Welcome! (scroll down for recent posts)
Hi, I’m glad you found my blog!
If you haven’t visited before, you might want to take a moment to read my quick overview, ‘The Mission In A Nutshell,’ explaining why this blog and my goal here are vitally important.
I try to make Get Glenn Mobile! more than just a fundraising site. I think if someone’s going to bug you to donate, it’s their responsibility to not only explain themselves, but to maintain a running dialog with the world. Life is dynamic, not static, so I try to keep fresh content to interest visitors and have some fun while we’re at it.
Of course, priorities are what they are, and while this blog should always be a place for lively discussion, I can’t put its goal on the back shelf. If you enjoy your visit, I hope you’ll feel my project is worth a donation, even a small one. My plan is to reach as many people as possible in the hopes that some of them will donate even a nominal amount…with enough of these I’m sure we can accomplish the goal: Get Glenn Mobile!
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More donations have been received, as of 2/12/2012 we’re up to approximately 16.1% of the goal of $26,000, still a fraction of the needed total but a very significant figure nonetheless! Please keep the momentum up folks…we’re getting there fast, and if this keeps up I’ll be mobile in short order!
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Line In the Sand
While conversing with my friend Jason this evening…the same Jason whose daughter is doing just fine after her surgical procedure on Monday, by the way- YAY!…the two of us were batting some ideas for advancing this blog’s goals around, and it became obvious to me after a while that I need make myself clear on a few things.
I’ve avoided directly commenting on some issues not from any reluctance to take a stand, but because I thought it best to stay focused on the goal of getting me mobile and my thoughts about that. The topics I’ve chosen honestly reflect those, but at this point in time there are some pretty urgent issues concerning not just myself, but all ordinary Americans. I’ve addressed a few of them here; our country’s dreadful forced education system and its suppression of creativity and independence comes to mind, the discussion of rational philosophy, and topics of freedom and liberty…real freedom and liberty, not hackneyed platitudes endlessly spouted to promote some feel-good scheme or another…are all topics I’m deeply interested in.
I can do something about them…if I can get out of this box that MS and circumstances have stuffed me into. I’ve found I really enjoy participating in journalism as part of the New Media, in my writing here as well as my contributions to the American Daily Herald. I’ve had good feedback and my work seems to be well received, but imagine how much more effective I can be away from my desk!
But if you haven’t inferred it at this point, there shouldn’t be any doubt about my top priority once I’m mobile: because I believe that individual human liberty as one of the most vital issues in our lives, I want to get out and talk to people in the community about why I support Ron Paul, and why his issues are my issues. It’s not a matter of payback to the liberty movement…it’s been good to me, without question…no, it’s about doing something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.
American people have been taking a flogging for far too long from those who would use them as human resources for their own ends. Our productivity, resources, and spirit have been drained away ostensibly for our ‘own good’ for a great many years, and I not only want to put a stop to that, I know I can help. Even if Dr. Paul isn’t elected president in 2012, the ideas he’s promoting need to be discussed, and to keep them uppermost in the public’s mind will be the true victory…as he’s said himself, he’s just a messenger, it’s the ideas he’s gotten so many talking about that are the most important, but if we can get him elected we’ll be able to implement them that much more effectively. I can help do that.
If releasing a fellow human being from confinement isn’t enough reason to help in getting me mobile, think about the fact that you’ll be turning a very motivated liberty activist loose who’s been itching to get to work for years. For instance, want to start phasing out the entitlement programs that not only waste boatloads of money but sucker people into lifelong dependency on them? I’d say a disabled guy in a wheelchair talking about the very real reasons why these programs are bad will be mighty effective in conveying the idea. I can write about why the Social Security system is inefficient, dehumanizing and potentially deadly all day long, but I can be a lot more effective in person. Guaranteed.
Beyond that, there are plenty of things I can tackle as a journalist once I’m capable of going right to the source:
I want to interview functionaries of the TSA…look them in the eye as they explain how treating ordinary people as if they were maximum security prison inmates makes us all ‘safer.’ Hey, I’m a ways past the fear of consequences; I’ve already been wrecked by MS and there just isn’t much that scares me these days. Uniformed goons definitely don’t.
I want to hear school administrators try to justify how drugging children with powerful psychotropic chemicals or assaulting, arresting and confining them just for behaving like kids will help them learn how to be productive, resourceful citizens.
I want to talk to regular people about how and why they’ve allowed themselves to be afraid of everything at the behest of the very criminals who actually threaten them. I love talking with people, and I’ve made it my business to research the facts so know what I’m talking about. They have been hoodwinked and I bet it wouldn’t be all that tough to help them realize this.
I can do these things.
Our country’s on thin ice these days, and every day I spend stuck in this house is not only a day of my life gone but a day when I could have been promoting liberty, the Constitution, and Ron Paul.
Let’s finish this project so I can get to work, please. And while we’re at it…go Ron Paul 2012!
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I Think It Was Emily Litella Who Said It
“It’s always something…if it’s not one thing, it’s another”
Yep, Emily Litella, the character played by the late great Gilda Radner had it pegged.
I’ve only had one arm working properly for several years now, so that right arm’s been doing double duty in almost all of those everyday tasks you normally ask both arms to do.
It’s been coping pretty well, but last week my right elbow that I’m always leaning on acted up; the tip swelled up to robin’s egg size after being a bit sore for a day or two. I dug out a beanbag rest to keep pressure off it and waited. After a few days it didn’t seem inclined to get any better, and I started having unpleasant visions of spider bites or flesh eating bacteria so I got online and checked what might cause these symptoms. Took me all of about a minute before I found the likely culprit after seeing plenty of pics of what my elbow looked like. It even has a fancy name:
Olecranon bursitis.
Often referred to as “student’s elbow” or “baker’s elbow,” it’s a common problem caused by…guess what…leaning on an elbow too much. Simply put, if you annoy the elbow enough, the protective bursa at the tip of the elbow fills with fluid like an airbag deploying, and stays that way till you quit annoying it. I guess I’ll be using that beanbag rest full time now.
I called my doctor’s office to see if they’ll put in a request to get a home health nurse sent out here to have a look. I don’t mean to fool with this and take any chances on it getting worse, I kinda need this right arm in good shape. Usually all one needs to do is stop leaning on it and no medical attention’s required, but with MS I’ve found it’s generally better to ask and not assume.
If anyone asks me how I’m doing, I can answer them literally…Swell!
It’s always something, as Emily said.
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Nietzsche Schmietzsche
Woof…my brain’s hurting a bit.
I just got done watching the film Nietzsche and the Nazis , made in 2006 by Dr. Stephen Hicks. This sucker’s almost three hours long, which is why my poor RAM-deprived brain was vibrating by its end. It’s pretty good if you like long and thorough explorations of philosophy, and spends much of its length discussing arguments both for and against the proposition that the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche was used by the National Socialists of the Third Reich in formulating and justifying its unique brand of murderous, psychotic policies.
I won’t get into that argument; both viewpoints have merit and I enjoyed the way they were batted back and forth as Dr. Hicks demonstrated how he ended up viewing the question. As usual, my favorite aspect of the film was actually a side issue, the breakdown at its end of what constitutes pro- and anti-Nazi principles. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I fret a lot that modern America is acting in ways that unpleasantly parallel various totalitarian governments, including the National Socialists, and we’re given a nice side-by-side graphical comparison that’s kind of handy for sussing out an opinion of one’s own on that subject.
About my only critique of this aid are the last entries, socialism vs. capitalism.
Both are limited, outdated and in fact rather misleading. ‘Socialism’ is better described as statism allowed to grow in power until it’s got its fingers in everything; if you want an ‘ism’ you’re better off using ‘fascism,’ which isn’t dependent upon the specious left/right paradigm, and simply means a corporatocracy of big government and big business in a cozy ‘partnership’ and is, I regret a pretty accurate statement of what we’re dealing with today in America.
‘Capitalism,’ on the other hand is an even worse description. It has negative connotations for many and was in actuality Karl Marx’ term for the free market he so despised. ‘Free market’ is a better term for the system that was our aim at this country’s founding, even though it never quite got there and is certainly almost the opposite of the crony capitalism/fascism/corporatocracy that’s our reality today. See why my head hurts?
Words are so damnably malleable today. When the supposedly preferable and anti-Nazi principle of ‘capitalism’ is actually perceived by so many to be the obnoxious ‘fascism’ the Nazis were so fond of, it’s time to hang up the Gone Flyin’ sign.
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Parallel Lines
At the risk of sounding hokey, I have no doubt that there’s a whole lot of power generated by a large number of people who all have their attention focused…even for a few moments…in the same direction. I couldn’t begin to explain it, but I know what I’ve felt when I’ve been involved with that phenomenon, most recently just over a month ago when Dr. Tom Woods kindly reprinted the letter I wrote him some months back requesting an endorsement for my cause. He delivered, all right, and when he posted that letter on his web site and people had their attention drawn my way that day, the response was nothing short of astounding. The blog had more views that day than it had accrued in its lifetime of less than five months, donations from around the world poured in, and the large number of supportive or at least interested comments made January 11th a day to remember.
Being in the middle of that was an amazing experience; the feeling of all that positive energy directed my way was a lot like being in the vicinity of some immense engine just humming with power and potential. Dr. Woods did me a huge courtesy last month, apart from the advances the blog experienced in views and contributions, his endorsement and the public reaction that followed erased any shred of doubt I may have had remaining about the soundness of this project…reduced to simple factors it’s obvious that if folks’ awareness is drawn this way, they will step up to pitch in and help me achieve my goal of freedom.
With that in mind, I hope whoever’s reading this will take a moment to focus upon and think some positive thoughts in the direction of my old friend Jason, who’s been running his own gauntlet recently. You see, his young daughter will be undergoing some surgery within the week to address a relatively minor heart problem. Jason doesn’t complain or whine, but it’s obvious that the worry’s tormenting him…worry that won’t be alleviated until his kid gets through her procedure next week. I can’t claim to know just how he feels right now…I don’t have kids, so I’m not in that unique position. I do however know exactly how it feels to be running that gauntlet, to be in a lonely and dangerous place with no option available but to keep your head together, keep it down, and keep moving forward until you get through it. That kind of situation just sucks, pure and simple. I know, because while my situation isn’t equivalent with yours, it’s definitely parallel.
No squishy, syrupy platitudes will help get anyone through that gauntlet, no hackneyed cliches will touch that kind of isolation. As I understand it, my friend’s daughter couldn’t be in a better environment to address this health issue, he’s got his wife and family all supporting him, and the physicians involved are among the best in the world at this sort of thing. They do this fairly minor procedure every day, and any risks in it are minimal. Still, there’s no getting away from the fact that it means invasive surgery, it’s his kid in the O.R. and it’s about fixing her heart…a person’s going to worry, to obsess, to wish it were him going under the knife…and that will vex and gnaw at him without relief until it’s done and past.
So, yeah, if you’re reading this, take a sec and send some of that power my friend’s way. Right now he’s as alone as a person can be, and knows the truth of the matter that he’s got to see it through on his own. I know his strength of character will be sufficient to get him through this, he doesn’t need any assurance or advice; I’d just like it if he could feel same the power of peoples’ goodwill that I’ve felt myself touch him, even for just a brief time. I’m as hardnosed and cynical as they come, I hate most vapid New Agey stuff like poison, but I do know that power is as real as the air we breathe, and a shot of it can only produce positive results.
Jason my man, I know you’ll read this and hope you don’t think I’m being maudlin…it’s just that I wish I could do more to help but drawing some of that good karma your way is all I can do, since I gotta do something when a friend’s in a tight spot. You and I both know that intellectually there’s nothing to worry about and your daughter will be fine…but that doesn’t make the knot in your gut go away.
You know perfectly well how to hang tough, but just in case I’m not totally deranged, let’s scoop up some of that goodwill for you. Like chicken soup, ‘it vouldn’t hoit.’
Peace.
Pancho
This one kinda came out of left field today and caught me by surprise…but I’m glad it did.
I was idly scrolling through instant view movies on Netflix this morning, looking as I often do to put on something interesting for background sound while surfing around, writing a bit of correspondence and of course scratching out a blog post. I have no idea why, but playing movies seems to clear my mind better than music does. Usually it’s some old favorite that I know practically word for word and don’t even need to watch to know what’s going on; I hit the ‘play’ button and get on with whatever I’m doing.
Not today. I selected a recent addition to the Netflix streaming titles, The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club, hit ‘play’ as usual…and didn’t take my eyes off the screen for the whole hour and four minutes of this film made in 2009.
I’d been mildly familiar with Pancho’s life since I got into aviation but never got the full story until today. I’d heard she was not a typical woman of her times, and after watching the film I’d have to say that’s a major understatement. Florence Leontine Barnes was on the dumpy side and had a face that’d stop a clock, but she’s one of the most magnificent women I’ve ever learned of. A flyer since 1928, she was a barnstormer, air racer and entrepreneur, operating her Rancho Oro Verde Fly-Inn Dude Ranch for many years near Muroc Field, a haven for pilots of every cut and stripe. It adopted its famous nickname, the Happy Bottom Riding Club, from a guest describing his horseback riding experience, and more than lived up to it through the years. That ranch was the location of too many boisterous adventures to catalogue, flamboyant personalities coming and going, and must have practically hummed with fun and creative energy.
I was delighted by the commentary by one of my favorite pilots of all time, Col. R.A. ‘Bob’ Hoover, throughout the movie, too. I’ve seen the man’s flying at airshows many times over the years, have met him personally more than once, and have his signature in my first logbook…a true gentleman and a great tie in to my own life with this movie.
There was plenty of footage of all sorts of great aircraft, but the highlight for me was Pancho’s 1929 Travel Air Type R Mystery Ship, a lovely machine and a long time favorite of mine, one of the prettiest ships of aviation’s Golden Age in my opinion. Once I’m mobile and can fly larger models again, I’m gonna build me one, I decided today.
If you’re at all inclined toward aviation, this film’s worth a watch. I like inspiring movies that are about real people and things, and I have zero patience with squishy stuff containing anything maudlin or syrupy…and this film delivers. After watching this film, I’m pretty sure I’d have been proud to count Pancho Barnes as a friend.
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Can’t Take Me Anywhere!
Well, my new piece is up at the American Daily Herald, so far so good…except I noticed a couple of tiny errors and only after I’d corrected them did I recall that if a contributor changes anything it messes up any embedded videos, so until Dennis or Denise can get to it, the unsettling YouTube video I embedded, ‘Lunch Scholars,’ is missing. Here it is, worth a watch as yet another indictment of our forced education/indoctrination system:
Sorry ’bout that…I don’t like touching anything I’ve published once it’s up anyway, it smacks of being unethical. Next time I see something that needs correction, I’ll pester one of the bosses!
For now if you haven’t seen it, check out Have You Seen the Fnords Yet? if you’d like.
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Fighting Back in the War on Kids
I just finished proofing my latest article for the American Daily Herald and got it submitted, it should come as no surprise that again it involves the War on Kids, the excellent film by Cevin Soling from 2009. The article’s just more evidence of how strongly I feel about the devastation wreaked on young people by our coerced public education system, a bit surprising to me since I’ve never wanted kids of my own. It’s not that surprising though, the people responsible for the escalation of indoctrination into a full-blown prisoner training program, committing violence against these kids and their futures, just appall me. Since the young are indeed our future, those supporting the war against them are villains poisoning our well, so to speak, and need to be stopped post haste. Besides, I hate bullies, especially when they act under color of law.
Re-watching Stefan Molyneux’ interview with Soling, I found myself taking notes, both for future writings upon the subject as well as for questions I’d like to ask Cevin Soling and Professor Henry Giroux, who also contributed to the making of the film.
Sometimes I feel like Don Quixote tilting at windmills with some of the causes that have become so significant for me, but if I can help raise public awareness of just how bad the situation is even a little, I’ll count the effort as a success. At this point as far as I’m concerned this is a violent crime being perpetrated on the young, and needs to be addressed…for me the time for debate is over. Reminds me of another situation in which the strong are beating up on the weak:
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Can’t Talk…Writin’
Nah, just foolin.
But I am doing a fair bit of writing, from email correspondence to asking and answering questions about my hobbies on RCGroups to taking some notes for an article idea that’s been knocking around in my mind. After the January boost I got from Tom Woods toward getting me mobile, apart from my general eagerness to escape my confinement, I’m really eager to get out in the world to further my efforts in New Media journalism, particularly in two areas:
The alarming authoritarian slope this country’s sliding down needs to be addressed by as many people as possible, and I want to be one of them. Reading others’ essays, watching videos and corresponding’s all well and good, but there’s no substitute for face-to-face interviews with people, including politicians and officials. I want to look these people in the eye while I’m talking with them, even the scary ones…I think I might be able to make a difference in my way.
I’ve really seized on the issue of the dismal state of public education in America, and I’m just craving some face time with educators, parents, and of course kids to get their input and help gauge the situation more finely. I initially surprised myself that I became so drawn into the subject; I don’t have kids and never will, after all. When I thought about it, though, it made sense: today’s kids will be the adults who will affect all of society, and the way we’re engaged in their wholesale ruination is going to have its effect on a lot of other people, me included. As the country edges nearer to collapse every day, largely as a result of our ‘educational’ system, I’m being taken along for the ride, and it’s unsettling to say the least.
Doubling down in my efforts is also a healthier response to the doldrums I find myself in. The cold grey winter doesn’t help, but I have to keep my efforts to generate more publicity for the blog up if I expect to succeed. Spring is coming and I want to get out and enjoy it!
As to the education fiasco, it’s gratifying to see so many writers and thinkers adding their efforts to help get the word out to the public. For example, along with my own pieces that I’ve composed for this blog as well as the American Daily Herald,I was pleased to see long-time journalist Karen DeCoster chime in with her input over at Lew Rockwell’s site just a few days ago with her article How the Public Schools Keep Your Child a Prisoner of the State. It’s a worthy read and up to her usual high standard.
In that line, you might recall my recent essay on the terrific and disturbing film The War On Kids that was released in 2009. In hunting around for more information on it, I found a marvelous interview that Stefan Molyneux did with its director Cevin Soling in 2009. It’s a little over an hour long, but offers some good insights from Soling on the state of public education and some facts about the making of the film. I highly recommend it…you may enjoy spending some time to see it.
As for me, I’m getting back to work!
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Operation!
Nope, I’m not referring to the old board game.
I’m talking about something I’ve been putting off for a while because I was concerned I might not be able to do it well with my dominant left hand so reduced in function, but is a task that anyone involved in the hobbies I like has to do sooner or later: soldering.
A few months ago my mom insisted I pick up a soldering station from Micro-Mark, a supplier of small tools and materials for hobbyists that aren’t usually found in stores. I have use for it, and she has a few pieces of jewelry needing repairs using silver soldering that’s a bit higher temperature than the rosin core solder I use. It’s a neat little variable temperature station that promised to put out higher heat than the anemic Radio Shack pencil soldering irons I grew to loathe. Best of all, it was only twenty bucks at the time, and is virtually indistinguishable from much pricier name brand units.
Last night I finally quit being a wuss and fired it up, since I’ve been meaning to shorten the leads on both the battery and electronic speed control of my little Red Arrows Hawk jet, both to save weight and clutter from the too-long wires. The speed controller was the hardest, the unit is buried in the jet’s fuselage so unless I wanted to disassemble the airplane I had to do the job with the wires in close proximity to the delicate foam of the fuselage. I have one of those ‘third hand’ gizmos with alligator clips and a magnifying glass to hold the project steady, but I still had to set everything up and maneuver the very hot (near 500° F) iron around that space without touching anything…very much like the old board game but if you mess up instead of a buzzer, you ruin the foam fuselage!
It took some patience and care, but I got all the joints properly soldered and then covered with heat shrink tubing that both protects and insulates the new solder joints. You really don’t want to get a short when the current from a lithium polymer battery’s live, they have an unpleasant habit of bursting into flame if that happens.
Success with an essential task that I haven’t performed since I became disabled is mighty gratifying, lemme tell ya. One more thing I can do that’s also good therapy for me. It’s getting to be time to start building something soon!
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Spoiled Rotten
My new friends Caleb and Jes dropped by last evening to do a bit of strategizing, socializing and spoiling me again with Jes’ cooking, this time some homemade chili and cornbread (one of my favorite cold weather indulgences). Thanks, guys, it was a mighty nice time!
It’s gratifying to have folks over who can really see how tedious the housebound lifestyle is for someone like me that’s always been a dynamic person…I know that’ll help when they’re out in the world talking to people and groups to help promote my cause. It’s one thing to communicate a concept with only an academic appraisal to rely on, but immersing oneself in a situation, even for a short time, makes it 100% real, and that makes describing it for others in person come naturally as a result. With all of the irons in the fire I’m putting out, especially with able advocates like these great folks adding their voices to my own, it gives me more confidence all the time that I’ll be freed sooner rather than later. When things start pulling together I can only imagine how much potential will be unleashed!
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