When I first heard the story, I, like everyone else, was horrified that a kid was killed by a ruthless racist vigilante.  Then I started seeing the ugliness around me.  The race bating politicos scurried from under the woodwork and started using the tragedy as a means to their end.  And why not?  The reported facts show that a young boy was just minding his own business, while a horrible vigilante chased him down and killed him merely for being in his presence.  The pictures the media gave us showed a nice young man in Trayvon, and a rather unseemly looking Hispanic man, Zimmerman, as the characters in this story.  The narrative was set, and everyone was saddened and angry.

But then I turned my skepticism on, as I try to do with all things.  One should not just accept things automatically, but consider all the possibilities. I started wondering about the media portrayal, what I’ve grown to think of as a biased media, and saw some very one sided reporting. As an example, just look at the way the names are generally reported.  Trayvon and Zimmerman… using a first name is more personal, while using the last name is less so… if you don’t think the media is manipulating you, even accidentally, I don’t think you’re paying attention.  During this time I started to see all the blind calls for “justice”, and saw the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton put themselves as the center of attention.  That’s not right, and when I see things like that happen, it makes me angry and very sad.  Surely this young man should not have died, and if it is found that the shooter should be tired and convicted, I have faith that will happen

I started hearing reports of leaked facts that conflicted with the initial narrative:  Trayvon was suspended from school… that Zimmerman had injuries from an obvious fight.  These facts started to indicate a different set of events than the assumptions everyone first made.  I of course tried to view these facts in the skeptics light as well.  I just saw a headline saying “Zimmerman is a registered Democrat”.  So what?   That shows you just how political everyone is making things.  I saw new pictures, more recent ones as it turns out, that shows Zimmerman looking like a nice respectable person, and Trayvon as a teen with very little respectability.   OK, fine, both sides want to control the way you see these people, but there is no context to these pictures.  Was Trayvon, with his shirt off, pants half way down his legs with his skivvies showing, and flipping off the photographer with both hands, just having fun, or is he a sinister teen?  It’s frightening how easy it is to manipulate a story with just a few pictures.

What really irritates me was how the media and those with a single political view  jumped on this and definitely tried to set the narrative by manipulating us with pictures and partial stories, on both sides! What’s worse:  a media jumping on a story because it’s good press, or because it has political purpose?  I’m not sure, but both happened here.  Get this straight: regardless of the facts, the use of this event to profit, or further a cause is slimy.

Friends and acquaintances are now talking about rallies for Trayvon… also fine, in fact, great, celebrate the life of Trayvon that was tragically cut short.  But the last thing we need to do is fuel hatred and racism with accusations that are not clear.  I get it, many of us don’t trust our law enforcement to do the right thing, but there we go with assumptions.  What evidence is there that the police and prosecutors involved are doing anything but their due diligence?  Should they automatically charge a man with what *you* think they should without gathering all of the evidence to make a solid case?  Good lord no… that would be irresponsible.  If the man is truly guilty, then you submit an air-tight case, not some half-assed indictment based on what the “public” wants.

So there it is, a skeptic/conservative viewpoint of a situation.  I don’t know what happened, but I do care.  I hope that the truth is presented, and everyone accepts it, regardless of the outcome… but I know better.  Everyone digs in and gets political.  I suspect those who don’t like my skeptic point of view may dismiss me as a racist.  Surely if I can’t be incensed by the obvious racism of Zimmerman, I must be one myself.  But no, I prefer to look at everything without the blinders of skin color, class, or even politics, and look at everything logically with reason.  Seriously, all I can do is read about it, and hope that everyone is giving me the straight facts… what fools we are if we think by merely reading a story or two we have the right to judge and convict.  The culture in this country is ruined if that happens.

One of my favorite examples of early R&B bawdiness is actually “Shake Rattle and Roll”, which became a very popular song for Bill Haley and His Comets… but as with most of those songs that were covered by more accessible white bands, the original artists had far more colorful lyrics, and the remakes were santitized. Interestingly enough, one of the most colorful lyrics of “Shake Rattle and Roll” managed to get by the “censors”, perhaps because they didn’t have dirty enough minds to think that it was anything but a cute lyric. Below I’ve posted the entire lyrics to both songs, with the common lyric color coded for your amusement. Enjoy, and if you don’t get all of the dirty lyrics… good for you, you’re a better person than I.

Bill Haley’s Shake Rattle and Roll

Get out in that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans
Get out in that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans
Well roll my breakfast ’cause I’m a hungry man

I said shake rattle and roll
I said shake rattle and roll
I said shake rattle and roll
I said shake rattle and roll
Well you’ll never do nothin’
To save your doggone soul

Wearin’ those dresses your hair done up so nice
Wearin’ those dresses your hair done up so nice
You look so warm but your heart is cold as ice

repeat chorus

I’m like a one eyed cat peeping in a sea food store
I’m like a one eyed cat peeping in a sea food store
I can look at you tell you don’t love me no more

I believe you are doing me wrong and now I know
I believe you are doing me wrong and now I know
The more I work the faster my money go

Big Joe Turner’s Shake Rattle and Roll

Get outta that bed, wash your face and hands
Get outta that bed, wash your face and hands
Well, you get in that kitchen, make some noise with the pots ‘n pans

Way you wear those dresses, the sun comes shinin’ through
Way you wear those dresses, the sun comes shinin’ through
I can’t believe my eyes, all that mess belongs to you

I believe to the soul you’re the devil and now I know
I believe to the soul you’re the devil and now I know
Well, the more I work, the faster my money goes

I said shake, rattle and roll, shake, rattle and roll
Shake, rattle and roll, shake, rattle and roll
Well, you won’t do right to save your doggone soul

Yeah, blow Joe!

I’m like a one-eyed cat peepin’ in a seafood store
I’m like a one-eyed cat peepin’ in a seafood store
Well I can look at you till you ain’t no child no more

Ah, shake, rattle and roll, shake, rattle and roll
Shake, rattle and roll, shake, rattle and roll
Well, you won’t do right to save your doggone soul

I get over the hill and way down underneath
I get over the hill and way down underneath
You make me roll my eyes, even make me grit my teeth

I said shake, rattle and roll, shake, rattle and roll
Shake, rattle and roll, shake, rattle and roll
Well, you won’t do nothin’ to save your doggone soul

Shake, rattle and roll!

Further, cuts are included as part of this plan, which included a $650B cut in Medicare/Medicaid.  The left balked and he’s backed down from that to  $320B number and taking Social Security Reform off the table as well (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/19/obama-yields-to-liberal-outcry-on-entitlement-reform/), so that’s $1.18T in deficit cutting now…. not even a years worth of Deficit spending, over a 10 year period (simple math says less than 10%). Either way, the maximum revenue, assuming the only cuts were those $320B, would be $850B.  That’s a large number… but that’s over 10 years!  That’s $85B a year in taxes (averaged of course).

These are not serious answers to the problem.  Raising the rate on Americans who employ the rest of us does the opposite of stimulating the economy.  For a paltry $85B/year we are going to stagnate job creation, competition, and punish the “wealthy”, who, if I haven’t pointed it out enough already: HIRE THE REST OF US!

Lest you think $85B is a huge number (it should be!), consider these facts:

2011 est Total Revenue: $2.17T ($85B is 4% of that)

2011 est Total Spending: 3.82T ($85B is 2.2% of that)

2011 est Deficit: 1.65T ($85B is 5.1%)

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_United_States_federal_budget)

So, it is true that the amount of money asking to be paid by the “rich” is a small number in comparison to overall revenue and spending, and one might ask “so what’s the big deal then”?  I’m of the mind that any less money that anyone has in their hands is less money that gets circulated.  Each dollar that is spent is not taxed just once, it’s taxed as it’s spent again and again.  But once money is taxed, it’s generally out of the loop.  Yes, it might be spent by the government, and taxed again, but by that time it’s already added a level of inefficiency that makes the same process done privately much more beneficial to the economy.

If you tell me I’m going to have 5% less money this year than last, I’m going to make changes that involve me spending less (an anti-stimulative effect when multiplied).  What makes you think that the wealthy are going to act any different? Further, what makes you think they won’t just move *more* money into tax-exempt holdings in order to keep their own money over the long haul.  Every time taxes have been raised, that’s been the effect (http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/277249/you-can-t-tax-rich-thomas-sowell).  That’s what the famed Warren Buffet does. I argue, that if you really want to tax the wealthy at a higher rate than the rest of us, then you want to eliminate some of those loopholes (which has been proposed by both sides, but never without the addition of several other measues).

I, for one, have never understood the attack on the job creators of this country.  We cannot be a truly free society while we force those who employ the rest of us to pay more than their fair share (and apparently “fair” is a higher percentage of their money than of mine… a ridiculous notion to begin with).  If Warren Buffet thinks he needs to pay more, then he should lobby for the removal of the tax breaks that allow him to skirt the IRS.  The fact is, however, that he’s an exception to the rule, and that most of the wealthy *do* pay more than the rest of us both in real value and as a percentage (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iP3lhS4ZQ-UhyUvFfUgdPCiu-jJA?docId=47a565563a294b2bad96544a7f0ddc1b).

The deficit and debt are surely huge problems that must be addressed, and everyone should agree that both raising revenue and cutting spending are both parts of the equation.  Where we surely disagree is how to raise that revenue.  I argue that we stop this class envy and get logical about it.  Reducing our military presence where it makes sense to worldwide, cutting all programs across the board, closing loopholes that allow some to skirt the existing tax rates, and allowing the economy to grow *privately* are the methods I see as best.  By allowing the private sector to grow, the economy grows (and thus tax revenue grows).

Look, the economy will naturally grow, our problem simply is that we grow spending faster than we grow the economy and revenue.  If we simply stop adding to spending, eventually it catches up.  That’s not sufficient to solve our problem in a timely manner, but it’s a start.  All I see from the current administration (and most politicians for that matter), is an insistence on stifling growth.  Almost every government policy has a net effect of slowing the economy.

The best thing that could be done right now is to have a true pro-business and growth policy and stop attacking the wealth makers and job creators.  Simply giving our businesses some stability by promising a no tax policy increase policy would generate good-will and reduce fear, thus freeing many companies and individuals to start spending and entrepreneurship.

—————-

DJing a swing event can be fun, but it should be treated responsibly. When stated that way, it can sound like we’re taking ourselves too seriously as dancers and DJs.  I don’t mean to, as we all love dancing, and the music that we choose to dance to, and overly discussing and analyzing a thing can take a way a lot of that fun.  We do, however, need to treat it as a responsibility as well as a privilege.  We get to provide the foundation for a lot of people to have a good time

I say all this to start a dicussion about good and bad practices that swing DJs fall into, some guidelines as they pertain to DJing at HotJam, and to hopefully share some ideas how we may all improve our DJing, and thus the good times that we provide and get to enjoy ourselves.

First the guidelines:

* Music Selection – HotJam provides a specific niche (or more likely related niches) that other venues may or may not provide.  From experience I’ve found that the quickest way to kill a venues to to try to be too inclusive.  What that means for our DJs is that we would like folks to stick to a foundation of Vintage and Vintage inspired music.   That’s a pretty vague definition, purposefully, as everyone should feel free to play good dance music… but the foundation should stick to what people expect:  Good solid Swing music.  Other styles are not “banned”, so it’s OK to hear some blues, soul, and even pop at Hot Jam, but if you are doing so, you should be mindful of how you got there, and how you are getting back (more on this the “transitions” and “observation” sections).  Theme nights, when they occur, are generally exempt from this of course.

* Requests – Request are great to take and attempt to handle, but if they do not fit your set, your comfort zone, or just do not work with HotJam guidelines (and you feel there is no way to make it work), then you should feel comfortable in saying “I’m sorry, I can’t”.  You cannot make everyone happy.  Someone not too long ago asked me for some specific Frank Sinatra, and I honestly did not have what they wanted.  They were not pleased with me, thinking “what kind of swing DJ doesn’t have a lot of Frank”.  I hate to disappoint, but so be it.

* Tempos and transitions – It’s always a real trick to play music that everyone can and wants to dance to.  In my experience there’s a good comfort zone anywhere from the low 100 BPMs to around 180BPM for the average dancer.  I myself try to keep my “baseline tempo” around 155BPM.  That just means if I averaged my set, i’d probably end up in that area “overall”. That doesn’t mean play all songs in that tiny range, and never play songs outside of the average comfort zone.  You should be mindful not to string too many songs together that alienate a lot of people.  Transition your tempos in a comfortable and fun way.  If you just played a 200BPM song, it’s probably not wise to follow it with two more faster songs, yet I think it’s jarring to suddenly go from 200BPM to 110BPM every time you play a fast song.  Transitions don’t just apply to tempo, however.  We do have a lot of different styles to play in our sets, and it’s equally jarring to play “Jumpin’ at the woodside” and then follow it up with “Wade in the water”.  The two styles are danceable, but there isn’t an obvious connection. I like to challenge myself by thinking of ways to get from point A to point B.  “Jumpin’ at the Woodside”, followed by “St. Louis Blues”, followed by “Christopher Columbus (Maxine Sullivan Version), then finally to “Wade in the Water” for example, might be one way I “get there”.  Of course, I’ll need to get back too (especially since “Wade in the Water” is outside my own comfort zone).   Sometimes you can make dramatic changes, and they can make sense and are even fun, but you really need to know your crowd and the mood… which brings us to the next guideline.

* Pay attention – It’s easy to become self-involved in what we are playing, and to think “This is a great song, they’ll love it”.  But that’s not always the best way to DJ.  Watch the crowd, see what they are enjoying, and work to keep them happy.   A good DJ can challenge themselves by directing the group to enjoy music that they might not normally enjoy, if they are observant and employ good transitions.  I myself like to dance a song here and there while I DJ.  This allows me to get a better feel of whether the crowd is enjoying it or not.  Be careful though, as it’s quite easy to ignore your surroundings, especially if you are playing one of your favorite songs, or even worse, one of your “new discoveries”.  Use the “dance and dj” combination carefully, and probably sparingly.

—

Beyond the guidelines, I have never been afraid to share my opinion (much to the dismay of many I’m sure), and won’t hesitate to do so here.  I have a lot of things that work for me, or maybe they don’t, you can let me know.  I’m not saying you have to do it my way, but if any of us have some holes in our DJing skills, perhaps we can learn from each other.

* Try not to have pre-established sets.  Almost all new DJs go through a period of time where they generate their music set lists prior to DJing.  I totally understand this, as it can be very stressful to attempt to put together a list of music that people will like, and having plenty of time to think about this allows us to concentrate on the technical aspects of DJing (going to the next song, not accidentally cutting off a song, playing the wrong song, screwing up the volume, or any number of other things).  I would encourage you to *NOT* make set lists as soon as you can get out of doing so.  I can put together a list of 20 – 30 songs that I love to dance to and think are great, but there’s no telling how those songs are going to go over once you start.  You *must* be flexible in your song selection.  This is especially true if you get a request.  If you get an odd request that doesn’t fit your current set-list, then there is no transition.  If I have to play a song I didn’t account for, I immediately surround it with “transition” songs, and almost never immediately play the request.

I tend to throw a bunch of songs I want to play into my queue and then start moving them around and adding songs between them. Ultimately some of those songs get removed because I’m noticing that they won’t play well, or might not even transition well.

* Don’t go out of your way to make one person happy.   Often times DJs have specialized skills or collections, and they are selected to DJ because of that.  If your are one of those types and you try to fulfill a request that is outside your comfort zone, it’s going to be very obvious.    Further, if someone is requesting something outside the comfort zone of the crowd, you’re just going to make a larger group unhappy, rather than that one person who isn’t going to get what they want.

* Improve your DJ setup.  I am *NOT* a fan of iTunes as a DJ platform.  I’m unfortunately in a growing minority here.  If you must use it, then you need to learn how to preview songs while others are playing.  You might remember that one song you are about to play as being great, but if you had a chance to listen to it you might find that it doesn’t transition well, or isn’t even the version you were thinking about.  Get yourself a USB external sound device so that you can both listen and play at the same time, and learn how to use both.  I’m not sure how you do that using iTunes, since I refuse to use it for anything other than manipulating my iPhone.  I use BPM Studio, a full fledged DJ application.  Regardless, the important part is being able to listen and play two different songs at the same time.

* Tempos.  I’ve found that, as a dancer, the first song I hear and dance to tends to be my baseline for the rest of the night.  Therefor if the first song I hear is 130BPM, then everything, for the rest of the night, is either faster or slower than that.   It’s for that reason that I started playing a slightly faster song, to build a more realistic baseline, if I was the first DJ of the evening.  I personally like to dance to songs in the 180 range as an average, and got annoyed whenever everyone asked me to “play something slower”.   Also, realize that the style of your music can actually make the song seem faster or slower than it is.  The last time I was at HotJam I asked someone to dance when I played a song in the “Boogie” style.  They said “yes, but not this song, it’s too fast”.  I refused to let them get away with it since the song was probably around 160bpm, but sounded faster due to the boogie rhythm.  I think in the end they understood.   I’ve had people ask for something “fast” but what they really meant was “neo-swing”.  Again: Know your crowd.

Well, that’s it… Let me know where I’m full of crap, or where you think you can help me (and others) improve.

A little over a year ago I posted about trying to get in shape.  I considered my options, and began a program of P90X, as I had seen so many of my friends be successful with it.

Things started off well, and I got through the first month.  Summer approached, and we started our summer vacation with a trip to California to visit my family and friends.  While there I attempted to keep up with the workouts, but struggled to find the time.

Upon returning, I found that I could not get through the workouts anymore.  I started feeling *really* bad, and it was as if I had never started the program, or even worse, it was like I had degraded.  Obviously this was more than frustrating, it was demoralizing.  I attempted to restart P90X several times, all with resounding failures.

I wasn’t sure what was wrong, and went along this path for several months.  During this time I noticed my energy level dropping severely so that even a walk up the stairs would drain me.  I rapidly gained weight (10-15lbs in the course of 3 months), and generally felt like crap.

Then it was time for my annual physical and checkup.  I went in, and didn’t really tell the doctor that I was out of energy or anything, as I just felt like I was getting older, and my lack of drive was my own fault.  I felt like if I tried hard enough, I could overcome it all, but I was having a hard time getting the motivation.

Discovery

The next week my doctor calls me and says everything checks out ok, except that I might have “Hypothyroid” disease.  This actually rang a bell since my mother and sister (and it turns out many people on my mothers side), have the same problem.  All I really knew about the disorder was that it affects mostly women, and that it can cause rapid fluctuations in weight.  Notably I’ve seen this in both my mom and sister.  I never expected I’d end up with the problem, however, and never learned much about it.

After doing my research, I discovered that almost all my ailments, including a developing high anxiety, could be attributed to the problem.  My body attacked my own thyroid gland and was no longer able to produce a much needed hormone, and the imbalance was causing all sorts of awful side-effects.

After another blood test to confirm, I started hormone replacement.  At the same time the anxiety peaked.  This was something I had *never* experienced before.  It was so bad that I ended up having a full heart workup because I felt like my heart was going to burst out my chest.  After everything checked out ok, and spending about 6 weeks on the medication, I started to feel a *lot* better.

My weight gain stopped, the anxiety disappeared completely, and some of my energy returned.  The fact that I hadn’t done much and weighed a good 15lbs more still affected my overall energy level, and I knew the only way I could get back to something close to normal was to start exercising again.  I knew I needed to start slow.

A Failed Goal revisited

I started borrowing my sons bike and taking regular bike rides.  This was good, as I could push myself a little, and enjoy things around me.  I’d start taking rides to the store, or just around, evening visiting a few roads I hadn’t been on before.  Unfortunately the weather didn’t always agree, the amount of road that was safe to travel on was small, and my son wasn’t always willing to give up his bike.  I began to wonder if I wanted to buy my own bike suitable for exercise (I do own a wonderful bike, but it’s a vintage style “cruiser” that Candy bought me).  In the end I decided against it.

Then a Tae Kwon Do studio opened up a few miles away.

A little background:  When I was a pre-teen living in Utah, I joined a Tae Kwon Do Club.  For a couple of years I practiced and progressed quite well.  I found something I really enjoyed, and was good at.  By the time I left I was often teaching part of the class for my teacher while he taught some other students.  But then we had to move to California.  Leaving Tae Kwon Do was probably the worst part of the move for me.  When we arrived in California, we temporarily lived in Atascadero, and I found a studio in Morro Bay that I attended for a short time.  But then we moved to a ranch in the hills of Santa Barbara, a minimum of 25miles from any studio.  I tried a few, but I was still too young to drive, my mother doesn’t drive, and my father was usually too tired from working to want to drive, wait for me to do the class, and drive back.

Long story short, my Tae Kwon Do path was over.

When I got into college, I joined a TKD club there in my last year when one was created, but that didn’t last either.

I don’t have many regrets in life, as I always figure the paths we chose, right or wrong, got me to where I am today, and I’m happy with most things.  I have always felt a deep disappointment that I never achieved any real goals in my TKD life.  I never got my black belt.  I failed myself.

Back to present day…

I checked out the TKD studio, and found that I enjoyed it.  I started going to the basic class as I was determined to start completely over and see if I could hack it.  Fortunately a lot of it came back quickly.  The workouts were very hard at first (the first one I thought I was going to vomit), but my restored health was serving me well.  After a few months it was time for my first belt test, and I was promoted back to a Green Belt, which is close to where I left off.  I’m still doing quite well, and have joined the “Black Belt Club” which puts me on the path to actually getting my Black Belt.  I know it will not be an easy task, but this is one goal I’ve regretted not completing in my life.

Tae Kwon Do also teaches a balance in life that I’ve struggled with for years.  The tenets of Tae Kwon Do (Courtesy, Integrity, Self-Control, Perseverance, Indomitable Spirit) are things I very much need to work on.

During this time, I’ve lost 10lbs of what I call the “thyroid weight”, and generally feel a lot better.  The years have caught up to me a bit, and my knee does cause me some trouble, but otherwise I’m doing well.

Unfortunately this training isn’t without cost.  This studio is not cheap, and I do feel guilty about spending so much money… I’m afraid my family doesn’t understand my need to try to fulfill this long-time goal, but I’m hoping they’ll grow to understand.  Two other times in my life I’ve said “I have to do that” (the first was when I heard a Jazz band play, and I decided I had to play in a Jazz ensemble.  The second was when I saw swing dancers dance for the first time and said “I Have to do that”. ) This third time is a bit different, in that I saw the goal: Getting in shape and getting my black belt.  I have to do this, not only for myself, but to get myself in shape so that I can be happy and healthy for my family.

So that’s where I stand.  At the beginning of something that will take 2-3 years to complete and will be a lot of hard work. Wish me luck, or better yet, wish me strength and perseverance…

*  Is it OK that the government has injected itself into the airline industry in the form of the TSA, and that people are required to give up their 4th amendment right to ride on a plane in a private industry?  And where the heck is the ACLU on this?

*  Does it concern you that when they do something so outrageous, as the physical pat-downs, it seems like full-body scans aren’t that big of a deal anymore?  Do you think that might have been the plan all-along?

*  Does it worry you that the government promised not to monetize our debt, but has done so anyway in order to prevent deflation (not inflation)?

*  Does it concern you that when figuring the rate of inflation the government does not use food and energy costs in that calculation?

*  Have you noticed that the price of food and energy have gone up at a higher rate than our so-called inflation rate?

*  Do you worry that recent classified document leaks embarrass the standing of our country as well as endanger the lives of those in our military?

*  Do you think a “two-year pay freeze” for federal employees will do anything to reduce the deficit?  And mustn’t it be nice to know, as a federal employee, that you’re job is secure for those two years, despite not getting a salary bump?

*  Do you remember when the debate was about “reducing the rising cost of health-care”?  What’s you’re insurance bill looking like these days?

*  Does it concern you that ousted congressmen, who are no longer accountable to their constituency, can still pass whatever laws they feel like.

*  Is “Censure” punishment enough for a congressman who’s been found guilty of ethic violations?

*  Should “Free speech” be regulated via the likes of the FCC and “Net-Neutrality” by our government?

I’ve watched as a number of friends and dancers have got themselves into shape again, and met people older than me who look (and I’m sure feel) younger than me. Longtime friends of mine are even fitness gurus (experts on cross-fit).

A need to get back into shape, gain some muscle tone and improve my energy level has overcome me. Any sort of exercise would be an improvement, but I’ve seen a lot of my friends do P90X with great success. Despite my cross-fit friends recommendation that I follow a cross-fit plan, I decided to try a session of P90X for my initial transformation into fitness.

I chose the path for a few reasons, with the biggest of which is that I have multiple friends going through the program at the same time, so I have a support system that I can use. Getting through a few weeks and making exercise a habit is my highest priority besides getting into shape. After I finish the program I will move on to a regular workout, and hope to get some good advice from my cross-fit guru friends, as I see how it’s worked for and become a lifestyle for them.

So I began the program a week ago. Going from zero exercise to an intense program like P90X is not necessarily the smartest thing to do. Day one was difficult to get through. When I finished the first part (chest and back), I felt like I was going to puke. The ab ripper portion went painfully as I have absolutely no stomach muscles it would seem.

Day two started off with me being pretty sore, but I made it through the plyometrics workout without getting sick. By the time day three rolled around I was so sore that I was unsure I could do another workout, but once I began warming up I knew I was able to get through it. I continued on through the week doing pretty well until I had a slight pull up bar accident and fell on my tailbone. Since then a few exercises have been out of the question, most specifically the ab workouts and anything involving jumping.

I’m now into my ninth day, and I’m feeling the results. Despite a few minor setbacks in the diet (i.e. a memorial day BBQ), I’ve lost a pound or two and generally feel better. I can’t expect to *see* any results in the mirror yet, but I’m looking forward to the day I can. Each workout is getting a bit easier to make it through, even though I still don’t feel like I’m keeping up. I’m realistic enough to know that 90 days isn’t going to bring me a miracle transformation, but it will put me into the best shape I’ve been in years.

The diet is the hardest part. I’m not following the P90X nutrition plan (though I should), instead I’m making general smart choices like lowering my portions, eating snack between meals to keep my metabolism level, and skipping high fat and high calorie foods. No more fast food, no more sweetened drinks, and a lot less bread, red meat, and sugar for me.  Oh, and I’ve all but eliminated beer from my poker nights… talk about rough!

All I have to do is make this a new lifestyle for me, where everyday consists of better food and portion choices, and every day includes some form of exercise. This public declaration of my plan is my attempt to commit to it so that should I feel like giving up, there will be a bit of shame and guilt keeping me going. My hope is that after establishing all of this as a new lifestyle it will stick and I can continue to make improvements in my nutrition and health.

Stay tuned because if I do stick with it, and there are noticeable results I will certainly share the embarrassing before pictures, and proudly share the after. For now, however, the before/current shots stay safely tucked away.

For me, this is such a reasoning, and my hope isn’t that you simply agree with the conclusions I may draw, but understand how those conclusions might be made.  For this “study” we are going to consider a term that’s been thrown around a lot lately — socialism — and a new term that I’m making up called momoism.  We’ll start with a definition.

Socialism is defined as “a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.”

There have been a lot of claims that our current administration is moving us toward socialism.  While that’s certainly hyperbole, it has an element of truth.  (This is where you must consider facts, and be logical, not emotional).  To restate the definition, Socialism is the ownership of entities by the government. These entities control production, and distribution of both capital (money and products) and land in the community as a whole (the Country in this case).

Are we socialist?  No.  We are primarily a privately run country.  Almost all our goods and services are produced by private companies.  One could spend hours talking about all of the privately produced and distributed capital, and all of the land owned privately.  We are still a regulated capitalist country in terms of the economy.

But of  course, the element of truth regarding socialism *does* exist.  The Government has owned many entities such as Social Security and Medicare or years.  While these entities are completely owned by the government, the industries they are in are not.  Social Security is a division of financial insurance, a sort of life insurance, and Medicare is a division of Medical insurance.  To some these partial ownerships are “steps” toward socialism.  That’s certainly valid, as the invention of Social Security is certainly closer to Socialism than without it, but it’s a pretty minor leap if one is honest.

Recent events can also be seen moving closer to socialism.  I’m obviously speaking of the health care reform just passed.  But before we get to that obvious piece, there’s *more* socialism in addition on to that bill that was added last minute: Student Loans.  Prior to the passage, student loans were not completely controlled by the government, but now they are.  One could look at this two different ways: Student loans as an entire industry, or student loans as part of the overall loan industry.  Either way, the step towards socialism exists, but once again it’s minor.  The fear, of course, is that each of these minor steps add up.  That’s hard to argue against. And to bring it back to health care, the reform aims to improve coverage by in part adding more people to the government systems.  A very minor step only in terms of numbers.  Otherwise there really isn’t much in it towards the academic definition of socialism.

The definition of socialism also mentioned land ownership. Did you know that as of 2008, the government owned around 30% of all land?  Further, that 30% is primarily land that contains natural resources (oil/gas/mineral).  (http://blog.heritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/federally-owned-land.jpg). Further, the current administration has been making plans (and indeed has been) buying up land.  (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/02/white-house-land-grab/)

That brings us to Momoism.  Yes, it’s a made up word.  I will define momoism as “a system of government, led by an executive with complete power over industry, and commerce, while suppressing opposition”.  First notice that I don’t mention government ownership, rather control.  In momoism, the government seeks to control and regulate all industries, while leaving them under private ownership.  The executive, of course, is either the leader or the “administration” and has ultimate power.

A fictitious country, let’s call it Momoland, would be under the control of  the “Momo”.  The Momo would regulate industries like Heath Care by controlling who gets what, how much companies can charge.  Even though Momoland might have other branches of government, they would largely be controlled by the Momo.  Such power would inevitably lead to the government controlling other aspects of life, and could end up up with the government controlling speech, religion, and other apsects of everyday social life.

Now obviously Momoism is an extreme situation, and I bring it up to make a point.  While there certainly are people who believe Socialism is a valid government, others think it’s evil. The truth is that all governments have their strengths and weaknesses, and I’m not here to debate that.  Momoism, though, is evil in the way I’ve described it.  Full control over your life, while ceding ownership to citizens is akin to Socialism.  Both systems control industry, though momoism does it through law and regulation, while Socialism is more honest about it and gives the industry to the “people” (government).  Socialism is usually democratic, still giving the people the opportunity to elect it’s officials, who then in turn enact laws.  Momoism pretends to do that, but ultimately cedes power to the Momo and his branch of government.  While the people may elect other Momos, and even sub-Momos, ultimate power still lies at the top because the top controls all of the private companies.

Yes Momoism is an extreme, and certainly no modern government participates in full-on Momoism.  Yet, there are some similarities between Momoism and Socialism.  I already alluded that whether the government controls or owns an industry, the end is similar in that the industry must act according to the governments rules.  Socialism takes a lot of control away from the people beyond elections, but Momoism takes it to the extreme.

Now let’s say everyone was arguing about our government heading towards Momoism instead of Socialism.  I, of course, would say the same thing: It’s a hyperbolic argument that only has elements of truth.  The recent Health care bill, of course, adds more regulation to an industry going so far as to tell private companies that they must cover people regardless of condition.  In the insurance industry, that’s difficult to overcome.  I don’t wish to get into that argument here, so it should be sufficient to say that each step taken towards telling an industry what to do, leads us closer to momoism.  Further, each time the Legislative branch gives the Executive branch more power, as was given countless times under the Bush Administration (eg. the Patriot Act which was recently extended under the Obama Administration) leads us closer to Momoism.  Even more of a step towards Momoism was the recent bailouts of multiple industries.  The bailout of GM, for example, led to the government getting more of a say what a private company can do. Once GM took the bailout they were obligated to fire their CEO (regardless of what the company and it’s investors wanted), cut entire lines of cars (again regardless of whether they were moneymakers or not).

And of course, recent talks and attempts by the government to regulate the internet (Net Neutrality) and the airwaves (The Fairness Doctrine — Renamed to include the use of “diversity” and “local”) which essentially tells us that even though we can say what we want, we have to make sure someone else will say the opposite, in equal time, before we say it.  But there I go again, getting dangerously close to idealism.

The point of all this is that we have taken steps toward both of these “isms”, and there are those of us who think both “isms” are not good for a lot of legitimate reasons.  It’s much too simplistic to simply say “Obama is a Socialist” or a “Obama is a Momoist”.  Neither are true, but the actions taken by this government, over a long period of time (decades) have moved us closer towards both and further away from our roots.  One can argue that it’s a good thing, but certainly one can argue the opposite, and have good reasons for doing so.  Pure forms of both are not good for America.

Now, one final thing.  Perhaps you were smart enough to make the connection.  While I said “Momoism” is made up… it actually is not.  Please replace the word “Momo” with “Dictator”, “Momoland” with any number of countries in the WWII era, and “Momoism” with Fascism.  Do *NOT* replace Obama with Hitler, as that’s a non-starter for me, but do recognize that the term “Natzi” is a the shortened verson of “National Socialism”.

Of course when we bring any of those terms up one immediately conjures up “Hitler”.  It’s a false immediate comparison, and in Academic terms, should not be tied to each other exclusively.  If suddenly you are offended, and think that I’m part of the crazy “Obama is Hitler” wacko fringe group, you don’t know me, and never will.  I would ask you to not read my blog, and sever any ties to me… we have nothing more to discuss.  Seriously, I feel that strongly about it.  Otherwise, I simply ask you to consider why *some* people bring up fascism and socialism, as it’s a legitimate concern to them.  History has not been kind to either form of government.  Let’s leave the hyperbole out of it, and recognize the arguments for what they are: Legitimate debate.

I’m going to the Tea Party today in Atlanta. I went last year, and wrote all about it (and re-posted in my last blog post). You can witness my excitement and reasoning there. This year I go in with the same reasoning and excitement, but with some added curiosity, encouragement, and some trepidation.

Reasoning, a year later…

Since last year, our government has done more to take away our freedoms, spend our money, and mortgage our children’s futures. We’ve seen “stimulus”, “jobs bills”, “health care reform”, and so many executive orders and decisions it makes our head spin. In a time when the economy is still trashed, we passed a massive bill which will tax us almost immediately, give us almost no benefits for 4 years, and start to dismantle 1/6th of our economy. Instead of working to improve the system by strengthening private industry (which produces jobs), while eliminating waste and corruption, we just piled on a new system which does almost nothing to help the overall problem. All this was done while the general public wanted some reform, but did not want it in the form it was given to us. It was done using backdoor politics, obscure rules, and closed door meetings. The level of distrust our elected officials showed us is only matched by the distrust we now have for them.

I speculated last year that the tea party movement was not a flash in the pan moment, that it would persist, and I was certainly right. The latest report says that 25% of voters identify themselves as “Tea Party Supporters”. That’s a huge movement. I’ve watched a lot of progressive Democrats and Republicans decide that their career is over, while watching a lot of moderate Democrats and Republicans get the message and start returning to their roots. I’ve seen many Republicans be challenged by more fiscally and governmental conservative folks who come from nowhere to take victory. And I’ve seen a lot of regular people put themselves out there to challenge the corrupt career politicians. I think anyone who doubts that the tea party had a hand in these changes is out of their mind.

I’m going to the Tea Party this year not as a protester, but as someone who wishes to demonstrate his right to free speech and assembly, and as someone who wants to let our politicians (all of them) know that we hold you accountable. The American people will remove the corrupt from power when tyranny affects them. We still have a form of government that allows and encourages this. We wanted some of the “change” Barack Obama promised (not all, but some)… and we’ve got none of that brand. We want an end to dirty politics, an end to endless spending, and an end to the erosion of our liberties under the guise of compassion and the shadow of fears.

Trepidation

There’s been a lot of talk lately about infiltrators who will show up with misspelled and racist signs in order to make us look bad. Since the news has been out there, I think it’s likely that we might not see as much of that as originally thought. I go in this time knowing that there will probably be some of those people, and there will be some legitimate crazies (birthers etc). I’m going to watch carefully and probably note them, take pictures, and document it all. If the tea party has been taken over by the crazies or if it’s obvious that it’s being infiltrated, I’ll document and report it.

I was also asked recently if I was afraid to go because we’ve automatically been branded as racists? I’m not worried, because I know the truth. I am not a racist, but the notion that people are dismissing us as such is very upsetting to me. Are there racists that go to Tea Parties? Sadly, I’m sure there are… but I know that we’re talking about a very tiny number, and that crazies unfortunately exist in any large gathering.

Preparation

I decided to take the entire day off, as there were other things I wanted to get done today as well. I started this morning by spending time with my baby boy, then heading outside to mow the lawn. (Surely the sign of an evil bigoted protester). I plan on taking Georgia’s public transportation system (MARTA) in to the gathering. It’s been pointed out to me that it’s “ironic” that I use a public system that apparently I’m protesting. For the record, it’s not ironic, and as I said before I’m not protesting.. I’m “demonstrating”. I fully support public transportation systems that serve a purpose. I regret that most of them are not as self sufficient as they should be, and would lobby to reform them so that they are, but I would point out that MARTA is both privately and publicly funded, and all in all a pretty decent system.

I plan on getting there early, and really check things out. I’m going in with an open mind regarding everything. If I see things I hate, I will probably “tweet” them. I will try to live-tweet most of the events today (GemZombie on twitter if you care).

I plan on meeting up with the same group of people I went with last year. They are a good group of people, and we enjoyed each others company last year. I will likely arrive before most of them.

I’ll be summing up the event in another post either later today or tomorrow. I’m looking forward to contrasting it with last years event, and will be looking closely for any ugliness on either side of the coin.

(Update: corrected numerous misspellings)

From Thurday, April 16th, 2009 @ 4:41pm

I had wanted to go to the previous tea-party in Atlanta, but circumstances did not allow. If you don’t know what a tea party is, then you probably get your news from CNN who chose to mostly ignore it and marginalize it. I am not one for hyperbole, but let me assure you that this was a major event, it is not some fleeting thing, and those of us who attended are by no means radical extremists.

What is a tea party and why did we go?

The tea party phenomenon caught on because there are three groups of people who have been alienated. The conservatives, like myself have been sick of the ever expanding government attempting to solve problems with our money (and our childrens money with debt). We feel these problems have only gotten worse with these “solutions”. We are of the crowd that believes George Bush let us down fiscally and politically while we praise him for keeping America safe. The second group are the many moderates, who may have voted for Obama have joined us in our fears that government officials are not acting in our best interest as they have been surprised by the actions this congress and administration have taken. The third, albeit smaller, crowd are the democrats who have had a wake up call. They, like the moderates, have been surprised just how quickly this administration and congress has latched on to the economic crisis in the biggest power grab we have seen in our lives. They know that this trumps or at least equates with the power grab of the right after the 9/11 attacks.

The wake up call has come in a short period of time (less than a decade), during which we have seen our supposed representatives use serious problems and the fear they create to expand government and their control over it.

Us tea party goers have turned to the constitution and the founding principles which state that government needs to be controlled rather than the government controlling us. To us Liberty (which is _the_ theme) is only limited by government, but also requires government to preserve. Therefore we both respect government, but are wary of it.

The list of specific grievances is large, but here are just a few:

We’re sick of companies and people who make mad decisions receiving our money involuntarily. We are a compassionate country yet we believe we know how to distribute and spend our money better than government. Especially at a time when we are all hurting, why should my tax money go to someone who should have known better than to get into an adjustable mortgage. I looked into them too, and common sense told me it was a bad idea.

We’re tired of words not having original meaning any more. Many of us are frustrated with the loss of language. Specifically we are told that we are not engaging terrorists anymore. Instead they are insurgents, freedom fighters, engaging in man-made disasters. Yet, the day of the tea party Americans are warned of right wing extremists becoming “domestic terrorists”. Amazing how only Americans can be terrorists now. This only proves that our current administration is not the “change” we expected, just same of the same old marginalizing of the opposing viewpoint, and intellectual dishonesty that plagues almost all of our career politicians.

We are tired of politicians seeking more and more power and control over all aspects of our lives all the while taking our money. As one speaker said “When our children come home with report cards and A letter grades, we don’t turn to them and say ‘that’s great, now give me 5 dollars’… instead we reward our children. The government punishes you for being successful by taking more of your money. People should be rewarded for doing well and contributing to society”.

We understand that the original constitution allowed for taxes, but not an income tax. It took an amendment to add that bad boy in. We also understand that this was to be temporary, yet know that when it comes to government control, nothing is ever temporary. We understand the math behind taxes, and know that first our income is taxed, then the usage on the rest of the money is taxed (gas taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, social security taxes, medicare taxes, phone taxes, internet taxes, alcohol taxes, car taxes), and when all added together the math means that roughly 50% of our money ends up going to a government agency at some point, even if we get *some* of that money back after it sat with the government over the course of a year.

We’re sick of government telling us we’re extremists, we’re sick of politicians spitting in our face when they say that “Americans don’t care” (Chuck Schumer). We’re sick of people like Paul Begala saying we’re “Whiners” who should support Obama, pay our taxes and shut up (Yes, he really did… on Imus’ show). We’re sick of people like Barney Frank who refuse to take any responsibility for mishandling entities like Fannie Mae, and calling us Right-Wing haters when we merely ask him about it (what would he say if we applied labels to him when referring to him in the general sense. If you know who Barney Frank is, then I’m sure you know what I’m talking about). We’re tired of being told “We won, you lost, shut up”. None of this is the America we know and love.

Despite all that, it’s hard to fully explain the culture behind the tea-parties. I suppose if you don’t feel how we do, or even didn’t attend, you just can’t get it….

The Event itself:

I planned to meet a small group of people at a Marta station (local Atlanta public transportation). Once we boarded the train immediately it was obvious that this was going to be a big event. The train was loaded with people who had signs in their hands, American flags on their clothes, and a smile on their face. The amount of red was unbelievable. Getting off the train was a site to behold… literally hundreds of people streaming into the capital.

Our group stopped briefly before getting in line to get into the fenced off area. As we sat, a 10 year old kid walks by and asks us if we’d like a sign. He handed two of them two us: One a Fairtax.org sign, and the other a witty “Welcome to Sweden” sign (complete with Swedish Flag), both handmade. We gladly took the signs and held them proudly, all the while getting a kick out of how friendly and happy these folks were.

We got in line, where we made jokes with strangers about being “right wing” extremists while dads held their kids on their shoulders and danced along to the music being played on the main stage. My favorite sign was held by a young teenager which read “Don’t Tax me, Bro”. In line we were all handed pocket constitutions, and random fliers. Expectedly, there were a few folks selling things (water, fliers to buy shirts online), but I actually expected a lot more (after all, we are the capitalists and tax-earners of the country). Another of my favorite signs was “I paid for this sign with my stimulus money”. There was a lot of wit in the signs… none that I felt really went too far, though I suppose comparing the Obama Administration to the Mafia comes close, and only one sign that mentioned “Teabagging” (A term I found offensive) in the same sentence as Chuck Schumer.

We got into the main area and we were blown away by the number of people and signs. The party was supposed to start at 7pm, and we arrived at around 6:30 where the crowd was probably already close to 10,000 with hundreds of people still streaming in. The estimates we heard when all was done came in between 15,000 and 20,000 people.

There were a lot of speakers and a few prepared videos that were all very well coordinated. Most of the speakers spoke for less than 5 minutes which we all welcomed. There were very few politicians present (and the ones that were present were pretty small-time local politicians with the only exception being Dick Armey). As was heard said more than once, this day was for the people; the politicians were to shut up and listen to us for a change.

There were repeated themes of Liberty, respect for the constitution, an expectation that our politicians should listen to us, and that we need to vote almost all of them out. Repeatedly we heard “this isn’t about Obama, we were fed up with George Bush too” (yes I know, why didn’t we complain loudly when he screwed up – I’m first to admit that many of us were willing to let it slide a bit too willingly). Lower taxes… especially support for the Fair Tax, was of course a main theme seeing as this was “tax-day”.

Only a few of the speakers had real charisma, so I was a bit disappointed there, but everyone was articulate and respectful. We heard from local radio personalities, local event organizers, local businessmen/women, and just a few national names such as Dick Armey, and that 14 year old super-conservative kid (his was the longest speech, and admittedly a bit predictably boring, but still neat to see). There were two speakers who I felt were outstanding, one was a woman, the head of some action committee, and the other a local Radio guy (One of the “regular guys”) Of course the Atlanta party was headlined by Sean Hannity doing his show there to close things out. Many people left before and during his show (we left during to get a jump start on getting home). This to me proved that this wasn’t just about having a name like Hannity show up. Many of us were so far back that we couldn’t see him anyway, and we weren’t star struck enough to try to rush up and get a glimpse, or get on TV. That’s not why we were there.

Everyone I saw was in a good mood. I saw no “Pick-up truck Republicans” like my wife likes to call them… these were primarily folks with families, businesses, etc. There was an equal mix of age groups, including young children with parents, college age folks, and a smattering of older Americans. A small group of Obama Supporters showed up. The crowd of course made jokes and laughed in their direction, but there was no confrontation, no animosity, and certainly no hurtful comments. In fact many people said “good for them”. I commented that I bet they felt pretty safe, and made a joke that perhaps I wouldn’t feel as safe at one of their rallies. This got a pretty good chuckle. There were no “right-wing” extremists, despite the guy who had a sign which had an arrow pointing down at him proclaiming he was (obviously a joke referencing the recent DHS report). We saw one person (only one) holding a Confederate Flag. It was the consensus that this guy was probably an infiltrator hoping to get some media time to show how the group was ugly, or just a moron. Either way, he was ignored and didn’t seem to garner any attention at all other than our early notice.

I have never been part of a more polite, nice group of people in my life. I had my own worries going into this since I know that a crowd can easily turn ugly, but no such thing happened. The trip back (once again a packed Marta train) was fun too. There was the 60 year old women saying things like “I’ve never been to a protest before” followed by a murmur from the most of the passengers agreeing with her. Many people couldn’t wait until the next tea party. The news reports that marginalized this event as small and fleeting could not have possibly been honest.

It was amazing to be part of a group of people who respectfully demonstrated their views. There was a lot of excitement and happiness in the air. I was proud to be a part of it, and never once did I regret going… I only regret not going to the first one.