A Fresh Opinion

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Are You Hiring the Right People?

Here is a video from my company, The Employee Testing Center:



We help business owners hire honest, trustworthy and dependable staff.
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The Human Spirit Knows No Bounds...

This one speaks for itself!





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It's About Dancing...

I just couldn't pass this one up.

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Ely Lilly...Friend or Foe?

I just watched a video, which I'll include below, of a news item regarding Ely Lilly. The pharmaceutical company agreed to pay a fine of 1.4 Billion Dollars. Let me repeat that figure so there is no misunderstanding: One Billion, Four Hundred Million Dollars.

Now I realize with the government throwing out billions and now trillions of dollars in an effort to "stimulate" our economy, the idea of a mere 1.4 Billion Dollars may seem like an insignificant sum. And perhaps it may be somewhat insignificant to Ely Lilly that made four times that amount last year on the very drug they've been fraudulently promoting.

But here's another perspective: it's the largest fine of a corporation in the history of the United States. It indicates a TREMENDOUS level of corruption and, in this case, is evidence of an enormous amount of greed. Corporations are not slapped with a $1,400,000,000 fine for failing to do their homework on time. This kind of fine speaks of rampant, intentional, widespread injustices carried out on millions of Americans. It was knowing and it was sinister.

Here's the video.



If you know of any other abuses by Ely Lilly or other pharmaceutical companies, report them to the Citizen's Commission for Human Rights.

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Does Psychiatry Cure People?

I found a very interesting video in which a number of psychiatrists were asked about their ability to cure people. They were also asked if there are any physical or biological tests they use in diagnosing mental illness. Here is the video...

Psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies talk a great deal about mental illness being a result of a chemical imbalance and yet, there apparently are NO physical or biological tests to determine this chemical imbalance.

Hmm.

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Voting for a President in 2008

My good friend, Tom Solari, wrote an article that gives a simple formula for choosing a President (or any politician). Here is the article in full:

A MAGIC FORMULA

Some years ago I figured out an easy way to resolve burning political questions and issues.

I decided that a simple determining factor regarding politics, politicians and political parties, is the concept that if you penalize production or reward non-production, you get a worsened economic situation, not a bettered one. It’s a natural law.

And if an economic situation gets bad enough, all the other issues and principles you care about will collapse under the weight of it. So we’ve got to get this one right.

If you had an NFL franchise and you wanted to win games, you would not fine your star running back every time he made a touchdown. Neither would you increase a player’s salary on the basis of most fumbles, dropped passes or missed field goals.

It’s just inherent common sense that good works and success be rewarded… if you want to improve things.

When a candidate or party promotes activities that run counter to this principle regarding rewards and penalties, I know they are either ignorant of this natural law and its importance or they don’t care what turmoil they create in pursuit of their own political aims and power. Either way, it’s extremely dangerous to society’s success and good health.

THE WORKER’S PARADISE

In general terms, the political philosophy most closely associated with violating this principle is socialism or, at its extreme, Marxist communism.

A well known Marxist principle is “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

Here you have an attempt to create a society where everyone is “equal”—no winners or losers—as in the old Soviet Union. There is also no individual freedom… and the leadership class is a bit more equal than others.

To ensure that no one has an unfair advantage—to housing, to jobs, to health care, education, travel, food—the government owns and controls it all, and bureaucrats decide who gets what and from whom.

If we have a lot of ability and work hard, we give. If we have a lot of need, we get… and large walls and fences are built to keep us from leaving the “worker’s paradise.”

BY THEIR WORKS SHALL YE KNOW THEM

Politicians in favor of this socialist system see themselves as a special breed of individual, ideally suited to the task of deciding things for the rest of us. They know what’s best.

I guess you could say that anyone who aspires to public office has this attitude to some degree—a sense of specialness—but that doesn’t make them all the same.

You can look at a person’s past record and see what was done. And you can look and listen to the candidate in present time and determine what he or she has in mind for us.

This can be tricky because the politician is trained to tell us, in a charming and convincing manner, what the polls have suggested we want to hear. So you can’t necessarily go by what is said.

But, if he says he will “help” the American people by expanding government programs—health care, housing, education—and the way we will pay for it is to raise taxes on “wealthy” people, this is a Marxist approach and a clear indicator of someone who will worsen conditions. It runs counter to the natural law. It is penalizing production and success, and rewarding mediocrity and failure.

Its purpose is to weaken the successful and the strong so they may be replaced, via an all-powerful government, with the politicians and their shadowy overseers, the ones who are behind this socialist movement.

WHAT TO DO?

There are lots of issues in an election—the environment, the economy, the war, abortion rights, gay rights, rights to life.

And there is a lot to like or dislike about the candidates, be they eloquent, friendly, handsome—old, nasty, slick.

And there can be emotional issues—party loyalties and animosities, such as loving or hating Bush or Clinton.

It’s not easy to make an objective, sensible choice in the whirl of such issues, opinions and emotions, but it can be done by applying this simple test of logic.

Ask yourself the question: will he or she reward success or reward failure? This effectively bypasses most of the other issues and takes the emotion and bias out of it. It is a completely objective test along the lines of: when dropped, do heavy objects fall down or up?

THE PERFECT CANDIDATE

None are closer to perfection than you or I. In other words, the perfect candidate doesn’t exist. No matter the party or the candidate we vote for and support, we all must hold our noses to some extent.

Just recognize that the most socialist-inclined, high-taxing, big-government candidates and parties need to be defeated or we will be a giant step closer to a socialist super state.

I’m sorry if the correct choice, by this standard, might not be the cutest or most charming or clever. And it may seem that you are sacrificing some issues that are close to your heart.

CHOOSING SIDES

If I lean toward Republicans and shy away from Democrats, it’s not because I was born a warmonger or was indoctrinated at an early age to favor the rich. I have made the choice based on what I have observed.

What I noticed, over the years, is that Democrat politicians, to an increasing degree, like to reward victims and punish success. As in the NFL example, this doesn’t make sense to me and nowhere in life have I found this approach to work.

Does the Republican Party need work? Absolutely. They drive me nuts some times, most recently in regards to the financial bailout, which is a socialist program in itself.

But at least, in terms of basic principles, they espouse the right idea—less government, more individual responsibility. They just need to have their feet held to the fire and be made to walk the walk that they like to talk.

Then there is the alternative party option.

Unfortunately, though there is much to like about certain alternative party candidates, a vote for them, right now, or a non-vote, is a missed opportunity to vote against the socialist candidate.

And as the left consolidates its power, it will eventually squeeze out all dissent.

WHAT? ME WORRY?

This is what happens when a militant socialist party comes to power—as in the National Socialists of Germany (NAZI) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

And then, more recently, there is Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, as he nationalizes industries and the press, while snuggling up to Castro and Putin. Do you think the voters in Venezuela really knew what they were getting when they elected this charming, blustering, U.S hating Marxist? I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.

From the World Book Dictionary

“Communism and socialism are systems of social organization under which the means of production and distribution of goods are transferred from private hands to the government.

The classic difference between the two systems lies in the different means they take to establish themselves: communism emphasizes the impracticality of replacing the social order by any means other than force or outside intervention; the advocates of socialism seek to establish it by peaceful means, through legislation rather than force.”

Thanks for small favors.

NAMING NAMES

Barack Obama is a nice looking, smooth talking community organizer, schooled and drilled in the classic methods of “peaceful” social-political takeover. He has been groomed and moved up the political ladder by radical socialist operatives, at home and abroad.

This is with the willing or unwitting help of the Democrat Party and their backers in the news media. The target is the Presidency of the United States, arguably the most powerful position in the world.

From such a position of power, and with socialist Democrats also controlling the House and Senate, every aspect of government can be peopled with like-thinking operatives and the U.S. will, effectively, have been overthrown from within, just as the socialist agenda predicts.

As well, the socialist candidate and party will be least likely to support Supreme Court nominees who are strong constitutionalists. In other words, they will be able to alter the country’s bedrock policy to suit their social engineering and political ends.

And it is a fact that Barack Obama is an outspoken proponent of widespread “mental health” screening. That is a nightmare scenario, in terms of loss of individual liberty and sanity. It is right out of “Brave New World” and “1984.”

It’s looking like a duck, walking like a duck and quacking like a duck. Do you suppose it might be a duck?

YOUR MISSION, IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT…

Like them or not, we can at least slow this process down by voting for the Republicans. You don’t have to tell anybody. Though flawed, they are more apt to resist this headlong dash towards socialism, with its loss of our culture and our liberties.

Thus, buying a bit more time, we can continue to use all means possible to educate the populace to life’s laws and truths, so they will be more prone to nominate and elect sane leaders to replace the seriously tainted ones we are currently having to deal with.

EPILOG

I know there is a lot more to all of this than can be covered in one posting. I’m just trying to provide a shortcut answer, based on this one principle that I know to be true, in order to get us through this election, upon which so much is riding.

Reward success and you will get more of it. Reward mediocrity and failure and you will get more of that!

Vote sensibly!

Tom Solari

tom@tomsolari.com

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Christian the Lion...

I saw this video on YouTube today (as did nine million other people) and it was just too compelling not to share here.

Enjoy!

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Forcing Good News on Us?

I saw the following today from a blog on international journalism:

"The Romanian senate passed a law last week requiring the media to provide their audiences with 50 percent positive news. The bill’s creators say the law will help fight the harms of negative news and its effects on people’s lives.

"But Romania’s National Council for Audiovisual Broadcasting, the group that will be responsible for deciding what is positive and negative, has criticized the bill, stating that news should reflect reality – whether positive or negative – independent of any laws."

The blog went on to ask people to comment on this. I left the following:

First things first: mainstream media outlets specialize in passing on tragedy, violence, corruption, death, etc., etc., because they are absolutely certain that is what pays the bills. And until WE choose not to be willing participants in this, they are correct.

Then we need to ask if we want government regulating the media. Not particularly. BUT if this law in Romania improves the quality of life -- yes, I realize that's much harder to measure than defining "negative" or "positive" news -- but a significant shift in what the media pushes our way CAN potentially reduce the level of fear and distrust in a society and this can be palpable.

I say: Romania, give it a shot! I'd much rather the media outlets come off of their determination to pummel us with bad news even though it's at the behest of a government regulation.

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The Difference Between Scientology and Psychiatry

I've been asked many times "what's the difference between Scientology and psychiatry?" From my point of view, here are the main differences that I see in these two subjects:

During psychiatric counseling, the practitioner often will tell you what your problem is. You may be told you're not handling something correctly and given advice on how to handle it. You may be told your problem is based on some fear, and you may even be told what that fear is. At times you may conclude something about your life and your practitioner may disagree with your conclusion.

During Scientology counseling, you are NEVER told what your problem is. Your counselor will guide you to areas of your life that you can review and decide for yourself what's what. And most certainly, when you come up with some conclusion or realization about your life, your counselor will never disagree or dispute your realization. It's what you found out about your life and you are the best person to judge these things.

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To a marked degree, psychiatry believes your problem to be the result of a chemical imbalance. The psychiatric profession has prescribed an enormous amount of drugs designed in some way to alter brain chemistry. The only problem with this approach is that no one has yet produced a test to measure chemical imbalance in the brain.

So without any way of measuring or testing chemical imbalance, why would you want to take very strong drugs that will alter your brain chemistry? Have you ever listened closely to the TV or radio ads (or read the fine print in the newspaper ads) for Zoloft, Celexa, Prozac and the many other psychiatric drugs on the market? The list of dangerous side effects takes more time to communicate than the ad itself.

Psychiatrists, when pressed, will also tell you there is no medical test or evidence to justify the many diseases they have come up with. Yes, I said "come up with" because that is how it happens. They get together, discuss their observations, and then come up with diseases. These diseases of course now need to be treated and drugs are the MAJOR treatment method in today's psychiatric profession.

But don't take my word for this, watch this short video...

A Scientology counselor will NEVER request or require that you take drugs of any kind.

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Psychiatry has used electric shock, insulin shock and removal of portions of your brain as methods of "treatment." Just on a level of sheer common sense, do you consider running an incredibly strong current of electricity through a person's brain a form of treatment? Now I realize you're not an expert, but unfortunately neither are the folks who use this method of treating a human being. For more information on this, click here.

A Scientologist would NEVER resort to this type of brutality, and you will see Scientologists publicly condemning it.

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Psychiatrists freely admit they are not able to cure anything. If you haven't seen the short video above, watch it now. You may be stunned to hear it in their own words.

In Scientology counseling, people routinely rid themselves of unwanted conditions. I should qualify what I mean by "rid themselves of"— I mean get rid of completely without ever coming back at any time. These kinds of results from Scientology counseling have been happening for many decades for millions of people.

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The above are some of the main differences I have observed between psychiatry and Scientology.  For more information on how and why Scientology works, click here.

(For more viewpoints on this post, click on the "Comments" link below)

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Thoughts on a New President

I'm not sure I've ever been thrilled about the candidates that the two party system has brought to the forefront.

I know it's cynical, but for most of my adult life I've held the view that many in political office were there for power and/or fame with little genuine concern for their constituents. As the years rolled by and one politician after another was caught up in unethical or illegal activities, this belief became more and more confirmed.

In the last year or so, however, my interest in the race for president has been far greater than in previous years. I believe these next few years are very important years for our country and the world.

I still believe that anyone who makes it into the oval office is to a large degree beholden to other people and will often do their bidding. And it matters not which party they came from. But I also believe corrupt people can come to their senses. If not completely, then enough to make sane decisions to help this country move forward.

A few points regarding sanity and insanity:

1. It is an insane notion that increasing the tax burden on the productive members of a society will benefit that society.


2. It is particularly insane to believe a long-term, poorly run bureaucracy could administer to an entire nation's health care needs. This is a path to greatly reduced health care for everyone.


3. The sane country does not depend forever on external sources for its energy.


4. Regardless of which side of the global warming issue you are, it is insane to continue to depend on fossil fuels for our energy needs. If government REALLY cared about this issue ten, twenty years ago, we'd be in MUCH better shape now. So waiting another 10-20 years to bring real alternative energy sources to the marketplace is NOT an option.

So my president would have a good understanding of those points.

I'm sure there are many different qualities people look for in a president. Here are a few of mine:

• They must have a very thorough understanding and deep appreciation of the Constitution and of American history.


• They must be REALLY intelligent.


• They must be REALLY ethical.


• They must REALLY care about us.

Such a person would have a very hard time becoming the President as it seems part of that equation is making too many deals with too many devils (which disqualifies them on the ethics point). But all of my political cynicism aside, I believe people can change and I believe powerful people can change. This country certainly needs them to.

Those are a few of my thoughts on the current presidential race. Whatever your views, when the time comes, be sure to cast your vote.

I have some other political views that I wrote about in this post.

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