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The Fat Cats / Blog

A Nation Divided Will Not Stand

What a mess. So much fear and hating going around. If we are ever to pull out of this craziness it's going to be the Ameican People that do it. Setting politics aside, we all have so much more that we have in common than what divides us. Seems both sides of the political spectrum want us to be fearful and divided. It's natural to want to protect what in our own best interests but we still have to deal with each other corperately as a community. We need to have more solidarity and understanding of both sides. No one should have to compromise their values for fear of being slandered, hated, and destroyed, cut out of their community or economy. It's not all bad having diverse opinions. It allows balance and if worked with correctly can create good results for all concerned. Start judging the actions of our leaders by their fruit not what comes out of their mouths. All of them! Then hold them accountable. Start knocking down walls rather than building them. Think about it. Hatred, fear, and division only makes it impossible to have any kind of intelligent conversation on any issues much less solving them. Time for the American People to grow up, wake up and smell the coffee. For the betterment of humanity, my country, community, and all those I love, when making decisions, and forming my values, and opinions, I will strive and aspire to be thoughtful, intelligent, considerate, and well informed. I do not need to surrender my ideals or values, but I will treat those that disagree with, dignity, respect, empathy, and kindness so help me God.

P.T.S.D.

Just wanted everyone to know we are a featured artist on Reverbnation and we have a new song that we've recorded . The Song "No One" (Should Feel This Way) composed and authored by our good friend Nita Velo. We were moved to record the song not only because it's well written, and it is. But because the song deals with an issue near and dear to many of our hearts is those who suffer from P.T.D. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Many of us have family members that have served in the Armed Forces serving thier country. Generations of men and women have laid it all on the line serving selflessly for the sake of us and country and now suffer from P.T.S.D.. We want to raise awareness of this becuase it effect all of us and especially the families of those with who have served in combat units and as medics. What really concerns us as parents and Loved ones of those currently is how many tours they are having to serve. Many are serving just way too many tours. My Son, who serves in a National Gaurd, combat infantry unit no more than got home from Bosnia for a year tour, were call up six months later to serve a two year tour in Iraq. He's been home for about two years. He was wounded twice, came home with a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, has been diagnosed as being 60% physically disabled and with P.T.S.D. yet has been caaled up to go to Afganastan in April. WHAT!!!!! Me Thinks I protest to little. Seems to me and other families with Loved one serving in the military, is they're just dipping into the well too many times. This puts unimaginable amount off strain and stress on military staff and families of those serving. Emotionally, Mentally and Physically. It must be stopped. Hope you'll check this song out, as well as helping us raise awareness to our friends and communities while supporting those who have served us and family's that have been effected.

Where's OUR Voice? 1st part

In light of the recent economic issues, have you been wondering where your voice comes in? Have you considered where this country is going and how that will affect you? The following article contains some of my observations which you may or may not have considered before. Bailouts. Now this isn't a partisan issue because if you remember, the Reps started bailing companies out in '08 to the tune of $750,000,000,000. I think thats seven hundred and fifty billion dollars. Now the Dems are doing it in '09. And in Grand Fashion. Of course who know how much really goes where as I guess Law Makers didn't have tie to read the bill. However they did manage to borrow more money from China off of credit from the unborn. I just say bailouts because I've totally lost track of how many have been bailed out and how much it has cost. The reason is because We're all too busy worrying about paying taxes. All of them- property tax, sales tax, income tax at the federal, state and local level. And of course, there's the gas tax as well. We're busy paying our house and car insurance, plus insurance on all the other items like the boat, the motorcycle, and the snowmobile. Let's not forget medical and dental insurance, plus the electric bill, water bill, gas bill, heat bill, not to forget the phone bill, the internet bill, and the cable TV bill. And the banks are in there waiting for the mortgage payment. So, are you seeing my point? We, you and I, are working our lives away to pay our gov't, to pay huge corporations like insurance companies, medical facilities, energy companies and the banks. In reality, most of our monthly paychecks go to these people. This is true for all lower and middle income people and for small businesses. So, all the money all these companies are getting from all of us isn't enough to ensure they make a profit? Why Not? Because they know it doesn't matter how they run their businesses, the gov't will just bail them out anyway. What about Wall Street, the huge banks, oh yeah and the pharmaceutical companies. Doesn't it seem to you that anyone with money and an agenda can buy law-making power? However, I think they may have dismissed how much power we would have if, we all used our voices in a united, common vision and purpose. We just need to quit being so complacent. Think about it, we're probably two- thirds of this country's population, considering they are not biased, in any way, when it comes to getting in our pocketbooks. They want to make us all their slaves and they aren't discriminating by ethnicity or religion. Here's the lie we have been led to believe. Here's what enslaves us. First we get out of high school, where we have been taught that we will need a college degree to get a good job. So we take out school loans because we can't get enough grants. This is the start of our enslavement to debt. Oh yeah, this is when the credit card companies start sending you their offers which are targeted specifically to college kids. Why? Because they know they will be able to charge them late fees, penalties, and a whole lot of compounded interest when they are unable to meet their obligations. These companies are depending on 'Mom and Dad' to pay the bill, so that their child's credit won't be wrecked. Isn't Citibank one of the banks getting bailed out? A trap and more debt. Then, in order to get to our job, which may or may not be in our chosen profession, we will have to finance a car. As we embark on our career, we possibly decide to get married, so we need a house, which we finance, of course. And furniture for the new house, financed. The first car is shot, so we finance a new car. Then we may want a boat, a motorcycle, a snowmobile-- all financed. Then there's the new gadgets the world comes up with, and because we are told these will make us happy, and improve the quality of our lives. This is the illusion of the American Dream.

Where's OUR Voice? 2nd part

I just don't understand why they think we will just keep going along with it all. Of course, we are somewhat to blame. We Americans have had it pretty good for the last few years. Even through the seeming "good times", our gov't has appeared to be only out for itself and these huge corporations. But since we have all been doing ok, we have been just going along, closing our eyes to the preliminaries leading up to what's going on. We have grown accustomed to instant gratification. It's the instant gratification attitude that has gotten us here. Our citizens have fallen into this attitude with the help of all these conglomerations, the media (which is a conglomeration all its own), and the special interest groups who, for some reason, decided they are our spokespeople. This instant gratification is the reason we are financed to the hilt, and now can't make all the payments. We eat instant food, which is making us fatter and fatter. We can have our paychecks instantly deposited and our payments instantly withdrawn. All in the name of saving time. So what are we using our extra time for? To work more, so we can pay for all the 'stuff' we own! We aren't using it to spend more time with our families or even so we have more time to use our stuff. This instant gratification mentality just seems mental to me. We have been led to believe that this will make us happy, but you know as well as I do, that once you get what you wanted, you realize you're not any happier, and you have to work extra just to pay for it. Until the next thing comes along that we think will bring happiness, and the cycle goes on. Materialism and Credit runs our minds and our country today. It made me happy to see the TEA parties that took place across the country this past month. This is what we, as Americans, need to do; we need to stand up and say, "I'm not going to take it anymore!" Are you as sick of it as we are? Do you feel like you're screaming to be heard, but there's a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach that's telling you your voice will never be heard? It's time to let these greedy, manipulative companies know we are sick of all of it and we're not going to be silent anymore! This is where I'm at. This is why I, Doug Newman and The Fat Cats have written a song that portrays this exact feeling. "The Game" is a song that gives us, as Americans, a voice. Now you are asking why would a band put in the time and effort to write and record a song about the economy? Because I have been through it all. My family's business has been going through a Chapter 11 for 3 years. Throughout I have seen the greed and the callousness of the banks and the lawyers, first hand. On top of this 3 year ordeal, my son, who is also involved with the family business, served in Iraq for 2 years of those 3 years. He and his group of guys, who are National Guard, have served in an active duty capacity for more time than many regular service people. And now he's been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This disorder is one that affects everything in a person's life. It affects how a person copes with life. And just the other day, I heard that Congress was contemplating

Where's OUR Voice? 3rd part

changing military laws on what medical benefits service people receive. What is wrong with this picture? Men and women who voluntarily served our country are not worth anything now that they are back home? Sounds a little like Vietnam to me. I get just angry thinking about it! And the other day, I heard that the gov't is saying to be on the look out for terrorism coming from our own returning veterans. This is rubbish! The Fat Cats have decided that we Americans need a voice. We need to stop being quiet and speak out against what seems to be a serious squashing of lower and middle America and American small business. If you would like to hear the new song, The Game, go to www.reverbnation.com/thefatcats , www.myspace.com/thefatcats1990. There you can listen, and if you like it, you can download it for $.99 cents. This is the first of three songs they have written and recorded that apply to how we are all feeling about the issues in our country today. The other 2 songs will be available soon, so keep checking. If you sign up as a fan of the Fat Cats, you will receive notification when the other 2 songs are ready to download. This is the beginning of a grassroots movement and anyone who cares needs to get involved. We want to keep our country a republic, based on the human rights that our country was founded on. You can, of course, be as involved as you want, but my advice is the more involved the better. Remember the last Tea Party, Boston 1773? Remember where that went? We need to get involved because just standing by and watching it happen hasn't done us much good lately, has it? Here are some links to sites where you can get more information and get involved: www.reverbnation.com/thefatcats www.myspace.com/thefatcats1990 www.thefatcatsrock.blogspot.com www.freedomworks.com www.huckpacvolunteer.com

Fan Exclusive! Four Free Fat Cat Down Loads

Just Want to say thank you for the support. The Fat Cats

Continued

After the cave tubing we were treated to an awesome lunch, the local dish of stewed chicken with rice and beans. We spent some time exploring the resort. The owner of Jaguar Paw rehabilitates hurt and orphaned animals so we were able to have wonderful, up close encounters with kutamundi and with a baby howler monkey. Several of the kutamundi were running around the lodge and having lunch of their own (tropical fruit plate). The howler monkey grabbed my hand and required me to scratch his neck. He leaned around the tree branch he was sitting in and tried to give me a kiss (uhhhh thanks, but no). There was an awesome butterfly santuary. Blue marples, glass wings, bright yellow and black butterflies, what a treat for the eyes! Then it was off to go zip lining on the Arial Trek. O.k., so I am not afraid of heights, but I am afraid of falling. Add to that the fact that I am a control freak and "they" want me to do what? Climb here, clip there, hold this and grab that, have a seat and brake only when told. Ready? Off you go! "Do I have toooooooooooooooo" - "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" - "Son of a ..............................." - "Whew, I survived" - "can I do it again, pretty please????????" Needless to say, I fell in love with all those cables, clips, hard hats, gloves, platforms, trees, the jungle in general and above all the guides. They were awesome (and not bad to look at either). We were no sooner done ziplining when it was time to head back to the airport to head back to San Pedro, to eat dinner (always an excellent adventure), to get ready for the next Fat Cat gig. FUN FUN FUN! Next year it's your turn! Submitted and written by Terrie Boyd Wife of Lead Guitarist Kerry Boyd

Another Day in Paradise

Another Day in Paradise You've Just Gotta Belize It Yet another day has passed and with NO regrets. This place offers more than a person can handle. We've all heard the old addage, early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise; right? Well, here in Belize it should be stay awake as long as you can or else you just might miss something man! Here's the scoop for the day. We came down as a group and do many things as a group together. At other times we break off into smaller sattelite groups to do our own thing - we truly are individuals. O.k. the gig at Banana Beach (bananabeach.com) finished up late last night (what a blast), then we slept for a couple of hours before Kerry, Terrie and Max had to get up and at 'em for a full day on the mainland. The rest of us stayed right here on the Island Bonita to play all day in the sun. The report from the mainland touring group (Terrie's version): We had to get up way toooooo early considering last night was soooooo late, but was it ever worth it! We caught a Tropic Air flight (tropicair.com) to the mainland then took a taxi to Jaguar Paw resort. During the flight the pilot flew low so we could look at all the lobster fishermen going out for their first catch of the season since it is their opener. That was so cool. While on the ride to Jaguar Paw resort (jaguarpaw.com) we had an opportunity to learn about some of the cultures and view first hand some of the living conditions of the people here. Our guide, Miguel, was all too happy to share his knowledge with us, telling us about some of the different villages (Mennonite, Japanese, Amish, etc.) as well as of the vegetation and animal life that we asked about. Once we arrived at the resort we met our other guide for the cave tubing, Pablo. Miguel and Pablo brought us down to the river to get our tubes and to brief us on what to expect on our excursion. We had a short hike in the jungle to the beginning of the tubing route. During the hike the guides told us some folklore stories and would point out items of interests such as the turantula right there in that hole you are about to step in front of. At one point I asked Miguel "what is that big prickely yellow plant right there". His response, "that's a prickely yellow". He said it with such conviction it made me wonder why I hadn't already known that. I mean come on, it's prickely and yellow therefore it must be a prickely yellow, right. Makes perfect sense. We had a good laugh at that one. When we reached the point of entry the guides informed us that the water would be quite refreshing (code for frickin' cold). It must have felt terribly cold because of the physical exertion of the hike because once I acclimated to the water I absolutely loved it. We went through 2 caves. Thank God we had head lamps as the caves were quite dark at some points (duh, it's a cave). The caves were beautiful. One was called crystal cave and it was very apparent why. It absolutely glistened in the light. Wish you were there to see and experience this with us. Continued next blog

Hello from The Fat Cats Sunny and Friendly San Pedro Town Belize,

Hello from The Fat Cats Sunny and Friendly San Pedro Town Belize, Hello Everyone, We made here all in one piece now we have a liitle kick back time to relax and get use to the climate. It's been rather cold back home as if the summer even started yet. It's actually a very comfortable 80 degs. and the breeze off the Carribean is very cooling. It's really the best of both worlds. This is our second gig here at Lobster Fest so it was really wonderful to see all of our friends that we made last year. They all greated us with hugs with a genuine heart felt enthusiasm as they would all say welcome home. Interesting thought. We've been offered go snorkling on shark ray alley this afternoon. We all are a little nervous about swimming with sharks but it's not everyday us Minnesota boys get a chance to explore the world second largest barrier reef. Satuday night we have our first performance here at the resort at their Brazilian Barbeque. We anticipate a great time as the resort and Island are busy ad reservation. Are pouring in. We'll be uploading pictures so check back in and take a look at some of the pics. You all should be here. We would all recommend San Pedro town to any one wanting to take a vacation as well as using magnum belize tours to line it all up. That's all for now. Take care. Sincerely Big Bapa and The Fat Cats reverbnation.com/thefatcats hasn't

Hello from The Fat Cats Sunny and Friendly San Pedro Town Belize,

Hello from The Fat Cats Sunny and Friendly San Pedro Town Belize, Hello Everyone, We made here all in one piece now we have a liitle kick back time to relax and get use to the climate. It's been rather cold back home as if the summer even started yet. It's actually a very comfortable 80 degs. and the breeze off the Carribean is very cooling. It's really the best of both worlds. This is our second gig here at Lobster Fest so it was really wonderful to see all of our friends that we made last year. They all greated us with hugs with a genuine heart felt enthusiasm as they would all say welcome home. Interesting thought. We've been offered go snorkling on shark ray alley this afternoon. We all are a little nervous about swimming with sharks but it's not everyday us Minnesota boys get a chance to explore the world second largest barrier reef. Satuday night we have our first performance here at the resort at their Brazilian Barbeque. We anticipate a great time as the resort and Island are busy ad reservation. Are pouring in. We'll be uploading pictures so check back in and take a look at some of the pics. You all should be here. We would all recommend San Pedro town to any one wanting to take a vacation as well as using magnum belize tours to line it all up. That's all for now. Take care. Sincerely Big Bapa and The Fat Cats reverbnation.com/thefatcats hasn't