Uncommon Common Sense

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...