I believe in seeing the signs.  If you see the signs around you in life, if you can see the reality, then you have a better chance of surviving in this world.

I am seeing some disturbing signs of drug use in the world of sports;  the reports of this Doctor Anthony Galea and the HGH Cocktails he was distributing to athletes,  Floyd Landis accusing Lance Armstrong and his other Postal Service teammates of using performance-enhancing drugs.  We’ve seen and heard the stories and the testimony of Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds and seen the signs in all the major league sports.

I’d like to hear what you think.  Where is the main stream media in all of this?  Is this some kind of giant cover-up?  I see the signs in cycling, in golf, football, baseball.  Do you see them?  They are there – but where is the outrage?

You’ve probably heard me talk about looking at and seeing the signs.  Signs are reality.  Signs are the things you see but don’t want to acknowledge.   You and I have got to acknowledge this deficit situation.  You and I have got to make everyone aware of this problem.  If we don’t see the signs, we are going to end up in a situation just like Greece and Spain.

Here are some interesting facts for you:  One in four of all employees in Greece works for the government.  In Spain, the number is one in five.  This is a traditional Socialist, European mindset that historically leads to financial collapse. 

You say, this can never happen to us in America!  It can, and it will if you and I remain silent.  We are no different from any other country or entity that lets its expenses get out of control.  Our debt is rising, our government is getting bigger.  And it won’t stop unless you and I speak up, and speak up loud enough!

Please consider joining the Small Business Party on Facebook, and make sure your representatives know how you feel about them spending money than we have.

http://tinyurl.com/2adofrd

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The real story and the real tragedy of Greece is that Big Government took over and delivered services and promises to the Greek people that they could not pay for.  Sound familiar? 

That is exactly the direction that our country is heading with unbridled spending and the debt that we are incurring.  And who is going to stop it?  You and me!  With our voice and our vote!

Here is a little data for you.  Greece’s debt is 113% of their GDP.  Our debt is 58% of our GDP, and racing forward.  Just a few years ago it was 38%. 

If you want to support our voice, check out our Small Business Party.  We are for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs, the people who supply 80% of the job growth in this country, the people who pay their taxes, the people who understand that you can’t spend more than you make.

Republican incumbents as well as Democratic incumbents are being thrown out of office everyday – and I support that!  This is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue.  It is an issue of the survival and prosperity of America.  If we don’t take it seriously, who will?  If you and I don’t want to fix the problem, who will? 

Make your voice heard, and do it now!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/The-Small-Business-Party/117605658252052

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/opinion/05friedman.html?emc=eta1

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/opinion/04brooks.html?emc=eta1

Rory McIlroy is the new phenom of the PGA tour.  Rory is one day shy of 21.  He’s from the little country of Ireland and has won professional golf tournaments all over the world.  He became the PGA Tour’s youngest winner since Tiger Woods this Sunday against one of the best fields of great players at the Quail Hollow Championship, one of the most challenging courses on tour. He shot a record breaking 62. 

While Rory was staring down the great Phil Mickelson to win his tournament, Ryo Ishikawa was shooting a 58 to win a major Japanese tournament.  And Ryo is the grand old age of 18!

 There is added significance to all this.  A new breed of superstar golfer was born yesterday.  They are young, they are bold, and they are hungry.  As Arnold Palmer was ending his great professional career, he said to me, “it’s harder to keep your interest as the years advance.”  

 There is a price to pay to be among the elite golfers in the world.  It’s very hard for golfers to sustain that level.  Look at the records of the great Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer,  and Tom Watson and you’ll see that their great victories came at the early to middle parts of their careers.  Tiger is approaching 35.  We don’t know if he can reach the levels he has reached in the past.  Many golfers think he played his best golf 6 or 7 years ago.  With the hits he’s taken over the last 6 months, the embarrassment, the public bloodbath, will he be able to regain that finite mental and physical focus that one must have to be the elite player of the world? 

 While he is figuring that out, two fresh-faced Irish and Japanese young men have announced that they are ready to compete at the highest level.

We have been held captive for the past number of years by the oil producing nations in the Mideast, Venezuela, and others. 

We cannot continue to let that happen.  We have the real opportunity now to lead the world in next generation energy that is critical to our economic and social growth.  People and nations that wait for the perfect moment never lead. 

 We have historically been the innovators, the creators, the leaders.  For the past 20 years, we have become the followers, not the leaders. 

We can take back the energy lead, and this article will show you how important it is. 

Read it and give us your feedback.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/opinion/30brooks.html?hp

Tim Tebow will make it as an NFL quarterback.  The reason is very simple – he is a playmaker extraordinaire.  He is been a playmaker at every level.  He has played in the toughest college conference in the world, and won two national championships.  Josh McDaniels, his coach in Denver, and Urban Meyer, Tebow’s college coach in Florida, are good friends and share offensive philosophies.  They both push the envelope with new thinking in offensive football.  Josh McDaniel will let Tim Tebow be Tim Tebow. 

Tebow will not look like a typical professional quarterback.  But I can assure you, in my 18 years of playing Hall of Fame level football, I was not your typical quarterback.  You could never fit me into a box.  Tebow will be the same way.  And he will make it work.

What about Ben?

Ben Roethlisberger’s suspension is a good thing.  And Ben’s reaction to his suspension is also a good thing.  This will be a great lesson in life for a young man who has had every good thing that football has to offer.  He has two Super Bowl rings, and has had the honor of quarterbacking one of the elite franchises of the NFL.  And he has had some very serious missteps. 

Here is the good news.  Ben is scared.  He is scared of losing it all.  He now has a sense of desperation that will help him turn it around and make it right.  I believe he will.  The consequences of not turning things around are just too scary for Big Ben. 

He will be a better man for all of this.

Fellow entrepreneurs and business owners,

I believe that you and I –

People who work every day. . .

People who put our hands in the soil…

People who create products and services. . .

People who build businesses. . .

People who pay our taxes. . .

People who don’t create offshore accounts to dodge our responsibilities. . .

Can be silent no longer.  We cannot be a silent majority with no voice! 

I really do believe that Small Business people across America have got to join together with our ideas, our energy, our creativity and our patriotism to bring about the change we need in order to prosper and in fact, survive. 

I need you to be an active participant with me! 

I believe we are headed down a dead end street and from the feedback I am getting, it sounds like Small Businesses like you agree!  Everyone from Ben Bernanke to Billy Bob and Mary Sue know that the spending that started under the Bush administration and is continuing today will drive us into oblivion.  Big Government has never worked, and will never work.  We need some government; we need some laws; and we need some checks and balances. But, what we need more of, is hard working people to be thinkers, creators and innovators. We need Small Business Entrepreneurs to have the freedom to stimulate this country and grow our economy.

Let me define what a Small Business is - it is not a company with 500 or

fewer employees.  A Small Business is really a company with 1 to 20 employees. 

A Small Business is anyone who is self-employed and any home-based business. 

It encompasses all races, all genders, all ages; it is all people.

This is not a political movement; this is a movement about righting the ship.  This is a movement about ensuring a future for our children and our grandchildren. 

As I write this note, I am in the state of California.  California may have the greatest natural resources of any state/nation in the world. The San Joaquin Valley is the breadbasket of the world.  It has the most fertile soil, producing the richest crops anywhere in the world.  The Silicon Valley is the epicenter of innovative technological advances which are the envy of the rest of the world.  With 37 million residents, California’s human assets and natural resources are unparalleled and yet the state is bankrupt because of fiscal irresponsibility.  It has been driven into bankruptcy by unbridled spending on programs which are unsustainable in any economy. 

If California can go bankrupt, America can go bankrupt.  If our nation’s banking  industry can go bankrupt, America can go bankrupt.  We must curtail this spending now!

I have always found that the only way that I can make changes happen is that

I must create a sense of desperation.  At the age of 70, I’m compelled to create a

sense of desperation for this country for all of our sakes.

I believe that you and I –

People who work every day. . .

People who put our hands in the soil . .

People who create products and services. . .

People who build businesses. . .

People who pay our taxes. . .

People who don’t create offshore accounts to dodge our responsibilities. . .can be silent no longer. 

We cannot be a silent majority with no voice! 

We are creating a Small Business movement across this country. 

*         I need your ideas. 

*         I need your partnership. 

*         I need your energy, your goodness, your strength as an American entrepreneur. 

Together, we can make a difference for Small Businesses and in fact, for the future of America!

Visit our Small Business Party page on Facebook to join me today, and feel free to invite your friends, family, and business associates as well!

If you haven’t read what John Linder has sent me about the Fair Tax, now is the time.  You can always find more information at http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer

Also,make sure to stop by my Facebook page to see archived Fox interviews, and check out Tarkenton.com to see and share in what we do for small business.

You can also follow me on Twitter to get updates sooner.