Government Doesn't Love You & Neither Does Facebook #FUFB

Hot off the head - Facebook is ANTI- your freedom to speech. Shutting down conservative pages such as Uncle Sam's Misguided Children for spreading views that are in opposition of your government.

Ballsy move if you ask me. Has Facebook considered the repercussions? Who are the users of Facebook? Well, they are the consumers who follow companies big and small, they are the small entrepreneurs looking for an entrance into the free market, and they are the big companies trying to relate to consumers. So what does shutting down pages that promote varying views do for the dominant social media platform? That's yet to be seen, but I'm sure we'll find out.

However, I'd like to remind you of how Facebook came to be - the idea of Facebook - a STOLEN concept. The person who stole it - he paid a fine, but I promise you he is sitting pretty. Does he care what you think? No, he's a criminal. And as we have learned, only criminals can win in this country and be rewarded for their crime.

Facebook is now a public company, and it is up to you to decide if you are for their actions or against them. Regardless of what you think about our government or Facebook, this action affects us all, because it says "No one cares about what you have to say." Not about the food you eat, the sides you choose, the politics you follow, the laws that are broken, and the rights that are stripped. Facebook is anti- your constitutional right to stand up for what you believe in. They want you to be silent little puppets in making their wallets fatter. Enjoy that knowledge, spread it like the plague; because the government doesn't love you, and neither does Facebook.

Remember, it does not matter what side of the fence you stand on when it comes to politics or any other dividing idea. The fact remains that when they come for the rights of some, they come for the rights of all people. So you can do nothing, and wait till it affects you personally, or you can do something, and tell these criminals and violators of your rights that they are wrong.

Comment and share your thoughts. #FUFB

What's "wrong" with our youth?

As a parent, I can honestly say that video games, television, and movies all influence our children. To deny it as truth would be a lie on my part as a parent. I watch how my own children respond to what they see on TV--I watch them act like the characters they see on TV. I have let them watch me play video games like Call of Duty and listened as they cheered me on when I reach a new level, blow someone up, or get a new weapon. They play video games like Mario kart, Legend of Zelda, and Lego Batman. Basically, bombs and death are a major component of the video games my kids are exposed to and play. And I agree, it all has an impact on my child's life. But so do I.

Where am I going with this, right?

Well,I play violent video games and watch violence in movies. If you've followed my posts, you know I like "fight" music to get my day started. And here's the frosting on the cake...

I'm also a gun owner. *gasp!*

You know what, though... I'm not eager to use them. The thought of really hurting people does not cross my mind. I don't use my gun to kill mosquitoes or house flies. I don't get the urge to randomly fire my gun in the air. I don't promote the use of guns to my children, but I explain what they are, what they do, and how to safely handle them. 

For the people with this misconceived idea of gun owners--sorry to bust your bubble. However, for the people still keeping up, we have a bigger point to make.

See, I'm a young marketer. And the more this country falls away from a free market, the more screwed I am. So when I see industry after industry attacked for their promotion of "negatively-influencing" products, I have to make a fuss. When I see us moving away from the the very things that make this country "free" I have to interject. When I watch our country's market take blow after blow for each scandal after greed-inspired scandal--I have to speak up. 

Because, here's the truth: the world isn't puppies and kittehs, folks. It was created through violence, turmoil, and tragedy. Death and massacre occur around us daily. When politicians use this to push policies and agendas, the lesser tend to agree with them; seeing only the food that's been put on their plate instead of digging deeper to make an informed decision. Just look at Sandy Hook...or don't and just accept what you've been fed.

So when politicians use these vile images to sell themselves, it's ok. But when video game makers and movie makers decide to exploit this vicious world's flaws, they are blamed as being the creators of the idea itself.

Well, unless videos games and movies found a way back in time; war, death, and violence have been a part of our world since its creation. Stop blaming companies for reproducing the images and "influences" our youths are already exposed to. 

But if we can't blame the makers of violent games and movies, what's really wrong with the children of our country that they can't seem to understand the difference? 

Take a look in the mirror. What are you doing about those influences? Do you think someone didn't tell me that shooting and killing people is unacceptable? Honestly, I don't remember, but someone probably did. A bigger reason I didn't grow up to be insane...my parents. 

Yea, it's the age old blame or thank the parents, right? No. Parents only provide the foundation. It involves a lot of participation to keep kids on the right track. If you're the parent that pretends throwing a kid into sports, or other organizations is enough to satisfy what they want in engagements...well news flash...it's not. And the age old saying that it takes a village--well, it does. Because how many times have you been the parent watching kids go toe-to-toe and decided to watch instead of be involved, because it wasn't your kid? How many times have you been able to provide a positive influence, and instead chose not to? How many have decided video games and movies are a great way to entertain your children without having to actually do something with them? How often have you neglected to hear your child was struggling in a class, or heard, but felt you couldn't help because the material was beyond you? 

The point is, if you push your kid towards these negative things, and you don't fill the gaps with positive anythings--you're going to get a child that demonstrates it in one way or another. Stop blaming companies for having a better grip on your child than you. Stop blaming the manufacturers of games and entertainment for creating evil. That existed long before game makers learned to promote it. Quit attacking gun makers and owners for death, when it's the same weapons that have been used to protect our freedoms. Then, start thinking, and quit letting those freedoms slip away through poor decisions. 

Just Awesomeness

It's been quite the week for me here in Snellville, GA. We celebrated my daughter's 2nd birthday just yesterday, in fact. Hooray for terrible twos! If you weren't able to keep up with her while she did all her birthday shopping, just go to my Facebook or Twitter page, and you can see all the highlights.

Anyway, as you can see, my blog page is going through some ch-ch-changes. I was absolutely mystified when Google Adsense wouldn't approve my account because of my page being "too confusing." They also said something along the lines of promoting discrimination, or something. Maybe they were mad that I mentioned bad driving by some of NASCAR's finest. Anyway, I thought this was mostly interesting because this is a Google site and I used all of Google's tools to put it together. So Google gave me the tools to create a mess! Thanks Google. No, it's not their fault. So I spent, probably a little more time than I should have, in re-configuring and redesigning my blog site. I brushed up some of my Adobe Photoshop skills and added a nice new banner. I had a very colorful background for about 4 hours, but it did some real damage to my brother's eyesight. After he recovered, he kindly suggested a  more professionally appealing glow for my page. And since I'm all about being professional (o.O) I went ahead and made some adjustments. If you have any changes or recommendations, feel free to share them. Keep in mind, I'm a rather simplistic person with not too much technological prowess. In other words: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Eventually, when this site starts bringing in the visitor counts that I want, I'll run off to Go Daddy or some other host site to park it in the "big boy" parking lot.

Just so I mention it before I forget it, I didn't get to watch the entire Kobalt 400 yesterday. I already mentioned it was my baby's birthday, but also, I had an assignment that I put off for too long during the week. I did catch the last three laps, and only did so because of the helpful Tweets I received to keep me informed of Tony Stewart's whereabouts on the track. If you haven't watched Tony throughout his racing career you won't recognize just how much he's changed over the years. I am particularly impressed by his running so far this season. I've noticed since he was a rookie that he really did nothing during the majority of the season. Most of his wins didn't happen until they started really counting. This season, though we're seeing him really go for the win in every race. I love it! That's the champion we're looking for in racing. Someone who knows that you race to win every race, not just some. I'm glad Tony Stewart's really shining on the track, and I hope he keeps it up.

On a side note to NASCAR racing, is everyone aware that Trevor Bayne needs a full-time sponsor? You know I'm all about Tony, but Trevor is young, good looking, and he can race! Tony Stewart is still all those things, too, but he's got sponsors. You can follow Trevor on Twitter, and you can show your support for his team by hash-tagging "SponsorTrevor" or by adding @SponsorTBayne21 to your own tweets. Remember, fans are the only ones capable of keeping NASCAR racing alive and well. There's a lot of drivers out there trying to make something of themselves. Trevor is one of the good ones. However, this post is long enough, so I'm going to stop blowing up people's skirts. I will get another blog posted shortly. Sit tight. And as always, thanks for following! Feel free to leave comments.

The American Dream: Once Upon a Time

              If you really stop and think about what has been making America such a miserable place--you needn't look any further than your personal mirror. I'm not saying you personally make this country a horrible place, but I dare you to suggest you are not somehow a part of the reason. Think about what you've done in a lifetime. Something? Nothing? No matter how you slice it, your actions or lack-thereof have impacted more than just you. Take for instance voting for the president. You either did or didn't vote. Who cares, right? Your vote doesn't mean something, right? Wrong. It does. It means you either want someone to run this country or you couldn't give a rat's patooty about your own well-being.


              Where am I going with this? Well I recently heard (for the umpteenth time) about big businesses shattering the American Dream (apparently more than our current president). Wait--back up. What the heck is the American Dream? Here's a wiki link that will tell you all about the American Dream if you're confused. The general gist of the American Dream is that anyone from any walk of life can achieve in America, simply because this is America--land of opportunity. By the way, I believe in this concept, and I hope to achieve my own American Dream, but I digress. Some have taken this concept to mean 'land of the opportunity to collect from other hard working citizens.' Again, I digress. Anyway, I ask you this: what is a big business other than a small shop that is living the American Dream?


              People are whining left and right about companies like Wal-Mart, Home-Depot, Lowes, Target, etc. moving in an blowing the mom and pop shops out of the water. Sure some people do something to stop these companies from building in their neck of the woods, but what are they really doing? We'll get into that. First, let me ask this: Does anyone really believe that Sam Walton woke up one day and said "I'm going to open thousands of stores worldwide and kill many small businesses." No. In fact, he woke up one day and said "I can bring products to people for less." So he did. The consumers were the ones that decided this was a good company. The consumers were the ones that decided to go to Wal-mart and begin building the empire that it is today. In fact, I have never seen any company that starts up as a huge entity. If you know a company that made millions and franchised on their first day, please let me know--I'd like to shake that person's hand.


           Anyway, now consumers (no not all) are upset. The evil Wal-mart is building stores, creating jobs, bringing crappy products for dirt cheap, delivering poor service and low wages.  You would think gripes like that would cause any company to fall. Yet, it doesn't... Why? Because that's what the American consumers want! That's what your voice or your lack of opinion contributed to the world. Does anyone cry when Coca-Cola expands its products to the world? No. But what about the mom and pop soda shops in those areas? No one thinks about that, but it's the same: building the business to make larger profits.  Not to be confused with greed, this is living the American Dream.




          So why is it, to the general consumer, that one day a company is great and the next they are just too big. My opinion: Jealousy.That little monster that makes many Americans hate the success of others. It's this same line of thinking that has contributed to the downfall of our country and the election of really bad presidents. I know I'm travelling into those political waters, but I have to go here. Right now, America is completely divided. Partly it's the rich vs. the poor; the black vs. the white; but mostly it's the doers vs. the takers. This country has lost its sense of the America Dream. More people are willing and content to sit on their butts and want so much handed to them. These are the people who think paying 60% of your earnings is not "fair share,"  when they likely put less than 5% of their own earnings into the pot--I'm just saying. My definition of "fair" (which my argument is generally that fairness doesn't really exist as much as it is a concept of "what suits me best") is that all sides contribute or receive the same exact portion. Yet the people crying these ideas of fairness most likely have not paid attention to how much of their own portion is not contributed and how much of someone else's contribution is actually received. Of course, they could just be real Communists, I suppose. What you get with this line of thinking is Obama and companies either scurrying to other places to do business--where they can actually make a profit; or companies who swoop in while the economy is at its weakest to fill whatever needs of the people at better rates than a little guy can. Sorry that was run-onny.


             Anyway, by the logic of such people who have obviously forgotten the American Dream (or maybe never learned it), we want the rich people to pay for everything while we sit on our ass. BUT we don't want mom and pop shops to expand and become big chains, or get rich on pursuing business-like ideals. That's just not right. In fact it's greedy! Yea, that's what we'll call it. Greed! Because if success is not given to me for nothing, no one else should have it no matter how hard they work for it.


              ...Really?... How about we all wake up and smell the reality? America was established on having freedoms; choices. You have the freedom to get off your butt and do something, just like you have the choice to do nothing at all. Stop demanding for others to take care of you, get off your butt and live the real American Dream. Be a voice that says I want my friggin' country back! If you say nothing at all, you are essentially saying that you don't care what freedoms you will have (or not have) tomorrow. So get educated.Get an opinion. Build your voice. And say something worthwhile with it. Do something that makes you as big a business as you ever dreamed of being.