Tag: 10th Amendment

If You Love Your Kids, Don’t Send Them To College: The Real ‘Fountainhead’ Frank Lloyd Wright

When I think of college the very first thing I think of is intoxication, experimental sex, and liberalism.  I would never in a hundred years tell someone I care about that they should go to such a mental meat grinder as American modern colleges—because those institutions are not about learning—but are rather about following the advice of Princeton President Woodrow Wilson who said colleges were tasked to make children as less like their parents as possible.  Colleges as they are today are about reprogramming 19 years of love and emotional investment out of a child with the destruction of their individuality and through progressive scholarship—to be reborn as a collective oriented species.  Colleges are run by a class of human being called “the academic of intelligentsia” and they are a sinister group that holds much responsibility for the current destruction of The United States.

That is not to say that all young people who attend college become mindless drones who vote for Presidents like Barack Obama, campaign against gun rights, strive for social evasion through intoxication, and have difficulty maintaining relationships because all their sexual standards have been ripped away leaving nothing to cherish in their bedrooms.  I know of a few.  In fact most of my closest relationships all have advanced degrees and have survived the experience—but not without scars.  Unfortunately for a vast majority of college bound young people, they will not survive intact, and will be crushed under the mantra of progressivism taught in those schools into something unrecognizable from the miracle their youths were destined otherwise to produce.

When it is said that Americans are behind other countries in academic achievement—in producing engineers, scientists and other advanced degree oriented professions I would say to fret not.  Let India, China, Japan and other countries with collectivist cultures produce nice little pets who do what they are told under the terms of employment.  America can always hire that talent away from those other countries—it does not need to produce them in American colleges.  America needs to produce solid individuals who create jobs so that those jobs can hire the pin headed collectivist to work nicely in their cubicles under the guidance of their boss.  America needs to concentrate its energy into making more entrepreneurs and it won’t do that by copying the academic model of Europe and Asia.

To get feel for what I’m talking about, the context is explained wonderfully in one of my all-time favorite novels, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.  In that great American novel the main character Howard Roark was openly molded after the great real life architect Frank Lloyd Wright.  Frank Lloyd Wright, (1867-1959), was an American architect, a pioneer in the modern style who is considered one of the greatest figures in 20th-century architecture. He was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin. In 1887 Wright went to Chicago, where he became a designer for the firm of Adler and Sullivan. In 1893 he established his own office in Chicago.

Wright created the philosophy of “organic architecture,” which maintains that a building should develop out of its natural surroundings. His designs for both private and public structures were boldly original, and he rebelled against ornate neoclassic and Victorian styles. Wright believed that architectural form must be determined by the particular function of a building, its environment, and the type of materials used. His interiors emphasize spaciousness, which derives from open planning with one room flowing into another.

Wright initiated many new techniques, such as the use of precast concrete blocks reinforced by steel rods. He also introduced numerous innovations, including air conditioning, indirect lighting, and panel heating. His works include the Millard House (1923) in Pasadena, California; the Johnson Wax Company Administration Building (1939) in Racine, Wisconsin; the First Unitarian Church (1947) in Madison, Wisconsin; and the Price Tower (1953) in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. In 1959 he completed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

Wright also spent much of his time writing, lecturing, and teaching. By 1908 he had originated most of the principles that serve as fundamental concepts of modern architecture. His work profoundly influenced the development of contemporary architecture in the United States and Europe.[1]

Ironically, contrary to what academics care to admit, there is no evidence that Frank Lloyd Wright ever graduated from high school.  He was admitted to college under a special arrangement, but left the school without taking a degree after only a few classes.  No college in the world could have taught Wright to think so far outside the box as he did, and in fact nobody has been able to think as originally as he has to date.  In colleges all over the world architecture students study Frank Lloyd Wright, and they copy some of his elements in modern building techniques, but they cannot think like he did.  Those other students would be what the novel The Fountainhead calls the Peter Keatings of the world, the fools destined to live in the shadows of everyone else their entire lives, who go to school, get good grades, do what they’re told, and die unspectacularly as decrypted caricatures of a mind that had degraded each year of their lives from age 4 to 75.  For that matter I have told almost the same type of story about Walt Disney.  (CLICK HERE to see a list of some of the most successful names who have not received college degrees.)  College is not necessary for success, only for keeping the coffers of progressive politics alive—to fulfill the dream of people like Woodrow Wilson who wanted to engineer young people away from their parents and destroy the American family by rule over them as members of the college educated intellectual.  (Look at that list at the link carefully and you will see a pattern.  If you want your children to be successful you should follow the evidence of that list)

Frank Lloyd Wright detested intellectuals as they were classically portrayed, and wonderfully articulated in The Fountainhead.  Wright is an excellent example of why America was great, because it created a nation that could give wonderfully original minds like Disney and Wright a place to develop their thoughts without the rigid guidelines created by college academics always in the hip pocket of politics.  America did best when it conducted itself with old-fashioned horse sense.  Colleges have prided themselves on destroying that horse sense in a quest to crush individualism in favor of collectivism.  It is because of this trend that colleges study Frank Lloyd Wright, but cannot produce modern versions of him no matter how much money a student spends on their education.  A parent who wants to produce the next Frank Lloyd Wright in their child cannot do it with their life savings.  Colleges are happy to sell the snake oil that they can, but they can’t.  Only an original mind can perform such a task, and original minds are produced while children play and such thought processes are preserved into adulthood.  Currently originality is destroyed in public education leaving once great minds caricatures of themselves by the time they hit puberty.  Once a deranged mind hits college age, they have almost nothing else left in the tank to resist the reprogramming that modern intellectuals cast upon their unsuspecting minds.  In a couple short years of college, most minds are destroyed forever and those young people are destined to look back on their youths as the best days of their lives, as they begin a slow journey toward death in the 60 or more years that follow.

Public education sells itself on producing young minds for college, but this is an error.  Parents should not spend a lifetime of savings on college only to have their children programmed away from the values taught by the family for 14 to 18 years.  If a parent really loves their children, they will discourage their children from being destroyed in these palaces of corruption called American colleges, and encourage them to become the next Frank Lloyd Wrights, or Walt Disneys.  The blueprint on the how and why can be found in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.  The novel like the people it portrays is a window into when America was producing the best minds in the entire world and is a direct link into how we can restore to our nation a trend of supremacy that has always defined The United States.  But such a path will not be through college doors so let the rest of the world travel that path to their own destruction.  It is to America’s competitive advantage to turn away from the stuffy academic and put its faith in the mind of the innocent and encourage them to reach for the stars without limitations, without the rigid lines of social political rules—to become the next great thinkers who will usher in a new age of prosperity and innovation.

[1]Encarta® 98 Desk Encyclopedia © &  1996-97 Microsoft Corporation.

All rights reserved.

Rich Hoffman

“If they attack first………..blast em!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

The Winds of Revolution: Executive orders signed on the backs of exploited children

I have established the parameters of America’s next Civil War in my 2004 novel, The Symposium of Justice.  I then defined the who, what, why, when and where for rebellion to occur in my 2012 novel Tail of the Dragon.  Before the scam artists in government attempt to portray my future actions as radical, dangerous, or as an enemy of the state, those two literary works are my testimony of innocence against a court system built by insanity.  A government that allows $16 trillion dollars of debt to go unchecked and signs 23 executive orders against the 2nd Amendment is a criminal syndicate no different from Al Capone’s organized crime actions—and I consider them all domestic enemies.  Click the link below for more detail.   After all, Saul Alinsky learned from Al Capone, and it was Saul who taught most in modern government how to conduct their business of arm twisting and extortion against individual liberty.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/01/16/obama-presents-new-gun-control-measures-live-updates/

To learn more about Saul Alinsky, click this link:

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

When I speak about the need for a Civil War it is not because I want it, but because bad people are attempting to impose themselves upon my life, and those of the people who are not so vocal about their desire for liberty.  I know all too well that many lawyers, judges, and politicians do not believe in the Bible they swore their oaths to, or respect the Constitution they pledge to protect.  They are simply scavengers who seek to pillage the lives of individuals of everything they own or desire to possess.  I have seen first hand many instances where America’s entire court system is about nothing but generating money for the participants at the expenses of the victims.  I gave such an example in Tail of the Dragon, which is based on first hand experience.  The court system is only about making money through the clerk of courts for the judges, the lawyers, the bailiffs, the jails, the insurance companies, the legal professors, the mind numb politicians, and nothing else.  They seek targets that have broken the law as defined by those same people who have no respect for the American Constitution but serve only the case-law of fellow attorneys.  The legal system in America is a racket no different from the organized crime syndicates that formed during the Prohibition Period.

When Jon Hammer was thrown into a Mexican jail for trying to register a rifle at the border, the Mexicans were not interested in justice, or fairness.  They were only interested in jailing the young man and attempting to extort money from the ex-Marine’s family.  The Mexicans behaved no different from a band of pirates who took over the lives of the innocent and threatened to kill them on behalf of their personal profit.  The court system is corrupt beyond repair in Mexico.  Nobody cared about the life of Jon Hammer.  The President of Mexico allowed the behavior to continue on once the story became public for over 4 months.  The criminal underground runs Mexico, and the Jon Hammer case proves it.  Both The United States and Mexico showed the world that neither side cared about Jon Hammer or his family—especially when the situation was so obviously unjust.  Instead all the parties involved on both sides walked over the issue as though they were egg shells, not daring to step too hard in any one place so not to upset their supplies of money that funnel to them through organized crime.

What’s worse about the whole ordeal is that Mexico appears to be more honest than America.  At least the Mexicans don’t attempt to hide their tyrannical intentions behind children or tapestries of “justice” like American courts have attempted to do.  President Obama attempted to hide his power grabbing actions of executive orders behind the naive innocence of children, and nobody questioned the obvious evil of the act.  Both courts in Mexico and America are corrupt and rotting with scallywags intent to profit off the unfortunate misery of the guiltless.  When things go bad in the near future it will be those types of scallywags who attempt to call me “the criminal,” which of course I am not, or won’t be.  There comes a time when it is right and honorable to fight back against evil that attempts to hide theft behind righteousness, and that time is coming quick.

We are living in an upside down world, the bad pretend that they are good, and the good are made out to look bad, so a war between those two ideas is immanent.  In the context of a normal life, the talk of war might seem extreme, but it is in the desire for peace that the pirates of government loot us all in broad day light with further encroachments’, and out-right injustices are advanced through sheer greed.  It is against those feeble minds that we will protect ourselves and in that context, is the reason for the next war that is about to break out.  It will also be in the context of the villainy conducted among America’s failing political system and its corrupt courts that the actions of liberty will forever be measured.  The sanity of the Constitutional defenders is written down forever and cannot be changed by the looters of social order, who hide their malicious actions behind “safety,” “security,” and “children.”  The truth is easy for everyone to see and that truth might waver for a bit when the first shots are fired and real lives find themselves at the cashiers counter–but context will find its place which is the reason for these millions of words.  It cannot be said that we did not try a solution of peace.  When the lives stack up, nobody can say that we did not try.

Because we did………….(past tense.)  Corruption advanced anyway with executive orders and a court system that lacks the will for justice, thus the title—The Symposium of Justice.

As to the source behind Obama’s new gun control laws created by executive order………………..it is all about making more money for an ever-expanding–all-encompassing government.

Among the new spending the president proposed:

• $4 billion for the president’s proposal “to help keep 15,000 cops on the streets in cities and towns across the country.” (That is roughly $266,000 per police officer.)

• $20 million to “give states stronger incentives to make [relevant] data available [for background checks] … “$50 million for this purpose in FY2014”

• “$14 million to help train 14,000 more police officers and other public and private personnel to respond to active shooter situations.”

• “$10 million for the Centers for Disease Control to conduct further research, including investigating the relationship between video games, media images, and violence.”

• $20 million to expand the National Violent Death Reporting System.

• $150 million to “put up to 1,000 new school resource officers and school counselors on the job.”

• “$30 million of one-time grants to states to help their school districts develop and implement emergency management plans.”

• $50 million to help 8,000 schools “create safer and more nurturing school climates.”

• $15 million to “provide ‘Mental Health First Aid’ training for teachers.”

• $40 million for school districts to “work with law enforcement, mental health agencies, and other local organizations to assure students with mental health issues or other behavioral issues are referred to the services they need.”

• $25 million for state-based strategies that support “young people ages 16 to 25 with mental health or substance abuse issues.”

• $25 million to “offer students mental health services for trauma or anxiety, conflict resolution programs, and other school-based violence prevention strategies.”

• $50 million to “train social workers, counselors, psychologists, and other mental health professionals.”

Click here to visit the source article at Buckey Firearms.org.

Rich Hoffman

“If they attack first………..blast em!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

The Difference between Us and Them: Morning Joe Team shocked by NRA advertisement

‘One of the grossest things they have ever seen?’ This is what the Morning Joe Team on the Progressive channel MSNBC said in regard to a recent NRA advertisement. Obviously these people don’t remember how poorly George Bush’s children were treated when he was president. But they have conveniently forgotten all about that now. Watch and listen how shallow the minds and memory of these progressives are.

There is no dealing with people like this from the “lean forward” channel. Wasn’t that the campaign slogan for the last Lakota school levy, and Barry Obama’s latest run for President? Progressivism is for these mush minded types, not real Americans. They haven’t a clue as to what the Constitution is about, nor do they care to learn. They wish us all to “lean forward” straight into the same brick wall that all of Europe is hitting. They are the primary example of why America must never give up their guns, because it will be these types of people who will run everything.

They can’t even remember the Bush Presidency which was only 5 years ago.

Rich Hoffman

“If they attack first………..blast em!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

Michelle Obama’s Email to Me: The lavish life of a wanna be queen

For some reason, Michelle Obama thinks I’m her friend.  She would be wrong.  Tonight she sent me this ridiculous email:

Friend —

Four years ago, during his first inauguration, Barack and I were thrilled when thousands of Americans from every corner of the country took part in the National Day of Service honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We were so excited because we knew that the celebrations weren’t just about a new president, but about everything that we can accomplish together. And that starts with service.

So this year, as we prepare for another celebration, we’re hoping to renew that spirit of service and citizenship — we’re calling on all Americans, including you, to volunteer in your community on Saturday, January 19th, for this year’s Day of Service.

Please join us, and commit to serve on January 19th.

Throughout our lives, Barack and I have seen that building a full life isn’t about what you can get for yourself — but what you can give to those around you. It’s a value that’s been central to our lives together. And as parents, it’s something we’re trying every day to pass down to our girls.

This inauguration is only possible because of you and all your hard work. Barack and I are so grateful for you, and for everything you’ve done for us and for our country.

Pledge to join us for the Day of Service at an event near you:

http://action.2013pic.org/Pledge-to-Serve

Thanks,

Michelle

P.S. — When you commit to serve, you’ll be automatically entered for the chance to come out to Washington, D.C. for Barack’s inauguration — flight and hotel covered.

Lady……………..I don’t serve anybody.  The only thing I’ll pledge is to throw you and your husband’s ass outta office.  Enjoy your party spent with the money stolen from the American people through the strong-arm tactics of the IRS.  The time is coming when the princes and princesses of The United States will learn that it is they who serve, not the other way around.  And Michelle…………..sweetheart………….if you’re in such a giving mood……………..why not give back the millions of tax payer dollars you’ve spent on family vacations.

Rich Hoffman

“If they attack first………..blast em!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

The Joys of Christmas: What to put under the tree this year?

I do love Christmas for all the reasons that tradition holds.  I suspect that many people are lost to those reasons as culturally society has failed them.  I noticed the longing gaze in the eye of a bank teller the other day when I took out the money to buy my wife’s Christmas present. I could see that she was married, and wished that somebody went to the trouble that I was for my spouse to see that she had a good Christmas.  I revealed my plans to the young lady because of the amount of money that I was taking out in cash, which most people wouldn’t feel comfortable carrying around with them.  I explained that this was the only way I could keep the present a secret from my wife with the hope of lasting till Christmas Day.

She let out several long gasps as she counted the money in stacks of hundred-dollar bills and I could tell that she wished for the same kind of cloak and dagger type maneuvers from her own spouse.  I told her to be patient, that if she could stay married for a quarter of a century like my wife and I have, that such a thing would be possible in her own future.  She smiled, at that and seemed to perk up as she lost track of her count and had to start all over again.

For what Christmas means to me, CLICK HERE and learn what my favorite Christmas song is and why.  I don’t think I will ever tire of Christmas morning, and waking up to unleash the many devious plots that I had been pondering for months toward all the people in my family that were carefully concealed acts of espionage designed to make them happy.  I truly enjoy those magical mornings of cold winter delight as for just a moment the world takes a deep breath and enjoys the company of one another.  And I truly love surprising people, especially my wife, since she is so incredibly hard to catch off guard.

In all our years of marriage, there have only been a handful of times that I have been able to “catch” her with a surprise of any worth.  Some years it is a treasured book that is hard to get, some years it is a gift that she would never buy for herself.  Of recent years, I was able to give her a slick monokini from Victoria Secret that she could wear in the streets of Key West and Cancun without being too over-the-top, and not look like a 17 year-old-girl.  Hard to do with her, and not cheap, since she is extremely picky—extremely.   That was over four years ago, and I haven’t been able to get her quite that good since—until this year.

Another year, my oldest daughter caught me off-guard with a book called Way of the Fighter, which I had been looking for over 20 years.  (CLICK HERE FOR REVIEW)  It’s a rare out-of-print book that costs over $100 dollars from used book venders.  During one of my trips to Los Angeles as I had time to kill from my business there, I spent entire days at the large used book stores on Brand Boulevard looking for a copy of that book from some deceased celebrity’s estate where the kids sold off all the things they thought didn’t have value.  But to no avail.  Somehow, my daughter had tracked down a copy of that book and gave it to me on Christmas, which to date is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received during all my many Christmases over the years.

But the gist of the gifts have not always been about the money, or how much they cost, it is the value of the thoughts behind them, the scheming all in the name of love that goes on in behalf of coaxing just a bit of joy out of a loved one for just a moment.  It is the selfish joy of seeing someone you care about open a gift that you carefully prepared, and plotted to give under the cloak of secrecy for the sustained joy of the gift’s intended recipient.

I suspect Christmas at my house this year will be one of the good ones, and I worked hard to position it that way, and the payday is on the morning of December 25th—and I frankly can’t wait.  But as we wait for that fateful day, if there is a freedom fighter in your family, or a Tea Party patriot, a young NASCAR fan, a hopeless romantic, an avid reader, or just a rebellious renegade then might I suggest you give them for Christmas my book, Tail of the Dragon.  Aside from a last-minute plug for the book, it is a story that will continue giving well into 2013, and they will love you for it.  So if you order one now from the links below, the book should arrive well before shipping companies close down for Christmas, with Saturday the 22nd being the last day.  Amazon.com has been sold out for most of December, but my publisher just sent them a heap of books to fill the need.  And I’m pretty sure that Barnes and Noble has been able to keep up their stock.  So this is just a friendly reminder for the last of those gifts you wish to give that special someone who are truly unique, there is still a chance to put Tail of the Dragon under the tree before Christmas.

For my readers here, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.  No matter how dark and dreary things appear at times, it is always the human qualities that are best expressed on Christmas morning that ensure that the human race will always persevere over tyranny and chaos to find joy on a new day as the best of what’s in all of us come out on that wonderful—joyous day of December 25th each and every year.

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TheNovelRich Hoffman

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

  

David P. Little Protests at Boehner’s Office: Lap dog reporters get their bellies scratched

I always imagined that activist David P. Little from Progress Ohio who came after me personally a couple of years ago, looked a lot like Jeffery Stec who is currently parading all over the Lakota School District with Karen Mantia attempting to cushion the blow of their next tax increase attempt using their “Community Conversations” campaign.  Jeffery is a younger guy who worked on the streetcar issue in downtown Cincinnati—one of those progressive utopian projects designed by Agenda 21 to be a people mover once high taxes and excessive regulation nudge people back into the cities where authorities can have more control over populations and their behavior.  No, David P. Little is not what I imagined once I saw recent pictures of him.  2 years ago Darryl Parks and I exposed the progressive activist on 700 WLW after Little directly attacked my character calling me a “wealthy businessman” (sound familiar) among other things for my opposition to the Lakota School Levy.  CLICK HERE TO REVIEW THAT EPISODE. 

The videos below are from Progress Ohio so it can be seen what kind of people are involved in that organization.

After the incident I communicated with Little through email, as I was just a bit enraged over the incident.  Up to that point I hadn’t yet become the target of leftist progressive radicals, so they really didn’t know what to make of me in a conflict.  I didn’t imagine that Little was just another “flower child” from the sun-baked 60’s generation, which is what he has turned out to be.  (CLICK HERE TO SEE HIM.)  I thought he was a young guy like Stec trying to make a name for himself with progressive politics.  In that story, Little representing Progress Ohio did a “hit” piece on me that Michael Clark from the Cincinnati Enquirer tipped me off to, and I was thankful that he did.  Back then, Clark and I got along fine, and fairly and he gave me the heads up to what Little was doing against me.  Sadly, just a few years later when a similar “hit” piece was being assembled against me after the third levy defeat, Clark played the other side of the fence as many people warned me he would, so it wasn’t a big surprise, just a disappointment in such predictable human behavior.    CLICK HERE TO REVIEW.  However over the David Little incident, Clark came through which allowed me to answer the story right out of the gate. 

Well, David Little has been back in West Chester politics as he was recently heading up a protest outside of John Boehner’s office urging the Speaker of the House to cut the industrial military complex that is “nation building” throughout the world in lieu of the upcoming “fiscal cliff.”  Little at the protest argued that there would be more money for things like education, and public employees if the military industry in America were diminished to nothing and all the evil contractors would perish into joblessness.  Here is the link to the Pulse Journal article from the reporter covering the story.

http://www.pulsejournal.com/news/news/group-rallies-outside-boehners-local-office/nTPZ3/

I don’t blame the Pulse Journal for not doing proper research into who David Little was.  When Little came after me way back then that particular reporter was probably drawing in coloring books in grade school, as the reporter turn-over rate at the Pulse Journal is excessively high, and their editorial staff has been looking for lapdogs to act as public relations spokesman for Lakota and other community advocate groups.  So the young reporter wouldn’t know the history of Little and his involvement in Lakota, or myself over the years.

Back when I first encountered Little I only argued that costs needed to be brought down in public education.  Since then I have learned what groups like Progess Ohio and public education really have in mind for America, and I have been very vocal about it, which is why many of the reporters who used to speak to me on a regular basis no longer do, because everyone’s comfort level has been smashed when dealing with the actual facts of these stories.   The Pulse Journal as a paper would never reveal how radical Progress Ohio is or their progressive philosophy of undermining The United States with mush minded ideas and pixy dust politics.  But I have went on record calling Little and the groups he fronts for what I think of them, which of course leads to tension—which is my right to do since it was they who drew blood first.

It was cute to see 15 miscreants show up at Boehner’s office with David Little as the spokesman and argue for the dismantling of the military complex in America to pay for a debt that progressive politicians have intentionally driven up to cause the current financial crises in the first place.  The debt is being driven by the old Cloward and Piven strategy of economic collapse to force “change” which is what this whole fiscal cliff idea really comes down to.  The economic perils are part of an attack offensive driven by progressive politics and it is good to see that David Little is at the forefront of the movement.

It is sad that The Enquirer and the Pulse Journal did not report the activity of David Little for what it was, but subtly attempted to pile on the opposition against Boehner as the fiscal cliff nears with the opinion of a fossilized flower child and his progressive philosophy of destruction.   But in these days of social media and changing roles, it is the citizen journalists who are tasked with the traditional roles of watchdog observation, as the current crop of reporters are in league with the masters of destruction implementing a plot of terror that is quietly lethal all because such positions are convenient.

Rich Hoffman

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

  

The Unions of Detroit: Wisdom from Mark Etterling

Below is a guest article from Mark Etterling.  For more about Mark, CLICK HERE.

I was listening to the news today as they discussed the Right to Work legislation currently pending before the Michigan State House.  As is usually the case there was the obligatory union boss pontificating about how passage of such legislation would automatically doom any and all future labor to an abyss of virtual corporate slavery.  As is also the usual, the person holding the microphone never even bothered to ask the most basic of follow-up questions like “Can you elaborate on that statement?”.  Since the modern-day media is obviously nothing more than a sorry bunch of ideological hacks I thought I would do their job for them by asking the question myself.
 
Hey Union Boss!  Explain in to me.  You make such asinine statements, but the facts don’t agree.  There are currently 23 states that have already passed RTW laws and from an overall economic standpoint those states are doing just fine without the need to force employees to accept union membership as a condition of employment.  To the contrary, union laden cities like Detroit, Flint,Toledo, and Cleveland are collapsing in on themselves as the former jobs of those cities are being migrated to the more friendly confines of the southern RTW states.  After having passed RTW last year Indiana picked up over 13,000 new manufacturing jobs.  In that same time span Michigan has lost over 8,000 with their current “closed shop” attitude.
 
If you listen to the union battle cry they will chant sophomoric rhyming slogans about how it’s all about workers rights.  Okay, great, now explain that as well.  Exactly how is it an invasion of someone’s rights to simply give them the freedom of choice about joining a union versus being forced to do so?  There is nothing in the pending Michigan legislation (or RTW in general) that prevents union membership.  In fact, Taft-Hartley guarantees the right of employees to unionize.  Therefore, no one’s rights are being threatened in the least by RTW legislation.  So explain your statement, because quite frankly it doesn’t pass the smell test.
 
If you ask a hardened union member they will tout all of the good things that unions do for their members.  Great!  If that’s really true than the unions shouldn’t feel the least bit threatened simply by giving people the option.  It’s like taking vitamins.  If I see a real benefit from taking them I’ll gladly pay for them.  I’ll use them freely where I don’t need someone to force me to do so.  However, if I don’t see a real benefit than why bother?  We shouldn’t be forcing people to join unions any more than we should be forcing them to take vitamins.  If unions are as great as advertised than keeping up membership up without force should be a piece of cake.  However, as Wisconsin and many other states have recently proven, that’s not the case.
 
So what’s this really all about?  Well, as is usually the case, it’s not rocket science.  As I mentioned above, in the first year after Wisconsin passed RTW the public employee union membership dropped by 56% as all those employees with a new-found freedom exercised that freedom.  56% fewer members translate into 56% less dues.  So in reality this is all about union membership dues and the political power that those dues represent and has nothing to do with anyone’s “rights”.  When fully 95% of union political contributions go to a single party it’s pretty obvious that party can’t live without the unions anymore than the unions can live without that party.  It’s a marriage of convenience to say the least.
 
The Democrats tried unsuccessfully to get card check passed in order to enhance union membership by forcing open ballot voting.  It didn’t work simply because the Democrats couldn’t come up with a single legitimate argument as to why it was necessary to permit such a coercive act without any justification.  When it comes to losing all these states to RTW they keep losing that debate as well for the very same reason.  The unions can hold all the statehouse rallies their little hearts desire, but what they can’t do is justify their own actions.  In the mean time they have become a caricature of what a democracy is supposed to look like simply because the exercising of the freedoms democracy offers should at least have a purpose, and this debate has none.
Mark Etterling

Rich Hoffman

Dear Speaker Boehner: When will you decide to impeach the President?

John Boehner, do you remember when I sent you a letter one year ago urging you to impeach President Obama over the appointment of Richard Cordray for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?  To refresh your memory I stated: “Obama used a loophole in the recess rules to appoint Corday and he’s not the first president to do so. Both Bush’s used this practice, Reagan did, Teddy Roosevelt did, but Obama has taken it to a new level with this “bending” of the interpretation of the Constitution terminology with an activism that is shockingly disrespectful.”

You can see the original letter as I wrote it at the link below.  Your office also has a copy of the letter. 

https://overmanwarrior.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/impeach-obama-domestic-enemies-must-be-dealt-with/

I know at the time you thought my statements were extreme, and a radical utterance from one of those crazy gun wielding right-wingers that lives down the road from your house.  You didn’t listen because you shook hands with the president, played golf with the guy, and you thought you were in a better position than I to understand the character of the president.

However, I would say that you have found yourself seduced by an intoxicant that Obama spews from every pour when he engages people with voice and touch.  You know you’ve received it when he places his hand on your back after a handshake to pat you like a dog for your loyalty.  I’ve watched him do it to you, and I know you’ve been seduced by it, because I can see it in your eyes.

But John Boehner of West Chester, Ohio, you have to fight off that seduction by such a destructive human being.  Obama is playing a dangerous game of conquest not with bows and arrows, tanks, or even armies, but one of peaceful ideology that corrupts the body of America the same way that the plague of Europe killed off a large part of that population before anybody knew they were sick.   Obama is a sickness for America and I think you are beginning to see it.

With this sudden realization now that some history is behind my words, have a look at my letter again shown at the link above, and consider how much pain you could have saved if you had listened to what I said then.  Think of the benefit to the economy, think of the lives that would have been enhanced, think of the power you have lost in just one year now that Obama has been re-elected.  You better learn from the past and act properly in the future; otherwise you won’t have a House in Congress to be the leader of.  You better start to fight America’s domestic enemies with the kind of ruthlessness that they use to attack, and come to grips with the actions they are conducting of which you are in a position to rebuke.

I thought the appointment of Richard Cordray was an impeachable offence, but a year later, Obama’s unconstitutional power grabs seem silly relative to the other crimes he has committed against the same Constitution you and he were sworn to protect.  Obviously Obama is attacking the Constitution, and through your behavior, you are unintentionally complicit.  I would advise that you get serious about this game and use the power you have been given to stop the progress of the kind of domestic enemies who wish to change our way of life at the expense of our own good-will.  And I would also suggest that you do not ignore the warning signs from your constituents when they are given to you.  It might save you tremendous headaches in the future.

Rich Hoffman

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

  

Saving Our Schools: Wisdom from Mark Etterling

Efficiency is key to the success of any economic endeavor.  The reason I’m a conservative is because logically that is where economic efficiency is best found.  Let’s face it, the liberal bureaucratic bound approach to all of life’s issues requiring potential monetary endowments also represents the antithesis of efficiency.  I defy a single Liberal to step forward and explain the logic behind the socialist economic theories liberalism espouses, let alone provide examples of how those theories can actually create efficiency.
 
Last year I ran for an open school board position in the district where I live.  I was a literal unknown challenger in a group that included an incumbent, an existing member of the District Finance Committee, and a former Board President.  Needless to say I was a long shot.  Even though I didn’t win I still managed a good showing, even beating out the former Board President.  The reason I was able to do as well as I did was because of my approach.  I didn’t waste time demonizing my opponents or any particular group such as the teachers union.  Instead, I focused my message on the concept of creating true efficiency within the district.
 
Efficiency comes in many flavors.  The teachers union openly feared me because they also fear the word efficiency.  Understandably, the reason is that whenever they hear that word it typically translates either into layoffs, pay cuts, or both.  However, had they actually listened to my message, they would have realized that approach wasn’t necessarily the efficiency I was talking about.  That type of efficiency is what I call the cheap status quo model.  For example, how cheap can I get by when negotiating on copier paper when the real question should be what other options are there to send out information other than in printed form?  When it came to our district I was seeking to think beyond just the simple cheaper status quo model.  I was seeking to rethink everything we do, not just negotiate a cheaper price on things we may not even need in the first place.
 
When it comes to our schools we must start doing better.  We are already screwing over our heirs when it comes to burdening them with the disastrous results of our approach on overspending and debt.  I see no reason why they must also suffer at the hands of a failed approach to education as well.  The current system we have is an unmitigated disaster.  We are relying on a model that was created nearly a century ago.  It is a system that is so outdate, over bloated, over controlled, and inefficient that actual learning takes a back seat to far too many other self serving and inefficient agenda’s.  Furthermore, it fails to meet the skill set required for the modern workforce.
In 1979 President Carter created the Department of Education thus placing oversight over the nation’s educational system under federal control.  His idea was that he could fix all of our educational ills and make everything “equal” at the same time.  Instead it proved to be a huge mistake.  We currently have twice as many people working in our public educational system today as we did in 1970.  At the same time our public school enrollment has only gone up by 8.5%.  Even after adjusting for inflation we dump exponentially more dollars per student into public education than we did in 1970 yet test scores haven’t budged in all those years.  If anything, we’ve gone down in our educational rankings against the rest of the world.  In the mean time the bureaucracy that Carter created is so overwhelming that attempting to make any significant structural changes is like trying to turn around a battleship in a fishing pond.  If you attempt any movement at all you’ll only find yourself sinking further in the muck.
 

The first thing we need to do to right this ship is to get rid of the Department of Education and send that function back to the states.  Not only will that unload a huge layer of unnecessary bureaucracy, but in all honesty, those that have the best interest of the children are those that can be found closest to the children themselves.  That means even the state should surrender the bulk of control back to the local districts.  After all, it’s the parents within the district that care the most for the educational welfare of their own children.  Yes, I get the whole concept of economic disparity, but what we are talking about here is control.  The best method for equalizing the economic disparity and also provide parental control at the same time is through a voucher system whereby parents are granted choices and quality is promoted through competition.
 
The answer we’ve always gotten ever since Carter took over education is that rather than actually addressing the real needs of our kids, we simply need to continually pour an ever increasing amount of money into an ever increasing bureaucracy that does nothing to fix our failing schools.  However, there is no model whatsoever that proves such a correlation between money and a quality education actually exists.  When kids in 3rd world countries are proving everyday that it’s possible to learn even in grass huts and bombed out buildings than more money isn’t the answer.  When it does come to money we need to get personal agenda’s out of education.  It makes no logical sense whatsoever for a district to be forced to pay a gym teacher and a chemistry teacher on the same pay scale.  There is no logical reason for denying parents choices when it comes to their kid’s educational opportunities simply based on personal income either.  For their part parents do need to become more active participants in their child’s education instead of viewing schools as nothing more than glorified daycares.  Practically every study out there confirms that the single biggest factor in the quality of our schools is parental participation.
 

We need to modernize our approach to education in general.  That means we need to stop simply teaching to a standardized test.  Yes, it’s important that our kids understand things like reading and writing.  However, much of what is being taught today isn’t really learning as much as it is memorization in order to pass those standardized test.  What we should really be teaching our kids is critical thinking skills.  We need to understand and accept that in the modern world things are changing at such an incredible rate that much of what a freshman learns today won’t even be relevant by the time they graduate.  Therefore, we need to be teaching them the skills necessary to perpetually adapt to an ever changing environment.  We can’t do that by being wed to an antiquated inefficient model.
 
There seems to be universal agreement that what we are currently facing is an educational crisis in much the same manner as we are facing a very real debt crisis.  In both cases there are sound answers that can be found simply by looking to both logic and efficiency to find the answers.  We are already threatening to enslave the next generation to the will of our debt holders.  There’s no sane reason that we should also be taking tomorrow’s potential leaders and turning them into the menial labor force of a foreign master as well.
Mark Etterling

Rich Hoffman

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

  

A Child Hit by a Car at Lakota: The terrible cost of irresponsible busing cuts

Cherokee Elementary School Principal Paulette Grady confirmed in an email sent out to parents that the injuries sustained on a young female student hit by an SUV while riding her bicycle were not serious. However this is the second time in a year, and since the Lakota School System took away busing from parents as a way to extort more money to pass a future school levy, that accidents like this have happened. Here is what Grady stated:

“The safety of our Cherokee Cheetahs is our number one priority. Together, we can ensure their safety by frequently reminding our children, to walk, ride their bikes, or scooters directly home after school, always to look both ways before crossing the street, and to be mindful of their surroundings. Our diligence and daily safety reminders are very important. Our students do hear us. Even though we take every precaution, accidents do happen.

Yesterday, one of our students was struck by a car. This accident occurred as many parents were on their way to Cherokee to pick up their children. We have been advised that the injuries to this student were not serious. The Cherokee staff and parents came together to assist in any way they could.

I would like to thank all of our families for following our safety procedures at arrival and dismissal. Our Cherokee community is awesome in every way.”

You can read more from a West Chester Buzz article:  CLICK HERE

Well, ironically over a year ago when Lakota took the first radical steps in eliminating busing from parents and students I predicted that this very thing would happen, and I told my readers here exactly why. I even showed them on a graph how little money was really saved by cutting busing, and what the school was really protecting in making the move. When I did the below video I was the spokesman for No Lakota Levy which is a group I had started a year and a half earlier that had joined with another levy fighting group in the summer of 2010.

My friends in that group had different ideas about how to continue on with this levy fight as many of them were prominent members of the community and after the levy failure of 2011 they wanted to pull No Lakota Levy into a more charitable role in the district and help pay for sports fees from the programs that were also cut. As the spokesman I went along with it, because it sounded nice and the newspapers, television stations, and radio stations loved the feel good story of the community coming together. But it made me personally sick, because the real problem was the radical labor unions that pushed to cut busing to begin with, and pushed to implement sports fees not caring at all what impact it would have on the safety of the parents and students.

So No Lakota Levy and I parted ways since that video. They wish to take the more community active path, and I wished to take on the real problem which is contained in this story of the girl being hit by a car. The cause of the accident is the cuts in busing, the poor decision to put more parental vehicles on the road with children who are forced to ride their bicycles home from school because busing is no longer available—but it should be. The residents of Lakota have paid for the busing service with very high taxes on their properties presently, and it was the labor union that the management at Lakota feared more than the tax payers, so they cut busing to protect the wages of the school employees.

As shown in the video above, the budget at Lakota is a multimillion dollar budget, and 60% of that is provided by the community tax payers. The school board has been reckless in its belief that teachers should be paid 50K per year and 60K per year routinely and my position is that they are not worth half that amount of money formal degree or not. I have witnessed homeschooled kids from parents who do not have any formal education do a better job with their children because the passion is there to teach over the publicly educated child, so I see little if any value in a 60K a year teacher. The proper management method would be to push those expensive teachers out the door to some other district and hire a fresh teacher who costs half as much right out of college. That is how the budget could be balanced, sports fees could go away, and more importantly, students would have busing so they could avoid accidents like the one that recently happened.

My friends in No Lakota Levy didn’t like having the radical elements of the community call them names for not wanting to throw endless amounts of money at education to appease a radical labor union who threatens to strike with every labor contract—the next one is coming in 2014. The LEA has threatened to walk off the job for just increases in health insurance contributions, let alone actual salary, and it is because of their aggressiveness that they make so much money to begin with. My friends don’t mind fighting them, but they also wish to participate in charity events with the same villains to prove that they aren’t bad people—which they certainly are not. But they shouldn’t have to feel that way.

With the leverage in place to pull No Lakota Levy to the side of moderation, political insiders were dragging the whole group to the negotiating table to get everyone to shake hands—kiss and make up. I didn’t agree and I made sure everyone knew it. The belief from the levy advocates was that No Lakota Levy was a creation of my friends, so the belief was that if we were separated then I could be neutralized politically. The gamble from the school board was that pulling my friends in No Lakota Levy away from me would end No Lakota Levy, and stop my ability to get my message out. The school board has shown that they will go to great measures to perform all these manipulative tasks rather than play the same game against the teachers union, because they have chosen to support the union and protect the union from people like me. That is the choice of management, and is at the heart of the problem.

I am now working independent of the guys I joined together with in the summer of 2010. They as a group want far less than I do—they just don’t want to get pillaged for more taxes. I on the other hand think the only way to fix the problem is to push the radical labor union out of the negotiation process and that is a much tougher fight that few people have the stomachs for. This is why unions have been allowed to hurt the lives of children and parents for years at great expense—because they are willing to spill blood if need be to get what they want. The union has no problem with kids getting hurt, or families going bankrupt if they can’t pay their taxes, so long as they get paid their extraordinary wages for being glorified baby sitters. Sure they might send out a letter like the one that Principal Paulette Grady wrote after an accident showing regret, but the actions of the union speak volumes as to their real intentions.

I gave an interview last year to the Lakota East magazine Spark that Dean Hume put a lid on, so the public wouldn’t see it. I spent over 2 hours talking to a student reporter about these issues and I said pretty much the same thing then as I do now. When she asked me if I thought that teaching was an easy profession I replied that it was. I also said that I could handle four classes at the same time without difficulty—and I could. I would say that teaching is one of the easiest professions on the current job market. If the teacher has passion for the job, it’s even easier. It’s only a hard job if the teacher is a dim wit—if they are the kind of people who struggle to find the words to string together a paragraph let alone a 1 hour speech every day, which for me is not difficult at all. I could speak for 6 hours a day every day and never repeat the material, unless I needed to in order to articulate my point. So I know a bit about what I’m saying when I state that teachers are not worth an average salary of 60K per year—it may be the standard in the field, but that doesn’t make it right. The costs for the teaching profession have been arrived at artificially through market manipulation—extortion like what is seen with the busing cuts—and the government position of maintaining a monopoly. Public education has done everything in its power to harm competition, and that is why teachers cost so much money.

It is for these reasons that the responsibility for the child that was hit by a car is on the backs of the Lakota School Board because it was they who chose to cave in to union demands rather than attack the actual problem. Julie Shaffer would rather post statements about me on her Facebook account rather than attack with the same vigor the president of the teacher’s union for being 20X more radical than I have been—but she won’t because they are all on the same side of thinking—which is why they have budget problems! It is also why a kid was hit by a car—because the money that was given to the school board by the community was given to the school employees to satisfy their excessive wage demands instead of providing busing. It was their choice that caused the accident not just once, but now twice at that same school since the busing cut policy has been enacted. And instead of siding with me to attack the union, they chose to side with the union to attack me—which is why I’m no longer playing the nice guy with No Lakota Levy. It is time for a more aggressive approach…………………one the school board will not like at all.

Stay tuned…………………………….

Rich Hoffman

www.tailofthedragonbook.com

 

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