Success Warrior: Alan B. Rowley II - Beachbody.com, P90X, Voluntaryism, Voluntarism

My Happy Days

Yesterday was a great day.

I went to lunch with a hot redhead and some friends.  I made a new friend, Rhonda.  We had wine and sushi and lots of laughs.  My unfriend Lisa was good for plenty of humor.

We met earlier enough that we could sit and visit for a couple of hours before walking to the arena for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert.

We were dead center on row 2 for another kick-ass concert.  They get better every year.  The violinists this year were great!

We went out for a quick bite to eat after the concert where my new friend and I dominated the conversation because she speaks Libertarian.  We had to cut the conversation short before we solved all of the country's problems but we're going to get together again.

Then we started our trip toward southern Utah.

This morning, we found ourselves on the outskirts of Zion's National Park for a family Thanksgiving.  We've been riding four-wheelers, I've taken lots of pics (which will have to wait until I get home to download), had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, fell asleep and missed Oakland's only touchdown, and had a piece of pie. 

No homework for two days in a row.  Yay!

I have more to say but I don't enjoy typing on the laptop so I'm going to cut this short.  I hope that everyone is having a great holiday with tasty food and great friends.

Last Night's Episode of V

By "last night's" I actually mean "tonight's" because this blog post is on a delayed release but by "tonight's", I mean the episode that was on my DVR and I have no actual idea of when it was actually broadcast.  Is that in any way clear?  How about, "The Most Recent Episode of V" as long as one hasn't aired between when I wrote this blog post and when I set it to be released.

Not coincidentally, when this blog post releases, it will be my birthday and I will be sitting on row 2 as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra starts their most-kick-ass concert ever.  I will have eaten a bit at a sushi place (that I've never tried but that's not important), shared some wine with some great friends, spent the first day of my vacation not doing a bit of homework at all, and will be quite content and excited as the lights dim and then flash brilliantly (if you've ever seen a TSO concert, you know what I'm talking about).  I'll be sitting next to my beautiful wife as we celebrate one of *our* traditions.  We see TSO every single year and this year we'll be doing it on row two with some great friends.  I have a blog post wandering around my mind about my wife but for now, let me just say that I would not be close to the man that I am without her.  She gives me the strength and support to just be me, and if you know me, that's saying a great deal.

As you read this, I will be in one of those places and times that makes life worth living.

Anyway, the episode of V.

The V start their universal health care and it's really cool except that there are long waiting times.  If you are connected, you can skip to the front of the line.  Being connected requires that you prove useful for the evil plans of the invaders.

In the show, the flu vaccine is poisonous and the good guys blow it up.

That's all I have to say about that for now.  It was the last episode for a couple of months. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back to the concert that TSO is putting on for my birthday.  Awfully kind of them, don't you think?

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What Did I Learn?

 
I had the last meeting of one of my classes today.  We had to answer the question: what did we learn from spending a day with a teacher?

I learned that I will not be teaching high school.

It goes against my personality and my values.

That's all for tonight.  We're packing for our trip tomorrow. 

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

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And If I Don't Agree?

Democrats are considering a 1% tax on everyone that makes between $30k-150k a year to help pay for the ongoing and escalating war in Afghanistan. 

"I have a great idea.  Let's tax the middle class to fund a war that they don't want to be involved in."

"Sounds good to me."

Obviously, if you disagree, umm, too bad.

This is one of the things that has lead me to Voluntaryism.  Even if this was a Democracy and the majority of the people believed in destroying other nations to take advantage of their location or resources, I would be against it.  If I had a choice, I would not fund it.  Now they are thinking about putting a gun to my head and taking another 1% for something that I don't want.  Then they'll go out and kill people in the name of America (of which, I am a part). 

Obviously, a better system would be to allow people that want to fund murder, let them but don't force me to fund murder.  

The problem that our rulers would have with that is that at least 60% of Americans would opt out of funding wars and the other 40% wouldn't be able to make up the difference.  The wars would end.  If this was a Voluntary society, there would be no war in Iraq.  Hell, if this was a Democracy, there would be no war in Iraq.

If the rulers decide to take more in taxes (and don't forget that taxes are going to be raised for health care too and for what ever else the rulers want to buy), I'll pay of course.  Protection money.  I'm not going to let them take away my house or throw me in jail.  I'd rather pay the protection money than have the IRS try to ruin life for me and my family. 

Luckily for us, we live pretty frugally and don't have any debt aside from a mortgage.  After our next move, we're going to pay off our mortgage as quickly as possible.  We want to get into the best position that we can. 

The next few years are probably going to be eye opening for a lot of people.  Our government is unsustainable but it's going to try hard to stay alive and it's going to have to destroy a lot of lives in the effort.  Sacrifices will have to made on the alter to appease the corporate gods.  Human sacrifices.  People are going to die, probably lots of them.  It's my goal to not have my family be numbered amongst them.

Some 20+ states are going to be raising unemployment taxes on businesses this year, some as high as 9 times more from last year.  When those taxes hit businesses, more people are going to lose their jobs.   I don't think people understand the government's magic money tree.  Unemployment benefits are great.  It's so nice that the government just hands out this free money.  How wonderful.  How kind.  Since the states lowered unemployment taxes during the good years, there wasn't enough to deal with the bad years and that money has to be made up somehow, while still in the bad years.  Obviously raising taxes on businesses is just going to mean more lost jobs.  That will raise the need for unemployment funds and, well, I'm sure you have it figured out.

I'm sure that you have also heard about the University of California raising tuition rates by 32% because they don't have funding anymore.  Good gawd!  People will either be blocked out of the system or have to incur that much more debt trying to get some kind of education.  We have a Prussian school system whose educational focus (the main focus, of course, is to teach blind obedience - or else, again, there would be no wars) is to prepare students for college, which they won't be able to afford, even if the failing system somehow manages to get them to pass the SAT.

Speaking of debt, here's a good question.  If the Federal Reserve is the only entity allowed to create money and all the money that it creates is lent out and then has to be repaid with interest, where does the interest come from?  If they only give out the principal and they are the only ones that can create money, where does the interest come from? 

If more people understood how the Fed worked, they would absolutely freak.  We are tax slaves and we can never, ever be free because there is no way to ever pay off the interest.  It will just keep building.  Inflation will continue to rise.  Debt will continue to rise.  Taxes will continue to rise.

Until it all gets to the breaking point.

Do you think we have enough troops to continue the illegal occupation of Iraq, surge in Afghanistan, start a war with Iran, and suppress all insurrections at home?  Seems like something is going to have to break.

Back to my question.  And if I disagree with the wars and their funding?

For now, all I can do is bide my time, protect my family, and continue to point out what's happening.  Government only exists with the consent of the governed.  When enough people stop believing in the most pervasive religion in America, we can move on to real answers, and peace.

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

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7th Day; 7 Words

 

Make sure you're on the memorable list.

 

Leave your seven words in the comments.

Homework Help: Name the Artist

Need some serious help here.  Name the artist that belongs to each painting.

Californication

Short one today because I have to read and comment on Thoreau and Douglass today before going to work.

California is in a tough, tough spot financially.  Isn't everybody?  Anyway, Democrats want to raise taxes and Republicans want to reduce spending and there's a battle going on where no matter what happens, the people of California will end up losing. 

San Francisco is trying to figure out how to get by with reduced police and fire departments.  Something that hasn't happened yet but they are looking at it.

Statewide, they are trying to figure out what else can be cut from their failing school system and yet continue to get Federal money.

University of California is raising tuition by 32% to try to cover it's shortfall, which will likely make college unaffordable to a great many people.  Students are protesting and being arrested for protesting.

Finances have gotten so bad that the state was looking into the constitutionality of claiming bankruptcy or reverting back to being a federal territory.

California was able to get to the high priority stuff though.  They are banning the highest quality TVs from being sold in the state.  Out of work cops, firefighters, school teachers, and students will have to buy their TVs online now or spend their newly-found free time watching inferior sets.

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Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

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Double Dipped?

It's been a while since I've done a "They Really Said That?" post but yesterday I read something that not only fits the bill, it could be the poster child for this category for my blog.

Go read this article.  It's really short.  Go read it.  I'll wait.  It's only four sentences long.  Read it.

The reason it's only four sentences long is probably because the journalist didn't know what to add because it's so completely not related to reality.  What do you say when the people in the tinfoil hats tell you that commercial jets are spraying deadly chemicals over the people of Texas in order to enhance the effects of the flu vaccine that are designed to actually enhance the effects of the swine flu and by mid-December we are going to see deaths in the tens of thousands?

For those of you that still refused to read the article, here's four sentences condensed into one (because I'm so nice): Obama said that if the government helps in the economic recovery too much, it will cause a double-dip recession so don't expect any tax breaks.

He really said that? 

According to the Associated Press, yes.

You know, I could make it the full-time job of my blogging career to follow the Messiah around pointing out all the crap that he's spouting.  I don't want to do that because it would be like volunteering to be the guy that follows the horses in the parade with the big shovel every - single - day for three more years (and probably four more after that).  This one though is just too blatant of a horse-pie to let it lay there steaming. 

To quickly clarify, for those that don't know what a double-dip recession is, it's what's commonly referred to as a "W" recession where there is a drop off, some kind of recovery, then another drop off, and then the real recovery.  This double-dip recession, and there is going to be one without a doubt, is indeed due to the interference of the government except that it's for the EXACT OPPOSITE REASONS than the One has stated in this piece of shit article. 

May I once again take an aside and say how utterly useless our journalists are when they just pass this rubbish on to the people without adding the truth or at least asking the president some questions looking for the truth?  We might as well not even have an Associated Press if they are just going to release presidential propaganda.  Can't He do that on WhiteHouse.gov or something?   

Let's talk about this double-dipping action and let's pick one measure for simplicity (because I'm all about simplicity).  We'll use the stock market as our measure because it's a common thing to do.  Let's say, hypothetically speaking for our example, that the market was artificially inflated to the 14,000 mark.  At some point, the market is going to adjust itself to reality but will do so in a pendulum-swing motion, where the correction will be lower than the eventual ending point.  Let's say that in this case, the bottom swing of that first corrective action is going to take the market to 4,000.

For our example, let's say that the government decides to step in around the 8,000 mark to try to "fix it".  Why would they do this?  I have no idea.  Protect profits for their Wall Street masters?  Keep people from rioting in the streets because the government not only allowed this to happen (with all their watchdog 3-letter agencies turning a blind eye) or actually helped this to happen (with moral hazard playing a vital role in the policies of Fannie and Freddie).  I don't know.  Some of the rocket surgeons in Congress probably did it "cuz it's bad, and, you know, we don't like bad things, and, like, so, we had to do sumpin."

That sumpin comes in the form of printing up trillions of dollars of fiat money and handing it out as loans.  Stimulus packages, bailout bills, and cash for new pick up trucks that still get less than 20 mpg clunkers (which vehicle was the clunker? - the one they traded in or the one they picked up?). 

The hope, of course, is that while all this money is being pumped into the system, the rest of the bad stuff is still moving out of the system, creating some kind of balancing action.  In short, the hope is that this creates the bottom of the drop off.  It may stay flat at 8,000 for quite some time but they want to avoid the overshoot down to 4,000.

All the money is pumped in and the big companies that got to use the new money first show a profit.  Huzzah!  "The recession is over!" is trumpeted.  The great minds of Congress have done it with their innovative thinking and boldness.  They are heroes.

If, and this is a small "if" in this hypothetical case, Congress acted too soon or didn't do enough or didn't play it all out long enough for all the bad crap in the economy to completely play out, the numbers go south again and the recession continues creating the infamous W or double-dip.  All that money chucked into the system is like a commercial break of the recession.  The second downturn is a "we now return to our regularly scheduled program". 

There is no truth that government spending is causing the second downturn.  What the Messiah isn't saying is that the second downturn could actually be made worse because of the trillions of dollars flushed down the economic shitter in the hopes of avoiding reality.  But then again, He's not known for his honesty, is he?

The real question that is raised by this article is: what's coming next from the government?  No reduction in taxes but these kinds of blatant lies are put out early to shape thinking so that the next atrocity the government plays out, seems like the natural consequence.  Maybe to just take the blame off the government?  Make it seem like they tried too hard?  Justify the use of the trillions even though it didn't work?

I don't know. 

In a way, the lies of the politicians and the ineptitude of the lapdog journalists makes it very interesting to read the news.  It's a puzzle.  There is some truth in there somewhere.  There is a real story.  We just have to dig around and look for other sources and use our own reasoning power to find it. 

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Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

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My Advice for China

Don't listen to Obama. 

Actually, this is good advice for the entire world and the people who would benefit the most from this advice are right here at home but let's focus on China, since that's where the media has taken us this week.

Obama has encouraged the People of China to swipe their debit cards more freely in order to help his corporate cohorts the global economy.  See, unlike Americans who had a negative savings rate until the recession showed them their folly, the People of China have a savings rate of 20%.  If they would spend some of that, the whole world would spin more freely, colorful butterflies would flutter in the sunlight, and life would be good.

Or, the Chinese could end up like Americans, wondering how to keep making their house payments and feed their kids. 

I doubt that the irony of the advice was lost on the Chinese.  China is on its way to becoming the #1 power in the world.  America is headed in the opposite direction and many people think that when the dollar fails, the Empire will collapse fairly quickly.  There are some that think that America is headed toward being a third world country.

I'm more optimistic than that.  The government is going to keep growing and keep trying to gain more control, keep it's trend toward socialism.  I don't think that the American people are going to accept that though.  As the United States continues to drop down the list of countries claiming to give their citizens Freedom, people are going to rise up.  At least, that's what I think.  I don't think that Americans are going to let the government destroy everything.  Not because they have anything against the government but because they were programmed to be consumers.  The government and the large corporations spends trillions of dollars programming the citizens to be consumers and that is going to come back on them. 

Anyway, China is the up and coming economic powerhouse and has a large military.  America's economy is in the shitter and even though Obama said the recession is over, the reality is that there have been a bunch of artificial measures put in place so that Obama could pose on an aircraft carrier with a "Mission Accomplished" banner behind him.  All the economists and market analysts that I have read say that these measures will only have a temporary effect and that when they wear off, the recession will continue as planned (and will probably be worse because of the cost of the artificial measures to stop it).  The market is powerful and can't be steered by whimsical means.  We still haven't felt the other shoe drop in the Commercial Real Estate market and there are some that don't think the Residential Real Estate shoe has actually dropped all the way yet either. 

To have a president ruling over such a catastrophic phase in a country's history, a catastrophe that was caused by spending too much money at all levels (personal, business, and government), come over to your country and tell you to spend more money has to be something to joke about at night. 

The irony of a broke president pretending to know about money, I'm sure, wasn't lost on them.  The irony of him trying to convince them that censorship is a bad thing is not lost on me.

We have half a dozen corporate media outlets that are used to shape public opinion, matched up with a government indoctrination school system.  Bills are introduced every legislative session to try and rein in the Internets in some way.  While the Messiah tries to preach Freedom of Speech to the Chinese, the American government is trying to find ways to censor the information being released.

I've already said that it's a pointless task so I won't belabor it from America's perspective.  People aren't going to give up their Internet and there is no way for the government to stop wireless data from being transmitted around the world.  Black markets would spring up so fast that there would be no way to stop them.  The same thing is going to happen in China.  The Chinese government is going to fail to censor the information.  They can't stop it forever.  Not going to happen.  Iran has tried and failed.  The Internets is here to stay and is going to be easier and easier to access for everyone around the planet.

Instead of having a bankrupt leader trying to give advice, maybe the people can learn from each other.  Maybe there is a lesson to be learned from adhering to the values of savings, family, and education.  I think the days of American presidents going around the world telling other countries how to live is coming to an end.  They can't turn around and point back to America and say, "See how good we do it."  As they continue to allow corporations to run the country, we move away from Freedom and Prosperity.  People will be going to work just to support the government and the biggest corporations. 

Can the corporations ever get "enough"?  Our government creates laws and regulations to reduce competition for them, creates laws that require citizens to spend money, and when all that isn't enough, they just hand tax money over to the corporations.  This is something that can't go on forever.

If the national focus was instead on savings, family, and education, corporations would still make a profit and it would be sustainable.  Right now, there is an effort to somehow restore everyone's credit so that people can keep buying shit at artificially high levels again.  We would be so much better off if the message from the schools and media was about a solid foundation.  Right now, it's all about recklessness and we're reaping the results of that programming.  Trying to get back to that level of recklessness is crazy.  Encouraging the Chinese to do the same thing is just shameful.

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

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Still Nursing a Cold

So,

My brain is still too much of a fog to do a serious post.  I have no idea what grabbed a hold of me but dah-ummm.  I've had two nights of very little sleep and my nose has finally been brought to a slow dribble with the use of Nyquil (hence the foggy brain - well, more than normal).

I was able to get my art homework in today, which is good because this class is the one that I'm doing the worst in.  My scores have gotten better as I've figured out what the teacher wanted.  That's always the catch isn't it?  You have to find out what the teacher likes to see and then head in that direction.

I've been lucky that my education instructor has an open mind because most of my discussions in that class have an opinion that is directly opposite of the rest of the class.  Have I mentioned that I most likely will not be teaching at the high school level.  It seems so stressful, at least around here.

First, there's the compulsory side of it.  Kids are conscripted to work for the government for 12 years (and without pay, no less - how rude!) and teachers have to deal with the fact that the kids in many cases are little more than prisoners.  Corporal punishment is on the decline so acting out is on the incline.  You can force a kid to be in the school but you can't force him to do his work.

With NCLB, the fate of the teacher's job rests on the willingness of the prisoners to work hard enough to pass tests.  That's got to be stressful.  I wouldn't think that the school would get rid of all the teachers but I suppose it could happen.  There have been a couple of schools in California that went 0 for 5 years and so the schools were given over to a private company to run.  The article that I read didn't mention if the teachers were kept on or given the boot.

Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent that I hadn't planned on going on.

"Hello, this is Captain Nyquil speaking.  I've turned off the seat belt sign and the flight attendants will be bringing around drinks . . ."

"I hope they have Hot Toddies."

"If you look out the left, you'll see, whoa, hold up, look out the right and see a mild rant about the failing school system in America.  Okay, where was I?"

I'm caught up on my art homework for the week and with a whole 4 hours to spare.  Of course, I have a class at 5pm and City Council at 7pm so it had to be done at least a little bit early.  No squeaking it in there.  Now, I have to start working ahead because there is no break for Thanksgiving but I'm going out of town.  I'm also not planning on doing any school work on my birthday (after all, what kind of birthday would that be?) so I am going to have to bust a move (do people still say "bust a move"?) and get ahead in all my classes. 

Good thing I don't have a raging cold or it might make me a bit sluggish and make the whole effort of working ahead in 5 classes that much more difficult.  Tonight will be a little bit more art work where I can fit it in but first, there is going to be a bit of Trey time.

I received GI Joe from Netflix.  Wonder if he'll want to watch that.  Sitting on the couch is about as adventurous as I'm going to get today.  I am not looking forward to City Council.  Looks like a full agenda too.

Time to go pick Trey up from school.  Have a great day!

***

Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

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