I had to share this!

I'm Not Your Buddy, Pal!

I have had enough.   I have finally gotten to the point where I cannot stand it anymore.  Nancy Pelosi is a joke.  I have questions.  Many questions.  Like-  how does a woman like Pelosi make it this far in politics.  How does a person with no real understanding of the fundamental workings of practical life actually get to be Speaker of the House???

She is now speaking out as a believer and actually feels as if she is carrying out the will of God by making her policy against the will of a majority of the American people.  WHAT?!?!  How does she stay in power?  How is she  not run out of Washington.  The stuff that comes out of her mouth is almost as ridiculous as Hank Johnson, a U.S. Congressman,  who thought the island of Guam would tip over if more Marines were stationed there.   There is a video.

Get this– we are PAYING these people.  Really-  we give them our money to open their mouths and say this stuff.  There is nothing in the constitution that sets a literacy, competency or intelligence standard for serving in office.  We need to do a better  job of voting.  If these people ran a company, they would be fired.  Imagine the PR team that would need to follow them around.  Tom Cruise jumping on a couch has nothing on some of the stuff that comes out of our politician’s mouths.

Here is what has finally ticked me off to the point I had to publish this post, which has been sitting idle for 3 months:

According to CBSNews.com “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says she believes she must pursue public policies “in keeping with the values” of Jesus Christ, ”The Word made Flesh.”"

WHUT????

Seriously- I said what?!??

I have nothing more I can say about her except that she is a total ass clown.

Feel free to post comments and links on other stupid drivel that has come from her mouth.  I am sure the list is long and illustrious.

I closed my eyes last night and had a dream about black smoke.  The smoke came out of air vents and wrapped around the people in the hotel in my dream.  The smoke sounded like an electric snake and crackled with fire.  I scrambled to get into the basement.  I awoke-

I have never had a dream about something I had watched on TV.  It was a little strange.  The truth was that I was very restless last night.  My brain was processing the last year of LOST.  I could not shake the last episode.  The realization that I had just watched something that my brain could chew on for days or weeks was overwhelming.  I am still coming to terms with the details of the last season of one of the most original and interesting shows ever produced.

LOST-Hatch-Numbers

Each Character Showed Their Soul

The most important part of the last season is that it represents a way of dissecting characters that has never been done before.  The characters are able to live an entire season in a world that they construct.  Each person has died and meets again in a world that is created through their love for life, care for one another and their inability to move on.  They are truly LOST in purgatory.

Many other movies and shows will throw a few words on the screen to tell you how a character turns out years after the film is over-  Like the end of Animal House.  But LOST shows characters living in a world that they create after a life of regret, loss and love.  They are living in a metaphysical world.  Their purgatory gives them an opportunity to out live regrets, relive a life without regrets or just muddle through existence as they wait to connect with others.  All of it depends on their personality.

Desmond-  Obtains the highest level of approval from Penny’s father as his right hand man.

Sun and Jin-  Are in love and happy.  They turn their fear of her father to a shared struggle and not Jin’s burden  to bear as his assassin.

Jack-  Gains the approval of a son he never had.  He become the father his father never could be.

Sawyer-  Takes the struggle for the man that destroyed his life and makes a turn for the positive.  He explained it to Charlotte as a cross road- he had to choose and he chose to be a cop.

Hurley-  Used his money to be the greatest philanthropist of his time.  He took the curse of his money and turned it into good.

The list goes on and on.  Each character was allowed to take on the best dreams and the lessons learned from their life and live them in purgatory.

There is No Time

The key to all of this is not to get hung up on when everyone dies.  According to Jack’s father, there is no time in purgatory.  Purgatory is a world all of the characters needed to have in order to find one another.  It was a landing place for them to sort out their life on earth and come to terms with their relationships.  The connections were critical to moving on.  They needed to move on together.  Most of them anyway…

It is important to understand not everyone form the show needed to be at Jack’s church.  Linus was there, but decided he could not move on.  I can assume he is waiting for his daughter.  Michael is trapped on the island in order to pay for his sins and could not be at the church.  Notably- Richard Alpert was there- he found his end after hundreds of years of life.  Again-  the list can go on…

In the End

I do not believe there is a show that has provided such incredible room for interpretation and dissection.  I am very happy to have been a part of such a great show as a viewer.  The meandering, the  flashes and the suspension of disbelief have been tough at times and fun at others.  The bottom line is that LOST will be one of the most important shows ever to have been produced and the season finale will go down as one  of the most defined events in television history.  Great job guys!

We are walking-  actually we are sprinting….  My step-daughter trips over a case of beer in the street next to a couple of guys who looked like they had walked out of a Lil’ Wayne video.  They growled and then “Hey Girled” her. NICE!  We then side step two pit-bulls on our way past some vomit and  piles of trash on the street.  The air was thick with alcohol, urine and trash.  It was almost 11pm.  We had left the concert portion of the festival early because of the growing masses of drunken nerds and degenerates in the streets surrounding the fair grounds.

This was not the family event I was hoping for.  The Old Towne Spring Crawfish Festival was not a place to have your children after dark or your wife for that matter.

I am a little frustrated.  Not as much as when  I went off on Grey’s Anatomy-  but still frustrated.  I was at the Texas Crawfish Festival yesterday.  Overall I had a good time with the people I went with.  That being said-  we could have  all gone out for pots at Blue Fish and gone to see a good local band at POs for less money and felt safer.

Don’t get me wrong-  I have no problems with walking into the middle of a good old fashioned street party.  People drinking and music pumping.   I sometimes enjoy the energy.  I loved my college days on Sixth Street and Northgate.  I enjoyed the occasional trip to New Orleans as much as anybody.  I have even done New Year’s Eve in  Time’s Square.

The issue I have  is with Spring’s Crawfish Festival and the city/coordinators lack of planning, law enforcement and crowd control.  The event is touted as a family friendly celebration of mud-bugs, beer and great live music.  The fact is the event resembled a disorganized New Orleans Mardi Gras bash.  I saw frighteningly few law enforcement officials for the thousands of people attending the event and there seemed to be no focus on crowd control.

The streets were crowded beyond control with trash, people and vendors acting more like this was a carnival than a family event.  ”Half Price Ritas!” and “Get Your Drink ON!” was chanted loudly from a megaphone in front of a local store front turned bar.  I was reminded of Cancun…  It was sad.

Olde Town Spring is a place that may be commercial, but is rooted in small  town values.  To see this center for crafts, antiques and home cooking turn into a dirty cesspool was sad.  It was apparent that the festival had stopped being about a home town celebration and opening of a community and had turned into a money making frenzy where allowing people and business to run a muck was more important than values.

I will say that Charlie Robison was awesome.  He is always good and should be listened to whenever beer is involved (ANYTIME).

Charlie Robison - Spring Crawfish Festival 2010

So-  we will not be back until Spring decides to clean up the festival and make the party more like a fair and less like a weekend on Bourbon St.

I will openly admit that I thought Grey’s Anatomy was a good show in its first couple of seasons.  The show actually had the potential to morph into something like ER or Hill Street Blues.  What has happened in the last couple of years is sad and I can basically sum up the plot of EVERY show with this template:

• Someone has sex
• Someone wants to have sex with somebody they should not
• People cry
• Someone dies
• One of the main characters is struggling with a life changing decision
• Someone hides or wanders off to be alone
• Selfish doctors turn patient illness into a window to their own messed up issues
• More crying
• Long pauses in conversations
• The guy doctors drink and everyone meets at a bar
• More crying
• Someone tries not to cry
• Absurdly dramatic conversations happen with the main characters and total stangers
• More crying
• Sex to close the show
• My wife and all her women friends cry as they Facebook about how good the show was

If you read this post-  you will NEVER need to watch the show.  Don’t worry I get the concept of the show.  This show serves the same purpose that 24 serves for men.  I know 24 is not  a good show anymore. But- if I want to watch an hour of short conversation, people getting blown up and Jack Bauer makin it happen like a bad ass-  I know where  to go.

Our Show Sucks So Bad, Booo-Hooo!

Same concept for Grey’s-  I know women need to cry and watch people that should have their business together make a complete train wreck of their lives.  I get it.

So guys-  next time you have a choice…  do the dishes, fix the drain or change diapers before subjecting yourself to this emotional tar pit on television. Steer clear of this hour of emoting with 20 minutes of commercials.  It is ridiculous and should be put down before it spreads bad plot, questionable morals and outright crappy acting any further than Private Practice (Craptice)

Leadership Manifesto-  Lesson 2…   Balance

I have yet to just talk in my blog….  rarely have I taken the time to just open up my thoughts and let the world know what I am doing or thinking.  I have used my blog as a base of operations.  I venture into subjects and connect with people from a familiar spot-  just close enough to who I am to be safe and far enough out to learn…. a leadership guerrilla- if you will.  There has actually been something bubbling……

I quit my job . A job I had for almost 6 years.  Not the same job I had when I started,  but MY job none the less.

Made a Fortune Off Being Happy

We all consider what will happen when we finally make a life changing decision.  Most of us think the change will be GREAT and that we will be free and happy.  Others may feel changes are like train wrecks… difficult and mangled with fault in all manner of people and circumstance.

The truth is that change can be more like a grey cloud.  A strange place where you are not sure what is coming, just that something is different.  Maybe I am different….maybe I worry too much….

The truth is-  I do worry.  I worry that the challenges I leave behind are my doing.  I worry that the people I am moving away from may need me.  I have concern that what I helped build may only be sustainable with my help. These are all DARK ideas and suspicions.   These suspicions are probably not entirely wrong but more than likely they are not entirely right.  They are the wrong focus.  They are not what I should be coming to terms with.  The reasons I am making a change….

What I am coming to terms with is that I am making a change  for my family and me.  The ideas of being a corporate baron have been replaced with a desire to smile and listen to my wife and not be secretly considering the changes I need to make with a business process.  I would rather get home to play light-sabers than stay late for an accounting meeting.  I want to go to soccer games and not be on my cell phone.  I am finding that life is forcing a balance in me.

I am coming to terms with the idea that a leader should be the  same person at home as he is at work. The foundation stems from a leader identifying himself through his values before placing his worth in his career or his ambition. Something I have recently discovered…

This is what my decision to change jobs has boiled down to for me personally:  I had to build a new career level where I could start over and be me (balanced me).  2 weeks in Mexico would not have allowed me the rebirth I needed to change my path and stay at the same company.   I had gotten obsessed with making things work…  This job, this firm and this position were all too personal and it was time to make a break.

So-  I want to thank those who have followed and argued and considered.  I want to thank the people that have told me their story and asked for my help.  I am grateful to those who believed in what we were doing and truly thought they could be better people. Everything that we ever did was because you all DID IT.  All I ever did was ask you all to live up to your potential….  and you have…..

To those I am about to meet…  I am creative.  I freak out if I cannot do something creative and artistic.  Building a company, a department or a process gives me an outlet for creativity.  Be prepared to be asked ‘why’ 5 different times and 4 different ways.  Are you accountable?   Are you ready to push others to be their best for no other reason than you know it is how you get results? Are you ready to give without expecting to get something back?  Do you understand balance?

As for my parting thoughts….  Jimmy Buffett said it best,

“Oh, yesterdays are over my shoulder, So I can’t look back for too long. There’s just too much to see waiting in front of me, and I know that I just can’t go wrong.

If it suddenly ended tomorrow, I could somehow adjust to the fall. Good times and riches and son of a bitches, I’ve seen more than I can recall.”

So here I am…  Discussing a position about legal rulings.  I am not a lawyer.  I thought about being one.  My dad said I should have been one.

I am not a lawyer.

I took some time to dig into the 10th Amendment.  I have found a glut of information on the subject and wanted to share.

I have received a great deal of contention and support on my last article. I had talked about a few points, but was pounded on my assertion of the 10th Amendment being at the heart of the “healthcare” debate.  I decided it was time to dig in to understand what the 10th Amendment  may mean for this debate in regard to mandated coverage for all.

Simple point of argument…  Mandatory Coverage.  That is all I am looking at. When the federal government dictates to the people that they must purchase insurance or be fined, the Congress has inducted its right using implied powers from the Commerce Clause in the Constitution.

What I found was complicated and at times difficult to understand.  If you are a lawyer or law student and understand this subject-  PLEASE WEIGH IN!

The 10th Amendment and the Commerce Clause

I have learned that there are two areas of consideration.  One is the 10th Amendment; the other is The Commerce Clause in the Constitution.  It was put in to fix issues with the Articles of Confederation.  (Sleepy yet?)

The Commerce Clause states that Congress has the right ”To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes”.

The 10th Amendment states “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people.”

Got it?  Two different areas of the Constitution.

What Does the Court Say About the Commerce Clause?

The Supreme Court has ruled on the congressional power of interstate commerce regulation repeatedly.  The court has provided multiple rulings that weigh heavily in favor of Congress.  Congress has a right to regulate commerce based on implied powers from the Commerce Clause.  See the Whitepaper linked at the bottom of the post for an in-depth look.

What Does the Court Say About the 10th Amendment?

There is a fantastic article on Jrank.org regarding the history of the 10th Amendment. I urge you all to read it.

Basically, the Court has the opinion that Congress has implied powers to regulate activity.  In a recent opinion form 1985, the Court’s opinion is summarized well by Lawnix:

“In reaching this decision, the Court said that if certain states are worried about the extent of federal authority over a particular local matter, the residents of such states should contact their senators and representatives who are constitutionally authorized to narrow federal regulatory power through appropriate legislation. .”

Basically-  the Court said, “If the people don’t like the law, then vote the bums out ’cause it ‘aint our job to fix bad law”.

The Bottom Line

The Court has had many opinions on the Commerce Clause and the 10th Amendment.  What will actually decide the merit of the Healthcare bill’s constitutionality is not the Commerce Clause or the 10th Amendment-  it is in some lesser known rulings regarding the ability of Congress to penalize Americans for not following certain legislation.

In regard to the Healthcare penalties for people not carrying insurance,   Congress included updates to the 1986 tax code.  These changes are the foundation for the penalty-  You see it right?  Congress made the penalty … a TAX… Congress may have a way around the issue by hiding behind taxation and not actual federal fines.

So-  it may NOT be the 10th Amendment… Stupid.

10th Amendment and The Commerce Clause

It was only a matter of time before I was compelled to open my mouth about politics.  The more I study leadership-  the more I find I need to reflect on people like Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln- Politicians.  I am going to weigh in on the healthcare bill.

The Actual Problem-

THIS IS NOT ABOUT HEALTHCARE.   I realize that up to this point it would seem that there has been total focus on “healthcare”.   This is not the case-  What I and almost all conservatives are frustrated with is the apparent lack of respect for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The 10th Amendment is the meat of this debate.

The 10th Amendment

The 10th Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Nowhere does the Constitution grant rights to the federal government to MANDATE insurance or any other product/service.  The power of free choice is guaranteed by the Constitution. The federal government forcing the American people to do anything is not allowed because the power to do so is NOT in the Constitution.  Therefore –  this is a state rights issue.

The debate is being made by many that the issue is not with reforming healthcare, but the manner it is being performed.  This congress has made many people mad about their very loose interpretation of the Constitution. Chuck Norris is one of those people and is VERY angry.  See his article on the subject where he tells congress there is a “coming storm”.  He is not the only one.

Tyranny and Jefferson

What I have a problem with is that the federal government has decided that it knows better than individuals and states how to run people’s lives.  That is plain and simple.  This is tyranny.  Disagree??

Webster’s Dictionary defines Tyranny as:  1 : oppressive power <every form of tyranny over the mind of man —Thomas Jefferson>;especially : oppressive power exerted by government

For the federal government to tell me that I MUST buy insurance is oppressive power. The founding fathers would be sick to see what is happening.

“Jefferson aimed at laissez-faire liberalism in the name of individual freedom, He felt that any form of government control, not only of religion, but of individual mercantilism consisted of tyranny.” Quoted from Jim Walker

Check out this excerpt from Jefferson’s first inaugural address in 1801: “a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities,”

Socialism in the Bill?

Now let’s look at something from the actual bill- a FEDERAL BILL that is about to become law:

“TITLE IV–AMENDMENTS TO INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1986

Subtitle A–Shared Responsibility

Part 1–Individual Responsibility

Sec. 401. Tax on individuals without acceptable health care coverage”

Notice SUBTITLE A-  ”Shared Responsibility”  Sound familiar?  This is socialism.

According to SharedProsperity.org, a new “social contract” from government should be enacted.  What is SharedProsperity.org? This is an offshoot of the Economic Policy Institute whose former Living Standards director, JARED BERNSTEIN,  is now Chief Economist and Economic Policy Advisor for Vice President Joe Biden.  So there are ties to this administration.

See this quote from the Shared Prosperity mission:  ”Building this new social contract requires a re-examination of the roles of government, corporations, and unions in our society. The social contract that grew out of the New Deal and served the economy and society well for three decades following World War II evolved out of on-going and mutually beneficial negotiations and problem solving between leading corporations and labor unions, with government playing a key mediating, facilitating, and regulating role.”

Hmmm…. government in a regulating role…  not very Jeffersonian.

Pelosi is an Ass Clown

Educational Loan Reform in a Healthcare Bill?

OH!  Did anyone EVEN talk about this except for Beck?

According to this quote by the  House Committee on Education and Labor-  The “Healthcare” bill “offers the most sweeping changes to the federal student loan program in a generation,” said Miller, who unveiled the details of the package this morning.  “This is really about making a simple choice. Congress can either continue the longstanding boondoggle that rewards banks with tens of billions of dollars in subsidies at the expense of families and taxpayers – or we can invest that money directly in students and America’s world economic leadership.”

After I have researched this topic-  I am not crying ’1984′-  but I do have concerns.  These two articles spell it our pretty well and I would encourage you to read them:

Glenn Beck Does Not Understand Student Loans

Dick Morris- Obama is Right

So here is my concern regarding the education part of this bill-  Private institutions are looking to make money and have NO political agenda.  Since they have an interest in interfacing with the student to collect payment and make money doing it-  they actually try to compete as a free market option. (great service, web options, organized management of accounts)   Once the government takes over,  students have to go to a bureaucrat to get a federal loan.

Not to mention that the government can push an agenda like limiting loans to certain universities or students based on desired study… With no other option than private loans the government gets to push an agenda by default because private loans cannot compete with the federal money.

Solution-  we all get out of stupid consumer debt and pay cash for our education.

Bottom Line

There are many issues I have with this bill-  none of them are directly attributed with helping to reform healthcare.  Not that I agree with all the aspects of the healthcare reform in the bill-  I have not have time to sift through the hundreds of pages in the bill, but will begin to try.  Now that it has passed we all get to see what’s in it according to this video clip of Pelosi:

Pelosi: \”We Have to Pass the Bill So That You Can Find Out What Is In It\”

As if transparency required a vote on the House Floor.   Whatever happened to “By the People, For the People”?

She was not an imposing figure, but she demanded respect.  Judy Childress was the varsity choral director of my high school.  She had sharp and wild eyes; the kind you get from a lifetime of artistic opportunity.  She was incredible at harnessing the talent of her students and her community.  Judy was a tenured and talented teacher that was respected across the board as a person who could get things done.   I was scared of her…

I cannot remember why I was late or what I was doing, but I remember what happened on that stage….  It was during a musical rehearsal.  I was running late and I strolled across the stage.  At the time, I was too cocky, overly self assured and thought I had the world figured out.  I was 17 and needed a push.

There were at least 30 people at the rehearsal and I was sure that I had the clout to walk in late and not get called out.  I was wrong.  ”ANDY!”  Judy Childless was behind the piano at the left of the stage.  She had waited until I was in dead center stage.  The entire chorus was sitting on the front two rows of the auditorium.  It was an audience..  an audience to watch what was to become my most public dress down.

I turned to see Mrs. Childress walk from behind the piano.  ”What gives you the right to show up 20 minutes late?”  She asked.  I began to stumble through a canned response-  like Jake Blues…  I ran outta gas. I had a flat tire. I didn’t have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from outta town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake, a terrible flood, locusts. It wasn’t my fault!! I SWEAR!!!

Her eyes were piercing.  She let loose on me.   “I am sick of your excuses!  You have to grow up.  You are responsible for yourself and the sooner you realize that the better we will ALL be.  Go sit down, now.”

I stood in the lights of the stage.  The lights that had been my blanket of security.  I had loved the gaze of an audience and enjoyed my time in front of the curtain.  Something was wrong, this was not the attention I had come to love.  I turned to see the entire cast of the musical looking at me like I was a 2 year old.  I felt about a foot tall and suddenly had a moment of clarity.  I WAS THE PROBLEM.

Personal accountability.  This is the core of my Leadership Manifesto.  From that day forward I have never pawned off my accountability.  I do not make excuses for my own actions.  I accept the fall out for my my decisions in their entirety.

Leadership must have personal accountability at its core or there is no authenticity. Leaders who do not accept the credit for their actions, both good and bad, are not able to gain trust from their teams or bosses.  I have found that many times when I stand up, accept responsibility and take accountability for my actions, I walk away having gained the respect of my superiors.

Russell Bishop talks about accountability in his blog.  He discusses CPA.  The idea is that we all “Create, Promote or Allow…“ events to happen in our lives.  We are accountable and this accountability provides us power over our lives.

I may have learned the lesson of accountability at some time in my life even if I had never been called out on that stage.  But the fact is-  I learned how to be an adult and I had a pillar of my success forged by Judy Childress.  For this-  I say:  Thanks Judy!

It is very rainy and I had been driving for almost 2 hours.  I had to go to DFW yesterday for a meeting.  I have found that a great way to pass the time in my car is to listen to audio books.  This is not a secret.  What my be a secret is the public library has a ton of audio books.  I have been running through their catalog as fast as I can listen.  I have killed two books in two weeks.

My latest slaughter was Leadership Therapy:  Inside the Mind of Microsoft. All in all a clinical study- but effective in certain areas.  Here is where I found the most interesting information:  Belief Systems.

At our core-  we all have beliefs driven by our experiences.  As leaders it is our job to identify what events shaped our lives and how those became beliefs.  Once we know what happened and how events  formed us-  we need to communicate those beliefs to our teams, families and through our online personas.

I have drafted a list of events that defined me.  I will begin to post those and address how each one has changed me as a person and a leader.  Once I have completed my exercise, I will translate that information to my leadership manifesto that I will post on my Bio.

Posted as a Proclamation

My beliefs may change over time-  I HOPE they change-  but at least this way-  I do not have to wonder about why I feel a certain way about a topic.  I will not have to try and explain where I am coming from to others on my team and to my bosses.  I will have a clear manifesto of what I believe and everyone can see it.  This will be challenging-  difficult to grasp and one of the most important things I have done.    If you can do it-  I recommend getting started on your own.  Feel free to comment, follow or share.