Indiana Grumblings

Most of the past 40 plus years of my life accept for a brief stint in the military has been spent in Indiana. Many of my ancestors have lived here close to the inception of the state in the early 1800’s. Like many lifelong Hoosiers I’ve grown up working on farms, playing basketball, ice skating on ponds and attending a small town country church. Home-made Sunday dinners were a must. Dwindling downtowns have been replaced with sprawling suburbs and Wal-Mart Super Centers. The high income manufacturing jobs are being and have been replaced by lower paying service jobs.

One thing for certain change is inevitable. As a child, like Mellencamp’s “ Pink Houses” I may have felt becoming the President was possible. Now I realize a roadmap and luck have much to say about success. The trials and failures of my parents in Indiana have become all too real. Like so many this dream of success was never realized and my responsibilities and security has kept me here long enough that roads and opportunities to other places have drifted away.

Ironically, I live in a nice home in one of the most beautiful places that Indiana has to offer. I like this place with serenity, beauty and access to so many places all year long. Technology has made this place nestled between Morgan-Monroe and Brown County even more attractive for living and retirement.

I would like to tell my children move away because I couldn’t make things happen here economically like I wanted to. Guess what? I know how dangerous the rest of the world can be without a plan. Sure it would be nice as a young man or woman to travel around the world and live in Hostel’s, but sooner or later reality sets in and we have to find a place to call home. (Have you seen the movie Hostel-not recommended?) I’ve traveled and stayed a little in Australia and Hostel’s are the way to travel for less. In fact it wasn’t near as dangerous as traveling around Texas where it seems everyone carried a gun.

The Indiana roadmap I have followed has lead me to become what Indiana has reserved for so many like me. A fear of the Lord and the granting of advanced education and degrees for jobs that required much less education. Just like many parents I like the idea of pushing our children to do better than me or at least not make the mistakes I made.

Indiana can be a great place to live, however, Economic reality has made life more difficult in many areas of Indiana. For instance according to Forbes Indiana is one of only a handful of states that does not have a top 300 privately held company. To often change is necessary for personal growth and career advancement. For many young men and women leaving Indiana may be a necessity; however the values, good times and the feeling of home will not be forgotten. But my advice to many is Go West Go South Go North.

A Christmas Picture---See the tree in the backround a Christmas tradition 

WORDS FROM THE MODERN DAY NO WHERE MAN

A burning sensation went through him first to his head then down his spine landing squarely in his heart. The simple words she had spoken were painful, yet true. He truly wanted to work and make a living, but it was as if she couldn't believe he was trying. She had a Masters in Education and he had a Masters in Business. She made $65,000 a year and he made 16,000 a year. Job offers never came. The President and the Governor talked about all those jobs. He was convinced he was cursed. What could he say? He had lost hope in the system. He had lost hope in get rich offers. Most of all he had lost hope in justice. He was after all a middle aged veteran. He could run a marathon and bench 275lbs, but it didn't mean anything. He was a poor boy willing to gamble it all on education and business overhead, thankfully supplemented by his wife. He had started or tried business idea after business idea, but they didn't amount to a hill of beans. He only wanted a decent secure employment opportunity. He would volunteer only to be the servant of greater men for free. He was a prisoner of his own home and debts walking on a tight rope realizing all could be lost at any moment. All the finance deals in the world wouldn't matter without income. His children and his wife kept him going because they were the only divine purpose for which he was sure.

Was he alone? Could there be others who felt like him? Were there cousins, uncles, friends or others out there in the United States who saw this strange set of circumstances which fell on men as if they were chosen for failure? He searched the reasons crying out in his spirit to God for answers, guidance or revelation, but nothing was clear or certain. What Shakespeare wrote seemed to make sense;

"A piece of work to make sick men whole, but are there some men whole we must make sick?"

He thought to himself: Could this be true in America?

TWO GREAT PARTIES

This was after all the United States of America, the land of the free and home of the brave. The two great parties reside to provide democracy and justice to the land.

The Democrats point to big business as the oppressor and purveyor of the many problems of America.

The Republicans point to big government and excessive taxation as the destroyer of achievement and American ideas.

POWER

Both parties enjoy one thing more than anything else--- staying in power. To maintain or gather power is a necessity to compromise, promoting slow change, yet keeping our most favored perks and supporters content.

ACHIEVEMENT

Republicans and conservatives such as Limbaugh say low taxes and large corporations encourage individual achievement, while Democrats believe they are chosen for power and taxes are necessary to help those who are limited from the power to achieve.

Achievement is many times confused with "power over opportunity". Both parties relish power enough to take advantage, recognizing that mainstream Americans sit as observers willing to accept what they've been taught, like students who become constituents of their respective schools of thought. They elect and reelect their representatives again and again only to compromise maintaining their own elitist power, the power of the bureaucracy, the power
of the corporation and the power of the military.

Most importantly neither political party is willing to publicly acknowledge that power has distinct advantages to opportunity. Instead they subscribe to conciliation with "special interests" who acknowledge that distinct advantages of political power. Therefore these two great parties support a form of discrimination to exchange individual rights with "special interest" group rights out of their desire to preserve power and avoid conflict with special
interests groups.

THE NO WHERE MAN

Individuals who are not part of these generally recognized groups and unions are the most likely to accept the plight of the No Where Man. There may indeed be large numbers of people who are isolated without a group or special interest representative. These individuals with adequate but not exceptional qualifications are acceptably overlooked and considered to be part to the
employed economic community and part of the industry, government and corporate opportunity.

ARE YOU ONE OF THESE PEOPLE?

Your success to change is not to become part of a political party. After all many parties such as the Green party or the Libertarian have some great ideas, but these ideas may never be realized because of the POWER argument presented. Instead your success is becoming a member of a group which will facilitate change for you as its constituent. The stronger the group and access to political influence the greater the ability to protect the rights of that
groups individual constituents.

The most DANGEROUS EFFECTIVE GROUPS became reality when INDIVIDUALS who are
denied fair conduct or opportunity in society seek participation in a group that possesses leadership that is able to coordinate, motivate and combine large numbers of these isolated people to become part of strategic action to promote change to better their individual opportunities.

Do you know any groups or have stories to combine with this story? Please
drop us a line.

Thanksgiving: You May Be Giving More than You Think!

Have A Happy Thanksgiving

 

For more Holiday Cheer! Click Here

 

 

You May Be Giving More Than You Think!

 

Hardly a day passes without getting another credit card offer.  Sadly many of them are difficult to refuse if you want to save money.  The grocery store, gas station or buying a car all give this great deal if you use their card.  In fact if you’re visiting from out of town get ready to pay more without your savings card.  Is it really worth it?  According to Nicole Brodeur of the Seattle Times even Starbucks is now involved in tracking your purchasing decisions.  Nicole discusses reading the fine print to see that you are really giving your personal information unless of course you opt out.   She says, “Starbucks is as connected as Santa. The company sees where you are surfing. It knows when you're online. It knows just what you bought for whom, so be patient as you try to "opt out."  This of course is quite tedious if you say do business with ten to twenty different banks, department stores and grocery chains. 

 

Most Americans have become immune to these types of rewards cards and credit card offers.  Like R rated movies, soda pop and abusive language we no longer even notice the little things that once would have been considered taboo fifty or even twenty years ago.  Change is inevitable, however there is always that chance that someone will be able to take advantage of not just one person but thousands or worse yet an entire nation  in the name of keeping track and providing better service or security.  Just think about it as you head out for Thanksgiving Dinner.  If someone has access to your information from a variety of sources its possible I know where you are, what your eating and if you have a cold.  In Brodeur’s words, You're giving a little bit of yourself, too, every time you conduct a transaction in the online marketplace."

 

Maybe Carrying a little extra cash is worth it.

 

Jesus is Coming

The bumper sticker reads Jesus is not a Republican. There are those who have a Jesus license plate on their vehicle. Many would ask this person if his name is Jesus. Quite frankly simply mentioning Jesus creates quite a stir among Liberals and Conservatives. Ironically it is more likely that Conservatives would claim the moral high ground when it comes to religious fervor, but the words of Jesus according to the New Testament mentioned turning the other cheek, love your enemies and even condemned lust of a married woman as adultery.

The biggest problem with political rhetoric of the day is that these two parties seem to encourage a most vile attempt to enrage and undermine the other. Tony Snow might say that Jimmy Carter is not an American. Randi Rhodes might say that George Bush should be impeached. Republicans had loads of joy bashing the Clintons for there immorality and acts of treason. Democrats place their moral high ground on global warming and the environment. Its uncertain if this is the worst rhetoric in the last hundred years, but certainly the rest of the world must be in a state of confusion concerning American political morality. How couldn’t they be?

Now we have another G Gordon but his last name is Libby. Guess what, I’m really not so sure what all the hype is about anyway. So someone blew someone’s cover. Do we really want to trust the governments secret service and to what extent. This is like the biggest corporation on earth with a budget where no one knows the money is being spent. I would just like the opportunity to share in some of their so called misfortunes such as a trip to Maui or Europe all expenses paid and no telling or else.

These are after all the most influential political entities on the face of the earth at the present time. The three branches of the American system are in a constant state of turmoil when it comes to party political lines. Occasionally someone bucks the system like Arnold S. or Jesse V. but the divisions in ideas concerning morality gay marriage, stem cell research, the environment, the military seem to becoming even more polarized. Television programming, movies and novels depict this same trend towards more radicalism and polarization of political forces. If history tells us anything, its that the nation and world will be looking for hero’s willing to make change. These changes from the past produced both dictators and revolutionaries. Military Force and passive religious movements have paved the way for social and moral progress when political leaders failed to produce results. Many times leaders claimed the rights of action as God inspired other times they claimed there actions were necessary to remove corrupt religious leaders.

The Libby indictment is just another pawn in a bigger game of political rhetoric. In the end a few heads will spin, but nothing much will change. The rich get richer. The rest go farther into debt. There are wars and rumors of wars, and a few more politicians will sell out to large corporate interests. The question of course is why all the billions spent on secrecy anyway to protect American interests when we will eventually find out we helped a future enemy anyway. Maybe the last great revolutionary is coming, but again the question is who is he Jesus Christ or anti-Christ. Truly though Jesus is Coming!

Universal Tattletale Site (No Posting for Now)

Currently if you try to send an email or register you will not be able to until our Server gets the email working properly. Its been a couple of weeks. A small problem in comparison to the problems faced by these people hit hard in Mississippi. That is me riding in the back of truck viewing the destruction by Katrina

THE STRANGE INSECURE WORLD OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

We live in a strange world. Not a day goes by that I do not receive a credit card offer or a debt consolidation offer. New bankruptcy legislation just went into effect which makes it more difficult to declare bankruptcy. Do you know a college student or eighteen year old who may need a high interest debt instrument designed to help them build self esteem and purchase those necessary items to make life worth living.

Sounds like a plan—Make credit easier than ever to get and then the ultimate insurance policy no bankruptcy to catch the dirty scoundrels from sucking the system dry from overspending. This in turn makes sure people cannot live high on the hog and stick it to the man (Uncle Sam) or (the bank).

Time will tell if the plan will work, but odds are it will fail miserably. The obvious reason is that the most honest people didn’t declare bankruptcy or they would have taken the dive and filed at the last minute. Real questions remain about the economy because of the housing bubble, higher rates and most likely an inability to slow inflation in large part because banks which continue to make credit cards easier to get because they feel more security in their new found laws of retribution.

This is a picture of part of the group from Brown County that did the diabetes walk in Bloomington. It's interesting to note Indiana University has a new mascot, good luck charm,( THE ROCK) Hopefully it works as well as the one in the Bible or The Prudential. So far it seems to be working. 

Al Qaeda, The Doctrine of Preemption & Lou Dobbs

In Paul Williams new book , The Al Qaeda Connection he entertains the possibility that this network of terrorists already have the ability to set off a nuclear weapon within the United States. He even gives plausible reasons why such an attack is more likely to occur during the month of October than any other time.

According to Williams this group of islamic Al Qaeda terrorists lead by the teaching of Osama Bin Laden have the motivation as they claim the right of an eye for an eye. According to Williams they believe they should have the right to kill from two to four million Americans because of atrocities done by the United States. Just how plausible is this scenario-one look at the illegal immigration stance of the Bush administration brings into focus the grim reality that Americans may be putting all there hopes in nuclear deterrence which of course justifies the use of retaliatory nuclear response. According to Lou Dobbs in his article US Immigration Policy a Tragic Joke the current immigration policies are indeed a joke. Ironically most states bordering Mexico agree with Dobbs concerns. Concerns about Nuclear weapons and rogue states have also been expressed by George Will " The Doctrine of Preemption" where he states " If this was a normal day about 21,000 pounds of cocaine, marijuana and heroin were smuggled into our country. How hard would it be, then to smuggle in a football-sized lump of highly enriched uraninium sufficient to make a ten-kiloton nuclear weapon to make Manhattan uninhabitable for a hundred years?" The recent Katrina hurricane disaster only demonstrates the danger of a lack of preparedness for such a disasters. Like Louisiana Levees our nations southern borders present questions which would better be asked now than later.

If you would like know what to do in case of a nuclear disaster go to www.ki4u.com/guide.htm

People Helping People in Louisiana & Mississippi

Semi Loads of materials are taken to distribution centers like this one. Everything is free, however many times there has been an overload of clothing which eventually ends up in the dumpsters and taken to landfills. Other essential materials were in very short supply in many areas.

This is the hospital in Slidell where people could get free shots for tetnus and hepatitis. This is highly recommended especially if your going to work in flooded areas.

This is a house in Slidell Louisiana that was flooded up to the roof top. We were removing trees and limbs. Most likely this house will have to be destroyed as it was flooded for several days. Many people such as this retired lady did not have flood insurance so they will have to rely on government and other help to rebuild or relocate.

This is the working crew from Indiana. The loader was being pulled by the RV.

This is a hotel on the Gulf in Pascagoula Mississippi. We started a distribution Center about a mile and a half from this site. In this area the storm surge caused the most damage with houses being flooded several miles inland. 

Stay Tuned-- Headed to Louisiana

I’ll be leaving with a local church group for some relief work on Monday.  This is coordinated with the Red Cross.  Hopefully I’ll have some interesting pictures and news.

 

Katrina Relief and Past Newsletter Link

Here is a nice way to spread Charity to victims in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana after the devastating Katrina Hurricane. Below are a few links to go directly to these reviewed home sites of organizations. Please remember to specify the general area where you would like your donation to go.

This is a short list, but these are reputable organizations.

Operation Christmas Child

Donate Now! -- American Red Cross

World Vision www.worldvision.org

Ideas for Gift Giving The Giving Gift

Salvation Army www.salvationarmy.org/

United Way www.unitedway.org

Directory of Reviewed Christmas Charities

Backstreet Missions www.backstreet.org

FAME Partnering in Medical Evangelism

Catholic Charities USA

Chinese Proverb: When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one and a lilly with the other.

November December Newsletter Link

Defamation and Complaint Sites

Defamation is the act of attacking the good character of someone or defaming another person’s reputation.  This kind of bearing false witness is as old as the human race.  Complaints made on Universal Tattletale are not scrutinized in terms of their believability; however defamation is however a crime and people may in fact sue the complainant if they find the information is a lie meant to harm their reputation.  The courts have addressed this issue regarding postings and have found that the sites are not responsible for this type of behavior.   This however is contingent on our ability to pass the responsibility to the original poster.  We also allow the original poster to edit complaints they have made using their password and ID.  Problems with postings become even more complicated if the complaints are spidered and placed on other sites and search engines.   For this reason we protect the privacy of an individual poster to the extent the law allows, but postings can be traced with vaulted hard copies or ip addresses.  Finally, we allow replies to postings for those whom would like to refute the information put forth by the original poster.  So Please Post Responsibly!

Another of Matt's Pictures 

This is cousin Luke and his guitar

Matt's Picture with guitar

Trip to DC father-in-laws congressman Mike Pence gave tour.