“MAGNIFICENT SEVEN”, I’M REALLY THANKFUL FOR Y-O-U

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Here in Airheadzona, where I live, Thanksgiving Day – “the gateway to the Christmas Season” – will end in a matter of minutes.

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And I need to get this blog bit posted quickly ‘cause I gotta hit the sack. Yep, I’m working tomorrow, starting at 9 AM.

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So, I’m going to compose this as quickly as I can, right off the cuff, off the top of my mind, on the fly and stream-of-consciousness spontaneously combustion-y. (Please overlook the typos! I’m workin’ fast here and without a net.)

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I acknowledge that I’ve got a lot to be thankful for. First and foremost, as always, I’m grateful for what is R.E.A.L.

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Q: What is R.E.A.L.?

A: The “Real, Eternal, Active Love” 

and His Son, Jesus Christ. 

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I thank God for His Love and His Forgiveness that is mine through the voluntary Atonement of perfect Yeshua on The Cross. The Holy King and Savior, Jesus, has been saving my sorry ass since April 6, AD 32!

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I’m also thankful for my family (two-fifths having gone Home to God). My Pa, from whom I got my work ethic and my silly sense of humor. My Ma, from whom I got my sense of justice and feisty attitude. My Brother, Napoleon, who is my best friend (one fist of iron, the other of steel; if the right one don't get ya then the left one will). And my Sister, who is fun and understands the GoldenShadow.

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And as much as I despise what has happened to my country, I’m even thankful that God saw fit to have me “borned” here. There but for the Grace of God, I could be living in a plywood or tin shack built over a mud puddle in some Third World country and feasting on cats and rats. Yep, I get xtremely-mad at America, but I know my own living conditions could be much, Much, MUCH worse!

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But right now, I’m thinking mostly about how thankful I am for my friends. I’ve had so many really good friends in my 53 years. Sadly, some are no longer here – like my acting buddy Marty, and Kelly who, literally, was as loyal a friend as it is humanly possible to be. Some of my friends I rarely see, nor do I get to speak with them often – like The Countess and Pooh, Cranium, Big Al, and The Flying Aardvark – but I still greatly appreciate them and hearing from them from time to time.

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However, at this moment, I am thinking most about my “Blogging Buddies”. And even a few of them are no longer with me. A-DogG was the first person to really become an A-list commenter on my first blog back at the BigBitch.com site (read: Amazon.com). A-DogG and I had incredible discussions in the comment sections of my blog installments. It was like Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen trading licks and riffing off of each other until the amplifiers exploded and the stage burned down. Although he’s years in my past, I still credit 
A-DogG for making me aware of the possibilities of comment section discussions.

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OL’ WP was one of my earliest blog buddies as well, but he has moved on, and I wish him nothing but da best o’ da best (even though he never did tell me “The Witch Story”).

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And then there was Linda Haley (a.k.a. Anniee McPhee and Anniee451). She and I had some fantastic comment section discussions until she died very unexpectedly and very young. (Incredibly, Linda’s physical body may be “dead” but she’s still very much alive in the spirit realm and has proven to me that she is still aware of what’s going on in my life. Yes, she has “made contact” with me from “the other side”. Right, Nitro? Wink!-Wink!, Nudge!-Nudge!)

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But a few days ago, my friend Arlee Bird (Lee) posted a blog installment in which he publicly honored some of his favorite blog readers/commenters. He wrote the following about me:

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Since I've given Stephen T. McCarthy a lot of time in past blog posts I'll just add him to the list of bloggers who actually have a discussion in the comment section.  To see what I mean just check out some of the comment sections on his posts at his blog Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends.  Sure, you might not agree with Stephen and you might even be offended, but you have to admit that this guy knows how to carry on a conversation in his comments.  That's my blogging dream.  Thank you, Stephen, for showing the way to establishing good blog dialog.

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I’ve been thinking about what Arlee Bird wrote. And you wanna know what I’ve been thinking? It’s not ME who is truly responsible for the great dialogues in some of my blog installment comment sections! What if no one submitted a comment? The first comment appearing in my comment sections is NEVER one of my own! How could it be? I can’t start the conversation, and I can’t carry on conversations by myself in my comment sections! (Well, I could, but eventually the proverbial “they” would take me away to a nice, well-padded room where I couldn’t hurt myself.)

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I’ve often said that I have only 6 regular readers of my blog, and when I’ve wanted to make a joke of that, I’ve sometimes referred to my blog readers as “the two of you”.

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But I’ve just completed an inventory and discovered that in fact I have seven (count ‘em: 7) regular readers and A-list commenters here at ‘Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends’. And although you are few in number, I greatly appreciate and value every one of you. And I think you’re “The Magnificent Seven”. I’m serious! I ain’t bullshittin’ in the least when I say I feel proud of the fact that I have probably the seven smartest, most informed, and most fun-loving readers (and commenters) of any blog at Blogspot.com.

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A quick shout out now to my “Magnificent Seven” (in alphabetical order) . . .

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ARLEE BIRD of the blogs . . .

Tossing It Out

A Faraway View: A Blog About Dreams

A Few Words

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LEE is the creator of the now-famous Blogosphere sensation, ‘A To Z April Challenge’ Blogfest. Analytical and insightful, Lee is one of my most loyal blog buddies, going all the way back to my BigBitch.com days. And you should definitely check out his ‘A Faraway View’ blog about the mystery of dreams. Of all the blogs I regularly ‘Follow’, it’s one of my very favorites. Arlee Bird also posts brief bite-sized words of wisdom taken from The Holy Bible every Sunday morning at his ‘A Few Words’ blog. Very good stuffs from one of the most diligently devoted and eclectic bloggers in Blogland. But Lee is more than a blogger. Lee is a McBuddy. He acknowledges that my writing “is not for everybody” and yet he has still done more to promote my blogging activities than has anybody else. I am tremendously grateful for his friendship.

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BR’ER MARC of the blogs . . .

MousieMarc

The Bible Corner

Historic Words

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BR’ER also goes back to my BigBitch.com days. He is a very good Christian man and the originator of one of the best political analogies of all time: “When will people understand they [the Democrat and Republican parties] are the same party? Socialist extreme and Socialist light. Do you want non-filtered or filtered cigarettes, sir? Either way they’re both going to kill you.” In my opinion, that is one of the most accurate and quotable political analogies ever made! My buddy Br’er has been a great friend and loyal ‘Follower’ of my writings for a long time. I feel it’s an honor to have such a fine and insightful man on my short list of friends. I only wish he had time to blog more often and had the number of readers his wisdom warrants.

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BRYAN and/or BRANDON of the blog . . .

A Beer For The Shower

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I’m not sure if it’s Bryan or Brandon who often comments on my blog installments. Maybe it’s both Beer Boys but at different times. Regardless, they operate one of the funniest blogs in town. Yeah, it’s often crude, lewd, raunchy, and insanely insane, but it’s also frequently ‘Laugh-Out-Loud Funny’. Very often I will go to read their newest blog installment which is far less than a day old, and already it has accumulated 20 to 40 or more remarks in its comment section. There are very good reasons why their ‘A Beer For The Shower’ blog is one of the most popular here at Blogspot.com. These dudes are outrageously creative, and if I ever had the opportunity to share a table with them at the '10 At 2 Kennel Klub Saloon', I know we'd hit it off famously! [Keep up the funny stuffs, Beer Boys, ‘cause I definitely needs me a good laugh often.]

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DISCCONNECTED of the blogs . . .

Back In The USSR

Discconnected

Jacques Strappe Sports

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DiscConnected is the only person I know who knows more Classic Rock era trivia than I do. (And believe me, that’s really sayin’ sumpin’!) His ‘Discconnected’ blog is all about music, and his ‘Back In The USSR’ blog is one of the very best political blogs I’ve found – it’s often wickedly funny and cuts right through all the socialistic shit and exposes it! Of course we’ve all been conditioned to believe in the “Separation Of Church And State”, but DiscConnected obviously does not believe in the “Separation Of Entertainment And Politics”. Really, every time my Dashboard shows me that a new blog bit has been posted at ‘Back In The USSR’, I go to it immediately, salivating like one of Pavlov’s Dogs. If Dr. Disc’s ‘Back In The USSR’ isn’t my very favorite of all the blogs I ‘Follow’, it’s damned close to it. He isn’t as active on his sports-themed blog but that one’s a lot of fun too; he sometimes combines social commentary with his sports views from the 50-yard-line seats.

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FARAWAYEYES of the blog . . .

Far Away Series

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FarAwayEyes is unquestionably one of the most interesting individuals I’ve known in this lifetime. She is very spiritual and has a “re(a)lationship” with God and Christ. Although she often refers to herself as “a dumb blond”, there ain’t NUTTIN’ dumb about her! (Even if she doesn’t always know “where the commas go”.) Heck, she was aware of the semi-secret shadowy political reality years before I was. She doesn’t discuss that on her ‘Far Away Series’ blog, but she does tell some really cool and heartwarming stories. FarAwayEyes doesn’t often take her “clothes off in public”, but when she does, it’s something to see. Jim Morrison of The Doors asked, “Did you have a good world when you died? Enough to base a movie on?” Well, FarAwayEyes certainly does. These days it seems as if everyone believes they have a memoir to write. Although she may never write one, FarAwayEyes probably owes the world her memoir. Considering all of the places she’s been, the variety of people she’s known, and the experiences she’s had, I can say with the fullest confidence that any memoir she wrote would be one exhilaratingly wild E-Ticket Ride! (Move over, Mr. Toad!) I’d tell you more about her but she’d probably get mad at me if I did.

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SHEBOYGANBOY 6

Unfortunately, Sheboyganboy 6 doesn’t do any blogging – but he SHOULD, in my opinion. He is one of the most intelligent persons I know. This dude was reading Ayn Rand books when he was fourteen years old! (When I was 14 years old, I was still reading ‘Encyclopedia Brown’ books and was still utterly mystified by how detectiveboy Leroy Brown was solving the crimes.)  Sheboyganboy Six has owned and published newspapers and I have learned many fascinating facts from him in the years he and I have been friends (which also goes back to my BigBitch.com days). He knows a lot about music, literature, and politics, including the U.S. Constitution and the principles upon which this country was founded. (Not surprisingly, he’s no fan of Liberalism.) In fact, Sheboyganboy 6 is SUCH an American patriot that he collects authentic, original signatures of our Founding Fathers! [Sixgun, was it alright for me to reveal that fact? If not, let me know right away and I’ll delete the offending phucker! Ha!] Sheboygan-BRO 6 has been one of my most devoted readers and commenters for a long time. He’s a good man, a believer in Christ, and he hates injustice. For his many excellent comments, and for having turned me onto the comedy of Bob & Ray, McSix makes my personal ‘Hall Of Fame’. [Start a blog, Punk Six!]

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SIG-TOO of the blog . . .

Monkey Throw Dart

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I don’t even know how long SigToo (a.k.a. Super-Sig Also and Master Sig II) has been following my blogging endeavors. He just started commenting one day, but he clearly had knowledge of some of my pre-Blogspot.com stuffs. So, apparently he was “watching from the balcony” for awhile before making his presence known. I don’t actually know a whole lot about Sig on a personal level, so he remains something of a ‘Mystery Man’. I know he’s married and possesses an A-list intelligence. But I have been able to ascertain some other things about him from the comments he leaves.

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For one thing, Sig is one of my most complimentary commenters, which proves he has exquisite taste. : ) What is also clear is that Sig has a really great sense of humor and an expansive knowledge of many topics. (Also, he could probably pick me out in a M*A*S*H episode even faster than I could find myself.) “I gamble in the stock and options markets”, Sig says, describing how he supports himself. 

Uh . . . hel-looo! Are we yakkin’ smarts here, or what?! He has even devised a system that calculates how to invest in the stock market whether Bullish or Bearish. Sig’s knowledge of market movement led him to write the following: It's one thing to try to prove that the [World Trade Center towers were] brought down by other means such as explosive charges, or that missiles were used instead of passenger planes, etc., but when you are staring at documented proof that an obscene number of "bets" in the form of options were placed against the airlines a day or two before 9/11 . . .   Anyway, if I did that, every gov't 'acronym' would have busted down my front door the next day.

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Yep, this is one exceptionally bright guy who knows about the Wizards behind the curtain. No flies on him (“Whatever that means” – to quote David Addison). It’s a true honor to have someone as bright as Sig reading my stuffs! [I’ve never said this to anyone before but I’ve been thinking it for quite some time: I believe Sheboyganboy Six and Master Sig II ought to get to know each other. Something tells me that these couple of brainiacs would become fast friends!]

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Three days ago, the King of Bloggers, Arlee Bird, posted an installment titled ‘My Thankfulness To Bloggers Post’. That post of his was the inspiration for this blog bit of mine. On that same day, I also left a comment on Arlee Boidman’s post in which I said in no uncertain terms just what I think of 

Y-O-U, my “Magnificent Seven”. Mine is comment #32, and you can read it by clicking HERE and scrolling down. 

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Magnificent Seven, again I thank you for giving me a reason to blog. I appreciate you all. Every one of YOU is unique and “smarter than the average bear”. (I really WOULD put you up against any other blogger’s Top 7 commenters, knowing full-well that y’all would kick blogger booty!)

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Oh, me name is MacNamara, I'm the leader of the band
Although we're few in numbers, we're the strongest in the land . . .
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Magnificent Seven, May You Bless And Be Blessed, 

And may you stay . . . 

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Forever Young

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['The Last Waltz' - Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976.]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoQYKnAz40o

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May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
Climb on every rung
And may you stay forever young 

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~ Stephen T. McCarthy 

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YE OLDE COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read: "posted"). After all, this isn’t Amazon.com, so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement.

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