The Standoff!

I’m going to try something different.  I spend a lot of time thinking about abstract concepts, and piecing together things that don’t always easily appear to connect.  I can give a lot of evidence as to why it’s important to think outside the box, and I can even help some that are close to being able to think that way, cross over that invisible line and begin practicing it.  

 

But for the general person busy with their lives, that need information quickly, and in a form they understand, fiction is the best way to lay out an argument.  As an artist, the best way for a writer to convey an argument is with a work of fiction so that the concept can be held up to reality and measured.  The following short piece is from a work connected to my Symposium of Justice novel. And I will begin letting out small bits of that work to support some of the concepts discussed at this site.  

 

So enjoy this small work titled The Standoff, and think of it in an abstract before trying to apply any meaning.

Fletcher appraised the massive influx of the troops as they surrounded the parameter of his property.  He noted that they stayed off about 100 yards.  They were going to try and take him by force as opposed to an air strike.  That was the best option for him, although it wouldn’t have mattered either way.  The result would be the same. 

He knew they’d try to gas him out, and if that didn’t work they’d shell his home.  He could see the mortar placements set up at the appropriate range.  He could also see the snipers stationed strategically in the distance.  Many of them were well over 100 yards, and he thought he could see most of them.  He suspected that there were others hidden on the rooftops, and in trees that eluded him, but that wasn’t important.  Knowing the details of their where-a-bouts where not important to his strategy, in fact, that was their intent, to overwhelm him.  He would do fine as long as he didn’t allow himself to get lost in the details. 

He had heard that the devil was in the details by more than one person in his life.  But the devil seeks to corrupt the mind with those same details by pulling the mind into his domain where he can corrupt and inflict doubt.  Very few human beings in their entire lifetimes found a way to master the art of details. 

Misty walked up next to him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder.  “There’s too many this time.”

“This is no different than before.”  Fletcher was aware that he sounded harsh, but he was mentally prepared for war.  “Whether it’s ten or ten thousand, their failure is in their trust that numbers will be to their advantage.”

“What will you do?”

“I want you to take the kids and go to the grocery.”

“The grocery?”

“Yes, don’t react to this as if anything is any different from any other day.  You take the kids and go to the store.  Bring back some food for later.  That will keep you safe and off my mind.”

“They’ll never let us leave.”

“Yes they will, they can’t afford to have women and children slaughtered in this media event they are holding.  They’ll be glad to see you go.  They have not formally charged you with any crimes and you can move about unimpeded.  To restrain you now will only irritate me further and they won’t risk that.  They seek a peaceful end before the day is out.  That is why they’ve already lost.  Because I seek war, and blood and I will spill it at their expense.”

“But what will you do?”

“I will lure them away from the castle.  They think I built it to hold off an onslaught.  Their strategy is to get me to emerge from it by lack of choice.  I will do so quickly at the beginning of the fight.  I will go into their lines where their mortars, snipers and heavy weapons will destroy their own people.  I will not stay here on ground they dictate.”

“Can you get out there that fast?  That will be a lot of ground to cover.  They’ll have lots of open chances to take a shot at you.”  Misty was not a military woman, but in her marriage to Finnegan she had learned his ways.  She had seen enough to make the kinds of observations that would make a general proud.  She had seen Fletcher do amazing things and was accustom to his late night workouts.  She knew his mind believed he could manipulate physical law with sheer confidence, and had seen it work on much smaller numbers.  He had survived incredibly the standoff at the river last year at Ben Carter’s residence against a small attachment of elite troops and the police force of Fort Seven Mile.  That day Fletcher had returned to her covered in scratches and holes penetrated his clothing where bullets had narrowly missed him hundreds of times.  She had called him lucky where he refuted her with similar characters in history.  George Washington had dodged similar odds when he acted heroically at Fort Duquesne having his body riddled with bullet holes that had never found their mark.  Stonewall Jackson had showed the same kind of valor needed in the battle of Bull Run to defy all odds.  And General Patton also survived numerous brushes with death, and Fletcher often cited how both Jackson and Patton had suffered silly accidents that either caused amputations, or were paralyzed prior to their deaths.  It was a fascinating fact that some of the great minds of military like Patton believed that he was directly reincarnated from Hannibal. 

Fletcher believed that in the heat of battle great men rose to great achievement because their minds were focused on the task and their beliefs manipulated all the events on the battlefield.   Where some would believe that some sort of force such as karma was responsible for balancing out the lives of these same men be subjecting them to freakish accidents, Fletcher believed those men despised times of peace so intensely that their strong minds actually attracted the negative events that sealed their fates. 

It was not unusual for him to stay up late into the night reading volumes of books and would tell her of his night time adventures when she awoke for breakfast.  Alexander the Great, Frederick Nietzche, Socrates, Galileo, and many others found illness, and social castration part of their later lives leaving only history to vindicate their work into a respectable status.  Nietzche was a favorite of Fletcher and she was shocked to learn that copies of the fourth installment of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, arguably Fletcher’s favorite book, only saw a printing of 40 initial copies. 

Fletchers other favorite book was The Book of Five Rings by the undefeated samurai Miyamoto Musashi and she knew that Fletcher’s standoff here was modeled from his study of that book.  It was Musashi that had been independent of any social clans in Japan, and offered himself as a samurai for hire.  That left him a target to every political entity and forced him to survive many battles where he was severely outnumbered. 

Fletcher had already achieved much of what Musashi had.  His standoff at the river should have been enough.  There would be stories told for years about his exploits and if he were not considered an outlaw, society would make him the hero of the nation.  Quietly, the political powers that made up “The System,” had shown an interest in making peace with Fletcher.  Once his identity was revealed, and it was known that he had wealth, they sent representatives to make peace, but Fletcher could not be bought.  He sent them away with the same audacity that he had these last two visitors. 

Was it madness that looked out across the yard and showed no fear at 5000 troops with the taste of blood in their throats for his death?  She wasn’t sure.  What she did know was that if she stopped him he would be perpetually unhappy.  Even though social duty may dictate that she talk her husband out of this, he would never-the-less be arrested and thrown in jail for many years at this point so there really wasn’t any turning back.  After all, nobody in history had survived a standoff of this magnitude.  Nobody but Buddha had ever done such a thing. 

Fletcher Finnegan did not attribute himself with the Buddha, but there wasn’t any other image that came to her mind as she studied her husband gazing calmly out the window.  Mara, the evil one had tried to prevent the enlightenment of the Buddha with temptations, one of the most dramatic of which was a massive army that promised the Buddha annihilation if he did not remove himself from his immovable spot.  She was never completely clear why Mara called off his army and left the Buddha to his enlightenment.  She could see for herself that Fletcher’s calm resistance to this army would not bring peace.  He would have to go and fight and all logic would guarantee his destruction. 

At any other time in history, if this would have been Christ, he would have been captured uneventfully and killed brutally.  In fact, in all of history she couldn’t think of any time that surrender was not considered the noblest thing to do, and that didn’t make any sense to her.  Even with the world seemingly at her doorstep wanting to kill her husband and destroy everything that was her family, she couldn’t think of another time where another human being would be poised to make such a stand.       

It is said that Mara, the evil one, tried to prevent this great occurrence.  He first tried to frighten Siddhartha with storms and armies of demons.  Siddhartha remained completely calm.  Then he sent his three beautiful daughters to tempt him, again to no avail.  Finally, he tried to ensnare Siddhartha in his own ego by appealing to his pride.  That, too, failed.  Siddhartha, having conquered all temptations, touched the ground with one hand and asked the earth to be his witness.

“I will give them nothing to shoot at.”  Fletcher was aware of her thoughts, but did not remove his war readiness.  He knew she understood.  “You have to understand, they want only for this event to be over.  The shooters out there rely on the next man to take the shot, and nobody is solely responsible, which is why they will fail.  They have spent their time from arrival to now with fat thoughts like their leader.  They trust that mass alone will do the job even though they have been instructed by their superiors to take this situation with utmost seriousness.  The men behind those guns will be looking for where they think I’ll be.  At the distance they are placed they will be severely restricted in movement.  To get a clear shot at me, they will need me to be as still and predictable as possible.”

She looked at what he looked at, and noticed that most of the infantry was in the front.  “Are you going to use the tunnel?”

“When we built the place, I suspected something like this would happen eventually.  It comes out right in the middle of their mass.  It will take away their guns and put them at close range for hand to hand combat.  Many will seek to back away from the fight when it starts but will trample their own in an attempt to make their guns useful.  I will use their confusion as my troops.”

“But you said they would probably resort to the B2 bomber.”

“They may try that, and if that’s the case, you and the kids need to be far away from here, at least forty miles.”  He turned to her.  “Do you understand?” 

“And this town will be annihilated.  All the work you’ve done to bring justice to this community would be for nothing.  Thousands of people will be killed, and for what?  If you surrender you could save them all.”  She said that knowing what his reaction would be, but she felt she needed to say something. 

“Save them in what way?  They are all on strings they can’t see, living lives that aren’t their own.  It is not me that brings death to them.”

“But your actions brought them.”

“The responsibility to annihilate this community with nuclear destruction will be up to executives.  We’ll see what happens.”

“If you last that long.”

Fletcher doesn’t offer a response.  Her point is clear and he isn’t in a position to make promises.  Fate is much of what you make of it, and he was making his moment by moment.  He was in uncharted water here. 

“There is no way to camouflage any of this but as an act of terrorism.  You will be labeled an enemy of the United States.”

“You know I love this country.  Most of its history was formed on war, and this is no different.  You know that.”

Misty paused a long time.  Troop movements had settled down and everyone was in place.  “I know you do.”

“Only in the context of history will anyone understand.  Long after the dead from today are buried and their relatives evaporate into earth.  When the sensibilities of orthodox behavior align society into rational thought, much more will be understood.”

Rich Hoffman

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

www.overmanwarrior.com

Ten Rules to Live By

I do sympathize with the many who question my intent as they try to ascertain my motivations and political positions. “Do I want a political office,” writes one beleaguered email sender. “You want publicity,” writes another. “You want to stay in the times of the caveman,” says yet another.

I read and listen to such things with humor because it would take a lifetime for many of those people to understand what and why I think the way I do. I was doing much of this work before I ever entered the Lakota School Levy issue, and I’ll be doing the same work long after it passes. It just so happens that time and fate have intersected over the issue of education funding.

So as a contribution of insight I offer something I wrote back in 2004 in my book, The Symposium of Justice. It’s the Ten Rules for Living as displayed in the back of the book and discussed in the chapter called, The Overman. (Hint, this is where the term Overmanwarrior comes from, the term reminds me of these ten rules) It is my hope that this list might provide the needed insight for those that seek an answer to their lingering queries.

The following appears on page 187 of The Symposium of Justice, Cliffhanger’s Ten Rules to Live by

1. To honor women, they are the pillars of society.

2. Stand as an example of the highest moral order.

3. Avoid mental depletion such as intoxication, and ignorance.

4. Pursue learning like a person on fire pursues water.

5. Live with integrity, where values are in line with behavior.

6. Live the given life, not the dreams of others.

7. In a crisis handle everything calmly and without confusion.

8. Be capable of firmness in the heart.

9. Sorrow is everywhere, accept it with a smile.

10. Resist hiding in numbers, stand as an individual contributor.

I wrote the Symposium of Justice to teach my kids the values I wanted them to carry into adulthood. But I offer it to anyone looking to improve their life. I live by those values and it has always worked for me. When you are living by those principles, no amount of money, no official title, and no peer acceptance can surpass the benefits. The key to fixing the world is within you. Fix that and you fix the world. . All such things are purely cosmetic aspects to a social existence. Participation in any and all will ultimately lead to an empty life laced with dissatisfaction. So read of the above list what you will. Live your life and maybe make your own list. Because one thing is certain, and that is nothing is truly certain. All you truly ever have is what you build inside yourself and can therefore offer others in the form of relationships.

No school, political party, or career choice can give you that

Those are the values I live by.

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

Individuality and Thinking Outside the Box.

I never planned to become so involved in education policies. By contrast, the things I’m interested in are so far away from structured education that they might as well be from another planet.

Fortunately, I understand why I feel this way. And I’ve covered it elsewhere in my other bodies of work. Google (institutional failure Rich Hoffman) and you’ll find much of what I have said about the dismal failure of thinking from within the conventions of a box.

My endeavors against the school levies are not an anti-education position for me. I’m not looking to destroy the schools, or to single handedly defeat communism, as some have said. But where my personal work and the work of standing up against the deceit of school systems looking to wrestle property tax money from residents in order to feed an institutional monster intersects with my personal interests and that is why I am involved. That is where the cowboy hats, and bullwhips come into the picture, because for me, those are symbols of individually and freedom. I think I’ll let Nicholas Cage explain it best for me. The following clip is from Wild at Heart, one of David Lynches greatest.

Individuality is what I’d consider to be the paramount trait of the human condition. Through individuality everything can be fixed. If everyone cared for themselves, there wouldn’t be a need for large institutions.

Progressives look at government as a job creation measure that assists the masses. I view the progressive kind of help to damage the individual gumption of mankind. And much of that progressive teaching is going directly to our youth through the school system. And that is where the schools cross over and interfere with my interests as an artist.

In my art, the promotion of bullwhips, cowboy hats, firearms, motorcycles, etc are all rooted in individuality, which I see being the elements lost in our American culture, and the key to the preservation of society. It is a long standing American tradition of one person making a difference. When a majority of Americans believe such things, they will therefore vote and participate in the republic. Films used to display such individuality, are embraced over a long span of time. Progressive themed films come and go and people quickly forget them. But films rooted in American tradition and individuality have staying power. In the following clip, Clint Eastwood takes over an entire town and punishes it for its corruption in the film High Plains Drifter.

Another American idea of one person taking on several others when grossly outnumbered, Clint Eastwood, Fistful of Dollars.

Star Wars was essentially a western set in space. One of the most popular characters in the entire Star Wars saga by most every survey was Han Solo. Another was Boba Fett, and Fett only has a couple of lines in the entire six film series. What both characters have in common are that they are both faithfully individualistic characters. This provides some insight into what the psychology of mankind if analyzed without filters will chose. In a classic scene from 1977, Han Solo kills a bounty hunter in a cantina. Notice Han shoots first and in cold blood. Solo is a survivor. He has a bounty hunter there to kill him, so why not shoot first.

However, later, and under pressure from his progressive friends, Lucas changed this scene 1997 to where the bounty hunter shot first, which turned out to be a joke among Star Wars fans that felt betrayed by the edit.

Here is one of the most humorous satires on the subject.

What this tells me is that people see through the thin vale of progressive thought. Movie goers do not like “team” players. Look at the James Bond franchise. In the modern era, Bond has been watered down as they have tried to make him more “human.”

But the James Bond that I grew up with was a survivor that always had a smart answer and enough wit to escape any situation.

Bond single handedly takes on some of the world’s most dangerous villains. He doesn’t work well with others and frequently thumbs his nose at his superiors. That is the key to Bond’s success.

Yet, in socialism, it is desired to remove such individualist traits. Here is the reality of socialism expressed well in the film Brazil.

Here is another scene from Brazil of an individual getting revenge on a symbol of the STATE.

In fact, Brazil should be seen by everyone. What are you waiting for? Go rent it now!

The fact is movies are boring when they involve flat characters that don’t have individual attributes that are defined and charismatic. The only way socialist principled films work is when shown in a negative light.

This clip from THX-1138, another GREAT FILM!

Here is a great speech by Jeff Bridges playing the wonderfully individualist Preston Tucker.

The point of all this is that collectivism does not work. It never has, and never will. And telling society to get into a box that it doesn’t want is wrong.

In my own work, I’ve dedicated my life to living, thinking, and teaching people to live outside the box. So I am not a fan of funding an education system that is teaching people to live inside a box. I’m fine with teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, college prep, and basic social skills. But the sex education, the counseling, the physical education crosses the lines, because all those types of social concerns have been reduced to a level of collectivism that paves the way to a much less individualistic society.

I already felt that public education leaned in a direction that went too far in that direction. But I put up with it because my community desires the services, so I go along with it for their sake. But, I see many, many aspects that are wrong with public education because the emphasis is not being applied to individualism. Only in sports does our society embrace individual traits fully, and that is a failure in social value.

I have spent a lot of my time figuring out what those values are, and have committed my life to preserving individualism. And I was doing this well before the Lakota Levy ever came to be.

Being involved in a political issue, I will tend to have a different approach because personally, I despise politics. The films I have displayed here provide some insight into my belief structure. The people I look up to are not the types that do what they’re told without question. I have no desire to become a politician, a board member, a congressman, even a governor or president. None of those jobs would be enjoyable for me.

As a concerned citizen, I’m fine to call things as I see them. But being a lover of individualism, I don’t require the approval of anyone else to act. I don’t need the approval of another to approve of my attire. And I don’t require any approval to weigh my comments in the context of history.

I am happy to share that lack of burden with others in order to free them of such shackles, because the answers are outside of the box. Not in it. But you have to enjoy the freedom of living shackle free.

So it is not of any offense to groups like unions, and political organizations that are wishing to maintain the status quo. I don’t pass judgment on your collective actions until you ask me for money, because at that point, you are involving me in your action. At that time, action on my part must be taken to eliminate the grip of your collectivism on my life style.

So criticize and belittle from your perspective the images of the traditional cowboy. But as evidence to what the true nature of mankind enjoys from the psychology of the darkened theater, I know that my position is supported by the infrastructure of individualism embraced by the masses from the vote of the movie ticket and film history.

The concepts taught by modern progressives are simply flimsy musings of sociological theory. And as for the direction of a one world identity, I would direct the world to the cowboy, not Al Gore or any like him.

And that is the platform I stand on. And that is my commitment for every endeavor I become a part of. There isn’t any class that can teach you to defend a position held within the institutional box-like thinking. The only kind of thinking I truly value is from outside the box.

Rich Hoffman

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

www.overmanwarrior.com

Lakota Finance Truth Regarding Busing

Lakota made a decent decision in re-thinking its plans to cut busing. Unfortunately, they are still making cuts in busing when in all reality, that is the last thing in the world that they should be cutting.

The new proposal will allow students in kindergarten through sixth grade living 1 to 2 miles from their school will be able to keep their busing for the rest of the year.

This is an obvious attempt to buy some time and to look as though the school system is working with the community.

There is some very grim news looming on the horizon for public schools all over Ohio. It looks as though Governor Kasich will cut the budget to education 15 to 20 percent. That means there won’t be any quick fixes at the state level to fix the funding problem. I am hopeful that the funding structure can be fixed during the Kasich administration, but the first priority for him is to cut the budget deficit in Ohio that is over 8 billion dollars.

That means that schools trying to maintain the status quo of what they are accustomed to in funding levels, will try to put more levy proposals on the ballots this upcoming spring to avoid the pain. What they should do is deal with the real numbers they’ll be dealing with when Kasich also cuts many of the state mandates that will save millions to districts, because that is the plan as I understand it, and will change the amount of money school districts need.

When you have to deal with budget cuts, and we’re not asking Lakota to cut their budget, We’re asking them to put a cap on the budget and live within it, is that substantial cuts have to be made.

I’m going to attempt to answer some mail here that I don’t have time to address individually.

• There will be changes on the school board when we have another election. There are a lot of people that want to run. However, and I know school board members that currently sit on boards all over Ohio that tell me how the Levy University works up in Columbus, and how they are singled out if they don’t follow the union line. So it will take more than just one school board member to affect change. Changes to the board will require changes in culture, and that’s the phase that the Lakota School System is in.

• Busing is one of the items taught at Levy University in Columbus to extort money from the community. Kevin Bright, superintendent of Mason has taught the class, so there is a local connection. He is the superintendent at Mason that currently makes more than any state governor in the United States.

• To the union reps and teacher, yes the community does expect the same education results to our children even with reductions in money. Education is not a sports team. We can vote for sports teams and other entertainment with the purchase of a ticket. We can only vote for wage levels in school systems and school board members with a vote. Lakota has said no twice. We currently pay approximately $11 dollars per 1000 in property taxes to support our schools and we’re telling you to live within that amount. If you can’t, quit and we’ll hire people who can do it.

• Schools are not alone in the budget crises situation. We have problems in Cincinnati ranging from the stadium deficits to the request in Butler County to having an income tax. All across the state and the nation government entities are trying to sustain the level of income they’ve manipulated for themselves at public expense. They did this while we were all sleeping and busy with other issues. But now we’re out of money. We’re individually taxed too much, so we have to pay attention now and start saying no, so that service levels can be paid a wage that is more manageable. But we still expect the police to show up. We still expect the teachers to teach. We still expect government to do its business. But we do not want to pay excessively for those services. Again, if you don’t want to do the job, we’ll find someone else to do it for a wage we’re willing to pay. End of story.

2011 will be a tough year. But if we pay attention to the basic issues, we’ll get through it together. Teacher’s unions will have to make compromises or get out of the way. That’s all there is to it. You won’t be allowed to extort our communities at the expense of our children.

I know Kasich is going to have a tough time when he gets to office, so I have joined his Captains for Kasich program. And I invite you to join me there, because we will need a considerable defense for the aggression that the teacher unions will put forth once it becomes obvious that the education culture will have to change in order for education to survive and continue to educate our youth properly. The unions will fight the change every step.


You can contact me for Captains for Kasich at:
http://captainsforkasich.com/an/profile?contactId=98ccd083-9ace-454e-95b4-9e24698c7282

I also started a Twitter account because so many people asked me to.  Join me to receive direct updates.

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

Rich Hoffman

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

www.NoLakotaLevy.com

Ross Perot Then, Now and Forever

The talk going on today with people like Glenn Beck and others are not new. I remember being in Dallas, Texas the day before the election in 1992. Ross Perot’s oldest daughter and her husband gave me a neck tie that I wish I still had while in the parking lot of the Perot Headquarters. I thought then Ross Perot was doing some good work, and I did everything I could to help him back then. I’m not new to all this small government stuff.

For the fun of it, I decided to go back and dig through some of his old videos. In hind sight, how right he was. People should have listened.



And he is still at it. Too bad most people want to take the blue pill.

Rich Hoffman

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

We Are At WAR!

You won’t see tanks driving down your street. You won’t see troops knocking on your door. But you will see your way of life being destroyed in a way that is no different than a military unit cutting off a railroad or other major supply line to a strong opponent. Philosophically, economically, ethically, we are at war.

Another one of my favorite books, which is a book I studied carefully over a period of years because it’s one thing to read the book word for word and gain a basic understanding. But the work of Sun Tzu requires an understanding of eastern philosophy, which is something specifically unique to Japan and China. The following quote is from The Art of War under PLANNING A SIEGE.

Complete victory is when the army does not fight, the city is not besieged, the destruction does not go on long, but in each case the enemy is overcome by strategy. So the rule for use of the military is that if you outnumber the opponent ten to one, then surround them; five to one, attack; two to one, divide. If you are equal, then fight if you are able. If you are fewer, then keep away if you are able. If you are not as good, then flee if you are able. This advice applies to the case where all else is equal. If your forces are orderly while theirs are chaotic, if you are excited and they are sluggish, then even if they are more numerous you can do battle. If your soldiers, strength, strategy, and courage are all less than that of the opponent, then you should retreat and watch for an opening. Therefore if the smaller side is stubborn, it becomes the captive of the larger side.

There are five ways of knowing who will win. Those who know when to fight ad when not to fight are victorious. Those who discern when to use many or few troops are victorious. Those whose upper and lower ranks have the same desire are victorious. Those whose generals are able and are not constrained by their governments are victorious. These five are the ways to know who will win.

This section is under FORMATION:

To perceive victory when it is known to all is not really skillful. Everyone calls victory in battle good, but it is not really good. Everyone says victory in battle is good, but if you see the subtle and notice the hidden so as to seize victory where there is no form, this is really good. It does not take much strength to lift a hair, it does not take sharp eyes to see the sun and moon, it does not take sharp ears to hear a thunderclap. What everyone knows is not called wisdom. Victory over others by forced battle is not considered good. In ancient times those known as good warriors prevailed when it was easy to prevail. If you are only able to ensure victory after engaging an opponent in armed conflict, that victory is a hard one. If you see the subtle and notice the hidden, breaking through before formation, that victory is an easy one. Therefore the victories of good warriors are not noted for cleverness or bravery. Therefore their victories in battle are not flukes. Their victories are not flukes because they position themselves where they will surely win, prevailing over those who have already lost.

Great wisdom is not obvious, great merit is not advertised. When you see the subtle it is easy to win—what has it to do with bravery or cleverness? When trouble is solved before it forms who call that clever? When there is victory without battle, who talks about bravery?

For those who will say that I am over exaggerating or that I am seeing what I want to see in the matter, you are part of the problem. The information is in books. Sun Tzu to the Chinese is probably revered more highly than George Washington is to the United States. Chairman Mao used The Art of War to defeat Chiang Kai-shek. I was a big fan of Kai-shek. My favorite modern military figure is Claire Lee Chennault leader of the Flying Tigers. Chennault worked closely with Kai-shek to hold off communism in China, but weak US policy after World War II lead to Mao taking over the country in 1949. Chennault warned of the possibility of future war with China in his WONDERFUL book Way of the Fighter published in 1949. In that book, that is now considered a rare book, Chennault predicted the trouble with Korea and Vietnam years before they occurred. It was a shame that nobody listened then.

Starting on page 505 of Joseph Campbell’s masterpiece called Oriental Mythology, published in 1962 and was part of four books he spent 12 years writing; he chronicles the beginning of communism in China quite startlingly. While China was showing propaganda pictures to the world such as a family sitting at the table under a picture of Mao, the following events occurred. Keep in mind this is just one account of many.

A man, aged twenty-two from Doi-Dura in th Amdo region was told by the Chinese that he required treatment to make him more intelligent. The Chinese at the time were telling Tibetans that they were a stupid inferior race and would have to be sup-planted by Russians and Chinese. They took blood tests of this man, his wife, and many others, and there are a number of corresponding reports from different parts of Tibet detailing the sort of operation to which this young man and his wife were the next day forced to submit. They were both taken to the hospital. “He was completely undressed, placed on a chair and his genital organs were examined. Then a digital rectal examination was carried out and the finger was agitated. He then ejaculated a whitish fluid and one or more drops fell on a glass slide which was taken away. After this a long pointed instrument with handles like those of scissors was inserted inside the urethra and he fainted with pain. When he came round the doctors gave him a white tablet which they said would give him strength. Then he received an injection at the base of the penis where it joins the scrotum. The needle itself hurt but the injection did not. He felt momentarily numb in the region until the needle was removed. He stayed ten days in the hospital and then a month in be at home….he had been married for only two years and prior to this treatment had very strong sexual feelings…Afterwards he had no sexual desire at all….”

Meanwhile, his wife “was undressed and tied down. Her legs were raised and outstretched. Something very odd which became painful was inserted inside the vagina. She saw a kind of rubber balloon with a rubber tube attached, the end of which was inserted inside the vagina. The balloon was squeezed and his wife felt something very cold inside her. This caused no pain and only the tube and not the balloon was inserted. She remained conscious throughout. Then she was taken to bed. The same procedure was carried on every day for about a week. Then she went home and stayed in bed for about three weeks,” and thereafter she had neither sexual feeling nor menstruation.

There will always be the types of individuals on this planet that seek to control others. And with the United States having the most advanced war weapons on the face of the planet, enemies of the United States will not attack us directly, because they can’t. But they will undermine us from within. They will use propaganda to divide our nation. They will use our movie stars to perpetuate their message. They will seek to wreck our economy, our life style. They will seek to get our politicians moving in a direction that is not of the people’s wishes. And they will be patient and strike when they are sure to win.
Don’t kid yourself. We are at war right now.






And if you don’t watch any of the above, watch this one.

This is extremely serious. Pay attention and understand what’s happening. That’s the first step to turning this around.
Nothing is impossible. For inspiration I look to our AMERICAN games. If we get our minds in the game, this could be our a nation instead of just a game from my favorite sports team. I look to this game as a metaphor that nothing is ever lost until the clock runs out of time. Here is Matt Bryant’s 62 yard field goal against the Eagles in the final seconds of the game. In theory, a kick from mid-field should be impossible.


Here is the view from the stands, under the Pirate ship, where I like to sit.

And the box seats.

And leaving the stadium after the big kick.

America needs a victory like this. We need to get our currency strong again, and to regain our strength on the world stage. It’s not too late.

Rich Hoffman

www.NoLakotaLevy.com

How To Make Government Smaller: Look to Nature

The discussion that TSA employees were thinking of organizing under a union occurred during the week leading up to the weekend of November 20th. Also during the week Rep Charlie Rangel of the house was found guilty of 11 ethics violations. There was a lot of discussion in the news as to whether or not the house would extend the Bush tax cuts. All this was on my mind while I was rappelling in the mountains with my family.

During one particular decent on a particular rock face that was covered with algae, some apparent similarities became very obvious to me in relation to politics. Algae is a unique form of plant life in that it is a photosynthetic organism that mainly lives in water, and is similar to seaweed. Algae differ from other plants in that they don’t have true leaves, roots or stems. That description sort of reminds me of the typical politician.

If you want to make government smaller, or get control of the out of control costs of your school system, all you have to do is cut the funding that is feeding those systems. It’s that simple. Your tax dollars are the water that feeds the parasites that cling to the rock face of our countries foundations. And the growth of these prevents the kind of sure-footing we all need in running our country.

In school system politics, we’ve seen how schools all across Ohio have developed trouble for themselves. Their collective bargaining has put teaching wages too high, at an unsustainable level. And the teacher’s unions refuse to take steps back now that it is obvious that the wage levels are simply too high. Their wages in some cases rival the wages of those in congress and governing of states. Schools are a good model for the rest of government, because we still have some control over the spending levels in schools. So as I was thinking of all this rappelling down the rock, it came to me that the reason the algae grows is because the sun shines on it intensely as that particular cliff faced south, and water ran pretty freely down that portion of the rock face, giving the algae the opportunity to grow.

Forget the protests, the signs, and the letters to legislatures for more laws. If you want to get control of the out-of-control government spending that we are seeing, cut the funding that allows the government to grow. Nature will force government to become smaller and more manageable. Cut the money that feeds the growth of the politician. And deny the attention from society toward the panicky politicians that seek the funding.

Metaphor KEY:

Algae = Political motivations and political body of government
Sun Light = The public attention on a given political topic.

Sum of the two = Control both aspects, and government will be forced to become smaller as a by-product.

If you want the answers to life’s complicated problems, nature always provides it.

And that is precisely why John Locke used so many natural comparisons in his Second Treaties of Government, which deeply inspired Thomas Jefferson and the Anti-Federalist movement of the 1780’s.

I would argue that just such a position is much-needed with the current problems populating our news broadcasts. What they all have in common is the need for your tax dollars to fund their activity. Cut their funding, and they will have to find some other rock to grow on, preferably in some other country.

Rich Hoffman

www.overmanwarrior.com

Glenn Beck, George Soros, and My Explosive Announcement

Two stories on The Blaze.com this week put my mind into overdrive. There was the collection of comments from George Soros which exposed his true intentions toward the United States in favor of his global pursuits, and then there were the clips from the Comedy Central Daily Show where Jon Stewart made fun of Glenn Beck for pointing out how Soros manipulates those around him to realize his vision.

While we’re in a season of Thanksgiving, I give my thanks to Glenn Beck for holding strong in the face of all the opposition, and continuing to provide insight into the dark exploits of the very rich, very corrupt, and the many, many people that will sell their lives away for a good income, who make themselves willing pawns to people like George Soros.  That’s not to take away from my own family or good fortune.  But we all need a country to raise our  families in, and I am thankful that Beck has put the issues threatening the country on the table for all to see, so we can take steps as Americans to do something about it. 

Soros indirectly has had an influence on Hollywood, which Beck hasn’t spent much time covering. His money and those like him are heavily sought after to bankroll films. Anyone that knows the film industry a little knows that Robert Redford’s Sundance film festival is the premier film festival in the country and studios watch it closely for new talent. And, George Soros has contributed a lot of money to the Sundance Institute. Soros is financing the film Better This World which is about the left wing terrorists that plotted to kill republicans at the 2008 GOP convention. And with other money being either directly or indirectly funded to film projects it is no wonder why Hollywood has moved in a radically left political direction. And I personally blame people like Soros for why Hollywood no longer knows how to produce a good western, and why the symbols of American individualism, the cowboy, have been reduced in the minds of the public to drunken fools abusing Indians.

One of the best books I’ve ever read is The Frontiersman. This is something that every kid in grade school should have to read as part of their understanding of history. But, it doesn’t fit with the progressive platform, and is therefore not encouraged as reading material. Dances with Wolves, although a good movie is not a typical western, but does embrace the progressive platform. A book like The Frontiersman does not, so it is ignored by the media outlets, even though the book is a far superior novel, it will never be made into a film while progressives control the funding structure in Hollywood.

Soros recently donated 1 million dollars to Proposition 19 in California to legalize Marijuana use, and I found that absolutely appalling. Many of the talking points about being able to collect taxes off the legalized use, and cost savings of decriminalization were very similar to the campaign I was involved in with education reform in Ohio and that was terrible. So there is no question as to Soros motivations. Proposition 19 is another progressive platform icon, which thankfully failed.

So how do we combat people like Soros and his attempts to undermine American Culture? Well, you do it the way he’s done it, except you turn it back on them. Beck has done that to some extent. The money he has made off his books and various enterprises, he has spent on research into the kind of activity he’s been reporting. Money can flow in the other direction if people are willing to put their money where their mouth like Glenn Beck has done, and because of the urgency of the situation, I am too.

In 2004 I wrote a book called The Symposium of Justice. Starting on November 1st of this year, any profit I get from the sale of this book will go to reforms in education, which the teachers unions are against, and spend a great deal of money preventing. The connection between teacher unions and Soros is that they both spend their money on democratic candidates to implement their desires. So I plan to use the money generated by The Symposium of Justice to combat that influence.

If you’re looking for a hot new gift for Christmas or someone’s birthday, or to read for yourself, the profit I receive will go to a good cause and I can promise you I will create explosive results.

The book is available at Amazon.com or by request at your local book store. And remember, as is the motto of The Symposium of Justice, “Justice comes with the crack of a whip.”

As to Beck’s visit to Wilmington, I will be there for sure.  It’s practically just down the road for me.  I know Wilmington extremely well.  I missed 8/28 due to a wedding.  I won’t miss this one!

Rich Hoffman

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

www.overmanwarrior.com

TSA Panic: Rules put in place by cowards influenced by fear

It can be debated any number of ways regarding the TSA security screenings. It’s not important whether or not the security measures violate personal rights. It’s not important if the security screenings cross the line of personal privacy.

We know that the implementation of the machines was very profitable for George Soros and other like minded investors, and we know already that they don’t care about the rights of American citizens. He has virtually declared himself an enemy to our country through his actions and has undermined us internally with our own naïveté. That’s not important either, although you can see an interesting article with some insightful public reaction here.

Wonderful to see how people will sell their freedoms away for a slight profit which is a whole other social problem centering on devout human weakness.

What is important is the human tendency to over-react and panic under duress. Because TSA employees have had some highly published close calls, and it is well known that terrorists are poking at our security barriers to find a weakness, the tendency of the average human being is to over-react.

You see that type of behavior in your workplace. When something goes wrong, and whoever makes the mistake is questioned, it is typical of the guilty party to become animated and make promises that the mistake will never happen again. And what ensues is that the guilty party will then do many cosmetic improvements to make their job performance appear to be taking all measures possible to ensure that previous mistake won’t happen again. If it does, they can always proclaim that they did everything possible. So the over-reaction is simply about covering one’s own behind which is the real motive. Not safety.

Don’t be this guy. This is what Soros thinks you are.

So under the guise of “safety” people like former Homeland Security Michael Chertoff who is making money off the scanners, can make people’s fears into profit for themselves.

It is therefore our societies fault for being so cowardly, for allowing valor to flee from our culture and panic to replace it. While society pursues global safety, there will always be a terrorist element that greedy people like George Soros will ride the back of to profit off your fear. Then Soros will turn the money he’s made off your fear to erode our civilization. But that’s another issue all together.

It happens all the time. In fact, it would be an interesting study to see how much legislation has been implemented based solely on people’s fears, with no logical thought process at all.

What???????? Who are these people?????????????

The best quality to have is to always be cool under pressure. To keep your fears to yourself and under rational control, and to never, ever, ever overreact.

That’s how you sort out what’s true, and what’s false under pressure. And that is what is missing in the TSA scanner debate. The airline industry is afraid and trying to pass that panic off to the people that buy the tickets. And that is the conflict.

And the fact that such ability is vacant from our society, particularly our airline industry, is the most disconcerting element that has emerged from this debate. Our society has become panic stricken and weak as a result of surrendering personal valor to fear. And that is far worse than the violations of personal liberties, because personal freedom means nothing when society cowers under the threat of danger.

Rich Hoffman

www.overmanwarrior.com

My Contribution to Justice: Sales of The Symposium of Justice will go to Education PAC.

The Symposium Initiative.

The freedom fighter, Cliffhanger battles the assassin, R.L. Justice and his Dark Knights of Order as sinister plots unfold upon the seemingly unimportant town of Fort Seven Mile. Inspired by Cliffhanger’s writing and heroic actions council members, Mary Lawson, Misty Finnegan, and the gunsmith, Ben Carter plant the seeds of rebellion as powerful forces set their sights on a secret project called, “The Veil of Knowledge,” a form of mind control being conducted as an experiment soon to be unleashed upon the world.

Plot to The Symposium of Justice, 2004 Rich Hoffman

One thing that is hard to come up with in a campaign is money, especially in a tax initiative. People are reluctant or just can’t give especially when they don’t see any direct result from the money they’ve given.

When you have a situation like we have in Lakota, and now that we’re talking about legislative movement where a very entrenched teachers union has invested millions of dollars lobbying to protect the initiatives that created the legislation that has embroiled itself in this whole education mess, it is apparent that money will be needed to take the fight even further.

If you look at just the idea of a third levy attempt within a year’s period of time, it will typically be the same three or four people that will give money to defeat the levy. And for them, the cost will be over three to four thousand each during that span, and that’s a lot of money for anybody.

Unlike the Pro Levy campaign, which has direct access to over 18,000 students and their parents through direct flyers, and many PTO organizations that contribute large sums of money, it is difficult to generate enough money to combat a tax initiative.

(How much did Lakota spend on the last levy attempt?  Check this out)

There is also an additional problem, it is apparent that virtually all school systems violate Ohio Revised Code 3315.07 (C)(1) which states:

Except as provided in division (C)(2) of this section, no board of education shall use public funds to support or oppose the passage of a school levy or bond issue or to compensate any school district employee for time spent on any activity intended to influence the outcome of a school levy or bond issue election.

What this basically says is that schools cannot use school resources to pass a levy. And what is happening is that virtually every school system openly violates this because prosecutors turn away from it. What is required for enforcement is a legal precedent to put the issue on the table, and that will cost money as well.

I personally don’t have the financial resources to continue to throw money at these issues, and even the most well off people that contribute to our campaigns can’t as well. It just doesn’t make economic sense. So what we need is a revenue stream, a fundraiser of some kind so we can fund the legal activities of fighting school levies and standing up to the politics that have built fortunes off education.

That puts my mind on a book I wrote back in 2004 called The Symposium of Justice, based loosely on timeless storybook heroes such as Zorro. The lead character and vigilante, Cliffhanger prevents the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in the book’s opening chapter and leaves behind the Symposium of Justice, a manifesto that includes Cliffhanger’s 10 rules that read like Moses’ Ten Commandments, and a series of stories that are intended to justify his vigilante behavior.

Henceforth, the main character becomes an avenger of evil while walking the thin line of the law. The local authorities and criminals alike come to despise him.

Woven into the novel are stories of political conspiracies, horror, romance, science fiction and a legal drama that are deliciously vivid in their depictions.

I was very happy to publish this book in 2004, and I accomplished what I set out to do, which was let the book teach my kids some things about life that I wanted them to know. Some of the things I wanted to teach them had more potency coming from a book then if I just sat down and told them. So writing the book helped me introduce them to some very complicated issues in the form of a story.  I knew the lessons would sink in, because they both did book reports for school on their dad’s book, which made them proud, and they therefore remembered the material because for a few months they were minor celebrities.

Further sales, although nice, and may contribute to a vacation fund, isn’t the most important thing in the world to me. This leads me to put the book to new use. Any future sales of The Symposium of Justice will go to add a PAC fund starting with the Lakota School Levy, and depending on how much money the book generates, extending to statewide education issues.
So what I’m saying is that starting on November 1st of 2010, I will donate all profit I would otherwise receive from sales coming from The Symposium of Justice and use that money to continue to fight education issues at Lakota and hopefully across the state of Ohio.

Using The Symposium of Justice as a fundraiser option at least gives the donor something back instead of having the feeling of contributing money and not getting anything back as a result, although, we will still take donations the traditional way at the NoLakotaLevy Website, emailing your intentions to NoLakota@roadrunner.com.

If you’re looking for something to read, or a gift to give at Christmas or somebody’s birthday, and you want to know that the money the author is making off the book is going to fight an important issue, then I will make that pledge now, and for the duration of time it takes to get the State of Ohio to fulfill its constitutional obligation, and so long as I continue to work with the original publisher which looks to continue well into the future, the profit I make will go straight to education reform issues.

The book is available at Amazon.com in a traditional format, or it can be purchased as a Kindle version for a much reduced price.   Click here to buy the book at Amazon.com

I wrote this book to bring a sense of justice to my kids in a world that seemed to be going mad at a young and impressionable age. It would give me a lot of pride to know that The Symposium of Justice could extend that influence to others not only in the written word, but also as a financial resource to combat education reform resistance.

The Symposium of Justice at Amazon.com

Rich Hoffman

www.overmanwarrior.com