This article is a good read and probably helps everyone realize what is going on around them. Our media is fixated on reporting ridiculous crimes while the government continues to curtail our freedoms unmolested.

 

http://www.thedailysheeple.com/almost-everything-is-a-crime-in-america-now-14...

 

Wake up my friends. We are losing our freedoms and totalitarianism is on the rise.

Yet again, Dilbert, our arbiter of truth, uncovers another fact of Corporate America. Jobs have become so unfocused and directionless that managers rarely understand what employees are doing on a daily basis. Wondering in the weeds between micro-managing and mis-managing, America's corporate culture is waiting for those rare individuals who can rise above the title of manager and become leaders. But to become a leader in the world of today, managers must first harness the ability to quickly gather and filter enormous amounts of information in order to make intelligent decisions. 

Unfortunately, the focus in Corporate America on training managers to filter information is sorely lacking. The change is starting to take shape as employees who realize this need for change start working their way up through the corporate ladder. As they unseat the old style managers, the American corporate culture will undergo another change, one that will most certainly start refocusing on specialization. However, there will be an interesting distinction from the past. Managers will lead a group of employees who have varied areas of specialization and will learn to harness the opportunities of the Web 2.0 Era.

Managing Human Capital in the 2.0 Era by Courtney Shelton Hunt

TSA chief: New pat-downs necessary; policies stay put

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2010-11-17-tsa-pat-downs_N.htm?csp=34news

Today on Capitol Hill Americans watched the demise of the American Dream with the cameras rolling. Our 4th Amendment right is no longer under attack, it's simply dead. In the name of security, while pandering to the fears instilled in us by our government, we have allowed our inalienable rights to be taken away.

"This is unfortunately the world in which we live," Lieberman said. "We have to do everything we can to protect the traveling public."

I respectfully disagree with the senator. We certainly live in a world where we need to have a heightened sense of security and a focus on risk management. But to frame the brash disregard of Constitutional Rights as a measure of protection is absurd. I have traveled internationally on many occasions and have been witness to the evasive measures taken to ensure security in foreign airports. Guards armed with assault rifles, tanks guarding airport entrances, and multiple security checkpoints are commonplace in most airports throughout Europe. Yet, these same Europeans are astonished and bewildered at the measures taken at American airports that blatantly invade our privacy and violate our rights.

If our 4th Amendment is no longer a right that is protected and cherished, then we should at least be given the privilege to vote for it being repealed. this action however would reveal the actual intentions of our government. The goal of someone in power, is to stay in power.

"Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know what no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me."  George Orwell 1984

Just one in four Americans say things are going well in the country today, according to a CNN poll.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/01/poll.election/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Oppertunity was our namesake. America has always embodied the idea that people could find and enjoy the opportunities for happiness and success. The first step in the realization of these opportunities is believing that they exist, and America no longer believe. Couple this with the fact that our freedoms keep slipping from our hands and we begin seeing the great experiment coming to an end.

Will our apathy cause us to lose the freedoms our Founding Fathers fought so hard for?

Taken at Lazy 5 Ranch

Mooresville, NC

http://www.lazy5ranch.com/

A photo of the Linville Gorge from atop Hawk's Bill Mountain.

The Linville Gorge is known as the Grand Canyon of the East

Newsweek recently posted an article entitled, "Musical Chairs".

Full Article: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/25/what-the-new-dc-power-structure-might-look-like.html

I prefer to look at it as slipping and sliding. Politicians are moving ever so slightly into the direction that the media would like them to. If the media wants government to "mainstream" both parties meander towards the middle. If the media wants to create political strife, the parties slip towards their polar opposite. 

Where does this ever shifting political climate leave the American people?

Well, beside being confused, it also means that we never have a political power structure that allows for real change at the fundamental level. this type of governance is something our Founding Fathers sought to avoid. We instead, get superficial changes to satiate the press while doing nothing to fix the problems that have become common at every level of government. We want to be the best, we see ourselves as the best; we are the model for a modern society. Yet, as individuals we fail to understand that governments cannot and should not be involved in endless free giveaways. 

Any scholar of Roman history could and would attest to the dangers of allowing the government to manage our wallets while at the same time limiting our rights and social commitments in the name of protectionism. Chaos in the political climate is not defined as the same politicians slightly modifying their political agenda in order to placate to the media. The upheaval we need will come from people who realize the need for fundamental reforms to the way our government does business. We need to rediscover why the Constitution was an important document and why the government created by it so important to creating and maintaining the freedoms we currently enjoy and the freedoms we have already allowed to be taken from us through our inaction.

As for the results of the midterm elections; the only outcome that is important is one that embraces the candidates who are unafraid to stand outside the political establishment and that we support the ones willing to help tear down the walls created by the two party system.

Here is an article that outlines what giving into fear can do and why we need to be mindful of risks, yet not allow fear to destroy our freedoms.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/02/the-tyranny-of-government-and-our-duty-of-confidentiality-as-bloggers/

A photo of Table Rock in the Linville Gorge Wilderness, taken from the top of Hawk's Bill Mountain.

Taken October 16, 2010

Where are Bush, Cheney as election nears?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/22/bush.cheney.campaign.trail/index.html?...

Yet another point and opportunity missed by the media. They are still dwelling in the past while polls show that a majority of Americans are moving forward. The chaotic atmosphere of America politics is all the evidence I need to see that we are searching for a better way.

"Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit" -Henry B. Adams

Our creation of political chaos will eventually breed new life into the American political system. Ripe old political pundits are nearly at a loss for words when describing the current upheavals in long standing political habits.

So, in other words, stay silent past politicians and let the new breed take charge.

to start thinking about Thanksgiving.

But in all seriousness, here is some information on why we need to be thankful for the country we have and why we need to protect our still fragile experiment in government. A government, for the people, by the people.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki?search=Thanksgiving+%28United+States%29

http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving