Now, this is a word with which I really struggle, saying it, but also the idea of it’s value to other people. I’ve never been a quiescent person. On the contrary I’ve been a hit the ground running person. I’ve never believed in wasting one minute getting started. Perhaps you’re the same way, “there’s no time like the present”, “why put off until tomorrow what can be over today”, “a stitch in time, saves nine”, “short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waste of time”, and so on…. Most everything I venture into I have great anticipation built up, ready to deploy at a moments notice of the bell. It’s similar to when the gate opens at the horse races. For most of my life, when going into projects, I’ve been standing in the gates waiting for daaaaays or weeeeeks to get started! If you don’t think standing in the gates builds up intense anticipation you’re not my kind of people. That’s OK, cause you don’t need to be, I’m just trying to paint a picture of how it looks to me. Quiescence is definitely not one of my virtues, matter of fact I struggle with the idea of calling it a virtue. On the other hand though, I can be very patient. Like right now I’ve been waiting on a banker for two and a half months. No problem! But when the gate opens….. dammit! It’s time to GO!!!

My son is quite the opposite, there’s very little anticipation in his mind. The gate opens and he’s looking at all of the people in the stands, the jockeys riding off, the commotion around the inside of the track. He has always run his OWN race in his own time. When he’s driving, you get there when he’s good and ready. We will have been waiting for weeks to start a project, not only will he not be ready to run when the gate opens, he’ll still be planning the start. He likes things to unfold before him then decide where to be.

I just can’t!!! I used to be very impatient. I remember this guy from the gas company stopping by after I had reset the gas meter at my house and he was commenting on how it was to low to the ground. I was irritated, “What?” a stupid thing to say. I blew a gasket and started to dig it up to make him happy because he was talking about charging me to fix it. Well I hit the plastic pipe and made it leak. It cost me a bunch more. It’s so far from my understanding of how things should go. Don’t stand there talking stupid to me wasting a life, don’t delay me because you don’t understand. Step back and let the train roll.

Don’t wait! You don’t have the time, live NOW! Now is the time for everything! One minute not getting things done is a minute I’ll never get back and a minute we’ll never be able to do anything with again! I know, one day you’ll be old looking back on all the things you could have done and didn’t, wishing you DID!

Go out right now and DO something for someone, maybe even yourself,

Greg

I mean, I think so? It’s hard to say anymore, you know, I get into things and next thing you know, there I am again saying, “Now that was genius, why did you do that again.” I guess, if you don’t succeed try again. Perhaps you all have had a similar experience recently. I say recent because we all have had it I think, but if it was recent, like it was for me, then you know you’re still doing it! I’m looking back on a real estate deal I’m in the middle of asking myself this question. It’s not a bad deal, it’s not going to end poorly, it should work out to be a pretty good deal. You ask so “what’s the beef.” Well, I don’t want be in the situation of stretching my life, waiting on others, or stressing about who’s not doing what.

My daughter calls me a freight train, slogging my way through life plowing through everything on the track. But now I older, tireder and worn down. So why do I keep getting myself into these good situations? Bad habit! Maybe more than one. For sure it is the habit of looking at an opportunity and saying, “that’ll work” and charging into it headlong and looking up only long enough to make sure the direction is good.

What I’m realizing is that I’m not learning to be old too well. I don’t need to do this, I told myself I don’t want to do it anymore, but then here I am. I realized that the problem is that it has always worked before and who wouldn’t want to do something that works and turns out well? Especially if you can do it in your sleep. Right? It turns out that “having” a requirement to do something for a guy like me turns into the bad habit of doing it just because it “works.”

Having learned this now, I’m going to go off and get into something I have no idea about how it works, if will work out or if it will be any good! I’m going to break my bad habit of doing things that work and go looking for something that doesn’t! I’ve always like looking for new things. So, here’s to things that don’t work and learning how to do them!

Be GREAT to someone you know,

Greg

I try not to be a conspiracy theorist, I try not to think that there are groups of people out there systematically attempting to take over the world through manipulation and subversion; but then I think, how stupid of me to think it isn’t so. I mean, Alexander try as he may to take over the world only had limited influence and resources, Temujin the Great Kahn of the Mongols was hell bent on that same glory, he’s quite famous for it. We don’t have to look too far back to see that there are any number of narcissistic individuals in this category. Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito; emperor of Japan who by imperial decree proliferated bacteriological and biological weapons.

What limited these people in their abilities to succeed? I would say, influence and resources. They could only get so many people to help them with their plan and the human resources could only go so far. It is also clear to see how the majority was willing to accept and allow it to be. Had they succeeded with their evil plan, eventually one would have devoured the others. Evil always does, then itself.

Today we have a much different world, a much different people, a much different attitude. People willingly defend the “purple koolaid”. My glimpse of Covid is either one of hysteria or an evil plan, maybe both. It’s hard to know what’s going on in your own town let alone the stories from afar. But here’s was I do see. The CDC lists the cause of deaths for each year. They’re terrible at it by the way, but I won’t get started with that. In any case there were some 300,000 people, not that I wish disrespect to anyone one of the lives now gone but to be specific about the number seems to be difficult data to present. One would think that a quick search of 2020 covid deaths in US would give you an exact number, but sadly no. Why? I can type in population of Pennsylvania and in the search results get the exact number that was tabulated during that self same year??? Seems bizarre to me. I go to the CDC website and information is all over the place, presented in 1,000 different ways. Almost impossible to find contiguous data stream as it has been for so many years. Why?

I don’t know. But when I look at what this country went through for less than one percent of the population I wonder a lot! Sicknesses come, they always have. Do our best is all we can do. We definitely didn’t. I think that there are a few government types who lead on these things and there are 2, 191, 000 followers employed under them. That’s a lot of help with a bad plan and all the plan needs to get anywhere is sound reasonable enough.

One thing I understand about government is that if there is a person who doesn’t want to work too hard they get a government job. Not to say that if you work for the government you don’t work hard, but 90% of you don’t! It’s to say that the least applied workers are in government and there is toooo many of them. I think Covid proved that they could do less, get paid more and get more of their kind to come and be a part of it. I think this is what we are seeing here and that the rest of us can get along without most them at work!

Our government is full of those that want more for doing less, when they already out earn their fellow Americans by on average approximately 30 percent, then when you include holiday pay and benefits the percentage goes skyrocketing. If you think this group isn’t trying to take over our lives consider this, why would anyone who has it better than the rest give up a really nice life, especially if they are not too concerned about their countrymen. Just like Hitler’s generals, they will go along for their own benefits. Not to say our government employees are Nazis, heavens no, but that human nature is for self. That’s why I believe our founding fathers are rare individuals.

To sum up my treatise, looking at our government they are not colluding but sure are cooperating and more importantly are mostly not necessary! Looking at others I see a stark contrast between the likes of Elon Musk and Bill Gates or George Soros types. I do believe we have modern day Hirohitos. I do believe that there are Hitler types who are attempting and planning wars on humanity. There always has been how could in not be now. The question isn’t are there conspiracy theories but who are the conspirators? We know they exist because they always have! And we never realize them until it’s late.

Don’t be discouraged! Good people make for great living!!!

Be good, live great and love a neighbor,

Greg

You damn right!!! The world is what it is because of US! Pun intended. If America is not special then why do people throng to be here? They have a chance to live in Mexico before they come here. I’ve been there many a time and most people there live much as we do here, they’re a little bit freer than most of us, but still a nice place to live. Why go straight past all of the Americans retiring there to come here???

I have a theory…. the big tit. People the world over want to come here for an easy life, we’re famous for it. When thousands of Americans are taking their fortunes and going to beaches all over the world to get out of here or have a better life with what money they have the world is striving to get in here. Why not? You live in some other country and next thing you know a bunch of Americans start showing up throwing money at your life and you say, “what is this, who does such things”? Over the past 20 years it’s taken place all over the globe, told millions of people that this is what they want.

The main problem I see with this is that it’s not free, nor is it easy. Especially now with all of the burden our parents left us. Debt. Very little wealth creation, only money expansion. Too many old people hoarding everything, time, money, knowledge, help. Americans are so wealthy that the poorest of our people, the mentally unstable homeless person living on the streets of San Francisco has more the most anybody in the world. Don’t believe me go and take a look at what the different heads of state get paid a year. The average American makes more each year than at least 25 of the world’s LEADERS! As the average American you make too much to run a country, and you’re not 1 in a million like him, you’re 1 of millions. If you don’t think that makes you special, I don’t know what will. Special means set apart or different. That description above surely relates that to me. The problem, I think is that when you’re 1 of millions, it’s hard to see but mark my words, they’re coming here in droves because you are famous! and special!

This country is famous for a lot of things, let me make few observations. If the US was like any other country in the world the that has ever existed the world would look completely different. Instead of the EU (European Union) it would be the EU of A. Germany would be a US territory, Italy would be a US state, Japan would be a US state, all of the Pacific Islands would be US states, Spain would be a US state along with Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Finland, Manchuria, Burma, Thailand, Iraq, Albania, Serbia, Cambodia, Philippines, Laos, Vietnam and parts of the countries of France, Mongolia and Greece. “To the victor go the spoils” was the world mantra until the US arrived upon the scene and became the dominant force. Not only did we conquer nations and give them back, we paid for their reparations! Tell me that doesn’t make one famous or special.

We’ve always until recently made the best things. This certainly make one famous and special. Why else would anyone pay that kind of money for shoes? Not only did we make the best things but the most of them! Now for those of you that would argue that Germans or Japanese have always made the best cars, I say this, “which is better 10 thousand or 10 million?” Before other makers made cars here, no one could do what the Big 4 did here. If you would have tried to expand the German auto manufacturing to accommodate, the entire country would be at work making cars and still fall short. This would be like saying that every single person in Michigan works at making cars. Ok, easy enough to imagine but only because everybody in WV is digging coal, everybody in Utah digging ore, everybody in PA making steel. Get the picture, if I make a few, I need it to be so fine that only the elite can have it. Then only the elite have it, no one else cares. When I make a million of them they need to highly functional but not so special. We’re famous for functional and that is special.

We used to be famous for getting shit done!!! We did more than anyone in the world until recently. Problem is today we don’t really do anything worth a shit anymore. Of the top 25 companies on the Fortune 500 today only 7 actually make stuff and most of them don’t make it here! Three are petrol companies this is good because the world runs on corn and diesel. Two are auto manufacturers, that’s good because there’s something of tangible value. I’ll give AT&T and Kroger a pass because they add value to all the thins we do. But the rest are pharma or pharma support (insurance, etc.) nothing tangible made here. If all of the illegal drugs that they use to make their products was to made legal they would all crumble in a few days. If Ford or GM sells me a car, regardless of what happens I have something of value. This is wealth, this is what we’re famous for and it makes us all special.

These are just a few examples of why America and it’s American’s are special!! Choose to live up to the reputation, go out and be special, make and collect wealth so you too can retire on a beach in some foreign country and make us even more famous!!

Have a great day,

Greg

Good morning people! I wish you well today! Fear mongers. Here is something at which I think we should look hard. As American’s we tend to look at other’s with an altruistic view. That most people are good and decent enough. Those who would do bad things are the few or the exception.

Over the years certain people have discovered that fear is the second most powerful motivator and a much more easily provoke reaction. You don’t find people trampling their neighbors at a football stadium because of love. When people become afraid they’ll conduct all sorts of mayhem en masse. I think for those of us who are even slightly awake we came to realize through the Covid episode that there were those who used that event for not so good purposes. Some of them becoming outright dictators, like the governor who closed half of Walmart stores. “you can go to Walmart because you need things but I’ve determined that you don’t need ‘those’ things.”

Let me define what fear mongering means in the sense I am discussing. The intentional use by an individual of their position to broadcast widespread fears in order to have more control or get a more advantageous position over other people. I believe what I have discovered are those would be tyrants, like the governor I mentioned above are also the people who do the fear mongering the most. Perhaps you thought that those measures were reasonable. I have to say, “come on man”, if you walk through the mud puddle behind me you know your shoes have the same mud. And so, it would seem, that those people now seek the highest positions of political office.

It used to be that someone would get elected and doing something like that only lasted about four years. I believe that is because love was the leading force in most American decisions and they would get voted out. American’s loved their freedoms and their neighbors. Well most of them. 🙂 All kidding aside, now we seem to have taken to the “us and them” mentality on most all things. It seems more popular than not, that being an American is not so special. You’re either a Democrat (sympathizer) or a Republican (sympathizer) and the line is drawn for combat and much more grievous than Monday night football.

When I hear Mr. Biden say things like, “there’s nothing special about being an American” he’s drawing a line like so many others who would divide us. Maybe he’s the American that’s not so special. But I’ll tell you what I understand, America brought the world out of poverty, America save the world twice from oppressors, America is still the place where people risk their lives to get into. Most places in the world people risk their lives to leave a place, here we have to exceptional country at our borders and the only way for people to get here is through a nice country. Don’t believe Mexico is a nice country, go there, look at all of the Americans retiring there. People risk their lives to come here because we are STILL special.

Drawing these lines is a most subtle form of fear mongering. It sets up an idea that is at odds with what you have always seen and heard. This then leads to a person thinking that in other places people live quite the same and we are no different than they are or that Canada has better healthcare, or Europe makes better cars. These subtle cues cause small decisions to be made which lead to picking a side in the battle. Then the mongering starts.

I think a lot of people witnessed this during Covid. The story didn’t add up and still doesn’t but you can still see the remains of the “sides” chosen and the readiness to choose that again when the time comes. I think that most reasonable people who did notice this going on, had a wake up call and are now wiser to it. I believe this will gradually begin the change we do desperately need. Going back to who we have always been, the people who made the world what it is by being the best at everything. We saved the world at least three time now, let’s do it again! Let me go back to an era of American greatness and point out a few things that came from that time. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”, a man gearing up a nation to do great things. “When your numbers up, your number up”, a reference to getting a number in a local shop when the line is too long, this metaphor people related to dying as it was totally inexplicable. Millions of people engaged in a war and some died, most didn’t, there was no logical reasoning that could explain who did and who didn’t. It was a time to be brave, overcome your fears and do your best!

Please choose whom you follow carefully, choose men like FDR (quoted above) or better yet George Washington (quoted below). Stop fearing and fighting each other and go be the best person you know how to be and do your best everyday and we’ll all be special again!

“Be Americans. Let there be no sectionalism, no North, South, East or West. You are all dependent on one another and should be one in union. In one work, be a nation. Be Americans, and be true to yourselves.”

Have a great day!

Greg

Today’s message is what I think is probably the most important topic next to becoming a student of life. You’ve likely heard it said, “home of the free and land of the brave” especially if you’re over forty-ish. This was something special about this place when I was growing up. One of the reasons I was willing to join the Marine Corps, stand up for this country and contribute!

I think it was best said this way, “all gave some and some gave all”. For those who gave some like myself or even that guy who gave a leg or an arm, gave far less than those who gave all for the sake of the rest of us. The cost of freedom is not free by a long stretch and for those of you who gave nothing for it ought to be that much more appreciative of what was bought! So often I hear the one who gave nothing talking about what someone else ought not to have or do. You shouldn’t drive ninety miles an hour because you’ll hurt someone or you don’t need a gun so there’s no reason for you to have it or fossil fuels are bad for the environment so you should be put out of work to save it.

These are just a few of the things I hear from those who gave nothing, who get together and bully others into submission. Reason has gone out the window and the mob rule is taking over. The mantra is, get yourself a mob and start taking control of what you can. Get a cause and rally those with no vested interest and commandeer others lives. To hell with his freedom, give me what I want or we’ll throw a fit!

Let’s see if we can introduce a bit of reason to this equation, let’s see if we can get a few people to listen and think about what made the opportunity for them to be this way and see if we can get them to appreciate the opportunity that is presented and do something more constructive.

Let me first paint a picture of your rights. They are inalienable. Which means they are not able to be separated from YOU. The Constitution and all of our foundational documents and their amendments do not provide rights to you, they simply spell out what they are so that we each have an understanding, contract with each other. The basis of all Law, a contract! This is perverted constantly by those who would seek to lord over you. If another person has better understanding of the system than you, he can use the system against you in your ignorance or simply by you allowing it to happen. If someone does something to you and you allow it, legal or not it does exist. This is how our system functions daily.

Your Rights are yours and it is up to you to defend them, no one else will! It’s all about you allowing it or being clueless! To make my point I am going to be extreme in my example of what it means to be truly FREE. If you want to smoke crack in your basement and it has no direct impact on another person (meaning it harms them in no way) then that is your business not mine nor anyone else’s! If it kills you that is your business. If you lack the discipline for moderation that’s your problem. “Well” some would say, no someone has to pull the body, transport and dispose. That comes at a cost and we should stop that from happening. Those people got together and said let’s make crack illegal to stop people from dealing, selling and using. Let’s make a police force to go around knocking busting doors and knocking heads to force people to stop doing it. This is what we do today at a far greater cost than the acts themselves. And now we have people who have been doing this so long that they believe what they do is in your best interest and necessary for your well being.

Freedom is not Free. People must die to pay for it! Whether it is by the blood of tyrants, war or a needle. People need to see that being free is expensive at the least but most certainly valuable enough to want to live a grand life knowing the costs! Be free, help others to be free and realize that the blood of those who died defines the value of life and that if all life is preserved it has no value. Who lives and dies is not up to us together but each of us individually. It’s my life to live, let me live it! You….go live yours!

Have a great day and be a great person to someone else,

Greg

Hello, America! I hope this finds you doing well! As I sit here to write, thinking of what message I want get across to you, I first think of why we’re here doing and organizing POPs. But, what I think is even more appropriate is how I got here in the first place. A long, long time ago, in a place far far away…. no, seriously; even though I can say that in the grand scheme of things if was probably on 25 years ago, not sure anymore but that’s close enough. I was a lot younger and an older gentleman who I respected said, ” if you are going to do well, you MUST become a student of life”.

Well, that struck me as profound. What was “life”? A student, I hated primary school! One thing that was true about me was that I relish learning. Autodidactic was my original name, but then my mother changed it to Greg, which is much more congenial. (I’ll let you look that up if the meaning escapes you, I did) In any case, I’ve always been this way, I built this website just to learn how to do it. I read for entertainment about every five years when a friend recommends a good book and usually only if it is historical in nature. Otherwise I read to learn, I’ve taken the student of life bit literally. I’m a voracious researcher looking for as much understanding as I can find. The internet was made for me. This time was made for me. So as I write this today, I’m telling you that this puppy is going to grow up a student of life and run over some big dogs who need it. I don’t know how exactly, but one foot in front of the other and soon I’ll be walkin’ out the door. That’s usually how it all gets started.

My first step is this: I commit to you that here on this website, through the network, or any other place you engage me I will do my damnedest to be open, honest, forthright and truthful with care, regard, respect, understanding, facts and truthfulness. Way back in the dark ages before the internet we had a thing called the encyclopedia, a humongous set of very large books. A set of about 30 each the size of a ream of printer paper with the thinnest of pages. If you wanted to know something about almost anything you went and looked it up in one of these books. In that writing of that topic, a critical thing that was always done was to cite credit for the information. Basically, a testimony about where you could go and find the same information if you were of a mind. Of course some of it was bad science or information but that’s how it goes when you get people involved. But, these people were dedicated to honest factual presentation of the data. That’s who we seek to be here! The encyclopedia people. Not just some emotionally ranting bobble head, but calm rational people presenting sound facts and ideas for mature discussion. Join me, let’s make a loud voice of reason that we may preserve the greatest civilization that has ever existed in the entire human history! Go to our Connect page click on the Vision link and see what is out there to be a part of our great journey to grow this underdog puppy into the biggest, baddest, benevolent dog on the block!

Have a great day and live your life to its fullest!

Greg