Derrion Albert – Rest in Peace

I’m currently disturbed by a chilling video that is floating around the internet about a 16 year old honor student named Derrion Albert. Albert was walking home from school (with numerous other kids) to the city bus stop when two rival groups of kids from different neighborhoods got into a large group fight. Apparently, Albert tried to step in and assist a couple of students caught in the mêlée and became the victim of a senseless beating at the hands of at least 4 other teens. The biggest difference in this “brawl” that I’ve never seen before is that there happened to be a few wooden railroad planks (called “ties”) lying around the scene. During a heated fight, these planks became deadly and Albert caught at least one or two vicious blows to the head with it. There’s actually an audible crack of Albert’s skull on the video (I watched it, but really wish I hadn’t). You can Google or YouTube Derrion Albert’s name to find the video, but I don’t necessarily recommend it.

Growing up, I saw plenty of these types of fights that occurred over stupid and trivial things (school rivals, school or neighborhood pride, jealousy, etc.) and looking back it amazes me how different my life and other lives could have been drastically different had circumstances been slightly different. If you remove the railroad tie planks from laying around in that street, this kid is most likely still alive. Had his school had normal bus transportation instead of him taking the city bus, much may have been avoided. It’s tragic that our society has reached this point. There is too much hate in the hearts of our people these days and it is becoming painfully evident in all areas of life. We need to exude LOVE much more often in our everyday lives. Smile and tell someone you love them today. Parents, talk to your kids.

Senseless beating with railroad tie plank

CURE FOR AIDS???

AIDS is now a pandemic. In 2007, it was estimated that 33.2 million people lived with the disease worldwide, and that AIDS had killed an estimated 2.1 million people, including 330,000 children. Over three-quarters of these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, retarding economic growth and destroying human capital.

What if I told you that the millions of people suffering and ultimately dying from AIDS could be cured? What if I told you there has been a cure for AIDS for over 13 years, but for some reason the information is not being released to the public? That would be pretty crazy right?

http://patft.uspto.gov/

This is the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s website. The cure for AIDS is registered on this site as U.S. Patent #5676977. You can search for it by number or simply click on this link to view it in detail.

I Google’d the inventor of the AIDS cure, and found this information on him and his company here.

The above link is an official government website stating in detail how a simple cure is available for the most devastating disease mankind has ever seen. The fact that nobody knows about this and it is not being released really makes you wonder. What is the reason behind the secrecy? This is affecting millions of people, why aren’t they being offered help? It really makes you wonder. The true reason why this is being kept quiet, also is part of the reason why AIDS was created in the first place. Yes, that’s right I said created. I will have to save that discussion for a follow up post.

The Tragedy of Michael Jackson (Rest In Peace)

I’m saddened by the death of Michael Jackson, but I do know that the things that he accomplished in his lifetime will keep his legacy alive forever. He was the greatest entertainer in world, and the best selling artist of all time. Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad are my personal favorite albums from him. Obviously since his death, anything associated with him will sell through the roof, so more sales and money is forthcoming for the record labels.

The tragedy that surrounds Michael Jackson to me are the horrible things that he did to his face and body, in an attempt to “fit in.” This can be attributed to many things (Childhood abuse and having no real childhood, Living in Hollywood, being such a genius [you know the line between genius and insanity is very thin]) but this is my take on it. Michael was born in Gary, IN in 1958. Indiana was (and may still be in some areas) an extremely racist climate and state. Don’t forget that the Ku Klux Klan had a huge presence there. There’s no telling what he experienced, saw and dealt with on a daily basis growing up in that type of environment. I think the racism he likely experienced early on, and possibly pressure from the music industry caused him to dislike his skin tone, nose, etc. and go through all of those surgeries. I don’t think a woman alive would disagree that he was originally a very nice looking young man. But what he turned himself into was scary. That is the tragedy that I think we could all learn from, because I think it shows what low self esteem and racism could potentially do to someone. Here is a collage of MJ’s face at different points in his life.

The TRUTH about “Swine Flu” !

Tamiflu is an antiviral medication used to treat influenza. It will be the prime medication sold to protect citizens from “swine flu” (H1N1) as it was for the swine flu (also known as the avian flu) of 1976. All healthcare workers, military and essential service workers will need a dose available and it will be bought with your tax dollars. Tamiflu is made and patented by Gilead Sciences and Donald Rumsfeld was the chairman of this company before he joined the Bush administration.

Source: Donald H. Rumsfeld and Gilead Sciences

When the Avian Flu scare flashed across the television sets of Americans, Gilead Sciences stock went through the roof. Rumsfeld refused to sell his stock when he joined the Bush administration and the increase in stock value made him the richest man in the Bush administration. Moreover, Gilead Sciences successfully lobbied a billion dollar contract with the U.S. military during the avian flu scare, giving each soldier access to the drug. Now, with the swine flu scare, the same players are about to make an even bigger fortune. The actual flu may be real, but the panic surrounding it is a media constructed, influenza hoax and the product of those who waited for another opportunity to knock, or sneeze.

As we sit on the eve of a new influenza scare, the question is: will anybody pay attention to the fact that the last influenza scare didn’t become a pandemic, but it sure made neoconservatives rich. The
regular run-of-the-mill strains of influenza kill more than 36,000 Americans every year and hospitalize another 200,000. Eighty people dying of disease in one of the dirtiest cities on earth is tragic, but it should not be used as an excuse to fill the coffers of a conservative faction that has already ripped off America of every penny it could during its time in office. The only hands that need washing are America’s; washed of the filthy agenda of neoconservatives willing to exploit anything to make a buck.

“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!”

See also:
Swine Flu 1976 killed 1, vaccine killed 25
Snopes.com verifies Rumsfeld’s connection with Gilead Sciences and Tamiflu.

DUI’s for blowing UNDER the legal limit – Right or Wrong?

Alright folks, this next one might light some sparks so I’m going to try to make sure I explain my stance here. I have nothing against MADD, and I completely understand the seriousness that is involved with driving drunk, intoxicated, impaired, etc. I know that thousands of lives have been lost and/or changed forever as a result of careless drunk drivers. Driving drunk and/or impaired is stupid, careless, costly and extremely dangerous. People who repeatedly do this are especially dumb and/or careless and definitely have a problem. Let’s just get all of that out in the open. I also understand that being at the blood alcohol level of .08 or higher doesn’t necessarily mean you are drunk, what it does mean is that you are at a point where you’re most likely a less safe driver.

That’s all fine and dandy. My problem is this – a friend of mine recently was driving home on a Saturday night and ran into a mandatory road block in a small town just outside of Atlanta, GA. It wasn’t a situation where the police saw him driving erratically, doing improper lane changes, speeding, etc. No. It was a road block and everyone was getting questioned for insurance, registration, etc. They smelled alcohol on his breath and gave a breathalyzer test, which is still fine. BUT HE PASSED THE TEST! He blew a .056 which is well under the legal limit of .08. Mind you this is all without a field sobriety (count from Z to A, walk a straight line, etc). By the way, I’m told there’s no way you can “pass” a field sobriety test. It’s only meant to show the cops key indicators on your state of intoxication. Anyways, even though my friend blew below the legal limit, he was still arrested and charged with a DUI. Locked up in jail, car towed, job in jeopardy, all of that. Had to pay over $1600 to get bailed out of jail and will have to give a lawyer a couple of thousand dollars to beat the case.

I need lawyers, police officers, judges, prosecutors, ANYONE to explain to me how the hell this is right or justified. As you can probably tell, I’m furious that this happened and it wasn’t even me that it happened to. But I recognize that this could have potentially happened to me or anyone who goes out for a casual drink or two. If we are at the point where no matter what you do, even if you are under the legal limit of .08 you can still get arrested for a DUI, what’s the point of having the legal limit in the first place? Why is it there if it really doesn’t matter? Just arrest anyone you see leaving a bar even if they just had a beer, because technically that is still drinking and driving right? Does that mean no matter what, you need to call a cab or take the train anytime you drink and have to go home?

Something isn’t right. I have been to work related functions (holiday parties, team outings, happy hour with the managers, etc.) where coworkers have gone to drink with their colleagues and managers. If your manager and director invite you out to drinks, in my opinion it’s in your best interest to go. It’s your chance to bond with your upper leadership and if you don’t go, an opinion of you may be formed. But, someone shouldn’t be at risk to lose their job because they had a couple of beers and blew under the legal limit if they were not driving erratically. There needs to at least be a difference between a DUI at .156 (reckless) and a DUI at .056 (seriously). Perhaps you could just give the person a ticket for whatever their offense was (expired tag, speeding, etc) and force them to call a ride home as opposed to wasting their time and money in court for a charge that won’t stick. Even if you beat the DUI charge, you’ll still be out at least $3K when you add up all of the mandatory fines that they get you with these days – Jail, mandatory fine of usually $1K, defensive driving school, lawyer fees, potential job loss, etc.)

UPDATE! My friend who got arrested for a DUI for blowing UNDER the limit had his entire case dropped! He had a “consultation” with a lawyer and they told him he was apparently in good shape, and his case was dropped in court. Fantastic news…I’m all for someone getting a legitimate DUI if they are over the limit, but under the limit DUI attempts are ridiculous.

Michelle Obama’s Ex-Boyfriend (Poor Guy)

So this is definitely random and off my typical topic, but how weird is it that Michelle Obama’s ex-boyfriend has come out of the woodwork. I actually feel a bit sorry for him…Michelle definitely upgraded on him!

“A man named David Upchurch is now telling media sources about his stint as First Lady Michelle Obama’s first boyfriend. The then 18-year-old Mrs. O was escorted by him to her Whitney Young High School prom in
Chicago (above pic). They grew up together, were neighbors in the Chi, and David now lives in Colorado Springs, CO.

He says the reason they broke up is because he didn’t have his life together and he was ‘a screw up.’ He says: ‘I always knew Michelle was special and would make a difference in the world.’ I guess the First
Lady wasn’t taking any ish even back then. Seven years later she met a law student named Barack Obama. And the rest is history.”

Michelle Obama at High School Prom

Michelle Obama’s ex boyfriend

The Economy and Outsourcing

With the economy in the tubes and thousands upon thousands of jobs being lost this year, shouldn’t we be taxing job outsourcing as a theft of American Services? When a company becomes rich in America from American resources, and then sends what should be American jobs to poorer countries…how is THAT not stealing?

There are plenty of companies taking advantage of sending jobs to poorer countries for less costs and higher profits…my current company being no exception. Maybe if the U.S. taxed companies heavily for this kind of thing, it would be more profitable for American companies to bring those jobs back to the U.S. for slightly hire pay but less taxes and penalties on the backend.  With so many Americans out of work, every little bit helps.

Looking at it from a broader standpoint, how dumb do you think Americans look to other countries? When you have tons of companies outsourcing and looking to hire for various jobs in other countries, it makes us look like we can’t find competent and qualified employees in our own country. How often do you hear about other countries outsourcing to the U.S. so that we can have call centers to “support” businesses overseas?

The N Word

Probably the most controversial word in the entire English language. Depending on how you say it and where, it supposedly can carry a variety of different meanings AND apparently only certain people are even allowed to say it! There are certain neighborhoods (usually in the ghetto) where you won’t just find African Americans using the word, but also Hispanics, Native Americans, heck any race of color and it isn’t necessarily said in a negative spirit. It may sound crazy but I have even seen Caucasians call EACH OTHER the word in rough neighborhoods and to me it seemed like it was an attempt for them to “fit in” to some type of culture that they felt locked out of.

To most Caucasians though, the N word is confusing as hell. On one hand, most members of the race previously said the word without thinking twice about it, and for decades upon decades along with that word came a slew of hate crimes. Thousands upon thousands of people died and were treated in ways unimaginable and were repeatedly called that word. So fast forward to 2008 and the after effects of this are staggering. Although the word has been unquestionably determined to be negative, at some point African Americans began calling themselves this casually. Perhaps it’s comparable to the scene in “Roots” where the slave master forced Kunta Kente’ to become Tobe, or maybe comparable to that “fast” girl who is repeatedly called a “hoe” or a “bitch” and eventually she accepts the mantra as her own. We have all seen these types. Was that a stretch? Perhaps, but you get my point. Let’s move on.

The point is, in today’s day and age African Americans have adopted the N word as a term of endearment. The word is used in a positive nature: “That’s my N***a” being the equivalent of “That’s my boy” or “That’s my best friend.” In their eyes it means the same thing, but let a Caucasian person say anything remotely close to that and it’s time to brawl! Many Caucasians ponder and probably laugh over this whole ordeal. In my opinion, the word is a sign of ignorance and I believe that’s what it actually translates to. Because of the extremely common use of (which doesn’t make it alright by any means) this word in society by comedians, musicians, etc. you will find people of all walks of life using the word. I’ve heard people of the highest success (professors, doctors, businessmen) using the word, as well as the lowest of the low and you know what the difference is? NOTHING. No matter how great you are, in my opinion when you use this word you are on the same level of ignorance as everyone who started it’s usage in the first place. I don’t know at what point the word supposedly became cool, but I think the time has come for it to be forever retired. I know some people in the streets growing up may not know any better, but at a certain point in your life when you consider yourself grown and you’ve got your career, education and everything going for you, you need to let go of this word and find some alternative nouns to utilize in your self expression. A wise man once told me that the frequent need to curse is the sign of a lack of a vocabulary. In my opinion, using the N word is a sign of ignorance and shows a lack of class. If that doesn’t describe who you are, then you need to stop using it as well.

http://www.abolishthenword.com
http://www.dictionary.com/

Where have all the leaders gone?

Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from it’s death throes? He has a new book entitled Where have all the leaders gone?, and here are some excerpts.

Lee Iacocca Says:

‘Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, ‘Stay the course’

Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned ‘Titanic’. I’ll give you a sound bite: ‘Throw all the bums out!’

You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving ‘pom-poms’ instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of the ‘ America ‘ my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?

I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have. The Biggest ‘C’ is Crisis !

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It’s easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else’s kids off to war when you’ve never seen a battlefield yourself. It’s another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess So here’s where we stand. We’re immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We’re running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We’re losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way these are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: ‘Where have all the leaders gone?’ Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We’ve spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone’s hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn’t happen again. Now, that’s just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you’re going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when ‘The Big Three’ referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn’t elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don’t you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough? Hey, I’m not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I’m trying to light a fire. I’m speaking out because I have hope I believe in America . In my lifetime I’ve had the privilege of living through some of America ’s greatest moments. I’ve also experienced some of our worst crises: the ‘Great Depression’, ‘World War II’, the ‘Korean War’, the ‘Kennedy Assassination’, the ‘Vietnam War’, the 1970’s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this: ‘You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it’s building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That’s the challenge I’m raising in this book. It’s a call to ‘Action’ for people who, like me, believe in America . It’s not too late, but it’s getting pretty close; So let’s shake off the crap and go to work. Let’s tell ‘em all we’ve had ‘enough.’

Make a ‘real contribution’ by sending this to everyone you know and care about……our future is at stake!

Network Marketing

Alright, so for some reason (my appearance, personality, whatever) I have pretty much been approached by every network marketing company in the business. I’ve heard the spills and seen the presentations for more companies than I care to name! I found a really interesting page with information relating to this and my thoughts and figured I’d post some of it here.

To: All Frustrated Network Marketers

Dear Friend,

Let me ask you a couple questions… and be honest when you answer them.

• #1: Do you despise bugging your family, your friends and people who are just praying that you won’t bring up your “business” opportunity?
• #2: Are you tired of hounding prospects who you know couldn’t care less about your business?
• #3: Are you sick of being told to “Just do more of it!” when it’s obvious that what you’re supposed to be doing more of never worked in the first place!?
• #4: Have you been hard at it for months (even years) without seeing any real, significant results? (Some in our industry would call this “delayed gratification,” but I’ve got a different word for it and it’s a lot shorter… )

You see, the odds are very good that you’re banging your head against a wall right now trying to build your network marketing business. The odds are also very good that you’re needlessly doing so.

Almost Everything The Network Marketing Industry Teaches You About Prospecting, Recruiting, And Sponsoring People Is Completely Useless.

Not only is it useless, it’s actually destroying your business and any chance you have of success.

Don’t believe me, just look at the stats.

It’s plain as day to anyone who’s willing to take a look that over 97% of mlmers never make any money with their business.

Why?

As I discovered, it has nothing to do with network marketing itself…

And EVERYTHING to do with the way network marketing is done.

I learned this the hard way in 2002 when I threw myself 110% at building a new opportunity that I was sure was going to be “the one.”

I was serious this time so I devoured everything I could get my hands on about network marketing. I…

• Read all the books…
• Listened to audios non-stop in my car…
• Never missed a company training…
• Was on every team call and attended every opportunity meeting…
• Went to ALL the events…
• Milked my upline for every drop of wisdom and advice I could get from them…
• Plastered my house with goal cards and pictures of all the stuff I wanted to do when I was “making it”…
• And… most importantly… I did everything I was told to do, exactly the way I was told to do it.

Made my names list… contacted everyone on it… showed the plan… called some leads… drove all over creation… did three way calls… passed out videos… set coffee appointments at Caribou (hey, at least it’s a business expense!)… called some more leads… did home meetings (lots of them)… SHOWED THE PLAN… brought people to hotel meetings (the people you pick up show up, right?)… passed out business cards… showed the plan some more… prospected everyone with a pulse… used the referral approach… practically wore the numbers off my phone calling more leads… the whole deal. (Did I mention I showed the plan?)

Even became the top retailer for my company in my state not once but twice! (One month I sold over $3,000 worth of retail product. And that was A LOT in this particular company… ) I was a real “go getter.” You know, the kind of distributor you’d kill to have in your organization.

There was only one minor problem.

After 18 months of busting my tail, I wasn’t any closer to producing a “leveraged income” than I was when I started! Imagine that.

Sure, I had a small organization going. But nothing to stand up and cheer about. I’d cashed a few (pathetically small) commission checks but I wasn’t even remotely close to breaking even.

I could not, for the life of me, understand why it wasn’t working! I was doing everything they told me to do and then some!

At the end of 18 grueling months I was…

• Disgusted by the “fake it ’till you make it” Thursday night hotel meetings where everyone puts on a happy face even though no one’s going anywhere.
• Fed up with my upline telling me to just “talk to more people” or “call more leads” when I knew that wasn’t the real problem.
• Frustrated that no matter how hard I tried to lead by example my people just wouldn’t duplicate me. And…
• Had spent myself into a hole buying opportunity leads that might as well have been numbers straight out of the phone book and then shelling out for expensive corporate “training” that did nothing but “pump me up” and talk about how great the company was.

Any of this sound familiar?

I had hit a massive brick wall and the best advice my upline had to offer me was “run through your names lists again.”

Sorry, but 4 times is quite enough thank you.

This next page pretty much sums it up for me:

The real problem with MLM is not MLM itself, but some of the people it attracts. Network marketing is just a business model, and it really amounts to “micro-franchising”. Its upside is that it has a very low cost of entry, with the potential for exceptional revenue, and there are those who achieve that.

But those same things that make it attractive make it attractive to many who are NOT really qualified or prepared to become business owners. The salient characteristics of MLM make it attractive to people who:

• have not done well in their business or profession and have little money saved up to invest
• have no previous experience owning or running a business
• have no previous experience in sales
• have little or no experience developing business relationships other than that of employer/employee/co-worker
• are not satisfied with their current level of income
• have unrealistic expectations of the amount of work involved compared to the revenue realized

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with any of these things, or that this describes even a majority of network marketers—only that it describes a disproportionate number of network marketers, and that many of them never do anything about it.As a result, many network marketers end up:

• over-selling the opportunity
• inappropriately discussing business in social situations
• coming across as desperate
• over-focused on new recruits and neglecting existing customers as a result
• being either inaccurate or deceptive when talking about their business

For more information and to see full pages of borrowed text, see:

Renegade Network Marketer

Problems with Network Marketing