Hijacked! Who is flying and to where? — February 18, 2015

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Hijacked! Who is flying and to where?

February 18, 2015

I will start off Socratic. Do you know many people under the age of 70 that care deeply about honor or character? Of the ones that do, I bet they are either military, or emergency services or closely associated to those groups. Do you know many folks who give and help people who are in need? Do you know many folks who will help someone and then run like hell from being acknowledged for the good deed or even thanked for it? Do you know many people in supervisory or entrepreneurial positions that are trying to teach, mentor and leverage other people to be able to take their place one day?

It really wasn’t that long ago that I felt good about America and was ok with the direction we were headed. Was it perfect? No. Was there crime, social/cultural deficits and things that needed serious attention from serious people? Yes. Of course we weren’t perfect, but I had the comfortable impression that we still wanted to be. Recently however, things got wrong… bad wrong. What changed? I frequently say out loud that things just don’t make sense anymore. Did America suddenly become stupid and evil? Did everybody, over the course of a generation, forget how to think, work and solve problems? Something in the water? Side effects of vaccinations?

My friends, we have been hijacked. What changed was the definition of America by the new people who were Peter Principled into power, shepherded behind the scenes by evil power brokers and opportunists. The road to ruin is paved with good intentions. Many years ago, people thought that by ensuring outcomes, you somehow embolden people to continue to try and compete. To make the “right” from the “wrong” of oppression, you simply give the oppressed everything. I really cannot fathom how this would work outside of academia and theoretical models. Anyway, we ran with it and we handed out a trophy to everybody on the field, the stands, and even a few folks that were at the ball field by accident. Sometime during the guilty confusion of the aftermath of the Women’s Rights movement, Civil Rights movement and follow-on bandwagon parades of “I got special rights too because I am ____”; we made demographic qualities into skill sets and qualifications for jobs and schools . “We need a Woman President.” Or “We must have a Black man in the White House.” Again, this practice of social promotion was certainly (is certainly) not exclusive to elective office. People have been hired and promoted based on nothing but the color of their skin, presence of body parts or their preferred gender identification – or more specifically the fear of being accused of NOT hiring those people because of their skin or body parts or self-identifications.

That method is not good. It is “short term pleasure – long term consequence” thinking. It is actually destroying the opportunities and benefits of America. Golly, say that out loud today and you are quickly demonized as sexist, racist, homophobic, religious nut or worse! There was a time, not that long ago, when you could argue, debate and attempt to reason with people regarding their choices and beliefs. Those days appear to be long gone. Somewhere along the way, we evolved into a culture that can’t even bring up problems, differences or ideologies. Now, you must attack, destroy, ridicule, defame, discredit, slander, lie or do “whatever it takes” in order to squelch any opposing ideas or thoughts. Who cares what damage is done in the process. Who cares about the collateral damage to truth, integrity and character? Methodology and tools for the battle??? Control the language and the definitions and you can control the story, and ergo the path. For quite a while, the definitions of things have been slowly changing. Quite recently, the definitions of more concepts like success, work, citizen, responsibility and so on have been altered too. Success now means that you get what you want, regardless of how. Work is for suckers. A citizen is anyone in a geographic location or anyone who wants to be. Responsibility is now a banned word and its meaning has changed to “bad”. Right and wrong are merely convenient descriptors, not constants such as breathing or gravity. In my lifetime, being unproductive and unmarried with children was discouraged. Now, creating children regardless of ability or intention to take care of them is closer to the norm. Soon, it will be the norm and therefore, no longer “wrong”. That is just one cultural example. Now, I had better not even cast a disapproving look toward this type of activity. I am wrong and I should feel about it.

Guilty for what? Whole sections of cultural corrective action plans are based on demonizing and destroying other groups. Concepts like “white privilege” and “micro aggressions” are working their way into the language of social, educational and business life. It seems that these groups must be validated to the point that they are protected like an endangered species. I cannot recall a time that I disenfranchised, mistreated or discriminated against someone based on their skin, body parts or self-identification. Yet, I am bombarded with attempts by some of these groups to embrace shame and blame to ensure they are on top of my group. When that doesn’t work, I am threatened with consequences from laws, and regulatory agencies to ensure I get in line… in the back of the line. AND SHUT UP!

Feel uneasy about reading this? Feel like telling me to put on the robe, drink he punch and start chanting with the rest of the zombies?

If not, then maybe you are able to think about this scenario. The pendulum of power shifts back and forth naturally. Having wealth and power is not bad, nor is being poor and without influence. What is a good model? Those with wealth and power give back and raise up those without, so that the culture and the Country is consistently in stable quality-conditioning and growth. Those with wealth and powerful ensure that the playing field has a “welcome” and “equal opportunity” signs on it. Those not on the field should want to be on the field and then practice hard for the game and listen carefully and respectfully to the coach. That is their job.

What about now? Nope. I am aware that I am writing cultural fiction tales with my panacea. Well, there was a time or two when it wasn’t fiction. No more. For far too long, we have allowed social construction using the methods of manipulated and artificial outcomes. The natural order has been disrupted. The class warfare has identified the enemies and the ignorant masses have had sides chosen for them. Those with power and influence have been demonized by those without. They protect themselves and their assets by encapsulating with CPAs, lawyers and gated communities. Then, you have the truly evil power brokers and opportunists lurking around elective offices. These folks are using the media to create, extinguish, incite and discourage… all so that their own power and influence is maintained. The truly desperate and those who are less fortunate are encouraged by the power brokers’ and their lackey politicians with speeches and promises, but all along are just used as fodder and pawns. They are taught to blame and despise those with wealth and power. The results are true oppression, learned helplessness, rage, and the establishment of geographic collectives of the disposable people.

Hold on, I have to make a brief stop at Analogical Story Land…

Years ago, I was working in a residential program that had about 175 or so clients on the property. I remember a conversation I had with a fellow employee one day while looking out over the property, watching the client mill about in the daily routine. At the time, there were maybe five employees present for the 175 clients. I remember telling my colleague that it was an amazing thing to see. If the 175 decided to organize, then they could EASILY take over the campus. Instead, the 175 were held in place, not by chains or barbed wire, but rather a perception of psychological boundaries. We treated them very well, provided for physical needs and beyond and we helped them grow. In return, they didn’t riot. Of course, it wasn’t utopia. They were growing pains and periodically, there were small insurrections led by those with a misguided power need. But, more often than not, those rebellions were quelled by their fellow residents who knew things were good and who also didn’t want any disruptions in “good”.

Back on the road…

In America, there are small numbers of truly evil and selfish people that are controlling the great masses. Again, just because you are wealthy and have a title, doesn’t mean that you are one of them. Also, just because you are without a lot of resources and have no title, doesn’t mean that you are evil either. We are being manipulated to think that though. Someone wants us to be separated, because United We Stand and divided, they prosper. Conspiracy? Maybe. However, this is how I see it playing out. The truly evil do not have honor, nor do they care about anything other than themselves. They will say and do whatever is helpful in perpetuating their prosperity. Once usefulness of the Country is used up, then they will move on. They will have ample assets, stolen from America and they will simply move to another geography. To this group, America is like toilet paper. Before it is used, it is quite valuable and can be a desperate possession. Once used…

I am no longer encouraged to be successful. While my intentions and goals are designed to build for myself family but also so that I may mentor others to do the same. I want to help others succeed, because that makes for better, happier, healthier, safer and more prosperous communities. Trickle up cultural economics says that my Country thrives and prospers as well. However, my goals, beliefs and values are no longer thought of as “good” or desirable. The power brokers of evil and opportunists only want me to succeed enough so that the fruits of my efforts can be distributed to those paralyzed by learned helplessness to keep them from rioting. Further, I no longer have a comfort of faith that the systems of justice are in place to make our Country better, safer and healthier. I have lost faith in the remaining Federal Government as I fear they are predominantly corrupted and controlled by the evil power brokers and opportunists. The last bastions of hope for a new Country are the States and local communities. Even with that hope, I fear that the States may have already mortgaged their 10th Amendment souls.

Where are you going? Who is driving? Why? Folks, we don’t have many more mulligans left. You can only operate in fiction for so long before reality and the pesky constants of natural consequences show up. One day soon, the cost of all of the social construction and manipulations will come in the form of a devastating bill. I am not sure we can or have the wherewithal to pay it. Maybe it is time to choose a different path.

— R. A. Grier

It’s a true lie — February 7, 2015

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It’s a true lie.

February 7, 2015

Of course I got asked if I watched President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union speech a while back. My reply? Of course I didn’t watch President Obama’s State of the Union address!! Why would I willingly subject myself to his delusions??? Nope. He can have his opinions and views. I don’t have to be right and he doesn’t have to be wrong. AND, we can both be wrong and right together in the same Country. Welcome to America!

I will preface today’s thoughts with a few admissions. First, I am not an economist. Second, I cannot speak for anyone except myself. Third, my globalizing, stereotyping and generalizing should be seen as me expressing my vision for America by surmising guidance.

You really don’t have to convince too many people that breathing is good. Those things that are necessary will usually remain unremarkable due to their commonality and universal acceptance. Where we get into trouble is with ideology. I do not like taxes, but I benefit from services provided due to the collection of taxes. What are necessary services? Yeah, there’s the rub.

I also try not to be so global in my thoughts as to think ridiculous things like, ” Republican good, Democrat bad”. No, there are clowns, idiots, very selfish and even evil people in every conceivable group. It is due to being born a sinner.

Lost a few folks there when I brought in God. I won’t spend a lot of time on it, but I am often frustrated when people tell me how I act and what I believe when they don’t know me. I HATE religion. Re-read that last line. People have done a wonderful job at messing up God. God had/has it right and we keep trying our darndest to fix it!!! Best way I can put it, sorry if I offended your delicate nature.

By separating into permanent entrenchments of “us vs. them” over ideological outliers or details; we sink the ship. I am afraid that is how debate in our Country has evolved. It seems that anymore, the logic of “coexisting” has morphed into “if you do not believe and act as I do, then I banish you and must ensure your destruction so that I may survive.”

Here is a little generalizing and globalizing. I really get concerned when people give me “facts” based on “data”. If oxygen is good and necessary, you wouldn’t need to convince me of anything. But, we are talking about agendas, opinion, moral corruption, character flaws, etc. One quick example was a State (shall remain nameless, but I promise this is a real accounting of the “facts”) citing a dramatic increase in the graduation percentage of its students. The State had been lagging behind for a few years and folks started pressing the powers that be to do something about it. Wa-la! the graduating percentage increased!! Woot woot! the problem was solved! But, not so fast… Well, come to find out, they simply excluded a significant number of people by categorizing them a different way. So, not all statistics are “real” and not all data is good. First moral of the first story of the day?? Statistics, studies, data, facts, evidence and truth are ALL creations of PEOPLE. If they were as absolute and factual as many would want you to believe, then we wouldn’t have a debate. Oxygen is good and necessary for life. Test it. Go ahead…

If you are still reading, thanks!

So, I go back to a bigger picture. What things are like oxygen? What do we need? The word there is “need”, not “want”. Start thinking about our Country now and the needs and wants of the people. The United States Constitution did a good job at providing a good framework for success. Over the course of a few hundred years we have gotten lost in our efforts to “fix” the Constitution. Now, we are mired deeply in an inexorable quagmire of rules, laws, regulations, government and taxes. We have SO MUCH of our economy dependent on things that are contrived. People have jobs only to shuffle paper in order to satisfy a rule or regulation. Companies produce systems to mange the information for the person shuffling the papers and services to shred the papers. Some companies are solely in existence due to government contracts. Scary if you really think about it.

So then a guy like me comes along and proposes a reduction in the size and scope of the FEDGOV. Hmmmm…. The spindarellas begin to work their voodoo and spread messages like, “conservatives want to put hard working people out of work and on the street”. Yup, there are going to be A WHOLE DARNED BUNCH of FEDGOV employees, and support personnel and businesses affected. But, what they do isn’t, “real”. They don’t grow crops. They don’t weld ships. They don’t cure the sick. Heck, I doubt very seriously that anyone really has any idea who does exactly what and for how much.

All of this comes down to refining the scope and practice of the FEDGOV. In a perfect world, where the FEDGOV was knocking it out of the park every day with things like keeping our borders safe, protecting us from enemies and overseeing interstate commerce; I wouldn’t have too much of a problem with them tiptoeing into helping with research for cancer or something. But, they don’t have a handle on what they are supposed to be doing and the only answer they come up with is more debt.

Today, we are experiencing learned helplessness. There was a time when if you spoke out against something, people would listen. Then everybody spoke out about everything and what is the result? No one listens. There was a time when when people took a stand, people noticed. Now we support riots over comments by race baiting “civil rights” opportunists who are hand in hand with the head of the DOJ. The result? Well, nothing makes sense and those in charge are criminally benefiting. Again, people stop trying. We have made the same type of mistakes over the years in our choices for leaders. Now, they are fairly well cemented into the fabric of our Country. America is no longer of, by or for the people.

I will admit that there isn’t a lot of “meat” in today’s post. I am just commenting again on the train that is coming at us. I too don’t really feel as if I can really make a difference. I talk and it seems that no one cares or they just don’t listen. I really don’t have a need to be important. I just want to stop what I see as a costly, painful, lengthy and nightmarish revolution in this Country.

— R. A. Grier

We have the right… to destroy ourselves — December 23, 2014

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December 23, 2014

We have the right… to destroy ourselves

As in other pieces, I try to stick to what I know, both personally and professionally. Admittedly, I stray a bit sometimes and venture out on limbs of conjecture and speculation. Today, I will try to put on my discipline pants and stick close to what I know. Forgive me when I stray! Also, admittedly, I won’t pretend that this piece is something new in concept or among the first of its kind. I will relate this piece to the old joke about when car racing started; shortly after the second car was built. No, this won’t be new. The freedom of speech debate started soon after it was declared a freedom. What is allowed? Everything? No, certainly you cannot yell, “fire!” in a crowded theater when there is no fire. Can I burn a flag? Is that treason? Protest? Ignorance? This is not a new argument, it is just another road sign approaching another crossroad in our Nation’s journey.

Just as in MANY, MANY, MANY counseling situations I have been involved with, the clients comes in to seek help only after there is a very well-developed crisis and lots of consequences. Inevitably, they ask the same question. How did I get to the bottom of this dark, cold hole in my life? It is very rare that the answer has anything to do with a rapid fall after tripping over an unforeseen obstacle. No, people usual start climbing down the hole years before, while humming a tune and pretending it is a magical tunnel that will lead to Paradise Island. Just close your eyes and it can be anything you want it to be!!! However, reality is an incessant inevitability and creeps in as it always does. You feel the pain of your choices when you get closer to the bottom of your particular hole that you have been climbing down. One day, all the “dreamy” is squished out of you under the weight of reality. As you get closer to the bottom, you realize those aren’t really the “kisses of island butterflies” but rather you are being bitten by the vicious man-eating gigantic hole spiders.

America is falling down a hole. Pundits, talking heads, idiots, and other inhabitants of America are calling the freefall all sorts of things other than dangerous. One particular cognitive distortion is the notion that a person can say and/or do anything in the name of freedom guaranteed by rights under the Constitution. Can you say or do anything you want? Sure. Does “protected right under the Constitution” mean that there won’t be a consequence? NO! Just because our Constitution protects free speech and some actions deemed as freedom of speech, it doesn’t mean that you are guaranteed that the result will be you trotting around like a prize pony with a wreath around your neck expecting people to hand you enumerable 1st Prize ribbons for everything you say and do. Some recent events in America demonstrate this point clearly.

A few days ago, two New York City police officers were murdered by a man for no apparent reason other than he wanted to exact revenge for two earlier deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. Eric Garner was breaking the law by selling cigarettes on the street. That, to me, doesn’t warrant being choked to death by a police officer, but he also resisted arrest. Michael Brown robbed a convenience store and shortly after when he was confronted by a police officer, the resulting melee resulted in Michael Brown being shot to death by the police officer.

What is at the heart of the linked events? Multi-generational ignorance has grown into a culture of entitlement and an ever growing ethnophobia which creates sociopathy. Fear, and the resulting anger is being driven by the irresponsible exercising freedom of speech. A lot of this “free” speech is simply ignorance being spewed ad nauseam by people who have the ability and inclination to speak with just a hint of logorrheic tendencies. These are the type people that have no knowledge, and facts are garnered from mythical rumors or grotesquely distorted facts. Their “first-hand” experiences are often the espousing of 20th hand knowledge handed down through an unfiltered game of cultural telephone. These folks are just the unwitting pawns and cheerleaders for the more dangerous types, the ones with an agenda.

The dangerous one are the leaders. The Ideological power brokers with agendas and delusions of grandeur are the truly dangerous folks. These folks ONLY have power and identity through their continued feeding (in this case) of the beast of race, hatred, fear and animosity. One such example that stands out now is Al Sharpton. I cringe a little by even writing his name, because I am in a small way fueling his efforts for attention and keeping his aura alive. These type people don’t care whether the attention is good or bad, as long as it keeps coming. They are masters of spin and use opposition as fuel for more divisive tactics. A very real perception among some demographics is that if I oppose Mr. Sharpton, I must be racist and want to cause him harm. Obviously, I know that is a load of bunk. But, as in my counseling sessions, it isn’t the reality that matters, but the perception thereof.

Mr. Sharpton has the right to express his opinion. Again, this is guaranteed by our Constitution. I say Mr. Sharpton helped pull the trigger in the murder of the two NYPD officers and needs to be held accountable. What if we held people accountable for social upheaval, just as we hold those accountable for yelling “fire” when there is none in a crowded theater? We won’t because we aren’t at the bottom of the hole yet.

Let’s not forget the influence that media companies have as well. They will quickly lawyer up and deny culpability, but I have mentioned many times before that our current set of laws and system of justice DOES NOT DETERMINE right or wrong. The point I am trying to make is one that will fall on many deaf ears due to ignorant minds and cold hearts. Words are powerful, dangerous and more effective weapons than any army in the world. Media knows all too well that a message can be manipulated for tremendous profit and profit is the goal of media.

Before I stray too far, let me get back to the recent events. President Obama said that he worries about black people and their interaction with police. The US Attorney General, Eric Holder expressed similar sentiments. Al Sharpton said similar. The current Mayor of New York City warned his son of similar. The message is that Black people have to worry about police. Here is where the message is so heavily skewed and driven by ignorance.

Robert goes to the convenience store, grabs some cigars and tries to walk out the door without paying for them. The clerk/owner of the store confronts me. I push him and keep walking. I am walking in the driving lane of a road. A police officer attempts to stop Robert. Robert start fighting the police officer. Golly, what will the result be of this story? Robert has to worry about police officers now! What if Robert resists arrest after trying to sell those cigars on the street? Again, Robert has to worry about police officers! Again, Robert has to worry about police officers! Do I really need to make this type of analogy?? The answer is a painfully obvious “no” to those who aren’t under the influence.

Mr. President, you are stating that laws don’t matter because the enforcers of the law are dangerous and corrupt. Mr. President you hold the highest office in our nation. Your office is charged with EXECUTING the laws, enforcing them. Mr. Holder, you are telling black people that they have a right to say and do whatever they want because police officers are wholly corrupt, racist and going to enact a coup with their recent militarization. Mr. Holder, you are the Nation’s highest attorney. You are charged with interpreting law for the enforcers. Mr. Sharpton, you say that ALL black people are still slaves and should fear white people and the only way out is through violent overthrow and enslaving of other races. Your title of “Reverend” would make me believe you know God and our savior Jesus Christ. Mayor Bill de Blasio, you are telling young people that police are the enemy and that multi-ethinc/race people are inferior and should be scared. Those who your son is supposed to be scared of work for you.

Had any of these men taken personal responsibility for the effect of their messages we would be in a different place today and perhaps ALL of those killed in recent months would be alive. Perhaps if Michael Brown had been reared on the messages of Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr., he would be alive. Perhaps if Eric Garner had been taught right and wrong by a family culture he would not have been in the street selling cigars illegally. Perhaps when Eric Garner was confronted for his petit misdeed, he would reflect on the mentoring of a man like Jesus Christ helping him fully understand scriptures like Romans 8:1? Maybe, if he wasn’t so busy with other activities, the Reverend Al Sharpton would have had an opportunity to share this and other scripture with Eric Garner.

No, like so many others, they were brainwashed by cultural ignorance as children. Even after they crossed the age border between child and adult, they chose to continue the deadly thought and belief process. These sentiments and storylines of ignorant heritage thinking are the problem. These “leaders”, like Obama, Holder, Sharpton and de Blasio, et al are being extremely reckless with the story fabric of society and the delicate balance of freedom and social enforcement that our Constitutional rights guarantee. Go back to the days of Hitler, Pol Pot, Gaddafi, Hussein and so many others that “led” their people with their ideology and rhetoric. Were those historical leaders right? No. Could they do what they did? Yes, their laws protected them. Might makes right. Is that what we are saying? But, this is wear ignorance comes in. America does not recognize the rise of the next Pol Pot in its own Country. Pol Pot didn’t walk into Cambodia one day and start killing people and at the end of that day sit in the seat of that country’s power. No, people let him. People encouraged him. One man… hear me on this, one man CANNOT become a dictator unless the people want to be dictated to. One man cannot destroy the world unless we let him. Silence is compliance, just ask the kid being bullied.

I want people to explore their thoughts, feeling and ideologies through expression. Absent differing ideas, we would still be selling people for the fields. Absent the welcoming of the discomfort of new ideas, women might be required to stay inside the home. Without the encouragement of new ideas, we would certainly be in a much different place today. But, as we must strive to embolden thought and expression, we must also put in place speed bumps of thought/deed through parenting, social constraint and social pressure. We cannot rely on laws to ensure safe, productive and flourishing society. A society of properly prepared and guided children would yield a society that had very little need for laws, jails or punishment. But, that utopian leaning society only comes from the efforts of ALL of the people. We cannot expect to act hedonistically without also expecting to receive a bill for the time-out we experience from acting irresponsibly.

I wish for every person to arrive in the kingdom. I pray for all of those in positions of authority in our lives. I wish no harm to anyone, even my enemies and even those who have committed horrible transgressions against people. Further, I pray that the power brokers of our culture like Mr. Sharpton. I pray that he would find strength to put down the comfort that his fame identity has bought him through his misguided efforts to fan the fear and fires of hate and racial tension. I pray that the Reverend Al Sharpton would open a Bible and read Colossians 3:13. I pray that President Obama would be the leader of the American vision that he promised. Perhaps he could take a page out of one of his predecessor’s book when he warned us, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” – Abraham Lincoln. OR another further back in our nation’s history who said “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

So America, as we climb further down the hole of destruction, depravity, hatred and evil; will you say, “No!”? Will you withstand and muster the strength to endure the inevitable discomfort of being the one standing up against the bully of America’s growing PC, progressive, and evil culture? Will you be able to find the courage stand up and call out those who are wrong and do the more difficult task to help them get right? It is easy to point the finger online or at the TV, but do you have the character and constitution to confront the ones in your family, in your circles of friends, in your churches and workplaces? If we choose not to be the change necessary and we choose comfort over weariness derived from necessary efforts… Well, if we continue to choose to be silent and idle, we will not be “we” but rather someone else’s annoying and temporary “them”. I promise you, when that times comes, “they” will not care what your Constitutional Rights were.

— R. A. Grier

Another Stumble or Another Opportunity — November 3, 2014

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November 3, 2014

Another stumble or another opportunity?

Just another day before another set of elections in America.

I am going to start and end my soliloquy on positive notes today. The positive about the pending elections tomorrow (using a weak car/engine analogy) is that after all the sugar and trash that has been dumped in the fuel, after all the inferior replacement & stolen parts and after all of the absolutely horrible maintenance and mechanical work – America is still the best running thing in the world. America is still the target for hate, because we are number one. America is still the most reviled nation in the world, due in part to our freedoms and our wealth. We are still the top dog in any fight, and everyone knows it. Despite enormous and prolonged efforts by Americans to destroy America, it is still great!

So, on this eve of another very important election cycle in America, I find myself melancholy and even somewhat depressed. I don’t think it is a secret that I am conservative in my political persuasions. You may be wondering a bit, given the polls’ foreshadowing of a GOP victory for the midterms, why I would feel down? The very simple answer is because I see the whole process as a farce. I am sad, because I see it all as nothing more than GREAT advertising to sell (long-term lease?) another “x” number of years of one of the many seats of power and responsibility in our Nation to small groups and individuals who have nothing but their own interest in mind. I see too many clowns in suits warming up for the opera. {think of a singer warming up} “Me, me me… what do you want to hear?”

There are some of these politicians that are spending MILLIONS of dollars on giant tubes of lipstick to rub on their records. Lies are presented as tasty points and counterpoints. Some are trying to be magicians with distractions and smoke and mirrors keeping your eye while they take your wallet and watch. Then there are the environmentalists telling about we must save the endangered Red Herring which are swimming under bridges to nowhere in Death Valley. If it weren’t real, it would make for the absolutely best and most entertaining reality show EVER! BUT, it is real and it makes me sad. I see all of this plastered on TV, radio and web. There is so much stuff about the candidates’ positions as all being, “for the people.” Then you get the straight up, LIE TO YOUR FACE politicians who tell us things like, “I have never fully supported the policies of the Administration…” Yeah, not “fully”, just 97% of the time. I am sad because America wants this. America seems to think this is what it should be.

I debate with myself quite often and wring my hands periodically, all while wondering if the People care about our Nation and elections. Voting turnout seems to get smaller and smaller while our population gets larger and larger. Campaign costs get larger and larger while the productivity of those elected gets smaller and smaller. How can the People not see?? Seems like they took the blindfold off of old lady justice and put it on the American Citizenry. How do I rip it off and put it back where it belongs?

Here are a few policy positions that I want us, as a Nation, to work on:

Foreign Policy & National Defense

Each American should be aware that there are those in the world and in our Nation that want to eliminate America. They want to keep the land, riches etc. They just want to eliminate the barriers like our Constitution and those willing to defend it. You can’t argue with a zealot bent on your destruction. Reason with the ones you can reason with. You must neutralize the rest.

Campaign Reform

Take monetary gain out of Public Service. Getting comfortable and getting rich is not a “public service.” The ones who pop up and scream loudest on this have failed the political Whac-A-Mole test. Beat them about the head and shoulders until they go down.

Education

Make schools a place where learning how to learn is the goal. Foundational educational skills ought to be the ability to read and do simple math. “Truth” is subjective. The ability to seek, sort, digest and discern is the power.

Further, not everyone needs to prepare to be a doctor.

Along those lines, not everyone who decided to not be a doctor at age 16 needs to be left out of the adult education process. Change your mind once you “matured” a bit? Go back to school and learn to earn whatever you want. Educational opportunities should be lifelong, not the mandates.

Not everyone is equal. However, everyone should have equal opportunity to gain, demonstrate and utilize their skills and abilities to provide for themselves. A degree does not make you educated. A diploma is a sheet of paper.

Economics & Social Policy

There are a million forms of “work”. There are so very few that absolutely cannot contribute. Ensure that those who cannot are provided for. Further, ensure that those who can are made to by the consequences of their own choices.

Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency or obligation on my part. The FEDGOV is not your mother. Go ask her for help. She won’t talk to you? Why? Go ask your neighbor. He won’t help you? Why? Go ask your church for help. Don’t have one? Why?

Artificial outcomes need to go away. Consequences are both good and bad and are dependent on the actions that precede them. Those actions are called choices.

Healthcare

If we sorted out the “Education”, “Economics” and “Social Policy” sections above this would not be a concern. I am conservative. I have been helping others for my entire professional life; very often at no cost to the people I helped. There are plenty of those out there that would do the same in medicine. Good gravy, get the FEDGOV out of any business other than providing for the common defense, and the other on the VERY LIMITED LIST in the Constitution.

Faith

Why reinvent the wheel? “Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.” – Ronald Reagan
So, just a few hours to go before the 2014 Midterm elections (plus many State and local elections.) What will happen? Will we put our blindfolds on and stumble in again to the polls grabbing for the lever? Or, will we seize on an opportunity that is afforded so few in this world and taken for granted – even ignored – by some many in this country?

But, as promised, I will end this on a positive note. It’s gonna be ok. I know it will be. Even though our families, schools, governments and nations all seem to be completely lost in the dark; it will be ok. Regardless of how the votes are cast, lost or forged tomorrow, it will be ok. Why? The schools are not our savior. My government is not my savior. My Nation is not my savior. AND my temporary existence on this wretched planet is just that… temporary. Eternity is a much longer time and it is in a place called Heaven.

— R. A. Grier

Tiptoeing on Bombs – August 26, 2014

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August 26, 2014
Tiptoeing on Bombs

There was a time, perhaps while I was safely wrapped in the naiveté of childhood, that I felt things made sense. I also believed that things were, for the most part, fair. I understood reality due to the cause and effect experienced through daily actions, whether mine or observed in others. I also had a comfortable understanding of, and a desire for, my somewhat predictable future. Golly, when did this train leave the tracks? Today, I have no understanding of reality based on experienced and observed cause and effect. I now only believe “fair” is a place where you ride rides and eat cotton candy. I no longer look at my future with anticipation due to a fear of impending doom due to the chaos that will come. Lastly, the only emotional blanket I have now is confusion, as very little makes sense anymore. There are some that say I deserve this. The “I” in that case would be all of the people that look like me and that “I” must pay (figuratively and literally) for all of the misdeeds and successes of the others that looked like me in our history.

With just a little bit of an attempt at humor and mostly for the record, I will say that I don’t blame President Obama for all of this. I blame recent four or five generations of those who sought and seek artificial outcomes at the cost of trading a safe future reality for future chaos. To them, reality is a perception driven by an expectation that things should be good, fun and easy all of the time. The world owes them and everybody gets a trophy because their name was on a roster. They puff up and/or cry when confronted or presented with anything that limits their comfort or desires; just like a child. I blame the deadly and destructive beast of a child that we now call the American culture.

Quite recently in a town called Ferguson there was an event that put an exclamation point on some of this. A young man took some penny cigars from a shopkeeper. When confronted, the young man pushed the shopkeeper and walked out and then down the street, apparently in traffic. A police officer engaged the young man as he attempted to protect and serve the community. It seems that the young man decided to attack the police officer in quite a brutal way. Soon after, the young man was shot several times and died. Right, wrong or indifferent, this could have been prevented. However, someone must pay for the actions of others, both in the present and past. Many, many people set out on many days of protests, and riotous behavior. More people were hurt, shops were looted and property was stolen and destroyed. The politicians and others addicted to attention and camera lights got involved and any hope for a peaceful resolution is lost. Those in charge of upholding the law are bypassing it in order to immediately arrest, put on trial and convict someone for a crime they so desperately want to have been committed. I watch and listen and of course, I think.

Naturally and instinctively, we look around seeking the origin of deafening noise and brilliant flash of light. We look in horror and amazement at the carnage and fragmented pieces of whatever used to exist where the bomb exploded. We cry and yell and writhe in mental and physical anguish at the damage inflicted. We shut our eyes and cover our ears, not wanting to let anymore bad inside. Shock comforts and protects us in the moment. In the following days and weeks, we numb ourselves with various medicines and distractions. In our increasing comfort, we choose not to notice the next bomb being built.

If I were a betting man, I would put money down that says the cigars weren’t the first thing that this young man had made a poor choice about. Further along, I don’t see looting as a normal reaction or outlet for grief. But, what about the tragedy and injustice! Yeah, I would really be confused if the rioting and looting was a result of grief. Further along, the police officer didn’t gun down the young man in a sneak attack or drive-by. No, there was a confrontation first. I haven’t heard where the police officer was even reprimanded officially in his job for any reason, much less murderous tendencies. No, what we have here is a failure to cohabitate. The damage and noise you are, and will increasingly see, is a result of cultural tectonic activity. What did you expect would happen? Think along the lines of artificial outcomes and misunderstood reality. Combine that set of concepts and slap on a mental image of ignorant bystanders who are casually humming and ignoring the bomb maker diligently at work beside them.

American subcultures in recent history are increasingly hanging out signs that say, “We don’t want to play well with others.” Sociologists, therapists and other well-intentioned folks keep creating reasons and ways to force them in the same sandbox. Toys get taken and sand starts flying. What did you expect would happen? The cultures don’t want to be together and the result is friction and anger followed by hurt and pain. The young man who was shot and killed by the police officer was raised in a culture with certain boundaries, expectations, mores, values and beliefs. The police officer that shot the young man was raised in a similar manner, but with different qualities for each of each of the guiding principles. The looting/protesting community was “raised” in a similar manner as well as the extensions or tertiary markers for society like the media, politicians, etc. Again, a singular act of a police officer shooting someone who just assaulted him would not result in the stupidity we witnessed on the evening news unless there was a capacity/ability (preparation for/predisposition for) triggered by an opportunity to demonstrate what was learned in all of those entities’ life lessons.

The bomb isn’t one culture or another. The bomb is the inevitable disaster that will come from the collision of diametrically opposed values and expectations fueled by the force of will and the absence of collective compromise (or adequate time to allow for fusing of multiple, differing ideologies). In this case it seems that the young man’s culture created him to think what he did was ok. Concurrently, in the police officer’s mind, a culture training was believed just the same, but with different expectations for outcomes. The result is trauma. Then the culture movers/shakers/drivers (media, politicians, lawmakers) come on and tell you which way the wind will blow next.

What will happen next is a reinforcing of the trepidation I feel each day I open my eyes as I described in the first paragraph. The ignorant, knee-jerk society will pull another nail out of my neighbor’s fence to jam in the hands and feet of what used to be America as they continue to crucify what was made to be fairly close to perfect; all in the name of justice and law. The inhabitant masses will continue to not care about what will happen. As long as they satisfy their bloodlust at the coliseum (TV), and can go about their lives with the satiation of a comfortable lifestyle and no responsibility. The powerful won’t care as long as they can keep the masses comfortably dumb and their own posh lifestyles intact. The politicians won’t care as long as they can keep the highly addictive power and control flowing through their lives.

I wonder how I will feel in the morning. Will I be inspired? Will I be eager to greet the day that lies ahead? Will I be comforted by clear expectations and beneficial outcomes of practical and common-sense actions? No. I will probably barely crack open my eyes… just enough to check if someone is sneaking up on me. Then, I will sit up on the edge of my bed in as I soak in another morning of fearful desperation and defeat. Why? Because I know that the border is just a dotted line on a map. I know that my children’s future has been mortgaged. I know our enemies have been welcomed in our Country for many years. I know that education has been hijacked in order to be a propaganda machine that churns out the cognitively neutered. Those are just a few of the morning thoughts. But! Then I will smile. Why? Because we gearing up for another season of elections! I can’t wait to hear all of the promises and feel-good speeches about hope and change. Wait, that one has already been used. They will be forced to come up with another catchy lie. I will smile because at least they still have to be creative about lying to the masses about why walking on all of those uncomfortable ticking bombs is good for them.

— R. A. Grier

Raising Kids in an Underground America — February 14, 2014

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February 14, 2014

Raising Kids in an Underground America

Cultures change and that is a fact. Raising children must also change in order to meet the demands and expectations of the culture. Here is my fear. I will teach my kids to do their best. I will teach my kids to take responsibility for their choices. I will teach my kids to be frugal with their resources. I will teach my children not to lie, cheat or steal.

Then the culture decides that those values are not worth propping up anymore. The culture runs past the point of tolerance and embraces the new normative behaviors as “right” and “correct”. Outside of God’s authority, what else are mores or laws? They are the accepted practices of the culture and the punishments for violating the normative behaviors. The New World Culture deems my children and their antiquated choices as undesirable and even a threat to the correct way of life.

If my children live a life according to the values that I mentioned in the first paragraph above; the ones that that my wife and I are trying in earnest to instill, then… My children will live a life of pain, suffering, disappointment and of no value. If my children adopt the values and choices of the culture, then… they will be accepted, prosperous, comfortable and happy. They will be free and have friends and the liberty to roam the earth unfettered.

I have mentioned many times that America is no longer the America of the founders. Long gone are the days of the protestant work ethics and the merits of a disciplined relationship with God. Our culture just does not care. Today, the name of the game is hedonism and warming up for the opera in EVERY WAY and EVERY DAY. Me, me me…

Only fools and suckers try not to cheat. Heck, it isn’t even cheating because everybody is doing it. Only an idiot would worry about bills and working. Forget worrying about laws. Do what you please. Why on earth would you struggle for a moment with a moral dilemma? Shake off those antiquated beliefs and join the Eric Cartman for President bandwagon!!! Or should we pledge our support to Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho??? There are so many more qualified candidates now that nothing matters!!

And what about God? I am deeply concerned that I am doing my children a disservice by teaching them to work hard, save money and treat others with respect. I am deeply worried to teach them about the love of Christ and how they should show that love to other people who may not know Him. Learn, worship and share the gospel… That would mean a life of ridicule, isolation, pain, suffering and more than likely execution for their Christian crimes.

Or maybe I should teach them how to manipulate and hide and be covert in their beliefs? Teach them to be the ultimate chameleon. Play the “get ahead” game during the day and pray to God in silence and secret meeting places with the underground bands of other believers.

Why is it that academics are so vehemently opposed to plagiarism, but have no problem creating and maintaining a cultural system that steals the work of some and re-distributes it to other people? What is the difference between stealing work at the college level and stealing work in the corporate world through taxes?

Companies like Hobby Lobby are not permitted to “force their” beliefs on others. BUT, they had better swallow those beliefs when a protected/preferred class of people enter their presence. I may not offend someone of the protected/preferred class, but I had damned well better suck it up when they offend me. “They” are protected in their beliefs, while I must capitulate mine in order to accommodate them.

Racism, sexism (and others in the laundry list of federally protected classes) are vile processes that seek to disenfranchise a certain group of people. Our culture has responded and our leadership has repeatedly made it clear that it is unacceptable. We are so good at ensuring it is unacceptable that we are giving 110% effort in making sure those protected groups that were once oppressed are now better, more protected, more deserving and more apt to have beneficial outcomes. The corrective action cannot be the same behaviors that necessitated the need for the corrective action. Justice, especially social justice, will be the tool that creates the next civil war by slashing at the decency of man by seeking historical equality and reparation.

There is nothing wrong with wanting everyone to be happy, free to pursue dreams and unencumbered by inequality of opportunity. There is nothing wrong with ensuring a good life for those who CANNOT provide that for themselves. There is nothing wrong with helping people who find themselves in unforeseeable circumstances that limit their livelihood or threaten the union of their family. There is nothing wrong with allowing people to have beliefs, regardless of the fallacy of those beliefs.

Here is what is wrong with trying to MAKE all of those scenarios a reality. People. Each person has a different flavor preference. Each person has a different perception. Each person has a different ability. So in the attempts of extremely misguided social constructionists, we try to force every situation in order to achieve some artificial outcome. Somebody gets more than someone else or a different color lollypop and then the children start fighting. We make rules. We have lost the foundations of understanding and we have certainly lost the backbone to withstand more than a featherweight of pressure. We set the bar as low as possible for achievement, and we incessantly create artificial equalities of achievement. The effort is made, of course, to obtain advantage in order to ensure equal outcomes.

I am not the smartest person in the world. I am neither omnipotent nor am I omniscient. I do know a little about people and their behaviors. Pretend for a moment that we had the ability to eliminate EVERY asset and currency from EVERY person on the face of the earth. EVERYONE was suddenly equal. What would happen?

Some would steal.

Some would create.

Some would isolate.

Some would seek protections and strength of other in forming groups.

Some would get ahead

Some would not

Some would fall behind.

What would be the situation one hundred years after the start of that experiment? 500 years? 1000? 2000? Yes, we would be right where we are now. Some would steal, some would create…

So what do I teach my children? How do I tell them to accept and live out a life choosing that there are some things that are right because God said they will be right. Well, I guess I must go with what is most important. God must be above all. Hold on kids, it is going to be a rough ride.

— R. A. Grier

The Cognitive Restructuring of America or Just Breathe — October 1, 2013

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The Cognitive Restructuring of America

Or

Just Breathe

October 1, 2013

“Attitude reflects leadership” is a phrase I heard and learned while I was working with some amazing people as a contractor for the military. Our job was to affect change in the lives and the course of lives of young people. The youth that came to us were products of dysfunction, ignorance, avarice, hate, neglect and so much other evil. Those kids reflected the leadership they had received.

The foundation of America has been adjusted. Its focus is fuzzy. Its mission is 1000 points of light, but no one can find the switch. Its builders and future leaders are inhabitants that have little or no skin in the game and focus only on self. Hope and change are just vapid words sent out to distract the optimists a little while longer. Truth is relative and power is everything, whether you have it or not.

In headlines and blog posts and on TV and on radio; everyday, people ask, “What can we do?” Focus on what matters and what you can change. All too often in counseling, I am sitting in front of a client that is just overwhelmed by everything that has to be done, everything that wasn’t done and everything that was done wrong. Their focus becomes, “that which cannot be done” rather than the comforts of what is being done well. The resulting feelings are anxiety, anger and depression. Their system of thinking consumes the brain in an ever-increasing spiral of circular reasoning until something breaks. Call it depression, call it anxiety, call it a brief psychotic break – call it trying to control things you don’t have control over.

Inevitably, the client finishes telling me everything that is wrong and they stare at me. Most ask, “What do I do?” Often, they look at me funny when I ask them to breathe. One person even asked, “Why?” How far from the list of true priorities was he operating? My response was, “Because it is necessary for life. And if you do it right, it can help with happiness.”

We focus on what really doesn’t matter. We pour energy, effort, time and resources into projects that are contrived to be a cog in a machine of another project; neither of which serve any real benefit or purpose. When those contrived projects fail, we want it fixed. When it isn’t, we try harder and begin trading our happiness to get it fixed. We end up trying to fix everything, when in reality, we forget to maintain what we can.

I akin this process to that stage performance with the guy spinning plates on top of sticks. He starts out with one, then two, then more. Eventually the limit is ability to maintain is reach and plates start to wobble. The guy keeps on adding plates, runs faster, spins harder and then…. CRASH!!! One of the plates falls and gravity takes over on the rest of them when he stops trying. What plates are we trying to spin? Does that matter?

Recognizing limits of control and influence in your life is important. One of my personal happiness speed bumps are red traffic lights. I find myself uttering less than graceful words toward them when they illuminate in front of my path of purpose. I don’t think a single one of them has heard me yet. Like the person who asked why they should breathe, I think Americans (not the leeches or inhabitants) have forgotten what is truly important. We get angry. We are frustrated. We get sad. We get depressed. We get anxious and we ARE YELLING AT RED TRAFFIC LIGHTS! We are anxious about spinning, wobbly plates and saddened or angry when they fall.

What matters? You are more than likely a part of a family. You probably work. You are likely to be a member of a church. You are probably a parent, a sibling and definitely somebody’s child.

BUT THEY ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY AND THEY WON’T LISTEN….

AND YOU ARE DESTROYING YOUR LIFE… will you listen?

There are only so many hours in a day and it is my understanding that time is a non-renewable resource. What did you ignore while you were frustrated at DC? Who did you ignore? What work function didn’t get done in that 15 minutes? What “Love!” text was postponed while you tweeted to the world your opinion of the level of stupidity of those people?

What were the secondary or tertiary costs of your choices? Relationships suffer. Work slows down. Churches are ignored or used as meeting places for gossip and political rhetoric. Marriages struggle. Children are ignored. You are sad, distraught and angry. The only Happiness, joy, comfort or hope you find is in Hallmark cards.

So I tell you all, “Just breathe.” Remember that most of the chaos is happening in the six inches of the world that you have the most control over – between your left and right ear. Breathe.

After you get a handle on that task, perhaps you can take a look at your priority list. Hand it to your spouse, your boss, your pastor or your child. Ask them what is important on the list. Adjust. Breathe.

Hold out your hands and see that your influence limit is more than likely at the tips of your fingers. Breathe.

Introduce yourself to and then solidify your relationship with God as his child. Upon that foundation and through Him all that matters can be built. A Country is a collective effort of society. Societies come from communities. Communities are formed by groups of families. Decide where your influence and control truly is and exercise that influence. Choose to lead your life. Choose to lead your family. Finding success there will assuredly bring you peace. Feed and nurture what you want to live. Don’t forget to breathe, it is important to life and happiness.

— R. A. Grier

Easily Offended — 08-25-2013

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Easily Offended

08-25-2013

My favorite group (my sarcasm here will certainly offend somebody) is the easily offended. My Lord! Our policies in this Country were supposedly designed to protect folks. Well, those policies have created SO MANY whiny, weak, ignorant, entitled, pampered, protected, petulant CHILDREN who go crying to their mommy (or Uncle in our case) at the slightest PERCEIVED injustice!!!! Folks, if you are one of those who “suffer” from that sort of thing, I will tell you that you will make an easy target when things do get rough. Grow up, stand up, and focus on things that matter! Oh, I forgot! You DON’T HAVE TO!!!! Your Uncle will make sure of that. Just keep calling him Uncle!!!

So, where did all this come from? I point the finger again at social construction. In humans, power and protection by proxy is natural… as long as you are six years old. Parents are supposed to defend their children and beat back the attackers to ensure survival. I think I have seen this same sort of thing played out on National Geographic too. The difference seems to be the continued prolonging (remain on parents’ insurance until 26?) of adulthood. You never have to grow up! Boy, it sure would be nice if the world were really Never Land and no one had to grow up. I would enjoy frolicking and flying about, without a care in the world. However, this seems to be reserved for only a few; well maybe a few million and counting.

The real world consequences for raising generation after generation of Peter Pans is that America is not Never Land. There are people who work, build, teach and grow families with the goal of creating a legacy of name and fulfillment for the next generation. The Peter Pans are beginning to outnumber the producers. Again, that would be fine, except for the fact that there is no magical pot of gold anywhere.

In times past, what would happen if you did not work? What would happen if you purchased something on your word or credit and you could not pay? What would happen if you chose a life of immoral depravity? What would have happened if you chose these sorts of things fifty or a hundred years ago? What has changed?

Today, and in the recent decades of memory, our culture and government have made every effort to ensure there are no consequences for choices. In many cases, the policies have ensured that there are no real choices to make. I have heard many explanations for this. Some include that certain people were oppressed. Others were victims of greedy big business tactics. Even more were victims of discrimination of varying types.

I have the right of life, liberty and to pursue happiness. I do not deserve an outcome. I do not get a free pass because I have been passed over in jobs for the purpose of selecting a quota candidate. Nor do I want employment or promotion because of my demographic descriptors. I do not have the freedom to demand everything be to my liking. I am not equal in skill, ability and education to everyone else.

AND, I am American counter-culture. America culture supports that removal of consequences and discomforts. American culture celebrates and ensures success and opportunity for some while denying equality for others all in the name of correcting issues of equality in the past. American culture seeks to ensure outcomes, no matter how they come about. American culture has blown past ensuring equal opportunity in jobs and schools by making neither necessary through lifelong entitlement programs.

BUT, we are helping people…

No, you are celebrating short-term pleasure while ignoring the blaring long-term consequences. Of course people will take the easy path. Of course people will take handouts, jobs they don’t qualify for and rewards for actions never taken. OF COURSE! It is in us to want the comfortable and easy and fun and irresponsible. YES WE CAN!!! We absolutely can! Recent American culture is making every effort to change the realities of “human physics” and then ignoring what will not change!! The same derailed culture then acts baffled. The cognitively neutered inhabitants are left wondering why people are acting like a/immoral soulless, sociopathic animals. You made them. You encouraged that. You begged for this.

The party will end. The bill and bone collectors will come calling. A nation will not survive with just inhabitants that are ignorant, absent and incompetent. A nation will fold under the weight of debt designated to falsely prop up myths. A nation will surrender to invaders when its citizenry has never even had to fight to make a budget, much less for unlearned concepts like honor, dignity, and freedom.

However, I doubt seriously that this will reach anyone other than the “choir”. The foxes are running the hen houses. The thieves are manning the cash registers. The foolishly ignorant are standing at the podiums and chalkboards. The family has sold their children as cultural slaves in order to avoid discomfort or inconvenience I their lives. The churches have traded the blood of the savior for the Kool-Aid of the Uncle.

So go ahead and keep trying to take my life, liberty and the opportunity for me to pursue happiness. Keep stripping away the layers of protection. Go ahead and sell out to the bullies of the new culture. Pawn our future in order to pay for our short-sighted and stupid choices of yesterday. Keep threatening the future of my children. Shun, denounce and throw away God so that you have absolutely no worries about guilt or shame or future consequence for your flesh driven evil choices! No, I am not easily offended. Instead I am properly prepared and equally determined to do what is necessary to ensure the proper future for me and my family. I am not offended. I am ready.

— R. A. Grier

Whose Side are You on? — 08-22-2013

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Whose side are you on?

August 22, 2013

I really don’t have the desire to correct “stupid” anymore. There was a point in history where I would hear or read some re-re-re-(ad nauseam)-gurgitated “truth” or “fact” and get fired up; ready to right the wrong! There are SO many now. You really shouldn’t argue with drunks, zealots or stupid people. It is pointless unless you are just bored, need some entertainment and have a lot of time to kill.

Folks don’t bother to check the facts or even consider that the information being presented is just smoke & mirrors intended to distract. I talk about Red Herring and people start looking for bait and tackle in my hands. Too many generations have lined up to be cognitively neutered and stripped of any semblance of or compunction to exercise any level of critical thinking. All under the glorious flag of “progress”. Keep watching your favorite “news” show and listening to that radio host!! Certainly they have your best interest in mind!! Certainly!

How is all that “progress” going? The world should be perfect by now… right? Not so much. Forever, the politicos have told us, “We have regulated the bad guys!” How is that going? “We have declared a war on drugs!” How is that going? “We have been fighting poverty for decades!” How is that going? “We have spent trillions on education!” How is that going? BUT, you listen to that tasty BS gravy when the next candidate promises to make everything better than the last guy! By the way, how has that gone?

Wow, what an opportunity we were given! A few hundred years ago, we had a nation that was vast, filled with natural resources and led by a common goal and Spirit. Those new Americans struggled, fought and built their Country. Soon, those qualities and efforts yielded the strongest nation in the world. Very soon after that we have a shell of a Union, inhabited by so many that don’t know and don’t care. My, how far we have come! If you care to look for an answer for the downfall, I suggest you ask a simple question, “What changed?”

It seems that right wing folks forget that there are people out there who actually need help and are actually trying to do better for themselves, their families and their Country. Right wing folks don’t bat an eyelash when giving out huge bonuses to top level employees that emboldened the bottom line by eliminating lots of hourly employees. Right wing folks tend to want to run the world according to what they think should happen and are fine as long as no one disagrees; then they send in the soldiers to die for something that really doesn’t matter, all in the name of honor, duty and service to their Country.

It seems that left leaners are all squishy over protecting the endangered spotted dust mite (or something equally spotted and endangered) but have no desire to save an endangered country by saving the endangered logical thinkers. No, they will gladly run them over with inane regulation, policy and then back the bus up for another pass over the body. Left leaners tend to want to “just even the playing field” by evening everyone’s bank account. Well, devalue the dollar, deposit a million “whatevers” of the new currency in each single person’s account in the country and in ten years some will have more than others. Left leaners want to make the government the almighty. Well, that is just wrong.

You have to make choices. Every one of them matters! It may be something quite simple such as which milk to buy and where to buy it. It may much more difficult such as whether or not to end a life at a clinic that champions women’s health. Just know that no matter how great, how small, how many or how few of these decisions you make or avoid making; there is a consequence. Those of you enjoying the spoils of whatever side is currently winning will most certainly wail when your side comes up short on the power scale. Culture drives the hedonism that dictates the “get what you can, while you can” mentality. People getting the bonuses don’t care as long as there is another bonus. People getting entitled don’t care as long as they are still entitled. Those who hide their heads in the sand will feel so violated and victimized when their heads are snatched from the sand and they are enslaved by the new regime.

Be happy you are winning. Your side is in power and they are making all the bad stuff go away and they are making your side comfortable!

Be incensed that you are being ruled by those who don’t understand. Your side is in the minority so you must yell, scream, write letters, plot, scheme and whatever else it takes to get back on top!

Be turned off by it all because it’s just too difficult to sort it all out. They are all idiots and corrupt and too stupid to change and you are just one insignificant person. Give up and turn Oprah on or flip the channel to Honey Boo Boo.

Any of those is fine, because I fear it doesn’t really matter at this point what you do. I fear that particular ship of opportunity has sailed.

What can come of this? Most assuredly, there will be another civil-type war on American soil. Rational thought is in such short supply now. When you add the constraint of time and the very real danger of war; there will be no stopping bloodshed. Many will die and many more will be scarred in some form or fashion. Some of the non-flesh scars will look like vehement segregation from those unlike themselves. Of course, there will be some segregation along color or ethnic lines, but I believe that the next civil war will create lasting divisions along cultural, religious and class lines. If you are smart perhaps you can begin to choose whose side you are on!

— R. A. Grier

We should all lose the race — 07-14-2013

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We Should All Lose the Race

07-14-2013

RE: Zimmerman trial and verdict –

There are many things that echo the abysmal state of the Union and culture of America today. The case du jour is the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. What was Trayvon doing there? Why was Zimmerman seemingly so ready for this conflict?

My stance is probably different from most on this case. I freely admit that I was not a witness, nor was I a juror in the courtroom. My responses are purely speculation and opinion.

What did Trayvon do to deserve to die? Was he simply in a neighborhood that, “he didn’t belong”? Mr. Zimmerman was looking for this fight and his verdict will solidify his justification for doing so.

When the two got together, there was no rational thought or action, because both had something to prove; especially when the situation yelled, “I triple dog dare you!!!!”

Life can be very simple. Trayvon should not have been in that neighborhood. While he had a right to walk down the sidewalk, he knew that he was ruffling feathers. He wanted that. Regardless, he should not have been killed for being where he did not have business.

What was Trayvon’s crime? Being black in a neighborhood of elites? A neighborhood of “not black”? What was so special about this neighborhood that justified killing someone?? How many thousands walk by the front of the Whitehouse every day? I cannot imagine a more important home.

George Zimmerman has been planning this event in his imagination for quite a while. He would be the Knight in Shining Armor, driving back the hordes of “unwanted”.

Now for the twist…

This is just another fanning of the flames by everyone caught up in their own cultural identity and the burning of another inch of the fuse, on its way to the TNT of Cultural Revolution in the USA. We all have been striking matches and dowsing the fuse with gasoline for decades. Unfortunately, both (all three, all twenty) sides are so caught up in their own ethnocentristic BS that they are blinded to anything that even smell like truth. Each of the fevered fighters have so little inside that they MUST CONTROL EVERYTHING OUTSIDE in order to feel comfortable.

If all you have is your color or ethnic heritage, then you ARE LOST!!! You are also doomed.

If all you rely on are the laws and mores of society, then YOU ARE LOST and equally DOOMED!

Trayvon and Zimmerman gave us an opportunity to do better. They gave us an opportunity to reach outside of our comfortable worlds. They each gave us an opportunity to grow. America has seemingly chosen not to take advantage of any of those opportunities. Instead, we chose to increase our gate while running down the path of destruction.

You will find what you look for. You will live in your own reality. Red pill or blue pill; it doesn’t matter. God gave us a rulebook and a map for life. Justify what you wish and minimize your action to any degree you deem necessary in order to sleep. Act outside God’s path and you are striking matches and pouring gasoline. Enjoy the consequences of your actions.

— R. A. Grier