Be A Great Lover

This article is the first article in a new series at a new blog. Go to: Be A Great Lover! The idea for this series of articles (and the new blog) came from a few frank discussions that I had with my stepson, only weeks from his 21st birthday. He is still a virgin, but has been dating a young woman who could become the great love of his life. I wanted to make sure that “Sonny” (not his real name) actually knew what to do with his and her various parts during sex. Sonny is already turning out to be a great young man. I want Sonny to be known as a great lover. His life will be infinitely enriched if he is a great lover, and so will the lives of the women he loves.

Maybe I’m out of the loop, but I don’t know where a young man would go to gain this information. Fathers may have “the talk” with their sons about birth control, but how many will actually instruct their boys on sexual technique and sexual pleasure? I assure you that my father did not. Then, add in the numbers of young men whose parents are divorced along with the numbers of women who are unmarried with sons.

The deck is stacked against young men. How will they become great lovers?

I am an old guy now, and have had a lifetime of great sex. The sex I’ve been experiencing with Deborah (not her name, either), my wife of 10-plus years, is the best sex I’ve ever had. Deborah is a hot redhead 8 years younger than me.

As I begin, I want you to understand that my focus is on training a younger generation of men how to be great lovers. Think of me as the wise old man, imparting valuable knowledge and wisdom to the next generation. I will be “Master”, and you readers can each be “Grasshopper.” (kudos to the old TV series “Kung Fu.”)

But, some of you old dogs might learn a few new tricks. You can become a great lover ANYTIME, regardless of your age!

I’m not going to pull any punches, guys. I’m going to give it to you straight. I’m going to give you respect and treat you like you have more than two brain cells to rub together. I’m going to write these articles as they occur to me, not necessarily in any special order. Some may be topical or timely as I see something in the news that sparks my interest. But I guarantee that if you will follow my guidance, you will soon be known as a great lover.

Treat my strategies just like when you’re shopping at the store. If you see something you like, put it in your basket, so to speak. If you’re not ready for that strategy, put it back on the shelf, and look at it another day.

Guys, remember that women talk, and they feel free to talk to their girlfriends about their sex lives. So, what is your lady going to say about your sexual techniques? If you follow my lead, you will keep your lady happy and satisfied and your reputation as a great lover will spread throughout HER friends. Then her friends will tell their boyfriends, and your reputation just keeps getting better.

Not bad, eh?

Go to: Be A Great Lover! Keep coming back for more articles. Don’t forget to bookmark (save in your Favorites) that blog URL before you leave. I’ll also have a forum where you can leave comments and ask advice.

You’re going to enjoy this!! And your lady will thank me!!

Gun Locks And Gun Safes: Sensible or Stupid?

Simply owning a gun is its own best use. Each year millions of crimes are prevented simply by the presence of a gun. The Bureau of Justice states that you have a 1-in-4 chance of being involved in a violent crime during your lifetime. So, in order to protect yourself, your family, and your property, you must own a gun. But ownership without proficiency is the same as owning a toaster.

You must spend time using your weapon of choice so that you know what to do when a random situation calls for the use of a firearm. Go to a firing range and learn how to use your gun.

There is a long debate in America about gun locks and gun safes. Some people hold the view that all guns should be locked in a gun safe, or that the gun should be disabled by using a locking mechanism that prevents the trigger from being engaged. They cite the number of children who are wounded or killed each year when they find a gun in their home and play with it. They also tell stories of victims who have had their gun taken away from them and used against them in a crime.

While that side of the debate sounds reasonable, it ignores reality. Gun ownership offers protection, even if the only reason you bought the gun is for sporting use. The truth is that in actual crimes, seconds count. Police show up in minutes or hours. So your personal safety and protection are YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. If you are forced to deal with an imminent threat of violent crime, fumbling with a gun lock or the key to your gun safe could easily cost you your life.

I am not against gun safes. I have my long guns in my gun safe. But my gun safe is used for storing valuables…my guns…not protecting us from ourselves. In the event of a burglary while no one’s here, the perps could not get my guns easily. I also have handguns that are kept in my home that are not in a safe. I’ve always heard it said that a handgun is what you use to protect yourself while you are on your way to get your rifle. That seems to be a good adage.

When I was a boy, my father had two guns, a .22 cal bolt action rifle and a 12 gauge shotgun. Both of these guns stood in the back of Dad’s closet, behind his hanging dress shirts. Dad told me as a very young boy not to touch the guns without him being present. Then, he took me out in the woods and SHOWED ME the destructive force of each gun by actually shooting something. The first thing that happened is that the sound of the gun going off scared me half to death. Then I got to see the hole that he shot clean through a piece of plywood with the tiny rifle bullet. I plugged my ears when the shotgun was fired, and my little eyes widened when I saw the big hole the shot made in that plywood.

Dad SHOWED me, and then DEMYSTIFIED the gun with examples. I loved guns as a kid and regularly strapped on my Fanner 50 pistols and played Cowboys. I became an expert shot with my Daisy BB rifle. But I never touched Dad’s guns without him being with me. Dad was always cool about allowing me to hold the guns with him by my side. And we went hunting together and used the guns.

I did the exact same thing with all three of my children, two sons and one daughter. We never had any problem with guns and children in my home.

So, I am on the other side of the debate. I believe that the way to prevent gun accidents with children is to teach them about guns. Let them hear a gun roar when it is discharged. Let them fire weapons in a safe environment. Take the romance and mystery out of guns by showing your children what guns can do. Respect flows from reality.

I also believe that disabling a firearm with some kind of lock could get you killed by a perpetrator who is not bothered by such nonsense. No matter what gun lock you might use, it slows down your response time in the very moment you need the gun.

So, I believe that all of the ordinances and laws passed that require gun owners to lock up their guns are based in stupidity. I’m not suggesting that you break the law. I’m just sayin’ that when reality is pitted against regulation, reality should seize the day.

Life Insurance and Wall Street – The Latest Scam

You might have heard of Viatical Life Insurance Settlements. The viatical settlement is when a life insurance policy owner sells the policy to another party. The buyer discounts from the face amount of the policy but usually pays an amount in excess of the cash value of the policy. This provides the seller an immediate cash settlement that’s higher than he would have gotten from the insurance company. The buyer continues to pay the premium until the death of the seller. Then, the buyer collects the face amount of the policy.

Most of the time, viatical settlements are done by people with shorter life expectancies, such as terminally ill patients. This settlement procedure is a practical way to generate cash that may be needed prior to the death of the policyowner, such as medical bills, health insurance premiums, or pre-burial plans….even just living expenses.

Well, the Wall Street Banksters (gangsters?) has figured out a way to turn life insurance policies into a security that they can sell. They are putting these cash value life insurance policies into portfolios just like they did with mortgages. They are selling these new securities around the world to investors. And not just private investors, but institutional investors like mutual funds, pension funds and such. Seems that the big institutional investors didn’t learn ANYTHING from the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage securities market. They are willingly snapping up these new securities as fast as Wall Street can produce them.

About the only thing that could negatively affect these securities is an unexpected lengthening of life expectancy. So, make sure you do what you can to die early!

Remember that the insurance companies are complicit in these new securities. Don’t be surprised if they are actually buying them. It would give them a way to get some of their death benefit money back. Spreading the risk, so to speak.

Some people never learn.

Cognitive Dissonance, or American Life in the 21st Century

Cognitive Dissonance is the accepted psychological term for the uncomfortable feeling one gets when simultaneously holding two conflicting ideas in one’s mind. When people’s ideas and behaviors are consistent with each other, there is peace and harmony. But when ideas or beliefs clash with behavior or facts, there is usually some emotional reaction. The reaction could be anger, embarrassment, guilt, shame, stress or some other form of emotional discomfort…especially if you get caught in the midst of your conflicting behavior.

Examples of day-to-day Cognitive Dissonance could be:

• Driving 75 in a 55 mph zone because 75 mph is the flow of traffic.

• “Fudging” on your tax return, after all, taxes are too high.

• Stealing office supplies from your employer because he doesn’t pay you enough.

• Pocketing a cash transaction so there would be no income tax.

• Munching your way through the supermarket without paying for the food you eat.

• Returning a dress for a refund after you wore it to the event you bought it for.

• Accepting pricey gifts from vendors or contractors, a “thank you gift” in advance.

• Being an animal rights supporter that eats a hamburger while wearing leather shoes, jacket and belt.

In the realm of government and politics, I believe that most Americans have serious cognitive dissonance issues.

Examples are:

• Citizens who complain about government excess and waste while accepting Federal largess, like “Cash for Clunkers” payments, crop subsidies, Social Security payments, Senior prescription drug benefits, mortgage guarantees, commodity price supports, college Pell grants or loans, Medicare or Medicaid, Section 8 rent subsidies, anti-competition tariffs…and the list could go on and on.

• Calling another person pejorative names when they point out your logical inconsistencies.

• Flag waving and rah-rah about the USA, when you are really cheering for the government, not the nation.

• Calling WWII “the greatest war” and those who fought in it “the greatest generation” when America had no business being in that war.

• Criticizing Vietnam-era “draft dodgers” when history has proven them right.

• Saying that you “support the troops” when they are doing evil deeds daily and violating the Constitution with those deeds. The Nuremburg defense does not work. The soldiers are not “just following orders.” They have moral decisions to make every day. That is why the suicide rate for deployed soldiers is so high.

• The American citizen who votes for “the lesser of two evils” in ANY elections.

• Citizens who attend “Tea Party” rallies but vote to elect Congressmen and Senators who violate the Constitution with their actions.

• The Congressman or Senator who votes for unconstitutional laws or spending bills.

• “Supporting” any President who proposes Unconstitutional laws and programs.

• “Supporting” any President who signs an Unconstitutional bill into law.

People hate feeling uncomfortable for any long period of time. So they have essentially three choices: (1) Change their behavior to match their ideas or beliefs, (2) Change their ideas or beliefs to match their behavior, or (3) Rationalization.

Choice #1 sometimes requires more of a human being that he is willing to do. Selfish desires often conflicts with your beliefs.

Choice #2 requires an absence of hypocrisy. After all, hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.

Rationalization serves us well. Rationalization is the action of creating justifications for one’s behavior or belief. We Americans rely upon rationalizations to get through our days. Rationalizations are more important to humans than sex. When is the last time you went a week without a rationalization?

It also has choices:

(1) Confirmation bias – a tendency to interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions. Rose-colored glasses, so to speak. But our world view, our preconceptions color everything we see and preconceptions are often hard to change. Much easier to justify our behavior or belief. But in government, politics and military strategy, confirmation bias can produce disastrous results. An example would be the American generals who keep asserting that the wars are going well and that objectives are being met. Another example is the “living Constitution” theory, which allows adherents to make it say whatever they want.

(2) Denial or dismissal of the disconfirming evidence – In the Simon and Garfunkel song “The Boxer” is the lyric “a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” Labeling the unwanted evidence “liberal” or “conservative” or “socialist” or “just plain nuts” often lends enough credence to justify our beliefs or actions.

So, why all this fuss about Cognitive Dissonance? Simply to point out that ALL human beings labor under it, and that Cognitive Dissonance has real consequences in our real world. It goes a long way to explain why people do the things that they do. And, if you want to really understand people and have a clear understanding of what they value, don’t listen to what they say…only watch what they do.

A very small minority of American citizens truly understand the principals of liberty and manageable governance. In order for there to be a sweeping wind of liberty in America, the majority of Americans will have to put aside their Cognitive Dissonance, biases and rationalizations and embrace TRUTH.

I doubt if Americans are up to the task.

The Stockholm Syndrome For States

According to Wikipedia, the “Stockholm Syndrome” is a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger or risk in which they have been placed. The syndrome is named after a 1973 bank robbery in which the bank robbers held bank employees hostage for six days. In this case, the victims became emotionally attached to their captors, and even defended them after they were freed from their six-day ordeal.

This time, the captor is the Federal Government in Washington, and the 50 states are its captives.

The powers-that-be in Washington are accelerating the destruction of the United States of America. And the state governments stand by idly.

President Obama is proving to be “the new Boss, same as the old Boss.”

• He has not removed troops from Iraq to end our military presence there. Most troops that were removed from Iraq were redeployed to Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan has been escalated. From that war, the American military has expanded that war into Pakistan. The fighting in Pakistan has a very real possibility of destabilizing the Pakistan/India relationship, which has been a decades-long powder keg.

• The operation of the American Embassy in Iraq, the largest embassy in the history of the world, continues unimpeded. America’s not leaving, folks.

• The American military is presently building new US military bases in Colombia, South America.

• Washington is still working behind the scenes to cause unrest in Iran, and an air strike is still an option. Covert military ops have been happening inside Iran for years.

• Washington has established an African Command for the US military, further expanding American hegemony worldwide.

• Congress is spending money like there is an infinite supply of it. They now own General Motors. They’ve bailed out carmakers, investment banking companies, lenders and brokerages with hundreds of millions of dollars that they don’t have.

• The Cap and Trade legislation, which would be the largest tax increase in the history of the USA, is still alive.

• The Congress wants to pass health care legislation which will change health care in America, and not for the good.

• The Obama Administration is surrounding itself with advisors who are avowed Communists, Socialists, and Marxists.

• The Federal Reserve continues to operate unchecked, with no oversight by anyone whatsoever.

• The Transportation Safety Administration tightly regulates all air travel within the borders of the United States. Piss them off and you don’t fly.

• The manipulation of the American economy by Washington continues. Between Federal Reserve monetary policy and a Congress that never saw a bill it would not fund, unemployment rises. Foreclosures mushroom. Bank failures increase. Bankruptcy is at an all-time high.

I could go on and on, but I think I’ve made my point.

Most Americans SEEM to be unhappy with the way our nation is being run right now. Obama’s approval numbers have slid to a place that only about 50% of those polled approve of his work. And NO ONE trusts Congress.

The tyranny of Washington continues. Washington has long forgotten that the Federal government was invented by the States to serve THEM.

The tail has wagged the dog since Lincoln lived in the White House.

The “State of the Union” means more than a propagandist’s dream on a January evening in Congress. The state of our Union is desperately bad and getting worse.

How much longer will the states allow themselves to be victims of a kidnapping?

How much longer will the states accept the devastation of our way of life that is pouring out of Washington like feces from a sewer pipe?

How much longer will states tolerate being ruled by an unconstitutional military-backed junta that has stolen our nation?

How much longer will states allow their own citizens to be taxed to death by a government no longer accountable to those very citizens?

When will states awaken from their long slumber and once again realize that they are sovereign and independent, and that they have the power to shake off the heavy burden of Federal tyranny?

Will it take hyperinflation to wake up the states? How high will the unemployment rate have to be? How high will the taxes have to get? How many unfunded Federal mandates will have to be imposed? Will a new law about firearm confiscation or regulation of ammunition be enough? What if Washington decides to once again make it illegal for citizens to own gold, and begins to confiscate gold?

Will the states continue to be the indentured servants of the Washington plantation until the day that the plantation collapses? Then, what will the states do? Will they become sovereign once again and assert their freedom, or simply look for another “Massa?”

The Boy Scouts of America have a two-word slogan: “Be Prepared.” Every ten-year-old scout in America knows that he should prepare for both good and bad. The sovereign states of the united States of America would do well to adopt the Boy Scout slogan and start preparing for an uncertain future.

My prediction is that the majority of the American states are so inured to the Federal shackles that they will stay with Washington no matter what. The states have developed a love for their own captors…the Stockholm Syndrome lives.

© Copyright 2009 by Russell D. Longcore.