I'm a night owl. No matter how little sleep I got the night before or how tired I've been all day around midnight I get this huge second wind. I toss, turn and stare at the clock all night long. During this time I ponder life's little mysteries and wonder “why” about a multitude of things.

I wonder why many people in this country think that in order to be patriotic we have to support everything our president and government does? Our government can be just as corrupt and devious as any other nation. If blindly following your leaders without question is patriotism then Nazi soldiers were the greatest patriots of all time.

I wonder why people have a problem with gays marrying? Two consenting adults that love one another and aren't hurting anyone else should be afforded the same rights we all have. Being gay is not a choice. Who in their right mind would wake up one morning and say, “I'm bored today, I think I'll be gay”. With all the discriminations and hatred for anyone different from the “Norm”, who in their right mind would choose this?

I so don't get why men like to hunt. I don't like it but I understand that we have to weed out certain animals because of over population. I can even understand eating your prey, like they had to back in Daniel Boone's days. What I don't understand is the thrill of the kill. That's scary to me. I could so never be with a man who could look an innocent animal in the eye and get some sort of sick pleasure from killing it. It's just not an even playing field. I could so much more see setting a bunch of hardened criminals out on a wildlife reserve and having an open season on them. For the first time in my life I might would be inclined to go out and buy a gun and join the hunt!

Speaking of criminals, why don't we all want to go to jail? We would be assured of a roof over our heads, three meals a day, dental and health care. We would have access to TV, a gymnasium, companions, and at the same time further our education — and everyone knows that you find God in prison.

I wonder why so many teens are out of control? I see so many young teenage girls with two or three children and another on the way. I'd give anything to hear Bob Barker say, “Please have your cats, dogs, and teenagers spayed or neutered.”

I wonder why we are the greatest nation on earth and yet progressively behind other countries in such things as stem cell research and women leaders? Why is the U.S. allowed to have nuclear power but we demand that other countries don't? Shouldn't we practice what we preach?

Why don't stay at home Moms get a salary?This is the hardest job in the world. They get no sick days, no vacation, and are on call 24/7. Then when they get older and their children have left the nest, their husband decides to trade them in for a newer model with less miles and they're left up the creek without the proverbial paddle. It ain't right.

Speaking of jobs, why is it that professional sport players and movie stars rake in millions, doing a job they love and that comes easy to them? Meanwhile, a ditch digger works 10 times as hard and doesn't make dirt (no pun intended). That ain't right either.

Why can't we decriminalize drugs? Not that I'm condoning drug use — I've seen it destroy several members of my own family. Decriminalizing drugs might lead to a safer world. An addict could walk into a Doctor's office, select his drug of choice, use clean needles, etc., and cut out the middleman (drug dealer).

Why do we need organizes religion? Faith is an individual, personal choice. Are we doomed to burn in Hell if we have a one-on-one, intimate, spiritual relationship with whatever higher power we choose to believe in and cut out the middle man (church)?

Why do we treat our animals better than our terminally ill? We are taught that its cruel and in inhumane not to put our pets out of their misery when they are sick and dying. Yet we don't apply the same care and consideration to our loved ones who are suffering. Many people would never choose euthanization for various reasons, religious and otherwise, but for those that do, it should be their choice.

Lastly, (and on a lighter note) I wonder why women's problems are named after men? Such as- menopause, menstrual cycles, hysterical pregnancies, and hysterectomies — as is they had any idea. At least they got it right when they named hemorrhoids after men since they both are pains in the butt. Anyway, we still the good 'ole hernia.

My grandmother always told me to never question anything, just accept and believe. That's probably why I never liked her. If God didn't want me to think, why on Earth did He give me a brain? Sometimes I wish he hadn't, maybe then I could sleep.

Anyway-

Until next time,

Forward ho!