Time To Be Refreshed!



From a few years ago.  Abby: left (uh sorry...the lady on the left side) and myself. 


At first, writing a blog was just a 'cool idea' to share some core values.  I did a video encouraging people to look within and somehow SDA posted it and the response has been incredible.  I look forward sharing more pending it serves you and advances your cause.

I have 'fought in the trenches' within the manufacturing industry for over 10 years.  I learned incredible lessons: most often the hard way.  When I come home, I will look to focus on a few key topics:

1. Inspire you to think: not inspire you to agree.
2. Encourage you.  Often we need encouragement and people affirming us, not the "right idea". Hmm...
3.  How we conservatives live our lives should be the most powerful argument against socialism.  Much more to say on this.
4. Help advance others in their work: growth is cool...let's think and connect with people to learn, grow and advance!


As you read various blogs' then offer your comments, I challenge you to 'connect' your argument to how you live your life.  If we believe in limited government and helping people...how are we expressing this and serving others?

Please check out my blog entries over the next week especially, "So Thankful..." and "So Thankful part 2".

On a personal note, I am thankful to Kate (SDA) for her inspiration.
I am thankful to people who have posted on my blogs.  Thank you for your incredible support and ideas.
I am thankful to several employees who's persistent encouragement and changed lives inspired me to share with others.

Have a good week;
Conservatives, check out:
http://inspiringyoutothink.blogspot.com/2011/05/conservatives-will-rise-or-fall-on.html
Ryan

Is Mr. Layton sexist? Miss. Logic thinks so.

Straight from dictionary.com

sex·ism

–noun

1. attitudes or behavior based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles.

2. discrimination or devaluation based on a person's sex, as in restricted job opportunities; especially, such discrimination directed against women.

sex·ist

–adjective

1. pertaining to, involving, or fostering sexism: a sexist remark; sexist advertising.

Mr. Layton plans to further increase spending by, "...restoring cuts to women’s programs and organizations."  This is sexist towards woman.

(for some additonal insights of NDP position: http://www.trishmcauliffe.ca/post/layton-outlines-plan-to-advance-womens-equality)

Here's the logic:

1. sexism is discrimination or devaluation against a person based on their sex and attitudes/behaviors based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles

2. Traditional stereotypes sadly in our society:

       a) women are weaker then men and cannot 'do things on their own' they need help.

       b) women are not as resourceful as men and therefore need the help of others to further their cause

       c) women are not as smart as men and cannot logically convince others of their position.

3.  These above negative and untrue stereotypes are being unintentionally reinforced by Mr. Layton telling women's group's: "you need our (NDP led government) investment in your programs"

4. this devalues women because it robs women within woman's groups the opportunity act out the opposite of the negative stereotypes.  Here is how Jack Layton is devaluing woman and reinforcing terrible stereotypes in our society:

       aa) saying women are too week to get their own funding from the free will and generous Canadian people, they are not strong enough and therefore need government help.

        bb) women are not as resourceful as men therefore they are not able to articulate their cause, mobilize talent and spread a message to acquire their required donations.  So because Mr. Layton sees this, he believe it's his job to fund women's groups: if he did not believe it, then why would he insult women by telling them their cause is in shortfall unless he (a leader who is a man) offers resources with funding.  (how sexist Mr. Layton!!) 

        cc) If women were as smart as men, (Mr. Layton obviously thinks) then they would not need funding because they would be able to construct logical arguments that are well presented to appeal to a generous Canadian public and receive their funds (just like thousands of other organizations). 

I do not approve of reinforcing sexist stereotypes by telling woman's groups they need gov. funding.  I am for elimination of sexism and sexist attitudes. Once again we see the logical peril of manufacturing fairness. 

Mr. Layton, stop the sexist attitudes towards women.  Let's end sexism in our society and stop reinforcing traditional behaviors that 'women need funding by others to be a success'.  This is sexist and Mr. Layton should be ashamed of himself. 

(Re-post for our blogging Tory Friends!)

So Thankful...

It was a rainy dark morning in January of 2009; I will never forget.  I pulled into B&R hearing on the radio, "and the US payrolls decreased by 650 000" (number later revised further; not good).  My heart sank as I knew we were in the middle of a deep recession.  Shaken, I walked into work with my tail between my legs thinking, "And we are not fairing much better". 

Knowing I am responsible for leading our shop in its current plight. I became overwhelmed fairly quickly.  I was not sure what to do.  We had damaged sales, slow payables and I was watching a manufacturing industry fall apart all around me.  I became upset and 'blamed the recession'.  I blamed AIG, GM and big US banks that (Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, JP, Goldman). I felt the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) failed to do their job. 

After venting frustration on everything around me, I realized that my situation was the same.  My blaming others did not increase our sales/profitability or get us out of the situation we were in.

Being in despair was an understatement.  There were a series of precautions I took to ensure we survived the recession and our 9 year investment in people and our business did not turn into a layoff statistic.

My leading role and responsibilities were bigger than me at that time.  I did what I knew best: turned to loved ones.

My inspiration came first from my father, a shareholder who said, "Ryan, this recession is going to be hard but we will get out of it. What B&R is doing is real and you will be a success…fight through this and you have my support".  And before I could blink, his support was made known.  The man had more confidence in my leadership then I had in myself.  This inspired me to pray; "Lord, thank you for people.  Thank you that you have given us an opportunity to fight through this recession.  I ask for an opportunity to work".  Within 1 week, we won some major jobs that allowed me to run parts 'production style' on our CNC machines.  I worked 2 shifts for quite some time.  I got out of the office, and on to the floor.  I learned to be a CNC programmer/operator and ran the lathe.  I 'pushed go' on other machines becoming a 1 man production crew.  Several days I would simply work around the clock: 35hour shifts.

My wife Abby would remember the mornings I curled up to her at 3:00 am only to wake up and start my day again for 7:00 am.  This lasted for about 4 months.  I did not realize I had it in me to work so much.  But we got the jobs done.  We survived the recession.  This was a team effort, and I was honored to do my part.  I was incredibly thankful to Abby for her support and kindness to me during this trying time.

My beautiful wife! Thank you so much Abby, you are my hero.

Brad (another owner), was nothing short of heroic working hard, smart and he too jumped on the machines and produced. 

We made a critical choice to keep our talent and carry a higher overhead with lower sales on the premise that we need to keep our rare Aerospace designations: a decision I look at today as brilliant. In 2010 we won a "Gold Supplier Award" with a major Aerospace firm who is equally if not more passionate about excellence.  This is a success story about the free market, valuing people, taking responsibility and pursuing our dreams.   I am honored to share this story with you along with some key lessons.

Keeping our talent was a good decision. 

Today we employ 35 people, over tripling in size from the dark days of the recession.  It is a beautiful honor to have survived and I remain thankful in some key areas:

1. That ownership was in unity and we all equally stood behind each other
2. That employees worked hard and did not give up
3. That work came to us; enough to survive
4. That the dark days brought several lessons that did not crush us, but made us stronger
5. That my relationships grew and increased
6. That we are better positioned for opportunity now, then ever before (with a strong foundation)

The top lessons I learned from this time period that I encourage you with:

1.  My words created my reality.  When people asked, 'how are you doing?’ I talked about how the recession is hurting us.  How we are impacted by the crazy world around us.  When my father/brother loved on me, and spoke life into me, I realized that our situation was not the recessions 'fault'.  I realized that we choose to buy machines with payments, we choose our business with risk and reward, and we choose not to better prepare for a dark time.  Really, our situation was a culmination of our choices.  The recession simply was a bold punctuation mark behind our choices.  I changed my language to that of taking responsibility for my choices, not blaming everything on the recession.  I am proud to tell you that our situation began to change with the change in language.  I encourage you today to find people who love you and speak words of life into your situation; however dark or desperate.  Life and death are in the power of our tongue.

2.  The recession did a great job pointing out 'holes in my game'.  I realized we were doing lots of things well, but I found several opportunities for improvement.  Don't wait until disaster strikes to learn your lessons.  By connecting with people, being open and transparent we position ourselves to hear from others, things we cannot see ourselves.  Don't be threatened by this…find a way to embrace it.  Advancement comes by embracing responsibility, not running from it.

3.  My political passion is tied to how real my values are in work, family and faith.  I do not have 'one set of views' for faith that are different then work and another for family.  Living from our values I find to be incredibly challenging and requires me connecting with other people: constantly.  My passionate dislike of socialism is not simply a clash in ideology.  The clash in ideology is a mere disagreement of one way of doing something to another way of doing the same thing.  My passion comes from seeing what socialism does to people.  How socialism devalues people, limits opportunity, creates 'brainwaves' that says, 'deflect and blame'.  Just listen to the NDP…its Harpers fault your family is hurting.  It's the banks fault you are paying too much interest on your visa.  It's those large corporations fault we do not have enough taxes to pay for our long list of programs.  Doing life with people and taking responsibility is tough indeed; especially within a free market.    I often complained, "we work hard, value people and re-invest our profits…it's not fair we are getting hurt by this recession".  I sounded like a socialist!  In Jack Layton's world, everything is about 'fairness'…in the real world it is about taking responsibility and loving/growing with people.  I am thankful I learned how to change my thinking by changing my words. I am passionate to help others discover the joy of connecting with people, taking responsibility and embracing their destiny.

Connecting point: Words have power.  Jack Layton's words, "Its big business, it's the evil profit by hungry banks, it's not you… it's them! Let the NDP fight for you!"  Those words have power if we accept them!  If we accept it's 'their' fault and get the government to fight our fights, we are defeating ourselves by entering into a mindset of accepting a thought process which deflects blame to government.  This creates a cycle of dependence and you might as well hand the keys to the car over to the NDP to drive. Don't accept such evil and untrue words! You are far too valuable and precious!  You need loved ones and words of life, not socialism and deflecting blame!  God bless you as you process this data.

The connection between investing in people, learning and growing while developing alignment in home, work and faith is a powerful argument that I believe our world is desperate to see, not hear.

Be encouraged as you reflect on this note and increase your capacity in business!

NDP's Greatest Threat: Reality And Common Sense

The NDP are full voting members of Socialist International (SI): a global organization with members in over 160 countries.

The very purpose of SI: " is to strengthen relations between the affiliated parties and to coordinate their political attitudes and activities by consent."

SI's objective is to create a fairer world through democratic socialism.

A crucial and very telling connection is that the NDP party is strategically aligned with this organization.  NDP has voting rights, speaking rights and pays dues to be a full member (3.1).

Logically, what is the expression of these "strengthened and affiliated parties" where they can "coordinate their political attitudes?"  The New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus clearly answers this.  By overturning capitalism with socialism.  It's in her manifesto.  Please take 15 minutes to marvel at the incredible agenda that they strategically have.  Here are just a few quips that should cause you to wish their ideas were on the "endangered species list" not running hysterically through a 100 member caucus.


-The global capitalist system is today in the throes of a massive economic, political, environmental and social crisis. If the capitalist system continues to exist, growing poverty, violence, war and repression and environmental degradation will be the fate of working people across Canada and around the world. The Socialist Caucus of the NDP does not believe that it is possible for working people anywhere to achieve significant and permanent social and political progress without transcending the limits of capitalism. A prerequisite is the establishment of Socialist governments all across the country, federally and provincially.


-Probably the most basic democratic right ever conceived is that those who create the wealth of society should own and control it. It is to the realization of this right that the NDP Socialist Caucus commits itself.

-By a socialist system we mean the replacement of the private ownership of the major means of production, distribution, banking and exchange with social ownership under workers' self-management and democratic government. A socialist NDP government would as a first order of priority institute a system of economic planning with the objective of satisfying human needs rather than private profit.

-A socialist NDP also means a more democratic NDP, where the leadership, especially when in government, implements the policies adopted via the democratic structures of the party.

And by the way,

The Socialist Caucus is open to all members of the NDP. Those who wish to participate in the work of the Caucus but are not members of the NDP will be able to join the party at meetings of the Caucus.

On SI's homepage they congratulate the NDP party on their historic results citing: "The unprecedented surge of support for the New Democrats comes on the back of a strong manifesto committing to major restructuring of Canada’s pension plan...(etc)."

Where do we see a connection between their SI and NDP manifesto, and a practical strategic "coordination of political attitudes"?  Very clearly, in a list of resolutions they have developed to advance the NDP party.

If your meal is still down, I mean no ill will to bring it up by citing a list of their resolutions.  I am simply trying to advise the (hidden) agenda of the NDP party and drawing clear connections for your benefit.

A couple of the big ones:
3. Nationalize U.S. Steel
4. Close the Alberta Tar Sands
12. Nationalize the Big Banks and Insurance companies
13. Nationalize Big Oil and Gas
18. Democratic Control of the Telecommunications Industry
22. Raise the Minimum Wage (uh, to $17 Canadian dollars per hour.)
25. Share the Work, Shorten the Work Week (to a less oppressive duration of 32 hours)
33. Social Ownership of Primary Industries (translation: you make money, jump ship)

Before you say, "uh, that's not the NDP party, that's the SI giving suggestions to the NDP so it's different"
then I respond with:
If the NDP are not socialists at the core, then why are they members of a socialist organization?
If the NDP are not 'generally' in line with these suggestions, why do they become members of a group that says it's thier purpose to further advance the NDP's socialistic cause?
Why then can only NDP members be a part of the Socialist Cacus (which further highlights the closeness of strategic relationships?)
Hmm....thought so...no logical answer except for:
Socialist International has the NDP party as a member.  They are of 'kindered spirits' even if they do not agree on every point.  Their own manifesto says, "
"There are of coarse many New Democrats who, while believing in Socialism, do not agree with all of our ideas. But they too must reject the Third Way. Together, we may not agree on exactly how to get there, but we all want a path to a socialist Canada, in a socialist world. We need simply to agree that all our efforts should aim to advance the socialist project! We must therefore reject the Third Way. There are only two ways -- socialism or capitalism."

They are one in mind and purpose despite petty differences. Do not let the NDP point to petty disagreements to create the illusion of independence. 

No NDP member will be able to evade the above logic.  (Despite how emotional and recklessly accusatory they become.  Logic is still Logic. A is not B...it is A: that kind of logic).

NDP are socialists looking to overturn Canada's evil capitalist society.  They are linked with an overarching group: SI to achieve this.  No amount of spin and accusations can deny this reality.  With 100 seats in Parliament, we must take the following 3 action items:

1. Press the NDP party with the following questions:
a) Why did you not let your voters know you were members of the SI organization whereby they indicate their purpose is to work with you to create a socialist Canada?
b)If you do not 'generally agree' with the socialist caucus agenda, then how can you be members? Or, if you 'generally agree' then why did you not tell Canadians of all the socialistic themes you are advocating and working towards?
c) how can you accuse others of hidden agenda's yet not present these facts to Canadian voters?

2.  Keep your eyes peeled for my 'in defense of capitialism' encouragement video and reflect on it.

3.  Think about your life and freedoms. We Canadians are experts in the area of being passive.  Lets decide enough is enough and voice our ideas about protecting the free market.  Brag about your generous attitude and how you invest in others serving and giving!  Our way of life may depend on it.