Rich Hoffman's Blog, page 437

The Dangerous Intent of the Liberal: No ideas, no facts, and terrorists of emotion

In the video below Rush Limbaugh breaks down the mentality of the typical liberal nicely.  By his use, the word liberal covers everything from moderate Democrats to radical communists.  Between those book ends are socialist, progressives, race baiters, feminists, public school advocates, and statists of every kind, some of which have the term Republican next to their names.  Limbaugh’s conclusion is one that I have been beating the war drums to for many months now as I have discovered and reported on these pages what he is saying.  Liberals cannot in any kind of debate rely on facts to win their arguments.  The only way they can win anything is by applying emotion so that they can create an anti-concept for which logic can be distorted and manipulated to their liking.   In this way, liberals have re-shaped the world into the mess many of us have observed and felt regulated to shaking our heads at in hopelessness.  Listen to Rush Limbaugh’s very good summation of a liberal here:

I have been arguing for a while now that these liberal types must be treated as enemies against traditional America.  It has become fashionable to treat them with respect, honor, and civility because conservatives tend to be kind, religious, and never-the-less willing to display public humility to prove that they are not all the nasty things that liberals say about them.  In the school levy arguments around Cincinnati I have argued every level of logic there is.  In the winter of 2012 as I watched my district of Lakota proceed with cuts to their offered programs after three failed levies and a whole lot of charts produced, public arguments made, and meetings attended I saw firsthand the festering threat that the liberal represents, a parasitic existence that uses sentiments of kindness as a military maneuver against righteousness.  I learned that under no circumstances would liberals ever look at the facts that logic presented to them because solving problems is not what they are after, and it has never been.  The number one objective of the liberal is to destroy traditional America, the type of America that could be coined exceptional.  Liberals wish to destroy America by undoing its philosophy of self-reliance and reacquainting it with the philosophy of dependence known for centuries in Europe.  For the liberal the Revolutionary War never ended.  They are still trying to connect North America permanently to the European Union and they will stop at nothing to get there.

In my levy fights, as others all over Ohio have now done, I proved beyond reasonable doubt that the cause of the tax increase requests for public schools was 100% caused by unreasonable and unsustainable wages for the government employees.  At Lakota I told them as a representative of the 18,000 people who voted against the tax increases that they needed to take a 5% cut in wages to meet the standards of budget that the community approved at the ballot box.  Instead of complying, the government school collectively like an ant colony of mindless insects went on a public relations campaign that contained not one single fact about what caused them to run a budget deficit.  For anyone who stood in their way, they attacked without a care in the world for reputations, participated in friendship severances, boycotts, and any vile form of manipulation they could gather under their wings.  But they did not deal with a single fact even when pressed to the extreme.   This is because of what Rush Limbaugh stated in his broadcast—because they can’t.  They never can, and they never will.

This is why it is important to stop viewing liberals as equals on the battlefield of ideas.  To be equal, they would have to produce ideas—and they don’t.  All they ever advocate is collective re-distribution of wealth that someone else creates.  They are typically lazy specimens who do not like the act of creation, so they want what others create by proclaiming fairness.  In the case of my public school example, the teachers and administrators at the school have convinced themselves that they are an important social role to the construct of America even though what they teach children is mindless drivel and social collectivism setting students at an emotional deficit at an early stage of their adulthood of which many will never escape.  When it all comes down to it, those employees fear actual productive existences which is why they work for a government school.  They fear getting up in the morning and creating something at their job.  They just use the government to extract wealth from those who do all the creating and offer back emotional reasons for their lack of productivity.

There is no fair fight with a liberal.  They do not participate in the battlefield of ideas, because they can’t.  Their only strategy is to move every debate away from facts and logic and to replace them with emotional pleas.  It is time to end this practice in America.  It is time to view these strategies for what they are, maneuvers against traditional America for the purpose of destruction of our way of life.  It is time to treat the liberal as an enemy for the sake of self-preservation as a free nation.  Limbaugh is 100% correct, liberals are not for freedom.  They may in the short run advocate public nudity, open sex in every direction, drunkenness, mind altering drugs, godlessness, and the absolute destruction of the American family, but they are not for freedom.  They are only for the destruction of human values because they are too mentally and physically lazy to measure up.

Liberals do not want peace in that a deal could be struck with them to “live and let live.”  It is time that traditional America took the advice of the old Paul McCartney song, “Live and Let Die” and come to grips that the liberal can never be reasoned with, they can never be appeased, they can never be treated on fair terms because they are not about any of those things.  They simply want to destroy America as it was constitutionally built, and remake it into the land of Europe, the slums of Paris, the box houses of England, and the dinky housing shacks of Spain.  They want nothing else but destruction.  This is why the liberal must be seen as the enemy in a second revolution.  A distinct difference is needed to disassociate those types with the minds of reason before any problems can ever be solved and before that can happen it must be realized that the liberal has nothing to offer but more destruction and emotional chaos to camouflage their parasitic nature as a social organism more akin to termites than anything else.

Rich Hoffman

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Answering for American Exceptionalism: After the victim of a mixed economy lashed out

I received from my radio friend Matt Clark a note from a listener of his who took exception to our recent broadcast about American Exceptionalism.  The guy was very upset about my response to comments he made after our broadcast featuring the goodness that Walt Disney brought to American society.  CLICK HERE to review.  The comment he left me was well over 1000 words long so I felt an involved response to his statements was warranted as he showed himself to be a very confused person.  There are aspects of his thinking that are quite good, but other aspects that are deeply flawed.  However, he is like so many modern-day conservatives/libertarians who have found themselves formulated around machine politics for their entire lives and has the taint of the modern mixed economy all over their thoughts—so dealing with them is a mess if such an attempt is even desired.  But because he addressed me directly and was very critical, apparently discussing me at great length on an XM radio show, I will take great pleasure in dismantling his thought process appropriately.    When his comments were first sent to me, I was out-of-town competing in the bullwhip events shown below, so it took a bit of time to catch up with all my email and comments from the previous weekend.  Below are his comments with my reply in italics as response.

‘’American Exceptionalism tends to set off tempers from the type of people who have been taught their entire lives that America should follow the trends of the rest of the World and not proudly proclaim the wonderful attributes that have come out of the freest country in the world-such as capitalism, human rights, individual freedom, and quality of life that is unmatched anywhere.’’ Did Rich or El Rushbo write this? Funny I was a Rush baby, some of us grow up and actually learn history, economics, free-markets, and real Conservative, ex. Russel Kirk, TS Elliot, Edmund Burke, and M.E. Bradford (who was originally appointed by Reagan for national endowment position, but sidelined by Bill Krystol for neocon Bill Bennett (Lincoln lover)).

The listener’s name is Ben Cowan and he is attempting to display that he has the superior argument by stating he has grown up and away from the way of thinking of Rush Limbaugh.  People who use such arguments with a direct attack like that try to gain supremacy through insult instead of the quality of their statement.  Cowan then proceeds to establish that he has a vast knowledge of history to draw upon as if I do not.  He has obviously not read the more than 2 million words here at Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom, so if he starts now he may be qualified to make such statements in about 6 months.  But until then he is functioning from ignorance.  I enjoy the work of T.S. Elliot particularly “The Wasteland.”  The point of his statement is to say that Cowan has evolved intellectually into thinking beyond Rush Limbaugh which is supposed to qualify everything that follows as fact, and everything he says about me as inferior to his arguments.  This is a trick Cowan learned from the progressive intellectuals which he reveals further in the next section. 

Notice how weak Rich’s arguments are that he portrays anyone who gets frustrated with Decepticons aka neocons using the term American Exceptionalism as someone who supports Obama or his ideology. As to Rich’s Bill Maher clip, I actually agree with some of Bill’s sediments in this clip. This is probably the only time that I have agreed with Bill Maher, but our solutions and reasons are much different. Did you notice how I separated the two complaint/Solutions without emotionally driven comments like Rich uses?

Prof. Kevin Gutzman liked this part of the main article ‘’Under the American Constitution, slavery was abolished- a move happened nowhere else in the world.’’ If the point is that slavery wasn’t abolished under the US Constitution outside the US, well duh. Slavery was abolished in Haiti, Cuba, Brazil, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Barbados, Bahamas, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad, and Nevis. –Response by Prof. Kevin Gutzman (Author of Who Killed the Constitution).

Cowan attacks my arguments as weak without identifying the argument which is an anti-concept trick that was perfected by the political strategist Saul Alinsky.  It is used, copied and heavily studied by radical groups to this day.  People like Cowan pick up the behavior through observation and interacting with people who use the method.  The premise of his attack is that my statement about Obama and his ideology is weak because it points to American Exceptionalism as strong, and that such a broad brush is not appropriate under the terms Cowan established in his anti-concept.  By my definition of American Exceptionalism I am stating the concept “America is good.”  The reason this angers people like Cowan, who believes that he is an evolved conservative to some degree, or just defining himself as some degree of libertarian, is that he has accepted that the concept of American Exceptionalism is a myth at some point in his past and he is defending his foundation beliefs from the concept of goodness.  He then uses Bill Maher as validation to support his theory in the same fashion that he uses Kevin Gutzman as a crutch the way most academics use quotes and references to support collectively their own thoughts and beliefs.  The implication of their need for reference crutches is their insecurity to their own thoughts.  They attempt to build a public consensus by pointing at others and what they say as if to justify their own thoughts.  The truth about slavery is that The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage was the first American abolition society. It was founded April 14, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Anthony Benezet and others, and held four meetings.[1] Seventeen of the 24 men who attended initial meetings of the Society were Quakers, or members of the Religious Society of Friends. Thomas Paine was also among the Society’s founders.  It was reorganized in 1784[2] as the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage,[3] (better known as the Pennsylvania Abolition Society) and was incorporated in 1789.  At some point after 1785, Benjamin Franklin was elected as the organization’s president. The society asked him to bring the matter of slavery to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He petitioned the U.S Congress in 1790 to ban slavery.[4]

During this time there were similar movements happening all over the world as many were questioning the practice.  But the big driver in changing the culture of slavery was The United States in their fight for independence.  Once that revolution was won other countries looked at their own situations and made adjustments.  Smaller countries like Haiti, Cuba, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Barbados, Bahamas and so on were able to abolish their slaves more quickly than larger countries with more bureaucracy.  My example of American Excepetionalism is that if America had failed in their revolution then other countries would have stepped back from such a task.  It took America to lead by example.  Cowan would then point out that many of those movements took place at the turn of the 1700s into the early 1800s.  Yet they were using America as their example as many of the discussions taking place in the colonies from those Philadelphia meetings were exported all over the world through commerce.  When America defeated the British, many countries became more embolden in their pursuit of individual freedom and passed anti slavery mandates.  Sadly, many of those same countries Cowan mentions would submit to socialism just a few years later falling back into social slavery of a different type. 

Capitalism is great and the best system in which people can move up and down mobile in a free society. Capitalism predates the Union of States and American Exceptionalism. Did it occur to Rich that Britain lead the 1st industrial Revolution, followed by Meiji Restoration in Japan, and the 2nd industrial revolution was led by the United States.

Yes, it did occur to me, yet Britain failed in their economy falling to socialism as they allowed Keynesian economics to ruin their capitalism, and Japan of course could not leave their feudal social functions once they submitted themselves to an emperor.  To this very day many large countries make the mistake of attempting to emulate Japan for their manufacturing standards believing them to be of higher quality than American standards.  The failure in this thinking is that the Japanese place themselves before their individuality in nearly every case.  Their programs of lean manufacturing work well as their people do not question the methods.  Their service to their country and business come before their own desires.  American strength in manufacturing has always come from their ability to think outside-the-box as individuals, not blind compliance to a greater good such as country, company, or even community.  America adopted foreign lean manufacturing methods as a direct assault against the American labor unions which infected manufacturing from the Red Decade with communist philosophy.  It was the only way that companies could force the unions to not destroy their businesses with non-productive effort.  Because the unions put a lock on productive output, American companies were forced to use foreign collectivist methods perfected abroad to keep the unions from destroying their companies that were legally allowed to organize against industry for the collective gain of the many.  Even with these severe handicaps most new ideas still come out of The United States.  Most literature, films, music, art and technical innovation are generated by free people with the prospect of profit blowing wind into their sails.  Even with all the best lean manufacturing techniques produced for collective motivation of work forces, creativity is what makes American Excptionalism.  Creativity is what is missing from all other countries that have stepped away from capitalism, and to this day seek alliances with others to disguise the fact that they are nations of suppressed thought praying to their religions for inspiration.  In America, innovation is invented because the mind is free—that is the backbone of American Excepetionalism. 

‘’Americans have been taught by their gov’t that the United States gained everything it achieved by consuming too many resources and stepping on the rights of others across the world.’’ -This is what would be taught at a progressive college, that so called conservatives send their kids to and help support and perpetuate. Many fake conservative send their kids to progressive colleges so Johnny and Suzie can watch people run into other people on Saturday afternoon and ‘’what’s the score of the game mindless thinking.’’ Again, Rich is using the absurd progressive logic to lump real Conservatives like myself into, to push ‘’American Exceptionalism’’, which is the progressive rights term invented by a Frenchmen, and used to spread democracy by force to any country whether they want it or not.

Not sure that I disagree with Cowan here.  He uses my name in a way that implicates that my statement is wrong, but then he agrees with it, because I had just said the same thing.  Americans have been taught such things as I stated and most colleges are infected with progressive thought.  If Cowan doesn’t believe such a thing I’m not sure what planet he’s living on. 

I enjoyed Rich’s definition of a neocon! How terrible of the social freedom of the people in the 60’s. Was Steve Jobs one of those people?? A neocon or decepticon is someone who left the Democrat Party to join the Republican Party in which they brought their FDR progressive foreign policy with them. They also brought the mentality that morals should be controlled through the Fed gov’t. They were Nationalist that the great founders feared, and why some didn’t sign the Constitution fearing the Union would end up like as it is now.

Steve Jobs had a good idea and left his indoctrination education to invent his own way.  He used capitalism to bring a great product to market, so not all people who smoked dope, and listened to the garbage music of the 60s was a diabolical hippie menace.  I would say that George Lucas was cast of the same mold as Jobs, and I’m sure that George loved the 60’s although he was more of a loner than his friend Francis was at their first studio set up in San Francisco where hippie mania was rampant.  Somewhere in that drug induced haze Star Wars was born which I love.  But these guys are rare examples that managed to rise to the top even as statism was increasing to put shackles on the mind of mankind by suppressing capitalism.  The second part of Cowan’s statement I agree with for the most part, even though it’s pretty general.  The real situation is more complicated, but Cowan is learning so I’ll give him a gold star on his paper for at least thinking. 

The founding fathers wanted to be immortalized for their writings and their accomplishments ‘’Fame of our Fathers’’, they however were very humble; they had humility which Rich doesn’t seem to grasp! Jefferson studied Scottish philosopher David Hume, Switzerland’s decentralized country, the Indians free trade, and the ancient Greeks who prior to Alexander the Great were successful for centuries with their small [r]epublics in which Math, Science, Art, Philosophy, architecture, and sport was mastered in small [r]epublics of people. Jefferson wasn’t arrogant as to say he created our ‘’written gov’t’’ on his own without researching other countries and philosophers. Rich’s progressive right term “American Exceptionalism’’, he points to ‘’American Experience’’ of 1776, which I noted to Matt Clark in my response.

‘’The benefits of capitalism and the American Experience produced a unique type of person that had only been contemplated by philosopher fantasies prior to the declaration.’’ Again the arrogance of Rich’s comments, Madison and Jefferson both used Adam Smith’s a Scottish Philosopher book ‘’Wealth of Nations’’ as a guide to preventing a National Bank and advocating the market to work!

As to Cowan’s point, there is nothing “progressive” about my term other than such an identification about American Exceptionalism is needed to defend what’s good about The United States against the progressives.  Other than that, Cowan is indulging himself in wishful thinking to believe that I adhere to something because of some progressive invention that has not been carefully considered from all angles.  In this paragraph the real weakness of Cowan begins to emerge, his real gripe with me.  As a victim of a mixed economy he believes certain things.  As a flawed human being who probably has events from his past that he regrets, he chooses to maintain a view of the world that supports notions that flaws make humans, “human.”  Many people wish to believe such things because it would be hard for them to get up every morning and put on their shoes.  But I am very aware of the origins of Jefferson’s belief and studies of Scottish Common Sense, which I have written about elsewhere, CLICK FOR REVIEW. I have said on many occasions that the work of John Locke was inspired by the pirate Henry Morgan, which then also showed the colonies how to shake off a nation the way that Morgan took on Spain nearly single-handedly with their presence in the Caribbean.  But the fact remains that these elements came together not in Scotland, England, Spain, or France where they were talked about.  It was only in America where the dialogue was able to move away from dinner tables, congregations, and card games to become part of the governing philosophy of a country on the rise. 

Now to deal with the “arrogance” portion of this debate–being humble is a taught theory by statist oriented groups, be it religion or government to force compliance of the masses to the desires of institutionalism.  Grace in victory and humbleness are often confused to be the same thing by people like Cowan, but they are not.  It is often perceived that confidence is “arrogant” by those who lack it which is to say that such a declaration is just another anti-concept.  By calling me arrogant Cowan hopes to dismiss everything I have said and place himself in high esteem with a reader who identifies their internal value with humbleness, which is sheer nonsense.  The concept of serving God with humbleness may be what the majority of human beings believe, but that belief was created during the Dark Ages of Europe and should be confined to the corners of one’s own home.  Humility and “duty” to something greater than oneself is a statist concept that was created by the churches of Europe to maintain political control over their flocks.  Under the rules of engagement for people like Cowan he is quick to associate humility with arrogance so that he doesn’t have to deal with the root cause of the word.  It is the tendency toward humility that Eric Holder continues to lie directly to the American people, it allows Barack Obama to lie about the impact of the scandals he’s at the center of, it allows scum bags like Anthony Wiener to lie, lie, and lie again to anybody and everyone about his sexual lust for other women making his wife look like a buffoon who will forgive anything just so she can be married to someone in a powerful public office—like her mentor Hillary Clinton.  These predators all have in common a desire to use the humility of civilization to hide their true intentions.  Humility is not a good human trait, kindness is, intelligence is, even compassion, but not humility.  Yielding to ones faults, which humility implies, is a sin against the individual soul of every human being and people everywhere will continue to live in bondage to social parasites so long as they believe in the kinds of things that Ben Cowan believes, that humility has value, and equals arrogance.  More on this in a bit because it’s not the only time Cowan uses the term.  But as far as how to behave when you win, the following videos are from the bullwhip competitions that I was at when Ben started this little fuss through Matt.  Notice my behavior when I win.  I expect the same from every American.  You don’t rub people’s face in it, but you don’t cower away from it either.  When you have something to be proud of, be proud of it.  

‘’Life in virtually every facet is better in America because of the philosophy of personal independence that is much larger than the ‘’American Experience.’’ This is so obnoxious, that is the American Experience, limited gov’t. The founders referred to their states as countries, they didn’t speak in homogenized tongue like Rich! The South traded throughout the world (off the backs of slaves) and the Northern States were protectionalist!

This is the kind of thing that caused Cowan to start this dialogue off with an anti-concept attack instead of fact based thought.  He does not understand the American Experience in spite of all his supposed education and conservative thought.  He doesn’t understand it as a graduate of Rush Limbaugh thought so he finds my statement, “obnoxious.”  He lacks perspective to see the world through common sense instead of memorized standards which is why he surrendered his statement to some implications of racism and isolationism—both agreed upon violations of universal understanding.  The American Experience is being born in a free country with no hooks into the soul of the child.  Many believe that the World Bank owns us all, but at least philosophically, in The United States there is at least the assumption of personal freedom that is held in high regard.  In America one does not have to social climb to be successful.  That is a European trait.  One does not have to marry someone else to become powerful.  That is a European, and Asian trait.  One does not have to become a member of the political class to gain wealth.  That is a European trait.  In America one can be just about anything they want to be and they can be it anytime they want to.  Just as a byproduct of American culture, which is a direct result of the American Experience, look just at Comic Con in San Diego.  America is dedicated to the products of the mind, and no place else in the world is there anything like Comic Con.  There are other countries that attempt to host such events such as the recent Star Wars Celebration in Germany, but the products displayed there are not developed in other countries, it is in the United States that they were created.  Or consider the British Invasion of music that came out of England during the 60’s, a period that Cowan seems to enjoy.  They came to America to be superstars as England had too small of a stage to gain such fame.  That is the American Experience.  Cowan because of his very weak position again took a page out of the progressive notebook of anti-concepts and attempted to use racism and isolationism to gain control of victory in the debate without having any facts to cover his emotional lack of understanding about the American Experience. 

Walt Disney should be honored as a great entrepreneur that used determination, creativity, and thrift which is missing in today’s culture. People don’t know what thrift is, these days!

Rudolf Diesel a German inventor invented the diesel engine, which we use very much in the Union today. I could see German’s going around saying this is German Exceptionalism. I have never heard German’s speak in that tongue, but I detest our countrymen arrogantly beating their chest say we are the Awesomest of the Awesome! People don’t like pompous people, they are attracted by humility, what you don’t have Rich.

This is where I get really angry, and why I took a few days to cool off before answering Cowan directly.  Let me start on a positive, which I agree with Cowan on the thrift issue.  I would like to see a return to that type of mental exercise.  And the German’s would have every right to proclaim German Exceptionalism.  It was they who produced some of the finest engineering feats in the world during the 20th century and even as members of the European Union, they manage to be so productive that the rest of their European neighbors continually want to borrow their money.  German BMW and Mercedes automobiles are fabulously engineered earning them the right to beat on their chest about that particular field.  But here is where people like Ben Cowan are deeply flawed human beings bringing in the front door the tyrants of our modern age because they fail to project the proper mentality to combat attacks from villains who prey on humility. 

When making a point that most of society will reject people who do not display humility he is right, but wrong.  Being “liked,” being “popular,” or having people think you’re “awesome,” is the furthest thing from my mind.  I don’t have humility because I don’t want it Cowan.  I do not conceal from hangers in my closet skeletons of shame, I do not fear violence by my attackers, or need to be liked in any fashion.  I do have people who like me, who share my values, but I have no desire to be liked by people who do not share my values, which is very few.  If I had such a thought I wouldn’t say half the things that needed to be said in this day and age.  Even people who read here every day get angry with the things I say.  But it doesn’t change my stance and it never will.  When you start caring what people think of you, you are finished in the philosophy business.  When you desire to be loved, you are prone to be corrupt, to be bought, to allow enemies to gain emotional leverage over you.  People should like you because they share your values or respect you, not because you pander to their own weaknesses.  It is that process that has turned our entire society into a nation of fools led by idiots, and I would guess that many of them think just like Cowan. 

Cowan believes he stands on high moral ground backed by historical fact, but all he stands upon is a pile of his own metaphorical feces created by years of such thinking.  It is because of this weakness in him personally that he attempts to skirt around the edges pretending to be a sophisticated conservative that is beyond refute.  But in reality he is a child of the mixed economy that has bought into some of the statism that is rampant in American culture, much of it culminating in the 1960s a period Cowan appears to enjoy. 

At this point of reading this Cowan probably believes that all this sounds tough, but would I say the same things in public–well, the answer is yes.  Just last weekend I was in a very public show and anybody who wished to take exception with me could have—but they didn’t.  I interact with people every day, and they have learned that I hold back a lot on these pages and when pushed I certainly respond without compromising my beliefs in person.  CLICK HERE to see a speech I did critical of public schools where the school board members and their treasure showed up to “intimidate” me into not speaking.  They knew very well who I was, what I have done, and wanted to meet me in person.  I gave my speech in a respectful way, but I didn’t hold back, and I never do.  The point is not to be liked, it is to make people think, and many don’t like to think, so I know beforehand that they will be angry.  So what!  

A defeated person uses an emphasis on humility, weakness, or accusations of pompousness to justify their lackluster existences.  It is easy to be an armchair philosopher, a casual listener of a radio broadcast, and a Facebook junkie that comments on things other people do.  It is quite something else to be the leading edge of an ice breaker, to crash through all opposition knowing that the pain will never ever go away so long as there is ice to smash through.  To the broken ice, the ice breaker is a villain, a un-compassionate destroyer, an uncompromising force of sheer will and something to be feared.  To me the value is in the ice breaker who can smash through the progressive ice even if people like Ben Cowan have built cities upon the ice believing that the surface was sturdy underneath.  They believe such things until they see the ice breaker coming and to cover their fear of seeing for the first time the waters under the ice, they attempt to direct the ice breaker somewhere else so that it doesn’t violate the cities of thought they have built upon progressive corruption.  That is the motive behind their diatribes of humility, arrogance, and pompousness.  Notice in the events shown in these clips that I was competing in as Cowan sent me his half-baked diatribes, that I don’t rub anything in when I win events.  But I don’t show modesty either.  If you are good, you are good and should not be ashamed of it.  People like Cowan mistake pride, confidence, and determination for evil vices created in the courts of Europe for the determined strategy of controlling the masses to limited thinking and self imprisonment by social shackles.

Instead of comparing us to China, India, Spain, and Russia, how about you compare us to Switzerland, Estonia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Chile. We are the 10th freest country in the world now! Using the left/right paradigm gets old. It is now Nationalism vs. Federalism, Limited gov’t vs. Central planning. Obviously you want the Fed Gov’t to plan social cultural norms. Steve Jobs was a capitalist; he listened to the Grateful Dead and was an advocate of LSD. I don’t own any apple products, but luckily he was never jailed for 20 years with your authoritarian leaning positions. How many jobs did Steve Jobs create Rich?

I didn’t try and put Matt on the defensive. ‘’American Exceptionalism’’ comes off as arrogant to the average person and turns them away from limited decentralized gov’t that the good founders embraced! It also gives the average person the mentality that we need to export our awesomeness to other nations, which is the opposite of the founders. ‘’American Exceptionalism, is a term that Hitler would have embraced if he were American, getting people to believe in the good of the state. He detested divided gov’t and decentralization. He wanted to instill Nationalism in the German people, and he commended Lincoln in his book Mein Kampf for Nationalizing the US and trampling the states. No critical thinking allowed in their worlds, similar to Rich’s.

And here is why I find Cowan such a repulsive parasite that is more dangerous than the average progressive, because at least those threats are easy to identify.  Cowan sells himself as a logical conservative, but since his value system was threatened by my statements he has retreated to comparing me to Adolf Hitler!  Cowan, America needs to export its awesomeness to other nations!  You bet your ass!  I’ll say it again.  “AMERICA NEEDS TO EXPORT ITS AWESOMNESS TO OTHER NATIONS!” Other countries would be much, much, MUCH better off if they adopted American ideals of independence, economic freedom, and creative enterprise.

 I have no tolerance for drug use, but where do I advocate authoritarian drug laws!  SHOW ME ONE PLACE UPON THESE 2 MILLION WORDS!  ONE PLACE!  You can’t!  And if Cowan did any research into what I write about, he would know that I’m all about critical thinking and trying to get people to embrace such a concept—but because Cowan was too lazy to check before opening his mouth, or putting something in writing, he compared me to Adolph Hitler’s Mein Kampf hoping that introducing yet another anti-concept would force me into some sort of retreat from the name calling.  Well dude, it doesn’t work.  CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE.  

As for celebrating in sports, I don’t watch those main stream sports! I play sports that are gentlemen’s games, where you can call a penalty on yourself because the people who play have virtue! Humility and lack of explaining in a story of how the Union came about and how the founders studied other countries to help craft written documents such as the ‘’Declaration of Independence’’, ‘’Articles of Confederation’’, and ‘’The Constitution’’ is what is missing today. Broad rhetoric and arrogant phrases ‘’American Exceptionalism’’ detour people from discovering our founding generation’s great works!

Just as the definition of Welfare 250 years ago, ‘’it was a deliverance from evil’’, which now means gov’t assistance. The American Experience is the correct term in which to use! I have served my country and I am a small business owner and it makes me upset when people use terms that confuse people into thinking the person is bragging about America or is trying to invade another country and impose its Exceptionalism on them! So let’s teach kids limited gov’t and to promote trade with countries we don’t see eye to eye with. Encourage kids to read about the great risk takers and inventors of our country and the rest of the world!

Finally what Ben Cowan is really about; he considers himself a gentleman, something of a Victorian gentleman at that.  Well, dude, it was considered against the “gentleman code” to attack during bad weather or other adverse conditions, but George Washington attacked the Hessians at Trenton anyway against every kind of “gentlemanly” code of conduct there was, early in the morning, right after a holiday, and during bad weather.  Then again at the fall of Yorktown, Cornwallis attempted to send his surrendered sword by Deputy General Charles O’Hara to give to General Rochambeau.  When Rochambeau rejected the offer O’Hara had to give the sword to Benjamin Lincoln because Washington refused to allow Cornwallis to avoid acknowledging the American General as his superior in combat.  Cornwallis was a gentleman.  Washington was gracious in victory, but demanded respect—which is a lesson we should all be embracing!  I can only imagine what kind of “gentlemanly games” Cowan is talking about, Croquet, basket weaving, coin collecting?  I hang around knife throwers, gun marksman, and bullwhip artists.  CLICK HERE FOR REVIEW.  The “gentleman code” is just another anti-concept.  There is a difference between being respectful of other people, and then pawing off inaction, indecision, and just plain being a pussy to behaving like a “gentleman.”  Cowan, you be a gentleman all you want.  I’ll take the win, I’ll take the American Excepetionalism, and I’ll take the freedom that comes with it.  You keep the European terminology and keep calling me arrogant.  It lets me know I’m doing the right things.

 

A friend of Ben’s wrote me here and spoke on his behalf not to take him wrongly, so I deeply considered everything Cowan had said.  I think Cowan believes he’s doing and saying all the right things, but is clearly mixed up as to what definitions apply to what, and what to believe or not to.  I don’t fault people for ignorance so long as they are trying to get someplace positive.  But when they come across as experts—especially experts about my intentions, and compare me to Adolph Hitler, Rush Limbaugh, and even racists, there are traces of progressive society that come through in the guy that are direct results of his upbringing and skeletons he has in his own closet that keep him from being the kind of man he wishes he was, and I will not carry his emotional burden for him with anti-concept use.  LEARN MORE ABOUT ANTI-CONEPTS BY CLICKING HERE.  This struggle is clearly present in his comments to me, which he hopes to hide through insults, which for me is simply unacceptable.  I’ll take his friend at his word and believe that Cowan is not a bad person, just a person similar to me in thinking about some things, but dreadfully lacking in others.  But being not quite a complete person does not provide an excuse for name calling and wearing the mask of patriotism while being underneath something else entirely.

Rich Hoffman

Give yourself the gift of ADVENTURE.  CLICK HERE!  

Binik-Thomas #26 at Tail of the Dragon: How a novel can create a Yorktown moment

One of the most satisfying aspects of my life is in being the facilitator of rebellion.  That is what is going on these days; it is a full-blown rebellion against the establishment that has controlled the American people subtly.  I don’t like that “establishment,” and along with many others we are forming up against it to rebel.  The extent of this modern rebellion became known to me recently when a friend of mine, Justin Binik-Thomas testified in front of the chairman of the House Policy and Legislative Oversight Committee.  The hearing was located at the University of Cincinnati College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services on July 25th at 1 P.M.  Justin was recently the sole target of the infamous question #26 by the IRS who was caught targeting Tea Party groups as a weapon of progressive politics to force compliance upon their establishment.  Justin being one of the founding members of the Cincinnati Tea Party was a key target of the IRS which as the investigation into their scrutiny migrates toward the truth appears to extend right into the meeting rooms of The White House.

This is where the fun begins.  Justin after his testimony went on the air with another friend of mine Matt Clark of WAAM Ann Arbor, Michigan to speak about the treacherous actions of the IRS and the results of the hearing.  There is a level of anxiety among some in this modern rebellion who fear that the IRS scandal will be swept under the rug with the large brooms of the establishment.  But Justin understands that these things take time as he and Matt discussed the nature of the IRS investigation and the pursuit of justice on WAAM radio.

Below is the rest of that interview as Matt went straight into the MSNBC clip referenced.  Jay Carney hoped that he was in friendly territory on the progressive network, but even there the hosts can see through the treachery of the IRS scandal for what it is, and things didn’t turn out well for the White House spokesman.  It is a shame that only a few people in the country watch MSNBC and missed this important broadcast.  Luckily Matt Clark is always watching as a fevering instrument of festering rebellion, he uses his vast media and technical knowledge to save the Republic one broadcast at a time.  Few remember that during George Washington’s handling of America’s first rebellion from the time of his major victory in crossing the Delaware to the magnificent victory at Yorktown four years of hard war transpired.  There were many heartaches during that revolution such as the winter at Valley Forge and betrayals most epically displayed by Benedict Arnold–victory did not come easily.  Guys like Matt Clark and Justin Binik-Thomas understand how long it takes, and they diligently chip away day by day.

Meanwhile Justin continued on with his media parade informing all what had transpired at the hearings.  Below he appeared on Fox News with Greta Van-Susteren where he has become a frequent guest.  On these broadcasts Justin wisely kept his tongue reserved yet gently blew on the winds of liberty with a keen understanding of what he’s doing and how long it takes for rebellion to take hold.  The aim of this rebellion is not armed conflict of course, but is strictly in the pursuit of justice which has been deeply suppressed by the modern progressive establishment.

But after the cameras were turned off and radio broadcasts ended, Justin took a moment to vacation in the heart of capitalism in America where the blood of rebellion pores most keenly, Gatlinburg, Tennessee and once there he visited another friend of mine, Ron Johnston.  Justin was an early reviewer of my novel Tail of the Dragon which was written by me with the intention of modernizing Thomas Pain’s efforts who wrote pamphlets during the first revolution.  Ron is the guy who ignited my imagination to write the novel.  I’ll make no bones about it, I not only intended to blow on the flames of liberty to help them spread–I wrote Tail of the Dragon to throw gasoline upon that fire.  After reading the book Justin had this to say:

Rich – Your book is exceptional. The race/chase scene had me on the edge of my seat. “Tail of the Dragon”  is a dynamic action-packed thriller seamlessly integrating love for America, homage to our history, and true liberty. We ‘live’ it first hand through a NASCAResque race through the hills of Tennessee and North Carolina – a trip that captures the hearts of the citizens and even the President of the United States

- Justin Binik-Thomas, Owner, Conservative Media Group

To recharge his batteries after the IRS scandal of which he is the center, Justin visited the Tail of the Dragon and touched the face of true freedom in those rugged mountains west of downtown Gatlinburg in likely one of the freest places on earth.  Justin found Ron at his store and had his picture taken in front of the giant dragon that Ron has at the entrance to that famous road which is the centerpiece to my novel’s plot.  After speaking with Ron who is a tremendous Glenn Beck fan and after realizing who Justin was, and that he knew me, Ron had him sign his wall very near the autograph of Charlie Boorman.  Justin signed the wall #26 in reference to his IRS case much talked about in the media. 

What all these people have in common besides a love of liberty is their love of Tail of the Dragon.  Ron Johnston loved the book and upon reading it instantly gave me rights to use the name he created for the title to my novel.  Matt Clark as a modern-day youthful media wiz references the book often during his radio broadcasts as he has read it many times enjoying it more each time as the complicated themes come together more thoroughly each time.  And Justin after all that he had been through, who is also a lover of Tail of the Dragon, sought refreshment in the land that I described in the novel from the battles with the progressive establishment.   After reading the book he wanted to visit the actual place with his family, and it appears to have done everything he had hoped.

It gives me great pleasure to know that the “establishment” does not like my book which is fitting because I don’t like them.  As the author of Tail of the Dragon I did not hide my feelings about the “establishment,” nor my love of rebellion.  But people like Justin, Matt, and Ron do love my book and there are more and more every week that are discovering that rebel rousing work for themselves for the first time, and like Justin, they seek to make a pilgrimage to the actual spot to see what all the fuss is about.  Once they get there they discover that the Tail of the Dragon where Ron Johnston has his store is the heart and soul of the liberty movement and it is there that the pulse of American independence can be seen most clearly in a land far removed from politics where the residents are not afraid to show their disdain for intrusive government and nanny state politics.

It brings my mind great comfort to know that the story of Tail of the Dragon is touching so many with profound impact.   It was never my intention to have a traditional novel that dominated popular culture on the New York Times charts for a few weeks then faded off into obscurity not long after.  Rather, I always hoped to touch the minds of youth with the story of Rick Stevens and provoke there a desire to join in rebellion against establishment politics and the stagnation that lives in those fecal waters.  Witnessing Justin’s one week journey from a mutual friend in an Ann Arbor, Michigan radio show to the sharp mountains on the North Carolina/Tennessee border the common thread for all involved was a love of Tail of the Dragon the novel, and the spirit of rebellion that is its central message.  A rebellion that is not only justified, but mandated as the necessary means to bring joy to the human race globally as this second revolution is not just about a few colonies in a New World, but the entire earth.  It is time to stop allowing philosophies that don’t work to harm innocent people with tyranny and social compliance that is detrimental to their very souls.  It is time to behold a philosophy of freedom that will finally bring the world peace and prosperity—but it will not be easy.  Those who want to maintain the current establishment wish to continue this suffering because they profit from it.  It is against those people who this new rebellion is directed, and the means to the end are outlined in my novel Tail of the Dragon, that is slowly building up a nation of freedom fighters to their Yorktown moment.  And I love it!

Rich Hoffman

Give yourself the gift of ADVENTURE.  CLICK HERE!  

Charley Boorman Rides The Tail of the Dragon: Hollywood loves the Mountains of Tennessee

In a lot of ways Charley Boorman was the inspiration for my novel Tail of the Dragon.  My son-in-law, Paul is from England and made me aware of Boorman’s infamous Long Way Round, and Long Way Down television series featuring mammoth motorcycle rides around the world and across Europe to the tip of South Africa with his acting friend Ewan McGregor.  Recently my friend Ron Johnston ran into Charley as he came to the Tail of the Dragon to ride it at night in the rain.  For a man who has literally rode a motorcycle around the world his Tail of the Dragon ride was appropriate.  Charley had spoken to Ron and his wife who runs the Tail of the Dragon store at Deal’s Gap, (CLICK TO REVIEW) 5 years prior in Toronto at an event and remembered the correspondence enough to visit them when he was near the area.  It was after this meeting with Ron that I learned about Charlie’s next plan for a motorcycle documentary called Long Way Up, where he plans to ride with McGregor from the tip of South America all the way up to the tip of Alaska.  For a number of years now, my son-in-law and I have been looking for a way to fund a very similar motorcycle adventure from the tip of Alaska to the bottom of South America largely because of Charley and Ewan’s adventures which we loved.  For me that passion moved from several long road trips of my own which then became the plot for my novel Tail of the Dragon.

Boorman was not new to the Tail of the Dragon area.  When he was 8 years old he spent some time just to the south when his father was filming Deliverance on the Chattooga River.  The plot of that famous adventure film was three Atlanta businessmen were intent on seeing the fictional Cahulawassee River before it was turned into one huge lake.  Outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they’ll never forget into the dangerous American back-country. The Chattooga River (also spelled Chatooga, Chatuga, and Chautaga, variant name Guinekelokee River) is the main tributary of the Tugaloo River. Its headwaters are located southwest of Cashiers, North Carolina, and it stretches 57 miles (92 km)[1] to where it has its confluence with the Tallulah River within Lake Tugalo, held back by the Tugalo Dam. The Chattooga and the Tallulah combine to make the Tugaloo River starting at the outlet of Lake Tugalo. The Chattooga begins in southern Jackson County, North Carolina, then flows southwestward between northwestern Oconee County, South Carolina, and eastern Rabun County, Georgia. Charley’s father directed the film with brutal honesty and a sense of adventure that has never been duplicated and is a film classic.  But Deliverance isn’t the only film shot in the area.  Hollywood is well acquainted with the Tail of the Dragon.

To those coming from the North Carolina side, the Dragon begins at Fugitive Bridge with a view of the Cheoah Dam where Harrison Ford jumped in the movie The Fugitive. It ends 14 miles across the mountain at the Tabcat Creek Bridge in Tennessee. From Fugitive Dam US129 climbs through The Slide, a steep series of “S” curves where one would not want to meet one of the tractor-trailers that comes this way at times. The road then levels and straightens until a series of curves approaching the Crossroads of Time, one of the main hangouts for visitors. Next is Deals Gap and the Tennessee State Line. For the next eleven miles most people just remember curve after curve after curve and the run of their lives.

In addition to the 1993 The Fugitive, three other movies have been filmed along this road. The first feature film made on US 129 was Thunder Road. This 1958 Robert Mitchum film about backwoods moonshining had scenes at the power line easement at about mile 4.5 on the Dragon map and you can see the old wooden “safety” posts on the corner. A few of the posts still remain.

Part of the 1971 classic movie Two-Lane Blacktop was filmed on the Dragon. There are scenes of the state line sign, some of the curves, the old Esso Gas Station, Crafton’s Motel and Café, along the Little Tennessee River and the original single lane bridge at Tapoco Dam. These scenes are at the end of the movie.  Then there was In Dreams (1998) with Annette Bening which was filmed on Moonshiner 28, Tapoco Dam and Calderwood Dam.

http://tailofthedragon.com/dragon_history_story.html

Charlie’s love of adventure would become a global endeavor and began with a father who directed one of the greatest adventure films of all time in the mysterious land which became the modern-day Tail of the Dragon that is synonymous with classic Hollywood adventure films.  So it was a bit of a book end that he would return to that area after all his globe-trotting escapades to see my friends Ron and Nancy Johnston at their Tail of the Dragon store.  In that store Ron has on the wall the story of how Deliverance was filmed in the area prompting Charlie to autograph it for all visitors to see in the future.  When I came up with the kind of personality that became Rick Stevens in the novel Tail of the Dragon I thought often of people like Charlie Boorman, but were not as fortunate as Charlie to be born into the entertainment industry where eccentricities can be openly explored.  Boorman has had opportunities that many men struggle to gain and he has not squandered them.  My character of Rick Stevens is one of those types who has the adventurous soul of a Charlie Boorman without the Hollywood connections to allow him to embark on such grand adventures.  Rick Stevens because of his limited options takes the first opportunity that came his way—a political coup between governors in a run for President of The United States.  Adventurers always find a way and don’t uses excuses as a crutch.

My son-in-law and I are still planning our trip from Alaska to the bottom tip of South America but if Charlie beats me to it more power to him.  I will enjoy his wonderful documentaries on the subject as I have enjoyed all his work.  Doing my own share of long distance hard riding, and riding a motorcycle every day even in snow, heavy rain and below freezing temperatures I have a grand appreciation for the work that Charlie and his friend Ewan have done for the sport of marathon motorcycle riding.  Charlie Boorman is the kind of man I wish there were many more of, a kind man, a passionate man, but more than anything a man who plays at life-like a kid yet with the intellect of an adult.  He is the kind of man who every young child should hope to grow up and become.

Charlie isn’t the only celebrity to visit the real Tail of the Dragon.  CLICK HERE to read of Larry the Cable Guy’s visit.

Rich Hoffman

Give yourself the gift of ADVENTURE.  CLICK HERE!  

Ohio’s Bullwhip Fast Draw: Thoughts while listening to the ‘Lone Ranger’ soundtrack

While I was in Greeneville, Ohio participating in the annual Annie Oakley Western Showcase events a FedEx package arrived at my home two counties to the south.  The Lone Ranger soundtrack featuring Hans Zimmer’s new music for the 2013 Disney film came out on July 23rd prompting me to run all over town trying to find it.  I went to Best Buy, Barnes and Nobel, Target, any store that carried actual CD’s.  The soundtrack was actually released on July 2nd as MP3 downloads but I wanted an actual disk to call my own, and Disney had timed the release of the soundtrack to come out between the American and London release of the film.  I was hoping to have the music to listen to on the long drive up to the Darke County Fairgrounds so I went to Amazon.com and ordered The Lone Ranger soundtrack hoping it would be delivered by Friday.  Unfortunately when I checked on the shipping information before leaving for the bullwhip competitions, my treasured music was at the Hamilton hub and wouldn’t be delivered until later that day while I was gone. But I had been listening to clips of the soundtrack all month online, and was thinking of them as I participated in the yearly Ohio Bullwhip Fast Draw Championships which can be seen below.

The Bullwhip Fast Draw was invented by Gery Deer and Paul Nolan at Gerry’s studio in Jamestown, Ohio near Ceaser’s Creek.  There is nothing like it anywhere in the world.  The competition was literally born in Ohio out of a desire to display how fast bullwhips can be drawn from a coiled position and thrust out to hit a target.  At our annual Annie Oakley Western Showcase competitions the SASS (Single Action Shooting Society) is set up in the next building performing their pistol quick draw events so it only made sense for the benefit of the crowd and fun for participants to do something similar with bullwhips.

At the Annie Oakley Western Showcase expert whip handlers from all over the continental United States have come to participate over the last decade and try their hand at Ohio’s very challenging competition.  When the Bullwhip Fast Draw was first conceived by Gery the Wild West Arts Club had their big yearly meeting in Las Vegas led by Mark Allen and Alex Green so the smaller gathering in Ohio needed something to solidify its uniqueness.  That is how and why Gery invented The Bullwhip Fast Draw.  Over the years as older Western Arts acts with their aging participants left the field Ohio became the center of attention under Gery’s diligent work and enterprise.  Every year when the Annie Oakley Days hit Greenville, Ohio in Darke County the Bullwhip Fast Draw has become increasingly a crowd favorite.  It’s a very fast event that has plenty of drama and is the perfect kind of bullwhip activity to perform in front of an audience.

I won the event this year and several times in the past, but there have been many winners.  My son-in-law is particularly good at it as he and I used to practice in the back yard against each other when he lived at our house during the early days of his marriage to my daughter.  One year Richard Best’s 10-year-old granddaughter won the whole event beating everyone. Kirk Bass has done very well at it over the years which is why our stand-offs against each other are always exciting.  As a knife thrower he has the proper movement ingrained in his head so he gets to the target quickly.  Sometimes, like the instance in the video above the quick draw is so fast that the eye cannot see the result in real-time.  Only slow motion can reveal the winner.  The camera in that footage captures images at 30 frames per second, which is faster than a motion picture camera producing 24 frames per second.  By watching the Bull Whip Fast Draw in slow motion it is clearly seen that only a few images of the whips in motion can be seen from the coiled position.  As the entire Bull Whip Fast Draw takes place in a fraction of a second there are only a few images that are captured of the actual whip in flight.  When the end of the whip strikes the cup it is traveling at well over 750 MPH because the crack is a sonic boom.  The whip handler must calculate in their mind within a fraction of a moment the exact location in space and time where the end of their whip will strike the target.

Within the entire world there are only handfuls of people who are very good at the finesse aspects of whip handling.  This means performing some of the complicated cracks using two-handed maneuvers.  But when it comes to focusing those efforts on a directed point in space and applying the timing necessary to hit that point of space with all the calculations it takes to make a bullwhip arrive there is a whole different set of circumstances that has an even narrower range of experts.  This is why even very technical bullwhip performers can have difficulty when they are put up against a clock or worse yet, another human being standing across from them.  In the early days of the Bullwhip Fast Draw I always had the speed to hit targets quickly, but often found that if I tried to push out too much speed I would tend to crack the target off to the right—often missing.  A bullwhip to work right is a matter of timing, the end of the whip has to be known within fractions of a second and projected to a directed spot in three-dimensional space.  To win the Bull Whip Fast Draw a piece of the cup must be cut off, so the end of the whip needs to crack precisely on the target.  It is not enough to just run the whip through the target using downward momentum to knock the target from the holder.  To win the 750 MPH needed to obtain a crack of the whip needs to be focused in order to hit the target before the other opponent as fast as possible and that speed must be directed at the target.  Kirk Bass is so good at the Bullwhip Fast Draw because he’s not only strong, but is accustomed to directing focused energy complete with timing because he is a professional knife thrower.  Whip artists who are good at the Bullwhip Fast Draw are able to make all those calculations in fractions of a second using power, finesse, and impeccable timing to hit their target under the pressure of time.  Not at all easy, but really fun to watch and try.

Unlike traditional firearm quick draw, such as what the SASS Society engages in, the calculation is in the hand/eye coordination but with the added pressure of creating the force needed to generate a sonic boom to destroy the target.  The gun does most of the physical force work in traditional quick draw.  With the whip the force is done by the same hands that make all the calculations in time and space which is why it is such a unique event.

Like all games of skill the benefits often carry over into other aspects of life.  I find that the skills that allow me to be good at the Bullwhip Fast Draw help me in all aspects of my existence and that is the real reason for working hard to accomplish the needed skills.  Every year I enjoy the opportunity to re-calibrate myself with the wonderful people who meet me at the Annie Oakley Festival and compete against me in Ohio’s very own Bullwhip Fast Draw.  The crowd watching has a great time, but the competition for me is even better as a useful tool in measuring what works and what doesn’t.  The ability to discover how fast is too fast, and how fast is just right is useful in making virtually all decisions about all things and this is what I like most about The Bullwhip Fast Draw.

After a good day of working with some of the best whip artists there are anywhere it felt good to return home at the end of a long weekend to find The Lone Ranger soundtrack waiting for me on my front porch.  I had been humming the music in my head all during the whip competitions, especially the Bullwhip Fast Draw and my mind was in a good mood from the experience.  It is one thing to enjoy music like Hans Zimmer’s latest soundtrack to a western film which is highly unusual, especially the song, “Red’s Theater of the Absurd.”  Listen to it at the clip below. I LOVE THAT SONG!

But it’s quite another to be able to actually participate in events that celebrate western arts, which are the foundations of American culture while listening to it.  It was late at night but I opened the soundtrack anyway and quickly downloaded it onto my iPod.  As I drifted off to sleep thinking of my day participating in Ohio’s very own Bullwhip Fast Draw I listened to the music of The Lone Ranger.  Because Gery and Paul invented the Bullwhip Fast Draw, a unique event that has brought to my life a way of thinking that is highly unusual, and much appreciated, my life has been improved.  The musical notes of The Lone Ranger are just a little bit sweeter when it is known that all the work done in the Bullwhip Fast Draw were invented in Ohio, and seen only at the Annie Oakley Festival every year at the end of July.  It puts you in the kind of company that can be counted on only two hands as far as skill level.  It’s all about speed, calculation, and force, skills that are often needed when life deals hard problems which are not quite as literal as the relationship between a target and a bullwhip.

Rich Hoffman

Give yourself the gift of ADVENTURE.  CLICK HERE!  

Carlo De Leonibus Saved the Day at Sea World?: Saying the “F” word in front of little kids

There is more wrong than what’s obvious when a beached pilot whale struggled to get back into the water at Sea World in Orlando for about 25 minutes before trainers finally went to push it back in.  The crowd witnessing the event protested in fury.  When no trainers appeared to help the struggling animal after about 10 minutes, Carlo De Leonibus pulled out his cell phone and started filming stating heroically, “I went and told a SeaWorld employee in a dark blue shirt who said it was normal and that it was fine, playing etc.,” De Leonibus wrote in a description of the video he posted on YouTube. “I went back to the bleachers and began recording. What I saw changed my view of SeaWorld forever. The crowd becomes furious, yelling to save the dolphin. After an additional 10-15 minutes after my recording they sent two dolphin trainers in to push the dolphin back in.”  You can read more about the story at the link below.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/28/families-watch-horrified-as-struggling-whale-cant-get-back-into-the-water-at-seaworld/

Carlo believes that he saved the day for the poor “dolphin” by putting pressure on Sea World employees to react to his media coverage.  But sadly, the truly disturbing aspect of this entire situation is that Carlo should have had a better understanding of the situation before reacting so poorly to his panicked 11-year-old daughter which is why Carlo was at Sea World with his family—to celebrate her birthday.  It was Carlo’s job to explain to his daughter that the creature was not a “fish” and would not drown because it was out of water.  The animal was not a dolphin, but was a breed of whale related to dolphins.  It was a mammal and breathes air just like all people in the world.  The pilot whale could have remained out of the water for hours and been just fine.  The Sea World staff knew that the best way to teach the whale to survive is to let it learn how to put itself back into the water on its own, rather than waiting for someone to come and save it.

Even worse than not having the knowledge about such elementary matters, the father actually cursed in front of his family in outrage that Sea World personnel were somehow not privy to his divine understanding of science.  Upon hearing the hapless father who was filled with good intentions I immediately felt sorry for his daughter.  She has no chance at life with parents who don’t know or understand such basic scientific facts, or lack the patience to get the information if they don’t know.  Their first instinct was to protest like a bunch of radical buffoons to help a mammal that they thought was a fish by attempting to create a public relations nightmare for a wonderful company like Sea World.

More about pilot whales can be learned about at the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_whale

This is just another failure of modern society which is addicted to radical institutionalism learned from their public educations.  What the families in outrage at Sea World witnessed was a natural occurrence that they were at the marine park to learn about.  But they assumed that their collective protest had more power than the nature of reality.  Because of their vast ignorance, which they had every opportunity in their public school biology classes to learn about, or the countless documentaries that have been produced by the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel, PBS, The History Channel, and National Geographic, they were still ignorant to the fact that the animal was not dying on the side of the pool, but was simply stuck and the trainers wanted it to learn how to save itself.

The perception of the protestors reflects accurately the new age of welfare recipients where nearly half of all Americans are on some type of welfare.  Their view of the world can be heard in the protests of the crowd at Sea World.  They believe that Sea World to be good guardians of the world’s sea life, should help such animals from struggling and that it was inhumane to let the creature flop around in agony.  The first instinct when the protesters saw the animal stuck on the side of the pool was that “someone” should help it, instead of thinking first that the animal should help itself.

Another serious issue percolated to the surface as even conservative news outlets covered this Sea World story favoring the view of the Carlo De Leonibus types.  That issue was a general assumption that Sea World’s employees or even the corporation of the amusement park was somehow implicitly at fault because their emphasis was on “making money,” and were automatically up to no good because they are a capitalist endeavor.  Few news outlets came out and said such a thing directly, but they certainly implied it.  The assumption was that the mob of fans who wished not to see the flopping “fish” on the side of the pool knew better for the proper life and care of the pilot whale than the workers of an evil corporation.

The behavior of the De Leonibus family and the media in general points to a social failure that is quite catastrophic, the sheer lack of general education, the allowance of the youth to lead the adults with emotional pleas, and the desire to use activism to change the behavior desired by the masses is a dangerous sign that the human race is failing at an alarming rate in basic intelligence.  It is simply just stunning that the father in this case didn’t tell his daughter—“the pilot whale will be just fine, it breathes air just like you and me.”  And if the father didn’t know that little fact, he could have looked it up on his cell phone instead of trying to play a “gotcha game” with Sea World by recording the natural occurrence in order to stir up public outcry against the park.

I love Sea World.  The service they do throughout the world for marine life is unprecedented.  The knowledge they bring mankind is a true treasure.  And for the good life they bring to animals that would see a far harsher existence outside the amusement park in the wild, any animal living at Sea World is lucky.  They are fed every day at predictable times and they don’t have to contend with natural predators.  A pilot whale in the wild that finds itself beached on some remote island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean doesn’t have any Sea World personnel to push it back into the ocean.  It has to figure out how to get back into the water on its own, and once there has to worry every day about being eaten by a great white shark or even a killer whale.  It is just pathetic that so much was made about an animal at Sea World doing something that is natural in the animal kingdom to receive so much panicky scrutiny from half-baked minds and radical, ignorant, protesters.  Especially protestors who think it’s better to use the “F” word in front of their children while also teaching little girls that they can get what they want by crying, screaming, and being a panicky mess all the while supplementing the behavior with a complete lack of wisdom, logic, or even a desire to learn otherwise.

Rich Hoffman

Give yourself the gift of ADVENTURE.  CLICK HERE!  

Sex, Sex, and More Sex at Lakota: Classroom romance by Robert Supinger

 

 

 

For the second time in a month allegations that a Lakota West High School teacher conducted improper contact with a student surfaced.  The Enquirer deserves credit for the story as they reviewed the personnel records of Lakota and discovered Robert E. Supinger, a former long-term substitute teacher at the Butler County high school had allegedly kissed a student and took her to meet his parents while he was employed by the Lakota school district.

Read more about this story at the link below:

http://westchesterbuzz.com/2013/07/31/another-lakota-teacher-punished-for-student-contact/

 

The important thing to understand about this case is the date of the offense.  Lakota did not reveal the details which were happening in parallel to the George Merk case.  The impropriety occurred during the 2011/2012 school year and was finally resolved in December of 2012 by the Ohio Department of Education.  The Merk offenses occurred during March of 2012 right after the much publicized cuts to the staff in February of 2012 because of the failed levy in 2011. 

 

It appears that the teaching culture at the Lakota school system is one of excessive sexual preoccupation.  The amount of sexually related offenses is not a coincidence, but comes from the day-to-day management of their occupational affairs.  As Robert E. Supinger was only 25 years old, he was still nearly a decade older than the girl he was parading around to his parents as an employee of the Lakota school system, which shows extremely bad judgment.  That begs the question of why Supinger was teaching high school level kids, and who made that decision.  Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for Supinger to learn the teaching profession as a substitute in the middle schools where the children are much younger?  Wouldn’t it make sense to have teachers who are “older” instructing high school aged children?

 

It can be speculated forever why so many public school teachers seem to be obsessed with sex involving their students.  Yet the worst part of this case is that Lakota has had two sexually related scandals which they attempted to conceal, and were only revealed because The Enquirer did some digging to discover the information.  It should be clear now why Lakota cut a deal with No Lakota Levy to delay a school levy attempt in 2012.  When Channel 19 called me to do a story in June of 2012 I thought the timing was odd and Lakota seemed awfully eager to make such a deal.  Now the timing makes more sense.  Robert Supinger had just gotten into trouble with inappropriate conduct with one of his students and the district wanted to put time and distance between them and their next levy attempt once the Ohio Department of Education had finished their investigations.  Lakota had two sex scandals happen close together and they wanted to suppress the story.  If The Enquirer had not dug through the public records, the tax paying public would have no knowledge of these offenses and parents would have absolutely no idea what kinds of employees Lakota was employing.  They’d be forced to take the school’s word for it, which is of course is misleading 100% of the time.

 

Parents assume when they send their children to school  that the teachers aren’t going to attempt to engage in sex with the children no matter what the age of the teachers.  Teachers are supposed to “teach” not “date” the students.  Lakota stated regarding Robert Supinger that they had terminated the employee immediately, yet they didn’t publish the results in the flowery newsletter that the school sends home with the kids advertising the need for more money for those same teachers.  When I went to Homearama this year and browsed through the booth that Lakota had set up at the home building show the school did not reveal how their human resources team had taken evasive action to discharge sexual predators from their classrooms in order to protect the children of the “community.”  If The Enquirer had not dug through the public records the public wouldn’t have any idea that Robert Supinger had even been disciplined for anything.  The case would have been swept under the rug like so many other stories that are related to public education.

 

The question is obvious—how many teachers at Lakota are engaged in sexual enterprises with the students of their classrooms?  And how many such stories are being suppressed by the public relations machine the Lakota administration spends so much tax money on?   The answer is becoming known little by little as diligent reporters discover what many disheartened parents have attempted to break open for years, that Lakota may be a good school with an excellent rating, it may have a good football team, and may actually prepare students for a life in college.  But that preparation may not be academic.  It would appear by the behavior of Lakota schools that their teachers are overly sexual in their focus and intent to prepare students for the next college party, instead of a competitive workplace that expects good conduct and at least the illusion of sexual restraint.  Lakota acts as though their management conduct is acceptable and maybe it is for the Zombies of Lakota who vote continuously for school levies to pay for teachers who simply want to seduce tax payer’s children with flights of fantasy in their classrooms.  But for me, and many other people who are voting NO on the upcoming fall school levy, these employees are not worth the money.  If we wanted this kind of behavior at Lakota we’d simply recruit the teachers from a whore house.  

Rich Hoffman

Give yourself the gift of ADVENTURE.  CLICK HERE!  

‘Ender’s Game’ Book Review: Finally reading a book my nephew advocated for over a decade

Two of my earliest writing influences were Sol Stein whom I took a direct computer class with in the early days of the internet in the mid 1990s and the Science Fiction writer Linda Nagata.  Both writers helped me work on the craft of writing leading to The Symposium of Justice in 2004 and Tail of the Dragon in 2012.  During that time with Linda where she lived in Hawaii and I in Ohio I would mail her copies of my work in hard copy form back then—she’d mark them up and send them back with comments.  That went on for a while and at the end I had digested so much science fiction that I felt it had spilled over into my own writing interests.  I read all the books she recommended which tended to be Hugo and Nebula award winners and I read religiously the “Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy” so that I could take her advice and similar career path toward the realm of writing.  To learn science fiction and fantasy writing better I read a book she recommended called Hatrack River by Orson Scott Card and soon felt I was drowning in the genre.  As much as I enjoyed those types of works, my interest was in politics and philosophy to a much greater extent than I had imagined, and I found myself trying to go into a different direction than what Linda did.  I had to find my own path through the forest, and I wanted nothing to do with the paved road that she had taken which required winning Nebula and Hugo awards.  The more I thought about it, the less I was interested in appeasing a panel of judges who oversaw those award panels.

At the same time all this was going on one of my nephews whom spent a great deal of his childhood in my care was urging me heavily to read Orson Scott Card’s treasured Ender’s Game series starting of course with the first book, aptly named.  He declared to me that Ender’s Game was the best book he had ever read and that I would love it.  I had no doubt that he was correct, but I knew Orson  Scott Card from Hatrack River and wasn’t crazy about combining alternate history and fantasy together in that book.  But worse than that Orson Scott Card reminded me of Linda as he was a winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards which was a path I had decided not to take.  So I told my nephew that I would read the novel when I got around to it.

It took around 15 years but upon hearing that Harrison Ford was staring in the upcoming 2013 movie version of Ender’s Game I thought I should finally get around to reading the book before I saw the film.  I had written a few novels of my own and had picked a rather difficult path through the forest on a road of my own making that was well established, so I could easily now put behind me my reservations about letting those early writing influences contaminate my thoughts with their strong presence.  I bought the novel on my way to Florida to begin reading at the beach while on vacation, but more pressingly I wanted my nephew who lives near our vacation destination to know that I was physically reading the book after promising him I would for over a decade.

I started reading the book toward the end of my vacation and it took me a bit to get passed the much studied writing techniques that were so familiar to me from my writing instruction with Linda.  But after I let myself get into the story and drop away all the rules of plot, paragraph structure, and character development, I found myself enjoying the novel the way my nephew knew I would.  As many who follow me daily on my blog know I have put a major emphasis on the failures of societies that become philosophically committed to collectivism, especially lately.  The reason is that many of the modern political problems that defame the world currently have their root cause in social collectivism.  Once I learned that collectivism was the villain of our age I have been able to apply it to virtually every problem not because once learned the mind sees it everywhere by default, but because it is the cause of most human problems.  Ender’s Game is essentially about two societies that are colliding, an insect oriented species that uses collectivism as a military weapon to destroy their enemies and a society on earth that has attempted to duplicate the methods of the insect species to beat them.  Ironically, only one very promising student in world history figured out a strategy that would give earth a chance to destroy the alien threat and that is the young child Ender Wiggin trained from a 6-year-old boy to become a general of the International Fleet against their interstellar enemy.

The novel explored themes of sacrifice, honor, and individual integrity in ways that were more philosophy than science fiction.  Upon closing the book I felt I had read a remarkable story from Orson Scott Card which explains why there are 14 books in the series written from 1985 to 2013.  Now I understand why they are so popular.  If I had read them back when my nephew had first mentioned Ender’s Game I might have saved myself a lot of headache in working out my own explorations into the folly’s of collectivism.  Orson Scott Card certainly did a wonderful job of arriving at many very interesting conclusions that are without question deeply inspired from the Cold War of the Reagan years.

If the movie comes close to how excellent the novel was it should be quite a treat during the Holiday Season of 2013.  I’m glad that my nephew was so persistent in trying to get my attention with the novel because it was well worth my time.  My July has been an unusually busy month, so it took me a few weeks to get through it not because the pacing was slow, but rather I took my time to absorb it like a fine wine, which is exactly what I thought as I closed the book.  I had thought about many of the problems presented in Ender’s Game from much more terrestrial angles, so it was a real pleasure to read them in the context of a heavy science fiction story that has much more to offer any serious reader than just spontaneous entertainment.  Ender’s Game is an important work for our times that belongs right alongside Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon.

Rich Hoffman

Give yourself the gift of ADVENTURE.  CLICK HERE!  

Northwest Schools Thank Voters for School Levy: Oral sex and pot smoking at a teacher’s home

It may seem unfair to public schools to measure the behavior of their teachers off so many cases of bad conduct.  But they bring the scrutiny on themselves.  Every couple of years most public schools constantly ask for tax increases promising that by spending the extra money communities will make themselves stronger by being able to employee better teachers.  Then school districts hire public relations staff at tax payer expense to spin the school’s position in favor of maintaining high public approval so that levies can be passed when schools desire the money.  So when bad things happen which cannot be controlled by media handlers, the tax payers have a right to know, and to cast their disapproval in the direction of public education.  That is what has just happened in the Northwest School District.

A grand jury indicted science teacher 36-year-old Julie Hautzenroeder on two counts of sexual battery.  According to court documents, Hautzenroeder engaged in oral sex with one boy and intercourse with another between April 26 and May 15 of 2013.  Both teens were students at the school, and one boy was a 10th-grader.  Parents who know the teen said the case also involved marijuana smoking,  Hautzenroeder was escorted from the school in early May and placed on leave before the end of the school year.  She had been employed by Northwest Schools since July 2006.

Read more of the story that Karin Johnston broke at Channel 5 broke: http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/colerain-teacher-indicted-on-student-sex-charges/-/13550662/21178788/-/1416u6e/-/index.html#ixzz2aLT7jmsk

Sex, or sexual misconduct by teachers at this point is well-known and appears to be normal in public education.  Just a few short weeks ago Lakota had a case that finally became known to the public after a year of debate.  Lakota West High School math teacher George C. Merk was placed on a 45 day license suspension beginning over the summer months because he had inappropriate sexually related text messages with his students.  CLICK HERE FOR REVIEW.  It is no surprise that Julie Hautzenroeder desired to use her position of authority to fulfill sexual fantasies with her students using marijuana smoking and various degrees of sex.  These teachers know that unless they do something really outrageous and get caught doing it; their teacher’s union will protect them so they don’t worry too much about behaving in a positive fashion.  In the case of Merk he was suspended over the summer when teachers were off anyway–so much for punishment.  With Hautzenroeder it took a grand jury for the teacher to be removed from the job as she had been on paid leave since the scandal first broke on May 15.  It literally takes getting caught red-handed with massive evidence to lose a job as a teacher because the unions are so strong.  There is simply no telling how much of this sex is going on as the behavior appears to be rampant—which is why schools require public relations staff to control the scandals from public scrutiny.

But here’s the worst of it.  It was only November of 2012 that the same school district Julie worked for was going for a 4.95-mill five year emergency operating levy to generate $7.3 million annually.  During the levy campaign the school declared to the community that the tax payers were paying for quality schools that would bring quality to their community—the same nonsense that is uttered in every public school district.  But what is never discussed is that a majority of the money raised was going directly to teacher salary.  When the levy was passed, the superintended posted the following on their Facebook page celebrating their win at the ballot box.

A note from the NWLSD Superintendent:

We won! Or more accurately, congratulations- you

won! This victory was all about our community members taking a stand and saying:

We not do want any more cuts.

We want to maintain the wide array of

outstanding programs that we offer to our students.

We want our students and staff to be able to

work together without fearing the loss of programs and jobs.

We want our community to be proud of the

programs that can offer in our schools.

I am sure that a lot more will said about this levy victory,

but for today we only need to do two things. First, we need to thank all the staff, students, parents, community members and businesses who helped pass the levy…… then we need to celebrate- this was a decisive victory for our community, our students and our staff.

Have a great day- I know I will.

Rick Glatfelter

Superintendent

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vote-Yes-Northwest-2012/114764095286259

Within five months of that election victory Rick Glatfelter had one of his employees bringing students to her home for oral sex, standard sex, and pot smoking.  Glatfelter obviously had no control of the school employees off the Colerain property yet the arrangements were made at his school by his employee with students he was responsible for and he obviously has failed to maintain a high standard of conduct that the community he proclaimed to represent can be proud of.  Without question the superintendent will declare that he did what he could with Julie Hautzenroeder as the union had his hands tied.  As soon as he could he removed her from class, but the damage had already been done.  The events leading up to the sex at her house, the in-class flirting, the whispers from the other teachers, the gossip of the other students were not acted upon because the union has management’s hands tied into inaction.

All management at public schools can do is throw more money at teachers like Julie Hautzenroeder and hope that everyone behaves.  If somebody gets caught, then public relations specialists can bail out the district as Lakota attempted to do with the Merk case which finally came out a year too late.  In all reality nothing will happen to Merk—he’ll be teaching at the start of the 2013/2014 school year in spite of his bad behavior and without question Hautzenroder thought she’d skate along with the same disregard for her job that showed incredible arrogance and disrespect for her employers, the tax payers of Northwest Schools.  Her way of thanking the voters for approving the recent school levy was to sleep with their children and get stoned.

With the reckless attitude displayed in public schools by the employees at all levels, it is amazing that they have the audacity to even use such language as “quality,” “community,” and “excellence” when describing the services they offer to the community.  Any gutter trash of a human being can do what Julie Hautzenroeder did.  But the public schools have no way of removing such parasites off their payroll once they are hired leaving the question to ask, why didn’t Rick Glatfelter say as much during the levy attempt of 2012?  Well, the answer is that he was hired for one thing at Northwest Schools, and that was to pass a tax increase, which he did.  That was why he was able to sleep well that night of the election.  Most superintendents in Ohio are former teachers themselves and they know of many situations like the Julie Hautzenroeder case.  Their job is to run cover for the unions to protect their former profession from public scrutiny while finding new ways to wrestle from the community the money needed to pay the outrageous wages demanded by collective bargaining contracts.  At the time Julie lost her job she was making right around $50,000 a year only working at the district since 2006.  With payroll so high and the union so strong the only management that Glatfelter could perform is to throw more money into the community pot so that the teachers good and bad alike could pillage from it like ravenous wolves upon the taste of blood.  Once the money was secured, and the teachers could relax a bit on their public image campaigns during the levy periods, they were back at doing what they enjoyed doing best—surrendering their sexual urges to logic in drug induced indictments against the community that employs them with a secret smile on their faces daring anybody to confront their illicit behavior which is much more known than anybody will dare admit.

Rich Hoffman

Give yourself the gift of ADVENTURE.  CLICK HERE!  

2013 Annie Oakley Western Showcase: A new hope for America

I appreciate all the offers to visit with various groups who read here often, but impossibly time cannot be split to occupy more than one place at a time.  My summer has been an excessively busy one, especially July which began in Central Florida and ended in Greenville, Ohio at the Annual Annie Oakley Festival of 2013.  At the Fairlawn this year the crowd at the back of the room was larger as more children from our group of Wild West practitioners were coming of age, and were sitting at the tables with their parents.  CLICK HERE TO REVIEW LAST YEAR.  Many of my opinions about politics, education and life in general come from spending over a decade with my Wild West friends who are the closest thing to knowing the real Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill that there is in the world.  There is typically more talent at the back of the room at the Fairlawn Steak House each year during the last weekend of July at the climax of the Annie Oakley festivities than entire cities produce. There are artists, authors, musicians, knife throwers, professional Wild West acts, master whip handlers, photographers, World Record holders, television producers, newspaper journalists, magicians, and comedy actors who all converge that one time of year to visit the steak house as the sun runs for night in the land that God blessed, with Darke Country, Ohio where American flags are as common as farm houses painted white.  Click the videos below to witness some of the key events.  This year I put up entire sections of unedited video of the contests so that people who might consider coming next year can see exactly how things were done.

The group is amazing, so of course the children that are produced by such people are noticeably more bright-eyed, happy and willing to learn anything they can from the adults.  Like any tight-nit group everyone is kind to each other’s children who directly benefit by having access to so many unique personalities to teach them.  This is particularly the case with the children of Kirk and Melodie Bass whose children radiate a brilliance that is put out in most kids by the time they are seven years old by more conventional parents.  They are lucky to have parents who spend so much effort making their children’s lives unique as one of the only remaining knife throwing acts in the country with Bass Blades.

My whip making friend David Crain was back again with his wife and little girl who started off the bull whip speed and accuracy competition this year, which really took some guts exhibiting a confidence that was unusual and only comes from parents who deeply care.  David made special whips for my grandson which were given to him upon his birth.  David’s little girl was hitting targets out of her daddy’s hand as a 5-year-old and now she started the speed and accuracy competition against the best whip crackers in the world with the exception of a couple of people who couldn’t come out due to paying gigs elsewhere in the country.

Chris Camp was able to take a much needed break from his world tour across Asia, Greece and all places in between where he travels extensively with his family as clearly one of the best bull whip acts there is.  Chris has been on America’s Got Talent, The Tonight Show and many other venues and is a multi World Record breaker for most whip cracks in a minute.  Because Camp is so highly sought after his family travels with him and performs in the acts.  His children are privately tutored as being in a fixed public school would be impossible.  They must learn math and English on the shores of the Mediterranean and the busy streets of Hong Kong so that they can travel with the family business as “The Whip Crackin’ Dare Devils.”   CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON CHRIS CAMP.  If my schedule has been busy lately Chris will far surpass that.  He told me that he came to Annie Oakley this year as a vacation because he was booked solid for the next two months.  By the videos here you can see what he considers a vacation.  It was Camp who taught me the trick I used in A Whip Trick to Save America.  Chris has since turned up the heat to improve upon that by cracking a single poker dice into a glass cup by removing a playing card.  Watch this.

Lash Luke was back too, and his act was more polished after another year of diligent work as his entire family came to Darke County to cheer him on from Alabama.  At dinner he had the wonderful opportunity to sit across from Chris Camp and hear stories that will ultimately become his fate as the next generation of whip cracker.  Last year the little girl who was the official Miss Annie Oakley for the city of Greenville was after Luke knowing a good thing when she saw it.  But since last year, the long distance between them geographically made a relationship nearly impossible and she found a new romantic interest.  But she wasn’t fooling anybody as she came back again and like one of Luke’s first groupies hung out in the back of the spectator stands waiting for the show to be over so she could speak to her old flame once again.  Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and there is still a fire in her eyes that burns for Luke.  But what young woman wouldn’t like a young man who can play music with bull whips and crack poker dice off of the top of his own head with them.  As I told Luke after the evening shows that we were heading over to the Fairlawn to eat, I could see in her eyes the carefully concealed truth that she would be a part of his life for many years.

Years ago Gery Deer who produces the whole Annie Oakley Western Showcase, singing, playing the piano for the group The Brothers and Company, doing whip acts, performing magic with his friend Professor Karns, all while doing production work for Channel 2, freelance writing, and various other activities gave my wife a special bull whip pendent that she wore at this event.  It’s a very unique item that only Gery has been able to provide from the only indoor bull whip instruction studio in existence in Jamestown, Ohio.  Gery gave it to my wife while we were producing one of our various projects together.  The bull whip for all of us represents creative power and is the source of our focus which is the reason for the pendent.  The bull whip is all that’s left of an era in classic American art and we hold to it ruthlessly.

In the competitions I missed a cup during the Speed and Accuracy portion which put me in second place behind Chris Camp who won that event.  I did better on the Speed Switch and Bull Whip fast draw.  The key to these kinds of things is to actually slow down and not get ahead of yourself which I was able to do once I settled into the events.  With Lash Luke’s third place timing on the Speed and Accuracy I suspect that he will really be pushing for first place next year along with a host of young talent that is up and coming including a young man from North Carolina who came to the Western Showcase with his mother.  This year he sat in the audience and watched after receiving a couple of brand new stock whips from David Crain, but in the near future he will likely be out there with Luke ushering in a new generation.

And that is what pleases me most.  As Gery and I finished up our meals the kids were running around the Fairlawn enjoying themselves immensely.  In that dining room were most of the people the kids cared about, and they enjoyed the stimulating environment provided by these excessively creative individuals.  The children were unhindered by the kind of social norms most children have to contend with, and it showed clearly.  In the past I’ve reported about my trips to Annie Oakley with reverence for the “old days” dying in a dimly lit future but in the eyes of the young I saw new generations rising to the challenge to keep the Wild West Arts of America’s past from disappearing into a void of modern scrutiny.  I saw at the Fairlawn in 2013 the start of a new generation that holds the hope of America in their hands, and am confident that the task will not be fruitless.

Rich Hoffman

Give yourself the gift of ADVENTURE.  CLICK HERE!