The Invention of the Airplane and the Spirit of Entrepreneurship

“We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate what ever aroused curiosity.”
Orville Wright

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CBS Almanac - William K. Kellogg - Birth of a Breakfast Cereal King

Kellogg's was founded as the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company on February 19, 1906, by Will Keith Kellogg as an outgrowth of his work with his brother John Harvey Kellogg at the Battle Creek Sanitarium following practices based on the Seventh-day Adventist Christian denomination. The company produced and marketed the hugely successful Kellogg's Toasted Corn Flakes and was renamed the Kellogg Company in 1922.

In 1930, the Kellogg Company announced that most of its factories would shift towards 30 hour work weeks, from the usual 40. W.K. Kellogg stated that he did this so that an additional shift of workers would be employed in an effort to support people through the depression era. This practice remained until World War II, and continued briefly after the war, although some departments and factories remained locked into 90 hour work weeks until 1980. From 1969 to 1977, Kellogg's acquired various small businesses including Salad Foods, Fearn International, Mrs. Smith's Pies, Eggo, and Pure Packed Foods; however, it was later criticized for not diversifying further like General Mills and Quaker Oats were.

President Obama claims that his words were taken out of context when he uttered the now infamous words, "You didn't build that!" PolitiZoid presents a mash up of Obama's explanation and his original comments about America's small business owners.

Barack Obama believes that America was built on the backs of poor Blacks and other poor people around the World. Entrepreneurship doesn't fit the narrative he has used to divide America and cause Class Warfare and the re-distribution of wealth.

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Politizoid - You Didn't Build That

President Obama claims that his words were taken out of context when he uttered the now infamous words, "You didn't build that!" PolitiZoid presents a mash up of Obama's explanation and his original comments about America's small business owners.

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U Didn't Build That by MC 'Bama

Barack Obama raps about "You Didn't Build That", Mitt Romney, and the 2012 campaign to the tune of MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This".

Featuring cameos from Clint Eastwood, Stephen Colbert, Hulk Hogan, Julia Gillard, and Jennifer Granholm.

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Michelle Malkin at DREAM Summit

Michelle told the conservative audience: “My parents didn’t come here with nothing. Not knowing anybody. Not having a dime in their pockets… For me to be a wallflower. So that I could sit here while the American dream is being destroyed.” Michelle then pointed to the American Dream banner and told Barack Obama, “You didn’t build this!”

August 3, 2012

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Kevin McCullough - Obama: Tebow Didn't Build That!

President Obama has never been one to tread lightly while insulting people's sports' sensibilities. It's just so awful that he exposes so much in the revelation of his elitist worldview while doing so.

From a purely campaign-based strategy viewpoint one would think that this path is counterproductive. After all you do want people's votes right?

Eh... maybe not...

"I've got to tell you, I don't like the idea of a quarterback controversy at the start of the season. If I was a Jets fan, I'd be pretty nervous," Obama said on a local sports talk show in Columbus, Ohio this week.

Hold the presses--Obama's doing sports talk stations now? With listening cumes of maybe 80,000? His press office won't allow him to come on my media platform that produces talk radio on 589 stations and reach 10,000,000 weekly listeners in cities like New York, Dallas, Atlanta, San Diego, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. Heh... sour grapes... moving on.

Evidently he's got the time.

Yes on a day when we learned that 163,000 new jobs had been created, while 365,000 new unemployment claims were simultaneously filed, and 150,000+ actually dropped OUT of the work force, I'm just thrilled to know, he's able to yuck it up with The Torg.

Yet nonetheless there he was this week, dogging Tim Tebow...

Sanchez "led them to the playoffs two years in the row," he said, "There's going to be a lot of tension in that situation."

Why Mr. President? Does having an exciting superstar sit as a back-up to someone who squeaked his team into the playoffs the last two years ever so threatening? Does Joe Biden scare you that much. (Of course we all know that Joe Biden was the biggest insurance policy against anything nefarious happening to our nation's top executive these last three years. I can't even say it without laughing, "President Biden?")

It is true, however, that Tebow wasn't able to lead his team to two playoffs in a row. After all he'd only been given the starting job for less than one season, but he turned a 1 & 4 Denver Bronco disaster into a Division winning, playoff team that beat the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers on 316 yards passing.

Mark Sanchez did go to the play-offs two seasons in a row. But couldn't lead his college team to any higher than number two in the BCS ranks and quit after his junior year.

Tim Tebow won the BCS Championship in college in 2006. He was named college football's top player in 2007. He then returned to the college ranks for his senior year and led his team to the BCS Championship win in 2008. All this with supposedly a flawed throwing mechanism.

Mark Sanchez supposedly has the perfect NFL throwing mechanism.

I'm quite sure that the results that Mark Sanchez has produced would guarantee him a starting spot for the upcoming season in the mind of President Obama. After all he's a "pretty smart" person, and one of those people who work "pretty hard."

Top that off with his very mediocre results and you have a classic Obama cocktail of "success."

Tim Tebow on the other hand, grew up as an abortion who lived. (The doctors in the Philippines literally told his mom to cut him up in the womb.) He didn't have the most talent of everybody out there. But instead learned how to honor his teammates, his family and his God, by putting the right priorities in order, and all he knows how to do is not make excuses for his play, but just to go out and win.

Now President Obama would have you believe that Tim Tebow wouldn't have gotten where he was without listening to everyone around him. But the truth be told if that had happened, he would've dropped out of football years ago.

Jets fans aren't nervous about Tebow Mr. President, their ecstatic. Here is a guy who doesn't blame others. He doesn't complain about how no one will work with him, or find a million excuses for his lack of results while on the job.

He just shows up, does the best he can the whole time he's there, and goes home and sleeps like a baby at night. How are you sleeping Mr. President?

President Obama doesn't like Tim Tebow being on the Jets because he might cause a quarterback controversy. Hardly...

President Obama doesn't like Tim Tebow because his very existence spits in the face of every pile of pious baloney President Obama has ever spoken.

It's true he had help from team mates, but the difference is, Tim Tebow knows how to use whatever situation he's in, to motivate, lead, take his team on his shoulders and set the example if necessary.

President Obama is learning how to play golf and knows how to... uh... campaign, and blame others for his lack of results.

So Mr. President why don't you become teachable, shut your flapper for once, and learn something about how life works.

Then when you've accomplished one tenth the stuff that Tebow has, maybe you can lecture someone about how to run a team, score a touchdown, create a job, run a small business, or sign the front of someone's paycheck.

Until then, I'm throwing in with someone with proven results... even if his throwing mechanism isn't perfect!

Kevin McCullough

Kevin McCullough is the nationally syndicated host of "The Kevin McCullough Show" weekdays (7-9am EST) & "Baldwin/McCullough Radio" Saturdays (9-11pm EST) on 289 stations & Sirius/XM . His newest best-selling hardcover from Thomas Nelson Publishers, "No He Can't: How Barack Obama is Dismantling Hope and Change" is in stores now.

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Michelle Fields - Sean Hannity - White House Churchill Story Busted! - You Didn't Build That

White House is backpedaling after choosing a fight against Syndicated Columnist, Charles Krauthammer regarding the his recent column describing how the Obama administration returned the bust of Winston Churchill to the British Embassy. Democratic Strategist, Julie Roginsky, and Daily Caller Reporter, Michelle Fields discuss the facts behind this issue along with a highly spirited debate surrounding President Obama's 'You Didn't Build That' statement. FNC's Sean Hannity hosts.

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Mike Adams - How Obama Earned My Doctorate

Dear President Obama:

I’m still reeling from your recent remarks about small business owners in America. With one sweeping generalization, you stated that those of us who have had successful businesses did not earn that success. Instead, you insist that someone else made it happen for us. I’ve written to tell you my story in the hopes that you will see the foolishness of your unproven assertions.

Back in 1989, I decided to pursue a PhD in Criminology. I was nearing the end of my Master’s program in Psychology. I had a teaching assistantship that paid a mere $345 per month. I knew that I could not live on $345 per month for the minimum of three years I would need to finish my doctorate. I also knew that my parents would not be able to extend the same financial support they had so graciously extended while I was working on my Master’s degree. So I devised a plan to start a new business with just $1000 of initial investment.

My grandfather had passed away in December of 1988. In the late spring of 1989, my grandmother mailed me a check for $1000 that had been part of a life insurance policy payout issued upon my grandfather’s death. In the late summer of 1989, I met a graduate student by the name of Shannon Ruscoe. He had been playing tennis with my roommate Harry Wilson the day I met him. I was sitting in my living room playing a song by James Taylor when Shannon started singing along. After just a few minutes of listening to Shannon sing, I knew my life would never be the same again.

I called Shannon later that fall and asked if he wanted to get together and rehearse a few songs. We did. Within a few weeks we were hanging out at keg parties in places like Starkville’s College Station apartment complex. After a few beers, I would go to my car and get my 12-string. As our repertoire increased, so did Shannon’s confidence as a singer.

After a few months of getting to know Shannon, I laid out a plan. I found a beautiful Alvarez six-string with a cedar top and black jacaranda back and sides. I realized I could buy the guitar and install a Martin thin-line pickup under the bridge for just $700. With the remaining $300, I told Shannon that, for just $30 per night, we could rent a PA system from our friend Jim Beaty, the owner of Backstage Music in Starkville. The idea was that after playing free ten times we could start to earn a living as musicians.

First, we had to find a place to play. Fortunately, a Kappa Sigma named Mike worked as a manager at J.C. Garcia’s – a Mexican restaurant/bar that featured acoustic acts including the legendary Jeff Cummings and Jeffrey Rupp. We went to see him with an offer, telling Mike we would play at J.C’s free of charge on a Tuesday night, but only on one condition: if they sold $2000 worth of liquor, they would have to hire us the next week for 10% of the liquor sales, or $200.

Mike laughed. J.C.s had never sold $2000 worth of liquor on a Tuesday night, which was generally their slowest night of the week. Naturally, he felt he had nothing to lose. So we book our first gig at a real restaurant in a real college town.

I called all of my old friends at the Sigma Chi house and told them to show up at J.C’s the following Tuesday night. Shannon told all the girls at the Chi Omega house where he worked as a “house boy” in his spare time. As a result of our marketing, we packed the place out. J.C’s sold over $2000 in liquor that night and we were invited to come back the next week.

Playing free at keg parties also paid off. Later, by May of 1990, we were getting hired to play private parties. At one of those parties, we met the manager of the Bully III, a restaurant/bar near downtown Starkville. His name was David Lee Odom. He upped our salary to $250 per night plus free dinner and free beer. By the time I graduated, I would play in that bar over 100 times. It was there that I met other musicians and eventually had a chance to play all over the state and region. As a businessman and friend, Dave Odom changed our lives forever.

After Shannon moved to Nashville in 1991, I decided it was time to rely on the government for financial support. I’m just kidding. I simply went out and found another great singer named Anne Ford. We would play together until 1993. Our act was so successful that in April of 1993, my last full month of college, we played a whopping 22 gigs in just 30 days.

As the result of my business venture I was able to graduate with a PhD without taking out a single student loan. And it was a business venture. I was not just a guitarist. I booked most of our gigs, handled equipment purchases, and did a modest bit of accounting.

The irony is that, back in those days, I was a Democrat with socialist leanings. I voted for Dukakis and Clinton as the “lesser of two evils” – all the while complaining about the lack of a far-left alternative. Shortly thereafter, I would get involved in a two-year relationship with the daughter of the head of the Socialist Party of Ecuador. I simply failed to reconcile the discrepancies between my theoretical view of the world and my real world experiences. Eventually, I grew out of my childish socialist mindset and realized that capitalism had allowed me to utilize my God-given talents to earn a living government could never provide.

Someday, Mr. President, you’ll grow out of it, too.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mike S. Adams

Mike Adams

Mike Adams

Mike Adams is a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and author of Feminists Say the Darndest Things: A Politically Incorrect Professor Confronts "Womyn" On Campus.

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Bret Baier - Special Report - Obama's "You Didn't Build That!" NOT GOING AWAY

President Obama's phrase 'You Didn't Build That!" continues to stay front and center as the campaign narrative intensifies. This hot issue is analyzed by Tucker Carlson - Daily Caller Editor/Fox News Contributor; Liz Marlantes - Christian Science Monitor; and Charles Krauthammer - Syndicated Columnist.

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Star Parker - Entrepreneurs Like Steve Jobs Build Prosperity – Not Politicians

I think it’s a sport for President Obama to make outrageous statements like “If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen,” – which he said in a recent campaign stop in Roanoke, Virginia - and then watch Republicans go predictably bananas.

Certainly the multimillionaire business supporters of the president on Wall Street and in Hollywood know this is absurd. Anyone with the mildest understanding of business and capitalism knows this is absurd.

Yet the president struck at the heart of what makes capitalism tick – individual freedom and personal responsibility – without his polling numbers in the week that followed budging and his re-election probability on Intrade.com actually ticked up two and half points.

We are reaching dangerous critical mass of those in our country who have enough stake in big government – whether they are employed by it, collecting benefits from it, or businesses getting favors from it – that political protection is commanding a higher premium than freedom.

If Americans want prosperity, we need a grand reawakening to the incontrovertible fact that its source is entrepreneurs unfettered by meddling politicians.

Apple, Inc is now the most valuable company in the world. Its recent stock price puts its valuation at around $560 billion, more than $150 billion more than America’s biggest oil company – Exxon Mobil.

Fifteen years ago, in 1997, when Steve Jobs returned as CEO of Apple, the company was worth less than $3 billion dollars, about a half a percent of what it is worth today. Estimates then were that Apple was several months away from bankruptcy.

John Lilly, a former Apple employee, now a silicon valley venture capitalist, blogged memories, after Jobs’ death, about a talk that Jobs gave to employees shortly after his return. Apple was losing money, its stock was languishing, there were rumors about the company being acquired, and Jobs was asked about a suggestion that the company should just shut down.

He concluded his response with “If you want to make Apple great again, let’s get going. If not, get the hell out.” The blogger continues, “I think it’s not an overstatement to say that just about everyone in the room loved him at that point, would have followed him off a cliff if that’s where he led.”

In the following year, according to the account in Walter Isaacson’s recent book about Jobs, 3000 employees were laid off and Jobs reviewed Apple’s entire product line, pruning it from fifteen products to four.

Now Apple is the most valuable company in the world with innovative products no one would have dreamed of in 1997.

In September 1997, Apple had 8437 full time employees.

Today, according to its website, Apple has 70,000 employees worldwide, of which 47,000 are in the U.S. The company estimates that 514,000 jobs have been created as result of employment at Apple, at companies supported by Apple, and the economy created by Apple products.

Suppose, when Jobs revamped and shrunk Apple’s product line, he needed employees to vote in order to get rid of each product? It, of course, would have been impossible.

But this is what we have when government goes where it doesn’t belong - getting into businesses like providing retirement services, health care, housing, and education. Even if programs work for a while, times inevitably change. Businesses can adjust. Government can’t. Changing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public education, and government housing policy today is about politics, not good economic decisions.

So we’re stuck pouring billions we don’t have into programs that don’t work.

Capitalism is not about being “on your own” as we hear so often from liberals. It’s about entrepreneurs, like Steve Jobs, being free to create prosperity by serving their fellow citizens with innovative ideas and products.

And it’s about government doing its proper job – protecting life and property – so this can happen.

Star Parker

Star Parker is founder and president of CURE, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, a 501c3 think tank which explores and promotes market based public policy to fight poverty, as well as author of the newly revised Uncle Sam's Plantation: How Big Government Enslaves America's Poor and What We Can do About It.

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