Category: The Symposium of Justice

Clint Eastwood at the RNC: Explaining what the ’empty chair’ meant

I waited a couple of days to calm down before stating my opinion of the Eastwood speech at the RNC Convention just prior to Mitt Romney being officially nominated as the Republican nomminee for President of the United States.  The panicked Romney aide behind the stage at the Convention who said cringing as the speech time on stage exceeded the 5 minute mark and was way off-key from the typical stuffy Republican stage setup, “You don’t edit Clint Eastwood” was absolutely correct. You don’t “edit” Clint Eastwood. Eastwood is one of the most recognizable names in the world not because he sat quietly while others told him what to do, but because he has often embarked on wild chances and taken great risk upon himself and others in the building of his international persona. He has an elevated level of understanding of what audiences want to see, and his speech certainly reflected it. His knowledge of what an audience wants to see far exceeds the knowledge of the typical 30 to 40-year-old PR specialists handling Romney’s campaign, and they are not qualified to “edit” Clint Eastwood.

I knew what to expect when Clint Eastwood took the stage because I have watched the film icon give hundreds of interviews over the years, and most of them are just like that. Eastwood does not like to use notes, Teleprompters, or come across with flattened authenticity. To understand what Eastwood thinks deep down inside all anyone has to do is watch some of his most personal films, like White Hunter Black Heart, and Bronco Billy. Nothing Eastwood said on stage just minutes before the heavily scripted acceptance speech of Mitt Romney came as a surprise to me.

I was impressed to learn that Mitt Romney personally invited Eastwood to speak. It shows that Romney as a manager can identify talent thinking outside the box and will likely surround himself with good people like Paul Ryan when he gets the presidential job. But Romney was not giving Eastwood any kind of break in letting him speak. Unlike the speeches by Paul Ryan, Scott Walker, Marc Rubio and many others that were carefully scripted, Eastwood was not, and the Romney people wouldn’t dare ask the legendary actor to do such a silly thing. Romney like all politicians sought from Eastwood credibility, and to show that prestigious members of the Hollywood community supported Republicans, and that not all Hollywood was in the corner of Barack Obama. That message was so important to Romney that he had Eastwood give the last independent speech before his own introduction, and he got what he wanted in Clint Eastwood. To me, that shows great vision and instinct even if the Romney handlers were dumbstruck by the performance.

I was however baffled by the criticism, many saying that Eastwood looked like a stumbling fool on stage, a senile old man. Eastwood’s hair was a wreck, his manner seemed unorganized, and he was crude and insulting. But the biggest criticism of all is that he sucked all the air out of the room and had people talking about his speech the next day instead of Romney. Well, news flash, I could have told the Romney people exactly what Eastwood was going to do. I was so unsurprised by his speech that my wife and I hardly noticed it because in the Hoffman house, Clint Eastwood is the closest thing to a religious icon anyone will find. Over my dresser are two pictures of Clint Eastwood carefully framed and I look at them every day. My DVD collection has every single Clint Eastwood movie ever made, and they have been watched, and watched, and watched again. I even have the T.G. Sheppard album that features a duet with Clint Eastwood called “MAKE MY DAY.” For many years my family has ushered in each New Year by watching all 5 Dirty Harry films on New Year’s Eve and New Years Day. No football games, no parties, just Clint Eastwood movies with him playing Dirty Harry. Every young person in my family who has had to drive around in a car with me has had to listen to me playing that song while we drive. I simply love the man. I admire his grit and ability to age well every bit as much as the toughness he exhibited in his youthful movies that made him an international star. Eastwood has not been afraid to piss off people before, people he had admired greatly, specifically John Wayne when that cowboy icon was up in arms over Eastwood’s film direction, and acting in the movie High Plains Drifter, which Wayne felt was an insult to the American Cowboy image he helped to craft. Eastwood’s portrayal in that film as a “hell hound” returning from the dead to punish an entire town for the betrayal of their sheriff crossed many established lines of thinking in the early 1970’s. It is so refreshing to see that the 82-year-old Clint Eastwood is still not afraid to take a chance to make his point and is much smarter than the people around him. Even after a lifetime well lived, Clint Eastwood is still authentic to his own personal beliefs and cannot be swept up in the tide of politics. Eastwood showed up as a favor to the Romney Campaign and at no point did he get wrapped up in the glitter. To Eastwood, he knows just him being there helps Romney. But Romney does not help Clint. The sacrifice was purely on Eastwood’s end.

When I give public speeches and other presentations I do not use notes because I learned it from watching the many lectures of Joseph Campbell, and interviews with Clint Eastwood. The reason is that carefully prepared speeches come out sounding fake. It is much better to speak from the heart. Now on the downside, a public speaker without notes sometimes rolls through sentences while stringing together thoughts. People expecting Eastwood to give a polished performance like his younger speakers at the Convention have simply become used to the well oiled machine that has become the political norm. When Clint Eastwood went on stage, I know he was thinking he had to hit all the marks the Romney people told him to hit, but he was going to do his own thing as he usually does. Knowing Clint Eastwood, he went up on stage with a metaphorical idea he came up with while listening to the other speeches of the evening, and he wanted to use the “empty chair” to convey how we all feel about President Obama and politics in general. Most of the directors at the RNC failed to grasp the metaphor, and that is their problem. Eastwood figured that it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, so what the hell. Everyone in the room wanted somebody to take a shot at President Obama that was stylish and worked on any levels, and Eastwood had the guts to do it.

When people say “if I were to die tomorrow” they mean they would do things differently if they knew they did not have to live with the consequences which implies that they would be willing to live with little lies in their lives if they know they have to wake up tomorrow and face the music. In Eastwood’s case, he has lived his life this way for a long time, and now that he’s 82, he could die tomorrow. He could die at anytime, and he knows it, and is comfortable with that knowledge, but he’s not about to leave this earth being a stooge for a political looter, who simply wanted to use Eastwood’s image to prop up his own credibility.

Clint Eastwood detests–especially in politics–over grooming, too much make-up, and cardboard cutout people. Oddly enough, some of the appeal of Paul Ryan is that he represents an Eastwood style of politician, no-nonsense, fit, smart, and practical. When he first took the VP position his own hair and clothing was a bit sloppy, and that is appealing because it shows that Ryan cared more about his work than his appearance. But in two weeks once the Romney handlers began to “manage him—Ryan received a nice $300 haircut and is getting a taste of the “looters life” and it is obvious that he’s starting to like it. You can see it by the way he scowled at Eastwood’s speech looking at his watch in quit protest. I would offer to Ryan not to forget who he is, and to not get too wrapped up in images. When Eastwood, one of the greatest film directors of all time went on stage with his hair a mess—without a single speech note—without a care about his future and how the Romney people might scowl at what he said—he did every bit of it on purpose. Clint Eastwood had a very good idea that what he was about to say would be analyzed heavily, criticized, and belittled. He knew that the finger-pointing politicians would run for cover and attempt to distance themselves from him within seconds. Eastwood’s intention in his speech was for one last time in his life on a big stage to show everyone viewing just what is wrong in politics, and why people have lost faith in the two-party system. Everything he did was on purpose to be analyzed, and talked about for years.

Eastwood’s goal on stage that night at the RNC was not to be liked. He was already liked. Mitt Romney simply wanted to show the world that movie stars like him too. That was the entire purpose of bringing Clint Eastwood to the RNC convention. Nobody gives a damn about the crap a politician says. And it should come as no surprise that a movie actor could show up and take all the attention from the other looters in the room. And nobody gives a rat’s ass about what the media thinks, because those are the same idiots who “made” Obama. It’s the heart and soul of America that Clint Eastwood was speaking to and that is why the people who enjoyed his speech did, and the people all caught up in the wrong aspects of politics called it “strange,” and like “an episode of Twin Peaks.” Even Glenn Beck belittled the Eastwood speech, which really lowered Beck’s grade in my book. I was planning to go see Beck when he comes to Cincinnati in a few weeks, but based on his comments over the Eastwood speech, I don’t think I will value what he says. I might listen to him every now and then on the radio, but I won’t go out of my way to see him in public like I did when he came to Wilmington. Beck like Ryan, Anne Romney and Scott Walker based on their comments and behavior over Eastwood is looking too closely at the established order of things, and it is that order that people are sick of. Beck has done a good job asking for courage among politicians, and out of all people, he should understand what Eastwood was trying to do. But even he is too wrapped up in the “established” thinking to see what’s really going on, and that is disappointing. Like Ryan, Beck is becoming too big, and his concern over his own legacy is starting to overtake his reasonable assessment. Politics should not be so well rehearsed, it should not be so scripted, and it should not be praised as royalty. When Eastwood took the stage he did so as a rebel who didn’t comb his hair, and was going to speak from the heart. That should be honored.

The drifting from sentence to sentence that Eastwood was doing, especially after the 5 minute mark was because the red light was flashing, telling him to wrap up his speech. When I speak in public, I get told often to wrap it up, because if people let me, I will talk all day. But in Eastwood’s case, he knew that the directors of the RNC event were not happy with what he was doing, and that what he was saying was going to hurt. But he had to do it anyway, and he controlled his emotions very well, picking carefully which thing to say next so that it was right at the edge of acceptance, without crossing the line. It was not that Eastwood was a senile fool on stage, but a man walking a tightrope, and he was in no hurry to fall. He took one step after another to deliver one of the most scathing rebukes of a sitting president ever delivered on such a large public stage, and he did it with all the bravado that made him one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Mitt Romney got what he wanted whether he was consciously aware of what he was asking for or not. As I said before, Romney is showing a good instinct for hiring the right kind of people for the job, and bringing Eastwood to the convention was a brilliant idea. But I would caution those same Republicans not to distance themselves from what Eastwood did and said. Clint Eastwood did the Republican Party a tremendous favor at his own personal risk. The politicians involved should accept it at its value, which is great, and not distance themselves from him. To do so is to betray what they proclaim they are fighting for.

The American public is sick and tired of contrived, plastic, politics. They want to hear things told from the heart, and they like to see the soul of the person speaking. Glenn Beck is a great public speaker, and even he writes down notes in outline form so he can deliver punctual presentations to the public and not bounce around when he gets stuck in front of 60,000 people like Eastwood was doing. But notes are still a crutch, and it takes great courage to stand in front of so many people with only your intellect as your alley, which is why Eastwood does not speak with notes. It’s also why he’s 82 years old and still able to speak with such authority as he did at the RNC convention. His wits were clearly about him, as he delivered a speech that worked on many levels, not just a superficial, visual one.

If I was disenfranchised with politics before the Eastwood speech, I am certainly more so now, based on the political response to it. The Republicans are the good guys in my book and even the good guys are deeply tainted. I can see where the next line of battles will occur in the years following the buffoon Obama, and it will not be with the professional politicians in the room at the RNC convention or their handlers. I stand with Clint Eastwood completely over anyone else from the RNC event. It’s not that the man can do no wrong in my eyes. I can think of a few times he has let me down, as in making the film Tightrope, and a few others, but I trust that Eastwood makes every attempt to be honest with himself, and his intellect has benefited from his honesty. So when he says something, I trust what it is. I may not agree with it all the time, but I know there was a thought process that delivered the thought, and it didn’t come from some snot-nosed speech writer fresh out of college who doesn’t have a lick of experience in real life. I don’t want to hear Romney deliver a carefully controlled and well-orchestrated speech given to him by a hundred such handlers. I want to hear the authenticity of what a man is, not what kind of image he can conger up for himself. It is a sad state when it is an actor who is the most real person in a room, and at the RNC convention, Clint Eastwood was the most honest. Anne Romney should still be grateful that a person like Eastwood is supporting her husband and not make sly comments about how there should have been more contrived video of her family instead of the Eastwood speech. Nobody gives a shit lady. Don’t even think about turning into another Washington princess before the seat from the previous fat ass duchess has left it.

It should say everything to everyone watching the Eastwood convention speech that an “empty chair” was the most interesting thing that happened at the RNC convention. The empty chair worked on many levels of psychology. It obviously represented President Obama who has spent his entire presidency running for re-election, and not doing the job he was elected to do. But it also represented the emptiness present in politics. I would not put it passed Eastwood that the idea came not while on the plane from California, but while the Romney people where giving him their talking points to incorporate into his speech. The idea for the chair was meant as a warning not just to Obama, but to the Republican Party to not just become more empty minds in empty seats holding public office. It was a warning not to be afraid to shake it up a little, and be unpredictable, because that’s how you get the media eating out of your hand instead of the other way around—and that is a lesson that the Republican Party hasn’t been able to achieve since Ronald Reagan was president, who like Eastwood knew all the tricks of the trade because they are actors who have mastered public image. The Eastwood speech was not a debacle, it was a brilliant metaphor intended for minds too dim to see it. But the resonance of Eastwood, in what felt like one last public performance was a potent one that sadly shows how bad our political system really is. It revealed that even people I thought “got it” still don’t and I won’t bend over backwards ever again to listen to what they have to say, because the mind behind the thought is still in its infancy.

Yesterday Romney came to Cincinnati. I was invited, but I did not go, mainly because of the ill feelings I have after listening to the controlled finger-pointing after the Eastwood speech. In a couple of weeks, Glenn Beck is coming to town and I was planning to attend, but won’t be now. I’ll still support both people, and in Beck’s case I enjoy 80% of his work most of the time. But to jump on the Eastwood bashing bandwagon tells me a lot about these people. When it comes to picking and choosing, I’ll stick with the “Man with No Name” over the “Name” of a politician or political commentator. Because there is far more value in the man who arrives at 82 years of age and has not been seduced by the glittery lights of politics over the men who are enamored by it and became that way in a much shorter span of their lifetimes. I will not go out of my way to see those first people speak in person. But if Eastwood announced that he was coming to Cincinnati tomorrow to eat a hamburger but would not be giving any public statements I would drop what I was doing and attend, because there is more manliness in the authenticity of sticking to a set of beliefs than the person who follows the trends of belief. The world is so full of the later, and is in desperate need of the former. The value of a wordless bite into a hamburger by Clint Eastwood holds more merit than a whole string of convention speeches by polished politicians and their puppet handlers of orthodox opinion.  The aide was right, “you don’t edit Clint Eastwood.”  His brand is proven, and if you ask him to speak, you take what you get.  In the case of politics, a movie actor is much more important than a roomful of politicians, and that sad fact is a reality that cannot be covered up with fancy lights and balloons, but is exposed by the presence of a simple–empty–chair. 

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Click Here to see what people are saying about my new book–Tail of the Dragon 

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Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

“Shoot Extreme” : The fine dining of target shooting in all of America

One of the true delights in life is to have a gun in your hand. Guns are the great equalizers that are among the greatest human inventions, because due to guns, tyranny has a hard time digging its claws into the individual lives of citizens. This has paved the way for a productive society not afraid to invent and to look down their nose at the political class with comfortable disdain. Because of the gun, the political class in America cannot believe that they are superior in any way to the average person. Because of the gun, freedom exists. Because of the gun, diversity of business can thrive in abundance. And because of the gun one of the most interesting businesses I have yet come across has started in West Chester, Ohio, the unusual concept called Shoot Extreme.

As I prepared to enter the Shoot Extreme facility at the corner of Tylersville and Cincinnati-Dayton Road I noticed that The Cone ice cream store was almost right across the street and I felt pride to live in a community that could sell ice cream in a unique specialized shop less than 200 yards from a shooting range that is indoor and set up to practice tactical target shooting with real guns. The concept of Shoot Extreme is a great one–move through a haunted house like maze with live ammunition and shoot at zombies that jump out at you from every direction. It’s a unique way to practice strategic skill, blow off some steam, and target shoot under pressure.

Shooting at fixed targets is one thing, and Target World in Sharonville is a wonderful venue for that. But shooting under pressure, where the shooter only has three seconds in a low light environment to identify a “friend or foe” target is a wonderful benefit to the civilian community of West Chester. It’s a wonderful option to live in a community that allows a person to get a fine steak diner at Jags, then to cap off the evening with a run through the tactical course at Shoot Extreme and take out the frustrations of the day by blasting the hordes of zombies set up throughout the maze. After the shooting is done, all the shooter has to do is turn the guns back in at the counter and Shoot Extreme takes care of cleaning and maintenance. The shooter can then have desert over at The Cone without further worry.

Needless to say, I am deeply impressed with the staff and concept at Shoot Extreme. For a gun loving community like West Chester, Mason and Liberty Twp, I would expect a place like this wonderful shooting range to be packed all the time. It is highly recommended that reservations are made online ahead of time to reserve a spot, and to fill out the release form on the website www.shootextreme.com before arrival because it speeds up the process of getting guns and ammunition just a bit quicker, because that is the goal of shooting at Shoot Extreme, to shoot zombies and to sharpen your senses.

This is a wonderful idea since some of the most popular videos games currently on the market are Undead 4, and Call of Duty. Shoot Extreme allows average people without access to military training and hardware to get a taste of tactical training in real life, beyond a video game environment where the smell of gunpowder and the urgency of the moment are elements of additional danger. For the cost of a night at the movies, a shooter can run the gauntlet of zombies and increase their combat skill level combining entertainment and practicality into a wonderful symphony.

More timid spectators might wonder why such things are important—why people would desire to shoot guns, let alone to do it in such a fantasy environment. The answer is because guns are cool, and are an important part of American culture. For those who don’t like guns, I would suggest that they do not understand what being an American is. Guns are the foundation of freedom, and it is healthy to become competent with them. I would say that shooting guns is as important as eating ice cream at The Cone, or buying new cloths at a department store. Shooting guns is the essence of freedom in America and there is simply no better way to celebrate it than with a trip to Shoot Extreme.

If you want fine dining, in West Chester, Mitchells Fish Market or Jags are the places to go. If you want to shop, then Voice of America shopping complex is where it’s all at. But if you want the fine dining equivalent of target shooting, then it is Shoot Extreme that becomes a must. This is simply the best indoor shooting experience of its kind anywhere, and it’s found in West Chester, Ohio.

The public perception of guns is that they are somehow a taboo subject, and that they should be feared. The timid types who still believe these ridiculous notions are in for a harsh reality as the new shooting range Shoot Extreme is just the tip of the iceberg for what’s coming. America has a youth that has been brought up on films and video games that heavily involve shooting, and as they come into age, thoughts about guns will loosen up considerably. I foresee a day in the not too distant future where guns will be openly carried by civilians like jewelry is displayed today. They will be just as common, and will not raise alarm when seen. And in the near future gun ranges like Extreme Shooting will be more common than unique as this range in West Chester is now.

The creation of Shoot Extreme is out of a desire for an indoor facility that gives to the public the same type of training only the military had access to before. The fun addition of zombies being the targets instead of actual terrorist insurgents only adds a layer of commercial appeal to a functionally sound tactical course that makes it just more than average entertainment. The desire of the timid to remove guns from society with rules and regulations is to suppress a fundamental American right that is never better present than at Shoot Extreme and the eradication of zombies in a mock apocalypse that can befall anyone with the price of a ticket. And the ticket is well worth it!   Part 2 of this posting will go up tomorrow and will dig deeper into the actual merit behind tactical training and the weapons involved at Shoot Extreme.  I am very proud to be a card-carrying member!

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Click Here to see what people are saying about my new book–Tail of the Dragon 

Visit the NEW Tail of the Dragon WEBSITE!  CLICK HERE and help spread the word! TELL SEVEN PEOPLE TO TELL SEVEN PEOPLE!

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Monroe Superintendent is Stepping Down: Being between a rock and a hard place

Right on queue Monroe Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli has indicated that she will be resigning from her position after the levy failure in August ahead of a November attempt. She says that the levy failure has nothing to do with her decision to give up an annual salary of $116,000 so she can work as a consultant for Butler County Educational Services, but the pattern is all too reminiscent of the behavior of the school districts’ immediate neighbor Lakota.

Two months after the levy defeat at Lakota in November of 2010 Mike Taylor retired stepping out of the heat that was brewing as it was revealed that the cause of the tax increase was due to excessively high teacher salaries, and that the superintendent had not even made an effort to manage his costs. In a video Taylor filmed before the 2010 levy attempt Taylor declared that teachers did not make enough for their intense 7.5 hour day 9 months out of the year, and that he thought teachers should be paid more!

Well it is that type of mismanagement of tax payer resources that have caused school districts all over Ohio to effectively go bankrupt, including Monroe which is now in a state fiscal emergency. If a superintendent who makes six figures isn’t going to manage the costs of their employees, then they are failures. Mike was smart to jump off the ship at Lakota because the game had been exposed, and he knew it. So he did the smart thing and retired.

Lakota actually improved their performance over the next 6 months without a superintendent which proved that the superintendent positions are just token occupations designed to shield school boards from direct responsibility when things go wrong. The superintendent is simply a spokesman for the schools and are more comparable to a public relations consultant whose sole propose is to pass tax increases than a CEO who runs a major company. Lakota prior to another levy attempt in the fall of 2011 hired the quarter million dollar double dipping delegator, the former retiree from Sycamore Schools Karen Mantia. Since bringing her on to exclusively pass a school levy Lakota has spent well over $250,000 in compensation on Mantia, plus another $160,000 dollars on public relations in just over a year’s time. Nearly half a million dollars alone has been spent on creating a positive public image for a school that is supposed to be teaching children. But the obvious function of the education jobs are to create government jobs with tax payer dollars and the superintendent is the guardian of that creation, not the regulation of cost. Superintendents are sold to the community as CEO’s, but their actual function is simply public relations. Mantia did nothing after Lakota’s levy failures to present to the education union a 5% reduction in their inflated wages and benefits in order to balance their budget; instead she participated in cutting electives, increasing sports fees, and aggressive busing reductions. The purpose of these measures were not to cut costs, but to punish the public for not passing a levy. (How do I know that? Because I am personal friends with several former and current school board members who have given me their notes from Levy University taught at their yearly OSBA conference in Columbus. Bet you won’t read about that in your local newspaper.)

The same type of extortion is going on at Monroe. Voters just turned down a vote in August yet the school board put another attempt on the ballot for November. Their intention is to keep putting a tax increase on the ballot until the public gives up resisting it. This is radical politics in the extreme and is a popular union tactic that is responsible for how the wages through collective bargaining drove up the labor costs of Lakota, and Monroe in the first place to average salaries of over $60K per year. Collective bargaining is the villain, since it is the “collective” body of the school employees who make demands through threats of strike to get short work days, extremely low health insurance costs, and 2% to 3% increases for all their years of employment. Teachers all through the previous decade would threaten to strike at the slightest mention of health insurance increases sending a strong message to school boards to not even attempt to regulate the wages, so nobody did.

The result is out-of-control budgets in all of Ohio’s 614 school districts and the only way they have to balance their budget is to increase taxes. This is the fault of the unions, and they are hiding in the backgrounds leaving school superintendents to take the bullets for them, people like Elizabeth Lolli who was paid six figures to put up and shut up. Monroe hopes that they can get a levy passed by parting ways with Lolli and blaming all their financial problems on their previous treasurer whom they are currently suing. But the fault is actually on all of them who constantly yielded to the union demands avoiding conflict like truck drivers avoid driving on an icy road.

What nobody has figured out is that these levy failures are the public’s way of striking back at the unions for their constant terrorism invoked through fear of work stoppages over the years, driving up their labor costs. When the public votes down a levy, they are saying, “NO” to the cost increases imposed on a school district, which is their way of managing the costs. The school board has an obligation to act on that vote, not cheerlead on behalf of the union who caused the problem in the first place. A “NO” vote is looked upon by the radical tax grabbers as a greedy, child hating enterprise, but where were the cares for the children when the teachers threatened to walk off the job because their health care was going up by .5%, or they demanded at 3% increase in pay instead of a 2%. Teachers who participated in those strikes are hypocrites and they are the cause of the current financial instability. When the public says “NO” to a school levy, they mean it. And when a public official at the local school board, or the state decide they are going to be arrogant enough to put another levy on the ballot the day after the public voted the tax increase down, they are proclaiming to the world that they are too spineless, and arrogant to listen to the public mandate, and that they will ram the issue down the throat of the public until the “NO” votes becomes a “YES” vote. And every person who participates in that process should lose their job.

Elizabeth Lolli knows she’s caught between a rock and a hard place just as Lakota’s Mike Taylor knew it, and the best thing to do these days is to take the money and run, because the money tree isn’t shaking any more. Tax payers have realized that they are being scammed and they don’t like it. And the unions wouldn’t dare attempt to threaten a strike now that people are on to their game, so the “NO” votes are getting bolder—finally. People for the first time in over a decade are openly voicing their opinion about these money scams coming from public education and they resent having their children wrapped up in the ordeal. There is a real and growing anger at the entire public education funding process. I’m so fed up with it that I think all parents should home school their children, because I don’t like the product public schools are producing. It certainly isn’t worth the massive amounts of money we throw at it. For the $2000 to $3000 I spend per year on property taxes, I’d rather save the money and take my family to Disney World than provide a baby sitting service for the young busy parents who live in my school district and more people are beginning to feel as I do, which is very bad for the public school unions—who I don’t think have a legal right to even exist.

So it’s no mystery that Monroe’s Superintendent Lolli is stepping down, because the writing is on the wall. She knows it and the school board knows it, and the union knows the mud is on their hands. If I were a superintendent I wouldn’t want to be in the situation either, even for a six figure income to simply be a public relations mouthpiece. Because before too long, the guilt overtakes the comfort that the money brings, and the heat in the kitchen is just too great. And the heat is very hot in the kitchen right now, and it’s about to get a lot hotter. Believe me, I know first hand. The only adults in the room on this whole education issue are the people who vote “NO” and deep down inside all the school board members know it, and the superintendents do as well. Because logic is on the side of the people who are declaring that the spending increases on salaries and benefits in public education have to be pulled down to reality, but the unions won’t budge leaving the school superintendent to be squashed in the middle. Superintendents like Lakota’s Mantia puts herself in that difficult situation willingly accepting she couldn’t get a job anywhere else as easy as a school superintendent and make so much money. So the public pressure is worth the financial return for her. But for people like Lolli, and Taylor, who can see where this funding road is going, they have logically and wisely decided to remove themselves from the debate which will be a loss for them no matter which way a vote in November dictates.

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Click Here to see what people are saying about my new book–Tail of the Dragon 

Visit the NEW Tail of the Dragon WEBSITE!  CLICK HERE and help spread the word! TELL SEVEN PEOPLE TO TELL SEVEN PEOPLE!

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Obama and his Monkey God Lord Hanuman: Cleaning the ‘excrement’ out of The White House

The 2012 election measuring the follies of President Obama and his economic catastrophes are not of simple job performance. For those who are working on behalf of the Romney/Ryan ticket pounding on doors trying to get the message out to voters to eject the communist ways of Obama back to the abyss from which he came, traditional election procedures will not be enough. The reason is that the undefeated demon fighting monkey-god Lord Hanuman from Hindu faith has blessed the Obama administration with his protection as he seeks to pummel conservative America with its traditional Christian faith into the realm of demons so Obama can continue to reside on his shape shifting throne. Yes, Hanuman it seems protects President Obama from a figurine that has resided in the President’s pocket. Check out the video.

In case that didn’t convince you here is a BBC article on the matter. I’d say the BBC is an exceptionally competent news organization with no skin in the game, and they tend to cover international issues much, much better than the American media does.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7468662.stm

To learn more about Lord Hanuman check out the Wikipedia link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanuman

So what we know about President Obama is that he was personally mentored by the notorious communist Frank Marshell Davis as a young man. Davis was a very sexually kinky guy who appears to have taken several nude pictures of Obama’s mama, which has to be troubling. Obama’s grandparents in Hawaii were open socialists. Obama’s real father was a Kenyan anti colonialist revolutionary who left Obama as a little boy and was married to another woman while he was married to Obama’s white mother. Obama’s step father took him and his mother to Indonesia where Obama attended his most impressionable years in public school, and it is there that Obama discovered the Hindu god Lord Hanuman whom he reverse so intensely that he carries around a small figure of the god in his pocket———–and this isn’t alarming to anybody? Not to mention that Obama started his political life in the living room of a known radical terrorist, and had many other criminal thugs and provokers in his past that appear to guide the President’s hand in matters of economic devastation. To what aim?

Well, if you know anything about foreign Hindu gods and their intentions for the world, Hanuman would like to see the world bow to his feet. According to Obama he was introduced to Lord Hanuman by his step father Lolo as stated in his autobiography, “There standing astride the road was a towering giant at least ten stories tall with the body of a man and the face of an ape. That’s Hanuman, Lolo said as we circled the statue, the monkey-god. I turned around in my seat, mesmerized by the solitary figure, so dark against the sun, poised to leap into the sky as puny traffic swirled around its feet. He’s a great warrior,” Lolo said firmly, “strong as a hundred men. When he fights the demons, he’s never defeated.”

Well, this is a revelation that I did not know, and I’m sure many Americans didn’t know it either as many expect their president to be much more up to date on all things American, and not groveling at the feet of an undefeated monkey-god from Hindu faith. I can’t even conceive of carrying around such a thing in my pocket as Obama does. Such a thing for me might be carrying around a tiny Incredible Hulk  figure for good luck. Yet this information provides much-needed insight, especially in hindsight, into how the President thinks and why he does the strange things he does, and how he gets away with it. You can hear Glenn Beck and his team exploring this further in the video below from a recent radio show.

http://www.glennbeck.com/2012/08/17/hanuman-the-undefeated-demon-fighting-monkey-god/

Obama’s reverence to Hanuman may very well explain why the President has been able to deceive so many people right out in the open. An argument could be made that by praying to Lord Hanuman Obama has gained the Hindu god’s ability to shape shift, which the monkey-god was known to do in order to defeat his enemies.

In the Ramayana Hanuman changes shape several times. For example, while he searches for the kidnapped Sita in Ravana’s palaces on Lanka, he contracts himself to the size of a cat, so that he will not be detected by the enemy. Later on, he takes on the size of a mountain, blazing with radiance, to show his true power to Sita.

Also he enlarges & immediately afterwards contracts his body to out-wit Sirsa, the she-demon, who blocked his path while crossing the sea to reach Lanka. Again, he turns his body microscopically small to enter Lanka before killing Lankini, the she-demon guarding the gates of Lanka.

He achieved this shape-shifting by the powers of two siddhis; Anima and Garima bestowed upon him in his childhood by Sun-God, Surya. Based on this information Obama has been given the power by Hanuman of Anima and Garima to shape shift at will, to seduce to sleep the media and millions of Americans into believing that Obama is not responsible for the economic depression the country is in, he is not responsible for the 16 trillion-dollar debt, he is not responsible for taking America to the doorsteps of tyranny with the signing of the NDAA Act on New Year’s Eve, he is not an open communist with Muslim/Hindu ties, but is a Christian and a free market, capitalist—even though he hates rich people—even though he is himself, rich. The power of Anima and Garima are at work indeed!

Imagine little Obama growing up watching a program like the video below as opposed to Thundercats, or Spiderman on TV. The guy on the ground rubbing the king’s leg is Lord Hanuman.  Can anybody imagine Jesus rubbing the leg of King Herod Antipas?  Progressives for many years have looked to India as having all the answers to their life goals, but few understand what extreme collectivists the people of India are, and to what devotion they sacrifice the self to achieve “enlightenment.” This little production tells the story pretty well. This could be a scene from Obama’s childhood, and speaks loudly of his world view.

People not under the spell of Lord Hanuman can see that Obama is everything but a good president and we can see that he takes on many forms, just like the shape shifting god he reveres so highly in the undefeated monkey-god warrior Lord Hanuman. But to those under the spell of the shape shifting Lord Hanuman, they see a smiling man of honor who can sing them to their deaths without them being any wiser. Such powers are granted by the gods like Lord Hanuman, the ability to appear as one thing, while actually being something else.

So we’re not just fighting a Democratic presidential nominee, a covert Communist Party U.S.A infiltration member hiding behind his race to achieve the highest office in the land on a sea of lies dressed up to look appealing, but we are fighting the undefeated demon fighting monkey-god Lord Hanuman from Hindu faith who sees Americans as the great demon, and Obama as his personal soldier for glory who hides his real intentions behind a shape shifting ability that allows Hanuman to conquer America as the great warrior that Obama’s step dad proclaimed the monkey-god to be.

Obama is not a flag waving patriot who has a deep history and respect for The United States. Whether or not he was born as an American citizen is pointless even though it is incredibly relevant by Constitutional standards.  It only matters if there is respect for the Constitution, which there isn’t.  Obama spent his childhood oversees idolizing a father he never knew who was Kenyan, being raised by a kinky anthropologists student who traveled the world and married a dude from Indonesia who thought Hanuman was a great warrior. Years later Obama would carry around a small statue of Hanuman along with a tiny Madonna for good measure. But what Obama is—is not what he sells as the shape shifting president operating under seemingly divine influence of mysterious forces. It is not only Obama who must be defeated in November, but his undefeated demon fighting monkey-god Lord Hanuman. Because The White House is Americas house, and not a palace for Lord Hanuman, and after four years of occupancy, it’s time to clean all the monkey shit out of the house and stop the stank that hovers over Washington before it spreads to the rest of the country.

In America we have freedom of religion for the purpose of keeping it out of creating policy decisions which drive the country. People are free to honor whatever religion they chose. If a court-house wants to have the Ten Commandments to reflect their Christian heritage, they are free to do it. Or if President Obama wants to worship the monkey-god Hanuman with a little figure in his pocket, he’s also free to do it. But what is important is that the people know what they are electing. Politicians should be prevented from selling themselves one way, while actually being something totally different. In the case of Hanuman, the Hindu version of the story Obama was exposed to as a child is one of extreme collectivism, and this explains his thoughts about social welfare in more complicated terms than simply proving him a communist. Hanuman is honored for being able to rip open his chest to show his devotion to the king Ram and his queen imprinted upon his heart. Hindus the world over cherish this tendency has honorable. But in America we don’t have a tradition that honors such blind devotion, yet many feel that Obama believes himself a king, and that Americans should rip open their chests like Hanuman and have pictures of Barack and Michelle imprinted on their hearts, and that is not how Americans roll.

Contrary to what worldwide collectivist think of The United States, it is not that we are godless heathens that are demons to be defeated by the monkey-god Hanuman, but a free people who find more reverence in a Marvel Comics action figure than in a 85 foot tall statue of Lord Hanuman. The reason is we have a diverse and free culture that has evolved under that umbrella of non collectivist thought, and we have advanced, while many in India are still bathing in the filthy Ganges river and riding bicycles down dirt roads hoping that their revered god Hanuman might step off his pedestal and show the world his devotion to his king Ram. Here in America, we don’t honor kings, queens, princes, or princesses, and we certainly don’t worship presidents as sacred. We honor private property and our right to have it, and such psychological investments has made America a superior culture that is the envy of collectivists all over the world, because they have been left behind, and can only hope that infiltrators on behalf of Hanuman can deceive America into reverting back to huts and dirt roads by the shape shifting abilities of President Obama taking orders from the monkey-god that resides in his pocket to destroy any culture that is not collectivists by nature.

____________________________________________

This is what people are saying about my new book–Tail of the Dragon

“With Tale of the Dragon, Rich Hoffman combines NASCAR, Rebel Without a Cause, and Smokey and the Bandit. If you like fast cars, and hate speed traps, this is the book for you. And just every once in a while, any real American wishes he had a Firebird like the one in Tale of the Dragon.“

Best Selling Co-author Larry Schweikart, A Patriot’s History of the United States  (CLICK ON THE LINK TO VISIT US ON FACEBOOK)

Visit the NEW Tail of the Dragon WEBSITE!  CLICK HERE and help spread the word! TELL SEVEN PEOPLE TO TELL SEVEN PEOPLE!

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Rich Hoffman Supported Herman Cain: So why did ‘Yahoo News’ call him a racist?

I enjoyed greatly the accusations from The Atlantic Wire featured on Yahoo News recently that declared I, along with Rush Limbaugh, Charles Krauthammer and writers at The Free Republic were racists because we did not support the President of the United States due to the color of his skin, and that our dislike over federal welfare programs were racially motivated instead of performance oriented. Read the article for yourself at the following link:

http://news.yahoo.com/people-hear-mitt-romney-talks-welfare-222622356.html?_esi=1

(Check out this wonderful video on racism by Bill Whittle)

It is always interesting when the other side, particularly progressive oriented people, use name calling when they can’t debate an idea. In this case President Obama has been an absolute embarrassment in his role as President, and I am personally ashamed of the guy. For many years in the future there will always be a footnote over The Obama Presidency where America tried the closest member of Communist Party U.S.A to ever get into The White House—we had to try—the hippies needed to have a chance to show how terribly they could screw up the world, and Obama is the candidate of the messed up, drug induced flower children of the 1960’s. But my dislike of Obama has nothing to do with the color of his skin, as Yahoo News led thousands of readers to believe. Anyone who knows anything about me knows that out of all the Republican candidates running for President in 2012, it was Herman Cain that I most supported, and still adore.

Contrary to what progressive Democrats who eat out of the hand of Emperor Obama think, Herman Cain is a black man—and he’s a rich black man. If Herman Cain were running for president right now, I’d vote for him in much the same way that I would have voted for Alan Keys in the 90’s against Bill Clinton. Proof of my admiration for Herman Cain goes all the way back to over a year ago when the presidential race for the Republicans was just beginning to heat up. CLICK HERE TO REVIEW, so sorry Yahoo News and The Atlantic Wire, my comments about Obama being a welfare panderer and behind the door communist have nothing to do with the color of his skin. It has everything to do with his world view, and political philosophy which I find reprehensible.

In fact when I said that Obama thought he was speaking to an audience of welfare recipients I never even thought of black citizens as there are over 110,000 million Americans on welfare. There are whites on welfare as well as blacks. If there is any racism going on it comes from people who only look at situations that involve blacks and single them out for exclusivity and political advantage. But the accusations from the political left in this case is to make any discussions of welfare reform or Barack Obama’s handling of the economy an issue of race because nobody can actually defend the terrible job performance of the mob elected president. Many in the democratic mob of America were seduced into supporting him because of his “hope and change” message. The truth behind “hope and change” as well as the current campaign of “Forward” is tag lines for subtle communism—and yes, that’s what it is.

When organized groups proclaim “workers of the world unite,” and the “rich need to pay their fair share” those terms come from Karl Marx—the inventor of communism. Marx is the treasured author in the Obama White House which is beyond refute. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MARX AND WHY THE PRESIDENT AND HIS WHITE HOUSE ARE PUSHING COMMUNISM. When advocates for the President suggest that people like me are racist because I don’t blindly support a seriously flawed President who happens to be black, they also ignore other presidential candidates who are black because they are not down and out poor. The progressive political machine desires very much to always keep the race card handy so they don’t have to answer any tough questions. They make sure the black voting demographic stays in a state of economic need so that progressives can always exploit them in a whim.

When Herman Cain was running for president it terrified progressives because if a “rich” black man were seen by the black population across America, it might break up the bloc voting demographic Obama has over the black population. So they found a way to get rid of Cain, using the press to exploit some of Cain’s loose relationships with women, which certainly isn’t new in The White House. Bill Clinton let a woman his daughter’s age give him a blow job in The Oval Office and nobody cared, because Clinton was a progressive and part of that whole Shadow Party progressive machine. Cain only had rumors of girl friends and he was embarrassed and lambasted daily until he left the presidential race to protect the continued harassment of his family. Wasn’t it racism to protect the white president in Clinton who groped and fondled many women while President, yet to attack a presidential candidate who was black because he was a Republican that was wealthy and didn’t fit the desired profile? Where was Yahoo News on that story?

No, it’s not people like me who are the racists, it’s the people who make race the issue because they have no answers for the behavior of their President—their leader. The people who do such things are despicable, because they are openly exploiting citizens of a particular race just to maintain a voting demographic stronghold. In their view when welfare is criticized it’s because of race, since they can offer no solutions as to why progressives started giving out other people’s money in the first place to redistribute wealth when in fact there are many whites who are just as addicted to free government money as blacks or any other voting group. Bringing up the name calling racial allegation is an old Saul Alinsky trick that reached its fever pitch in the 1990’s and directly led to electing Barack Obama in the first place–to prove that America was not a racist country. The race baiting is a one trick pony and we’ve already seen it. It doesn’t work anymore because people have been scammed badly by it.

But thanks Yahoo News for the national attention. A lot of people scanned over my articles and realized that The Atlantic Wire edited carefully my comments to appear as racially motivated as possible, but even then such a connection was not made by readers. Out of thousands of hits on that particular article, I received not a single derogatory comment once they read the article I actually wrote in the context for which I presented it. Further, all anyone has to do with me is compare how many times I openly supported Herman Cain to know that I could care less if the President of The United States is a black man, a white man, or a yellow man. I just want the President to be a smart man who is a free market guy. When I send my hard earned money to the federal government and see that they give it away like candy it makes me very angry. So I have a right to be angry at Obama for putting my nation 16 trillion dollars into debt on his reckless communist ideology. I’m not angry at Obama for being black. I’m angry at him for all the damage he’s done as president and the division he has exemplified in my country using trivial nonsense like “race” to hide the crimes of a fool.

____________________________________________

This is what people are saying about my new book–Tail of the Dragon

“With Tale of the Dragon, Rich Hoffman combines NASCAR, Rebel Without a Cause, and Smokey and the Bandit. If you like fast cars, and hate speed traps, this is the book for you. And just every once in a while, any real American wishes he had a Firebird like the one in Tale of the Dragon.“

Best Selling Co-author Larry Schweikart, A Patriot’s History of the United States  (CLICK ON THE LINK TO VISIT US ON FACEBOOK)

Visit the NEW Tail of the Dragon WEBSITE!  CLICK HERE and help spread the word! TELL SEVEN PEOPLE TO TELL SEVEN PEOPLE!

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

A Book that Has Everything, Action, Romance, and Philosophy: Reviews for ‘Tail of the Dragon’ novel

Tail of the Dragon is my latest novel that is an action packed thriller saturated with a philosophy of freedom that is unique in literature today.  At this site the videos provided are from radio interviews that I have done ahead of the novel’s release which will provide much of the background information about the story in great detail.  For me the goal was to write the greatest car chase in the history of storytelling, and I feel I did that and then some.  But don’t just take my word for it.  Here are blurbs from people who have read it.  As I get more I will include them here for all to see.   CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES during the making of the book.

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“Tale of the Dragon” is a fun ride with a great message!  Rich Hoffman is a rare, consistent, true conservative voice!
 
–Doc Thompson nationally syndicated radio host and regular guest host for the Glenn Beck Program

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 “With Tale of the Dragon, Rich Hoffman combines NASCAR, Rebel Without a Cause, and Smokey and the Bandit. If you like fast cars, and hate speed traps, this is the book for you. And just every once in a while, any real American wishes he had a Firebird like the one in Tale of the Dragon.”

–Best Selling author Larry Schweikart of ‘7 Events that Made America, America,’ and co-author of #1 Best Seller ‘A Patriot’s History of the United States’

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“Rich Hoffman has very skillfully, and with the obvious storyteller’s touch, expressed some of the great challenges that we face as a society today in a way that anyone can understand and enjoy within the context of a great story. ‘Tail of the Dragon’ will enlighten all who read it, young and old, and I highly recommend it.”

–Joshua Charles co-author of the #1 New York Times Best Seller ‘The Original Argument’ with Glenn Beck

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“Wow, I just finished reading ‘Tail of The Dragon’ and I physically feel like I just got off a roller coaster without the benefit of a safety harness. 

If you believe that progressive policies pushed by collectivist politicians can rob a vibrant free and independent country of its spirit, how excited you will be to see one man, desperate for freedom – powerful enough and devoid of chains, who refuses to capitulate, take on a government without a soul and bring it to its knees!

The spirit of Ayn Rand is still alive and is being lived and written about by Rich Hoffman…Galt/Stephens 2016!

I was impressed how this skillful author can tell this story that involves sleazy politics without using profanity. 

Hoffman got it right.”

–George Lang, West Chester Twp. Trustee, (voted in the top 100 places to live in the nation.)

“Just finished the book and am sweating profusely. Wow, what a ride !!!  Fasten your seat belts for one of the most thrilling rides ever in print.”

 —Ron and Nancy Johnson from Discovery Channel’s Hell Roads episode on Tail of the Dragon (SEE THAT VIDEO HERE)

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“In a society disconnected and apathetic to the “fundamental transformation” of our country, Rich Hoffman has brilliantly created a novel that can entertain to the masses while still delivering a powerful message that needs to be heard.  If you’re looking for a thriller that appeals to your rebellious but still common sense driven self, be sure to fasten your seat belts, pop your clutch, and peel out for Tail of the Dragon.”

–Matt Clark from the Clarkcast Radio Network, WAAM Radio, Ann Arbor

“Rich Hoffman’s book ‘Tail of the Dragon’ takes you on a joy ride through the winding hills of Tennessee and through the exploration of truth.  From the book, ‘truth isn’t something you can hide from people.’  Rich Hoffman doesn’t hide the truth about the intrusion of government in all of our lives.” 

–Ann Becker–President of the West Chester Tea Party

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I just finished my copy of the ‘Tail of the Dragon’ and I have to say that it is a magnificent, classic, American tale! I can’t explain how deep of a love I feel for this country after reading it and how refreshed my patriotism has become. Because of this story I feel a want to set things in a better direction not only for our country as a whole but for myself as well. This is definitely in my top 10 books of all time.

– Brooke Townsend

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I really enjoyed the chase sequence…would love to see that filmed.

– Nance Kruh-Meyer

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A great read. You will enjoy the book. It is real life, and exciting!

– Graeme George

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Now help make this book part of a new generation of storytelling.  Buy the book and tell a friend how much you enjoyed it.  Be sure to ‘friend’ us on Facebook.  The book is available anywhere books are sold through Baker and Taylor distribution.  A link to Publishers Direct Book Store is here:

http://www.pdbookstore.com/comfiles/pages/RichHoffman.shtml

Visit the novel’s OFFICIAL site:

www.TAILOFTHEDRAGONBOOK.com

Title: Tail of the Dragon

Genre: Philosophy, Action

Author: Rich Hoffman

ISBN-13: 978-1-58982-694-6

ISBN-10: 1-58982-694-9

Release Date: September 4th 2012

Binding: Soft Cover

Page count: 232 pages

Dimensions: 5 X 8 inches

Retail cost: $22.00

Distribution: Baker & Taylor

Publisher: American Book Publishing

Imprint: Bedside Books

Contact the author directly at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=109796582&trk=tab_pro

or

www.OVERMANWARRIOR.com

Link to the PR department at American Book for author interview and speaking engagements along with the Tail of the Dragon Press Release

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/tail-of-the-dragon-press-release/

T-shirts and other Tail of the Dragon merchandise are available at:

www.TAILOFTHEDRAGON.com

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

A Business Owner Speaks: All the reasons nobody should vote for Emperor Obama

What follows is a note from a mythical North Carolina businessman. It is so well written that I don’t want to do it the disservice of further commentary. I would encourage you dear reader to comprehend this letter fully, and send it to a friend, because it articulates perfectly the crises of our day.

To All My Valued Employees,

There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges.  However, the good news is this: The economy doesn’t pose a threat to your job.

What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country. Of course, as your employer, I am forbidden to tell you whom to vote for – it is against the law to discriminate based on political affiliation, race, creed, religion, etc.

Please vote for who you think will serve your interests the best. However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interest. First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story.

This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear.  Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You saw my big home at last year’s Christmas party. I’m sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life. However, what you don’t see is the back story.

I started this company 12 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living space was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.

My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn’t have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business– hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting Nordstrom’s for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn’t look like it was birthed in the 70s.

My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business — with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9 am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5 pm, I don’t. There is no “off” button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, ****, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to me like a 1 day old baby.

You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden — the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations… You never realize the back story and the sacrifices I’ve made.. Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail out all the people who didn’t.

The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for. Yes, business ownership has its benefits but the price I’ve paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:

I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don’t pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes.  Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my “stimulus” check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.

The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check?

Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country. The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you’d quit and you wouldn’t work here. I mean, why should you? That’s nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy. Here is what many of you don’t understand .. to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn’t need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.

When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don’t defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the mud of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine.

Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep. So where am I going with all this? It’s quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child’s future. Frankly, it isn’t my problem anymore. Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire.

You see, I’m done. I’m done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.

While tax cuts to 95% of America sounds great on paper, don’t forget the back story: If there is no job, there is no income to tax. A tax cut on zero dollars is zero. So, when you make decision to vote, ask yourself, who understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn’t? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of saving your job. While the media wants to tell you “It’s the economy Stupid” I’m telling you it isn’t.

If you lose your job, it won’t be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the Constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me in the South Caribbean sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about.

Signed, Your boss

____________________________________________

This is what people are saying about my new book–Tail of the Dragon

“With Tale of the Dragon, Rich Hoffman combines NASCAR, Rebel Without a Cause, and Smokey and the Bandit. If you like fast cars, and hate speed traps, this is the book for you. And just every once in a while, any real American wishes he had a Firebird like the one in Tale of the Dragon.“

Best Selling Co-author Larry Schweikart, A Patriot’s History of the United States  (CLICK ON THE LINK TO VISIT US ON FACEBOOK)

Visit the NEW Tail of the Dragon WEBSITE!  CLICK HERE and help spread the word! TELL SEVEN PEOPLE TO TELL SEVEN PEOPLE!

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

The Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit: ‘Avengers’ save the day in Wilmington

Some of the hidden improvements in the Ohio economy are from sectors most often statistically ignored, but are actually quite important. Many wondered why Glenn Beck came to Wilmington, Ohio during Christmas of 2010 when the town was on the decline after the DHL facility left taking most of the town’s jobs with it. CLICK HERE FOR A REVIEW. When Glenn Beck put Wilmington on prime time television with his popular television show he knew what many didn’t, that was inadvertently people who were movers and shakers in the world would learn of the resources available in such a small town and would be tempted to make investments in the community. A few years ago, quietly Republican Senator Tom Patton and Mike Dovilla introduced the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit to the legislature hoping to lure more motion picture development to Ohio, and sure enough film scouts for The Avengers gave the DHL facility in Wilmington a look finding the location ideal for filming the upcoming blockbuster in August of 2011.

Now in hind sight The Avengers is one of the most successful movies of all time. It has generated over one and a half billion dollars in worldwide sales with a production budget of well over $200 million and an additional quarter million dollars in advertising. In total The Avengers as a film production cost a half a billion dollars to create, but it made more than double that in profits which is a wonderful business venture. It would seem unlikely that such a large production would come to little old Wilmington, Ohio, but when film scouts learned that the DHL facility had it’s own airport, a fenced in area great for security, huge buildings that could be converted over into film sets easily all set in a community where hotel rates were not through the roof, plenty of restaurants for the cast and crew to eat at, and the locals were polite and easy to work with, Wilmington, Ohio was suddenly a very attractive option. But even more attractive were the tax rates in Ohio which caused the production company of The Avengers to pull from their previous locations in Michigan and to replace them with sites in downtown Cleveland, the NASA facility in Sandusky, and of course Wilmington. The deal closer was tax rates, and because Ohio has one of the most attractive tax packages in the whole country currently thanks to the two Republican senators, Ohio is winning film development projects. The Avengers production alone poured over $2 million dollars into the local economy during their three-month lease of the largest DHL building and their stay in Wilmington.

Now, progressive leaning people will utter that The Avengers has made over a billion dollars in ticket sales and it hasn’t even been released to home video yet. The Disney Company who owns Marvel Comic Motion Picture division and the distributors in Paramount Pictures will make well over $2 billion dollars on just this one movie, so why was the production company of The Avengers worried about a few percentage points of tax shelter? Well, because you never know what will happen and when investors are required to spend over $200 million up front to produce a movie, it is important to keep the budget tight in case the film goes bust and nobody shows up to see the film. Not all movies make as much money as The Avengers which has decades of built up fan base to tap into in order to recover their investment.

When local Cincinnati native George Clooney brought his film Eyes of March to Ohio and filmed around Cincinnati and Miami University he did so not just because it was in his home town, but because he wanted to take advantage of the Ohio Tax Credit. Clooney politically is a progressive stuck to President Obama’s hip, but when it comes time to produce a film, he knows how to think like a businessman, so he brought his film to Ohio to keep the production costs down because films like that do not make billions of dollars. Most of the time production companies are happy if they break even on the initial investment. Just because a movie is made does not guarantee that it will be profitable.

The gigantic epic John Carter made by the Disney Company just a few months before the release of The Avengers cost well over $250 million to make but American audiences completely rejected it. The film only made $73 million domestically. Many people lost their jobs over that production, you can bet on that. Disney was not happy, and they had every right to be. Lucky for them foreign audiences liked the film giving it an additional world-wide take of $200 million, which just barely put Disney over the top on their front end investment. Disney needed desperately for The Avengers to do well, to make up for their profit forecasts in 2012 and John Carter did not get them anywhere close. Just because a film makes nearly half a billion dollars, that does not mean much. When you watch a movie, look at the credits that usually go on for over six minutes and contain tens of thousands of names. All those people were employed by the film and they all get paid from the money generated at the box office. When a studio like Disney makes a profit, it allows them to take chances on movies that are risky on their investment, and that really helps producers create films that benefit the unique tapestry of American culture that we broadcast to the rest of the world.

When The Avengers came to Ohio they spent $25 million dollars and employed 3,800 residents on the economy. If during the filming of the movie a stunt man died, or a law suit came up over intellectual rights, the production would be put on hold and the investment money spent would end up in limbo. In many cases the money for a film is financed two years before a film ever ends up on the big screen, so the invested money is tied up for a long time leaving investors on pins and needles until the box office receipts begin to roll in. So tax rates are a big deal in film production.

California has priced themselves right out of the film business. Production companies used to love to leave their homes in the morning work all day then go home at night. But due to the tax rates around Hollywood, it’s cheaper to leave town to make a film in a place like Ohio than to make it at the traditional sound stages in California. Dark Knight Rises is another 1 billion dollar world-wide moneymaker and was filmed in Pittsburg. In fact, Heinz Field was the football stadium that was blown up in that movie. The Midwest is learning that by lowering their tax rates, they are able to lure Hollywood to the Midwest which is great for the economy of the fly over states. Not good for California that has one of the largest economies in the world, due in part to the movie business.

But it is taxes that drive the economy, or rather the lack of them. As much as advocates on the political left beat on their chest for tax increases, businessmen who run the movie business are not willing to toss money into a black hole that will cost thousands of people their jobs. So they take the path of least resistance just like every businessman with any sense. The higher the taxes the lower the business activity, it’s a very simple formula.

The formula has worked so well in Ohio that legislators have now DOUBLED their tax incentive in the wake of the overwhelming success of The Avengers. Click the article below to read more.

http://taxfoundation.org/blog/ohio-doubles-film-tax-credit-program-wake-hype-over-%E2%80%9Cavengers%E2%80%9D

Because of this movie The Avengers filmed in Ohio, there will be more high-profile films that will come and spend hundreds of millions of dollars they won’t be spending in high tax states and cities. That is a wonderful thing for places like the DHL facility in Wilmington who is likely to see a major increase in activity at their small, sleepy town. The DHL facility could easily become the new Elstree Studios in England where the remote location, tax rates and facility usage are heads and shoulders above other locations. Not many film studios have their own airport, and the DHL facility does, which is unprecedented. Wilmington, Ohio could easily become the new Hollywood because of the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit, which would be far more valuable than the type of business that left the DHL facility in the first place and would restore to that town a greatness it has never known.

It was for reasons like that which drew Glenn Beck to Wilmington over two years ago, hoping that people who move money would take notice of the great attributes the small town in Ohio offered. What the production company making The Avengers was able to do within a week of filming at the DHL facility word will get out and many more films will follow. And that is the name of the game, where competition drives down the costs while productivity increases. Ohio is the example of how it’s done right, and the task for the rest of the world is to follow to the benefit of everyone else. And it all started with two Republican Senators who thought forward enough to offer the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit to an industry in Hollywood that is desperate to reform its costs for a changing marketplace.

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This is what people are saying about my new book–Tail of the Dragon

“With Tale of the Dragon, Rich Hoffman combines NASCAR, Rebel Without a Cause, and Smokey and the Bandit. If you like fast cars, and hate speed traps, this is the book for you. And just every once in a while, any real American wishes he had a Firebird like the one in Tale of the Dragon.“

Best Selling Co-author Larry Schweikart, A Patriot’s History of the United States  (CLICK ON THE LINK TO VISIT US ON FACEBOOK)

Visit the NEW Tail of the Dragon WEBSITE!  CLICK HERE and help spread the word! TELL SEVEN PEOPLE TO TELL SEVEN PEOPLE!

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

‘Tail of the Dragon’ Review from Joshua Charles: The “storytellers touch”

After getting to know him a bit I believe that Joshua Charles, best-selling author of The Original Argument with Glenn Beck will be the next generation David Barton. He is very scholarly, and cerebral with a firm grounding into religion. When I asked him to blurb my new novel Tail of the Dragon I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be, since he is very spiritual and the characters in my new novel are rather over-the-top with rebelliousness. But I respect Charles a lot, which was born from the wonderful book that he wrote that I think is having a major impact on literature in general and the direction of the country. When Josh agreed to do a blurb for me I had a similar anxiety that I had before the blurb that Larry Schweikart gave me. When you ask best-selling authors whose work you greatly respect to review your work, there is a serious risk of being let down if they tell you what you worked three years on is no good. Writing a book is a lot like giving birth, it becomes a child of yours, and parents often don’t see the faults in their own children. The reason that blurbs are important is that they indicate that “other” people who have “been there and done that” think your work has merit and are willing to sign their valuable names to your effort. So it is a nerve-racking experience, especially when the people you are asking are people you greatly revere

(See Josh and David Barton in the last Founding Father episode on the Glenn Beck Show at the 15 minute mark)

Josh told me back in mid-July that he would give me a blurb if he liked the book in mid-August. He was busy with his involvement in Glenn Beck’s Restoring Love rally in Dallas that drew out over 60,000 people to Cowboys Stadium so his time schedule was tight. But right on time, Josh delivered and much to my relief it was a favorable blurb, which can be seen below:

“Rich Hoffman has very skillfully, and with the obvious storyteller’s touch, expressed some of the great challenges that we face as a society today in a way that anyone can understand and enjoy within the context of a great story. ‘Tail of the Dragon’ will enlighten all who read it, young and old, and I highly recommend it.”

Joshua Charles co-author of the #1 New York Times Best Seller ‘The Original Argument’ with Glenn Beck

For more on Joshua Charles and the story of The Original Argument have a look at this article which dives into much greater detail.

http://www.humanevents.com/2011/07/26/glenn-becks-coauthor-a-poster-child-for-the-original-argument/

I have many review copies of my novel out, and there will be other blurbs coming in from multiple fields of endeavor. But personally, for my own sake, the work of Josh and Larry is at the high bar mark as these are some of the best historians working in the world today—even though they would both humbly decline that statement—their work demands such recognition. Both of them are hot sellers in book stores and online sales continue to be extremely impressive, so it is a high honor to receive favorable reviews from them. My novel Tail of the Dragon certainly deals with history and many contemporary issues, but my choice in delivery is one that I had serious concerns of offending those authors, because the storyline is so intense and controversial.

You can read Larry’s blurb of Tail of the Dragon by CLICKING HERE. It was a relief to see that Josh understood what I was trying to do in the story of Rick Stevens and his DEEP trouble with the legal system that attracts so much attention that The White House gets involved in what becomes the greatest car chase ever written or filmed. It might have seemed more logical, and easier to seek the blurbs from best-selling writers of other fiction, but personally, among the many writers I enjoy and admire, it is those who are scholars of history that I most respect. So the blurb from Josh means a lot to me on a personal level.

At one level I hope Tail of the Dragon  entertains readers and encourages people who may not have read a book in a while to start reading. But as Josh indicated in his blurb, I hope that the story will encourage readers to think about larger issues involving our contemporary society within the context of a deeply involving narrative. As a writer, you never know if it works until you get feedback from other writers and readers who don’t know what you’re thinking, but must learn it by the way the written word is placed on a page, which can be a real challenge if the intent is a multi-layered story that can be as deep as the reader wishes to take the material. According to Josh, he saw it and enjoyed it, and for me that is a high accomplishment. As I often say, advice is only as good as the person who gives it–well, so is a review. To get a favorable review from Josh Charles is a measure of the good person and great scholar that he is, so it means a lot to me to receive such kind words from the best-selling co-author of The Original Argument.

____________________________________________

This is what people are saying about my new book–Tail of the Dragon

“With Tale of the Dragon, Rich Hoffman combines NASCAR, Rebel Without a Cause, and Smokey and the Bandit. If you like fast cars, and hate speed traps, this is the book for you. And just every once in a while, any real American wishes he had a Firebird like the one in Tale of the Dragon.“

Best Selling Co-author Larry Schweikart, A Patriot’s History of the United States  (CLICK ON THE LINK TO VISIT US ON FACEBOOK)

Visit the NEW Tail of the Dragon WEBSITE!  CLICK HERE and help spread the word! TELL SEVEN PEOPLE TO TELL SEVEN PEOPLE!

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Mediscare: Paul Ryan likes ‘Atlas Shrugged’–“That’s a good thing”

Remember that RT News stands for Russia Today. And also remember that Ayn Rand escaped Russia as a young woman.  And if a person hates rich people or capitalism they have the taint of communism in them as defined by Karl Marx taught to most of society through indirect instruction.  Whenever a person speaks badly of wealth they are behaving like a communist. 

You can always tell a dishonest person by their actions, and in the case of Paul Ryan’s nomination as Mitt Romney’s second in command, the political left immediately used the strategy of fear to keep people from looking too closely at Ryan’s merits. Within one day of Ryan’s nomination leftists were calling the Ryan budget proposal “Mediscare,” because of the reforms proposed to overhaul Medicare hoping to scare senior citizens into voting for the communist Obama in a reelection campaign. CLICK HERE TO SEE RYAN’S PLAN FOR YOURSELF. Obama was correct when he said that he wasn’t a socialist. No, he’s much worse. Listen to Bill Whittle break down why Obama is a communist and a terrible president in the video below.

It must be terrible to exist in a political party that can only maintain itself based on the fears of the public. It must be terrible to have a complete political platform based exclusively on lies and manipulation. But that is in essence what the Democrats—communists—on the political left are doing in order to even look like they are staying in the current presidential race. They have no ideas, only more debt. They do not advocate national strength, only human weakness. And they drag their feet on everything because their political philosophy only works in theory, not in practice. For the communists in the Democratic Party their view of political solutions are to defer the issue to the depths of time and hope magically the problems solve themselves. Their world view is equivalent to wishing one could walk on Mars, but to do nothing to get there. Their plan is to simply wish for the task to occur, and in their minds, they will arrive on Mars to walk about at will. At best, they are out-of-touch with reality and that is not inflammatory rhetoric. It is a fact based on their actions.

Already Ryan is being labeled an “extreme” conservative and Democrats have used his love of the classic book Atlas Shrugged as a way to make him appear radical. This is very disingenuous, as I never heard conservatives during the last election criticize any Democrat because of a book they enjoyed. It was only after the 2008 election that Glenn Beck started looking into the kinds of people Obama put into The White House and found out that many of them loved Chairman Mao, and Karl Marx—known communists, but nobody in the press corps outside of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity would pick up the ball and run with it so the stories died with talk radio only and blogs. But already, I have heard from three different media outlets in just 24 hours that Ryan is an “extremist” because he happens to like the second most popular book in the Library of Congress behind The Bible which is Atlas Shrugged.

There is no question Ryan was the right pick for the Republican nomination because it has turned fear back around on the political left. Democrats are using fear to keep millions of people from listening to Paul Ryan who now has a national stage, and is more than capable of answering any question members of the media can throw at him. People will be able to see for themselves that it is not Ryan who is the radical, or Ayn Rand, the author of Atlas Shrugged, but the goofballs on the political left who are screaming “foul” because they know they cannot match the facts that Ryan will put forth.

The progressive machine I’ve spent so much time exposing at this site along with others who are all considered “extreme” right winged commentators will be exposed for what they are in the coming weeks. Their fear and attacks on Ryan will show the cards they’ve been hiding from the American people. In this poker game of politics, it will be discovered that all along the people who call themselves Democrats are actually communists in the extreme, and have all along sought the outright destruction of America as a land of prosperity. It will be discovered that the only reason people like Ryan and Ayn Rand are considered extremists are because the communists have such a philosophy that they have managed to pull America so far to the left people like Ryan and Rand appear extreme in comparison. But that is why the political left is now afraid, because to maintain that radical left political trend they must keep people afraid. Democrats hiding their communist intentions cannot match wits with the truth, because they will lose an argument if emotion is not the driving force. The facts are not on their side. Their intentions will be exposed in their actions as they will not be able to debate with Paul Ryan. He is smarter than anybody on the political left. He works harder, as he has often slept in his office because of his long hours. He has no dirt in his background. He is well read and is used to intense criticism and is not afraid of anything anybody can throw at him. He will be able to do to the political left what Scott Walker was able to do in Wisconsin. The truth will show itself because Ryan will not be swept under a rug. When the smoke clears, it will become clear to millions that all along the fear the political left used to advance their vision for America was simply a bluff in their poker game against The United States. The bet in the game is the elimination of capitalism from the American economy. For the Democrats the replacement is open communism and they hope that enough Americans are already so addicted to the money they’ve slid under the table that they’ve purchased their victory. But they haven’t, and now they are in deep trouble because they do not have an answer for Paul Ryan. And no matter how much they wish, they will not be able to defeat him in a debate in any theater because Ryan holds all the cards containing the facts, which the Democrats detest.

The only card Democrats have is fear to keep people from looking too closely at the game they are playing. If American society keeps their eyes on the game and not the fearful distractions, they will see what cheaters and liars these same Democrats have been since the Clintons were in The White House. When it comes to Paul Ryan, they will never win a debate now that he’s on a national stage, and it will be devastating to their intentions of communism. The facts finally have a spokesperson who can articulate the truth without apology, and that will end the game that communists posing as Democrats have attempted to use as a measure to remake America from the land of the free, into the land of the slave, bound to government handouts and bankruptcy perpetually.

The communists have much to fear from Paul Ryan, because they have always been up to no good. As far as Paul Ryan being a crazy radical I find that odd. Ryan is as far to the left of me as Obama is from Romney. And I’m no radical. What does that say about Obama?

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This is what people are saying about my new book–Tail of the Dragon

“With Tale of the Dragon, Rich Hoffman combines NASCAR, Rebel Without a Cause, and Smokey and the Bandit. If you like fast cars, and hate speed traps, this is the book for you. And just every once in a while, any real American wishes he had a Firebird like the one in Tale of the Dragon.“

Best Selling Co-author Larry Schweikart, A Patriot’s History of the United States  (CLICK ON THE LINK TO VISIT US ON FACEBOOK)

Visit the NEW Tail of the Dragon WEBSITE!  CLICK HERE and help spread the word! TELL SEVEN PEOPLE TO TELL SEVEN PEOPLE!

Rich Hoffman
https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/ten-rules-to-live-by/
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com