While all Americans are finding ways to trim budgets, save money and generally spend less, the Federal Government is going for the really Big Money.

$700 Billion for the Banking Industry, signed into law on October 3rd, 2008 as the "Troubled Asset Relief Program".
$17.4 Billion signed into law on December 19th, 2008 by Pres. Bush for the Auto Industry bailout.
$789 Billion in social program spending will be signed into law.

In less then 5 months the Federal Government has decided to spend over $1.5 Trillion. And it isn't as if these bureaucrats have this money stashed in an account somewhere. This is all deficit spending. In other words, they are going into debt ... no ... they are making the American people go into debt to pay for all this. And the People are told, by the Obama Propaganda Machine Main Stream Media, that it is for our own good.

In 2 or 3 months how do you think the Obama-Reid-Pelosi regime will start talking about taxes to pay for all this garbage?

The Orthodox liturgy of St. John Chrysostom includes the following prayer during the Great Litany and the Antiphons:

"For our country, the president, and all those in public service, let us pray to the Lord."

After the inauguration of Barak Obama, the Greek Orthodox parish I attend changed this line to:

"For our country, President Obama, and all those in public service, let us pray to the Lord."

The first time I heard this I was thrown for quite a loop. Never once did this priest, or any other Orthodox priest I heard, pray for President George W. Bush by name. After the liturgy I told the priest how much this change had bothered me. He graciously listened and I know I came away better for the interaction. A conflict was explained and I understand his position, even if the situation remains, to me, not quite resolved.

I know, as a Christian I am tasked to pray not only for those I care about but also for those I dislike, even hate. Naming President Obama in the liturgy certainly tasks me to take up this challenge, one with which I struggle mightely. Even so, I am still bothered by this alteration in the liturgy. I am not a cradle Orthodox. I was chrismated into the church in 2000. I do not know if praying for government leaders by name is done in regularly in Greece or any other majority Orthodox country. My current priest told me he decided to add Obama's name to the liturgy after a discussion with a woman who, for years, attended a Greek liturgy where the only English she heard was Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson's name.

I live in the overwhelmingly liberal environs of Seattle, where Obama stickers are as ubiquitous as Christian fish symbols are around Saddleback Church in Orange County, CA. I would bet that 99% of my fellow parishioners are delighted with this change.

My question for them, and it remains for the priest, where was this concern for the specific person in the White House when it was President George W. Bush? I've heard plenty of laughter at the mention of Pres. Bush's name in this church, but never did I hear anyone offer a prayer for the man, by name.

I wonder how my liberal fellow Orthodox would feel if they were attending a church where for the past eight years Pres. Bush was prayed for by name and then on January 20th 2009, the name was dropped and the priest just prayed for "the president". I have a very strong suspicion that if any liberals actually were attending a church that prayed for George W. Bush by name (a situation that is highly unlikely), they would quit as soon as the change was made.

I will have to wait at least four, maybe even, God forbid, eight, years before this priest possibly faces a test and, because of this change, has to pray for a Republican. Lord how I pray it becomes President Sarah Palin. I would pay good money to see an Orthodox priest in Seattle utter the following during liturgy, "For our country, President Palin, and all those in public service, let us pray to the Lord." I don't think it would ever happen, if she were to win the 2012 or 2016 election. Liberal Seattle-ites would be walking out the door never to return.

I shall return to this specific Greek Orthodox church mostly because I know that praying for people I do not like is one of the hardest things for me to do. I wonder if my liberal Orthodox neighbors could stomach the same challenge. Or would they be among the first to join the Hate Palin mob? Given the giggles I heard when Pres. Bush was merely referred to as "our current president" I think I have my answer.

I'm thinking that Siruis XM Satellite Radio must be run by Democrats. How else does one explain an email I received recently?

While thinking about taking up Aikido training in Seattle and browsing various local dojos' websites, I received an email from Sirius/XM. The message announced that I will no longer be able to listen to Sirius XM online for free. And if I upgrade my plan immediately, the online service will still be available to me.

In other words, when 10s of thousands of individuals are losing their jobs, Sirius XM management decided it would be a smart move to charge customers more for what they already receive. Sirius XM claims that it is "upgrading to a higher quality digital audio". Maybe they are, but I'm wondering how upgrading equipment when everyone is cutting back is considered a smart managerial move? I'm thinking that more and more people realize how big a luxury satellite radio is and are simply foregoing that expense (something I will seriously consider, given my own financial situation). Perhaps Sirius finds it has fewer subscriptions and had to come up with a way to make up the losses. The solution: Make people pay for what they are currently getting for free.

I guess that's a better solution than firing people. I just don't think it will work. I, for one, shall now do without Sirius online. There's plenty of audio books at the library. And iTunes has a lot of free podcasts & radio stations. Sorry Sirius XM, but you can keep your "higher quality digital audio". And I'll keep what little money I have in my pocket. If I have to go without the Grateful Dead station or E Street Radio in order to eat then that's what I'll do.

David steps through the double doors and sees a good size group of men and women, milling about, sipping drinks. A young man, smiling broadly steps up holding his hand out. David shakes it firmly.
“Welcome to our business networking group. My name’s Michael. Is this your first time?”
    “Yeah, I heard about the group online. A friend sent me a note, so I thought I’d drop by.”
“That’s awesome. We’re glad to have you.”
    “My name’s David. Nice to meet you.”
“So what’s your business, David?”
    “Well, I help people get into their own homes.”
“That’s cool. How do you do that? Are you a home-builder?”
    “No, actually, I work in the mortgage industry. I just acquired a franchise from Edward Jones.”
He steps away from David. A pained and disgusted look washes across Michael’s face, as if someone just dragged a dead rat’s bloated corpse across his palm. “You’re into usury franchise?!? Uh …”
    “That term is commonly understood as charging excessive interest, but some think it means charging any fee for the use of money.”
“Sorry, I don’t care what you want to call it, David, you’re not welcome here. I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Our group has standards and money-lenders do not qualify.”
    Michael pushes the door open, waiving desperately at security guard standing outside. At the same time, he tries to usher David out without actually touching him.

      In the so-called real world, no networking group would a keep out a mortgage franchise. How about banning people who want to start a coffee shop? What about people who design websites? Should we ban so-called webmasters from business networking groups because someone used their services for unscrupulous activity? Don’t even get me started on the Real Estate industry.
    These things would never happen. Everyone accepts these industries. They are what most would consider traditional businesses. There is one industry, however, that might get you tossed out if you mention it at a business-networking meeting. That industry is Network Marketing.
    I experienced this myself recently with a business-networking group called “Biznik”. Upon receiving an invite to Biznik, I went to its website and completed my profile. When it came to what I do, I openly and honestly laid claim to the title of Network Marketing. I received an email telling me their administrators closed my account a few days after I enrolled online. Here is the heart of Biznik's reasoning on the subject:

“... we have made the decision not to extend membership to … businesses that provide financial incentives to recruit members, resellers, or distributors of products or services that do not originate with those seeking membership in Biznik, such as a percentage of sales made by each person recruited.”

    The interesting thing is that this sentence describes just about any business that actually sells a product or service.
    Let’s say I decide to open a coffee shop. Let’s call it “Biznik Coffee”. The first thing I want to do, if I don’t have the money to get it going, is convince people to invest in my business. I literally have to recruit members into my business, but I’m going to call them “Investors”.
      In order to sell my business to these recruits I have to give them a business plan. I’m not actually going to grow the beans, harvest and roast them myself. I’m going to get my beans from StarBiz roasters instead. In other words, I’m going to get my products from someone else then I’m going to resell them.
      Furthermore, I’m no barista. I just want to run a profitable business. Therefore, I’m going to recruit more members who will run my shop for me. These members I will call “Employees” and, when they sell StarBiz coffee the shop brews up, I’m going to give them a percentage of the sales. Instead of calling this a commission, however, I will call it an “Hourly Wage” or better yet, a “Salary”. Moreover, the percentage I pay back to my “Investors” I will call “Interest”.
      Ta da!!!! Now I have a legitimate business, that any business-networking group will not only accept, will very likely work with me to make my business successful.
      Everything that every traditional business does, Network Marketing does. There is one thing Network Marketing offers that not one traditional business does offer. It offers people who create their own business the opportunity to make more money than the person who gave them the opportunity.
      No one who remains an Apple Employee for their entire career will ever make more money than Steve Jobs. No one.
      If I find and recruit a Steve Jobs into the Network Marketing industry, he will make more money than I do. If he puts in the time and effort and creates a successful enterprise, while I have only a modest business, should he not make more money than me? That is what I call fair.
      Apparently, the people at Biznik aren’t into creating a fair business environment. It is an odd, given they promote “people not professions.” Since so many who reside left-of-center, politically speaking, actually despise wealth creation, Biznik’s anti-MLM prejudice should not really surprise anyone.
      And don’t even get me started on how every business other than Network Marketing is the real pyramid scheme.

Dear Seattle-PI Editors,

Warning your readers about scams and frauds provides your readers a great service (State warns job hunters: Be alert for scams - 1/26/09). Condemning an entire industry during the course of this warning, however, serves no one and keeps Seattle P-I readers ignorant of an amazing opportunity for both personal and professional development.

In the article linked above characterized the entire Network Marketing industry (also referred to as Multilevel Marketing or Direct Sales) as comprising nothing but “con artists”. The article’s author wrote, “Con artists are placing ads online and in newspaper classifieds offering the chance to earn extra income by working at home.” This may have been an honest mistake; nothing more than a poor choice of words by the reporter. However, it plants in the reader’s mind the idea that everyone who offers a home-based business opportunity in the Network Marketing industry is a “con artist”. Nothing could be further from the truth. Millions of entrepreneurs are building strong home-based businesses in Network Marketing everyday. It is as legitimate an industry as Retail Selling, Construction or Automotive Manufacturing.

Network Marketing is a distribution method that effectively and efficiently moves products directly from the Manufacturer to the End User. Some well-known companies using this method of distribution are Amway, Herbalife, Nuskin, Mary Kay and Usana Health Sciences. In America there are well over a 1,000 companies that use Network Marketing to move products to millions of people every year. According to the Direct Selling Association, Network Marketing moved approximately $30.8 Billion in goods and services in the United States in 2007. Worldwide this figure rises to approximately $110 Billion. Furthermore, in 2007, 71% of individuals involved with Network Marketing had some college, were college graduates or had a postgraduate degree. I certainly hope American colleges and universities are not in the practice of producing “con artists”.

Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki, bestselling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, both endorse the Network Marketing industry for people looking for additional streams of income. In the book Why we want you to be Rich, Kiyosaki wrote, “I recommend the [Network Marketing] industry for people who want to change and get the necessary skills and attitude training to be successful [business owners]”. In that same book Trump wrote, “Network marketing has proven itself to be a viable and rewarding source of income, and the challenges could be just right for you.” Furthermore, in 2003 Warren Buffet acquired Pampered Chef, a Network Marketing company with about $740 Million in sales in 2003. Are these powerful business leaders endorsing an industry full of nothing but “con artists”?   

Network Marketing is not for everyone. It requires hard work and the willingness to learn and operate outside one’s comfort zone. I came into the industry after the General Contractor I worked for laid me off in October 2008. In just a few short months, I have gained skills I never would have learned in my previous career. It has already paid significant dividends in my own personal development and I know I will have the opportunity to help others be successful.

Are there some involved in Network Marketing who will take advantage of people? Of course. Is any industry, however, comprised entirely of saints? Are there not individuals in the automotive industry who would take advantage of their customers? Have not more than a few people felt “conned” by the banking and mortgage industries? What about the energy industry; ever hear of Enron? There are bad apples in any business, but they do not invalidate the industry itself. People should be aware of unscrupulous activity no matter what the industry is, and when they decide to pursue a business opportunity, they must do their due diligence.

Network Marketing requires due diligence, hard work and persistence. For those willing to put in the time and effort, however, it offers the freedom and opportunity that no J-O-B ever will.

Most Sincerely,

Daniel Crandall, M.A.

Independent Associate - USANA Health Sciences

http://dpcrandall.usana.com

A bit of wisdom from Denis Waitley's latest Ezine:

If you find this as inspiring and want more, than prove it - subscribe to Dr. Waitley's Ezine at his website Denis Waitley International.

Pres-Elect B.H. Obama asked some prominent conservatives to a meeting cleverly disguised as a dinner party. A few talk radio hosts pondered the question why. Why would Obama want to meet with the likes of George Will, William Kristol and David Brooks? Brooks worked very hard at endearing himself with the Left-Liberal MSM by being one of the first conservatives attacking not only the selection of Sarah Palin as VP candidate, but Sarah Palin herself, calling her "a cancer".

As far as I know B.H.O. has never changed his mind on anything, especially if that change involved shifting from a Left-Liberal viewpoint to a Center-Right, let alone conservative, viewpoint. BHO has been, and I expect will continue to be, a devoted Man of the Left. So, Why would Obama want to meet with these allegedly conservative commentators?

I have recently began my latest and final career transition. I am now on the path of being a Professional Network Marketer. One thing, among many, I have discovered is that everyone is selling something. Friends sell movies to friends. Coworkers sell restaurants to coworkers. Employees sell themselves to employers - every single day they walk into the office. And, most obviously, businesses sell their goods and services to the public. In that meeting, BHO was selling himself to these "spokesmen" for the Center-Right pundits.

I believe that BHO entered that dinner with a clear objective: Get these writers to love me, like almost everyone else in the media does. I do not believe that BHO cared one whit what they thought. Lower taxes? Fuggedaboutit! Limited government? As if! Robust national defense? Yeah ... right! BHO was pitching his presidency to these folks. All they had to do at the end of the meeting, and the pitch was made to join Obama's plan these pundits only had to decide what kind of person they were.

Where they #3) Thanks, but no thanks. Though we will try the products, wouldn't want to upset Chris Matthews & the others at MSNBCCNNABCCBSNYTimes, blah, blah blah.

Where they a #2) They liked what they heard but they needed more information. Perhaps a few more dinner meetings with The One and his Court will satisfy them.

Or where they a #1) Sold! They love this guy and his pitch. They are ready, like Chris-Thrill Up My Leg-Matthews, to make sure that the coronation inauguration of Obama and his subsequent reign Presidency would be a success - facts be damned.

Brooks is very likely a 1 or 2, given that he has sold his soul to the Democrat Times of New York. Will, at best is a 3. A guy who believes Statecraft is Soulcraft is not be much of a bulwark for conservative values. Kristol? What hope is there for a guy who has been shilling for McCain since 2000.

Everyone is selling something. The one who called the meeting is the one who is pitching. On Tuesday, January 13th, Obama pitched a few Center-Right pundits. I wonder if he remembered to bring the koolaid.

I have no patience for jealousy. I was listening to Michael Medved's show; the topic was the economy and a caller comes on complaining that he isn't paid enough, that corporate fat cats make too much money to run companies into the ground, that minimum wage should be $70/hour. The guy's attitude just screamed victimhood, which fed a poisonous jealousy.

A few months ago I decided that I was going to take control of my life and embark on the Entrepreneurial Path. Some people don't see Network Marketing as an entrepreneurial enterprise (and if you're one of them, I'd love to hear from you only after you watch "Brilliant Compensation"), but when you take on this work you will discover that it is a business and has to be worked like a business.

I got into this work because I no longer want my time leveraged so someone else can get wealthy. What does that mean: 'leverage'? When you invest money in your 401k (or is it a 201k these days?) you are leveraging your money; you are making your money work for you. When you took your job, the company owner hired you in order to leverage your time. In other words, he makes money off both your time and his time. In other words, you get paid for the time you give your employer. Your employer gets paid for everyone's time. You're trading hours for dollars, and there are only so many hours in a day. The beauty of Network Marketing is that everyone is able to leverage everyone else's time. Everyone is a business owner, just without the headaches of employees, overhead, etc. Have you heard the joke: 1 employee is a headache, 100 employees is an adult day care center.

There is a term commonly bandied about, when I was a liberal, that, at the time, I knee-jerkedly reacted against. I did not want to think that I was one of these people. Now, however, that I've broken away from the corporate life I see that it is very, very applicable. The term is "Wage Slave". Maybe you think that term makes me anti-business. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I love business. I want everyone to have their own business, to be able to truly live the Declaration of Indepence, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." That phrase inspired me to developing a blog seperate from Townhall.com, which currently has "Health, Freedom and the Pursuit of Happiness" as its working title.

I wish I could sit down with everyone who stops by my blog and talk about becoming an entrepreneur. Anyone can do it. If you think you can't, I here to tell you: Yes, You Can! You can take control of your life. If, however, you continue to think you cannot be your own boss, run your own business, than someone else will always be telling you when you can take a vacation, when you will get a raise, when you can see your kids, where you will live, etc,. etc., etc.

Before you jump into the comments to tell me what a fool I am, take a deep breath, sigh on the exhale and honestly ask and answer this question: Are you getting everything you want in life? If the answer is no, think about what I've written, think about taking some steps toward true freedom. The life you save just might be your own.

When I do something, I want to know as much about it as I can. I have set out on a path of financial freedom in the Network Marketing industry. Therefore, I want to know the good, bad and ugly about this industry in which I find myself. 

To educate myself I've picked up Len Clements book, "Inside Network Marketing: An Expert's View into the Hidden Truths and Exploited Myths or America's Most Misunderstood Industry". Here is one of the first gems I've found in this book. It hits at the heart of why I'm in this industry and why I wonder so many people work so hard at attacking it.

"Why is it that if you create a company hierarchy where all those at the bottom can only succeed by climbing over those above them, and those above are doing everything they can to make sure that those below stay below, this is considered a legal, legitimate pursuit of the free enterprise system? If, however, you create the exact same hierarchy, but allow those at the bottom to create, and be at the top of, their own hierarchies, with unlimited support, training, and encouragement from all those above them, this is considered a pyramid scheme?" (13-14) Clements, Leonard W., Inside Network Marketing. Roseville, CA: Prima, 2000

To paraphrase Robert Kiyosaki, when you're on the corporate ladder there will always be someone's backside above you, impossible to get around, keeping you from getting ahead.

Think about that when you go to work next Monday.

There is a lot one can get from Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. I just read it for the first time. There is something profound and, at the same time, unsettling about this line:

"There is no teacher but the enemy. No one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do. No one but the enemy will ever teach you how to destroy and conquer. Only the enemy shows you where you are weak. Only the enemy tells you where he is strong. And the rules of the game are what you can do to him and what you can stop him from doing to you."

I'd love to know what others think about this Mazer Rackham quote.

I love books. Just love them. I could spend hours wandering in a bookstore. It is a tremendous act of self control to leave a bookstore without something under my arm. My Christmas amounted to buying myself 5 different novels.

Titles I picked up at the close of 2008:

1. Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show (Vol. 1) anthology
2. Orson Scott Card's Ender in Exile
3. Robert E. Howard's The Black Stranger and Other American Tales
4. Rudyard Kipling's Tales of Horror and Fantasy, with Introduction by Neil Gaiman and Afterword by Stephen Jones
5. James P. Blaylock's Knights of the Cornerstone

In addition to that pile I've added some reading from the local library associated with my online and network marketing life.

1. Richard Poe's Wave 3: The New Era in Network Marketing
2. Leonard W. Clements' Inside Network Marketing
3. Todd Stauffer's How to do Everything with Your Web 2.0 Blog

Wow, do I have some reading ahead of me.

I gotta get outta this 'blogtownhall' stuff and set up an Amazon affiliates link. If anyone clicks through these links and buys these books, why shouldn't I get paid. That way, I can buy more books. ... Yeeaah, Baby

The Seattle Public Library patrons can download audio books online, instead of having to go to the library. Given Seattle's latest weather, with record snowfall and frozen streets, this is a bit of a God send. Thanks to the service I'm able to 'check out' an audio book online and listen while I'm working with the laptop. The latest book I have playing in the background while I Tweet and check Facebook and look for work and develop my online 'brand' and other various computer tasks is Jim Collins' Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap ... and others don't. It is mildly interesting, in a broad general sense.

The use of one company, however, as exemplifying the "good to great" concept, will turn a lot of people off if they listen to or read the book today. That company is none other than Fannie Mae.

Jim Collins needs to update this text and remove that so-called public/private company that is the lynch pin of our current economic crisis. Were it not for Fannie Mae, hand in hand with Democrat social engineers, shoving sub-prime loans down everyone's throat America (and very likely the world) would not be in the financial condition it is today.

Fannie Mae ... a "Good to Great" company?

I don't think so.

Is there any movie that does not include some element of Bush Derangement Syndrome? ... Anyone? ... Bueller?

When my wife saw the trailer for The Nanny Diaries, she immediately went online and added it to our Netflix list. I thought it looked harmless enough and might even have something to say about families and the importance of raising children. And to an extent it was. The "systemic child neglect" that occurs among the New York gliterati was on display for all to see. It has some humorous and touching moments.

And, since this is Hollywood, it also includes an obvious BDS scene. That scene appears during a 4th of July office party. In the film the party was a costume affair for the hired help. As Scarlett Johansan, playing Annie, the Nanny, walks down a hall, a woman, who happens to be black walks past with a child in her arms. The woman is dressed as Condaleeza Rice and the child is wearing a George W. Bush mask. Pres. Bush, the child, being carried by his African-American Nanny. Why? What is the point of a scene like that other than to show everyone what you think of the 43rd President of these United States? With one brief scene, you turned a marginally amusing and touching film into a joke.

Hey, Hollywood: Grow up. The world does not care what you think of the President.

Boy, I can't wait for the movie that shows an 8 year child wearing an Obama mask and being carried by a Nanny dressed like Sec. of State Hillary Clinton. ... Yeah, like that's going to happen.

I could have told them this before I answered the questions.

You are a Social Conservative (36% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (78% permissive) You are best described as a: Republican Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

They are almost a cliche in any science fiction story. Europe, it seems, may be making them a reality. European Union social engineers are planning on putting taxi drivers out of work, beginning with London's Heathrow, then Rome and a driverless bus system in Castellon, Spain, with driverless taxis in the former two locations and a driverless bus system in the latter.

This, of course, begs the question what will taxi drivers do? European nations cannot financially support the social welfare systems they have established, and the Euro social "planners" want to put even more people out of work. Genius.

Call me a Luddite, if you will, but when the State dictates how people will travel from place to place rather then the free market, then little that is good, I believe, can come of it.

On the other hand, driverless taxis remove ignorant fascislamist engaging in soft jihad by refusing you a ride because you have a dog or are carrying a bottle of Stoli from the equation.