TRACY BLOG
Week 1 archive Week 2 archive Week 3/4 Business Blog
Wed 02/10/10
This is a fun one you must see! Sorry about the bad link I gave you yesterday! Use the link below! You will have to open it with windows media player
www.kenpokarate.me/WhichOne'sTheMarine.wmv
Normally I would have waited until tomorrow to post the following. I was sent a link to the "American Kenpo Speed Set" - but it is so bad I had to get it up today!
On the discussion groups one of the hot topics is the "Speed Set". Originally at Ed Parkers studios in Pasadena - 1956-1962 the speed set was taught each class as a "warm-up" and to keep you alive against a gun attack. I am posting a youtube video - from American Kenpo done by Steve Labounty. I can't believe what I am seeing: This is the speed set? Where is the speed? Not only is there No Speed, the set is being done wrong!
Shortly I will be posting a video of the way the speed set should be done! I can hardly wait to see what Ron Chapel is going to put up!
click below for the youtube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx-lJ5I7D5U
Mon 02/09/10 - Tue 02/10/10 - Had to recover from all the excitement of Supper bowl Sunday: The Puppy Bowl. The Lingerie Bowl: never seen so many hard bodied females that are actually pretty good athletics. And all of those bad TV adds.
I guess the Super Bowl answered the question: is Payton one of the greatest Quarterbacks of all time!
A post that someone sent to Joe Lewis. An update from the Mayo clinic on CPR that does not use mouth to mouth. Check out the youtube video ad pass it on. It could save someone's life!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5huVSebZpM
The government is about to let AGI pay $100 millions dollars in bonuses to the group that caused the meltdown and a loss of $89 billion dollar that we, as tax payer had to pay. Also another set of bonuses is due in March.
Before you get too upset you have to look to look at for the side of those receiving the bonuses and why these bonuses are justified and why these bonuses are necessary to preserve our Capitalistic Society and protect Wall Street. We sure don’t want Socialism.
You must understand that many of these executives have 2-3 mortgages to pay on their estates plus summer homes. They are paying alimony for 2-3 ex-trophy wives and supporting a high maintenance mistresses. In addition, they have tuitions at Ivy league collages for both legitimate and illegitimate children. Also luxury cars do not come cheap. And you not only have the cost of yachts and Private Jets, but there is all that maintenance and upkeep! Now you can seen that not only should they be getting bonuses but the Government (Taxpayers) should guarantee them no matter how bad their performance is. You can imagine the blow to our society if they are not paid millions of dollars in bonuses!Update on the UFC - and money being paid to the fighters. Dana White has revealed that the UFC has about 225 fighters under contract and 18 of them earn over $1,000.000 a year. Note on the posting that some are paid as little a $4000 for a fight. Most fighters are paid for just showing up and a bonus if they win. In addition there are bonuses for outstanding performances.
UFC's problems: Injuries and too few really great fighter at the top. Female fighting has been a bust. Note in UFC 107 the top draw and top paid fighters are over the hill fighter, but Randy White is giving them a paycheck for what they did when there was no money. Both fighter were over 45 years of age and Coleman was not in the same league as Randy Couture. Couture was paid $250,000 and defeated. Mark Coleman $60,000. Coleman refused to tap out on a choke - so he was choke out.
Below is a link to the payout for the last UFC. Notice that of the
Sun 02/08/10
Since its Super Bowl Sunday I will related a (Story/Joke) that has a deeper meaning.
Joke/Story
God has a very faithful servant (Jacob) that has always done what even God asks him to do. As a reward, God has decided to grant him one wish. Once Jacob has been made the offer he tells God: "I have lived all my life in Detroit. Detroit is having very hard time because of loss of the auto industry. Maybe I can bring Detroit a little pride and happiness. As my reward I would like to see the Detroit Lions win the Super Bowl. God replied "that's a hard one, let me think about it." About a week later God come back and asks him if he has a second choice. So Jacob gives him his second choice: "If its too hard for Detroit to win the Super Bowl as a second choice I'd like for there to be peace in the middle east. God after considering it for only a few seconds replied " On second thought, lets get back to Detroit winning the Super Bowl."
Reality: The middle east has been in religious wars for over 1500 hundred years.
I will be covering 1973 where four important events would forever change the martial arts, and history. 1st - the death of Bruce Lee (minor importance) 2nd - Nixon ends the draft (Major long term problems) 3rd - the Yom Kipper war in October of 1973 in the middle east and 4th - the invasion of the Koreans and Tae Kwon Do into the United States. And it was an invasion.
Sat 02/07/10
Earth Shaking news: I really don's care who wins the Super Bowl. But what do I know. I used to be a Seahawk fan.
Really important: University of Kentucky won its basketball game! Here in Kentucky basketball is everything. How else do you get Ashley Judd to show up for free and get a $100,000 donation for Haiti to have dinner with Ashley and coach Cal. At least here we have our priorities straight.A series of news headlines:
#1 Volunteers are taking to the streets of Miami, Florida, to provide alternatives for teens working as prostitutes on Super Bowl weekend. "It's a traffickers' playground," says Brad Dennis of the KlaasKIDS Foundation!
Fact: A teen hooker should be able to ask $100 a trick. Or she can ask: would you like fries with that order?The ACLU is challenging Obama's legal use of Predator drone in war! Fact: International law allows you to kill your enemy!
The Sky Martial program has come under heavy attack. Task about wasted money: It cost tax payers $200,000,000 to make one arrest!
I want to anoint Nancy Grace as "The Patron Saint of Journalism"! Also, there should be a law (or a constructional amendment) giving Nancy Grace exclusive right to all sleazy tabloid worthy stories.
Well the military has read my criticism of Military spending, so now the are going to cut benefits to Military families to save money! God forbid that they should cut expensive War contracts; The Military has just announced they will be buying an additional 2,500 - fighter planes. Who are they going to use them against. Look in the news. When was the last time you heard of our use of Fighter planes. The United States' top fighter jet, the Lockheed Martin F-22, has recently required more than 30 hours of maintenance for every hour in the skies, pushing its hourly cost of flying to more than $44,000, a far higher figure than for the warplane it replaces. Secretary Gates trying to cancel the $65 Billion dollar program. But the defense contractor and their lobbyist are fighting to keep the expensive program.
The average cost of a Fighter aircraft is over $50 million dollars each - plus the crews to fly and maintain them.
A predator drone cost only $4 million and has little down time. And is flown remote by computers much like used in Video Games. You can fly the drone all day long for about $1,000.
Fri 02/06/10
I am getting sick and tired of all of this (PC) political correctness. If you are a great fan of Palin and Cheney, you won't want to read my comments about them.
I have a real problem with Dick Cheney who used every deferment and political contact and rich "Oil Friends", to Keep from being drafted for the Viet Nam war. When he was called about this his reply was: "I had other things to do"! While VP, he had no problem sending others (men and women) to die and get torn apart by war in Iraq!
Now Palin wants us to ban the "R" word: Retarded or retard. Here is my reaction to Palin setting herself up as our great moral "word police."
Recently Palin has been demanding that Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel be fired, because he dared to use the "R" word.
I just say Palin on TV with her son, where she is trying to make her point. I don't care what anyone says. That person is a "Retard" and I am not talking about her son!
I am not making light of the terrible lives many with both physical and mental problems will have to live. But calling them "Special" does not solve their problems.
Next they will want us to refer to a "Crack Whore" as "A business Women with special Needs".
What about the term "Freaks"
One liners:
Any time a new law is passed it does one of three things: takes away another right, costs you money in the form of fines or new taxes, or sends you to prison!
Wed 02/03/10
My take on Kava Maga:
No history, no tradition, no Kata, no uniform, no belts, and they brag: "No Rules"! Let me jump on this how tough they are with their claim "No Rules"!
Yesterday I was on the phone with Bill Boyd who is one of our top men in St. Louis. For years Bill has taught a lot of Police Officers. Recently a couple of his police officers quit studying with Bill and started training in Krav Maga.
They told Bill the reason they stopped training with him is that "Kenpo was too Violent!" Like Bill told them: "Kenpo is like your gun, you have to know when to pull the trigger!" And when you pull the trigger you want the bullet to stop them.
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall building in a single bound, Its Imi Lichenfeld! Or Imi Lichenfeld Sde-Or. Who? The man they claim developed Krav Maga.
My first points; No history, no traditions! Oh there is plenty of history, but no two accounts a history are the same. The Claim is he (Imi) was born in 1910. But is this even true? One account says he was born in a Checkaslovia another says he was born in Hungry! The only thing for certain, we know he died in 1998
Years ago when there was only one Krav Maga organization, based out of Los Angles, their claim of the origin of Krav Maga was it was created by Imi Lichenfeld, a street fighter. That was it. Now look at the climes of Imi's martial arts background. Now look at all the different claims. It seems each claim is designed to make him a "Super Hero". One account says he ran off, as a youth to join the circus. Another account says his father had been a circus performer.
This time I will get on my soap box."To speak the un-speak able"
I am a Korean/Viet Nam war veteran, Back then we had a military obligation of 8 years. I was 4 years active (air force) 4 years reserves.
Why are we the only country that sends our wives and mothers, and especially single mothers to be in war zones, in harms way? If we did not we would have to have the draft.As an American tax payer I have questions about how our military money is being spent. Since I am not running for political office I don't have run and hide from The "War Hawks". Or the "Chicken Hawks" who never served, but yell for more wars!
I have several question I cannot get answers to.
1. Who made the U.S. the military watch dog of the world?
2. Why is it that of the entire military budgets of all the countries of the world, the U.S. share is 44%, or about $700 billion dollars a year. All tax payers money. North Korea has the 4th largest military in the world with 1.2 million on active duty and another 4 million in reserves. North Koreas military budget is only $6 billion dollars a year.
3. Why do we still have 81,000 active military in Germany? I thought the 2nd world war ended in 1945 and the cold war will Russian ended 20 years ago!
4. Why do we have over 100 military bases in Italy?
Why do we need 100 bases in Italy - most of what is being done in Italy could be in the U.S., providing Jobs back here in America.
Fact: Our 10 largest military states: Calif., Texas, etc do not have a confined 100 military bases. We just went through closing many military bases in the United States. When was the last time you heard of us closing bases over seas?
5. After 55 years we still have not signed a peace treaty with North Korea - we only have a cease fire. And both the Democrats and Republicans swore that they would never let North Korea develop nuclear weapon!
North Korea found out from our invading Iraq - which had no atomic bombs and the only thing the U.S. respected and feared is a country with atomic bombs.
6. The U.S. has a total military of 2.2 million, of which 27% is overseas - spending our or tax dollars in foreign countries. $160 billion dollars a year, Plus or minus a few billion - That could be used right here at home!
7. The U.S. in both Iraq and Afghanistan, have more civilian contractors then we have military personal. No one will, or can tell us exactly how many civilian there are, what it is costing us, or even what they are doing! Nor can they tell us how many billions have been wasted on fraud and corruption.The big questions? Who is our enemy? Why are we fighting. The President of Afghanistan has told us it will take 20 years to train their military so they can provide security for the country. The bottom line: billions more dollars of taxpayers money being wasted on a corrupt government.
The list can go on and on, but I will stop here.
Coming next Blog: My take on Krav Maga!
No history, no tradition. no katas. no uniforms, no belts and they brag, NO RULES! I will fill this in point by point.
Mon 02/01/10
Why I am opposed to the new proposed Medical Health Plan -
from a financial viewpoint, with some politics thrown in.I am now 73 years of age, and Medicare is the best medical coverage I have ever had. I have the best doctors, go to the best hospitals and most prescriptions are only $4 a month each.
Fact: Medicare will run out of money in about 7 years.
Here is the main reason I am opposed to the proposed health plan. The health plan will cost about 900 billion dollars. To pay for this, the largest amount will come from taking $650 billion out of Medicare.
Now comes the smoke and mirrors! How do you take $650 billion dollars and have anything left to run Medicare in 7 years?
Example: myself on Medicare. We all pay additional $138 a month. And as the ad for AARP Medicare "gap insurance" points out, "Medicare does not pay everything." I have an Advantage Medicare program they want to eliminate, for which I pay an additional $51 a month. The Medicare gap insurance from AARP runs about $200 a month.
If private health insurance is so great why are they all dying to get on Medicare?
A friend of mine is two months short of age 65 for Medicare, With minor medical problems his monthly health insurance bill is $1500 with a 30% co-pay and an annual $5000 deductible. The day he turns 65 he will save over $20,000 a year on just medical!
The answer: (1) They will cut benefits to those people on Medicare now and (2) They will eliminate fraud and corruption in Medicare.
First, you do not need a new health plan to eliminate fraud and corruption. If you save this money for Medicare, why do you take it from Medicare and give it to the uninsured? Why does it not stay in Medicare to extend its life?
Fact: There are those out there who want Medicare to fail, so they can show how the government cannot do anything right. Each year rather than increase the amount Medicare pays to doctors and hospitals they cut the payments to the point that many doctors cannot afford to treat Medicare patients!
The proposed Health Care bill is over 2000 pages long. It was written behind closed doors. Every proposal was written by some "special interest group" that will benefit from the changes.
A typical example: despite the fact that Americans pay at least twice as much for the same drugs as any other country in the world, our elected officials have sold out to the pharmacy industry. Both the both Republicans and Democrats won't let Americans re-import drugs from foreign counties. Their claimed concern: The drugs may not be safe.
Fact: Of the 100 most prescribed drugs in the U. S. , only 6 are made in the U.S. - the rest are imported. (So much for safety of imported drugs.) In addition, 40% of all the ingredients in prescription drugs are manufactured in either India or China, where the U. S. has no control over their quality.
But where else are the politicians going to come up with this type of money? The only other budget that approaches this is the military at almost $700 billion a year. But if you would even hint that the money should be taken from the military you will be branded as "un-American" - a "traitor" - and just a few years ago as a "pinko communist".
The one thing that president Eisenhower warned us about was the power of the Military- Industrial complex which controls most of the spending of taxpayers' money.
Why do both parties go along with this military budget? Jobs! For people in their home states.
Example: For years the military has told Congress they do not need or want more C-2 cargo planes. Each year the military takes it out of their budget, and each year Congress puts it back in. Why? Jobs!
2/01/10
I want to thank Mrs. Slomanski, John B. Burkhardt and Mr. Usui for making this important historical information available to the entire world.
I suggest that you use a color printer to make a copy of Henry Slomanski's Certificate - for your own personal records. There may come the day that this information is no longer available on the web. Note: Henry Slomanski was promoted under KEMPO KARATE. And look at all the top martial artists in Japan who either signed his diploma or attached their seal! Click on the first link below.
http://www.henryslomanski.com/Commissioner_Henry_Slomanski/Slomanski_Certificate_Translation.html
August 1, 1956
Japan Martial Arts Karate Promotion Association, Tokyo Headquarters
President, Tokyo Headquarters
Master Teacher Gichin Funakoshi
Master Teacher Juuhatsu Kyoda
(Stamp of Kyushu Headquarters President)
Japan Martial Arts Karate Promotion Association, Association Headquarters
Japan Martial Arts Karate Goju Group, Kyushu Regional Headquarters
Kyushu Regional Headquarters
President Master Tsuyonao Chitose
(Stamp of Tsuyonao Chitose)
Japan Martial Arts Karate Goju Group
President, Eastern Headquarters Gogen Yamaguchi
Below are several more links that will take you to information never before available.http://www.henryslomanski.com/Commissioner_Henry_Slomanski/Welcome_to_Henry_Slomanski.html
http://www.henryslomanski.com/Commissioner_Henry_Slomanski/Slo_Ryu_Up_in_Arms_-_Bent_Arms.html
http://www.henryslomanski.com/Commissioner_Henry_Slomanski/Henry_Slomanski_Dedication.html
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4553288465119637205&hl=en#
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
For years Kenpo/Kempo was regarded as the *bastard child* of the Martial Arts. All the critics would maintain that there WAS no Kenpo/Kempo in Japan and that James Mitose could not prove that Kempo/Kenpo even existed in Japan. Many claimed he was a liar and fraud. You will note from the link to the family tree that Kempo was the original style of all the Martial Arts.
When Henry Slomanski mentioned to both Ed Parker and Elvis Presley that he was ranked in Kempo/Kenpo they did not pay much attention. Since Henry was an "Island Boy", Ed Parker assumed that he had studied Kenpo in Hawaii just as Ed Parker did.
We have known this information for several years; but we did not feel it appropriate to post it since we did not have in our possession the actual certificate and documentation. We also knew this would cause quite an uproar in the Japanese Martial Arts community ... mostly because they did not know how to handle this new historical documentation. It seems all the top Japanese Karate organizations were united under KEMPO!
Once again I want to thank Mrs. Slomanski, John Burkhardt, and Mr. Usui who did the translation.
I hope that all those who question the history that James Mitose gave us will admit they were wrong and do some original research, rather than denying the facts.
As of now, the Japanese Karate community has been pretty quiet about the above information.
Below is one more link to one of my web pages with more information regarding Kempo/Kenpo in Japan. This information has been posted for several years ... but the Martial Arts "experts" have chosen to ignore it. Now, with new documentation, it is more important than ever if you want the true history of Kempo/Kenpo
http://www.tracyskarate.com/History/Documentation/Jujit1904.htm
Over time MUCH more information will be added. For now we give all of you some time to go over all this new data.
After you've had a chance to go over the documentation I will point out important facts and give you more information that only we (TRACY'S) have.
GLAD YOU ASKED, GRASSHOPPER!
Sat 01/30/10
What came first: the Black Belt or the Dan rankings?
And
Where did William K. S. Chow get the title of Professor?A bit of history must be given to fully understand the differences between the two.
The Dan rankings originate from the board game of GO.
Click here for a link to the game of Go. http://www.ccgs.com/games/go.htm
Note: There were never any belts awarded in reference to Go.
History: In the early 17th century Go had advanced to the point that a handful of men were so much better than their competition that they were in a class by themselves. The most notable was a man named Honinbo Sancha, who had originally been a Monk and who later obtained permission to form a Go school. He often played with the leading statesmen of the day and would accompany them to the wars and be present at many of the battles.
Later one of these statesmen, Tokugawa Iyeyasu, became the ruler of Japan. Honinbo Sancha was made the head of a national Go academy. Honinbo was given three hundred and fifty tsubo of land and received two hundred hoku of rice each year, so he was free to devote all of his time to Go. Honinbo and his top assistants were given the title: PROFESSOR!
Now you know where William K. S. Chow got the humble title "Professor Chow". The title professor did not carry with it any given Dan Ranking.
Note: A hoku was about the amount of rice necessary to feed one man for a year,
Note: The wealth of a person in Japan was measured by the amount of rice his land could produce. This is one way the warlords could control both their friends and their enemies. The more rice land he gave to his loyal followers, the more men they could have for battle against his enemies.
The same was true of the Samurai. Not all Samurai were equal. There was a great difference between the Samurai who was mounted on a horse, wearing the best suit of armor and yielding a sword worth a fortune and the Samurai on foot, with poor armor and a hand me down sword. All Samurai were given land so they could devote their time to war. They were given enough land to bring in peasants to farm the land and provide income for the Samurai and food and living quarters for the peasants. The higher your standing, the more land you were given. As a general rule, samurai were born into a very structured class system ... and it was very difficult to move to a higher class. The rewards of battle were the "spoils" of war. If your warlord defeated his enemy, he could now reward you with land taken from the enemy. The loser was now without land (rice) to support an army. This us where the Ronin came from: the master less warriors who had lost in battle. As a general rule the Samurai did not take prisoners.
For hundreds of years men with the name of Honinbo would always be the world champions. They did this by taking all the great players; adopting them, and giving them his name.
Many Chinese Gung Fu masters would do the same. Adopt their top students, so their name would continue on in the system.
Now enter the Dan Rankings:
Honinbo created the system of ranking the professional masters according to their playing skills. The first being the lowest: Shodan, and the highest 9th Kudan. The Koreans would use 9th as their highest rank in the martial arts - and originally adopted a midnight - dark blue - belt, rather than a Black Belt. Most of the martial arts world would adopt the Japanese Judo ranking system of a 10 Dan system.
In the first 250 years of the Go Academy’s life only nine players had ever been given the rank of Ninth Dan and another nine the rank of Eighth Dan.
In Go, players of lesser rank and ability would be given a handicap of additional stones. The weakest player always had Black stones and they would play first.
This is much the same method used in golf, where weaker players are given a handicap - measured in strokes.
Originally, Go in Japan was played only by the elite. Most were considered to be at the professional level. Over the years ordinary people took up the game; since they were considered amateurs a ranking system for students would be added that contained 9 Kyu ranks - 1st Kyu , being the highest and 9th Kyu the lowest. Now in many parts of the world there may be Kyu rankings much lower the 9th Kyu.
For a complete history of the origin of the Belt System I have provided a link to my History section. To my knowledge I am the only person who has ever researched and posted the origin of the belt system used in the Martial Arts. Below is a link - you may want to print out this history for your own records.
http://www.tracyskarate.com/beltsystem_Folder/hisbelt2.htm