Some much needed changes

A very smart group of people were discussing writing, from a professional perspective. I found myself lucky enough to have been nearby to listen in. (Thanks, Angela.) They had some very practical and real world ideas on bringing in clients to their freelance work, what the best way to do some promoting of your work to garner more clients and ways to present yourself in a professional manner.

I found these insights very helpful and took the advice of a very smart man. (Thanks, Vincent.)

So, as you may have noticed, I have made some much needed changes to the site. I hope you like. Let me know.

As for making much needed changes, I suggest that the voting public also needs to make some changes.

With the advent of more corporate money flowing into political campaigns, a one sided media (that may be coming around because us alternate media types are making them look pretty foolish), and a campaign season that is determined to be sleazier, hazier and even more of a popularity contest than ever before.

Stop listening to the commercials.

Stop listening to the rhetoric from the media and from the candidates themselves.

Stop listening to all the radio, television and internet talking heads. (Yea, that means me, too. Even though I won't stop talking.)

And when I say "stop listening," I don't mean stop taking in the information they put out. I mean "STOP LISTENING" and taking it all to heart as gospel. I mean STOP LETTING THEM DO YOUR THINKING FOR YOU!

There is this incredible gray matter stuffed into your skulls between your ears that has all sorts of uses. And one such use is for logical thinking. It has amazing capacity for sniffing out the BS and sifting through the information to get at the facts.

There are so many unbiased places you can find out about the people who want to represent us. Find out what they believe in by finding out what they have done. If it is an elected official, check out his / her votes. Check out the bills they have personally sponsored as opposed to ones they jump on board with after the bill is written. (Some of these just may be repaying favors.) Check out the speeches they make in public, in office and during interviews.

If they have not held office, scrutinize where they come from and what they have done in their lives. If they espouse giving to the poor and homeless and the uneducated, see what they have done in their own loves to this end. have they donated to charities (money or time)? If they have a business, how well was it run? Did the employees like working for them? Have they had any SEC or ethics violations against them?

The American voter needs to know what they believe in as well, and how committed they are to those beliefs. If a the public doesn't know what they believe in with a passion unmatched, then how can they judge the people they elect on their beliefs?

We've got 18 months before the next general election. Between now and then there will be a lot of rhetoric flying around out there. It is about time we cut through all the crap and get to the heart of the truth. It is about time we have leaders who are more interested in leading then filling their own pockets or expanding their own influence. We need leaders who are willing to lead through the hard times and the good, and not just interested in exploiting a "good crisis" to further their own agenda. It is time we stand up and let Washington know that we are tired of the in-fighting, the ideologue mentality and the "we're better than you" mentality. We are tired of back and forth bickering when we need a fix to our problems in the PRESNT not in the FUTURE. Because without leadership and solutions now, we will have no future.

As always, agree or disagree with me, it makes no matter. So long as I make you stop listening and start thinking for yourself, I have done my job. But hey, this is just me, Thinking out Loud.

Have a great day.

Charles