Badger Benson

Archive for May, 2010

I read a wonderful devotion yesterday. It referenced the Great Wall of China. When the people of ancient China were being invaded by barbarians they built the Great Wall to keep the intruders out. The wall being advanced for the time, and even still admired today for it’s amazing length, height and thickness built with ancient methods couldn’t be penetrated. But still in the first 100 years of the wall’s existence China was invaded three times.

How was that possible?

Unfortunately due to human weakness. See, all three times the enemy simply bribed someone at the wall to open a gate allowing the hordes to enter.

We can take a good lesson from this in our personal lives, as well as a nation. On a personal level we need to be prepared for Christ’s return, for he surely won’t ask to enter, and no wall will stop Him. We can also apply it in our daily lives to look out for ourselves and our families – as a reminder that we do live in a fallen world. I’m not suggesting to not trust people, but rather…don’t let your guard down.

As a country we can learn from this too, especially in light of the border dispute going on in Arizona recently. All the laws and walls in the world can help solve a crisis, but they can only do so much if the people living under them are not educated and moral individuals.

Remember to honor those and pray for the families of those who have fallen to protect all those in our borders this Memorial Day.

Just a quick update for everyone. The first show hosted on BlogTalkRadio was great. However, on the second attempt I ran into some tech issues which I’m working on right now. I’ll have a 3rd episode sometime this week.

Remember the link, save it. Also if you just go to BlogTalkRadio.com and search for Badger Benson you’ll find it.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/badger-benson

An amazing song and video by rising country artist Josh Thompson. Thompson is a Wisconsin native and has many great songs on his first album. Check it out. “Way Out Here” just might be the best song in country music in at least the past five years…in my opinion.

http://thehill.com/capital-living/in-the-know/99609-rush-limbaugh-mocks-bill-oreilly-in-new-book

This is an interesting little article. In a new unauthorized biography Rush Limbaugh refers to Bill O’Reilly as Ted Baxter – a character from the Mary Tyler Moore Show. The character was a vain goon newscaster type. Now I like Bill, and I’m a major fan of Rush Limbaugh as you all know. But I do think that Bill tries way too hard to “call it down the middle” and “lookin out for the folks”. He can also be a bit cheesy – check out some of his wonderful Factor gear – the Factor tote bag, even a welcome mat. All wonderful items I’m sure. But really the only person I can think of who needs a tote bag regularly is my grandmother on long distance trips. And a welcome mat? I’ve never understood them. Isn’t it kind of demeaning to wipe your shoes on something that you support?

Another note in the article is how Rush views his “competition”. He considers Hannity and Levin to be protégés. But considers none of them to be in his league, Glenn Beck included. Though in the past he has defended Beck, and Beck has even had Rush on the show at least once. (Phony Soldier fiasco) I know some people will think of Rush as having a huge ego, being full of himself, the usual stuff we hear. But that said the man is at the top of his game…still. He was the pioneer that paved the road for everyone else in talk radio. He continually puts out a quality product and brings in the most listeners and largest amount of advertising. Whether or not he has a big ego, he is telling the truth. He’s in a league of his own. There is Rush Limbaugh and then there’s everyone else. That’s not to detract from everyone else either. It’s just the way it is. I would say that there are a few levels below him. That second tier of broadcasters (on the conservative side) are Beck, Hannity, Levin, Ingraham, Savage, and I’d even put Andrew Wilkow in that group. The next level is Michael Reagan, Mike Church, Mike Gallagher, Rusty Humphries, Bill Bennett, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, and Hugh Hewitt. And even another level, Bill Cunningham for example I’d put in the bottom tier of the nationally known broadcasters.

We also get a peak into how Rush spends his money. Details about his lavish estate north of Palm Beach, Florida. Sounds pretty sweet! Critics will once again blab about how much money this guy has, as if it’s any of their business what he does or does not do with it. Most of these people probably don’t realize how much Rush gives away. His yearly telethon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is an example of that. There’s been at least one occasion where a caller had fallen on hard times and Rush made arrangements to buy her a new vehicle. There’s all sorts of stories like this. What we don’t hear about is what he gives that is kept private, which I imagine is considerable.

So here’s another example where someone will be smeared because of their success, when instead we all ought to take a lesson from Rush – hard work, ambition, dealing with failure, refining your talents, striving to be the best, endurance and perseverance, overcoming your faults. That’s success.

Rush Limbaugh is an AmeriCAN.

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/financiallyfit/5-secrets-of-self-made-millionaires-1370279/

We could use more short articles like this one found this morning on Yahoo.com. It suggests there’s five common secrets to reaching that elusive millionaire title. Or is that elusive? A million dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to, and more Americans than ever have attained income over that magic mark. In fact the number of millionaires in the United States has doubled in the past 20 years. This article does say that those who are getting rich are getting richer. I’m not the knee jerk type who says this bad. To the contrary – it’s a good thing. More rich, and those who are rich are becoming more wealthy. Now how one acquires wealth and what they do with it is another question – but even then, as long as it’s legal it’s none of our business. That’s a matter for the wealth holder and God. My point is that we simply need more written about success and achieving it and less about being a victim, bailing out businesses, sticking it to the haves, parading the have-nots for political fodder, and demonizing success.

Here’s the 5 Secrets detailed in the article:

1. Set your sights on where you’re going.

2. Educate Yourself.

3. Passion pays off.

4. Grown your money.

5. No guts, no glory.

And finally it suggests one major component – stop spending!

Maybe those in DC could use this advice more than us in the private sector?