As a candidate for state office the National Rifle Association, NRA, sent me a questionnaire to know where I stand on certain issues. All political action groups do this to see if they want to endorse you as a candidate. I specifically want to address the NRA in this editorial.

The first question asked was what I expected. Do you agree that the second amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms?
Answer as Yes or No.

This question is the basis for how all other questions on the questionnaire would be answered. Therefore, I am responding to this question and this question only.

I have cleared my mind from all things past 1791. I put myself at 20 years old with a wife and newborn child in the year 1776. I fought in a war using the weapons that I owned. I fought in the same style that I used when I went hunting for food. I had a collection of a rifle, pistol, tomahawk and some spears I used for fishing.

I was a peaceful man and wanted my family to be free and safe. I lived in an area where we took care of ourselves. People were born here, got their education here, most married and spent the rest of their days here. We knew each other and we took care of each other.

If we saw someone we didn’t know or heard a name we didn’t know we had to question who and why this person was here. Since we did not know the person we had to find out what his intent was and discern what his motives are. Strangers were not friends that we had not got the opportunity to know. Strangers were strangers. Period.

We knew the importance of having a militia. However, we were a peaceful conservative group who put their priorities on family values and working the land. We were not like people in other states who made their first priority be of defense. They made a stockpile of standard issued rifles and pistols. They were always ready for war. We were not but had the confidence that we could fight, if needed to. I coined the phrase BYOW, Bring your own weapon. That’s all we had to fight with at the time.

Time went by and we were able to stock pile standard issued rifles and ammunition. I still preferred my own hunting rifle and the way I made ammunition, a trade secret of my own. I could load a shot faster than any of my peers. I could boast about getting 2 shots for their one. I loved my rifle. It was an extension of myself. My rifle was named Eddie.

In 1791 we read Amendment II of the bill of rights.

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

My buddies and I were not the greatest readers. We read the amendment over and over again. Each time we read it gave different meaning. You know, like reading a passage of scripture. One day it has one meaning to you and the next day you can read the same passage and find a different meaning? You would have thought we were in bible study when we discussed Amendment II.

The interpretation had different meanings for different folks. I found it exactly like scripture. One day it said one thing to me, the next day it gave me a different perspective. Choosing the interpretation that I wanted to hold steadfast to was impossible.

Again, it was just like some of my favorite scriptures. The meanings were many. I could liken it to scriptural ping-pong, going back and forth on interpretation.

One day it meant to me that I could use Eddie rather than one of those muzzle loading flintlock muskets. The next day it meant I had to keep good old Eddie at home and use a standard issued weapon like a minuteman would. The next made me think I could not have weapons of my own, just what was assigned to me by the militia.

The only word I could hold on to, at this point, was my acronym BYOW,Bring your own weapon. What did I consider to be my weapon? Well, that changed to. The standard issued weapon that was assigned to me was considered my own. Still good old Eddie was mine too.

I tried to become both judge and jury on the amendment. In this perspective it came down to the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law.

Again, the best that I could come up with in 1791 and also today in 2008 is BYOW.

BYOW – My Choice

Question: Do you agree that the second amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms?

Answer: BYOW

Never in my life have I been advised so much on attention to detail. I do not know why this cyber-person, who goes by PaulE, is so concerned for me. I am, however, flattered beyond words.

Why would anyone on the Internet care so much about what I post, where I post and then tie it all back to being, or running as, a Politician. Why the concern from one who has complete autonomy?

I am an iMAC user running the firefox browser. I cannot use an html editor because of the limitations I have with blogstream. In other words what I type is not displayed in the same manner, another issue that was brought to my attention today.

In his eyes I do not look professional. He feels that it would be in the best interest of society for me to walk away and never be seen again. There must be an embarrassment factor that weighs so heavy on him and, in some way, there is a bond where my failures become his.

PaulE has a belief system that cannot be wavered. Change is not in his vocabulary. When one knows how another person should be perceived they are using their past experiences to come up with a model of what they think is best for me. I do, however, appreciate his efforts.

It comes down to intent. Why be so engrossed with a nobody like me? Sure, there was a day when my reputation proceeded myself but that is not who I am today.

Representative Paul Davis made comment that everyone should run for a public office at least once in his or her lifetime. His words are so true. The experience that one goes through is like nothing else. I will always have my personal testimony of what it is like once you have filed for office.

PaulE has not been willing to give himself to public service. This is obvious since he has no words of compassion, only judgement. He has shared nothing with me regarding his own journey through public service. He has a perception in his mind and that’s where his involvement ends.

There are many boxers who are good at talking about taking on the champ but few are willing to go into the ring and find out what it is like to go up against him.

PaulE it is time for you to get into the ring.

DID YOU KNOW THESE FACTS? Death is certain but the Bible speaks about untimely death! Make a personal reflection about this, Very interesting, read until the end.....

It is written in the Bible (Galatians 6:7): 'Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sow, that shall he also reap. Here are some men and women who mocked God :

John Lennon (Singer):

Some years before, during his interview with an American Magazine, he said: 'Christianity will end, it will disappear. I do not have to argue about that. I am certain. Jesus was ok, but his subjects were too simple, today we are more famous than Him' (1966). Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, was shot six times.

Tancredo Neves (President of Brazil ):

During the Presidential campaign, he said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from Presidency. Sure he got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President, then he died.

Cazuza (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet):

During A show in Canecio ( Rio de Janeiro ), while smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said:'God, that's for you.' He died at the age of 32 of LUNG CANCER in a horrible manner.

The man who built the Titanic

After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be. With an ironic tone he said: 'Not even God can sink it' The result: I think you all know what happened to the Titanic

Marilyn Monroe (Actress)

She was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show. He said the Spirit of God had sent him to preach to her. After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said: 'I don't need your Jesus'.

A week later, she was found dead in her apartment

Bon Scott (Singer) The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC.

On one of his 1979 songs he sang: 'Don't stop me; I'm going down all the way, down the highway to hell'. On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, he had been choked by his own vomit.

Campinas (IN 2005) In Campinas , Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend..... The mother accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends and she said to the daughter holding her hand, who was already seated in the car: 'My Daughter, Go With God And May He Protect You.' She responded: 'Only If He (God) Travels In The Trunk, Cause Inside Here.....It's Already Full ' Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal accident, everyone had died, the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the trunk was intact. The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact. To their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none was broken

Christine Hewitt (Jamaican Journalist and entertainer) said the Bible (Word of God) was the worst book ever written. In June 2006 she was found burnt beyond recognition in her motor vehicle.

Many more important people have forgotten that there is no other name that was given so much authority as the name of Jesus. Many have died, but only Jesus died and rose again, and he is still alive.

I have done my part, Jesus said 'If you are embarrassed about me, I will also be embarrassed about you before my father.'

'Lord, I love you and I need you, come into my heart, and bless me, my family, my home, and my friends, in Jesus' name. Amen.'

Hope that you don't ignore and let God bless you.

Randy Conyers on creative thinking.

The words of Robert Heller and Edward de Bono are written more eloquently than I however our thoughts are one in the same.

During this time of crisis in funding state programs for the state of Kansas I have said to many that we, as a state, need to generate more incoming revenue rather than raising taxes. Taxes have been the traditional way for raising money for hundreds and hundreds of years. It is time to use common business sense, to take risks with new ideas and to raise the level of thinking.

Every entity that receives state funding feels that it is under funded and needs a bigger piece of the PIE. The PIE needs to be thicker. PIE is not a graphical representation of a chart that is typically seen to illustrate how the money is divided. To my belief system PIE is an acronym for Prioritize Income and Expenses. The first priority is income without raising taxes. In critical times critical measures must be taken.

The state of Kansas needs to be a revenue generator without raising general state taxes. Some entities do not pay taxes. They may need to be taxed which I consider not to be a raise in taxes but rather paying their fair share. Having tax breaks has always been an incentive to bring in and start new businesses in Kansas. Let me make it clear that I believe this incentive should continue as a means of improving the Kansas economy. It makes good business sense.

In both creative thinking and reality everyone must make a reasonable profit. Recall the early 1960’s of many small Kansas towns. Hanging a shingle on your door most likely will earn you a reasonable profit. Working for a company, being a farmer or self employed also gave the individual purchasing power. That is a large factor that makes a strong economy.

In today’s society one must take risks to earn a reasonable profit. Those who are willing to take such a risk may fail time after time before they earn a reasonable profit. Many risk takers reward themselves with as much money as they can possible make as they believe the one who takes the risk deserves the right to continue to make as much money as humanly possible. I call this a continued task of “building bigger barns”, a parable with much meaning.

Let us continue this essay from the words of Edward da Bono and Robert Heller.


From Edward de Bono: When and where to be creative

Where do we choose to apply creative thinking? When do we feel the need for creative thinking?

We are obsessed with problem-solving. Indeed, many people in the field of thinking regard all thinking as 'problem-solving'. This is very dangerous. The term 'problem' in general use means a fault, a deficiency or something we would rather be without. That is a legitimate area for thinking. But there are other areas where there is no obvious problem - nothing is wrong or lacking. Should we not think about those areas?

The attraction of problem-solving is clear. It also makes selling a new idea to others much easier. If you can show that the new idea solves the problem, then anyone who wants to be rid of the problem will embrace the new idea.

However, when there is no obvious problem to solve, it is still possible to turn up powerful, useful new ideas.

Sometimes there is a value which we want to add. How can this be made more convenient? How could this be made more flexible? How could this be made simpler to operate?

As a general principle, things which do not seem to need thinking about do not get any thinking. Satisfaction and complacency are the biggest enemies of creative thinking.

There are two broad types of creative focus: purpose focus and area focus.

Purpose focus is the most familiar type. We have a defined need and we seek to use our thinking to satisfy that need. We know what we are thinking about, and we know what we want to achieve. The target is defined and known. The classic example of purpose focus is 'problem-solving'.

For this, we may need creative thinking when the usual analytical approach has failed. We may also choose to use creative thinking when we have solved the problem with an adequate solution but decide to look for a better one.

Creative thinking may also be needed in achieving a defined task. Creative thinking is essential if there is no routine way of carrying out the task. Here creative thinking is part of design thinking.

A third type of purpose focus is 'improvement'. We are carrying out some operation and believe that the process can be improved. It is useful to define the direction of improvement. We may want to do things faster. We may want to do things at less cost. We may want to do things in a simpler way.

Area focus is very different from purpose focus. It may be the most important creative focus. With area focus there is no 'need' to focus on a particular area. You focus on that area because you want to. There is no problem or deficiency. You are not seeking improvement. You simply choose to define an area as your focus for creative thinking.

With area focus you define the area as you wish. With area focus you set out to generate ideas within a defined area. You do not determine the nature of the ideas.



From Robert Heller: The age of opportunity

When central bankers (like the Governor of the Bank of England) sound a loud funeral knell for 'the nice economy', and lesser ranking economists and other pundits sound the same doleful note, anybody can be forgiven for looking back nostalgically at the days when venture capitalists, for example, would sound a far more bullish note, ringing the bell for opportunity.

For example: "We're seeing an enormous number of business plans from people who have ideas... And we're also looking for green ventures and using Google and other modern tools to find innovators. So it's as good a time to invest as we've ever seen."

But that statement wasn't made during the recent height of the nice economy, but in the present nasty time. The speaker is Bill Joy, a venture capitalist with the legendary Silicon Valley company of Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers.

According to Business Week, Joy's firm is putting its money where his words are, in sectors like mobile computing and the above-mentioned green economy.

That's one great paradox of the modern economy. The darker the overall picture, the more the chances of generating bright new success. True, credit may be harder to find, and debt costlier to service. But that doesn't alter the fact that excellent opportunities to acquire and invest capital still abound.

It is important to know that there is always an opportunity - a new technology, a new marketing strategy, a new product line. Look for anything that will exploit a changing market or cause the market to change.

Also study rival opportunities with deadly seriousness. Never indulge in wishful thinking. It's common to knock competitors, to comfort oneself with the notion that the rival's opportunistic novelty will neither work nor survive. It is far better to be paranoid about the threat, and worry about its strengths, rather than rejoice in its weaknesses.

Be bold and brave - like the 'vultures' flying over the US economy and suddenly descending to buy up assets and make big bets on Wall Street. One such bird, Philip A. Falcone, profited to the tune of $11billion last year by exploiting the shattering fall of the subprime markets. Business Week quotes a Falcone ally: "He will look at anything... If it's cheap, he'll buy it."

Focused on bargains, the vulture doesn't pay any attention to the overall climate which created those bargains. The 'safety first' policy, though, automatically leads the manager to rule out the many opportunities that in reality (like buying cheap assets) may be less risky than trying to stay put.

One famed opportunist's firm had lived through the previous financial earthquake when the dot.com bubble burst. "What I told our company was that we were just going to invest our way through the downturn, that we weren't going to lay off people," he says. "And we were going to keep funding."

The speaker, Apple's Steve Jobs, opted to raise R&D spending so as to come out ahead when the downturn ended. "And that's exactly what we did. And it worked. And that's exactly what we'll do this time."

Adversity is the mother of opportunity - and she always knocks.

These wise words need to be applied as the state of Kansas is in a financial crisis and must run itself like the businesses stated above.

Respectfully,

Randy Conyers
Candidate for House of Representatives, HD-73
Retired Computer Software Consultant

I have just been too busy.

I have not blogged anything for quite some time now. So you ask what I have been doing? Lots of Learning. Lots of Reading. Lots of Research. Lots of Thinking.

This is the time of the year when organizations interview you, send you questionnaires and talk to you on the phone.

Since my position is a State position all questions are about state issues. In a nutshell every entity that receives money from the state feels that they are under funded and want a bigger piece of the PIE. There are new long-term budgets to be figured out as many programs have ended or are ending in the magical year of 2010. 2010 sounds like a good number. Well folks, you know what I'll be doing in 2009 and 2010.

But first you have to get elected before you can go to work solving all of the financial problems of the state and then debating over issues. I don't understand why there should be any debates. I am the one who is always right!

I guess this joke best describes what I'm trying to say.

A man dies and St. Peter gives him one day to choose between heaven and hell. First they visit heaven, a very peaceful angelic place. People are walking in robes with great wisdom. Every word that was spoken was wise. Then St. Peter takes him to hell. There he finds most of his friends, lavish dinners with cocktails, swimming pools with beautiful women. As many golf courses as you could possibly see. It was a grand good time place.

The man and St. Peter are now alone and St. Peter asks, "Which do you choose, Heaven or Hell". The man screams give me hell, I want hell, take me back to hell. St. Peter takes the man back to hell. Now all he sees is fire and brimstone. Everyone is anguish with chains around their ankles with nothing to eat or drink.

The man said, "What happened to this place? Yesterday was so wonderful". One who could barely talk said oh, we were just campaigning.