The book is inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s list of thirteen character virtues that he had devised and had intended to create a secret society based on. Franklin never did get the chance to create his secret society but his ideas live on. The Society of Virtue is an original work that pays tribute to Franklin’s ideas and carries on the spirit of them with improved personal character through adherence to thirteen virtues.

The Society of Virtue is currently available from all of the major online book retailers and will soon be available in some of the smaller ones as well. Here are links to purchase the book:

Buy it on Amazon

Buy it on Barnes & Noble

Buy it on iTunes
(currently only available in the iBooks app, not on their website)

Buy it on Diesel eBook Store

Buy it on Smashwords
(in a variety of eBook formats)

Through the month of February at least, I will be keeping the price at only $0.99. Sometime thereafter the price will increase so buy it in February for a good deal. As a special bonus for people who buy The Society of Virtue I’ve included in the book a special password that will grant access to a members only area of The Society of Virtue website. Once there, readers can enjoy downloading a variety of special bonus content.

I hope that you will consider buying a copy of The Society of Virtue. Not simply because I want it to be successful from a sales point of view, but also because I believe there can be real benefit to in the lives of those who choose to follow through with the pursuit of the virtues.

My last post way back in July mentioned that I was going to be moving and that move finally happened in late September. It’s amazing how long it can take to find a house and then you’ve essentially got another month’s worth of waiting while all of the other paperwork is taken care of. But we finally did move in September and the ensuing months have been kind of crazy with getting settled in and then leading into the holidays after that.

Life is getting back to normal though and that’s where today’s post finds me. I generally come up with some kind of theme for my life for every new year. Sometimes I post that theme publicly and sometimes not. Most times I don’t know what that theme means until something happens through the course of the year that makes it plain to see. 2012 is a little different though. I knew what my theme for the year was going to be back in November some time.

Unlike previous years, it’s not some vague nebulous concept that could be fulfilled in any number of ways. No, this year’s theme is direct and challenging to myself. This year’s theme is The Year of Accomplishment. What that means to me is finishing up writing projects that have been hanging around for awhile. It means recording a new music album for the first time in over five years.

I debated for awhile whether or not to publicly share this year’s theme for myself because it’s very goal oriented and relies on my working very hard to achieve those goals. But in the end I decided that not sharing it would make it easier on myself to not follow through. Of course, random life events or God’s intervention might completely derail these plans but I’ve found that most often in life if I don’t accomplish something it’s because I didn’t really put the effort into it that it needed.

As 2012 unfolds I hope to be able to share many completed creative projects with you. There’s at least one that I will be sharing on here in the next couple weeks. I was working hard to start the year off right by finishing up a writing project and that’s part of why this post didn’t happen sooner. Stay tuned.

The promotion is a good thing of course. We are leaving behind the farm house that we’ve called home for more than six years. I have mixed feelings about that. Up until a few months ago we hadn’t really given serious thought to leaving here but the situation has changed and we’re excited about the future and the possibilities that lie ahead. Though life will certainly be different.

Though we are still searching for a new house at this time, we assumed early on that wherever we end up that it would be unlikely we’d be able to take the chickens with us. So we’ve already sold them. It was bittersweet seeing them go. I enjoyed having chickens these past couple years but I’m not gonna lie, the idea of not having animals at home to take care of is an attractive one, at least for now. I could see raising chickens again some day, but for the time being this is a serious blow to my not too seriously pursued pursuit of self-reliance.

It’s also an opportunity to find new avenues to pursue some measure of self- reliance however. What exactly those may be I won’t know until we’ve found a house and I know what is possible there.

Then of course there is the consideration of my music. It seems like I spend more time dealing with roadblocks to recording my songs than I do actually recording them. I really don’t know what to expect yet on this front since we haven’t found a house yet. Long term I think without animals at home that I will actually have more time to accomplish music. On a brighter note, I recently won an iPod Touch in a lyric contest and it seems that I may be able to use it as a little mobile studio which should be fun.

That’s pretty much the summary of what is going on right now. In other news, my first book is getting published soon. I’ll have more details on that as the date draws nearer.

I’m talking of course about the British. They’re no longer coming, they’re already here. Don’t believe me? This really is an insidious plot that went almost unnoticed, but I’m here to reveal it to the world. This 4th of July it’s time to declare our independence once again.

Independence from people like Gordon Ramsey who is making a fortune on screaming and cursing at Americans and telling us we don’t know how to cook. When was the last time you heard anyone say “Hey, let’s go eat British tonight.” I’m pretty sure that sentence has never been uttered. You know why? Because British food sucks.

Independence from Jaime Oliver who thinks he needs to be the food police and tell us how to feed our children. So what if America’s youth are starting to look like puffer fish? It’s really part of a secret strategy to have plenty of fat stores in preperation for the coming food insecurity issues that will face the world in coming years.

Independence from the people on Super Nanny. They enjoy telling Americans that they don’t know how to raise their own kids. Anyone ever seen the nannies’ kids? I question whether or not they have children of their own. And have you seen most of the women on that show? Perhaps Jaime Oliver should head back across the Atlantic and offer some food advice to his fellow Britains.

Then of course there is Simon Cowell. He’s been on American TV for nearly a decade hurling insults at our tone deaf youth and telling them they don’t know how to sing. Has anyone ever heard Simon Cowell sing? I thought not. I believe his overly critical attitude towards vocalists is a way of trying to cope with his own failed aspirations as a singer.

Is this really what our forefathers died for? Wasn’t their blood shed in order to give us freedom from these bossy Brits? The worst part is that American money is filling the bank accounts of these unwanted Englishmen. Wasn’t that the main point of the American Revolution, to avoid giving Britain our hard earned money? Now we do it willingly. For shame America. Somewhere buried in the earth, what’s left of George Washington’s decaying corpse is shedding a metaphorical tear. This 4th of July assert your independence and reclaim your freedom by turning off these television programs. It’s the Patriotic thing to do.

Though these laws apply to all online retailers, Amazon has clearly been the target because of it’s huge market share. Several states have already passed laws requiring online retailers to charge sales tax if a sale originated from an affiliate for the retailer in that state. States like Colorado, Arkansas, Illinois, and Connecticut have already passed the so called Main Street Fairness laws and Amazon’s response has been to cut ties with affiliates in those states.

Who is Actually Behind the Main Street Fairness Act?

Now that I’ve set the background for what this law intends to do, let’s take a look at some of the misinformation surrounding it. First of all the name itself, like so many things in government, is kind of a misnomer. Politicians and special interest groups are fond of using the term “Main Street” to suggest small business and as a separate thing from the big businesses on “Wall Street.” This couldn’t be further from the truth with the Main Street Fairness Act. Currently Wal-Mart, Target. Best Buy, Home Depot, and Sears are all spending millions of dollars to lobby politicians to pass this bill into law.

That doesn’t sound much like “Main Street” to me. The name of this coalition and the scare tactic advertisements that they’ve been running show a clear intention to deceive the public about who actually holds an interest in this bill being past.

Do Taxes Hurt Local Businesses?

This is one of the more humorous if unintended aspects of this law. Some of the same politicians who are pushing this are the same ones that want high business taxes. Yet by the very existence of the Main Street Fairness Act it’s pretty much an admission that taxes hurt businesses.

The idea that online retailers have an advantage over brick and mortar stores because they don’t charge taxes is a bit misleading. Thinking about all the online purchases I’ve ever made I’m not sure that there was ever a time when not having to pay taxes influenced my buying decision. The truth is that for many product categories online retailers charge significantly less then local ones. There are of course exceptions to this but for many items, it’s just stupid to buy it locally. If you want an example just go look at how much a USB flash drive or digital camera memory costs at an local retailer compared to online retailers. You will likely pay double the price if you buy it locally.

The other factor in purchasing online is selection. Local retailers are limited buy how much square footage is in their store. Online retailers though, especially Amazon have very large warehouses which can hold more than 10 times as many different products as a local retailer can hope to provide it’s customers.

The issue with online retailers performing so well, has little or nothing to do with whether or not it’s customers pay taxes, contrary to what the special interests and politicians would have you believe. It’s convenience, price and selection.

The Problem With Individual States Passing Laws

There is an inherent problem with individual states passing anti-online business laws. For one, shoppers don’t know where the affiliate is located when they click on a link to go to Amazon or another retailer and so the amount of tax they will get charged could vary a great deal and the shopper won’t know this information until they go to checkout. For example if Tennessee passed a law like this, I’d be pretty ticked off to find myself getting charged 7% sales tax when if I had any prior-knowledge I would have just avoided clicking on an affiliate link at all.

The second problem is that there is potential for double taxation. Let’s just use Amazon as an example again, since they are clearly the target of these laws. Amazon is based in Washington state. So if an online shopper who lives in Washington purchases something from Amazon, they would be charged 6.5% sales tax. But what if that shopper clicked on an Amazon affiliate link from a person that happened to live in Colorado. According to Colorado’s anti-online business law they want to be paid sales tax as well.

There’s also another potential for double taxation. Many states have what is called a Use Tax. This means that citizens are supposed to report online purchases and pay sales tax. So if a person living in Pennsylvania buys something online through an affiliate in Colorado, then they could potentially end up paying sales tax twice.

These kind of issues are a lot of why Amazon has simply been cutting ties with affiliates in those states. I should also note that Amazon has been pushing for the federal government to make one unified sales tax law that would eliminate these kind of issues. The federal government though doesn’t have a whole lot of interest in pursuing it because ultimately it’s money that they won’t see either way.

And one more little twist on this concept is that many states allow individual cities and counties to charge their own sales tax on top of the state sales tax. So what happens when local politicians decide that they want a piece of the pie too?

The Truth About The Money

The states that have been pushing this Main Street Fairness thing most heavily are those with big budget shortfalls. So instead of trying to balance their budgets with cuts, they are seeking new sources of revenue. When Colorado passed their version of the anti-Amazon bill, Amazon severed ties with 4,000 affiliates in that state. Something that they said they would do if Colorado passed the bill.

Recently I’ve been hearing scare tactic radio advertisements from the Main Street Fairness Act people here in Pennsylvania. And that’s really what got me thinking about all of this. So let’s use Pennsylvania as an example now.

Pennsylvania has a 6% sales tax and some of the politicians would like to see Amazon give them that money. Here’s the thing though: Amazon affiliates make anywhere from 4-7.5% commission on sales that they generate with 6% more of a typical average. So 6% of Amazon’s sales made through affiliates is already coming into the state. The problem that state governments have though is that the money isn’t going directly to them.

Those sales commissions are going to individual citizens and small internet businesses. You know, the REAL main street people. The Main Street Fairness Act has nothing to do with protecting Main Street. In fact it hurts Main Street. When Amazon cut off 4,000 affiliates in Colorado that money stopped coming into the hands of private citizens and the state government didn’t see any of that money either because the sales stopped happening through those in-state affiliates. Everybody lost.

Amazon also operates many warehouses around the country. Four in Pennsylvania alone. I don’t have access to how many employees that adds up to but I would venture a guess that it’s at least a couple thousand with much higher than that around Christmas time. Obviously providing several thousand jobs in a state is huge and state politicians would be stupid to ignore that. I don’t know how much income these employees collectively make but I do know that there would be a decent amount of state income tax generated from all those people working. Not to mention the money they make gets spent in grocery stores and things like that that generate more sales tax revenue for the state.

So it’s pretty clear that Amazon brings a lot of money into the state, it’s just not getting into the hands of the government as efficiently as they would like it to.

Amazon avoids warehouses being considered a physical presence in the state by setting these warehouses up as separate companies. This is probably the only area where someone could maybe fault Amazon in this whole process.

So What Should States Do?

Maybe a better question would be, what could have they done 10-15 years ago? The fact is that many states lack any really significant player in the online retail world being based in their state. Consequently their constituents are spending money that benefits businesses somewhere else in the country. This is the real thorn in the side of politicians that have gotten behind the Main Street Fairness Act.

Their states are not setup for success in the ever growing online business world and money is leaving their state with no real plan of what to do about it. So instead of trying to foster online business development within the state, politicians are trying to squeeze money out of online retailers based in other states. Most notably Texas tried this. They handed Amazon a bill for $329 million in sales taxes. Amazon responded by closing its distribution center in Texas. Government regulation killed jobs once again.

Most states didn’t recognize what the future held for the internet a decade ago and so did nothing to try and bring businesses into the state. There is still hope though. The internet is still relatively young and there is room for all kinds of competition between online retailers. Instead of punishing businesses out of state and individual affiliates in the state, a better approach would be to make the tax laws as easy to deal with as possible so businesses want to operate within Pennsylvania or whatever state is considering going down this road.

What Can Be Done?

For now state governments should be content with the 6% commission that Amazon affiliates bring in and with the thousands of jobs provided at Amazon warehouses. While at the same time, they should push the federal government to create one standard law for all online retailers and states to follow.

For those of you who don’t follow my music news very closely, 2 Hour Drive is my band that I do with Joe Quatrone. It’s primarily an internet band but we do get together when we have the opportunity.

I really do hope to get new music out more regularly than I have in the past, but we’ll see what happens. For now please go take a listen to “Lift Your Hands” and consider purchasing it. Thanks

This whole thing intrigued me and so over the days leading up to May 21st I read lots of articles about people who were followers of Camping’s teachings who had sold all of their possessions or stopped making payments on their mortgage and things like that. Basically making decisions that will ruin them come May 22nd.

I also watched a lot of videos made by Harold Camping in the last few days leading up to the day he predicted the rapture. What I saw was a feeble 89 year old man. A man who had spent most of his adult life believing that through a series of mathematical equations that he could find the exact date of Christ’s return. I didn’t get a sense from him that he was willingly trying to deceive anyone but that he genuinely believes it too.

From watching these videos I felt sorry for him and his followers. May 21st had to be quite a let down for all of those people. What do they do now? What does Harold Camping do now? I think there is only one honorable thing for him to do. He needs to go on his radio program on Monday and humbly apologize. He needs to admit that he was wrong and furthermore he ought to sell off his network of radio stations and give the money back to all those who donated it to him. What other approach could he take and still retain some shred of integrity?

Admittedly I don’t know enough about Harold Camping to know a whole lot of his character. What I do know though is that most of his followers will be crushed by the Rapture not happening on May 21st. If Mr. Camping is a man of integrity he needs to own up to his mistake, and do his best to make sure that people only lose faith in his teachings, and not in God as a result of this. The Bible isn’t wrong, Harold Camping is.

Another thing to consider is this: The world reacted to Harold Camping with scoffing and mocking. Most laughed, some attended end of the world parties. If that is the reaction of the world to the news of Christ’s return (even if it was incorrect) then what will the world do as the 2012 predictions of the end of the world approach? Predictions that are not based in Christianity and not based upon Christ coming back to reclaim the Earth from darkness. I think what we just saw yesterday in people’s reactions is just a tiny preview of what it might be like as 2012 unfolds.

1. Blame it on your wife. (Adam) – So you’ve done something wrong and now you’ve been caught. What’s the Biblical thing to do? Blame it on your wife of course! Okay, so that didn’t really work for Adam. Maybe Eve had a better idea…

2. Blame it on the devil. (Eve) – So your husband ratted you out, now what? Say the devil made you do it of course! I mean who can say he didn’t? Well maybe God would know. That didn’t really work for Eve.

3. Feign ignorance. (Cain) – This one is usually affective, unless God is involved. If someone’s questioning you about your involvement in something, you can do the Biblical thing and just pretend like you don’t know what happened. Please don’t use this to try and get away with murder. It didn’t work out for Cain.

4. Pretend your wife is actually your sister. (Abraham and Isaac) – This one seems pretty low and it’s not something I would do but maybe other people will feel differently. If  for example some rough looking guy is eying up your wife and you are afraid of getting beat up over it. Well you could just pull an Abraham or Isaac trick and pretend that she’s actually your sister. Sure it seems a little sleazy to protect yourself and put your wife in a compromising position but hey it’s Biblical!

5. Pretend that you are mentally unstable (David) – This is my personal favorite. What better way to get out of a jam than to pretend that you are insane? And unlike many of the other things listed here, this one actually worked out for David. Might not be the best way to say get out of a traffic ticket but it could be a good way to get out of jury duty.

6. Sleep on the roof to avoid arguing with your wife. (Proverbs) – The book of Proverbs tells us that it’s better to sleep on the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife. Now back in Biblical times most roofs would have been flat, so sleeping on the roof would have been considerably easier to do. Also modern houses don’t usually have easy access to the roof, so that means climbing up a ladder in the dark. Which wouldn’t be very safe. Still, the Bible says to do it, so if you are arguing with your spouse, maybe the roof is a good escape.

7. Sail on a ship to a different country. (Jonah) - I know what some of you are saying, what if I’ve got a really big problem that I’m trying to get away from? Well thankfully the Bible once again provides the answer in the book of Jonah. Jonah wanted to avoid going to Ninevah so he got on a ship and sailed in the opposite direction. These days we would probably use a plane instead of a boat but the principle is still the same. This could work pretty well, unless what you are running from is God,

8. Sell your brother into slavery. (Joseph’s brothers) - Okay this seems like a really big problem. Your sibling is the favorite and there’s nothing you can do about it, or is there? Joseph’s brothers thought that selling him into slavery would be a good idea. And as it turns out it really was because Joseph became powerful in Egypt and was able to save his brothers from famine then. Of course 400 years of slavery in Egypt followed that but hey, at least those brothers didn’t have to put up with favoritism anymore.

9. Dress up like an animal (Jacob) – Disguises are always a popular choice for getting out of a jam. Whether you’re robbing a bank, or you are a celebrity trying to get away from the press, or you are just trying to steal your older brother’s birthright.

10. When in doubt, throw some rocks. (David) – This is another great one from David. Before he came up with his popular “act like a lunatic” routine, he was pretty good at throwing rocks at people. When all else fails, and you are still in a tough spot, start throwing rocks.

I hope that this article helps you if you are ever in a jam. In all seriousness though,  whatever you are going through in life, the Bible can provide the insight you need to make it through. Seek and you shall find.

I work in retail management. It’s what I do for a living but it is not who I am.

This is an important distinction that I need to keep clear in my mind at all times.

For the sake of the well being of my family I pursue career advancement whether at my current employer or at another company. This is only because my current employer doesn’t pay me very much. I have no choice, I must try and seek greater financial gain for the sake of the long term security of my family.

With that in mind, during the past couple years I have applied to countless job openings and only once have I even been called for an interview. I know that the job climate is tough but I didn’t know it was that tough to even get an interview. This makes me thankful that I am employed at all.

I came to a realization tonight though. That all of that wasted time and energy directed towards trying to get a better job has gotten me nothing. Meanwhile I put very little time in to my writing and music. I’m not a great writer but I’m a decent one and will writing ever make me money? I don’t know but a sure way to not make money writing is to not write. Likewise, I’m not a great musician, but I’m a decent one and will music ever make me money? I don’t know but not making music is a sure way to not make money at it.

I used to have a friend that felt that my focus with my creative pursuits had too much of an aim at making money with them. This friend didn’t have a family to take care of though. I don’t choose to focus on money with my creative work because I love money so much. I focus on the financial aspects of what I am doing because unless I treat my music and writing as a business that needs to be grown and nurtured, then it will whither and die and all that I will have left is half written books that no one will ever read and dozens of songs that no one will ever hear.

I will write. I will make music. I will not give in to the “do nothing and be happy” mentality that seems to permeate society. There is a fire in me that will not burn out. At times I’ve maybe had to shelter that fire from the storms of life to ensure that it continues to burn, but it has never gone out.

This year the idea that just popped into my head earlier is this: The Year of Breaking Free. I’ll explain more about what I think it means below but first I should catch everyone up on what’s been going on in my life.

It’s been a little over four months since I posted something new, sorry about that, a lot has been going on in my life. Most notably of which is that my wife and I welcomed our daughter into the world a few months ago and that of course has kept me from blogging as much. A good thing of course.

I’ve also continued to be quite busy with my web ventures which are progressing slowly towards more positive results.

And I think I alluded to in the past that I had started a new band at the beginning of the summer. That band is 2 Hour Drive and we’ve been having a blast so far.

So what does Breaking Free mean to me? Well in a few days I will turn 29 and for the past 10 years I’ve been working in retail. I don’t really like it, I never have. So in 2011, I hope to finally break free from that, whether that manifests itself as a job in a different career field or being self-employed with my web marketing projects. And speaking of which, Breaking Free also means breaking free from money problems. My job barely pays enough to put food on the table, with hard work and persistence I hope to increase revenue from internet marketing to finally get ahead of this money stuff.

Breaking Free can also carry more ethereal meanings as well. Like breaking free from fear and apprehension, from worry, from wasting time. Free from burdens that only serve to demotivate me.

This is my theme for 2011, what’s yours?