America Comes Together To Assist Tornado Victims

The Midwest has witnessed some of the worst weather in over fifty years. The Tornados in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas have taken their toll on its residents and their families. The cost in property and the loss of life is devastating beyond most peoples capabilities to comprehend as the pictures do not do justice to the magnitude of destruction.

With all of the loss, and all of the sorrow the resilient American spirit prevails. They haven't given up. Each and every day since the storm Americas people move forward with their lives trying to pick up the pieces as best they can, and in many instances there is just no place to put what is left of their former lives and belongings. The most basic of services that were taken for granted are now unavailable or in short supply. These sad events have touched almost everyone in the country in one way or another. It has touched my family with my wife's high school being destroyed.

What is surprising is that the rescue and support efforts of charities is actually functioning as it should. The American Red Cross who has been absent or irrelevant in recent disasters such as Katrina and 911 were actually present to lend assistance instead of just taking donations to hand out years later after a public outcry and subsequent embarrassment.

Not only have charities risen to the occasion, but individual efforts, church support, and businesses across the country have taken it upon themselves to help out our fellow countrymen in a way that has not been seen in many years. Entertainers have donated concert tour proceeds to those in need, with one female country artist Taylor Swift donating from her tour over seven hundred thousand dollars.

In the face of great tragedy and heartbreak the American Spirit is alive and well. When one of our own is down and in need we are there to lend a hand to pick them up, even when they do not ask. I guess that is what makes our country great. When there is need in the world the United States is always there, and is usually the first one to help, and one hundred percent of the time we are the country that helps the most in every single worldwide catastrophe.

May God bless those who are suffering, and may God bless those who ease that suffering.

Fraud and Fakes On The Upswing In Martial Arts Says Jeet Kune Do And Kenpo Master Carter Hargrave

There are numerous ways to avoid fraud and scams in the martial arts. Take these precautions and you should be able to assure yourself that you will avoid the martial arts fraud that is trying to take money from you and not provice the actual martia art that you intended. Prospective students and teachers can contact this website for more information and we will be happy to assist you for free of charge and guide you in the right direction.

We hope you find these pages helpful in your search for authentic self defense.

Carter Hargrave Fraud Program Eliminating Martial Arts Scams In Karate,MMA, and Kung Fu.

Carter Hargrave the director of multiple martial arts associations and federations has founded this anti fraud program putting in place safeguards in an attempt eliminate all fraud in the famous art of legendary actor and martial artist Bruce Lee. Fraud and scams are prevalent in Jeet Kune Do and Hargrave's system weeds out the fakes by offering the public authentic teachings that were not available in many parts of the world until Hargrave's International group of over eight thousand members took Jeet Kune Do mainstream.

The further from the United States that the student that is searching for real Bruce Lee teachings the higher the chance of fraud due to the simple fact that there were very few original teachers and students at Bruce Lee's three schools. At one time in JKD history there were less than fifty teachers worldwide.

One of the main scam areas that is a big problem is in Asia.

Carter Hargrave is working non stop to make the real martial arts available worldwide to those that cant find a legitimate teacher, as well as to keep the fake training dvd's and books away from the public.

Support Carter Hargrave in his efforts to promote legitimate martial arts teachers not only in Jeet Kune Do but in Kempo Karate. We all know that fake teachers selling their fraud hurt everyone in the martial arts.

One of the questions that we get asked all the time is "So how do you spot a fraud or a scam in the particular martial art". You start with the art that you are wanting to partake in, and contact several associations. You can judge alot by the response that you receive. Many times you will not hear anything due to the websites being a fraud themselves.

Check out the teachers credientials or resume online and through word of mouth or through martial arts associations and organizations.

For the art of Brue Lee you must be sure that there is a direct line to the master himself. Direct lineage it is called is when the teachers teacher was at the Lee school or Bruce Lee. The closer to Lee of course the better. Since there few first generation Bruce Lee students living or teaching your best bet now is second generation. If they don't well you know you have a fake.

Other martial arts other than the arts core serve no purpose other than to water down the art itself or to fill in the blanks in the teachers knowledge of the real art. Three martial arts made up the original Jeet Kune Do.

So if you see a bunch of stuff that doesn't look quite right its probably a scam.

Please Contact us for more information or questions.

The Many Countries Of Martial Arts

Culture and religion have been understood to be the foundation of martial arts and the practice of the arts. The arts not only promote self discipline and self-defense or protection, but also a form of national pride during the early development periods. The techniques come from different origins for each culture or counties art. Each region or country has their own version of a martial art. Many of these arts beginnings were in the farm fields as the commoners were in need of a weaponless art for protection of family and livestock. However, in each art there is still the individual significance of the origin of each art to traditionalists and historian.

In historical significance, there are three cultural based martial arts that are popular all over the world. Each of this has contributed much to those mixed and those that have evolved and existed. Popularly Asian countries have the biggest part. These arts and or cultures are India, Korea and Japan. Sometimes Okinawa is grouped in with Japan as they have played a large role in Asian martial arts history

India Martial Arts

Traditional Martial Arts in India, in the pre-Gupta, there are multiple accounts of combat using various weapons as well as bare hands.
This was believed to be the start of the Indian Martial Arts. In this country there are varieties of style in combat mainly using sword and crossbow. In some regions, they use other weapons which are not known in other countries. In the Dravidian discipline they use flexible blades in combat. Since there are a lot of foreign visitors in this country, their styles were copied for what they found useful, and then improved to meet specific needs for the person developing the combat art. Of Course Yoga training

Korean Martial Arts

The more well known Korean martial arts are Hapkido, Kuk Sool, Tae Kwon Do, and Tang Soo Do. The korean martial arts practice has existed for more than two thousand years, even though Tae Kwon Do was formed in 1955 by General Choi Hi.. Some say that in the 1500s' when Korea asked for military training from China, they were able to get influences from their fighting skills to incorporate into their own. It is questionable what aid they were given as the Chinese influences in these arts are not readily seen.

Japanese Martial Arts

The Japanese, call martial arts budo, bujutsu, or bugie. The english translation for these are still martial arts since the practice literally instill discipline and respect in this field. Culturally, this is a way of life too for Japanese. It encompasses the physical and spiritual mind, moral dimension, and personal growth. The Japanese way has multiple styles and systems , which are widely known throughout the country, many of which are passed down in hierarchal form to family members. The most famous or infamous of the historical martial arts of Japan, is found in the Samurai history. The art of the Samurai is Aiki Jitsu or Aiki Ju Jitsu.

By studying these three cultures, you can better understand how these arts have found their way into many other countries outside of Asia, and other cultures martial art forms.

Martial Arts And The Cultures Of The World

Each country though out history has had its own form of self defense or un armed combat. Many times to find the original art you must go back hundreds, and sometimes thousands of years. One problem that the researcher may come across is the influence of travelers into the country that bring in their respective form of defense aspects watering down the original art form. That is not to say that this is a bad thing, due to the fact that many arts did this in the past to improve upon a technique. or to implement one that did not excist to meet a current need that was plaguing the area of the country form evil doers and invaders.

While it may be a sign of our base culture as a whole, you can trace the progress of a country or a people by how efficiently they kill each other. I think this may be a sad commentary on man in general, but as a purely historical and educational standpoint is quite telling about each country and their development as a people.