Farewell Metro News...

Sorry guys, but this is going to seem a little weird. Last week I talked about the Topeka Metro News being sold and how the new owners decided they, either didn’t have room for or simply weren’t interested in hearing from any local writers. Anyway, they dumped us all. If you think about it, it is a little weird for a local paper not to want anything to do with local people, hmm.

Hey, that’s just life. I knew going in, that nothing’s forever. It’s funny, too. Because, the older you get, the more you understand just how true that is. I really wanted to the chance to say goodbye. And I still believe they owed me that much. But hey, it’s their world and I was just passing through anyway.

So today, even though I’m not really going anywhere, I’ll still be ranting and raving on the blog, I just won’t be in the Metro News, I’m going to go ahead and write the farewell column I should have been allowed to do in the first place.

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Well guys, looks like this is it. This is the last column I’ll be writing for the Topeka Metro News. I always knew that sooner or later this day would come. Still, I wish it could have lasted a while longer. Like twenty or thirty more years.

And you know what? For the first time in a long time, I’m not sure what to say. I guess I should start out by thanking you, the readers. It was an honor and a privilege to be able to spend a little time with you guys each and every week. I thank every one of you who either, wrote a letter to the editor or sent an e-mail my way because of something I’d written. That’s not to say everyone agreed with me either. But, what it meant to me, was the fact that you were reading my stuff and that it made you stop and think for a while. Thank you. That’s really all I was trying to do in the first place.

Sure, from time to time, I got a little controversial. I might have even gone over the top every once in a while too. I’ve received e-mails from people demanding that I apologize for this or that. Here's the deal, I didn’t apologize then and I’m sure as hell not going to start now. Someone a lot smarter than I said it best, "I meant what I said and I said what I meant."

You see, in America, at least for now anyway, we still have this little thing called the 1st amendment, you know, the whole freedom of speech thing. I’m real big on that one. In fact, I’m going to give it one last shot today.

America! What the hell were we thinking of when we elected Barrack Obama as our president. A lot of us did our best to warn you. We warned you about the left-wing radicals he liked to hang out with. Reverand Wright, with his special brand of racisism and hatred come to mind. The guy responsible for planning the bombings of police stations and the Pentagon, Bill Ayres was another. We warned you about the Socialist agenda he would bring with him. You accused us of using scare tactics and called us racists and fear mongerers. Whatever.

I believe with all my heart that we're in the middle of the fight of our lives. If this country is going to survive (the one I grew up in anyway) we’ve got to get our butts off the couch and do something about it. Don’t sit back and wait for your neighbor to do it for you. Is it going to be easy? Hell no it won’t. Make that phone call to your Senator! Write that letter to the editor! Turn off MTV and American Idol long enough to find out what’s going on in the real world. Pay attention to the "TEA PARTY RALLIES" being held all across the country over the next few months. Hell we're even going to have our very own rally here in Topeka on 9-12, make plans to be there if you can. It's important, even if it's only symbolic. We gotta get the message out that we're mad as hell and we're here to stop these idiots in Washington dead in their tracks. Tell em loud and clear, "this is our country and we're here to take it back!"

Just remember, if you decide to take that stand, you'll be in for one hell of a fight. The left-wing loons will come after you like nothing you’ve ever seen. They’ll mock you. They’ll call you every name in the book. Trust me, the first thing they'll acuse you of is being a racist. That's seems to be pretty popular these days. They’ll use anything they can think of against you in order to silence you. Just remember, because of the antics of the extreme, left-wing lunatics, only 20% of the American population is still willing to call themselves liberal, they’re loud and the press gives them a lot of attention, but because of their numbers, they’re becoming extremely irrelevant. Think about that.

Anyway, do you guys remember watching the Carroll Burnett Show? If so, I'm sure you remember the way she always ended it by singing a little song that went something like this, “I’m so glad we had this time together. Just to have a laugh and sing a song. Seems we just get started and before you know it, comes the time we have to say so long.” Remember that?

For me, this is kind of like that. Thanks for everything guys, it was one hell of a ride.