Dinner With Anthony Munoz

On Monday, I made an eight-hour round trip to Cincinnati to hear former Bengals offensive tackle and NFL Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz speak to the Blue Chip Young Republican Club at Molly Malone's. I have been a Bengals fan since 1985 and yes I stuck with them through all these years.

He spoke for about 30 minutes covering a variety of topics from his childhood in Southern California growing up with a single mother and several siblings to his work with the Anthony Munoz Foundation.
He mentioned that his experiences over the course of his lifetime in combination with his Christian faith and work ethic have given him the passion for his work and compassion to share it with others.

On the general issue of politics, he expressed dismay at the notion that government can act with impunity confiscating people's money through taxation which he says leads to more waste and less money for people to have for paying bills, investing, and using to build a business. He states he believes that the economic bailouts being initiated in Washington D.C. will ultimately make the situation worse and delay any possible recovery for some time.

Why The "Pig Flu" is Pig Dung

“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
Joseph Goebbels, Nazi minister of propaganda

Did you notice all the talk last month about the evil Chinese and Koreans? Then it was the "evil" people of Somalia for the past few weeks?
Have you noticed the recent news about the "Pig Flu"? Basically for the next week or so, we are going to be indundated with stories about people getting pig flu, virus or whatever word you want to use.

It could be the Reichstag Fire. It could be the evil Jews on Monday and the evil Arabs on Friday. Next week, it could be you. So what is going on?

I've worked in television and newspapers, so I know first-hand how public information can be manipulated in order to produce a desired result or response. People who work in government are efficient in the sense they can rationalize their responses to a crisis and get the talking points out to the public. The talking points from the memo get repeated around the water cooler, from the talk shows, cook-outs, so on and so on.

This does not mean that every single reporter, newspaper editor or camera man is "in on it". The media can be used for good purposes as well as bad purposes. It is just that many people in the position to call the shots these days as in the past are agenda driven, adhere to loyalty to political parties or are rather friendly with the people who run the power structure thus ensuring access for exclusive interviews, feeders on stories and invitations to awards dinners among other things.

Nothing gets run unless it has approval. Now it can be anything from football scores, a 5 year old girl winning a spelling bee, to this. The fact of the matter is that we are dealing with nothing more than constant repeating of the same story. Ever notice that all the major media outlooks say the same thing? That is a clue that you are being mislead or lied to. This is called Media Manipulation. Specifically, this is Distraction by phenomenon. Think "Wag The Dog".

It is also important to keep in mind that it isn't what they are telling you that is the problem as much as what they are NOT telling you. Hence, lying by omission. Ask yourself this: what other events were going on Saturday? I think it has something to do with the Federal Reserve.

What is going on is that various governments have been keeping core samples derived from lab experiments and at a pre-determined time, they would release it hence the timing of all this aka the anthrax scare. What is also happening is that all the reported cases of pig flu are in fact not pig flu at all, but nothing more than cases of common colds. Essentially a non-event. Keep in mind this is all happening less than a week after Hitler's 120th birthday.

This "crisis" is all designed to create a crisis and further erode the economy or at least explain why corporate profits are down (other than the corporations own mismanagement), trampling of civil rights, inducing a mass panic, etc... The CDC, FEMA and other agencies in the alphabet soup will claim there is a crisis of "epic proportions" and then use their own manufactured crisis to justify more powers to do these things. Can you say internment camp? Look up H.R. 645 sponsored by Alcee Hastings of Florida.

This particular "crisis" is livestock-related, so expect more push for government oversight of farms. Big industrial farms will welcome this, because they have big lobbies to get exemptions just as Monsanto is welcoming the oversight of seeds and you guessed it, pigs. As in the "Pig Patent". In 2005, Monsanto had filed two patents for processes which controlled the breeding and the herds of pigs. This resulted in Monsanto being under scrutiny for ownership rights over pigs and their offspring. Monsanto was planning to create improved designer animals for human consumption using special breeding techniques. Monsanto was able to control breeds with specific characteristics as per the patent, and disallowing other breeders and farmers from doing so. The patent, being broad, remained unclear about the ownership of the proceeds from the sale of the pigs by farmers. It did not mention the royalties involved when a food producer produces sausages (as an example) using those pigs which are bred using Monsanto’s process. This was a source of royalty for Monsanto. Monsanto wanted to cash in on the growing consumer demand for meat products globally and many activists question the ethics of Monsanto’s actions.

So live your life and don't listen to the naysayers. Likewise, be diligent in protecting your rights and liberties.

2009 Tennessee Libertarian Party Convention

NEWEST LPTN OFFICERS: (L-R) Izaak Standridge, Vice Chairman; John Sebastian, Chairman; Ray Ledford, Secretary; J.R. Enfield, Treasurer.

"A flourishing libertarian movement, a lifelong dedication to liberty can only be grounded on a passion for justice."
Murray Rothbard, Egalitarianism As a Revolt Against Nature

I attended the 2009 Tennessee Libertarian Party Convention on Saturday, April 25 at the Best Western Inn off N. Peters Road in Knoxville, Tennessee.

We had around 40 people in attendance including representatives from Maryville College, East Tennessee State University as well as several other local colleges in addition to long-time activists.

The morning session dealt mostly with business such as amending the party by-laws, going over the treasurer's report and electing new officers.

During the afternoon, we heard from a variety of speakers.

The first one to speak was Matthew Jeffers. Matthew is a former Army veteran, student at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) and co-founder of the Students of American Liberty. He talked about his time in the military and how he transitioned from being just another soldier who followed orders to being a full-fledged activist for liberty. He commented he was frustrated with George W. Bush, the neo-cons and the general direction of the country. His transition started when he came across a sign on the ETSU campus a few years ago that said "Google Ron Paul".

Allan Wallace, secretary of the Knox County affiliate of the Libertarian Party and co-founder of Outright Libertarians spoke next about his time as a political activist and the importance of advocacy groups that share common themes with the Libertarian Party as well as discrimination that occurs against bi-sexuals, gays, lesbians, and transgendered individuals.

Fred Childress, co-founder of the Tennessee Liberty Alliance spoke about his time as a political activist in Oak Ridge with his most recent cause being against RedFlex cameras.

R. Lee Wrights, a long-time political activist and editor/publisher of Liberty For All talked about the recent fight going on within the Libertarian Party particularly as it pertains to Libertarian National Committee. He expressed dismay over his removal from the committee over the "expiration" of his membership. Technically, his wife paid for his membership on her credit card, but supposedly Federal election law says that another person can't pay for your membership in a political party. He chalks it up to a difference of personalities between him and another member on the committee and that this argument is hog-wash.

Angela Keaton, Development Director of Antiwar.com spoke about Anti War's reason for being and mentioned that the mainstream media generally only reports on a sanitized version of war particularly in the Middle East.

Ernest Hancock was the keynote speaker. He spoke for several hours about his transition over the course of his life from the events of his childhood like the Vietnam War, Watergate, to the 1988 election cycle when he first started to understand the bigger picture of how the world works. He followed through with the central question: "How Many Minds Can We Free?" particularly as it relates to younger people being involved in political activism.

He expressed his dismay about how the Libertarian Party particularly at the top had not figured out that the top-down approach is not effective and that liberty has no central planning committee therefore, it is best to let people on the ground determine how to run things.

The meeting concluded around 7 p.m. and the rest of the night was essentially social event. I left around 8 p.m. since I had been up since 5 a.m. and looking forward to getting some sleep.

If you are on Facebook, more pictures can be viewed here.

What Fast Food Are You?

You Are Pizza

You are friendly, popular, and outgoing. You find it easy to get along with anyone. You can be casual and carefree or fancy and upscale. You fit in anywhere. You are a giving person, and you love to share. Sharing comes naturally to you. You always liven up a party and attract a big crowd. There's just something about you that people love!

What Kind of Fast Food Are You?

"Controversy" over Miss California Obscures The Real Issue

Who has noticed all the "talk" about Carrie Prejean's answer on gay marriage? Well guess what? Conversion of rights into privileges and political correctness happen to be two of the 16 signs of tyranny.

The real issue is not whether people can be allowed to live together as they always had that right. The real issue is that tyrants are attempting to yet again blind us as they continue their campaign to impose tyranny.

For the record, Perez Hilton is a shock jock. The fact that so many people act as if he is credible on anything goes to show you how sad and trivial Americans truly have become.

1. The definition of a "license" demands that we not obtain one to marry. Black’s Law Dictionary defines "license" as, "The permission by competent authority to do an act which without such permission, would be illegal." We need to ask ourselves- why should it be illegal to marry without the State’s permission? More importantly, why should we need the State’s permission to participate in something which God instituted (Gen. 2:18-24)? We should not need the State’s permission to marry nor should we grovel before state officials to seek it. What if you apply and the State says "no"? You must understand that the authority to license implies the power to prohibit. A license by definition "confers a right" to do something. The State cannot grant the right to marry. It is a God-given right.

5 Reasons Why Christians Should Not Obtain a State Marriage License

Orange and White Game

I went to the Orange and White game yesterday. I was a little bit sunburned, but no complaints.

This was the first O&W game I've been to in five years. I should go more often. LOL.

How To Treat Ant Bites and Bee Stings

The first thing especially if you are allergic is to see a doctor.

When you get the chance, stop by and pick up some organic raw honey, preferably local honey which can be found at farmer's markets or food co-ops. Honey has natural antioxidant and anti-microbial properties that help to protect the skin from the damage of the sun's rays, supports the skin's ability to rejuvenate and refresh depleted skin, leaving it feeling silky soft and supple. One of the most common skin benefits of honey is related to minor acne treatment.

Also get some yogurt. It adds enzymes and oils to the skin, working as a natural moisturizer. It can also reduce pore size, improve overall skin texture, and give you that healthy glow. You determine how much honey and yogurt you would need. I would suggest in the neighborhood of a 2-3 pounds of each to start off with.

First of all, rinse off completely before applying. You don't want dirt, body oil or what not getting caught up in the honey and yogurt. It would be a nightmare otherwise.

Using your hands, slather the honey on the body part(s) where you were bitten.
Rest for about an hour. Don't overdo it. A thin layer is good.

The yogurt is applied on top of the honey. Make sure the yogurt is of a creamy consistency; freeze in a bowl for about 20-30 minutes. Slather the yogurt on the affected area for another 30 minutes to an hour. Think of it like applying sunscreen or lotion. Don't worry about it feeling cold. That is what helps relieve the itching. Then take a warm shower and completely dry off afterwards.

This should help. It did wonders the few times I was bitten by ants as a kid. Being a Boy or Girl Scout teaches you a thing or two about nature.