How Really Free Are You?

Let’s break it down. I may be wrong but let’s see.

1. Are you burdened by student loans that force you to work jobs you really do not like so that you can pay it back?

2. Are you underneath a mortgage on a home?

3. Do you pay loans are your car?

4. Are you able to get up and go anywhere you want?

5. Do you bring your work home with you? (If you enjoy your work, then that’s a different story).

6. Are you so obsessed with the latest gadgets and things?

7. Do you have a lot of credit card debt?

8. Are you happy and satisfied or at least moving towards what you perceive to get you there?

9. Would you keep working your job for free because you like it?

10. Are you doing overtime just to stay afloat and not go into the tank?

11. Do you have free time to do the things you enjoy?

12. When was the last time you got up and felt you were really making a difference?

13. Are you burdened down with fear?

14. Are you too busy?

Solutions:

Don’t watch T.V.
Rent or share a home with someone.
Stop buying things.
Quit your job and do something worthwhile.
Turn on, tune in and drop out. 🙂
Take some risks.
Do your part.
Become self-reliant.
Create yourself, do not let others create you.
Resist greed, anxiety, depression and fear.
Help others.

Now if you’re buried under debt and such, I wouldn’t suggest turning on tuning in and dropping out but I’d suggest really finding out what makes you happy and to move in that direction at least. It has been a long road for me and I’m still working on it and I’m rather on the debt free side but just looking for my niche that is helpful to society and to me.

I told my uncle once that if it takes me 50 years to get there, then it takes me 50 years to get there.

The American Dream Has Been Outsourced

Do you remember how Hunter S. Thompson was searching for the American Dream in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?

Well, the American Dream has been outsourced overseas. In what country it resides is a mystery. With all the bad economy, dream seekers have gotten the hell outta Dodge.

You say, “This is an outrage!” Yeah, it is an outrage.

Our nation is the most divided it has been since probably the Civil War or at least the 1960s. In 2009, we aren’t killing each other as in the Civil War but a war IS going on and I don’t mean the Iraq or Afghanistan Wars.

The present war is a war of ideas, principles, and the American Dream is quickly being put to shame.

The Framers in the Declaration of Independence guaranteed the following:

“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.”

It further states that, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Folks, something is completely out of whack as they say and we must do something.

Read your Declaration of Independence here:

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html

Frogs In A Pot

You know what? I think a lot of us are like frogs in a pot that are slowly being boiled alive. Why?

Because we get so used to the stuff around us that we don’t even know we are being cooked alive. You can put a frog in cold water in a pot and then put him on the stovetop and turn up the heat. The frog won’t jump out. The frog will get desensitized and wait patiently for death to come without even knowing it.

The bottom line is for us to wake the hell up! What are we here for? To do stupid stuff day after day after day after day? Get up from your mat and walk. Life is too short to compromise and waste away to nothing. Get up! Do something.

I don’t know who this is directed to but maybe myself. I’m sure a lot of people can relate.

Wake Up Now Americans!!!

A lot of stuff is going on right now that is more than mind-boggling.  There are a lot of folks out there that have been negligent, ignorant, selfish and greedy.  This I believe is why all this bailout, stimulus package has come about.

Do you think that throwing money at these people will help?  No!  Because it is an internal problem of the mind.  It is bad habits and total disregard for doing the right thing.  Yeah, in the old days people worked hard to get somethere.  There are a lot of Americans still today that do work hard to get somewhere. 

My Great Great Grandfather immigrated from France in 1846 to Ohio.  He didn’t know English.  He learned it and struggled his way to become a country doctor in New Bedford, Ohio.  He struggled through hard winters and cared after people with pneumonia and other diseases of the day.  There were no cars and he went around by horseback making calls on patients and would be gone from home days at a time.  THIS IS AMERICA!

Many people have the “lottery” mentality wishing for everything under the sun to come there way without any lifting of fingers.  It is sickening.  I believe America will fight the good fight.  There is something higher at play, here.  Will we exist as a nation of hard workers or a nation of “lottery” lovers.  The time is now to wake up and not settle for the mediocre, “I can’t” mentality.  Get up, stand up, rise up!  For God, For Country, For Honor!

Whose in charge here?  We have forgotten what the country was made of.  Overseas we get trashed for how America is now.  They expect us to lead!  How can we lead if we can’t even see through the confusion and chaos?  I lived overseas for two and a half years and I was confronted on few occasions about American Politics.  Let’s put it aside and go back to our roots.  It’s burning within each of us.  And by the way, Mr. Attorney General, Americans are not cowards.  Shame on you!  They stand for what is right.

Dr. Francis Joseph Guittard

You’ve Arrived To Nowhere When…

1. You love to watch the birds feeding in the back yard for hours.
2. You get furious when you see the squirrels running around in the back.
3. Your only friend is your stockbroker.
4. You cuss at the drive thru bank teller b/c you’re in a hurry to get home and watch the birds.
5. You can’t stand to give up your country club membership b/c of what others might think.
6. You believe Dr. Phil is God.
7. Your only dinner conversation is, “Can you pass the salt?”
8. You believe your health insurance will cover everything.
9. You believe a pill will solve your problems.
10. You believe that no one cares.

You have arrived when…

1. You believe in yourself.
2. You fight the “good fight.”
3. You forgive others.
4. You do what it takes.
5. You remain strong and flexible.
6. You listen to your voice.
7. You don’t blame others.
8. You place higher importance in people.
9. You turn the noise off.
10. You begin to love others.

Noise Pollution and Fear

Let’s face it, we cannot prevent terrorist attacks but we can prevent the fear that we are ruled by. All it takes is some corrupt American official to be paid off and a terrorist attack could occur in any airport anywhere. There is no way to control people’s insane corruption and allegiance to money and power.

I refuse to live in fear. I will not be bought and sold for money. No wonder American culture is going to pot with all the rubbish in the mainstream media. Nothing is positive. What about the positive stories about the single mother who raises her boys and sends them off to college.

I don’t want to hear about which celebrity is having marital problems. Who cares? Celebrities are not the example. You are! Stop reading and watching all the stupid stuff. Turn off American Idol. Turn off the soap operas. Find your voice. There is too much noise pollution.

Network

Creative Passionate Types

The creative pursuit is one of the most important things one can do. Sometimes the creative types are a bit fiery and extreme in their thinking. But, isn’t this good though? Creative types bring the passion into society and really are the catalyst to make things happen.

More and more people in America are waking up to what’s going on. Right now, an underground scene is emerging. We are in the midst of the “3rd Wave of Psychedelic” music. The first wave was with the Beatles, the Byrds, the Jefferson Airplane, Love, Strawberry Alarm Clock, the 13th Floor Elevators, Pink Floyd and many others. The second wave had two offshoots: the 1980’s “Paisley Underground” scene in Los Angeles with such bands as the Bangles, the Dream Syndicate, the Three O’clock, Green On Red, the Secret Syde, and Rain Parade. The British offshoot included the post “new wave” bands such as XTC, the Soft Boys, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Shamen, and Doctor and the Medics.¹

The “3rd Wave” was born in 2000. The wave is spreading out, now. It consists of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the Tyde, Beachwood Sparks, the Quarter After, the Warlocks, the Lovetones, the Telescopes, Spindrift, the High Dials, Floorian, the Black Angels, Silver Apples. (My music fits in this wave. I co-write a song with Dominic Campanella from the Quarter After back in 2001.)

Beach by Jim Guittard

“Beach”

I look up into the sky
See the clouds and colours all around.
I hear the waves go in and out
See the birds and stars tonight.

Chorus

Going with the rising tide.
Shouldn’t wait till morning time.
Moments pass as I decide.
Shouldn’t wait till morning time.

I tell myself the reason why.
Waters flow and there’s no turning back.
Reaching for the horizon line,
Where it ends has only just begun.

Chorus

Going with the rising tide.
Shouldn’t wait till morning time.
Moments pass as I decide.
Shouldn’t wait till morning time.

Drifting through my open mind,
Ray of light about to shine.

Music by Jim Guittard 2001
Words by Jim Guittard and Dominic Campanella of the Quarter After

The Quarter After

We shall see how things progress from here. The world needs freethinkers and people with passion to guide the way. No need to dumb things down anymore. As the New Hampshire motto says, “Live Free or Die.”  America really is at a crossroads.  It is time for decisions.

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up¹Wikipedia contributors. Psychedelic music. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. May 21 2008, at 23:57. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_music. Accessed May 22, 2004.