A Good Friend Asked Me If My Blog And The Views That I Express In It Might Be Negatively Affecting My Business. That's An Excellent Question. Here's A 12 Step AA Program To Sober Up America And Get Back On Track! Read A Few Blogs And You Tell Me.

Dear Pals,

I am a guy with a PPOV - personal point of view - it's unique and personal to me and shaped by the experiences of my brief stay on this rock.

I respect and honor other people's point-of-view and welcome a lively debate.

I love my country. It is called The United States of America, FYI.

I am a reader, researcher and lifelong student of history.

I do not go along with any "party" line.

I have never attended a Tea Party rally or a Republican or Democrat meeting.

I did contribute to George W. Bush's first campaign.

I voted for Barack Obama in the Missouri Primary.

I am - for better or worse - an independent thinker.

I form my own opinions and am prepared to back my positions up with facts, figures and objective information.

I have been known to change my mind when confronted with facts that prove me wrong.

I admit my mistakes, take responsibility and I am a flawed human being...a work in progress.

I provide information and educational resource materials on this blog.

I welcome fearless feedback.

I always say, "Think for yourself! Do your own reading and research. Don't take my word for anything. Come up with your own independent and informed opinion."

Good people can disagree. I don't expect anyone to line up with me and march in lock step. And, don't expect me to do it either.

But I believe this statement in the very marrow of my bones - An informed and engaged citizen is our best defense against our enemies foreign and domestic.

I want to see people succeed and I've helped a lot of people make their unique American Dream come true. I've also been mentored by some business giants and I've tried to pass what I've learned along to many others.

I've got a soft spot in my heart for kids - kids in the hospital on Kingshighway and kids in a hovel in Haiti.

I do what I can in the here and now.

I was ringing the FISCAL INSANITY BELL long before AIG was bailed out!

I'm dead set against most of the tax, spend, regulate and life control policies of the Federal government.

I'm in AA...American Advocates:

Here's my 12-Step AA formula to get America SOBERED UP and back on track fast:

1) Take the profit out of politics - eliminate all special perks and privilges and health and pension plans that our representatives have given to themselves at the expense of the common citizens. Why are they entitled to more and better things than the people they serve? They are uncommon thieves.

2) VOTER ENFORCED TERM LIMITS - unelect everyone in the U.S. Congress - Republican, Democrat, Vegetarian, Rastafarian and Fruitcakian. Toss 'em all O-U-T out!

3) Eliminate the Professional Political Class - destroy the network of lobbyist-perk-corruption-payoffs and dismantle the nests the DC-PECers have feathered with our taxes. (PEC = Political Elite Class)

4) Cut Congressional salaries -  by 20% until unemployment is below 4%

5) Cut all Federal budgets - across the board by 5% in each of the next 5-years

6) Freeze all Federal hiring for 5-years - learn to do more with less like business has done

7) Hold politicians REGULARLY accountable - make them have Town Halls twice a year - NOT just in election years. One term may be too many for some.

8) Make politicians open their books - full disclousure of Personal Financial Statements for wives too...no hiding the do-re-mi in others' pockets

9) Defeat legacy political families - no more Kennedys, Carnahans, Bidens, Bushs or Cuomos.

10) No politician may serve more than 2 consecutive terms - like Cincinnatus of Rome citizens should serve their nation then return home to their real jobs.

11) No more open ended political pensions - same as an IRA, they contribute to it and it is not a lifetime GRAVY TRAIN.

12) No more 'self-regulating' Congressional trials by their "peers" - arrest the tax evaders, scofflaws, vote sellers, influence peddlers and grifter grafters -- and after a fair trial by ordinary citizens, toss them in jail, if found guilty, just like you and me.

There you have it.

I'm a Libertarian with a Episcopalian-Roman Catholic-Zen bent.

If my beliefs, values, passions and views drive business away from me. So be it.

I'd rather stand up for my beliefs than sell my soul for a client budget. If being "Politically Correct" is a lithmus test and condition for getting business, I'm not interested. I'm not willing to sacrifice my integrity or my values.

I'm a merit-based guy - I want folks to hire me for my experience and expertise in marketing, sales promotion, PR and advertising...those are the talent and passion credentials that should count.

Birk, Commonsensetarian, Citizen of the Republic, Mob of One. Irritating People Since 1947.

PS: Liberals like to derogatorally paint me as one of "We The Dummies" - an uneducated, ignoramus, neanderthal, fossil, tea bagger, angry, white male, racist, non-compassionate, gun and bible clinger out there somewhere in Missouri, which Hollywood believes is somewhere near Georgia where the Ku Klux Klan is headquartered.

You can't argue with emotions and logic like that.

So I don't!

Lord, give me strength! (That is "Lord" as in God!)