Drills

Crisis management scenarios this afternoon. Obvious problems that have some obvious and some not so obvious solutions.

Lottery Problems?

Over the past few years, North Carolina has had an Education Lottery. Why is it that My home county citizens can not see that it makes more sense to spend the 16 million, that was spent between early July 2009 and mid February 2010, in the local economy, rather than going and spending in Raleigh and receiving approx. 8 million back?

Publicity

When given the chance, take all opportunities to garner favorable press coverage from the media. Wash windshields and place slips of paper under the wipers stating that the windshield was washed by the youth campaign, Now that you can see clearly, We hope that you will vote for our candidate in the upcoming elections.

Short night

After a short night at home, Hardees for breakfast, Orchard House booksellers Mocha, and a hours drive; we are back at work in Raleigh near Crabtree. I think the other members of the class need a sense of humor. Or more coffee.

Morton Blackwell

Listening to anecdotes by Morton Blackwell while eating Papa John's pizza!

Echo's in the dark.....

It is a dark gloomy room. Chairs are stacked in rows with a few inanimate bodies scattered throughout. A man stands alone in a pool of light rambling on. Is this a scene out of a bad mystery movie? No.....this is a badly chosen speaking room. When scheduling a speaker for your Political Action Group (PAG), you should always choose a room that holds approx. 60% of the expected turnout. This allows for a margin of error in the attendance, and allows for favorable press coverage, i.e. CONGRESSMAN SPEAKS TO PACKED HOUSE.

Sharks

In the world of politics, a major figure is the media. It is a tenuous balance between the two sides. The Legislative cadre tries to use the media for their own devices while the Media glory in scandal and feed on the flesh of the powerful.

When in doubt........

laugh. Humor can make the simplest things ludicrous. If you need to catch the attention of the average person, a simple poster in a public place can catch their gaze.

If guns kill people......

Then do pens misspell words? Today's youth have a core set of issues that concern them. Mainstream issues like Jobs and Economy and the national defense concern most teens and even older people like those in their mid thirties, while personal issues make for more concerns in the student age bracket. Some of the personal issues that have been prominent in the past few years are like, tuition and taxes, the draft and the social security questions.

The other side.....

The other side has troubles too. Remember that it is not the side that runs the best campaign that wins, it is the side that runs the least worse campaign.

Training

Here in this session we are discussing six maxims of politics. One explains the essential need for training in the youth movement and lack of trained leaders who are passionate about their causes. The second, Sound Doctrine is Sound politics, talks ethics in politics. "In politics you have two things. Your word and your Friends. Go back on either and you are dead." The third says, In politics An ounce of Loyalty is Worth a pound of Cleverness. There are two types of Loyalty. :Loyalty to principle like the supporters of Ron Paul or Pat Buchanan, and Self serving Loyalty, like the Labor unions.

When Canvassed.......

Keep 'em talking. If the Greenpeace guys want to talk, talk to them as long as possible to keep them out of other peoples hair. The longer you keep them talking, the shorter time they have to finish their list of canvasees.

Back to the Hydrant

A quick lunch of Quiznos, and back to work, finishing Darren's talk on getting work actually done. Why do people feel compelled to supply only DIET soft drinks?

Prep

PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE. And don't forget to bring the table. For the guys......decorate the membership table and bring a cashbox. It looks really bad to see the dues going into a guy's back pocket.

Student activism

Right now just finished listening to David Worley, Iraq vet, on getting started as a leader in campaigns. Now half an hour before lunch we are starting the next lecture, Building your Organization, taught by Darren Iwicki. Information heavy, this next lecture will be very useful. Pity Darren talks so fast.

Fire hose

Drinking from the Fire hose of Knowledge. A original term coined by the conservative movement. The definition reads "a time of study and instruction where the participant is inundated by a wealth of knowledge and advice, often resulting in voracious hunger, caffiene dependence, brain drain, and carpal tunnel syndrome."

Youth Leadership School

Today the bloggers are live blogging The Leadership Institute's (Li) Youth Leadership School in Raleigh NC. Right now we are listening to Darren Iwicki from Li talk on the real nature of politics. We fear that we might be inundated under the wealth of knowledge that is being poured upon us.

Ya know what I need?

Well... to make a long story short, this morning I got in a little bit of an argument with my mother. Just to be honest, I was in the wrong, and I lost my temper over something that was said, and said something pretty disrespectful. =( I regretted saying it as soon as I did, and we eventually got the problem resolved, and apologies were issued.

A few minutes later, as I was reflecting on what I had said, I realized that I'd said it entirely on impulse, without thinking, and it was my anger, not my true heart showing.

James 3 has a lot to say on the tongue, and most of it isn't good. The tongue is a something so small that can cause so much trouble.

So, I decided that if I needed one single thing, it would be a bridle for my tongue, if I feel really tired, or exasperated, or angry, or upset, I can clamp it on my tongue, and keep me from saying something ungodly.

But, unfortunately, there is no such thing on the consumer market. I guess I can only pray that God will help me think before I speak.

Family News and Prayer

I haven't gotten around to posting about this yet, so here goes....

Back in December, my Dad caught pneumonia. As is procedure, they took him in to get a chest x-ray. What they found was very startling; there was a five-inch growth in the cavity between his lungs. We rushed to the hospital for a CT scan, which was sent to the radiologist. We were very scared; our first thought was that Dad had lung cancer (even though he has never smoked), which is %98 fatal.

To make a long story short, he after a biopsy and PET scan, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma.
He began Chemotherapy Thursday, and will have it every two weeks for six months, then possibly Radiation.

Please pray for my Father, that he would be healed of this, and for our family, as we adjust to Dad's sickness. The doctors have said that the Chemo will likely make him too weak to work more than a half-day, even from home, so myself and my older brothers will be undertaking some of the business work.

I know that God will not give us more than we can bear, and that all the trials are in order to test our strength, and I pray that He will let us learn all we can during this ordeal, and draw us closer as a family.

~The Two Young Men

You're SUPPOSED TO BE ENCOURAGING ME TO BUY THE STINKIN' ALBUM!!!!!

I was kindof surfing iTunes, so to speak... I was given a $15 iTunes gift card for Christmas, and I was looking for some songs by my favorite artists.

I usually read the album reviews for any album I'm interested in, but I've found quite a few official reviews on iTunes that didn't make me want to buy the album. Here's one for the Phillips, Craig & Dean album Top of my Lungs

"Christian Pop music carries with it twin dangers, and each is kindof a mirror image of the other: one danger is the risk of falling into saccharine sweetness; the other is the risk of treating sacred things in a casual, flip manner. For both of those reasons, pop songs about sin and redemption tend to succeed best when they focus on the Sinner, not the Savior -- in a pop context, you have to sing about Christ in general terms so as to not sound disrespectful, whereas you can sing about yourself in the kind of gritty detail that tends to make a song compelling. So how do Phillips, Craig, & Dean walk that particular tightrope? Pretty well, which shouldn't be a surprise, since they've now been doing it for about 16 years. On Top Of My Lungs, their sound is based in sturdy folk-rock, and when it fails sonically, it's usually because producer Nathan Nockels couldn't resist throwing in that dang string section where it doesn't belong (most egregiously on the slightly syrupy title track and the equally over-sweet "Saved the Day"). When it fails lyrically, it's because they sound too offhanded about their Lord ("That's my Lord"). Not surprisingly, they succeed best when they rock out about the path of salvation ("One Way") and about their own religious commitment ("For Your Glory"). Overall, Not bad at all. "

WHAT?!?!?!?!? These things may be true, but they don't make me want to buy the album. I enjoy PCD, but this honestly doesn't sound like a good album. and I know it's to the contrary, because I've listened to this entire album. * NOTE, if YOU WANT SOMEONE TO BUY THE ALBUM, MAKE IT SOUND LIKE A GOOD ALBUM!!! Whomever wrote that review pretty much failed.

Seriously, you're supposed to try and make the person reading the review WANT to buy the album.

~The Two Young Men