Obama, the first birther?

If one believes the report Obama himself was the first member of the birther movement.

Literary Agent advertises Obama as a Kenyan-born writer from 1991-2007

Obama himself admits to being born in Kenya – NEW STORY TODAY

Here is a short excerpt from the new story. I checked the original source which is linked to the piece. So far the link still works…

This report explains the context of the oft cited debate, between Obama and Keyes in the following Fall, in which Keyes faulted Obama for not being a “natural born citizen”, and in which Obama, by his quick retort, “So what? I am running for Illinois Senator, not the presidency”, self-admitted that he was not eligible for the office.

I’m just passing along the information, not a conclusion. Check out both reports and let me know what you think.

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Barack Obama and Rev. Wright

The Twitter-sphere is ablaze with angst about a possible Super Pac ad campaign linking Obama and Wright.

Some call it a “sneak attack” and the Obama campaign has challenged Mitt Romney to “show leadership” by preventing the Pac from putting together the ad campaign. The left has characterized such tactics as racism run amok and the nasty right trying to tear down an innocent Barack Obama by tying him to black nationalist propaganda and Wright’s hateful comments about the USA that made headlines in 2008.

WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL?

How can it possibly be a sneak attack to simply communicate what Mr. Obama published in his own words, without coercion, in his book Dreams From My Father? How is it racist to share Obama’s own recollection of the day he met Rev. Wright for the first time? How would Romney exhibit leadership by hiding the truth again? Obama doesn’t want leadership from Romney, he wants the same capitulation he got from McCain. Obama wants to use a tool he learned from Wright – intimidation.

Obama’s Trial Balloon Finally Sprung a Leak

Barack Obama laid out who he is and what he thinks in his two books. I read them both before the 2008 election. It was clear that they were sent out to test the water. If no outcry and outrage resulted then he was as good as in the Oval Office. My voice is far too insignificant to count and John McCain was too intimidated by false claims of racism to speak the truth.

Obama won in 2008. Finally someone with a bigger stage than mine has actually read the President’s bestsellers. And the left is screaming.

Obama – “Black Nationalist Activism as important as the Resurrection of Jesus Christ”

All outraged Obama supporters, please address your complaints to the Oval Office.  The basis of the relationship between Obama and Wright was established the day they met. Obama said so. Read the book.  Obama knew DAY ONE that black nationalist activism (and the specific rejection of pacifism) was as important to Wright’s church as the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. His words, not mine.

With full knowledge of Rev. Wright’s views Barack Obama chose to join his church and to remain for the next twenty years. If you doubt it, READ THE BOOK.

Everyone who is legitimately outraged about linking Obama and Wright needs to seek the truth, not more Obama campaign propaganda. I wish everyone else who is hurling nasty accusations at the folks who want to see him soundly defeated in November (me included) would just shut up be quiet. (Sorry, Mom.)

Are you ready? Here is the phrase I have purposefully refrained from using in any piece that refers to Barack Obama. Leftist outrage in this case is another illustration of “the pot calling the kettle black.”  Obama is nothing if he is not a hypocrite. How is it possible to suggest that linking Obama and Wright is anything other than a simple fact? READ THE BOOK.

Even in my disgust I try to be fair. The left and the right often use the same tactics. They are both frequently hypocritical and unworthy. But this particular issue is just too irritating to let go without calling out the lie for what it is.

Contribute to the Romney Campaign – Buy Obama’s Book

Support Mitt Romney, buy Dreams From My Father or check out the original hard back from the library. It is possible the paperback version was revised to remove some particularly troubling words. Obama may get more royalties but you will read the truth for yourself.

Barack Obama supported and believed in the ministry of Rev. Wright. He committed his wife and children to that doctrine. To say otherwise is just words, just another lie. His lie, not that of the folks who hope to send him back to Chicago.

If you are a Christian, regardless of your race, do you really share Obama’s belief that black nationalist activism is as important as the resurrection of Jesus Christ? I’d be pretty honest about answering this question because the One who matters already knows the answer. But don’t believe me – READ THE BOOK.

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Gerald Ford

The official White House website includes brief biographies of all past presidents written by Michael Beschloss and Hugh Sidey.  From Grover Cleveland to George W. Bush, Mr. Obama has inserted himself into each and every biography of past presidents whether living or dead with the sole exception of Gerald Ford.

How much is the Obama campaign paying for each click to a presidential bio that advertises his contribution to the nation? Not only is this historical intrusion crass, but each “Did you know?” Obama campaign section is both fact and propaganda.  As is becoming the norm, Mr. Obama has set a new low in presidential firsts.

MK Daspit left this note on a Commentary Magazine article about the biographical enhancements:

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning-the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. President Obama saw this and said “I was totally going to do it in 5 days and get in two days of golf, but whatever.”

Each US president is linked to every other in a historical context, but Mr. Obama made sure that the final entry in the bio of every modern president is a bit about himself.

• If you look up John F. Kennedy the last piece of material is about Barack Obama.
• If you look up Franklin D. Roosevelt the last factoid is about Barack Obama.
• Read about Dwight D. Eisenhower and the last piece of information will be about Barack Obama.
• What is the final thought on Richard Nixon’s bio? Barack Obama.
• Bill Clinton didn’t get the last word either. The last words went to Barack Obama.
• Who gets the final billing on the bio of Harry Truman? Yep, Barack Obama.

I’ll quit there. Pick any president since 1923 and you will find an Obama pitch attached – except for President Ford. Was this intentional or an oversight? Perhaps Mr. Obama’s staff will read this and rectify that omission.

How can such a smart guy like Barack Obama fail to see how cheesy this looks?

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Baby or Bunny - Who decides?

Once you recognize that a whole bunch of folks base truth on personal opinion and deny the existence of any absolute there is nothing left to debate. It is simply time to draw a line in the sand and decide which side you will defend.

Whatever happened to, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”? In 2012 the existence of God is little more than an historical footnote and Personal Opinion is quickly becoming the new law of the land. Napoleon Hill’s affirmation that “What a man can conceive and believe he can achieve” has transferred the authority for defining truth from the Creator to one of the creations.

Recent upheavals in matters of faith, society, and medicine prove the truth of Hill’s mantra. Our daily lives testify to the normalization of things once thought to be impossible. The introduction of the computer laid a very broad foundation for the new Tower of Babel that looms over everything from space travel to pet identification.

One Simple Answer to All of Life’s Great Questions

• What makes a person male or female?
• What is the definition of a mother? A father?
• What is right?
• What is truth?
• What/who is God?
• What is marriage?
• What is the difference between a beloved child and a lump of worthless tissue?

The answer to each questions is the same, “Whatever I want it to be.”  Which also succinctly defines anarchy.

Academic Ignorance and Social Arrogance

Abortion and gay rights are two hot topics that  prove the ignorance and arrogance of the very people who claim intellectual authority over weak-minded traditionalists (read Christians).

What decides whether the beating heart in a woman’s uterus is a beloved child or a worthless lump of flesh? Judgement depends on the mother’s personal opinion. I am still amazed when abortion proponents defend their position based on property rights or freedom from male tyranny. Do they recognize that their argument suggests that women are too stupid to make the connection between sexual activity and pregnancy?

Why world would you trust a multi-billion dollar business to any man or  woman who can’t grasp the cause and effect of sex?  If  one is able to grasp basic biological principles then the lives of unborn children obviously have no inherent value.

Is a little consistency too much to ask? How do you justify grieving with Judy who miscarried while celebrating with Jill who just aborted? Personal opinion suggests the two cases are not at all similar. Judy thought she was carrying a baby and Jill was simply freed from her parasite.

Every pregnant woman must choose to (1) carry her child, (2) murder her child, or (3) eliminate an irritating parasite.  Perhaps pregnancy tests should read “host” and “parasite” until the magical transformation to “baby” occurs on some legally determined date of gestation.

Gender Re identification

“It is Monday, I am female. It is Tuesday, I am male. It is Saturday, I am female.”

The previous sentence is ludicrous. So is the idea that God got it wrong and that personal opinion defines gender. When I was a young adult many jokes started with the premise that a man walked into a bar and thought he was a duck. Everyone knew that the guy had a problem.Today he might chair diversity studies in a university.

Would you trust your investments to a guy who thinks his 8-pound tabby cat is an elephant? One might argue that the difference between a feline and a pachyderm is so great that no sane person would confuse them. Not so long ago the difference between male and female was just as significant. If personal opinion is truly the deciding factor, then have the courage of your convictions and write the guy that feeds his elephant Tender Vittles a check.

Gender is not an opinion but a biological fact. Gender does not define or limit who you are but which sex you are. A man or woman might conceive of changing genders and believe it to be possible. But the achievement of gender re-identification is based solely upon personal opinion.

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Time's Breast-Feeding Cover? Not on this site.

How disturbing is the latest cover of Time magazine with a half-grown kid sucking breast milk while peering slyly at the photographer capturing the image for eternity?

All three stories have a common theme, enough is never enough. No matter what the topic or issue, humans always want to go just a little further, try to get just a bit more, establish lower lows, and lobby for greater freedom with tighter constraints. (I know, that sentence was contradictory – but accurate.)

Massachusetts is banning bake sales because parents can’t be trusted to make food choices for their children yet the Time cover story insists that breast feeding indefinitely is a great food choice.  Do we see any hypocrisy with those competing arguments?

Highlights of Breast-Feeding and Attachment Parenting Problems

• This woman is “Mom enough” to use her son to build her blogging career. Pity the poor child when he’s fourteen, thirty-four, or sixty-four and still attached to Mama.
• Mama Jamie is front and center with this twisted image of parental attachment. Do the editors at Time and the “guru doctor” advancing this stuff really intend to equate parental attachment with physically locking on? Guess adoptive parents can rule out attachment as can mothers who cannot breast feed for other reasons. And guys, I guess this is one more nail in the coffin of the need for fathers.
• Since we’re on the subject of unsettling images of parental “attachment”, where is Dad in the story? Stay-at-home Mama has two kids and I did not find one reference to Dad in more than a dozen articles I pulled up before writing this post. How are children supposed to physically attach to Dad in this scenario?
• Supporters (just using that word in this context makes me cringe) insist that standing your kid on a chair to slurp breast milk for the world to see is a completely natural process. Right and Wrong. Nature intended for one offspring to nurse until the next comes along or until weaned. In situations where there is no food available a woman may nurse a child far longer than intended to keep it alive. If Jamie is “Mom enough” to expose her child to this notoriety why isn’t she mom enough to put proper food on the table? And again, where’s Dad?
• Breast milk loses its nutritive value after a while. By the time a kid is nearly four years old the milk supply is nothing more than a prop. (No pun intended.) And how many times has Mama said, “No breast for you unless you shape up young man!” Don’t send hate mail, I have personally witnessed the threat of withholding “attachment” by more than one mother speaking to an older child.

I had a friend who breast fed her kids until they went to kindergarten. She didn’t potty train them either. She figured once they were embarrassed in school they’d wean and potty train themselves. At least she didn’t ask anyone to watch. Oh yes, and after all that parental attachment Dad finally left. I don’t know what led to that divorce, I’m just still wondering where Mr. Mom Enough is hiding. Everything else is up front and center on the cover of Time.

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Christian Politics

I made it through the primary, earned 60,000 votes in the general, but lost to the son of a well-known billionaire that President Obama just can’t stop talking about. Like the evil in Pandora’s Box, once you open the lid of politics you can never go back to being blissfully ignorant.

Over the past couple of years I’ve written articles about political and social topics to present the truth when the media would not, or to offer opinion and commentary when the conversation lost touch with reality. In the past week politics has assumed a seat at our table. How did that happen? I don’t DO politics anymore.

Politics is Personal

There is nothing more personal than politics. In 2010 a district court judge left mid-term. After reviewing the applicants, the Governor of Texas appointed a man I knew from Rotary. Before his investiture I asked him why he wanted to be a judge. His list of credentials was so long and impressive it overwhelmed me. I simply wanted to know what his motivation was to wield that gavel. Since that time we have become friends in addition to fellow Rotarians.

There are three reasons why someone seeks elective office. Only one deserves your vote. Some folks want to feed their ego or pocketbook and seek office as a way to fill a deficit in ability or self-esteem. They don’t see it that way, of course, but if you sift down all the way to the heart of the matter it’s true. The second reason for seeking office is because you need the job. That kind of ties back to the first but the reasons may differ greatly when the pressure of the campaign reveals the true character of the candidate.

The third, and only reason I would vote for someone is their commitment to serve. I ran for office because I had exhausted every other option to correct the wrongs of local government. I never wanted to be in elective office and had NO DESIRE to be in politics. As a small business owner I didn’t need the drain on my time and resources of politics. After the results came in on election night I breathed a sigh of relief and went out and bought a horse.

Politics is the Ultimate Temptation

As election season came around this year I was surprised to learn that another member of my Rotary club intended to challenge the appointed judge. I have a photo on my phone of this man and his son the day he visited Rotary. This fine son had just returned from active duty overseas and Dad beamed with well-deserved pride. It was a moment I will treasure.

Both candidates profess relationship with Jesus Christ and say they walk in His precepts.

Within a couple of months the battle lines were drawn. Well, others were drawing them, but I wasn’t about to get into that fight. That’s not my deal. I remained cheerfully detached – until last week. I was reminded of just how nasty politics is and how the temptations presented draw good folks into bad behavior.

There are four qualified guys running for the open commissioner seat in my area.  I knew nothing about three of them so my husband and I went to the local candidate forum. That’s when it happened.

He said, He said… but who’s telling the truth?

A few days earlier we received a campaign letter from the challenger. I knew enough of the history of both guys to know that the “facts” presented in the letter were slanted and not worthy of the man I knew.  At the forum that evening the current judge swayed to the negative and gave a list of “facts” about his opponent that were troubling if true. My friend’s delivery was completely out of character.

God, Country, Texas

I spoke with both candidates that evening after the forum; the challenger in the parking lot and the present judge by telephone. My concerns were (1) what really motivated the challenger to run, (2) what caused the present judge to go negative, and (3) in addition to the glass half full – glass half empty rhetoric I wanted to know the truth of the facts material to my choice of a judge. Not only did I want the truth but I wanted to know who mis-represented it. After all, this is an election for a judge who will preside over the most serious and complicated cases in our district.

The Rumor Mill and Christian Faith

There’s no need to go into the details here. I’m writing this piece for others who may begin to feel the sticky stinky dirt of the political process adhering to their sandals. As is my habit, when I have a question I go to the source and ask. Preachers, politicians, seminar presenters, etc. – no one is safe. I ask. When I say I’m a simple person you can take that to the bank.

The basic qualifications of the challenger were addressed at the forum. The answers given by the candidates were mutually exclusive. Only one spoke truthfully. But, which one? After researching the issue myself I found nothing to support the challenger’s claim. So, I called his campaign/law office. This is politics and I am well aware of how facts are stretched and massaged past recognition. The challenger made a specific reference and I asked for the details (which were a public record I couldn’t find.) When I spoke to his representative I specifically said I did not want to jump to any conclusions without asking the question directly. So, I was asking.

How did I get into politics again? All I wanted was the truth. Truth is good, especially when the office in question is district judge!

After repeated attempts to get the information from the challenger the promised email has not arrived and my calls have not been returned. The story actually gets far more involved and includes one of our state representatives. But, that rabbit hole isn’t relevant to this post except that the rumor mill is still grinding.

When you don’t know what to do, pray.

Last night we attended another candidate forum. I visited with my friend the judge the day before to see where his head was at. My concern wasn’t about the election but about my friend. I prayed before I spoke with him and was comforted by the tone and content of our conversation. My friend’s message at the forum was powerful, positive, and passionate.

Rumors and gossip only have power if we allow it. Before leaving for the forum I became aware of new rumor. So, I sat down in my chair and prayed again. I prayed the same prayer for both candidates and their families. As I tried to nail down exactly what I was praying for this scripture came to mind. My spirit was settled and all matters resolved.

Psalm 15 – The Character of Those Who May Dwell With the Lord

Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

 He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the truth in his heart;
He who does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;
In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the Lord;
He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

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Motivation

Goals and plans fail because we are either unable to do what must be done to succeed or we are unwilling to do what is necessary to cross the finish line.

“As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.” – Donald Trump

Once upon a time there was a limitation on the speed at which a man could travel based upon his physiology and conditioning. He could run only as fast as his body permitted. At least that’s what he thought. He was surprised that he could run even faster when he felt the hot breath of a saber tooth tiger on his back. That was the first time the concept of motivation entered the equation of what is possible.

If there are limitations to what is possible in relationship with a horse, the speed of a land vehicle, the amount of weight an athlete can lift or pull, or the extent of communion with God, we have yet to find it. So far all limits are self-imposed because we are satisfied or believe nothing more is possible.

Satisfaction kills Motivation

If you are satisfied with your weight you have no reason to try to gain or lose. If you are satisfied with your income you will only do what is necessary to maintain it. If all you care about is “getting by” then all you will ever do is get by.

Most folks who complain that “I never got a break” are the same people who never tried to find even a tiny crack in the obstacle that prevents them from achieving more. They don’t try and they don’t succeed. Usually there isn’t even a specific goal in mind when they moan about the unfairness of life. They just didn’t wake up one morning richer, prettier, or famous.

People who “never get a break” are usually satisfied with their status quo. Sure, they’d like more, but are not motivated to achieve more. Well, some buy lottery tickets then grouse when they don’t become instant millionaires because “I never get a break.”

Somebody said that it can’t be done

There are three basic reactions to the statement.  “You can’t do that.”

1. “I don’t care.” – No motivation and no desire. That’s the end of the conversation.
2. “You’re probably right.” – That means it’s not worth the effort to try and your opinion in a good excuse not to try.
3. “Maybe so but I’m going to try anyway.” -  This is where what was impossible often becomes reality.

If you are not satisfied with your circumstances what are you doing to change them? A shameful percentage of the American public is not motivated to change their own circumstances by effort and ingenuity. Instead many organize into one pitiful body that chants, “I never got a break!”

The saber tooth tiger either motivated the human running from it or ate him. That basic human drive to save one’s self has been so watered down by the crutch of an enabling social system that men and women don’t even recognize the concept of motivation. It isn’t a saber tooth tiger eating them today, but a bloated government that kills that which makes a human able to do the impossible.

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done ~  by Edgar A. Guest.

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But, he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one has done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That “couldn’t be done,” and you’ll do it.

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All Business is Personal

After my first business book was published in 1989 I started shopping a second title, All Business is Personal. Simon and Schuster was reviewing the proposal when I had an abrupt career change and left the board room for the barn. End of project.

The simple truth I hoped to communicate in All Business is Personal is that effective marketing is to individuals and not statistically defined groups. Whether the buying decision is for a stick of gum or a fleet of company cars, there will be some one who will approve the purchase order. That one person is the focus of successful marketing.  The simple truth of relational marketing has not changed one iota since 1989.

Authors quickly learn that selling a book is far more difficult than writing a book. Once upon a time I was a business consultant with an emphasis in marketing. Center of Influence (COI), or relationship marketing is an old concept that is becoming more and more relevant in the online world we live in.

Center of Influence Marketing

Simply put, COI is the process of identifying and targeting the people whom others look to for information, answers, and opinions. We live in a tribal society of sorts, where folks listen to the same music their friends do, read the same books as their peers, and share similar belief systems and spiritual leaders.

If you haven’t noticed the increase in tattoos you must be legally blind. Gender, age, and economic status appear to be irrelevant. Tattoos are the in thing. Why? Because the folks a man, woman, boy, or girl hang with or wish to emulate have tattoos. Skin art isn’t an expression of individuality but the desire to join the “tribe.

Market Your Book to Real People Not a Nameless Faceless Audience

The mechanism of Center of Influence marketing is simple. This is the place where I remind you that ‘simple’ is not synonymous with ‘easy.’

• List the characteristics of one person who would most benefit from your book. Describe them in the most detail possible as if they were the protagonist in your new novel.
• Research to determine who that one person (by name or description) would most likely look to for advice, information, and truth. Who would they trust? Which tribe do they belong to or aspire to?
• Make a list of the folks (real people now) who are at the center of tribal influence.
• Personally approach those people with an introduction, the offer of a review copy of your book, a meeting, or some type of further contact to at least get on their radar. If you don’t know the person establish a beginning and make it personal.

What Not to Do When Contacting Center of Influence Prospects

“I love you and want to marry you. I want to raise children with you and grow old together.” – a note addressed to Occupant

Relationship marketing using generic terms and targeting is just as obvious and doomed to fail as a pledge of lifetime fidelity to Occupant. Social media only works when it is personal.

• Don’t be impersonal. Learn about your COI target and his or her “tribe.” Do enough research to know why others look to them. Make your approach personal and relevant.
• DO NOT send out a blanket email or letter to “Dear Center of Influence”
• All Business if Personal. Ignore this truth you may as well quit now and use your books as fuel for toasting marshmallows. You must earn the opportunity to get a hearing with each Center of Influence unless you already have an established relationship.

The next step will determine the success of your book. Use your new relationship with each COI leader to get a review, speaking opportunity, or invitation to do an article for their blog, newsletter, or other media or group outlet. If the COI loves your book make it easy for them to share that discovery with the members of their tribe. If a COI does not love your book, ask why. Feedback from a tribal leader is a priceless gift for the purpose of refining your marketing plan.

Creativity is essential to writing a great book and equally necessary to market it successfully. If you have any questions please ask. I would be pleased to help you in any way I can.

Now go out there and find the movers and shakers who can carry your message to their tribes!

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National leaders treat us like dogs.

It doesn’t matter if you’re training dogs, raising children, schooling horses, or developing social and economic policy.

Evidence of National Ignorance

Two facts are glaringly obvious to anyone who knows the slightest thing about being a leader.

1. Leaders in government, education, and faith missed the first day of class in Psychology 101. They are ignorant of the basic relationship between rewards and results.
2. People who support these relationally illiterate leaders are ignorant themselves. They continue to reward bad behavior without knowing that they will only get more of the same.

To be fair, there may be an exception to my conclusion about wide-spread ignorance. These same leaders may be lying to us and are actually rewarding the very things they say they are trying to eliminate.

PROPAGANDA – What lies behind us and lies before us are small matters compared to what lies right to our faces.

You Get More of What You Reward

Pavlov was one of the first researchers to study the principle we know today as operant conditioning. Simply put, operant conditioning uses reinforcement or reward to increase the incidence of desired behavior and the use of punishment (dis-incentives) to reduce the incidence of undesirable behavior.

During recent decades there has been a huge increase in funding for public education, health care, and welfare programs of so many types it would take a book to list them. Pouring more money into a problem often equates with legitimizing the issue and accepting responsibility for the problem itself.

We have gotten more of what has been rewarded. Public school performance is at an all time low. More people are on food stamps and unemployment than at any other time in history. The very use of the word entitlement rewards sloth, indolence, and poor leadership.

Nearly half of the population in the USA depends on money from the government. Why? Because the government rewards dependence in order to get more power over the population. The only other explanation is ignorance.

BAILOUTS – From each according to his ability, to each according to his lack thereof.

The President of the United States is treating you like a  dog

President Obama isn’t the only leader who treats us like dogs. His campaign for reelection is founded on the principle of operant conditioning. If you properly interpret the speech of many politicians, union leaders, and preachers, you will hear something more akin to a dog trainer.

“C’mon boy. C’mon girl… sit up… sit up… speak!  There you go… want another cookie?  Speak!  Good boy… good girl. Okay, now lie down. Lie down. If you want another cookie you’re going to have to lie down…. there you go. Yummm.”

Whether ignorant or diabolical, our national leadership must go. Responsibility and accountability must be sent back down the food chain from the federal level to the states; from the state to the precinct; from the pulpit to the household; and from the public to the individual.

I was a successful horse trainer for decades. My horses and my dogs do not beg for cookies. I give them treats because I love them. I have too much respect for them to reduce them to begging. To do so would say more about me than about them.

Nothing has changed in equine or human personalities. Science has repeatedly proven the relationship between reward and behavior. Quit being ignorant unless you like sloth, indolence, and begging for a cookie.

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Read more about worthy leadership in Amazing Grays, Amazing Grace. Click link here to visit Lynn Baber’s Amazon author page.

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Cake Recipe and National Crisis

The cliche about not seeing the forest for the trees is as true in 2012 as it ever was. It appears to be true that direct attempts to analyze the social and economic crisis facing our nation produces  a deafening din of disagreement so quickly it is impossible to communicate with one another.

Let’s use the process of baking a cake as a metaphor to maybe, just maybe, transform useless angry outbursts and table-tennis exchanges of blame and criticism into more serious and constructive discussions.

Critical Balance of Common Ingredients

Cake recipes are fairly standard in both the type and proportion of ingredients that make their way into the mixing bowl. Whether chocolate or coconut, the basic cake recipe remains the same.  The usual cake recipe includes sugar, butter, flour, eggs, milk, baking powder and flavoring.

When baked according to a proven recipe the cake is properly risen, balanced, and delicious. Who doesn’t enjoy a great piece of cake? Some like corner pieces to get more frosting while others will prefer their piece plain and perfect. Regardless of personal preferences the cake is enjoyed by everyone. (This paragraph was easy to write but I bet I couldn’t say it.)

Nations also have a basic list of common and necessary ingredients to produce healthy populations and economies.

Multi-Purpose Ingredients

Each cake ingredient is unique and has a purpose apart from the cake recipe. Eggs are great scrambled and for producing more chickens. Sugar is a necessity in the south for making Sweet Tea. Flour makes plain bread and is also used to coat the baking dish so the cake won’t stick. Milk is a basic of life. Every mammalian mother produces it.

Combine all these ingredients that have a life apart and you can produce a cake. Each one has utility in addition to the cake but you must include them to make a cake.

A successful cake depends on the critical balance of ingredients. Trying to include equal parts of each leads to disaster. If you add equal parts flour and salt you produce something for cattle to lick. Too little baking powder and the cake will refuse to rise producing nothing but an inedible doorstop.

Special Interests Collapse both Cakes and Nations

Every ingredient has its own special interest lobby. Flour promotes flour. Sugar promotes sugar. Milk seeks to elevate milk. Each interest must be represented in the mixing bowl within very strict limitations and proportions to produce a cake and not compost material.

There is an endless list of special interests who seek representation in the cake mixing bowl. They all want to add their own unique contribution to the batter. What about the lobbies for:

• Herbicides
• Jalapenos
• Grass Seed
• Rubber
• Concrete
• Fertilizer

There is certainly value in each of these things. However, if the baker agrees to add any of them to the cake mix the product will completely change (jalapenos), be inedible (concrete), or will be a silent killer (weed kill.)

Distractions Kill Cakes and Nations

There’s nothing wrong with brainstorming ideas for minor changes to the cake recipe. But there is only a limited variance possible in the types and proportions of ingredients used before the cake is completely transformed into something else. Proponents of change promise a bigger cake while opponents warn against the cake becoming fertilizer.

If the lobbyists for salt and milk got together and began blasting each other over a difference in the color of the mixing bowl the cake batter will never be made or will spoil before getting into the oven. Spending scarce resources on research to determine if the cake batter from a red mixing bowl differs from the batter combined in a yellow mixing bowl is stupid on its face. Yet, the special interest group for milk research might demand it if the baker threatens to reduce the amount of milk in the batter.

Our National Cake is in Jeopardy

If the special interests don’t stop their stupid bickering the whole cake will be lost or will be transformed into something without benefit to anyone. If you want cake then you must support a baker who knows what and how much of each ingredient to use. Maybe the cake won’t be the exact flavor you prefer, but at least it will serve the purpose.

Elect someone who can only talk about how delicious a cake tastes or how to create a pretty frosted rose for decoration and you become part of the noisy problem.

Is the American Public that stupid?

Balance. Basics. Restraint. Cake recipes are very sensitive. You can eat meat anywhere on the continuum from raw to shoe leather. There isn’t that kind of latitude with a cake recipe or the recipe for a healthy nation.

Don’t get caught up with special interests who are willing to kill the cake if they don’t get to pick the flavor. Quit supporting lobbies that care more about the brand of mixing spoon in the hand of the baker than whether or not the cake is ever served.

If you examine national news stories using the cake metaphor you are inundated with alerts that one special interest demands that if anyone has a bone china serving plate with their slice of cake then everyone is entitled to fine china. Here’s the breaking news; you can eat cake with your fingers. This isn’t news, it is a distraction. Another story recounts the past menu choices by the cake baker.

Getting a Pass on Poison

Past performance is relevant if it is really relevant. If the cake baker once grilled steaks it is not relevant. If the cake baker once poisoned a bowl of scrambled eggs before serving them to innocent diners THAT is relevant. Special interests supporting the poisoner will defend the action saying eggs and cake aren’t the same and that particular act of malice should not be material to the present baking project.

Is the American public that stupid?

The quality of the cake depends on what is mixed, how it is mixed, and how it is baked. The quality of the cake does not depend on how funny, handsome, or rich the baker is.

The head baker today keeps asking for more money to buy better ingredients and promises a better cake that will give everyone more frosting. After nearly four years that promise has not been met. The cake that continues to be served daily in the United States is dry, lacks flavor, and is hardly nutritious.

No matter how pretty the menu description of the present cake and the one promised sometime “when”… if you judge the fruit today the cake is pretty poor and getting worse.

The recipe being used in the United States today is producing bad cakes. Let’s go back to the basic cake recipe that has produced abundance for more than two hundred years. Maybe comedian Ron White was right. Is it true that you just “can’t fix stupid?” We’ll find out if there’s hope this November.

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