all thought that was the case. Are we not still? All countries in the world look toward our shores, many relying on us not only for support, monetary and otherwise, in their times of crises.

We got to this place somehow, maybe through all the doubling and re-doubling of knowledge that brought us tremendous growth in technology – and those cursed chatty cell phones…wonderful inventions but easy substitutes for our real selves. Scientific knowledge and technology are good but it seems in so many ways we are making them bad. This place in which we find ourselves can be very scary and depressing. We need government leaders of grand vision and wisdom who can ignite that greatness that I felt and saw during the greatest generation, leaders who do the peoples’ business without posturing and wavering with the tools Science and Technology have provided. We do not have to stay in this place! We need to kill the ‘terrorist bugs’ that are attempting to fulfill their ‘virginal’ quests.   

We might find Einstein was partially right in his observation…but, idiots, we are not, even those using the cell phones, playing their games and forgetting how to socialize without cell phone messaging.

We are, after all, the United States of America. As our English brethren might intone in Winston Churchill’s fashion, “Let’s show these buggers what we have!”

By Billy Ray Chitwood 

A Common Evil - MY NEW BOOK!

Amazon Worldwide – http://authl.it/1r2

Yes, I’m bad! Plugging my new book – the sixth and likely the final book in the Bailey Crane Mystery Series. Each of the books in the series stand alone… Really, shouldn’t you read these books? They’re fun reads, and Bailey always gets the bad guys! All twelve of my books (mystery, suspense, romance, memoir, politics, government) are presented on http://billyraychitwood.weebly.com.

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Joe Public’s Political PerspectivePosted on January 8, 2014 by billyraychitwood1


2014 – A Critical Year – BUY THIS BOOK!

JUST PUBLISHED! Buy it at http://www.goo.gl/WPweKh Amazon US andhttp://www.goo.gl/CGp7bm Amazon UK

Simple message from a simple man! I want no government that chips away at my freedom and liberty, that denies me free access to my aspirations and dreams, that would dare make personal decisions for me, that deceives me with its rhetoric! It is, indeed, a critical 2014 that ‘We The People’ must face. My plea, my prayer, is that we do not let our democracy slip away.

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Joe Public’s Political PerspectivePosted on January 3, 2014 by billyraychitwood1

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

In a matter of weeks my eleventh book, Joe Public’s Political Perspective, will be for sale on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. Joe Public’s Political Perspective is non-fiction and provides me the space to lament over our current government’s ineptitude – as I see it!

The book, of course, will have a conservative flavor to it, a taste that will not set too well on the palates of some. So, why did I write a ‘rant and rave’ 32,000 word piece of political perceptions? There are several reasons… It is a right granted to me by my country’s sacred document, The Constitution of the United States - my freedom of speech. It is, I suppose, an attempt on my part as a citizen of the United States to voice opinions on the direction I see our country going. I write it as well for my children, my grandchildren, and those who follow. I want them to know how I felt at this time in our country’s history. Will Joe Public’s Political Perspective be read and have any meaning for anyone other than my family and friends? Obviously, I hope so, and I do know that Politics awakens sleeping giants, people who will hate me, maybe even love me. Since so little civility has been shown by certain members of our power elite in government, I decided, to leave a good part of mine off the table as well.

The thing is, I happen to love this great country of ours and felt it a duty to voice my concerns. Other than modestly and subtly I’ve never ventured so far as does Joe Public’s Political Perspective. Now, I brave the elements and venture into the forest of political minds, ready to have my simple words of common sense possibly jeered or praised by the political analysts and pundits that crowd our television channels…should my words reach such lofty heights. I’m at an age where it shouldn’t matter so much what anyone thinks of me or my writing, but it does. It matters that we don’t seem to learn from History, one of our greatest learning tools. It matters that we citizens are being deceived and our hard-earned monies spent in risky explorations.

Joe Public’s Political Perspective is a book that covers some current issues that are important to us all, not in a broad and complex way, rather in simple concise language that I believe speaks for the majority of people in the United States – and perhaps beyond. The book will cover the current health care law, the economy, education, the war on terrorism, religions and religious fanatics, secular progressives, the president, the congress, among other things.

It is my hope that you buy the book, read it, agree, disagree, hate me or love me. 

Joe Public’s Political Perspective will also have expanded distribution to: Bookstores and Online Retailers – CreateSpace Direct – Libraries and Academic Institutions as well as standard distribution to Amazon.com – Amazon Europe – CreateSpace eStore

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Happy Birthday, Jesus!Posted on December 20, 2013 by billyraychitwood1


                                         HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS

Though it seems likely you were born in April, the date of December 25 has become the date much of the world has designated as the day we celebrate your birth. Here in the United States, most of our citizens enjoy your birthday as a paid holiday. On your birthday, many of us celebrate by gift sharing with our family and friends, participating in a special tradition of giving for which you are so very well known.

We do not know of every word you spoke and every deed that was rendered. Much of your living our historical experts cannot account, but from what has been recorded we know that you were unlike any other person on our earth at that time, that you spoke to the masses in parables for living an honorable and charitable life, that you spoke of God, your Father, and His Kingdom. We know that you were reviled and hated by the Roman rulers and were considered an enemy to their pagan icons and political agenda. At the end we know how you suffered from the stones and thorns of hate, how you carried the heavy cross to Golgotha, there to be fixed by nails to that cross and die a slow and painful death.

Some among us doubt your message of faith and the Kingdom of God, your Father. Some doubt that you died there on Calvary’s cross for the sins of humankind. Some even mock your words and arrogantly pronounce all your goodness as mere mythology. But they are few, dear Jesus, and there are a great majority of us who have read of your short time among us, believe in your message, who are not without sin but strive to grow our faith and believe in the miracle of creation – that incredible and meticulous nine months of a child’s birth, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the great order of the universe.

Our world today has changed not so much from the world you entered, dear Jesus. We still have those political and iconic problems throughout all parts of our planet. We have our ‘machines’ now that make our lives so easily disposed to sloth and idleness. We have our poor, our wealthy, and our in-be-tweens. We have created a bureaucratic welfare system that keeps so many of our people dependent on a government’s treasury, that makes it more sensible to stay at home and receive other people’s money than to work for it themselves. Yet, we do have those who truly need the goodness and help that comes from the heart, those teachings you passed along to us.

We still have famine and wars, so many prophesied in the Bible. We seem to be coming to some end-point, Jesus. We have terrorists who wish to kill us because they believe it part of their religious mandates. It appears we do not learn from the lessons of history. The world seems to be imploding while the good minds among us seek a paradigm for peace and prosperity.

So, in celebrating your birth, dear Jesus, I wish this long birthday card was a testimonial to how far we have come in loving our neighbor and honoring all of your Father’s ‘Ten Commandments’. Our knowledge is exploding. There are lots of new machines and toys for living, maybe even some tiny robots that go roaming around in our bodies to extend our lives, but, for good will and love, I fear we have not come so far since that awful day you were nailed on the cross near Jerusalem.

For me, Jesus, I’m trying to grow my faith, endeavoring to be better than I am, wanting that eternal life in that great Kingdom by your Father’s House.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Billy Ray Chitwood – Christmas, 2013

 

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The World Is Stretching And Yawning - Posted on June 14, 2013 by billyraychitwood1


The picture is a younger me! Okay, it’s a much younger me! During the days when this picture was taken, the world for me was a rare giant oyster with many lovely pearls. Oh, sure, there were some moments of regrets and despair but, generally, life was piano bars, pretty women, and usually too much of the amber fluid. Drugs were around my life but never really in my life. It was a busy time for making fun the order of every day, impressing the girls with my wisdom and wit, and, of course, my ‘etchings.’

For the most part my friends were attorneys, textbook salesmen, and mostly anyone who answered one question correctly. That question: “Are you a turtle?” If the answer was not, “You bet your sweet ass I am!” it would take a little more time but, really, anyone could be my friend. The turtle question? Just something silly my generation thought up to keep everyone amused – as you can see, it didn’t take a whole lot to amuse us! Sort of like some of the weird words and phrases of today… There was, however, a most definite difference ‘then’ as opposed to ‘now.’

‘Then,’ there was not the subterranean build-up of world issues. There was not the economic and job worries of today. And, certainly, there was not Terrorism – oh, there was some mayhem and murder, that kind of terror, but not the kind that gets into your subconscious mind and bubbles up too consistently in the current ‘now.’ I’m not writing about ‘the good old days’ – yet, there were good days mixed with the ‘down’ days when I allowed myself to think about the mistakes I was making or the sadness that was of my own making. In the ‘then’ days there were bad governments and there were good governments, depending, of course, on political leanings. Perhaps what I remember most about the ‘then’ days was the feeling of Freedom, that sense that, even with my periodic goofs, our world was reasonably within some tolerance level of diplomatic solution.

‘Now,’ it is more a feeling, a sense, that the world is ‘stretching’ and ‘yawning’ in some peculiar and scary ways. Some say we are seeing ‘Revelations’ come to pass (for those who might not know, ‘Revelations’ is a book in the New Testament of the Bible). Some say we are on the downward slope of our Democracy, that when Freedom and Liberty are eroded by too much government control and entitlements, we are heading down the proverbial slippery slope. Some say we are just going through a generational phase where the digital world is making our lives more accessible and bringing the world together too fast. There are new ‘words’ in the ‘now’ lexicon. There are new faces appearing in the crowds, their lips speaking in different tongues and their gestures not always friendly.

I guess we have always had our calamitous moments, mass murders, our children kidnapped and killed. It just seems tougher today to know who to believe, who to trust, when and where to visit, what to do and how to act when we get there.

Of course, when I think about it, I’m in ‘Twilight,’ and perhaps my senses are losing (or,  have lost) some of their acuity. Maybe those ‘then’ days are happening for someone else as I write these words. Maybe the ‘now’ is not so bad after all. Yeah, sure, and maybe 9/11 did not happen at all!

The world is stretching and yawning! A lot is happening, perhaps too much for the old brain to process, too many social networks to monitor, too many machines. If not stretching and yawning, is the world getting too tightly bound? It just seems to me we’ve lost some stability, lost some of the old standards that were so important to us once upon a time, lost some of the texture that made our part of the world so great. We write about our world and what is happening in it, but who can truly say where we stand on the timeline of history? Who has the compendium that can accurately foretell our future. Is it our government? Is it the Bible? Is it God?

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This old guy - that would be, me - is feeling some familiar aching but also some semblance of hope and well-being. That big old Sea out my window has a lot to do with that last part. All in all, life has treated me fairly and squarely and I'm a pretty lucky fella.

We can all be devastated at times, when those ugly events hit us, like a simple marathon turning into a terrorist plot, panic and pain, like a tradition turning into another date to remember a tragedy caused by people who find it easy to hate and to kill. A tragedy can chip away at our hearts and our hopes, and it's terribly difficult to write about. All life is precious to most of us, and we can't quite process the minds that come up with the acts of terror. Like so many of you, I'll grieve for the eight-year old boy who died. I'll grieve for the boy's sister who lost her legs. I'll grieve for the mother of the two who suffered brain trauma. I'll grieve for all those maimed and seriously damaged by this act of terror. I'll think of it as another surreal event to add to our sad days of remembrance. I'll spend some time wondering why it had to happen. I'll do what most of us will do, care and grieve. I'll be reminded as I so often am of an 'Anon' saying: "Life is really simple... People insist on making it complicated." Now, I guess I could throw out some Mark Twain gems as well - he surely knew how to simply define some of our worst moments and some of our critters (politicians and otherwise!).

Guess I'm going to the Sea outside my window and that wide pale blue sky. It gives me some peace and deliverance. It makes me think about a lot of things, like, maybe, all this good and evil is going to be with us through life. It makes me think that just maybe there's something good coming down the road on a day we least expect it, maybe something really good that some of us can't really wrap our minds around too well, maybe something that will make all the hurt and the pain go away. Guess that's what this big old Sea is trying to tell me. At least, it seems the only place I can go to lessen by a few degrees this latest human evil.

Wish there was some way to share some of this beauty and perhaps diminish some of those bad feelings you're having now. But, then, maybe you, too, have a Sea, an Ocean, a mountain, a meadow, or a desert that can give you some peace.

For me, it's this big blue-green Sea, this wide pale blue sky, the constant Sun, and this abiding faith that all we do, all we witness, good and bad, will make some sense at some incredible moment in the total arc of our time on this planet.

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