4th Novel, Destiny

Young cowgirls have rodeo dreams. When given opportunities and support, many dreams can come true! Caroline believes and receives five special gifts that change her life. One, a blessing from an ancient amulet, handed down to her, but can it get her to the National Finals Rodeo? This is a 'shadow-story' about a girl on the heels of Sarah Rose McDonald, the 2014 WPRA Rookie of the Year. Could a small town in southeast Georgia, produce two such champions, in a western rodeo world, could this really happen? The barrel racing life suits Caroline just fine as she learns from locals who live the horse life to the fullest. She discovers a family oriented world of animal lovers and wholesome values, and learns what it takes to get to the NFR.

Facts on the 'Condition'

Points, here's why some won't drink the KoolAid. After over 40 years working in health care, 9 of those as an Assistant Professor, 28 years in private practice in southeast Georgia, here is some of what I know: • There is a deadly virus circulating the world. It is not to be taken lightly. The number of dead is being constantly debated, but there is no debate it is killing a large number of people. • Hospitals are overwhelmed recently with a new strain of that virus. Thankfully for nurses, doctors and hospital personnel, the death rate is less and more patients are being released after a few weeks or less. • The CDC, NIH, FDA and WHO have decided the best defense is to use experimental vaccines and support that with masking and distancing of the total population. They give advice on what anti-viral treatments work for infected individuals. They give no other advice for immune health. • A few facts about viruses. They are small, 'submicroscopic,' a virus is more than 20 times smaller than a bacteria, which is 1 millionth of a meter. They are not living cells, they are just mRNA strands (messenger ribonucleic acid) inside a shell of protein. They can only reproduce inside another cell, which supplies the material and mechanisms needed to produce more viruses, replicas or mutations. They are dormant if not attached to a cell wall and soon become decayed and inactive. Covid viruses attach to a cell wall with the outer spikes seen only under an electron microscope. They then break through the cell wall chemically to release the mRNA strands into the cell where they hijack the endoplasmic reticulum to produce what is indicated by the nucleic acid code in the mRNA. The cell stops it's normal function to follow this code but soon self-destructs and breaks open (lysis) releasing all the newly completed viral shells to attack more cells. • Viruses, flu, measles, AIDS, covid/SARS, polio, etc., are in our midst all the time, as are bacteria, like pneumonia, tuberculosis, tetanus, even food poisoning, and many more. We have great immune defenses in our bodies that help defeat viral and bacterial attacks. The body makes different antibodies, or immunoglobulins, to fight different things. For example, the antibody for chickenpox isn't the same as the antibody for mononucleosis, even if they are both IgG. The types of antibodies are: • Immunoglobulin A - IgA, is found in the lining of the respiratory tract and the digestive system, as well as in saliva, tears, and breast milk. • Immunoglobulin G - IgG, is the most common antibody in the blood and other bodily fluids, and protects against bacterial and viral infections. IgG can take time to form after an infection or immunization. • Immunoglobulin M - IgM, is found mainly in blood and lymph fluid and is the first antibody made when fighting a new infection. • Immunoglobulin E - IgE, is found in small amounts in the blood, with higher amounts when the body has allergy reactions or a parasitic infection. • Immunoglobulin D - IgD, is not completely understood and found in very small amounts in blood. • Vaccines do not kill bacteria or viruses. Antibiotics do not kill viruses, only bacteria. Your body kills bacteria and viruses. Vaccines require a healthy functioning immune response to create antibodies against the infectious agent (antigen), that's how it works naturally. This covid vaccine is new and different, not fully studied and still not yet approved by the FDA. They authorized 3 vaccines for 'Emergency Use Approval,' 2 mRNA vaccines and 1 traditional adenoviral vector (Johnson & Johnson). • Traditional vaccines are made of attenuated or inactivated bacteria or viruses, normally using radiation or heat, to weaken them. Then they are injected into arm or butt muscles. Eventually, the immune cells locate and respond to the invaders, whether viral, bacterial or other toxins. The cells in your blood analyze, memorize and phagocytize (swallow-up), then defuse and destroy the antigen, able to recognize it if ever seen again! What a system! That's how vaccines work. An inactivated, weakened or attenuated germ to pre-warn the body of its presence out there, and stimulate antibody production. • However, the attenuation process alters the external wall of the antigen. So you get immune to a slightly altered form of the bacteria or virus. • This Covid vaccine, by Pfizer and Moderna, is not a traditional one. It is not an attenuated form of the virus. It is a bunch of 'messenger RNA' strips that are codes to produce the shell, and supposedly, hopefully, nothing else. (The NIH is aware of the shape because they know it was altered in a Wuhan lab. Covid has been around for many years. This particular strain has been genetically altered in a lab. Therefore, they knew more about how to make these mRNA strands quickly, within a year! The process is not totally new. It is genetic splicing of viral RNA by chemical reactions, not by sight. It has been tried with flu and some types of cancer hoping to create immune attackers for cancer cells, but to very little success.) The plan is to create a hollow shell that will not infect you. • In theory, the mRNA, inside a protein shell with membranes and spikes that enable it to attach to cell walls and penetrate cells, will be injected into your arm muscle, where it will force its way into muscle cells. Then mRNA flows into the cell's ribosomes/endoplasmic reticulum where it will interrupt normal cell functions in order to build hundreds of thousands of 'hollow covid shells' before your cell eventually explodes (lysis), releasing the shells into your blood stream and intercellular spaces. Then, in theory, your immune system sees the invader, the hollow shell, and T-cells quickly go to work, swallowing them and destroying them, they release interferons and cytokines to warn and destroy other infected cells, and Immunoglobulin-G slowly develops memory cells to kill the invader quicker if ever seen again. This is the only benefit offered by vaccines, to attack quicker. Because without the vaccine, you still have T-cells, phagocytes, interferons and cytokines and IgG doing their job. If someone is unhealthy and slow to react, this virus can attack fast, so this vaccine might improve your odds. If you are healthy and have been exposed, you already have IgG antibodies for quick responses. • This covid vaccine has never been tried before, en masse. There's no idea if the mRNA strands mutate, how a hollow shell looks and could it be shaped differently enough, since it's empty, that the IgG and the lymphocytes memorize a fake shape? Does that explain the seemingly poor results after multiple injections? One of the many fears is that mRNA is known to circulate in your blood. It can go anywhere in the body. A December, 2020, study in Nature - NeuroScience found: "SARS-CoV-2 mRNA has been recovered from the cerebrospinal fluid4, suggesting it can cross the blood–brain barrier." Are we ready for genetic modification (gmo) in our bodies? • Scientific studies and reports are full of numbers, averages, percentages, all making them very confusing. But one thing is clear, the bigger the numbers, the more reliable are the findings. Let's avoid too many numbers but here is one easy one: Even one person dying is too much. But covid is not a plague. 330,000,000 (330 million) people live in the US, covid claimed some 400,000 in 2020, way too many but less than heart disease and cancer's yearly numbers, meaning it killed 0.12% of the population. That means 99.88% survived, without a vaccine! Many of them 'tested positive' and/or had symptoms and got better. In contrast, the Black Death plague of the year 1350 killed nearly 30% of the population, between 70 and 200 million people died in a population of 350 million. • Statistics are shabby at convincing us of the truth. Headlines such as "50% of measles outbreak at college were unvaccinated students," displays no success. 50% were vaccinated. Case in point, in 2020 in the US, 99.8% of the population did not die from covid when there were no vaccines available. Pfizer and Moderna claimed their vaccines were 90 to 92% effective in preventing death from Covid. Johnson & Johnson's traditional type has a lower, 80% success rate. Therefore, you are MORE likely to die from Covid if you take the vaccine, 99.8% versus 92% at best! Aside from this creative use of statistics, exposure gives you exact recognition of the virus present at the time. In fact, if you have had exposure since the new strains have appeared, you actually have a more up-to-date immunity than the vaccine will ever create! The vaccine is based on last year's shape and spikes. • Flu viruses mutate every year, thus, Spanish flu, Oriental flu, Swine flu, Bird flu, Hong Kong flu, etc. Last year's vaccine is not very effective against this year's flu strain. (Side note: 2020 surprisingly had way fewer deaths from the flu, normally 60,000 a year. In fact, the positive covid tests do not differentiate whether it is covid or the flu or a cold. If you had one of those positive tests in 2020, you were counted as a positive covid for statistics. The claim that the shut downs and masking kept people from getting the flu is debunked by the fact that they were counted as covid instead, and would bring up the question, how did it prevent the flu but not covid? ) But after years of various flu injections, one would have lots of memory cells looking out for lots of attenuated shell forms! Seems like a waste of defenses. Is there a plan to make new covid vaccines every year and make them mandatory? • Remember that viruses are so small that you would not see 6 million of them if they were on your fingertip, which they normally are. They have been around for as long as humans and probably before. You can only see them with a powerful electron microscope. They are so small and nearly omnipresent that a cloth mask will not keep them out, especially a mask used over and over! Viruses are not alive. They are not living cells. They are like tiny, tiny dust particles floating in the atmosphere, just a few times bigger than a few oxygen molecules. They cannot be seen or cause harm unless attached to living cells. We, humans that is, have been fighting and winning this battle since mankind began. I wear a mask, if it is required by a store, restaurant or other entity. But if it's not required, I do not wear a mask. The reason is I am convinced by research that they make very little difference and severely limit my oxygen intake and carbon dioxide release, a more threatening condition for my own body, my first concern. The only way to avoid viruses is to live in a bubble. As far as protecting other people, I'll keep some distance, I will not sneeze or cough in other's faces, I clean my hands and disinfect where needed, etc. I even limit my hugs! But thinking a loosely worn mask makes you a humanitarian is over the top. Donate to food banks, it will save more lives. So, I am not trying to convince anyone either way with vaccines or facemasks. I believe everyone has the freedom to choose. I do not believe all the fake news that has come out, both in favor and in opposition. In science, we follow the numbers and proven results. It is not a political issue, it is a health issue. If the governments or medical authoritarians want to make mandates to prevent people from dying, they should work on the diseases that kill the most: heart disease, cancer, pulmonary diseases all kill more people each year than covid. Why are there no mandates against known causes of these diseases; i.e., excess salt, excess sugar, alcohol, caffeine, saturated fats, smoking, obesity, etc.? The fact is many people have a hesitancy to take the vaccine or to wear a mask. I would like to mention the most common reasons people feel this way. • Lack of trust, in government, media and the medical community/pharmaceutical industry. • Have already acquired immunity, by exposure and/or a mild case of it. • Believe in Alternative approaches and don't take vaccines or prescription drugs. • Have an immune disease that prevents this approach. • Have had bad reactions in the past to vaccines, or has a child who has had reactions. • Have a religious exemption to drugs, needles or surgery. • Fear of the unstudied nature of this particular vaccine. • Conspiracy theorists; microchips, gps markers, links to the satellite trains, ethnic cleansing, etc. There are many reasons why 40 to 50% of our population remain unvaccinated, but in this country it is not the cost or the availability of the vaccine. Why a lack of trust? The government has lost all integrity. Big business has taken over elections and the media. Money rules, even in the medical/pharmaceutical fields. So often we watch tv or social media and laugh at the ridiculousness. It's just too hard to believe the journalists' spin. "The Fairness Doctrine, by the FCC, was created in 1949 and required holders of broadcast licenses to both present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that is honest, equitable and balanced. The FCC eliminated the policy in 1987 and removed the rule that implemented the policy from the Federal Registry in 2011." Media no longer has to be balanced and each year they get worse. There is a great distrust of the media, doing the government and big businesses' business. But I digress. Can we believe the tests? This is another question on many people's minds. Here are some facts from the FDA and the CDC about testing: The FDA reports that 3 laboratories, 19 manufacturers and 268 separate tests were all being used at one time to test for covid. All of the above have been removed as unacceptable by the FDA, indicating that there were many false or invalid tests. Now the CDC lists only 3 accepted tests. There is an antibody test (Blood - 1-3 days in a lab) to see if your body has been exposed to flu or a cold or covid and has developed immune system antibodies. And, currently, there are two types of diagnostic tests for COVID-19 (Saliva, nasal or throat swabs): • Molecular (RT-PCR) tests, (at-home tests) which detect the virus' genetic material, quickly. • Antigen tests that detect specific proteins from the surface of the virus, quickly. Molecular and antigen tests can detect if you have an active coronavirus infection. If you test positive on either type of test, you should follow the CDC's guidelines to protect yourself and others. Molecular and antigen tests are performed using samples taken from the nose and throat using a long swab, or other respiratory specimens. • The CDC Flu SC2 Multiplex Assay, Serves as a single test to diagnose infection caused by one of three viruses: SARS-CoV-2, influenza A, and influenza B. (FDA Emergency Use Authorization, July 2, 2020) • The CDC 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT–PCR Diagnostic Panel detects the SARS-CoV-2 virus in upper and lower respiratory specimens. The International Reagent Resource (IRR) external icon is distributing the 2019-nCoV Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel and supplies to registered state and local public health labs so they can perform SARS-CoV-2 testing. (FDA EUA, Feb. 4, 2020) Which one have you had? Most do not know which test they had. Regardless, here are some facts: If you have a positive test result on a SARS-CoV-2 antibody test, it is possible that you have recently or previously had COVID-19, the flu or a cold. There is also a chance that the positive result is wrong, known as a false positive. False positive tests may occur: • Because antibody tests may detect coronaviruses other than SARS-CoV-2, such as those that cause the common cold. • When testing is done in a population without many cases of COVID-19 infections. These types of tests work best in populations with higher rates of infection. The FDA answers some questions: Q: Does a positive antibody test mean that I am immune to COVID-19? A: A positive antibody test does not necessarily mean you are immune from SARS-CoV-2 infection, as it is not known whether having antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 will protect you from getting infected again. It also does not indicate whether you can infect other people with SARS-CoV-2. Q: What does a negative antibody test mean? A: A negative result on a SARS-CoV-2 antibody test means antibodies to the virus were not detected in your sample. It could mean: • You have not been infected with COVID-19 previously. • You had COVID-19 in the past but you did not develop or have not yet developed detectable antibodies or when your exposure decreased the antibody production decreased. It is unknown if all infected individuals will develop a detectable antibody response. • The result may be wrong, known as a false negative. This occurs when the test does not detect antibodies even though you may have specific antibodies for SARS-CoV-2. There are several reasons why negative antibody test results do not indicate with certainty that you do not have or have not had an infection with SARS-CoV-2. For example, if you are tested soon after being infected with SARS-CoV-2, the test may be negative, because it takes time for the body to develop an antibody response. It is also unknown if antibody levels decline over time to undetectable levels. Q. I received a COVID-19 vaccination. Do I need an antibody test to know if I am immune to COVID-19? A: Antibody tests are not recommended to determine your level of immunity or protection from COVID-19. So, you can see there's no acceptable way of knowing? These facts make people question the science. Disease eradication occurs because of many reasons. We only hear about drugs and vaccines as the reasons but more valuable have been improvements in hygiene, sanitation, diets and education. Other statistical reductions have been caused by re-categorization of disease diagnosis and symptom recognition, such as a polio diagnosis being more correctly diagnosed as multiple sclerosis or muscular dystrophy or some other neurologic disease not known previously. The claim that vaccines create 'herd immunity' and cause viruses to be made extinct is a fallacy. Viruses will always be around. If you don't have defenses in your body, they will win the war. Polio is currently alive and well due to the only source of it these days, oral polio vaccine. The oral vaccine is still used in some countries. Complete eradication is not possible since they will always mutate to new strains. Outbreaks like the plagues of the middle ages were 'eradicated' without the use of vaccines. Small pox outbreaks have been deadly, but self-limiting for thousands of years, before variolation, or inoculation, began in the 1700's. Like the 'dairymaids' with 'natural' immunity, what makes one immune is mild exposure and a functioning immune system. Inoculation is very different from vaccination. Today we would refer to it as antibody therapy, that is, transferring antibodies from an immune individual to another. Just not like Jenner, taking puss from open sores of the dairymaids and placing it in an open cut in the skin of his 'healthy child patient.' Inoculation was used for over 200 years, and worked. What works even better is superior care, hygiene, foods, etc. The claim that unvaccinated people are more likely to spread the virus is a fallacy as it is proven that vaccinated people can also be carriers, even though they are said to be 'protected.' Therefore, you are no more likely to 'catch' the virus from unvaccinated versus vaccinated people. I don't believe anyone should accuse others of causing their own illnesses, especially not Sean Penn and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The claim that being vaccinated only gives you a mild case of 'breakthrough' infections should you get sick is also a weak theory. Of course, there's no double-blind study that illnesses are milder after a vaccination, only statistical observation. Healthier people also have milder symptoms. And the same percentage of vaccinated people die from illnesses 'associated with covid.' If these vaccines worked, you would not have to worry about 'catching' covid once vaccinated, but you obviously do. The 'Delta' variant is being found in recent infections. The two test types used by the public do not differentiate variants. So how is it that they claim the Delta variant is emerging? Mutations of the virus are randomly identified by genetic sequence-based surveillance but more frequently by regional epidemiology statistics. More recently there are more active infections and a sudden rise in positive tests indicating a possible faster spreading and more active variant. There have been over a half dozen variants so far for covid. The CDC states, as of August 3, 2021: "To date, no variants of high consequence have been identified in the United States." Many of the variations include the spike proteins on the outer wall of the shell. Variants make changes to the outer appearance of the virus, altering the shape, and so, antibodies may not recognize the new strains as quickly! Claiming that vaccines are more effective than natural immunity is like the claim that baby formula is better than breast milk. Natural immunity works best. NOTE: Speak with your health care provider before starting any medications or supplements. Seek medical care as necessary. A better and more effective approach is to stimulate the immune system at all times. • Children should be breastfed for a minimum of 12 months, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. (Breast milk gives the baby loads of white blood cells, all memory cells the mother has in her system, and plenty of T-cells and IgG's and other immunoglobulins, since the infant's immune system is not fully developed until after 6 months old. None of that is found in 'formula!') • Less toxins and less trash in our diets (and be honest with your self-evaluation!) • More fresh air, some sunshine, more clean water and more physical exercise • Better hygiene by cleaning surfaces, hands, sinuses, teeth and gums, and clean foods. • Neurologic and muscular stimulation, i.e., chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, etc. • Plenty of natural herbs, vitamins and enzymes in foods help strengthen the immune system, made up of glands, lymph nodes, spleen, liver, bone marrow, etc. • There are other anti-viral approaches such as Remdesivir, Tamiflu, and, of course, Hydroxychloroquine. Tonic water contains Quinine. Monolaurin is anti-viral. Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic that is said to help. Some treatments may not be found to kill or defeat the virus, but may help the body control secondary bacterial or parasitic surges, thus aiding recovery and preventing death. • Things that help during infection and recovery include Pepcid, Mucinex, Zinc with Quercetin, Vitamin B-Complex, Omega-3 Supplements and Potassium rich foods, like Bananas, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Avocados and Oranges. Why, you might ask, does the medical autocracy never mention these points in the media? Just as frightening, hospitals and doctors were paid more if they treated a covid case, so most patients were tested for flu, cold or covid and if positive, they were counted as a covid case, even if they ultimately died of other unrelated causes, so they could get more money for the case. That, more than likely, makes all the statistics fraught with fraud. And let us not forget that there is a separate court system set up, the 'vaccine court.' The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, started in 1980, is a no-fault alternative to the traditional legal system for resolving vaccine injury petitions. Any individual of any age, who received a covered vaccine and believes he or she was injured as a result, can file a petition to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. But the Covid vaccines are petitioned in a separately funded program known as Countermeasure Injury Compensation Program with some minor differences, such as the final decision is made by Health and Human Services, not judges, and there are no appeal rights to higher courts. So, you see there are many reasons the public doubts the science and questions the mandates. I am all for saving lives and protecting the public. I love and respect every human. I respect and appreciate the hard work done to produce these vaccines for those who choose to use them. I appreciate the hard work by our front line health care workers. However, I do not believe the responsibilities of freedom require us to submit to experimental genetic modification by injections. The science is just not there. You may disagree with many of these points, but any one of them can produce questions, doubt and disbelief to the whole theory. I hope this helps you understand why there are those who choose differently. Sincerely yours in Health, Jeffry Smith, BS, DC

A Day On the Squirrel Highway

The second in the Series, The Backyard Fables, is a day in the life of a family of squirrels. Advanced reading skills are developed in a poetic story with playful characters. They stick together and keep us entertained. With playful graphics and colorful scenes, this book also gives the reader a 'Coloring Book' section in the back. Story by J. Michael Smith and illustrations by Michelle A Smith. https://www.amazon.com/Day-Squirrel-Highway-Backyard-Fables/dp/1728803853/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=books+A+Day+On+the+Squirrel+Highway&qid=1605074492&sr=8-1

Expanded Children's Vocabulary

Current Children's Expanded Vocabulary Teaching a child to read is one of the most wonderful and challenging things to do. Learning the alphabet is the important first step. Pronunciation of groups of letters is a close second. Everything from phonetics to classic 'repeat after me' techniques have been used. Research shows that children have heard thousands of words by the time they begin learning the alphabet. Recognizing the sound of letters, combinations of letters and being able to combine syllables are all important steps to learning to read. In the 1950's, it was believed that a child's vocabulary is very small. Books for children mainly included the 'Dick and Jane' series. This style used a very limited number of words, none more than two syllables long. The books used the same words over and over expecting the repetition to implant the words in their brains. According to Wikipedia, "In May 1954, Life magazine published a report on illiteracy among school children which concluded that children were not learning to read because their books were boring. William Ellsworth Spaulding was the director of the education division at Houghton Mifflin (he later became its chairman), and he compiled a list of 348 words that he felt were important for first-graders to recognize. He asked a man named Geisel to cut the list to 250 words and to write a book using only those words.[47] Theodor Seuss Geisel was a German-American author, political cartoonist, poet, animator, book publisher, and artist, best known for authoring children's books. Spaulding challenged Geisel to "bring back a book children can't put down".[48] Nine months later, Geisel completed The Cat in the Hat, using 236 of the words given to him. It retained the drawing style, verse rhythms, and all the imaginative power of Geisel's earlier works but, because of its simplified vocabulary, it could be read by beginning readers. " Later, Geisel would publish more than 60 children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. Unfortunately, this has not changed much in the last 60 years, even though the education and learning pace of children today is far exceeding these general rules. With children using computers , laptops, tablets and phones, they have a much greater knowledge of words by the time they get to first grade. It is time we updated our children's book vocabularies. We see grammar and punctuation falling apart, or should we say, being 'redesigned,' through social media channels. Spelling is taking a major hit. But the fact is, this younger generation of children is exposed to so much text that they have an understanding of words far exceeding their equals from 40, 30 or even 20 years ago. They seem to know the words, have an idea of the definitions and can associate the sounds with the spelling in their text messages, which may not be correct but still is recognizable. Even abbreviations can be understood without spelling out the full words. It is a new world for children learning to read a language in transition. OMG! Therefore, I have started a movement to upgrade our children's vocabulary. I believe we need to challenge their intellect with more words, more syllables and watch how they advance beyond our expectations. It is time to stop limiting an early reader's vocabulary and see how much they can absorb. I believe we will all be surprised, as I was the other day. I was sitting in a restaurant next to a family with a boy no more than 4 years old. Over my shoulder I heard him say, "Mom, I saw that man leaving with headphones in his ears. Was he listening to his mp4 player or just internet stuff?." As clear as day, this 4 year old knew enough about technology to recognize and pronounce headphones, mp4 and internet. We need to get out of the way and observe how much they can pick up through reading, texting and listening to 21st century vocabulary!

NEW RELEASE - "The Lonely Hawk"

Excellent NEW Children's Picture Book! "The Lonely Hawk"

Join the adventures of a young hawk as he grows and conquers his fears. Empowered by a friend, the hawk realizes his own potential and becomes the hawk he should be. Fabulous drawings enhance the self-achievement message in this whimsical, poetic story of nature. This 1st book in the ‘Backyard Fables' series teaches self-acceptance, individuality, friendship and discovering your purpose. The current children’s expanded vocabulary (CCEV) challenges the readers’ abilities and EMPOWERS them with knowledge. The Lonely Hawk … Great for Ages 6 to 14. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1979973865/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513312371&sr=1-1&keywords=lonely+hawk

New Novel by J E Free, 'Island Vignettes: The Bloody Marsh Chronicles'

Murder, suicide, cover-ups, suspense. Short stories based on real events that boggle the imagination. “Island Vignettes: The Bloody Marsh Chronicles” This is a book of twenty-eight short stories loosely based on events that took place in the Golden Isles of Georgia. Brunswick, Jekyll Island, St. Simons and Sea Island provide a beautiful backdrop to some horrific events, most leading to the death of notable citizens. Dark humor is not always prized by those involved but telling the stories helps others avoid similar mistakes. Some of the names have been changed while others are direct from news reports and police records. Truth is certainly strange and fiction pales in comparison, but take a stab at it. See if you can tell where the truth ends and the fiction begins.

2nd Novel - "Sunbury"

My second novel is a more humorous story about a fictional person, Bongo Bucky, and a life of bizarre events and misdirected paths leading to fame and fortune.  He grew up in Millville, NJ and moved in late adulthood to Sunbury, Ga.  He angered, no, pissed people off along the way and then he made good efforts to restore bridges with friends and relatives he previously chased away.  Check it out on Amazon, Kindle Store or at JMichaelSmithBooks.com

Best purchase prices are Kindle for ebooks and https://www.createspace.com/3944524 for paperbacks.

"Norah's Oak" - 1st Novel

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 14 of my novel, "Norah's Oak" available at JMichaelSmithbooks.com and Amazon.com So the first word out of Rev. Tim’s mouth was loud. “GREED,” he yelled and then he paused long enough to let it sink in. He went on to say what a sin it was and how God disliked it. He preached about the wheel of progress and how if powerful people were not greedy, than there would be enough to go around for everyone in the whole world: enough jobs, enough food, enough wealth, etc. He pointed out how poverty and starvation could be conquered by attacking greed inside our own souls. ‘Equanomics’ was a term Rev. Tim coined to describe his belief that all levels of workers should be paid close to equal amounts of wages. It was a design of equal profit sharing throughout the many levels of a company. The success of the company depends on everyone, so everyone should share the risks and the benefits. Trash collectors should get the same bonuses as vice-presidents and managers, but obviously, people would prefer the easier job if they qualified. Teachers should make the same as administrators in municipal governments, after all, they were just as important, if not more so, for the success of the programs. Equanomics was a new and untested arrangement but one that Rev. Tim thought pointed out the fact that all parts of a business are necessary for the overall integrity and thus the bottom line. Some businesses had tried a form of it like Ben & Jerry’s, or other employee-owned factories, true profit sharing by some small corporations, but none of these had gone all the way. Unions were formed to negotiate reasonable wages and benefits for employees and guarantee that certain positions made certain amounts, but they had great differences in pay scales and they did not include management or other salaried employees, the most serious abusers. The result was that some workers were free to pursue greed or to be lazy and steal from the business and union workers were under watchful eyes at all times. Most attempts eventually failed to maintain the equality it took to work successfully and the unions became corrupted and abusive themselves. Another idea surfaced in this theory of Equanomics, CEO Licensing. Rev. Tim suggested that upper management had a great duty to the health of the populous, the rights of individuals and the strength of our country. As in other fields, those who have responsibilities to the citizens, CEOs should be held to certain standards. All those in medicine, nursing, law, electricians, plumbers, massage therapists, even hair stylists must be tested and licensed and most need continuing education in classes approved by licensing boards to protect the citizens. He believed it would help to license CEOs, since they had trouble maintaining ethical, moral and societal standards to strengthen the economy. Instead they cared only for the bottom line, their stockholders and their own severance packages. But Rev. Tim explained that the world could benefit by such a policy. It still leaves room for wealth, but wealth without greed. “Wealth achieved by better businesses and from working harder than the other guy. Wealth accumulated by loyalty to the company, the employees and the public, something fading from our society. It is not socialism as some would claim because people could earn more by working harder, having two or more jobs, working for a more profitable business, having better management and lower overhead, and still investing and creating wealth from entrepreneurial initiatives. It just takes out the huge gap between the hard working blue-collar employees and the over paid management levels. It could make the team work together and it would develop unity, loyalty and integrity through equality.” He never preached about attacking others with violence or force to accomplish equality and integrity, but he taught about the inner war. To Rev. Tim, the Muslim belief of a “jihad” was correct because we all had a war between good and evil taking place, but it is within our own souls, not with others. It is an internal jihad between love and hate, the holy and the infidel, and we must attack and conquer the sinner inside of ourselves, we must win out over the urge for greed and thievery if we want to reach God’s heaven, nirvana, the holy land. “But it is greed that is winning that war in powerful people and those wanting to obtain power. Greed is putting a cog in the spokes of business and industry and not just in the industrialized nations. It is occurring in third world countries as well because militant leaders are hoarding food and supplies meant for starving populations in order to gain power. But then, these are people who are fighting for survival and in some cases you can hardly blame them. They have no good role models. They are starving and need food and, evil or not, joining an army or militant group means they will provide you with food, among other things. “But not so in the industrialized nations. The greedy are not hungry, in fact, they have everything they need and more and yet they cannot nor will not stop stealing from those who have little. And they rationalize that they are just smarter and use their brains instead of brawn. But it is this kind of rationalizing of greed that makes them blind to the effects of their actions. They do not realize that they are destroying the machine of commerce by abusing the workers and stealing from the very ones who do their work for them. “It is not a new problem. In every society where wealth is limited to a higher class than the working class, greed meant power and control until the scales tipped so much that revolution and mutiny prevailed. It happened to the Greeks, the Romans, the French, the Russians, the British Monarchy that once ruled the world, and now it is happening in the United States, except that there is no revolting...yet. The educated middle and lower classes in this country are not starving or slaves, as was the case in previous cultures. These are peaceful people who are being stolen from and lied to about their own government and their own corporations, their own employers. But God is not blind. “God will intervene and level the playing field once again. He may have to destroy the very foundation of our society just to equalize the yin and yang of commerce. He may have to alter the very geography of the planet just to close the gap between classes and bring the world back to a peaceful, loving order, where men and women honor each other and are considerate and, yes, where love of God, love of fellow man, love of father and mother, love of brother and sister, love of neighbors and ultimately, love of one’s self conquers all evil and wins the inner jihad of our souls.”

HOMICIDAL/SUICIDAL Pharmacology

How blind! Calling killings the scurge of guns when the mind altering anti-depressant drugs are known to cause HOMICIDAL and SUICIDAL tendencies. And most every mass killing involves someone with disorders treated with these drugs. But Big Pharma is totally protected by HIPPA privacy laws. Murderers' should not have their rights protected. Get wise America, prescription drugs are the scurge! Don't get fooled by how you feel taking them, they are addicting. But then you learn what withdraw entails...MURDER and SUICIDE, or other such feelings of helplessness and defeat. I just had a patient who has been on mind altering drugs since he was 8. He never could 'find himself.' At 30, he just jumped in front of a train. Don't put your children, or yourself, on drugs for depression. It is a failing, ludicrous, violent experiment. Check the evidence (http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=92563 ; http://www.naturalnews.com/019342.html ; http://www.cchrint.org/2012/12/11/antidepressantsantipsychoticsharmingkids/ ; etc. ) Wikipedia tells us: Whenever changes in antidepressant dosage occur, whether up or down, a doubling of the risk of suicide is seen.[159] A study of 159,810 users of either amytriptyline, fluoxetine, paroxetine or dothiepin found that the risk of suicidal behavior is increased in the first month after starting antidepressants, especially during the first 1 to 9 days.[160] The Food and Drug Administration requires Black Box warnings on all SSRIs, which state that they double suicidal rates (from 2 in 1,000 to 4 in 1,000) in children and adolescents.[124][161] although it's controversial whether this is due to the medication or as part of the depression itself (i.e. efficacious antidepressant effect can cause those that are severely depressed, to the point of severe psychomotor inhibition, are rendered more alert and thus have increased capacity to carry out suicide even though they are relatively improved in state[124][162]). The increased risk for suicidality and suicidal behaviour among adults under 25 approaches that seen in children and adolescents.[163] Young patients should be closely monitored for signs of suicidal ideation or behaviors, especially in the first eight weeks of therapy. People under the age of 24 who suffer from depression are warned that the use of antidepressants could increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviour.[124] Federal health officials unveiled proposed changes to the labels on antidepressant drugs in December 2006 to warn people of this danger. The FDA warns against the use of Paxil for children and teens depression in favor of Prozac.[164] SSRI prescriptions for children and adolescents decreased after U.S. and European regulatory agencies issued warnings about a possible suicide risk with antidepressant use in pediatric patients, and these decreases were associated with increases in suicide rates in children and adolescents in both the United States with a 14% increase, and 50% increase in the Netherlands.[165] I'm not saying every mass killing is from drugs, but it is obvious that the coincidence would lead any sane detective to suspect the cause of these murders to be the effects of medication, newly prescribed, recently increased or recently stopped or decreased. We need to hold the makers and sellers responsible for depraved indifference (I learned that from Law and Order!).

2nd Novel – SUNBURY

My second novel is a more humorous story about a fictional person, Bongo Bucky, and a life of bizarre events and misdirected paths leading to fame and fortune.  He grew up in Millville, NJ and moved in late adulthood to Sunbury, Ga.  He angered, no, pissed people off along the way and then he made good efforts to restore bridges with friends and relatives he previously chased away.  Check it out on Amazon, Kindle Store or at JMichaelSmithBooks.com

Best purchase prices are Kindle for ebooks and https://www.createspace.com/3944524 for paperbacks.

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 14 of my novel, "Norah's Oak" available at JMichaelSmithbooks.com So the first word out of Rev. Tim’s mouth was loud. “GREED,” he yelled and then he paused long enough to let it sink in. He went on to say what a sin it was and how God disliked it. He preached about the wheel of progress and how if powerful people were not greedy, than there would be enough to go around for everyone in the whole world: enough jobs, enough food, enough wealth, etc. He pointed out how poverty and starvation could be conquered by attacking greed inside our own souls. ‘Equanomics’ was a term Rev. Tim coined to describe his belief that all levels of workers should be paid close to equal amounts of wages. It was a design of equal profit sharing throughout the many levels of a company. The success of the company depends on everyone, so everyone should share the risks and the benefits. Trash collectors should get the same bonuses as vice-presidents and managers, but obviously, people would prefer the easier job if they qualified. Teachers should make the same as administrators in municipal governments, after all, they were just as important, if not more so, for the success of the programs. Equanomics was a new and untested arrangement but one that Rev. Tim thought pointed out the fact that all parts of a business are necessary for the overall integrity and thus the bottom line. Some businesses had tried a form of it like Ben & Jerry’s, or other employee-owned factories, true profit sharing by some small corporations, but none of these had gone all the way. Unions were formed to negotiate reasonable wages and benefits for employees and guarantee that certain positions made certain amounts, but they had great differences in pay scales and they did not include management or other salaried employees, the most serious abusers. The result was that some workers were free to pursue greed or to be lazy and steal from the business and union workers were under watchful eyes at all times. Most attempts eventually failed to maintain the equality it took to work successfully and the unions became corrupted and abusive themselves. Another idea surfaced in this theory of Equanomics, CEO Licensing. Rev. Tim suggested that upper management had a great duty to the health of the populous, the rights of individuals and the strength of our country. As in other fields, those who have responsibilities to the citizens, CEOs should be held to certain standards. All those in medicine, nursing, law, electricians, plumbers, massage therapists, even hair stylists must be tested and licensed and most need continuing education in classes approved by licensing boards to protect the citizens. He believed it would help to license CEOs, since they had trouble maintaining ethical, moral and societal standards to strengthen the economy. Instead they cared only for the bottom line, their stockholders and their own severance packages. But Rev. Tim explained that the world could benefit by such a policy. It still leaves room for wealth, but wealth without greed. “Wealth achieved by better businesses and from working harder than the other guy. Wealth accumulated by loyalty to the company, the employees and the public, something fading from our society. It is not socialism as some would claim because people could earn more by working harder, having two or more jobs, working for a more profitable business, having better management and lower overhead, and still investing and creating wealth from entrepreneurial initiatives. It just takes out the huge gap between the hard working blue-collar employees and the over paid management levels. It could make the team work together and it would develop unity, loyalty and integrity through equality.” He never preached about attacking others with violence or force to accomplish equality and integrity, but he taught about the inner war. To Rev. Tim, the Muslim belief of a “jihad” was correct because we all had a war between good and evil taking place, but it is within our own souls, not with others. It is an internal jihad between love and hate, the holy and the infidel, and we must attack and conquer the sinner inside of ourselves, we must win out over the urge for greed and thievery if we want to reach God’s heaven, nirvana, the holy land. “But it is greed that is winning that war in powerful people and those wanting to obtain power. Greed is putting a cog in the spokes of business and industry and not just in the industrialized nations. It is occurring in third world countries as well because militant leaders are hoarding food and supplies meant for starving populations in order to gain power. But then, these are people who are fighting for survival and in some cases you can hardly blame them. They have no good role models. They are starving and need food and, evil or not, joining an army or militant group means they will provide you with food, among other things. “But not so in the industrialized nations. The greedy are not hungry, in fact, they have everything they need and more and yet they cannot nor will not stop stealing from those who have little. And they rationalize that they are just smarter and use their brains instead of brawn. But it is this kind of rationalizing of greed that makes them blind to the effects of their actions. They do not realize that they are destroying the machine of commerce by abusing the workers and stealing from the very ones who do their work for them. “It is not a new problem. In every society where wealth is limited to a higher class than the working class, greed meant power and control until the scales tipped so much that revolution and mutiny prevailed. It happened to the Greeks, the Romans, the French, the Russians, the British Monarchy that once ruled the world, and now it is happening in the United States, except that there is no revolting...yet. The educated middle and lower classes in this country are not starving or slaves, as was the case in previous cultures. These are peaceful people who are being stolen from and lied to about their own government and their own corporations, their own employers. But God is not blind. “God will intervene and level the playing field once again. He may have to destroy the very foundation of our society just to equalize the yin and yang of commerce. He may have to alter the very geography of the planet just to close the gap between classes and bring the world back to a peaceful, loving order, where men and women honor each other and are considerate and, yes, where love of God, love of fellow man, love of father and mother, love of brother and sister, love of neighbors and ultimately, love of one’s self conquers all evil and wins the inner jihad of our souls.”

LAYS - Half 'Baked'

If you're trying to eat healthier and choose LAYS Baked Potato Chips, you should reconsider your choice. As usual, read the ingredients. They changed from 'classic' chips which are 'potatoes, vegetable oil and salt' which are fried in oil, and give you 'baked' with potatoes, modified food starch, sugar, corn oil, salt, soy lecithin, leavening (monocalcium phosphate and sodium bicarbonate) and dextrose. That is some of the most unhealthy ingredients you can consume aside from the potatoes and salt! Much worse than the classic. Labeling it "Baked" makes many think they are eating healthier but again, the minds of the food industry care more about tricking you and addicting you than improving your health. They must be following McDonald's old lead of making french fries with sugar added to bait you into craving them. LAYS, you should be ashamed of yourself and those of you who buy this product and eat it, good luck with your diabetes, liver and kidney disease and possible mercury poisoning. Don't say we didn't warn you!

Med School Obsolete

By their own actions, the medical community, the AMA and licensing boards have made it known that it only takes a few years to be able to do their job. No med school required! After all, the typical procedure at a medical office now is a cursory observation and/or history, maybe look at some lab results indicating something high or low and write a prescription for drugs out of a manual. In fact, 90% of office visits end with only a new prescription or renewing an old one. And 50% of medical office visits never involve an M.D.! They allow a four year "Assistant" to do the diagnosis and treatment; i.e., P.A. ('Physician's Assistant')- 2-year minimum, or a N.P. ('Nurse Practitioner')- sometimes a Master's required. And this is legal and legitimate enough to charge the same fees as if you were seen by an actual "doctor." So, they are telling us that most of the work they do requires no medical school or medical doctorate degree. They are not needed for what they mostly do - write drug prescriptions. In fact, why not just let the pharmaceutical companies send them directly to you? Oh yeah, they do. Just go on-line or call an 800 number and get a free sample of the latest drug. Some system!

End the Tax Cuts for Wealthy

I’m no economist but I’m a small business owner. Company profits pass to my personal return. If the company makes more money, taxes increase AND profits, too. If I reinvest profits (expansion and jobs), it’s an expense and I pay less taxes. So how do these ‘economists’ figure increased personal income taxes (back to original rates) mean less jobs? They’re only on profits. Do they believe a business owner prefers to lessen business (income) in order to reduce taxes? A basic business rule is ‘only hire employees who produce in excess of their pay.’ Expanding workforce, if the market warrants, is expanding business profits, and, yes, taxes in proportion. Politicians who spin facts are just what the Tea Party wants out of government. Take special interests out and put integrity in so we can be fiscally responsible and actually increase jobs. Lessen spending but hold the highest tax brackets responsible for reinvesting into the economy they earned from, not allowing them to hoard money from those making under $250,000. Those under $250,000 are the unemployed, losing homes, insurance, health care, retirements and savings. Shame on you, Jack Kingston and cohorts. Has anyone considered that a gradual increase back to normal is something the ‘wealthy’ could handle? They are the only ones whose taxes were reduced and are certainly not without houses, income, insurance, retirement, etc. The tax cuts were intended to encourage investment back into the economy, which obviously never happened! There’s no indication that theory will ever work.

Greed 101

The problem must start in the schools. Is it all the scholarly business schools, Harvard, Wharton, etc, that teach the idea of greed til the well dries up? In business, I always believed the customer comes first. Look at any small Mom and Pop store in downtown, USA and you find a place that puts the customer first and finds a way to make the customer satisfied and happy. Reputation matters. But go to some large corporation and ask the 'CEO' who is most important and they all assuredly shout, "The Stockholders!" They truly believe that the bottom line and the stockholders are more important than the customers. And that works temporarily. But eventually, when you piss off enough customers, the bottom falls out and the stockholders lose big time. Just ask the US auto industry. Imagine what you would think if you asked Mom or Pop who was most important and comes first in their business and they said "Me!" Exactly. We think how stupid and arrogant these overpaid CEO's are. They run the businesses into the ground or out of the country for profits and lose the customers in the process. Way to go, college professors. Teach the next generation of business admins how to sift the assets out of the corporation before it goes under. Oh, that's right, you already taught that course!

Lower Medicaid costs with Food Stamp Rules

Let's make a change to help the needy get healthier and save money in the process. Food Stamps should only be used for fresh fruit and vegetables and meat, chicken and fish. Nothing else. No canned foods, no processed foods, no packaged and preserved foods. No snacks, soft drinks or other junk food. If these people are 'starving' and need food, they'll gladly eat what this would cover. We surely would notice improved health if this is all they ate. They could drink water, it's free in most communities to these people who are also on Medicaid, i.e., we also have to pay for their health care! If they loose weight, lower sugar intake and increase nutritious foods, their health will improve and we will all save money in the Medicaid systems! Why is this a hard decision? It is a no brainer. We need politicians with guts to push this through in every state and federal budget.

Value of Vertebrae

So many people overlook the major importance of the vertebrae, those oddly shaped bones of the spine. They hold us erect as the beam of our body, they allow for core muscle attachment sites, they allow movement in all directions while still protecting the fragile spinal cord. Like other 'long bones', they create red blood cells in their marrow. They allow junctions for the ribs to attach while they are protecting the heart and lungs and other major upper organs. But the biggest value is that they subtley stimulate the numerous nerve roots as we move and thus enhance the functions of all organs and muscles. Did you know and were you aware of these values of the vertebrae?

2010

We read a lot about the evil in the world. It seems all the media want to report is negative events and twists. It's true there is plenty, but in many poeple's world, there is a balance of good and evil. The yin-yang of the universe. Why can't news stations report equally on the positives? There is something referred to as 'critical mass,' as when a small group of monkees slowly learned a talent to use tools in order to retrieve insects from mounds. Slowly, more and more monkees were using the tools until such a large amount knew the technique that it was instantly programmed into every monkee at that point. Monkees on the other side of the planet with no contact immediately began using the same trick. In some kind of metaphysical transmission, the talent was passed to all of the species. Was it magic? Or coincidence? Who knows? But we do know that it happened. And it can help man do the same thing.
So why would we want to create a 'critical mass' of negativity and fear? Why would we want to focus attention on death, destruction, greed, sin, war, etc.? The Mayan calender has some ending supposedly in 2012. But we have heard end-time predictions before. All was supposed to collapse in 2000, but it didn't happen.
We can inmprove the world if we start with positives and stop criticizing and insulting and accusing anyone who thinks differently than us. We should be trying to help and understand others if we want to improve our own lives. In politics, media and PR 'experts' want to accuse the other side of doing nothing but harm. They accuse of failure, they condem and insult their opponents as if its a sport to win or lose a challenge. Politicians forget that the lives and future of our country depend on their actions. Should they not be offering solutions and help and positive reinforcement so we all work as a team?
Let's all start individually to think positive, help our opponents who want to help us, support the direction of our country and our world. Let's think of bringing the 'critical mass' to a new era of discovery, solutions, peace and problem solving, not problem creation.

Approach to Health

Speaking of 'Health Care', let's work on the approach, now that providing it is coming around. Remember that our country is in the bottom percentile of 'developed countries' in health grades such as infant mortality, diseases, lifespan, etc. The provision is important, as we have said, and part of our constitution is based on the free pursuit of LIFE. So it is not turning our nation 'socialist' to provide services for our citizens. (It is, however, ridiculous to provide it at our expense to non-citizens but we could make them citizens and have them pay into the fund. Christians especially should understand the concept of giving but we can be fair.) But it is the approach and not the lack of provisions that keeps us in such a bad position as it relates to health. We have all the resources and yet we kill some 200,000 to 600,000 a year, depending on your sources, simply by drugging and cutting incessantly. We want to inject every individual thinking that improves health, yet show me one double-blind random control study supporting vaccinations. We claim to be a system of medicine based on science and yet the most numerous approaches in medicine have no random controlled studies to support them, i.e., surgeries and flu vaccines. Drugs kill and yet they have to kill a certain number before we pull them from the shelf. Our society is becoming prescription drug dependent and we are the 'guinea pigs' of the experiments. We don't work on getting people healthy, we work on getting people on drugs. If drugs made people healthy then the people taking the most drugs should be the healthiest! Common sense tells us to find foods and lifestyle and not prescriptions to attain better health. It is the APPROACH to health care that needs changing, President Obama, now that we have 'coverage.' Tell your doctor you want to know how to eat so you can avoid drugs and get off of all your prescriptions. Ask your doctor how many years or hours or minutes of nutrition he or she has studied and what foods can replace the drugs you now take. If they don't know, search for a 'doctor' who knows those things. Eat, exercise, and care for the frame and brain. Maybe someday our country can be as healthy as Japan, Sweden, Norway, and other 'developed countries.'

Waste Not.

What we could use is a Department of Consolidation. Government has gotten so large that many things are repeated, duplicated and one thing contradicting another. For example, we pay farmers to plow under crops so we can keep the market supply under control. Then we pay other countries to supply wheat and rice to starving countries. Why not ship the food instead of plowing it under?
We give starving families in our country 'Food Stamps' and let them use those to buy junk, disease causing 'food substitutes' in mass. Luckily, we are later responsible for paying for their poor health through Medicaid and Medicare.
We are presently paying millions of people 'UN-employment wages' while concurrently paying more and more contractors to repair infrastructures. Why not use those 'unemployed workers' to save tax dollars on other projects?
And, of course, we sacrifice our young men and women in uniform (and many not in uniform) to protect the monstrous crop of poppy growers in Afghanistan. Then we spend an enormous budget on DEA to stop the sale and distribution of heroin from Afghanistan.
I am surely just touching the surface of the many areas where a working department could streamline and reduce spending in government. Many approaches would create better health, ease stresses on the environment, promote jobs, lower taxes, bring peace, lessen the pork in legislation, etc. Smaller government is what many are asking for, so just another Department is not the point. It has to be a Department with teeth who can slash and cut and redistribute funds.
I believe in our country and the power of the people to use what I always heard growing up; good old Yankee ingenuity.