The Michigan Militia launches the 10-Week Project Contest in preparation for the 2008 elections. The group begins arrangements over concerns for public safety in the ten week period between the conclusion of the national elections and the proclamation of the president. The contest aims to get members and non-members involved in the preparation, training and planning for the potentially tumultuous time.

The 10-Week Project Contest calls for essays that detail the exact strategy to be undertaken by concerned citizens in the event of turmoil during the ten weeks before the president is officially sworn in. Preparations include the accumulation of food, first aid training, transportation and the preparation of gear. The essays required are persuasive in nature, asking contributors to delineate why they feel the need for these measures to be taken.

The Michigan Militia is a long standing organization based in Michigan that is composed of several militia sub groups. The group has recently resurfaced and made its presence known on the internet by having its own MySpace page, YouTube account and Facebook profile. Most of these were put up and being managed by the subgroup called the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia.

There are monthly tactical training courses given by the Michigan Militia. Often these are held on the first Saturday of each month in Camp Stasa in Bancroft, Michigan. Members of the Michigan Militia train people in the handling of weapons, first aid and give them safety instructions.

Most of the Michigan Militia’s training focus on guns and weapons as well as combat training for different climates and terrain. They have regular activities which are open to the public and announced on their website and their profiles on social networking sites. Some of their most notable activities include the Snow Dog Winter Training and Survival Weekend as well as the Militia Field Day.

The Militia Field Day allows members and non-members to practice their target shooting using different caliber weapons. Children as young as 10 years old are taught to handle guns and practice target shooting. Contests are also held wherein the participants have to practice accurate and speed shooting.

The Michigan Militia prohibits the bringing of alcohol, illegal substances and weapons on the premises of any of their activities. The East Central Volunteers of Michigan and the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia facilitate most of their activities.

Originally called the Michigan Militia Corps, the group was originally established in 1994 and has enjoyed a rise in membership after the September 11 attack on the World Trade Buildings.

Living in today’s metropolitan world of cellular phones, mobile computers and other high-tech gadgets is not just hectic but very impersonal. We make money and then invest our time and effort in making more money. Does it end? Not usually because we are never satisfied. How many times have we convinced ourselves that if only we had some more money, life would be so sweet? But then, after receiving a substantial raise, we realize that it wasn’t enough and that we need more?

What Should You Do?
I have read many books on life such as Robin Sharma’s Monk says this and the monk says that, and they all seem to say that money is not necessary. But it is. Can you do without cash and a lot of it? I know I can’t.

So, I went to the neighbourhood Rabbi and asked for advice that will help me find my true way in life.

The rabbi nodded and took me to the window. “What do you see?” he asked me.

Promptly, I answered, “I can see people walking to and fro and a blind man is begging for alms at the left corner.”

The Rabbi nodded and guided me to a big mirror. “Now look and tell me what you see?”

“I can see myself,” I man answered.

The Rabbi smiled. “Now you can’t see anyone else. The mirror and the window are both created from the same raw material: glass, but because on one of them they have applied a thin layer of silver, when you look at it all you can see is your own reflection.”

The Rabbi placed his arm on my shoulders. “Compare yourself to those two pieces of glass. Without the silver layer, you saw the other people and felt compassion for them. When you are covered with silver, you see only yourself.”

I looked at the Rabbi and stared. “I don’t understand.”

The Rabbi continued. “You will become someone only if have the courage to remove the silver covering over your eyes in order to again see and love others.” He patted me on my back and sent me on my way.

I have thought of what he said and come to the conclusion that he had a point. Yes. We need money and we should not aim to lead a moneyless existence; its pointless and will only cause us and our families many heartbreaks in the future.

Instead, I suggest that we should follow the advice the Rabbi gave me. When we approach life through a silver covering, all we are able to see is ourselves. But discard that covering, and you will be able to see and feel everyone else.

Conclusion:
In life, we are allowed to and should be able to look at both kinds of mirrors, but we should remember that a mirror reflects only us; a window is the door to compassion, health and true wealth. In other words, seek wealth by all means, but don’t let it dissuade you from life, people, children and the poor and needy.

Unless you live in Arizona there is a good chance you have never heard of Joe. He is a sheriff in Arizona. He was recently re-elected to his position in Maricopa County. Why do I think he should be President? Because he is actually trying to make a difference. He doesn’t care if he is pleasing everybody, he is trying to please the good citizens of his county and punish the bad ones.

Joe is not your typical politician. Technically he is a politician because he needs to be voted into his role but he is not the non-committal, always trying to please everyone while never actually doing anything politician. He makes decisions and stands by them.

Some things Joe has done are to charge prisoners for their meals. He cut off porno movies and magazines from the prisons. He only allows “G” rated movies. He took away the weights from the inmates. He has brought back chain gangs for both men and women. He tried taking out TV but was ordered to put it back in the prison because a federal court decision said he had to. So, he put them back but only allows the Disney Channel and the Weather Channel. When asked why he allows the Weather Channel his reasoning was, so the inmates will know what the temperature will be the next day when they are working the chain gang. He cut out coffee because it has no nutritional value.

These changes are excellent in my opinion. We need to stop babying criminals because if we don’t they will never want to leave and always want to come back. We should stop allowing TV, Sony Playstation, porn movies, etc… Some of the above changes prompted some complaints from the prisoners and the Sheriff’s response was, “This isn’t the RitzCarlton. If you don’t like it, don’t come back.”

As if these changes weren’t good enough they get even better. Sheriff Joe started tent housing at his prison. Approximately 2,000 prisoners live in a tent outside in the prison yard. During the summer months it can obviously get quite hot in the tent being that they are in Arizona. Reported temperatures last summer were up to 138 degrees in the tent. Prisoners claimed this was inhumane. The Sheriff’s response was, “It’s 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they have to wear full battle gear, but they didn’t commit any crimes, so shut your damned mouths!”

Too often politicians are so concerned about not winning enough votes they do not ever commit to an answer that will upset anyone. A perfect example is the fact that a federal court made the decision that TV’s need to be allowed in the prisons. Maybe the prisons should be lined with books to help the prisoners learn new skills and become more educated. By doing this they would have a better chance to succeed outside the prison walls. There is a good chance there is a large amount of people in the prisons across this country that can’t read and write. But, at least they are entitled to TV, that ought to make things better.

We need more politicians like Joe Arpaio. We need more people that are concerned about doing the right thing and spend their time working on doing those things rather than slinging mud against the other side. A perfect example is the recent issue involving the high gas prices. President Bush has come up with a plan, and a bad plan in my opinion, to resolve the gas price “crisis”. The Democrats are bad mouthing his plan instead of getting together to come up with a good plan.

Anyone that has read some of my other articles knows my stance on politics. I am not a Democrat or a Republican. I think they both stink for the country. I think they have manipulated the system so badly that it will be the downfall of our country at some point in the future. It may not be in our lifetime but they will be the reason this country fails. They spend recklessly, they make laws that favor themselves and the corporations that fund their campaigns, and they very rarely do the right thing for their voters.

As a parting word I ask that anyone that is reading this article do me a favor, please keep an eye out for more people like Joe Arpaio and vote them into office. They will repair all that is wrong with our country right now.

The President of China - Hu Jintao, announced Sunday that the economy grew faster than expected - 10.2 percent in the first quarter of 2006 compared with one year earlier, but said the government was concerned about overly rapid growth. Chinese leaders have warned repeatedly that rapid growth could spark inflation or leave the country littered with unneeded factories and luxury apartments, causing problems for banks that financed them. “We do not seek high-speed economic growth,” Hu Jintao said during a meeting with a former Taiwan opposition leader in Beijing.

The Premier Wen Jiabao and other members of the State Council, or Cabinet, on Friday called for the policy changes after examining data on money supply and investment in buildings, factories and other fixed assets.

China plans to reduce its GDP from an annual average of 9.5 percent in the past 25 years to 7.5 percent in the next five years from 2006 to 2010 by improving economic quality and making domestic consumption the major driving force for economic growth.

Hu Jintao announced first quarter growth figures during a meeting with former head of Taiwan’s Nationalist Party Lien Chan carried live on state-run television. China issued new rules allowing mainland tourists to visit Taiwan, continuing Beijing’s efforts to court the disputed island with economic overtures, but it was unclear when any Chinese tourism to the island would start.

China announced possible aviation, agriculture and finance concessions to Taiwan at an economic forum in Beijing attended by Chinese Communist officials and Taiwanese opposition politicians. However Taiwan must accept it belongs to “one China” as the precondition for talks, Hu Jintao told Lien Chan, the former chairman of Taiwan’s main opposition Nationalist Party, who led the delegation of business leaders and party officials to the two-day forum. Chinese President Hu Jintao says new talks with rival Taiwan should begin as soon as possible to maintain peace in the region.

The U.S.Israel coalitions have been at odds with the Iranian government over Iran’s nuclear program. Diplomatic efforts have soured over the U.S. Israeli belief that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran contends that the nuclear program is to make energy and resents any interference from countries deemed hostile to their cause. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad states that he is willing to talk about the program to anyone except Israel who has keeps “bombs over our head”.

Iran has won support among many Muslim Leaders for his uranium enrichment program. Members whom Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke with included prime ministers from Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Turkey, Malaysia, Egypt and Bangladesh.

Although the meeting held on the island of Bali was to discuss ways to boost economic and political cooperation, alleviate poverty, restructure debt the discussion quickly swayed to Iran’s stand off with Israel and the U.S. “Our people need to do more to help one another,” and that Islamic countries should work together to increase the development of renewable and alternative energy resources stated Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhovono

To add to the complicated conflict an anonymous UN inspector pushed his political agenda by indicating that traces of highly enriched uranium of bomb making quality were found at a research center that works with the military. The statement was quickly rebuffed by an agent from the International Atomic Energy Association who clearly indicated that no such “high grade” uranium was found. He also went on to state that the uranium that was found was well below bomb making quality.

The European Union posted on their websites that their ministers were prepared to support Iran’s nuclear energy program if international concerns could be resolved. Such a decision would further leave the U.S. and Israel at odds with the rest of the world.

Since the years of sanctions on Iraq, and the subsequent invasion that went against the grain of the international community, the U.S. and its close ally Israel have been further alienated from having a dominate opinion in international affairs. Due to the miss information handed to the public through traditional media sources such as CNN (hence the recent growth in alternative news sources) American’s have been in great support of Israel. In blind furry politicians make decisions to support their ally without consideration to the validity, political fall-out or long term ramifications of doing so. Honesty, integrity and forethought should be considered before making international policy.