Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson died today at the age of 50.  now, am a music fan.  i like Michael's music, and i suppose that there is a lot that can be said of the man, his music records, and all the other things that went on in his life.  i remember being first introduced to Michael Jacksons music when i was in the the 3rd grade by a friend of mine named Steven Brady.  we would practice his dance moves in his front living room and sing at the top of our pre-pubescent voices.  my friend was obsessed with Michael, and being impressionable at the time, i also became obsessed.  as time passed from the 3rd grade i became less obsessed with Michael's music but i always held a great amount of respect for him and his success.  everyone i've ever met has at least some enjoyment in listening to some of his biggest hits such as Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal, and Man in the Mirror.  he raised millions of dollars which he used gave to charities centered around helping children.  in my opinion, i think he was a mental basket case.  i think he had a lot of hard things to overcome and perhaps even some mental problems, but regardless of his faults, his music was incredible.  

golf

today i beat my brothers Austin and Mason on the golf course. it is alwasy such a satisfying feeling to hammer them. golf is quite competitive in my family and the winner of any golf game has bragging rights until the next time that we play. well, today i had one of the best rounds ever. i was even par up until the 7th hole. i had had one bogie and one birdy (the birdy came on a par 3 where i missed the hole in one by about 3 inches). i ended up boging the last three holes which kinda sucked but i ended up shooting only 3 over par for a 38. it's a great score and i think it's my new low score.

of the people, by the people, for the people

for those of you that know me, i love to know what's going on in the world.  i am a self-proclaimed news junkie.  i especially love politics.  i'm not a radical and i cant stand it when people cram ideas down each others throats.  i welcome healthy debates about issues that are going on and i think that as americans in a "free nation"  we have not only the right but the obligation to stand for what each of us believes.  i believe in a a nation "of the people, by the people and for the people." i love our american heritage and the sacrifices that our founding fathers and our fore fathers gave, especially those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.  i believe so deeply in this nation and the freedoms that we enjoy that apathy has become, to me, a gross misunderstanding and a revolting characteristic.  i'm not saying that you have to enjoy politics or watch the news everyday, but elected officials are accountable to us, the people, and if we are apathetic towards them we only fail ourselves.  i dont care if you are republican, democrat, liberal or conservative, what i care is that we the people of the united states take the freedoms and opportunities given to us by the men who gave their blood and lives on the battle fields, and make our voices heard.  we must take a stance for what each of us believes is correct according to the dictates our our conscience.

today on the Glen Beck show a letter was read, written by a woman in colorado, that sums up some of my political beliefs.  i think she expressed beautifully both the responsibility that the government has to the american people as well as a political view that i personally agree with.  the letter is lengthy but i really like it, so i've included it here in my blog.  the letter was written by Janet Contreras.  it reads:

I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?

Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This isn't to be confused with legal immigration.

Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why ‑‑ what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band‑Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try ‑‑ please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.

Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when hewill rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.

Self Reliance

On several occasions i have heard people quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson's article Self Reliance.  typically, when listening to the quotes taken from his essay i have have found myself agreeing and extremely intrigued with what Emerson had written and what his thoughts and opinions were.  initially i had assumed that Self Reliance was a political statement and expressed the importance of the citizen's responsibility to be "self reliant", free and independent of government.  this is a political belief that i hold to be true and of great importance, but as i took the time this week to sit down with Emerson and read through the article i found that it wasn't a political statement at all but a statement given to each individual to internalize and apply personally.  his writing is very thought provoking and i wanted to quote some of the parts that i think sum up his ideas the best.

       "Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato and Milton is that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men, but what they thought.  A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of the light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages.  yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his.  in every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with certain alienated majesty.  great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this.  they teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when whole cry of voices is on the other side... Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.  accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events.  great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being.  And we are now men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny; and not minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, redeemers and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort and advancing on Chaos and the Dark."

i openly admit that i do not understand all that Emerson was trying to say, but it is obvious that he believed deeply in independent thinking and that each should express himself as his inner soul so desires.  i think he points out some great principles that have great personal application to them, but his ideas are also written with relativistic overtones that contradict objective/universal moral and LDS doctrinal truths (at least in my opinion).  although i don't agree with everything Emerson wrote here, i still think it's worth reading.