Random Link Friday
The Top Politically (in)Correct Words for 2005
My favorite being: "Deferred Success as a euphemism for the word fail. The Professional Association of Teachers in the UK considered a proposal to replace any notion of failure with deferred success in order to bolster students self-esteem." And we wonder why people are becoming whimpering sheep.

Tired of crappy words and phrases used by the media and government?
Take a look at Lake Superior State University 2005 List of Banished Words Some examples include words I am sick of like:
BLUE STATES/RED STATES
FLIP FLOP/FLIP FLOPPER/FLIP FLOPPING
AND I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE
ENEMY COMBATANT
ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION

Being a recovering Sports Junkie, this made me laugh
Baseball Knowledge will Not Help You Pick Up Girls.

Or

Kids Letters from Terrorist Camp

BayRaider is a site totally devoted to the weird sold on Ebay.

Did you know that FANTASTIC 4 ELECTRONIC THING HANDS is one of this Christmas' Most Dangerous Toys? It is according to WATCH (World Against Toys Causing Harm) cited for HAZARD: POTENTIAL FOR BLUNT IMPACT INJURIES! I sleep .000598677474% better knowing that my "future" child will be kept safer than I was from dangerous toys.

The documentation of a family by one photo per year.

Do dogs laugh?

Wow I didn't know knitting was this popular! It is the web stats for this site

Stars Looking Bad in HDTV: Silly Talk or Serious Issue?.

Fun with Letters to the Editor:

Sundance liberals

I see that catty New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd is having a book signing Saturday in Utah, but it's not at some bookstore. It's at the Sundance resort and they are charging $95 a person to get in.
This pretty much ensures that only the wealthiest, wine-and-cheese, Salt Lake east bench liberals will want to go. Remember this little fact the next time you hear Dowd or Robert Redford sound off about economic fairness and the underdog.

R.W. Rasband
Heber City
LINK

Response Letters I would like to see.

Dear Mr. Rasband,

Although I run my businesses like Joe McCarthy, You and I both know that liberal money is the only money that spends. I gotta keep the Republican riff-raff out of Sundance. Its cheaper than seeing the Rolling Stones at that conservative Larry Miller place of propaganda besides $95 also gets you a book an autograph and some hoity-toity food.

Thanks
Bob

'T' stands for many things

I want to share how I feel about the American Atheist Inc. filing a lawsuit against the Utah Highway Patrol because of its monuments honoring fallen troopers. The "t" is not only a symbol for the cross but is also one of the lowercase letters of the English alphabet. The symbol "t" can stand for trooper, thankful, true and thoughts. Certainly, American Atheist Inc. and thinking judges can't protest separation of alphabet and state.
Merlin Ross
Sandy
LINK

This letter is well said. American Atheists should crawl back under their rock.

'Work and Glory' is real gift

My gratitude goes to Gerald Lund, Larry H. Miller and others for the wonderful movie "The Work and the Glory." The acting was flawless. I can hardly wait for the next segment.

The movie was superb, but was given only two-and-a-half stars by the paper's movie critic, Jeff Vice. Could it be that Vice - who gives good ratings to many R-rated movies, can't attain the heights one reaches while watching such a beautiful film - heights where the stars are numberless? I reached up, and grabbed four for that glorious work.
Anne Smart-Pearce
Salt Lake City
LINK

Dear Ann
Larry Miller has only made three mistakes that I know of.

1. Resigning Greg Ostertag to a seven-year deal.
2. Signing Carlos "Retired" Boozer
3. Spending any money on the creation of Mormon Movies.

Sorry.
Amanda Hugandkiss

Larry's Secretary

BIG WHITE TEETH...

Today, I was looking through my web site stats. and I stumbled upon http://www.osmond.com. Being the curious sort I thought I would check out their site.

Some Highlights:
If you are a little bit country or a little bit rock and roll
In the spring of 2006 the Donny and Marie Show will be available on DVD.

Donny's Response to Plastic Surgery.
"I wouldn't rule it out. :) Just let me know when I need it. Although, I think I'll just grow old as gracefully as I possibly can." http://www.donny.com/info/faq

If all the Records, DVD's and CD's aren't enough for your type of fan there is always the Osmond Network: yes the Osmonds want to be your ISP.

Osmonds - Second Generation. This left me speechless.. I burned all my Color Me Bad CD's and I am now strictly Osmond Second Generation

Jay now has his traditional Holiday Greeting online.

And Don't Forget to Purchase Your Donny and Marie Millennium CD Greatest Hits

Do you ever wonder how successful people became successful?
I do all the time.I am positive that it drives my wife nuts. I don't watch a lot of mindless TV; I like to watch shows that will teach me something. I watch TLC, Discovery Channel and other "nerd" channels instead of much of the mindless junk that broadcast networks produce to numb America. I like watching shows on business both entrepreneurial and marketing. I love learning how people have stumbled upon business ideas and successes by complete accident or by what I call planned luck; working until succesful. My parents always spouted the phrase: Work will win when wishy washy won't. It wasn't until later in life I realized what they meant.

Mark Cuban Billionaire Extraordinaire recently reposted his personal history and how he became successful on his blog at www.blogmaverick.com.

Success & Motivation Part 1 Coming to Dallas without a job.

Success & Motivation Part 2 My first job in Dallas, lessons learned and teaching myself how to use a PC.

Success & Motivation Part 3 Fired - and ready to start MicroSolutions

Success & Motivation Part 4 Some early lessons learned

Success & Motivation - You only have to be right once

The Sport of Business - Competition in the Business world puts any sport to shame

Goals - An Interview He did with Young Money

It is interesting that Cuban has had a lot of jobs; Cuban had the sense to learn all that he could from each job whether it is it good or bad. I think a lot of people go about their job mindlessly and don't use it to become a better employee or find a better job. People get stuck in a rut and feel they have no hope and become sheep. I have seen a lot of sheep in the workplace. My current job has lots of sheep running around ba ba ba-ing everthing. Baaing that they don't make enough money but yet they do nothing to move up the ladder or to better their situation. Baaing that somebody else got promoted. Baaing that so and so is now rich. These sheep believe that success comes by luck and that work has no bearing on success. One thing I do know is that success and work almost always go hand in hand. I have had a lot of jobs and some were good and some were bad but I learned a lot. Since 1993 I have kept a notebook of lessons learned or ideas for running a business. Some entries include: Never make more than 10x the lowest paid employee. Provide Health Insurance for all employees. Some of the items have changed or I have realized that maybe they will or won't work as intended or maybe I was too young to understand. Sometimes the lessons are no longer relevant. My mindset has always been when I am the boss I will do X, Y, Z. Someday I will work on my goal to write a book about my notebook. The title may be: thoughts I have had while thinking or maybe lessons learned by hard knocks.

Part 2 and 3 of Cubans autobiographical blog were the most interesting to me. He writes of becoming knowledgeable in a business area and using it to become more successful. I think it is insightful to read in his words about how he was computer illiterate and that he managed to get a job in the computer industry. Cuban learned about his products and became more knowledgeable and grew the business he worked for. Eventually he was fired for making a sale. The next step was starting his business with no money. Cuban had the basic understanding of business client relationships. Cuban knew he had to leverage his past successes for future success. It is interesting how he explains how he did it in simple terms. The other nugget I believe in his blog is his belief that if you want to succeed you need to be as knowledgeable about what you are doing. In reality Cuban says is that most people will not take the time to read books, magazines and manual on subjects but instead leave it to others to become experts. Becoming an expert through hard work is a sure method to achieve success. Mark Cuban gives a lot of insight into what it took for him to become Mark Cuban Billionaire. Cuban says unapologetically that there are no short cuts to success. I find that very interesting.

It's Christmas for Pete's Sake...

I get sick and tired of people trying to remove religious symbols from everything in American society. Mostly I am tired of the wasted tax money in entertaining these thoughts and legal actions. Religious relics are items that the fathers of our country felt should be incorporated into their new country and government. The symbols and history do nothing to promote religion other than to show that the founding fathers of America believed in a higher power.

Our founding fathers believed in God. In the Declaration of Independence they state their belief in God. The framers of our nation used God as the power and foundation for the new government.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

The Charters of Freedom speaks of a higher power often. So if you don't believe in God how can you use rights that "the Creator" has given in the foundation of our country to fight against religious symbolisms in the government?

The latest Holiday vs Christmas battles as well as a recent lawsuit in Utah have raised my ire. Removing Christmas from all December Holiday references is ridiculous. It is not a Holiday tree or Winter Festival tree, it's a Christmas tree. I am sure the Jews will be stoked to call their Manora a Holiday Candle Holder just to appease you Atheists. Face it, if it weren't for Christians you wouldn't have had a two-week break in school or a holiday were gifts are given. I don't see too many Atheist Holidays. Maybe it is due to the fact that Atheists don't believe in a God and thus nothing is Holy to them and thus no Holidays. Holiday is a derivative of Holy Day. Religious symbols are everywhere. Removing "In God We Trust" isn't going to make us Freer, Richer or more Safe.

Maybe the atheists and ACLU could chase the medical community for using religious symbols after all they use one. The medical symbol of a staff and two snakes is a reference to the Bible and Moses journey into the wilderness where the children of Israel were cursed with fiery serpents and the Lord commanded Moses to make a staff for the believers to look upon to prevent death by the fiery serpents. (Numbers 21) So how is this not religious?

To all you Atheists and ACLU supporters who constantly try to screw up American Holidays by misconstruing the Constitution here are some writings and speeches by the men who wrote the document. It seems they were religious

"I have lived a long time, sir, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this, that God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel."--Benjamin Franklin addressing the Constitutional Congress April 1787

We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus! --John Adams April 18, 1775

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." -John Adams October 11, 1798

"The Law given from Sinai [The Ten Commandments] was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code."--John Quincy Adams. Letters to his son. p. 61

"For my own part, I sincerely esteem it [the Constitution] a system which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests."--Alexander Hamilton

"It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."-Patrick Henry May 1765 Speech to the House of Burgesses

" The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend to all the happiness of man."--Thomas Jefferson
"Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus."--Thomas Jefferson

"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus." --Thomas Jefferson

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever." Thomas Jefferson (excerpts are inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in the nations capital) [Source: Merrill . D. Peterson, ed., Jefferson Writings, (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), Vol. IV, p. 289. From Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1781.]

"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We've staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity.to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."-James Madison 1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia

Baron Charles Montesquieu, wrote in 1748; "Nor is there liberty if the power of judging is not separated from legislative power and from executive power. If it [the power of judging] were joined to legislative power, the power over life and liberty of the citizens would be arbitrary, for the judge would be the legislature if it were joined to the executive power, the judge could have the force of an oppressor. All would be lost if the same . body of principal men . exercised these three powers." Madison claimed Isaiah 33:22 as the source of division of power in government. Isaiah 33:22 "For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us."

"To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. . . . Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow from them, must fall with them."-- Jedediah Morse--Federalist

The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion" ...and later: "...reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle..." George Washington September 17, 1796 Farewell Address

Read more on religion and the foundation of America

This should just about kill any ability for me to run for office later in Life.