Education

A lot has happened since I added anything to this blog. We’ve had General Motors and Chrysler go belly up, David Letterman has insulted Sarah Palin (again), and I am back from a week long trip to Maine and back.

The focus of our trip was my son’s graduation from the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine at 2pm on Saturday. Josh is the first guy on my side of the family to complete a degree and in 2 or 3 generations that I’m aware of.

I believe in pursuing your passions and often a college degree is required to gain entry into a profession these days. And I am very proud of Josh for completing this stage of his life. Also, if I was pursuing a degree, I would consider College of the Atlantic for myself.

I saw some things I didn’t care for, the liberalization of philosophy, but I am secure in my own beliefs. What concerns me more is the state of our education system in this country overall.

I grew up attending public schools in the 1960’s thru mid 70’s. My education was good and decent. My high school years were at a local Lutheran High School, only because of race riots that were disrupting the public high schools at the time.

These days there are debates about funding education, results of education, test results, etc. Today, as I was going through my email and saw this from Seth Godin which points out another problem and solution. Because we need to understand the reason behind the formal education should be to prepare people for real life, whatever direction that life may lead them.

No matter how much formal education you pay for, please keep learning and reflecting on all that life gives you. Pursue the passions and rise above the politics that can color viewpoints.

Here’s Seth:

Textbook rant

I’ve spent the last few months looking at marketing textbooks. I’m assuming that they are fairly representative of textbooks in general, and since this is a topic I’m interested in, it seemed like a good area to focus on.

As far as I can tell, assigning a textbook to your college class is academic malpractice.

They are expensive. $50 is the low end, $200 is more typical. A textbook author in Toronto made enough money from his calculus textbook to afford a $20 million house. This is absurd on its face. There’s no serious insight or leap in pedagogy involved in writing a standard textbook. That’s what makes it standard. It’s hard, but it shouldn’t make you a millionaire.

They don’t make change. Textbooks have very little narrative. They don’t take you from a place of ignorance to a place of insight. Instead, even the best marketing textbooks surround you with a fairly non-connected series of vocabulary words, oversimplified problems and random examples.

They’re out of date and don’t match the course. The 2009-2010 edition of the MKTG textbook, which is the hippest I could find, has no entries in the index for Google, Twitter, or even Permission Marketing.

They don’t sell the topic. Textbooks today are a lot more colorful and breezy than they used to be, but they are far from engaging or inspirational. No one puts down a textbook and says, “yes, this is what I want to do!”

They are incredibly impractical. Not just in terms of the lessons taught, but in terms of being a reference book for years down the road.

In a world of wikipedia, where every definition is a click away, it’s foolish to give me definitions to memorize. Where is the context? When I want to teach someone marketing (and I do, all the time) I never present the information in the way a textbook does. I’ve never seen a single blog post that says, “wait until I explain what I learned from a textbook!”

The solution seems simple to me. Professors should be spending their time devising pages or chapterettes or even entire chapters on topics that matter to them, then publishing them for free online. (it’s part of their job, remember?)  When you have a class to teach, assemble 100 of the best pieces, put them in a pdf or on a kindle or a website (or even in a looseleaf notebook) and there, you’re done. You just saved your intro marketing class about $15,000. Every semester. Any professor of intro marketing who is assigning a basic old-school textbook is guilty of theft or laziness.

This industry deserves to die. It has extracted too much time and too much money and wasted too much potential. We can do better. A lot better.

Silence but not Silent

I have been politically quiet for the past couple of months.  Not because I don’t care, but because I want to listen, watch and observe.

I have taken a break from most of the media that was feeding their biased views on cable TV and talk radio simply because it is tiring to listen to.

So, I continue and focus on what I can do to make a difference.  And that is involvement in my own community and conversations with friends and associates.  I always want to dig deeper and find out why people have the views they have.  If you click on the tab that answers the question “What’s this Blog about”,  you’ll notice that one of the first items I point out is that we are all filled with contradictions in our lives.

I’ve also learned over my 40+ years that by listening and understanding the other viewpoint, you can dialogue and perhaps change someones view.   And unlike the cartoon in a previous post on this blog, people really want substance behind the words hope and change.

I encourage you to take positive action, to have an impact on your community and the folks that are watching you, I see it occurring in my family and friends and I know it is making a difference.

Talking

I’m really tired of the political talk on radio & TV.  I turned it off last week and started listening to music again.  Which is too bad, because, I’ve listened to talk on the radio for the last 20 years.

This past weekend, I spent 3 great hours with my daughter talking about a little of everything including health care and other issues.

The answers will come from conversations where one listens and the other talks, and then you go back and forth without trying to convince the other that they are an idiot.  Now it takes 2 to play fair and that’s not always easy.  But if you really listen and really talk, instead of argue and attack, then we can move forward.

That’s why I generally stay out of politics.

One other thought, you have contradictions just like I do.  And instead of focusing on the areas we disagree with, start with the areas we have in common.  It helps the conversational process and the answers will come as the ideas flow.

Do you only listen to those that you agree with?  Then get out and learn about the other sides.  And have a real reason for taking a stand based on facts, not just emotion.

Now, it’s back to the tunes for awhile.

Hope

President Obama won the Presidential Election by focusing on 2 words that people were hungering for.

Change was one.  But everyone was using that word.  So you have to look at the other word too.

Hope was the word that really inspired people.

The problem is that such a tiny minority know the basics of our Federal Government.

Like:

1. What are the three branches of Government?
2. How is the difference between a Senator and a Representative?
3. Can you name all  of your own elected officials from President on down to local government leaders?

I could go on, but you get the picture.  And it’s not pretty for those of us that want a government that follows the constitution.

So, what can you and I do?

You need to give Hope and Change in your message AND pair it with policies that are constitutionally correct.   That’s the kind of Change that we need. And that gives hope…

The Radicals

First of all, I’m not sure what the answers are to the mess our country is in.  Too many folks are pointing fingers at others as to who to blame and depending on where you get your information, you could be influenced either way.

Next, when I titled this the Radicals, I was not referring to the left or the right specifically because they exist in both camps.

So on this site, I am adding some viewpoints that deserve checking out.  Be careful however because you need to understand the motivation behind anyone’s words, including mine.

And for the record, I believe that our Federal Government has overstepped their constitutional boundaries for a long, long, long time.  Longer than I have been alive.  The problem is we are so used to them doing what they do, we somehow accept it.  And because it is the Federal Government, not local government, we seem to feel powerless.   Enough of my words for the moment, take a look at this from the Earthfrisk Blog that I stumbled across:

America With Eyes Wide Shut

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. THOMAS JEFFERSON, letter to W.S. Smith, Nov. 13, 1787

The Second American Revolution Countdown: 4 years or less!

Do you sense that something is wrong in America these days?  Do you have that ominous, or even dreadful feeling that we are about to witness “change”.  Perhaps because you have wondered just what that change entails?  Maybe not those of you with Obama “stars” in your eyes, but millions of patriots in the United States can feel there is a problem, see it, and sense what is taking place right before our eyes.

Our Founders would cry if they could see this taking place!

I say this with the deepest regret, and with utmost reverence for what our Founding Fathers created in these United States of America.  America’s days without another Revolution are soon to come to an end.  I can almost guarantee you that, within the next 4 years, your perceptions will change of reality as you know it, as well as challenge and test you in ways that you never thought would happen.

Not just another American Revolution

Revolution…  How many times have you heard that said?  There is this revolution, the “iPod Revolution”, the “Sexual Revolution” and so on. Well the American  Revolution I speak of, is in the truest, and most drastic sense of the word.

At the time that I am writing this, at least 20 – 30% of Americans understand thus far, know the true nature of President Obama, and the steps he is now taking to destroy freedom.  Not to ensure it, or liberate those without.  A real Second American Revolution is now on the horizon.  Teach your children well as history repeats itself.  For tomorrow is uncertain, and the Barbarians are at our gates.

Give me liberty or give me death.
Patrick Henry

Less than 4 Years Left of Freedom at Most

We are witnessing the literal death of our Republic, that can come in less than 4 years. Yes, you read that correctly. America will cease to exist as you presently know, within just 4 years. Possibly even less, if President Obama and his ilk, have their way. Even if somehow Obama is stopped by The Joints Chiefs of Staff (The Military) or even a true People’s Revolution,  America will still be a very different country in the aftermath, by the time the next Presidential Elections are to happen,  if they ever get to happen. (November 2012).

The Nightmare becomes a reality for America

I do not say these words lightly either. In fact, this scares the hell out of me, as well as, those that are in-the-know on current events.  I truly wish this were one, long , nightmare.  But, as an American, I cannot stick my head in the sand, as the politicians want us to do.  I can no longer just stand by and watch as each of the steps outlined below, are carried out one after the other until that fateful day, within a few years, when the hammer falls.

In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
George Orwell

We Haven’t Fallen Just Yet…

Maybe, just maybe, enough people will print this out, and talk to their friends. If you do, then tell them how this was all outlined and pointed out ahead of time.  To stop it they need to read this now, and care about the future.  Perhaps, they will also notice what I notice about this pressing issue, and think or act against this, before all of these steps are taken.   However, I fear this will not be up on the net for long, because once President Obama does in fact create his police force dissension, both on the net, and in the media, will be crushed in the name of “social justice”.

The Path to Dictatorship or Revolution in the least

Here is the exact path to turmoil and ending in the Obama dictatorship if we allow it. How you will react to each step along the path is up to you.  I am here to tell you exactly how Obama can throw our nation into its worst political crisis, since the Civil War.

How Many Points on this Page Need to Be Met Before You Say Enough?

Since some of the following is yet to happen and will not happen for several months or even a year or so, at what point will it be before you say enough is enough?

Will you wait until the terror attacks are hitting American Streets? Because, believe me, it’s coming. Obama is almost guaranteeing that there will be plenty of terrorists, who will gladly come into America to kill us.  See below for details. It will suffice to say at this time that he is letting our enemies go from Gitmo ( Guantanomo Bay) and releasing these fine upstanding animals so that they will do us harm.

The Road to Revolution in America

Well, let us start the journey down the road to Revolution in the United States of America.  I believe you will understand it all, and at the very least, by the end of this article you will be ever vigilant.  Perhaps maybe, you’ll even exercise your 2nd Amendment rights, before you can no longer do so.

Statement: President Obama will be in a position to attempt a coup by 2011 or 2012 at latest and here is exactly how it can be done.  I know it sounds incredible and I wish it weren’t true.  Please save this ( print out in case this site is taken down)

The Steps to Dictatorship in the U.S.A.

Setting the stage for a criminal administration. When one starts off as a criminal one only gets worse with time. Follow the logic below, check the links, and be afraid! Be very afraid, or at the least, prepare yourself and your family.  The actual steps taking place to destroy the Republic are listed below.

Step 1.

Devastate the Economy of the United States

Devastate the Economy of the United States

Obama and the Democrats have done exceedingly well in this respect.  Don’t blame Bush for this one.  The Democrats are nearly 85% responsible.

With the CRA ( Community Reinvestment Act) they literally forced banks to make loans to people who could not afford them. Thus crashing our entire financial system.

The entire financial meltdown’s origin is this:

• The Government mandated that banks must provide loans to people in the inner cities who have no credit, no money and are considered bad risks. The very people the banks refused to give loans to. (see comic above) Understand that our system worked well and the free market and capitalism works, and works better than any other system ever on earth.  It is only with government interference that we get the following -
• The Government promised to prevent all expansion and create legal difficulties and lawsuits if any bank refused to give loans to people they didn’t want to and never would have given loans to.
• Barack Obama even worked for a firm that sued banks for not making enough loans. Isn’t that funny? (See video) I love how this guy goes around the country preaching economic sanity, while he helped caused the meltdown, and now does everything possible for further destruction.
• The bankers were relaxed when the government said that Fannie Mae ( the government and your tax dollars) would back the bad loans. Isn’t that like politicians? Using your money to guarantee bad loans. They would be safe to make as many loans as they wished.  Bad move but now a logical one if you are a Marxist and want to destroy the financial system.
• Get it – Monopoly Money! These damned politicians told greedy bankers that they can make as many loans as they wish as long as it were to inner city poor who are all bad risks.  They said don’t worry the government backs them . You’re safe.   Lie on top of lie on top of lie.
• This is the greed part. The government used the natural greed of our bankers to destroy the entire banking system , in the name of social justice.  Is this sick or what? We fell for this!  Don’t believe it? – watch Pelosi and other criminals on tape yourself, Second video on the following page (click here) Then come back.  In fact watch both as there is some different info on each.
• The Fact is we now have put the very people who caused our entire financial meltdown in power.  While at the same time blaming Republicans.  Is this not the perfect storm for a Marxist planned and initiated Revolution that is now in progress as we speak? Remember this the next time you here these creatures tell of the excesses of the Republicans. It is the Democrats in fact that created and forced the CRA.

One last point for you to ponder to further understand this. Home prices grew with inflation for over 100 years in the United States. That was until 1996.  This is when the devastatingly large amount of loans started up, thanks to President Clinton and the CRA.  Then the obvious took place. With monopoly money housing prices shot through the roof as money all backed by US taxpayers was given to millions of people! Millions with monopoly money, not understanding the value of making that money. All bought houses that they couldn’t afford. All backed by Fannie Mae and you and me.  This was the real estate boom of the late 1990s.

The Crash Was Inevitable and Planned Quite Well

It was inevitable that the crash would come.  Nothing in life is free my friends.

What is amazing is how the media has painted this as capitalism crashing. The free market failing, when it is the complete and total opposite. Only government interference and laws caused this.  Things worked fine before the CRA. How dare the Democrats and Obama lecture America about greed that they puroposely caused!  This has to be the greatest scam ever perpetrated on the American people.

Now in order to correct their financial meltdown, that Obama and the Democrats blame on the free market, we create more laws that further erode our freedoms and further destroys the financial system .  In essence Revolution is almost a certainty now.

Now you know the truth. Spread the word.  Watch the videos and forever know who has caused all of this harm to our nation.

Watch this video here for complete details on this criminal yet legal act of kindness.  Yes it was an act of kindness to try to help people with bad credit or with no money to buy their own homes. But…

The Road to Hell is Paved With Good Intentions

You can still hear them ( The Criminal Democrats on video at this link (second video) say they did nothing wrong and we need to lend more money to people who can’t afford to pay it back – they even say this amazingly on tape!)

Free Houses Anyone? Nothing in life is free, Witness the collapsing economy

They still think they did nothing wrong and over and over you can hear them in the media blaming Republicans. You MUST watch this video here if you still haven’t in order to be in the know with the the CRA scam that has destroyed the American financial system.  Watch the video and forever be armed with how these criminals took the American financial system down.   Link on CRA

Want to get scared, watch the videos and further get disgusted as you learn the the leaders and CEO’s of Fannie Mae and Goldman Sachs Board members, Lehman which they ran out of business, all are Obama supporters and now getting cabinet posts for their great work.  Like WTF is going on? The video names names.  Wake up America.  It is almost too late.

The snowball is rolling down the hill

Every move the Democrats now make is designed for total economic meltdown.  Obama has scared the hell out of all investors and for the first time ever in the history of the United States, our stock market is down 24% since the new President took office. Unheard of in our history.  Link

Unemployment will Increase substantially Thanks to Obama’s Fake Stimulus and spending bills.  He and the Democrats are bankrupting America as we watch.

Is there really anyone in America that thinks that 400 million for Sexually transmitted diseases, or a billion dollars for the Arabs in Gaza will help America get out of our financial crisis?  Only the truly dense could ever think so.  To think that the Democrats are also borrowing all of this money to give away.  Is that not a kick in the head or what? We don’t have this money that Obama is spending, while at the same time he tells us all the exact opposite. That he is for fiscal responsibility.  Really Mr. President? Marxist ideology played to utter perfection.

Unemployment is currently 7.6% (link) and climbing.  Thanks to the idiocy of the policies of the Democrats and President Obama we are all but guaranteed to see unemployment top 10% within 6 months to a year.  With just 8% more than that and we will be at Great Depression Unemployment rates in 1938 Link Link

We are talking economic disaster and Obama is cheering it all the way down!

Oh what a tangled web he’ll weave when the politician opens his mouth to deceive.

Step 2:

He Will Create His own Police Force

The Marxists need a reason in a currently free country to create their national police force or ‘civil defense force’.  Basically to achieve a Marxist regime Obama must create this paramilitary group.  Without which he will not be successful in any power grab. Keep this in mind over the coming months.   He will do so and try to create it in one of 2 ways.

College Students to be Forced to Join a Paramilitary Red Shirt Group, So says Obama’s Chief of Staff. Listen to him yourself.

Listen to Rahm Emanuel (Obama’s Chief of Staff explain how college students are about to be forced to join (mandatory) a military organization, with boots and nice crisp uniforms. The Red Shirts are coming, the Red Shirts are truly coming and it is 2009! This joker even wrote a book about it  link.

1. He will sneak legislation through Congress (since none of the Congressmen even read the bills that they sign, throwing billions of our dollars around the world in the process. )  LINK OR
2. He will also attempt the fear route ( he has started this process already!).  What he needs to do is have terrorist attacks take place in America so that he can ’save us’  and create his monstrous civil police force.

He is already doing it all!

How can he achieve this?  He is said to want to release ALL of the terrorists within a year currently in prison in Gitmo.  Terrorists have a 100% recidivism rate (rate at which they return to being terrorists).

Why else do you think Obama just released Binyam Mohamed?  It is a test to see if America shows any outrage.  How can there be with news like this on page 12. The media hid this fact for the most part while President Obama Let him go!  To what end? Think ? Link

When the terror attacks begin in America, Blame Obama

With all of the terrorists soon to be released Obama can easily count on many of them making there way to America and doing what they do best.  Only then can Obama easily create his national Police Force.  The excuse being he needs to protect us from the very terrorists he now releases from Gitmo. They are sure to bring friends with them, you can rely on that as well.  All of them I’m sure can easily be encouraged to go to Canada then walk across the border into the US and strike sometime in 2009 or 2010.

We were safe under Bush after 9/11

You can say a lot of things about President Bush but one thing is we were safe after 9/11.  Bush stopped many terrorist attacks including a devastating van and explosive attack which would have killed thousands possibly in Times Square during the Ball Drop on New Years Eve.

Amazing How We’ll Soon Have Attacks With President Obama.

When the terrorist attacks start, please think to yourself and realize that it is Obama that is releasing these creatures to harm us and to what end – to create his national police force.

If these facts of life hitting us all in the face aren’t enough to make you fearful for our nation’s future, I really don’t know what will.

So let me take this one step further and really scare you.  Keep an open mind and follow the logic to the crazy land of Obama-Bizzaro World.

FACT: The United States does NOT check the background of applicants who run for the Presidency! There is no national HR Department that checks if you even qualify for public office. The courts have stated that it is up to the political parties to make sure a candidate is qualified.

This is why we even had one guy from Nicaragua just this past November (2008) who isn’t even an American citizen run for President of the United States as the Socialist Workers Party candidate? WTF!

No one stopped him from running!  This means anyone can run for the Presidency, even Arnold Swarzenneger, born in Austria.  Understand? No one checks the qualifications at all.  This fact is almost unreal! Most Americans have no idea at all at how easy it is to scam our nation.

With this in mind may I suggest some interesting facts to you for your amusement or disgust.  I’m sure you know which emotion I hold when contemplating the above and the following:

Conspiracy Theory Goes Factual On Obama.

FACT : The State of Hawaii issues REAL birth certificates to people born in other nations like Russia, Japan, China and Kenya. Link (with direct links to Hawaii’s online pages stating this , More info – Link , Link

FACT: Only the  vault copy of an American citizen’s birth certificate will tell what nation you were born in if you have a real  Hawaiian birth certificate  Thousands of people born in South Africa, Australia and Indonesia have real authentic birth certificates that Snopes and Factcheck would say were real, all in the state of Hawaii. Isn’t Hawaii interesting?

FACT: The President of the United States has now spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to prevent you from seeing his vault copy.  Hmmm.  Link Link Link Link Link

FACT:  Why this matters – there are 3 requirements to become President of the United States.  They are:

1. You must be 35 years of age
2. You must be a resident of the US for 14 years
3. You must be a natural born citizen of the United States.

The bottom line of this is if there is nothing to hide, why is Obama still hiding it and why does he and his legal team think that you and I have no right to question his qualifications?

Something to think hard about as lawsuit after lawsuit is filed, and yet Obama will not let us see his birth certificate.

FACT : The State of Hawaii NEVER said Obama was born in Hawaii. They only stated that they have seen the original Hawaii birth certificate and that it is real, just like the thousands of other REAL original birth certificates in Hawaii of people born in other nations. Like Obama’s sister who also has a REAL HAWAIIAN birth certificate, yet she was born in Indonesia! Are you thinking yet?

Here’s Hawaii’s press release after Obama went to Hawaii this past November. Notice how they will NEVER say he was actually born in Hawaii.  From this release the media which is all too biased comes up with articles such as this and even better click here and see how the media just makes up a fact – Hawaii saying that Barack was born there. They did not. Read the first line. Notice also how they keep repeating they hold or have seen the original birth certificate.  Strange how we can’t see it huh!  Aren’t you curious? Don’t we have a right to know? This is still our country right?

America Needs A Leader with Clout to Simply Request Obama’s Help in Alleviating Public Mistrust.

What we need now is a few active duty Generals in the Armed forces to respectfully ask Obama with a public statement (so they aren’t violating any laws) to see his birth certificate.  Obama and crew want this all ignored and will do everything to avoid publicity.  If you know any Officers in the military send this to them and ask them to be brave and take a step forward.

Perhaps one or more Generals will go public with just such a request, making a path for his own future political career like Eisenhower.

FACT: (and last point on the birth certificate controversy) President Obama can end all of this by simply letting us see his birth certificate.  NO ONE has seen it. What is on it that we can’t be allowed to see it?  Does the President have just no common sense at all and would rather spend hundreds of thousands to stop us from seeing it, or is there something else here going on? Link

Link – Join the petition (like petitions matter) so far 290,000 people have signed! Petition is for Obama to release his birth certificate.

One last note – Hospitals in Hawaii have no record ( especially the two claimed as places of Obama’s birth) of he or Mother in hospital for childbirth – ever! Just another Hmmm. Link

The whole world is proud of Obama and yet no hospital is coming forth and no Doctor either who delivered him. Surely a shrine would be proposed by now in front of the hospital that delivered ‘ The One’ It is as if he was never born in Hawaii.  Hmm yet again.  Does this surprise anyone? Guess who claims Obama? Mombasa Hospital in Kenya.  How is it that there is a hospital in Kenya with sealed records of Obama and his mother? Sealed due to Obama’s pressure on the Kenyan government in October in Kenya. Hey I thought he was born in Hawaii as claimed? Now you know why he refuses to let us see his vault copy of his birth certificate.

The lies of his family in America told of two hospitals where he was supposedly born.  See this link

Only Barack Obama’s family in Kenya ( which is about to have a a National Holiday for Obama since everyone in Kenya knows he was born in Kenya. ) claims they were at his birth, and in Kenya.

To Recap the timeline thus far…

• President Obama has scammed this nation and looks to be not even qualified to be President of the United States.  He refuses to show anyone his birth certificate! Even now!

• He is (with the help of the rest of the Democrats) systematically destroying the free market and capitalism.

• He is playing class warfare and by making the nation poorer, increases his voting support with each new unemployment benefits recipient.

• He is releasing our enemies to kill us or at least try. Giving him the excuse to create his Civil Defense Force.  Once this group is created there is only the final step needed.
  Link

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

The final steps to an American Dictatorship

The Civil Defense Group is pivotal for any coup to be successful. It is the duty of every American who wishes to remain free to prevent him from creating his own police force.  For it is this force that enables the end of the Republic quite simply.

Once the Civil Defense Force is in place (by 2011 or 2012 at latest) Obama then moves on Private gun ownership and uses his police force to collect the weapons currently in the legal hands of the citizens of the United States. He can do this like so.

The audacious avenue would be a direct attack on our 2nd American rights. (see one scenario spoken of). I somehow doubt he has it in him to try this direct route written of in this article.   Even after we are scammed into a 10 or 12% unemployment rate in the future Americans will not let it happen.  Or so we can hope and pray.

The Whispers and Shouts of the Second American Revolution grow every week now.

He must destroy the 2nd Amendment!

I believe he will go for the legal BS route, and do his best to have laws introduced that severely restrict private gun ownership. Seeing to it that only the military, police, and his own police force, yet to be formed are armed, can possess them. He will then have free reign all over America!

America with Eyes Wide Open

After this all hell breaks loose, America’s Eyes that are currently “Wide Shut” , will open to the realities of a Marxist want-to-be pretender, who will hold onto power by ANY means necessary!

Hint: Look for a “conspiracy” and mass arrests of Republicans after this point, and of course I’m sure, the Second American Revolution will be well under way.

Can We Still Stop This?

You can fight this! Please pass this around to your friends and relatives Have everyone watch the steps, and maybe, just maybe, enough of us can “peacefully” prevent it all.  It is not likely by far, but we can hope.  Marxists won’t go down without a fight so keep this in mind…

Media Bias to the Extreme

The Biased media is so far left these days that even the NY Times has a website dedicated to exposing all of the daily bias that it oozes.  See Timeswatch.org

With Media Bias at rampant levels and seeing how journalism has died in 2008 as the media fawned over Lord Obama as the second coming of Christ, we can no longer just go along with what we are told.

One Imperative for you to Save America

What you can do if you are at least 18

Even if you have never fired a weapon, do yourself a favor and exercise your constitutional right to bear arms. Buy a rifle, take some lessons and start up a hunting club. Even if you don’t hunt.  Start a marksmanship club in your college or even high school.  Whatever you do, DO NOT EVER Give up your right to bear arms! Not to any government EVER.

All the stories you hear from history – around the world – about ethnic cleansing, oppression of minorities, totalitarian regimes – none of these could have happened if the people were armed.

The Second Amendment is the “enforcement clause” of the rest of the Bill of Rights. The right to keep and bear arms is, like free speech and religious freedom, a central part of our political heritage as a free people. We MUST preserve it. The Advocates

Brave Americans remember that you are not alone. All you need is the conviction in your heart and mind to safeguard our nation’s future.  As John F. Kennedy said

‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.’

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,–

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Taken from Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1833

America Will Not Fall! Prepare to Resist AND Overcome the Obama power grab.

See Obamas Revenge

A view from an 80 year old

It has been awhile since I posted any of my own thoughts here as I watch and observe and listen to as many sides of all the arguments.  However today a friend sent me a link to this which I believe is appropriate for this blog:

Excerpt from Lee Iacocca’s New Book “Where Are All the Leaders”

From Chapter 1: Had Enough?

Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.”

Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don’t need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?

I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have.

My friends tell me to calm down. They say, “Lee, you’re eighty-two years old. Leave the rage to the young people.” I’d love to – as soon as I can pry them away from their iPods for five seconds and get them to pay attention. I’m going to speak up because it’s my patriotic duty. I think people will listen to me. They say I have a reputation as a straight shooter. So I’ll tell you how I see it, and it’s not pretty, but at least it’s real. I’m hoping to strike a nerve in those young folks who say they don’t vote because they don’t trust politicians to represent their interests. Hey, America, wake up. These guys work for us.

WHO ARE THESE GUYS, ANYWAY?

Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them – or at least some of us did. But I’ll tell you what we didn’t do. We didn’t agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn’t agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that’s a dictatorship, not a democracy.

And don’t tell me it’s all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That’s an intellectually lazy argument, and it’s part of the reason we’re in this stew. We’re not just a nation of factions. We’re a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together.

Where are the voices of leaders who can inspire us to action and make us stand taller? What happened to the strong and resolute party of Lincoln? What happen ed to the courageous, populist party of FDR and Truman? There was a time in this country when the voices of great leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better. Where have all the leaders gone?

THE TEST OF A LEADER

I’ve never been Commander in Chief, but I’ve been a CEO. I understand a few things about leadership at the top. I’ve figured out nine points – not ten (I don’t want people accusing me of thinking I’m Moses). I call them the “Nine Cs of Leadership.” They’re not fancy or complicated. Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have. We should look at how the current administration stacks up. Like it or not, this crew is going to be around until January 2009. Maybe we can learn something before we go to the polls in 2008. Then let’s be sure we use the leadership test to screen the candidates who say they want to run the country. It’s up to us to choose wisely.

So, here’s my C list:

A leader has to show CURIOSITY. He has to listen to people outside of the “Yes, sir” crowd in his inner circle. He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place. George W. Bush brags about never reading a newspaper. “I just scan the headlines,” he says. Am I hearing this right? He’s the President of the United States and he never reads a newspaper? Thomas Jefferson once said, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter.” Bush disagrees. As long as he gets his daily hour in the gym, with Fox News piped through the sound system, he’s ready to go.

If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he doesn’t put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he’s right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don’t care. Before the 2006 election, George Bush made a big point of saying he didn’t listen to the polls. Yeah, that’s what they all say when the polls stink. But maybe he should have listened, because 70 percent of the people were saying he was on the wrong track. It took a “thumping” on election day to wake him up, but even then you got the feeling he wasn’t listening so much as he was calculating how to do a better job of convincing everyone he was right.

A leader has to be CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be willing to try something different. You know, think outside the box. George Bush prides himself on never changing, even as the world around him is spinning out of control. God forbid someone should accuse him of flip-flopping. There’s a disturbingly messianic fervor to his certainty. Senator Joe Biden recalled a conversation he had with Bush a few months after our troops marched into Baghdad. Joe was in the Oval Office outlining his concerns to the President – the explosive mix of Shiite and Sunni, the disbanded Iraqi army, the problems securing the oil fields. “The President was serene,” Joe recalled. “He told me he was sure that we were on the right course and that all would be well ‘Mr. President,’ I finally said, ‘how can you be so sure when you don’t yet know all the facts?’” Bush then reached over and put a steadying hand on Joe’s shoulder. “My instincts,” he said, “My instincts.” Joe was flabbergasted. He told Bush, “Mr. President, your instincts aren’t good enough.” Joe Biden sure didn’t think the matter was settled. And, as we all know now, it wasn’t.

Leadership is all about managing change – whether you’re leading a company or leading a country. Things change, and you get creative. You adapt. Maybe Bush was absent the day they covered that at Harvard Business School.

A leader has to COMMUNICATE. I’m not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting sound bites. I’m talking about facing reality and telling the truth. Nobody in the current administration seems to know how to talk straight anymore. Instead, they spend most of their time trying to convince us that things are not really as bad as they seem. I don’t know if it’s denial or dishonesty, but it can start to drive you crazy after a while. Communication has to start with telling the truth, even when it’s painful. The war in Iraq has been, among other things, a grand failure of communication. Bush is like the boy who didn’t cry wolf when the wolf was at the door. After years of being told that all is well, even as the casualties and chaos mount, we’ve stopped listening to him.

A leader has to be a person of CHARACTER. That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing. Abraham Lincoln once said, “If you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” George Bush has a lot of power. What does it say about his character? Bush has shown a willingness to take bold action on the world stage because he has the power, but he shows little regard for the grievous consequences. He has sent our troops (not to mention hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens) to their deaths – for what? To build our oil reserves? To avenge his daddy because Saddam Hussein once tried to have him killed? To show his daddy he’s tougher? The motivations behind the war in Iraq are questionable, and the execution of the war has been a disaster. A man of character does not ask a single soldier to die for a failed policy.

A leader must have COURAGE. I’m talking about balls. (That even goes for female leaders.) Swagger isn’t courage. Tough talk isn’t courage. George Bush comes from a blue-blooded Connecticut family, but he likes to talk like a cowboy. You know, My gun is bigger than your gun. Courage in the twenty-first century doesn’t mean posturing and bravado. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk.

If you’re a politician, courage means taking a position even when you know it will cost you votes. Bush can’t even make a public appearance unless the audience has been handpicked and sanitized. He did a series of so-called town hall meetings last year, in auditoriums packed with his most devoted fans. The questions were all softballs.

To be a leader you’ve got to have CONVICTION – a fire in your belly. You’ve got to have passion. You’ve got to really want to get something done. How do you measure fire in the belly? Bush has set the all-time record for number of vacation days taken by a U.S. President – four hundred and counting. He’d rather clear brush on his ranch than immerse himself in the business of governing. He even told an interviewer that the high point of his presidency so far was catching a seven-and-a-half-pound perch in his hand-stocked lake.

It’s no better on Capitol Hill. Congress was in session only ninety-seven days in 2006. That’s eleven days less than the record set in 1948, when President Harry Truman coined the term do-nothing Congress. Most people would expect to be fired if they worked so little and had nothing to show for it. But Congress managed to find the time to vote itself a raise. Now, that’s not leadership.

A leader should have CHARISMA. I’m not talking about being flashy. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you. It’s the ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust him. That’s my definition of charisma. Maybe George Bush is a great guy to hang out with at a barbecue or a ball game. But put him at a global summit where the future of our planet is at stake, and he doesn’t look very presidential. Those frat-boy pranks and the kidding around he enjoys so much don’t go over that well with world leaders. Just ask German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who received an unwelcome shoulder massage from our President at a G-8 Summit. When he came up behind her and started squeezing, I thought she was going to go right through the roof.

A leader has to be COMPETENT. That seems obvious, doesn’t it? You’ve got to know what you’re doing. More important than that, you’ve got to surround yourself with people who know what they’re doing. Bush brags about being our first MBA President. Does that make him competent? Well, let’s see. Thanks to our first MBA President, we’ve got the largest deficit in history, Social Security is on life support, and we’ve run up a half-a-trillion-dollar price tag (so far) in Iraq. And that’s just for starters. A leader has to be a problem solver, and the biggest problems we face as a nation seem to be on the back burner.

You can’t be a leader if you don’t have COMMON SENSE. I call this Charlie Beacham’s rule. When I was a young guy just starting out in the car business, one of my first jobs was as Ford’s zone manager in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. My boss was a guy named Charlie Beacham, who was the East Coast regional manager. Charlie was a big Southerner, with a w arm drawl, a huge smile, and a core of steel. Charlie used to tell me, “Remember, Lee, the only thing you’ve got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense. If you don’t know a dip of horseshit from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you’ll never make it.” George Bush doesn’t have common sense. He just has a lot of sound bites. You know – Mr. they’ll-welcome-us-as-liberators -no-child-left-behind-heck-of-a-job -Brownie-mission-accomplished Bush.

Former President Bill Clinton once said, “I grew up in an alcoholic home. I spent half my childhood trying to get into the reality-based world – and I like it here.”

I think our current President should visit the real world once in a while.

THE BIGGEST C IS CRISIS

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It’s easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else’s kids off to war when you’ve never se en a battlefield yourself. It’s another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. Where was George Bush? He was reading a story about a pet goat to kids in Florida when he heard about the attacks. He kept sitting there for twenty minutes with a baffled look on his face. It’s all on tape. You can see it for yourself. Then, instead of taking the quickest route back to Washington and immediately going on the air to reassure the panicked people of this country, he decided it wasn’t safe to return to the White House. He basically went into hiding for the day – and he told Vice President Dick Cheney to stay put in his bunker. We were all frozen in front of our TVs, scared out of our wits, waiting for our leaders to tell us that we were going to be okay, and there was nobody home. It took Bush a couple of days to get his bearings and devise the right photo op at Ground Zero.

That was George Bush’s moment of truth, and he was paralyzed. And what did he do when he’d regained his composure? He led us down the road to Iraq – a road his own father had considered disastrous when he was President. But Bush didn’t listen to Daddy. He listened to a higher father. He prides himself on being faith based, not reality based. If that doesn’t scare the crap out of you, I don’t know what will.

A HELL OF A MESS

So here’s where we stand. We’re immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We’re running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We’re losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: “Where have all the leaders gone?” Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We’ve spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone’s hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn’t happen again. Now, that’s just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you’re going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when “the Big Three” referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen – and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn’t elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bobblehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don’t you guys show some spine for a change?

HAD ENOUGH?

Hey, I’m not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I’m trying to light a fire. I’m speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America. In my lifetime I’ve had the privilege of living through some of America’s greatest moments. I’ve also experienced some of our worst crises – the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this: You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it’s building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That’s the challenge I’m raising in this book. It’s a call to action for people who, like me, believe in America. It’s not too late, but it’s getting pretty close. So let’s shake off the horseshit and go to work. Let’s tell ‘em all we’ve had enough.

Copyright © 2007 by Lee Iacocca & Associates, Inc., a California Corporation

Political Media

After two years of Presidential election coverage by the news media, I wish they would shut up.  Sounds harsh, I know, but it seems like both those on the left and on the right are continuing to be too political because of their own selfish desires for ratings.  It’s a lazy way of providing content for their 3 hour radio talk shows and 24/7 cable news networks.  There is so much more that needs exposure besides what our president might do, and what it might mean to us.  Right now, this president hasn’t done all that much that is different than our previous commander in chief.

In Washington it is still business as usual.

In my minds eye, the over involvement of the federal government in our lives began at least 60 years ago and continues to get worse.  Untangling the mess will take time and most likely not occur in my lifetime the way I would like to see it.

Should we stop paying attention? No.  Should the media add more diversity in their news reporting? Yes.  After all a steady diet of only your favorite food can grow tiring.  And two years of listening to these media talking heads is enough for awhile.

Remember the sense of unity we had in the days following 9/11/2001?

We need that right now.

The End, The Beginning, The Future

Tuesday January 20, 2009, 12 noon.

The End of 8 years of the Presidency of George W. Bush. The Beginning of 4 or more years of the Presidency of Barrack H. Obama.

Nothing else will change that day. You and I do not live in a start/stop/start world with strong divisions based on who is in the White House.

We will still be living with the changes that were started during the previous administrations.

For example, when I was born, Eisenhower was President. Ike sponsored and signed the Civil Rights Bill of 1957 and gave birth to the Interstate Highway system a year earlier. Click here for more info.

The first Presidential Election I was old enough to vote in was 1980. Ronald Reagan won and served for eight years and I found a list of accomplishments online that you can read by clicking here.

During the financial meltdown, there was enough finger pointing that we ran out of fingers. Some pointed to the Clintons, some pointed to the Republicans, some pointed to the Democrats, some pointed to Congress, others pointed to greedy capitalists, others pointed to a broken educational system that failed to teach people how to manage their own debt.

The world has been looking for change. We will get change, slowly, one step at a time. Each change will be praised and criticized. The problem is not going to be fixed by the President, Congress, or any organization either non-profit, government sponsored or privately funded.

The answers are within each of us. Ideas come from people. Change comes from individuals. Test this theory right now.

Here are dates that are more significant in my life than anything government related:

December 11th, September 18, September 12, November 15, April 12, March 17.

Those dates include 2 weddings and 4 birthdays. Each of those events were life changing. I bet you would agree when you look at your own life.

The future will have it’s share of joys and disappointments. Please get involved in your own future and do not depend on our elected officials to change your life, do it yourself. It’s the American way.

Robin Hood is coming

Actually, he’s already arrived, long before I was born.  I stumbled across this cartoon today.

An Election Year Wrap-up

I got this in my email today: