PivotalEvent.com/blog

Personally I don’t like boxing as a sport. Sweaty men doing the same thing over and over just can’t hold my attention. I suppose to really enjoy the sport you have to gain some inner connection with one of the contenders. If you are rooting for “your” man then maybe you can fear for him in those solid right jabs or cheer him on in those tiring 11^th rounds. It worked to draw me in at the movie Rocky. I truthfully wanted Mr. Balboa to win.

Now if you could pick someone who just needed some sense knocked into them and you could pick the person who should be the one to do that sensible knocking. Then it would be a spectacle worth seeing. Let’s say, put Naomi Klein in the ring with Nancy Pelosi or even better let Naomi show Nancy a little shock doctrine right over the podium at one of those press conferences. A little soft glove to the noggin would give those reporters a real story.

Maybe like Rocky IV we could pull George W. Bush out of retirement and see if Osama bin Laden will come out of hiding for a “Fight of the century” winner takes all rematch. If Osama wins we pull out of Afghanistan. If George wins all terrorists learn to love their neighbor. And just like some Hollywood feel good sports movie; when they’re both tired and about to give up we get that slow motion seen where gloves impact cheeks, spit and mouth guards go flying, they both drop to the floor in some miraculous double TKO. The wars and fear are over. Daat . .dada daata . .da . dada . . Danna dann da. . danna daa. . . danna daa . . The music plays and we all put our arms up in a big V.

 Finally, we have people with a little more sense and resolution of the world’s problems all by the use of soft red gloves and a little dancing. Maybe I could learn to like boxing.

Some of those who know me and now many who are reading my book Pivotal Event – A Course Correction for Mankind can’t quite figure out my political inclination. The book especially presents some ideas that you would think might lean to a Democrat’s point of view and another view might lean toward that of the Republicans.  In real world actuality, I am like many Americans and am getting disgusted by the actions (and therefore must assume this must be their ideology) of both parties.

My parents leaned toward that philosophy of the Republican Party, but that was the days of a well (at least better) defined set of values.  Very vividly, I remember listening to Ronald Regan giving his “Constitutional Minutes” radio shorts each morning. In fact, I think they impacted my life and set me to thinking at an early age. I still admire the way President Reagan executed most of his policies, but even that cannot lock me into saying that I am a diehard Republican. The George Bushes in a great part where the undoing my “republican” view of policy handling. So now we have that; I don’t consider myself a Republican.

Bill Clinton, on the other hand, began the undoing of my positive view of the Democrat’s one strength, that of wanting to lift man’s social condition. And now President Obama is nailing the coffin closed on any possible thought that I might have that the Party still has a dream left of lifting man’s social condition. And yes, I know, that all he seems to do is make “changes” that outwardly look as if to help us all, but every change is laced with the trappings of eventual slavery to government. (In honesty I cannot place all the blame on President Obama. The Democratic leaders of Congress seem to be in full compliance with our current social “deform”).  This is not the social condition I want for man! So, again you may have rightly assumed; I don’t consider myself a Democrat.

So, what am I?

I believe in isolationism when it comes to our wars. Bring the troops home, but bigger defense budgets.
I believe in free health care for the poor – Provided by the community; NOT the Government.
I believe in Local not federal! States should control, not an out of touch Washington elite.
I believe that capitalism is good, but that 70% of capitalists are greedy scumbags hording their riches.
I believe that we should all be wealthy capitalist helping others of our own free will.
I believe that we MUST preserve our environment, but that global warming has grown into a scam.
I believe that greed and big business (and unions) is destroying our strength which is small business.
I believe that we should return to a gold standard and abolish the Federal Reserve.
I believe the above three items (and many others) could be solved by educating Americans.
I believe that if we put as much effort into planning a new tax system (and economic plan) as we spent on developing the atom bomb under the Manhattan project we could enter a new era of civilization.
I believe that politicians could be pulled randomly from the public and do a better job.
I believe that most of us are pretty good people.
And I believe a whole lot more, but I must leave some mystique as to my political inclination for another article.

War Not Love

Okay, here it is. I love tanks, rockets, high powered 50 caliber sniper rifles and warheads that can punch through 12 feet of concrete. Am I bad to like these things? No, I am a man. And there are a lot of years of cellular memory in my blood; years and years of ancestors hunting and fighting.  I can overcome all that lineage. Overcome it yes, but not forget it.

I have this philosophy that if I were accosted in a dark alley I would willingly give up everything. You want my wallet, here it is. You want my clothes, I’ll walk home naked. You want to kill me, send me home to my maker. If however, I am with other people in that alley, or the doers of evil come into my home, assailants beware. I will not let the innocent be abused. Certainly I will still act with calm reason, but in that moment I consider myself having been allotted the roll of protector and defender. If this means I have to take the bullet, or turn and do a “Rambo” on some vile criminal, so be it.

This, in my opinion, is the same philosophy that we should have with our military. You don’t engage the foe unless you have to, and as the last resort.  If it comes down to war there must be FULL commitment. In fact, I think there should be some rules in defining our involvement in any war. 1. Are we defending our home? 2. Are we willing to take all survivors captive; or destroy every man woman and child? 3. Are we willing to annex conquered land as our own and therefore defend it as well; and as part of that annexing, move many of our citizens there to live?

If we are going to engage in a war I want to see women and children building munitions, private airplanes commandeered for the air force, factories running full time building bombs, tractors heaping bulwarks around our cities and national parks turned into re-education camps for prisoners.

Sound a bit drastic? It is, but so is death for soldiers who are being used for the political or financial gain of a few.

Now some may think this ideology is un-American and unsupportive of our troops. To this I say “HOGWASH!”  What is un-American is to send soldiers into harm’s way and then limit their ability to fight. If you send troops into any engagement we should all be willing to participate in the fight ourselves. If I’m too old, draft my sons, take my car and melt it down to forge cannon, send me to a farm to raise food for the troops, have our school children past together balloon bombs or whatever it takes. This is a WAR!

So, do I support our troops? Yes!  A surge in Iraq or 120 new armored vehicles in Afghanistan is just Childs play compared to what should be committed to support our troops. If another president and congress decide to go to war anew, I say, send in 4-5 million troops; that would be a surge!  Give our troops 300,000 airplanes and personal armor; now that would be some fire power.  We need to quite milli-mousing around or quite creating wars. I vote quite creating wars!

Until something happens that requires us to fully commit to a war we should bring every troop home and build a defensive military. A military feared for its true strength the unity of the American people. We need to quite perusing dark alleys with our children in tow hoping for a fight.

The Trouble with Books

I guess book sales officially opened up yesterday, November 4^th 2009. I was visiting my father and a friend of his, who was visiting, heard me describe the book and produced $20 cash for the book on the spot. Luckily, he is willing to wait a few days to get his copy because it will be a few days before I actually have copies to deliver.

I have been engaged in this project now for 6 months. It took me only two months to put together the manuscript. I had most of the ideas and sources already in my head for years and getting them on paper was the short of the work. I will not say it was easy doing the original writing, but the real work in creating a book is taking the writing and making it into a bound book.

Of course the one thing that always makes things faster and easier is money. Money is something that has been stripped from my life for a short while these days. I think it is a test to see if I will persevere in this endeavor. Let me just say that my past source of income, “architectural design” has disappeared. When it seemed like that might have a small comeback the clients each somehow vaporized out of the market. Borrowing money to print the book seemed equally elusive.

There is a system called Print–on-demand wherein an author can have printed only enough books to fill the demand.  Great system if you really don’t need to make a profit on the sale of the book. If you want to write a children’s book and give it to your nephews, it is just the thing. I, on the other hand, need to make a profit from each book if for no other reason than to be able to print more books. So, thinks me, the print-on-demand printers must make a profit. Why not make my profit by being the print on demand publisher.

If you happen to know me personally you might know that I will often do things, or make things, to just get the job done or to have the experience.  And why should a book be any different. You need some furniture you make it, you need a car you build it, you need a book you print it. And so it came to me that it was time to become a professional publisher.

I had a few stipulations. I wanted the books to be hard bound and as mentioned before I had to be able to sell them for a profit. So began my quest to perfect the art of book bindery and the printing arts. It also takes a paper cutter big enough to cut a whole book in half, so I built one of those as well. It takes a lot of paper and so my office is shrinking. And as this story is describing it takes a bit of tenacity and so I am gaining that as well.

I don’t plan on building every copy of “Pivotal Event” by hand. When it gets into the thousands it would consume me. I will, when this hand bound effort starts to produce some cash for me, pay a print house to take the load. In the mean time it puts me in a position to learn and perfect the art, perfect the book as well and put some momentum into marketing myself and my message. The message of which I hope you are interested in hearing. Order a copy and see if the words are true and if the book is square.

The I P Award. Go for the money or the soul?

I called for a lot of quotes early on when I wanted to publish the book Pivotal Event. I am almost certain those quotes somehow got my e-mail sold off to everyone and anyone who wanted to target market authors. That’s Okay, I enjoy collecting information on marketing and publicity for my book and I just open up my e-mail and there it is waiting for me.

Recently I received an invitation to enter the book as a nomination for the 2010 Independent Publishers Book Award. Awards to an author are like job interviews. You know you are up against other well qualified individuals and the winner gets all the recognition. Not only do you get to reap the rewards financially, but you get to add it to your resume as well.

So, I am thinking, Yah, I should send in a copy, then as I am reading through the categories: Current Events, Education/academic, Environment/ecology, “what’s this?” Erotica?

Fear struck me. I might end up sharing the podium, in front of thousands, with the best writer of pornography! Okay, so it is a bit egotistical to think that I would win the award in the first place and maybe the best of pornography is on the internet and there will be no award for erotica at this event, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

That is what the book Pivotal Event is about; drawing the line. Our history has been just the opposite, thousands of years of individuals saying “I will get my gain and that man can get his gain as well, even if he is exploiting women and turning others to a life of sin and degradation.”  The book is also about the idea that we will not get rid of the erotica and every other vice of man by legislating them away, nor crucifying the offender. We will after the Pivotal Event (or we can work on it now) deplete the whoremongers of their substance. 

With over 70 categories and thousands of authors the Independent Publisher Awards have some clout in the community.  The Jenkins Group (presenters of the award) and the thousands of authors who will submit nominations will in turn be saying “it’s all about the money and the books”. I on the other hand am saying it’s all about the soul and stepping into a new millennia.   I wish I had a mailing list for all the authors who contribute to the award. I bet a few thousand withdrawals would end erotica catagory of the awards and build a better world.

Would I give 26 years alone to know God

There are 3 copies of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe in our home. One is always at my nightstand. I gave my son the middle name of Crusoe and I have a 30 foot dugout canoe. (okay, I’m stretching that a little, I don’t have the dugout canoe) Needless to say I think that Robinson Crusoe is a great religious treaties and my favorite novel. Luckily I can say I have 6 copies of the Bible, multiple copies of the Book of Mormon and rows of other religious books as well. On the book shelf, coming near the end of the row just outside of the religious section would be Ben Franklin’s The Art of Virtue and Michael Talbot’s The Holographic Universe. If our books perfectly transitioned from religion to philosophy and then on to fiction I would put Robinson Crusoe just this side of Ben’s lessons on virtue.

Every so many years I will pick Robinson Crusoe up again and skip through a section or read the whole book again. One day I would like to take it to Fiji and read it on a very quiet beach to intensify the experience. If you haven’t read the book I highly recommend it. Don’t read the book that every Hollywood movie portrays, read the book that shows the relationship Robinson develops with God.

Somehow the sadness of Robinson’s loneliness there on that island (that loneliness which is the part that brings him closer to God) makes me lament that a long quiet moment alone with God is so hard to come by in our busy and bustling world.

Inn Keepers or Lost Boys

I really don’t like dividing people into the two camps of liberals and conservatives. The dividing line between these two thoughts has blurred. It’s almost as difficult as finding dividing ideologies between Republicans and Democrats of today.

The real dividing line in political thought is between those who have an in depth understanding of history and the world and those who do not.

The first group I refer to as the Inn Keepers. These are old world inn keepers, the ones who sat you down at a thick wooden table, fed you a meal, drew your bath and readied your bed. They knew what was going on in the kingdom. They heard the news from all of the travelers that passed their door and they had validation from a thousand guests that had stayed the hundreds of days before and would learn more from hundreds of guests to come. They are wise folks that have come to know whose tales were true and whose tales were tales.

The second group I call “Lost Boys”. This is in reference to J. M. Barrie’s characters from the play Peter Pan, not the marauding gang of teenage vampires of the pop culture movie of the same name. (although there might be some of these in this group as well)

The Lost Boys got left behind in Kensington Gardens for to long and now they have been taken to Neverland. They are not bad, they are not wrong. Just like children you can’t condemn them for their actions because they just don’t know any better. Perhaps it is that they never grew up. Perhaps it is that “no lost boy is allowed to know anything that Peter doesn’t know.”

Now I said that you can’t fully blame them for what they do or their lack of knowledge, but still you had better beware of their actions. They are easily influenced by Peter Pan and Tinkerbelle. You might even get an arrow in the breast when jealous fairies put thoughts into their heads.

What are you, an Inn Keeper or a Lost Boy? I hope you’re surrounded by a bunch of savvy travelers and are not a Lost Boy influenced by the tinkling bells of the modern media.

And to set the record straight right from the beginning, although I used the term above in my title, I despise the use of the term “green.” It has un-entertainingly been over used and abused and shows a complete disrespect for the great and sustainable “brown” deserts.

That said, on with keeping the “brown” movement alive.

Oil is a filthy thing. We don’t like it floating in Prince William Sound and we don’t like it flowing onto the nice brown sands of the Kuwaiti desert. We should suck all the stuff out of the ground as soon as possible and put it in nice tight containers. And when we run out of containers start burning all we want. In a nice clean burning power station. Whether you believe in suppressed technology or not, I do, and we CAN build zero emission fossil fuel burning devices. (Details in another article) These devices may not fit in your micro car, so we will send that power to your home as electricity. You can put that electricity into a disgusting toxic supper weighty battery if you like. Just don’t come asking if you can bury it in my backyard when it starts to peeter out. I will be running my home and car on compressed air and fly wheels. My car and home will need a vast quantity of fiber reinforced plastics. So, please save some of those trillions and trillions of barrels of oil to make me some plastics.

I really like the look and feel of wood as well. It is also easy to shape and form.  In fact I am willing to pay a bit more for it if you would quite clear cutting as a logging practice. It just looks terrible.  I’m all for logging mind you, how else can I get my wood. While I’m complaining why don’t you chip up those slash piles rather than burn them. Why don’t you be more careful when you build roads? Try not to scar up the land as much and why don’t you just send those trees through the mill when they have Tree huggers chained to them. By the way I think you are doing a great job of developing engineered wood products from small trees. I think that is a smart direction.

Now if I might be allowed to indulge in one or two complaints for my State bureaucracy. Why don’t you loosen up on plumbing codes so we can create gray water recycling systems? And why won’t you see the light on composting sewage systems, is there really that great of fear in losing the monopoly on pumping poop?  We won’t take the joy from you right away we just need to have rural systems allowed so as it can generate more interest and more industry, industry that will develop the systems of the future that will eliminate the big ponds and trillions of gallons of flushing water.

And a final matter: We must build more green houses. When we pump out all the oil and store it in nice containers then we may as well have a place to put all those green house gasses as well. If we don’t do something quick we will have skipped past the global warming, with all of its great scare mongering and marketability, and be right back to another pending Ice age like they had in the 1950s.

Darwin and the Missing Atheists

I just took a journey through about 20 influential atheist’s biographies on Wikipedia. My attempt was to find 1 or 2 that had made some outright effort to publicly work against religion. From these short biographies and others that I have read a little more in-depth I can only find the communist leaders. Certainly there are a lot of notable and intelligent people from our past that subscribe to no religion and no God, but for the most part their comments where just a part of their lives and writings. Today is much the same. We have some intellectuals and some celebrities that like to be vocal about their no-belief, but most don’t go out of their way to cry foul or organize around their atheism. The only place I seem to find the uproarious atheists is on the web, trying to become notable and famous.

Some people that we tend to think exude atheism in fact said very little about it. Others have taken their influence and created more from it than was really there.   In fact Darwin knew the implications of his scientific theories, and upon the release of his treastis, felt in his words, that he “was about to confess to a Murder.”  He wasn’t releasing his finds for the purpose of putting down religion, but he knew it would be a source of leverage for those who would.

Religion is a steely beast. Not perhaps one with tough hide and scales, but one that heals quickly and has a great reservoir of blood. I’m grateful a good portion of that blood flows from this America where a most of the population remain steadfast in their belief of a creator. If that balance were to shift we would join a group of people who flounder for explanation of man’s purpose.

I like many scientists with religious faith have no problem with the mechanics of science and evolution. Maybe “In the beginning” and the time God called the 5 days of creation, was a period of millions of years set forth to prepare this planet for our arrival. Maybe he let species come and go in his process of giving the earth some variety. We don’t have problems with the theories of retracting toes, narrowing mandibulas or lengthening necks. We do have a problem with theories that eliminate the notion “In the image of God.” We claim creation. It is easy to find whole congregations of religious scientists who believe in the evolution of species, but it is difficult to find and atheist scientist who believes he was created by God, As silly as that seems to sound.

Since there is not much of real movement to create the rise of the atheist it seems strange that we should divide into two camps on the evolution subject. It is a waste of time to produce legislation to say yes or no to teaching evolution and or creation and skip them both. Let them be taught at home. Maybe we should focus instead on absolute sciences like quantum physics and brain function.