Watching Dinesh D’souza’s ‘America, Imagine a world without her’ has given me a new respect for this county.
Shortly after becoming a citizen, I was shocked to find the amount of corruption that goes on in day to day politics in this nation, and how far it has sunk over the last few decades. I was reading articles from all kinds of different subjects, and to be honest I was confused. I was upset that this nation’s citizens had allowed this country to falter. But it is only recently that I have found out just how deep the progressives have penetrated this nation, and how they have done so through an encroaching fashion.
It was only by watching Dinesh’s movie ‘America’ that I found out that Howard Zinn was a communist, and that half of all slave owners were black. The native Indians were mostly wiped out by disease, in a similar way that large swaths of Europeans were during the plague. Mexico was entirely taken over by America, but half of it was given back. Mexicans are forever trying to get into this county, but Americans never try to illegally move to Mexico.
What Dinesh D’souza successfully does in his movie, is debunk the progressive’s rallying cry about inequality and oppression. The progressives try to get you to feel bad about the way you live, so that you’ll follow their warped sense of ideals.
America is the only country on earth where you can come from any walk of life and be treated the same. America is the only country where we call our waiters ‘sir’. America is the only country where you can go from rags to riches, and still be treated as royalty, no matter what your background.
America is the only nation born out of liberty.
Just look at the declaration of independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The constitution and the bill of rights were designed to keep our liberties in check for centuries to come, no matter how bad an administration may become. Today we see our amendments standing up to the tyrannical winds from the progressive movement.
If enough people stand up for what is right, for what they believe in, and for what our founders fought for, then no one can take these freedoms away from us.
America is beautiful, not because of its geographical location, but because of its ideals. Stand up and be heard, and do not let these progressives, who are really in the minority, stand in the way.
Last weekend my wife and I drove down to the local tree farm ‘Green Acres‘ to see what was available and if they had any discounts for the off-season. Sure enough, they had a 40% sale on all their trees. We looked at the ones we were interested in, and promised to return once we had figured out how many we needed. We spent the rest of the day measuring out our yard and all the permanent fixtures in it, including the sheds, trees, concrete pathways and leech lines. We drew a to-scale diagram of everything on our property and figured out just what we needed to add additional privacy to our little piece of earth.
On Sunday, we returned to the tree farm and placed an order for nine trees, including six arborvitaes, two white pines, and a fat albert. Since they were already booked, they couldn’t deliver them that day, but promised to deliver first thing the next day. They gave us some little flags to place in the yard, and told us they would place the trees by them. Sure enough the next day when I was on break at work, my wife had sent me a text message to say they had arrived right before she left for work, and that the trees looked fantastic. I checked the weather and saw that the weather was going to plummet that night and snow was forecast. I stayed late anyway, completing additional projects, and got home right as it got dark. Having thought ahead the day before, I had pre-dug the holes for the trees where the flags were placed.
I pulled into the garage, set my belongings on the table and ate a quick dinner with my wife. We found the headlights from our camping gear and I threw on some camo pants and a rain jacket, and set to work lowering the trees, straightening them up, and burying them in the ground while my wife judged how straight they were.
The temperature was plummeting, but with just a thermal undershirt and a jacket over top, I was sweating. I wanted to get all nine trees into the ground and firmly packed in before the temperature dropped below zero. It was tiring work, but in just under three hours I had all nine trees firmly packed into the ground, just as the first snow flakes began to fall. We gave them a couple buckets worth of water each and I stumbled into the house to take a hot shower before going to bed.
I woke up in the morning, stiff and sore, but elated to see what looked like Christmas outside. There was a light dusting of snow covering our newly planted trees, and the yard looked amazing.
Some people wonder how my wife and I have such an amazing life. It’s simple really, we go to extraordinary lengths to create it. We don’t allow life to happen to us. We create it with every step we take. In this case, we bought evergreen trees in an off season to get a deep discount, and I buried them in the dark after a long shift at work just to get them ready before the snow fell. If you want an extraordinary life, you have to do extraordinary things.
“life is without meaning, you bring the meaning to it” – Joseph Campbell
Well it’s been a hectic past couple of weeks. I wrote about the previous week in my last article, and this past week has been busy too, with end of quarter at work, and with a wedding on Saturday.
I got a chance to relax on Sunday and sit in the hot-tub at my in-laws house. While I was allowing the warm water to relax my muscles and the jets to massage the stress away, I was thinking about the past few weeks and about the future.
The reason I get into politics, is because I can see an erosion of freedom and responsibility in daily life. It is because of this that I argue my points across and try to make sense of it all.
When I take part in life, particularly when I take pictures of families at weddings, I’m not thinking about all the silly politics that goes on. I’m thinking of the meaning of life, and all the family and friends who are supporting the new couple. I’m thinking about how happy everyone is, and how to capture their smiles in the most natural way possible without them even realizing it.
I found out this morning that the father of the bride of one of our previous weddings, died on Saturday, around the same time that we were taking pictures of a newly wed couple and their families dancing and having fun. It is with bitter irony that you realize how fragile life is, and that while one family is singing and dancing, another is going through the terrible pain of loss.
This is the second time this year that a close relative of a newly wed couple has died shortly after us taking the last pictures of them. Its a haunting feeling to know that you took the last ever picture of them alive. The comforting aspect is that you know that you captured a memory of them for the family to treasure even long after they are gone.
With the birth of my second nephew, and the thoughts of starting a family of my own, I return to the political spectrum and wonder how much of a future there will be in the world without peace.
If the death of one person can upset so many people, how would a huge war make you feel? When you realize that many thousands of people die in conflict each year.
If we cannot balance a budget or restrict government growth, if we cannot stop the lobbyists and the corrupt politicians from sending our young men out to war, and continue to restrict growth through legislation. Then how much of a future will there be, not just for us, but for the world?
A friend sent me an email this morning of the space shuttle discovery. It shows the cockpit, and all the instruments. After many conversations with him about Star Trek and space travel, it seems as if we are going backwards as a civilization. Why are we not out there traveling the solar system? Why are we constantly bombing each other and starting wars? Why do we have a ‘war on drugs’? Why can’t we just leave each other alone, and only punish those who actually literally harm others?
Why do we feel the need to use the government as a way to redistribute wealth? Why do we feel the need to use the government to create benefit programs, when charities are perfectly capable of taking care of those in need?
Life has no meaning unless you bring meaning to it. When you are born, you are an empty vessel. It is up to your parents to teach you how to walk and talk. After that, it is up to you to continue the learning process. It is up to you to advance yourself. It is up to you not to hold yourself back. You must do what you feel is right. You must hold yourself to your own highest moral standards.
Life moves forward when you cherish it, and advance yourself through productive means. When you embrace knowledge and creativity, when you learn all that you can, and work toward your goals. You can and will achieve anything.
When you reject the old, the useless, the warn out policies of the past, and embrace new ideas built upon the learning of successes throughout the world, then you will have achieved a bright new future in which anything is possible.
I reject the two party system in politics because it is broken and it does not work. From an outside perspective, and can say they are almost identical.
I reject war because it is a racket. I am perfectly capable of defending myself.
I embrace the US constitution, because it is the most well written document to protect and embrace freedoms that the world has ever seen.
I embrace liberty and free markets because they allow the individual to create whatever he or she desires, and then sell that product to others to enhance their own lives.
I embrace value, true value, because if you value your life, the lives of others, the value of the inventions created by men of the mind.
I embrace new technologies. These new technologies were invented, and without them, we would still live in caves and would not have a civilization to begin with.
I embrace nature, because nature is abundant, and everything erupts forth from it.
I embrace respect. Because without it, fights ensue, and ideas get squashed. It is not the better idea that succeeds in battle, but the person with the largest hammer. Battles are necessary from time to time, but logic should always be supported by fact, and then brought forward as the successor.
Life has meaning when you bring meaning to it. What is the meaning of your life? What have you done today? What have you done to enhance and enrich your own life? And in turn, what have you done to enhance and enrich the lives of those around you?
Your hard work pays off when you keep going despite bumps in the road. Sometimes you have to stop and alter your course slightly, or even go off road, but if you stay on track you will get to your destination.
When was the last time you looked up at the stars? Can you imagine a better future?
What did you do to make your life happy today?
Are you living a happy life?
We live for our own happiness. If we are not happy, or able to find contentment, then our lives are wasted. You only get one shot at life. So make it a good one.
Actually, most of the time it doesn’t go by slowly at all.
Last week I put in about 55 hours at my day job, after having shot a wedding the previous weekend. During the middle of the week my second nephew was born, and though I had more sleep than the rest of the family, there were a couple of nights where I only got a couple of hours. Thursday I went to a Tea Party rally where the vice president for research at the FED in Cleveland gave a speech, and I took notes (an article to follow!) and Saturday was filled with errands.
Yesterday however I did get some rest. After my wife and I woke up and had breakfast, she went to work and I took an hour to sit outside and drink my coffee and just enjoy the cool early autumn air. I reflected on life, the past week, and our plans for the future.
If the world doesn’t blow itself up by the end of the year, and this country doesn’t declare martial law and become a complete police state, I would like to have kids of my own. I now have two nephews, one from my sister and one now from my sister in law. Both boys are healthy and strong of mind. One is only 5 days old, and the other is 2 1/2 years old.
I get into battles on this blog, and I express my viewpoints so that there might be a future for them. It’s what any good uncle or citizen would do. I’m more afraid of them growing up into a life of servitude than the iron fist of the state coming after me.
If we (as a nation or as the world) can get through the next few months, and if we can begin getting back on track, I would like children of my own. Life is going well for my wife and I right now, but there will never be a perfect time to have kids. There will always be troubles in the world. My grandparents grew up during the second world war and witnessed bombs fall on their neighbors houses while Canterbury burned in the distance. My grandparents and their generation went through a lot growing up, and yet they turned out to be one of the strongest generations out there.
Time very rarely goes by slowly, but every once in a while you get to enjoy a few slow moments. Life speeds up as you go along so it’s important to enjoy it while it lasts!
After the Tea Party on Tuesday, I wrote the article about Rick Santorum. In my opinion, based on facts and common sense, Ron Paul is the only candidate who has the credentials necessary to lead this country and I endorse him for the presidency. Guys like Rick Santorum have no place in leading this country. Your political record stays with you forever, and his stinks!
After I posted the article on Wednesday, life caught up with me at breakneck speed. I have a draft post for an article on Glenn Beck and Israel. It is long and complicated. Basically; I do not believe we should pay any special interests to this UN mandated country which took over land formally held by Palestinians. Glenn talks about Israel being a bastion of democracy. But if anything it is a provoker of many of the wars in the Middle East, and does nothing to stabilize the region. I also find it very troubling that many of the presidential candidates are sponsored by the American Israel super pacs, all the while Israel and these Israel backed candidates are propping up and sponsoring the ideas of bombing Iran. As I have mentioned before, bombing Iran would be a very foolish thing to do, and could trigger WWIII, or simply a massive default on our currency.
There are many problems right now. And what troubles me is that Glenn may actually not be who we think he is. I see it as one of two ways; he is an agent of blatant misinformation, riding on the side of liberty while acting as its destroyer. Or he is simply and helplessly flawed in his thinking on the Middle East and the rationale behind supporting Israel and religious bigotry.
Like I said; the article I have drafted is long and needs a lot of work. But always keep in mind that the hero does often become the villain (read the hero with a thousand faces) and that many people can be wrong in some areas while right in many others.
I like Glenn’s exposure of progressives and all the links between those in power and the organizations and special interests that support them. But I find it troublesome that he supports special interests of his own.
Over the next week I will be extremely busy. I am designing a website and putting together an online store for a company I am helping to set up. Aside from Super Tuesday; where I’ll be gathering signatures for the Ohio Workplace Freedom Amendment, my time will be completely booked.
I’ll continue to contribute more blogs in the future, though not as many as previously at this point in time.
Always question everything around you. Never accept what others say simply because they are right on most issues. You never know for sure until you do the research for yourself.
“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.” -Thomas Jefferson
And Remember;
“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.” – Thomas Jefferson
Today is my nephew’s 2nd birthday. My sister is three years younger than me and had just turned 19 when she gave birth to him.
My sister and her husband are now very happy together with their young son. They might not have a two pennies to rub together, but they are happy and their little family is full of life.
My cousin got pregnant at just 16 years old. She kept the baby, and I can honestly say that it was the best thing that ever happened to her. Today her daughter is 14 years old, and one of the smartest young ladies I have met.
A woman should have a right to her own body, but abortions should not be taken lightly, and neither should sex. Too often sex is seen as casual. There is nothing casual about giving birth and raising a child. Equally there is nothing casual about having a small fetus sucked out and dropped in a bucket to be disposed of like a piece of garbage.
Joseph Campbell said that people should know what the hell they’re doing when they commit to having sex. And it is a commitment. It is not simply some act that makes you feel good. You are literally connected to the other person, and that connect is designed to reproduce. If you are not willing to accept the consequences of your actions, perhaps you should choose your actions more wisely.
Morality is the choice you make when it comes to keeping or ‘getting rid’ of the baby. Where are you morals? Do you have any? A society without morals is a very sad place to live in, as it is often in a state of decay.
Societies are based on morals. A common thread that binds people to a common goal. Without our morals we have no compass and are left wondering in the wilderness.
And so there is your paradox. You can choose to ‘abort’ the baby, but you will not abort the feelings you will inevitably have down the road for having aborted it. How shallow will your life become when you realize that you are a destroyer of it? And should you not have thought about the consequences when you committed the act of sexual intercourse?
Personally, from family experience, and because I take my life seriously when it comes to making key decisions. I have decided that I am pro life.
As for you. That is for you to decide. What are your morals? And do you take responsibility for your own actions?
For those that do take responsibility for their actions, even if the outcome is not what you had planned for or expected; congratulations. For those that don’t take responsibility, and instead use modern science to avoid reality; you’ll have to live with the moral consequences that you’ll feel later down the road.
Shouldn’t the young women who ‘accidentally’ get pregnant, try to find a couple to adopt the baby? If she really does not want to raise it. There are many couples who dream of having children, but are unable to.
There are many arguments on the issue of abortion, and personally I believe that all life is precious, no matter how young and fragile.
Today is my Mum’s birthday. She is now in her mid 50’s but she doesn’t look a day over 40. She has always been very good at dealing with life, and has always had a smile on her face. When I was growing up, she always managed to read about one book a week, while keeping the house clean and tidy, looking after my sister and I and working a part time job so that we could go on family vacations and do all the little extras in life. My dad always had a steady job, but with inflation, rising costs, and the ever increasing mountain of bills that comes with having children, bills were always a bit tight.
I get on well with my parents, but like any family, we have our differences. In fact, I’m somewhat of a black swan. My viewpoints differ greatly from that of my family, and my lifestyle is somewhat more extravagant, due to my ever consistent urge to find out more about the world around me and travel to every place possible. My mother and father did however give me a solid upbringing and life was always well structured. I thank my parents for the life that they gave me growing up. I always had room to grow and they gave me air to breathe. They let me go ride my mountain bike 4 miles into town when I turned 13, and they let me fly out to visit my girlfriend in the US, 4000 miles away when I had just turned 17. On riding my bike into town so that I could visit my friends and go dirt jumping, they told me that the only conditions were that I behaved myself, I was as careful as possible and that I returned before dark. I must admit a couple of times it was dusk by the time I got home and my dad did scold me for that. But, one of the most wonderful things my dad ever said to me was when I was only about 7 or 8 years old. I was asking about what I should be when I grew up. I asked about different trades and jobs that I had heard of, what they involved, how much they made. And then I asked what he and my mum wanted me to be. My dad said “son, you can be whatever you want to be. I want you to do whatever it is you want in life. So long as it makes you happy. I don’t care if you become a doctor or a street cleaner, so long as you’re happy in life, that’s all that matters to me.” Those words have defined my life. I know that he could not perceive where I would end up in life, or that I would move to another country to marry the girl of my dreams. How can anyone ever tell exactly what their kids will end up doing in life?
My parents have always been very supportive, but they’ve never just given me money to do whatever I wanted. My mountain bike dirt jumping had progressed from the age of 13 to 15, and I had already broken two bikes. It was time for me to upgrade and get some stronger parts to build myself a worthy trail bike. I asked my dad how I could afford it, and he told me to get myself a part time job. And so I did. I worked a paper route every morning for the next year, and eventually I had a great bike that I had put together myself. I still ride that bike today.
I know that not everyone has great parents, and I know the tendency to rebel against them. I consider myself very lucky to have parents that were so supportive and let me be myself. I’ve known a lot of parents to be very demanding of their children. They insist that their kids do well in school, or that they take out the trash. While chores are understandable, especially in a busy household, and especially since it enforces responsibility in the child. I do wonder at the supposed wisdom of pressuring your child into ‘doing well’ in school. I think it is more important that you show your child what the world is really like, and what hard work is, and show them what an education about the world around you can do to enhance your life. Having watched shows such as ‘the Indy Chronicles’ I can honestly say that I have learned more from reading books and the act of doing or constructing something, than sitting in class listening to a teacher or writing out some essay.
Even if your parents do bare down on you, always honor them. Their intentions are always good, even if they are misplaced. When you leave home you can do whatever you like, but always remember the best parts of what your parents taught you. You can always discard the parts that you don’t like. I feel that so many people get caught up on the negatives in life, they forget to look at the positives. Always take the positives with you, and leave the negatives behind. The future is bright if your outlook is, and your past need never drag you down.
Honor your parents with the respect they deserve, and always bite your lip when they test your patience. Remember that they were very patient with you when you were born!
No matter what happens in the world around you. Your own self economy is the most important.
What have you done to reduce your debt? What can you pay off right now? Do you have a business? How do you make extra money? Do you diversify your income? Do you have any investments?
A couple of days ago I was talking to a friend at work, who is about my age, and he was telling me about ‘Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace’. Basically Dave talks about snowballing your debt, and creating an emergency savings account, and investing your money so that eventually you end up earning as much from your investments as you do from your job. This sounded very appealing to me, as my wife and I are already ‘snowballing’ our debt to be debt free by the end of this year. The teachings from ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ are starting to come back to me, and I am getting better at network marketing.
Now being a salesperson will not get you far if you are always trying to ‘sell’ someone something. Use something that will appeal to others without you having to ‘sell it’ to them.
I use a site called Peoplestring; it’s a free site that you can use to network market with other people. It’s sort of a dashboard for everything you do. You can use it for sending emails, creating your own widgets, or ‘insta portals’, you can use it to connect to Facebook and twitter. You can even use it to make extra cash with their ‘people dollar deals’. Like I said, I’ve been using it for two years now, and it’s free to join and free to use. They don’t spam you with mail, and it’s my homepage on every computer I use, because its so darn useful.
There are a whole range of options to help you become more financially independent.
My wife and I also have a photography company. We book a lot of weddings, and local photo shoots. This helps to subsidize our income, and is starting to make us independent of our jobs as our independent company grows.
Financial independence is important, it fully frees you from obligations to banks, government and other people.
We participate in the economy because it enhances our lives. We should never be forced to participate in it through necessity.
“I swear by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor have another man live for the sake of mine.” – John Galt, Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’.
So what are you doing to enhance your financial independence?
Whether you snowball debt, or create a business, becoming independent, or at least less dependent on the system, will help you to maintain your own individual sovereignty.
The industries of the future will become (like they were supposed to be) more of a choice than a neccessity, with our own love of technologies and the enhancement of our lives at our core reason for working.
I do pay some attention to the main news headlines. It’s hard not to, and I do like to diversify my knowledge on common news articles. Even though most headlines are used to cover up other truths in the world.
It is not surprising that Captain Francesco Schettino of the Costa Concordia jumped ship. In socialist societies you are taught to blame everyone else but yourself for the ills of the world. You are not taught individual responsibility and leadership.
When people ask; ‘what is wrong with the world?’ I simply say ‘read Atlas Shrugged’
People must take responsibilities for their own actions. The captain should have been the last person off that ship, and should have taken full charge of the evacuations. That is what being a leader is supposed to be.
It seems that gone are the days of chivalry and honor, but do not despair, the days of men who ignore reality will pass. Society will collapse in on itself without leaders to pave the way. Luckily there are still leaders, and their voices are growing, backed by the growing number of people who have nowhere else to turn, and will finally listen and participate.
Capitalism, free trade, relaxed rules, freedom of speech, these will all make a comeback, if you stand up and make yourself heard.
An essay written just a couple years ago, shows how many are starting to understand the principles of a free and just society, and that responsibility from each individual is key to all of societies success.
Here is an essay about responsibility, and why socialism always fails:
Are we not compassionate squirrels? Do we not provide healthcare to the young and old? Do we not provide care for those who cannot take care of themselves? Do we not provide funding for a military? Do we not educate our young?
The size of government is too large, and when everyone blames everyone else for their problems, and those who are capable ask to be helped out because they have allowed their minds to become weak, and will not take responsibility. When this happens atlas will shrug, the responsible will leave, and the producers will cease to produce.
Just think about how many companies have closed since this great recession started.
Just look at how politicians shift the blame.
Just look at how many people around you are looking for someone to take care of them.
And then ask yourself this; ‘why am I not helping myself?’.
Why are you not standing up? Why are you not speaking out? Why are you not reading books and educating yourself? Why are you looking for another leader who will spoon feed you when you are capable of feeding yourself?
Take charge of your life, or run your ship into the ground.
Becoming American 