Forbes takes a shot over the bow at Bloggers

Forbes Magazine this week has come down hard against bloggers and their influence. There is rumbling in congress to try to “Control” the internet, Read that Bloggers. The Article is here, Attack of the Bloggers as printed in Forbes Magazine. Here is a part of that article.

No wonder companies now live in fear of blogs. "A blogger can go out and make any statement about anybody, and you can't control it.



But if blogging is journalism, then some of its practitioners seem to have learned the trade from Jayson Blair. Many repeat things without bothering to check on whether they are true, a penchant political operatives have been quick to exploit. "Campaigns understand that there are some stories that regular reporters won't print. So they'll give those stories to the blogs," says Christian Grantham, a Democratic consultant in Washington who also blogs. He cites the phony John Kerry/secret girlfriend story spread by bloggers in the 2004 primaries. The story was bogus, but no blogger got fired for printing the lie. "It's not like journalism, where your reputation is ruined if you get something wrong. In the blogosphere people just move on. It's scurrilous," Grantham says.


And though they have First Amendment protection and posture as patriotic muckrakers in the solemn pursuit of truth, the blog mob isn't democratic at all. They are inclined to crush dissent with the "delete" key. When consultant Nick Wreden criticized credit card banking giant MBNA on his blog, a reader responded in support of MBNA. Wreden zapped the comment. "I just thought: ‘This has to be a plant,'" he says.


"Blogging is still in its infancy. Imposing regulations would create a chilling effect," says Annalee Newitz, until recently a policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that defends anonymous attackers. The anonymous assault has a long tradition in American political discourse, recognized by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission in 1995 and in a recent decision by the Delaware Supreme Court refusing to force an Internet service provider to disclose who called a small-town politician inept.


This has put more fear in the hearts and minds of those who like to be in control of things than all the pornography on the Internet ever did.

If you care about the first amendment this is an important dialogue. I have subscribed to Forbes for years, I endorse most of Steve Forbes says.

But he has gone off the end of the plank.

The blogosphere is astonished. Here is an article from one such.
Excerpts from that blog.

Overall, what a pile of trash from Forbes Magazine, which uses its cover to go on the attack against bloggers in the new issue. You have to register to read the stories. Go ahead if you must; it's worth reading to see how a normally solid business magazine can go astray with an alarmist and at times absurd broadside.

Do bloggers sometimes go too far? Of course. But if the best-read bloggers typically did work of the lousy quality shown in the Forbes stories, they'd be pilloried -- appropriately so.


There are columnists from newspapers who are supporting first amendment rights of bloggers to blog. Here is one of those.

In its November 14th issue, Forbes magazine published a cover story titled "Attack of the Blogs!" The deck read, "They destroy brands and wreck lives. Is there any way to fight back?"

The article, which is by Daniel Lyons, is deceptive, specious, and just plain bad journalism. With this article, Mr. Lyons and Forbes do us, as readers, a disservice, and we should mistake neither Lyons' fuming gasconade nor Forbes' absentee editorial oversight for proper journalism.



So, those of the ACLU, You free speech advocates, those of you who are journalists, where do you stand on this? Is the fact that the bulk of the Blogosphre is tilted to the right blinding you to the truth of what this really is?

The blogosphere is nothing more than a soapbox on which I stand in Hyde Park. No one has to listen (Read). No one has to agree or ever come back again. People can disagree or get their own soapbox. We just are speaking to a larger audience than I could have ever reached in Hyde Park. It’s true freedom of speech.

It’s just that it’s become so much more effective at crushing the lies that are out there by so many.

I think that’s a good thing.

Without a Vision we will ALL Perish

Can’t see the Forest for the trees. We all know that it’s true. We’ve been there at one time or another. Our pain, our frustration, our anger, our circumstance causes blindness to the solutions that others see so well. They may help us as they step out of the as-is situation we find ourselves in and toward the could be situation we all desire. When we are in that place we are the least likely least qualified person or people to solve our own problems. We need a voice of hope and vision.

Sometimes all it takes is that outside voice describing a why-not scenario to get us off our duffs and on to the solution that waits in our future. The Kennedy brothers were famous for the quote (which wasn’t theirs), “Some people see things as they are and ask WHY? I see things as they could be and ask Why Not?” That’s what visionaries do. Forget the situation as it is right now. Stop asking why. Start believing for why not. Things will change.

I need visionaries in my life. I need a fresh ray of light shown on my situation from outside. When I was in corporate America we often brought people in from outside our discipline to help us see things differently. They might have been wrong but they pushed aside issues that blinded us from seeing things as they really were. That’s why Steve Jobs hired the President of Pepsi to run Apple for a while. Sometimes it’s just better to have a person who doesn’t have so many trees in their forest to blind them to lead the way. His vision reconfigured Apple, a company Mr. Jobs now runs with great success.

I appreciate a wonderful Church we attend (albeit really far away). It’s worth the drive. When we are there and the Spirit of God is flowing, (like last night) a fresh download of vision takes place in word, song and prophecy such that the troubles in my life don’t seem so big and potentials that could be part of my future see more possible. I thrive on the could be or should be. I need vision. I would perish without it. Sometimes I need to be jarred out of my lethargy.

Here’s are truths I have learned about vision:
--It comes from people you least expect to get it from sometimes
--The less people know about your situation the more visionary they can be
--Our biggest hindrance to our vision is being in the proverbial forest
--Most big visions seem impossible and impractical at first
--Some visionaries only have a piece of the puzzle but it can be the critical key to the full solution
--It’s easy to criticize vision, discount a vision, reject a vision, the only loser in that is not the vision carrier, they have nothing to lose; it’s you. You perish.

So, be careful not to put qualifiers on the vision carriers in your life, what they know, what you believe you know better, the size or radical nature of the vision, the fact that the way out and up seems incomplete, impossible or impractical.

Visions always do.

Remember, God used a Donkey to speak to a prophet. He could use the least likely least qualified person you know to speak to you. Are you qualified to listen? Let he who has ears to hear………………

Reference posts on Say Anything

Posts on Say Anything last week by yours truly.

Teenage Christians Beheaded

A Real Pessimistic View of the Future

State Lotteries are a Shell Game

Phony Government Help

Why Muslims Behead

Unused Fuel in the Ground

Second Hand Smoke is Good for You (or not)

Smurfs under Sharia Law

I am totally unbiased, they are worth reading.

Child Support in Fargo, North Dakota

On Say Anything, another blog, this entry appeared. Then there was a comment by a man who's brother is being victimized in the same way. I think this is a problem. I don't live any more in Fargo, but I know Fargo influencers who might decide to take this issue on. It's a big one. Read the whole thing and the comments.

Government run amuk.

Read the whole thing and the comments.
By 2sweet4u69 on October 30, 2005 at 1:38 pm

I live in West Fargo, ND. I am a single mother of 3 kids. Awhile ago my two older children were put in foster care for a short amount of time. They are now back home with me and doing great! My problem is I started a new job in August and within two days of working child support garnished my wages for past due child support for when my kids were in foster care.

Now, I don’t have a problem with paying that at all. What I do have a problem with is the amount that they think they need to take out. They are taking out $280.00 a month. I am working at the local high school right now when my kids are in school (about 22 hours a week because there is no way I can afford child care for my youngest). My last check they took exactly half of my paycheck which left me pretty much broke after paying electricity, phone and putting gas in my car. Now this is the same child support agency that has done pretty much nothing about my two older children’s dad not paying child support. His arrears for child support as of 10/27/2005 is $47,338.04. He moved to California to get away from child support and boy did it work!

I have filled out an online application with Legal Assistance of North Dakota to see if they can help me. My thought is this: no matter what the payment is a month child support will get their money. I have asked them if they could lower my payments and they basically blew me off. I told them I am willing to pay $100.00 a month and they said that won’t do. This is a past due bill for child support - it’s not like my kids are still in foster care racking up more of a bill.

I want to know what you people think of this situation. I fully believe in paying child support for you children whether it’s because you children were in foster care or because you’re the non-custodial parent, but some of the collection methods used by child support enforcement leave something to be desired.

Be Neither Cynical nor Gullible

I have often NOT walked lock step in agreement with things our government does in my name. I trust but verify. The government in their infinite wisdom has done too many stupid things. I try hard to differentiate what they are in today's news. Thru a rearview mirror it's much easier. So, I try not to be taken in either by the left or right wing reactionaries to every event. I try to decipher my core and assess things from that vantage point.

I know Hutterites. They are OK. But this is really wrong.

In World War I (just to begin in the 20th century, and as a single example out of thousands from that era) a young Hutterite -- Hutterites are a German pacifist sect who immigrated to America to avoid conscription by the Kaiser and settled principally in the Dakotas -- a young Hutterite boy who refused military service for reasons of religious conviction, nevertheless agreed to do everything required of him by the Army except put on its uniform. Taken to the prison at Fort Leavenworth in the dead of Kansas winter, he was suspended for weeks by wrist-manacles from a pipe in a cellar with a foot of water on the floor. When he caught pneumonia and died, before his grief-stricken mother could arrive by train to claim her dead son's body, the Army buried it. In a uniform. L. Neil Smith, "You Can't Fight a Culture War If You Ain't Got Any Culture"

A Hard Freeze

Last night it reached 27 degrees. This is the first real hard freeze we have had this fall. It comes at the end of the high holy days. I’m sort of a messianic Jewish believer. Except I’m not Jewish. You figure it out.

I always think about this time. Is this the end of the year or is it the beginning of the year as was celebrated earlier this month on the Hebrew calendar. I think about this new year thing 3 times during the year. Now, Jan 1 (or around the winter solstice) and March 15th, my birthday.

I can make a competent argument for each of them why they should be celebrated as the New Year. I’ll save my arguments on the other two for when they occur.

The New Year should be celebrated now because all things are now done. Everything old is over. Anything from here on out counts only for next year. The freeze out has stopped all old year activities. You can’t start again in the last year. You can’t salvage anything from the last year. It’s all over.

Everything from this point forward looks to a new future. The old is past, frozen, dead and behold all things are become new. What makes this even more impressive metaphorically is the lack of evidence in the new. No matter what you do it means cleaning up messes left over from the last year. It means preparing the soil for new planting. It means putting away everything you used for last year’s crop. The old is gone.

It’s that way with relationships. I don’t mourn much for relationships that freeze over. Many were only seasonal. Some were great. Like the good tomatoes I planted. Next spring I might try them again but I can’t mourn for those gone now.
I cultivate relationships until they either bloom and bear fruit or they are uprooted after a frost and tossed into the recycling bin. A few, I keep carefully in a pot and bring into the sunroom for winter. I have a geranium which is 35 years old, a hibiscus which is nearly as old, a couple citrus trees which are 10 yrs old, a corn plant (Dracena) which may be 40, a philodendron fully 20 yrs old. I have plants I carried with me since college.

They are nurtured and protected from frost, by me. We have had a few close calls. One year the furnace went out in the greenhouse and everything froze off. I spent 2 years nurturing them back to life from the scraps.

So it is with friends and acquaintances. Some get tired of me, Some I get tired of. Some I nurture, even keep them in the sunroom of my heart, and preserve them. Some I allow to freeze off. Much of it is a choice they make. I learned long ago not to force myself on anyone if they don’t want me to.

Some people are like roses. They push me away, they reject me, they make it difficult. I won’t force myself on them. I will allow them to bloom, enjoy them for what they are and prune them back to let them find new growth without my tending. I wonder often if those most beautiful flowers have thorns or if the thorns have beautiful flowers.

This is a great deal about our relationship to God. Sometimes we just need to bring ourselves to the place where he will bring us into the SON ROOM of his heart. Drop the thorns. Bloom because he keeps us watered.

So, Happy New Year. Again. This is the beginning of the beginning of the beginning. And the end of a long hot spell that’s turned cold.

It’ll warm up again.

Iran's Leadership MUST GO, one way or another

About the time anyone thinks you can appease the Islamic Fundamentalist Neo-Nazis You need to see what the Current President of Iran said.

Middle EastMahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iran’s fundamentalist president, on Wednesday declared that Israel should be “wiped off the map” and warned Arab countries against developing economic ties with Israel in response to its withdrawal from Gaza.

Then the Europeans who believe in the peace bunny (next to the Easter Bunny) were “Concerned”. Badly Timed they said.

But they said the rhetoric was aggressive and badly timed, and would serve to confirm western suspicions of Iran’s more confrontational approach that were raised by the new president’s speeches at the United Nations last month.

However, European diplomats suggested the comments would not derail efforts by France, Germany and the UK to get Iran to return to the negotiating table and halt work at its Isfahan uranium conversion facility. One diplomat said the EU3 had made a point of keeping the nuclear issue separate from Iranian support for militant Palestinian groups during two years of talks.

“As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map,” Mr Ahmadi-Nejad said, citing Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran’s Islamic revolution.

The president told an audience of students there was “no doubt the new wave [of attacks] in Palestine will soon wipe off this disgraceful blot from the face of the Islamic world”.

“Anybody who recognises Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury,” he said, in remarks aimed at Arab states

Let’s be clear, Iran is part of the Axis of Evil. Those who make friends with Iran must be on a side not our own. Those who supply Iran with Nuclear devices and parts are our enemy and the enemy of peace.

Israel's only sin is that they exist. The same sin they commited against Hitler.

Iran must be stopped, destabilized and a change in government initiated. Iraq is a prototype for this. I have hope that in 2006 perhaps a grass roots movement will affect this needed change to take the Islamic Facist Neo-Nazis out of power once and for all and restore the great country of Persia to it’s rightful place on the planet in all it’s glory.

After all it was the King of then Persia that sent the Jews back to Jerusalem with money he provided to rebuild the temple walls. That can happen again but not with these nuts in power. It's time for a change!

Pat Robertson, do you have the number of that hit man?

A Brief History of Man that Explains EVERYTHING

History began June 17th, 9995 BC.

Humans existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunter/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer & would go to the coast & live on fish & lobster in winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can was invented yet, so while our early ancestors were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to barbeque at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as "the Conservative movement."

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly barbeques and doing the sewing, fetching and hair dressing. This was the beginning of "the Liberal movement". Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as 'girlymen.'

Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting revolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't "fair" to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, Marines, athletes and generally anyone who works productively outside government. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to "govern" the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get MORE for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history.

This was forwarded to me via E-Mail by AJ Skurdahl. I laughed out loud. I thought you might enjoy it. So...

Oh, and, so you don't misunderstand, "It's a Joke Boy, a Joke I tell you, I'm only Jokein you Boy" (Foghorn Leghorn)

I'm sure there is one just as funny poking at conservatives. So, Poke Away.

I'm here from the Government, But NOT to Help You

In the last year we have had 3 maybe 4 major catastrophes worldwide. Hundreds of thousands are dead and hundreds of thousands more injured, hurting and displaced.

There’s a phrase constantly repeated among victims of these crisis.

That phrase? We are disappointed with the response of _____________ to the victims of __________________.

Those blanks include US Government and Rita or, FEMA and Katrina

However, the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita reveal a press corps at an emotional state of development more akin to rebellious teenagers than rational adults. In other words, there is little hesitation on their part to challenge President Bush's authority, but when he fails to provide the security and comfort they privately desire, their response is outrage and disappointment.

or, The Indian Government and The Pakistani Earthquake.

Frankly speaking, I am disappointed with India’s response to the earthquake victims in Pakistan

Now that Wilma had hit Florida, just wait for the phrase, We are disappointed.

If we have 50 more catastrophic events in the next 10 years these same pundits will be saying the same things.

Government has little power to really be of any real help. Governments are not designed to bail everyone out after every calamity.

People of the world must soon discover that we are on our own, that no one is coming, that government help is illusory. This is not a new understanding. It's a natural cycle.

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.

These nations have progressed through the following sequence:

* From Bondage to Spiritual Faith
* From Spiritual Faith to Great Courage
* From Courage to Liberty
* From Liberty to Abundance
* From Abundance to Selfishness
* From Selfishness to Complacency
* From Complacency to Apathy
* From Apathy to Dependency
* From Dependency back into Bondage

Alexander Fraser Tytler, 1748 - 1813
Scottish professor of history at Edinburgh University, a.k.a. Lord Woodhouselee
The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic, published in 1776

I don’t know when we came to the place that we decided collectively to put all our faith in government. “My hope is based on nothing less than republicans and democrats.”

Well, bad news. No one is coming. You are on your own. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Go ahead, be disappointed. It doesn’t matter. The illusion is over. The wizard of OZ has no power to do anything for you. It's time to grow up and take responsibility for ourselves.

If we cede power to the government to help us they will also dominate us.

Color me Unimpressed with Wal-Mart AGAIN

Over and over again Wal-Mart takes bows for minimalist actions of good. They have a great PR department.

Now, they are getting lots of unquestioned publicity because the big spenders are giving their employees phony baloney health insurance. Don't buy it. Check it out for yourself.

The average cashier at Wal-Mart makes $15,000 per year.

The deductible is $1000 per person. So a 3 person family has a $3000 deductible. On 15M per year.

Read This:

The plan would have most individuals pay about $25 per month, and $65 for a family. A single parent would pay $37 per month. The plan has a $25,000 cap for a worker's first year with the insurance.

Wal-Mart Watch, a group that has called for Wal-Mart to offer better pay and benefits, said the new health plan is designed to meet the needs of only young, healthy people. Group spokeswoman Tracy Sefl also said it is impractical to expect Wal-Mart workers to be able to afford to pay into health savings accounts.


So, the big shots take the existing plan, jerk everyone around a bit, cap benefits, and get lots of favorable press.
They make me sick.

OH and,

Shares of Wal-Mart rose 11 cents to $45.83 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

GREED IS GOOD, Wal-Mart Proves it

Conservatism is still Conservative

When I was a young man I supported Goldwater for President. Now Liberals point to Goldwater's late in life conversion to liberal principles they love.

I just want to remind all of us what we fought for in the 60s.

The Goldwater Doctrine

"I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents' interests, I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can."

Barry Goldwater, "The Conscience of a Conservative"

Goldwater was right even if he turned left late in life.

They really are out to get you

About the time you think that the great debate is not engaged, Jesus, God, etc. You must read this.

There is a huge percentage of the population who has no belief in any kind of spiritual dimension at all. While Christians argue over the color of the altar vestments and Sunni's kill Shites and liberal Jews are trying to assassinate Ariel Sharon there are huge numbers of people that just think we are all nuts.

This debate is permeating the church. Is Jesus the only way or not?

Read the whole thing and the 270 comments.

At some point all spiritual pursuits will be outlawed if these people have their way.

I want my Civil Rights Back

Things aren’t the same since Terrorism set in.

I wanted to mail a letter the other day. I looked in several places for a mailbox. They have removed even more. Why? Bombs can be placed in mailboxes.

I flew out of O’Hare the other day. The TSA has become a keystone cop force filled with Barney Fifedom.

Same with security in courthouses.

Cameras on every street corner. Sending tickets.

We have communities that are closed now. Gated. Why? Terrorism.

Office buildings used to be open. Now, you go thru security to keep an appointment.

Parents live with fear of their child’s capture by sexual predators who’s locations are now plotted on the internet.

Kids in school are virtual prisoners for the same reason, Peggy works in a school and you don’t walk in and check with your kids without passing security.

Gun’s continue to be restricted. When I was 13 I paid $27 for a 22 single shot rifle. Try doing that today.

Try depositing or withdrawing any large amount of cash. The assumption is you are a terrorist or a drug dealer. Maybe I just like working in cash.

Go ahead and light up a cigarette anywhere and you are treated like vermin.

Drink too much and if you are over .08 it’s jail.

There is virtual religious persecution of Christians by Atheists and the ACLU.

If you don’t wear your seat belt you can be arrested.

We are all going to be forced to buy or refit our TV sets to digital and the reception will be poorer. Why, Money. Selling Spectrum. Short term gain, long term loss. Of course the government plays the trump card for all dumb decisions.
First responders need the bandwidth.

Is there a limit to the harassment? Is there a point at which the civil liberties of Americans supercede the terrorism fear?

I'm sick of being stepped on.

Last Week's Rants, Raves and Opinions

On Say Anything, A blog I write for from time to time, I wanted to review what last week's entries which were:

Dead Driver Ticketed
Fargo Police Protects the World
Bush Optimism
Ratholes of Aid
Burning Bodies
Greenspan, WHAT?
Screw the Vets
Spike Lee - Idiot
Straw breaks camels back

Those were the Days 1980-85

Sometimes you just need to remember with pleasure the glory days. For Some people, its football. Some it’s a job or a great vacation or a band they used to play in. For me, it’s a group of men and a Church. I got a call from Jeff today, one of those men. It brought back memories. And then:

I read in today’s Wall Street Journal Personal section that men hate Church. That most denominations are losing men. There’s a reason. Men see church as sissy stuff because for many men it feels that way. So, many churches try to make up for that loss by having football or baseball games. Chili cookouts. Tailgate parties. Men stuff. It always fails. It’s a poor imitation for the real thing.

I never go to those things.

I know what it’s like to be a man among men in a Church of men, how that feels sounds and smells. I long to be there again. I may be getting close.

It was in the early 80’'s. I hadn’t been saved that long. I joined a charismatic church in Fargo ND. I met the other men. We were all in our mid 30’s. All married. All with kids. All working and all full of the Holy Ghost and fire. A few of us came together and became a team of sorts. We never had meetings. We never had strategy sessions. We only knew one thing. We believed God and we hated the devil.

There was Lee (He’'s gone now). He had been a Rock and Roller. He was pure Gospel. He believed what it said and that’s that. There was Jeff, strange and wonderful. He was a cop. He brought a cop’s sensibilities to the Church. He believed in the power of prayer. Not some namby pamby prayer. Power Prayer. Hell shaking heaven-reaching prayer. No missing his gender. There was Gaylon. He was an engineer. He could teach. But he would prophecy and demons trembled. If he looked at you funny you knew he knew everything you had done. He probably didn'’t but it kept you from stupidity. There was Pete. Pete was a body builder. Binding and losing. Take back territory from the enemy. No holds barred. Ex Military, he was tough. He now goes to Ukraine and takes back territory, starts churches, and never quits. He ducks bullets and gets thrown in the slammer a lot (in Ukraine) but he never quits. Then there was me.

Jeff’s brother Curt was at that time a pastor in the Church. My brother Steve came and developed the media (TV) ministry. Pastor Dan (Really operating as an Apostle) kept an eye on all of us. It is wonderful being in submission to an Apostle who says sic em and you know if it gets weird you can trust him to keep it on course. There were men who could move mountains with direct faith like Mike Johnson and Pastor Nate. When we had a men'’s retreat things happened. Good Things. Radical life changing things.

I remember Pastor Dan saying to me, "“With the men we have in this Church nothing is impossible for us". I knew what he meant. It was a heady feeling. We were all submitted but we had a spiritual swagger that John Wayne would have envied. We didn’t know that there was anything but victory over the enemy.

Every time we had a meeting, sometimes late night Friday prayer meetings, sometimes on Sunday nights, there was a sense that Jesus might just show up bodily. We had no idea what might happen. Every service was different. It was always a surprise. It was always supernatural. We wished that they would bring the dead so they could be raised up. Sickness, infirmity, demons in need of being cast out, nothing was impossible. We had a growl in our Spirit that made demons run when we walked in the room. Jesus was so big in us that we didn’t see ourselves. We saw only him and what he could do. Any devil in hell that tried to rise up against the power of Jesus was dead meat in seconds.

Oh we weren’t perfect. We were MEN. In ALL ways. But we believed God for a practical tangible line of attack. Nothing theoretical. We read Mark 16 and looked for scorpions and snakes to step on. We didn’t wait for the Devil to attack us. We looked for the Gates of Hell because we believed that they would not prevail when we attacked. We read it in the book so we attacked.

But most of these men moved up or out and new team members pulled punches a bit. Like the 85 Chicago Superbowl Bears who became the 95 and 05 Bears, same team name, not the same team.

I was so acculturated in this radical faith that when I moved to Chicago and began attending Church here it was a shock. One time (because I was a weird believer in the Power of God) I was asked to pray for a woman with Parkinsons who shook badly. Is the Name of Jesus above Parkinsons? YES! So, cinched up the armor and took out after this devil. About 5 minutes into this a pastor from the Church came and asked me to stop. He didn’t want to get her hopes up that she might be healed. What?? That’s exactly what I was hoping to do. Faith is the substance of things HOPED for.

I then began to realize what most Churches and many pastors (including this large Charismatic Church we joined when we first came to Chicago) didn't really believe in the supernatural power of God. Form of Godliness, no power.

Where are all those men today? All who are still alive are still in ministry. Some full time, some not. But still kicking the devil’s behind and loving it. We’re all late 50’s or 60’s now. That Church is not the same. It has evolved in to a good church but lacking the fierceness, passion and fire of those days. Oh, it’'ll grow. Fierceness frightens the women and women go to church and then men lose interest and then they leave and..... That’s a pattern many churches go thru. Chili Suppers and Tailgate parties don’'t attract men. Being on the team and kicking devils in the butt does.

I'’m not critical as much as pitying. I long to get back on the team. A team of Manly Men of GOD who believe, who run to the battle. Men with spiritual swagger who have Holy Ghost fire deep in their bones. I’'m like Sampson, just once more Lord, show me those Doorposts. Let'’s bring the house down. I really miss those days. Once more Lord, just once more.

Golf North Dakota

I was reading this article about someone with Golf Rage.

 

Well, it's true.

 

I have golfed enough in Illinois to tell you that the "Rangers" push you.  If you aren't a good golfer you are run off the course.  People are quite rude when you don't golf at 80 miles an hour.

 

So, I'm left with the lousy courses to play.  Even if you pay big greens fees ($100 including cart) you are still harassed.

 

The only times I really enjoy the game is when I golf back in ND. 

 

I have been a bit hard of my home state (mostly for it's politics, Republican-Socialism). 

 

But, there's nothing like a nice slow incompetent round of pasture pool in the wide open big skies of North Dakota. 

 

The nineteenth hole is great too.

Have a Blessed Sukkot

Today October 18, begins the 8 day Festival called Sukkot, Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Booths.
This is full of prophetic significance.

This is theday when Jesus was born. Not Christmas. The first day of Sukkot 5 BC. So Happy Birthday Jesus.

This is the time he is predicted to come again. Sukkot.

There is a great deal of history, joy, and celebration during this wonderful season. The solemn feasts are done, the feasts of celebration kick in to full gear.

So, go outside, sit under a tree, think about the Goodness of God. Give thanks for all his provision. Eat, drink and be a little merry.

Look at the stars. I love this time of year. Oh, and happy New Year. Party like it’s 5766. The New Year is begun again.

You are blessed. Enjoy. I will. And look to the sky, evenso come Lord Jesus.

Encouragment and Advice

A little boy was giving a book report on Socrates that went as follows:

Socrates was a wise old man who went around giving people advice. They poisoned him.

I feel like Socrates a bit sometimes. Not everyone loves being encouraged or advice. Knowing how and when is difficult. Particularly when I have a positive influence from time to time it's hard not to try and be the encouragement so many have been for me. Sort of Pass it Forward.

In 1975 I became a Dale Carnegie associate under Loehle Gast in Fargo. For the next 10 years I traveled all over the upper Midwest Dakotas and Minnesota conducting training and development programs for Dale Carnegie and Associates. We had 3 programs all of which I taught.

1. Sales Training 12 weeks
2. Confidence Building and Public Speaking 14 weeks
3. Management Development (Sort of an MBA without the Finance part) 8 weeks

I enjoyed what I did and the people I had in my classes found them helpful. Many still point to those experiences and pivotal for their future. So many times people have told me what a difference I made in their life. It’s so rewarding. I keep in touch with many of the approximately thousand people I trained in one of these disciplines.

I have watched many of them go on to great things. Some are very wealthy today. Some have become movers and shakers in politics. Some are Church leaders today. And some are just really great people.

Then there were a few who just didn'’t take. They were people who usually came because their boss told them to. They just showed up. They weren’t going to let anyone encourage them no matter who. Anti Networkers. "I’m miserable and I’m not going to let anyone try to help me." They succeeded at failing. Still do.

So, like the classic lightbulb question: How many Dale Carnegie Instructors does it take to change a lightbulb? Just one, but the lightbulb has to want to change.

SO WHAT, you ask? As an observer of humanity and particularly those with whom I was in Dale Carnegie years ago I have come to these conclusions:

• People who complain about their life but are unwilling to change it should stop complaining
• People who tell you they are happy just the way things are and then are constantly depressed about how things are just conning themselves
• Who you think you are or can be is the limit to who you will become. If you think you are beaten you are, if you think you can’t you’re right.
• Fear of Failure or ridicule keeps more people from trying than incompetence.
• Self Image when enhanced will cause the reality around you to rise to that new level.
• Trying and failing and trying and failing is how things get done.
• Your potential is not limited by your circumstances. Only what you believe about yourself.
• A positive outlook coupled with action is a force multiplier. Colin Powell said that and it’s absolutely true.
• We make the decisions about our future with every action we take. Repetitive action will create a repetitive future. Stuck in the Rut so to speak.
• It takes a firm mindset to reject the influences and limitations others put upon you. You must become your own best counsel. The past is gone. The lies and putdowns which put you in this box will keep you there until you bury them.
• Other people’s encouragement and belief in you to go higher is a gift they give. But it has to be unwrapped before you benefit from it. Then become a regifter.

It’s never too late to rise up. I remember a woman who took our class less than 10 years from her dying day; who’s last years were double the joy because she began to believe in herself. The last 8 of her 75 years on the earth were her best.

I will never forget a young man from Valley City who worked in a grain elevator and suffered from a debilitating disease who was in our class. He became manager and rose to great heights in industry.

There were times I really had to try to see good in what others were doing. I worked at being encouraging. I involved myself in their quest. It nearly always paid off. Those people were ready to move up. There were some that resented it.They had made the decision that there was nothing anyone could offer that would help. They had tried it all before. Nothing would work out. They were right.

I have worked with people coming out of prison. I am doing so now. Helping them release the past and move forward is a real challenge. Some make it, some don'’t. It’s a tough sled. It’s all about believing.

A bigger prison is self-doubt, fear, routine and the lack of a big dream that drives you on. I have known a few people who were carrying in their person true greatness. A potential gift to all of humanity. Who have nothing short of their own self-degradation that holds them back. Who will die with their unrealized potential buried with them.

I have also known people like John Redlin who had NOTHING going for him health wise but who believed he could make a difference. Even when they cut both his legs off he fought for a chance to matter to the world. He did. He taught in the public school, was in politics, a firefighter, and hundreds of other things. He mattered to those who knew and loved him. Gone too soon, he left much of his potential behind for those of us who survive to enjoy and remember.

Be like that. Matter, reach, believe in yourself. Try fail try fail try fail and eventually you will soar. That’s how you learned to walk and then run.

Am I talking to you?

YES!

I wish I had said that, Wait, I DID

I wish I had written this, I have sort of, but, this new book seems to say everything I have been saying. Go out and get it, you'll feel better.

In "Black Gold Stranglehold," Corsi and Smith expose the fraudulent science and irresponsible politics that have been sold to American people in order to enslave them. By debunking several myths, Corsi and Smith provide an outline for progress that would help to establish America as energy-independent.

Be prepared to be challenged by:

* The myth of fossil fuels: Corsi and Smith argue that the deep abiotic theory of oil is a more reliable theory than the fossil fuel theory. It rejects the contention that oil was formed from the remains of plant and animal life that died millions of years ago. Instead, they believe in Thomas Gold's argument that oil is abiotic: "a primordial material that the earth forms and exudes on a continual basis" and is "pushed upward toward the earth's surface by the intense pressures of the earth's core and the influence of the centrifugal force that the earth exerted upon the specific gravity of oil as a fluid substance."

* The running-out-of-oil myth: The 1970s scientific study known as Hubbert's Peak, predicting we would exhaust oil reserves by 2003, has been proven false. We are currently sitting on "more proven petroleum reserves than ever before despite the increasing rate at which we are consuming petroleum products. New and gigantic oil fields are being discovered at an increasing rate, in places the fossil fuel theory would never have been predicted as possible.

* The global warming hoax and other environmental myths: Corsi and Smith present compelling evidence that "burning fossil fuels does not release into the air chlorofluorocarbons or halon compounds, the types of chemicals identified as the culprits causing holes in the ozone." Instead, "human beings breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide" while "plants absorb carbon dioxide and throw out oxygen."

* The folly of oil conservation: "Black Gold Stranglehold" presents and documents how no alternative energy option has been able to provide enough energy and how each alternative has been deemed uneconomical.

* Oil playing a part in the illegal-immigration problem: Mexico has the third largest proven reservoirs of crude oil in the Western Hemisphere behind Venezuela and the U.S. As a result, the United States imports virtually all the oil Mexico exports. Consequently, "the U.S. government finds it difficult to take a systematic, hard look at the nearly free flow of illegal immigrants coming across our southern border. As a hedge against instability in the Middle East, the U.S. government has to calculate our oil needs when considering any steps we take regarding Mexico or illegal immigrants.

* The value of the dollar and its effect on terrorism: "In recent years the buying power of the dollar has decreased 40 percent on the average against all major foreign currencies. Since dollars can no longer be exchanged for gold, no hard, fixed commodity stands behind the U.S. international payments, including oil purchases. Osama bin Laden's "war against America was fueled by his belief that the U.S. has stolen the oil of Muslim countries. At the core of the issue is bin Laden's perception that America has paid for oil, a hard commodity, with paper dollars that are no longer backed as they once were by the hard commodity of gold."

* How high the price of oil?: "Today, the U.S. oil industry is sitting on a quantity of oil reserves that has never been higher. Still, we have built no new refineries, and the refineries in operation are producing at or near capacity. The picture that emerges is one of industry conglomerates simply sitting on large reserves and waiting for oil prices to go even higher. At some point, increased gasoline prices become an inevitable drag on the economy."

* Terrorism and Its Threat to Oil: Terrorists are "willing to bet that the U.S. will not be able to afford politically or economically a protracted global war against radical Islamic terrorism. Terrorists, like governments determined to impose price controls on oil, act to disrupt free markets. In doing so, they clearly understand the economic harm they can inflict."

Corsi and Smith believe that America can and will become energy independent if some steps are taken to correct the aforementioned problems. In addition, they not only meticulously lay out the problems facing American oil interests, but have developed a seven-step action toward U.S. Oil Independence by:

Promoting scientific research to investigate alternative theories.

* Expediting leases offshore and in Alaska to encourage oil exploration.

* Providing tax credits for deep-drilling oil exploration.

* Creating an oil research institute to serve as a clearinghouse of oil industry information.

* Developing a public broadcasting television series devoted to the oil industry.

* Reestablishing a gold-backed international trade dollar.

* Establishing tax incentives for opening new refineries in the U.S.

In the end, "Black Gold Stranglehold" not only provides solutions, but it will empower consumers and oil industry professionals to drastically change the debate about oil. This book is sure to cause thoughtful people to reconsider the U.S. dependence on foreign oil and its effects on our economy.

"Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil"

I know you have been worrying about this

Almost every year I get asked the same question.

Gene, you're in such terrific shape, why don't you run the Chicago Marathon? I mean you could run it between those vigorous workouts you put yourself thru.

After all, it's only 26 miles.

Piece o' Cake.

I have my reasons I DON'T run the Chicago Marathon.. If you know me you know what they are.

But, every year, rewind, Every YEAR! After the Toronto marathon someone crosses the finish line and immediately DROPS DEAD.

I'm imagining the Pearly Gates, St Pete, etc. Classic scene from all bad theology.

St. Pete: "You're 38, why are you here? Your time isn't up yet."

Runner "I just finished the Toronto marathon, and I dropped dead leaving behind my wife and children who will now have to fend for themselves, but boy was I in shape".

St. Pete: "(Insert your own derogatory remark here regarding selfishness stupidity etc.)"

I now believe in purgatory for runners.

Theoretical Theologians

I haven't wanted to pick a fight. I have no axe to grind.

I'm just becoming frustrated with the theological theoreticians. They are theorizing about a theoretical god. It's becoming another gospel. It's time to call them to account. They need to come back to the true God. Not one of their imaginations.

I;m going to start another blog. (Like the world needs this).

But, somehow I must put in front of people who consider themselves Christians, particularity among those who consider themselves theologically sophisticated the danger of their hubris.

The simplicity of the Word of God has confused the brilliant.

SO, I'm going to begin, In my "spare" time.

There's too much Really FUZZY thinking among Christian leaders.

I'm open for discussion, I'm ready for debate, I prepared for dialogue, I'm going to shut off degradation, and unthought dogma.

Reason is fine, but reason thru the screen of scripture.

What qualifies me or anyone to ask these questions and try to steer the ship back on course?

Read First Corinthians Chapter 2:10

But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

1Cr 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

1Cr 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

1Cr 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

1Cr 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.

1Cr 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

1Cr 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

So, when I'm ready I will direct those of you interested to this.

Wait and See.

Things I have been Ranting and Raving About

As you know, I post from time to time as a guest on Say Anything. I just want to make sure that if you want content that's where it is. I will remain bland and uninteresting on this blog so as not offend sensitive readers.

So, Danger, Danger Will Robinson, Vile Political speech at:

Louis Farrakahn's quite a few man march

10 Bird Flu Truths you need to Know

K seeking K al Queida Letters

Global Warming, Cooling or Something

News of the very strange

LAST PICK FOR THE TEAM

The old man and his Newspaper

9-11 this explains everything

So, read with caution.

I'll post these links weekly so you don't have to be tormented to find the wheat among the chaff. Not that there's any chaff on Say Anything.

The Nursery Business isn’t as easy as it looks sometimes

Maybe nothing is. If I were a dogcatcher there would be days……….

I have been working with various growers to supply landscapers nursery stock for a couple decades now. I didn’t just fall off the pickle truck.

Sometimes I get frustrated with the amateurs. This morning I get a call from a guy who wants a 14’ spruce and wants to haul it in the back of his pickup truck. What? I tried to be as nice as I should be, finally I just blew him off. Amateur landscapers are the worst. They don’t know what they are doing, expect more than anyone can provide and don’t know why we on the grower end don’t get excited at their call.

I have been working with a few growers who are new to selling wholesale. I have tried to be nice and considerate of their naiveté in the marketplace. But, my time is worth something too. Learn the market or get out. If you don’t believe me, believe the fact that you have trees in the nursery that were 3” last year and are now unsaleable.

I get calls from people wanting help them establish a nursery. I did that a few times. Those nurseries are up and running. My check for my consulting help? Not yet on the way. I’ll not do that again.

So, I’m harder now, I’m less tolerant now, I do business on my terms, not theirs. I am unwilling to bend my core principles. I learned long ago that no good deed in the nursery business goes unpunished. We do business my way or not at all.

I have lots of people who want to buy product. I just need to figure out what to do about all the amateurs in the business who don’t know how or when to sell their product. Then they whine when things don’t sell and they have to push them over with a bulldozer.

My old boss, Jerry Rice, used to say, “Every plant in the nursery will find a buyer given enough time and the right price”. He was exactly right.

Time and Price. That’s the rub.

So, to whom am I talking here? ME.

Thanks for letting me blow off a little steam.

Back to work.

Peggy Noonan Scores Again

Smart Woman Post:

Peggy Sounds off on Harriet Meirs.

How bout Ms Noonan for Supreme Court?

If you know my story, you know why this quote matters to me

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."


"Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

I wonder if they had this story on for my Grandma Redlin

I saw the story below on the news. My first thought was, Ja und? (So What in German, sort of).

The family of my Father, The Robert Redlin's of Watertown, numbered children from one mother and one father well into the teens. Depending on counting birth and shortly thereafter deaths. It would have been 18. None of those namby pampy hospital births either. Get up in the morning, have a baby and cook dinner for the harvesters in the evening. Those were real women of the prairie.

So, this story makes me say just one thing, LIGHTWEIGHT!

Arkansas Mother Gives Birth to 16th Child
Oct 12 1:55 PM US/Eastern

By MELISSA NELSON
Associated Press Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.

Michelle Duggar just delivered her 16th child, and she's already thinking about doing it again.

Johannah Faith Duggar was born at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday and weighed 7 pounds, 6.5 ounces.

The baby's father, Jim Bob Duggar, a former state representative, said Wednesday that mother and child were doing well.

He said Johannah's birth was especially exciting because it was the first time in eight years the family has had a girl.

Jim Bob Duggar, 40, said he and Michelle, 39, want more children.

"We both just love children and we consider each a blessing from the Lord. I have asked Michelle if she wants more and she said yes, if the Lord wants to give us some she will accept them," he said.

The Discovery Health Channel filmed Johannah's birth and plans to air a show about the family of 18 next May.

The Learning Channel is doing another show about the family's construction project, a 7,000-square foot house that should be finished before Christmas. The home, which the family has been building for two years, will have nine bathrooms, dormitory-style bedrooms for the girls and boys, a commercial kitchen, four washing machines and four dryers.

Jim Bob Duggar, who sells real estate, previously lost his bid for the U.S. Senate. He said he expects to run for the state Senate next year but isn't ready to make a formal announcement.

Michelle Duggar had her first child at age 21, four years after the couple married.

Their children include two sets of twins, and each child has a name beginning with the letter "J": Joshua, 17; John David, 15; Janna, 15; Jill, 14; Jessa, 12; Jinger, 11; Joseph, 10; Josiah, 9; Joy-Anna, 8; Jeremiah, 6; Jedidiah, 6; Jason, 5; James, 4; Justin, 2; and Jackson Levi, 1.

I get some Strange Emails

You do too. Mostly about enlarging bodily members.

But today I got one from a Carlos Guzman. He was hawking a stock (I think). I'm not sure of the topic. He also included some philosophy. So stock picks by a philosopher. They are kind of thought provoking however:

• Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.
• Television has raised writing to a new low.
• Guilt is a rope that wears thin.
• It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
• The world belongs to the enthusiast who keeps cool.
• Streets full of water; please advise.
• Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.
• When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
• When women kiss, it always reminds me of prizefighters shaking hands.
• The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.
• It is only the first step that is difficult.
• We don't get offered crises, they arrive.
• To generalize is to be an idiot.
• Visions come not to polluted eyes.
• Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money.
• Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.
• We're all in this alone.

Honestly I don't agree with that last one, but the others are food to chew on.

This is a tirade free zone

I have strong opinions on everything. And worse, I’m convinced I am right. Not just right wing. Correct. That’s what makes me so popular at dinner parties during which I sit alone. You want my opinion, just ask, no don’t bother, I’ll give it to you anyway.

Nothing is more dangerous than absolute certitude. I’m a dangerous man.

So, I am going to return the tone of this blog to ruminations on life, love, Jesus, Family, and other less offensive topics.

My inflammatory comments and opinions will now reside in a more suitable place. I now write as a guest contributor for Say Anything. This is a political and cultural blog written and edited in large part by Rob Port. I have enjoyed his blog since I became aware of it a year ago. I believe it’s one of the best on the net. I go there first in the morning not because I wrote something, but because I think it’s so well done.

There are several comments on nearly every post. Rob has thousands of readers. They all have strong opinions. It’s great fun if you love good political debate.

And here’s the beauty part. Sometimes I write while incoherent. When I am banal, unclear, stupid, and potentially about to look like an idiot, Rob won’t publish my rant. He sends it back for rewrite. And sometimes he just fixes the stupid parts.

Thanks to Rob (and his associate Likwidshoe) for allowing me to be part of your lively forum and giving a home for my more radical offensive right wing views. I will keep the Gleaner as content free as possible so as not to offend more sensitive readers.

So, bookmark Say Anything. It’s some of the best on the net today. Just ask me.

Recent rants:
Miers Nomination
ND Ebay Licence
Failure of Multiculturalism
Arab MTV saves the world
Patriot Act Police State Howard Dean
Blind Rage from the Left
Helping Katrina Victims, no good deed goes unpunished
Faint Praise from Democrats for Meirs
Bush Withdraws from Iraq
No Sign of Reaction to Bush's Speach
Churchill Bush
Socialist North Dakota
You can balance the Budget
Bali Bombers

Fall is a Beautiful Time Here

Living where I do has genuine benefits. Fall color is one of them. We had drought this summer. Color is off. But all in all it’s still spectacular.

Growing up in ND, going to college in Fargo, I saw posters of the fall on campus pictures from around the country. Oranges, Reds, Golds, Purples and Magenta, magic colors far off the prismatic scale. In ND. Green, frost, brown or No frost, a few weeks of yellow, then brown. Then that special day all people from North Dakota know well. Yellow leaves on the tree all fall off in an hour as the sun rises after a hard freeze. Yesterday it was clothed in bright yellow (Elm and Ash do this best), a cold night and by noon she stands naked. I have intentionally stood under these trees as they molted to experience the effect.

I didn’t know different, I thought we should be happy for what we got. I was. It was pretty in it’s own way. I still enjoy it when I have been hunting in ND and there are leaves on the trees with a muted expression as if a Norwegian introvert had painted them. (a Norwegian introvert looks at his shoes when he talks to you, a Norwegian extrovert looks at yours).

Nothing too bold or colorful.

Color says winters coming. I’m not ready. It was too hot to enjoy summer.

Maybe global warming will set in and we won’t have winter this year. I can only hope.

End of the Age?

I heard Pat Robertson say that all the upset in the last year starting with the Tsunami and up to the Earthquake in Pakistan with tens of thousands dead means that the end of the world (or something like it) is near.

I don’t know.

I guess I read the Bible as well as the next guy. I’ll withhold my opinion.

I do know that I am more thankful for every breath, every hug, every kiss, every touch, every single manifestation of life than I was before.

I have touched and seen those empty shells of people I once knew and loved.

I understand that in Medical School, early on they take students to a newly deceased body. They make them hold the hand of the carcass. They then talk about how only a few hours ago this person loved, had anger, sexual drives, felt heat, pain, talked, and reasoned. Now, nothing.

That’s why I believe in an eternal soul. This is more than just a cluster of synapses. We live on.

Naive? Or is it naive to believe that there is nothing beyond this life.

Time will tell. I’m with Pascal, “if there’s nothing beyond this life, I’m not harming myself living and loving as if there is”.

If I’m wrong it doesn’t matter, if I’m right, WOW!

Your hometown a business haven?

By Paul Tulenko

Scripps Howard News Service

Are you a young professional looking for a place to settle down and call home? Maybe you went off to college to get the knowledge and grounding for a job that has been calling to you.

Maybe you and your potential mate are looking for a place where you can not just get a great job, but can satisfy that burning passion for hunting, fishing, camping, skiing or some other excitement that calls.

Maybe you’re looking for a place where you can rent a loft apartment over an old storefront and sell your art, live downtown where the action is and still make a wonderful living.

Maybe you miss the closeness of having friends who like the things you like, and where you are now just doesn’t offer those moments.

Then again, maybe you’ve been out there for a few (or quite a few) years, and you’re still looking for a place where you can be “you” again. You have skills, knowledge and experience, and you don’t seem to have lost that drive, but at the same time, you don’t want to tie yourself down to some corporate job at the expense of friends, family and what’s left of your life.

Does any of this resonate with you? It resonates with me. Over the past few years, I’ve been privileged to talk with a lot of people just like you (and me), and I’ve discovered the secret place where we’ve all longed to be: It’s called home!

For example, I recently visited two very small towns in North Dakota – Bismarck, the capital, and Grand Forks, a town so much like the sleepy town in mid-Missouri I grew up in that I almost pitched the career and all that stuff on the chance that I could again be near friends and relatives who talked like me, who came from that good rich old-country stock, people who believe in people, people who have a positive outlook on life, go fishing for walleyes, hunt Ring-Neck Pheasants, plant a garden, build make-believe cities with grandkids on the muddy banks of the Missouri river, have a beer down at the local watering hole, and cuss and discuss the challenges of the day with friends both old and new.

Have you thought about something like this? A lot of the new people in North Dakota have, and I’ve talked with them, had meaningful discussions across a table groaning with a platter piled high with walleye fillets that just makes your mouth water and piles of steaks that are the tenderest meat ever served, and it’s all home-grown.

These people have moved back home, bought the old place down the road, built the home of their dreams, enrolled their kids in schools that seem to hold promise of actually helping them to succeed in life, found a job with one of the new firms just starting to grow, or in some cases, starting new businesses of their own.

They’ve also found that there is money in their hometown – money to lend to entrepreneurs who want to buy out some business and make it their own or to buy that homestead that will allow them the freedom to be themselves, provide the challenges of the new century and allow them to work with other talented people to open new doors.

If you are looking for a new challenge in your life, consider making a trip back to where you came from, whether it’s that big city, sleepy village or a town in North Dakota. Is there a challenge out there you could solve? Are any of your old friends or family still around? Maybe you and they could walk back up that memory hill one more time. Maybe that bend in the road is the one you’ve been looking for.

Thomas Wolfe said you can’t go home again, but Dorothy did – and I’m going to tell you that, yes, you also can go home again. So come on home. They’re waiting for you.