Hard Road Reveals the Truth of all Things

Most of the time, doing the right thing, and I don’t mean the cosmetically correct thing, but truly the right thing, you will find that such an act is lonely and perilous. When I came up with the term Overmanwarrior in my novel The Symposium of Justice I was thinking a bit of Nietzsche’s Übermensch and Ayn Rand’s position in some of her fiction written in the late 1940’s through the 50’s. Because doing the right thing is not obvious and can only be seen best by those who have the ability to look with eyes beyond self gain.

The definition of the Übermensch according to Wikipedia is: The Übermensch (German; English: Overman, Above-Human, Superman) is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche posited the Übermensch as a goal for humanity to set for itself in his 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra (German: Also Sprach Zarathustra).
There is no overall consensus regarding the precise meaning of the Übermensch, nor one of the importance of the concept in Nietzsche’s thought.

The trouble with such a concept is people like George Bernard Shaw, and Adolf Hitler and even Ayn Rand used the Ubermensch idea to justify their thoughts of purging society of a weaker race. Shaw and Hitler hungry with power and their own neurosis obviously misread Nietzsche and used their fragmented understanding to evil ends.

I’ve read Thus Spoke Zarathustra extensively and I don’t take from it that a dominate race should be established and the strong overman will rule all others. Such a thought is still rooted in the human need for control. What Nietzsche is trying to get mankind to understand, which the character Zarathustra frustratingly attempts to bring to the village from his mountaintop perch, only to have the village make fun of him and reject his ideas, is to help mankind see past their didactic necessities and consider the larger scheme of things.

I have found that much like Zarathustra, who had tremendous revelations to share with mankind, that the same mankind routinely rejects such advice in favor of the much more short term fixes of material need. And the journey of understanding what others refuse to grasp is a lonely one.

When critics point out to me such as in the Lakota Busing cuts issue about how they are supposed to get their children to school since the levy failed, or challenge me to teach a class of students and that if I did I would somehow see that teachers are worth over $60K a year and justify the enormous impact on community budgets, they truly, and naively believe that they will somehow catch me in a lie, where I say one thing and do another. So I thought I’d take a minute to provide a bit of background history, and how I arrived at this term overmanwarrior as the only title I find value in.

My daughter reminded me just prior to Christmas that she didn’t know how I did it when she was growing up, how I managed to work 80 plus hours a week and she still remembered me being a huge part of her life as a kid, most dads according to her that would work that much would be brain-dead and uninvolved.  (Check out my daughter, Brooke here)  I did the extra work so my wife could afford to stay home with my kids and be available for them as a stay-at-home mom. My mom was the kind of woman who got stuck on the edge of the women’s rights movement where a career helped define the modern woman, and she painfully resisted falling into that social trap. The result was that all the kids in my school wanted my mom for a mom because all their mothers had bitten into this modern notion of a woman can do and be everything to everyone, and kids were being neglected. So I made sure my wife had the same chance with my kids because the impact on young children of having a mother around was obviously extremely positive.

It was a rough road, but we managed. We could only afford one car at the time, and I didn’t want my kids to have to ride the bus if they didn’t want to, so my wife drove them to school. The school bus can be a rough environment for children, especially girls. So I wanted my kids to not have to worry about that kind of thing. But that meant that my wife would need our car. So in order for me to get to work, I used to ride a bicycle to and from work which was 8 to 12 miles one way. I did that every day for about 10 years. While doing all this I worked an average of 16 hours per day, sometime 7 days a week.

Yet I always spent time with my kids. I never resorted to any kind of alcoholic abuse or any other substance abuse like smoking or over-eating. I managed to read approximately 1 book a week during all this time, depending on the book. Some books were so involved that they sometimes took a month to complete while reading on my 10 minute breaks and lunch periods.

I’ve always reached for more beyond my primary income however and have been a part of many business startups, many of which failed for various reasons. These experiences put me in contact with many people that consider themselves powerful and I learned that in comparison to the life I was living, many of these people were soft, and being soft costs money. When looking at a balance sheet, it quickly becomes obvious that luxury written in a contract is money. And every day off, every compensation statement centered on self-preservation and unproductive time off, costs money.

I managed during all this time to go to college three different times, each of them felt like a waste of time. The environment was too juvenile for an institution that was supposed to take people to the next step. I observed when I was in college the intent of the exercise was to learn a trade, achieve a reasonable income for that trade, and allow that convenience of income to provide leisure time activity. What many of my peers were doing with that leisure time was wasting it on pop culture activities. I decided I learned more through trial and error of doing things, and had no desire to convenience, because it was making the people around me soft mentally and physically.

I’m still married to the same woman after over 20 years. We’ve had plenty of up’s and downs in our relationship but we never let those issues keep us from putting our children first. Many of those up’s and down’s were caused by lack of money, and social expectation pushed upon us by family members who wanted the best for us, but their unit of measure was a faulty social model shaped by progressives.

Even after all these years, I still ride a motorcycle to work, even in the rain and extreme cold. I do it to stay tough. It’s all too easy in middle age to get soft, and I won’t allow that to happen to me.

I’ve been injured numerous times, sometimes where steel pieces would go through one side of a finger and come out the other, I’ve been cut so bad that the end of my fingers were completely pulled away from the bone, and I spent over 5 years walking around with a torn ACL suffered in a basketball game where it was just me against three other guys, a bet I made for the right to play basketball at a park. Until I tore my ACL, I was winning. During that time I still rode my bike to work; I never missed a single day of work, or took workman’s compensation. I’ve changed primary jobs over 5 times yet never took a single unemployment check and my part-time jobs have literally been everything under the sun, everything from janitorial work to sales. I worked part-time for about 7 years as a tree climber and trimmer, and that was difficult work when you already put in 8 to 10 hours at a primary job. I’ve thrown my back out, torn muscles in my back, and had it seize up from stress and overwork so bad that I couldn’t even get off the couch. Yet I always managed to get to work and suffer through the pain without missing a beat. To this day I don’t take a single item of medication. My blood pressure is child-like and healthy. My weight is fine. I can still run and touch my toes. I can still crawl on the floor and play with the dog or little kids. I seldom if ever get sick. Everything mentioned is true without any exaggeration. I’m actually holding back a lot of information so not to sound pompous. Needless to say, I set the bar extremely high for myself.

The benefit of all of the above is that my wife and I have always craved to keep our debt obligations minor both financially and emotionally because our ultimate goal and the goal we’ve tried to teach our children was to pursue freedom. Not to become a slave to an occupation. You use the occupation to secure your finances, but you don’t use the occupation to create your identity.

As you might imagine trying to teach your children such a concept sounds easy, but consider that most of our society uses that measuring system of occupational value to establish the hierarchy of human value. Trash collectors are at the bottom, and powerful politicians are at the top. So taking such a position leads to big trouble, leaving family members baffled. When someone introduces themselves they often say, “I’m a CEO,” or “I’m a data entry technician,” or “I’m an investment broker.”

So to do the right thing and to go for the lofty goal of true freedom, not just financial freedom but emotional freedom as well is a lonely course to plot.

It’s not as if you can sit down and have a beer with someone and explain to them that what is most important to you is complete freedom, to be free of the burdens mankind gives itself.

Zarathustra realized that the people’s ears were not yet ready for what he had to say. So he returned back to his cave.

When you make decisions that leave it so you can’t rely on a mom or a dad, a brother or a sister, a friend, a boss, a politician, or anyone else, you find that you have to always dig deep and rely on yourself, that is a overmanwarrior. A warrior because it is always an uphill battle because all those types of people, even though they may mean well, have something corrupt in their nature, usually. It is difficult to separate a person’s inner desires for themselves from the needs you have. So when we talk about an overman, someone trying to be more than just a human being it is easy to see.

Films like the old Porky’s, or the modern version of that, American Pie, I find myself lost to the humor. I’ve seen people I know well laugh profusely while watching those films, but I don’t understand why. Sex is fun, but I don’t see making an entire film about the adolescent notions of sex and passing gas. Those types of grotesque human behavior are disgusting to me, just as I have absolutely no clue why a person would desire to get drunk, or high. I don’t understand bachelor parties or lap dances when you have a perfectly good wife at home. Why would you do that?

Those are just a few of the differences that I have with most people in social interaction. Now the “normal” person will look at what I wrote above and say, “That guy is a stiff. No fun!” And that’s why an overman concept is a lonely road, because there is no way you could ever explain to a person the value of being free of vices like alcohol, sex addiction, social acceptance, free of craving power, free of fear because fears are used to control you, free of self-doubt, I could go on and on. And from what I understand of Nietzsche that is how you get to god is seeing beyond the vices that hold mankind back. And religion often plays to people’s fears. A belief in religion is better than nothing. Spiritual faith is extremely important. But when Nietzsche proposed the idea of the Übermensch that’s what he was talking about, moving beyond the things that hold back mankind.

The benefits of developing that position are that thinking outside the box is easy because of the freedom from all the things that hold people back. That thinking outside the box is how you solve the social problems that inflict the human race.

That’s why I use the term overmanwarrior.  Don’t think when I make a statement about how something could or should be fixed that I can’t back it with action.  Failure is not an option……ever.  It is not acceptable to say, “I’m only human,”or “I’m no superman,” as proclaimed in the song from “Scrubs,” or “I’m not strong enough.”  My basic feeling is that if the situation calls for a superman, then you better learn to be one.  Leaning on the frailties of imperfection as an excuse for inefficiency and justification for corruption is never an acceptable answer and will not be tolerated. 

Rich Hoffman
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Battle Cry from the Fly Over States

It was an absolutely frigid day in the streets of Wilmington, Ohio just to the south of the Murphy Theater when Glenn Beck came onto the frozen stage and proclaimed that he thought the term “We Are Wilmington” could become the mantra of the entire nation. He said this because of Wilmington’s tenacious nature.

Inside the Theater during the 8 PM show, Beck made the announcement of his E4 Project to be launched in 2011, and it was these words that intrigued me from the moment I first heard them. Since my day in Wilmington at that event, I haven’t been able to shake the simplicity of the terms, yet at the same time the potential power they could possess in a restoration of our national value. They are Enlightenment, Education, Empowerment, and Entrepreneur. I explain them as I heard them in the video below.

As the snowy days passed and I worked out in my back yard with my bullwhips, I began to feel the urge to step onto this battlefield and help anyway possible.

I can start by spreading the message at a grass roots level. After all, progressives have built a complicated infrastructure that hides behind contemporary art and media that seriously confuses the position of most Americans.

On one hand Americans are viewed simply as faceless consumers, with advertising and didactic entertainment aimed at manipulating the consumer to their various products. But at the same time, we ask the same overly stimulated minds to be reasonable and vote with intelligence. That’s where progressives take over on the tired minds of the modern American.

So a focus on something like Beck’s E4 Project can help bring the issues to the mind of those weary consumers, and provoke them to think about the world around them that exists in a more subtle way.

2011 will be a lot of fun, and a time to proclaim to the world, “WE ARE WILMINGTON!”

Rich Hoffman
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

The American Biker

I have to laugh when I watch programs initiated by Progressives, because they assume that a majority of the American people will just blindly follow, and will play by the rules that they conger up. Progressives believe that if they create a law then they have won.

Well, I happen to know a large part of our society that puts up with laws so long as they can live their lives. But if those laws become an inconvenience, then those laws will be broken.

And if there were ever a revolution needed to wrestle the government back under the control of the American people, these same people would be the first ones to the front line.

I know many of these people personally, and when my wife and I ride our motorcycle all over the country, each and every one of them on the road waves to me.

Who are these mysterious people? They are the American Biker.


Anyone that has been to a motorcycle event knows what I’m talking about. These may be people on the fringes of society, but they will be the first to say enough is enough.

How would a progressive like George Soros and his Open Society Institute deal with the American Biker? They aren’t like minorities that will bloc vote so they can get free stuff from the government. They aren’t like the middle-class that will just vote to avoid a conflict. They aren’t the rich that have a stake in the political machine.

They are among the freest people on the face of this planet because they are free of concern and don’t give a rats-ass what anybody thinks of them. Now that makes them repulsive to most members of society. But when the going gets tough, they toughen up.

I would love to see the Huffington Post spew their rhetoric at the folks that attend the Sturgis Rally. Or the EasyRider Rodeo at Chillicothie, Ohio.

Or Arizona Bike Week


Next time you see a biker, you don’t have to sit down and have lunch with them. But if you see them on the highway, give them a polite nod, because their very existence will keep you free. The progressive philosophy does not have a way to convert them into the collectivism needed for an Open Society or a one world government.

Sorry, George. You won’t be able to control these people.

Rich Hoffman
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Progressive Footprints in a Media Snow Storm: Let’s you see where they’ve been.

To understand where people are going you need to see where they’ve been. Lucky for us, Progressives are arrogant in that they have left plenty of footprints in the snow storm of media coverage. So there is a lot for us to study.  Now, there is a LOT here.  So be ready to spend some time with this one.  I’ve made the work easy for you to just sit back and watch. 

Progressives are an extremely dangerous group for those of us that embrace traditional values. So let’s study the type of people who are behind Net Neutrality and progressive ideologies. If you don’t know what a progressive is click on this link.
Take your time and listen to each of these, even though some are very long. I’ve watched them all and listened to the words carefully, and my determination is that these people are not masters of the universe, as they think they are, but are of the same mold as your typical car salesman. I’ve sold cars, credit cards, worked as a waiter, which is sales of food, so I know the tactics. These are just polished liars. I’ve met these types before and their words can’t hide their real intentions if you know what to look for. So study these clips for yourself.

Here is Al Franken.




Here are some real people from that represent the Hollywood left. Good people. I know some of them myself. But their idea of reading is not the same as mine, theirs, magazines, mine lots and lots of books. It is hard to listen to them without laughing to myself, because they believe they are right. In reality they’re just repeating what they were told by people like Soros, and are easily seduced by his salesmanship.

This is the war that is going on, progressives against traditionalist, not republicans and democrats.
The problem with this guy in the next clip is that the internet is already free. For the truth on this, click here.


Here is an attack on Bill O’Reilly, in an attempt to discredit Fox News because of its tremendous ratings advantage over other, less controlled networks.



And here is the master liar, Bill Clinton. We know he lied, just like all the people above. But watch him look at the camera and outright lie to you. Now pay attention to all the crap he says before he discusses Monica Lewinsky.   Much of his tactics are borrowed from the Delphi Technique. 


Here he is again months later. And again, study how he spins it. But still, compare the two videos, one where he said he had no relations, then this one where he finally admits it.


Remember the video above with Ted Kennedy. Remember when he was drunk and wrecked his car into a river where the woman with him died. Here’s his spin speech. See the pattern?

The truth: CLICK HERE


This is what Progressives want to do to the United States. They may not mean to, because many of them are as clueless as the writers guild people. But this is what will happen.

Stay informed and don’t let yourself be scammed and you’ll go a long way to saving your nation.

Rich Hoffman
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Hidden World of the Overman

This article is full of issues best described through fiction, although much of it is either rooted in history, or is in fact theory based on sound observations.  Some of those observations may be difficult to accept.  But that’s not my problem.  My job is to write it down so you, (the reader), can visualize.  Understanding is up to you.

…………………………………………………….. 

A sturdy bridge expands the mote to the front door, which is imposing. The castle is not huge by normal standards. Such places may be thought of as mansions, but not this place. It was larger than a normal house, but certainly not too large for a small family. Leopold noted the corrugated metal roof disguised cleverly with the spires topping off rotundas at each corner of the castle. The whole thing looked like the dream of a typical 7 year old boy. It wouldn’t be surprising to find the mote filled with alligators, or sea monsters, if the reputation of Fletcher Finnegan could serve as testimony.

As he and the General walked the wide, rail less bridge, their feet thudded against the wood with each step. It took longer than they wanted to cross the bridge where an oppressive door awaited them. It was medieval looking by design but made of steal.

“This is the epitome of paranoia,” Leopold gasped as he searched for a door bell of some kind. “Surely there must be some kind of ringing device. He can’t expect visitors to knock on the door?”

The General just shrugged off the comment and gave the door a violent bang with his fist. “We’re not here for tea. This is a criminal and justice must be served.”

The General’s knocks rang off. They could tell by the sound that the room was cavernous on the other side, and knew that whoever was inside would clearly be able to hear. Within a few moments, there was the sound of something unlatching, and the big door opened inward. In the doorway stood the mythical Fletcher Finnegan, with a fresh white shirt, looking like a character from a never written book called Warrior’s from Pirate Island. His gaze was firm, and manner easy even to the point of relaxed. He wore casual jeans, and some well polished black shoes. Two bullwhips hung from his hips from unusual holsters attached to his belt. The handles pointing out looking like samurai swords ready to leap into action. His hair was extremely short, and his face was determined and attractive. His green eyes, deep and penetrating, could burn a hole through anybody with the gaze he laid on them.

“Welcome,” said Fletcher in the charismatic manner he had become known for. His motions mimicking great linguists with audacious hand movements not out of respect, but seemingly of disdain. “I have been expecting some sort of response such as this.”

Leopold traded uneasy glances at the General who tried to bury his concern, but was having a hard time of it. That concern was well founded. Here stood a man that had single handedly defeated a number of Special Forces experts, and legions of law enforcement over the last year. He had announced his terrorist intentions back then by portraying a masked night bandit practicing vigilante behavior outside of the law. He had killed Mayor Goodman from this town of Fort Seven Mile and had maimed and killed others as well since that time.

Leopold was maybe for the first time in his life of 44 years, speechless. But with a few deep breaths, words came to his mouth. “We have come to discuss the peril you bring mankind. “

Finnegan’s response, “You have brought a crooked tongue in an attempt to skew deceptions into a manageable forum.”
“How could you know my tongue is crooked if you do not know me,” Leopold found himself saying.

“Because men such as yourself let your tongue direct your feet, and as I watched you cross my bridge, you walked crooked.”

“There you would be wrong. I am quite educated, beyond taking direction from feet, or other bodily limbs. My peers at Princeton have had more to do with where my feet take me than the feet themselves.” Leopold was proud of himself for establishing his intellectual superiority. He had done his homework on Fletcher Finnegan. Finnegan had dropped out of college several times over the years, and before winning the lottery a few years back, had worked many odd jobs just to make a living for his family. He had married young, and had two children just shy of adolescence. Leopold placed his bets that somewhere within Finnegan’s exterior of security hid a dark, nasty secret of some social insecurity. It was quite obvious that he struggled in school and that was the reason for his college issues. This was why Finnegan was reputed for using such large vocabulary and projected himself as superior to all other men so as to protect his fragile ego and the reality that he couldn’t compete in an academic environment.

But Fletcher smiled. “I can see this will be entertaining if nothing else. And who have you brought with you?”

The General stepped forward his girth outreaching his hand if he had offered it for a hand shake. “You can just call me, General. No other name need apply to you. I have a legion of troops at my disposal at the edge of this town awaiting the outcome of this visit. If peace can not be found here, I will instruct them to take this residence with all the force needed. If you’ll do what’s right, you will spare the needless destruction to the homes of your neighbors by surrendering now and coming with me immediately!”

Fletcher gave the General a deep look. “I have a new name for you. I will call you Fat Man. It is much more appropriate than what you said. For your mind seems to reflect your appearance, and that is not sharp, let me assure you. Your ideas about the role you play in my life are as wide as your waistband when the reality is truly just a lot of undigested waste. Bring your legions and they will fall as those that came before you fell. Mind yourself while in my residence. I’ll warn you only once.”
The General was not used to this kind of talk directed toward him. “I have been given a division of troops to deal exclusively with you. The pentagon is now involved in your escapades and that does not bid well for you.”

“You seem very impressed with the power you command.” Fletcher moves a bit closer to the Major General. “But my strategy is set knowing that you command them.”

The Major General is aghast. “You are in no position for insults!”

“I do not take threats from a man claiming to command legions of troops when he can’t even govern himself.” Fletcher smiled and pointed to the inflated girth of the General around his waste. “It would seem all you can manage is putting food in your mouth.”

The General had enough. He stood and pulled a gun to fire.

The Major had been briefed on Cliffhanger, which was the name the media had
given Fletcher Finnegan in the early days of his vigilante behavior. He knew of his incredible speed. He knew he had single handedly beat a professional hit man and several of his personal assistance. But the understanding of that speed could not be fathomed until this moment.

Fletcher rolled out of his seat as the bullet screamed from the brandishing Colt 45 and buried itself into the chair. In an instant, Fletcher had a whip in his hand and slashed the gun from the General before an eye could blink. The gun flew uneventfully across the dining room into the corner. Fletcher, determination dominating his face stood satisfied that the General was now plagued with so much self doubt, that he’s no longer a serious threat.

“It would also seem that your fingers have inherited much from your waist. They are too slow to consider pulling a trigger against me.” Fletcher throws the whip over his shoulder and returns to his seat, first examining the hole that’s now in it. The shot would have been a good one right through the heart if Fletcher had not moved.

Leopold Smith searches Fletcher’s face for some psychological hint of doubt. “You’re quite impressed with yourself. You must of course realize that this desire you have for perfection must derive from insecurities.” Leopold licks his lips in nervousness. “I’d expect at the very least professional courtesy with this visit.”

Fletcher smiles, “Professional courtesy, interesting choice of words. The term “professional behavior” denotes evasive politeness to disguise the aggressive nature of business. It is an unethical practice that opens too many possibilities for misunderstanding, which is the intent. The cowards that practice this behavior always leave open a back door for them to retreat within when times get tough. The blame always falls to the hand of misunderstanding.”

The General still has not closed his mouth. He had never seen in his life such unwavering confidence and speed. He took a few steps in the direction of the nearest chair and plopped himself into it. Only now did he take the time to look about the large opening room to this castle home of this unusual warrior and admiration couldn’t help but come to him.

Leopold could see what was going on with the General. After all, the General was a military man and force was something he understood. Most often, intelligence gathering required hundreds of resources just to acquire scant bits of data, and that data was acted on with the threat of superior firepower. Here was a family man, with a home. Not an average home, but the man was far from average. He oozed paradoxes with every movement, and words that sprung from his lips like an Olympic fencer. He was a man of paradoxes not because what he said was untrue, or he emitted qualities of a contradictory nature, but that he himself was challenging the course of mankind and everything that it seemed to mean to our entire species. And he did it with the self-confidence of champion athlete.

Fletcher was studying Leopold and could surely read his thoughts by the way those eyes dissected him. Leopold had never had that experience from a patient.

“Why don’t you tell me who sent you and why,” Fletcher finally let out.

“There’s no secret there, Mr. Finnegan. You know surely by now that you are the world’s enemy. That if you did not live here in this community, so close to town, that you would be utterly destroyed with a nuclear weapon, which may still be an option. Nobody wants civilians killed, and nobody wants to evacuate an entire town just to destroy you. I honestly don’t think you want that either, after all, you came to all this trouble protecting people, so I’d venture to gamble that you don’t want civilian casualties either. Am I wrong?”

Fletcher smiled a bit before answering, “Of course not.”

“Well, at least we can agree on something. That’s a start.” Leopold studied Fletcher’s reaction to that. It was important to pull the patient into an agreeable setting right from the start if possible. It gave them something to build upon. “I was asked to see you by the highest levels of the Pentagon at direct request by the President. He is under tremendous pressure from the world’s governments to act quickly on this. Your terrorist exploits have caught the attention of the very powerful as I’m sure you’re aware.”

“I am aware that the world has taken a disproportionate notice on my activities, which to me provides credibility to my original claims and reveals my true enemies through their actions. I don’t blame you for not understanding the complexity of this quagmire. You are as much a part of it as I am.” Fletcher looked almost sympathetic to Leopold at that moment.

“This meeting is an attempt to urge your surrender in the hope that more bloodshed will not be necessary.” Leopold paused for dramatic reasons hoping he had earned Fletcher’s trust. “Your revolution has been noted. Your beliefs have found a foundation. My job here is to listen to you. To provide that platform you seem to desire. To provide an outlet that does not result in more killing.”

“Or the General will unleash his troops.” Fletcher looked over to see if the General was paying attention, and he was.

“That is correct, Mr. Finnegan. If Mr. Smith fails to reach you today, and force your surrender with reason, then I will call all the military might I command to end your rebellion before the sun drops over the horizon.”

Fletcher looked unfazed and unreachable by these threats. “So, I see you have not met your true, bosses?”

Leopold smiled a bit at that. “I had heard that you had some interesting theories. And let me say before you start that you seem to be highly intelligent, and to consider what you tell me carefully. Theories of conspiracy, especially by extra-terrestrials, and other outlandish organizations are clear signs of severe psychological disorders. I already suspect as I reviewed your case file, that you have suffered numerous mental deficiencies such as dementia, senile dementia to be more specific. You are known to spend tremendous amounts of time alone, and this would make you prone to this disorder even at your relatively young age.”

Fletcher leaned forward a bit still smiling. “I can see we have a long way to go here. I will play this game, not because I hope for a peaceful end, but because there are many questions and answers I would like to answer and propose. But do not think you are here for the President, or for the UN. The real masters use these titles for their personal folly. They have since the beginning of mankind. You are merely smoke from the mirrors of their reality.”

Leopold loved what he was hearing. With great excitement he wrote down what Fletcher just said. “Classic, because it fills your fantasy of dementia.” Leopold was enthusiastic. “Why don’t you start from the beginning? Tell me the root of your conspiracy. Who sent me to you?

Fletcher paused and looked contemplative. “If you wish, but I warn you. You will not leave my home today with the same outlook at life that you entered it with.”

“In between the realities of our four dimensional space we will, most likely beyond those limits exist a race of living intelligence. This living intelligence is as real as any nation we speak of, and their motives are no different from any of mankind’s. Therefore, caution must always be applied when dealing with them, for without knowledge of their existence and needs, motives cannot be determined. The so called Mothmen are a breed of cavalry that zip in and out of our dimensional reality as scouts for their war which is waged upon our entire race. The goal of this war is to keep us in a depleted state and unaware of their mechanisms and lust for control. Ultra-terrestrials will stop at nothing to prevent man from achieving the realm of the Overman.” Fletcher studied Leopold and the General to measure their reaction.

Leopold was trying not to laugh, but was not able to contain his contemptuous smile. “So you believe we are at war with a species of beings that we can’t see. You call them, Ultra-terrestrials.”

Fletcher was aware of the condemnation but paid it no attention. He wasn’t going to convince this agent of normality to alter his entire world view with just a few sentences. “Mind tricks are their key strategy and false truths that lead to fruitless pursuits of a time-consuming nature dominate their tactics. Their influence can be traced back through our entire human history and have often been poorly categorized as demons, devils, angels and other religious symbols. It is through religious symbols that they conduct their illusions using as a stage those beliefs which masquerade the show’s directors and producers. For all across this planet, intertwined with all our established systems and institutions, religion holds many minds fixed in a state of depraved knowledge where the would be questioning mind restrains from pushing against those barriers for fear of death. Fears put in place from the beginning of time, through mythology by ultra-terrestrials. This is why being fearless is the paramount ingredient of the Overman, for on the fearless tract of adventure, no map has been graphed. It is in these uncharted waters that fear begins to work in the overman’s favor because the ultra-terrestrials begin to feel it themselves.”

“An Overman, you state the term Nietzsche uses in his book, Thus Spoke Zarathrustra.”

“You are showing a bit of literary prowess, very good.”

Leopold felt himself fluster a bit at earning some respectful praise from Fletcher Finnegan. “I was briefed that you used the term to justify your position. What is an Overman exactly, as you see it?”

Fletcher looked contemplative. “You ask me what an Overman is. I say to you that it is embracing the concept of being more than just human. It is in accepting your fate that life is meant to be lived now as well as later. At all times, as an individual, you are in control of your vessel as you navigate through a jagged life. And at times, when you meet with another independent soul, that you may come into conflict with them by the will of nature and that this conflict is needed and healthy. When you come to these times of war, you should fight with all your vigor and enjoy the spilling of blood, especially if it is your opponents. You should enjoy it because if their goal was to stop your ability to exercise free will then you have used your free will to destroy the devices that could hinder you.”

Leopold already had the words in his mouth. “Hitler believed similar things as you do. He too was a lover of Nietzsche and professed the need for a higher form of mankind.”

“Hitler was a fascist. That is different from what I propose. His feeble mind only grasped the power of the Overman. His vision of a superior race of man was driven from his involvement with the Vril society and other occult practices that have their roots in our hidden history. It’s in our lack of acceptance of this hidden history that we fail to understand the evil of Adolf Hitler and to this day cannot mutter a word of his decadence. His psychosis was driven from a mixed fascination with power and history. The Overman idea was native to Germany and was an easy rally for the nation to justify their derangement.”

“True enough, but what gives you the right to judge all of civilization? That is as haughty as Hitler’s position.” Leopold knew he had Fletcher on that one. Here was a man that championed himself a savior and Leopold was comparing him to the vast evil of Hitler.

But Fletcher was un-phased, like he had been waiting on Leopold to say just such a thing. “‘Judge not least thee be judged.’ What banter from roaches that crave the darkness to hide their malicious ways! What does this statement promise but peace? ‘Don’t judge me, and I won’t judge you.’ To me this is a declaration of war, because, it implies a consequence for the act of judging.”

Leopold is astonished. “With your heretical muttering you mock the words of Jesus Christ! Do you consider yourself an atheist, because such comments will surely plant you in Hell!

“An atheists, I am certainly not. To assume I am some sort of agnostic, nonbeliever shows the magnitude of your limited thinking. To say that “God” is all there is and all there will ever be is to say that the Earth is just all there was or is. And the holder of all life on this planet is our supreme king and has domination over our entire existence with and without flesh. No. Your definitions are infantile. You assume all that is known now is all that will be known. I have seen evidence that we as a race have forgotten more than we have progressed. And at the heart of that lost knowledge is your need to look to a leader, or a god to take responsibility for your meager lives. Once this king is in power, power that you give him, his fetus like ego clings to that power like the infant clings to its mother’s breast for milk. The infant believes, and I think we can agree on this, that the mother’s breast exists only for its feeding.”

“So you propose that your outlook on life exceeds the importance of even religion? That is an insane proposition. Absolutely insane,” Leopold contends while adjusting his comb over with one of his hands.

Fletcher lets out a laugh. He is confident and completely un-rattled by Leopold’s orthodox grip on reality. “It takes just a small spark where everyone thought it was impossible, and once that myth is dispelled, the flood gates open, and the impulse to create springs forth. The Overman always stays ahead of those fools that clamor after his heels with desperation. Their drive is not from their own domains, but are copy cats of divine design. Humor flows from the coat tails of the mimics as they pursue the Overman’s shadows. But in this wake to those of common thinking, the appearance of authority is a terror. Terrible in that to the meager mind, the mere ripples of something greater than simple men sets those complacent minds into fearful recollections bridging into childhood fortifications.”

“You speak out of your authority. I am the psychologist here and I will determine what the origins of childhood fortifications are.”

Fletcher is ruthless. “We will cover your need for titles later. You asked me to reveal to you the contents of invisible empires and the thoughts of an Overman. I will not be limited in this discussion by your boundaries. You can either keep up with me, but you will not hinder me. Is this clear?

Leopold found himself nodding yes before he could consider a proper reaction to the question.

Fletcher continues before Leopold can open his mouth. “This is why men do not see much of what exists. The name of what they don’t understand is reflective of the minds that construct them. They call God, God. No explicit name, but an all encompassing title to attempt to wrap these mysteries in a meaning applicable to human lifetimes. They call UFO’s by the broad title of, unidentified flying object, because they can’t identify things beyond their comprehension.

“By setting high standards judging is part of the process of determining the value of one set of standards against another. How can this be determined if judging is not utilized? So to endorse a non-judgmental stance at life, one basically proclaims to accept low standards because only there can all be equal in one nice bowl of soup to be consumed by those that feed off life. That is what you do when you eat, you feed yourself to live. So always there is something out there looking to feed off you. If you are not the best, the strongest, the fastest, smartest or anything that has put you ahead of the pack you make yourself an easy target for those that are hungry.

“The peace lover is the one that would rather take their chances in the great soup, and hope that by odds, they will not be eaten. This flock-like behavior is indicative of herbivores, and oddly enough, peace loving humans. They feel safe in the numbers of the herd. But when the carnivore comes along, someone will be eaten. Then and only then, will they care. And life seems so unfair at those times.”

Leopold doesn’t know what to say. He looks wounded as the foundations of his reality clash with this strange man.
Fletcher gets up from his chair and paces the area between him and Leopold not out of a need to intimidate but because explosive passion radiates from Fletcher Finnegan, and it is too powerful to be contained within a chair. “I watched a cat once stare out a window to the world outside and I knew it was perplexed as to what that world was like. You see, it was a domestic cat, and had grown used to being fed, and lounging on sofas and relative luxury. And like the cat, men stare out the windows of life and think the whole world is within our little homes draped with simple luxuries. In the meantime, the world outside rolls at a feverish pace. Much of that world is invisible to the cat because it lacks the intelligence to see it. And men lack the intelligence just like their friends the cats, to see beyond the visible spectrum of the human eye.
“The Overman seeks the impossible for the impossible is reserved for limited thinking. Such words mean nothing. It’s the realms that most would crumble into dust, and suffer health ailments that the Overman flourishes. Stress rules as the monarch to the logic clinging bastions of mediocrity, those common men who flutter like bubbles of urine dispelled from a farm animal into a swift country stream to be washed away swiftly into the rivers and oceans of the world. From those silly bubbles espouse much of the world’s gossip in the remote hope that they will somehow find redemption from eliminating a superior opponent.”

Leopold is aghast at the energy coming off Fletcher Finnegan. The man doesn’t stop. Like a rock rolling downhill, he seems to just pick up more and more momentum. “I believe you are clinically insane. I can see that from the outset.”
Fletcher pauses a moment and captures Leopold’s eye. “Where the listener would respond something like, ‘Oh, I know what you mean. I’m in the same situation. I tried to get a round of golf in the other day, and just couldn’t do it.’ There isn’t any discussion that even though both parties are seeking to show one another how much more important the other is they are essentially both equal, and this may seem ok with them at that moment, because they are both confirming that they are lofty captains of industry, too busy for games. But what they fail to understand is that their wives are eyeing the stock boy and making plans for naked adventures with adolescent boys uncorrupted with enterprise and full of life vigor. Life marches on and leaves these silly bubbles bursting at mid-life with nothing to show for their pitiful lives but high blood pressure and obese stomachs toped with a turkey neck and some deranged back hair. While they have acquired cars and fancy garments to impresses young ladies and peers, the only people that truly find them attractive is prostitutes, because their money is green.”

Leopold is confused. “What does anything you just said have anything to do with what we were talking about?”
“Because you are a mere bubble in the grand scheme of things, ready to pop uneventfully at the conclusion of your life, and you search for meaning in your occupation in the arms of strange females.”

Leopold is startled by that comment. He had in fact purchased a prostitute the night before, and was confused that Fletcher could say such a thing. He couldn’t possibly have known about it. “We aren’t talking about me, this discussion is about you.” Leopold considers his next comment carefully. He looks over at the General for some reassurance, but the General has fallen into a trance. He grips his radio instead of a gun in hopes that should he need to call help, he’d have a quicker response from outside help than his own abilities with a gun. That said a lot about his state. “Do you consider yourself a savor, a savor of mankind?”

“Not a savor of mankind. But of myself.”

“This returns us to the element of religion, and your obligations to the greater good.”

Fletcher is now burning a hole through Leopold with his look. “That says a lot about you. You say I am wrong to call myself my own savior. My response is simple, what fool would consider anybody else their savior? For the answers to ones life is inside you. To look externally and place the responsibility on someone else is weak in the highest degree. To accept Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, anyone as your savior is a laughable task on a collision coarse for life long destruction. I would never think of considering the advice of anyone I’ve never met personally especially based on the third hand interpretation of their teachings. You have to look a person in the eye and assess their value, and only then can you determine their intent.”
“Religion provides a way to establish priorities in your life, priorities that reflect the greater good of mankind.” Leopold was satisfied with himself. “I have worked with many prisoners, and religion has helped many of them become much less violent and has given their lives meanings.”

“The most important thing for the male is not food, nor sex, but simply, tragically his place in the pecking order of all other males. This primate behavior will determine everything else in the male’s life, when he eats, whom he has sex with. Where he fits into that scheme of things is his god. And in your prisoners, Jesus becomes that dominate male that provides them with guidance. That is why it works.”

“So you are above this mode you say?” You consider this too small for your way of thinking?”

Fletcher doesn’t have to think about his answer. “Yes. The first step for the Overman is to move beyond this mode of thinking, and with it the social rejection that inevitably will follow. No true warrior could ever be concerned with such things as the opinion of another male, or to accept dominance by a superior male. It must be the Overman’s goal to become invincible in body and spirit. To reach beyond the sub atomic matter of things and master life at all levels. And defeat does not have a place with the Overman. They are only set backs in the ultimate battle where the forces of will intend to hold captive the soaring spirit.

“If a man can be bent to the will of inferior male flesh, they will surely bend to the will of the unseen. Such beings are bound to a purgatory existence and any life attached to these men will follow his torturous path. Wives will lust after rock stars, and children will seek refuge with other children in a game of the blind leading the blind. And those males seeking the acceptance of other males will put their balls upon the green grass of golf courses and pretend they are masters of something because they were invited into the circle of a dominate male. And as they putt that birdie on the back nine, their wives weep for a warrior.

An Overman can putt that birdie on the back nine, but his wife will not weep because she has a warrior. It’s more likely that should an Overman choose to stroll those green grasses of paradise, that he’d be by himself because no male is superior to him and the Overman is not looking for patsies to lick his heels and eat his table scraps. So often, the Overman will be alone, and he’s happy to be.”

“You speak with great command of knowledge, but your actions do not match your apparent passions. At the core of your ideology, and the reason you have made enemies of the world, is that you are promoting anarchy.” Leopold’s mind was spinning at the energy Fletcher projected, and the rate and quantity of information he let loose.

“I am said to promote anarchy and chaos. That freedom and its ideas must be maintained with government. Yet, I trust not anything that functions from greed, and has a heart so weak that it can be bought with token materialism. Much of our politics is laced with greed. That the ideas founding government will buckle under the weight of lazy greed. It’s as infectious as sex, and desires to be consumed in vast quantities. Behind the lazy ones is the hope that comfort will spring forth and save the soul from turmoil. With such a mind, the girth of the waist line expands and the body decays slowly to rot suitable only to parasitic insects. That is the only path for such minds and it’s this path that governments seek to lead civilization.” Fletcher looks at the General, and smiles. He doesn’t have to elaborate.

“Waging war against another dimension is in reality no different than war with another nation. The goals are the same. You must know how to deprive them of resources they need to conduct war against you. Once you control their supply routes, and divide up their ranks, you can begin to conquer them for your purpose. In the case of ulta-terrestrials, they crave from man the conduct of evil, that which causes emotional distress to other humans; murder, rape, corruption of all variety, crimes of inauthenticity. They feed off the energy of distress given off in disturbed states of mind. The first thing a warrior can do to rob them of this energy which forces their hand and into your strategy. This is when you can make them employees to your will and gain unseen allies. Reluctant allies none-the-less, and not allies that can be trusted for the moment you let down your guard they will attack. But they can be used to your purpose .

“Most of the damage these beings can do, not being natives of this dimension, are to propel us into committing problems for ourselves. The term of possession is often confused and misplaced as the workings of these conspirators. By manipulating our belief system into a narrow field of possibilities, they hide camouflaged against chaos which they are the architects.”
“Your pessimism is rotting your soul. That is clearly evident to me.” Leopold studies Fletcher to see if he will lash out at him. “Where are these plots? What you proclaim is no different from the muttering of religious fervor common to extremists of every order.”

“If you want to see the hidden workings of this maniacal plot attend the cultural activities of the drunken puppet, as they seek relief from life’s great pressures by the device of alcohol. Many women of proper composure lose control undeniably in such states and surrender their actions to forces they dare not acknowledge. For it is a proven fact that these dimension assailants crave our mating rituals and enjoy the raw energy derived from its indulgence. In biblical fragments it was said that the Gods of men had lain with his women. And so it is, these supposed gods still enjoy with tongues out of their mouths the turmoil and lust of mankind’s women and their ability to govern passions and play cupid. It is not an accident that pagan rituals have involved voluntary public sex practices among the elite class in order to given tokens of benefit for growing estates and earthly power. And so it goes as the daughters, and wives of mankind shake sweaty hips to the hypnotic effects of music, drunken males will betray their comrades with lust filled hearts, and put in jeopardy the women dependent on them as pillars of strength. Divided families are weak, and full of turmoil, and residing in the shadows of our time-space continuum are the malicious laughs of our true enemies. For every broken home, is a door opened by turmoil and depleted souls ready to be filled by the propaganda of the unseen. And contained within that propaganda are strings to pull and tug our species about in plots not of our mind.

“And the drunk later will laugh and brag about his state and the crimes committed there feeling that somehow there was reward in surrender, because the strings of propaganda move his mouth, and make his arms flail about independent of a conquered mind. And the women wake up and wonder where their cloths had gone and find themselves penetrated in a less than sacred manner, burying their disgrace with ideas of freedom and equality. Such is the plot of our foes.
“I can speak of this because I’ve looked it in the eye and I know its heart. When the Overman confronts an ultra-terrestrial, it is them that cower in fear. Age old tricks and nonsense no longer apply. And when the Mothman confronted me upon a lonely night where the blame might otherwise be applied to poltergeists and other ghostly apparitions, it projected an ultrasonic wave of fear intended for my mind, and what it found there was laughter at it’s silly mechanisms, and fear found a home in the fabled creature that has been our inspiration of gargoyles and angels for all known time. As I looked at its red penetrating eyes and knew that modern folklore had called it a mothman, I could see that it was in fact the legendary Giffin which has played such a roll and caused many to organize under its wings only to lead those into a slow corruption of their independent souls with a delusional reality of despair and dependence.”

Leopold was enwrapped in the curious thoughts of this very strange man, Fletcher Finnegan. Nothing the man said was conventional, yet he had an air of practicality about him. “You talk of these invisible creatures that manipulate us, but provide only theories. Their existence can hardly justify your aggressive actions.”

Fletcher smiled at Leopold’s feeble knowledge of history and began to pace faster as he spoke. “One thing you will not see pieced together regarding the success of enterprise and rise of business’s that perpetuate a veil for these mechanisms, is the true origin of this strategy.”

“Then enlighten me with some facts!” Leopold was feeling bold now, on sure ground. Facts could always be counted upon to revel neurotic fantasies of a convoluted mind. “Give me this history!”

“If you think you can fathom it, I will.” Fletcher stopped pacing now and had that piercing gaze. “But you will never view things the same way. Can you handle that?”

Leopold was guessing that much of what Fletcher was saying was an exaggeration and didn’t carry the weight of scientific proof with it so he haphazardly nodded his head.

Fletcher nodded in recognition. “First of all, Columbus did not discover America.”

“Hardly a brilliant opening to a grand theory, it is well known now that it was the Vikings that visited North America.”

“Oh, we do have a long way to go. We are far beyond that elementary idea now, let me assure you of that. Science has stumbled upon much greater mysteries since these shallow concepts of whether or not Vikings, or Columbus arrived in North America first. We are far beyond thoughts of Asians crossing a land bridge across the Bering Straight 20,000 years ago when the Earths oceans were 20 meters below sea level. Because if you consider the evidence, there were advanced civilizations that used stone to construct with all flourishing throughout the world at the same times. Consider Baalbek which predated Romans by thousands of years in their colossal building abilities, the city of Nan Madol on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean called Pohnpei that built huge stone structures with stones weighing as much as 50 tons. One of the greatest mysteries there is not how they built such large structures on an isolated island with no technology but that a basalt road enters the Pacific ocean and emerges thousands of miles to the south at another tiny island called Rarotanga. Then if you move to the continent of South America, in Boliva you’ll find Tiahuanaco a city as complex as Jericho, or Jerusalem that co-existed with those urban centers.”

Leopold was beside himself. “I have never heard of these places. Jericho and Jerusalem certainly, but not those other places, how can you propose a link with those biblical anchors?”

‘If you consider that stone erodes quite a lot in 10,000 years, think how much erodes in 100,000. It is entirely possible that in 400,000 years from now everything in New York City could have eroded away completely unless some of the steel within those structures would happen to become fossilized. All those cities share a common fascination with stone and an incredible level of engineering, and based on the rate of decay in just several thousand years, the sources of that technology may have long since vanished and is only reflected in these seemingly remote places.

Leopold was out of his comfort zone and he wanted to lash out at Fletcher for unknown reasons. “Evidence of this would exist in the fossil record.”

“It is a rare set of circumstances that produce a fossil. You have to die in some mud and hope that something doesn’t eat you. The calcium in the bones has to be replaced by minerals over thousands of years, and in that time lots of fortunate occurrences must occur in order for a fossil to be created.”

“There would still be evidence of what you are saying”

“Ironically, you’re correct, and there is. You only have to do a bit of looking to find that the bones of man have been found near the bones of dinosaurs, and that human footprints walk in the same places as dinosaurs. It has been found that complicated jewelry was embedded in lumps of coal which take millions of years to form. So in short, there are a lot of unanswered questions regarding our human past.”

“This is preposterous, these assumptions you are making.” Leopold Smith had heard a lot of cases of dementia, and treated cases of manic-depression and this was text book stuff. Fletcher Finnegan certainly contained most all elements of the manic definition where victims often feel they are on a special mission, who they consider grandiose but in reality is delusional. A person in this manic state can experience a break from reality. Most of the time these emotions will lead to severe anxiety and can become very irritable, but many cases involve grandiose moments of euphoria. “Are you on medication for your condition, Mr. Finnegan?”

Fletcher paused a moment and quizzically gazed at the analysts. “You truly don’t understand what this means.”
Leopold was not attempting to hold back his laughter. “You have a grandiose sense of purpose that is not unlike many of the religious fanatics that have created cults and anarchy which is exactly what you are accused of.”
“Which is exactly what I was leading to by coincidence,” Fletcher said as he resumed his pacing. “You asked for history and I am preparing to give you just that.”

Leopold nodded agreement in a condescending way that Fletcher did not find offensive. The two men were far apart anchored in their very different beliefs.

Fletcher looked at the General who was still silent, arms crossed to protect his own shallow beliefs but avoiding eye contact with Fletcher. “I have named for you several cities not spoken of in history books, yet go deep into our human history. And even with all the mystery contained there, they fail to even compare to what we find right in the middle of North America.”
“How does this tie into your personal rebellion for which you are convicted?”

“Younger than those other described places, but equally ignored in the context of history was Cahokia, located just outside of present day St. Louis. What many don’t acknowledge is this part of the world had a major impact on the course of modern civilization. This city to the very day boasts a pyramid that is the third largest pyramid by volume in the world and its discovery was by chance. An entire neighborhood was built upon its ruins before it was discovered that those large hills in the backyards of those residences were not just hills, but huge mounds built by a forgotten civilization. St. Louis was built before Archeology became a science so nobody knew what to make of the strange relics found while they built the homes. But as Anthropology and Archeology matured in the early years of the twentieth century much was discovered about this huge city that reflects the complexity of a Mesopotamian culture, and not the typical hunting and gathering tribes of Native Americans.

“Cahokia was called the City of the Sun. And its leader was symbolized with a bird man whom was worshipped with human sacrifice. Many of Cahokia’s rituals took place in the nearby caves that lay under present day St. Louis, and this culture seems to be an advance progression of several, much older metropolitan centers that covered southern Illinois and eastern Missouri.

“Five hundred years after the demise of Cahokia and hearing the legends of the area from the current residence who were Native Americans, American settlers named many of the monuments found in the area by names of Giant City and Little Egypt but built their homes and cities on the ruins of these ancient North American cities. But it didn’t stop the Mormons from coming to the area to start their religion.

“In New York, Joseph Smith was visited by an angel in much the way that angels visited biblical prophets throughout the bible. In fact, he believed that two of the figures that came to him in a vision were none the other than God the father, and Jesus his son, and they told him that all the religions of the world was wrong, and they gave him instructions to start a new church that would become the foundations of the Mormon religion. He founded his religion based on a long buried book inscribed on metal leaves and this book told of God’s dealings with Ancient Israelite inhabitants which he claimed were the real lost tribe of Israel here in North America. Of course Smith was labeled a threat to the other established religions and this propelled him and his followers to flee westward where they settled in the area of Missouri and Illinois where ancient relics of lost civilizations were everywhere and allowed Smith to sell his religion to curious settlers. Of course the established religions found Smith a threat to their order and was finally killed by the overwhelming forces that aligned against him and his church around the time that Smith announced his candidacy for President of the United States. Once Smith was killed, the Mormons fled further west and any trace of ancient ties to the lost tribes of Israel in America were ignored by the other established orders.

“Meanwhile, Adam Lemp immigrated from Germany, spent some time in nearby Cincinnati, and moved on to St Louis where he found that he could begin his brewery empire by using those caves of Cahokia as an ideal location for the lager process. After Adam’s death, his son William inherited the estate and began an empire that would change the face of America forever.
The Lemp Mansion was built on a location that allowed him to use the caves to get to his brewery nearby. The Lemp family loved the caves and actually built a theater and a pool under their home where private actors would perform vaudeville acts for the family. However, the old curse of Cahokia seems to have infected the mind of the Lemps and one by one throughout the years, suicides occurred at the strange mansion that still is a hot spot of paranormal activity. The Lemp’s are said to still haunt the area and the brewery empire they started began a culture of alcohol consumption in this country by being the first to supply beer coast to coast. The caves under St Louis have been sealed as best they could when the construction of Interstate 55 was built. These caves are now referred to as the Lost Caves of St Louis, and are all but forgotten to the inhabitants of the city above.

“Modern day Cahokia is just 8 miles to the west of downtown St. Louis. Everyday, thousands of people drive by the giant mounds of Cahokia and have no mind of the incredible civilization that existed there prior to the European immigration that formed the United States. The reason, Cahokia is part of East St. Louis and the incredible crime rate there. Although it is never discussed, East St. Louis is part of the curse of Cahokia and the same curse that fills the Lost Caves of St. Louis. There is far more going on there than meets the eye.”

Leopold could do nothing but shake his head. “We are in Ohio, Mr. Finnegan. Your history of these areas is fascinating but irrelevant.”

“Not irrelevant, but connected. Connected to the mounds of Cahokia are the mysterious Serpent Mound and other mounds of Southern Ohio, which dominate our area. Dates take the construction of the mound to around 500 BC and it is quite obvious that the mound is designed to be seen from the air much like the images of the Nazca of Peru. The odd thing about the construction of this mound is that it is built on the edge of a giant impact crater dating back up to 320 million years. This crater is over 5 miles across and is largely eroded now and virtually undetectable except to the scientific mind.”
Leopold could do nothing but frown. “What does this have to do with St Louis?”

Fletcher was smiling now. “All over this southern Ohio area, from the Native Americans, thunder birds are part of their tribal lore. In fact, the Iroquois nation which consisted of 5 primary tribes that went from New York all the way down to the Ohio River valley believed hunting in the West Virginia and Kentucky areas were sacred and settling in those areas were forbidden by the All Father. The five tribes of the Iroquois were told to unite by a being that came down from the sky.

“Anyway, for years a bird man, or thunderbird spirit has dominated many of the areas along the Ohio river for the entire length of it in Native American lore. It was nothing short of a Bird Man King that controlled the City of the Sun, Cahokia to the west, and in this region, that same character has been called Mothman since the frequent sighting during the bridge collapse at Point Pleasant.”

“This does not answer my question.”

“Just north of Point Pleasant is the mysterious Moonville. A mining town that thrived at the turn of the 20th century but had a violent past and eventually has been erased from the face of the Earth. At its peak, Moonville only had a hundred people in this back woods town, but it was a major stop off along a railroad that connected Washington DC to St Louis. At this town, treachery and debauchery ruled up until its demise and to this day is heavily haunted. Yet nothing but a tunnel that ran through a large hill remains of the town. This tunnel is the portal used by Mothmen that enter and exit our dimensional space and have had their hand in mankind’s affairs for millions of years.”

Leopold is more than confused. “You’ve talked about strange cities, Mormons, ghosts, and breweries but nothing to justify your crimes and obvious psychosis. It is obvious you fear society, and hide that fear in an extensive knowledge of history, that while impressive, does not justify your station.”

“The influence of a race of beings that came to inhabitants from above permeates the mythology of Native Americans and the artifacts left behind show advanced knowledge of events, such as the knowledge of the impact crater. Mothmen are seen by many even today. The only reason they aren’t seen by everyone is that our species is preoccupied with their busy lives and a rapidly growing technology.

“I can say for myself that I fear no human being or living entity on this planet or elsewhere. To fear the mediocre tendencies of the feeble ones is a crime against yourself. They will seek to use fear to place you about in invisible shackles of bondage. The villainy upon you by these beings is a crime. It is an assault against the nature of life which desires freedom and the impulse to live.

“This notion that one should not strive to be superior is preposterous. What gain is there in pretending to be a fool so those in power don’t feel the threat? I tell you this mythology was invented to suppress the strong, and prevent challenges to phantom thrones that make up the mind of a tyrant’s thoughts. Pretending to be a fop with thoughts about the weather, foreign and domestic policy, and sports so to stay under the radar, to what avail?

“I have been told many times to maintain such a low profile. I’ve been told to not be so good. I have seen men applaud other men for showing weakness with women. I have seen much backslapping to the drunk that collapses unconscious on a Friday night, as opposed to the hard worker that stays behind a book all night to gain an advantage over their opponents. I have heard many preachers of peace proclaim honor in such a mundane embrace of values.

“Think how preposterous it sounds to hear tales of a night with friends where everyone became “trashed” and so much so that they cannot remember the evening. Compare this to the heroic figure that donates their evening to helping people, or improving themselves. I say that it is the times formation around control that endorses idiotic behavior and encourages us all to pursue that course. The trick to all is that there is profit in failure, that you will succeed if you stay under the radar and not become a threat to the current administrations by being the well behaved lamb. Look at the established religions, where the behavior of Jesus is shown to be the way to everlasting glory. Jesus is even referred to as a lamb. Does no one question these motives? With the fine mind provided to humans, why are humans so susceptible to bondage? Does it not seem strange that so called Christians, Hindus, Muslims, even Buddists seem so preoccupied with enduring the pain of this current life in order to reach some evasive light at the end of the tunnel, that we should joyfully endure our masters in this life for trade of everlasting glory.

“You ask me what it means to be fearless. For there is no deceit when you stand before the Mothmen, for they can peer into your heart. To be fearless is to realize that the only privacy in the world is that for which you give yourself. It is in accepting that eyes are always upon you, even in seclusion. But freedom from this comes from being superior to your opponents, superior to those that can peer into your soul for they dare not, because what they see there is something they cannot master, and fear then becomes their constant companion, a position they are not accustomed to. There is no lying about this kind of fearlessness. You can not fake this with haughty talk and bold steps. You have to be it, and before you can, you must face every demon that resides within you and eliminate every vice that acts as strings to those diabolical puppeteers.
“Alas, no sooner after much tribulation is a mind under assault by sirens and the timing is no less obvious to the eye trained to the mechanisms of the machine and its workings. The poor woman knows not why she feels such but wants to believe in the magic of love and is blinded by the stage props.

“And what are these architects of desire, these cupids of destiny. That nest of comfort all women in their souls seek where life meaning sings acceptance of purpose. The game is treacherously shallow. Is it an accident that our images of cupid contain wings on Eros, son of Aphrodite? In what sector of the human experience do wings get placed on characters of mythology?

“This appeasement of spirits is not an unusual idea. Vikings were among the first to use decorative ship figureheads. They believed that these heads contained the spirit of the ship and removed them when sailing for home so not to offend or frighten the spirits that guarded their homes.

“This is why it is celebrated to exist in a drunken state. Males hungry for reassurance will relish in the ecstasy of seeing a potential rival at their own level, or better yet, below. The same preoccupation rings with women. Adulterous conduct is a welcome entry into the fraternity of testosterone. There you will find men that have neglected their wives into cellulite temples, yearning for sexual conquest in the arms of the easily manipulated. Profess the same philosophy and watch the gates of power swing open wide. To offer your vices is protection that you will not challenge their crown, for every male assesses his competition.”

……………………………………………………………….

Rich Hoffman

http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior

www.overmanwarrior.com

When School House Rock, Rocked! A Time Capsule into the Past

If you want to see just how far the Progressive Movement has penetrated our culture all you have to do is look at School House Rock, from the 1970’s.

When I was a kid, I watched Saturday morning cartoons religiously; Hong Kong Phooey, Captain Caveman, and Land of the Lost were among my favorites.

Back then, sometime around 1974 to 1980 it was almost a guaranteed expectation that one of the below School House Rock video’s would air during commercial breaks.



These were useful and entertaining and helped a growing generation to understand their role in the country they lived in. You won’t find these types of cartoons produced today however. Instead, you get the Tides Foundation’s Story of Stuff, which is now shown in schools with public tax dollars supporting the progressive agenda.

When modern day educators and parents that are using public education as a convenient day care facility, or a chance for their child to get a scholarship using sports supplied by the school as a platform to exhibit their skills to colleges in hopes of getting a scholarship which will save that family some costs of higher education, keep in mind that this mind-set is only one generation old. School House Rock is a time capsule into a period before the effects of Progressivism had gained a firm footing in our country. The signs were emerging, but in our arrogance, we did not pay attention.

But now we’re awake.

It only takes a generation to destroy everything. It can take decades to rebuild.

Do you’re friends and neighbors a favor, send this to them so they can become aware of how quick and radically things changed in just one generation.

Rich Hoffman

http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

A Street Car of No Desire

The streetcar slated to be built-in Cincinnati is receiving a $35 million dollar grant from the federal government. The reason this is a problem is because once you take the money, you are obligated to fulfill the requirements of taking that money, much like the issue regarding the high-speed rail where the Federal government dangled $400 million in grants at Ohio to commit us to build the rail system. It is important for Ohio, and for Cincinnati not to take federal money when it can avoid it.

Why?

Because there is a small item in the Constitution called the 10th Amendment. When a city or state takes federal money, it is expanding the growth of government at the federal level in exchange for the small return on the investment. In the case of these streetcars and trains, who is really going to use them? I won’t. And nobody I know will. I’d use a car or a motorcycle to get where I want to go. If I lived downtown, I’d ride a bicycle. I would never ride a streetcar. Relatively speaking, it is a very small percent of the population that will ride these transportation devices.

But……when the money is taken, suddenly the federal government has a right to dictate mandates. This is how congress has exercised many power grabs over the last century. So when you ask the question how we arrived at this point in time, where the government is out of control and growing rapidly, and local politicians look at us glass-eyed like zombies and proceed against our best interest, it’s because they sold our rights away for the prospect of free money.

I put together this video to explain the process. Watch it here:

When the federal government does this, it’s no different from when a credit card company sends you a new credit card offer. Politicians are always looking for something to attach their names to so their legacies will live on in history, and free money helps them build such monuments to themselves. And they sell us all out in the process, and leave us obligated to a giant centralized government for years there-after.

All in the name of power.

The trains have nothing to do with convenience, and everything to do with reducing the effectiveness of the 10th Amendment. Just be sure you understand that as the news proceeds forward from a mayor that has been to China twice in 6 months during 2010, and a former governor that has been in the hip pocket of President Obama, who is in the hip pocket of powerful unions, SEIU to be specific.

The State of Ohio needs to get in the habit of living off its own revenue. Once that happens, we can tell congress where to put their power grabs, and we will be free to regulate our own interests locally, the way the Constitution of the United States intended it.

Rich Hoffman
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com

Waltz of the Emo’s

Why call it a waltz, those patrons in our society that use emotion to justify the use of public money for their private needs? Because when the hard facts are put on the table, the emo’s dance around the issues, call names and attempt to side step the primary issues.

There was a wonderful disagreement on the Big One between Doc Thompson and Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquire over public education dollars being spent on special needs children.

Listen here:

This initial argument reminded me so closely to the disagreements taking place in virtually every school system across Ohio. For me, in the Lakota district when I put myself in the line of fire against the recent proposed school levy, it was stunning how similar the reaction people had towards me. The impulsive reaction of the otherwise cerebral Paul Daugherty and his literal intellectual attack on Doc Thompson, stating, “you could not write my article,” and “do you want to be quiet while I educate you or not,” speaks of the mentality behind such statements. 

Doc Thompson is understandably ruffling the feathers of established thinking and that is a very good and healthy thing. His position on this particular issue is one of questioning the validity of the costs in public education that are proving unsustainable. The comments Doc is making are the first honest examination of an avalanche which is about to fall upon us in programs created by government in recent history, that were well-intentioned, and are now accepted by the population in general, such as Paul Daugherty, and believe are “rights.”

When Paul attacked Doc, the motive was clearly one of intimidation, which is a normal strategy from parents that have become dependent on the services schools have been offering. Special needs children certainly bring about that reaction, but so do the children that want to participate in sports, or band. The standard defense reaction from people wanting those services from public money is to attack anyone that even brings up the question. In this case Paul came on the air, basically told Doc he was “wrong,” and that Doc lacked the intellect to write a column for the Enquire and that he needed to be educated. The unspoken desire is to impress upon Doc that if he speaks about something that is sensitive then maybe he’ll shut up next time and not ask the question.

I went through the same process during the Lakota Levy. “You couldn’t teach a class of students.” “If you have all the answers, why don’t you run for the school board,” were just a few of the comments. Anyone close to the story will note that during the Lakota Campaign, angry parents and teachers actually threatened WLW with very similar inflammatory comments because I had went on the air and revealed the real budget buster, that the wages of the top 30% exceeded 65K a year, and that was the reason the district didn’t have proper funding.

In 1990 a well-intentioned Congress passed the ADA act which is described below.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990[1][2] (ADA) is a law that was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990. It was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush, and later amended with changes effective January 1, 2009.[3]

 
The ADA is a wide-ranging civil rights law that prohibits, under certain circumstances, discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964,[4] which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal. Disability is defined by the ADA as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.”

Quote by George Bush, “I know there may have been concerns that the ADA may be too vague or too costly, or may lead endlessly to litigation. But I want to reassure you right now that my administration and the United States Congress have carefully crafted this Act. We’ve all been determined to ensure that it gives flexibility, particularly in terms of the timetable of implementation; and we’ve been committed to containing the costs that may be incurred…. Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.”

People now have forgotten what life was like before the ADA was enacted. And because it’s such an emotional issue, taken individually, the feel good stories are used to sell it. But now in hindsight, can we not say that the ADA has had a devastating effect on our expanding economy. Our competing nations don’t regulate themselves in such a way. People also assume that the Department of Education has always been in place, when in reality it’s only been implemented since 1979. Has the Department of Education made our students more successful? Or has the Department of Education only increased the cost of education? Is legislation like the ADA the government’s solution to fairness, if the cost is at the expense of our nation? And in sports, how did we arrive at a place where sports are considered an entitlement? Should public schools offer sports so children can have a crack at a scholarship? Is that the requirement of public education, so resident parents have the opportunity to have their children pursue a scholarship to higher education? Or preparing a child for college with electives offered by the district, is it the public’s responsibility to help a child accomplish their college goals once they’ve graduated? Who benefits, the community, or the parents of the community that save the extra education costs because pubic education assisted the cost of post-graduate prep? These are the emotional issues that instigate the type of character assassinations that are eerily similar to the exchange between Doc Thompson and Paul Daugherty.

Traditionally, it was churches, friends and family that cared for members of society that couldn’t care for themselves. When government injected itself into the situation, they have created a culture of entitlement, which we can not afford, and now the remnants of good intentions are crippling the very foundations that our society is built upon.

The only way to understand those foundations is to strip away all the things built upon it, and re-examine the condition. Again, I’d have to point out in the case of special needs issues; the total cost is but a fraction of staff wages that are excessively high across the entire school system payrolls. In Cincinnati the average per family income is $58,000 per home. At Lakota, it’s $62,000 per teacher. That is the bulk of cost, and no union member has yet to step forward and suggest restructuring their contracts. Instead, for weeks the Cincinnati Public School system negotiated with their teachers union over the cost of health care. So dealing with wages is a long way off. And the reason nobody asks the hard questions are because of what Doc went through on WLW on December 9, 2010 when a fellow member of the media took him to task on the air in an attempt to silence him.

And that is a waltz few sane individuals want to dance to. But let’s all be thankful that Doc can dance with the best of them.

Rich Hoffman
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.NoLakotaLevy.com

The Nature of Government

On the morning of December 8, 2010, I went to work as I normally do, only the temperature was hovering just above 10 degrees with a wind chill shaping up to a goose egg. I was riding my motorcycle, as I do all year, rain, snow or tornados, and the explanation for our governmental troubles came to me in the beauty of simplicity.

Many people wonder why I do things like riding motorcycles in sub-zero temperatures, and the explanation I could give them isn’t something they typically would understand from their perspective. I do it for what comes to my mind in the pain and endurance of the exercise. Often, being in such a predicament, which takes a person out of their comfort zones, will clarify thoughts. Since I do a lot of thinking, there are a lot of thoughts to clarify, so driving to work in extremely cold temperatures helps.

On this particular morning, I looked at the cars around me. At a stop light the woman next to me had her heat turned all the way up and she had on a hood, windows rolled up firmly. She looked at me like I was nuts. At the next light was a man in a pick-up truck. He looked like a man that fancy’s himself as a rough and tumble individual, had mud flaps with the silhouette of naked women on them. He refused to make eye contact. I could see his hair blowing in the warmth of his cockpit from the turned up heat, again windows rolled up tight.

I thought this morning of all the books I had read about Native American culture, of Tecumseh, Blue Jacket, the great Shawnee nation, the Five Nations of the Iroquois. I thought of Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa’s eating the heart of his enemies like they were just apples, many times while the victims were still alive. I thought of Chief Seattle and his great speech. And as I thought of those men, and the nature they revered, I thought of President Obama and his famous speech to the Fort Hood victims, “I want to put a shout out to the Native American’s,” or something to that ridiculous effect. It was another car that pulled up next to me at yet another light, with the exhaust from his vehicle dancing around his car and whipping around me in the swirling frozen wind. This guy was a typical suburbanite, well-shaven, clean cut, and looking straight ahead at the road ahead. Again, he didn’t make eye contact, and he reminded me of Obama, just going through the motions of living keeping his eyes on the road ahead, but not willing to look at things to the side of him that didn’t fit his learned behavior. For all I know the guy could live in my neighborhood.

On the rest of my journey to work, I thought of the train trolley down in Cincinnati, Strickland’s letter to Kasich on the high speed rail deal, Obama agreeing to the Bush Tax cuts, I thought of the TSA situation, and I thought about the Lakota Levy that is sure to come again, especially once the unions discover that they will not be able to maintain the level of income they’ve negotiated for themselves when Governor Kasich cuts education even more to get Ohio back on a balanced budget track.

Who is to say that riding a motorcycle in the extreme cold is wrong? Only in relation to the rest of orthodox society is it looked down on. To me, it makes perfect sense. It clears my head, like I discussed, and it saves a ton of fuel. With fuel climbing up over $3 bucks a gallon, I don’t want to pay more for fuel, so I’ll buy less. I have a perfectly nice car in the driveway, but I don’t like to use it for all the reasons described.

Big government types have associated themselves with the green initiative to save the planet from human impact. These are the same individuals that roll their windows up tight to protect their skin from the cold weather. They are not what in my opinion an environmentalist is.

Nature is not a fragile organism. Nature lives in the extreme cold, and the excessive heat and it sends hurricanes to destroy entire cities that humans build for themselves. Yet if you consider what the modern progressive minded person asserts with their big government ideas, you would at first think these people have mankind’s best interest at the front of their minds. But when you look at their actions from the perspective of a motorcycle in the brutal cold of a sunless morning, you see how infantile these people are.

Which is more beautiful, the nature that can be seen from the Appalachian Trail atop Mount LeConte or the nature in someone’s back year where all the bushes and trees are trimmed nicely, and the grass is cut, and every rock placed in the yard was put there by the owner of the property.

The degree to which human beings attempt to alter nature is called government. If you look to the forest, where mankind has not put their feet, nature thrives. Trees grow, animals eat each other, and water flows in the path of least resistance. Trees in the forest compete for light, the smaller ones get pushed aside by the bigger ones, and survival of the fittest is the general rule. In the forest, the will to survive is so great that a tree will sink roots into rock in order to get what it needs. The nature of human beings is not different from the organism of a tree.

In the back yard garden, trees are pruned and sculpted to fit the contours of homes, or other trees. Plants are mulched to assist them to grow, and shrubbery is trimmed and controlled. The grass is cut to a desired level, and in some cases watered to ensure its survival.

Our government is simply a garden of which we all have different ideas of where the plants should go, or what flowers we need to plant and where. But the understanding of it all is that it is purely cosmetic. All the rules of mankind are simply made up in the minds of the human being. In the global neighborhood, what is happening in America, is pruning, where the branches are being cut away so that the other trees in the neighborhood can grow, because the big tree of America sucks up all the water, at least according to these green thumbed gardeners called politicians.

The fertilizer and various chemicals we use on our lawns are simply equitable to the stimulus money government has issued to grow the economy.

From the cold morning of December 8, 2010 it became excessively clear to me that the same people tucked away in their warm cars are the same people that buy flowers for their gardens in the spring, and cut their grass on Saturday afternoons in the heat of a summer day. And they’ll plant a tree in this location or that location hoping that one day the tree will provide some shade. And these people take this same mentality to their business, whether they directly work for government, or if they simply vote in the grand idea of a republic, and the politicians they elect do all those things and more to their lawns. And they believe with all their hearts and souls that the work they’re doing is important, and that they must trim trees, and cut grass or use fertilizer in order to make our world grow.

What they fail to understand is that nature doesn’t need human assistance at all. We are simply guests that have arrived like a pimple on the face of geologic time. Our duration on the plant will come and go without the earth hardly noticing. Global warming and every related issue are only musings from human beings that have an unhealthy belief of their universal importance.

For all the gardens those humans build for themselves will be wiped away in time by the true brutality of nature and its selection of what is beautiful or not, what lives what dies, and what is strong and what is weak.

It never made sense to me why so many atheists and others without some sort of faith to ground their terrestrial selves seemed prone to migrate to the conservation movement so embraced by the left, and why so many young people seem attracted to those mentalities. It’s because their undeveloped minds have not yet worked out their place in the universe. This is why so many senior citizens tend to vote conservative, while the young tend to vote liberal. The young still cleave to the ego based notion that they are all there is. The old know better and have learned after a lifetime of living. This is the difference. The silly, small minded politicians think they can actually improve nature with their juvenile influence. But all they really end up doing in the scheme of things is move some rocks around and plant some trees, most of which are quickly uprooted as soon as a major storm comes.

All the policies of mankind fall under this description. So is this a proclamation of anarchy? No. When I go to the forest, I walk the trail, which is not natural, but created by man. I build a fire with the wood that falls from the trees. And I leave the campsite looking the same as it did before I arrived. If I build a home with what the forest provides, I do it understanding that within 100,000 years everything I create will return to nature including every item a human ever created.

Notions like Social Security, Wiki Leaks, Communism, teacher contracts, health care, all laws, all government and every roadway built will be swallowed by nature in a relatively short time geologically speaking.

If the human race wanted to truly survive, it would copy nature. Not try to corrupt nature with their undeveloped ego desire to build a better garden. America was modeled after nature, as envisioned by John Locke in the late 1600’s. But during the growth of government periods, particularly in the 20th century, America has become a land of gardeners instead of the natural element.

Our society needs to ask how much we want to spend in taxes to supply a garden that is purely cosmetic to begin with. Because that’s all any of it is. It’s just gardening by gardeners that have the audacity to believe they can do it better than nature.

I ran into a community once that reflected some of what I’m talking about. It was a little neighborhood on top of Mt LeConte that serves tourists wishing to climb that mountain. I’ve been to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge many times and Mt LeConte is the big mountain approximately 10 miles from downtown Gatlinburg which looms over the town. It is the highest peak visible from Pigeon Forge and is an unmistakable monster of a mountain. From the ground you’d never know that speckled across the top is a community of cabins, with some residents that work up there, and guests renting cabins to stay for the night. There’s a mess hall and a couple of rest rooms to facilitate everyone’s needs.

From the top of the mountain, in that little village, all the great monuments of Pigeon Forge are almost completely invisible. The community resides over 6000 feet which doesn’t sound like much compared to mountains in the west, or in the Himalayas but the top of Mt LeConte has its own weather patterns. Its peaks are often submerged in a cloud layer and take the full brunt of weather patterns migrating across Tennessee and Kentucky from the west. But at such a height all the monuments of tourism are just little specs. Nothing looks too complicated from that vantage point.

From atop that mountain, the world makes sense. The people you meet up there say hello and are generally happy to see you. What everyone shares that arrive at the distant land is they had to work hard to get there. There’s only three ways that will get you to the top. You have to walk and climb, you can take a llama, or you can be dropped off with a helicopter, which brings supplies to the top of the mountain. It’s as primitive, yet as civilized of a place as anywhere I’ve ever been. On that mountain perspective is easy, just like in the harsh cold on a motorcycle in mid December. That rugged paradise is virtually a stones throw from downtown Gatlinburg with all the tourist spots, yet the two worlds are diametrically opposed.

That’s when it is easy to see the only difference between the two is the inventions of man, which are transitory at best. In Gatlinburg you run into thousands of people and say hello to nobody. On top of the mountain you say hello to everyone because everyone respects each other because everyone worked hard to get there.

Nature requires one thing and that’s respect. Respect for yourself. Respect for the power of nature. And respect that each moment could be your last.

In the politics of mankind, their laws mean nothing because politicians cannot create respect. And no amount of tax money or social program will give someone respect for anything. They can make a garden look nice, but nobody truly respects the garden because it’s contrived and manipulated by the gardener, and artificially watered and fertilized.

Nature is the only true gardener.

Rich Hoffman

http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior

www.overmanwarrior.com

Citizen Kane…….A Lesson for the Future of our Children

There are few films that are as good as Citizen Kane. Orson Wells produced, wrote, directed and starred in that wonderful masterpiece of cinema glory.

I recently watched the film again on a snowy December day. I had always loved the film, so it was refreshing to see it again after a decade or so since my last viewing. Wells did something special in Citizen Kane released in 1941, he managed to attack a concept that many Americans spend their entire lives pursuing, and that is wealth, and demonstrate that no matter how much wealth a person acquires, it will not buy them love, or any real power.

With the snow falling outside my window, and watching Kane die an old man in his giant mansion built in Florida called Xanadu, which looks to me to be an early vision for what Walt Disney would create 30 years later as the Magic Kingdom, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Kane all over again.

Kane had amassed a tremendous amount of wealth by his 25th birthday from money he received in trust from his legal guardian who raised him after his mother and father essentially sold Kane away for money to a very wealthy businessman. Kane as a five-year old standing in the snow with his favorite snow sled was betrayed by his father, who apparently abused him, his mother, who wanted to protect him from his father, sent Kane to be raised by a self-centered power monger only concerned with profit.

Kane boldly slapped away all his wealth once free of his legal guardian and only wanted to run a newspaper so he could use the paper to fight corruption. Kane was a valiant figure of morality and virtue.

Over time Kane lost his way in the pursuit of love. He loved two women he managed to push away because deep inside, Kane himself had felt rejected and therefore didn’t truly love himself, and thus, could not offer any real love to the women in his life. This pretty much ruined Kane, because over time, he realized he was powerless to truly obtain the things he needed in life because he couldn’t love.

In the end, on his last breath he states simply, “ROSEBUD.”


Rosebud was the sled he had when his mother sold him away, and was his last true recollection of a chance for a real home with a family that loved him, which he’d spend the rest of his life trying to recapture.

What I suppose struck me about this film is the truth of it. Wells hits the nail on the head, and time has proven it. Many critics will argue to this day that Citizen Kane is the greatest motion picture ever made. So there is certainly some resonance to the story, something deep and primal that we can all relate with. Writers are only as good as their experience, and Wells was unique in the way that Disney, Lucas, and Spielberg have been. But not many others in spite of all the study of Citizen Kane in film classes across the country. I think Scorsese came close in the film The Aviator about Howard Hughes, but even the great Scorsese falls short of the surface simplicity, but underlying complexity of Wells. Filmmakers today are just too scatterbrained to make good films. They have elements of good films, but often fall terribly short of the intended result. MTV has changed all the rules, and these days nobody really knows what they are. Quentin Tarantino is the new bench mark for film makers because in Pulp Fiction he demonstrated the ability to tell a story out of order much like Citizen Kane was filmed, and this fed into the short attention spans of the modern MTV audience, conditioned to quick cuts, and non-liner story telling.

This led me to consider our current society. How many Citizen Kane’s are we producing as a society? Because back in 1941, Kane’s story was considered tragic, coming from a broken family like he was. Today it’s common place. Forget about the money. Many of the kids today won’t have a chance to even have Kane’s wealth to stumble through life with. Most of them will be so entrenched with student loans and other forms of debt that they’ll have all the problems of children missing essential guidance from their parents, compounded with excessive money trouble. No one will convince me that parents, who drop their kids off at a day care facility in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon, and barely speak to their kids once everyone gets home, are doing their jobs as parents. The damage to the children is extensive. Everyone just accepts these practices now, but they are really only a few decades old, where both parents are out of the house and kids are being raised primarily by institutions. Once kids get to grade school it’s basically the same routine. Parents are expecting teachers to do the job of parenting, which of course is not possible. Teachers try, but it’s not the same. Kids end up raising themselves for the most part, and now that online gaming, Facebook and Texting make instant communication possible; the parent is a much less significant role in the lives of their children.

I wondered on this snowy December Saturday what the world will be like when all these kids from today grow up and realize they don’t have everything they need from their parents, because in many cases their parents are on their second or third marriages and lived train wrecks of lives that no child would want to emulate.

I imagine the resentment will be epic.
If you’ve never seen Citizen Kane, you should watch it. It’s very insightful.

Rich Hoffman
http://twitter.com/#!/overmanwarrior
www.overmanwarrior.com