ragrier

Almost just another guy

December 17, 2012 — What now?

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For a few years, I have been uneasily maneuvering through the society of the United States. The short version of this ever-increasing feeling is “None of this makes sense, but we are doing it anyway!” I have met many that think as I do and bet that you may think this way too.

Blogs, pundits, talking heads and just about every water cooler conversation will fill you in on the specifics and details of the things in society that don’t make sense anymore. I won’t bore you with more examples here. My goal is answer the “What do we do?” questions that most people ask me.

The first thing you need to do is just relax. Seriously, you aren’t going to change the world tonight and all that stress you have created trying is emanating from you to your family, coworkers and anyone else in a 10 meter radius. Chill out! The practical result of relaxing is that you (I, they, we us…) don’t do our best thinking or performing while we are stressed. In the coming months, we will need to be focused, intentional and realistic. I learned a few things when I played high school tennis. First, I learned that I wasn’t the best, skill-wise on the court. Second, I learned that if I made a slight, but audible laugh each time my opponent made a mistake, then they would more than likely eventually get so frustrated that they would nose-dive in their performance, ergo helping me win!! If you are busy being pissed-off and frustrated, then you have little time to do anything helpful or productive.

The second thing is STOP FEEDING THE BEAST! This concept is multifaceted, but boils down to how you spend your time, resources and energy. Of the three resources, time is the most precious of commodities. You can’t get it back and you cannot create more of it. The head person of the GOP sent me (and a few million more) an email asking for donations to increase the fight and continue the struggle to get the message out. Folks, WE ARE NOT dealing with uninformed people or unconvinced citizens. What you see happening in the USA is the results of a multi-decade endeavor of ignorance, selfishness, greed, corruption and outright running from anything that smells like truth or feels like responsibility. Don’t donate a dime or waste a second trying to bang your head against the wall trying to argue with the new power religion in America that is Progressivism/Liberalism. You will lose both time and money and will be no better off.

Take your resources and re-focus their capabilities to produce real, tangible changes and useful tools in your world. I would recommend spending money on real things that can produce things for you and your family. Buy a gun, build a barn, buy a tractor… Seriously, we are butt-deep in the season of orgy-like acquisition that is somehow done in the name of Jesus’ birth.  Don’t you think that spending hundreds at Wal-Mart for crap that doesn’t matter and probably causes problems in you house anyway is a laughable waste of resources? But, “Little Johnny might be sad and upset if he doesn’t get the super awesome electronic game wizygig!” Well, if Little Johnny gets sad or mad because you don’t consistently provide “things” for his entertainment, then you are absolutely part of the problem in this country and you really need to go do some soul searching about what is important in life and who should be running the show in your house.

I would also highly recommend that you learn how to do things. I would get a few books (the real paper kind) on how to grow food and make things. Get a book on first aid and triage medical care. Currently, land is cheap and loans are almost free. Pursue both.  If in the end I am wrong, then you have learned how to raise children, teach values and provide for yourself. I don’t see that as a waste of time or effort.

If you are concerned with what the neighbors might say or with how this will affect your image, than I will offer a few choice words by Rhett Butler. Jokes aside, if are truly bothered with these things, then you may want to take a hard look in the mirror and ask who is in charge of you and who is running your life. AND IF you are happy being a mindless pawn and slave to the whims of social media, image building, the myriad of useless conventions then I will ask you to kindly do that somewhere other than near me. I don’t have the luxury of time anymore to be entertained by fools.

— R. A. Grier

Speed it up? — November 8, 2012

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I can’t help but believe that Tuesday November 6th, 2012 showed that trying to convince voters of the perils of their choices is no good. I see clearly now that there are so many who are beholden to the FEDGOV that they will not cut their paychecks by voting for common sense and long-term sensibility. They are being supported and they do not know of consequences for their choice. Why in the world would they stop? Why would they care to put themselves in uncomfortable situations because you told them that there is a 16 trillion dollar debt? Why would they care? We tried to run the campaign from our point of view, not theirs. Folks, there are just too many on the FEDGOV payroll to even try using conventional means anymore. Hear me out.

Take into consideration another factor. Older Americans know what is what and are reducing in number. Minority groups (statistical reference) are increasing in number and have demonstrated a significant tendency this election (historically as well) to vote democrat/liberal/progressive. So, in 2016 what will the voting pool look like? Really, are we going to try to convince the leeches to stop sucking blood? Corporate and other non-deserved welfare is addictive.

The next statement does not mean that I do not love my Country! I don’t see a real possibility of changing the minds of those who are benefiting from the results. We know that it is short-term pleasure and that there WILL BE a long-term consequence. Instead of getting tired, disgruntled or apathetic, let’s SPEED UP THE PROCESS! Let’s HELP them with EVERY EFFORT they make to grant themselves more favor and fortune. The Soviet Union fell in part because the elite and powerful reached such a point of corruption that the economy could not support their lifestyles. The people who had bought the BS for generations woke up and saw that they had been lied to.

Why not wait and fight the good fight all along? Well, it is practical to speed it up. If we trudge along fighting year after year, we will get more tired, poorer and probably incarcerated at some point. On the other hand, a well-chosen and coordinated plan to speed up their efforts would allow us to protect assets, coordinate personal defense and eventually subvert the corrupted paradigm. The (me, you) producers are FEEDING THE BEAST and then complaining about what the incorrigible beast does. Then we wag our finger at it thinking it will feel guilty or something. Read that again… Their way will not support itself. WE KNOW THIS. Once the people (the masses of wave/wind riders) see that the tap is slowing to a trickle and those at the top who were there to “support the little guy” are actually bleeding everyone dry, then you have the proper environment for reform. Then you will see revolution!

As with a lot of regimes and despotic governments, the top rats will run away when the pitchforks and fires arrive at the gate. Sure, they will be wealthy and will have stored assets in another Country. As disgusting as that may be, it IS NOTHING compared to getting our Country back through a painful lesson learned by the leeches who allowed the corruption to rise in the first place.

Sometime around the Revolutionary war, we figured out that maybe it wasn’t the best idea to line up opposing armies and walk toward each other shooting until one side capitulated or was decimated. At the time, it was the honorable way to fight a war and anything else was viewed as distasteful. Folks, we are trying to fight an honorable war with the liberal/democrat/socialists. AND they are smiling all the way back to the White House.

— R. A. Grier

It is Time — November 7, 2012

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The people have spoken. The conjecture around seems to be Obama won and Romney lost. I wish it were that simple! I wish we were talking about a football game or a tussle on the playground. We are not. We are not we anymore. E Pluribus Unum is now just a phrase on some money. The precious Union has been bartered for comfort and convenience and promises written in smoke by power hungry hucksters claiming to be the new messiah of the people. The religious fervor that is progressivism or liberalism has spread far and wide. That movement falsely promises to give us utopia. That movement won last night and it won big. Americans have given themselves a gift of short term insanity wrapped in a pretty utopian package of hope and change. It is done and it is well with my soul.

Knowing where you belong is important. I clearly do not belong in this movement. Knowing what you believe in is important. I clearly do not believe in this movement. The resulting combination of the two leaves me without a seat at the new, big table in this Country. America no longer believes in me. America has put its future and faith in the hands of those who believe that results are far more important than how you get those results. The short term pleasure of the results promised by the election last night will result in long term consequences when reality meets fantasy.

“Forward” was the message of the democrat group this time. They were right. It is time to move forward. However, you have a choice to make. Are you going to choose to be an inhabitant or do you choose to be an American? I will not waste time rehashing the reasons for the need to choose. If you do not know, then you did not want to know. If you don’t see a problem with the direction of the Country, then you have chosen. If you support the liberal/socialist/progressive ways then you too have chosen. Either of these dictates that you have chosen something other than a Constitutional America and therefore are part of the problem. From now forward you are a barrier in my life and efforts to return to a Constitutional America.

The enemy will seek to dismantle threats. The tools of its arsenal will seem innocuous and come in familiar and desirable packages that you will want to accept, such as the law. The enemy will use the tool of law to ensure it has custody and control over those who oppose them. Next, the enemy will use a very familiar and unpleasant tool of taxation. The dual benefit of the weapon of taxation is that the enemy garners resources to fuel their engines while all along they get that fuel from the hearts and minds and bodies of Americans, believing they are doing their duty. Do not feed the beast. Further, the enemy will use its lackey, the media, to spread its disease to the minds of the impressionable.

The enemy will use your good against you. It is not polite to speak up when authority is talking. It is not socially acceptable to castigate or draw attention to those who are unlike us. It is not respectful to disagree. You don’t disobey your master! My dear American, get ready to be uncomfortable! Get ready to be persecuted! Get ready to be prosecuted! My dear American, get ready to again secure the promise that was laid out so many years ago by other Americans. It is time. Use this time to be wise, fruitful and purposeful in your efforts.

It is time to prepare. Clearly America is in the hands of those who rape her for their pleasure with absolutely no regard for her honor and precious heart. It is done and we cannot fight the reality of history. Don’t waste a moment of the present on things you cannot change in the past. I call each of you instead to take the present and use that time to prepare for the day that will come. It is time to gather. It is time to teach. It is time to decide because it is time to prepare for the coming war.

— R. A. Grier

October 23, 2012 — A lot of fish in the sea

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The sea is full of Red Herring and the spin cycle is on supersonic. The problem with “truth” is that too many people look to man rather than God for truth. We have the ability to lie, justify, rationalize, and minimize anything. I am very comfortable in talking in terms of psychology and counseling and believe that I am qualified in that arena. Here is the first example. If two parents give their child completely different interpretations of right and wrong on a subject, what happens with the child?  What if the parents are consistent in their polar-opposite mixed messages? The child often become confused, distraught and will eventually adopt independence prior to adequate development in socialization and learning. That’s a whole bunch of psychobabble for the kid getting confused, hurt and mad and globalizing anger and distrust to all authority due to the ineptness of their parents.

Now, I am flesh. I want to hurt people who hurt me. I want the consequences of my choices to be lessened or avoided altogether. I often won’t change bad habits because there aren’t serious enough or immediate enough penalties for my habits. I want things to be fun and easy. I like for things to be my way. I enjoy being mischievous and sometimes smile when I am irresponsible. I am flesh.

The yang to my yin is that I am a child of God. The choices I make and the habits I take directly reflect my respect for the Father. Therefore, I work harder than I have to.  I forgo choices of easy conveniences that have long-term consequences. I also care how my choices affect others. I do this because the destination is not an accounting of accomplishments or wealth on Earth or six feet under. The destination is the acceptance into heaven by my loving Father.

Abortion is wrong. So is death row. Wars aren’t for profit or convenience, but rather an often necessary last resort for a greater opportunity for peace. Economics ought not to be for control of another, but for an opportunity for us all to advance toward “better”. A line that I use to illustrate choices in counseling with my clients is, “There are at least a thousand ways to get to Detroit from here.” The analogy is clear, I hope, in the case of this election and our Country’s future – as long as we all agree that we are going to ‘Detroit’.

Saying that there is separation of church and state is about the same as saying where God can and cannot go because you know what is best for him. I do not. Neither Obama nor Romney tells me what to think or believe. Neither the law of man nor the trappings of pop-sociology are my guide for my choices, goals or behaviors. Obama and Romney are just turning in their respective applications and going through the interview process for a job. Both are saying that they want to work for me. Each candidate has to make the same pleas and present their best reasons for being hired in front of each of their prospective “bosses”, otherwise known as voters.

Who am I kidding? What I see is that American voters educate themselves for a few hours at best about the choices they will make in the booth. Further, their education on the choices comes from TV and other advertisements. Still further, some just pick randomly in the booth. ALL of these are but a small percentage of the entire citizenry of the Country. AND we WONDER why things are confusing and often contentious??? I see people blaming companies and the wealthy for their plight while all along they make very poor choices. I see the fickle bounce along from situation to situation looking for others to guide them and wondering why they feel out of control. I see neighborhoods and cultures multigenerationally deep into heritage indigence and depravity trying to blame their way out of those conditions. I see a Country, too ignorant or truly caring to stop enabling these things.

E Pluribus Unum translates into “out of many, one”.  We are certainly many, not only in numbers but in ever-growing ideologies. What makes a country different from a hotel room that you rent for the night or a car you borrow? Who are the “we” in “We the people…?” What is the glue that binds us into “Americans”? I don’t know. It seems that we are more and more a loose federation of regions and/or States. The trend in ideological difference paired with a lack of “we” glue will end in a dissolution of the United State of America marked by another civil war.

As we all know, we can get away with bad habits for a while. Each has broken a “minor law” like speeding or jaywalking and knew that it was wrong when we did it. We don’t care because we get away with these sorts of things more often than we get “caught” for them. Our society has made a habit and now a culture of creating avoidance opportunities for all sorts of consequences. It won’t be very long before the smoke clears and the mirror clearly shows us who we are. If anyone believes that one election or man in that election is going to save America, then they are not only delusional, but dangerously ignorant. America is crawling down a path of evil and destruction. Some people are willingly helping the rest of us move faster down that path. Some others are just followers along for the ride because there are no real consequences, yet.

While we face an important decision here in a few weeks about the next figure head of our Country, I ask you to take more than a few moments to consider more important choices. I ask that you look at the everyday choices you make to determine if those decisions are helping or hurting. Do they contribute to the greater good? Are those choices done in secret or hiding because you know that they are wrong? If you REALLY want to change the course of our Country, I ask that you change the course of your lives (all of us certainly can) and then help change the course of our neighborhoods and schools and communities.

So, the decision isn’t about a President. Neither man will change our lives. The decision is about personal choices and directions for our lives. Our government just works for us. I have made foreboding predictions about our future. There will come a point in time where the “haves” and “doers” are outnumbered and out consumed by the “have-nots” and “takers”. When we get closer to that point, the process of demise will speed up like when one or two people fall off the losing side of the tug-of-war rope. Those making it happen will quit and turn to take care of themselves and their families. When that day comes, you will have many generations “trained” to be helpless and angry because the food isn’t in the trough fast enough or to their liking. On that day, those without guidance from God because they chose the comfortable path of populist secularism will have no law or government to look after them. Those people will turn violent and seek to steal and take what is no longer given. Others who are “undecided” will join in the chaos out of fear or freeze due to the same and become easy prey.

I doubt many will have read this article this far. It is too difficult for the already learned-helpless to consider and besides there is some quality TV on that will help them with ignoring their problems and everything else. Still others will dismiss it because I said “God” and they have had no relationship with him and few they know, including their parents, do either. Still others were turned off because I talk about politics. “It’s all lies and BS” and “why bother with that?”  I believe it was Adolf Hitler that said, “How fortunate for leaders that men do not think.”

Romney and Obama have each said it; we are faced with the responsibility of choosing different paths. Believe if you want that not choosing or rather ignoring the unpleasant or not doing the difficult things will make everything better. Choose wisely.

– R. A. Grier

March 21, 2010 — When naiveté

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When, naiveté, good  intentions, avarice, hubris, ignorance and a complete lack of character collide  you have a vote of 219-212-2. Revolution requires only honor, dignity and  strength of character and conviction to endure personal discomfort through to  fruition. It is time for those with honor, dignity and the strength of character  and conviction to stand up and cast their ballot for a new America.

— R. A. Grier

June 24, 2010 — Letter to Mr. Beck

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June 24, 2010

Mr. Beck,

In college, I took a few classes that described learning  and attempted to mold a definition for it. The only take-home from those classes  was that everything is skewed unless you were a witness to an event and wholly  engaged to receive all perceptible information. Even then, that information will  be immediately filtered through your knowledge and experiences. I studied eye-witness testimony and its  validity statistics. Here is a quick test-at-home example. Get a few people  together that you know, trust and communicate well with. You, as the moderator  of the exercise, will say one word that is uniformly familiar to all. I like to  use the word “vacation”. (common phrases work too) Ask the group to sit quietly  until asked to comment or even move. Say the word or phrase you have chosen and  wait a few seconds. Ask them to write a description of the word and a belief or  experience related to it. The papers you receive will have vastly different  information.

I have many issues with many things, but mostly I take  issue with the purposeful omission of education that would encourage thought.  Grade schools are afraid to teach kids how to think for themselves because the  students might find out how full of crap most of the faculty is. Image building  people have no business in education. Parents hide information from their kids  because they are afraid that their image may be soiled by disclosing the poor  choices they made. Hell, they make crap up because they are often ignorant and  too lazy to find out. Bosses and leaders of all types hide information because  they are afraid of the same thing. Best interest of the country? People should  stop lying. They should also stop repeating information as fact when is probably  filtered through 800 other people. Ever play telephone???? Another component to  your “teaching” should be the inclusion and education in critical thinking.

Fear of being judged has been a major component in building  the disaster train we are riding that is steaming forward to a place with no  tracks. Housing crisis? People wanted to be like the Jones’s and others enabled  for personal gain. Economy slow? Yeah, maybe we aren’t buying refrigerators  because the credit is maxed and there is no cash. I am extremely happy that the  credit market is tight. American consumers need to be taught a hard lesson about  living beyond your means. You want to know what my founding father taught me??  Dad was born in 1914 (or so, haven’t seen the proof!) He lived a life of truth,  honor, courage, dignity, humility and compassion. All of those lessons were at  the core of my rebellion. Only now am I finding out how correct he was. Dad  wouldn’t have bought an item unless it was NEEDED. New car? Hell no. Not until  the old one died. He would say aloud, “I don’t have anyone to impress.”

Insecurity drives some really bad choices and behavior.  Call it what you choose, but when forced into listing what is needed to be happy  a healthy person will only have a list of a very few things. Family is common as  well as having a productive purpose in life too. When I do this exercise with  the kids I work with the immediate list is an echo of the society and cultures  that have taught them. Shoes? X-Box?? Money and more money and even more money  is needed. Gangs, drugs and materials  are all attempts to be happy or cover things up when you aren’t. When did these  items surpass comforts to head the list of needs? It happened when greed  surpassed the best of our morals and values. It happened when people decided  that power and money was critical and the survival of the nation was something  to worry about later. I love the phrase “short term pleasure, long-term  consequence) Later is now…

People complain about jobs going to China. They shop at the  price breaker stores. Take some random samples of the merchandise in these (and  so many other) stores and where it is made. People worry about the environment  and then throw away the cheap crap they bought at the price breaker stores while  they drive the car to the price breaker stores to get more. People complain  about working long hours. Then get off and try to enjoy the fruits of the  lifestyle they couldn’t possibly support. People complain about who is running  the country, but no one took the time to find facts, because those TV ads must be true. Some people complain about things are going only to get-off on the  verbal masturbation as to cover the misery of their pathetic lives they built  and continue to build.

Our courts have watered down justice. Suing is now a bona  fide method for getting income. Our schools have given up on real education. The  bar is so low that everyone will pass. Didn’t pay your taxes? NO PROBLEM, we can  negotiate a settlement so the other guy has to carry the load!!! (pissed at you  for supporting this with a commercial ((AND Fox for running the ambulance  chasing lawyer and tax dodge ads)). Every kid is a winner on the team.  Everything is abuse, so PLEASE DON’T EVEN consider introducing discipline. Poor  work performance? Hell no! I was discriminated against! OMG, what did you  say???? That hurt my pitiful little feelings and you must apologize and maybe  even give me some money because by golly those like me comprise a whole ½ of one  percent of the population and we will dictate our beliefs to the masses or they  will pay too!

The generations that have lived and learned these lessons  are increasing in their number and have trickled (now flowing) into positions of  authority and power. Don’t EVER ask the question about why things are messed up.  WE CREATED this! It did not fall out of the sky yesterday.

Unfortunately some people choose to misuse the “ignorant  masses” for their own gain. Another one of the problems with letting lawyers run  things is that they know all they have to do is create doubt in the mind of the  jury. You want conspiracy? If you make enough commotion with the left hand, the  audience will completely miss the right hand slowly pulling out the knife…

There is a video out there of another exercise that  demonstrated this. Please use your search engine of choice to find the  psychological “experiment” that uses a gorilla and people passing a basketball  around. DO NOT TELL anyone about it. Find the video and do the exercise with  your folks. PLEASE, this will give you another platform to teach. Companies,  powerbrokers, politicians and the like know how to work people. Only when you  teach the audience the magicians trick will the magic go away. I will argue that  some folks won’t want to see because they are comfortable with the illusion.

People are ignorant and have been allowed to be that way  for a long time. Truth is really nonexistent. At best we have firsthand accounts  of events. People do not change until they are more uncomfortable than the  behaviors they have been addicted to. If there are no perceived consequences or  the consequences are not great enough then almost all people will continue to  make the cost-benefit analysis of continued previous path for their lives.

Here is how to shut people up. Ask them to prove their  loquacious logorrhea. Still have them  bitching? Ask them what they have done to change things for the better and how  their lives are an honest model for other to emulate.

I have spent about  16 years “fixing” the jacked up lives of the kids that our society has created.  That is my contribution to our nation. Now, I have been unemployed for a year  because the economy won’t support jobs like mine. Feels good to fix the kids  that society messes up and then be denied work while the liars, cheats and  thieves prop up the bastards that mostly perpetrated the crimes that led us to  this point.

There is so much “noise” that the soft music of common sense, love, truth, justice, honor and  others like them have the same chance of being  heard as a cricket chirp in a stampede. ONLY if you are close to the cricket and  listening closely will you hear it. People are not listening and they are not  close to faith hope and charity? No Mr. Beck, those concepts are outdated.  People want easy, immediate and comfortable. If they mattered to the majority of  people then I would not be writing this letter to you.

Sincerely,

Robert A. Grier

PS – If you know of  a company that wants a world changer, problem solver and all around good guy,  then please send them my way. I still need a job…

January 12, 2011 — Letter to Mr. Beck

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January 12, 2011

Glenn,

The government is out of touch and I bet that I will be the one who is accused instead.

I do not enjoy the benefits that they (our government) seem to heap upon themselves and continually seek to do so. Where is my wall of protection from the potential bad “guys”?  Where are my free healthcare benefits? Where are my perks? Where is my endless spending without consequences? Who do these people think they are? Oh yeah, they think they are the untouchable pop-stars we have made them into.

Again and again (and again) the stage actors perform for their audiences. The audience claps or boos depending on their mood and approval of the performance. Our government is nothing more than a stage filled with actors and their performances should come with the warning label, “For entertainment purposes only”. It is a shame that they don’t take the time to learn their lines anymore. It is really sad when “we” listen to a heartfelt speech regarding a massacre or tragedy and the speaker is reading from cue cards or notes or teleprompter. When I speak, I do not use cards or teleprompters. I know what I am saying and what I want to say. I don’t waste a lot of time choosing the best fit word to ensure audience approval.

I hope to be one of the people who fight the good fight and make the necessary changes to our broken system. I pray that God will give me the opportunity to lead and mentor and fix those things that desperately need it. One thing that has followed me since childhood is an ability to “see” into the future. I am not crazy and I am not talking about crystal balls or the like. I am talking about the vision to see the results of a current path of decisions and choices with predicted consequences. I am unfortunately accurate more about the negative things.

I wrote all of that to write this; we are headed for a revolution. Soon, the lawful will join the lawless and deal in anarchy. The ever growing questions I hear are: “Why should I work and contribute when others don’t by choice?” “Why should I follow rules and laws when others don’t?” “Why should I remain polite and respectful when others don’t?”

I say this to our “leaders” Make some more gun laws. While we are at it, make it illegal to use and sell marijuana or cocaine. Make some more excuses and taxes. Make a few more performances for the ignorant masses. Continue to tear down the institutions like church and the military as they will only get in your way. Disable the police forces. Keep the States slaves with your federal funding and influence. A few of us don’t care what you do anymore and we are not entertained.

There is no reason now to have violence or kill people because of a belief or poor decisions in their workplace. However, the day is coming that collectively those beliefs and poor decisions (greed, stupidity, power, corruption, etc.) will ignite purposeful revolutionary violence. Before you stop reading or call me a “nut-job”, I must remind you that our country was born out of the lack of representation similar to today that resulted in request and pleas ad nauseam to no avail. The resulting violence against tyranny then is now marked with celebration on the 4th of July.

Without an effective say in what happens to the country I live in and pay for, what is my motivation to continue feeding the beast? Why should I allow the beast to get strong and forgetful of who is the master?

Here are my predictions:

Schools will become systems to create young that are ignorant and filled with propaganda

Elections will be facades driven by money and media

Churches will be silenced and eventually driven into obscurity (all potential threats will)

The military will be dismantled

Lawlessness prevails

We will become a target of sovereign nations (China axis probably)

We will lose the attack from the Axis because our citizens will be cognitively (and otherwise) defenseless to mount any real resistance.

Again, I pray EVERY DAY that God gives me the opportunity to be the leader and changer of chosen destiny for the United States of America. I hope and wish and pray that God will be merciful and allow us to correct our stupidity before am right again with predictions. However, I fear that I will be correct in my predictions and am preparing to defend and protect my family.

Sincerely,

Robert A. Grier

January 22, 2011 — Too far to go back now

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January 22, 2011

Many years ago I began to notice a change. However, the  change didn’t begin recently. I have spent a lot of years working with kids  around the Southeastern US. Most were in trouble for one reason or another. As a  good problem-solver should, I searched for the cause of the problem. “What is  creating these kids?”

In finding the answers I had an opportunity to do a lot of  observing. If there were simply a “maladaptive” set of behaviors, then the  solutions would be quick and the problem solved. Sadly, that wasn’t the outcome  in a lot of the cases. There were more and more kids. Those kids were coming  from generational dysfunction and living in areas that did little other than  topical gestures to abate the growing “problem”.

As you are more than likely new to me and the way I think  and write, I must caution you to not get lost. The stories I tell appear to be  fragmented and sometimes dissimilar to a theme. Rest assured, they come  together. Think of it as staring at the first puzzle piece and not being able to  see the picture. Secondly, I will assure you that I am neither arrogant or  conspiracy minded. I see, process, query, connect, seek scenarios and then  present for others to consider.

The pliability of Americans is very great. Without a doubt,  we are the most absorbing, changing, stretching, reaching, and forgiving set of  people I believe exist. We also are becoming optimistically unaware in our  approach to our milieus and situations. Crisis comes and we will usually go  through a period of unrest and noise and then it will fade. Prices spike,  weather strikes, crimes occur and so on and so forth all around us each and  every day. Information is now immediate and abundant with regards to all of  these situations.

While I don’t have information to support a conspiracy  theory of a small group of people, with puppet strings in hand who seize the  opportunity in a softer, more ignorant America for their own personal gain; I do  see something else that is worse.

As I understand our brief history in this country, we are a  product of a tyrannical overseer that was England. The vastly smaller number of  “Americans” back then recognized something that was wrong (even after being  quite pliable) and had the fortitude to set out to make it right in their eyes.  This meant discomfort, risk, courage and sacrifice. David was gearing up to  throw a rock at Goliath. Frame this with the times. Life wasn’t comfortable to  begin with. There were no convenience stores. There was no email. Transportation  was attached to the bottom of your legs or you mounted a critter that needed  feeding.

We are not that baby nation anymore. We are a nation with  an increasing number of babies. We are not a nation driven by Independence, but  rather a nation “in dependence”. We are not proudly “America!” anymore, but  rather “a me rica” culture who happen to have to live in the same space.

Easy is not good and pain is a warning.

As I understand physiology, things will atrophy without  prolonged use. My kids (above) were just the last domino to fall. “We”, with our  short-term memories and “don’t want to get any on me” approaches to  responsibility have demonstrated the layman’s definition of insanity. All too  often, our systems have artificially affected outcomes through consequence and  reward management; all through an ever-widening lens of “easy and pain-free”.

My kids, didn’t have the knowledge or familial (or other  system) support to have the courage and humility to address and solve their  problems while they were small. Ultimately, some go on to prison (or worse) and  the audience watching it all on TV espouse in the moment how horrible that  person is to do such a thing and very briefly fill in the blanks of an already  well-formed and repeated stereotype picture with the details of the “crime”.

blame – an attempt to avoid responsibility in an effort to  mitigate discomfort

Problem – an undesired pause/stoppage in a process without  an immediate solution available

In my line of work, fear and insecurity are the slayers of  most things good. I love and enjoy engaging in the debate of the day. However,  talk usually doesn’t benefit anyone other than plants. Violence as a solution is  the act of desperation by those without the capacity to find solutions and  without a belief that a solution can be found. Isolation is the same, but  usually doesn’t draw attention. We will see more or both of these in the coming  years. In the middle of the curve are those still attempting to engage in the  process. On the fringes are those who think the process is fruitless and in the  periphery is the ever-growing sea of “just existing”.

The solutions will not be as easy as correcting one system  or having the “right” person in an office. Solutions won’t be found in rhetoric,  debate, hate, shame, blame or compartmentalizing or hiding small groups into  safe zones. More than what I have described above as a reduction in resilience,  determination and cognitive wherewithal; we have lost a sense of unity and  nationalism. There isn’t a person or a group today responsible for all of this.  To find those responsible, we must first take a hard look in the mirror. The  steps you take after that act will determine the course of a Nation. Leadership  should not be loud. Following shouldn’t be compelled.

My kids were just doing as they were taught, or filling in  the blanks on their own when there wasn’t good or adequate teaching and  modeling. Not knowing what to do usually leads to some fear. Unfettered fear  looks like anger through frustration.

Sincerely,

Robert A. Grier

PS – This writing and my others are typically sent through  multiple outlets. Please do not steal. You certainly may recite as long as you  cite.

February 6, 2011 — The Simple Way

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The Simple Way

Too often, I watch the news or tune in on the radio and  here a story that is already finished. The character, names, places and  situations are all the same. What’s new are the names or dates. Then the story  tries to get interesting. It has to try, because it has been repeated many, many  times.

Today, I walked about a hundred yards to get to a table  where two guys were sitting and collecting money for a local charity. I had  driven past them and caught eye contact, briefly. At that moment, I decided to  stir. I stirred the conversation by being another person who looks and keeps  driving. I then stirred the conversation by walked from a distance to drop a few  dollars in the jar and turn to go back without another task to complete in that  area. What was the conversation then?

Bad is around us like a heavy wet blanket. Good doesn’t  make the headlines in the news shows and has been relegated to forgotten space.  Perhaps, my gesture was contrived, but it was genuine and hopefully lifted a  corner of that wet blanket to give two guys a whiff of hope. It is important to  recognize that it was contrived, but anymore, effort is required to change the  course. Today, things aren’t done because they are right, all too often because  there is an expected reinforcement. We aren’t correcting the path of a car, but  rather a train that rides fast on track we have laid toward a destination of “nowhere”. Pushing a train requires effort. No longer do we have the luxury of  turning the steering wheel.

I remember a short story that described a few mythical  characters with names like, “not me” and “someone else”. The story unfolded a  path of action and inaction based on the folks with the dysfunctional monikers.  The task wasn’t done, but you knew it wouldn’t be only a few short lines into  the story. While I remember (roughly) the first time I saw the story, I will  freely and ashamedly admit that it took a few decades for me stop being a  character in it.

Some nations change only with the nature. Crops fail or  locusts swarm. Other nations wait to be invaded and assimilated into other  nations. Some nations fall into obscurity. Even more will (to borrow a phrase)  shoot themselves so often in the foot that the successive shots will have to go  higher and higher up due to a lack of target due to that previous shot.  Eventually they will be giving themselves a haircut. We are, sadly, all of  these.

What does it take to change a nation? People fear the  unknown more than anything else. I cannot believe that there are more than a  handful of different types of groups of Americans when it comes to the topic of  fixing things: ignorant, uniformed, misinformed, apathetic, zealots, patriots  and enemies. Sometimes, people can fit very nicely and easily into many of these  categories.

I choose a more simple way. Today, I made a point, quietly  and anonymously to change the course of the train. Yesterday, I exercised  courtesy. Tomorrow, I will perform a RAK (random act of kindness). Nothing will  require much effort or money.

Beyond the very easy, I will also change my nation in other  ways within my control. I will respect the person while disagreeing vehemently  with their position. I will speak up when things are not right, even if it means  discomfort. I will not hide comfortably into a demographic, group, SES or  political affiliation. I will also make every effort to remove or avoid personal  gain from public endeavor. If you think about it, who pays you to till your  garden? Our garden is just a bit bigger and has a few more weeds. I will tend my  garden dutifully. Will you join me?

— R. A. Grier

April 15, 2011 — TEA Party Speech

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Opening  remarks:

Education & Money

Since 1970  federal spending on education has increased approximately 375 %.

What do we  have to show for it???

What we  have are test scores that across the board have remained just about the same.

I will  remind you that just this past week President Obama announced a desire for a 21  BILLION dollar INVESTMENT in education.

How much  did the recent budget “battle” save us???

Don’t get  me wrong, I LOVE President Obama. I  also love Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid too. Not only do I love them,I am very thankful for them!

During a  hot summer about 235 years ago a few words were written in a document that would  change the course of life for countless millions of people.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights

that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

For a lot  of people, this is where the words stop.

LET ME BE  CLEAR…This is where my somewhat contentious remarks about the love of my current  President and a few of like-minded progressives comes into play.

The  Declaration of Independence continues on after “life, liberty and the pursuit of  happiness”

And I  quote, (pause)

“That to secure these  rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from  the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes  destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish  it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles  and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to  effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that  Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient  causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more  disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by  abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of  abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to  reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to  throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Pardon me for having to read  from the paper, but I called and President Obama said he just wouldn’t be able  to let go of the teleprompter tonight.

Thank you  President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid for stirring the souls and coals  of the quiet fires in the bellies of thousands and thousands of Americans like  the ones here today. Thank you for reminding us that freedom is not free.Thank you for shoving the bitter and  foul tasting medicine of your rhetoric and policies down our throats… that awful  tasting medicine has begun to cure the ignorance and apathy among us.

Ladies and  Gentlemen, our government isn’t of, by or for the people anymore.

Entitlements are and have been poisoning generations of Americans.

An example  of this is:

Who washes  a rental car????? How do you think people drive rentals?

You do not  take care of something you have no investment in!

Only  through the arrogance and ignornace of man could we go from a worldwide  magnetic, intoxicating beacon of righteous leberty to an ever growing land of  hedonism and moral decay; with no regard for the time honred virtues of truth,  honor, integrity, sacrifice and humility

And may I  offer a warning. I don’t think God will understand that you ignored, shunned and  were ashamed of him throughout your life.

Some people  may be wondering, “What do we do?” To those I say, in the absence of knowing  what to do, do that which you know to be right.

As for the  TEA Party folks & others who understand the meaning in my words this evening — We know that the answer is still as  simple and as it was 235 years ago:

That to secure  these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers  from the consent of the governed.

I will  close with a quote that sums up my point in a way that only Reagan could.

“Freedom is  never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our  children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for  them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our  children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States  where men were free.”

Thank you  and thank God for continuing to bless the United States of America

— R. A. Grier