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The most effective way for you to stay safe from terrorism

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stop terror, turn off tv

After the shooting at the Connecticut elementary school, I’ve been thinking of security. HL Menken said, “Most people want security, not liberty.” I contend that you cannot have security without liberty. Security is a feeling of empowerment that grows from liberty. Security is the confidence that whatever happens, you’ve got it handled. How can you be empowered if you’ve given up your security to others? Our government provides us some security, but it includes them taking our right to trial and ignoring any right to privacy by collecting our personal data.

The media, the so-called experts, or the government can tell us what threatens us, but we’re the ones who decide what is actually threatening and whether we will give up some of our freedom to protect ourselves.

Remember, the more power we relinquish to the institution for our security and peace of mind, the less of our mind we will use, and the less secure we truly are.

What kind of security do you want?

Haters gonna hate.

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I demand euphoria

Haters gonna hate. The rest of us will love. Haters will take and accumulate. We will share and participate. Haters will divide. We will unite and empower others, because we know that our environment is vital in determining how we behave. Haters get courage from others by using them or controlling them. We get courage from ourselves. Haters resent others who accomplish. We are happy for others who succeed and are inspired by their productivity.

Haters search for security, but we search for the knowledge of our passion and the skills to execute on it. More importantly, we realize that wealth goes beyond money. We know that a job isn’t given to us to pay bills. It’s claimed by us because we’ve found something we love to do.

And at the end of the day, after all of this, we know the haters are no different than us. Because we know they just want to be happy. So we welcome them, because we know that we cannot get as far alone as we can by learning and collaborating with others.

Haters gonna hate, yes. Until they realize it’s so much better on the other side.

Recess like a child

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recess revolution 3

I started my run, and it was like any other day. But when I made my way around the school parking lot this time, I heard screams. I continued jogging down the driveway, the screams mixed with a screeching sound. I kept going, and as I rounded the corner of the building, I finally caught sight of a playground full of children. The swing sets were swinging. Kids were scattered in small groups, playing made up games, while others clambered over jungle gyms. They looked like they were having fun. More fun than me. Then I thought, what happened to my recess?

I want recess back

Who took our recess anyway? Was it the high school administrators who just don’t have enough hours in the day to spare us? Or was it the colleges who don’t need you to have recess? No, it was me. High school offers arts and music. College offers the opportunity to make your own schedule and club network. But, intent on being productive, after high school and college, I forgot that the movement and unstructured socializing of recess is what keeps a person loose.

I made my way around the playground and noticed 4 or 5 kids lining up at the top of a small hill. There was some direction from the more authoritative members of the group, and then they all dropped to their knees and then their sides and rolled giggling down the hill. They were creating their own fun, maybe tired of the jungle gym and swing sets.

Recess keeps us thinking creatively. During my work day, even if I just take a walk to the coffee station and have a short conversation, I come back to my desk with more energy. More focused. Rested, and in fact more productive. Studies have shown this. The breaks during intense periods of study and work are important in resting the brain. It’s almost like the recuperation of muscle after you’re broken it down after exercise. And productivity decreases if we don’t take a recess.

The judge bangs down his gavel, “We will recess.”

We need a judge in our head, observing our actions. He is silent, patient, resolute. So when we lose our focus, when we blink our eyes and stare away from the screen to refocus them. When we raise our head and realize we’ve been in the same position for an hour. That’s when the gavel comes down.

BANG

“Time for a short recess.”
“But I just need to finish this part up, it’ll just take.-“
“I said, Recess.”
“Look, if I just bust through this, I will-“
“You will finish it, yes, but will it be right? Will you do it the same way, instead of thinking of a better way to do it?”
“I guess not.”
He points sternly out the window, “Now go play. It looks like your friends need a fourth for four square.”

Today’s soldiers fighting our war become tomorrow’s veterans

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The United States, the country, the citizens, you and me, our President, the Congress… we are at war. Our govt has made the judgment that it is worth putting our citizens, our soldiers, in harm’s way, spending billions of dollars, accidentally blowing up or shooting the civilians of other countries, to prevent terrorists from targeting the US.

If there was a draft, would you be making the sacrifices these soldiers are making? Not only putting their life on the line, but realizing they are going to be killing civilians accidentally?

War is a last resort.

How big a threat is terrorism to justify this perpetual war? That is the question.

What do you think?

Are we in the times of last resort? Does it feel like we are at war? If it doesn’t, then shouldn’t we feel like it is? Otherwise, what is war? And are we more willing to have one, to send troops to fight, to have civilians die, if we aren’t facing its consequences?

Thank our veterans. Then ask yourself when they should be put into the terrible conditions of war for us.

What did you learn from this election?

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This election season has taught me a lot. It has made me see the ideology that can take over reason. It has shown me the emotion that can drive us to our beliefs, or help drive us apart, and give ourselves meaning.

And my emotions sit inside me, the sadness that realities exist unknown by many. That people suffer, and costs mount, youths remain uneducated, and bets are being made by our bankers (albeit less recklessly than before). But then I see the researchers that continue their work, driven by human curiosity. The development of science and technology that is exploding to a future I can’t even imagine. The businessmen and engineers who rebuild, making things better, more efficient, faster, and cheaper. The resiliency in those who are just working to pay bills. And those overseas who are going through the dirty work of murder in order to be free of dictators. I see all of this. And I smile.

Although hope can be blind, it is also our greatest asset, because whatever happens, we will persevere through the changes that this country and the world is going through. And it’s not anyone’s fault that things happen this way, because this is the way that it should happen.

As much we try to control things, the only thing we have control over, the most valuable thing, is our own work, and our own happiness. If I don’t like where I’m at, that is on me. And if you don’t like where you are, that is on you. And no one can change that… no partner, no friends, no parents, no government program… no matter what they do… because we have a choice, we still have freedoms… especially in the United State of America.

Will this offensive cartoon determine how you vote?

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Is this an offensive cartoon?

Thinking this way about Democrats is just as wrong as thinking that Republicans are selfish, judgmental moralists.

There are plenty of those people in both Parties.

This is funny because it is a cartoon, but it’s a lot less funny because it’s dividing us based on ideology…an ideology that I don’t see being put into practice by either party. Meanwhile, bigger issues are neglected as both parties are supporting deficit spending, market manipulation (see the last one’s disastrous result in 2008), and protecting us from unseen enemy by waging perpetual war and taking our right to trial (NDAA 2012)

What do you think is important in this year’s election?

Are you voting based on ideology or action?

How to get the job you love

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Decide what you like, get good at it -if you’re not already- and then find the job.

The one way that is highly questionable to get you a job is having the government raise or lower people’s tax rates. Romney plans to create 12 million new jobs and Obama has given nearly trillion dollars to businesses to create more jobs. But you are a much bigger factor to getting a good job than what these guys are going to do. Much bigger.

Why?

Because seeking a top-down solution assumes the people on top know what’s good for everyone and they can anticipate what business and individual needs are, which sometimes change month to month…even day to day!

Quite an assumption to make.

It’s better not to assume and just do it yourself. And if you’re already doing it? Then help a brother or sister out. As a friend to them, you’re better at providing that empowerment to get them in a job than someone in an office somewhere who has no idea who your friend is.

Of course, the government spending could create jobs. How? The devil is in the details. The question is, who do you trust more: The government after their good intended actions brought down the housing market? Or yourself?

Let’s use our common sense to stop our leaders from driving our economic Mack truck into the ground. How much more do we need out of its engine? And how much more do we need out of ourselves?

Laws may fail us, but our morality will not

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When government representatives allow immoral but technically legal corporate practices, are we being just as immoral in re-electing those same representatives back into office? Does more regulation help our moral standards or just focus on legal standards? Does it matter? Why do we need legal standards when the moral thing to do is not give our business to those who are doing wrong with our money?

The government announced that starting this month, they will be buying $40 billion worth of near worthless bonds from the Wall St banks every month to try to save the economy. Using our money.

Think it will work?

Willing to bet your retirement on it?

Because if you have a 401k, you already are.

Your strength is needed. Now…more than ever.

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Some people think they know better than others. You know the type. They give advice on everything. They believe they have the system of do’s and don’ts that will work. They want what is best for you. And they believe they know what the best thing for you to do is. In fact, they think they know what is best for everyone.

Others believe it’s better for people to make their own choice. They believe people will strive, work, share, and care for others. Not because we’re forced to, but because in a stable system of laws, that is what we will do. They believe people should have the freedom to live how they want, but without hurting others. To choose what passion to follow, where to work, how much to pay, how much to get paid, what to buy, how to explore their own consciousness, and who to congregate with.

There are those who want a system of control because they want to protect people, not just from others, but protect them from making the wrong choices. They want to protect us from ourselves. They are cautious of people. Do they even trust people?

They like giving guidelines, and providing a program. They believe in a high standard of living, and they want everyone to have that standard, not just the opportunity for that standard, because they think everyone deserves it. And they will engineer a system using their formula of mandates that will get you this, regardless of how this effects the financial condition of the country. They will make it too affordable to pass up or they will cook it into the system so you have no choice.

These people truly want to help others.

And they believe they are the expert authority on that. And they believe in a central authority. Like a central bank that controls money, or a central insurance company that controls health care, or a central department of energy and agriculture to provide corporate welfare. Or a police authority that has taken our right to trial, so we can be arrested without charge.

Those who believe in people are different. They are courageous, because living an empowered life is damn scary. But that is why we are here. Not to make a perfect world, but to accept that life is not going to be perfect, and anything that is worth doing in life is risky. And caring about someone else is not about giving them something. It’s about being their friend and helping them face to face, not through a check delivered by a service taken from our paycheck.

We’re here to make choices, not have someone else make them for us.

We’re here to get hurt, mend, learn, and grow. And when we see someone else hurting, we’re here to extend our own hand and help them up. Not pay others to help them for us. Because people need to intimately know they are valued before they can do something of value. And because you cannot make someone care about you by forcing them to share with you.

We’re here to explore our passions and our own consciousness without being restricted on what we can do, unless it hurts another person.

We know that we cannot get as far alone as we can by joining others, but not in faceless networks. We’re here to share life in a community, because we must have the opportunity to learn that without guidelines or incentives, a rich life is one of honest collaboration with others.

We know that if we give leaders the authority to do things on behalf of us, we must remain aware of how they are using this power. And that we must stop them when we feel they are doing a disservice to us.

We know that we should treat everyone else how we would want to be treated. And so we act accordingly.

These people trust humanity to do the right thing.

Some might call these libertarian values.

But they are not.

They are called human values.

And I believe it is how we should live.