Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Another Year gone by!

It is December 31st and we are now concluding a year which has been a difficult year for the Marquette's. As we close out the year, we are still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan with no immediate end in sight. It is draining our nation's resources, resources that could very well be used at home in our fight to get our economy back where it should be. A fight that we seem to be losing at this time.

We will have a new president in just 20 days and he will be facing a most difficult task in his attempt to turn around our failing economy and put our country back where the rest of the world will respect us for the good that we have historically done for nations around the world. With our nation trillions in debt, I will not live to see the day when all this is paid back to those who have extended us credit. I am convinced that the U.S.A. has ventured into dangerous economic waters which has taken us away from the free enterprise system that has served our nation so well for two centuries. Being a "go for it" type of guy, I feel frustrated that we as individuals can really do nothing but set back and see how this all comes out.

In spite of this difficult past year, I am looking forward to 2009 with great anticipation for my family, for our businesses and for our nation. We are still a "Nation under God" and I have faith that as long as we honor Him, He will provide for us in one way or another. May God give you rich blessings this New Year!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Our New President

Well, it is all over but the shouting and that is certain to follow. The election was certainly president setting in that we finally have an African American President elect who will be taking office in January, 2009. To be honest, he was not my pick as I am a conservative republican, both fiscally and socially and it appeared during the campaign that Obama is neither. Much to my surprise, he has changed his position on many subjects now that he is the President-elect.

I do not believe that he has changed his liberal social positions which really concerns me when it comes to decisions on abortion and gay marriage that are bound to come up during the Suprime Court hearings in the near future sessions. Obviously, he is going to appoint very liberal judges when there are vacancies on the Federal and Supreme Courts. My concern is that we will see a contuning of the Courts establishing new laws rather than protecting Americans under the Constitution as it was written. I pray that I am wrong in my concerns.

I believe it still comes down to the old story that the candidate that promisses the most gets the most votes even if they really know that they cannot fulfill their promisses if and when they are elected. The candidate that talked about "change" has already proven to me that we are still going to have more of the same by looking at the nominees for key government positions that are right out of the Clinton regime.

I am still going to support Obama and will pray that Obama will seek God's guidance as he directs our nation and the rest of the free world and that he will exercise restraint when it comes to the very difficult decisions that will affect millions of Americans.

God bless you and may God bless America!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

NEW PRESIDENT

In just one week we will be selecting a new president, one that is going to be responsible for turning around a nation in financial distress and one that is definiately heading in the wrong direction. The difference between the two candidates has never been wider in U.S. history than the difference between Senator Barack Obama and his running mate, Senator Joe Biden, and Senator John McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin!

In my opinion, the Democrates have selected the least experienced and least qualified candidate for the President of the United States that I have seen in my entire lifetime. Obama has a very poor record of performance as a Illinios state Senator voting "present" over 130 times showing that he will not take a stand for what he believes is right. He even voted to not assist new borns from boched abortions and perferred to allow these children to die. His voting record in the U.S. Senate has shown him to be the "most liberal" Senator in the entire U.S. Senate. His past record of friends has thrown up a red flag to me as to his true character and should be considered alarming to those who think this man is qualified to lead the free world.

We need a fighter such as John McCain if we hope to regain the respect of the world. I could go on and on about the qualifications of Senator McCain but you all know about his service in the U.S. Navy, his 5 years in a prison camp and his many years as a Senator.

I am only one, but I am one, and I am doing what I can to see to it that we stop heading our nation head long into socialism. It is my prayer that we return to the basics that our founding fathers had established for what has become the greatest nation on the planet.

I am hoping that you will join me in putting a real fighter into the White House, Senator John McCain!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Looking forward to Denver

Well, the Kansas City seminar has come and gone and we had a great time and certainly enjoyed the famous BBQ at Jack Stacks down in the Plaza. I left K.C at 12:00 pm on Thursday and was home in bed at 12:01 am Friday morning after driving straight through. What a great joy to meet our new members and expecially the Carson family from Tulsa. I want to wish all of the attendees much success as they pursue their new legal video career.

Now, we are looking forward to a great Denver seminar next week. It follows the largest regional video expo in the country where over 150 manufacturers and suppliers will have their goods on display. Of course, I will be there with my little AGCV booth. The expo is October 8th and 9th of this month and we follow it at the same hotel with our four day CCVS seminar the 10th through the 13th. We still have room for you!

I received some distrubing information this week regarding the legal profession and I am sure that very few people realize just what the litigation costs are in this country to the average U.S. citizen. We are paying $625.00 per person for the court rooms, the judges and their staffs because we have become the most litigious country in the world. These costs do not include the lawyers fees and other costs that the litigants have to pay on their own. This report came from Richard Ward, chief executive officer of Lloyd's of London. England is fast approaching the same situation where businesses are relocating out of England (and out of the United States) to countries where they are not facing the posibilities of class-action law suits which are crippling the companies that are doing business in our two nations.

I hope that Congress will wake up to the fact that we, as a nation, are loosing many manufactur-ing firms that are locating in other countries because of our serious tort problems. Unfortunately, Congress has brought up tort reform 13 times and the Democratic canditate for Vice President has voted against the tort reforms all 13 times. This should come as no suprise as the Democrates have received some $107 million so far in 2008 from the class-action lawyers. I have nothing against lawyers making honest money but when it comes to class-action litigation, there have been a string of high-profile attorneys that are now serving time because of being convicted of crimes regarding their illegal actions.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

We Report, You Decide

I received an e-mail that I found extremely interesting and I am going to pass it on. This is the most interesting thing I've read in a long time. The sad thing about it, you can see it coming. I have always heard about this democracy countdown. It is interesting to see it in print. The e-mail was intitled "How Long Do We Have?" Here it is:

About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Atherian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilations from the begining of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence: 1. from bondage to spiritual faith; 2. from spiritual faith to great courage; 3. from courage to liberty; 4. from liberty to abundance; 5. from abundance to complacency; 6. from complacency to apathy; 7. from apathy to dependence; 8. from dependence back into bondage."

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election: Number of states won by Democrats: 19; Republicans: 29. Square miles of land won by Democrates: 580,000, Republicans: 2,427,000. Population of counties won by Democrates: 127 million, Republicans 143 million. Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by Democats: 13.2, Republicans: 2.1. These are simply the facts!

Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Republicans won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Democrat territory mostly encompasses those citizens living in government owned tenements and living on various forms of government welfare." Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complancency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

The conclusion, if congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called "illegals" and they vote, then we can say goodby to the USA in fewer than five years.

I hope that this message will help you realize just how much is at stake in this election and that you will realize that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.

"WE LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE!"

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Wrapping up August

It has been a strange summer here in Wyoming as we have had the warmest that we have seen since moving here. Now, it has been the coolest we have seen for this last week at this time of year. I watched the Gustav storm rage through New Orleans and on up the state and realized how fortunate I am to live in the great state of Wyoming.

Right now, the Republican convention is on and I watched a new storm, Gov. Sarah Palin, come on as strong as Gustav did. I do believe we are seeing a rising star on the Republican front and I will go on the record stating that she will be the first female to become president of the good old USA. No other governor in the history of this nation, that I am aware of, has ever carried an approval rating of over 80%. She receives that because she promised and she delivered. In case you didn't know it, I am a social and fiscal pro-gun, pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, anti-illegal immigrant conservative Republican that feels that the Democrats desire to become all things to all people is leading us to more government interferrence and more control of our lives. To be honest, I lost all interest in the election until McCain picked Sarah to be his running mate.

I am told that I should not let my personal feelings get into the publications of the Guild, particularly politics and religion, but this is my personal blog and I am going to put my honest feelings into it and hope that you will respond if you feel differently. Let me know your feelings and I will be happy to debate! Have a good week!

Monday, August 25, 2008

The Olympics

Wow, Am I ever proud to be an American! Our participants did America proud, won more medals than any other nation and set world records in the process. One thing that was very noticable throughout the Olympics was the amount of concentration on the part of those contending. Of course, we just saw the end result of what has been years of preparation, sacrifice and dedication to a cause! The results were outstanding, expecially on the part of Michael Phelps. As a child, his father abandoned the family, he had attention deficit disorder (ADD) and was pick on by his classmates because of his appearance. He was able to put all that aside and go after his goals regardless of his background of an unhappy childhood. Not only did we see terific individual effort but his greatness also depended on two of his Golds came as a result of "TEAM" effort. And houw about little Shaun (s) Johnson? She stuck in there to the end and finally came out with her Gold! There is a lesson here for all of us and that is to "keep on keeping on" regardless of our circumstances. It makes me stand back and take a look at what maybe I could have been if I had had the same degree of determination that we saw demonstrated at the Olympics. I close by saying "Three Cheers" to those who paid the price and received the award of world wide recognition! May you go and do likewise!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Back in business!

Wow, it is like I have a new life when I got my computer back and its finally running the way it was designed to run. If you sent an important e-mail to me when my computer was down, please send it again because I probably did not receive it. I now have two ways that you can e-mail me so you can send it to either gmarquette@agcv.com or to marquette@bresnan.net. I will respond during the same day I receive it except when I am teaching a seminar. If the seminar is here in Casper, I will respond the same evening but if I am on the road, I will respond when I get back.

I am looking forward to the Kansas City seminar in September and the Denver seminar in October. The Denver seminar follows the Rocky Mountian VidExpo at the same hotel. This expo is the largest regional video convention in the country so it could be very well worth your time visit and get caught up on all the latest equipment from the major manfaucturers of hardware and software. It is held by the Denver airport at the Crown Plaza Hotel on October 8th and 9th. We hope if you are in the area, you will stop by my booth and let us meet and greet you.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Problems Continue

Well, another week and another problem with computers. I received my computer back but it has a mind of its own and when it feels like it, it just shuts down and quits. So back to the shop and I have brougnt out one of my old computers and have now hooked it up to the internet so I can at least send and receive emails. If you sent one to me this weekend, I did not receive it so please resend. We are looking forward to our August seminar and then on to Kansas City in September and Denver in October. The Denver seminar immediately follows the Rocky Mountain VidExpo which is held at the same hotel on October 8th and 9th. It is a great opportunity to get caught up with all the newest hardward, software and assessories and attend the CCVS certification at the same time. Two for the price of one!

We would love to see any non-certified member to take advantage of this opportunity to become certified as we will be offering special prices for the seminar. Check with Michelle for the details.

Remember, any CCVS home study non-certified member must complete their certification by year's end or the cost and requirements will be very different. You can still complete the home study for the CCVS until December, 31st. After that, you will have to attend the live seminar to receive your CCVS. The CCVS home study program has been eliminated for all new members already.

Let us hear from you if you have any questions.

Friday, July 18, 2008

It was GREAT!

We just wrapped up our July Casper seminar and had the best qualified class of videographers that I believe we have ever had. Professional producers, directors and network videographers and they came from coast to coast! We also had the second highest final exam grade that we have ever received so I think most, if not all, left very happy with their "Casper experience."

I keep kidding people by stating that we have two seasons here in Casper, Winter and Fourth of July and we did have some very hot weather but no rain while the folks were here.

The biggest problem that we had is that both of our main computers were down and were being repaired at the computer store so we could not receive or send any emails for the entire week so I need to appologize to those that tried to communicate with us and did not receive our usual prompt reply. As you can see, my computer is now up and running but Michelle's is still not back.

I want to encourage any member that is not yet certified, that they attend the Denver seminar in October. The two days preceeding out four day seminar, the Rocky Mountain VidExpo is held at the same hotel, October 8th and 9th. All the major manufacturers of hardware, software and accessories will have displays and there are many breakout sessions during the two days. You will receive the same discounted room rates that we offer and we have special prices for attending the CCVS seminar so check with us and then make your reservations.

See ya!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Good news and bad news

Let me start with the good news. Our Board of Advisor member, Wayne Cole, whose home is in Goleta, California, was saved from the terrible fires that swept through the Goleta area. The evaculation orders came within just one block of his home but they only received a snowstorm of ash and smoke which made breathing difficult. Congratulations Wayne!

Now for the bad news. I just received a call from our Board of Advisor member, Gil Garratt that he has retired from the video business. That is really bad news for the attorneys that he has been serving because he is recognized as "Mister Legal Videography" in his area in Orange county, California. He may have retired from being full time in the legal video business but I am not going to allow him to retire from the Board. He is far too valuable for all of us for me to allow that to happen! If you are in his area in California, you might want to contact Gil and offer your services so he can refer his video business to you that is sure to continue to come in. We wish Gil much success in his retirement! I hope that he finds time to head his motor home this way as we would love to see him again!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

4th of July

Happy Fourth for you and your loved ones. This is the time that we should take time to thank God for our great nation. I have traveled around the world and there is not another nation on the planent that compares to the good old USA! It is comprised of the most generous people on the earth and, in spite of what some politicians would have you to believe, we have made the world a better place to live.

I found a source for the Samsung DVD VR 357s for just $129.99. These are factory refurbished and come with a 90 day warranty. They can be acquired at 1-800-229-2901 or by going to www.heartlandamerica.com. You should sign up for their free catalog of goodies.

Relax and enjoy the Fourth!

Friday, June 27, 2008

Just back from Las Vegas

Got in this morning at 1:30 am and I am realing feeling the strain of the trip where I left Vegas at 12:00 pm (temp 104) and arrived here in Casper this morning. Had a great group of 18 in Vegas and the highest average final score since I have been teaching the course. They averaged just 97% with the highest grade of 98.5 (just missed three questions out of 200!) That was achieved by Bev Black of Vegas! (She has been a court reporter for 40 years. She and her son Toby are starting the video business in Vegas and they are using the new VideoMaster-Pro 1020 model.

I am happy to report that my wife, Jan, has started to show some improvement in the movement of her legs and I want to thank all of you that have been holding her up with your prayers. For those of you that are not aware, she had a third stroke on our January trip to Florida. I hope you all have a great weekend and I will post again next week. Love to hear from you! Gayle

Thursday, June 19, 2008

I am getting ready for the Las Vegas CCVS seminar next week and it looks like we will have a full house. I noticed the temp was 115 yesterday so I am going to travel light. I will post again after I reurn at the end of next week with a full report. We have attendees from all over the nation which is usually the case when we hold a Las Vegas seminar. Also, let me remind you that starting July 1st, all applicants for the CCVS certification will be required to attend a live seminar as the home study approach has been eliminated for this certification. Please check our web site for the schedule of our future seminars as we will be in Kansas City, Denver as well as Casper.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Welcome!

Welcome to my new AGCV member's blog where you can voice an opinion, ask questions and contact me rearding the subject of legal videography. My foremost goal is to assist the willing in finding a new and beneficial career in the field of legal videography. To this end, I will attempt to find the answers to any questions that you may have in regard to this subject. I am also extremely interested in assisting the membership in marketing their services to the legal profession.

I firmly state, "It is not what or who you know, it's WHO KNOWS what you know!" If the word is not getting out, all the knowledge in the world is not going to do you a nickle's worth of good. I have often said that a day gone by wothout marketing your services or products is a day of lost potential income. Most business people hate selling (which is a complete mystery to me). If a business person is not interested in marketing, they should close up shop and find a job working for someone else. This is certainly true in the churches today as many are dying on the vine because of a complete void in marketing. I am forever searching for new and better ways to "get the word out"(and so should every business person) as that is the basis for success, regardless what the profession or the product is that you are providing.

If I can be of help, please blog me back and we will get the ball rolling by your "moving in the right direction."

For more information about the American Guild of Court Videographers, please go to http://www.agcv.com/. To find a qualified legal videographer, go to www.legalvideographers.com.