I interviewed myself recently. Here is the fourth question I asked and the answer I received. 


4.  Are any of your books based on a real-life experience?

No, none of the storylines are based on any real-life experiences. I get asked that question a lot.

I guess most writers write about something they know or get their plots from real life. I’ve got

a pretty vivid imagination, and I don’t lead a very exciting life, contrary to popular belief. Most

of my experiences are all business related, which don’t necessarily play well into my mystery

novels. I don’t model my characters after anyone. I know a lot of writers do that. I just get

a vision of these people and events in my mind and let it go from there. I mean, I don’t know

anyone that got murdered lately, so it’s sort of tough to write about that from experience.

Contrary to popular belief I wasn’t around back in the 1800s, so I didn’t have any personal

experiences to draw from when I wrote The Maynwarings: A Game of Chance.

Now, I will put references to real places or things in my novels. For example, I think Blenheim

Ginger Ale has shown up a couple of times. It’s my favorite ginger ale, so I try to work it in when

I can. I love giving companies and products I like a plug in my books. The Ocean Forest Hotel

was a real place in Murder at the Ocean Forest; I didn’t have any personal experience to draw on

with that hotel, so I had to rely on research, photographs, interviews with people, etc. The Ritz-

Carlton Atlanta figures into The House of Dark Shadows. I’ve been to that hotel, so I can use my

experience there to describe the place and all that. I’ve been to the Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach,

so I can draw from that experience in The Versailles Conspiracy. But being at these places just

helps to describe them. No real life experience at any of those places was the basis of the plot

or anything like that.

I’ll also put in some quotes that I like that I’ve heard over the years from friends. I think my

favorite is ‘It may not be what you want, but it’s all you’ll ever want.’ And of course, my friend

Sam, to whom The House of Dark Shadows is dedicated, actually coined that term in reference

to a business situation in which I found myself many years ago. So, I do take some things from

real life and insert them into the books from time to time, but plot wise all that comes from my

imagination.


~Digger

I interviewed myself recently. Here is the third question I asked and the answer I received.

3. When did you decide you wanted to write books and why?

I’ve always been an avid reader. I started reading mysteries back when I was in middle school.

I know that one of the first books I read was Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie. I think today

it’s called And Then There Were None. That’s probably still my favorite mystery book of all time.

I read that and then I got hooked on reading mysteries. I read everything from Agatha Christie

to Ngaio Marsh’s Inspector Alleyn series to the Perry Mason books to Sherlock Holmes to Edgar

Allan Poe. I guess I just liked trying to solve the mysteries. I tried reading other stuff over the

years but couldn’t get into the science fiction or the romance or anything like that. Other than

mysteries and literature and some historical books or bios, I just couldn’t get into anything else.

What started me into writing was I didn’t like the end of some book or another. I don’t even

recall which one it was at the moment, but I didn’t like the author’s ending. So, I decided that I

would write a different ending to it. And I did. I started off when the next to last chapter ended

and went from there and wrote the ending that I had envisioned. I like to think my ending made

it a little better. It certainly made me happier than what the author had done. And that was

really my first taste of writing. I suppose if we looked back at that effort, it probably wasn’t as

good as I had in my own mind.

So after that I thought that I would give my hand a try at writing a short story or two. Well,

my first short story just got a little longer and a little longer. It was a murder mystery, a family

feuding over money, someone got killed and all the characters had dark little secrets. I’ve never

actually gone back and looked at that, but here again I suspect it wasn’t as good as I thought it

was.

I spent a lot of time in my youth dabbling in writing—short stories then screenplays. Yeah, I

decided that I wanted there to be more episodes of shows that I liked, everything from the

old TV Batman to Mission: Impossible. So, I came up with some storylines and used those

characters to write screenplays for them. They were pretty basic, and they relied a lot on

dialogue as opposed to prose. I could just say the scene was a bank or a hotel and that was all I

needed to do for the screenplay. I didn’t have to get into the whole describing the setting and

character’s emotions or thoughts or feelings.

My first actual effort at writing a novel was during the first Gulf War. I don’t know why that

inspired it, but it did. I got a notebook and started writing it out by hand. We didn’t have

laptops back then, I know that a foreign concept to you. I still had a manual typewriter that I

had to use for typing. So I wrote everything out by hand then changed things up a little and

added to the story and characters and all that when I typed it up. Needless to say this was a

very lengthy process. When I was done, I put it away and didn’t look at it again for years.

My first novel that was published, Murder at the Ocean Forest, came about in the summer of

2000. I had been doing some research on old hotels and came across information about the

Ocean Forest Hotel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The original hotel had been torn down in

the 70s, but I was fascinated by the history of this place, so I started doing some research on

it. Well, there wasn’t much out there on the old place. The internet didn’t have nearly as much

information on it as is available now. But anyway, I was fascinated by this place so I thought

it would be kind of neat to write a book set in the hotel back in its heyday. I actually came up

with the characters and the entire outline while I was riding in the back of a limo from Miami

to Orlando. I started working on the actual novel on my laptop, I had one then, while I was in

Orlando, and I finished the manuscript about eight weeks later. Those were some pretty intense

weeks of writing. It was the only time I actually spent ten or twelve hour days working on a

manuscript. I finished it up and never changed one aspect of the story either, and it’s still I think

my favorite one for a number of reasons.


~Digger

Question 2

Do you make an outline when you write or just write?

Most of the time I do make some sort of an outline or roadmap or guide. I know that I’ve never

sat down and written a formal outline like they teach you to do in high school and college.

That’s just not for me. Normally, I’ll make a lot of notes when I’m coming up with an idea for

a novel. I’ll make a list of the characters and maybe have some notes about them. Then I try

to organize those ideas into how they flow in the story. Usually, I just make a list of what I see

happening and the order in which it happens. I try to go by that and let the rest just fall into

place. When I’m writing a novel, nothing is really set in stone. I may have a list of things that

are going to happen but as I get into the story I might throw something in that changes that list

or the order or adds or subtracts from it.

The process for me is really very fluid. Things can change. I can come up with another idea or

change some aspect or character for the better or worse as the case may be from time to time.

I may start going in one direction then change course midway through the manuscript. Some

writers are really rigid in their approach to writing. They create the whole outline, chapter by

chapter, and stick with it. Good for them if they can do that. I don’t know what kind of quality

they’re turning out, but whatever works for you.

The Versailles Conspiracy, for example, ended in a completely different manner than I had

originally anticipated. I threw some things into the plot along the way that I hadn’t originally

anticipated, and that made the original ending that I envisioned just a little too theatrical. The

original ending might be good for a movie version of the book, but it just wouldn’t have worked

for the novel. Personally, I think the ending of the book is far better than what I had originally

planned, but when I set out to write that book, I didn’t foresee it taking that direction. It just

sort of took on a life of its own and went in its own direction. The same could be said for The

House of Dark Shadows. It was significantly different in a number of aspects from what I had

originally anticipated and planned for.

I think writers need to keep an open mind and have a sense of flexibility when it comes to the

storyline. I know that both The Versailles Conspiracy and The House of Dark Shadows turned

out better for the flexibility that I had and the changes I made. But here’s what’s important. I

want each one of my novels to be unique. I want each one to have its own special attributes so

that they each take on a life of their own, if you get my drift. A lot of highly successful writers

have a certain format and stick to it like clockwork. Basically, all they’re doing is changing the

location and the character names. It’s sort of like one of my favorite TV shows, Walker, Texas

Ranger with Chuck Norris. Here was a show that only had like half a dozen different story

lines. All they did was change up the guest stars each week, but the stories followed the same

format…someone gets killed and Chuck Norris goes after them and beats the crap out of them,

end of show. If you read some of the top writers over the last twenty years, you’ll find that a lot

of their books follow the same format. I don’t think anyone can say that of any of my books at

this point.



~Digger

I interviewed myself recently. Here is the first question I asked and the answer I received.


1. Do you ever get writer’s block and how do you deal with it?

I do get writer’s block from time to time. I’d say that just about every writer battles that condition at some point. You can just be rolling along with a storyline and all of a sudden you’re like, ‘Where do I go from here?’ And then there’s nothing more intimidating than sitting there staring at a blank page. To me writer’s block isn’t just not knowing what to say or do with the story, it can also be when you’re dialogue or prose just goes stale for a while. You can be writing your heart out then suddenly realize you’re not going anywhere with what you’re doing. It can be very frustrating, and I’d venture to say it’s the number one reason why people either don’t write or give up on a project.

For me I might have to step away for an hour or so or a day or longer if I’m stuck. I might sit in the hot tub and try to mentally work through the block. A good massage always helps. Maybe working out some frustration or anxiety at the gym. And I pace a lot. You know, the old walk back and forth until you come up with the solution. There’s really no cure for writer’s block.

For me, I have to be in the right frame of mind and the right mood if I’m going to write. If I’m not feeling it, it just isn’t going to work out for me and that’s when I have to battle the creature known as writer’s block. If I’m in the right mood, it just sort of comes naturally. I’ve learned not to try to force it, just let the creative juices flow when they’re ready. If I could sit for eight or ten hours a day and write, I’d be cranking out about eight books a year. It’s just not mentally or physically possible for me to do that. My brain would just overload if I tried to do that, so I wait for the right time and place and sit down and start writing. Let it happen. That’s why you only get one or two books a year from me, if you’re lucky. If I tried to force doing more, I know the quality would suffer, and I’ve always been one to prefer quality over quantity.

~Digger

7 Ways to Fix the Economy

Anyone with half a brain can see that the U.S. economy is in a malaise. It’s just muddling along.

Unemployment is still high. Economic growth is low. Prices are rising for goods and services (just think

gas prices and food prices). Job creation is low (people you know that have been unemployed are still

unemployed). Small businesses are still struggling to survive given decreased demand and tight credit.

The real estate market is in the tank; house prices are still falling and foreclosures are likely to spike

this year. The banks are still in trouble, despite what the Fed says and does. Federal budget deficits

continue to be the norm, requiring additional increased in the national debt. There’s still a risk to the

U.S. economy from the economic crises in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and so on. All of these factors

paint a pretty bleak picture for the health of the economy.

I wholeheartedly believe that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a double dip recession. I would even

argue that the current environment is still recessionary even if it doesn’t meet the technical definition

of a recession. I suspect if you’re one of the millions of Americans struggling right now you’d probably

agree with that. If you’re doing well, you probably haven’t been impacted too much or noticed what

everyone else is going through. Sadly, it’s a situation of those that have a job prosper while those who

don’t have a job suffer, which on a side note is a sad reflection on President Obama’s class warfare

strategy that is attempting to divide this country. While we may not be able to stop the economy from

slipping back into a recession in the short term, we can take some actions to fix the economy for the mid

and long term horizons. I think there are seven actions that need to be taken to get the economy back

on track:


To read the previous 6 fixes, click on each link:

#1  Lower Taxes

#2  Cut Federal Spending

#3  Abolish Minimum Wage

#4  Confidence in Leadership & Administration

#5   Massive Infrastructure

#6  War

Fix #7:  US Offshore Oil

Oil reserves off the United States’ coastlines have been estimated

anywhere from 80 billion barrels and up. Why haven’t we been tapping into this? Liberals

and environmentalists, and I would remind you that they’re the ones who would scoff at my

recommendation we go to war with Iran and also the same ones who said President Bush went

to war with Iraq to get their oil. But these are also the same people complaining about high

gas prices when they go to fill up their gas guzzling vehicles and who wouldn’t dare think of

giving up driving in favor of public transportation. We need to tell these people to go to hell and

open up drilling anywhere and everywhere for national security purposes. Not only will we free

America from its dependence on foreign oil, but we will also spur massive investment in drilling

activities that will require jobs and ancillary services and businesses. If the Keystone Pipeline

project was going to create anywhere from 20,000 to 250,000 jobs, can you imagine how many

jobs would be created by drilling of the eastern seaboard or the coast of California? Do you

think that would get the economy going? Sure. And in addition, the federal government would

stand to reap massive financial windfalls which could be earmarked to pay down the national

debt. Sound like a win-win situation to me.



~ Digger


 

7 Ways to Fix the Economy

Anyone with half a brain can see that the U.S. economy is in a malaise. It’s just muddling along.

Unemployment is still high. Economic growth is low. Prices are rising for goods and services (just think

gas prices and food prices). Job creation is low (people you know that have been unemployed are still

unemployed). Small businesses are still struggling to survive given decreased demand and tight credit.

The real estate market is in the tank; house prices are still falling and foreclosures are likely to spike

this year. The banks are still in trouble, despite what the Fed says and does. Federal budget deficits

continue to be the norm, requiring additional increased in the national debt. There’s still a risk to the

U.S. economy from the economic crises in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and so on. All of these factors

paint a pretty bleak picture for the health of the economy.

I wholeheartedly believe that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a double dip recession. I would even

argue that the current environment is still recessionary even if it doesn’t meet the technical definition

of a recession. I suspect if you’re one of the millions of Americans struggling right now you’d probably

agree with that. If you’re doing well, you probably haven’t been impacted too much or noticed what

everyone else is going through. Sadly, it’s a situation of those that have a job prosper while those who

don’t have a job suffer, which on a side note is a sad reflection on President Obama’s class warfare

strategy that is attempting to divide this country. While we may not be able to stop the economy from

slipping back into a recession in the short term, we can take some actions to fix the economy for the mid

and long term horizons. I think there are seven actions that need to be taken to get the economy back

on track:


To Read My other Blog posts, click on each corresponding 'fix'

#1   Lower Taxes

#2  Cut Federal Spending

#3  Abolish Minimum Wage

#4  Confidence in Leadership & Administration

#5  Massive Infrastructure

Fix #6: War

Nothing gets an economy going quite like a good old-fashioned war. Unfortunately, wars

are expensive both in terms of financial and human resources. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

really stimulated the economy earlier in the decade, but it required a good deal of spending

and with little financial gain. If we’re going to have a war that pays for itself, we need to get

something out of the other side. In the case of Iraq, we should have taken their oil. Oh, wait

a minute, the liberals thought that was the whole intention of going to war with Iraq and they

demonized President Bush for it. Did we get any of the vast oil reserves in Iraq? No. Has it help

us in any way financially? No.

If we want a war that stimulates our economy and pays for itself, let’s take on Iran. We can

go in and wipe them out pretty easily. We make Iran the territory of East Virginia, take total

control of the area, and take the oil for ourselves. Let’s see, Iran has something like 150 billion

barrels of proven oil reserves. At $100 per barrel that’s something like $15 trillion dollars. It

wouldn’t cost nearly that much to take out the regime of Iran and take over the oil fields. So,

let’s see, we become energy independent, gas prices fall, the war machine creates jobs, we can

gradually pay off debt in America, and overall the economy gets going. How does that sound? 



~Digger

 

7 Ways to Fix the Economy

Anyone with half a brain can see that the U.S. economy is in a malaise. It’s just muddling along.

Unemployment is still high. Economic growth is low. Prices are rising for goods and services (just think

gas prices and food prices). Job creation is low (people you know that have been unemployed are still

unemployed). Small businesses are still struggling to survive given decreased demand and tight credit.

The real estate market is in the tank; house prices are still falling and foreclosures are likely to spike

this year. The banks are still in trouble, despite what the Fed says and does. Federal budget deficits

continue to be the norm, requiring additional increased in the national debt. There’s still a risk to the

U.S. economy from the economic crises in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and so on. All of these factors

paint a pretty bleak picture for the health of the economy.

I wholeheartedly believe that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a double dip recession. I would even

argue that the current environment is still recessionary even if it doesn’t meet the technical definition

of a recession. I suspect if you’re one of the millions of Americans struggling right now you’d probably

agree with that. If you’re doing well, you probably haven’t been impacted too much or noticed what

everyone else is going through. Sadly, it’s a situation of those that have a job prosper while those who

don’t have a job suffer, which on a side note is a sad reflection on President Obama’s class warfare

strategy that is attempting to divide this country. While we may not be able to stop the economy from

slipping back into a recession in the short term, we can take some actions to fix the economy for the mid

and long term horizons. I think there are seven actions that need to be taken to get the economy back

on track:


#1  Lower Taxes

#2  Cut Federal Spending

#3  Abolish Minimum Wage

#4  Confidence in Leadership & Administration

Massive Infrastructure

Infrastructure projects are great. We do need to have some massive

infrastructure projects, and I don’t think that should be limited to roads. We need to be looking

at infrastructure in terms of rail, power grids, hydroelectric power generation, wind farms,

bridges, nuclear facilities, ports, oil development, and research facilities.

The Chinese are making massive investments in infrastructure. They spent $900 million on

the Tianhuangping hydroelectric project. They’re spending $6.3 billion on the Xiangjiaba

Hydropower project, $5 billion on the Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev railway, $7 billion on the

Xiludou Dam, $14 billion on the Harbin-Dalian Highspeed Railway, $18 billion on the Jiuquan

wind farm, $33 billion on the Beijing Shanghai Highspeed Railway, and $44 billion on building

highways to connect China, India, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Look at what these projects

mean and look at what we’re doing here in America. We’re falling way behind.

The I-73 project is a highway project that would go from Michigan to South Carolina. They’ve

been talking about this for decades, and it still isn’t done. When it comes to roads, we need

to get on it. We need a lot of road projects to make the flow of goods and people a lot easier

throughout the entire United States. Let’s expand I-95, I-10, I-40, and all the major highways.

If they’re six lanes now, let’s make them ten lanes. Let’s go ahead and start getting ahead of

the curve. Our population is going to continue to grow, creating more strains on the ability to

move goods and people easily. Let’s get the road projects going. Have crews working twenty-

four hours a day seven days a week if we have to, but let’s get them done. It wouldn’t take the

Chinese decades to build a road. And while we’re on transportation, let’s work on expanding

our ports. We’re going to have more and more goods coming into the United States, so let’s get

ready for it.

While we’re expanding our road systems, let’s go ahead and spend money on a high speed

railway that connects east and west and north and south. Not only would we be able to more

efficiently move goods and people but we would alleviate congestion on our roads and in our

skies. It should be a pretty easy concept; have the high speed railway follow the major highways

and branch off to other markets as well. Let’s get the project built quickly. Let’s not wait years.

And I’m not talking about the rail to nowhere out in California that people in L.A. need to drive

over 100 miles to get to before boarding to go to Las Vegas. That project isn’t going to do a bit

of good.

Let’s work on some wind farms and hydroelectric power projects and on updating our power

grid. Let’s work on offshore drilling, open up ANWR in Alaska, and build the Keystone Pipeline.

But let me throw in another idea with all this. Let’s privatize some of this. We can’t privatize

all of it, but we can certainly privatize a good deal of it. The projects that are worthwhile will

get funding from the private capital markets; those that aren’t won’t fly. Infrastructure has

long been an industry on which governments have monopolies. There are numerous examples

throughout the world of private infrastructure projects from toll roads and bridges to ports to

power plants to railroads. Privatized projects would get built in a fraction of the time as federal

projects.

We need to get on these infrastructure projects now—not tomorrow, not the next day, not next

year, not five years from now. We’re getting farther and farther behind. There’s a much larger

public good to be served by doing all these projects. We need to have the courage to just move

these projects forward and to hell with the lawsuits and the protests and the years of studies.

Let’s streamline the whole approval process. It’s embarrassing that the world’s superpower has

an antiquated infrastructure system. 


~ Digger

7 Ways to Fix the Economy

Anyone with half a brain can see that the U.S. economy is in a malaise. It’s just muddling along.

Unemployment is still high. Economic growth is low. Prices are rising for goods and services (just think

gas prices and food prices). Job creation is low (people you know that have been unemployed are still

unemployed). Small businesses are still struggling to survive given decreased demand and tight credit.

The real estate market is in the tank; house prices are still falling and foreclosures are likely to spike

this year. The banks are still in trouble, despite what the Fed says and does. Federal budget deficits

continue to be the norm, requiring additional increased in the national debt. There’s still a risk to the

U.S. economy from the economic crises in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and so on. All of these factors

paint a pretty bleak picture for the health of the economy.

I wholeheartedly believe that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a double dip recession. I would even

argue that the current environment is still recessionary even if it doesn’t meet the technical definition

of a recession. I suspect if you’re one of the millions of Americans struggling right now you’d probably

agree with that. If you’re doing well, you probably haven’t been impacted too much or noticed what

everyone else is going through. Sadly, it’s a situation of those that have a job prosper while those who

don’t have a job suffer, which on a side note is a sad reflection on President Obama’s class warfare

strategy that is attempting to divide this country. While we may not be able to stop the economy from

slipping back into a recession in the short term, we can take some actions to fix the economy for the mid

and long term horizons. I think there are seven actions that need to be taken to get the economy back

on track:


Read #1 here:  Lower Taxes

Read #2 here:  Cut Federal Spending

Read #3 here:  Abolish Minimum Wage

Confidence in Leadership and Administration

America has a real crisis in confidence in our

elected leaders in the Congress and the President. I think it’s pretty clear that President Obama

and the Democrats in the Congress don’t really know anything about the economy. The Senate

can’t even pass a budget on its own. Collectively, President Obama and the Democrats have

embarked on economically destructive policies since 2008. Their anti-coal, anti-oil, and anti-

drilling energy policies have resulted in higher utility prices and higher gas prices throughout

the nation. In essence, they’ve created another tax on consumers. They’ve wasted billions

of dollars for green projects that have gone bust and refuse to abandon those failed policies.

They’ve continued to spend like drunken sailors, with the President presiding over the first

downgrade of U.S. debt in history and the largest increase in the national debt in history.

Obamacare was rammed down the throats of the American taxpayers with massive stealth tax

increases on businesses. Quite simply, American business has lost confidence in the President

and the Congress. If there were a vote of no confidence, these clowns would be out.

It’s clear that businesses are reluctant to hire and expand if they’re going to be forced

to pay for healthcare for employees which will increase their costs in an already price

competitive environment. In addition, what incentive do businesses have if they’re going to

be taxed to death for being more successful? With no financial or economic credibility, the

Administration isn’t able to effectively lead and instill confidence in businesses and taxpayers.

This Administration doesn’t do anything to inspire innovation and entrepreneurship. This

Administration does nothing but create uncertainty regarding the future, which is a major

disincentive for businesses to plan expansionary projects. America needs strong leadership

in the President and the Congress, leadership that knows what it takes to foster a prosperous

business environment where businesses can have certainty to expand and make investments

and increase payrolls. America needs strong leadership that can get the financial house of the

federal government in order and stop the self destructive economic policies that result in our

becoming more indebted, less creditworthy, and less competitive.

How to we resolve this? Vote them out of office in 2012 to start, then put massive pressure on

all elected leaders to address the issues that are holding back an economic recovery. 



~Digger


 

7 Ways to Fix the Economy

Anyone with half a brain can see that the U.S. economy is in a malaise. It’s just muddling along.

Unemployment is still high. Economic growth is low. Prices are rising for goods and services (just think

gas prices and food prices). Job creation is low (people you know that have been unemployed are still

unemployed). Small businesses are still struggling to survive given decreased demand and tight credit.

The real estate market is in the tank; house prices are still falling and foreclosures are likely to spike

this year. The banks are still in trouble, despite what the Fed says and does. Federal budget deficits

continue to be the norm, requiring additional increased in the national debt. There’s still a risk to the

U.S. economy from the economic crises in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and so on. All of these factors

paint a pretty bleak picture for the health of the economy.

I wholeheartedly believe that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a double dip recession. I would even

argue that the current environment is still recessionary even if it doesn’t meet the technical definition

of a recession. I suspect if you’re one of the millions of Americans struggling right now you’d probably

agree with that. If you’re doing well, you probably haven’t been impacted too much or noticed what

everyone else is going through. Sadly, it’s a situation of those that have a job prosper while those who

don’t have a job suffer, which on a side note is a sad reflection on President Obama’s class warfare

strategy that is attempting to divide this country. While we may not be able to stop the economy from

slipping back into a recession in the short term, we can take some actions to fix the economy for the mid

and long term horizons. I think there are seven actions that need to be taken to get the economy back

on track:
To read the first two way, follow the links below:


#1 - Lower Taxes

#2 - Cut Federal Spending

#3 - Abolish minimum wage

In case you haven’t noticed, manufacturing in America is dying a slow

death. Look at the textile industry in the South, for example. Why did the textile manufacturers

close up? They couldn’t compete with manufacturers in low wage countries like Mexico and

China. We will never be able to compete with low wage countries as long as we have price

controls in place when it comes to labor. If manufacturers want to compete, we need to abolish

the minimum wage. Manufacturers can offer jobs at two dollars an hour as opposed to eight

dollars an hour. That would help to start narrowing the competitive gap between low wage

producers and those here in America. Hell, we allow waitresses to work for $2.15 an hour plus

tips. Why shouldn’t employers be allowed to offer jobs to anyone at that rate?

Of course, I’m also against collective bargaining when it comes to wages as well. Unions have

been some of the worst offenders when it comes to labor markets. Why are the U.S. auto

companies so uncompetitive against foreign manufacturers? Labor costs. So, I guess I’m not

just picking on the minimum wage but I’m focusing on artificially created wages for labor.

Now, I’ve heard this argument for a long time that an abolition of the minimum wage would

hurt the worker. Look, there was a time in life when I had to work two jobs. If that’s what it

takes for people to survive, so be it. There’s nothing wrong with hard work. And guess what,

if you don’t want to work for a low wage, you can simply say ‘No.’ Why do you think there

aren’t ushers in the movie theaters anymore? Minimum wage. Why don’t we have full service

gas stations? Minimum wage. Doormen? Minimum wage. Why are call centers in India?

Minimum wage.

Here’s the reality. The minimum wage costs the economy thousands of jobs; any good

economist will tell you that. The minimum wage prevents businesses from being competitive.

The minimum wage gives companies a reason to outsource jobs. The minimum wage causes

businesses to find ways to automate, mechanize, or otherwise eliminate positions. It’s not very

palatable, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives of this. Abolish the minimum wage, the

economy will create jobs in untold numbers, and ultimately, the market will set wages. 



~ Digger

Obesity in America

In the past week, I’ve been in three situations that have given me cause to think about a crisis plaguing

America—obesity. This past week I’ve had more than my share of fat people. I’m not talking about

the chunky people who could lose a few pounds. I’m talking about the really obese people. You know,

the ones you see and think to yourself, “Damn, put down the fork, fat ass.” You know, the ones who

have more rolls that your local bakery. Now, don’t get me wrong. I know a lot of overweight and obese

people, and I’m not trying to say that they’re not good people. In fact, they’re some of the best people I

know, and they can live their life however they want. But there comes a point that when their obesity is

encroaching on me that I have a serious problem with it.

First, on the plane, I get stuck next to an obese woman. As you may know, the seats in first class are

significantly wider than those in coach. Didn’t matter in this case. She comes waddling in and plops

down in her chair next to me and her fat starts to encroach over the arm rest into my personal space.

So, now I don’t have one arm rest, and it’s going to be virtually impossible to get up if I have to go to

the lavatory. And I guess the worst part is that she smelled. I know that you know exactly what I’m

referring to. These very obese people have a problem with personal hygiene. Now, my issue is that the

airline didn’t make her purchase two seats. Their argument is that the seats are wider in first class so

she didn’t have to. I guess that reminds me exactly why I don’t generally fly commercial. I guess I need

to get a bigger jet of my own for the longer flights.

Second, I went to a live WWE pay-per-view event in Raleigh. It was Over the Limit. Everyone’s there

to have a good time, including me. Well, it was just my luck that the obese man had the chair next to

me. Unfortunately, the chair there at ringside was just a standard chair, not an extra wide one like on

the plane, so he’s immediately violating my personal space. Here’s someone that should have had at

least two if not three chairs to accommodate himself. I got to talking to him, and he was a very pleasant

individual. I don’t think he really realized he was inconveniencing me, but he was. I let it go and tried

to have a good time, but it’s quite uncomfortable when you’ve got someone virtually pushing you out of

your own seat toward the person next to you. Oh, and he did smell as well.

Finally, I was walking around EPCOT at Walt Disney World in Orlando, enjoying the Flower and Garden

Festival. You would not believe the number of obese people who where there. I’m talking kids, adults,

old folks. The kids are waddling around shoving their faces with junk food and sucking up sodas. The

adults are gorging themselves with food and sodas. It’s a horrible display of human behavior and health

or lifestyle. But what really got me about this was that most of them were riding around in their little

scooters. They’re too damn fat and lazy to walk! So, they’re riding around forcing their way through a

crowd with their scooters and running into people. Really people? Put down the fork, get off your fat

ass, and walk. Get some exercise for a change.

But I got to thinking and I realized that the imposition of obese people doesn’t end with their physical

presence. There’s much more to it. The 36% of the US population that is obese cost all the rest of us

(who are not obese) financially. That’s right. They cost each and every one of us to the tune of about

$150 billion annually in healthcare costs. Most of this cost to treat obesity related health issues is borne

by Medicare and Medicaid. And who pays for that? Each and every worker and taxpayer. And how

about these facts from researchers at RTI International, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,

and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• Obesity is responsible for 9.1% of annual medical costs.

• The medical costs for an obese person are 42% higher than for persons of normal weight. This equates to an additional $1,429 per year in healthcare costs.

• Medicare prescription drug payments for obese recipients are about $600 per year higher than for normal weight recipients.

• Obesity accounts for 8.5% of Medicare expenditure and 11.8% of Medicaid expenditure and 12.9% of private insurance expenditure."

And guess what?

Obesity contributes to higher health insurance premiums for me and you, even

though we’re not overweight. How is that possible? Private health insurers base rates on statistics

from mortality tables including age, gender, location and smoking habits. Weight may or may not be a

factor in determining the premium you pay, especially if you’re part of a group policy! So, if you’re of

average weight, you may be paying the same premium as someone who weighs over 300 pounds! Thus,

when your insurance company has disproportionate payouts for obese individuals and treating their

health issues (diabetes, heart disease, etc.), you get to share the financial burden. Higher outlays for the

insurance company equals higher premiums for everyone.

What’s the solution?

Simple. Better diet and exercise. As a society, we’re eating way too many

processed foods and fast food. We’re eating larger portions, and we’re not getting any exercise. Cut

out the high sugar foods and junk food. Replace one soda per day with a glass of water. Get a little

exercise. You don’t have to run a marathon or anything, but do something. Don’t just sit around and

play video games . Take a walk. It’s easy. Put down the fork and get up off your ass.



~Digger


 

6 Signs You’re a Subversive

First, I think it’s appropriate for this article to make the distinction between communism, socialism, and

social democracy. Second, it’s necessary to define subversive to understand how this relates to the

topic at hand. All definitions come from www.wikipedia.com.

Communism is a revolutionary socialist movement to create a classless, moneyless, and stateless social

order structured upon common ownership of the means of production, as well as a social, political and

economic ideology that aims at the establishment of this social order. According to communist theory,

the only way to abolish capitalist inequalities is to have the proletariat (working class), who collectively

constitute the main producer of wealth in society, and who are perpetually exploited and marginalised

by the bourgeoisie (wealthy class), to overthrow the capitalist system in a wide-ranging social revolution.

Socialism is an economic system characterised by social ownership and/or control of the means of

production and cooperative management of the economy, and a political philosophy advocating such a

system.

Subversion refers to an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power,

authority, and hierarchy. The term has taken over from ‘sedition’ as the name for illicit rebellion, though

the connotations of the two words are rather different, sedition suggesting overt attacks on institutions,

subversion something much more surreptitious, such as eroding the basis of belief in the status quo or

setting people against each other.

It is my contention that there is a vast subversive movement in America right now with these

subversives attempting to erode our values and corrupt our system of government. These subversives

are attempting to pit Americans against Americans with the goal of causing our political and economic

systems to collapse. Here are some signs that may suggest someone is a subversive. If you know

someone who exhibits these characteristics, be aware and be advised that they may be a subversive

working against America. Contact your local law enforcement officials at once if you believe someone

you know is a subversive.

The three first signs you are a subversive can be found here.

Next are three more signs: 

• You oppose voter ID laws

This is the United States of America. You have to be a citizen of

this great nation to vote and participate in the election process. Foreigners and illegal aliens

don’t have the right to vote here in our elections. It is clear that there was a great deal of fraud

in the 2008 election. It is clear that without making voters identify themselves the election

process is subject to fraud with illegal aliens or foreigners voting. If you oppose having to show

a government issued photo identification or proof of citizenship at the polling location before

you vote, you evidently support rigged elections, corruption, and election fraud. Therefore,

you are probably a subversive looking to destroy America from within by allowing foreign

influences to participate in our election process. If you want to open a bank account, you

need a photo identification, social security card, and other forms of ID. If you want to fly on

a commercial airline, you need photo identification to get through the TSA screeners. If you

want to buy alcohol, you may need to present a photo identification. If you drive a car, you

have to have a state issued drivers license. Why then shouldn’t each voter be required to show

photo identification/proof of citizenship when they go to vote? Anyone who argues that it

will disadvantage people is obviously trying to rig the election. The people who they are trying

to protect from being disenfranchised probably drive, have bank accounts, buy alcohol, etc.

and had to prove they were citizens to get the photo ID in the first place. NO MORE ILLEGALS

VOTING IN OUR ELECTIONS! THEY ARE NOT CITIZENS AND THEY DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO

VOTE HERE!

• You believe government knows what’s best for you

If you believe that the federal government is smarter than you are and, therefore, the federal government should make

decisions for you, not only are you a complete dumbass but you’re also probably a subversive,

subscribing to communism. The best thing for you to do would be to move to China or Russia or

any one of the many socialist or communist countries where the government does everything

for you, thinks for you, and takes care of you from cradle to grave. The federal government

makes notoriously bad decisions. Take spending, for example. You or I as individuals can’t

spend beyond our means forever. Yet, the politicians in Washington seem to think that the

federal government is able to do so. Not very smart is it. Would you want some bureaucrat in

Washington deciding how you should be treated if you were seriously ill? I don’t think so.

But, if you believe that the government is smarter than you and, therefore, should make

decisions for you, you evidently don’t believe in personal liberty. There’s a pretty clear

relationship between the size of the government and personal liberties. As the size of the

government increases, personal liberties decrease. Thus, if you believe in a behemoth federal

government that is all knowing, you evidently don’t believe in personal liberties. And if you

don’t believe in personal liberties, you’re a subversive. Remember, in communist societies,

you don’t have personal liberties…so, you don’t really get to vote though they may give you the

illusion of a vote, you don’t have freedom of speech so you’ll probably be killed if you speak out

against the government, and you basically don’t have many choices. If that’s what you want,

there’s plenty of places you can go but don’t force that upon other Americans.

• You support censorship

Places like China, North Korea, Russia, Egypt, Syria and other

communist countries censor everything. People there can’t even really get on the internet.

How would you like getting on the internet and half the stuff on Google be blacked out?

Communists don’t want the free exchange of ideas; it’s a threat to their power and control

of the people. Look at places like Egypt and Libya. Social media helped to bring down the

dictators. Why do you think China and North Korea don’t want their people seeing news from

other places? The 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution ensures our right to free

speech. We can speak out against our government without fear of reprisal or of disappearing

into the gulag. Our media can report what it wants to report, whether I think it is newsworthy

or biased or not. If you believe the federal government should censor what Americans say

or what the media reports, you’re a subversive. If you object to the free exchange of ideas,

you implicitly support government control of what individuals and the media can and cannot

say. Communists want the government to control every aspect of the peoples’ lives. Thus,

censorship=control=communism.

In conclusion:

I guess the one big thing left for me to say is that most of these subversives are too stupid to realize

that they are being used and manipulated by someone else or some other organization with their own

agenda. It’s sad, but true. These people are merely puppets. The real threat to America are the ones

behind all these people—the puppet masters. They’re the ones working to destroy our nation from

within. Perhaps Joseph McCarthy was right when he said, “You are seeing today an all out attempt to

marshal the forces of the opposition, using not merely the communists, or their fellow travelers-the

deluded liberals, the eggheads, and some of my good friends in both the Democratic and Republican

Parties who can become heroes over night in the eyes of the left-wing press if they will just join with the

jackal pack…" 

Let me know your thoughts.  I'd like to know...
Leave me a comment below!


 

6 Signs You’re A Subversive

First, I think it’s appropriate for this article to make the distinction between communism, socialism, and social democracy.  Second, it’s necessary to define subversive to understand how this relates to the topic at hand.  All definitions come from www.wikipedia.com.

Communism is a revolutionary socialist movement to create a classless, moneyless, and stateless social order structured upon common ownership of the means of production, as well as a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of this social order.  According to communist theory, the only way to abolish capitalist inequalities is to have the proletariat (working class), who collectively constitute the main producer of wealth in society, and who are perpetually exploited and marginalised by the bourgeoisie (wealthy class), to overthrow the capitalist system in a wide-ranging social revolution.

Socialism is an economic system characterised by social ownership and/or control of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy, and a political philosophy advocating such a system.

Subversion refers to an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, and hierarchy.  The term has taken over from ‘sedition’ as the name for illicit rebellion, though the connotations of the two words are rather different, sedition suggesting overt attacks on institutions, subversion something much more surreptitious, such as eroding the basis of belief in the status quo or setting people against each other.

 It is my contention that there is a vast subversive movement in America right now with these subversives attempting to erode our values and corrupt our system of government.  These subversives are attempting to pit Americans against Americans with the goal of causing our political and economic systems to collapse.  Here are some signs that may suggest someone is a subversive.  If you know someone who exhibits these characteristics, be aware and be advised that they may be a subversive working against America.  Contact your local law enforcement officials at once if you believe someone you know is a subversive.

·         You support Obamacare

Universal healthcare is a crown jewel in social democracy, socialism and communism.  Obamacare is a vast government takeover of our healthcare system and takes away the decision making from you and your doctor and puts it in the hands of a few bureaucrats.  These bureaucrats makes the rules on who gets what treatment and who lives and dies and who is worth saving and who isn’t.   More importantly, the individual mandate allows the federal government to force you to purchase something.  If this law is allowed to stand, where does the government’s ability to force you as an individual to buy a good or service or to do something end?  If you’re an able bodied individual and you don’t have health insurance, here’s  a novel concept—get a job where they offer insurance as a benefit or else get a job and pay for it yourself.  If you’re an able bodied individual capable of working, it shouldn’t be my responsibility or your neighbor’s responsibility to pay for your healthcare.  Someone has to pay for it; it isn’t free contrary to popular belief.  If you believe Obamacare is a good policy, you’re probably a subversive.  After all, universal healthcare goes against everything that we as a nation or any capitalist nation stand for. 

·         You support Occupy Wall Street

If you are one of the mindless, lazy, ignorant individuals who supports the Occupy movement, you really have no clue how the world works.  Capitalism created your iPhone and iPod and iPad.  Capitalism is what created your Prius.  Capitalism resulted in the create of the technology you use.  Capitalism convinced you that you need a Starbucks or a bottled water.  Capitalism resulted in the creation and proliferation of social media—Twitter, Facebook, and the likes.  Capitalism provides you with cheap goods from Wal-Mart.  Capitalism resulted in the creation of the video games you play in your parents’ basement while you don’t work.  You can thank capitalism for the pharmaceutical products you use to treat the sexually transmitted disease you picked up from some skank you picked up in the tent city during your occupy movement.  Guess what?  These are all businesses.  They’re all making money whether you understand that or not.  They’re not doing these things out of the goodness of their hearts.  They’re doing it to make money.  If you want to destroy capitalism, you can kiss all those things good bye.  Consider the former USSR.  Hell, they couldn’t feed their people, keep the lights on, provide adequate health care or life saving treatments, good cars, and the list goes on.  If you want that kind of life, get the hell out of here.  If you don’t support capitalism, you obviously favor either socialism or communism or some form of those philosophies.  If you support the occupy movement, you evidently are brain dead, you’re not competent to vote, you don’t contribute anything positive to society, you’re lazy, and you’re a loser.  Why is it that you don’t have a future?  It’s not because of the big bad businesses or capitalism—it’s because you’re lazy and ignorant.     

·         You want everything to be fair

Here’s a news flash:  Life isn’t fair.  It never has been fair and it never will be fair.  If you want everyone to have the same amount of everything because it’s fair, you’re a communist.  If you want something, work for it.  You may not be able to have it today, but if you work hard and make sacrifices along the way you can ultimately get what you want.  Sadly, the people who decry that it isn’t fair that someone has more than what they do are the same people who are lazy and don’t want to work. Case in point—the entitlement generation of you people who feel they are entitled to everything but don’t want to work for it.  How did this happen?  Their parents spoiled them and didn’t want them to have to work for anything.  They didn’t teach their children about values and the value of dollar and about hard work and rewards for hard work.  No, parents failed their children by giving them everything they wanted and not making their children make choices, do without, or make sacrifices.  They raised a generation of kids who wanted it to be Christmas every day!

Oh, and how about the people who are being subsidized by the federal government…welfare recipients, college students who are getting loans to go through college and live on, people who have milked the unemployment system without ever even looking for a job.  These are people who expect everything to be handed to them, because they don’t want to take a menial job that they feel is beneath them.  Why should I work when I can sit at home on my fat ass playing video games and get Uncle Sam to send me a government check?  It’s not fair that I don’t have a nice car, so I want the government to give me one or take one from someone else and give to me.  I need to make more money sitting here playing video games, so why doesn’t the government tax the people who are working and making money so that I can have some more folding money to go buy cigarettes, alcohol, and video games.  

Where has this led?  A whole generation and group of people who don’t want to work for anything and want it handed to them and expect the government to hand it to them.  Oh, and if you have something more than they do because you actually worked hard and earned a good living and made money and made wise decisions and didn’t waste money on frivolities, they want the government to take from you and give to them. Why?  Because that’s what would be fair.  If you subscribe to this way of thought, you’re definitely a subversive…whether you realize it or not.   



There are only 3 signs here...

Look for the next blog post to finish this up tomorrow!

 

7 Ways to Fix the Economy

Anyone with half a brain can see that the U.S. economy is in a malaise.  It’s just muddling along.  Unemployment is still high.  Economic growth is low.  Prices are rising for goods and services (just think gas prices and food prices).  Job creation is low (people you know that have been unemployed are still unemployed).  Small businesses are still struggling to survive given decreased demand and tight credit.  The real estate market is in the tank; house prices are still falling and foreclosures are likely to spike this year.  The banks are still in trouble, despite what the Fed says and does.  Federal budget deficits continue to be the norm, requiring additional increased in the national debt.  There’s still a risk to the U.S. economy from the economic crises in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and so on.  All of these factors paint a pretty bleak picture for the health of the economy. 

I wholeheartedly believe that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a double dip recession.  I would even argue that the current environment is still recessionary even if it doesn’t meet the technical definition of a recession.  I suspect if you’re one of the millions of Americans struggling right now you’d probably agree with that.  If you’re doing well, you probably haven’t been impacted too much or noticed what everyone else is going through.  Sadly, it’s a situation of those that have a job prosper while those who don’t have a job suffer, which on a side note is a sad reflection on President Obama’s class warfare strategy that is attempting to divide this country.  While we may not be able to stop the economy from slipping back into a recession in the short term, we can take some actions to fix the economy for the mid and long term horizons.  I think there are seven actions that need to be taken to get the economy back on track.

   1st Way To Fix The Econmomy

Lower taxes—This is a no-brainer.  If you cut taxes on individuals and businesses, the money saved in taxes and not misappropriated to Washington will either be saved or spent by the taxpayer.  It’s just that simple.  If you’re a worker and get a tax cut that saves you $1,000 for the year, you’re probably going to spend that which helps stimulate activity in the economy.  Further, you’re probably going to spend that at a local business—a gas station, restaurant, grocery store, retailer.  That helps more people like you.  High taxes are a disincentive to work harder to earn more if each successive dollar is going to be taxed more. 

There is currently an estimated $1.4 trillion, yes, trillion, in corporate profits that are overseas.  The companies aren’t going to bring those profits back to the U.S. because of the tax rate that is one of the highest in the world.  Let’s cut the corporate tax rate or give these businesses an incentive to bring the money back.  How about something like this:  We will allow you to bring back as much profit from overseas as you want so long as at least 25% is used to create new jobs, at least 25% is invested in growth projects or capital equipment, and at least 25% is returned to shareholders.  Of course, we’ll have to prohibit payouts to executives like the payouts to the executives of companies bailed out by the federal government.  This would put a tremendous amount of money back into our own economy instead of some foreign economy. 

Look, I favor getting rid of the current income tax system altogether and replacing it with some sort of consumption tax or a flat tax.  Either system would be vastly simpler than what we have now.  It’s a sad state when more people are afraid of being audited by the IRS than they are of being mugged.  Would we be better off with another tax system?  Absolutely!  But this is a fundamental difference in philosophies between political parties in America.  There are those who feel the government is more capable of spending your money, thus they want higher taxes so that the politicians can redistribute your tax money in a way they think better fit.  I fall on the side of those who feel that the individual taxpayer is more capable of deciding how to spend their hard earned money than a politician in Washington.  Here’s what we know, as the government expands, individual liberties contract.  I say the less Washington has to do with the economy and taxpayers’ lives all the better. 

Stay tuned for most blog posts where I discuss six more ways to fix the economy!

~Digger

7 Stupid Issues in America Today

Americans and the media regularly debate a host of social, moral, and religious issues. It is alarming to

see the emotion that many individuals have invested in these issues. Clearly, emotions have clouded

the rational judgment and logic of these individuals. It is good to be passionate about what you believe

in, but such passion is a detriment when trying to work to solve the problems of America and society

and often leads to divisiveness and animosity towards those with opposing views.

The debates seem to intensify during each election cycle when the politicians are grilled on their

positions and beliefs on some very divisive social issues. There are many clearly established laws that

relate to the issues being debated. While it may be interesting to see how politicians or candidates feel

about these issues in helping decide who gets your vote, their positions are largely irrelevant as their

ability to change established laws is somewhat limited. Further, these issues are irrelevant when it

comes to solving the greater challenges of America and restoring our greatness as a nation.

To me, it seems like there are seven stupid issues that people talk about, particularly in an election year,

and to which they attribute too much importance.

Issue #7:  POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

Political Correctness—This one really gets under my skin, as I’m sure it gets under your skin too.

We can’t call people fat or short. We can’t use the term midget or dwarf. We can’t say retard.

If you’re offended by certain terminology, get thicker skin. It’s not like these terms are a slur

or racist. They’ve been perfectly acceptable terminology for decades. You can be politically

correct if you want, but don’t look down your nose at me because I’m not.

Oh, and let’s not forget that we have to preface ‘American’ with something else like African,

Italian, Chinese, Japanese. If you’re an American, why do you have to preface it with some

other nationality. If you’re more proud of that than you are of being an American, go there.

They’ll be glad to have you and you can live happily ever after.

Kids can’t lose these days. If you’re on the winning team, you get a medal and a pizza party.

And if you’re on the losing team, you also get a medal and a pizza party. There are no losers in

today’s society. Guess what kids. The real world doesn’t work that way. There are winners and

losers. You’re one or the other. Get used to it—it’s reality.

We can’t talk about Christianity or celebrate Christian holidays because it may offend someone.

This country was founded on Christian values. If you’re of another faith, you’re welcome here

and we’ll tolerate you, but we’re not going to bend over backwards for you and marginalize

Christianity because you don’t like it. Did you hear about the university recently that stopped

recognizing Christian holidays because some Muslim or Buddhist complained? Ridiculous. What

do you think would happen if we went to Tehran and complained about their taking off Islamic

holidays? What do you think they would do to a Christian who complained? Got news for you,

you wouldn’t live long enough to find out. There’s an old saying…When in Rome, do as the

Romans do.

A friend recently criticized me over my objection to political correctness, saying I was

insensitive. I find that quite offensive. I’m not saying we should deprive someone of their

ability to worship freely or make them drink from a different water fountain or use a different

bathroom or whatever. Political correctness has been taken way too far. If you’re too sensitive

or you’re afraid of hurting someone’s feelings, get over it. The world is tough and can be a lot

crueler than getting called fat or being called a midget or having to listen to a Christian prayer at

a pep rally or seeing a nativity scene in front of the courthouse at Christmas. We’ve got bigger

problems in this world. Channel your energies spent on political correctness to solving some

real problems. We would be a lot better off. Otherwise, get a life.

As history has shown (think Prohibition), attempts to legislate morality have generally failed miserably.

Legal or illegal, people are going to do what they want. Prohibition made alcohol illegal, but it didn’t

stop people from drinking. Ultimately, Prohibition was repealed. Drugs are illegal, but people still

choose to use them. We’re not going to stop that. In the larger picture, don’t we as a nation have more

important issues than those I’ve outlined? If we’re all dead because the terrorists attack us, does any of

this really matter? If our nation is bankrupt and our financial system collapses, does this really matter?

If the federal government continues to amass unprecedented powers and our liberties are taken from

us, do these issues really matter? These issues only create negative energy that detracts from the real

issues. Let’s focus our energies on issues that we can collectively resolve to make America stronger,

more secure, and financially stable. Without that, these other issues don’t really matter and only divide

us more than they unite us. The enemies of liberty will attempt to exploit the people on these issues,

preying upon their emotions, distracting them while their freedom comes under attack and is stealthily

snatched away.

This is the lst one in a series of 7 stupid issues.  Read more on the other issues here:

Read: 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #1 Abortion

And: 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #2 Separation of church and State

As well as: 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #3 Pornography

Read: 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #4 Gay Marriage

And: 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #5 War On Drugs

As well as: 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #6 Gambling

Thank you!

7 Stupid Issues in America Today

Americans and the media regularly debate a host of social, moral, and religious issues. It is alarming to

see the emotion that many individuals have invested in these issues. Clearly, emotions have clouded

the rational judgment and logic of these individuals. It is good to be passionate about what you believe

in, but such passion is a detriment when trying to work to solve the problems of America and society

and often leads to divisiveness and animosity towards those with opposing views.

The debates seem to intensify during each election cycle when the politicians are grilled on their

positions and beliefs on some very divisive social issues. There are many clearly established laws that

relate to the issues being debated. While it may be interesting to see how politicians or candidates feel

about these issues in helping decide who gets your vote, their positions are largely irrelevant as their

ability to change established laws is somewhat limited. Further, these issues are irrelevant when it

comes to solving the greater challenges of America and restoring our greatness as a nation.

To me, it seems like there are seven stupid issues that people talk about, particularly in an election year,

and to which they attribute too much importance.

Issue #6: GAMBLING

Gambling—Gaming is one of the best industries around and it is highly profitable, generating

thousands of jobs and something like $7 billion in tax revenue for the states alone. Yet, there

is a whole group of people out there that oppose gambling on religious or moral grounds. As

I mentioned before, we can’t legislate morality but people are still trying to force their beliefs

upon others and deprive them of the free will to make decisions whether to engage in gaming or

not. Let’s get real. After all, this is 2012, not 1912. Gambling isn’t going away anytime soon.

I recall that South Carolina had the video gaming parlors for years back in the 1990s until the

Bible-thumpers wanted to put an end to the industry…and they did. Successive attempts to

bring gaming back in different forms have failed, and the self righteous morality police even

attempted to stop the casino boats from docking in Little River. It’s just absurd. The federal

government has even gone after the on-line casinos that are offshore and shut them down

here in the U.S. Tens of millions of dollars are wasted in breaking up the gaming parlors or

sweepstakes parlors or whatever form they take. How much tax revenue is being lost when the

industry is shut down? How many jobs are being lost? How much economic impact is being

lost?

Furthermore, isn’t it just plain hypocritical to have a legalized lottery in a state but prohibit

other forms of gambling? Let’s consider the lottery. You buy a ticket for a dollar. The numbers

are drawn randomly. If you match the numbers you win. If you don’t, you lost your dollar.

There’s no limit on the number of tickets you can buy. Now, let’s consider a casino. You take

your dollar to the roulette wheel and put it on red or black. Your odds of winning are just about

fifty-fifty. If you bet on black and it comes up black, you double your money. If it comes up red,

you lose your dollar. What’s the difference between the casino and the lottery again?

Also read:  7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #1 Abortion

7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #2 Separation of church and State

7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #3 Pornography

7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #4 Gay Marriage

7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #5 War On Drugs

7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #6 Gambling

7 Stupid Issues in America Today

Issue # 5:  WAR ON DRUGS

War on Drugs—This has been a vast failure for the past fifty years, and drug cartels are bigger

and badder now than ever before despite our federal government spending something like $15

billion annually. I think we could have found a better way to use that money. For $15 billion,

we could probably nuke the drug producing regions in Colombia and elsewhere. Not a politically

good thing to do, but it would effectively reduce part of the problem.

Here again, just because drugs have been illegal hasn’t stopped people from buying them and

using them. Instead, it has created an entire underground economy. I don’t support drug use

and think it’s a reprehensible activity, but let’s go ahead and legalize it, regulate it, and tax it.

The underground economy would virtually disappear, there wouldn’t be any need to be fighting

the drug cartels, violence along the border associated with drug cartels should go away, and the

governments can make money off the industry and use the funds for police and educating kids

about the dangers of drugs.

I’ve said it before if we want to pay for Social Security or Medicare or pay down debt let’s

decriminalize drugs and regulate and tax them. Taxes on cigarettes raise about $18 billion per

year for local and state government and the fed. In addition to taxes, there would be some

revenues generated for the government from the underground economy associated with drugs

as those monies filter into the broader, general economy. The tax revenue along with the

savings in spending on the war on drugs could help in many ways. Why waste money fighting a

losing battle?

Also read  7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #1 Abortion7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #1 Abortion

And  7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #2 Separation of church and State

And  7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #3 Pornography

And  7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #4 Gay Marriage

7 Stupid Issues in America Today

Americans and the media regularly debate a host of social, moral, and religious issues. It is alarming to

see the emotion that many individuals have invested in these issues. Clearly, emotions have clouded

the rational judgment and logic of these individuals. It is good to be passionate about what you believe

in, but such passion is a detriment when trying to work to solve the problems of America and society

and often leads to divisiveness and animosity towards those with opposing views.

The debates seem to intensify during each election cycle when the politicians are grilled on their

positions and beliefs on some very divisive social issues. There are many clearly established laws that

relate to the issues being debated. While it may be interesting to see how politicians or candidates feel

about these issues in helping decide who gets your vote, their positions are largely irrelevant as their

ability to change established laws is somewhat limited. Further, these issues are irrelevant when it

comes to solving the greater challenges of America and restoring our greatness as a nation.

To me, it seems like there are seven stupid issues that people talk about, particularly in an election year,

and to which they attribute too much importance.

Issue #4: GAY MARRIAGE

Gay Marriage—Yes, I think traditional marriage is between a man and a woman, but do I really

care if gays and lesbians get married? Hell, no. Am I a little uncomfortable with the whole idea

of gay marriage? Absolutely, but who am I or who is anyone to deprive two people of being

together? If they’re in love and want to spend their life together, have at it. You know the only

people who win here—the divorce attorneys. There’s absolutely nothing to suggest that gays

and lesbians will have a lower divorce rate. I suspect they’ll be just like the rest of America

when it comes to the success rate of marriages.

I guess there is some mistaken belief that if we outlaw it, people won’t be homosexual anymore.

That’s quite a fallacy. It’s still going to go on whether they can get married or not. You mean to

tell me that politicians will support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and think

it will pass but yet they can’t seem to get a balanced budget amendment put together. Really?

Let’s get some priorities straight first.

Let’s make it legal so maybe we don’t have to see the marches and rallies anymore, so it’s not

so in your face all the time. Once they get the right to get married, there won’t be any need to

be so public about being homosexual. They won’t be waving their flags and all that stuff. They’ll

live life just like everyone else, the opponents of it will soon forget about it, and everyone will

just move on to bigger and better things.

Read 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #1 Abortion

Read 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #2 Separation of church and State

Read 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #3 Pornography

Top Facts about My Newest Novel…

The Maynwarings: A Game of Chance

Fact 1.

It’s a western—That’s right, a western. I’ve always been a fan of TV westerns—Bonanza,

Gunsmoke, The Big Valley—and the old western movies—The Magnificent Seven and The

Good The Bad, & The Ugly—so I decided to write one. They’re not really in style anymore, and

honestly I don’t know of any author that still actively writes westerns or even when the last

western novel was published. I’ve tried to craft my own unique mystery/thriller element to this

western, so it’s not as simple as the gunslinger rides into town, there’s a shootout in the street,

and so on. No, there’s much more to this western than that, and there’s much more than meets

the eye.

Fact 2.

The Maynwarings—The book is called The Maynwarings: A Game of Chance and centers around

the Maynwaring family—Barron and his wife Eleanor and their children, Mary Catherine,

Breckenridge, Houston, and Stokes. It just so happens that the Maynwarings have a massive

ranch (some say the biggest in the entire west) and pretty much have business interests in

everything—timber, mining, hotels, mills, banking. Of course, they’re also very influential in the

political realm as well.

Fact 3.

The Greenbrier—The Maynwarings make their home at The Greenbrier Ranch. The Greenbrier

mansion is a twenty thousand square foot complex built of sandstone mined from their own

quarries. The mansion is three stories tall with an intricately-carved, white columned porch on

the front, high arches and windows to each side, and columned balconies along the second and

third floors. A massive silver dome and cupola adorn the roof and sparkle brilliantly even under

overcast skies. The road leading to the mansion is paved with cobblestones and lined with gas

lamps and white oak trees imported from the Appalachian Mountains. It truly is a magnificent

place befitting the family and their massive empire.

Fact 4.

Carson City, Nevada—The story takes place in Carson City, the capital of the state of Nevada

which became the 36th state on October 31, 1864 during the Civil War. Nevada joined the

Union to help Lincoln’s re-election just days later though many Nevadans were torn between

supporting the Confederacy or joining the Union. The massive wealth created by the discovery

of the Comstock Lode, the first major US discovery of silver ore, near Carson City in 1859 was

actively sought by the Confederacy, which hoped it would help turn the tide of the war. Carson

City was established in 1858 after a group of settlers led by Abraham Curry sought to break from

the Utah Territory and the Mormon influence of the territorial government in Salt Lake City.

Carson City ultimately became the commercial center as a result of the Comstock Lode and the

influx of miners and speculators to the area.

Fact 5.

Barron Maynwaring, United States Senator—Barron never wanted to be Senator for the battle

born state of Nevada, hoping the territory could keep out of the Civil War. He had, in fact,

supported the state joining the Confederacy, as he believed in states’ rights and limiting the

intrusiveness of the federal government. When many of his friends from the newly formed

state legislature approached him about representing Nevada in the United States’ Senate, he

had initially been reluctant to get involved in the political system. Ultimately, however, he

decided that he had too much at stake financially to let someone else dictate their future. He

had helped to shape the territory and Carson City, and he felt it was his obligation to help shape

the future of the state as well as protect his family’s interests. So, he traded part of his duties as

rancher for those as Senator.

Fact 6.

Mary Catherine Maynwaring, Carson City Solicitor—Mary Catherine is Barron’s outspoken,

cunning, highly intelligent, and controversial yet charming daughter. Despite the overwhelming

odds against a woman attending college then law school, Mary Catherine successfully graduated

at the top of her class from a prestigious university, a feat almost impossible for a woman in the

1850s. After returning to Carson City, she worked for the circuit court for two years and was

then appointed district attorney for Carson City by the territorial governor. She has a passion

for the law and wants to see justice done at all costs. She doesn’t take no for an answer and

isn’t afraid to challenge the status quo or go against powerful interests when someone has been

wronged or someone has broken the law or when corruption needs purged.

Fact 7.

You will have to wait until the end of the summer of 2012 to read it.

8 Solutions to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

We all know that the current atmosphere in Washington, D.C. can be described as dysfunctional.  I’ve been giving a lot of thought to ways that our dysfunctional political system could be fixed.  Here’s what I’ve come up with.  

·         Term Limits—Our Founding Fathers did not envision a system in which we had career politicians.  Serving in the Congress should not be about amassing power because you’ve been there the longest.  Serving in the Congress should be about doing what is best for America.  Term limits would bring fresh blood and new ideas into the government on a more regular basis.      

·       Strong Third Party—We need a good, solid third party that’s made up of the centrists in both the Republican and Democratic parties.  If a strong third party deprived the other two parties of a majority in the Congress, it would force compromise to get anything done.  Why doesn’t the establishment and the media want a viable third party?   

·         End Lobbying—Lobbying=Corruption.  There’s no money in politics; the money is in the graft.  Lobbying corrupts the integrity of the Congress and its members and is nothing more than good, old fashioned vote buying.  Does anyone else think it suspicious that most of the members of the Congress end up millionaires?  Maybe that’s why they’re not willing to ban lobbying. 

·        Cut Congressional Pay, Benefits, and Time Congress is in Session—Congress should be in session from January through March, the month of June, and again in October and November up to Thanksgiving.  Members of the Congress should be paid $30,000 per year for this part-time service or a per diem.  The rest of the time, they need to go back to the districts they represent and their jobs.      

·        Balanced Budget Amendment and Massive Restructuring of the Federal Government—First, we need to substantially reduce the size of the federal government by restructuring and eliminating a number of departments.  Second, the Congress can develop a balanced budget rule with caps on spending increases.  What taxpayer wouldn’t agree that tightening the purse string is a good idea, particularly when it comes to members of the Congress who don’t seem to care how much they spend?

·      Eliminate Riders and Amendments to Bills—Shouldn’t the merits of the bill itself be the chief factor in determining whether it passes and not because there was some rider that got some votes to ensure passage?  It should be fairly simple—the proposed legislation should fit on less than two pieces of legal paper.  The Bill of Rights didn’t need much more space than that.  Do we really need these complex bills that no one seems to read or understand?       

·       Make Congress Like Jury Duty—If you meet certain qualifications (education, citizenship, etc.) and if your number gets called up, you’re going to be the congressman or senator for the next two years or six years.  If this system is good enough to determine a person’s fate in a court of law, why wouldn’t this work in running our country?  I think it would bring more common sense to Washington and make the Congress more like our Founding Fathers had envisioned. 

·         Vote Them All Out and Start Over—What we’ve got in Washington, D.C. right now clearly isn’t working.  So, let’s vote all of them out.  The people in Washington are working for themselves and will do or say whatever it takes to keep their seat.  Let’s find some good, hardworking American citizens and taxpayers to run for these seats and let’s get them elected.       

I think we can all agree that we need solutions not just lectures and excuses from politicians. 

Robert Frost once said that,

“Freedom lies in being bold.” 

We need bold solutions to our problems, and that necessitates a better working relationship between the parties in Washington.   

~Digger