What Do They All Have in Common?

NAZI GROUPS
CULTS
JESUS CAMPS
FUNDAMENTALISTS
EVANGELICALS
CONSERVATIVES
K.K.K.
SKIN HEADS
TEA PARTY
SOCIALISM

They all have felt that they were all disappointed or felt betrayed by families, traditional religion,government or in short by Society. They have come from homes when they were children that were broken, or they were abused and neglected, parents were drug users or alcoholics or they were given either nothing or everything to the point that they grew up feeling empty inside when it came to their spiritual needs. Nothing teaches bigotry better than ignorance! Some, if not all, of these groups are or have extremists amongst them.

They are now sending their children off to camps to be brain washed by Charismatic Personalities that know even less than they do. Jesus camps are brainwashing their children in the same manner that the Grand Supreme masters brain wash the children of the K.K.K. and being told to take back our Country for Christ.

All no different that Hitler or Stalin were able to brainwash their followers. Do you really think there will be no blood shed? How naive is it that everything will be peaceful and nothing militant? In order for ALL of them to work the victims need to be ignorant of the truth as well as history and the earlier the better when it comes to the ability to brainwash. Home schools are perfect towards teaching their idea of history and lies. The more they hear the lies repeated the more they become convinced of it’s truth. The Rush Limbaugh types on the Christian Broadcasting Networks or most of the radio stations owned by the same, also are an excellent aide. The object of their derision at the moment is President Barack OBama as well as all liberals, in an effort to defeat healthcare.

Apparently you know nothing about the Christian Crusades or religion taking control of government in the Middle East that set out to kill the Muslims or Jews in much the same manner as your children are being taught hate and lies in a slow but sure process, here. When the men in power get what they want they will be cast off.

These people that you are ,intrusting your children to, many times know even less about theology than you do. Rebellion is a normal healthy step of adolescents and teen agers. If our children are not allowed to take these steps to express themselves they will allow someone to brainwash them and mistreat them their entire lives. How can you knowingly, Mom and Dad, subscribe to this for your own flesh and blood?

Yes, our generation was diasappointed by the establishment as well as Society but thank God some of us were able to take what the traditional churches taught us and apply it to our lives. I will always be grateful to the Catholic Church for what I did learn about Christ even though their behavior, was not always what they taught. At least I was allowed to think well enough for myself that I was able to walk when I noticed, “they were not practicing what they preached.” Can’t you trust yourselves to take care of your responsibilities to say “NO” and teach your own children values that are not based on their lies? How Christ like are lies and bigotries?

I can’t imagine that you would rather have someone that has not even put in, many times, more than 12 hours into theology, if that, just because they have the appearance of looking like what you approve of along with the Charismatic personality, where they agree with you. You mistakenly think that when your children come home with all of their own personality washed out of them and thinking like you do that they are being helped. Teaching bias and hate is WRONG! Women, minorities and gays no more than Jews are not destroying our freedoms–The Jesus Camps are destroying our freedom, and you are providing your own children to advance their causes!

So the Conservatives meet with the average age being 30 just as concern about economy and jobs as the rest of us and social issues are down the list and the press goes, “Oh maybe their o.k., after all.” Never mind that they have the Queen against education, Sarah Palin, as speaker and the king of lies, Glen Beck as speaker. They are expressing the concern of the rest of us so social issues must not be such a big deal with the younger people. As though they would put them first, as doing so, only weakened rather than strengthened the right wing the generation before. By keeping the focus on the young people they can buy every election that serves their purpose.

By trying again with the young people that have not yet established their names as zealots they can lay back until they have the control they need in the elections, to change the Constitution that takes civil rights away from women and minorities. Thereby allowing the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. Also Turning the Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck types loose blaming the Democrats and liberals of socialism and communism when it really falls more into place of being their goals.

Are you so busy Mom and Dad that you no longer know the truth, yourselves, or are you BRAINWASHED? Can’t you teach your own children right from wrong? Are you so weak as to not be able to tell them “NO”. Can’t you teach them responsibility for their own wants and and behavior in order for them to be independent and capable of thinking for themselves? It is a MUST if Democracy as we have known it, is to survive!

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ARROGANCE! Can We Afford It?

I can pretty much accept and get along with any personality. As a matter of fact, I pride myself on the fact that all of my life, I deliberately avoided any kind or type of clique,peers, or gender groups or organizations that showed, bias. I have found that if we stay with only one group or economic class, we only cheat ourselves out of knowing very delightful and wonderful people.

Having said that, as I watched CNN and it’s interviewees, with both the Democratic rep. and the Republican rep., whose names I will not mention, I was reminded of the reason why, I am a Democrat. I am and was totally disgusted with the Republican arrogance that comes out when I hear so many of them speak. I do not include all Republicans in this group, as after all, I am married to a very down to earth Republican and can testify that many of them are getting a bum rap due to the hypocrites amongst them.

The interview took place following the 6 hour plus healthcare meeting. The Republican man said,”The reason the Democrats want healthcare and the Republicans don’t is because it is the Republicans who pay the most out in taxes and the Democrats that receive the most back from taxes.” Thank God, that the Democrat rep. got as disgusted by his statement as I did and put him in his place!

From the beginning of our two party system it has always been the middle class that has always paid the most out in taxes when income is scaled. The Democratic Party since it’s invention has supported the middle class workers and their Unions. The truth is that the poor and the wealthy pay little to nothing, dollar for dollar of income into taxes, along side of the ratio of middle class. Nor do we have the numerous write-offs of the wealthy.

So many Republicans, anymore, are the people having the large families due to the strong connections of the Churches in the Republican Party, that preach against the use of birth control. When these Churches switched party of preference so did the people attending these Churches. As a matter of fact, due to the number of children in these households, many do not even pay income taxes because of the deductions per child that they receive in accordance to the amount of money they make.

As much as we may admire or in some cases complain about them, large families as a rule, are Republicans and they gain more from the government system than any other population, next to our politicians. They are the largest growing body of population in America if we accept today’s statistics. Those of us from both parties are not brain dead to the fact that the arrogant want them on their side on election day but try their hardest to deny their existance the rest of the time.

It isn’t just that comment that made me sick but the hypocrisy and idea that this Senator is so far out of touch with his own base and can not grasp that many wealthy Democrats along with middle class Democrats choose to be generous and empathetic to other people. We are Democrats because we know that there are people who are in less fortunate circumstances than we are and that is why many of us are more than willing, to give through our taxes, to help our less fortunate, Americans. It is and always has been the difference in the philosophies of the two parties. Some of us simply feel fortunate to be in the best Democracy in the World. We want to help others that need our compassion and understanding but that would never occur to the Arrogant.

One thing, none of us, want to pay for is the greedy, arrogant, hypocrites and those that feel entitled in our Country. It is exactly that attitude and being that far out of touch with their voting base along with their total lack of compassion in the Republican snobs that make me, a Democrat, fed up with the previous administration. It will never occur to any of them EVER that they owe ALL of us an apology as they blame today’s administration for the mess THEY made.

Instead they deliberately lie about who is responsible for the spending that put us in this mess, while they campaign in the House and Senate, instead of serving “We the People.” Where were you all that are now screaming about the deficit now that we have NO choice but to spend money to try to put the economy together that you destroyed? To those of us in both parties, with common-sense, it disgusts us as it is pure hypocrissy at it’s worse.

In my opinion, the greatest waste of taxpayer money today, is their pay checks, retirement pensions and health care benefits. I doubt it even occurs to them that they are the group that receives the most of their livelyhood from the taxes given by the Democrats. None of us can afford to pay any longer for such ARROGANCE.

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……….IF THAT IS NOT BAD ENOUGH!

The people that steal from businesses through shop lifting,robbery and armed robbery as well as home robberies has risen due to the increase of drug use in the middle class. One third of America’s gross national product or GNP is as a direct result of illegal drugs. Across the border in Mexico their GNP is based on an illegal trade of drugs of 2/3 of their gross national product. Each time we declare war on drugs it is only a voice without real action. lets face it, drug money is untraceable money, that can be and is used to pay off informers and Nations across the World. DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency)officials are actually dismissed or punished if they get too actively involved in stopping the drug trade. No one is really serious about stopping the trade as we as a Nation have become dependent on using untraceable dollars in what many Americans are unaware of, and that is to keep our citizens safe against the terrorist. At least that is what we are told.

Our ID is stolen something like every 5 minutes across America. We are no longer safe in our neighborhoods because of the escalation of the drug trade. It is not just in the slums of America but has spread everywhere from meth in the rural areas to crack and heroin in the larger cities. To go out and warm up our cars is no longer safe as the threat of hi-jacking our automobiles has also spread out of the poorer neighborhoods into the middle class neighborhoods. As long as the wealthy have the ability to send their kids to treatment centers and to pay their way out of jams with the best lawyers and pay fewer taxes than the middle class, it is never going to be a concern, of their majority.

It actually works better for them if the middle class self distructs and the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. Not only do their sons not have to compete with the upper CEO’s and their high wages but they can pay their own prices to have men run their companies at lower cost in the work force and they no longer have to pay the poor minimum wage. Since they own everything their profits explode without a middle class! First though, they, just like the right wing that hides behind the gay issue, will have to change the Constitution that grants civil rights to both women and minorities. So there actually is a connection between the wealthy and the Churches. Not only do they both want to change the Constitution but the 1 and 1/2% of the wealthy in America is in the same ball park as the wealth of the American Churches. Not to mention that the Republican Party represents both the wealthy as well as the Churches!

The Churches will have us believe that it is because mothers are working out of the home and instead of dealing effectively with the social issues today the Churches are involved in politics to change the constitution so that women are forced back into the home. There simply is no truth that working mothers are the reason for our crumbling morality, as the statistics have proven that to be untrue. There is more likely to be greater problems when women are not allowed to live up to their God given talents to perform in other ways different from just being a womb, as it leads often times to a greater drug and alcohol problem in the home. No matter of age or gender people have a God given need to both work towards their own ability to perform and in other cases to excel.

What is having a direct affect on the moral corruption is that people are not living within their means (see previous blog), taking responsibility for themselves by denying both themselves and their children, wants that they can not afford and a deep desire to keep up with the Joneses. Families themselves have corrupted their own value system and in doing so they are raising children that do not have a clue of how to be responsible for both their own needs or misbehavior as they are not setting the example for them in their homes, nor teaching them. It is not the first time in history that we have been faced with the problem of crime and drugs. Statistics actually show that per capita when women never worked out of the home at all, that crime was worse in the 1920’s. Women did not work out of the home until our men left to fight in World War 2 and then because of the shortage of men in the 1940’s women went to work in the factories. Widows and spinsters always worked in house keeping for the wealthier, laundry,nursing, teaching, and sewing to make ends meet but women as a whole were housewives up until this time.

Although it was not illegal drugs during the 1920’s it too was drug driven. Coca Cola was called that as the base of it was actually cocaine made. Both it and alcohol was in the cough medicines given to both children and adults.( it is now prescription only) Heroin was also used in common household products. It was later discovered to what extent these drugs damaged the social structure of America and the drugs banned and removed from house hold products. It was a time of children killing children then as well. The ability to track day to day activity through radio, television, and newsprint did not exist then so it was much later, I believe in the 1940’s that these drugs were made illegal drugs. There still has not been a definite study done to connect that time with today but common sense would tell most of us that there certainly must have been at least a partial if not a fully connected reason for the comparisons that we saw then and see again, today.

Most of us think that all serial killers and people in jails are as a direct result of abuse in the home and poverty and they do play a role but approximately 1/3 of our inmates are as a direct result of parents never having disciplined their children or teaching them responsibilty for their own needs and actions. This is no new development and has been recognized for years now.

So what is it about we middle and upper class parents that our common sense can not tell us that if we are bored by not living up to our own abilities why can’t we see, so will our children be, as well? The same way we want to help make a difference so do our children. It is up to us to stay out of the Dr. offices with every little complaint and for the Dr.s not to treat minor problems with sleeping pills and narcotics as that is usually where the problems begin both for the stay at home Moms as well as working Moms that are bored to death as well as their children. If we never have the thrill or excitement of earning what we get and putting in a little sweat equity, then it would follow that we would look for that kind of high through both alcohol and drugs. If we or our children are not taking responsibility for our own behavior, certainly our self esteem can not be very high. This apathy happens to a greater extent yet in poorer more abusive neighborhoods so it is not all as a result of stay at home Moms or Moms that work. Certainly Fathers with corrupt morals and Absent Fathers dedicated to the almighty dollar as well as Absent fathers drug indicted and fathers that are alcoholics pay a greater role, but as a Society Mom will always be blamed first.

I doubt that you will find another blog any where that has made this connection or drawn this conclusion as most of the reported news of the time (1920’s) was about the stopping of alcohol and the disgrace of women running men out of the bars and the start of the Suffragettes who have historically taken the blunt of the news of the history of the time. The history of the time was written by men, who chose to shed a poor light on the women fighting to get the vote and stop alcoholism in the families.

I will admit that although the facts are correct, that I have reported, I am taking some lee way here in placing events together. Having done research for a number of years now and spending 48 years involved with politics, I have never seen our Country so quick to lie so broadly, nor to deliberately keep the anger between the parties fresh. It leads me to believe that both the grassroot movements and the supposedly independents are fakes.

Why wouldn’t we be suspicious when the average age group of the Conservative party convention was 30 and they deliberately placed the issues that they most strongly represent, far to the bottom of the list? Why are so many lies being told on health care by the Republican Party? The only reason anyone ever lies is to get what they want when they know damn good and well the people would not grant it, if they knew the truth. Sometimes, “If it looks like a skunk, smells like a skunk, walks like a skunk, it is a skunk.” The fact that the lies are all coming from the Conservative Republican side on health care issue should give us ALL pause! Who in their right mind would ask a deliberate stretcher of the truth, like Glen Beck, to be a Speaker of the Conservative Convention, if they did not want lies told and spread? Is this Christian! Or is it a Trojan Horse! Something really stinks in the Right Wing Conservative Republican arena. If there are any moderate Republicans left, I would be extremely concerned as to what they are doing to the GOP!

Just as we were led to believe in our schools that the Civil war was began to free the slaves. It actually began when the South threatened to succeed from the Union because the high tariffs placed on them by the North when shipping their cotton to England. The slavery issue came into play much later, when the New Republican Party wanted to win re-election for Abe Lincoln. Freeing of the slaves was actually the cause of the then Democratic Party and once the Republicans saw it’s popularity growing amongst the populace they picked up the cause and got Abe Lincoln re-elected for the second term.

The Churches both supported the South during the Civil War against the North and was very vocal against the freeing of the slaves as well as actively fought against women getting the vote. I just wonder why we as a Nation are so upset over the corruption of our politicians when the only pool we have to draw from is the same pool that some of you seem to find superior, yourselves.

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Those of You Who Upset the REST of US!

I’ve touched on this before but I have not gotten into the full details as to why you make the rest of us mad as hell! You are the people that paid a half of a million dollars for a 500 square foot condo or a million dollars for a 2200 square ft. home. To accept usury prices for yourself is one thing but then to move across country and raise the prices that are outrageous in our States made the cost of homes go up Nationally. By your paying for a home that was overpriced in our area where the wages could never pay for the cost of the prices you were willing to pay, it forced the rest of us to have to come up in price, in order to own a home. Unfortunately, in order I’m sure of your avoiding paying through the nose on capital gains when you sold your homes, you passed on your own State’s broken system, by paying too high of a price for a home in our area.

We now have homes that no matter how much the income we make, we will never be able to afford them, much less pay them off. Currently the market is still dropping at a rate of 6% on houses that should never have been priced so high in the first place. Yes, we are as responsible as you are, as we lost sight of our own common sense in order to own our own home. Texas appears to be one of the few States that did not fall for this.

People that are on unemployment, that have no intentions of getting a job, make us mad as hell, as well. I will use Colorado as a point of this as they pay unemployment if people are fired or if they quit on their own. I personally know of a person that lived for 3 years on his ex-girl friend’s couch. He went out on interviews with the deliberate attempt to fail at getting the job. He was too lazy to work and by mooching off an ex-girlfriend he could work 6 months and then quit and draw unemployment for 2 to 3 years and never bat an eye at the fact that he wasn’t entitled to do so. He is one of many that claims to have a right to unemployment because he paid for it while working. The truth is they have never worked long enough to get back what they draw. It is the taxpayers that pay for it, and whatever they tell themselves, they are drawing welfare and denying it to themselves.

People that have the attitude that if credit card companies are dumb enough to send you a credit card, you would be stupid to not get it, people with the attitude that they may not pay on time but eventually they do pay and are willing to pay usury interests rate and payment fees, people that buy appliances or furniture on the, “buy now pay two years later plan” and pay absorbant interests rates as a result, really make those of us disgusted! We will be paying through our nose for years, even though our credit is good, because most of you will not pay off your interests ever, much less pay off the principle. Even with the new guidlines there are no caps placed on interest rates.

Those people that go to debt consolidators or file bankruptsy, because they were willing to pay the high interest rates to get what they wanted now, rather than wait and save money, or get the one appliance that needed replacing, rather than all of them, because they wanted all matching stainless steel. Now you feel justified because the credit card companies have made a mint off of you so you are entitled to screw them. You have set up and established debt consolidators all over the Country that do not care if the rest of us have good credit or not but once our names get on their calling list, even when we have excellent credit, we are being hounded day and night by their calls. PLus it isn’t the credit card companies that are getting screwed, because you now refuse to pay, it is us the consumer that refuses to pay such high interest rates because we limit credit card use and pay on time that are paying off what you refuse to pay, and we are all mad as hell!

ALL OF YOU above, combined with those of you that were convinced that you had no business owning a home yet let some greedy lender talk you into buying and now are mad as hell at the government because they are not paying stimulus dollars to help you all pay the high rates on your credit cards, homes you had no business buying, or giving you jobs that you feel entitled to have, even though when many of you do work it takes two to three of you to work as hard as one of us that holds the same job, really makes us Mad!

Many of you have not only played the system but you have also drained the pockets of family members as well as turned others against the members that were smart enough not to bail you out, after you created more upset amongst friends and family!How dare you think that we still owe you more by having our tax dollars through the stimulus bill pay you for the mess you got yourselves into! When will you realize the problem is YOU?!

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Leadership Image

Sometimes it may come as a surprise to competent people that know that they are good at a job and will out work everyone else while there, that they get over looked on the interview. Years back I worked with a personnel director in hiring new employees for our 200 person office.

I was amazed at the time, and will go on the assumption that not much has changed since then, that people that are good workers, capable and intelligent, are not aware of the fact that image is everything! It is the standard of hiring once your resume’ passes through to the top echelon of people that hire.

For years now, tall people have been seen as more competent over shorter people. The less weight that you carry will determine job ability. Age does matter especially if you held the same job for years and were not promoted. The more professional a person dresses the more they are deemed as leaders. If you are in the later groups how then do you compensate for the difference? New studies out of the University of California show that the person that talks the most in both an authoritative manner as well as a non-challenging manner appears to be the most knowledgeable. Even when a study was done with math and the students answers were not always correct, as long as the person appeared to know by what means they arrived to get the answer, they were viewed as math whizzes.

In short if you are in a group of four and you are the one that is doing the most talking you will be seen as the most intelligent with the most leadership ability. The job process is very seldom based on anything that the rest of us might find to be fair. If you are going for interviews and not being hired now is not the time to clam up anymore than it is the time to point out the failures of society or go into it with an attitude of apology. Educate yourself on what the company that you are going to work for deals in.

Stay away from any controversy but ask questions that show that you are knowledgeable in the field of which the company deals. If there is a company scandal that frightens you, then do not apply. Often times employees think that showing up and asking the company to explain itself is preferable. Sometimes it can be, if the employee field is limited, but not when there are not enough jobs to go around, as is the case now.This certainly does not mean a know-it-all that has an inability to listen once he/she ask the questions, is going to appeal to anyone. Let them educate you but be prepared to ask the questions and converse accordingly.

Whether you are male or female do not wear your hair in a pony tail if you are applying for a job that requires professional skills or dealing with the public in any manner. Especially in retail, restaurants,customer service and sales, appearance is as important as it is in the professional arena. Even if it isn’t true, wearing a pony tail suggest to employers that you are too lazy to shower and do your hair. Wearing long hair up in women if swept back nicely, is fine. Wearing after-shave and perfume can also leave a person with the impression there is a hygiene problem so do not wear it. Do though use deoderant! You would be surprised by the number of people that do not know this.

Do not over dress as this makes an employer think that you do not need the job. If they see you in a more expensive suit than they can afford or draped in gold and diamonds they will dismiss you for the person they think might be more hungry than you are. This is not a time to try to impress anyone of your good taste beyond knowing how to match the clothing you wear. Do not think that wearing a blazer or sport coat over the t-shirt and jeans will give you an advantage. Ladies, watch the make-up and even though it may be unfair, wear a skirt.

For ladies then the simple sweater not too tight with an outside cardigan or a blazer or a suit and blouse, always with a skirt, is appropriate. Make sure of course that your hair is clean and in place and the make-up natural. For men if the job will require a suit, a blazer/sport coat and matching slacks with tie, will suffice on middle management jobs but a suit with tie is mandatory in the upper management positions. If it is sales a sweater and tie with dress slacks will do. Remember ALWAYS cleaned shaved!

So many people that have held jobs for a number of years and remember the casual side of the work place sometimes fail to dress appropiately when going back through an interview, following experience. It is just as important to dress appropiately with experience as it was without it. Some Companies would rather hire new fresh recruits rather than train an “old dog” new tricks.

If you have long hair get it cut. Once they know you better then you can approach the long hair look again. This is the time to remove all jewelry including Rolex watches, unless the position is with a Corporation, that expects their CEO’s to wear Rolex watches. Those are few and rare. Most of those jobs do not go through personnel but by word of mouth. Men do wear your wedding rings as Companies do like to see men that appear to take marriage seriously. Women on the other hand can wear their rings as well, even though there is a double standard, as Companies tend to prefer single women over married women, as they are more likely to travel and will not be asking for time off, due to pregnancy or sick children.

So you just got out of college with your degree and now you think you will get the job that you trained for? Get over yourself! You may need to take a job in a field that has nothing to do with the area that you trained in. That was the point of taking all those courses that you thought had nothing to do with your degree field. If you have never held a job of any kind, because your parents have paid your expenses all your life, consider applying for a responsible position in volunteer work for 6 months,even if the job does not pay. You are going to need more than just the degree as employers tend to skip over college graduates that have had their way paid for them through out their lives. They need something that shows you are a team player. Almost all jobs that use to require a high school degree now requires a college degree as the employer has a much larger field of College graduates to select from. Just having the door opened for you is an amazing asset even if you do not currently understand that.

You are no different than anyone else even with your degree you will need to be ready to start at the entry level if you have no previous work experience in the field that you are being hired. The degree simply opens the door for you and then like everyone else it is up to you, to how high you will rise in the company. It takes both an ability to lead and to listen to get ahead in most jobs of any kind. That is the time that image wears thin and the real worker is spotted.

Until then it is up to you to make them know why they need you rather than the reverse. Of course when the resume’ gets the second look be ready to move to the area or State that the job asks you to move to. Good Luck!

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Cultural Differences

When I was inspired to do the geneology on my family, like most, I went into it thinking that I would find some long lost connection to wealth or royalty. It was with great relief after spending hours upon hours of research that I found my family to be like most immigrant families. Why relief? Because I discovered that I came from good common stock, that was not afraid of work, and in doing so, I discovered why I have a history of being a survivor.

Sure, like every family, I found the person that did not bring honor to the name, but anyone who thinks that they do not have one, is mistaken. It seemed there was an old great, great, uncle who in his drunken stupor got in an argument with his room mate and guns were drawn and a score settled. Many of the original pioneers and settlers of America that the Blue Bloods like to claim connections to, were simply criminals, incorrigibles, “nere do wells”, loaded on ships to America to get them out of Europe. It was with relief then that I was grateful to settle for the idea that we were neither royalty nor thief.

Mainly what I found was I come from a family of immigrants that were not afraid of hard work and moving where ever they had to go to find the ability to provide for their families. I am of German stock and I did find a gr. gr. gr. uncle that had left Germany, at the time that the Prussians took control, to fight for a wealthy Northern family whose son did not want to fight in the Civil war. The going price to hire European ex-military to fight in place of family members at the time, was a princely sum of $200.00

It was not uncommon in those days to hire what would be known as a mercenary to take the place of a wealthy son in the wars. This occured in the Revolutionary war as well as the Spanish/ American wars. It did not take today’s society to invent crime and corruption. Since the beginning of man it has existed with both money and power as well as poverty.

Other than those two instances, I found people that moved across an ocean and then across a continent to take advantage of the free lands to homestead and begin the roots of our American citizenry. I find that generation after generations since have had to migrate when times are tough, to find employment.

The 1930’s are written about in such books as, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ in a very desolute and depressive period of time. People that actually lived through it together, though, talk about pulling together their resources and neighbor helping neighbor to save farms and ranches from bankruptsy and giving up their livestock and machinery at a dime on the dollar, if they were lucky. It would make an entire generation cognizant of the importance of saving and not wasting anything. People with an imagination could, “make a purse out of a sow’s ear”. It may not have been silk but there wasn’t much need for a purse anyway, as there were no coins to put into it.

Long story short, many did leave the heartland of America and migrate West only to find people that were starving out there as well. The important thing of it all, is that I found that when things got tough, I came from mobile stock. My back ground shows that there has never been a time when 3 generations lived in the same house or were not willing to leave the area in which they were starving to death.

There are a great deal of cultural differences in those of us that have been Americans, for generations and generations. In my own family we eat, dress, and live according to those differences that dictate East, Midwest and West Coasts. However subtle those differences are, we are still drawn together, by the stock of the pioneers before us. To understand one’s roots then, in my opinion, is to understand oneself.

My family history is not so unique from anyone else’s it simply tells the history of families and generations before us that found difficult times and economies, and went where they had to and worked at what was available until the economy changed. My concerns are for the unemployed of today that are not followig through on getting work, because they are waiting for a job that might never come back or think the work that is available is beneath their stature of ability.

Sometimes it simply takes picking up and starting all over as my husband and children have had to do and our family before us for generations, have had to do. Although we had to take a huge loss on our first home and begin again, through hardwork, budgeting,sacrifice,imagination and delayed gratification,even when we had a job, we will retire financially, well off. As long as we are committed to doing what we need to do in times of a tough economy there is always hope! History has proven that time and time again.

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Tips to Save and Make Money!

If you are in your mid to late twenties and employed and not working towards retirement, then I suggest that you re-arrange your thinking. Your generation is bound to be amongst the hardest hit by our generation’s greed. Hopefully, those of you in your thirties, have been in the saving mode for retirement for a number of years now. It helps if you have a 401k plan in place, but we have all learned that it is no hedge against a falling market, entirely.

In the past, it followed that a home was a good investment against inflation, and if you are willing to buy a home in a good location that needs repair and willingly do the work yourself, it is still an excellent investment. It was obvious to everyone, except apparently the greedy that the houses were being over built and over-priced as well as sold to people that had no business buying a home. A good rule of thumb is, if you can’t save well enough to put together a down payment or have access to the same, then you probably are not a candidate to buy a home.

Never, never, never take out a home improvement loan or a home equity loan. For those that do not already know this, both loans are no different than taking out a second mortgage. With a second mortgage, lending institutions will move faster on foreclosures when there are missed payments, than without the second mortgage. Instead of buying a new automobile look at the cars that are one to two years old and a return on lease or trade. Do not buy new unless you have cash to pay for it. Get a style of hair cut that you can take care of yourself and learn to color it along with doing your own nails.

If you have a down payment and are willing to buy a home that is reduced in a good location and update and decorate it yourselves, within a years time you will have enough equity built up so that you have a sizable down payment towards the next home. Pay cash as you go and redo according to cash in hand. Some of the stores that sell paint and hardware will offer free classes or ask a friend or family member for advise if they know how to get started. The house must have good bones and be inspected before purchase.

Everyone can count on the idea, that at some point in your working career you will lose your job. By having the equity you can always be protected against that eventuallity by the money you can wash out of your home. Be willing to move to the locations or States where jobs are available. A good for instance of that, is Indiana has only a 4 per-cent unemployment rate now and parts of the heartland run at 5 to 6 percent,presently. Having a second investment will allow you to leave the 401k intact other than perhaps rolling it over. This attitude that a home has to have granite counter tops, be painted in colors you like and have stainless steel appliances is not going to take you through to the next crises much less to retirement.

If you do start cooking instead of eating out, you will find that the left overs alone after a week will make at least one free meal if not two a week. Almost anything can go into a casseroles or stews. Keep only one credit card per family. The store own credit cards do not have to follow today’s new guidelines. Shop twice a year for yourself and family when it comes to clothing.

One year you buy both summer and winter clothing and wear it for two years (children may out grow it faster but if they do buy as the seasons end for the next year and never more than twice a year). The next year you can buy for the fall and spring seasons and wear it for two years. Save for the trips and pay cash or if you have to use the credit card make sure it is paid in full between your two yearly shopping trips. If you do not currently make enough money to pay cash for clothing then be willing to buy less and shop at less expensive stores. Of course personal hygeine items, nylons and such can be purchased once a week when purchasing the groceries.

I have never seen anyone that shops every week or two to three times a week much less use it as entertainment, that could ever retire well. A credit card should be used primarilly for booking motels or flights and then paid off. Pay off any and all credit balances that you have as soon as possible. Although the National debt is massive, I’ve yet to see the dire predictions of the next generation not being able to have what the generation before them had, come true. Every generation has heard that since Roosevelt, and something like green jobs comes along and changes the outlook on our economy and makes those dire predictions less predictable, with time. Provided we learn to vote more wisely.

A family that plays together, stays together. There is a ton of free entertainment from parks, to libraries, to kid museums, to city swimming pools, little league sports, cubs and boy/girl scouts,4H, to home board games as well as getting the family involved in helping with the cooking, taking care of their own responsibilities or visiting friends or family. Think of raising a garden but if you do, be committed to the idea over time, as the initial start up cost in both the family garden and canning can be pricey. If you are a working Mom that wants to stay home try doing this for a year and see if you can’t save as much as it now costs you to work in day care, clothing for work and eating out.

Open up savings accounts for the kid’s education so that friends and family can contribute to them, for birthdays and Christmas as well as other special achievement times, over the years and you enjoy the tax benefits. These are just a few things that can put you into the saving mode and living according to your ability to pay cash. If things come up like illness, that gets you out of the cash only frame, then get back into it again, as quickly as possible, when you are able to. If you do it now, you will find as we did, that your financial dreams will fall in place and retirement will be delightful.

People out to impress the Joneses have nothing at retirement age, not even the clothes on their backs as they are so out dated from years of climbing out of debt. Good luck! Saving and making money in the process can be as much fun as finding a bargain, if you go into it, with the right attitude!

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Gossips and the Damage They Do!

We all know them. They are everywhere we turn, amongst the people we work with in offices, hospitals, on flights, in all businesses, in government offices and where we live in small towns, our neighborhoods, in our schools, in our families, in our Churches, where there are people there are gossips. Some of us like to say”this comes from such and such so you can take it for what it is worth”, like that some how clears us from being a gossip ourselves. I’ve often wondered if it is such flimsy information from a known gossip, then why are we repeating it.

The unfortunate part about the gossip is not only that she/he often times are making up a story or exaggerating it so that it sounds better, than what it really is, but that others are attracted to them. Where ever a crowd gathers, we can bet it is a gossip that is holding the attention of the crowd. Unfortunately, by the time we all get done listening, to the original gossip and adding to the story that we thought we heard, if there are 12 people present, then there are 12 different stories told from the original piece of gossip. People have a tendency to “half Listen”, that is what they hear and then repeat. They hear only what they want to hear and tune out the facts.

Gossip is robbery without a gun.It can and does cost business lost. It brands people for years, unless they leave the place of work and then they are quickly replaced, usually by the new hire. In Schools it can be so damaging to a child’s good name and reputation that it actually leads to that child committing suicide. It breaks up marriages. It costs elections of people that could have made a difference. It cost Churches congregation losses, many times leadership abilities. It cost Doctors patients. Families are many times split up or broken as a result of a gossip amongst them. The sad thing of all is the person that dedicates their life to a good moral conscience, and it only takes one gossip with their followers, to destroy everything that we have worked to gain. The saddest thing is, like alcohol and drugs, gossip becomes habit forming! Fortunately it has it’s justice on Judgement Day, itself.

The one person in our offices, hospitals, communities, churches, family that may have had the potential to hold us altogether or to come up with the solution to make us more efficient, or to offer better patient care, or to show a higher person to wage gain ratio, that could have diffused a crime or bad reaction to a situation amongst us, and the list goes on, has been dismissed before even given a chance by nothing more than the gossip and her/his cronies. The next time, before we open our mouths, it would be good to ask ourselves, is this conversation really worth repeating? Give it a day and you will be amazed to what degree it comes back to you and grateful, if you have a moral conscience at all, that you were the one that chose to keep your mouth shut! As a rule, it is what we don’t say, that matters the most, when our character is on display.

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Good Example of Insanity!

The recent re-opening of the Tiger Woods scandal is the perfect example of the insanity that we live in. As much as we would like to blame the media, the truth is that we the public drives what the media reports.

The reason there was no sincerity in the apology made is because Tiger as well as those of us that still have our sanity, were more than satisfied in believing that Tiger was taking care of his private life, in the matter he chose to. It is only the interests of Accenture and other Corporate sponsors testing the waters of perceptions of the American public, before they make the final decision to drop him permanently, that reopened it. By now you all know what I think of that subject so I will give it a rest.

Why aren’t we as a public, much more upset by the inter-net,the Gerry Falwell’s, the Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck types that constantly lie and have those lies fanned by the ill informed and under educated, taking everything they say as gospel? If anything in this Country should be pulling us together, it is that we all agree, that when the lies are told that competent media should point out the errors, but Isn’t it also our responsibility?

If we or the media does not stop these lies now, then who will we blame when the radio stations and television networks, sound no different than the airway propaganda in communistic societies, sound? Some days when you listen to their rant and raves, it does sound as though, we are already there. Who will determine when broadcasting has over stepped it’s, ‘truth in reporting’? Will we then insist that it stop by boycotting it’s sponsors, or since the Christian Broadcasting Network and Fox news carries them, boycotting both networks, and letting them know we are fed up, or will we still think it is the other guys’ problem? Part of it,I am sure, is nothing more than the arrogance of the media and the lack of direction orthe huge amount of apathy that some of us carry in ourselves, that exists today. Some people are just so use to having anyone but themselves, take care of or suffer the hardships of life, that they simply will never care!

I know the press argues that it is freedom of speech. I like many, think they simply are not as courageous at taking these, ‘sue happy’ individuals on, for fear of their loss of personal comfort, as their predecessors did. I also believe to a certain respect these type of lies are suiting the pocket book or wallet of the employer that hires them or perhaps the Sponsors. Individual or private ownership of news reporting, no longer exist in our country, so it is much more difficult to go against the establishment, when told to yank or stop production of the story, that does alert the public to “truth in reporting.”.

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Breaking Any Kind of Vow is Serious!

I hope no one came away from my last blog with the idea that I think adultery and breaking a marriage vow is not a big deal! I have said before and will repeat it, that I think it is the most degrading thing that one spouse,in a marriage,can do to another. When adultery happens, by one or both, then the marriage vows, in my estimation, are broken.

If there is anything that speaks of a person’s lack of value,louder, than adultery, then I do not know what it is. On that day that we all forsake all others and cleave on to each other, by the words of “For better or For worse”we are promising each other along with both of our families and friends, how much our own word means to us. Any person breaking a vow, is breaking the greatest thing that they will ever own, and that is their WORD.

When a Person’s Word is worth nothing then not much else is either. It is the only way any of us have of determining a person’s character. I’m not saying all marriages should last, but there are definite procedures a person should meet, before they drop their pants. One thing may just lead to another in the animal world but human’s are intended to put character before sex.

Marriage vows and promises made, ranks number one,even over the oaths taken by Doctors and Judges,in my book. Families are actually trusting a family of strangers to love their child as much as they love them and accepting the chosen Spouse into their family and DNA.

To the rest of us, Tiger Woods is no more than a Super Talent. We enjoy watching him play because of a great deal of both work and talent on his part. If we can not be a role model to our own children or find it in God, it is not Tiger’s job, or any sports or movie Icon’s job to do so. If it isn’t that we are holding him responsible to be a role model then we are looking for him to make money for us,period! I am sorry if a bunch of women that had absolutely no respect for the fact that he was married were hurt. They knew that, or should have known that, most sleazy acting, people will say what ever they need to say, in order to get what they want. These women were not exactly innocent on the score of sleazy behavior, themselves.

I, along with his fans, may want to see him play again, but we, know
or should know that his family’s healing has to come first, and we really don’t matter, in the long scheme of things. My hope for Elen is that she does not feel that she still has vows to protect but under
stands that he,not she,has already broken them.

The fact that he may be the best golfer that any of us will ever see in our life time has not one thing to do with adultery. The question was never if he owed US an apology but if his wife would be strong enough to recover from it? I wish her the BEST!

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