NBA Champions; Just a Reflection

 As a citizen of Milwaukee you may imagine that I am very excited about the Milwaukee Bucks defeating the Phoenix Suns to win the NBA Championship; the first time in 50 years.

Well... I cannot deny that I am filled with a great sense of satisfaction and relief that it is over, but I have soured against the NBA and basketball, all professional sports really, over the last decade or so.

"What?!", you exclaim as the weight of my words finally reach you, "But you have Giannis! Fear the Deer!"

Sanctimonious athletes (absolutely not Giannis) with more money than they know what to do with making politically charged, often ignorant and false proclamations, espousing values that do not reflect the values of our great nation, the United States, you may think is enough reason to be jaded by professional sports. Add to that the expense of attending live events puts it out of the reach of any man of common means and you may say, "Yes, I understand where you are coming from."

But... that is not the reason I have given up on believing in sports. I love sports. I love competition. I was elated as a college student when the Brewers won the American leagues pennant in 1982, watching the crowds fill downtown Wisconsin Avenue from my dorm window.

It was when the Wisconsin Badgers lost the NCAA basketball Championship final to Duke some years ago, myself older and wiser, that I had pretty much had it. The Badgers had come back in the last minutes to win their games over and over in that March to get to the finals. And they were beginning to do it again. Then foul upon foul against the Badgers, the commentators wondering "Where" suggesting that it was actually Duke that committed the foul, and the message was clear.

On the positive that was the one NCAA Championship that dropped from the news cycle faster than a lead balloon. It was so blatantly obvious.

Big markets mean big money.

After the Green Bay Packers' Super Bowl run this last season I half jokingly remarked on an old high school classmates Facebook feed (and that is why we will never leave Facebook, all those minor acquaintances from our past who we connected to, because absolutely everyone was on Facebook, will never follow us to another platform).

So I remarked. "Don't you know that the NFL will never allow the Green Bay Packers more than one Super Bowl per quarterback?"

The Green Bay Packers franchise is legend itself but it is not a large market comparatively, especially as football merchandise marketing expands throughout the world.

Wisconsin and particularly Milwaukee also have a powerful storied basketball tradition, but if you think todays Milwaukee Bucks will be allowed to become a dynasty you are naive.

Fear the Deer? Right.

Bigger markets mean bigger money.

The point where I really gave up on it completely was when the NBA silenced its' coaches and members from speaking out against the genocide happening in China. And for what. Nothing but money.

Nothing but money is the reason all our institutions and corporations refuse to take a stand against China on human rights, or what many call crimes against humanity.

So I was working my farmer's market stand Tuesday, game day, and several other vendors asked me if I would be going down to the Deer District, as they knew I live in the city.

I said, "I thought of it. I thought of making some signs boards about the NBA silencing free speech and supporting genocide in China."

"They will kill you." I was told with all seriousness by know less than three others.

What has become of our society?

In fact a few vendors had mentioned fear in being part of the downtown crowds for game six. After all is this not when the wanton destruction of our cities began, long before BLM or Antifa, when sports fans began trashing their own cities upon winning championships?

What has become of our society? What has become of sports?

Maybe it was always this way.

The Shared Experience

Remember when over two thirds of the nation would watch the same Television show on any particular evening? And we couldn’t wait to get back to school or to work, that water cooler, to hear and share our reactions to the drama with our fellow human beings.

We had a shared experience. An experience we longed to share. We celebrated our commonalities and marveled at how others differed in their experience of the same event, expanding our horizons in the process.

There were characters we loved and hated, and they were not always the same among everyone, but there was well thought out reasoning for it all.

Now, with on demand everything, and an experience in front of every screen, we create individual experiences virtually, no human interaction required.

Thus are the dangers of the modern world.

But we still have sports…

And what of the shared experience of motherhood, that deeply shared joy, the wonder of creating life? Pregnancy is no longer a life one is bringing into the world, but a mass of cells, a burden one is not encouraged to carry.

Where does our future lie?

What once defined womanhood is now despised.

To be manly, that shared experience to protect and provide, is considered criminal.

Prayer in school?

Government will allow none to compete, particularly God.

The shared experience is now not shared but scripted, dictated, allowed only if it conforms to the manufactured greater good.

Global warming; so starved for the shared experience, so deprived of the true values of life, so disconnected from the ability to discern, people, especially our young, cling to anything for relevance.

To believe the threat is real, to believe what one is told, is all that is required to be responsible, in the know, a good human being.

Life and death, work and family, the growing and preparation of our food, stewardship of the land were once universally shared human experiences.

Things happened, people died, young and old. We grieved, we mourned together and we sought for God.

The circle of life, the enduring of our tragedies made our victories all the more worthwhile; made humankind what we have become today, or had become.

Today’s tragedy, this virus, is a shared experience of worldwide proportion.

Yet we are not allowed to share the experience. We are not allowed to share sickness and health, life and death. We are told what to think and how to act and if we do not think and act appropriately, then we are a danger.

If only we were like Red China.

We are just beginning to understand the threat, yet so many are eager to proclaim their personal enlightened understanding, no matter how flawed. Most all judge this fluid situation, this virus, from a static perspective, helpful to none. But as long as we get our fifteen minutes.

I saw a comparison of the Spanish flu numbers with the COVID-19 numbers on Facebook; a network we place too much value in. But the Spanish flu numbers came from a two year course, and it most likely started long before it was recognized as a new contagion. We are just beginning with COVID-19.

This is how we form arguments these days? This is how we convey the dangers or lack thereof?

Are we all too disconnected to recognize the disconnect?

COVID-19 is in no way a threat to the existence of humanity, but the death rate is high, tragically high. Fortunately the young appear to be spared, a fact which in an earlier age would have been rejoiced over.

When we are allowed to share this experience, we will all come out stronger by living through it; life portends death.

We value our own lives too little if we are willing to be dictated to without question. We value the lives of others far too little if we do not bestow our trust upon them as fellow human beings and act responsibly in return.

Personal behaviors naturally change in the face of crisis, but faith in our creator and our fellow man should never change.

The Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Liberty; it is the ultimate shared experience in human history. An experience that many of the powers to be wish us never to share again.

The Morality of the NFL

I have an ulterior motive to this post, just to be clear. I want the Green Bay Packers to win the Super Bowl.

Sure they could have been the number one seed if the obvious pass interference penalty committed by San Francisco, not called by the officials, had been booth review in the final two minutes as it should have been in their game against Seattle.

And if the no calls against the 49er’s and imaginary calls against the Packers had not occurred, when they played each other earlier in the season, momentum would have been very different and it at least would have been a much more exciting game.

Will home field advantage for the 49er’s include an advantageous selection of officials. It should not, but will it?

And how did the Eagles get into the playoffs if not by some highly questionable calls against the Packers, early in that game that led to an Eagle’s victory. And when looking at the standings at the time of that game, fan interest in the NFC East would have tanked if the Eagles had lost.

Further what do highly paid football players really know about civil rights, not to mention history, contemporary or otherwise, that they should be protesting our flag; this great nation that has given them so much?

Professional sports in general have declared that money reigns supreme. The NBA has literally put a gag on free speech and endorsed the violation of human rights on a massive scale in order to protect their lucrative Red Chinese market.

Can any man of modest means even afford to attend a professional level sports event? Certainly not as a family.

Is life only about the money? Is life about being popular?

How would an NFL official answer those questions?

But non of this is the point of this post. I desire to question the moral compass of the entire NFL, players, owners and the organization itself on a single point: Diet.

You would think that with all the combined experience and medical professionals involved in the day to day workings of the NFL that they would have a better understanding of an appropriate diet for high performance athletes than your average American. I believe they actually do have a better understanding.

How could they not?

Yet they are remaining silent as the people of this nation drift into chronic illness on a massive scale. As pharmaceutical companies rake in billions managing illness rather than creating health, and Big Agriculture’s grip on the throats of Americans grows stronger, they say nothing.

Big Agriculture is an unsustainable system of monoculture promoting highly processed foods. It is a system that depletes our soils, leaving them bare for substantial periods promoting erosion on a massive scale, that kills the essential bacteria in the soil that enable plants to absorb the nutrition that we need with the use of herbicides (glyphosate, AKA roundup) and chemical fertilizers, and that destroys the biodiversity of the planet, a biodiversity that we are learning is so crucial to a viable eco system. Big Agriculture is a system of money that is older and more deeply entrenched than any other in the world.

If NFL players desire a true Goliath to take on, I see none stronger. But are they really mentally capable of understanding the issue of food?

Probably so, but certainly they are absolutely capable of understanding how diet effects performance and healing.

Yet the NFL and its players remain silent as the nation devolves into a nutritional wasteland fraught with chronic disease; resulting in the loss of quality of life, early death, not to mention financial distress.

The issue of diet should be front and center among NFL players, as Big Agriculture and the promotion of the vegan diet go hand in hand in America’s de-evolution and the destruction of their fellow player’s careers.

No one wants to point out that Andrew Luck ended his career with a heartfelt press conference in which his reasoning read like an anti-vegan promotional, his inability to heal front and center.

Yes Andrew Luck is vegan.

Some have attributed the possible end of Cam Newton’s career to his vegan lifestyle. Is that racist? Cam Newton is black and Andrew Luck is white. I have not heard the same claims against Andrew Luck.

“The Game Changers”, a movie that took a long time to come out of production, espoused the superiority of the vegan diet over diets that included animal products.

Debunking of that film has been done by many. It was pointed out by Dr. Shawn Baker MD, a veteran and high performance athlete in his own right, that among the NFL players of the Tennessee Titans highlighted in the film all but one are no longer playing; their careers ended or on hold due to injuries and apparent inability to heal.

Why has not the NFL condemned the film?

The vegan diet, when whole foods based, has been shown to be beneficial on a short term basis. Only a very few around the world have appeared capable of sustaining their health on a purely vegan diet long term. The truth is however, that most vegans eat a vegan diet that consists of highly processes foods, the impossible burger being a prime example.

And that is the way Big Agriculture wants it.

“The Game Changers” also appears to enjoy pointing to athletes, such as Tom Brady, who are eating what they call a plant based diet as a vindication for their vegan cause. The problem with that argument, also pointed out by Dr. Baker, is that Tom Brady eats more meat than the average American.

Have the Green Bay Packers gone animal based in their diets? Remember, this post is all about getting the Packers to win the Super Bowl.

The Green Bay Packers appear to be plagued with far fewer injuries this year than in the past or across the league currently. Their performance has not been stellar yet they have found a way to win.

I believe they would be the dominant team in the NFL but for Aaron Rodgers’ poor performance.

His entire game has been off since his former girl friend had him on a mostly vegan diet, according to a report in 2018. At the moment he claims to be following Tom Brady’s eating style, but perhaps Tom is not being completely honest with Aaron as to what he eats. They may be facing each other in the Super Bowl you know.

And those New Englanders are known for cheating.

Danica Patrick, a woman performing in a man’s world, Aaron Rodgers’ current girl friend, promotes a high protein diet. I would like to think that Aaron is following her advice but it does not appear that way to me.

Ever since Aaron Rodgers changed to a supposedly plant based diet years ago, he has had that deer in the headlights look to him and his passes have been off… a lot. Let us not fool ourselves Packers’ fans, that look has not gone away.

His performance has been poor, his passes have been off the mark, for quite a while. It is not just his receivers.

Brain fog is a typical symptom of a plant based diet and disappears near immediately with a substantial infusion of meat.

Tell Aaron to eat a steak! or two or three! We want to win!

The NFL is the ultimate testing grounds for the benefits or ills of the type of diet a player choses to eat. Diet is an issue that is affecting millions, if not billions, around the world.

If the NFL players want a cause that will truly do some good, a great good… Why do they not take up a cause they are expert in?

It is about winning for everyone.

As for Aaron Rodgers I wish him the same as I do all my vegan, vegan leaning acquaintances or just plain everyone, including myself; a breakfast from that great movie, “The Big Country.”

Happy New Year!

Dr. Shawn Baker has given up a more lucrative direction in his practice to promote health creation rather than disease management.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4a41L_9cFo
Forget Veganuary, join World Carnivore month:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3hBoI_SQ0M
Regenerative agriculture:
https://www.regenerativeagriculture.co/

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I have heard, more than usual this year, that Thanksgiving isn’t something we should celebrate. I was surprised to hear some customers around the farmer’s market, in which I sell my microgreens, appear to go out of their way to not say Happy Thanksgiving hearing “Have a Happy Winter” more than once.

Yes, I am an urban farmer and on my business’ FaceBook page I made this post.

One Family Urban Gardens

29 mins ·

“Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone and don't forget that we will be at the West Allis Farmer's Market Saturday November 30th. If Thanksgivings greetings may have offended some let me say my microgreens are still just as nutritiously packed.”


I apologize that I haven’t met my goal of a monthly post for this blog. I will up my efforts for 2020.
Let me leave you with a bit of a riddle, and I will answer it in my comments Friday.

Riddle me this....

So I heard a story today, not too uplifting on the eve of Thanksgiving, that fast food restaurants have to take extra precautions these day concerning upset customers attack workers, jumping over counters even. Milwaukee has several such stories not to mention the continuous rash of auto theft, car jackings. etc. leading to further tragic outcomes.

So what is the difference between Milwaukee and the movie “Mad Max”?

Lists

I have a long list of things to do. It did not start out long, but as some things get left undone and new tasks are added; it grows weekly.

It is a list of expectations I put upon myself.

Some tasks were taken off the list. They became irrelevant for varying reasons and some jobs were so contingent upon the completion of other duties, or things such as the season, they were removed.

Often I skip a weekly update to my to do list until I can shorten it significantly… otherwise I may become overwhelmed; unable to meet my expectations.

I have shopping lists for things I need to buy. I have lists of supplements and foods that would be beneficial to my current state of health.

Lists allow me to organize my thoughts and activities, to facilitate the completion of goals. They fortify my determination and bring me back into focus when I am distracted or disillusioned.

Lists are a great tool and help shape what I want to accomplish and become.

I always wanted to learn to sail. I briefly joined a sailing club when I returned to school and took some impromptu lessons. I would like to do it again. Sailing is not something on any list I have. I do not see it working into my current lifestyle.

I enjoy fishing. I long to fish. I have some of my grandfather’s fishing poles. A couple years back we got to the fishing spot my grandfather used to take us to; about an hour from our home. My wife and I caught a couple of small fish.

With deep concern over my diet, let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food, and the understanding that wild caught fish are the healthiest fish option you would think it would be on a list of mine somewhere.

It is.

I have a wish list tucked away of what I would like as part of my dream farm. A fishing spot is on that list and every once in a very great while I will look at the list and dream.

I made a list of people also. As I set to writing, works of fiction, and came to the point where publishing was actually a certainty, I made a list of people to whom I could self promote my books. It was a list of mainly media figures of like mind to myself.

Realizing that I may not be the next literary genius of my age, and coming to the understand that I would not be putting books out at a rate that would deserve the level of promotion I was seeking I never did an official promotional campaign.

But I had the list. I had made the determination and I did send or drop off a few books to some people locally.

Lists portend action.

And if I ever can afford my dream farm, it will be a place with plenty of fishing opportunities.

When we put things down on paper we declare intent.

Is it any surprise that with all the truly planned mass shootings across this country, the shooters had if not an outright hit list, some form of manifesto declaring their intent to kill and cause mayhem?

Back in the day, as they say, when I was in school, elementary and high school, it would be nearly unheard of for anyone to create such a list. If it did happen, the knee jerk response would be, ‘Were they arrested?’

If they had guns or not was not the primary concern, and if it was found that they were a gun nut the knee jerk response would be ‘Why aren’t they in jail?’ not  necessarily ‘Did they take their guns away?’

The question today is, why are the creation of such lists not met with the same shock and horror? Why do we react differently today? Why can we not recognize the obvious?

There is a simple illustration that can be applied to various social dilemmas of the day.

Back in the day again, in Milwaukee with its Germanic heritage, you could stand downtown on a Sunday morning, and there would not be a single car driving on the street. When you came to a crosswalk and the signal said “DONT WALK” you stood their and waited until the signal said “WALK”, …not a single car driving on the street.

In many counties across the United States it used to be that all the stores would be closed on Sunday.

What we tolerate and do no tolerate in society, what we expect of society and ourselves as part of that society, has a profound influence on how society functions, if it prospers or declines.

Most will poo poo the idea that violent video games are causing today's violence, particularly gun violence. I disagree. It is one of several major contributors to the moral crisis this nation is facing.

The public, young people have become desensitized to killing. They play games where the goal is to kill, where each level of accomplishment is based on killing proficiency and numbers. You could say they are acting in accordance with a preformed list of goals.

They are fulfilling what is expected of them in the game to succeed and receiving a thrill for it.

Law enforcement is continually frustrated by the fact that people are not reporting people with kill lists or that express similar social proclivities. Such acts however do not register with a generation in which killing has become common place, has been glamorized in their homes via video games, in movies and on the news local or otherwise.

This glamorous pursuit of worthless goals via video games is void of the mass destruction and turmoil of war, conveyed with the hypnotic influence of a flat screen. Advancement through violence, actions and words that degrade others, is the quid pro quo. It becomes what is expected.

Video games might not be driving your average person to become a mass murderer, but it is creating a culture where the truly disturbed no longer stand out. All this violence and degrading behavior seems all too normal and at the same time all too unreal.

Is any of it real even after the fact, after a shooting, when the promotion of political agendas fill the news reports often before the facts of the incident? Is that a normal human reaction, or simply what has come to be expected?

More hype for a society that gets its fix off the hype.

Deteriorating societal expectations, video games and social media being a significant part of this dilemma, stigmatizes those pointing to the degenerate, so most do not point.

The ability to discern proper behavior gone, people report the normal for behavior deemed by the media, pop culture, as inappropriate.

Is that the solution? That we should all be treated as degenerates?

Should we all be put on the government’s list?

The Trump Era Constitutional Amendment

There has previously been much talk about Constitutional Amendments as a way to secure liberty and prosperity for our faltering nation, before President Donald Trump was elected. The issues and causes have not been forgotten but sidelined for the moment.

I would like to point out a great flaw in the concept of term limits, that seem all the rage among talk show hosts. Let me lead with my strongest points and then copy from my previous posts made on this topic in January 2010, and August 2013.

I have have seen potentially great Presidents in this country in my lifetime, but only two stand out clear and absolute as great.

One would be President Ronald Reagan. He was first inaugurated when he was nearly 70 years of age.

The other would be President Donald Trump, already one of our greatest Presidents based on real accomplishments after only two years in office. He was first inaugurated well into the age of 70.

What if President Donald Trump were elected as President at 40 years of age?

What kind of Supreme Court justices would he have nominated?

What if the age requirement for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were 35 rather than 25, would her proclivities change over the next 6 years?

Would you trust Representative Ocasio-Cortez, or any millennial under the age of 35, to hold a seat on a committee dealing with our national security and top secret information critical to holding a tactical advantage over our enemies?

Yes, we do need a constitutional amendment, but not to implement term limits, but rather to raise the age requirements for office by ten years across the board.

Or would you rather create, with term limits, a revolving door pumping out one lobbyist after another to serve the interests of corporate America and our destructive political bureaucracy, rather than the interests of the American people?

We can no longer allow untested individuals to hold the greatest positions of power in the world.

We need a Constitutional Amendment to raise the age requirements for holding elected office, not term limits. A Constitutional Amendment for term limits would be disastrous.

From January 5, 2010, “Term Limits? ….No!”: edited and abridged.

As we deal with an out of touch Congress, defying the will of the people and burying us all in legislation that they don't even understand, many have propounded term limits as the solution. If it were such a great idea our founders would have put it into the Constitution. They, like us today, wanted Congress to be made up of common men. They implemented this desire through age requirements.

Twenty-five years is the minimal requirement for elected office in the Constitution. And where was the average twenty-five year old in the 18th century? He was most likely married with his own family well established. Already a businessman, artisan or professional of some type and known in his community for his own individual accomplishments.

And where is an average twenty-five year old today? They may very well still be living with their parents (the parents taking care of the children not the children taking care of the aged parents). The twenty-five year old today has most likely applied for their first job, but not necessarily. If they are seeking higher education, they could still be in school, and if seeking a career in academia will remain there. And how different is an academic career from a political career?

Right out of school one can work for a political machine. A government subsidized position requiring, obvious when you look at what is passing for legislation these days, only the ability to move ones mouth. Many of those that can claim private sector experience had token positions, gained through the influence of money and family, having been put into a holding pattern until the opportunity for them to run for office presented itself.

Yes, some have true private sector experience, but is any industry free from political/big government ties these days? Some use their military service as a platform. And a few, from whatever background, are just truly good people. But for the most part our nation is suffering from politics as a profession. Where serving politics trumps common sense experience as a requirement. We could blame the media again, for they powerfully influence what the public considers a legitimate requirement or not, but they don't vote for us.
…
So how does one get a grip on Congress? Maybe the grip was lost when we put term limits on the Presidency? The balance of power, so wisely designed by our forefathers, being disrupted, by having Presidents labeled lame ducks for large portions, 25%, of their potential term of office.

Having a political positioning frenzy on both sides when no incumbent with clear policies and direction can challenge, having a Congress that can simply wait out a President to push through their control building agendas, and an important check and balance is compromised.
…
We can say that the scale of the federal government shields our representatives from being held accountable in elections, unlike local politicians, but that accountability factor doesn't exist for the President. The one position that people take seriously and look to hold accountable, that's the position we put term limits on?!

I know this plays into the liberal desires for President Obama to hold office for life (this was written in 2010), but the reality is we would all be better off removing term limits on the Presidency. And only corruption, successfully implemented on a scale never before seen, could keep him in office. And if that exists only revolt will save us.

‘I would surmise that President Obama only won a second term because the people knew he could not run for a third.’

From August 27, 2013, “Absolutely No Term Limits, A Critique of “The Liberty Amendments””: excerpts (edited and revised)

Mark Levin makes the case for raising the age requirements himself. He highlights in great detail the popularity and practice of term limits at the time of the Constitution. Then Mr. Levin explains how, with age requirements, for the first hundred years of this country the majority of elected officials in both the Senate and House held only two terms or even a single term of office.

‘Isn’t this what we want? Raise the age requirements! Mr. Levin greatly slipped here into caring about the sways of political tides.’

Further, term limits do not break the power of the political class, where the party, people whose entire life experience has not been in the private sector but rather confined to the world of politics, decides from their own ranks who will run; or in other words who will receive the financial backing.

If the age requirements were raised twenty years across the board the people’s choice will be clear, far more transparent.

Though the effect on Presidential candidate races may be slight, in Congressional races an open seat may very well be in contention between a profession politician versus the likes of Wisconsin’s standing Senator Ron Johnson, a manufacturer highly accomplished in the private sector who stands for true reform and a return to traditional values in our government. The public would then be able to decide between a professional politician with a political life’s work and practice of decades, a voting record, that could be clearly scrutinized, against a highly accomplished private sector individual with their own finances; the likes of Donald Trump or even Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs.

Though the politics of the fore mentioned private sector giants may not all be conservative, even far from the fact, would such men tolerate an inefficient, irresponsible and dishonest system that crushes the American Dream?

It’s the Ethanol Stupid

We suffered a national tragedy shortly before our last mid-term election to which President Trump responded with great compassion and form, as always when he is not contending with an adversary.

Supportive comments were also conveyed by our President as he spoke at a Young Farmers conference, where he in an expression of support for our farmers confirmed that he had given them their legislation on ethanol.

Mr. President, you won an astounding election and have proven the people right with your incredibly accomplishments. You won this election as an outsider because the people have become completely disillusioned with our government, because the government has inserted itself into every aspect of life with ill effect. It has inserted itself into our diet and food with great detriment to our health. People are beginning to recognize this on an ever increasing scale. These issues are of particular vital interest to a demographic that is waning in the conservative cause, in your cause, and that demographic is the suburban housewife. There are few things more important to a suburban housewife than what she feeds her loved ones.

Let me explain what ethanol represents to the people of this country.

But let us first define exactly what is meant by farmers, in regards to legislation. Farmers refers to the ‘agricultural industrial complex’; a system of production highly subsidized and manipulated via government and corporate intervention. The farmers in this system have become completely dependent on the government and toxic practices corporate interests have instituted for profit alone, holding no regard for the welfare of the public.

To the contrary we have a truly ‘market based agriculture’. They are dependent upon markets alone. These new age farmers, instituting age old practices, make their profits in the same way all farmers do; hard work. Market based agriculture is composed of market gardeners, spin farmers, organic farmers, holistic farmers, regenerative farmers, farmers using general natural processes to produce food locally as well as those investing in the technologies of hydroponics and aquaponics.

The market based agriculture farmers emphasis healthy living soils that produce nutritionally dense foods, sent fresh, directly to the consumer to get the most from its already enhanced nutritional content. They generally make substantial profits on even small parcels of land. The start up costs can be minimal with many hand tools, push seeders etc. catering to these farmers which have been brought to market for a movement that has been growing for decades. The biggest obstacle to such enterprises is the high cost of agricultural land driven by a government subsidized agricultural industrial complex.

Mr. President you have a farmer very near to where you currently reside who pioneered market based agriculture and the use of holistic and natural processes. His name is Joel Salatin author of “Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal” as well as eleven other books.

The Savory Institute is the culmination of the successful life work of Allan Savory, who devotes his life to rejuvenating degrading pasture land, rebuilding ecosystems, through the intensive grazing of animals.

Ethanol, to the American public represents far more than an inefficient damaging fuel that adds far more CO2 to the atmosphere via its production process that it professes to cut.

Ethanol is the poster child for all that is wrong with not just agriculture, the food and diet the government dictates for us, but for all that is wrong with healthcare. The majority of the American public today is on the fast track to type 2 diabetes. The characteristics of those that are not, is generally their youth. Give them time. Big pharm will get them all on pharmaceuticals.

I and thousands of others have reversed type 2 diabetes, a disease defined as a ‘complex chronic illness’ by the American Diabetes Association. They define it as ‘progressive’ and a disease that needs to be ‘managed.’ I am sure the pharmaceutical companies are in full accord with the ADA.

You’ll never be free of your diabetes so get on our drugs!

Yet diabetes is being reversed in the vast majority of cases amongst those seeking out non sanctioned treatments. Some reverse their diabetes simply by taking a chromium supplement; through nutrition. Others through a low carb diet, often including intermittent fasting (eating only within a 6-8 hour window daily), which rids people of insulin resistance a leading cause of type 2 diabetes in older adults.

Doctors, AKA pharmaceutical companies, treat high blood sugar through medications that push more sugar into the body’s cells. Not only is high insulin the cause of many health issues in itself, an issue doctors do not address, but the saturation of the body with sugar rots a person from within. Some call it the leading cause of heart disease and stroke. Alzheimer's is gaining the moniker of Type 3 Diabetes.

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes with an A1c of 11.6. (that is very high) A third year intern wanted to put me on insulin. I took no medications, followed advice I discovered on YouTube and have no blood sugar issues four months later. Though I am not drinking any high fructose sodas and am wary of pasta, potatoes and the like, my glucose monitor, which may not be extremely accurate, has my average blood glucose level well below 100 (99 being a 5.4 on the A1c).

What do I think of the Surgeon General? Listen to, read the comments of the Surgeon General carefully. He says nothing. He speaks in terms of possibilities, guidelines that are considered healthy. He speaks in terms that support the agricultural industrial complex, comments most likely driven by lobbyists who have convinced the Surgeon General that alternative perspectives could bring down our whole food industry due to massive numbers of lawsuits the validating of contrary evidence would create. Yes I wrote ‘evidence.’

A low fat diet is one of the most dangerous diets ever formulated. Much of your body, particularly your brain and nerves are composed of more fat than not. (the brain almost 60%) Think about it.

But this topic is about farming, agriculture and even to some extent food production.

Hello High fructose corn syrup.

Not only is fructose the most damaging of sugars to the body, it now comes from a source, that historically has never been relied upon for fructose, a source genetically modified, and saturated in glyphosate.

Corn.

And do not get me started on soy.

…I want my movie theater popcorn popped in coconut oil, not soybean oil, and covered with real butter, not a soybean based butter substitute. Did I mention all soy is GMO (genetically modified organism) and humans have never consumed soy but in fermented form. …

…And there are no shortages of healthy fats such as coconut oil and butter! My God, they charge enough for a tub of popcorn, it can’t be cost. …

… I’m done. …I think.

The argument in support of GMO’s (corn, soy, cotton etc.) is that we need to feed an ever increasing population and must create crops that produce greater yields.

First, do we have a food shortage? There is one word that tells us that absolutely we do not have a food shortage: Ethanol.

If we are short of food, corn, why turn it into fuel? Are we short of sugar also, that we need to turn this sustenance, corn, into high fructose corn syrup which sweetens almost everything in our lives? Then why is Brazil turning all its sugar into, wait for it, …

…Ethanol.

There is no shortage of food. GMO crops do not produce high yields long term. They need ever modified genetics and chemical herbicides and pesticides to keep them viable, a practice that depletes the soil of its microbial life greatly reducing the nutritional value of the produce. Add to that, the loss of nutrition through the passage of the time it takes all agricultural industrial complex produce to get to the market, and you are left with little more than filler. Filler that some believe is dangerous to our health because of the artificial (done in the lab) genetic modifications. And then there is the glyphosate and other applied chemicals. Not healthy.

Glyphosate is sprayed on wheat crops as a drying agent to facilitate a timely harvest.

I could go on.

The number of farmer’s markets across the country are exploding. They have been for more than a decade. People, housewives, are seeking out local grown, naturally grown nutritionally dense foods. They are rejecting the agricultural industrial complex and all that comes with it.

We have a Winter Farmer’s Market here in Milwaukee at The Domes, a Milwaukee landmark. This will be their final year at the site. The county wants to use the associated green house for what they perceive as more lucrative endeavors.

One county supervisor suggested that the Winter Farmer’s Market find a location on the north side, not the most affluent area of the city. Implied in the remark is that farmer’s markets are a response to food deserts, areas of cities lacking quality grocery stores and/or produce.

This supervisor obviously never visited the Winter Farmer’s Market, or any farmer’s market, as the clientele is far from needy. Some of the most affluent areas of this region host highly successful farmers markets.

One could speculate that the entire nation has become a food desert.

A conservative, a libertarian or anyone not suckling from the government teat believe in market driven economies. An ever more powerful and profitable market based agriculture is booming here in the United States despite corporate interests trying to smother the movement through legislation.

Yes, smoking is legal, the government establishment is happy with legalizing marijuana, but we cannot buy raw milk?

I want to buy raw milk.

I do not have health insurance. I have no desire to buy it. There are alternative means to pursue health and healing, All extremely less expensive, even if that includes seeking treatment oversees, than the cost of premiums the government wants me to pay though I may not be sick. In the worst of cases I am content with the life God has given me.

I see so many people consumed with worry under the media driven hype over healthcare. I see people consumed for weeks and over good portions of their life in research into what is the best plan for them, where do they get the most benefit, coverage. An insurance company even advertises that it will make the process easy for you.

There are so many better ways to spend one’s time. Yet we are directed by the mainstream media, the government’s propaganda branch, as to what to think, what to eat, what they deem important, egged on to worry about possible though improbable tragedy rather than to live one’s life.

Not the way I want to live.

Now we find we are all sick from a diet the government told us was healthy. All the while they rake in the profits (government via lobbyists or lucrative jobs waiting in the wings) from selling us the food and then the medicine we need because the food made us sick.

Big pharm to the rescue.

The industrial agricultural complex, with its allies in big pharm, where lawyers, board members, executives and government overseers pass freely and often from one institute to the other, pursue an ever increasing desire for control. I used to believe it was all about money. It is more about control.

Mr. President, ethanol represents all the above and more to the American people.

Thank you for reading everyone. I am back. I will be posting monthly either here or on Global Imprint my design/planning blog.


I post on four other blogs also. If you are interested in my writing please follow me at Verses, Haikus and Memoirs.

Repeal and Replace Only Half the Answer

There is a stigma developing in the United States against those who do not have health insurance and that stigma only makes the problem worse. It blinds one to the true problem and hinders the ability to find responsible productive solutions.

I mentioned to my friend the issue of requiring some level of health insurance to qualify to establishing an HSA; health savings account.

He is well insured through his work, yet opened into a rant against the policy. “When your kid is born you can set up an IRA for his education, you can set up IRA’s for almost anything but the government wont let you set up an HSA without buying health insurance…..”

What did Paul Ryan mean by the extension of HSA’s? Does his plan come anywhere near to the excellent plan envisioned by Ben Carson, a man embedded in the healthcare system until recently? A plan where everyone can invest freely in an HSA, funds transferrable among family members, where the family becomes their own healthcare insurance policy has captured the hearts and minds of the people of this nation.

And what of removing those lines around the states? When Paul Ryan mentions farmer’s and construction worker’s guild’s policies crossing the lines, are the changes he is referring to for only some professions and not others?

Who knows. One thing is certain, the American people have no reason to trust their politicians.

Most essential to healthcare reform is the establishment of a system that competes with health insurance providers.

Let us say we allow children to stay on their parents policy until 26. A couple’s child is 22. He has an HSA established from when he was born. His parents come to him and say, “Hey, we are paying $500 a month to keep you on our policy. How about we give you $300 a month for your HSA and we take you off the policy. Your HSA is already pretty large and you’re young…”

So $500 a month leaves the health insurance industrial complex and $300 more is set aside to empower the healthcare purchaser. The parent’s are getting a deal as, if the funds are transferrable between family members, there is in some scenario more money for their healthcare needs.

In fact, family HSA’s may become so large (due to length of investment and/or sudden death) that, if a person begins investing responsibly when young, a family may see no need for health insurance at all. When marrying and having children it may be wise to seek a stable job that provides insurance but otherwise it would be unnecessary. Then when one retires they can tap their HSA for Medicare supplemental policies. Or will Medicare even be necessary?

Life Insurance may also be a backup for one’s HSA as it can be tapped by the terminally ill to help with healthcare costs. With a substantial HSA and a good sized Life Insurance policy, many may see no need for health insurance.

These scenarios bring competition, market forces not only in the market for services, bringing costs down, but straight up against the healthcare insurance providers. The problem with healthcare is that it has become an incestuous cabal of healthcare providers, health insurance companies and government. These institutions are concerned only with their own profits and stature, and the people have been forgotten.

These and the following example below will bring the health insurance lobbyists to lobby for a better product because they are competing with people providing for themselves. Now let me tell you what I, as a common man, envision in regards to removing the lines around the states.

No lines. Now, let us say a church, which has limited members (needing health insurance) state by state, but has large numbers nation wide, sets up their own insurance company, much like our teachers did here in Wisconsin.

A member under their Church’s health insurance becomes sick. They pay their bills in cash, receiving the cash discount, because they submit their bills directly to their insurer, not through their healthcare provider. The insurer need only confirm that previous bills were paid before paying out for further bills.

The insurer being the Church, there are ministers and elders familiar with the congregation who know if the member is truly sick. In this way fraud is reduced. Those ensuring no fraud is being committed are not technically under the payroll of the insurer; their Church’s company. Yet another savings found in man’s ability to care for his fellow man without being told or forced to by law.

Now, if the policy is lacking, unable to cover all costs for the Church member, there is a built in crowd funding community to fill in for the costs of being severely ill.

But I do not know if anything I have described here is possible under the proposed replacement bill, which is promised to be passed after we pass the bill to take care of the health insurance companies. Is it any wonder that I and most Americans do not trust the government?

We, and the Freedom Caucus if I may speak for them, believe that putting off these changes, HSA’s and removing the lines as President Trump puts it, until later translates into putting them off forever.

President Trump is a business man. He can relate with businessmen in the insurance industry and understand their positions. But does he truly understand what has been perpetrated against the people by the health insurance industrial complex? How differently would these businessmen present their case to President Trump if the people had options other than health insurance to provide for their
healthcare?

The promise of removing the lines around the states and the ability to freely establish HSA’s are a very big issue among the people. They should be addressed first. If so the insurance company lobbyists will rush in with multiple ways to reform the health insurance system; reforms that will benefit the people.

It is just how I see it.

Obamacare; The Repeal Reveal

Paul Ryan and the Republican Congress tell us that they have a plan already written to replace Obamacare.

What were the Republicans planning before the Presidential elections? Did they believe Donald Trump would win the election? I do not think so.

So, what was their plan? What were they going to do to rescue, to free, the people of this nation from this tyranny?

I refuse to participate in Obamacare. I refuse to pay the fine. I believe it to be un-Constitutional no matter what Chief Justice Robbing Roberts claims. I find solace and strengthened conviction in greater minds who believe as I.

After the Obamacare case before the Supreme Court was lost, what was the Republican plan to save the people from Obamacare?

After receiving more than one notice from the IRS for my affordable care act contribution I called a low cost legal service which I have with a simple question. “Are there any class action suits against Obamacare that I can join into?”

The answer was no. I heard nothing among the national talk show hosts or media of any such actions. I was under the impression that a tax could not be challenged until people were subject to that tax and could demonstrate its un-Constitutionality. Chief Justice Robbing Roberts did claim it was a tax, did he not.

What was your plan Republican leaders if Hillary Clinton would have won? You hold a large majority among state governments. Were you going to organize the states against the federal government? It was what I was hoping for. I could imagine no other way out of this tyranny if Clinton had won. Yet I heard no such language from either Republicans or Conservatives.

Our country has been suffering subversion for far too long. Subversion guided by an ideology that has failed in all things, but in the attainment of absolute power for those in government.

There was a scene I watched on the History Channel’s show “Vikings.” A King in Britain was teaching a young protégé. He invited the young boy to share wine with him. One goblet, then another, then another, though the boy protested all the while. Finally the boy threw up his wine. The King told the boy he should never let anyone else tell him what to think or do. That he should have his own thoughts and convictions and stick with them.

The King poured out his goblet. “See”, he said “All this time I was drinking water.”

One of the oldest stories in the world. The democrats have only one interest in their minds; their own, power for power’s sake. They are un-American in thought and intent. They are atheistic God deniers and haters and correspondingly they hate the United States and all it has stood for. And they have been drinking the Republicans under the table.

Yet our Republican leadership will not stand against them. Reaching across the aisle is so all important to the Republicans. This is neither the high road, as you turn a blind eye to the citizen’s suffering, nor leadership. There is no leadership in consensus. There is no success or prosperity in consensus. Only clear single minded leadership and honest debate among virtuous individuals has lead nations and the world forward.

Perhaps Jesus should have come to a consensus with the devil when he was tempted. In that sense, if you consider the Republican party the only hope to save this nation, you may call the media the devil; a temptress.

The democrats day by day show themselves more incapable, more morally bankrupt, more impotent and more in denial of everything that is good: God, family and our nation as it was founded. The only greater fools are those who would lend the democrats any validity.

Do the democrats need to erect a temple and start making human sacrifices before Republican leadership finally makes a stand against them? Some would say their temple is the Supreme Court and abortion the demanded sacrifice.

Obamacare needs to be repealed completely. The biggest obstacle in the eyes of our politicians in replacing Obamacare is the bureaucracy created by Obamacare in government and the medical field. You, our representatives, are in office to adhere to the will of the people, the majority, not that of government.

It is essential for the future of freedom and this nation that Obamacare be repealed completely.
The few benefits Obamacare creates, such as coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, can fit on three pages. Reforms, such as removing the lines around the states and tort reform, that will bring costs down significantly can fit on a few more pages. Obamacare is some 2,700 pages. That is more than twice as many pages as my Bible.

Turn the exchanges into a claims office and ensure coverage for all those on the exchanges who cannot find or afford better plans. Over the course of a year many of them will find better plans. Then take what is left and evaluate the real problem.
Basically, except for those who truly cannot afford insurance, the government should stay out of healthcare. Free market forces need to be unrestricted among all who can afford their own healthcare to keep costs down.

One of the few statements I have made on this blog which I find most profound (I pat myself on the back) is that; “When medical insurance becomes prepaid medical, single payer will be the natural outcome.” Just as welfare was reformed to make it more profitable for people to look for ways off the dole, catastrophic policies need to be promoted over more all encompassing policies among the young and all those of working age.

HSA’s with no insurance coverage requirement is essential. I have advocated for it on many occasions. Incentives, aimed at young people in particular, to invest will put aside much of this nations wealth for healthcare, reducing strains on the system and supporting free market forces.

Ben Carson’s vision of the extended family able to share their Health Savings Accounts as a type of family insurance policy has benefits beyond the obvious. Tracking the size of HSA’s can provide an unobtrusive way to track health problems. The accounts being transferable to family members and inheritable will reveal lineages with strong gene lines, or that suffer sudden death, if the accounts grow to be very large. Or reveal chronic disease among certain gene lines or socioeconomic groups if small or in need of constant assistance.

The Republican leadership should not fool themselves, believing the people will be satisfied with business as usual. They should not believe we the people will fall for just any replacement of Obamacare. We the people are watching very closely. We have been watching with disapproval for a long time.

Conservatism and the Constitution

Is there anything more conservative, in light of our Constitution, than a citizen legislator; or executive? Not that I can see. I believe  it was the goal of our founders, in writing the Constitution, that legislators and our executive, the president, arise from the citizenry.

Our political overlords are not required to balance a budget, can work as little or as much as they like for a similar wage, amass great wealth from the lobbyist guild, and can freely and proudly call failure success, if only they had more of our money.

We as citizens are afforded no such luxuries. Well, media figures are but for the rest of us… If we were to act as our politicians do we would find ourselves penniless, living on the streets, or in prison. It is true for the laborer and even more true for a business owner or corporate executive on the wrong side of the political spectrum. But not for Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump is the most conservative candidate this nation has seen since Ronald Reagan. How can I make such a claim?

First Donald Trump loves his country. You can hear it in his words. You can see it in his family. He feels for others. He becomes emotionally involved with all he meets. He wants the best for the people of this nation and he will deliver the best as he has done his entire life. How could I possibly believe that? Because he is tough on those around him. He expects the best from others, from all, because he believes anyone can deliver excellence. Yes he can be very crude and offensive in his efforts to inspire, but anyone over fifty has the ability to understand the heart behind it.

Second Donald Trump is the ultimate outsider. A Blue Collar Billionaire I heard him called this morning on the radio. Only an outsider who never succumbs to the influence of those around him can make the changes this country really needs.

Ben Carson and Rand Paul never had the political punch to make sustainable changes. Serious follow through would have been needed and it wasn’t going to come from the establishment. Ted Cruz was to volatile of a figure. All his accomplishments would have been labeled mean spirited and reversed as soon as he was gone.

Marco Rubio? Anyone who believed Marco Rubio was a conservative solution to the problems we face as a nation are blind to the roots of the problems we face as a nation. Marco Rubio would have been the same slow death brought to us by the Bush administrations and represented by candidates such as John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Do you still believe that Donald Trump is not a conservative? Let me put it this way. The policies of the republicans versus the policies of the democrats can be placed into two categories; right and wrong, competent and corrupt, or God respecting and God denying.

Will a man from the private sector that has sought success and excellence in everything he has done in life, forced to play by the rules or face dire consequences, chose the latter rather than the former? I do not think so.

This is the root of the republican party’s deepest flaw. They believe they must reach across the aisle. They believe that a society under the sway of atheistic socialism and a God revering society share common values; a common culture. They do not.

Remember the roar of the psychic cheer that reverberated across this nation when Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an evil empire? The democrats are propagating great evils upon this nation. There is no middle ground on a growing number of issues, most notably gay marriage.
The republican party’s second fatal flaw, embodied in the likes of Paul Ryan, is that they believe government can solve problems. Government is the problem.

The future of this nation requires drastic structural change in government and only Donald Trump has the standing among the people and the ability to confound the media to bring these changes about. Corruption, incompetence, elements of tyranny and the disregard for our laws, the blatant disregard for the futures of the people of this nation, the outright abandonment of our Constitution all need to be addressed. Donald Trump has the insight and ability to recognize the problems, and with an unrelenting drive for success and the pursuit of excellence, the honesty and competence to fix those problems.

I believe tomorrow will be a landslide victory for Donald Trump. I have had this feeling since the beginning, though media coverage has fed my doubts to the point of gluttony.

I felt this same feeling strongly while I was watching the final debate. It is the kind of feeling you have when sitting at the poker table and though you do not have the best hand, or may be completely bluffing, you just know that when you make your bet or raise everyone will fold; the feeling that you own the table. When the topic of voter fraud came up I had an image of democrat pawns being sent to the polls over and over and I smiled with the revelation that, …they were not all voting for Clinton. True Conservatives own the table with Donald Trump.

It has been a long while since my last post. Why? I see my views on current and political events, my insight as an educated experienced common man, being expressed via the conservative media nearly as fast as I develop them myself. I have had no need to post; there was nothing I could add. At one time my views stood out as unique and powerful. Now they are common place. What changed? Donald Trump became the leading republican candidate for president.

That said, I will be laying out the Constitutional Amendments I believe are essential to revive this nation in the near future. Mark Levin, one of the greatest Americans of our time, has put forth a magnificent work on amendments to our Constitution he believes essential to save this nation. I differ slightly in my views. I will put forward three or four amendments that are most essential for this modern age and argue in excellent fashion why my perspective on sought after amendments is superior to what others generally support.


I feel great hope and expectation for tomorrow, yet trepidation over how the left will respond. I have written extensively on the belief in violent revolution central to communist/socialist thought.

Goodwill to Men

What is goodwill? Can you hold it in your hand? Can you see it as you can see a tree growing in your yard? Can you feel it like a fine carpet under foot? Can you taste goodwill. Perhaps only in metaphor.
How is goodwill conveyed? How is it understood? Can you show goodwill to a lion or tiger and expect it to respond in kind? Goodwill is a human understanding, a common understanding, and that commonality, the fact that we can share what can not be quantified in material terms is the testament to what makes us human.

The topic of politics came up between myself and a respected member of our church; a black man. The origins and nature of the democrat party was the issue. Factual realities such as the racist nature of the democrat party founder, Andrew Jackson, the democrat party’s stand against civil rights, that Al Gore’s father filibustered the civil rights act, the Jim Crowe laws of the democrat south, the fact that Martin Luther King was a republican, that the respected senator Robert Byrd, a democrat, was the prominent leader of the KKK, that the KKK was born as the militant branch of the democrat party, that democrat party policies destroyed the black family, that they are leading a black genocide via Planned Parenthood, none of it was going to sway my brother in faith’s belief in what he believed to be the party for his people. …and I could have gone on.

My friends belief that somehow the democrats reformed and that the republican party, the party of Lincoln, converted, “switched places with the democrats”, to a platform of racist elitism bent on the destruction of the poor could not be changed. It is the way things are and I was incapable of understanding the reasons.

Am I incapable of understanding the plight of the black man? As a human speaking to a fellow human the term goodwill would convey something near identical to each of us. We even have the capability to express and admit to experiences and intentions we recognize as beyond our understanding. We say, unimaginable suffering, or indescribable destruction where even an image could never convey the devastating emotional toll upon the victims.  We speak of bitter sorrow to quantify the experience beyond the common.

So as one human to another, as one human to any other human, can one deny another’s empathy or compassion, judging the other incapable of any possible understanding? No. When you do, you strip away what makes us human from the relationship. There is no basis for a relationship. An irreconcilable divide will arise, if ever I were to discuss politics with my friend again, as it stands now.

I have not experienced what it is to grow up black, to live as a black man. But as a human, as a citizen that remembers the turmoil of the sixties as a small child, who witnessed the black pride of the seventies, the red lining of neighborhoods and the decline of the black family, along with the decline of the nation, as a responsible member of society, as one who, being human, cannot help but feel and distress over the fate of this nation and its people that includes all men, I am perfectly capable and qualified to enter into the national discussion on race or any other topic relevant to this nation. My opinions are perfectly valid in the human debate.

Here is what I can understand. The black man of today, anyone under forty, is incapable of understanding the suffering their ancestors experienced. Their difficulties can never compare to the hardships that have come before. I saw the neighborhoods to which blacks were confined when a was a child. My dad drove us through them. I have spoken to elderly black faithful on occasion in their homes. It doesn’t mean I comprehend their suffering completely, but I am certain capable of understanding that what young blacks experience today would not be called racism by those who have come before. Those before them would see limitless opportunity today. How could I possibly make that claim? you ask. I can make it because I am just as human as any other man or woman on God’s good earth.

When the race mongers and your black lives matter types declare any view but their own valid, when they declare only they can understand, that only they are qualified to comment, they are taking the humanity out of the discourse. And when our humanity is denied, when we deny man’s ability to transcend the material, there is no truth, there is no lie, no compassion, no empathy only survival of the fittest, struggle, turmoil and eternal strife.

It is this condition of turmoil, strife, suffering, and ignorance over our very surroundings, attributed to the fall of man in the Bible, that humanity has been struggling to overcome for thousands of years, if not hundreds of times longer. It was through aspiring to and submitting to the unseen and pursuing absolutes in the world around us that virtue and understanding advanced. Upon these qualities humanity could cooperate and unite around a common good, the natural world could be quantified, analyzed and put to work through our growing knowledge of science.

The United States at one time was the fruit, the crowning glory of the Christian world, of Christian history. It brought never before seen blessings, prosperity and peace to all men throughout the world.

Now warfare and bloodshed around the world are preferable to a supposed United State homogeny. The people’s of the world are being coaxed to surrender their wealth and futures in response to computer models that run contrary to the truth in the name of global warming and saving the earth. The traditional family is optional to the preferred practice of perversions mankind has been attempting to free itself from since the beginning. The unborn are disposable and the world would be better off without us.

And politics? The democrats put forth an incompetent and a criminal as their presidential candidate and have no doubt of her victory. The republicans are more concerned about the desires of the democrats and the press than of those who put them in office. The law applies to some but not to others. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

When skin color is all that matters, when what makes us human is denied, when there is no higher authority than oneself there will never be justice. There will never be peace. To deny the humanity of others is to deny your own humanity and all that it entails.

Peace on Earth Goodwill to Men.

The Milwaukee Republican Presidential Candidate’s Debate; Issues, Issues, Issues

It is impossible for me to comprehend the horrors that occurred in Paris. I lack the standing to write on the attack directly but will address the problem of Islamo-Fascist Terrorism in future posts.

As a common man here in Milwaukee I had neither the ability to attend the latest republican debate nor to see it on television. I listened, as I have the previous debates, to the debate over local radio.

More important in this debate than how each candidate was perceived as a winner or loser, all that matters to the media, were the issues. Several issues stood out, and the hunger for viable solutions to the ills of this nation in the mind of the common man began to be satiated.

Let me get the overall impressions out of the way first.

Carly Fiorina was expert, precise and always on topic. She implies radical conservative reform in her views on government. Ted Cruz was powerful and clear. His concrete actions to reduce government and government intrusion excited conservatives; and no one would mind getting rid of the Department of Commerce two times over. They were the winners.

Donald Trump, though looking unaware that the Asian trade agreement did not include China, still made powerful points. If Donald Trump, or Ben Carson with his extreme mild mannerisms, suffered any setbacks they were all overcome by their closing statements.

Rand Paul was impressive. He held himself up as top tier, though his foreign policy views still give pause.

John Kasich sounded panicked and Jeb Bush sounded, for the first time, like he believes in something.

Marco Rubio…? Let’s get into the issues.

‘Far more establishment than even he knows.’ It is what I always say about Marco Rubio. Many are fawning over him after this last debate. Marco Rubio’s comments on Putin did not serve him well. Yes, domestically, economically, Putin and the oligarchs are much like a collection of crime families. But Rubio delivered his remark, that Putin is a gangster, as if it were the punch line to a joke.

On the International scene Putin embodies a strong sense of national identity, and pride. Russia under Putin is aggressive and possibly even ruthless, advancing until they meet resistance, however Russia is a legitimate International policy player. Certainly a new administration should not rush to in anyway please Putin, but one will have to work with Putin.

We are a nation of laws and borders. Without adherence to the law and definition of our borders we are not a nation. Excuse my paraphrase of Donald Trumps stance. It was concise and a homerun from where I was sitting. Ted Cruz agreed profoundly and expounded. It was a joy to my heart to hear candidates that truly understand what makes a nation.

Law and order is a profound issue in this nation, from our borders to our inner cities, from a dysfunctional government bureaucracy to a certain candidate in the democrat party.

On taxes Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson Ted Cruz and I believe Rand Paul all present tax plans that bring drastic long overdue foundational reforms to this nations tax policies. It puts them ahead of the others in the minds of the common man. The fare tax candidate did not make the cut.

I believe Donald Trump has absolute faith that when taxes and the cost of doing business are lowered this economy will boom. He is right, but he will still be working with the existing format of tax codes.

A three page tax code; that’s real reform.

Kasich, Marco Rubio and Bush I do not believe can get away from our existing tax code with all its loopholes and intricacies. Though they may say that they will reform the tax code, and I believe they will make improvements in the tax code that will be beneficial to our economy, they are all too establishment to accomplish any true reform. Without true reform tax codes over time will simply regress back to stifling our economy. Candidates have talked the talk on reforming taxes forever. Who has ever done it? Even Ronald Reagan couldn’t simplify the tax code.

Dodd Frank: the sound of its repeal another joy to the mind of the common man. Many a small business, not just small financial institutions will benefit greatly from the repeal of this act of oppression.

Too big to fail? Non of the candidates took a full swing at this issue. I was disappointed all the while saying to myself; “What about the FDIC?” Are we not all insured up to $250,000 dollars if a bank should fail? What ‘little guy’ will be hurt by allowing a bank to fail? Okay, it may take a long time to get that money back, but they will. Okay, a lot of people and businesses far from the top 10% may have holdings far more than $250,000, but too bad for them if they didn’t diversify.

The common man wants the too big to fail. We long for the too big to fail. The common man sees the too big being just as corrupt and incompetent, just as arrogant and overbearing, as the political class.

Marco Rubio…?

There is an issue that will show clearly, if his workings with the gang of eight and his views on immigration have not, that Marco Rubio truly is establishment through and through. That issue is: What will he do after Obamacare is repealed?

As the common man delights in seeing important issues brought forth, issues which have been far from front and center in any debate until now, one unaddressed issue still burns in our minds. What will happen when Obamacare is revealed? Will it be replaced by something just as destructive and oppressive? Is our country on an irreversible slide into absolute servitude where freedom is a forgotten dream?

The common man wants government completely out of healthcare. Simple reforms already proposed by republicans long ago, such as the ability for companies to sell policies across state lines, are needed and will be fruitful for the citizens. But now that government has implanted itself into our healthcare via Obamacare, who can resist this grip on power? They rationalize away the inherent evil in absolute control under the guise that they can do better.

This problem with healthcare will never be resolved as long as we live under the expectation of insurance as prepaid medical. Prepaid medical has only one end; single payer. Only Ben Carson’s plan creates a dynamic where people need not rely on insurance providers. Under his system a well organized family of moderate means could become their own insurance company. Only this plan holds the ability to bring a large enough percentage of the population out from under the control of insurance providers to make a difference in costs. This will open the free market where fewer people are governed by insurance companies and more shop for the best service for the price.

The Ben Carson’s plan abandons the free market by demanding that the government set prices.

Several crucial issues are front and center among our republican candidates. Yet the candidates reluctance to address “Too big to fail!” and a lack of clear scrutiny of “What happens after Obamacare?” leave the common man in an uneasy state.

Our Precious Veterans

I have written previous that we the people of this once great nation are already suffering under tyranny; that our freedoms have been lost. With unintelligible laws, a single bill taking a lifetime to read, a ruling political class that can manipulate the law anyway they see fit, yet never holding themselves subject to those same laws, and a judiciary that has all but abandoned the people, our freedoms are being held above our heads as a privilege bestowed by an enlightened political class; a class who suppose us too ignorant to comprehend their self-proclaimed greatness.

We are no longer a free people. The rampant attempts at political suppression here in Wisconsin, not completely unsuccessful, have been shown to be, through found correspondence with the IRS, the designs of those who seek to rule this entire nation with an iron fist. Citizens of this nation are being sent to prison and criminalized on an ever greater scale simply for their political beliefs.

The prosecutions of Kelly Rindfliesch here in Wisconsin and Dinesh D’Souza are clear examples highlighting the reality that no one but the extremely wealthy have the power to put up a fight against state and federal prosecution. The sap imprisoned for a video, about which Hillary Clinton lied to cover up her failings on Benghazi as Secretary of state, show that for the convenience of those in power anyone might find themselves targeted and condemned by our government.

When I or others suggest that we currently live under a tyrannical government, there is a typical comeback from those who believe in Obama; a man whose policies are directly responsible for ten of thousands of deaths around the world, if not millions, and who has fast tracked Iran’s nuclear weapons program; a nation sworn not only to the total destruction of Israel but of the United states as well. It goes something like this.

“Well, we don’t have labor and concentration camps, death camps, and gulags. That’s tyranny! Our government is not evil. Those working against our government are evil. The government is working hard to take care of us. You just want to take our stuff away.” (stuff handed out by the government)

Such an argument is based on the belief that all opposing views are evil and that the government, simply by its nature, is good. But is it true we do not have concentration camps?

What would you call our inner cities? Where democrat politicians sit back and let blacks slaughter their fellow blacks in mass? Where the criminals are continually let out, under the guise of racial equity, to kill again. Where the police lack the resources to even respond to all the crime being committed. …Where babies are harvested to support government funded experiments in our state education institutions.

And what of the care that our veterans are receiving? If they do receive care through the Veteran’s Administration it is often found to be incompetent. The number of Veteran deaths due to lack of proper medical care cannot be explained away as anything other than intentional neglect.

What is a greater threat to a blossoming tyranny among we, a free people, than our veterans? The government is actively working to deny our veterans the right to bear arms; those who bravely and selflessly protected our nation by become expert and professional in those arms. Now, under the Obama administration, our military ranks are being actively filled with homosexuals and the transgender. Political correctness equals advancement and pursuing false concepts of equality are more important than the defense of our nation.

If our political efforts to save this nation fail and, by the grace of God, good and upright leaders organize our state governments against the federal government to take a stand for freedom and preserve the peace, our veterans will be an important asset in the defense of our freedoms. They are experienced soldiers. Many know and have connections to our existing military structure. They are proven patriots and understand more clearly than anyone why war must be avoided if at all possible.

If the such extreme action is required to reclaim our nation, if anyone can keep this country from the bloodshed of civil war it will be our veterans standing brave in war and peace as always.

God Bless the United States. God Bless our soldiers and veterans who have fought and stood guard for freedom. Our freedom is the world’s freedom.

Veterans are our most precious of citizens.

The Republican Presidential Debate; Taxes, Taxes and Taxes… and the Media

President Ronald Reagan suffered greatly in his first term. There was one reason. He phased in his tax cuts over time. The economy never heated up, it remained stagnant until… the tax cuts hit their lowest point. Businesses waited to re-invest and start up their companies until the taxes reached their lowest possible level. The Republican Presidential candidates should keep this in mind.

With all the talk of the economic suppression of the people through an over expansive and demanding tax system I, a simple common man, kept thinking; ‘If you want to give us some economic relief talk about repealing ObamaCare.’ This will bring instant relief and a drop in healthcare costs. The repeal will bring a boom to our economy.

But taxes are otherwise an out of control problem. I classify the republican presidential candidates into two categories in terms of their policies on taxes. Those who hold the political viewpoint and those who hold the viewpoint of the people.

Those of the political viewpoint are; Kasich, Huckabee, Christi, Bush and Rubio. I was listening on the radio and didn’t realize that Christie was in the debate until about two thirds in, and my wife was trying to speak to me during the debate. So the lack of visual aids and distractions may leave my analysis lacking. I certainly would have been aware of Chris Christi’s presence if I could have seen the candidates.

Kasich had a very strong performance from my perspective. “I did it and I will do it.” speaking of conservative reforms. He stayed away from the PC, but expressed the compassion he feels is so important to a successful campaign with expressions of faith in families and a nation built from the bottom up. It was a very masterful response to previous mistakes. I suspect he may have a small bump in the polls, small being the optimal word.

Huckabee presented clear moral values. It was again a masterful focus of his perceived strong points, being a former minister. “If we can’t keep our promises to our elderly then…” Well, do people even understand why we should be more respectful to the elderly, more than to a younger person anymore. I am uncertain if many in this country have the ability to recognize the moral weaknesses of this nation of which Mr. Huckabee was speaking. I personally, from his past presidential run, do not believe Huckabee lives up to his words. He is a politician through and through.

Christi? He did a good job. They all did well except for one. I appreciated the positive views he, and others, expressed of their fellow candidates. He believes in global warming. Enough said.

Rubio was Rubio. He made a good impression but didn’t advance his cause. The negative spat he got in with Bush didn’t help him. His view on taxes was establishment.

Bush? He came across jaded. He is establishment. His campaign keeps suggesting that this country needs to be saved but at the same time that America is as great as it has ever been and will be greater in the future. …Future?

Fantasy football is gambling. So long Jeb.

All these political viewpoint tax plan candidates did well compared to past performances. I fear they may grow in prestige in the polls. They conformed to the people’s expectations in word, but a political class seldom feels the need to follow through in deed. If you believe any of these five  political viewpoint men will bring the change and reform we need in our government, I have another name for you; John Boehner.

Now let us get to the real people running for president. Those who hold the viewpoint of the people on taxes.

Donald Trump was clear and direct. He knows who he is. He clarified completely his plans for a border/wall in less than ten seconds. His tax plan comes across much more complicated than the others in this group but he understands that lowering taxes will spur the economy. That is the conservative position.

The plans of Donald Trump and the others in this group were criticized by the establishment types. The political types, who haven’t been able to produce a balanced budget in years if truly ever, claimed the implied economic growth (generating more tax income) would not cover the cost of their opponents proposed tax cuts. Well, If we have to have a few more budgets running a deficit until we get it right, in the words of Hillary Clinton; “What difference does it make now?”

Donald Trump hit one out of the park with his call to end Super PACs. Issues over Super PACs have been front and center in the political drama since they were formed. They give off a bad smell. People are tired of the controversies over free speech. Marco Rubio scored big off of Donald Trump with his association of Super PACs with the media.

Ben Carson had one of the simplest tax plans. Every other member of the people’s viewpoint on taxes upheld the validity of his perspective, though their plans differed. This was Ben Carson’s big victory in the debate and a victory for we the people. Ben Carson is not being judged on his debate performances and the reality is none of the candidates are in most people’s minds. We watch simply for clarification on each candidates views and for what we can glean of the quality of their characters. When Scott Walker dropped out I was adrift, not sure of exactly who to throw my support behind. This debate changed that.

Carly Fiorina gave a very strong performance. She was exact and detailed in the problems of this nation in regards to taxes and regulation, and how to fix the problems. Zero based budgeting, a three page tax plan and getting the government out of people’s lives, with example after example, were all powerful hits. She hit a home run with her comment that as a CEO of a publically traded company she would be held criminally responsible if she made mistakes, unlike when those in government break the law. She drove the point, a point that rings true with the people, that she will get the reforms that have been promised for forty years, but never followed through on, DONE. Donald Trump spoke of limited government. Carly Fiorina told us how to limit government.

Yes, We all want to see a cat fight between Carly and Hillary.

The private sector candidates have a distinct advantage in this election cycle for good reason. No one believes in politicians. No one believes politicians have the interests of the people in mind. But two politicians rang true last night; those in the people’s viewpoint on taxes camp; Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.

Rand Paul’s devotion to his principles and love of country are without question. His consistency on the issues breeds a great deal of trust. He is believable. He was catapulted to success in the debate by Ted Cruz stepping in with support of his tax plan. His libertarian views give most a slight pause which may be enough to keep him from the presidency. That, and that he is making a strong impression on government in his current seat.

Ted Cruz blasted front and center once he got going. He is believable. He has consistently stood against government and for the people and we all know it. His tax plan turns away from the same old same old labyrinth of tax codes waiting to be manipulated by special interests. He calls liars liars and takes no prisoners. He resembles the private sector candidates more than any other politician. He led the charge against the media.

Here is my common man’s conclusion on this last debate. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson are the viable candidates at this point. I have not seen any polls.

I would be happy with any of the private sector candidates winning the nomination.

Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina have been overshadowed by their particular counterparts. Carly Fiorina has the potential to breakout. I don’t believe Rand Paul does.

As I have written before, Marco Rubio is more establishment than even he realizes. Can you say, John Boehner. Still, I will be hoping for the best if he becomes our president. I absolutely expect that he will be the vice presidential candidate.

Among my list of viable candidates Ted Cruz benefited the greatest in this latest debate. He became my number one choice next to Ben Carson.

Ben Carson? Many find it hard to comprehend how Ben Carson is where he is in the polls. People want to believe that any man can become president, without climbing the ranks of a political machine. It is how most older citizens such as myself were raised. But what few understand is that the people of this once great nation want to believe that the hand of God still guides us.

Ben Carson is a man of sincere faith. When one’s faith is recognized as sincere and good it does not matter what Christian sect they belong to. Though some refuse to admit his abilities and great intelligence qualify him for president, Ben Carson brings the moral standards and abilities people believe God desires in a leader.

More to the point, there is a spirit moving across this nation. The people believe in Providence. They trust in God’s blessings. The people are turning to God for relief from the tyrant. This should be a comfort to our hearts.

As I have listened to the republican candidate debates I have often asked myself; Are they reading my blog? If you go through my posts over the last eight years you will find most of the policy ideas presented by our candidates. You can find the general views on government and the people they espouse written here. I highly doubt the candidates are reading or even know of my blog. I have heard my views and analysis reflected in commentary and in the voices of callers to various talk shows. I have had blog posts grow in my brain for weeks that I never found the opportunity to write down. Then, I read or hear read on the radio some article that reflects my developing views completely.

The point being there is a spirit moving this nation, driving the people of this nation to the good. Hopefully it is moving the hearts of all our politicians. I believe The Spirit can work through any of the six candidates I, as a common man, consider viable.

It is in this light that you must ask yourself; Why is Ben Carson so popular? It has nothing to do with race.

Finally, as I have observed the republican debates and the first democrat debate, as I have watched the media and others act and respond, as I have watched some very qualified and desirable candidates sink to oblivion, the tactic of the media is becoming clear to me.

Imagine this. After the republicans select their candidate for president and vice president they are completely ignored by the media? Day in and day out the news glows over Hillary and we just never hear a word or even see an image of the other candidates. Forget an onslaught of negative stories. There will just be no stories. The republicans will not be worth covering. They will be defined only in the words of Hillary Clinton. If there is any coverage it will be of some special interest group calling the republicans racist hate mongers; the people’s enemy. This is how we older people were taught the media in the Soviet Union operated.

I believe this is a tactic already in play. I believe this tactic influenced campaigns such as those of Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal. Rick Santorum is still in the race. …Isn’t he?

To make this media tactic work conservative radio would have to be silenced. (note I do not suggest FOX News need be silenced) President Obama acts without restraint. Many have predicted he will grow more and more lawless and radical as the end of his reign approaches. If he cannot get rid of the commentators on talk radio themselves he will go after the radio stations and corporations that own them? Are not both the establishment republicans and democrats alike, along their media cohorts, continuously targeting Rush Limbaugh?

And remember Net Neutrality?

The democrats are deadly serious about anointing Hillary. If these media tactics are not enough they have more drastic measures planned. The United States is under assault from within. It is why the people are looking outside, and ultimately to God for rescue.