What Did LaVoy Finicum Die For?: Part One

lavoy-finicum-620x348I watched the January 26, 2016 FBI footage and Finicum definitely attempted to run the roadblock, almost striking an agent who jumped in front of him.

He left the vehicle immediately walking several yards away covered by multiple agents. He seems to have put his hands down for some reason and the agents shot him dead.

A tragic loss of life after what appears to be anything but a routine traffic stop (some say an ambush) following weeks of peaceful negotiations. There is an on going investigation to assess the actions of the police.

If you are not familiar with this news story, click here.

My military training to “repel boarders” justifies the use of lethal force when faced with aggressive potentially deadly combatants. Law enforcement receive similar training and I can understand interpreting Finicum’s actions as aggressive, but is it really possible that the overwhelming presence of FBI and State Police agents considered the actions of Finicum as “potentially deadly?”

All I know for sure is that I am deeply disturbed by these last few moments of a good man’s life and have lots of unanswered questions:

Why did law enforcement choose to escalate the situation after weeks of peaceful talks?

Why did law enforcement setup and ambush Finicum and company when there was no immediate danger to life or property?

What was the government’s imperative to force a conclusion?

What does “productive beneficial use” mean?

What were the occupiers trying to accomplish at the refuge?

Image created by Joelle Mancuso

Image created by Joelle Mancuso

What are the opposing claims of the government and the ranchers?

What originally gave the ranchers the right to ranch on this land generations before and what changed?

What are the “natural rights” that the LaVoy kept talking about?

Was this just another “crazy standoff” or are these the actions of patriots? Now that a life has been sacrificed, I challenge you to look deeper and ask hard questions.

More to follow.

YOUTH FOR AMERICA: It’s Back and Has Found A New Home

YFA (2)

It has always been truethe youth are the future.

So what does your future hold?

Are you prepared to step into your GREATNESS?

2

Monticello College hosts Youth For America retreats because we take your future leadership serious.

But nobody said that learning about great American leaders and developing your own leadership skills had to be boring.

Come join us for a week of fun, new friends and mentors, and some of the most incredible beauty you have every seen.

DSC03464 copyClasses, colloquia, hiking, lake trips, bonfires, and wilderness skills training will stimulate discussions and help you remember why this is the greatest country on earth.

 

7Perhaps most importantly, you will meet some of the best youth in the nation—youth like you who care about the important things, and you will make new friends that will change your life forever.

Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to enjoy the beauties of the Blue Mountains and catch the vision of a lifelong Thomas Jefferson Education on the campus of Monticello College!

MC Eggs in HandThis retreat includes:

  • Nationally renowned MC speakers and faculty
  • Transformational classes and activities
  • Learning the power of the classics
  • Wilderness survival skills
  • Alternative habitat construction
  • Exciting simulations
  • Understanding the importance and price of freedom
  • Great food
  • Incredible mountain hiking trails, lakes, and streams
  • Fun, fun, fun in typical Monticello College style

Location: Monticello College Campus – Monticello, Utah

Date: July 4-9, 2016

Who Can Attend: Ages 15-20. Limited to 40 participants

Cost: $529 per attendee

To register : info@monticellocollege.org

American Freedom Starts at Home

Lynn-PattersonWhen I first met them, the Pattersons were just a typical low-middle-class California family. But they really cared about raising their children (3 adopted and 1 natural born) the right way and always had lots of questions and seemed to work hard at going the extra mile to learn or do their very best.

Don’t get me wrong, I know the Pattersons are not without their faults; but I have known them for 15 years now, and I have watched a pattern develop over that time: good people, doing the best they know how, trying to do better when they can.

That is all we can ask of Americans – be good, do your best in the moment, and do better in the future.  Freedom is built and maintained on this formula.

I have shared the Patterson’s story before, but it has been almost a year now since Lynn Patterson passed away, and I have been closely watching to see how Symbria and Sara (wife and last child at home) would hold up.  If they are examples of true Americanism, we are in a good place.

Symbria and Sara continue to champion Food Freedom in Utah, slowly winning back basic freedoms we were all born with.  I hope I can stay the course as strongly as these two women are.

Watch this short video to see what they have done:

sara

http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2016/01/16/cmm-food-freedom-activists-tackle-what-they-consider-absurd-food-laws/#.VpquTRgrIy5

 

I.O.U.S.A

I am completely serious when I tell you this.

Gong_08_2008SpendingBased on the evolution of the United States government and our current standing in the world, it is likely that short of President of the United States, the most important office in the federal government and the least known federal government office is the Government Accountability Office. 

The person appointed as the director of this office is known as the Comptroller General of the United States. The GAO is a legislative agency and the Comptroller General is appointed by the President with consent of the Senate. This office has been a part of the federal government for almost 100 years (1921) and is limited to a 15-year term.

hqdefaultThe Comptroller General has the power of truth and facts. His only job is to provide the president and congress with the nation’s state of financial affairs and to make recommendations.

With the gravity of our financial picture today, you would think that the CG would be the most quoted man in Washington. But Mr. Eugene Louis Dodaro, the current CG has had little press exposure since his appointment in 2010.

Based on our ever deteriorating financial position as a nation and as individual citizens combined with the projected negative outcome of continuing such a course, you would think that the CG would use his position, like an ancient Old Testament prophet to shout warnings from the roof tops.

But while Mr. Dodaro is eerily quiet considering the role of his office, others are not so demure. One of the most outspoken Comptroller Generals was David Walker (1998 to 2008) who served under both Democratic and Republican presidents.

2026Mr. Walker resigned his office in 2008 as a form of protest after it became clear that neither the Republican President or the Democratic controlled House and Senate where taking his continued and constant reports seriously.

For nearly his entire 10 years in office, his counsel and factual data were received with a kind of economic apathy so common in the halls of government.

As the keynote speaker at the February 2, 2005 National Press Club Outlook Conference, CG Walker began his remarks with these words:

I’m sad to say that since I last spoke on this issue here at the National Press Club back in September of 2003, our nation’s long-range fiscal imbalance has deteriorated significantly. Furthermore, as you all know, most state and local governments also have their own fiscal challenges and are having to make increasingly difficult choices.

 

We now confront three large and interrelated national deficits. The first is a large federal budget deficit. The second is a growing balance-of-payments deficit. And the third is an alarming personal savings deficit. Frankly, it’s easy to dismiss government deficits and debt as someone else’s problem.

 

But in my view, every American has both a personal reason and a civic responsibility to become more informed and involved in the coming debate over our collective fiscal future.

 

2030These kinds of efforts to educate the government and the press were follow-up by using his office and influence as CG to kick-off the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour beginning in 2005 and expanding to 40 cities.

After 10 unproductive years warning everyone who was supposed to listen, you know…the president, congress, governors, the American people, Mr. Walker resigning his post.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO WATCH VIDEO FOR FREE

CLICK ON IMAGE TO WATCH VIDEO FOR FREE

In 2008, he elevated his personal crusade to educating the American people about the disaster that awaits us by joining forces with the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

One of their most impactful projects was the I.O.U.S.A. documentary that outlined where we were fiscally in 2008. THIS IS A MUST WATCH! This rare peek into the past validates the present and gives us a clear picture of the future.

WARNING: This is a bit like knowing that a tornado is about to hit but being afraid to go outside to the storm shelter.

NATIONAL DEBT 2008

NATIONAL DEBT 2008

I said earlier that in my opinion–considering where we are today–that second ONLY to the president, the most important office in government is the Comptroller General and the GAO.

I say this because without a clear picture of where we are and a plan for a solid financial foundation, it matters little what laws Congress passes, if we do not have the money to execute them. It makes little difference what disasters happen in the world, we will not be able to help them if we can’t even help ourselves.

It won’t matter how much you have paid into Social Security or how much you deserve government funded medical services or disability assistance or a hundred other “entitlements,” none of these will be available if we do not make serious changes now.

America has had terrible debts in the past and we have pulled out of them.  What we had then that we don’t seem to have now is the WILL TO CONTROL OURSELVES.

NATIONAL DEBT 2014

NATIONAL DEBT 2014

The GAO has the information that we need to “Man Up” and face the music. If the CG would take a relentless course of action, even at the risk of being fired, it could make a real difference.

But even more important, if we as citizens and American families took the same information and adjusted our lives accordingly, that would have lasting impact.
Truthfully, neither the President nor the Comptroller General have the power that we do collectively–remember they both work for us.

crushing_burden_debtSo the real question is what are you personally going to do about it? If you don’t start making changes within the next 60 days…don’t bother. This problem is at OUR COLLECTIVE door step now and will not be ignored.

I hope one of two things happens right now:

1) I hope I am preaching to the choir and you are already engaged

or

2) I hope I offend you enough that you will try to prove me wrong (get ready for a surprise!)

 

Here are a few questions, suggestions, and recommended readings that you seriously need to consider:


SAVEQUESTIONS:

How much of the information in the video did you actually know?

Are you a part of the problem?

What is your savings rate?

What do you do with your savings?

How could you “tighten the belt” and either save more or pay down debt?

Do you know what you total personal debt is?

What is the difference between consumer debt and business or legitimate debt?

How can you make more money (and save more)?

What is your investment plan?

Can you afford not to have an investment plan?

 

CFB505SUGGESTIONS:

1. Creatively consider what you could live without to reduce your cost of living down to 60% or 70% of your income (this includes taxes). I challenge you to try an experiment: go through all of your possessions and sell everything you don’t need. You will be shocked at how much you can raise.  This becomes the beginning of your savings plan.

2. Decrease your mortgage payment even if it means down-sizing (I promise it will not kill you).

3. Start a savings plan TODAY. Savings are the life blood of any economy.

4. Stop paying for things that your kids can pay for themselves (yes, that means they will have to earn their own money).

5. Review all family and individual activities that require money.

a. Do you really need these items? Are they vital to life?

b. If yes, who and how should these things be paid for?

c. Who benefits the most by paying for them?

d. How does paying for things increase awareness and make a child responsible?

RECOMMENDED READINGS:

Richest Man In Babylon, Clason  (new $6/used $3)

America’s Great Depression, Rothbard (new $15)

Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed,

the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse, Woods (new $18/used $4)

Redistributive Modeling, Karren ($5 contact me – sb@monticellocollege.org)

 

 

CLICK ON IMAGE TO WATCH VIDEO FOR FREE

CLICK ON IMAGE TO WATCH VIDEO FOR FREE

I Found Aladdin’s Lamp

Warning: Only read this post if you are open to alternative ways to create income.  

 

 

 

 

 
Shanon Headshot Edited 1 copyI finally bit the bullet….I am getting serious about moving into the 21st century and becoming an expert on using the internet to create income.

It is projected that only about 15% of network marketing (NWM) professionals use the internet on a regular basis to grow their businesses.

Conservatively, there are at least 300,000 Network Marketing keyword searches each month. These are people who are looking for a new company to move to or who are completely new to this business model.

14% of NWM professionals worldwide live in the the United States. By 2025 the number of NWM professionals will increase by 200 million which means that the number of these entrepreneurs could increase by 28 million in the United States alone.

As this is becoming more and more  a global game, those 200 million NWM entrepreneurs will be joining someone’s team.  Will it be yours?

Kickass

CLICK HERE TO GET INSTANT ACCESS TO REVOLUTIONARY STEP-BY-STEP INTERNET TRAINING FOR ONLY $37 PER MONTH.

 

The New Economy: Entrepreneurship, Part Four

CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE

CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO

CLICK HERE FOR PART THREE

So let’s move on to question #2: In this new economy, is it better to become an entrepreneur, or is it really safer to work for someone else?

median-household-incomeThe average household income in the United States is approximately $50,000 a year. If you wanted to be part of the top 25% of income earners, you would need to earn at least $90,000.

To reach the top 10% would be a household income of $140,000, the top 5% $190,000, and to be in the top 1% you would need a combined household income of at least $380,000 a year.

So here’s the question–if you wanted to move up to the top 25% or 10% or even the top 5% of income earners (and who wouldn’t want to?), can you see yourself moving up to these levels with your current means of income?

Most of us have been taught to not even dream that high, but why? In today’s new economy, it is more and more feasible to be a top income earner if you are on the right path. What do you think would give you the best chance to move up to these top levels of income? In my opinion and in the opinion of many experts, the answer is to become an entrepreneur.

EntrepreneurThe concept of entrepreneurship has been around for millennia. The great explorers, the crusaders, the pilgrims, and the American west pioneers. The founding of this country was very entrepreneurial. Breaking away from Great Britain to be able to live as we choose, work as we choose, worship as we choose. It was the essence of being an entrepreneur.

Here is what a few entrepreneurs have to say about this life path:

Paul Zane Pilzer – “Why in America where anyone could have anything, would people want to give up their freedom and become effectively a modern day slave, show up every morning at 7:30am leave at 5:30pm, sit down, shut up and do what your told.”

Susan Sly – “Think about the great entrepreneurs, they are visionaries, they have heart. They are willing to do today what others won’t, so they can do tomorrow what others can’t.”

Kim Kiyosaki – “In the world of entrepreneurship, there are no limits. You can make as much as you want depending on how much you want to work and how smart you are and how great a team you put together.”

But there are reasons people shy away from entrepreneurship, for one, it’s not easy. When people decide to become entrepreneurs and work for themselves, they have to make lots of decisions, but they are riskier than you might think.

Kevin Harrington best known as an investor on “Shark Tank” shared this, “Any kind of a retail business with build outs, is extremely expensive. Even a small store such as the popular yogurt shops today can run $300,000 or $400,000 to setup.”

imagesThe typical business start-up story is the same, small or large, new or experienced, you are taking a risk and can win big or lose it all, and most entrepreneurs lose it all two or three times before they make it.

Richard Branson is a great example of this. As a very wealthy English Business owner and investor, he has lost at least 15 businesses over the years. 80% of all new U.S. businesses crash and burn within their first 5 years, many in the first 18 months.

Meanwhile, 72% of Americans would love to be their own boss, according to a current Gallup poll, but they don’t know how to get there. There are actually only four options for the average new Entrepreneur:

  1. You can buy an existing business – The first question to ask is why are the owners selling? What’s wrong with it? Commonly it’s because they are tired, it is hard, or maybe they are not making the money they had hoped for.
  1. You could buy a franchise. Here there is less risk and it is a proven system, but it is very expensive any where from $100,000 to $1 million.
  1. You could start something from scratch, a completely new business, but most people don’t have the confidence that their product or service idea would really go big, or they are afraid to borrow that much money, or they don’t feel they have the skill set to start a new venture, especially in our regulation ridden and litigious society.
  1. They could become an investor in other people’s ideas and start-ups, but that can prove to be very risky indeed. Harry Dent says, “Venture capitalists, who are the very best and the most sophisticated at investing in new break-through businesses make it on 1 out of 11. That means 10 out of 11 are mediocre or fail, with most of the 10 failing. And Angel investors are lucky to get 1 out of 15 or 20.”

Robert Kiyosaki relates, “A business is a team sport. Like I have to have       accountants, I have to have engineers, I have to have system designers, I have to have office staff and management, I have to have maintenance and sales and marketing, I have to have mission statements, I have to have legal, and all that.

The average joe-smo, even me, I go out there, I don’t have the skills to put a business together on my own.”

The food and hospitality industry has even a greater risk of failure.  Authorities say that 90% of all first year non-franchise restaurants fail.

downloadEven though 72% of Americans say they want to be entrepreneurs and be their own boss, the bottom line for the four traditional options is that each takes money, sometimes a lot of it, they take expertise and they take time. All of that adds up to just too much risk for most people.

But what if there was a way that you could have all of the proven aspects of business ownership and still control your own life? What if you had the proven product, the proven systems already in place, proven training, and you were in charge. And you didn’t have to risk a ton of money.

What if you had all of these good aspects of business minus the employer? Do you think more people would be open to working for themselves in that environment?