#41 3-Pointer Takes Out The Administration!

Massachusetts took a major step and elected #41, Scott Brown to replace the vacant seat held for almost 47 years by Ted Kennedy. With their vote the people of Massachusetts gave control of the White House back to the people. Ever since Barack Obama went to Washington he, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi seem to think they were given the right to do whatever they wished.

Obama's coat tails seem to be quite frayed lately since he was unable to save the gubernatorial elections for Democrats in both Virginia and New Jersey. The latest buzz in the halls of Congress is "Jump ship now.........Obama can't help you!"

If this wasn't enough of a wake-up call for Obama and the Democrats, who have been governing like a dictatorship by excluding the Republicans, then the voters will send an even stronger message come November. They didn't send Obama to Washington to cut back door deals like Reid and Company are doing after he campaigned on transparency.

It seems like all he talks about lately is "I'm ready to take on the fight". He said this when he thought his health care plan was a done deal and he would be busy campaigning on behalf of the Democrats who were expected to get hit hard on the election trail and again today when he talked about the big bankers paying out huge bonuses. He reminds me of a kid I grew up with that was always ready to take on a fight until he got his ass kicked really bad. I guess Obama will need that type of ass-kicking in November, then he won't be so anxious to 'take on the fight' for his remaining two years when it's not what the voters want.

He spoke today about how it shouldn't take a fifty pound application for a small business owner to apply for funding, yet his health care bill is well over four reams of paper. With all of the side deal amendment's with Democratic Senators and the Unions, it may actually be close to fifty pounds!

Stay tuned.........

Workplace Politics, How Do You Play The Game?

Everybody is familiar with politics at work, the unfair prejudices that exist at the office. Many see it as a power outside of our range of control and that at times we must submit to this power.

With the politics at work, here are a few examples. Politics at work usually isn't the type of prejudice that gets people sued, it's people getting promotions based on whom they know rather than on what they do. Does this sound familiar?

In your mind's eye see yourself employed for six months and then gunning for a new open spot within the company. This is a position you are one hundred percent qualified for so you turn your resume into the HR department. With the department manager you can get a surprise interview. Even though every other applicants shares your skill sets you feel you nailed the interview. Office politics can sometimes override your chance of being hired. Those that share the same passions or viewpoints as your boss may be picked over you. This hurts bad.

What is one to do knowing that politics is widely at work in the world? You have two choices in my experience. You have to play the office politics game if you want to win. Don't fight the idea instead embrace and enjoy it. For most people, it is hard to do something you don't like. And it can be emotionally draining pretending to like someone you don't.

Alternately, you could be so good at your job that the company cannot afford to lose you. This demands nearly the same effort as faking company/co-worker relationships with supervisors. Doing one of the two is the only way to respond to politics at work.

I advise the second, performing your job so well that politics at work can't impact you. You obtain so much influence at the office that you can influence outcomes, regardless of what others say. The aspect could to your surprise lead you to your goal.

Determining if you want to play the game, is an important task of making politics at work. In order to achieve success in the realm of business, you need to partake of the game of politics at work. You will be able to determine which path to follow. Results always override office politics.

To Your Success!

Contibutor: Will Smith
Will Smith is an enthusiastic provider of self help programs and boosts consumer understanding within the online market place. Get more info about
politics at work by visiting http://www.attractedactions.com/work/politics-at-work

What Ever Happened To Dignity: The Itching Of America

Depending on who is breaking down the list the news is reporting between 30 and 50 distinctive sexual behaviors that are to be protected under the newly proposed Hate Crimes Bill H.R. 1913. Have we gone from the moral majority to the immoral majority all in about a mere thirty years? What Happened?

One of the definitions for prurient is an itching which is to say that anyone who is constantly aroused by some new and shifting sexual interest has got an itch. As a nation it would seem that our enemy has flown over undetected at some extreme altitude and sprinkled the country with a strong dose of the proverbial itching powder.

The first question that begs to be answered is not what is on the list but why the Congress is even looking at it. Does arriving at super power status automatically give us the free time and clear path to get down into the finer details of our nationhood that we may have never had time for before? Is there finally a chance to elevate those specifics that heretofore were suppressed by world wars, the democracy experiment and holding ourselves up as an example to the rest of the world?

Do we now have explicit permission from the priests of science who assures us that we have come from pools of mud and are now on the brink of wandering among the stars to just cover the health risks with condoms, pills, and precautions and then sail into the nearly endless realms of prurient interests with a vengeance?

With the ever increasing evidence coming from creation scientists that refute the evolutionary model and the prominently missing links between primates and humans have the evolutionist resorted to PC instead of science to bolster their wobbly conclusions. Shouldnt someone tell them that if and when humans choose to act like monkeys it is not immutable proof that we are their descendants?

Have we sufficiently belittled, dismissed and castigated the preachers, prophets, sages and wise men who have nagged us for centuries with warnings of judgment and Gods displeasure with our laxity. Looks that way doesnt it? Ask the Congress, they should know. What a brave new world our lawmakers have envisioned for us. Imagine a world where at last the exhibitionist can bring the mom who slapped him on the face for exposing himself to her kids to court under the shiny new hate crimes legislation.

Using tongue in cheek to make a point is fine but the grueling reality is that this nonsense is passing itself off as a necessity among the governed. The Middle East is a powder keg, Iran and North Korea are racing each other for nuclear pre-eminence while in the wings anti-American sentiments are raging in Central and South America, doesnt it seem we got to this belayed matter of sexual diversification just in a nick of time?

Maybe America is no longer hearing or even entertaining the call to collective or personal holiness but what about common dignity, has that also seen its better day?

Oddly the call to holiness has never ceased but interestingly the easier to understand version of holiness is connoted in the Greek dignita which is our English word, dignity. We could perhaps lay aside the more religious terms like sanctified, separated, and holy but can we really afford to cast aside all dignity as a nation?

We were told that prior to her husbands victory in the 2008 election that our First Lady was not proud of America and we were shown after Barack Obama toured the world that he too could not see much dignity in his countrys past and purpose. Is there anyone out there who thinks this country is, was and can still be the noblest nation on earth?

As the GOP in America frantically searches for a strong leader and a new rallying cry someone should point out to them that the best course is one they already have shown to the world. It must be revitalized and be made to stand up again. Definitions aside and simply put that purpose was to foster and defend the dignity of this nation as it sought to do what was right and equitable at home and abroad. To be ashamed of past nobilities is cowardice and dissimulation and does not deserve consideration among patriots.

Often the prophets of old were sent to bolster and encourage those who still practiced righteousness in the land and not just to pronounce judgment and warning. Such an admonishment came from the Prophet Isaiah who said Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. (Isa 35:3) This rallying cry is more of what the GOP needs than a new leader. If what you really stand for was worth a plug than stand up and get on with it. That goes for proud Independents and the few Democrats that havent thrown all dignity to the wind as well.

The polls have indicated that among the Christians there is a full apostasy underway. That too is merely the abandonment of dignity. It was reported recently that in an address made by the troubled Miss California at Liberty University that the males cheered and whistled at the mention of her swimsuit pictures. Jerry Falwell may be turning in his grave but even worse the embarrassing nature of this outburst is anything but dignified much less Christian.

The apostasy is part of prophecy and prophecy is pre-written history so the falling away is a foregone but it too is not a necessity. Those who choose to stand instead of backsliding are the dignified and are not social geeks or misfits. Some kinds of pride are wrong but this kind of pride is healthy, productive and powerful. Found in Conservatives, Christians the GOP or any American of any persuasion it is the very salt of the earth.

It has been over twenty centuries since Christ left the earth with a warning that he would one day return in power to pick up the pieces and see just how well we had done. Less than three decades after he ascended Christ came and spoke to the Apostle John on the Island of Patmos. He spoke to the seven churches around Asia and Asia Minor and out of the seven Churches five were rebuked for their fall into idolatry and promiscuity, one received almost a neutral response and one and one alone was commended.

It is the Church of Sardis that seems the most like the American church and the American political body at this juncture in time. It had a name, Christ said, but it took its name a little too seriously and became lax and tolerant of all the prurient interests of the surrounding peoples and was adversely influenced by them. Christ told them to can the nonsense and strengthen the things which remain, Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: (Rev 3:2)

Most observers of prophecy today are more convinced that American politics, churches and society in general are more like the Laodicean Church in the book of Revelation. This is an argument that is fast becoming hard to refute. Lets see.

Christ told the Church Laodicea I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: (Rev 3:15-17)

The words dignity, separateness, holiness and sanctified all have one thing in common regardless of their etymology. These words speak of one or a collective body that stands apart and that is what gives them what we call dignity.

Standing apart may at times also means standing alone. In this day of adherence to all that is politically correct standing alone is severely frowned upon. Conversely it is standing alone that gives dignity to the standee. The choice is ours to make and we can only hope that we will make the choice that in times past was what made America and Americans great.

About the Author:
http://americanprophet.org is the place for news, article, movie and book reviews and many insights for life. The Website for Insight features the articles of Rev Michael Bresciani whose columns appear in major online and print publications from around the world. Millions have read his timely articles and reviews.

Negative Campaigning - What Does America Want?

In this presidential election year of 2008, the stakes regarding victory or defeat for each candidate are high; the competition for votes is fierce; and the strategies are abundant on both sides with which to win over the undecided. We, the public, see things happening as part of political life and of campaigning that we do not approve of, that we feel we can do without. But can we? Is negative campaigning something that is being foisted on an unwilling public, or does it correspond to the state of mind and consciousness that we are in?

Democracy is not simple. It is complex. And it is not easy. It is hard. It demands from us all that we have to give, and asks us, at the very least, to become responsible citizens who maintain an involvement with both the principles and policies that govern us.

Democracy asks us to not abandon our individual or collective awareness and voice - not for ourselves, and not on behalf of those whose voices have become diminished or who no longer feel they have a voice. It asks us to use this voice and this awareness not to shout, but to speak for the truth as we see it, to reflect upon this truth, and to offer it up as we speak, and vote, and as we take a stand for what we believe in. In this way, we create and ensure a government that represents the best interests of the governed.

All this is the ideal that democracy strives for. And yet it is not what we see in practice. Not by a long shot. Instead of widespread citizen involvement of a judicious and thoughtful kind, we often see anger, fear, projection, and sometimes fanaticism. Instead of voting with conscientiousness, employing our capacity to reflect, compare, and analyze, we often vote with our emotions or the emotions that are being activated within us in the course of a campaign.

We cannot be manipulated by emotions, whether presented by candidates, campaign ads, news media, or television personalities if we do not allow ourselves to be. We cannot be reduced to less than what we are capable of unless we allow ourselves to be. And yet, this is often what we do. We take the easier way rather than the harder. We let an external shaping of opinion such as that of negative campaigning define our emotions and create our state of feeling. We begin to identify with the innuendo, accusation, and fear-currents that surround us, so that we lose sight of what is true in favor of what sounds true while not begin so. We come to believe that the feelings that we have are natural and inevitable, even when they come from portrayals and strategies that mix half-truths with truth. In many cases, we have difficulty maintaining the 'high ground' of forming our own opinions, when the 'low ground' of negative campaigning, advertising, and criticism is so prevalent.

No, democracy is not easy. It is much easier to feel and to operate out of instinct and unconscious emotion, than to think and evaluate with a consciousness of choice.

We, as a national consciousness, are offered negative advertising and campaigning because it feeds the lowest common denominator among us that forms the basis of our perceptions - that of unconscious reflex which seeks to avoid fear and danger and to seek safety and security. Such campaigning paints the world in terms of fearful outcomes that have to do with the 'other', and encourages us to choose between fear and not-fear when we determine who to vote for. We are reduced to a very basic, even primitive level of feeling - that of the desire for survival both physically and economically - and this fundamental level, because of its importance to our overall sense of wellbeing, drowns out other considerations that may paint the world in softer shades of gray.

To remedy this situation, we must become responsible citizens - responsible for the content of our own consciousness. And we must learn how to recognize information and perspective that comes to us riding on currents of fear, and information that comes to us in more objective terms. Our voice and our awareness are precious gifts that we hold with which to construct a life that supports us. We cannot afford to sacrifice these to the methods and modes of the time we are in, not if we wish to create a new kind of government that is truly accountable to each and every citizen.

The world is capable of changing if we are ready for change, and campaigns are ready to become something different in tone if we are ready for that as well. To achieve this end, we must wake up and learn to listen, to reflect, to become more confident in our ability to see what we see, and to know what we know. When each of us is able to make the choice for consciousness, becoming firmer in our own center of truth and judgment, then we shall finally be ready for a democracy that truly represents what America is meant to be, and we shall be able to share this gift with the rest of the world as well.

About author: Julie Redstone
Julie Redstone is a teacher, writer, and founder of Light Omega, a center for spiritual teaching and healing whose purpose it is to create an understanding of the sacred transition into light that the Earth is presently going through. For more about the spiritual roots of democracy in America, see www.lightamericaspirit.org.

10 Tips for Successfully Raising Money in a Political Campaign

Since President Barack Obama's election victory, many people have been inspired to run for public office. One reason for this new found interest in politics is that candidate Obama overcame what is arguably the most difficult aspect of campaigning – fund-raising. Prior to Barack Obama's campaign, it was a widely accepted conclusion in political circles that a candidate could not raise enough money to be competitive from small donors. In addition, the prevailing wisdom was that in order to raise the big money needed to win elections, the candidate needed name recognition in order to reach large donors. Post Obama, the paradigm has shifted. We now know that with the right plan and message, anyone can run and win an election.

In this article, I will provide you with a basic foundation for raising money in a political campaign. These tips will help you get your campaign started and avoid the mistakes that most first time candidates make when they begin fund-raising.

1.Have a plan. You must design a fund-raising plan which includes identifiable goals and incremental benchmarks. Your fund-raising goals should be aligned with the overall dollar amount needed to fund your campaign. You can find an example of a fund-raising plan at my blog, www.spatterblog.com.

2.Raise money from your friends and family FIRST. The money you receive from your friends and family will be your seed money. You'll use it to cover essential campaign start up costs during the infancy stage of your campaign.

3.Create a call-list. If you're running for office, you should have a mental list of people inside and outside your circle who you will be soliciting for campaign donations. Put that mental list on paper and have someone on your campaign staff add names to the list daily. A sample call list can be found at my blog, www.spatterblog.com

4.Always use a call sheet when calling potential donors. A call sheet is a template which allows you to input the donor's contribution history, talking points, and hopefully, contribution commitments. When calling a potential donor, you'll need to connect with the donor on an issue he or she cares about. The talking points section allows you to hit those points during the conversation. For example, if the donor cares deeply about animal rights, you will want to discuss your support for animal rights legislation during the call.

5.Follow-Up. If you recall from tip #4, the call sheet contains a space allocation for contribution commitments. If the donor makes a financial commitment over the phone, ask the donor whether he or she will be mailing a check or making an online payment. You should encourage the donor to make an online payment because it is quicker to process and you will have access to the money almost immediately. Whereas with a check, you will be forced to allow time for the check to clear your account. However, both payment options require that you make a follow-up call to the donor if you do not receive the promised contribution. I would allow two weeks for checks mailed from out of state, one week for checks mailed in state, and 3 days for online payments. You should set aside an hour each week to make reminder calls to your contributors if you chave not received the campaign contribution within the allotted time frame.

6.Be first. Early bird gets the worm where political fund raising is concerned. You must be the one to make the first initial contact with your donors, not your opponent. Compile your contact list before you even announce your campaign and hit the ground running.

7.Don't be shy. Many candidates are too proud to ask for campaign contributions over, and over, and over. However, there is really no way around it.

8.Tell People what their money is being used to buy. For example, if your campaign needs 1000 yard signs, ask a donor to commit to purchasing 25 yard signs for a $250 contribution. If donors know where their money is going, they're more likely to give.

9.Get the big endorsements early. Everyone loves a winner and everyone loves to help a winner. The more big endorsements you have, the more you look like the winner and the easier it is for you to raise money. So make sure you go after editorial, organization, and individual endorsements early in your campaign so as not to allow your competition to gain momentum.

10.Make the calls yourself. No matter how old or rich you are, it still makes you feel important to hear from the candidate directly as opposed to a member of his or her staff. So set aside time each week to make fund-raising calls in person. Don't just pawn it off to your staff.

About the Author:
Yvette Carnell is a political consultant and editor of www.spatterblog.com. She is a former Hill Staffer and member of The American Association of Political Scientists and The American Association of Political Consultants.