I wish to extend my sincere condolences to the victims of the despicable act of this Saturday last. The senseless murder and wounding of so many is difficult to fathom. We will ask why, but may never fully be able to comprehend. The uncertainly and unanswered questions become a part of the continuing tragedy.

In the wake of the act of this criminal, I turned to introspection. It was only this morning I thought I was able to write without a cloud of emotion. I needed the distance of time to assure my objectivity, and not respond in a knee-jerk fashion. So I have kept silent until now. For me, this was the correct response.

Those who spoke in haste or anger, in the hours following the shootings in Tucson, may live to regret those words. I certainly hope so.

I currently have three posts waiting to see the light of the small flat screen. While they are irreverent, they in no way advocate violence. To the best of my knowledge, we at Radioactive Liberty have never purposed acts of violence, and I can’t imagine we ever will. What you will read is not anti-government, but rather anti-policy. We are pro-government- as it was intended by the Founders. Still, it seems somehow wrong to publish those at this time. I will wait for a while out of respect for the dead and wounded, and their families and friends.

The postings here reflect reactions to the political environment. The three writers have created characters. These characters voice opinions that may not even be those of the writer. This is no different than the SNL troupe or other comics. Writers and actors create fictions characters to act as vehicles for humor, drama, conflict, satire, spoofs and opinions. Les James is my creation. At times he becomes the voice of those I wish to spoof, mock or criticize. Other times I speak directly through him- this is one of those times.

There is no doubt in my mind as to the guilt of Loughner. Many years from now, I expect he will be found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. This does not meet the needs of his victims or society. He is a disease, and as such needs to die.

We don’t pity animals with rabies by putting them in cages to live out their lives, neither do we take out cancer from the body and place it in a culture medium to continue its existence. A grizzly or lion that has tasted human flesh is tracked down and killed, not placed in a zoo. This individual should be treated no different. He has forfeited his life when he took those of others. I don’t advocate violence against him, I demand his elimination. There is a distinct, lawful difference.

A swift trial and a swift execution is the right and proper response to such an obvious case. There is no good to be had or great lesson to be learned from spending years and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on this mass murder. No profit will be gained in giving him undue voice or being subjected to his protracted time on this earth. The media will remind us of this perversion as long as he draws breath. In no way are the victims or society well served under this scenario.

Some are seeking to advance political or social agendas on the backs of those who suffered at the hands of this abomination. They play upon raw emotions. I find this deplorable. Anyone who would use such tactics should continue to be exposed and publicly admonished. I know I will. If there is sickness in our society, surely it will be found in those who would exploit the loss and anguish of others for their gain.

We must remember, or come to understand, the only person responsible, accountable and culpable for this unforgivable, violent, heinous act is the perpetrator himself and as such, must pay the ultimate price. I place the blame where the blame belongs and call for a just, quick sentence. I hope you will too.

***
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I ran into a liberal on Monday. Actually, it was the other way around, the lib ran into me. This is a true story. It isn’t funny, but I believe it’s worth telling.

Stuck indoors for the last few weeks -while the Pineapple Express sent one warm, wet storm after another our way- I’d contracted cabin fever.

Here in Central Oregon we’re use to snowy winters. But once in a while the gulf stream shifts in such a manner, as to allow the moisture to come in the form of cold rain and wet snow. Those gray, Seattle-type winters make me very aware as to why Democrats living on the west side of the Cascades are such a miserable lot.

Monday, we had a break in the abysmal weather, and I wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip by to get some sunshine. I jumped into my little car and took off. The 32 MPG Aspire had 241,000 mile on it, but still ran like a top. With front wheel drive and studded tires, it beat the hell out of driving my four wheel drive truck in the wet and icy conditions I knew I would encounter going over the mountains.

So, no shit there I was, minding my own business. Off to enjoy a beautiful day. Driving through slushy snow and crossing patches of black ice is not something I like to do, but it’s something I’m pretty good at. Since conditions were poor, I was going all of about 35-40 MPH, on a major highway that cuts across the Cascade Range.

Here’s where the story gets interesting. While I was carefully negotiating a long, sweeping left turn, I saw a red car -coming the opposite direction- slide across the highway, hit the guardrail and proceed at a high rate of speed, right at me.

Let’s recap. I was driving very conservatively. I’d adjusted to the current conditions, not over extending my resources or taking wild chances. I obeyed all the laws and carefully planned out my future path. In other words, doing everything right. Doing everything a good citizen should be doing in that environment. Yet, there was a car in my lane, going the wrong direction.

No matter what the driver did, their failure to read the lay of the land meant that a major crash was inevitable. Panic took the wheel in the red car. The front tires jerked frantically from side to side, but the surface was slippery. The car was now out of control, and we were going to hit head-on.

Calmly observing all of this, I knew I couldn’t brake hard, so I applied slow, steady pressure to the brake pedal. At the last second, I turned my little Aspire so the impact was on the front right side, and not square into the grill. The force of the blow sent me and my damaged property across two lanes, and straight into a snow covered guardrail.

The air bags deployed as the vehicle came to a very sudden stop. If you’re wondering, no, I didn’t die. I knew I hadn’t died, because the pain from being slammed into from the side and then impacting into the guardrail -causing the airbags to smash into my chest and face- was intense. I had difficulty hearing for a good hour.

Remember, I did everything right, but my car is gone, I’m bruised, suffered a minor concussion and can’t get rid of the headaches, but it could have been a lot worse.

The young woman who was diving the red car was very shaken-up, but aside from some scrapes on her face from the airbags, in pretty good shape. I hope she’s learned something, but if the bumper stickers on her car were any indication, she’ll most likely blame it on everything, except her own poor judgment.

I’m left to pick-up the pieces. What I’ll get for the car won’t replace it. I’ll be sore for a while, but will heal. I think the headaches will be with me for a longer time. I’ll find a way to replace what I’ve lost. Until then I’ll drive the gas guzzler. I’ll get another smaller car. It may take a while, but I will get a replacement… and it will be better than the last one.

There’s a lesson here, a teachable moment. The red car can be seen as current political policy, and driving it is Obama and the Democrat Congress… in our lane…going the wrong direction. I’m pretty sure a few Republicans are in the back seat, along for the joy ride.

I, just like most of our readers, have played by the rules. We’ve worked hard, been productive, paid our “fair share” of taxes, and asked for very little from anyone, other than to be left alone. Now, our out of control government is bearing down on us. A head-on crash is inevitable, but it’s not going to be an accident.

After the crash, we conservatives will do what we’ve always done. We’ll pick up the pieces, put them back together as best we can, and get on with rebuilding our lives. It may take a while, but we will rebuild… and it will be better than before.

On a side note, I’ve only been in two accidents. In a bizarre coincidence, I’ve only owned two small cars. Both of them met an early demise at the hands of young women who were into sharing. That is, sharing my lane. Conclusion: These women are very attracted to me when I drive a small car, or -and far more likely- Younger Women Can’t Drive!

***
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Maki at Dosh Dosh asks readers, “What’s the best way to make money online?”

One of the things I like about Dosh Dosh is that it really covers just about every method you could use the internet as a source of income. It’s not just about blogging for money, but includes things like: membership sites, selling your own product, eBay, affiliate sales, and leveraging an existing business. It really is a site about making money online.

Maki went on to ask:

If someone came up to you and said that they wanted to know the best way to make money on the internet. What would you tell him or her? Let’s imagine that the individual in question is eager and willing to learn what is needed for real results.

He asked readers to respond as if “talking to a friend who trusts your opinion and experiences.” The “Best” way to make money was defined as, “the method that brings the greatest amount of potential income, while being practical, cost-effective and do-able.”

My response deals with the first two parts of the question. As for the last part, I don’t think I’m in any way qualified to offer advice on the “best” way to make money online. I know that I intend to use blogging as an avenue for various means of income. I’m sure the many readers will share their advice on the topic. I’m also sure that everyone will overlook a key piece of advice.

If you want to make money online, you are planning to run a business.

Why is that so often overlooked? Is it because the expert response would be, “Well, duh?” I don’t know, but I do know that there are millions of people buzzing around the internet trying to find a way to make a buck, without ever once considering the notion that what they intend to do is start a business.

Just even acknowledging that can do wonders for your perceptions of managing an online career. It takes your mind away from the “easy money, pyramid scheme, get rich quick” mentality, and puts it in a more tactical, calculating mode. It makes you see “making money online” for what it is – a tool that can be leveraged as a means to generate income.

You need to know business and marketing.

If you don’t have a degree in business, you really either need to get one, or absorb the equivalent amount of knowledge and experience. It’s not the formal degree that matters as much as learning and understanding the concepts involved.

Not everyone learns best in an institutional setting. Some people learn best by doing. If that’s the path you wish to take, that’s fine. The important thing is to understand that you won’t be doing anything quick, unless you’re already a genius in your field, and have a lot of contacts to leverage.

You need a business plan.

You wouldn’t start up a retail service, open it’s doors, and then just sit there going, “OK. Where is everybody?” Then run to the cash register to check how much money you made, when you know that no customers have shown up, because no one even knows your business exists.

Don’t laugh. That’s exactly what millions of bloggers do. Start up a blog, slap some Adsense on it, then sit around checking visitor logs to see that no one knows they exist. Why? Because they fail to percieve what they are doing as a business. Whether they know business or not, they fail to apply the concepts of business and marketing. They don’t have a business plan.

To be fair, the business plan doesn’t need to be 300 pages, professionally printed in a binder. There’s no banker to get a loan from that needs to see if you seem like a safe investment. You do need to have some sort of plan though. You need to have an ultimate objective of selling a product of your own, affiliate advertising, a membership service, or something.

Be creative.

Using your creativity, doing what you love, and pursuing your dreams with a passion is one of the things that the Politics of Empowerment is all about. It’s about believing in Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Making money online is all about taking what you love, what you are passionate about, and what unique skills you have, and capitalizing on them.

The “best” way you can make money online is will be determined by your own creativity. What will work best is the thing that you do because it’s a source of joy and fulfillment, not because it’s a source of income.

Before all that, you need to see that what you are doing is running a business, and use or acquire your knowledge accordingly. Then you can use your creativity to do what you love, and tap into the same creativity to leverage the principles of business to make yourself a success. That’s empowerment.

If I had a friend, who trusted and valued my opinion, and he wanted to know what I thought he needed to do to make money online, that’s where I would start.

Editorial Note: I know that’s 2 non-humorous posts in a row. Don’t worry. I have some funny stuff. I just viewed this particular post as a time-sensitive issue with respect to the Dosh Dosh Reader Survey.

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One time I took my family on a death march.

The day started out as a normal walk in the park. The three of us loaded up the car with the dogs, Scout and Isis. It was one of those really hot days. Add to that, the stifling humidity, and it was one of those types of days that old people die. It was really hot, so I made sure to bring a backpack full of water. There was enough to keep three humans and two dogs hydrated for hours.

We started on the trail, and we were having a great time. In the suffocating heat, we seemed to go through the water pretty quickly. That was cool, because it sure lightened the load in the backpack I was carrying. I figured that the trail we were on made a 4 or 5 mile loop back to where we started.

You see, there eventually came a point where we were deep in the woods, exhausted and out of water. We saw no sign of the end.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

By this point, it was too far to turn back, and too far to keep going. We also couldn’t just stop. We had no food, no more water, and no supplies. It was only supposed to be an afternoon walk, not an overnight ordeal. Stopping would create a whole new set of problems all its own.

We had to keep going. We had to fight the heat, exhaustion, and dehydration to keep moving forward. Most of all, we had to fight the temptation to stop moving. Jan’s daughter complained of blisters. Jan complained about her knees. Even Scout protested by digging a hole and flopping down in it. My own legs felt like lead, and I wanted a cool drink, but there was nothing left to drink.

It was at this point that the outing got it’s name, “The Death March.” I am the one responsible for the well being and safety of my family, and I had screwed up massively. It was my fault that we were stuck there, exhausted, demoralized, and dehydrated. We should have just gone in two miles, and turned around. We didn’t because I foolishly thought it was a short looping trail, and it wasn’t.

I kept worrying that the dogs, unable to cool down, would collapse. I thought, “How will I get them out? They’ll just die there.” They probably wouldn’t die instantly, but their bodies would shut down. Death for my puppies loomed in my mind. There was no naturally occurring water anywhere to be seen either. How would I get them out if they shut down?

I could barely pick up my own feet off the ground. After Scout plopped in a hole, I tried to carry him. I made it about 50 feet and couldn’t take anymore. He was only about 20 pounds at the time, and Isis was 3 times that weight. Carrying them was not an option.

Hopelessness

I got to the point where I didn’t just want to stop and rest. I wanted to stop and give up. Every step was pain. Every moment was one second closer to nowhere. Every breath – hopeless. Despair.

Do you ever feel like that? Every breath you take is agony, and every second is a lifetime.

We just kept pushing forward. We just kept plodding on. Finally we reached a road that goes through the park. There was a bulletin board with the park’s number on it. I pulled out my cell phone. “It looks like it has a signal. Let’s see if it works.”

Ringing… Ringing…

Salvation!

I described where we were to the best of my abilities, and they sent a ranger to come pick me up. He drove me to my car, leaving all the others there. Then he escorted my car back to where everyone else was still waiting.

We finally made it out. We finally made it home.

I think about that day sometimes, when things seem to difficult. I think about it those times that I just want to quit, and give up. Sometimes that’s how we are. Sometimes we just want to stop. Sometimes it seems so bad that we even just want to cease to be. The shroud of despair blinds us and we think that is all that there is, but it’s not.

We just need to press on. We just need to keep going, and know that it will get better.

And sometimes we need to ask for help.

Life can throw some curve balls at you. You can either get caught up in the frustration of it all, or you can use it as an opportunity to make something extraordinary. What follows is a story of how I did exactly that.

Some of you are familiar with a person who goes by the screen name of Fmragtops. If you don’t know who he is, that’s OK. All you need to know is that he was a blogger that I became friends with. So much so, in fact, that I was informally invited to his wedding. [If you like, you can check out one of my favorite posts he contributed to Radioactive Liberty.]

I made plans to attend, which means I made travel plans and reservations. I live in Pennsylvania, and he lives in Louisiana, so it’s not something that you just hop in the car and go meet up somewhere.

Time went on, and I didn’t hear from him again. I still haven’t. No one else seems to know where he is either.

My lovely fiancée, Jan asked from time to time if I had heard back from him. Of course, the answer was always “no.” As time closed in, she said that we should cancel the arrangements. I said, “No. We’re going, wedding or not. It’s a place that we would never think to visit otherwise, and we’re going to go anyway, and have the time of our lives.”

I was determined that it would be an amazing vacation. I kept this thought in my mind. Every time I would think about the fact that soon we would be on our way to Louisiana, I focused on the thought that it would be our best vacation ever.

Without a formal invitation, most people would probably have come to the same conclusion as Jan did. Most people would have decided that there was no longer any reason to go. I’m not most people.

Over and over again, I repeated in my mind, and to Jan that we were going to go, and our trip was going to be amazing, in spite of the lack of our original purpose for going.

Jan was skeptical. Really, what is there to do in Southern Louisiana, and why would we want to go there during the hottest time of year?

At this point, we didn’t have any plans beyond travel and lodging, but I just knew that it was going to be great. I refused to believe anything that was contrary to that. “We’ll figure it out. I’m sure that there’s plenty to do,” I said.

Once we got there, we picked up some brochures and started planning our days. Sure enough, there was plenty to do. My step-daughter, the malevolent little girl, was fixated on one single objective.

One of the brochures was for an alligator ranch called Insta-Gator. Every August – because that’s when alligator eggs hatch – they have a special tour that let’s you help an alligator hatch out of it’s egg. It’s something that people get on a waiting list and wait all year long to do. We called two days in advance and got a spot.

If I hadn’t been determined that we were going to have a spectacular time, I probably would have caved and canceled our plans to save some money. We never would have helped hatch an alligator.

It gets better!

We went to a plantation house. The owner has spent something like $150 million to restore the house. He lives there, and has a male and a female dog, and their two puppies. The dogs have free roam of the property.

After we were done with the tour, my step-daughter found the old male dog, and coaxed it into following us around the garden for a while. That wasn’t good enough, so she set out to find the puppies. She employed the assistance of one of the House Restaurant waitresses.

By the time Jan and I rounded the corner, she was with Mama dog, and the puppies, who were escorted by a somewhat slovenly looking man in a golf cart. Jan thought he was probably the hired dog handler.

Wrong! It turns out the man in the golf cart was the owner of the property (and the dogs). We talked to him for about half an hour, while my step-daughter played with the dogs.

Then Jan mentioned to him that the tour guide had said something about going over the levee to see the river, and asked what way we go to do that. He said, “Hop on. I’ll give you a ride.” The multi-millionaire owner of the property then proceeded to chauffeur us, in his golf cart, to the top of the levee to see the sunset over the Mississippi River.

When we were done admiring the view, we all hopped back on the golf cart, and he took us to the parking lot, where he dropped us off at the door of our car.

There’s no extra tour package option for that one. There’s no “have the owner drive you around the property and drop you off at your car” tour package. That one is special.

You can make amazing things happen too, if you focus your thoughts on making them happen. It has to be more than just wishful thinking. You have to know it. Just like I knew that our vacation was going to be incredible.

As I like to say, Life is not something that just happens to you. It’s something you create in your own image. I created a vacation that was in the image I held.

• Extraordinary
• Amazing
• The time of my life

The result even exceeded my expectations. It was extraordinary. It was amazing. It was the time of my life, and then some.

What image do you hold for your life? Is it extraordinary? Is it an image that you don’t like? Only you know what that image you hold is, but if it’s not what you want it to be, then you need to throw it out, send it away, and get a new image. Why not get one that’s extraordinary?

Then strap in. It’s going to be an exhilarating ride!

If you have an extraordinary story, please share it. Think about what image you held, and what you did to make it happen. That’s the key to making an extraordinary life.

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What are the “politics of empowerment?”

To explain the politics of empowerment, it’s probably easiest to start with what it isn’t. It isn’t the competitive model.

The competitive model says that for A to win, B must lose. For B to win, A must lose. It often does work that way in specific areas of life, but the pattern falls apart when applied to life itself, as a whole. In other words, if a company has 1 open position and 10 applicants, it fits the competitive model. Nine applicants lose and only one wins. In a football game, one team wins, and the other loses.

Life itself does not work this way. It’s a common misconception to apply this thought pattern to life itself. As a result, people think that if someone is wealthy and successful, that person must have done so through betrayal, selfishness, and other unethical means. Worse yet, it cripples others who actually fear success because of this societal lie that’s been constantly programmed into our culture. Yes, people actually fear success because they think the rest of society will suffer as a result.

It simply doesn’t work that way.

The competitive model is based on the premise of zero sum. What that means is that there is a limited and specified quantity of wealth, resources, or whatever. To explain zero sum, think of a pie. There is only one pie, and it has 8 slices. That means that if someone gets a piece, someone else is deprived, and if someone gets two pieces, they’ve definitely had more than their “fair share,” because now there are twice as many people deprived by the “two slices for me” douche bag’s abundance.

Socialism says, slice the pie into more pieces that are smaller and distribute them all equally. The result is that no one is satisfied, because no one even gets one whole slice of pie. In fact, all anyone gets is a tiny crumb.

The perception of Capitalism is that the highest bidder gets the most pie. However much he can afford. That’s not what true Capitalism is, though. Real Capitalism would say, “There isn’t enough pie for everyone,” and make more pie. Then there’s enough for everyone, and the high rollers can have all the pie they want, which funds making more pies.

The Empowerment model rejects the notion that one person’s gain is another’s loss. It rejects the idea that one person’s advantage is another’s disadvantage. The empowerment model recognizes that as one individual improves – Financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually, or intellectually – It benefits everyone. It’s the same reason why tax cuts grow the GDP.

So why not just call it Capitalism?

I like calling it empowerment politics for a few reasons:

• I hate the “two party” system. It’s dis-empowering, and based on the competitive model.
• I hate “both” parties. It disgusts me that people choose to be victims of this pathetic, idiotic notion of only having two choices. You are only limited to two choices if you believe the competitive model.
• People have an incorrect impression about what Capitalism is, so I’d rather not call it that. This faulty understanding is based upon the competitive model.
• It’s much bigger in scope than just an economic philosophy. It’s a philosophy for Life itself. This is probably the most important reason for calling it by a new name.

The goal is to understand that when you empower yourself, you empower everyone. You can’t change the world, but by changing yourself, and the lens through which you see the world, the world will change. There can be no other way.

I have plenty more to say about this topic, and I hope you look forward to discussing it as I do. Life is not something that happens to you. It’s something you create in your own image.

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