Uncommon Common Sense

Today is December 23rd. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. The day after is Christmas. People are scrambling all over the place buying last-minute Christmas gifts. The Christmas light displays are beautiful, and people are traveling all over the place to spend Christmas with their families. Tonight, our church has a "Christmas Eve-eve" service. Tomorrow night, churches all over the world will be holding Christmas Eve services. What's my point? OK, here's my point: Christmas. Not "holiday", not "winter solstice" not "mass-marketing event", but CHRISTMAS. At this time of year, I CELEBRATE. I celebrate the greatest gift that has ever been given...the gift of God's Salvation, through the birth of His Son. Yes, I've heard them all..."but if you do the math, Jesus was most likely born in the summer, like June or so." Big freakin' deal. Martin Luther King, Jr., was not born on the 3rd Monday of January, yet we celebrate "his d...

Just wanted to do a little promo piece for a friend of mine, Miss Dana Hee. Master Hee is an international motivational speaker, and was 1988 Olympic gold medalist in Taekwondo. She is also an award-winning Hollywood stuntwoman. I could go on for several pages, but I just want to encourage everyone to experience Master Hee for themselves. She has begun to write her own blog, containing inspirational and motivational messages. I'd like to encourage you all to check it out: www.danahee.blogspot.com . Hoping I can post more tomorrow. Up to my eyeballs in alligators today. Today IS Thursday, isn't it? my two cents worth today. :) --Larry Voorhees

OK, so the son-in-law and I went out 2 days, saw lots of tracks, lots of fresh sign, and zero deer. *sigh* I have another go at it with Late Muzzleloader season in late December/early January in southern Iowa, so hopefully will nail something then. Still working on the books. We're up to Chapter 17 in Book 3. My hopes of having the draft done by Thanksgiving simply didn't materialize. With the schedule looking like it does, we'll be lucky to have the draft done by the end of the year. There's at least a dozen more chapters to go, and more likely, closer to 20, before the story in book 3 is completely told. We're also working on Book 4, but that one is going slower. We're taking a new twist in direction on Book 4, so getting both of us to re-gear our minds to wrap around the concepts is taking a bit longer than we originally thought. The rough outlines are done, now it's simply a matter of having enough time for the two of us to sit down and block out the r...

Alright, I have another chance at bagging a deer. Going hunting with my son-in-law this weekend. On the surface, it doesn't sound very promising. He says he's been out several times already, and hasn't seen a thing. Yet, he's convinced that the area we're going to hunt is prime for deer. While I'd really prefer to be able to tag one, I'm also pretty content with just spending some quality time in the woods with the son-in-law. He's a pretty neat guy, and it's some nice bonding time for the two of us. And, my wife gets to hang with my daughter while us guys are out fulfilling our annual blood-lust ritual. So, I see it as a win-win all the way around. :) my two cents worth today. --Larry Voorhees

OK, so I spent an absolutely gorgeous three days in the woods, hunting Bambi and/or his mother. Tons of tracks, lots of fresh sign, well-used trails, some new buck scrapes and rubs...and didn't see a blessed thing all 3 days. Now, granted, it was unseasonably warm, and there was a great deal of hunting pressure in the area we were, but....I didn't see a single deer. You'd think there'd be at least one stupid one out there that would wander into my rifle-sights. Oh well, maybe the Minnesota deer haven't heard of my legendary marksmanship, and I can snag one of them when we go visit my daughter and son-in-law next month. On another note, I did an online interview with a writer/reviewer/blogger based in Ohio, Nikiti Puhalsky. Had some good questions about being a writer, and working with a co-author. Interview should be up on her website ( www.npuhalsky.com ) sometime in the next day or two. Along the writing lines, progress is being made both on Book 3 in the 5...

"Renaissance Man". That's what I like to hear. "Jack of all trades, master of none" is what my mind tells me that people are saying, though, when I hear "Renaissance Man". Does it mean I'm not a "complete person" just because I really enjoy doing a large variety of things? Does it mean I'm not an "adult"... a "grown-up"? Or, does it mean that I really am one of those people that simply must experience as many different things as possible in his/her life, and strives to do at least reasonably well at whatever they touch? To be honest, I don't know "the answer". I know an answer. Take this week, for example. Work all day Monday (project management stuff at my day-job). Teach Taekwondo Monday night. Tuesday, work all day, attend Small Group from church Tuesday evening. We're studying "The Truth Project". Very fascinating stuff. Wednesday, work all day, tonight we'll do something s...

I've been enjoying the role of co-author. My friend, Randy, and I have co-written two action/adventure novels, and are in the midst of two more. We have decided to write a series of five, each one titled after one of the Five Tenets of Taekwondo: Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control, and Indomitable Spirit. As I said, the first two in the 5 Tenets Series are completed, and are available on Amazon.com and Target.com. (see the link above). Book 1 is "Indomitable Spirit - the Power Within", and introduces the reader to many of the characters who will populate the rest of the series. Book 2 is "Integrity", and picks up the story line from Book 1 approximately 4 years later. Both books are a wonderful read, and the baseline lesson within each is focused on the Tenet encompassed in the title. As I mentioned, Randy and I are working on Books 3 and 4 right now, and are hopeful to have at least Book 3 ready for publication before Christmas. In addition, I hav...

Good morning, sirs and ma'ams:I had the opportunity to spend a great deal of time this weekend talking with my wife, my extended family, and some close friends. My frustration level with the political situation continues to mount. Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that at this point in time, both in my life, and in the environment we currently live in, it will be more detrimental to me and my family, physically, emotionally, and financially, if I am a candidate for State Legislature again in 2010.My biggest source of frustration is that the political discussions appear to no longer be about "right and wrong", but are simply about "right and left". Unfortunately, the current system is stacked in that fashion, and anyone attempting to breach that system is starting at a huge disadvantage.I simply don't have the resources in time or money or emotional capital to breach the system at this time.Perhaps in the future, but not today.My sincere thanks for...

This is the basic text of the speech I gave on April 11th at the Tea Party in Des Moines: Good afternoon. My name is Larry Voorhees, and I am a recovering American. What do I mean by that phrase…”recovering American”…. Many things. First of all, it means to me that for a period of time, I forgot what it was to be “an American”. I forgot that ours is a nation built on principles. A nation built on ideals. Built on the concepts of courtesy, being people of integrity, being people who have the capacity for perseverance, people of self-control….a nation with an indomitable spirit. What else do I mean by stating that I am a “recovering American”? It means that while I sat back, and for a period of time, made some foolish choices, and that, either through my actions…or, more often, through my inactions, I allowed things to come into the life of my family, my community, my state, and my country….that I really shouldn’t have let happen. But you see, I got suckered. I bought into the Grea...

I did a quick read of the House Rules yesterday. It appears that the public hearing was held under the auspices of the Ways and Means Committee, and the hearing was chaired by that committee's chairman. Therefore, according to the House Rules, only that committee chair had the authority to clear the House chambers. Speaker Murphy only has the authority to do so when the full House is In Session, but not during individual committee meetings/hearings.Therefore, according to the House Rules, it appears that Mr. Murphy simply usurped the authority of the Committee Chair, and ordered the chambers cleared. Whassamatta, Mr. Murphy...hearing stuff you didn't like to hear? It would appear that way. Remember...perception is reality. ...my two cents worth this morning. --Larry Voorhees

Well, I guess I'll have to blame my public school education. For years, I was taught that the House of Representatives was the "People's House". Turns out that I was wrong, as proven by Speaker Murphy at the Iowa House of Representatives last night. He cleared the gallery. It seems that the vast majority of "the people" in "the people's house" are able to see through this blatant attempt to redistribute money from one group of people to another group of people. And, as is usually the case, there still seems to be some "gray" about whether or not all of the money would be used for "tax relief". First problem: taxing a tax. Second problem: making Joe Public over here essentially give money to Joe Public over there. Third problem: very thinly veiled communism, in my opinion. Fourth problem: Robin Hood was fiction. THIS stuff, on the other hand, is very very real. "The People" are not going to stand for this. ...

Did you ever play tennis? I did, when I was in high school. I wasn't all that good...not much more than an average player. Funny thing about tennis...it takes two people, minimum, to play a game. There has to be somebody on the other side of the net to hit the ball back to you. If you don't hit the ball back...well, you don't have a game. For the past several weeks, I've been hearing about how horrible our economy is, how the world is going to hell in a handbasket, how the sky is falling, etc. Sure, my 401k has lost about 35% of it's value. That's why I'm invested in a model that's designed for people that aren't going to retire for another 15-20 years. One thing I do remember from my high school economics class is that everything is cyclical. We've had periods of robust growth in our nation before. We've also had periods of retraction before. It happens. Why is it that people are so surprised when we don't have constant, unimpede...

I've been giving a fair amount of thought to the whole two-party thing. Sometimes, I just can't believe some of the things I'm hearing...from either party. Then, a few days ago, my lovely wife just simply said, "Why does it always have to be about the 'party'? Why can't it be about what's right, and what makes sense?" She has a great point. Let me take just a couple of issues that our state legislature and governor are batting about currently, and ask those same simple questions. Gov. Culver's suggestion that we borrow...what was the rough figure....$700 million? $680 million?...and pay that loan off out of "future gambling revenues". Let me throw some questions at that... Are "gambling revenues" an assured source of income? Can we guarantee that we, the state, will always receive X-amount of dollars from that venue? What if the national economy turns even further south...will individual expenses on gambling decrease,...

Whew! Talk about an exercise in survival skills! December was a bit of one, for our household. My daughter graduated college, so drove to Moorhead, MN, for the graduation ceremony at Concordia College on Dec. 17th. Then, Christmas Eve-eve services at POG (Dec. 23rd), then Christmas Day, then hop in the car and scoot up to Minneapolis for daugther's wedding on Dec. 27th. Then, up to Battle Creek, Iowa, to go deer hunting with my friend, Randy, on Jan. 1 & 2 (unsuccessful). Was going to go out chasing Bambi again on the 3rd and 4th down by Knoxville, but freezing drizzle on the 3rd and really cold wind-chills on the 4th, and not having had much "quiet time" with my wife for too long...well, I stayed home. I have one last chance for some venison. Randy and I are going to go out first thing in the morning on the 10th, and see if we can find one deer that's less intelligent than I am. I was speaking with my TKD students last night about New Year's Resolutions....