February 22, 2013 at 12:15PM

Do you like at least some Masticating Thespians? Or perhaps you are one? Like if you do or are... :P Justin Taylor

February 19, 2013 at 11:16PM

Here's some Irony for ya... The less water you use as a community, as in the better you are at conserving and caring for our water, the MORE they charge for you to get that water. Here in Portland, everyone has been so good at conserving water, that now the reward, is it is costing the Portland Water Bureau too much, so they have to increase rates by another 7.8% and we already have some of the highest rates in the nation. Lesson... don't use as much water as possible, so they can afford to lower the rates... Like so many other things in this day and age in this country, there is No REWARD for those who conserve and save, even when it comes to a natural resource that actually should cost nothing. We should have a right to it, like we have a right to air, so that we can breath. Justin Taylor

February 17, 2013 at 11:54PM

Writing a paper for academic reasons, and citing your own book as a source. Priceless! Justin Taylor

February 11, 2013 at 01:08PM

Just a reminder and something to think about, perhaps even ponder in these troubling times. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." ▬ DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Justin Taylor

January 18, 2013 at 12:16AM

"Creative Leaders work to reduce complexity, slim down central staff, eliminate excessive layering, and create units of manageable size." (Hickman 2009 pg. 61) Can you name ANY current political leaders that fit this definition?? Justin Taylor

January 17, 2013 at 05:44PM

In the face of a budget crises here in the US, Obama finds in his infinite wisdom to actually propose a .5% raise to all government employees. Really?? I was reading an article the other day, perhaps last week about it, and I am now reminded as Congress battles over whether to increase the debt ceiling, so that we can go further into debt, and spend more money on more things we probably don't need. When is Washington going to start cutting expenses, and stop trying to create more government jobs, just to be able to say, the economy is rebounding... when every government job is that much more of a strain on taxpayers?? Yes, I love a raise as much as the next person, who doesn't?? But that raise was going to cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions every year. How do we get Washington to learn to spend less and not more, and cut the pork bellies and start tightening the fiscal belt, while at the same time, helping loosen and/or create policies that foster an environment of private sector job creation?? Justin Taylor

January 16, 2013 at 03:17PM

Ronald Reagan – 40th President of the USA (1981-1989) “There are those in America today who have come to depend absolutely on government for their security. And when government fails they seek to rectify that failure in the form of granting government more power. So, as government has failed to control crime and violence with the means given it by the Constitution, they seek to give it more power at the expense of the Constitution. But in doing so, in their willingness to give up their arms in the name of safety, they are really giving up their protection from what has always been the chief source of despotism government. Lord Acton said power corrupts. Surely then, if this is true, the more power we give the government the more corrupt it will become. And if we give it the power to confiscate our arms we also give up the ultimate means to combat that corrupt power. In doing so we can only assure that we will eventually be totally subject to it. When dictators come to power, the first thing they do is take away the people's weapons. It makes it so much easier for the secret police to operate, it makes it so much easier to force the will of the ruler upon the rule.” Justin Taylor