Is Martial Arts Street Effective??

Is Martial Arts Street Effctive?
        By: Norm Bettencourt

The topic of how effective traditional martial arts is in today's world as a way of protecting oneself is still a very sensitive issue to a lot of martial artists. What is even more sensitive is the issue of how realistic and street effective is the newer styles that have come out since UFC/PRIDE have come into the picture. I am a Registered Black Belt & have nothing against the martial arts and have also studied styles such as Pankration. I know that the techniques I have learned in the dojo should stay in the dojo because they will only work there, that also goes with styles such as the "modern day or reality based systems" they are for sport only.

 I work as a bouncer/bodyguard & also teach tactical self defense. Many of my students are black belts or have trained under reality based systems & have learned the hard way that what they learned in the ring or dojo is not street effective. Their common question is why didn't their system work? Part of the reason is that if a rule or law is applied to a system it will subconsciously hinder you when your adrenaline takes over in combat. There are no rules in the streets your mind should not have to sensor or think can I do this to beat this person? We respond exactly the same way that we train.

There is no time to switch gears from sport to tactical. If you are training and your coach or sensei says can't hit their or no contact to the eyes your mind will remember that and store it for future reference. Your self defense system should take into account your environment as well. Can you kick your attacker in the small space your in? Can you balance yourself while performing a technique on the icy sidewalk?  If you grapple with him what if he has friends coming around, what do you do then? Street fighting or tactical self-defense should be in the simplest form of fighting. You don't have time to play a chess game, like you would see in a UFC match. Time is not on your side in a street confrontation nor are rules or morals. What we can learn from the UFC or mixed martial arts events when it comes to reality fighting is if it has rules of what not to do, do those things in a street fight because its got to be effective.
Norm Bettencourt is the creator of TACT Self Defense which specializes in combat management tactics for mind, body & spirit.

Visit:   "http://www.tactselfdefense.com/%22%3ETact Self Defense

Gingrich: Poor kids don't work, only get cash illegally

Listening to Mr. Gingrich makes me sad.  Don't you love whenever "rich-people" give ridiculous advice to the poor and make it seem like if only the "poor" would get off their lazy asses, they could earn wealth tomorrow?  Oooh, if life were that simple......

Fact of the matter is there seems to be some covert-systematic methodology to maintaining the status-quo, whereby rich people get richer, and poor people must kill each other for scraps.  Or, is it just me? Not to preach to the crowd, but why are corporations reporting record earnings, while unemployment lingers between 9-10%?  Is that the President's fault?  I don't think so.... He can't hire people to work for Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, CitiBank, or any other wealthy corporation. 

Mr. Gingrich seems to be very opinionated when it comes to putting 9 and 10 year old children to work, as janitors (and for a public entity)...  I think he forgot that school janitors are paid by tax payer dollars, and the last time I checked, the republicans were working steadfast to decrease the budgets for education....  Remember?  Remember how they labeled the Department of Education as discretionary spending? So, where is this extra funding for children's salaries going to come from, Mr. Gingrich?  I guess it's ok to pay that poor kid to clean a toilet at school, but not ok for his/her school to have the latest technology or something that exponentiates is education?! 

Let's get real, in America.  Or, is it too late?  If this country were to meet a fate similar to the Great Roman Empire, it won't be as a result of outside, perceived-terrorism....  It will be through a steady rot from the inside-out.

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Revolt, If You Must...But, Have a Plan!!!

In case you’ve been sleeping under the proverbial rock or wasting away in the magical world of Facebook or, perhaps, dreaming of the fictitious days of old (when the air was sweeter and the water was tastier), you may have noticed the recent uprising in the land of the pharaoh --- the birthplace of Moses, the home of King Tut, the Sphinx, Great Pyramids, and rich Nile River.  Anti-government protesters have taken to the streets of Cairo and bombarded Tahrir Square, with chants and signs demanding the overthrow of their own government and demanding the departure of their thirty year ruler and president Hosni Mubarak.

According to the protesters of the current Egyptian regime, they are vying to rid themselves of a “tyrannical” government and taste the sweet nectar of “true” democracy.    But wait, Egypt is already is a democratic establishment…  Right?  Oh, my bad….the people of the land claim that the election process is a joke, whereby, Mubarak seems to win every time. 

The question, for me, is what exactly are the protesters demanding?  All lasting movements must have a twinge of organization….a platform… a methodology for change.  What is theirs’?  Is it simply the removal of President Mubarak?  Well, he’s agreed to step down in September.  What else are their demands? …a voice in their own governing?  Ok… well, since Mubarak is leaving, perhaps they can establish political parties and develop platforms….and make necessary adjustments to their constitution.

The tenacity and fortitude of the Egyptian proletariat has been both admirable and tragic in its quest for “freedom.”   The movement seems to be a youth driven revolution, whereby, the tech-babies of this era are using the power of speedy connections to excite comrades into “spontaneous-combustible” events.  However, they appear to lack true leadership and organization.  They have weak talking points and no solid goals.  If one were to juxtapose this recent uprising with the successful U.S. civil rights movement of the 1950s & ‘60s, one will notice a stark difference.   The latter was a concerted effort, with several organizations fusing their goals for civil rights into one cohesive goal of achieving specific life changing legislation (e.g. Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965).  The marches, sit-ins, freedom rides, and countless hours of planning all led to a positive end result, as opposed to the unorganized chaos ensuing in Egypt.

As a result of my undying affection for the “peoples” of the world, in their fight for innate freedoms, I want the commoners of Egypt to gain long-term success in their quest.  In doing so, they must take the reins of this movement away from other self-serving onlookers, many of whom want to see chaos in order to slip into a position of power by default.  This is evident with the recent meeting of Egyptian VP Omar Suleiman and the Muslim Brotherhood.  The Muslim Brotherhood had claimed to not be responsible for the uprising and have no interest in replacing the Mubarak regime, however, they did not hesitate to watch kids get their heads bashed in, then unofficially pronounce themselves the representatives of the movement (by taking the meeting with the VP).  Meanwhile, the protesters consistently tell media outlets that their movement is not under the control of the Muslim Brotherhood.   In my opinion, this is why the anti-government protesters should stand down long enough to form committees to formalize a “business” plan in order to be able to intelligently define success and defeat.  If they don’t take control, someone will do it for them.  …and look out world…

Why is this important to Americans?  A stable middle east will always be important to our way of life.  The birthplace of civilization, rich with endless natural resources and marvelous wonders, the middle east/Africa is the heart of the modern world and any damage to it will result in a massive corollary for the rest of us.  Revolutions have a tendency to spread its spirit to other suffering peoples of the world.  Instability in that region will result in the rise in the cost of oil and other imported goods.  It will change the balance of power, which may result in the rise of other units that will be unfriendly to Americans.  One of the young Egyptian protesters told an ABC American report to, “…get out of here, I hate you, I hate Americans, you are not good people.” 

Although Egypt has been an American ally during the Mubarak regime, recent tensions have arisen due to Egypt’s unwillingness to commit troops to Afghanistan and Iraq in peace stabilization missions.  A new regime, under the wrong leadership, may be even more unwilling to assist in peace missions; in fact, they may be coerced into joining opposing forces which will mean the deployment of more of our young troops when the time arrives.  We, Americans, cannot allow ourselves to ignore this issue as some ridiculous event on the other side of the world, unrelated to our way of life, for small winds in African can often become hurricanes by the time they reach our coast.  Stay tuned.