War is a Racket

“There are only two reasons why you should ever be asked to give your youngsters. One is defense of our homes. The other is the defense of our Bill of Rights and particularly the right to worship God as we see fit. Every other reason advanced for the murder of young men is a racket, pure and simple.” 
― Smedley D. Butler


If you are not familiar with General Butler (whom the current USMC mascot bulldog is named after,) educate yourself:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

Coolest cover of "Where Is My Mind?"

99 Days of Freedom

I am participating in a little experiment called "99 Days of Freedom".  You can see the official site here:  http://99daysoffreedom.com/

Basically, you take 99 days off of Facebook.  You don't do *anything* with it.  No logging in, no status updates, no nothing!  At this time I'm about 35-36 days "clean" so far.  My official countdown is at the following link:  http://99daysoffreedom.com/tim-provencio

It's amazing how much better you feel staying away from it.  I had come to the conclusion that I don't have over 500 friends in real life, so why do I need to be constantly affected by them online?  I invited all the people that expected so much of me on FB that would message me constantly, etc., to e-mail me and provided my e-mail, or if needed even give me a call.

Guess what?  Not a single e-mail and only one valid call where a friend said he saw I was going off line and had some health concerns and he wanted to make sure everything was good with me.

As for the benefits?  Well, how does a better emotional state of mind, less stress, more focus, better sleep, and more attention paid to those around me sound?  I've spent more time reading the Bible and books, more time talking with family, more time doing meaningful things, and just all together more time on things that really matter (no, Facebook doesn't matter.)

I'm thinking when I go back, I'll either drop down to close friends and family only, or I'll just cancel the account all together.  I do miss seeing pictures others share of my Grandson though.

Now if I could just stay away from Twitter, Instagram, and Vine!