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My Family Blog

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Critical message about Tuesday, April 5

 
From: mb@ppa-wi.com
To: ppaclients@mypersonalprotectionacademy.com
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 08:46:03 -0700
Subject: Critical message about Tuesday, April 5

Greetings Sheepdogs,

 

The most important message I can convey to PPA clients at the moment is to cast your votes in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election for Justice David Prosser on Tuesday, April 5.

 

Why?  I can’t say it more clearly than what Judge Randy Koschnick offers in his message received this morning.  He’s given his permission to forward his words to you.

 

With very best regards,

 

Michael Bender

Personal Protection Academy

(888) 657-4668

PPA-WI.com

 

 

From: Randy Koschnick [mailto:rkixonia@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2011 5:56 AM
To: Randy Koschnick
Subject: Please Vote for Justice Prosser Next Tuesday

 

Please vote for Justice David Prosser, the true judicial conservative.

Dear Friends-

Next Tuesday's Wisconsin Supreme Court election is very important. The outcome will likely determine whether our state continues to operate under the rule of law or deteriorates into a chaotic, lawless mess where judges ignore the constitutional separation of powers and act as "super-legislatures." The current 4-3, conservative vs. liberal/activist split hangs in the balance. Justice Prosser's opponent is a very liberal activist who will treat the constitution as a "living, breathing document" contrary to the intent of the Founders. Our state needs Justice Prosser to be re-elected. A low 20% voter turnout is expected. Every vote counts.

Please vote for Justice David Prosser, the true judicial conservative.

Please also contact your friends and relatives and encourage them to vote for Justice Prosser. Feel free to forward this email. If each of you contacts ten people in the next few days, we could have a significant impact on the outcome.

I also encourage you to do your own research:

Visit Justice Prosser's website:

Watch recent Supreme Court debates:
- March 28: State Bar of Wisconsin, State Bar Center, Madison
- March 25: We the People/Wisconsin, Wisconsin Public Television Studios, Madison
- March 23: Madison Rotary Club, Best Western Inn on the Park Hotel, Madison
- March 22: Dane County Bar Association, Concourse Hotel, Madison
- March 21: "On the Issues with Mike Gousha," Marquette Law School, Milwaukee

Other important judicial elections next Tuesday:

Waukesha County: Lloyd Carter is a true judicial conservative and needs your help to be elected as a Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge. 

Milwaukee County: Christopher Lipscomb may not be a conservative but he is far superior to his opponent, a recent liberal political appointee and judicial activist.

Jefferson County: I, Judge Randy Koschnick, am unopposed on the ballot but I would appreciate your vote. I am a judicial conservative and a pure Constitutionalist who believes that the law should be applied as it is written regardless  of personal opinion or ideology.

Thanks.

Randy Koschnick

p.s. early voting is available if you will be unable to vote next Tuesday. Contact your local election officials for details. It usually involves simply stopping in at your City or Town Hall and filling out an absentee ballot. It took me about five minutes.

Posted via email from Lloralleaves

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Update - Wisconsin permit-to-carry legislation

From: mb@ppa-wi.com
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2011
Subject: Update - Wisconsin permit-to-carry legislation

Greetings from Personal Protection Academy,

 

I’m receiving lots of requests for updates on a Wisconsin permit-to-carry bill.  It’s great to hear from so many, but with over 3000 clients, I’m worried I’m going to be apologizing for my delays in responding during coming months.  There’s a better way.  This note provides a self-help and MUCH more timely method for you to keep tabs on a bill as it winds its way through the halls of Wisconsin government.  

 

The Wisconsin Legislative Notification System allows anyone the opportunity to follow legislation by receiving daily or weekly automated email updates for specific legislative activities.  Subscribe to these updates here: http://notify.legis.wisconsin.gov.  

 

Establish your account and login information.  Then, click on the link Add Items at the top of the page to choose items to follow.  You can choose items by Proposal, Committee, Author, or Subject and can select the activities for which you would like to receive notifications.  The key words I use to follow our topics are … weapon, weapons, concealed, firearm, and firearms.  If you determine others yield more info please let me know and I’ll pass them along to others.

 

Below is a rough outline of the legislative steps you and I should be tracking as a bill progresses.

 

1.       A primary bill author will be designated in the Senate (or Assembly).  If introduced in the Senate, the author will probably by Pam Galloway.  If in the Assembly, it could possibly be Scott Gunderson.

2.       The author will request an initial layman’s draft be completed by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

3.       Various rewrites will be undertaken.

4.       The bill will be introduced in the Senate (or Assembly).

5.       The bill will be referred by that body’s leader to a relevant standing committee.

6.       The committee chairperson will schedule a public hearing on the bill.

7.       The committee chair will schedule a committee vote on the bill.

8.       The committee will pass the bill.

9.       The bill will be submitted to the respective body’s Rules Committee to determine if it should move forward.

10.   The bill will be forwarded to the floor for debate.

11.   That floor will consider amendments.

12.   The bill will be passed by a simple majority in that body.

13.   The bill will be forwarded to the other body, the Assembly (or Senate).

14.   The bill will be referred by that body’s leader to a relevant standing committee.

15.   The committee chairperson will schedule a public hearing on the bill.

16.   The committee chair will schedule a committee vote on the bill.

17.   The committee will pass the bill.

18.   The bill will be submitted to the respective body’s Rules Committee to determine if it should move forward.

19.   The bill will be forwarded to the floor for debate.

20.   The floor will consider amendments.

21.   Bills from the Assembly and Senate will be synchronized.

22.   A synchronized bill will be passed by a simple majority in the second body.

23.   The synchronized bill will be forwarded to Governor Walker for signing.

24.   The bill will become Wisconsin law.

25.   An agency will be designated to design and manage the permitting process.

26.   The permitting process will be sent to a committee to work out specific procedures for qualifying training curriculums and trainers, permit application processes, and the like.

27.   The final process will be converted to type.

28.   The process will be sent to the Joint Committee for review of administrative rules.

29.   Permitting agency personnel will be hired, offices opened, and forms and licenses developed.

30.   Finally, the State will begin processing citizen applications.

 

It’s a long path that could be accomplished in a month, but is more likely to take a few.  Whatever the case, I’m confident the final bill will look much like the permit-to-carry course we conduct, including lawful self-defense education, great big dose of safety, handgun training and shooting fundamentals, a live-fire component, and info on methods and mechanics of safe carry, concealment, and storage.

 

Please let me know questions.

 

With very best regards,

 

Michael Bender

Personal Protection Academy

(888) 657-4668

PPA-WI.com

 

Posted via email from Lloralleaves

Friday, March 04, 2011

ACTORSandCREW :: Welcome to the Dream Factory

   
Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2011
From: dave@actorsandcrew.com
Subject: ACTORSandCREW :: Welcome to the Dream Factory

Newsletter  ACTORSandCREW
Welcome to the Dream Factory
Michael Taylor's thoughts on what it takes to 'make it' in our unusual Business.

mock image

T

here are three kinds of people who come to Hollywood: dreamers, drifters, and the driven. Each has his/her own reasons for coming to Tinsel Town, the Dream Factory, and in the end, every path followed or blazed has a way of ending in a complex stew of disappointment, regret, and resignation. Good times are here to be had, careers and money to be made, but nothing good seems to last very long on this thin strip of sun-baked earth trapped hard between the desert and the sea. Time passes in a blur, melting into the haze of smog under the relentless Southern California sun. Then one day you wake up to find thirty years have slipped through your fingers, and where the hell did they go...

 

Dreamers, drifters, and the driven. These are not mutually exclusive types or personalities - most of us have elements of all three in varying degrees. Even drifters follow dreams, and dreamers can be as driven as any hard-charging corporate CEO. There are as many reasons why they end up Hollywood as there are people living in the shadow of that big white sign perched high in the parched hills overlooking Los Angeles - which would be 167, 664, assuming the last census and Wikipedia got it right. Some had no choice in the matter: as their place of birth, "Hollywood" is a name they'll be scrawling on job applications and endless government forms for the rest of their lives. The rest came here on purpose -- forty-two percent white, thirty-nine percent Latino, and the remainder a stew pot of Asians, Blacks, and a smattering of Native Americans. Many are recent arrivals, having forded the southern border one way or another to seek work in the homes, gardens, kitchens, and construction sites of Los Angeles. An entire generation arrived in the great westward migration after World War Two, including those whose single-minded drive to make it in "the movies" doomed any hopes for a happy life behind the white picket fences and suffocating small-town routines back home. Others were driven here by sheer desperation, fleeing the horrors of blighted lives and terminally dysfunctional families, rolling the dice on a fresh start at the far edge of the continent, on the very lip of the abyss. Once in Hollywood, their backs to the wall, there was nowhere else to go: one way or another, they had to make it here. Some turned out to be gritty survivors who succeeded despite -- or because of -- past failures, while others ended up victims of the myth, riding the death spiral of drugs and dissolution all the way down. But no matter how many the streets swallow up, however slim the odds of success, there are always more where they came from. The moths-to-the-flame allure of Hollywood ensures a steady influx of young hopefuls from all over America and around the world.

 

It's this neon-lit face of the American Dream most people want to hear about - the young hopefuls who come to Hollywood burning with ambition to hit the jackpot of wealth and fame, to be a star. Like the vast majority of these American Idol wannabes, only the barest handful bring the talent and drive it takes to make it big -- and even that's not always enough. The importance of luck, that fickle and mysterious confluence of talent and opportunity, cannot be overstated when it comes to achieving success in Hollywood. While a chosen few make the most of their chance, the rest - many just as talented and driven, if not quite so lucky - will eventually face the hard choice of adapting to reality or heading back home. Those able to take the punches and stay on their feet can usually find a place somewhere in the Dream Machine. It's never easy, but people do it every day.

 

There are others who arrive carrying equally ambitious (if quieter) agendas tucked under their arms: to become a hot, can't-miss director: the next Spielberg, Lucas, Cameron, or Tarantino. Theirs is a daunting quest, but at least the gauntlet they face isn't as brutally insulting or degrading as that suffered by aspiring actors -- and the fall-back options (Plans B through Z) more numerous and somewhat less soul-crushing to accept. There's a very wide spectrum of "success" in Hollywood. If nobody will hire you to direct blockbuster feature films, there's always the world of Television. If TV won't have you, there are commercials and music videos to be made. If those doors remain closed, maybe you can put together a sweet little low-budget feature to trot around the Indy circuit. Should that fall apart, maybe it's time to beg, borrow, or steal enough money for a decent video camera and start earning a living making infomercials for late night TV, or educational and training videos for schools and business. At that point, you won't even be a blip on the Hollywood radar screen, but maybe it's better than starving - or getting a real job. Once aloft, it's all too easy to catch an updraft and soar a little too high here in Hollywood, where sooner or later, everyone learns that even the most expensive pair of designer wings are held together with nothing more substantial than wax.

 

Success doesn't come easy, but most people find a way: it's all a matter of adjusting one's outlook and the ability to selectively define "success." And really, what's the alternative? After coming this far - all the way to the very edge of the continent - slinking back home just might be the worst failure of all. At a certain point, the very nature and process of the struggle itself seems to change something inside, making it almost impossible to turn back. Besides, hope dies last, and there's no telling when those magic doors might swing open. Yes, the system is rigged against outsiders right from the start, but miracles occasionally do happen - a long-suffering writer, actor, or would-be director plodding along in the dark corridors of obscurity finally catches that once-in-a-lifetime break and is thrust into the fierce heat of the spotlight. It doesn't happen often, but just enough to keep the rest from giving up hope.

I didn't come here with dreams of being any kind of a star, in front of or behind the camera, but simply to give Hollywood a try. After falling in love with so many classic American movies in college (and making a few decidedly non-classic student films of my own), I wanted to see what making real Hollywood movies was all about. At the time, anything else sounded way too much like a Real Job -- the slow, steady cadence of the dead man walking. Work as a drone in a cube farm? Strap on a suit and tie every morning to battle the twin bureaucracies of office politics and the white-collar power structure? No thanks. And so after a nervous period of post-collegiate stalling, I inhaled one last lungful of crisp Northern California air and plunged south into the smoggy morass of Hollywood. The transition was rude, the learning curve steep, but in time I caught a break, worked a few low-level jobs, and met those who eventually hired me to work on lighting crews. I worked my way up from juicer to best boy to gaffer - and then, like so many others before and since, I too sailed a bit close to the sun. Before I knew it, my own seemingly sturdy wings had come apart in mid-air, sending me on a free-fall plunge right back where I started.

 

Go directly to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

 

But if the jail was only metaphoric, there was still no going home. Bent but not broken, I got back on my feet a lot older and maybe - just maybe -- a little bit wiser.

I've been working and surviving in Hollywood for more than thirty years now, through the ups and downs, all the while returning to the San Francisco Bay Area often enough to claim it as my true home. In all the ways that matter, it is - family and the oldest of friends are still there, and I'll root for the Giants to my last dying breath -- but after three full decades, LA has a way of seeping into your blood. One lesson you learn fast down here is that things are seldom as they first appear, and although Southern California is in many ways a horrendously ugly hell-hole, it's not All Bad, All the Time. There are pockets of beauty here too, tucked away amid the vast urban desert. And although The Industry, as we call it, is nothing like the glamorous playground so many civilians (those of you at home, remote in hand, basking in the flickering glow of the Cathode Ray Gun) often assume it to be, there are occasional flashes of light and clarity here as well. Floating like smoothly sculpted pieces of driftwood amid the daily tidal surge of greed, ego-stoked absurdities, and jaw-dropping excess, are the occasional gleaming, random, and oh-so-ephemeral moments of grace. The trick lies in keeping your eyes and heart open so you can appreciate those moments before they vanish.

 

I'll do my best here to peel back the shiny shrink-wrap and offer a glimpse of the real Hollywood as I've experienced it: the heavy-lifting, dirt-under-the-fingernails side of the Industry you don't read about in tabloids. What you won't find here is any sort of "insider" celebrity gossip. Most of us who work in the Industry see and hear things that would indeed make juicy tabloid fodder, but only a fool or trust-fund baby has the luxury of fouling his own nest by talking out of school. The Industry has big enough ears that a little loose chat could easily put my so-called career in the corn, and at this late date, I don't have enough time to grow another pair of wings. Accordingly, names will be changed to protect the innocent and guilty alike. So if it's Hollywood gossip you're looking for - who said/did what to whom behind his/her back - then click your way over to the celebrity blog-o-sphere, or else run down to your local 7-11 for the latest tabloid trash.

 

But if you want to hear the truth as I've lived it, about the real Hollywood -the blood, sweat, and tedium in the shadows behind all those bright lights - stay tuned.

 

 

Michael Taylor joins ACTORSandCREW as a featured writer with his column Hollywood Juicer. Glean sage insight in to the work-a-day life of Hollywood from a crew member's perspective. From his bio: "Armed with a degree in Aesthetic Studies, boundless ignorance, and a vision of Hollywood heavily influenced by the movie "Shampoo" (and seriously, what guy didn't want to be Warren Beatty back then?), I proceeded to march on Hollywood in the spirit of a young man seeking adventure, a living -- and if Lady Luck deigned to smile upon me -- perhaps a modest fortune. Adventure, I found. A living, I made -- but although Lady Luck has thus far kept me safe on the road-raging freeways and bullet-riddled streets of Los Angeles, that elusive fortune remains but a shiny mirage dancing on the distant heat waves. There's no reason to think this will change as I play out the string on a thirty+ year career in set lighting, trying to hang on until the bitter end.




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Posted via email from Lloralleaves