Home is where the heart is

There is a saying that goes, "home is where the heart is", and there's a song that goes like this, "once you leave you can never go back". It's not that I think you can't go back, you just can't go back and change the things that happened in the past. You ask forgiveness and go on. We as humans have a tendency to hold on to things much to long and it eats at us and usually destroys what bit of hope we have. Things happen that we will never in a million years understand. We never really stop to think maybe it's not for us to understand, stop sulking and move on. Home is where the heart is.

I lived in Texas most of my life, 42 years to be exact. I left there 8 years ago. and I will always be a Texan, it's the state of my birth no matter were I live or choose to live. I have only one reason to go back to Texas and that is my son. But I really don't know if I could ever live in Texas again. Things there are different now, and the freaken' cost of living is out of control. I don't see how the the older folks and disabled live off what they do. I know people will say that's every where, duh, I know that its everywhere. I ain't gonna make excuses, my home is no longer there, my heart is not there. It is like when Jesus was born and they sought to destroy him, GOD sent an angel to tell Mary and Joseph to leave until it was safe. GOD did not tell me to leave, (maybe He did and I'm just not realizing it), but change is what I need, for my mental and physical health. Home is where my heart is.

You can't please everyone, so you have to please yourself. Mostly you have to do what is best for you. Home is where your heart is.

THANKS jesseb's

Shalom and Peace to Israel

Hey Texans get real.

As I set down this morning to blog, I think back to a few of the blogs that I have written about Texas and a way of life. This morning I can say no different, being a Texan isn't bad at all. Yes there is a lot to see in the great state of Texas, which I have mentioned before, like Six Flags over Texas, the Dallas cowboys, San Antonio spurs, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame, that's just a few of them. But I never did say Texas was a perfect state, in all fifty one of them none is perfect. And even though I say that, it makes me no less proud of being a Texas. (Lol) You can ask my wife, that every time I see a Texan whether it be here in Oklahoma or Texas, and they do something stupid, I always say dumb ass Texans. lol

You see being a Texan doesn't make us any better than anyone else. Even though things are bigger in Texas (yep) if I may say so. We have put out a lot of professional athletes, country singers, great soft drink's (Big Red and Dr Pepper), etc. We gave the United States a President, and even though everyone says he wasn't born a Texan, he was our Governor of Texas and President twice elected. I have to say this, he was a great President until he lost his focus. And yes, I am still a proud Texan, to this day. You see it's like the Marine's motto, once a marine always a marine, well it holds true in Texas also, once a Texan always a Texan.

But living in Texas has it's bad days also or should I say black clouds and no this is not a racial statement. I am referring to the crime factor, which is horrific. There are things in Texas which we are not proud of just like I said earlier in this blog. We have just as much crime and criminals as any other state.

How about the young lady, Karla Faye Tucker, born in Nov. 1959. She had one hell of a childhood, started smoking at 8, by 12 she was into sex and drugs, 14 dropped out of schools to follow her groupie mother following bands and getting into prostitution. She married a mechanic at 16, divorced, and then started hanging with a motor cycle gang which sealed her future. (does a bad childhood give excuse?) Not in this author's humble opinion. However, she then met a man named Danny Garrett and also a woman named Shawn Dean and her husband, Jerry. While Danny Garrett killed Jerry Dean by hitting him repeatedly in the head with a hammer, Karla Faye tucker discovered Dean's girlfriend hiding under bed covers and began striking her with a pick axe and killing her, the fatal blow being the pick-axe embedded into her heart. Even though she found Jesus as her Lord and Saviour, she was executed on Feb. 3, 1998 at the age of 38.

Then we have a serial killer, who was not born in Texas, but died in Texas all the same. A drifter named Henry Lee Lucas, known as an American killer who confessed to over 600 murders. If he was involved with 600 murders from the 1960's to the mid 1983 that is calculated to be 1 murder per week. According to law enforcement his crime or killing spree began back in the 1960's. He killed his mother on January 11, 1960, during the course of an on going argument regarding whether or not he should return home to his mother's house to care for her as she grew older. He claims she struck him over the head with a broom, at which point he struck her on the neck and she fell. Lucas then fled the scene, there were arrest warrants also in Michigan and Ohio for him. He was also known for the infamous murder known as (orange socks) in Williamson county Texas. Ultimately, Lucas was convicted of 11 homicides. He was sentenced to death for the murder of an unidentified woman dubbed "Orange Socks", that being the only clothing found on her. Her body was discovered in Williamson county Texas on halloween, 1979. Lucas' confession was recorded on audio tape and videotape and, when presented at court, had been subject to significant editing, leading critics to speculate that the removed sections showed authorities coaching Lucas on details of the crime. Dan Morales, Mattox's successor as Texas Attorney General, concluded that it was "highly unlikely" that Lucas was guilty in the "Orange Socks" case. Though initially skeptical of the Lucas report, he came generally to support its findings. Lucas death sentence was commuted to life in prison, where he died on March 13, 2001 of heart failure. You see, Texas has it's great things but a horrific side to it also.

This city, (Jasper, TX), became infamous throughout the United States in 1998 after an African-American man named James Byrd Jr. was dragged to death by John William King and two other white men from the surrounding area. A made for tv movie was quickly produced called Jasper Texas, regarding the above murder starring Jon Voight, Louis Gossett Jr., and John Chealder.
Jasper was also one of the primary locations for the recovery of the Space Shuttle Columbia wreckage.

Then one more, a gruesome killing and problems with racism in Paris, Texas have been profiled by major newspapers across the United States. Racial tensions made national headlines after Brandon McClelland, a black man, was "gruesomely" run over and killed by two white men in 2008. According to the New York Times, "ugly feelings between races have plagued this small town for generations, going back to the days 100 years ago when it was the scene of brutal public lynchings." In a February 1, 2009 article, the Chicago Tribune called Paris a "deeply polarized east Texas town" after an attempt at reconciliation between whites and African Americans--attended by special moderators the U.S. Department of Justice-- ended with some participants screaming at each other." On February 24, 2009, the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune profiled an incident at the Turner Industries plant in Paris, where "black workers say nooses, Confederate flags and racist graffiti have been appearing throughout the workplace for months." Although actually, workers allege that racist symbols and discrimination have prevailed at the plant for nearly two years.

To me the saddest of all are the mothers that killed their children. Darlie Routier killed her son, then Susan Smith pushed a car into John D. Long lake with her kids still in their car seats, then there's Andrea Yates, a former Houston Texas resident, known for killing her five young children on June 20, 2001, by drowning them in the bathtub in her house. She had been suffering for years with severe postpartum depression and phsychosis. Her case placed the, M'Naghten Rules, a legal test for insanity, under close public scrutiny in the United States. Yates 2002 conviction of capital murder and sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years was later overturned on appeal on July 26, 2006. A Texas jury ruled Yates to be not guilty by reason of insanity. What less crime did these mothers do than Karla Tucker and/or Henry Lee Lucas, isn't murder of defenseless children worth more than 40 years in prison?

Then I read about a small county jail, a former sheriff and several ex-jailers were among 17 people named Friday in a 106-count indictment on charges ranging from having sex with inmates to bringing them drugs at a now-closed county jail. Several female jailers were charged with having sex with inmates and bringing them drugs, cell phones and cigarettes, while several male jailers were charged with drug possession and with bringing inmates banned items, according to the indictment. Keating, 62, has plead guilty to a federal civil rights violation in an unrelated case involving the sexual assault of a woman. He is to be sentenced to up to 10 years in federal prison in May. Keating told a woman she would be jailed on drug charges unless she had sex with him. I guess that's the reason I do not trust too many Law enforcement agencies. Good grief, having an affair with an inmate which is not allowed, is bad enough, but forcing them, and rewarding them with drugs, Damn. These are the "defenders" of the law, the ones empowered to uphold and follow the law????

You see us Texans are proud people just as Califorians, Floridians, Ohioians and such. Even though we have so much to offer in fun and recreation, we do have a down side also. It pisses me off so bad, to want to be proud, but have to hang my head, because of stupid people. As the Jackson 5 once sang, 1 bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch and that's true, but to me that's beside the point when it happens over and over again in the same state. Maybe one bad apple does spoil the whole bunch.

Texas so big, so much to see, but sometimes so much to fear. Yes I am still a proud Texan, even though I no longer live there. I in no way condone their actions, and no I am not an angel or saint, either one. I guess you would say I'm not a little pissed off at Texas, but a whole lot of pissed off at some Texans. Maybe what I'm trying to say is not just Texas but anywhere, don't let what some people have done discourage you, you can still be proud of your heritage, your state, like I am, for the good that has come from it. There is "bad" everywhere but there is also "good" to be found.

Well I hope I made some sense of this blog, and until next time same person.
jesseb's anything goes.

Shalom and Peace ot Israel

I'm a pepper, be a pepper, drink Dr Pepper

This is my first blog ,so i hope you all will be patient with me. I' m not a pro, and this is my first speaking to the world. i chose this topic because i read an article online in the business section, about Dr Pepper had lost its fizz. Well as a kid growing in Texas, soda wasn't a hot commodity in our house, heck if it wasn't a Lone Star or Falstaff beer, it was water if you were thirsty. Not that there was any alchoholics in our house. It wasn't until my late teens that i can ever remember knowing what soda water was as hard as that my seem, lol and no I had no sheltered life far from it. In the world there are hundreds even thousands of soft drinks on store shelves, in convenient store vaults, its not hard to see how anything could lose it's fizz. It's not hard to figure out who the leaders and followers are. Dr pepper hasn't lost it fizz, just it's leadership.

In 1885 Dr Pepper was founded in Waco Texas, by a pharmacist named Charles Alderton. working in a small store. I've heard Dr Pepper (dp) referred to as prune juice, how funny, its made of fruit but their not telling whats in it. According to the history of the taste, it is made up of 23 different fruit flavors: not even an ounce of prunes in it! By 1891 there was such a high demand for the syrup, they couldn't keep a supply of it.( pst pst) - by the way dp came to fruition because a pharmacist liked the way the store smelled, (presumably the mixture of fruit smells). One can sit back and wonder, if this fella had any idea how big the name or brand of Dr pepper would still be some 124 years later. Dp or Dr pepper has a unique taste, one of a kind, can't mistake it in a blind taste test, totally a taste of it own.

So how many of you out there have never drank a Dr pepper? Ahh, don't be afraid to raise your hand no one's looking. Well dp isn't the only soda out there just one of the best (author's opinion). Lets see now there is Coca cola, Pepsi, and then there's off brand and store brand cola's. Yeah I can see how Dp pepper could have lost some fizz, but never the flavor.

W hen it comes down to the business side of selling a product such as Dr pepper, it can be a little sticky, it take resources , money, smart people in place, advertising. HECK, look at coca cola and pepsi, coke was invented in 1886 shortly after Dr pepper. Pepsi was invented in 1875, but didn't begin to sell till 1898. Coke and pepsi have always had the upper edge in the soft drink business, created by 3 different pharmacists, in 3 different states in the U.S.A . I can see why when i look back at all the commericals back in the 40's and 50's. The jitterbug days they seem to be able to dance forever, were they high or not? lol.





Sure they can say you've lost you fizz, when your not even classified as a cola. Dr Pepper is called the uncola, right along with 7-up, sprite, mist, and countless others. In a race with the big dogs such as coke and pepsi: dr pepper is a billion dollar or more industry. I see no one staying up with them financially, just won't happen, hasn't in 124 years, aint happening tomorrow. Advertising may help sell a product, but the product itself is what continues to sell.

When i begin to associate things together such as coke, pepsi or dr pepper; I want a crown an coke; if i want a sugar rush, I'd want pepsi, because it does not have a lot of carbonation, more of a flat sugary taste. But when i want a pick me upper, there's that great taste of Dr pepper, it won't slow ya down as some of the slogans say, it's originality, that at 10- 2 and 4, its just what the Dr .ordered, (but if I'm next to broke I'd buy off brands) LOL.

So I'm a pepper, he's a pepper, come on be a pepper to.



AWWWWWWWW REFRESHING !


If you are ever looking for somewhere to go on vacation, why not try Waco, Texas the home of Dr. Pepper. Call the Chamber of Commerce for museum times and location. Then if you still have time take in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame, the Waco Zoo, golfing, one of the many fine restaraunts and of course historical homes. Then if you still have more time, if you are there on a warm September night drive 35 miles South of Waco to my home town, Temple Texas and watch the mighty Temple Wildcats play football and have a pepper :) You'll be glad you did.
p.s. the game starts at 7:30 and ends around 10:00 but you can always get a pepper.