Compromising Beliefs for Profit

“Is it hypocrisy to be for small limited government and low taxes yet make your money off of the government?” was the question posed to me by my instructor at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu School in Columbia Maryland were I train. He added, “What do you think about people who compromise their beliefs to make money?”

We were speaking to a mutual friend of ours who is a criminal defense attorney and happens to be for limited government. The argument was that if the government was restricted and people were freer then he would have much less work and make less money. So therefore he profited from large government.

I’m not so sure that necessarily agree with this logic. First of all there is a big difference between being for limited government and being an Anarchist. There will always be a need for his services. With that said, lets say he would not be needed (or needed much less) in a free society. The fact of the matter is that we do already live with a very large overbearing government. People like our friend are needed to help protect the average man. I think that this is very much so consistent with his beliefs. Sometimes you need to be apart of the system in order to change it or even protect someone from it.

Our friend’s firm has protected people from the most egregious of government abuses. In very recent time it proved in court that a police officer falsified evidence, arrested a man and lied under oath to try to have him convicted for no other reason then she was having a bad day (that officer is now facing charges). Yes he does make money for what he does but is that wrong. Shouldn’t he get paid for not only the time and effort he puts into someone’s case but the time and preparation he has put in to becoming a good attorney.

To put it simply, just because he could make more money with a larger, more intrusive government doesn’t mean that he is hoping for more regulations. The fact that he rails against an overbearing government despite possibly hurting his own pocket says a lot about his character and unwillingness to compromise… unless its just for show… then he would be a douchebag and should go buy a 3 series…hahaha

I don't think too highly of anyone who would take money to do something that was completely against his/her own beliefs.

A Nice Weekend!

Another good weekend for the Mixed Martial Arts School in Columbia Maryland were I train. A large portion of us went to Miami for the Miami International Open Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament. We had two guys go up to Vermont for their first MMA fights.

Both of the guys (John "Devastator" Delbrugge & "Big Sal" Al Washington) we sent to Vermont did extremely well with first round finishes. Big Sal showed some impressive quickness and agility finishing his guy with a close guard armbar at the end of the first round. Devastator did exactly what we have come to expect, demolishing his opponent and tapping him out with a rear naked choke only 54 seconds into the round. Great job to both of my team mates!

Miami was tough but as usual our team team did well. We sent a pretty large team to the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament and almost everyone metaled. Also "Big" Phil Thorn won the blue belt open weight division.

For me it was the first tournament I had done in a long time since getting hurt. It was also the first tournament I have done at my new weight (154lbs with Gi). Overall I did ok taking 3rd. It was disappointing but I learned a lot and I got some stuff to work on. It was great to be back on the mat and I got away relatively injury free, which is always nice. I cant weight to get back out there again but for now back to training!

Privacy?… A right?…

What is this country coming to? We are constantly surrendering more and more freedoms to the government. From high taxes to Bush’s “Patriot Act” to Obama trying to regulate the internet and sue Yahoo to surrender private e-mail accounts to the federal government without a warrant, we are constantly allowing our freedoms to be taken away.

Many people remember the Patriot Act. After 9/11 the government jumped at the opportunity to take as much of our freedoms as they thought they could get away with and for the most part many of us were perfectly will to give away. The Patriot Act included a lot of things like warrant less searches and wiretapping. Some of which was eventually thrown out by the courts and some that was not.

Barack Obama and many democrats railed against the patriot act and ran on repealing it. However once Obama was elected he fought to expand the powers. First his administration ordered Yahoo to give them access to private e-mail. When Yahoo refused he sued them in curt to have access to e-mails without a warrant. Thankfully Google and several others came to Yahoo’s aid and banded together to fight the lawsuit. Near the end of August the Obama administration finally backed off and the case was dismissed. Now his administration is trying to regulate internet content. His administration has stated that the FCC has the authority to regulate the internet and is set to outline a plan to regulating broadband lines. I’m not sure what exactly or how they plan on doing this but I will give you more when I know more.

The Federal Government is not the only ones hard at work to take your freedoms. Just a few months back a Maryland man (Anthony Graber) was arrested for video taping a traffic stop where he was pulled over for speeding on a highway. He was on a motorcycle. The cop cut him off nearly knocking him off of his bike then jumped out of his car and pulled his firearm on him. Graber was cooperative but latter posted the video on Youtube. He was then arrested for Maryland’s new wiretapping laws, which make it illegal to video police officers. Keep in mind that it is not only still legal to video anyone else in public, not to mention that the police officers themselves tape the stops with there own on board cameras. I think the most surprising to me was that this law is actually in many states. Talk about protecting their own.

What got me started on this little tirade today was a news story I came across about a young man named Yasir Afifi. Yasir, a 20 year old college student, took his car in for an oil change. The mechanic spotted a strange device attached to the bottom of his car (a little box with antenna). After they removed it he posted images of it on line and asked if anyone new what it was. Two days later the FBI showed up at his door and asked for their GPS tracking device back. Apparently the FBI has been putting GPS tracking devices on peoples cars with out them knowing and more importantly with out a warrant. This has started a major issue over privacy rights. Similar cases have been heard in many courts already with many different verdicts, which left me very surprised that I had not heard about this sooner. We cannot allow the government the right to trace our every movement with absolutely no probable cause (if they had it they would get a warrant).

Often I talk to my friends at the Mixed Martial Arts School in Columbia Maryland were I train about these issues. Our school is very diverse. We have people from all walks of life from doctors & lawyers to people who work retail to contractors and so on. Everyone is always outraged but often nothing gets done. It is not easy to stop the government from taking more and more power but we should do what ever we can (Voting, boycotting, protesting, writing letters to congressmen, etc.). Often we feel like it does not make a difference but if we do nothing then we are the ones to blame.

Why Learn to Protect Yourself - Self Defense Part 2

The ability to defend yourself is very important. In our modern day times many people either have a false sense of security or believe that as long as they don’t go into a bad neighborhood, nothing will happen to them. Others believe that the police will protect them. This could not be further from the truth!

Living in a nice neighborhood with a security alarm will not stop all criminal. If anything having a nice house and car may invite criminal to attempt a break-in. I train at a Mixed Martial Arts School in Columbia Maryland. Two years ago the owner of the affiliation (Master Lloyd Irvin) and his family were held at gun point in his home. The criminal broke in at 4 am and surprised them. Lloyd Irvin used his martial arts training and was able to disarm one of the thugs and scare them off. Had he not been trained at gun disarming who knows what might have happened. Not that I necessarily suggest trying to disarm an attacker, but you never know what the situation will call for. Also you never know when or where something might happen. Some criminals are opportunistic and others are calculating. Some will attack in broad daylight, others at night. Some in nice public places and others will wait till you are alone to attack. I have heard many horrible stories over the years (some surprising and some not) and most were not in seedy places.

I think the biggest false sense of security comes from the police. We have all heard the slogan “protect and serve”. Who do they really protect and or serve? The fact of the matter is that police can’t be everywhere all the time (nor do we really want them to be). Chances are that if the police are there… Something already happened. The police won’t show up until after someone calls them and sometimes it takes a while. This does not even take into account that the police do not have to put themselves in harms way to save you. After the Rodney King riots in LA thousands of cases flooded the courts where people were charging that they were being attacked and that the police stood idly by watching only mere feet away. The courts basically ruled that it is neither the police officers duty nor obligation to protect you. If an officer feels that he/she could be putting him/herself in danger he/she is not obligated to assist. So if the police can’t or won’t protect you, who will?

The simply fact of the matter is that it is your responsibility to protect yourself and your family. No one can be there to protect you at all of the time, not the government, not a passerby, nor a neighbor. You even cannot always rely on another family member to be there or to be able to help you. Well I guess if you got enough money you could have a personal body guard but for the rest of us only you can protect yourself at all times.

In the previous post I talked about martial arts training and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a very good ways to learn to self-defense. Martial arts will build the confidence, give you the strength & conditioning and the skills to defend yourself. However there are also other ways to protect yourself. For one can arm yourself. It is no secret that I am a strong supporter of the second amendment but you can also arm yourself with mace, a stun gun, etc. The important thing is to be properly trained. It does you absolutely no good to have a weapon if you can’t use it. It can even be a liability if the attacker takes it from you. If you choose to arm yourself I suggest taking a course and practicing using it as much as possible. Much like martial arts, seeing the technique a couple times will not allow you to be proficient enough to use it live. If your state allows for concealed carry (which I am a strong supporter of) take a training course and practice the techniques as often as possible. You should be going to the range regularly to be proficient.

Self Defense

Often people ask me about self-defense courses. Personally I don’t like them. In general the people that want to take a self-defense course are looking for a quick answer. The problem is there is no quick answer if you want to be able to defend yourself, especially if the attacker is larger and stronger. You need to develop a skill set and this takes time. You not only need to know the moves but have drilled them enough so that they are effective. The problem with most self-defense courses is that you are learning a very small skill set over a very short period of time.

At the Martial Arts School in Columbia Maryland where I train we teach many different disciplines. I would suggest that anyone who wants to learn how to defend him or herself study a Martial Art. It takes time so be prepared to stick with it. Training is not always fun for everyone but you need to just keep reminding yourself of your goal.

If I had to pick one Martial Art that will help absolutely everyone be able to defend themselves it would with out a doubt be Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Jiu-Jitsu takes time to master but once you start becoming proficient you will notice that it is very easy to control someone. I have personally witnessed a 19-year-old girl weighing roughly 115 lbs defeat a man that was nearly 50 lbs heaver then her and she was even not a black belt. Jiu-Jitsu is all about body mechanics. You learn how you can use leverage, off balance your opponent, and move & position yourself to control your opponent. It is also submission based so you do not need to rely on strength or power to knock someone out.

Another advantage in taking Jiu-Jitsu is the live sparring. In striking arts you cannot spar every day for injury reasons and also many people just don’t want to get beat up on. Since there is no striking in Jiu-Jitsu you can safely spar everyday (if you wish). This allows you practice the moves and positions with real scenarios and with real reactions from your opponent. It also allows you to gauge your progress and know how effective it really is. The sparing will also inevitably get into good shape, which can only help you in an actual situation.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in MMA

It is no secret that Mixed Martial Arts promoters prefer the fights to stay on the feet. The rules are set up in ways that strongly favor the stand up disciplines (Boxing, Muay Thai, etc). For one there are multiple short rounds. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is not always a fast art. It can takes time to set submissions. Also the ref will stand it up if it looks like they are not working. Many people will try hard to stall so that the ref will stand them back up. Often you will see wrestlers score the takedown and then stall so they can be stood back up to score another takedown (not a bad strategy if you have good takedowns but how is that any more exciting then if they were to stay on the ground). Another thing is that they are required to wear gloves. The gloves not only allow you to hit harder but the gloves are thick so it makes it hard to grip and to slide your hand under your opponents chin for the choke.

With all that said Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is still a common place in MMA. When most people think of Jiu-Jitsu they think of submissions but Jiu-Jitsu is much more then that. The “guard” is often used defensively. It helps to control your opponent so that you don’t take a lot of damage or to get back on top (Sweeps). Also being good at Jiu-Jitsu allows you too be able to pass your opponent guard, mount or take their back. Often you may see someone with good Jiu-Jitsu skills pass the guard and mount but finish the opponent with strikes.

Surprisingly enough at the highest level of MMA competitions you see many fighters that are purple belt level in Jiu-Jitsu or even lower. It is obvious when you see a true world-class black belt. When guys like Demian Maia or BJJ Pen fight it’s clear they have a large advantage on the ground (Both on Top and Bottom).

Jiu-Jitsu can also be used as a “Hail Mary” play. Recently some very high profile fights have been ended with a submission from the fighter that was loosing. Fedor Emelianenko lost to Fabricio Werdum via Triangle after Fedor knocked him down and jumped on him. Brock Lesnar defeated Shane Carwin with an Arm Triangle after being pummeled in the first round. And even more recently, Anderson Silver defeated Chael Sonnen with a last minute Triangle after loosing almost every round of a five round fight.

All of the current champions in the UFC have trained extensively in Jiu-Jitsu and have proved that you need to be well rounded to be champion. No matter how good you are on the feet you never know when you might end up on the ground. This is one of the reasons that at the MMA School in Columbia Maryland were I train we put a very strong emphasis on being well rounded.

It is clear that there will always be a place for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in MMA. After all if you take out the Jiu-Jitsu its just a kick-boxing match.

Dragging.... But its Friday!

Last nights practice was a rough one. At the Baltimore Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school were I train, we train very hard and this week was been no exception. My body was feeling it by Thursday night and is not exactly recovered yet. Luckily it is Friday so at least I do not have to work tomorrow. However I do have to do a circuit both tonight and tomorrow, which will not be fun, but I do get to sleep in a little and then I get a full day to recover before Monday.
I'm finally starting to feel a little stronger since being sick and my weight is still right on. So I am looking pretty good for the Miami Open Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament in a couple of weeks. I can't wait!
I will be heading into Jiu-Jitsu class tonight around 7 and probably get done class and my circuit by 10. So after that I get to sleep. I can't wait for that either...ha!
On another note I have to take my children to a birthday party on Saturday and then my daughter is having a small party at my mom's house for her birthday. My daughter will be having another party closer to her actual birthday but my mom lives kind of far and couldn't make it. So a weekend filled with training and chasing after the little ones. I will be sneaking naps where every I can...

Joint Practice

Another great practice last night (Wednesday) at our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Baltimore. Competitors from one of our sister schools (Ivey League MMA) visited. It was a great time. We turned the heat up as high as it would go and trained for about two and a half hours. For the last half an hour or so we were running suicide sprints. It was a blast! I love hard practices. It seems bad while you are doing it but it is very satisfying after you finish. You feel like you can do anything... well after you get a good night sleep.
I have been training very hard this week trying to get ready for the Jiu-Jitsu tournament in Miami at the end of this month (Not that I don't always train hard). Its just hard coming off of being sick for over a week and jumping right back in but there is very little time to get ready. I will be training as hard as I can for the next two weeks. Luckily my weight is right on from being sick.
I can't wait for my wait to get back out there and fight. It's been a rough year so far between injuries and getting sick and a few early bad performances. Got a lot to prove!

Training Hard!

Another day Training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Baltimore! I'm starting to feel a lot better. Last night I went in for the intermediate class. Our instructor was in a little bit of a mood and pumped it up a little. It was great. It wasn't quite as tough as an advanced class but it was still a lot of fun. We got to run "Match of the Days" (tournament style matches). I didn't do so hot (don't really want to get into what happened. Ha!) but it was still a lot of fun.
Afterward I did my first circuit since being back. That was tough! I felt like I was starting all over. I was very tiered but I willed myself through it. I got less then three weeks to get ready for my next BJJ Tournament so I really need to push myself.
The action wont stop tonight. We have visitors coming up to our Jiu-Jitsu school in Baltimore from our sister schools for our advanced class. It is always a good time when the competition team all meats up at one school. The heat will be turned up and the training will be hard. I love it!

Well I'm back!

For those that don't know I was extremely sick over the last couple of weeks. It was horrible and even included a visit to the hospital. All I could think of while I was sick was getting back to class at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Baltimore where I train. Well... I am back. Last night I attended my first advanced class since being sick. I held up pretty good although I felt noticeably week and I tiered easily. I hope to be back to full strength by the end of the week.
Do to being so sick I missed the tournaments last weekend. It was very upsetting. I worked really hard to recover from an injury and get ready for the tournaments and then got sick. Oh well. I am now registered for the Miami Open, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament at the end of the month. I am very excited to finally get back out there. First I will need to get back into shape.
After class tonight I will be doing my first circuit since getting sick. Circuits are miserable but necessary, especially if I am going to be in shape by the 23rd of this month. At our MMA school everyone who competes are on circuits.