Rhino Revolution

I came across a Facebook friend’s post on anarchists who realize that most major social problems are caused by government.  It excited and disappointed me.  The excitement was seeing that there is a growing number of people who hate the government as much as I do.  The disappointment was seeing that their answer is to stay out of the system.

Here is the radical kind of thinking that we need and they will never run for any office.

You can’t blame them.  Anyone who aspires to be a politician is immediately suspect on my list.  I don’t care if it is local city government, State or Federal.  People that like to control others, look to get themselves in power.  It is a dirty, self serving business that con men, thugs and control freaks thrive in.  Obama is at the top of the dung heap.

For decades, the government has been loading up with Socialists, Marxists and Communists.  What else are they going to do?  Start a business?  Get a real job in the private sector?  Contribute something useful to society?  No, they are going to control, threaten and shackle you.  Freedom is evil in their eyes.

What if we had freedom loving people who have no interest in politics other than to dismantle the socialist system that is overtaking us get into positions of power?  They could infiltrate at all levels from city council members to Senate seats, Congress and even one day, President of the United States.  Their mission: dismantle the government from the inside and then go back to their real jobs.

Sounds like fun to me!   Kind of like the best of 007, The Man from U.N.C.L.E and Mission Impossible.

If we start today, we can probably regain freedom in about 30 to 40 years.   What else are you going to be doing?  Doing what they tell you to if we don’t get going!!

Here is the link that got me thinking about all this -http://anti-politics.ws/

Let’s get this Revolution going!  Start being vocal, decide to do something, take action and infiltrate!  Keep charging!!  Scott Alexander AKA Illya Kuryakin

Back in 1864, during the Civil War, U.S. Navy Admiral David Farragut was leading a Union fleet of ships into Mobile Bay off the coast of Alabama.  The Confederate Army had placed tethered mines in the bay.  They were called torpedoes back then.  One of the first advancing ships ran into a torpedo and started to sink.  The other ships started to turn back.

Admiral Farragut wanted to know why the ships were retreating and was told there were torpedoes in the bay.  He immediately ordered them forward with the now famous command “Damn the torpedoes!  Full speed ahead!”

The rest of the fleet sailed into the bay with their keels scraping the torpedoes, but none exploded.  They captured Fort Morgan which cut off supplies to the Confederates and thus helped the Union win the war.

Damn the torpedoes!   Gutsy?  Yeah.     Reckless?  Definitely!     Effective?  It was on that August day in 1864.

Luckily, the torpedoes that we deal with on a daily basis are not going to destroy us, unless we live in fear of them and they kill off our ambition, our sense of adventure and our willingness to put ourselves in uncomfortable situations.  And you will never succeed unless you are willing to have that “damn the torpedoes” attitude in pursuing your dreams, because there are going to be lots of torpedoes.   The torpedoes are the obstacles, the rejections, the dead ends and the set backs that we all have to overcome.

As rhinos, we have two-inch-thick skin.  The torpedoes bounce off.  Occasionally, one will knock you over, but you get right back up again and keep charging.  Damn the torpedoes!!  Every time you get hit, your skin gets a little bit thicker.   After some years, your skin gets so thick, you look for torpedoes to scratch an itch.

Having thick skin and weighing 6,000 pounds gives us audacity.  Audacity is fearless daring.  You don’t heed any restraints.  You don’t listen to the cows around you with their tiresome warnings.  They are cows.   What have they accomplished?  If you let the cows influence you, they become the torpedoes and these dream killers can really sink your boat.

Hang with the rhinos!  That is the best way to maintain a “damn the torpedoes” attitude.  Have you been hit by a torpedo lately?   I salute you!  Now get back on your feet, get out there in the jungle and keep charging!!    Scott Alexander

Spent torpedoes - a rhino must have been this way.

Copyright 2010 by Scott Alexander

I don’t want to scare anyone, but if you don’t have some goals that you are striving for, you may end up dying.  The Bible says “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

Having no goals will probably not send you into cardiac arrest, but when you are wandering aimlessly in life without a vision, a heart attack sometimes sounds appealing.  I have been there.  There is nothing worse than having no direction, no motive, no reason to get up in the morning… even if it is to fail at something.  No vision.  No dreams or goals.  Nothing to look forward to.  Just the day to day monotony of drifting with the tide, not knowing where you will end up and not caring.

You can save yourself.  Get a vision and start paddling toward it.  How do you get yourself a vision?  The same way you get dressed in the morning, or order off a menu at a restaurant, or go shopping for shoes.  You choose!  You decide!  You pick!   If you think picking out a new pair of shoes is exciting, wait until you start deciding what fantastic things you are going to do with your life!

Just choose!   Anything you want!  It doesn’t have to be realistic, it doesn’t have to be practical, it doesn’t have to ever come true.  Actually, a dream or vision is more powerful when it makes no worldly sense.  This is your vision and you don’t have to run it by anyone for their approval.  If it gives you goosebumps, you have chosen wisely.  If you can’t sleep at night because it is all you think about, you have my congratulations!  If  it makes you feel alive, you will not perish.   Now you can charge like a rhinoceros!   Scott Alexander

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No safari through the jungle would be complete without a knowledgeable, experienced guide and I have got just the one you are looking for.  You may already have Jesus leading you on your expedition, but for those of you who haven’t had the time to look up a good safari guide, here is the good news:  through Jesus Christ, God can still fit you in to His schedule.

God is the ultimate protection against the dangers of the jungle and he has a keen sense of awareness.  Do not settle for a fly-by-night safari guide.  There are certain things that you just cannot afford to cut corners on and this is one of them.  You can forget your canteen, but do not forget to make arrangements with God to guide you.  Overlook your trail map, but make sure that God is always with you.

Don’t go with a bargain guide or your whole safari will end in tragedy.  There are too many unexpected dangers that can confront you.  Trekking through the jungle without God means confusion, disillusionment and eventual death.  Why subject yourself to all that when God is so available, so willing and so easy to arrange for guidance on your safari?

God created the jungle.  No one knows it better than he does.  It is his full time job to lead his people through the jungle and he would be hurt if you didn’t ask him for his help.  He is very easy to get along with, he has a lot of contacts, he is available 24 hours a day and he is capable of miracles.

To arrange for God to lead you on your safari, you don’t have to telephone him (God is the original wireless operator), you don’t have to send him a letter (sometimes you just can’t wait that long), and you don’t have to visit him at His office.  God travels extensively, so to cut down on his overhead, he does not have an office.

All you have to know is that God sent his son, Jesus, to earth in order to save us and ask Jesus to come into your heart as your personal Savior and Lord and to guide you in everything you do.  It is the old law of supply and demand.  He goes where He is wanted.  Include him in all your plans and he will be there.

If you wonder how he does it all,  just remember that “with God, all things are possible.”  Effective time management helps too, I suppose, but whatever His method, there is no feeling more reassuring than knowing that God is watching out for you.  He is your confidant, your associate, your adviser, your pal, your buddy and he loves you.

God is really a character too.  In order to better understand where he is coming from, you should read a book that he has out called “The Bible”.  I hear that he is doing really well with it.  He has found some good printers, set up some fantastic distribution channels, arranged for some financial backing, and it has been a consistent best-seller for thousands of years.  It is tough to make it in the publishing field these days, so he obviously knows the ropes.

“For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his.” (Chronicles 16:9).

What would you have going for you if you didn’t have the Lord?  A Ferrari is neat, but it will never forgive your sins.  An impressive title with a big company is OK, but it will not “prosper you abundantly” like God can.  A Lear jet would be fun, but “those who wait upon the Lord will mount up with wings like eagles…”

Your whole concept of life changes when you are being led by the Lord.  You look at everything with different eyes.  Your attitude about life becomes more upbeat.  You are not afraid of difficult situations when God is there with you.  Live a life of joy, faith, hope and love.  Enjoy this adventure of life.  Keep charging!!   Scott Alexander

Our God is an Awesome Guide.

Copyright 2010 by Scott Alexander

Ah, the joy of being different!  The adventure of doing the opposite of what everyone else is thinking and doing.  This is the lifestyle of the Contrarian -  the rebel, the renegade, the nonconformist….  the rhinoceros.  We do not want to be penned up with the cattle waiting to be fed as we wander around in all the manure.

We don’t recognize TGIF.  We say “Thank God it is Monday”.  That’s when all the action happens.  We still enjoy the weekends, but the world gets changed during the week.

The contrarian does not live for security.  We would rather have total freedom than be handcuffed in exchange for some suffocating protection, like a job.  Having a job is great if you enjoy it, but most people do not like their jobs.

Contrarians do not like big government.  Big government is for the masses who want some form of cover and are willing to sacrifice their free will and their neighbor’s freedom for it.  I have never understood how anyone could find the idea of big government appealing.  Maybe feeble grandmas.  But young people?   Being young is supposed to be the time of wild abandon and wanting to experience life to the max.  Rock and Roll used to be about rebellion.  It has lost its edge.  Kids have been brainwashed into wanting “hope and change”.  Sad.

If you really want “change”, then do something yourself.  If someone you know needs help, HELP them!!   It is not the government’s job to be a refuge.   Let’s do something radical and eliminate all government assistance.  You know what will happen?  People will jump in and help.   That is Rock and Roll.  We don’t need no stinking government butting into our lives!!!  They can take care of the roads like they are supposed to.

I am going to run for President and then reduce the position from savior to servant.  Talk about hope and change!  Change with hope is going the other way!  The cow pasture needs to be torn down.  All we are doing is breeding more cows that are dependent on a bigger government.  I want to bring rebellion back to our youth!  I would like to see the United States become a Contrarian Country again.

Why do we have to fall in line with the rest of the Socialist, Marxist and Communist countries?  Can’t we be different?   I may be dreaming because if everyone believed like I do,  I wouldn’t be a contrarian.  There will always be way more cows than rhinos.  We are the underdogs in terms of numbers, but we have more passion, a more indomitable spirit and the willingness to take action.  On with the Revolution.  Keep charging!!   Your Radical Rhino friend,  Scott Alexander

Even as a rhinoceros, you are subject to the blues.  There will be times when your motors start to slow down.  You will lose interest in your projects and your energy level will drop to a dangerously low point.  Sitting around the house watching television and eating Danish pastry will sound very appealing to you, and you might even permit yourself to engage in such decadence.

Watch out!!  The cow disease, inertia, has entered your blood stream either by associating with cows, or you might have picked it up off a dirty toilet seat in some gas station you stopped at.  Now you are at a critical stage.  The inertia is capable of invading your whole body and reducing you to a bovine state… unless you can fight it with your indomitable rhinoceros spirit.

If you find yourself with a bad case of inertia, where it almost too much of a hassle to read this blog post, and there is no Doctor of Rhinocerology present, listen to me.  Do you actually want to be a cow?  Do you enjoy losing and lying around in your manure?  Is it your idea of fun to decay and putrefy like a pile of rubbish?  Cows are as low as you can get.  They are lower than whale droppings.  Do you want to go that low?

Or, do you want to be a rhinoceros exploding with energy, living a happy, useful, exciting and productive life?  Do you want the blood to pump through your body again and enrich all your cells and bring them back to life?  (No, this is not a Viagra advertisement.)  Do you want to live and try or do you want to quit and die?

If the idea of being a cow thoroughly disgusts you, TAKE ACTION NOW or the inertia will drop you again.  If you have nothing else to do, put on your shorts and running shoes and go out for a jog.  Just start running!  Spending energy creates more energy.  You have got to get steamed up to have steam.  Laziness and energy are opposites.  Like oil and water, they do not mix.  Like fire and water, they can destroy each other.  Burn your oil!

Whew!  That was close, huh?  We almost lost you.  How do you feel now?  Your horn was starting to droop, you were losing weight quickly and your skin was looking pretty thin in spots.  The best thing for you now is plenty of fluids and NO REST.  When you’re hot – don’t stop!  Keep the fire raging and your oil burning.  Keep charging!!!   Scott Alexander

Motivational Yin-Yang

Copyright 2010 by Scott Alexander

I just got back from giving a talk in Omaha to over 4,000 Spanish-speaking rhinos.  I was relating how the most successful people are the ones who learn to overcome the difficulties.  Success is difficult and there are going to be obstacles.  Are you going to quit at the first sign of things not working out?  No matter how much you visualize, picture and dream about an easy road to success, you are going to encounter speed bumps, potholes, washboard dirt paths, no paths, falling rocks, and all kinds of signs telling you that you can’t go where you want to go.

Crap is gonna happen.  Those are your stories!  The more stories you accumulate, the closer you are to your dream.  You want to have the attitude that all the obstacles are part of the adventure.  But you have to be a rhino, put on your two-inch-thick skin and charge your way through.   You might get knocked down.  You might be victorious.  Either way, you will have a story.

I told the tale of one of my first talks to a group of drunk businessmen.  There I was, 24 years old, giving my best rhino talk to these loaded guys.  I was about half way done with my presentation when a roll came flying through the air just missing my head.  I ducked and continued.  Then another roll came flying at me.  Then more, until I was stopped by a volley of rolls and cloth napkins.  My wife was sitting in the front row crying.  I don’t remember being upset or discouraged.  Maybe puzzled.  I kept giving talks and that was the last time I had a roll thrown at me.

In Omaha, I thought it would be interesting to have a few people come up and share some obstacles that they had overcome in their lives.  I had no idea of the stories some of these people had.  For the next 30 minutes, we heard stories of border crossings where they walked for days in the desert with no food, hungry kids, no money.  One woman had lived under a bridge for 3 months.  Some lost friends in the desert.  Some were split up from their families.  The audience was crying, I was crying.

I felt so embarrassed.  Here I was complaining about having rolls thrown at me.  This group of people overcame incredible odds just to have a chance to work.  My host crossed the border when he was 20 years old.  He had a 2nd grade education, had no money, spoke no English.  But he was a rhino and he wanted to do something with his life.  He had ambition.  He wanted to work, make money and be successful.  He has done it.

It was a life changing weekend for me.  These warm, caring, enthusiastic people put me up on a pedestal and hung on my every word.  They weren’t there to hear how to get free health care.  They didn’t want anybody taking care of them.  They believe in free enterprise.  They only want to make their dreams come true with their own effort, their plans and a faith in God that left me amazed.  Some want to make money to send back to their families in Mexico.  Some want to become millionaires.  They know that they can do it here.

They can do it here right now, but how long until Obama turns us into Mexico?  I would rather have the problem of illegal immigration than no one wanting to come to the United States because the opportunities are no greater here than in Guatemala.  When the government takes so much from the producers to pay for the cows who don’t want to work, the incentive disappears.  When our freedom is replaced by the liberal do-gooders regulating our every move, killing initiative and trying to make us all equally miserable, there will be no more stories of immigrants risking everything for the chance to make their dreams come true here.

Where are we going to try to escape to when we can no longer chase our dreams?  We have been a beacon of light, of hope for hundreds of years and now people who think they know better are trying to snuff that light out.  Let’s keep the United States a place where the oppressed can still dream about escaping to.  And to those thousands of rhinos that I spoke to in Reno and Omaha who are overcoming their obstacles, not relying on the government, dreaming of making a better life for themselves and others, I salute you.   Keep charging!!  Scott Alexander

Copyright 2010 by Scott Alexander

You have seen those articles on how to overcome disasters like a bear attack, bridge collapse, hypothermia, etc.  None of these types of calamities are ever likely to happen to you or me.  There are, however, real life disasters that you may find yourself in.  Quick thinking and being prepared is your best defense.

*  A trip to the DMV.  How many of us have bought a used car and found ourselves in a 3 hour line waiting to register it and then get charged every year for as long as you own the car.  This is a tough situation because all you are waiting for is to pay the State.  You get nothing in return.  Think clearly.  You are dealing with the government.   Get out and go to the nearest AAA office where you will be in and out in 15 minutes.  Private enterprise does everything quicker and more efficiently than the government.

*  Trying to get a refund on a lost package from the post office.  Again…the government.  Your chances of surviving a plane crash are better.  Next time, ship via UPS or Federal Express.   Wait until Obama takes over healthcare for real horror stories!

*  Encounter with a Fish & Game Officer.  I spent a day in jail after giving an undercover Fish & Game Officer $10.  He was trying to sell me a snake, and was so irritating that I gave him the $10 to get rid of him.  While in jail with the other “snake smugglers”, I heard similar stories of being set up.  Cost:  $800 with a 3 year probation period.  They requested in court that I make my check payable to the Fish & Game Department.  Hmmmm…

*  California Air Resources Board.  Just this week, a trucker in Ontario, California started his truck up and after idling to get pressure in his air tanks, he was approached by a uniformed CARB officer and was notified that he had been idling for four minutes too long.  The officer then sat in his own idling car with the air conditioning on for 15 minutes while he wrote out the trucker’s citation for idling  for four minutes.  The government grows by stealing and they are getting very big.

*  Red light cameras.  Local governments need money too.  Obey the laws as they are dreamed up.  Remember when driving and talking on a cell phone was legal?  We are not allowed to talk on the phone and drive, but driving while eating fries, a messy hamburger and drinking coffee is alright.  I predict they will want more money and that eating while driving will be a freedom of the past too.

*  Getting a dog license.  What the hell does a dog need a license for?  Oh yeah, revenue source.

*  Lightning, drowning, poisonous snake bite, major wound, lost at sea.  Don’t call 911 if you live in Tracy, California.  They will be charging $300 every time you call for help.

Everybody that works for the government has to take from the private sector to survive.  And they are doing more than surviving.  While jobs in the private sector are being lost at an alarming rate, the government continues to grow.  Their benefits are increasing, their pensions are getting bigger and in some cases it is almost impossible to be fired from a government job.  With bigger government comes more regulations, more people to enforce them and more taxes, fees, permits, and whatever else they can think of to pay for it all.  Like an avalanche, the government is growing dangerously large and grabbing for more and more control of our lives, our money and our freedom.  Avalanche!  Spread the warning!     Scott Alexander

Last month, I wrote about my liberal Facebook buddy who posted a link to my blog and in the morning, upon finding negative comments from his friends, deleted the link and called me “dang Republican scum”.   He kept me on as a friend, however, and I did likewise.  Today, I received a sincere apology from him and he ended it with “Your rhino friend, …”

I’ve got an image to maintain, so I am not going to tell you that it made my eyes tear up.  Here is a guy whose beliefs are 180 degrees to mine on some sensitive subjects, but he still called me his friend.

It’s easy to get friends who hold the same values.  The accolades pour in from fellow conservatives, my brothers and sisters in Christ are quick to praise me, and anyone who likes The Beatles thinks that I have great taste in music.  Pro-lifers click the “Like” button,  people who don’t like what Obama is doing cheer me on, and those who think that global warming is a load of crap root for me.  I appreciate all my enthusiastic friends.

I wrote back to my liberal friend and told him to stand up for what he believes in.  You have got to admire passion!  That is a requirement for being a rhinoceros.  Jesus said to be hot or cold, never lukewarm, or he would spit you out of his mouth.  God probably chose Saul of Tarsus for his zeal, his fervor, his obsession.  Of course, Saul’s enthusiasm was for violently persecuting followers of Jesus, but God took Saul’s passion and transformed it to change the world.

I respect liberals for their strong emotions, however crazy.  They make life much more interesting than the innocuous wandering herd of cows who have no opinions, no interests and no desires.  I would much rather have a tattooed, big government, Obama liberal who wants to legalize same sex marriage as a Facebook friend than someone who has the intensity of bean dip.

Just be prepared for my passion too.  How come I always have to be tolerant, but liberals are under no such etiquette?  Maybe that is why I was so touched by my friend’s apology.     Keep charging and changing the world!  Love is all you need…and desire…a little audacity….persistence….friends to cheer for you.  Stay healthy, get enough sleep and remember to make it an adventure!    You’ll be right, mate.    Scott Alexander

Do you remember your first car?  I always had a VW bug while growing up.  Actually, I still have a VW.  Guess I am not finished growing up.  That’s the beauty and magic of a VDub.  You have to have a childlike innocence to ride around in what my son lovingly refers to as a “deathtrap”.

Old VW bugs are like street-legal go-karts.  They shimmy at high speed (50 mph), cough and sputter while getting up to shimmy speed, and will quit for any number of mysterious reasons.  Valves must be adjusted, points must be filed, prayers must be said.

In high school, I took the engine out of my expired bug and rebuilt it with the help of a book that every bug owner is familiar with…”How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive” by John Muir.  First published in 1969, this book holds as many memories as my wedding album(s).  We didn’t have the internet back in the mid 70’s to run to for instant answers.  We learned by doing and making some terrible mistakes.

Driving a VW took guts.  We didn’t have cell phones to call for help when we broke down.  We didn’t have water bottles to drink from while thumbing through the repair manual trying to replace a clutch cable.  If we were thirsty, we drank from people’s yard hoses.  Every bug owner learned how to brake with their toes on the pedal and their heel on the gas because a bug that idled was a curiosity.

Creativity ran rampant when you drove a bug.  If you wanted to arrive somewhere, you had to be prepared to open the back hood and try to fix whatever was destined to happen.   As a kid, did you ever run a string from your bed to the light switch?  I had to do a similar trick when my gas pedal cable broke.  I ran a string out the window, routed it along the side of the car into the engine compartment where I had rigged it to pull the gas valve on the carburetor.

Ah, memories.  Fires in the glove compartment, heaters that never worked, and getting really good at push starting.  I think that vintage bugs are so popular because people have the memories.  They have the stories of the situations that they found themselves in and managed to be victorious over.  In short, driving a bug was an adventure. Every bug owner has his or her stories.   Overcoming adversity is one of the great thrills of life.  Not when it is actually happening and you are on the side of the road out in the boonies at 1 a.m. with a bug that just quit, mind you, but later when you reflect on how you kept your cool and handled the dilemma.

If you don’t have a VW, don’t worry.  There are going to be plenty of opportunities for you to overcome adversity.  No matter how rich or poor you are, there are going to be things that don’t work out, things that go wrong, pistons that seize.  The trick is to have the right attitude that you are having a grand adventure.

When you find yourself in a fix, don’t panic.  Savor the experience.  You will overcome.  You might even write a book about it.  There will be someone in a similar situation in the future that you will be able to help.  Make life an adventure by understanding that it starts with the right thinking.  You don’t need to spend a lot of money on an ocean cruise or take up sky diving or go to another country.  What are you doing tomorrow?  Make it an adventure!       Scott Alexander

An adventure waiting to happen.

Copyright 2010 by Scott Alexander