Category: Taxes

Making of Tail of the Dragon Novel: Taking on “fear” at Moonville and the Mothman of Point Pleasant

Fear is the most abused emotion that potential dictators use to advance their positions.  Anytime an individual or organization of any kind uses fear to attempt to move emotions into seeing their point of view, their argument will be a weak one that contains hidden intentions deceitful in nature.  Overcoming fear is therefore the primary task of any potential modern-day hero and is one of the most prevalent themes in my most recent novel, Tail of the Dragon.  The main character Rick Stevens is a man who has incredible command of fear, and is motivated to respond more aggressively when the strategy of fear is thrown in his direction by forces who seek to rule him.  In order to write about such a character I felt I needed to face down any fears that might linger in my own mind, so I organized a motorcycle trip with my wife and son-in-law across southern Ohio to the extremely haunted Moonville Tunnel in Vinton County, to do some rappelling off that ghost town monument.  Later, we planned to head down to Point Pleasant, West Virginia to visit the 8th Annual Mothman Festival, which is an outdoor exhibition of fanfare to celebrate the framed monster which terrorized the citizens there in the 1966.  For me, one of the scariest books I’ve ever read was the Mothman Prophesies by John Keel which was made into a Richard Gere film many years after the publication.  The non-fiction book was truly alarming stuff and captures wonderfully the very mysterious happenings that occur routinely in southeastern Ohio, where monsters, murders, and supernatural events are rather commonplace.  These endeavors lead to the video below which is Part VI of The Making of Tail of the Dragon the novel.  Click here to see the previous installment.

I have told the story of Moonville in other articles, so I won’t repeat it here but to say that the old ghost town of Moonville just to the east of Athens, Ohio has some strange connection to supernatural elements.  Out of the three times I’ve been there with my family, two of those times involved supernatural happenings.  However, this most recent trip on the motorcycles did not have a supernatural occurrence leading me to conclude that whatever the content of those living in a supernatural realm, they feed off the fears, and anxieties of participants who willingly believe in their schemes.  I have seen ghost-like images and strange things at Moonville, but I have never seen anything that could actually bring harm to people.  Most of the supernatural events occur because they exist outside of our observable reality.  The extent of their power is regulated to the effect they have on the imagination.  Moonville unlike another ghost town that I wrote about in the Kerr City remote Florida ghost town is known for its excessive numbers of teen suicides, grisly murders, and the disappearance of visitors who are easily pounced upon by aggressive individuals who hunt in those remote woods.  The Moonville area is very rugged and can only be reached by a dirt road.  If something happens along that road which is several miles from any civilization, there is nobody to hear you scream.  To me, this is the source of most of the ghost stories.  Young people go there to “feel” something positive or negative, and once there and intoxicated on drugs and alcohol, the ghosts get into their heads and accelerate their imaginations into jumping off railroad trusses, hanging themselves, or committing vile acts against other.  So to go to the Moonville Tunnel means to either surrender to these emotions, or to remain in control of them.

When we left early on a chilly September morning in Ohio with the tinge of autumn in the air, we knew it would be the last major motorcycle trip of the year as the weather was simply getting too cold for long distance riding.  I was nearly finished with the manuscript of Tail of the Dragon and was set to turn it into the publisher by Christmas of that year.  Even though I had a formal invite to publish the book, I still had to go through the process of having it accepted out of nearly 2000 other submissions, so it was not a done deal at the time.  American Book only publishes roughly 80 titles a year, so the odds were still against the novel being put into print.  After all the work I had done on the book over the summer and all the travel which preceded this supernatural journey which has been chronicled in previous “Making Of” submissions, there was a good chance that Tail of the Dragon would not make it through the publication process.  So the anxiety was mounting for me.  It is one thing to engage in a creative process, which is what I had been doing, and enjoying.   It is quite another to begin thinking of such endeavors as a business enterprise, which was the phase that I was at.  I still needed to nail down some of the character traits of Rick Stevens fearlessness, which was difficult to do with the anxiety I was feeling over the publication of the book, so I needed an “EXTREME” situation to bring my own mind out of it.  So my son-in-law and I decided to tackle several supernatural themes on a long day trip to the east.

Rappelling at Moonville is something my family had always wanted to do.  The tunnel itself cuts through a steep hillside and runs through where the ghost town used to reside.  It’s an interesting engineering feat for a group of people who built the tunnel during the period of the Civil War.  The town Moonville lived and died due to the mining of iron for the war, as the area was rich with iron mines which appear to be connected to the supernatural happenings—something to do with effect on gravitational waves and how the mind perceives them.  I would attribute this heavy concentration of iron to the heavy reporting of ghosts in the buildings at Ohio University at Athens just a few miles away, and the swarm of Big Foot sightings that occur in the area.  I am happy with the footage I was able to get during the event.  It takes viewers on an interesting journey across the face of the tunnel in a way that only a rope can provide.  It really gives an appreciation for how human beings were able to create such a tunnel in the first place before modern excavating equipment large enough for a train to travel through.  The area at the time of Moonville’s rise to power was one of the most remote places in The United States, yet people built the large tunnel essentially by hand.

For whatever the reason, whether by reputation, or some chemical reaction in the brain caused by the iron deep in the ground, or actual inter-dimensional beings that use such places as points to and from other planes of reality, Moonville is an intimidating place.  On a previous visit my family took to Moonville around midnight, we found local college kids camped out in the tunnel attempting to brave their fears against the supernatural with collective reassurance and drugs.  They dealt with that subtle hostility of the place with chemical evasion and communal reassurance.  But on our motorcycle trip to Moonville with all our equipment packed on the back of our bikes, we were pretty much alone.  We had the tunnel to ourselves with only the ghosts to witness our time there.  That made rappelling off the tunnel a unique experience that is not easily duplicated.

We had no obvious paranormal encounters on this visit to the Mooville Tunnel.  Other than the obvious uneasy feeling that accompanies the place, it was a peaceful and beautiful day.  The ride to the tunnel was long, and cold as the morning air had been very chilly, in the lower 40s.  My wife stayed cold well into the afternoon.  After a few hours of rappelling my son-in-law and I warmed up and began to sweat a bit.  By mid-afternoon, the temperature was up to the mid-seventies as we found our motorcycles where we had parked them along the dirt road in Vinton County from the short hike into the hills to the tunnel entrance.  The railroad which ran through the area is now long gone as the only real relic from the period is the tunnel and some dilapidated old railroad bridges that travel west across a swampy lowland.  Our next destination was the Mothman Festival at Point Pleasant, West Virginia about an hour’s drive to the south.

We arrived to a town packed to the rim with people coming to see the various paranormal oriented exhibits celebrating the haunting of the mysterious Mothman who appeared there the year leading up to a major bridge collapse that killed many from the town.  The Mothman terrorized members of Point Pleasant solidly for 13 months up to the bridge collapse.  It is an excellent example of one of the largest group hauntings in American history.  For me, coming to the actual site was a way to put sights and smells to the words painted on my mind from that terrifying book, which is excellent.  The book, unlike the Richard Gere film, went even further than just the strange Mothman creature into the realm of the paranormal.  In the book, Keel covered many mysterious elements that ended up becoming major motion pictures elsewhere.  The movie Men in Black produced by Steven Spielberg was a comedy look at an actual phenomena that took place in Point Pleasant during the Mothman huantings, leaving many to wonder who the government looking Men in Black really were.  They behaved like FBI, or CIA agents, but proved to be something else altogether.  Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and appears to have read The Mothman Prophesies in his youth, because his film Close Encounters of the Third Kind seemed deeply inspired by The Mothman Prophesies.   Close Encounters took place on the Indiana, Ohio border in the same general region of the country and to this day, no filmmaker has made a better movie on the subject of unidentified flying object sightings than Spielberg’s Close Encounters.  Much of activity that occurred in Close Encounters actually happened at Point Pleasant during the Mothman hauntings.  For a solid year between 1966 to 1967, journalist John Keel chronicled some of the craziest paranormal activity ever recorded in one area with the exception of Area 51.  I always believed that some of the U.F.O. activity was from experimental aircraft at the relatively nearby Wright Patterson Air Force Base, but only a few of The Mothman Prophesies U.F.O. sightings could be explained away with experimental aircraft.  There seems to be more to those stories that defy observable explanation at this current time.

Whatever it was, the entire town has found a way to relieve their tension over those events, and that is to have a festival every September to celebrate the strange happenings.  For me, it was haunting to look at the actual buildings and locations first hand as I read about them in the book. It was difficult to imagine why such a remote place had provoked so much paranormal activity, but it had.  To me the huantings at Moonville and Point Pleasant over a long period of time had common elements that were directly related to the region.  There is something dark and menacing in those places.  The locals don’t notice it much as they have only ever known such fear present in their lives.  But for those who come from outside that area, the tinge is easy to detect.  Standing on the banks of the river at the Mothman Festival I spoke with my son-in-law about The Yellow Creek Massacre which was a brutal killing of several Mingos by Virginia frontiersmen on April 30, 1774 which was one of the main incidents that contributed to Lord Dunmore’s War.  That terrible incident occurred nearly where we were standing as outlined in a favorite book of ours, The Frontiersman by Allen Eckert.

Chief Logan was a good friend of the English-speaking settlers in the region and was away on a hunt but his wife Mellana, his brother Taylaynee, Taylaynee’s son Molnah, and Taylaynee’s sister Koonay were among the slain. Koonay was also the wife of John Gibson a prominent trader between the English and various Native American groups who at the time of the massacre was on a trading expedition to the Shawnee.

The Greathouse group lured the Mingo group under Taylaynee into their camp with a promise of liquor and sport. Then they sprung an ambush on the Mingos and shot them dead. After the killings many of the bodies were mutilated. In a particular brutal killing Jacob Greathouse ripped open Koonay’s abdomen and removed and scalped her unborn son. The only member of the first group who was not killed was Koonay’s two-year-old daughter who was eventually returned to the care of her father, John Gibson, after she had for a time been in the care of William Crawford.  To me, the coincidence between the two events, the killing of the Mingo group in 1774 and the terrible events of the Mothman haunting in 1966 along with all the crazy UFO sightings and the mysterious Men in Black were somehow connected.  Such a concentration of strange events in the same area not to mention the collapse of the Silver Bridge right before Christmas at the end of the 13 month Mothman hauntings killing 46 people on December 15th 1967 are more than a coincidence.  Fear lives on the banks of the Ohio River in Point Pleasant, West Virginia for reasons that extend deep into human logic and history.

The travel to these places I didn’t expect to solve any of those lingering riddles.  However, I did want to get a sense of how Rick Stevens in Tail of the Dragon would deal with ever-present fear, as he contended with a legal system representing the entire country coming after him during the greatest car chase in the history of car chases.  I’m not a very skittish person by nature, I am used to a certain amount of ever-present danger.  But it is quite something else to put the mind into the kind of situation that Rick Stevens finds himself involved in during the events of my novel.  Studying the people of Point Pleasant at the festival, and climbing around in the deep woods of the Moonville Tunnel actually set my mind right on the issue.

We returned home later that evening well before the sun had set.  The experience was surreal.  We had traveled nearly 400 miles that day yet I was writing that night the final touches of Tail of the Dragon to meet my submission deadlines.  The trip had moved so quickly that it seemed like we had never even left that day.  My anxiety over that deadline had evaporated after the hard ride realizing that fear is really just a state of mind.  My family had stepped over fear and had a nice trip that day in the land of the supernatural.  What we discovered was that most of what anyone has to fear is mostly in the mind, and it is easy in such states of consciousness to see how silly it is for society to build their entire civilization on “fear.”  Ultimately Rick Stevens in Tail of the Dragon lives his life beyond the grip of fear which infuriates the “fear monger” controllers represented by the police and their puppet master politicians.  When Rick stands before a judge in Tail of the Dragon with the threat of life imprisonment for defending himself, he behaves with a level of confidence and fearlessness that is simply unfathomable in modern society.  But to tell a story of real freedom in the human mind, it is “fear” that must be overcome, and for Rick Stevens he must deal with the worst of it in Tail of the Dragon. 

It is this premise against fear that eventually helped the novel jump out over those thousands of other manuscripts to become published, so the work was well worth it.  Fear is the means that is used to control massive portions of the population whether the fear is generated from a supernatural source or a political fear monger.  The intent is the same, to control the behavior of individuals away from freedom and toward tyranny.  Rick Stevens in Tail of the Dragon is committed to living his life without fear, and this causes him great danger from those who insist that he stay under their control.  But like the ghosts of Moonville, Ohio, the real fear that the authorities have to impose on Stevens is only mental.  Once it is realized that man is superior to the ideas of the infantile authority driven dictators of politics and power it is soon discovered that real power is really generated among the human race in their ability to generate, or deny fear.  If a person develops the ability to live beyond the realm of fear, they will discover how foolish such notions used to be for them, and they will find freedom there to greet them.  It is on that side of the mental spectrum that readers are discovering such freedom through the life of Rick Stevens.  A life without fear sets the mind into the kind of focus which is rare in the history of mankind, a life that Rick Stevens achieved with a $20 million dollar muscle car in a car chase to end all car chases, in the novel Tail of the Dragon.

Now, here is a clip from one of our previous visits.

Rich Hoffman

CLICK HERE to see what my publisher had to say about my novel Tail of the Dragon.

Visit the Tail of the Dragon Store and meet Ron Johnson

 

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 “If they attack first………..blast em’!” www.tailofthedragonbook.com

Liberty Center $300 Million Mega-Retail Project: The gifts of many individual minds

Let’s set the record straight before getting into all the wonderful glory of the upcoming $300 million Liberty Center mega-retail project scheduled to open in my hometown.  I personally believe that the $35 million remaining dollars needed for sewage and other infrastructure modifications should fall on the Steiner group who is developing the magnificent property.  Government should not be involved with private business, and many of those $35 million in costs are due to the interrelationship that business has had to endure over the years from government seeking to mooch off its good ideas.  The developers should front the entire cost of the project in exchange for government keeping its nose out of the entire affair and let the marketplace drive the project.

But as it is, the Liberty Center development is an impressive undertaking that is worthy of mention.  I have described on these pages my love of Newport on the Levee and discussed how my wife and I enjoy spending our evenings there.  I go to Newport because of the experience, because of the festive environment and wildly varied options.  Other than Newport on the Levee I admire greatly the Americana complex on Brand Blvd in Burbank, California and La Isla at Cancun, in Mexico.  Those are three examples of some of the finest examples of capitalism I have seen anywhere, and they are extraordinarily dynamic in what they offer shoppers.  I believe that the upcoming Liberty Center will be among the best of its kind in the world as Steiner has presented it, so needless to say I am excited about it.

But I see already a desire from local politicians to grease their fingers and pick the pockets of the many businesses that Steiner is securing for this project, and I can already see the Lakota school system is ready to proclaim that the success of the upcoming project is a result of their silly government school, which is absurd.  So let’s set the record straight on why the Liberty Center development will be a success, and why it will be one of the best such shopping complexes anywhere.  The credit does not go to the local school, as the teachers union will undoubtedly attempt to proclaim, and it doesn’t have anything to do with politicians—other than the work to insert the Liberty Way interchange on I-75 in a key location under the tutelage of business investors.  The credit goes to the fact that per capita there is a lot of wealth in the surrounding area of this proposed development, and the taxes are not yet so outrageous that residents have been able to keep a good portion of their money, and businesses have been able to turn a profit for all their risk.  If there is one element that makes Liberty Way possible in Liberty Township, Ohio it is because wealth has gathered in that region as it has fled from cities and other communities filled with looting politicians who could not keep their hands out of their pockets.

Touted as the Easton of the northern Cincinnati area, the Liberty Center will include a 200,000-square-foot Dillard’s store, and about 370,000 square feet of specialty retail shops and restaurants, a 1,200-seat dine-in restaurant, luxury apartments and a hotel.  Yaromir Steiner, founder and chief executive officer of the Columbus-based development company, said he also plans to build a chapel in a public square for non-denominational services, weddings and small concerts.  The complex promises to feature a state-of-the-art movie theater among many other wonderful inventions of creativity.

I’m not a big shopper.  I typically wear the same type of cloths for decades and couldn’t care less about fashion.  But when my wife does talk me out of my reading chair for a night out, I do enjoy looking at all the products that are available in such dynamic markets.  I see behind every new purse, every pair of shoes, every shirt, necklace, book, dinning ware, every product for sale in such large shopping complexes the result of someone’s mind.  Without capitalism those minds have nowhere to exhibit their fine products.  I even enjoy going to movie theaters to admire not just the movies on display there, but the movie posters advertising the films.  Each poster is the product of someone’s creativity somewhere who attempted to sum up the contents of a movie with a still shot work of art on display to make a profit for the film studio.  I love shopping complexes not for the things I can buy, but for the display of other people’s creativity.

Steiner intends with the construction of his shopping complex to attract such minds with their personal businesses, like the owners of the Apple Store, the Lego Stores, the Victoria’s Secretes, the high-end audio/visual stores, and many more.  The attraction is of course the location and the type of people who will shop there—meaning they are primarily gainfully employed and not looking toward government assistance for their sustenance.  That is an attractive demographic for businessmen and women.  Also, the tax rates cannot be too high where the local schools, fire departments, and police departments have been kept in check protecting taxpayers from public sector union wages that are excessively greedy in socialist demands.  In Liberty Township it is the Butler County Sheriff who handles the policing action.  Liberty Twp. does not have its own police force, because it doesn’t need it.  My neighbors have the Second Amendment, and criminals know it.  That arrangement saves a lot of money and means businesses get to keep much of the profit they earn instead of paying for some cop to sit in a squad car and harass motorists with speeding citations 24 hours a day—7 days a week.  The name of my community is not Tyranny Township—it’s “Liberty”—as in “Freedom” Township.  Freedom is cheaper and far more fun.  Tyranny is expensive as government workers expect to be paid excessively from those they seek to tyrannize.  This is why there is a large concentration of wealth in the area for Steiner to provide such a retail experience.

The other two shopping complexes I mentioned, particularly the one on Brand Blvd in Burbank, California does well because the entertainment industry pays those workers well, and the shopping experience is primarily for them and their families.  The one in Cancun is a tourist trap.  Within two miles of that shopping complex is one of the worst examples of socialism I have ever seen, downtown Cancun, where all the workers live.  Most of these shopping resorts in tourist towns are smoke and mirrors designed to appeal to travelers.  The Newport complex and the one being built-in Liberty Township are different in that they host sustainable communities with the same level of appeal to dramatically increase the shopping experience of the neighborhood making every day like a vacation for local property owners.

But the credit does not go to any politician, or school.  The credit does not belong to any government regulator, or administrator.  The credit goes to the type of entrepreneurs who own and operate the 1,200-seat dine-in restaurant projected to be built at Liberty Center.  It goes to the individual minds who take a risk with a business to offer the product of their minds with all the variety individuals can devise.  It goes to the people who intend to lease space at Steiner’s development.  It is they who will make the experience of shopping at Liberty Center a good one.  Anybody else in the process is simply a barnacle hanging on for a ride from those who are productive, and enterprising.

Personally, I can’t wait to walk the grounds of Liberty Center and celebrate the best of what human beings can achieve.  I will cherish every brick of every building for the productivity they represent, and sheer creativity of the many minds who contributed to their placement.  I suspect that my wife and I will visit Liberty Center often.  It would be my hope that a Joseph and Beth bookseller would find the site lucrative.  They do such a great job of bringing in big name authors for book signings and speeches, that it would be a perfect venue at Liberty Center.  But regardless, I am very much looking forward to the Liberty Center and the many evenings of joy that it will provide my family in the years to come.  My appreciation of it will not be for one single political element, but for the creative souls brought under one tent by Yaromir Steiner.  It is because of creative minds like his, that anything ever happens.  And it also why Liberty Twp has the rare opportunity for such an endeavor, because to date, the looters, moochers, and scallywags of social erosion are not part of the economic factor—which is why it will be successful and a massive contribution to the culture of Liberty Township, Ohio.

Rich Hoffman

166701_584023358276159_1119605693_n“If they attack first………..blast em’!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

Tom Zawistowski Interview: Is it moral to compromise beliefs to be part of the “team?”

A few days ago I announced my intentions to start my own political party called the Capitalism Party.  I also stated that I didn’t care if I were the only member because it has become blatantly obvious that politics in its current form not only is dysfunctional and recklessly collective in its orientation, but catastrophically deficient in their moral underpinnings.  For myself I made the decision that I didn’t like any of the options that have been presented by any “pressure group” currently involved in government, including libertarians, and I will simply not support any candidate who does not support capitalism as the political pursuit of my state and nation.  To further validate my claims, have a listen to Tom Zawistowski who had been in the running for the Ohio Republican Party Chairmanship, who is also a respected member of the Tea Party.  To understand why people like me are turning away from machine politics and starting their own fragmented parties, just listen to Tom’s explanations as to the state of Republican politics in Ohio and the nation in general.

When the question was asked of Tom, “do you think you can be a team player” regarding the upcoming election, and getting behind Governor Kasich in his next run for governor, the question provider said a mouth full without realizing their violation.  Tom attempted to explain that the Tea Party movement is like herding cats, as everyone is a free-thinker who cannot be unified under a flag of compromise, as traditional politics requires.  This is true, and to date, there are not enough cats in the game to make much of a difference in elections, so the Tea Party has been quietly shunned by established political rule in an attempt to maintain the status quo.  The crux of the problem is in requiring free thinking individuals to compromise their beliefs to be a part of the “team” which is the primary problem in American politics at every level, and I for one am tired of it.  In this regard, a candidate either stands for capitalism and is willing to defend it, or they aren’t.  It is that simple.

Governor Kasich ran his 2010 campaign as a defender of capitalism.  He was for business; he was for reeling in the costs of big government.  He was against Obamacare.  He was against taking federal money for silly intrusions that erode away the 10th Amendment through the Commerce Clause.  He was for School Choice in Ohio, so he had a lot going for him that represented much of what the Tea Party stands for.  They all share in common, a support of capitalism—because even if everyone disagrees on various policies—the cats all stand for capitalism as a political ideal and can unify behind such a banner.  However, Kasich and House Speaker Boehner went on a golf outing with President Obama and Vice President Biden and have never been the same since.  It could be noted that Kasich and Boehner were seduced by the snake-like charm of Obama and his collectivist minions because as political parties go, Kasich and Boehner have more in common with Obama and Biden than they do with any citizen in America who stands for individual liberty.

Kasich’s fatal flaw in his thus far first term is that he has attempted to expand Medicaid, which is essentially the same sin that was committed by Barack Obama—it is using other people’s money stolen in the form of taxes to purchase elections.  Ideologically, Kasich didn’t fight very hard for his Tea Party beliefs.  He abandoned them at the first sign of trouble, allowing the rule by force of a mixed economy to determine his core beliefs.  After his golf game with Obama, and the defeat of Senate Bill 5 by the public sector unions in repealing Kasich’s reforms at collective bargaining, Kaisch turned into a progressive.  Within two years of attempting to take on public unions with needed legislation, he surrendered and joined with the enemies of freedom by attempting to expand Medicaid in Ohio to purchase votes for the next election.

The Republican Party currently being led by Kaisch in Ohio expects other Republicans like Tom Zawistowski to fall in line with the party platform and “compromise” their beliefs for the good of the collective party, and that is the difference between politics of the past, and the politics that the Tea Party is pushing for.  It is not Tom’s job to conform his beliefs to the party strategy of John Kasich or John Boehner as both men have elected to sell out their ideas as a compromise to the forces of persuasion—the pressure groups who routinely lobby such men with trinkets of advantage in trade for political pull.   That is not governing, or leadership.  It is simply appeasement in the same way that payoffs to the mob might be encouraged.  If the yielding of beliefs is not achieved, then the pressure groups will pounce with collective authority to change those beliefs.  This is the direct result of the type of economy that has moved away from capitalism and toward socialism.  It is the direct result of a mixed economy.  A mixed economy Governor is the type of man who Kasich is.  When the wind blows from the Tea Party, he spoke of Tea Party values.  When the wind blew from the direction of the opposing labor unions, Kasich then became an advocate of Medicaid expansion to redeem his “sins” of the past.  When John Boehner was throwing his support behind Mitt Romeny for President, he spoke of ending Obamacare with a repeal the first day of Romeny’s administration.  But when Barack Obama won the election through questionable means, Boehner declared that Obamacare was the law of the land, and seemed to forget that as House Speaker he has the power to fund or not fund the train wreck of socialism that Obamacare is.  He simply changed his mind in response to the “pressure groups” in charge.

This is not how government was supposed to work according to the foundation of America.  The Tea Party represented in politics by people like Tom Zawistowski and Matt Mayer are not running for office to respond to the consensus whims of pressure groups—lobbyists.  They are running for office to maintain purity of the Ohio and federal Constitutions.  This is an idea that is not understood by virtually anybody, particularly in the media.  That is the reason the question, “do you think you can be a team player” is such an absurd question.  It openly suggests that Tom should be willing to compromise a right idea for a wrong one depending on the nature of the pressure groups who are really in charge which is against everything anybody who believes in a representative republic stands for.

The way to beat this monstrosity of political corruption is to just make things simple and focus on the idea of capitalism.  In politics, an idea is either good for capitalism or it’s not and from that vantage point, political unification can be achieved by removing the emotional elements from the debate, of which nobody will ever completely agree.   A political commitment to capitalism also declaws the pressure groups that have the mouth of politicians like Boehner and Kasich on their marionette strings rendering them ineffective.  It doesn’t take a heard of cats marching to orders like a bunch of mindless automatons to run a government.   It simply takes the commitment to a political philosophy that carries over to the benefit of the population at large.  Capitalism naturally sorts out the good from the bad, the corrupt from the saint through competitive efforts.  The cheating that goes on so often of which capitalism gets the blame comes from the pressure group relationships such as what Speaker Boehner and Governor Kasich represent—a mixed economy relationship ruled by thugs who have more “pull” than others without such arrangements.  Under pure capitalism, such relationships would not be possible as the best and most effective ideas would percolate to the surface in spite of the desires of various pressure groups.

If I had to make a prediction as to the direction of Tom Zawistowski I would say that people like him will migrate to a party like the one I’m talking about, the “Capitalism Party” to begin the intellectual argument that has to take place in the coming months.  After all, it does free thinking people no good to vote for Governor Kasich once again.  He has shown to be just as fiscally destructive as Governor Strickland, the socialist democrat was.  The biggest difference is that he had a “D” next to his name so he was easy to identify.  In many ways the “R” next to Kasich’s name is more dangerous because voters thought they were getting a Tea Party conservative—instead they got a sell-out, and a LBJ fascist—well intended, but desperately, and catastrophically wrong in his political philosophy. That is why people like Tom Zawistowski are leaving the Republican Party.  If they are smart, they’ll join me in the Capitalism Party then things can really get moving as the debates will evolved from ones of emotion to ones of actual goodness that is not relative to opinion.

Rich Hoffman

166701_584023358276159_1119605693_n“If they attack first………..blast em’!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

Lebanon Schools Goes to Court: Shhhhhhh, they are trying to pass another tax levy

Lebanon City Schools is going for a tax increase yet again, so they don’t want anybody to know about the court case shown below where a resident Chris Young represented by Christopher Finney was denied information that was her right as a tax payer to know.  When school districts, or any elected government body goes into “executive session” obviously it is in an attempt to escape the ears of the knowing public—otherwise they’d discuss all issues in general meetings.  Technically, everything is supposed to be “open” to the public, yet most of the time this is not the case.  In the appeal case shown below it is easy to see what is going on at Lebanon involving “executive session” and their willingness to violate Ohio Sunshine Laws with open manipulation and scandalous behavior, which can be seen at the end of the document.

The back and forth of this case over the last couple of years did result in a win for Chris Young and attorney Christopher Finney as she was absolutely correct to challenge Superintendent Mark North when she arrived at a public meeting thinking it was a regular school board meeting to discuss survey results, then discovered that it was actually an unlisted “executive session” held at Mark North’s office to discuss the new school levy and teacher pay – according to North’s testimony.  The judge dismissed the case during summary judgment which provoked attorney Christopher Finney to file the appeal seen below which did not go in favor of Lebanon schools.

Without getting into too many details, it can be reported that Lebanon seems willing to appeal the appellate courts decision, again seen below, which could lead the case to the State Supreme Court costing tax payers possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees for litigation.  The school doesn’t care because the money isn’t theirs, its looted money from the Lebanon tax payers, so it’s no skin off their back to dig their heels deep in the sand even if legal precedent is against them.  Their real objective in this case seems to be only to delay the results of this case long enough to pass their next planned levy.  So long as the case is perpetually tied up in court, the public is typically unaware of the details.  The nature of this case reminded me of an article by Tom Wicker in The New York Times on October 11, 1964 that I had read regarding “the mainstream of American thought,”

That mainstream is what political theorists have been projecting for years as “the national consensus”—what Walter Lippmann has aptly called “the vital center.”…Political moderation, almost by definition, is at the heart of the consensus.  That is, the consensus generally sprawls over all acceptable political views—all ideas that are not totally repugnant to and do not directly threaten some major segment of the population.  Therefore, acceptable ideas must take the views of others into account and that is what is meant by moderation.

The reason I thought of that article in relation to this court case is due to the fact that this is how all government operates, especially public schools.  They believe that even when the law is against them, or they are guilty of violation of the law that because there is a consensus by the mass public—which they have helped to educate into place through mass public indoctrination—that they can ignore the law if there is a “consensus” in their favor.  Lebanon clearly felt that they could violate the law to conceal information and they are willing to apply any measure needed to build consensus against those seeking justice.  Like the perilous situation described by Tom Wicker, the intent of all government bodies in our modern age spanning these last 50 years, has been to not follow the law—but to build consensus regardless of what the law states.  And if that still doesn’t work, then a case will be stalled perpetually causing all seekers of justice to spend themselves into oblivion in an attempt to enforce the law.  The government entity can afford to play this game because they are operating with legally stolen money that is infinite.  The taxpayer does not have the same infinite resources.  So large government institutions such as what Lebanon schools are routinely ignore the law and focus on consensus building.  The same strategy can be seen in virtually every public school in The United States.   For instance, when Lakota just a few school districts to the west of Lebanon after three attempts could not win at the ballot box they did not attempt to go to the union with a 5% wage reduction deal to balance their budget.  Instead, they spent $40K on Jeffery Stec to create the “Community Conversations” program to engage the public with private meetings in an attempt to build “consensus.”  Whenever a public institution uses the word “consensus” in their dialogue, something is wrong with what they are saying.  Chances are, with just a little digging, laws are being broken, but openly ignored, and a scandal is amiss.

That is certainly the case once again at Lebanon and Superintendent Mark North is at the heart of the issue.  The purpose of public meetings is so that the tax payers can oversee the actions of their school management.  Yet routinely, they are treated like children, not the authority figures they truly are.  The tax payers are the ultimate authority—at least in the eyes of the court.  The premise that Christopher Finney and Chris Young took this case to court was under the authority that the taxpayer is the ultimate management entity, and Lebanon elected to ignore that authority in an attempt to conceal information.  The school clearly believes by their actions shown below that they wish to play the gray areas of the law to their advantage and instead focus on building a “consensus” of their innocence rather than deal with the literal interpretations of the law.  Even if they lose at the Supreme Court level, they still win because they have managed to maintain their “consensus” with the public through secrecy, manipulation, political pull, and many other direct violations.  All they seem to care about is sliding through yet another school levy hoping that the public at large has forgotten the last one which occurred only a couple of years ago—in a mismanaged attempt to throw more money at their teacher’s union.  The focus is on “consensus” not justice.

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Rich Hoffman

166701_584023358276159_1119605693_n“If they attack first………..blast em’!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

Superman: Man of Steel — an ideal to aspire to

I’m going to go out on a limb to declare that the new version of Superman: Man of Steel will be one of the best films of 2013.  Needless to say I am very much looking forward to Christopher Nolan’s version of Superman, because after Dark Knight Rises, I am pretty sure I know where Nolan is going with that long famed hero.  If I had to guess, I would say that Nolan and I share a love for the classic book Thus Spoke Zarathustra.   To understand what I am talking about, let us study just a few quotes known to come out of the new film set to be released on June 14th 2013 in tribute to the 75th year of the comic book creation.  Many similar quotes are spoken by Zarathustra in that wonderful book which has meant so much to me over the years.  They have been modified to fit the story of Superman, but the essence is there as either an accidental or intentional tribute by Nolan, to Thus Spoke Zarathustra.  To place faces to the dialogue below, Jonathan Kent is being played by Kevin Costner, and Jor-El by Russell Crow two of my favorite actors.

    1. Superman: My father believed that if the world found who I really was, they would reject me. He was convinced that the world wasn’t ready. What do you think?
    1. Jonathan Kent: You’re not just anyone. One day, you’re going to have to make a choice. You’ll have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be. Whoever that man is, good character or bad, he’s going to change the world.
    1. Jor-El: What if a child dreamed of becoming something other than what society had intended? What if a child aspired to something greater?
    1. Jor-El: You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time you will help them accomplish wonders.

To understand what Superman means to me, let me take you dear reader back to the time when I met my wife 26 years ago who felt that her father was the only living embodiment to Superman on Earth.  She quite literally felt this way about him as he had then and still does have a Clark Kent quality of gentile courtesy even as a very large and strong man.  He could crush most people easily, yet he didn’t.  He supported the world in a way that Ayn Rand’s character of Hank Rearden did—another man of steel as a business tycoon—quietly, tenaciously, yet graciously.  That man, my wife’s father was involved in a very serious accident a few years ago at the age of 65 when he was riding his Vestpa home from the school where he taught geology and was hit by a car driven by a young girl texting on her phone.  The crash broke his leg so badly that doctors threatened to cut it off. Being a man of science, he knew that there was a chance his body could repair the fractured bones if only the living tissue within his femur would take and bond again.  Doctors were very doubtful.  There really wasn’t enough stable bone to even place rods through, so the prognosis was not good at all.  Months later he came to my house and my son-in-law and I tried to pep him up with a positive discussion so that his mood would influence his peptides and feed his cells into rebuilding the bone of the femur.  At the time, it looked like the bone was dying, as doctors had predicted.  Yet his mood was good.  He arrived at my house and insisted on walking on the broken leg.  He dressed in a very nice outfit complete with a fedora hat and suspenders which was typical for him.  He seemed to have a handle on the situation even though amputation seemed inevitable.

Months later the bone began to heel, and it was obvious that his shattered leg would repair.  He has recently just returned from a 10,000 mile trip all over the western United States with his spouse, my wife’s mother.  He hiked the Rocky Mountains with his leg and countless other places as a 67-year-old man.  He’s fine now and can walk without a cane when he wants to.  Over the years even during the tragic deaths of loved ones, economic difficulties, social upheavals, and any tribulation known to man, he has always risen to face those problems time and time again.  In fact, on the day of his mother’s burial recently, we spent some time in his basement movie theater watching movies and laughing as though nothing had happened in the outside world.  His ability to carry trouble on his back so adequately–protecting the more sensitive females in the family boldly is why my wife has always thought of him as Superman.   In fact, she is planning to take him to see this updated version for his birthday, which occurs around that time.

My wife let me know from date number one that she expected from me to be Superman too.  She wanted nothing less.  Now many people who knew me then thought that her expectations were outrageously high and terribly unrealistic.  Superman Part II from 1980 was the very first film she and I watched together and I noticed her sincerity when it came to Superman.  We were in Richmond Virginia the day that Christopher Reeve had an equestrian accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down.  She openly wept because reality had come to her mind that Superman played by Christopher Reeve was fictional.  It’s not that she didn’t know it already, but it was blatant that the idea of being greater than just a slop of human flesh was not obtainable in the world except in the fantasy of the mind.  To her it was sad that such a strong man in Christopher Reeve was imprisoned to a wheel chair for the rest of his life, which was greatly shortened because of the accident.  Reeve had put on a valiant “Superman” like fight, but in the end had lost.  My wife never really got over it.

When my wife met me, I was very rough around the edges.  Actually, I still am.  I don’t like dinning customs, social manners that remind me of European Victorianism, and I’ve been so mad that as recently of two years ago I’ve put my head through doors splitting them in two to make my point.  I used to hope that my wife would be impressed by those acts of strength, but she never was.  Now I only do things like that when I need to make my point to someone attempting to impose themselves on me.  What did impress her were the times I rode a bicycle for 12 miles a day round trip in 10 degree weather working two jobs so she could stay home with our growing children.  Or when I worked 16 hour days 7 days a week to make ends meet, or when I took on a whole neighborhood of rowdy kids to bust up a marijuana ring endorsed by the police, or the night I caught a peeping tom outside our window trying to get a look at my changing  wife—and many other incidents.  Not all of them were so obvious and clear-cut, but in my mind I always held in my mind the famous “S” shape that is the second most recognizable symbol in the entire world behind only the Christian cross—and I pushed forward no matter how daunting the feat in front of me was.  My wife’s insistence that only Superman would impress her put my mind into the mode that was required.  As a result, I don’t belch or fart and I never let even lip saliva run down a glass I drink out of.  The reason is that those things are reminders of the grotesque nature of the human body, the simple collectivism of cells running about trying to live one more day in slow decline toward death.  The human body needs to be more than that, or at least aim higher.  Because of my wife, I hold the door open for all ladies young and old, I walk on the street side of a sidewalk when I walk with her to protect her from dangers that might come from that direction, and I have learned that there is a lot of strength in kindness, which has preserved many walls, doors and windows over the last couple of years.  Instead, I have focused that energy not in the misplaced reaction to ill will toward me and my family, but in the pro-active attack of threats—often before they have a chance to manifest.

In short, since I have met my wife, I have tried every day to get up in the morning and be Superman.  I expect to be Superman.  That doesn’t necessarily mean the physical manifestation, or the ability to fly.  But what it does mean is the “IDEA” of superman, the yearning to be more than just an average man, a man of faults, of weakness, of scandalous character, of pathetic whimpering, a man less than super.  There were times where I thought such expectations where unrealistic, and that I thought she was the out-of-her mind to expect such high quality from me.  But the result is that I am now at an age where I can hear that classic John Williams score and understand it intellectually, not just perceptively.  I now have stories worth telling, and they are much greater than they would have been if I had not pushed myself to be a Superman every day of my life.

Sure, there were times like in Superman II where I understand just wanting to be a normal guy, and surrender all the power of the cape to be “human.”  But what is quickly learned, just like in that old film, is that without Superman, evil rules the Earth, and hiding in the mountains, or in the Fortress of Solitude with a loved one won’t stop evil from advancing.  It advances when there are no Supermen to meet it.  So the world needs Supermen.  My wife without realizing it set a high standard for me. I struggled to meet it, and in the end, I feel I understand Superman extremely well.  I strive every day of my life to be Superman and nothing less.

It is easy to see why my wife was so insistent on living up to the image of Superman now in hindsight.  Having kids of my own, they have a father who is someone they can legitimately look up to.  Like I always looked at my wife’s father as something to aspire to, I have now given a new generation something to emulate.  My version of Superman may be more like Indiana Jones, dirty, gritty, with streaks of blood running down my arms and back routinely.  I lack the cleanness of leaping buildings in a single bound and flying around the world to stop time itself, but the idea is what’s important.  The yearning to be more than just a decaying human being that simply wants to fill their bellies with food and have sexual relations with the same intensity that one uses the restroom—and for the same reasons, is something to be overcome, not cherished.

Because of Superman, I have looked for real examples of such an idea, and this is how I found Thus Spoke Zarathustra and ultimately became such a fan of the Übermensch idea which means in German “OVERMAN.”  This is why this site is named Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom as Overman means Superman.

It sounds as if Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder made their version of Superman: Man of Steel understanding all of what I have said above.  After Dark Knight Rises for Nolan, and 300 for Snyder, I am 100 % sure that these guys understand what Superman is.  It is highly likely their own wives have a similar yearning from them to behold a Superman, after all, what woman in the world deep in their hearts doesn’t?  It is up to such men to be Supermen for their women.

But more than anything, Superman is an American idea.  Superman evolved from the German ubermensch of Nietzsche and was carved into a preserver of Truth, Justice and the “American” way through comics.  I almost turned away from Superman not long ago when the comic took a dark turn toward statism and Superman declared his alliance to The United Nations, which is to take such an American icon and turn him into an advocate for socialism.  This is a trend I trust Christopher Nolan will halt in this upcoming film.

The only thing I am worried about concerning Superman: Man of Steel is the music by Hans Zimmer.  I am deeply in love with the John Williams score from 1978, and it will be difficult to accept anything less.  It is not rare for me to put that soundtrack on in our family car and blare it loudly with the windows down.  My kids know all too often that this is routine with me and comes with riding in the same car.  They were raised on that type of music.  But Zimmer is my second favorite music composer behind only Williams, and I have a sneaky feeling that the musical score may actually be spectacular on many intellectual levels.  Another popular soundtrack that is played all the time in my car and on my iPod is the soundtrack to Gladiator, which Hans Zimmer wrote.  So Superman is in good hands.

Superman is great not because of his strength, but because he stands as a symbol of what everyone should strive to become.  Unlike Robin Hood who steals from the rich and gives to the poor, which is an entirely socialist scheme, Superman stands alone as a beacon to the world as something to be aspired to, something to attempt to become.  Superman is what capitalism is to the world, an example of the best among all human beings and someone who drives all of society forward in an attempt to be better.  This is how Superman became the embodiment of the “American way.”  It is the same as to say Superman endorses capitalism and fights for the right of mankind to be free and not to struggle under the tyranny of scheming despots, like what Lex Luther always represented as the primary villain.

I feel a little sorry for my son-in-laws.  My daughters do expect them to be Supermen, and it will be tough.  They don’t expect those boys to be cut the way Henry Cavill is but they do expect the heart of the Superman character to be in their every day life.  They do expect their personal Supermen to hold up the entire world and crush any threat to their freedom; they expect a man who would crawl into the depths of hell to rescue a loved one, or to fight an army of millions all alone.  Is such a thing unrealistic……………of course…………….that is if the problem is viewed from the lens of being only human.  But if the same problems are viewed the way of Superman, then no problem is too great, and not threat is too severe.

The “S” on the front of Superman’s shirt does not stand for “super” but for “hope.”  This is why young women desire their men to be Supermen, and if they don’t they should.  Young men need such targets to aspire to.  They should not look up to weaklings, and belching comedians.  They should look up to Superman and work every day to be super.  In that fashion, the “S” represents the hope that all people have to be more than they were born into, to be more than any terrestrial goal could otherwise provide.  Hope is what Superman represents, and I “HOPE” that Man of Steel is even a fraction of what I desire it to be.  I am looking very forward to seeing that picture with my wife, because out of all the characters in film or literature there is not one that she admires more than Superman, and the idea of a man who is more than just average.

Today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of my wife and I.  Traditionally, a man is supposed to give his wife some kind of silver after 25 years of marriage.  But our life has not been conventional to say the least.  So some silly silver trinket just won’t do.  So what I give her instead is the gift of the Superman.  I give her the literal meaning of the “S” and everything it has come to represent.  It’s all she has ever wanted, and after 25 years of marriage she has the right to have it.  Thus Spoke the Overman.

superman-pirate1Rich Hoffman

166701_584023358276159_1119605693_n“If they attack first………..blast em’!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

Matt Clark Interviews Congressman Mike Rogers: Learn about the Bostom bombings and CISPA

Matt Clark interviews Congressman Mike Rogers (R-MI) on WAAM who believes there are still people of interest in the Boston Marathon bombings. Live on the Clarkcast, Matt asked the congressman to comment on evidenced gathered around a Saudi national, Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi, who was injured in the Boston bombings and tagged as a “212(a)(3)(B)” – the U.S. immigration designation for “terrorist activities.”

Read more: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/…

Congressman Mike Rogers (R-MI) then discusses the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) on the Clarkcast. Matt raises some concerns about privacy with the congressman.

Rich Hoffman

166701_584023358276159_1119605693_n“If they attack first………..blast em’!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

Matt Clark Interviews Mike Maharrey: Learn about the Tenth Amendment


Matt Clark from WAAM radio interviewed Mike Maharrey from the Tenth Amendment Center (http://tenthamendmentcenter.com) to talk about his group’s work and ensuring the Constitution is followed. Mike talks about states nullifying the NDAA, health care exchanges, drone usage, and more.

Rich Hoffman

166701_584023358276159_1119605693_n“If they attack first………..blast em’!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

Capitalism: The new political party of one

I am starting my own political party in America.  So far I am it’s only member and I really don’t care if one year from now, or 30 years from now, that the number remains at one, because if history has taught us anything, it’s that the masses are fools and it is individuals who always prevail, and there isn’t a greater signifier of individuality than the number “1.”  I have traditionally been a Republican most of my life, yet as a party they are not freedom oriented enough for me.  I sure as hell am not a Democrat as there isn’t one cell in my body that understands their socialist diatribes of collectivism.  And I enjoy freedom too much to be cast into an oven with Libertarians, Objectivists, or any other political philosophy associated with “group” behavior.  Yet America needs a political philosophy that is uniquely an invention of The United States Constitution, and it needs people who will not cower in fear to defend it.  All of the above have to some extent, with the exception of the Libertarians, and Objectivists who currently find their social identification cast into the quick sand of marijuana legalization by the other two established parties, are on the wrong path–completely.  My new party of which I am so far the only member is The Capitalism Party.  And when I speak of capitalism I’m talking specifically about laissez-nous faire capitalism.  The reason is that such a brand of capitalism is the only moral choice for the modern age, and is the absolute best way to defeat all pretenses of statism in all political parties across the world.  Tactically, since it is well-known at this present date that ideologically the world is well involved in World War III I see capitalism as the most effective component to winning that war not against other nationalities, but dangerous collective ideologies.  Capitalism disarms the enemies of freedom in a way nothing else can, so it is my determination that capitalism gets a political party dedicated to fighting not against any machine political rule, any lobby force in state and federal capitals, or the type of tribal chieftains who have destroyed every culture on the face of the Earth with their infantile notions of collective sacrifice—capitalism trumps them all in logic, moral value, and effectiveness and it is time to use it as a means to bring the human race true freedom once and for all.

Very few people know what is meant by laissez-faire capitalism.  The way political parties have established the meaning is in a connotation of greed, wealth, and distorted excess.  It has been ostracized not because it’s bad, but because capitalism is good.  The worst elements of human society have recognized that capitalism favors those with value and makes those without it easily recognized so their objections to capitalism are to prevent those revelations from being seen by the world at large.  Enemies of capitalism have sought to knock out the lights of capitalism just as they were turned on following the American Revolution.  The small period of near laissez fair capitalism emerging from 1780 to 1850 in America brought The United States most of the wealth it currently enjoys.  But it could do more, and many more people could have benefited if capitalism had not been abandoned in favor of socialism and big government fascism.  Laissez faire capitalism get’s its name from the French period of Louis XIV who was the archetypical despot of Europe.  He is certainly not alone in history as there are many Louis the XIV types currently in The United Nations, and current American White House.  There are wheel barrel loads of them on the current Capital Hill in the House and Senate.  There are even more in the court rooms of our free country who seek elected office at some point in their careers to assist in their legal business and establish themselves as advocates of statism by advancing “political pull” as their path to success.  Anyway, under Louis XIV there was the chief advisor by the name of Colbert who believed that government regulations created national prosperity, and that higher tax revenues created economic growth.  It is easy to see where Karl Marx and the theory of Keynesian economics derived their elementary ideas—from the rulers of Europe and early advocates of world statism.  Colbert was not stupid however; he understood that business was important to the country’s prosperity.  Often he would attempt to wine and dine fattening them on the opulence he had access to under Louis the XIV in hopes that they would become willing facilitators of collective success.  This reflects the type of behavior currently seen in American politics and then as in now, businessmen through tokens of appeasement in the direction of Colbert by way of bribes to keep the government off their backs as much as possible, sought to protect themselves from government interference.  Yet one businessman, a manufacturer named Legendre told Colbert that if he really wanted to help industry in France that the government would: “Laissez-nous fair!” meaning (let us alone!)

Those who advocate statism of any kind tend to be mentally lazy, and short on original ideas.  Their desire for statism is to leech off the efforts of the very few who do have original ideas so that they may show the world that they also have value.  However their only means of achieving that value is through collectivism, as they are not able to generate such value on their own.  This is why large masses of people find themselves seduced by socialism, fascism, and hard communism because it takes courage to stand at the front of an idea and to be successful.  Most people do not have that courage.  So like Colbert, they understand that they need the big ideas of those who start corporations so that jobs are provided, but like abusive husbands who fear a cheating wife, they prevent them from having unlimited freedom to disguise their own insecurities, thinking that the they will run away if they are given free choice.  Colbert sought partnership with business in much the same way, and the same holds true to this very day in America.  Government seeks a partnership with business to elevate their moral authority—to fill the empty vessels of their souls with value—not because they want to help advance liberty, or even make people safe.

I have studied history and political philosophy for many years, and all the systems are lacking the type of value I personally have, so I must reject them.  All current political parties can fall under one of the three primary influences known to the world today, socialism, fascism, and statism.  The definitions of these three forces need to be understood adequately.  First, socialism is a theory or system of social organization which advocates the vesting of ownership and control of the means of production, capital, land, etc, for the community as a whole. When a school levy in America is attempting to appeal to the moral authority of their right to take tax money off private property they are functioning as socialists.  The value of the property is for the good of the “community”–the collective whole.  Their premise is that by spending money on children they are investing in the future of the community, but in reality, what is really happening is that public schools are tactically attacking private property by penalizing those who have it, and benefiting those who don’t—such as renters of apartments who have an equal vote, but do not pay an equal share of the taxes.  This is socialism.

Fascism is a governmental system with strong centralized power, permitting no opposition or criticism, controlling all affairs of the nation (industrial, commercial, etc).  This is what the EPA is doing, the ATF, the FDA, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Education, the IRS—just name the federal agency, and you will see the definition of fascism clear as day.  Then there is statism, which is the principle or policy of concentrating extensive economic, political, and related controls in the state at the cost of individual liberty.  When a school says they must teach a certain thing to students because “The State” has mandated it, they are indicating that they are committed to teaching statism to students and they expect tax payers to supply the costs of that statism with tax increases.

Obviously our modern society is a mixture of all three of those definitions, and none of those political theories are dedicated to individual freedom, quite the opposite.  Instead, they are 100% dedicated to the idea of “rule by consensus.”  Rule by consensus is the surrendering of the good to the bad so that the murky middle can rule all by fairness.  However, this is only fair to the bad that have little to contribute to society.  The only entities that make a sacrifice under such compromises are the good.  So the rule by consensus ideology that is so prevalent in our modern times is unfair to those who produce and have value, but is fair to those who are scandalous, tyrannical, and emotional despots.  Ironically, in any democracy there will always be more of those types of people, so they will perpetually vote in favor of statism—as they only can gain from such an arrangement.

This brings us back around to capitalism and why I am committing my political philosophy to it for now on.  The definition of capitalism as it needs to be rightly understood is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.  That sounds simple enough and it needs to be, but the idea of ownership permeates every level of society and virtually everything that is seen.  When someone owns property even if it’s just an idea, they tend to take care of it.  When they share the responsibility with others, they neglect the property—its human nature and is as old as time itself.  So to encourage the most value in society that brings the most benefit to the most people, capitalism needs to be the political philosophy most strongly advocated—world wide.

I understand that it will take a long time to make my case.  It may take several lifetimes to change the minds of mankind away from the idea of tribal sacrifice and embrace property ownership.  The planet Earth in 2013 is being ruled by tribal consensus.  Every continent except half the North American continent has a deep history of mystic faith and voodoo beliefs, and the political philosophies have forced their people to live in huts, cramped up housing, and sub par conditions because they have embraced either socialism, fascism, or statism in their tribal cultures from their inception.  Only the United States took a step toward capitalism and the benefits were obvious.  But under the rule of consensus, America has been made to feel guilty and has been expected to crawl on its knees begging for atonement—begging the lethargic buffoons of five continents to impose their beliefs on American success and that has to stop.

In our representative republic of America I do not have anyone who reflects my beliefs not because my beliefs are wrong, but because they lack the courage to defend them.  I will not crawl on my knees for anybody, especially Europe.  And if I’m the only one who thinks capitalism is the proper political philosophy for America, I am fine with that.  But I will continue to make the case for capitalism going forward because only it represents my personal values and does the most good for Earth and everyone on it.  For an example, see The Epcot Center in Disney World for proof and evidence.

There have been a few writers in history who have defended capitalism properly, but not nearly enough.  So I will endeavor to contribute in that area.  Already I have two books with separate characters in Rick Stevens from Tail of the Dragon and Fletcher Finnegan from The Symposium of Justice who can tell a story in mythic form why capitalism is the preferred political philosophy in America.  This is the best way to understand a complex concept.  It may take me the next 100 years to write more stories, and create more scenarios that articulate properly why capitalism is the proper political system that America should function under, but that task is one that’s appropriate to the type of odds I enjoy.  There are nearly 7 billion people living on Earth presently, and I would guess that nearly 98% of those people currently believe that the world’s political philosophy should either be socialism, fascism, or statism.  Yet they are all wrong—every one of them.  Since I do not accept rule by consensus, I am happy to take on each and every one of them in tandem to defend capitalism as the most moral means of political philosophy ever invented and to expose the holes in their corrupted theories in a battle that even though the numbers are dramatically against me, are in my favor by virtue of honesty.  So the time to make a commitment to capitalism is now.

I suppose I’ve always felt this way but what really sharpened my teeth on this idea was the school levy fights I’ve been in and how I had to watch good people whom I knew that were factory owners, developers, and other creators of jobs and ideas cower before the likes of people like Laura Sanders, a radical levy addict in my home school district. I had to learn why, and how. CLICK HERE FOR REVIEW.   Now that I understand the problem, it is time to do something about it. That is why I am starting my own political party that is not dedicated to holding elected office, but in the type of philosophy that built America in the first place, and one that will bring prosperity and freedom to every breathing soul in the entire world.  That is a task I find honorable, and one that deserves top priority and tenacious dedication even if the effort is solitary.

Rich Hoffman

166701_584023358276159_1119605693_n“If they attack first………..blast em’!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

Looters of Lakota Part II: Not surrendering the moral argument to emotional levy addicts

In the April 21st edition of Today’s Pulse Butler County a cheerleading student from my home district of Lakota took issue with my dialogue of resistance against the lecherous tendency of the public school to raise taxes ahead of an upcoming teacher contract in 2014.  The school district has attempted every progressive political trick known to mankind over the last two years and is hungry to pay for their lack of contractual management with further impositions on local property owners.  Since I have been the most outspoken opponent to tax increases in my home district, I am of course the target of their strategies.  CLICK HERE TO REVIEW.

I have covered all the who, what, why, when, and where’s of education funding at this site in great detail, and it is now obvious that education is not about teaching children values, intelligence, critical thinking, and life skills centered on self-reliance, so I won’t continue to repeat the same material as the behavior has not changed in lieu of the presented facts.  Rather, the commitment is deeper, darker, and much more sinister involving people who believe they are operating on high moral ground when in fact they are committing erroneous evils that are impacting lives across the entire world.  Those evils many times begin with letters such as the presumed innocent plea from the below Lakota East cheerleader.  Read her words for yourself as they were written:

Lakota Schools: Balancing from the top of the pyramid

After two strenuous, back-breaking years, the Lakota Local School District is slowly dwindling down to former Little Miami state-run status.  The residual aftermath of three failed levies is hacking and slashing athletics, academics and employment.  However, Lakota is working hard to keep the state’s “top ranking” label. 

Yet with the costly sports and disappearing classes, Lakota schools are nothing to cheer about. 

In response to Rich Hoffman’s letter to the editor, I find it curious how an adult can describe the school district’s budget issues in the same way he describes cheerleaders on the football sideline. 

As a Lakota East cheerleader, I believe it’s not Lakota that is poorly budgeting its resources but rather the lack of support shown by those who fund the team. 

Cheerleaders are there to boost the morale of the crowd and cheer our team to victory.  Like the tax increase supporters of Lakota, we strive for an excellent victory and domination.  Yet, with multiple failed levies it’s becoming harder to cheer on a team that is deteriorating to just a couple of expensive sports fees. 

In regard to Mr. Hoffman, jumping on the bandwagon for lower taxes isn’t getting the township any closer to winning that football game.  Rather, it’s fueling the blow for the team’s next defeat of 45-0. 

What Lakota needs is a healthy dose of TLC in the form of a passed levy.  The lingering effects of the rejected tax increases is leaving our students unattended and overspending. 

As the state’s largest district rated “Excellent with Distinction” on the Ohio Local report Card, one would think Lakota had the fans willing to allow the team to succeed. 

Mr. Hoffman, the levy addicted cheerleaders are cheering in order to pump up the hesitant crowd, not splatter their “mindless drivel” on the already losing football team called Lakota.  Maybe it would be more obvious if Lakota didn’t have to balance its budget from atop a pyramid of vetoed levies and income shortfalls. 

Ellen Kasik

Now, here is my response as it appeared in the same paper one week later on Sunday, April 28, 2013.

I would like to think Ellen Kasik, the Lakota East Cheerleader who wrote a letter specifically addressed to me in last week’s paper, was motivated to engage in a debate purely by her own regard.  If that is the case, I think she makes my claim that kids are not learning anything about finance at Lakota, because she had some alarming opinions. However, if she were to be asked, it would not surprise me to learn that the motivation for putting a letter in this paper was not her own, but actually the work of either Lakota board members, principals, school employees, or “other” political activists seeking to avoid violation of Ohio Revised Code ORC 3315.07 (C) (1) and (C) (2). That particular ORC states that no board of education may permit any of its employees to attend a public meeting during regular working hours for the purpose of presenting information about school finances and activities and board actions, even if the purpose of the meeting is to discuss or debate the passage of a school levy or bond issue. 

Cincinnati Public Schools was guilty of this very violation, three times!  It would be naive to think that the same thing is not presently going on at Lakota.  It has in the past, and the issue has been overlooked out of kindness.  However a fourth attempt at levy passage will require updated analysis of which Ellen Kasik will be a starting point, since she’s offered up her name with a similar mode of operation currently performed in other school districts regarding levy strategies. 

Now to answer the claims by Laura Sanders who also recently addressed me in a Letter to the Editor the previous week.  I can recognize a student at Lakota not understanding that commercial properties pay the same rate of taxes per value as residential properties.  But for Sanders to say such a thing against businesses indicates she is drinking from the union talking points and is short on fiscal knowledge.  I’d like to thank her; she made my job so much easier.   

Rich Hoffman

The probable reality behind Ellen’s letter is that someone either working directly for the school, or working as a favor to their befriended employees at the school as levy cheerleaders put the idea in Ellen’s head to submit the letter to the paper as part of a long taught levy strategy instructed to education professionals to impose tax increases on communities.  It happens all the time, in fact CLICK HERE to read about the court cases attorney Chris Finney has successfully advanced against major area schools that provides explicit proof. I sincerely hope that Ellen wrote the Letter to the Editor on her own, but when truth is told under a similar situation as what Finney has revealed in emails, testimony, and other evidence, indicated at the above link we will discover most likely kids like Ellen are “lured” into such political activism by levy radicals for the purpose of concealing their thuggish tyranny with innocent children.

This is why the fight against public education has to be turned up and taken in a new direction.  The intent of public schools and their levy addicts in using young people to advance their cause is to bend communities to their whim using emotional leverage and guilt to advance their tax increases.  After all, who in their right mind would argue against a sweet little girl from Lakota East who is a cheerleader?  Who could possibly rob such a child of their future by not throwing more money at the public schools?  Well, I can because I know the real intention behind the tax increases, the labor unions who advocate them, and the intention of the government schools.  The crux of the problem is in the reason the public schools have to use such extortive measures in the first place.  After all, if one clicks on the hot links of this article, the story of extortion, anti-capitalist education, revisionist history, and deeply scandalous activity is common place in virtually every public school.  They are not exactly safe-havens for children’s minds.

The advocates of public schools routinely boycott businesses who do not vote for school levies, they strike against the community with work stoppages, they indoctrinate children with liberal propaganda, and they do not hesitate to put children in harm’s way to extort money from the public with busing cuts, or using children like Ellen as scarecrows against the community.  But why?  Well, the reason is their product is bad.  If Lakota were such a great product, would they have to twist so many arms, and attempt to ruin the personal reputation of people who stand in the way of the “institution?”  If Lakota and every other public school were great community products, would they need to strong-arm business leaders, and make ploys at emotional whims through charity organizations?  No, they would not.  The reason that schools do such things is that they represent the worst of collective mentality.  They are simply mobs of thugs who desire to crush individualism in favor of altruism.  They ignore reality because they believe that the thoughts of the collective team can bend fate to the appeal of the masses.

They attack the moral base of reason so that thought is undercut in favor of emotional decision-making.  It is for that reason that public schools cannot balance their own budgets, and are ruled by corrupt labor unions teaching generations of children to become servants of statism while pretending it’s for their own good.  They seek to pass tax increases not on the superiority of their product, but on the guilt that successful people should feel toward a sense of collective unity.  They seek to manipulate, cover-up, and lampoon their opposition since they cannot answer any honest inquiry because their product is bad.  Their product is an emotional one, teaching children the same, which is why all government schools are failing so miserably.  Yet they want more money for the same behavior, and they will do anything, and attempt to destroy any individual to meet the will of that collective desire.

Because of these trends, my focus on education will not be on the legitimate arguments of cost versus performance as they were during campaigns past.  No, the times require new strategies, many of which the opposition has never seen before.  I do not like to see young people used for institutional gain.  I do not like to see individuals mashed into collective causes.  And I don’t like to see institutions extremely willing to sacrifice individuals to the gods of altruism, and that is what is prevalent in public education not just at Lakota, but everywhere across America.  Public education is built off the innocence of children and funded by the guilt of property owners, and that is a system that should be crushed in its present form.  The transactions shown here are just the beginning………………………….

I would be happy to just let the community vote in favor or against a tax increase if the desire to manipulate and extort money through coercion was not the way public schools achieved their means.  But as it stands, they cannot win elections based on the goodness of their product.  Instead, they rely on emotional leverage and guilt.  This makes them not just bad for the education of children, but a tremendous negative for our entire society, which is why they deserve to be exposed as parasites to the human mind and the appropriate title Looters of Lakota.

To see Looters of Lakota Part I, CLICK HERE

Rich Hoffman

166701_584023358276159_1119605693_n“If they attack first………..blast em’!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

The Belly of the Beast: Reading ‘Tail of the Dragon’ screaming carpe libertas!

I love reviews of my recent novel Tail of the Dragon like the one below.  It is for readers like that which prompted me to write the book in the first place.  In the letter I see that the soul of a person was touched in the way I had hoped, and invoked the thoughts and beliefs of a time before people grew up and began to “compromise.”  The letter writer tells a brief history of their life as the exploits of the novel’s fictional character Rick Stevens provoked memories long suppressed.  It ended with nostalgia for just one more adventure in life before age robs the body and mind of such yearnings, and every time I hear a story like this, it breaks my heart.  It is for those people who I wrote the story, to give people such an adventure without the risk of their own peril.  By reading the book, they gain the ability to crawl into the lives of Rick and his daredevil wife from the comfort of their bedrooms and contemplate the possibilities written words can paint on their minds.  The villain of many modern lives, especially those over the age of 30, is the long list of compromises that are usually made just to navigate through life.  By the time many reach the age of 40 to 50 they are just fragments of their former selves, and this produces a level of sadness as such people look longingly toward their own past in a yearning to recapture it for just one more time. In the novel, Rick Stevens never compromised himself.  He at times in his life delayed his efforts as there were obstacles in his way, but he tenaciously held on to his course until such a time that his number for a grand adventure was called, and when it did, he didn’t turn away from it.  The Rick Stevens story is one of a man doing anything he can to hold on to his own authenticity, even if the result is death.  This is a powerful motif, one that resonates with many people, and it touches me deeply when readers let me know that they found a part of themselves rekindled by the book.  Here is the letter as it was written:

Thank you Rich Hoffman. I just finished reading Tail of the Dragon. What a great ride. It brought back some of the adventures of my youth. My first muscle car was a ’66 Ford Fairlane GT with a 390. It was red and fast. My friend and I would take either my car or her ’66 Chevel SS and cruise and street race and laugh. We were underage and cute so we would get guys to buy us beer then we’d go off to race. I sold the Fairlane when I enlisted in the Navy. My parents thought I’d spend my entire Naval career in the brig. I didn’t. Only 1 Captains Mast and a couple of close calls and 6 extra months for a Good Conduct Medal. After watching the original Vanishing Point I bought a Super Blue colored 1973 Challenger with a 383. The first car I ordered from the factory. I wasn’t able to get the Hemi I wanted. A pox on your house Ralph Nader.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Chall…… had that car for a long time. While in the Navy I had airborne adventures too. As I trained pilots, on the weekends I’d go down to the flight line and see where a plane was going that I hadn’t been yet. During Nam there were lots of planes going lots of places. I got to steer a tactical jet. Eventually I bought a Firebird. It was orange with a white Landau top. It was a nice car but the color sucked and it wasn’t a Trans Am.

Those cars and I had some good times. We drove cross-country several times by our selves. The fastest trip was in my ’83 Challenger. D.C. to Yosemite in 2.5 days thru ice, snow and rain storms and stopping at hotels 2 nights. You only stop when the bladder is full and the tank is empty. We had adventures those cars and I. I received professional curtsey from Texas Ranges, RCMP, NHP& CHP or I’d have a lot of points.

My friends all wanted to get married and have 2.5 kids, a dog, a station wagon and I white picket fence. I always said I didn’t want to be put out to pasture as a brood mare before I had a chance to run some races. I ran several and set some records. Young ladies, there is no need to thank me for opportunities you have now. I didn’t do it for you.

I don’t want my adventures to be over yet but it’s hard to find somebody that will come out and play anymore.

I want to thank you Rich for another adventure.

See a shorter version of this letter at the end of this article and at the Amazon review site:

http://www.amazon.com/Tail-Dragon-Rich-Hoffman/dp/1589826949

To that letter writer, you are sincerely welcome.  It is hard to find people who are willing to come out and “play” in these ultra safe times of apathy, political correctness, and attorney driven schematics, so I sympathize.  I understand.  That is why I wanted to give readers Rick Stevens.  Rick is willing to come out and play…………………in a BIG WAY.

There are thousands of reasons that people live their lives like a slow death losing pieces of themselves a little bit every day until their days run out.  I deal with those reasons at this site extensively.  But more than what is ever offered at this site; there is nothing contextually more powerful than when difficult philosophical concepts can be placed within the plot of a story like I was able to do in Tail of the Dragon.  In human societies, we have always done such things, which is how mythology is created.  It is our myths which form up the values of our social behavior.  So to bring to light a problem, the best way I know to tackle that problem is with mythology.

The journey of Rick Stevens in Tail of the Dragon is on the surface a good ol’ car chase.  But mythologically speaking the story is much deeper than that, at least the way I intended it—which is most notable in during the “shopping mall” scene.  For me, this scene for Rick Stevens is his Jonah in the belly of the whale, or Pinocchio trying to rescue Gappetto from the same type of beast.  Rick in the shopping mall is on a psychological level the same type of mythological story telling, the hero going into the belly of the beast to find what society is lacking, which has been consumed by the beast.  For the readers, who have been placed into their own bellies of the beast as they have unintentionally found themselves consumed by the monsters of existence, they must escape, which is the point of the novel.

As a writer I loaded Tail of the Dragon with such metaphors, some spelled out literally, and some quite discrete.  The purpose was to take readers on a journey of their own “escaping their own personal beasts,” so it gives me great joy to learn of such successes.  It is in such journeys that people find redemption even if many years have passed them by and threatened to deliver them to their graves in a suppressed state.  People speak about freedom all the time, yet they seldom realize that before they can have freedom in their lives, they must have it right in their mind.  It has always been my hope that readers of Tail of the Dragon can re-learn what freedom is and experience it for themselves in Rick Stevens struggle.  For the letter writer above, this was the case.  So for that person, the thanks go both ways.  Yet the adventure doesn’t end there.  Hopefully for that person there will be many more times that “someone” will ask them to “come out and play.”  It may not be Rick Stevens, but there will be others………………….

5.0 out of 5 stars A great ride and a great read. April 24, 2013
By bassplayer
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Tail of the Dragon is a great ride. It brought back some of the adventures of my youth. My first muscle car was a ’66 Ford Fairlane GT with a 390. It was red and fast. My friend and I would take either my car or her ’66 Chevel and cruise and street race and laugh. After watching the original Vanishing Point I bought a Super Blue colored ’73 Challeger with a 383. I couldn’t get the Hemi I wanted because of a Birkenstock wearing crusader. A few years later I got a Firebird. All these cars represented freedom to me. The freedom to live, to breath, to think.

That’s what Tail of the Dragon is; a tale of freedom. The freedom to live. The unbridled political ambitions of a Governor backed by the police union set Rick up. He is thrown in jail and abused ending his romantic weekend of motorcycle riding with his wife. Rick is given the opportunity to fight back against the abuse. With his friend Charlie’s help, great craftsmanship, creativity and inventiveness they turn his old Firebird into a bird of prey. Rick and Renee declare war on the vampires sucking the life, soul and freedom from the citizens of Tennessee in the name of public welfare, public safety and the public good. What follows is a tale of the fight for freedom and liberty against all the odds.

Ride with Rick and Renee in that red Firebird as it flies through the Smokey Mountains screaming carpe libertas!

Rich Hoffman

166701_584023358276159_1119605693_n“If they attack first………..blast em’!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com