Speak Without Interruption

I am sticking up for Teachers

Bob Grant - Editor — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:57:27 +0000

My wife is a retired teacher and my daughter is a middle school teacher. I taught my first year out of college and then Uncle Sam came calling and I never went back to teaching. I was watching TV this morning and some guy – from some think tank – was saying how much more money is spent on students today than whatever many years ago. He says it is because so many more teachers have been hired over that time period when the number of students have remained the same yet they are still the same uneducated group as before. Once again – this is a similar chorus that I hear too many times – teachers are to blame for the downfall of our students. I think everything from clogged toilets to missing paper clips are blamed on the teachers within a given school. They are treated as second class citizens by parents, the general public, and administrators. I might say – in some cases – by administrators who could not cut it in the classroom so they became administrators.

Are teachers supposed to teach our students or be baby sitters – sometimes I wonder? They are given all the responsibility, and blame, but no authority to treat any given problem within the classroom. There are far too many situations where an unruly (or just plain spoiled) student takes up the majority of a teachers time when – in all reality – they should be given a swift kick in the rear or thrown out of school entirely. How can a teacher be expected to be everything to everyone and still have time to provide instruction and encouragement to our nations youth?

I am certain – as within any profession – there are bad teachers who should not be in the classroom; however, I think they are in the minority and not in the majority as seems to be the overall opinion with some people. If I were a young person – considering a profession – I would certainly think hard about going into the teaching profession and that is a sad situation to say the least. The money is not good – the hours are long – the demands are high – the rewards are becoming less and less. Personally, I think teachers are our first line of defense against ignorance and stupidity – a lot of which I see in those who would throw stones at those same teachers. I am sticking up for the teachers! I am glad you are there and sorry that you have to put up with so much B.S. in order to do what you love to do.

SEND A MESSAGE

timbryce — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:26:38 +0000

The November mid-term elections are just around the corner and they are shaping up to be one of the most interesting in recent history. Not since the 1960′s have I seen the country so politically charged. Political scientists and the media will be watching with bated breath as this election may very well have an impact on the 2012 presidential election.

Congressional approval ratings are at a new low. A Gallup Poll of June 23, 2010 reported, “Americans who believe most members of Congress do not deserve to be reelected support their position by saying representatives are simply doing a bad job, that they have been in office too long, that they are not making decisions based on what’s best for the country, or that they are too focused on self-interest, special interests, and partisanship.” Click for SOURCE.

Plain and simple, Congress has lost the confidence of its constituents; we no longer trust government. If, in fact, we are all as disgruntled as the polls tell us, then there is no alternative than to vote all incumbents out of office, regardless of their political party. It is time to start over. We have all heard this argument before, but it is starting to make sense to a lot of us who have had enough of the malarkey in Washington.

It would be nice to say, “Well, let’s keep him or her in office.” No, if you truly want to send a message that will make the politicians quake in their boots, including the president, you must vote out every incumbent in office. Only in this way will they take the American voter seriously. Anything less and it will be business as usual. We’re well overdue for our political enema, and the sooner we take our medicine, the better we will be.

Having said all this, I realize this will probably never happen as Americans are a timid lot. However, I think you will see considerable changes in the Congress after November, primarily thanks to the efforts of the Tea Party. Regardless of the outcome, now is the time to enact legislation to hold our politicians more accountable and clean up a system we consider corrupt. Such an effort must come from the people as politicians have too much vested in the current system.

Reform should include three areas:

* Term limits – our founding fathers originally envisioned Congressmen taking turns in government before returning to their normal lives. They never dreamt it would turn into a full time job as it has.

* Compensation – the perks and benefits received by Congress should be reexamined and put in line with that of the American taxpayer (their boss).

* Evaluation – this is an item of particular interest to me. Most Americans do not know how their government representatives are performing. Consequently, I would like to see a standardized report card that reviews the activities of each politician for a period of time, such as annually. If done properly, we can then compare and rank the performance of politicians, thereby offering voters an impartial means to evaluate them.

Unless we can make some substantial changes to our politicians and how they operate, we will continue to distrust our government. Just remember, if you are waiting for the politicians to correct the problems themselves, you’ll be waiting a long time as it will never happen. It must begin with the American voter.

In November, send a message: VOTE THEM OUT.

“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.”
- Mark Twain

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For Tim’s columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

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Tune into Tim’s THE BRYCE IS RIGHT! podcast Mondays-Fridays, 11:30am (Eastern).

I’d bitch about health care, but I’m too sick.

Carla René — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:53:00 +0000

My apologies, peeps: I’ve been rogue lately.

Was knocked on my butt last week with chest pains and shortness of breath. When I got home from picking up a few groceries on Wednesday evening at 7:30, I sat down to check my mail like I usually do, when I suddenly felt sharp pain in bands across my back and I was having noticeable trouble breathing. My breath was coming in short gasps. My roommate gave me a couple of muscle relaxers, as I thought it might be from my Fibromyalgia, but after thirty minutes I had no relief, and so she decided to take me to hospital.

I HATE going to hospitals. If you’re not clearly dying or decapitated, then they make you sit in the ER forever; although, I’ve known a few who lost limbs and still weren’t considered “trauma”. My minimum that night was 2 hours before being seen by a doctor, and another 2 once I had been seen to await my test results.

The highlight of the evening had to come when they needed to do a CT scan for blood clots or tears in the aorta, but they couldn’t get a vein for the IV. Finally, after yet another chest x-ray and blood work, they sent me home.

Fast-forward to the next night, and I’m still having pain and trouble breathing. The very handsome doctor whom I saw that night said the only choice left, was to get the IV and do the CT scan. I think I’ve had gynecological exams that were more pleasant. My veins run deep and they roll, so it’s nearly impossible to get a good IV on me at anytime. Tonight was no exception. I think I stopped counting at twelve times for how many times they had to poke me, and they still ended up doing an EJ (external jugular), and that one they had to try for three different times. They were tenacious, I’ll give ‘em that.

But, as soon as they got the pain meds in, I didn’t give a flip what they wanted to do after that.

A few hours later, and the handsome doctor returned with the verdict that I had a good case of pleurisy, which is an inflammation of the lining of the lungs. He sent me home with Percocet and orders to follow-up with an off-site doctor.

Here I am a week later, and having just as much pain and breathing trouble, but with no insurance, there is not going to be a doctor on the planet who will see me. So, it’s either make another coma-inducing trip to the ER, or sit in agony, as I’ve done now for the last two days since running out of my medication. It burns me up when people begin bitching about health care, who truly have no real need for it. However, my Systemic Lupus precludes me from the requisite bitching about socialised health care.

Just sorta ootzy that way.

And now after a nice, long break from writing, I’m back, working through the pain. Think I’ll take a break–my back is starting to hurt.

No Peace for the Israelis

Alan Caruba — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:28:41 +0000

No Peace for the Israelis

By Alan Caruba

Writing in the Jerusalem Post recently, Daniel Gordis wrote “Life in our region has taught us that the first necessary step to defending yourself is acknowledging that someone else is out to destroy you.”

The peace talks the White House is sponsoring, much as previous administrations going back to Jimmy Carter have done, are doomed to failure. Just prior to the talks, four Israelis, one of whom was pregnant, were murdered and Hamas took credit for it. In Gaza, 3,000 turned out to celebrate the killings.

The Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas, is a fiction. It exists so that Israel can maintain to the world that it is willing to negotiate a settlement to the issue of territorial issues, but those issues have been settled by a series of wars against Israel going back to the day it was founded in 1948.

For Muslims, there can never been a settlement because Islam maintains that any land it formerly conquered remains theirs even if they no longer control it. That is why the proposed Ground Zero mosque was named Cardoba after the occupation of Spain from the eighth to the fifteenth century.

Ted Belman, writing on the topic of “the occupation”, cited international law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, regarding the West Bank and Gaza. Described as the occupied Palestinian territories, Belman pointed out that “Not only are they not occupied in a legal sense, but also they are not ‘Palestinian’ lands in a sovereign sense.”

“Prior to 1967, Jordon was in occupation of these territories, just as Israel is currently in occupation. It must be clearly understood that Israel’s occupation is not illegal and the UN has never claimed it to be. In fact, Resolution 242 permits Israel to remain inoccupation until they have an agreement on ‘secure and recognized borders.’” Thus, authority over the disputed territories was transferred as the result of the 1967 war against Israel.

Much of the United States today is the direct result of having won territory, largely from Mexico, in wars. A large swath was purchased from France in the Louisiana Purchase and a small section on the southern border was actually purchased from Mexico. We bought Alaska from the Russians.

As Belman pointed out, “The U.S. has traditionally, with the Carter administration being the only exception, refrained from describing the settlements as illegal and instead called them obstacles to peace. In September 2009, Obama went before the United Nations and declared ‘American does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.’ This is closer to Carter’s position, but falls short of declaring them illegal.”

Former US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, said at the time, “This is the most radical anti-Israel speech I can recall any president making.”

After insulting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his first trip to Washington, backing a UN investigation of the “humanitarian” effort to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza from the sea, and sending mixed signals regarding the debate over a mosque near Ground Zero, there are no doubts which side he’s on in this latest charade.

For this reason alone, neither the President’s, nor Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, can be seen as mediating the present meetings between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority in good faith. Neither is neutral about Israel or Jews.

Just as Jews cite the Torah and Christians cite the New Testament, Muslims look to their holy book, the Koran, to justify their current actions. To understand today’s turmoil wherever Muslims assert their claims, one must understand that the Koran and the Hadith, prophetic traditions based on it and Muhammad’s life, are filled with hatred for Jews and Christians.

Even with the attacks of 9/11 and others since then, Americans have been slow to grasp that they are locked into a religious war with Islam. A society where religious tolerance is part of its most prized documents cannot understand a religion whose holy book calls for the conquest of all other religions and global political dominance.

There will be no peace for Israel, for the United States, and for the world so long as a religion that celebrates murder and death continues to pursue its mission based on the myths of Muhammad and his followers.

Locus of control: Who Runs Your Life?

scottqmarcus — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:13:03 +0000

At the very first session I had with my therapist oh so many years ago, the opening question out of my mouth was, “How long will this take?”

Being ever the smart aleck, he replied, “About 50 minutes.”

“No,” I responded. “How long will it take until I am fixed; you know, healed; normal?”

I am not alone when it comes to asking that question. One of the first items we want checked off our “to do list of change” is a date specific that we can mark on our calendar alerting us to the face that – voila – goal achieved! Like a prisoner sentenced to hard labor, we want to know how long until we are free.

From a logical point of view, the process of getting from “here” to “there” is actually pretty exhilarating. We find out about ourselves. We discover what we’re capable of doing. Others compliment and admire us. Life is new; every sunrise provides the option for multiple new adventures, unwrapping more of whom we really are. It would seem that with so much to gain, we would rather linger luxuriously in the progression instead of charge hell-bent for leather to the other side.

So, what’s with the big rush?

I’m not naïve, I am more than aware that it takes work and is, at times, prickly; yet most of our goal-driven society touts reflexively, “anything worth having is worth working for.” If I want a good marriage, I will work for it. Raising healthy, happy children is certainly an effort at times. Advancing my career and maintaining my house require expending resources. Certainly the best ME possible is a worthy objective, and therefore stands to reason that it also is worth the elbow grease necessary to achieve it.

We might not always be keen on it, but we are not a people afraid of hard work. So that cannot be the reason why the sprint to the finish line. I believe we are in such a hurry to “get there” because we are terrified of waking up with the realization that we have “lost our motivation.”

Like the despondent lover, we plead, “Don’t go; please stay. I’ll be good. What will happen to me if you leave?” If we can arrive at the altar before being jilted by our fickle paramour, everything will be OK.

Being a student of change (aren’t we all?), I am enthralled by our choice of words. After all, words reflect our thoughts. Thoughts determine actions. Watch what you say, it could become your life. Therefore, when we say, “I’ve lost my motivation,” it presupposes that motivation is some foreign entity residing in a distant land. Yet, we are the source of our motivation. We gin it up, and we turn it off. We control it; no one else does. Others can inspire us, coerce us, or force us – but motivate? Not so much. (Ever try and “motivate” a lazy teen? Get my point?)

The premier adjustment on the road to stable, long-term change, is to accept that the locus of control – where decisions are made – is internal, not external. Sure, “stuff” happens, and luck (or fate) can be players. Yet, they are bit parts. I own my spotlight. Once I accept that, the only thing in my way is me.

About the author: Scott “Q” Marcus is a THINspirational speaker and author. Since losing 70 pounds 15 years ago, he conducts speeches, workshops, and presentations throughout the country. He can be reached at scottq@scottqmarcus.com or you can follow him on twitter at twitter.com/bestdietingtips

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King

David Citrus — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:22:18 +0000

Remembering Martin Luther King

I was thinking about Reverend Martin Luther King about a month ago and it occurred to me once again that he has gotten a bad rap in some Conservative quarters. He possessed some traits we see far too seldom these days – for instance; courage to take his case to the court of public opinion, a cause based on our constitutional and the willingness to own the risks of doing so.

What caused me to think about Reverend King was my reflecting on the civil destructiveness of black intercity men and women every time their favorite team loses a championship or some white police officer oversteps his legal authority and treats a black person unjustly.

Inexplicably, they burn their neighborhoods, destroy stores and attack innocent people. And then some simpleton explains to us it is the fault of the white mans oppression of blacks for two-hundred years.

Martin Luther King would have condemned this from the highest rooftop.

King was assassinated forty-two years ago on April 4, 1968. He paid the ultimate price for his steadfast belief in Christian values and civil liberties transcending race and color.

To my mind, King was a great leader and his mission long overdue. As his movement grew he was maliciously maligned by being called a Communist.

It is fact that during the Cold War, the Russians began infiltrating organizations across the nation to promote Communism. They had students, teachers, professors and social movements of all types espousing communist ideology, and continue to do so today.

Nikita Khrushchev was instrumental in forwarding that cause. While addressing Western ambassadors at a reception at the Polish embassy in Moscow on November 18, 1956, he stated, “We will bury you from within.” (That may have been prophetic.)

The FBI surveilled King, bugged his telephones and infiltrated his Christian Leadership Conference with informers for years. All in an effort to prove him a Communist. All in vain.

Eight years after King’s death, in 1976, The Select Committee To Study Governmental Operations With Respect to Intelligence Activities cleared his name. This report dispelled the claims that King was a Communist, or that his closest advisors were Communists. There may have been Communists in his movement in the larger context, but that was unknown to Dr. King.

When I re-read his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, I could not help but conclude that King laid out an irrefutable case for change. The God of Christianity, as I understand him, and Christ himself would have applauded – well done good and faithful servant.

Here are excerpts from that memorable speech:

“Slaves had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.”
The operative word being slaves. They had been abused prior to the Emancipation Proclamation at the conclusion of the Civil War, and the practice lingered on.

“One hundred years later, the negro finds himself…in the corners of society….an exile in his own land.”

Racism still flourished in the South, less so in the North. The Civil Rights Act would be enacted eleven months later in July, 1964, one-hundred-and-two years after the Emancipation Proclamation Act was issued by Lincoln. The National Voting Rights Act of 1965 once again confirmed the Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States which prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen’s “race, color or previous condition of servitude” (i.e., slavery). That amendment was ratified on 3 February, 1870. So much for swift justice.

“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and The Declaration of Independence…. guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

What’s the beef here? Sounds patriotic to me.

“In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the plane of dignity and discipline.”

Emphasis mine. This is the antithesis of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. If you think about it, a person on a quest for justice who is doing so with such dignity is most uncommon.

“…must not lead us to a distrust of all white people.”

“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.”

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

If you have a problem with any of the words in the “I Have A Dream” speech you might want to ask yourself, “Why?”. Where I come from, “It is a spiritual axiom that whenever I am disturbed, there is something wrong with me.” That means I need to look at myself first and determine from whence my reaction comes. I can tell you, that simple premise has altered my life forever.

Saturday before last was the forty-seventh anniversary of Dr. King’s speech. Television personality Glenn Beck had scheduled a rally in the mall area around the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. King gave his speech. Al Sharpton also scheduled an event at the same place and time.

Beck’s rally was to ignite a wake-up call to Americans and their historical core values, honor Dr. King and the military. That’s a good thing and it is even better when a popular white man takes up the cause.

That’s where the rub came in. Sharpton did not take kindly to the place, time, purpose or use of Dr. King’s name. Apparently, Al thinks Dr. King is the exclusive property of blacks. I beg to differ with that notion. Apparently Dr. King’s niece does as well.

According to Rich Galen in the Patriot Post:
“The attempt by the Left to paint the event as racist was pretty seriously undermined by the appearance and speech by the niece of Martin Luther King, Alveda King, a noted Black conservative activist….”

Incidentally, Beck’s crowd took it upon themselves to clean up the mall area after the rally with hundreds of plastic bags. When is the last time someone else did that?

James Earl Ray did more than kill Dr. King on that fateful day in 1968. The unforeseen consequences of that act are two festering wounds that refuse to be healed. First, we may have seen the last black man capable of reversing the downward spiral of black society in the larger context. Any hope they will somehow redeem themselves from violence and the decimated black family without a man like MLK issuing the clarion call is a long-shot at best.

Second, that act of racial hatred gave birth to the sham ministries of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton – two men who have set the black man’s course on a path bereft of personal responsibility and a paralyzing belief in being a victim. Everything they represent is the antithesis of the words Dr. King spoke in the above speech excerpts.

These two race-baiting hucksters disgrace the name of the man whose tradition they deceitfully claim to carry on. Some of you may know that Jackson actually smeared some of King’s blood on his clothes after the assassination to give the false notion that he was at King’s side. Which he was not. But then, Jackson is a master of lies and cheap theatrics.

If Dr. King were alive today and ministering in the inner cities, black society might not be in cultural meltdown. Morality and hope might be fueling young lives instead of violence, drugs and institutionalized government-funded poverty.

I wish a genuine black minister of the gospel would appear and pick up the mantel of Dr. King. Such a man might succeed where squandered tax monies, government programs and social engineering legislation have failed miserably.

I also wish I thought such a man could be found….. and not slandered as an Uncle Tom.

Anyway, I was just thinking. What do you think?

The Small Reader

Bob Grant - Editor — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:48:59 +0000

The Small Reader

by Bob Grant

I buy your Mags and read them all,

Even though I’m kinda small.

I read your ads – I search the Web,

All before I head to bed.

I tell you all – I just don’t know,

Where the heck’s the Prize Patrol?

The Atlanta ‘Child’ Murders

Minnette Coleman — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:47:13 +0000

It was a chilly fall day in New Jersey when I realized that the Atlanta Child Murders, as they were called, had a terrible effect on the way people of color were looking at the world. I was in the grocery store with a friend visiting from Atlanta for the weekend. My not quite 2 year old daughter was sitting happily in the seat of the cart when an elderly white woman came over offering my child a treat. I don’t remember if she was working in the store promoting the items she was giving out but she seemed harmless enough and I allowed my smiling daughter to take the wrapped crackers. My friend gave me an irritated frown. “You let her take stuff from strangers after all those murders in Atlanta?”

It was something that had never dawned on me since my child wasn’t old enough to be allowed anywhere outside the presence of her family or her sitter. But it was something that had taken over the matter of child rearing in the south.

No matter where you move you take a little bit of home with you. Even though I had been in New Jersey for close to 3 years everything Atlanta touched me. The murders of 29 young black children, mostly boys, was quite scary. At the time I had two nephews in the city but they were much younger than the victims. Had I been in a grocery store in Atlanta that fall day I would have cut a nasty look at the woman trying to give my child a treat. Most black people thought the murders were committed by members of the Klu Klux Klan. Black children were usually loved and protected within the communities of the south. The whole ‘village’ watched and raised a child. If they did something bad either the neighbors punished them on sight or told the parents soon afterwards. Adults in all classes of black society were considered trusting figures unless they were drunk or crazy. It was hard to imagine that a black man could have committed these crimes against his people.

Even harder still realizing that the man they finally arrested was a high school classmate of my youngest sister and that his father had been a photographer at the newspaper where my dad worked. I was far too touched by all of this to take an impartial view.

Sitting outside of the terrorized city I watched the news, read reports and talked to my father and mother as poor Mr. and Mrs. Williams slipped into that oblivion that comes from being related to someone considered a crazed killer. Wayne was their only child. Wayne was the light of their lives. Wayne had been spoiled all his life. Could he really kill 29 children and get away with it? Could he really kill at all?

Wayne Williams was convicted of killing two grown men, not any children. And those Atlanta natives near and far cried foul when the police said the killer had been apprehended, the case solved. Demands to bring this murder spree to an end called for someone to be railroaded. Wayne Williams, slightly strange and gay in a fairly homophobic area, was the perfect choice. Most people I know did not believe he was guilty. Yet the murders stopped when he was arrested. But remember he wasn’t arrested for killing children. He was arrested for killing his lovers and dumping a body in the Chattahoochee River.

Those photos of him being paraded back and forth to court in handcuffs and shackles were difficult to deal with. Although they didn’t do DNA evidence back then they found hairs on the bodies of some of the children that were a match to African American men. In June of this year DNA testing proved that Williams could not be ‘excluded’ from the source of the hairs. But that didn’t say he was the killer of these innocents. That didn’t say it was ‘his’ hair.

Thirty years later I believe these murders remain unsolved. Williams denied killing anyone and whether or not that is the case I personally don’t know. After his arrest the searching for a killer stopped. Yes, as I said earlier so did the murders. Or did they? How do we, the public, know that the Atlanta Police department didn’t discover any more related murders after his arrest, his trial or his conviction? Their urgency to cover up and close this case could prevent them from being honest with the public or seeing patterns in other cases.

I do know that police departments everywhere I have ever been or lived have a tendency to try to close cases as quickly as possible to avoid the wrath of the citizenry and the politicians they put in office. We watch our children more than before and in a different way than before. It isn’t just talking to strangers, its talking to anyone. Not only do they not take treats from strangers we don’t take treats for them. We don’t look kindly on adults who smile at little ones. The smiles, we assume are covering something. And while Williams is in jail children go missing everyday in every corner of the globe. Sometimes they are found alive. Most times they are not found at all. And when they are we wonder at the mental condition of the trusting young, pulled from the street, taken in their sleep, abducted as they are walking home with toys in hand from playing just two houses away.

As I watch my granddaughter playing close to me I realize nothing got solved when Williams went to jail. The Atlanta Child Murders still hang over us all because we don’t really know who killed those children, the children on the milk cartoons or the children on the nightly news. Even with DNA evidence the little bodies can’t tell us. All we can do is hold our loved ones near and hope the madness stops.

Speak up, moderates!

Muhammad Cohen — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:45:22 +0000

It’s a busy week, full of competing ideas and emotions. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, kicking off the high holiday season begins at sundown Wednesday. Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, ends Friday, giving way to the celebration of Id ul-Fitri. Saturday marks the ninth anniversary of the al-Qaeda attacks on the US that left more than 3,000 dead. Amid the controversy over Cordoba House, an evangelical Christian pastor with a congregation of 50 in Florida has created an international furor with plans to commemorate the day by burning copies of the Qur’an.

On all sides, extremists have seized control of the debate. Moderates must raise their voices to be heard over the radicals and take back the conversation. In this last shared holy season between Muslims and Jews until the 2030s, Palestinians and Israelis have restarted peace talks; perhaps negotiators will be infected with the spirit of the season, as I suggested last year in The Guardian. It may not help to be hopeful, but as the old joke* instructs, “It couldn’t hurt.”

*For those who don’t know the joke: The legendary actor of the Yiddish theater Boris Tomashevski dies during intermission of a performance. The producer comes out from the closed curtain and tells crowd, “Ladies and gentlemen, it breaks my heart to inform you that the great man, Tomashevski has passed away in his dressing room.”

From the back of the theater, a woman’s voice calls out, “Give him an enema.”

The producer ignores the cry and continues, “Of course, the performance will not continue, and we will refund your money. I’m sure you join me in sending deepest condolences to the family of the great man…”

“Give him an enema,” the woman repeats.

The producer can’t contain himself any longer. “Lady, Tomashevski is dead. An enema can’t help him.”

“It couldn’t hurt.”

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie.

When you have to kill a friend

Prentiss Gray — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:15:30 +0000

It has always seemed to me that death is pretty easy for the departed. I mean, they don’t have to fold up the chairs or turn out the lights after the funeral. They are completely free of any involvement in the emotional turmoil that follows a death. They wont be the ones who stop like a sticking machine, 2 or three times a day because someone is suddenly missing.

That’s how it is, isn’t it? Its like waiting for someone to come around a corner who never does, and then realizing they wont, and having to push through that realization to continue on with your own life. And we, the friends and relatives of the departed, get to do that over and over for a good long season until the expectation fades.

We had to put Toby (Toe-Biter) down last week. It was sad, but his hips were so far gone he just couldn’t keep upright on a hardwood floor. He would go down with a whimper and then struggle to get to his feet. Failing that he would just look around with his one good eye for help. No way for a brave dog to live, no way at all. That’s when it’s time to do my least favorite fatherly duty. Pull the plug.

That’s not mentioned when people talk about being a “Dad.” Everyone talks about taxes, houses and insurance, but off’ing your friends never seems to come up. Still, it’s a duty, one I’ve had to perform three times on the canine members of our family. Take them for the long ride, the one they don’t come back from to face the family. Dogs get the easy road, they stay at the vet, dead and gone.

Dads get to bring home the hole in everyone’s life. Usually I’m an advocate of getting another dog right away. There are plenty who need a home and there is nothing like a new puppy for filling those holes. However, this time we’re downsizing; we’ve become a one dog household.

Just a quick word about cats. In my experience, cats have always had the civility and good manners to go off and die by themselves, unaided. But the relationship is totally different, cats are the soul of independence. They would much rather die fighting or in the chase than suffer the indignity of “being put down.” Dogs are much more dependent on us, for everything. That’s probably what makes them so endearing.

It’s probably quite weird for Sarge (Sergeant Fury) the last remaining dog in our family. He’s not ready for top dog status, probably never will be. It’s just not in his personality. However, the cats have taken him under their wing and given him the honorary position of “Bottom Cat”, or “He who eats last.” That’s cool, Sarge is a follower.

We miss Toby, as we should, but we’ll try not to make a career out of it. Life is going on and Toby isn’t. Too many of us treat death as a terrible tragedy, instead of an eventuality. To be sure there are tragic deaths, but most are the “got old and died” kind. The tragedy is in the minds of the left behind, the dead are past caring. But then again, the living have to do all the work, don’t they?

Interestingly enough, the vet’s final words to us as we left the little examination room, Toby’s body still on the floor, have stuck in my mind.

“I wish we could do this for people,” she said.

So do I. A clean quick end to to a long, well-lived life would be a good thing. It would be a comfort to know that someone would put me down when I’m looking around for help with my one good, albeit milky eye. Very comforting indeed.

Copyright Prentiss Gray 2009

Prentiss Gray is a writer and columnist and currently writes the Domesti-Tech Blog for Gannett. He can be reached through his website at www.prentissgray.com

“The Physician” – A Perfect Tax Write Off Idea

Bob Grant - Editor — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:37:06 +0000

I have a condition that requires periodic visits to my doctor. Yesterday was one of those visits and I believe it lead me to a great idea. As part of the service of this site – I (for free) – am willing to share great ideas with our readers. This idea is specifically for those of you who have excess funds and in need of a tax write off. The idea is a hotel and I call it ”The Physician.” It sort of has the same ring as the Venetian or the Bellagio – only with different results. Here are my tips on how to set it up:

* When a customer arrives you immediately have them fill out appropriate forms – providing personal and other information of which they have provided during each of their previous visits.

* If possible, you have them wait at the check in counter for an undetermined period of time while the employees talk about personal issues.

* You then have them sit in very cramped and institutional chairs. The closer together and uncomfortable the better.

* You let them wait an undetermined amount of time before calling them to their room – the longer the better.

* You have magazines available for reading – keep them available until almost all of the pages are torn out and the pages are curled up. Also, business periodicals are most recommended – the more boring the better.

* When lead to their room make certain you weigh and measure the customer. You want to make certain they will fit into the very small room where you are taking them.

* Depending on the situation – you give each customer their bathrobe first. It needs to be very thin and to be put on backwards – ties are in the back and better for sitting against the cold wall and uncomfortable chairs in the room. Limit of two.

* As with any hotel the bed must be the focal point. It must be very hard, and cold, with a leather cover (worn edges are encouraged and perhaps a “Washington Slept Here” sign). The pillow must smell of disinfectant and moth balls. The sheets must be very flimsy – but hard – paper that crinkles every time you move and must stick to butts. If it rips when the customer moves this is all the better.

* There should absolutely be no radio, TV, or other means of entertainment within any room. Customer creativity is encouraged.

* Walls to the next room should be thin enough to hear voices but not thin enough to hear actual conversations. This only increases the intrigue while being in your otherwise silent room. Glass drinking glasses may be an option so customers can use them to listing in on their neighbors.

* The wall art should be something of a personal nature. Diagrams of the human body are encouraged – labels are preferred. Optional are magic markers so the customer can label their own body parts. Also, when finished with magazines in the waiting room – bring them to the customer’s room for further enjoyment.

* Computers may be in each room; however, the customers may not use them. No showers or baths – just a small sink is available, which again, encourages customer creativity in keeping clean and healthy.

* Additional wall art is optional although highly recommended to peak the interest, and wonderment, of the customer. As in this collection – which at first glance looks like a collection of lighters – but on further notice is actually a collection of Pace Makers. Other unique collections are encouraged depending on the theme of the room.

* Customers are to be left in complete silence – again left up to their own inginuity – until a member of management comes for a visit and then releases them from the room. No one is allowed to leave their room – or hotel – until they are officially discharged.

Again, I offer this idea to those of you who might want a tax write off. Open “The Physician” for business and reap the rewards almost instantly!

HOW WE MOTIVATE PEOPLE

timbryce — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:23:47 +0000

I’ve been thinking about how we motivate people lately, be it in the work place or in a volunteer organization and I’m of the opinion there is no single approach that is universally applicable. It’s a matter of finding each person’s hot button and knowing how to push it. I think the reason for this is because people today are more ruggedly independent and competitive, rather than cooperative and working as a team. Unfortunately, this complicates the life of the manager who must somehow get a group of people working towards common objectives.

I’ve classified the various motivational techniques into “Soft” and “Hard.” Soft motivation techniques are used to encourage people to think and act in certain ways primarily using the art of suggestion. Some techniques in this category are direct, but most are subliminal as we appeal to the worker’s intellect, that it would be in their best interest to work or act in a certain manner. Managers may use one or more of the following techniques depending on the person and situation:

“Soft”

* Salesmanship – if the business problem or objective is properly stated and the benefits clearly defined, most people will respond accordingly, but a lot depends on how the message is presented. A word out of place or spoken without conviction and your message may be misinterpreted. It’s very important to solicit understanding and get your audience shaking their heads in agreement with you thereby confirming they comprehend your message.

* Brainwashing – do not underestimate the power of repetitive messages, be it on the computer, on printed signs, audio sound bites or whatever. Repetition represents a subliminal way to motivate people. Keep your message short and sweet; also make it iconic so it triggers certain responses from your workers.

* Rewards – financial compensation, benefits, time off and even a simple luncheon represents a carrot and stick approach to motivating people. To me, this approach was more effective 20-30 years ago than it is today where employees fully expect to enjoy all of the perks a company has to offer regardless if they earned it or not.

* Elitism – creating an esprit de corps among workers has at times proven very effective. Over the years there have been several reports describing how workers who are given special preferential treatment respond enthusiastically. Giving such treatment implies promoting a worker’s social standing in the company (it’s a “class” thing). Elitism can take many forms, be it new facilities, use of special technology, more freedom in the workplace, more participation in project decisions, etc. If workers believe they are working on a “state of the art” project or are given star status, they tend to develop a swagger and work more earnestly as they wish to maintain their perception of self-worth. Occasionally workers abuse their stardom, at which time it is necessary for the manager to burst their bubble and bring them back to Earth.

* Interpersonal Relations – This is much more than salesmanship as it requires the use of all of a manager’s rhetorical powers being applied spontaneously. Here, the manager must interact with each worker individually and thereby must know each person’s hot buttons. Consequently, a manager must be able to quickly shift from being friendly and kind one moment, to satirical in the next, to consoling, to some friendly bullying, to kidding and friendly teasing, etc.

* Inspiration – this can be a very handy technique for motivating people who can be inspired through a talk or an article. If workers truly believe in their leaders, they can move heaven and earth. This of course means the development of positive role models for others to emulate. It can also be through some act a person has performed, such as some special achievement or award received. People tend to respect others they know to possess special qualities.

* Mentoring – here, the older workers offer wise counsel to younger workers and guides them through their professional development. Although mentoring was at one time a popular technique used in business, it fell into disuse for several years in the late 20th century. Only now is it beginning to make a comeback.

* Teaching – simple education through classes or seminars can inculcate important lessons and leave an indelible impression on workers.

Aside from these “Soft” motivational techniques, there are some workers who are just plain “thick” and do not take hints well. Consequently, a manager must make use of “Hard” techniques, such as:

“Hard”

* Criticism – sharp criticisms and insults regarding workmanship can sting, particularly if coworkers learn of it. Unfortunately, the only way to get some workers’ attention is by questioning their professional integrity. Sometimes bullying can produce remarkable results, but I do not recommend it as a regular diet. Beware of embarrassing employees who may respond by subverting your plans. It is also a good way to create enemies. Then again, do you really care?

* Ranting and raving – loud and obnoxious outbursts demonstrate your displeasure with something and acts as a warning to all in earshot that you mean business. Most people like to avoid losing their cool, but sometimes it can really rattle the cages of workers. Think of it as an occasional stick of dynamite to move a stubborn problem out of the way.

* Threats – nobody likes to be threatened but regrettably sometimes it is necessary and certain people respond positively to it, be it a threat to employment, a cut in pay, or whatever. By putting the fear of God into someone, it’s amazing what they can produce. One caveat though, check the person’s work carefully as they may have cut corners or even sabotaged their work.

* Placebos – represents simple trickery, be it offering a magical pill, changing the clock, or whatever. Through simple misdirection you can induce people to produce the results you want in spite of their inclinations.

* Micromanagement – representing close supervision of the worker activities. This is primarily used in situations where the boss does not trust the judgment of the workers and finds it necessary to direct all of their activities personally. The only problem here is the manager spends more time supervising and less time managing. Further, workers no longer feel responsible for workmanship and rightfully blame the manager for any errors made.

It bothers me that we have to use “Hard” motivational techniques to produce the results we want as managers. I am the type who just needs to believe in what I am doing in order to tackle an assignment (just a little “Salesmanship”). However, not everyone is the same and it is necessary for a manager, regardless of the organizational entity, to use whatever techniques are available to get the job done. It is not surprising to see some people take on a chameleon approach to management where their disposition can change from kind and gentle to harsh and tyrannical in order to suit the moment. In fact, a good manager must possess the ability to change his/her deportment. If a manager is nothing more than a simple easygoing person, workers may be inclined to abuse him as they do not take him seriously. In contrast, if a person is a tyrant, he runs the risk of mutiny or abandonment. The manager must be willing to change his disposition to suit the situation and get the results desired. In the end, it’s a matter of knowing how and when to push the hot buttons of our workers.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

For Tim’s columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

Like the article? TELL A FRIEND.

Tune into Tim’s THE BRYCE IS RIGHT! podcast Mondays-Fridays, 11:30am (Eastern).

Koran Afire & Mosque Inflamed!

Michael Crumling — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:02:36 +0000

So I hear that a church in Florida has the intention to burn a pile of Koran on the anniversary of September 11. I cannot tell you how much I think that this is wrong. I have hatred in my heart, I am sorry to say, for the people who brought down the Trade Center. I hope they burn in hell, or at least suffered at their death. However, burning a pile of books is not the answer. It is wrong. The Nazis burned books. Extremist Muslims burned Bibles. That doesn’t make this right! We should not lower our standards.

To use the logic of those supporting the “ground zero” mosque, they have the right to burn the books! They have the right to build the mosque. Though I think that building the mosque is somehow worse, as thousands died, neither should happen. Neither is any better than a creep trying to pick up a widow at her husbands’ funeral. They are both in poor taste no matter how you cut it!

“Write Religiously!”

Amanda Rose Adams — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:48:14 +0000

Natalie Goldberg, William Zinsser, Anne Lamott; I love them all, and they all say, as did my creative writing professors, “Write religiously!” or words to the same effect. Alas, I do not write religiously, not even observantly . . . though for the past decade I wrote technically – does that count?

Aside from the thousands of pages of software installation and user guides I authored, I spit and sputtered poetry, blog posts, an occasional magazine article, and more recently two books. But I feel detached, like those people who only go to church on Christmas and Easter . . . am I really a writer? I don’t write every single morning – I stake out thee hours a week in a coffee shop while my kids are in acting classes. I’m an opportunist, not a committed writer. I have no congregation, no sunrise service.

When I was younger I would have hung my head and said, “No, I’’m not a writer at all.” With very few and obscure publication credits, I didn’t feel like a writer. Other than the one article I wrote while on maternity leave, (but asked the publisher donate my fee to charity because I was collecting medical disability) I’ve never made money writing anything but technical manuals, though that paid well.

So, I don’t have the success, and my passion is periodic not zealous – am I a writer? I think the answer comes at 2:00 am when I can’t sleep until I’ve put pen to paper. The answer is in the filing cabinet of poems, stories, and pages of ideas in my basement. The answer is piled up in copies of a charitable poetry anthology that I edited and published in January – of which I am so proud. The answer is yes, I may not be the prescriptive fundamentalist praying to Papa’s ghost in Key West for inspiration each morning, but a writer I am – Amen.

Is It Me or is It the Post Office?

Minnette Coleman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:02:19 +0000

To Whom It May Concern (and this concerns damn near everybody):

I need to lodge a formal complaint to those who run the United States Postal Service. Anybody who wants to feel free to jump in and comment for I am certain I am not alone in the ridiculous way our mail is handled. And please do not take this to mean we need to outsource ANYTHING!!!! We just need to have better quality service from those with post office jobs of any kind.

“Going Postal” is what I wanted to do after my experience last week. This didn’t involve one post office but several around the country. To start I sent a letter and sympathy card to a friend who lost her husband near the end of July. I sent it overnight and it was scheduled to arrive two days before the funeral. That’s what the over $19 was for. I didn’t wan it to get lost in the mail. I couldn’t make it to the funeral and I wanted to offer my shoulder as well as condolences. Two days before there would be enough people at the house to sign for it.

Instead it arrived a week later. I know this because last Monday it was retruned to me- almost 30 days after it had bee sent out. I inspected it like a diamond- something no one in the postal system seemed to have done. There was enough postage, it had the right address. Everything was filled out. It ws returned because no one signed for it. Why? Because it arrive 9 days after it should have and the wife was away dealing with sad family matters due to the demise of her husband. There was no one to sign for it. I probably would have been better off sending it regular mail.

But the story of the Postal Services unexplainable inadequacy doesn’t end there. The package was returned to me last Monday. Last Wednesday I got home and found a note that said an attempt had been made to deliver another package.

Let me take an aside here to explain how packages get delivered in my neighborhood. If the regular delivery postman is not driving the truck the replacement guy drives into the block and sits for a while eating his lunch and doing God knows what else in his truck. Then he gets out and goes and posts a notice on the door of houses where packages are to be delivered. He doesn’t try to deliver anything. He doesn’t even ring the bell. Once I caught the guy trying to escape his duty and he got embarrassed with his “I though no one was at home” line. He didn’t even have the package on his person and I forced him to go to the truck to get it.

Last Wednesday was the regular guy’s day off so of course thats why I got the notice. I wasn’t expecting a package and tried to read the zip code but it was little more than scribbled on there. There was also some strangeness about the attempted delivery date, but I could pick the package up at the post office the next day.

When I first moved into my neighborhood I quickly learned the best times to miss the crowds at the post office- during soap operas. So I waited until Erica Kane was keeping most of the wives and mothers occupied with “All My Children” and I went to get my package. There was one window and a line of 15 people trying to get what should have been delivered. Some had not been at home, most didn’t speak English and one lady starting shouting about service after I had been there 15 minutes to the supervisor who came out and looked around and did nothing. There was one person whose job it was to handle getting these packages. That woman is the nicest postal employee I have met in years so my tirade today is not about her.

I waited for my turn for 30 minutes. When I got to the window I was greeted pleasantly even though the woman knew I was angry for having to stand in line for so long. I handed her my identification and the ticket. She looked at it and said: “I’ll be right back.” All this time I wondered what the package could be. I hadn’t ordered anything and wasn’t expecting anything from family. Maybe it was a nice surprise.

Five minutes later the postal clerk returned. “This package was delivered,” she said with a sympathetic smile.

“When?” I asked trying not to show my annoyance at having wasted my time because of yet another postal screw-up.

“Monday. I can write down who signed for it ’cause I can’t pronounce the last name.” In handwriting that was quite clear and distinguished she wrote my husband’s name. She couldn’t pronounce it because in his tiny script the last name is all jumbles.

“That’s my husband,” I replied. Before I could go on she jumped in.

“Then you got the package.”

“I got a returned express mail package because no one signed for it.”

She looked down at the receipt. “Well that’s what this is.”

“But I got it two days ago and this notification was delivered yesterday. You’re telling me it’s for a package that was delivered on Monday?”

She smiled and nodded. I knew she was expecting me to really go postal. Thirty five minutes of my time spent in a post office when I could have been doing something else.

“I’m sorry,” she said politely.

The people behind me were shaking their heads. The line had grown longer with citizens desperate to get their missed letters and packages. Why weren’t these people at home waiting for Oprah to come on I wanted to know? But I really didn’t care. “Hey,” I said with a weak grin, “It’s not your fault.”

And it wasn’t. several postal employees messed this up from the beginning. It should have been delivered on time since it had all the right information. The ball was dropped there. No one bothered to clear it up in the aftermath. When the package was returned to me it was actually slid under the door. No one signed for it. I probably would have realized it was the package on the delivery attempt slip if I had been able to read the package number and zip code. But they were totally illegible.

I know many will say that is why FEDEX and UPS are so often used. Trust me, they aren’t much better. FEDEX has a tendency to return undelivered letters to you so long after you sent theym you have forgotten what was in them. And UPS? Let’s just say sometimes they don’t arrive looking like what was sent.

Is there anyway to fix this? Perhaps penmanship lessons for drivers so the slips they leave for you don’t look like they are practicing to become doctors. And how about both hands working together? What is wrong with organization and information? It seems it would be easier to make telephone calls than try to send letters.

We need to fix this. I do not look forward to sending sympathy notices via the Internet. And I do not look forward to standing in line again at the post office.

Thank you Mr. President, but we need more….

Prentiss Gray — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:06:15 +0000

It was nice to hear our President fighting back a little yesterday. A blast from his recent past that was very refreshing. It was also great to hear a proposal for more infrastructure work, we need that.

We drove to Maine and back this summer and saw a lot of new asphalt. “Your stimulus dollars at work” read the signs we passed. My own town put a new layer of asphalt on the main street at the bottom of our hill. More stimulus money put in the right place.

All those refreshed roads meant that the people driving bulldozers, holding flags or just leaning on a shovel were taking home a decent wage. That was good to see. But even better is that improvements in infrastructure mean property values go up, and everyone could use that.

More importantly, much of our transportation infrastructure has been in decline for the past 20 years. Remember the late 90’s when 50-year-old concrete bridges were actually falling down? I do. Infrastructure is one of the best investments that a country can make. It improves travel for it’s own people and makes it much more attractive to foreign investors. Since we sell a lot of our debt, that’s important. Whether you like the idea of selling debt or not, I’m sure you don’t mind a smoother road or a safer bridge.

Although I’m not sure 50 billion is enough. Like the stimulus, it’s been trimmed down to be able to get through congress. But the first stimulus would have worked much better if it had been much larger. That’s the lesson of the great depression, cut back on a stimulus and it doesn’t work very well. A stimulus is designed to get things going again and it has to be massive. If we fall into the false economy of trying to save money on fixing something, we get the same result as the person who buys the “bargain” tires; having to buy another set much too soon.

It’s the same problem I’ve seen over and over through 30 years of consulting. Business owners try to save themselves into profitability. The lure of “reducing cost” during a tough time proves too powerful for short sighted business men. They call in the bean counters and start cutting back, when they should be investing in themselves and hitting the street for more business. The time to save is when you’re making money, not loosing it. Of course putting away money when times are good is an even harder sell.

Still, I have hopes that a prudent and beneficial investment in infrastructure will somehow get through a contentious congress. I suspect that even the “party of no” will see that it means more local money and jobs for the people they represent. That’s if the oil lobbies don’t see to it’s demise. I’m still disappointed it isn’t much bigger, but I’m pretty sure that would have no chance of getting through at all.

Personally, I’m hoping to see a decent part of the money go into investment in railroads in the near future. I heard an interview with a past president of Amtrack about a year ago and he said:

“We already have 200 mile per hour trains, but we can only run them a little over 100 because the track beds are so degraded. Also our expenses are high due to the amount of patch and repair we have to do. If we could just re-do the tracks and beds our costs would be dramatically reduced and we could go faster and run more trains.”

Here in the Northeast trains play a very important part in travel. Anyone who has stood in line at the airport for two hours and then crushed themselves into a tiny cramped seat on an over-crowded aircraft is thrilled by a big soft train seat. It takes 2 hours and 47 minutes to get to Washington by train, for about $158. It’s cheaper if you take the more local 3 plus hour train. The plane takes only one hour and 20 minutes, but costs $200 (on a good day). However, don’t forget to get to the airport at least an hour and a half early for the free scan and grope. And please wear clean socks, it looks so much better when you’re standing in line for shoe inspection.

On the plane, after serving everyone else in front of you, they will offer to bring you some peanuts and a drink. Take it easy on ordering anything else, prices are not competitive. Please try not to spend any time standing up and stretching or just walking around. If you’re not going to or from the bathroom, you need to be in your seat, sir, with the seatbelt fastened.

Of course, on the train you can get up and go get a whole meal whenever you feel like it. That would be a real meal, cooked to order and brought to your table. There are also snack bars, if you feel a little more informal. Need to get some work done or just stretch out with the paper? Move into the restaurant car and have a whole table to yourself. You can use the bathroom whenever you like and any device you please at any time of the trip. You’ll even have power and Internet access. Go ahead, get up and stretch your legs and stand around talking to your pals, it’s cool on the train.

Most of us just gaze out the windows though, because there is actual scenery going by. A continuous show of American landscape flowing by the quiet smooth train windows all presented for your enjoyment. I like that because I like to travel, meaning I like the traveling part. Trains are good for “travelers” because they are not a frenetic race to be somewhere, they are somewhere.

So I was thrilled by the President’s proposal, it’s all good and I may even get to ride an improved train or two. Golly, I wonder if they will bring back sleeper cars? Or is that just crazy talk?

Copyright Prentiss Gray 2009

Prentiss Gray is a writer and columnist and currently writes the Domesti-Tech Blog for Gannett. He can be reached through his website at www.prentissgray.com

COMMUNICATION COMPLEXITY

timbryce — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:31:40 +0000

Have you ever been a project manager and found yourself spending an inordinate amount of time simply keeping the project team synchronized? Or perhaps a department manager trying to keep all of your people gainfully employed? It should come as no small surprise that managers probably spend at least 25% of their time communicating with their people, regardless if the organization is well structured and disciplined. Communications plays a significant role in any organization, but many fail to grasp the simple complexity of communications. Let’s begin by understanding the number of lines of communications between people. Interestingly, the number of lines of communication grows exponentially based on the number of people involved. For example:

Number of People: 2
Lines of Communications: 1

Number of People: 3
Lines of Communications: 3

Number of People: 4
Lines of Communications: 6

Number of People: 5
Lines of Communications: 10

Number of People: 6
Lines of Communications: 15

If these lines of communications are not properly maintained, the manager runs the risk of creating a “Tower of Babel” effect whereby workers trip over each other in an uncoordinated manner and productivity degenerates. Trouble inevitably ensues the moment a manager cannot effectively maintain the lines of communications between his people. The greater the size of staff, the greater the chance for a miscommunication or interruption to occur.

To keep people rowing in unison, the manager will use several different techniques, including: meetings, telephones, calendars, e-mail, project schedules, prioritized “to do” lists (aka, “punch lists”), Internet discussion groups, web pages, text messaging, memos, etc. You’ll notice a lot of this is based on the written word, which tends to be unidirectional in nature (from one person to another), This may be useful for a lot of things, but do not overlook the power of omni directional communications, such as the spoken word, which is why I’m a big believer of meetings where the workers can look the manager and each other in the eye and offer feedback.

It is imperative the manager create an environment where the lines of communication can be safely maintained. This is more than a technical issue, it is also cultural in terms of observing the proper form of address and decorum.

A person’s chances for promotion in an organization directly depends on his/her ability to effectively communicate with other people. Some people find this natural and can handle it easily, others cannot. However, being cognizant of communication complexity puts you at a distinct advantage over those who do not.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

For Tim’s columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

Like the article? TELL A FRIEND.

Tune into Tim’s THE BRYCE IS RIGHT! podcast Mondays-Fridays, 11:30am (Eastern).

Changing Focus

Kaye — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:17:06 +0000

Labor Day Weekend is “the unofficial end of summer. I’m beginning to see the telltale signs of fall’s arrival; days are shorter, evenings cooler, some trees are dropping their leaves, the summer vegetable garden is making way for the cool weather crops, the basil in my herb garden has bolted and the sedums in my garden are in bloom.

Early this afternoon I reluctantly went into the vegetable garden to pull up the reaming tomato plants; they won’t yield anymore. My husband and I stood at the garden’s perimeter in silence, each of us saying a silent goodbye to the summer garden we so careful and lovingly planted this past spring. God willing, we’ll plant again next spring but, somehow that seems a long way off. I’m gonna get a few collards and cabbage plant tomorrow,” he said as he turned and walked from the garden. “Yes”, I replied, “vegetables are so expensive now”. “Yep”, he answered, “even the starter plants are high now. Leave the bell peppers there”, he said, “they’ll still make”.

We live in the middle ground of gardening in the United States. The US Plant Hardiness Map puts us right on the border of zones 7 and 8 so what we plant early yields longer. This year was not a great year for production, it was hot and dry. Nonetheless, planting and growing then eating your own fresh produce gives you a special feeling of accomplishment and pride. We cared for our garden like it was one of our children. We amended the soil in hopes of yielding a larger bounty and we watched daily with great anticipation looking for the first tomato, squash and eggplant blooms and we watered it when the forecast was void of rain day after day after day..

We’ll plant collard, cabbage and maybe some kale plants this week. In the weeks to come we’ll watch them grow as we try to prevent the rabbits and insects from devouring them. I can predict with almost certainty that I will be clad in a jacket and gloves when making the first harvest of collards right after the frost hits them. I don’t know why but, collard greens are best picked after the first real frost. By then my thoughts will be directed towards other things, indoor things and my focus will change.

Are The Israelis Serious? That Depends

georgepolley — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:55:14 +0000

The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people

forget that certain other sets of people are human.”

—Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)

If the question is, are the Israeli government and its supporters serious about addressing the issues that cause them their biggest public relations problems, the answer is no. Instead of changing its behavior, Israel’s response to criticism is a simple one: Deny wrongdoing, play the role of victim, punish those who resist, and attack and destroy the credibility of those who criticize it.

Earlier this year The Reut Institute (http://www.reut-institute.org/en/Default.aspx), an Israeli think tank founded in 2004 by Gidi Grinstein and others, published a 93-page report titled: “Building a Political Firewall against Israel’s Delegitimization”. A primer in designing and carrying out a propaganda campaign (called “public relations” in the report), it is a very revealing document. (For a copy, click on http://www.reut-institute.org/data/uploads/PDFVer/20100310%20Delegitimacy%20Eng.pdf.)

Nothing in the report reveals even the slightest interest in seeking out and understanding issues from the Palestinian point of view. Instead the report focuses on identifying Israel’s critics in “the resistance network” (those people and organizations that are critical of Israel’s policies and behavior), and building a political firewall against them. The report presents out a detailed plan for improving Israel’s public relations (propaganda) program and its delivery.

The message is simple: Deny all charges, seek out, disarm and if necessary, silence the opposition through intimidation and shaming. Work with liberal elites around the world to influence NGOs, governments and other influential bodies to delegitimize Israel’s adversaries. Support scholarly seminars and institutes that discuss criticism of Israel as evidence of growing antisemitism, write opinion pieces that insinuate or blatantly charge that criticism of Israel supports antisemitism, support sympathetic politicians, lobby and, when needed, intimidate.

Following are several examples, beginning with …

The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA). YIISA (http://www.yale.edu/yiisa/) bills itself as “dedicated to the scholarly research of the manifestations of antisemitism globally, as well as other forms of prejudice.” Beginning this past August 23^rd, it hosted a three-day conference titled “Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity”. The Plenary Session addressed the subject “Radical Islam and Genocidal Antisemitism”. There were five presenters, one of whom was Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Fighel, of The International Institute for Counter Terrorism (ICT), Herzliya who spoke on the subject “The Jihad Flotilla to Gaza: Provocative – Antisemitic – Not Humanitarian”. Other presenters were Professor Menachem Milson, Hebrew University and Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) who spoke on “Arab and Islamic Antisemitism Today”; Rifat Bali, Research Associate, Alberto Benveniste Center for Sephardic Studies and Culture, Paris: “Conspiracy Theories, Antisemitism and Jews in Turkey Today”; and Professor Jeffrey Herf of the University of Maryland who spoke on the topic “Nazi Propaganda to the Arab World and Its After-Effects In Postwar Militant Islam”.

There wasn’t a single presentation from an Arab or Palestinian point of view. Incredible? Not if your purpose is propaganda. As Stephen Lendman said in his article on August 31^st in The Palestine Chronicle, “What’s needed is debunking the relationship between legitimate Israeli criticism and anti-Semitism and notion of a serious anti-Jewish crisis when none, in fact, exists.”

Articles in well known publications. On Friday, August 20^th, an article by Ronald Lauder appeared in The Japan Times http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20100820a2.html. Titled “Hostility Against Jews Increasing in Sweden”, it cites recent incidents of violence against Jews and Jewish property and links them with hatred of Israel. “[A]ttempts to draw a distinction between hatred of Jews and hatred of Israel [are] never particularly convincing. Israel is a specifically Jewish project, and to join the campaign of delegitimization against the Jewish state is to join a campaign of delegitimization against much of world Jewry, the vast majority of which either lives in Israel or regards it as a central component of Jewish identity” (emphasis mine). Mr. Lauder, the President of the World Jewish Congress, takes news items and spins it to blur a distinction between ugly neo-Nazi violence and criticism of Israel, which he labels “hatred of Israel”.

Another article, by Daniel Schwammenthal, an editor with The Wall Street Journal, is “The Mufti of Berlin: Arab-Nazi collaboration is a taboo topic in the West”, published in Wall Street Journal on September 24, 2009. Republished in Pamela Geller’s right-wing blog “Atlas Shrugs”, it includes a color photograph of “Hezbollah terrorists” in camouflage uniforms giving Nazi-style salutes. Toward the end of the article, Mr. Schwammenthal writes “Muslim Judeophobia is not – as is commonly claimed — a reaction to the Mideast conflict, but one of its main ‘root causes’ It has been fueling Arab rejection of a Jewish state long before Israel’s creation.” Another of his articles, published in the online magazine Philocentrism on February 14^th 2009, is “Europe Reimports Jew Hatred”, under the heading: “The mythical Arab Street now reaches deep into Paris, London, Berlin and Madrid”.

When Israel and its supporters put out information like this it is called “objective”; when their critics write opinion pieces or report on events, it is called “delegitimization”. The code word for a critic in Israel-speak is “delegitimizer.” For a list of Israeli Hasbara (propaganda) authors, click here (link courtesy of Gilad Atzmon). It is a revealing and extensive list of names including. The website, which disappeared in early May of this year, was connected with www.infoisrael.net.

The Reut Institute Report

The Reut Institute’s report advises the Israeli Government to focus on what it calls the resistance network, defined as “A network of countries, organizations, movements, and individuals – which includes … Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and additional Palestinian factions – that reject the Jewish people’s right to self-determination and Israel’s existence, on the basis of Islamic or Arab / Palestinian nationalist ideology.” “These groups,” the report continues, “operate with the political or military logic of ‘resistance’ in order to precipitate Israel’s destruction and replace it with an Arab / Palestinian / Islamic state.” The report then identifies what the Reut Institute calls The Convergence Phenomenon, which it defines as “The coalescence of unaffiliated movements and organizations around an outstanding issue relating to Israel in order to delegitimize Israel.” Delegitimization, a code word for all efforts to question either Israel or Zionism), demonizes Israel, and applies double standards to it relative to other nations who may have even worse human rights records. Demonization refers to any act that presents Israel as being “systematically, purposefully, and extensively cruel and inhumane, thus denying the moral legitimacy of its existence” (my italics).

Examples include associating Israeli behavior with Nazism or apartheid “and other accusations of blatant acts of evil.” Even the mention of questionable behavior, to say nothing at all about reprehensible acts, will generate a firestorm of angry denial, sabotage, deflection and attack. Never listen, deny and attack.

A political firewall is another word for denial – blatant, belligerent, well-defended denial. A firewall’s job is to keep out whatever you or I do not want to hear. In everyday language, it’s called “stonewalling”. I dealt with it frequently in my years in the mental health field. Behind denial is fear of being forced to change. When who and what I am is bound up in what I believe, that fear can be terrifying. So I devote my energies to denying, telling people who confront me to back off and attacking them when they don’t.

It is a very unpleasant situation to be in, as anyone who has experienced it well knows. Frequently it works. If I can present myself as fragile and explosive, maybe people will leave me alone. I especially do not want to hear about my behavior hurting others, and will blame it on them whenever the subject comes up. When I read the Reut Institute’s report and read those articles and YIISA’s conference schedule, it is all right there in plain view – blatant denial of the reality as Palestinians and others experience it every day, and have for sixty-two years.

One of the best examples of this denial Irwin Collar’s article, “Identifying the New Anti-Semitism”, published in Aish.com (http://www.aish.com/jw/s/48892472.html), and originally published by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute in November 2002. “What we are witnessing today”, he begins, “which has been developing incrementally, almost imperceptibly, and sometimes indulgently, for some 30 years now — is a new, virulent, globalizing and even lethal anti-Jewishness reminiscent of the atmospherics of the 1930s, and without parallel or precedent since the end of the Second World War. This new anti-Jewishness overlaps with classical anti-Semitism, but is distinguishable from it. Anchored in the ‘Zionism is Racism’ resolution, but going beyond it, the new anti-Jewishness almost requires a new vocabulary to define it. It can best be defined as the discrimination against, denial of, or assault upon, national particularity and peoplehood anywhere, whenever that national particularity and peoplehood happens to be Jewish (my italics). In its more benign form (if it can be called benign), it finds particular expression in the singling out of Israel and the Jewish people for differential and discriminatory treatment in the international arena — where United Nations human rights bodies are used as the mask or protective cover for this anti-Jewishness (e.g. The 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban).” Denial, married to conspiracy theory, the ultimate denial tactic. I saw this over 40 years ago at a Veteran’s hospital in Minnesota where a film was shown of a severely drunk alcoholic veteran during his Intake examination. He mumbled, made no sense, he was a mess. Three weeks later they brought him into the same room and filmed him as he watched the film of his Intake. “Who the Hell is that?” he asked; “My God is he drunk!” “That’s you, Hank.” “Like Hell! That ain’t me! No way!” Then he accused the staff of conspiring against him. In his eyes, he was innocent. Through the lenses of denial, he didn’t even recognize himself.

“I wonder whether pro-Israeli apologists ever sense the sheer hopelessness of their desperate attempts to shield the apartheid regime from legitimate and necessary criticism,” muses South African Iqbal Jassat in an article published in The Palestine Chronicle on August 34st and in Eurasia Review on September 1^st. The article was listed the same day on the website “Exposing & Fighting Against Global Anti-Semitism & Anti-Jewish Racism” (http://www.anti-semitism.net/tag/iqbal-jassat), which describes itself as “a news portal about Global Anti-Semitism, Anti-Semitism, Discrimination News and Anti-Racism and Anti-Semitic news.” Their message? “We believe by exposing Anti-Semitism we can show how pervasive it is.”

The Elephant in the Living Room

“Behind every act in Israel’s identity politics stretches, like a long black shadow, the idea of an eternal people and race,” writes Shlomo Sand in his book The Invention of the Jewish People.^¹ It is “the elephant in the living room”, the subject Israel protects and doesn’t want anyone to talk about. What is it? It is Israel’s founding political philosophy, Zionism. It is impossible to discuss the issue of Israel’s denial response without talking about it, because Israel itself sees them as inseparable: attack the one and you attack the other.

Zionism, a movement that began in the second half of the 19^th century, became a nationalist movement that sought the creation of a specifically Jewish nation for Jews from around the world. After two thousand years, the story line goes, Jews would stop suffering as outsiders in countries where they were persecuted and have their own national homeland. Unfortunately, in this homeland, only Jews would have what I call “First Class Citizenship”; all other citizens would be granted “Second Class” citizenship, with diminished privileges. (My reference for this section is “The Distinction: Identify Politics in Israel” Chapter 5 of Shlomo Sand’s book. Doctor Sand is a Professor of History at Tel Aviv University.)

The problem with race or people-based nationalism is its inequities. This was true in apartheid South Africa, and it is true in Israel. This is so obvious to me that I’m shocked that anyone missed it, but they did, and do.

What seems lost on the Israeli Government and its supporters is that race-based systems don’t work because “separate but equal” doesn’t work. “Separate but equal” means “separate and inferior.” How Israel’s founders missed this is testimony of the power of a yearned-after dream based on the “specialness” of a people. What Israel’s leaders and their supporters have refused to acknowledge is a simple fact of human life: Systems based on the “specialness” of a people or a group fail because of built-in conflicts that end in resentment, demands for equal treatment, and sometimes violent confrontation. All they have to do is read history and pay attention to what’s happening around them. It’s all right there.

Make the system an inclusive one in which liberty and justice is for all and not just for the “elect”, and the conflict goes away. But this means giving up Israel’s Jewish identity. Israel and its leadership is caught on the horns of a very painful dilemma that will cause Israel to implode if they continue to defend it

Peace

Would there be a Palestinian problem if Israel treated Palestinians the way it treats Jews? No, because Palestinians would have been treated as neighbors and as partners in building a homeland for them both. But politics intervened and what we’ve had since 1948 is a divided land seething with resentment and violence. This has particularly been the case since the 1967 war when Israel took the West Bank and Gaza from Jordan and Egypt respectively and occupied it, promising the Palestinian residents their freedom but never giving it to them. As journalist Robert Scheer wrote shortly after the Marmara incident, “There is no such thing as a morally acceptable occupation, and as the oppressed resist they will become more violent in their desperation. In turn the occupiers will show their true colors as oppressors.”

The secret to stopping the violence and improving Israel’s security needs is, as Scheer so eloquently says, to treat Palestinians the same way as Jews are treated, with dignity and respect. There is no other way.

1 Shlomo Sand: “The Invention of the Jewish People”, page 280; Verso, 2009.

My One and Only Letter to my Congressman

Bob Grant - Editor — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:33:47 +0000

I am going to break my policy of keeping this site open to any and all opinions by purposely not sharing any of my own. However, I do want to share this letter that I sent to my congressman (copied to my Senators and a few other members of Congress) of which I never received a reply except a form letter from Congressman Graves. It was written before the Bail Out Vote:

Subject: Proposed Bail Out Package Pages: 1

To: Representative Sam Graves

CC: None

Company Name: US House of Representatives

Fax Number: 202-225-8221

From: Bob Grant

Comments:

Personally, my wife and I have a credit rating of over 800 with all three reporting agencies – have had for a number of years. We certainly could have borrowed the funds to live in a million dollar house – purchased new vehicles – bought a second vacation home – maybe an RV – certainly a Harley to drive around on the weekend. However, we did none of the above. Instead we live in a modest (paid for) house and drive an 11 year old Jeep and a 3 year old Jeep (both paid for). We certainly would like all those extra things but we felt we could not afford them so we did not get them – simple decision in our minds.

We own a small business – never borrowed a penny and never will. We are among the unfortunate investors who did not get the memo to pull our money out of a failed Bank before the FDIC took them over – we are now the proud owners of unsecured deposits of $61,000+. For a small business – who has not borrowed funds – this is almost disastrous.

I do not support any “bail out” program for any business, individual, or institution who wanted what they could not afford and now want bailed out of their mess. We have lived within our means – there seems to be nothing in a bail out program for us and people like us? A bail out program penalizes – in essence – those individuals and businesses who did not get caught up in “owning the moment”. Everyone should have to live with their decisions. I guess those who take the biggest risks should get the biggest rewards but it is hardly a gamble if those who take the biggest risks get bailed out by the government.

It Feels Like a Depression to Me

Alan Caruba — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 01:56:10 +0000

It Feels Like a Depression to Me

By Alan Caruba

Between the time that George Washington took the first oath of office as president and when Barack Obama did—-1789 to 2009, the United States had borrowed nine trillion dollars. Since Obama took office, it has borrowed or imposed nearly three trillion more debt. Tell me he is not deliberately seeking to bankrupt the nation.

In an August 28 Wall Street Journal editorial it noted that “To no one’s surprise except Vice President Joe Biden’s, second quarter economic growth was revised down yesterday to 1.6% from the prior estimate of growth of 2.4% which was down from first quarter growth of 3.7%, which was down from the 2009 fourth quarter’s 5%. Economic recoveries are supposed to go in the other direction.”

I was born during the Great Depression of the 1930s and have lived long enough now to find myself in a new one. There are similarities between the two, but the first one led to the creation of a variety of government regulatory entities and programs that should have avoided or at least were expected put the brakes on the current one.

At the heart of the current Depression is the government’s intrusion into the nation’s housing market via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government “entities” that functioned to purchase the mortgages provided by banks and lending companies that, by law, were required to make “sub-prime” bad loans. They have since been seized and billions remain at risk until such time as they are removed from distorting the housing market.

The mortgages were then bundled and resold to banking and investment firms. When the housing “bubble” failed, it threatened the financial structure of the nation. It was a classic asset bubble as people used their homes as piggy banks, taking second mortgages to pay for lifestyles that often did not include saving money for a rainy day. If this sounds like infantile behavior, it is.

Despite the multi-billion dollar bank bailouts initiated in 2008 at the end of the second Bush term and “stimulus” bailouts continued by the Obama administration, the recession has grown longer and there is talk of a “second recession.” This is like saying the family drunk or druggie has a “consumption problem.”

Despite zero interest rates for banks borrowing from the Federal Reserve justifiable fears have slowed lending. Consumers have held off spending. Home sales reached a 15-year low in June.

If the Obama administration and Congress allow the Bush tax cuts to expire, it will deepen the current crisis. In 1932 President Hoover persuaded Congress to raise taxes and we know this led to a decade of a severe economic Depression.

Poor monetary policy drove the Great Depression and is being repeated in this one. Government does not create jobs. Its highest priority is to protect the U.S. dollar so that investment and growth can be maintained.

E. Ralph Hostetter, publisher of American Farm Publications, recently noted that “The federal government has been in control of the U.S. dollar since 1913 when the Federal Reserve Banking System was established.”

“The 130 years prior to 1913, going back to 1783, was the longest period of currency stability in U.S. history. Since the dollar came under control of the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913, it has lost 90 percent of its original value. Eighty percent of that loss has occurred since President Richard Nixon took the United States off the gold standard in 1971.”

As Gerald P. O’Driscall Jr. recently wrote in a Wall Street Journal essay, “The solution lies in restoring balance sheets. For financial firms that means raising capital. For consumers and businesses alike, that means saving more of their reduced incomes.” He warned that “Low interest rates slow the process…by keeping asset prices artificially inflated.” The current Federal Reserve interest rate is zero.

The entire governmental and economic system depends on trust and the Obama administration has squandered that by constantly telling Americans that things were getting better when it was obvious to everyone they were not.

Claims that “shovel ready” projects would turn around the economy were false. Only 3.3% of the $814 billion stimulus was allocated to the Federal Highway Administration for highway and bridge projects. The bulk of the funds expended were directed at retaining civil service jobs of teachers and funds for police and firefighters. Union contracts, fat with pension and health benefits, have bankrupted many States.

In early August first-time claims for unemployment hit a nine-month high. Since the stimulus passed, 2.6 million Americans have lost their jobs and 1.2 million have given up trying to find a new one. Despite the 9.6% figure the government cites, the actual levels of unemployment are far closer to 20%.

During the Great Depression, unemployment was 25% and wages fell 42%.

The nation has reached a point where well-respected economists are now openly using the “Depression” word. David Rosenberg, writing in his daily briefing to investors, warned against interpreting the occasional blips of Gross Domestic Product and stock market gains as signs of recovery. Other economists from major investment and banking institutions are reducing their GDP predictions for 2010 to an anemic range of 1.5% to 2%.

The United States is not in “a summer of recovery” and is not likely to see any recovery if taxes increase. Massive “reform” of Medicare will drive up insurance and healthcare costs. Massive infusions of taxpayer money to keep states afloat to pay for Medicaid and other mandated costs are temporary at best.

Social Security, insolvent because successive Congresses have raped its so-called trust fund, will require a major overhaul to protect those who have paid into it and free new generations from its requirements.

Tax “holidays” are needed to allow businesses and consumers to keep their money instead of handing it over to a profligate federal government and to States that have failed to exercise fiscal sanity.

Get used to the word “Depression.” That’s what we’re in and the first step to get out of it will be to send people to Congress who will address these problems.

It’s Easy being Critical

Robert R. Owens — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:58:09 +0000

With the Not Ready for Prime Time Players holding court in the White House and the Gang that Couldn’t Shoot Straight in Control of Congress it is easy to be critical. However, as our beloved Republic drinks the dregs of the Grapes of Wrath in this, the Season of our Discontent, being critical is not enough. Those of us who believe in limited government, free enterprise and personal liberty need to offer an alternate vision of the future or the Progressive who are seeking to prove that the only problem with all former attempts at a regimented collectivist corporate state was that they weren’t the ones implementing the 5 year plan will win by default.
First we must honestly assess our situation.
The American economy was been derailed by a combination of over regulation, over taxation and crony capitalism’s casino mentality. Since the congressionally mandated housing bubble collapsed dragging the phantom investments of the cronies to the casino floor the bureaucrats who mandated the mess have been in charge of cleaning it up. As a result a cyclical recession which according to the precedent of history should have been over in 14 months (May, 09) has been successfully stretched out for 29 months and counting.
In foreign affairs there is military side and the diplomatic. Militarily, our pre-emptive war in Iraq continues no matter what they call it. Afghanistan is swirling down the drain after the Commander-in-Chief decided it was a good strategy to announce his planned withdrawal date while showcasing the implementation of a surge. Our all volunteer military has performed valiantly and brilliantly however, no matter how sharp or strong the point of a spear is it is only as effective as the person wielding the weapon. Diplomatically, our President bows to foreign leaders, insults our friends and is seen as weak and ineffective by our enemies. Even the European socialists who provide the models for his vision of America and who added their voices to his choir back when he was the Progressive messiah have lately lost their enthusiasm for a leader of the free world who is leading them from the first world to the second.
Culturally, the peace, love and egotism of the boomers continue to plunge America into a cesspool of licentiousness and vanity. The culture of death has progressed from abortion to euthanasia. The celebrity worship has progressed from the adulation of actors and artists to the cult of reality TV where people are now famous for being famous. Our education system, once the envy of the world; produces high school graduates who can’t read their own diplomas, our institutions of higher learning are the bastions of anti-Americanism and Marxist thought, and teachers unions demand more for delivering less.
In an essay-sized capsule these are three major areas that need to be addressed. We know from experience the Progressive’s knee-jerk answer, bigger government, more taxes, more regulations and a continued surrender of America’s position as the world’s sole super-power. What are the alternatives? Or to answer the question the best wife in the world keeps asking, “What can we do?”
Economically: If the TARP funds had been used to buy up the toxic assets as we were told they would be when the Bush Progressives rammed that boondoggle through the toxic assets would now be a memory instead of the sword hanging over our heads. A national income tax holiday for sixty days would have cost less than the failed stimulus that is in reality a slush fund for the Progressive’s major contributors. Let people keep the money they earn in their pockets and they will spend us out of this recession. Allowing us to drill for oil on land in our own country where we have massive untapped reserves and where the technology makes it the safest instead of fifty miles out and a mile down would have eased if not ended our dependence on others and kept hundreds of billions of dollars at home. Equal trade instead of a mythical free trade would keep us competitive in our own market, keep jobs at home and preserved if not expanded our industrial base. An announcement right now that the government was going extend the Bush tax cuts, not impose any more anti-free enterprise regulations or seize any more corporations would promote growth and provide jobs immediately.
Diplomatically; stop insulting our friends and embracing our enemies, stop branding our own States as human rights abusers for trying to protect themselves from an invasion the Federal Government is not only allowing but through their own inaction and policies encouraging. In short, stop bowing and stand up for America! Militarily; you can never end a pre-emptive war too soon. In Afghanistan, we should have gone in, cleaned out the Al Qaeda rat’s nest and squashed the feudal state of the Taliban then left with the promise, “Do it again and we’ll do it again.” Instead we have stayed for one more example that nation-building in a nation that isn’t a nation doesn’t work. Declare victory and come home. Put the troops on the borders and make the homeland secure.
Culturally; this must all start at home. Families need to promote a culture of life instead of a culture of death, honor those to whom honor is due and begin to be the examples our young people deserve. Clean the schools out. End tenure. Provide school vouchers that actually move the funding to the schools people want to support. Offer vocational training to all the students who make it obvious they aren’t interested in intellectual pursuits. Teach American History that is inclusive and yet respectful of humanity’s greatest experiment in freedom and opportunity. Teach political science in such a way that students will gain an understanding of what limited government and personal liberty.
When you are bleeding to death the first thing you must do is stop the bleeding. When you are trapped in a hole the first thing you must do is stop digging. There are answers that encourage freedom and enhance liberty. There are answers that preserve our position and protect or independence. There are solutions to the problems which seem to be overwhelming us: let the free choices of the American people lead us back to economic prosperity, Jettison the Empire to save the Republic, and teach the truth.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion for Southside Virginia Community College and History for the American Public University System. http://drrobertowens.com © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net

Outsourced and Going Out of Business

Kaye — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:34:57 +0000

I usually take my lunch to work; restaurants are pricey and I am not a fast food devotee. But, yesterday was Friday and I was looking forward to a long relaxing holiday weekend so, to help myself slide out of the fast lane into a more casual frame of mind I decide to treat myself to lunch at a restaurant not far from my office. This place is not fancy it is sort of a upscale pizzeria with flat screen TVs tuned to sports events. A friend and I found it a few months ago I’ve been going there, on occasion, ever since.

This place serves a great Greek salad topped with large bits of grilled chicken and luscious vinaigrette made with feta cheese. The prices are just right, the portion is just enough to satisfy and I hoped I was going to could catch a bit of the US Tennis Open.

This restaurant is not within walking distance for South Carolina, it is about a 3 minute drive from where my office is located. I can make it there, order my salad, wait for them to prepare it enjoy a leisurely lunch and make it back to my desk within an hour. That was my plan yesterday but it wasn’t to be. The restaurant was closed; shut down and locked up tight as a drum. Maybe they are closed for vacation, I thought. Well no, because they are in the vicinity of the University of South Carolina’s main campus and no enterprising restaurateur in the area would close for vacation once fall classes begin. I peered through the smoky glass front to see lights out, chairs staked and not a soul in sight. Oh shit, I exclaimed! Did they go out of business? There went my lunch plans. I was so looking forward to having that Greek salad and watching tennis. When I returned to my desk I looked up the phone number and called this eatery only to find the phone number was no longer a working number. They have gone out of business! I should have seen it coming. The friendly waitress that always had a warm smile and remembered that I first came in with my friend from out of town also remembered my order right down to the “no tomatoes please” and always asked how my friend was hasn’t been there in several weeks. Someone else took my last few orders and didn’t remember me or that I don’t like tomatoes in my salad and recently there have been very few lunch patrons.

This is an occurrence that is happening more and more frequently; businesses closing down without a word of warning. Someone has put all their hard work and energy, hopes and dreams into establishing a viable and lucrative business. They’ve given jobs to others, supported vendors, suppliers, other businesses in the area, and tried to help keep our economy stable. Then boom, all their efforts have failed and they are out of business. Maybe they didn’t have a sound business plan or maybe they were in over their heads. Maybe the economy is so weak that this small business was unable to sustain itself. Maybe people like me who would have eaten there two or three times a week in the past couldn’t justify spending the 6-10 dollars a day for lunch like we once did or maybe folks just can’t afford to do that anymore. If we don’t buy, they can’t pay salaries and bill and they close down.

The guy who owned this eatery is, by my observation, a nice hard working guy. His little daughter, who is about 10 or 11 years old, spent part of her summer working behind the counter, learning her dad’s business, she was cute, very talkative and eager to show off her skills at taking orders and ringing up the purchases. His staff, a reflection of the community, was young, multicultural college kids. I’m sorry to see it go. Sure I’ll miss the Greek salads they made but I’ll get over that I’ve already begun experimenting to see if I can duplicated that Feta vinaigrette but that’s not the reason I’m saddened at the closing of this more than just pizza pizzeria. I’m sad because some folks lost their jobs, a man lost his business and a little girl had to watch it happen.

I stood on line at the post office the other day for at least 30 minutes simply because of the 6 or 8 windows only two were open for business in the middle of a busy work day. There is talk of closing down local some stations and suspending Saturday mail delivery. We keep talking about the need for jobs here in America yet major companies outsource to India instead of employing people right here or they opt for automated systems for bill payment claiming to be “going paperless and green”. So the postal service suffers and you better check your email because once you pay a bill online they automatically stop sending your bills in the mail whether you request it or not.

My local grocery stores, IGA and Kroger, now have automated checkout lanes. So where three or four people once worked as cashiers now only one does. It doesn’t save me a penny on groceries. I see food prices getting higher and higher and higher. I refuse to use those lanes they aren’t helping me save any green. I think they are costing me green.

This fall NBC plans to debut a new sitcom called Outsourced. Its about a group of Indian call center employees trying to sound and act more American when they answer a call form the States. I don’t plan on watching it because I find it egregious and consider it an insult to the millions of Americans out of work. Why would I find a program like that funny and worth spending my kilowatt hours and time on? Are they trying to help me feel better about talking to someone in India who says their name is Paul or Mary when I know damn well it’s not? Should I now be more understanding of Paul and Mary in India dilemma while Bob and Sue in American are unemployed. I hope the damn show is a big fat flop.

If we don’t watch out and demand a change in the way American Corporations do business at home, before we know it, without a word of warning, America will be outsourced and going out of business.

AIDS, 1988 and Now

Minnette Coleman — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:26:25 +0000

The show was called “St. Elsewhere”, a television series about a substandard Boston Hospital. It starred young Howie Mandel, David Morse and Denzel Washington to name a few. The other night unable to sleep I watched an episode from 1988 about a state senator who contracted AIDS. I couldn’t watch most of it for I remember the pain the world inflicted on those with the dreaded disease back then. The disease killed many but fear killed more.It was considered worse than leprosy. Those who found they had the disease tried to keep it a secret for fear of being shunned by the rest of society. The stories of lost and lonely AIDS patients in the late 80s to me shows the hypocrisythat dwells within those who live by “What would Jesus do?” Yes AIDs was very frightening to learn about in the beginning but what happened to Christian charity? Would Jesus leave those dying on the streets or refuse them treatment for fear of contracting the disease himself?

I was the hostess ata memorial for a dancer who died in early 88 of the disease. It was hard for me to tell the story of the end of his life but it had to be me because those that knew him were too upset about his demise to speak. His parents disowned him. His landlord put him out of his expensive apartment even though the young man had paid his rent months in advance. And he didn’t return the money to the ailing man claiming he needed it to have the place cleaned of whatever germs were left behind. Out on the street and changed and frail from the illness everyone who knew this once virile, handsome human being turned away from him. There was no insurance to pay for his medicine. He survived on selling his belongings even though most of the things he sold were later trashed because of fear that they carried his disease. Someone was kind enough to rent him a space over a garage in the back of their house as long as he made no contact with the family. This former Broadway lead dancer moved in with his meds and a few clothes. He only had a mattress on the floor and a few sheets. A few friends who kept their distance would bring him food and blankets. He had no phone to call anyone. Those who visited never stayed long. No place to sit and nothing to talk about that could encourage the man to live.

He died alone a bony shell of his former self. What was even sadder was the fact that so few of his friends came to the memorial. In 1988 it was only the brave who wanted to be associated with those dying of AIDS. We lived in fear of the very air these sick people breathed.

Years later there are countries where AIDS is still the main cause of death. The myths about it still run rampant in this country. While many are shocked hearing that in some parts of Africa man rape young virgins believing they will be cured of the disease, those same people deny that their non-gay sons and daughters could get the disease. I remember being on a subway as young men talked about ‘clean’ girls. They could tell who did and didn’t have AIDS. And that was just a few years ago. People in this country have unprotected sex because they are sure their partners are disease free. When it is revealed that this sexual partner carries AIDS many go into denial. Parents still reject their children when they are informed they have the disease, husbands on the down low blame faithful wives instead of confessing to sex with men, and the elderly, thinking they are free of all the burdens of this life have become the largest growing group to spread the disease. The only thing I see different from 1988 is that we have more medicine and doctors know more.

It was called a gay disease, then it was called a black disease because it seemed to be in poor and predominately black countries. Then one of the major magazines did a story about the probable first case of AIDS: a white man of Nordic descent who was a flight attendant and infected most of the world. Other stories spread through religious communities saying that AIDS is God’s punishment for the sinful life lead by homosexuals.

The pain of of the lies still hurts me. I had friends die of this disease. I had an uncle who had adopted two children before he realized he had it. They were troubled and he was the only one who could handle them. When they found out he was dying they told him they hated him for deserting them. My daughter has a friend whose mother fell in love with a man she met at church, married him and a few months later found out he was was HIV-positive. He told her that his changing his life and being a part of the church was going to cure him. Now she has AIDS.

Sometimes we forget this disease still runs rampant even though there are better medicines and better care. I would have not thought about it had I not seen St. Elsewhere and remembered what I was doing in 1988 besides having a baby. I buried one friend to AIDS and learned of many others. Just because there are no new cases in my community does not mean there are no new cases in my world. I have to remember to remember this. Not much has changed about AIDS.

The Smoke Rings of Irony

Michael Crumling — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:58:18 +0000

It was a sleepy, lazy evening when the opportunity came to watch Chinatown, unedited, on pay cable. I had remembered that the movie was good. I had forgotten why. Plotlines aside, the thing most striking, was the very effective use of the cigarette as a dramatic tool. The smoke billowing, the nervous twitch when preparing to light one, the references to dropping a match and such, were most efficient methods of conveying the feelings of the characters involved.

It wasn’t much on the sex scenes, though sex figured prominently in the storylines. There was no nudity, no kinky fetishes, and the violence was mainly fisticuffs save for the treatment of “nosey people”. The villain was not making a lady suit, or asking them to play any bloody morality games. It was interesting to take the movie apart in this way, and compare it to movies of today. Perhaps the most scandalous plot related to Faye Dunaway’s character having a daughter who is also her sister. We learn of this through dialogue and not in “memories”. We do not see the act.

In this age we are exposed to sex of any variety on an hourly basis. Even mops and brooms have been sexualized. When I saw Dennis Franz’ portly posterior on NYPD Blue some years back, I knew it was a different world. Movies and programs are now geared to the gross, gory, morbid and freaky themes. Each new phase portrays a new level of base animalistic activity. On The Shield, a police officer is forced to perform oral sex on a male while being photographed. Sons of Anarchy offers Katie Segal being gang-raped “from behind”. Reality shows offer up the weird and creepy underbelly of life. Violence of any imaginable type is readily available.

AMC runs Mad Men and true to the 1960’s, many are smoking. The cigarette is used as a tool to set the era in this show. Littered about the television are reports that movies featuring “smoking or holding of cigarettes or tobacco products” will be rated R (not that it really matters). I guess those “G” movies with Bette Davis violently pretending to smoke; will soon have to be banned. It seems odd that we can watch disembowelment on broadcast television, but smoking is to become taboo. Tobacco has had a great deal to do with the birth and success of the nation. It has its’ bad aspects as well. Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you. We allow the sex and drugs. We show Dexter the serial killer as a hero of sorts. Politicians call each other names, and compare each other to Nazis. But smoking, oh no, we can’t see that. It will encourage kids to smoke! When teens start to disembowel each other, I’ll believe it.

Certainly the marginal in society will be influenced by what they see. But that is no reason to dwell in the darkness of our caves. As a kid, I was allowed to have a 7oz beer when I wanted one. Usually one was sufficient. This is probably why I don’t have a drinking problem. That which is forbidden is that which is pursued, in the mind of a teen. Rebellion is a stage in life for most people. Taking tobacco out of programs will not prevent someone lighting up. Making them stand in the snow hasn’t worked! So we tax them to death, before the cancer can get them. Or we say that there is lost productivity or increased health costs. Why smoking causes all of us to pay more for insurance. However, actuaries will tell you that the majority of expense is caused by the needs of the elderly. Won’t smokers die first, much earlier?

What about alcohol, or skydiving for that matter? Can we limit the risks by making them out of fashion, especially, at a time when a math teacher is shown “cooking meth” on a hit program. Will we encourage the ostracism of those who don’t behave accordingly? Will we have re-education camps for proper thinking? How did that work out for the “demon rum”?

All of this could sound like conspiracy or wild-eyed craziness. But, isn’t ironic? With all we allow, we are worried about smoking? Who doesn’t know that it is bad for you? Kids hear it their whole lives. Do we really need to change the visual reality to affect a desired outcome? Shouldn’t gratuitous violence and the gross be targeted first? Maybe there would be less gang problems? Talk about the slippery slope! What’s next? Isn’t it ironic?

So you do it for Nothing?

Bob Grant - Editor — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:55:39 +0000

So you do it for Nothing?

by Bob Grant

So, you do it for nothing – what’s wrong with you friend?

It’s the money, for certain, on which we depend.

You can’t buy the stuff that goes on the walls,

You can’t buy the things you see in the malls.

You can’t buy that boat that goes at great speeds,

You can’t buy those bobbles, bangles, and beads.

You can’t buy that bike that roars a loud noise,

You can’t buy that Big Screen and other man toys.

You can’t buy that ticket to places afar,

You can’t buy the boys a round at the bar.

Doing something for nothing instills profits for free -

That true basic pleasure it provides only to me.

Two Crazy Greens

Alan Caruba — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:54:42 +0000

Two Crazy Greens

By Alan Caruba

For a few hours on Wednesday the nation’s attention was on James J. Lee who took hostages at the Discovery Communications headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. Negotiations failed to sway him from his mission or free his hostages. Lee was a Green zealot and police were left with no alternative than to shoot Lee dead.

Every movement has its crazies, but not every movement is as crazy as the one that calls itself “environmental.” Almost entirely devoid of any real scientific justification, the Greens have devoted decades to literally inventing one bogus crisis after another, culminating with “global warming.”

At the heart of the Green philosophy is the belief that the Earth’s problems are all caused by human beings. +

“Humanity are the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are wrecking what’s left of the planet with their false morals and breeding culture,” Lee wrote in an eleven-point Internet communiqué.

“Saving the Planet means…decreasing the Human population. That means stopping the human race from breeding any more disgusting human babies”, said Lee. “The planet does not need humans.”

We can dismiss Lee as a lunatic, but what are we to do regarding Dr. John P. Holdren, the top science advisor to President Obama?

In a new book, “Control Freaks”, Terence P. Jeffrey, the Editor-in-Chief of CNSnews.com, devotes several pages to Dr. Holdren, along with his colleague, Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich, the author of the 1968 bestseller “The Population Bomb.” Both academics have collaborated over the years and both share a contempt for humanity that can only come from fevered, delusional minds devoted to intellectual theories.

In a paper published in 1973 by the California Institute of Technology, Dr. Holdren asked “Is even the present U.S. population of 210 million too large? Should there be zero economic growth as well as zero population growth?” Together with Dr. Ehrlich, he later wrote, “Halting population growth must be done, but that alone would not be enough. Stabilizing or reducing the per capita resources in the United States is necessary, but not sufficient.”

The famous six degrees of separation between James J. Lee and Dr. Holdren is glaringly obvious. Lee’s manifesto said that finding “solutions for Global Warming, Automotive pollution, International Trade, factory pollution, and the whole blasted human economy” was the only way to save the planet.

Tell me that there is a whit of difference between Dr. Holdren’s and Lee’s “solutions”. Tell me there’s any difference between Dr. Holdren’s and Dr. Ehrlich’s view that “What is actually required is nothing less than a transformation of human society” and the transformation that Obama has been imposing on the United States of America?

Jeffrey reports that “This transformation would start with population control, which might eventually require involuntary measures if voluntary ones failed.” Dr. Holdren recommended that “Several coercive proposals deserve discussion, mainly because societies may ultimately have to resort to them unless current trends in birth rates are rapidly reversed by other means.”

“Political pressure must be applied immediately to induce the United States government to assume its responsibility to hold the growth of the American population,” wrote Dr. Holdren.

Dr. Holdren is no fan of the human race in general and those enjoying citizenship in the United States in particular, given his lack of regard for free speech. Both he and Dr. Ehrlich at one point advocated making it “illegal for any utility to advertise in such a way as to promote greater demand for power.”

What better way to reduce available electrical power than to advocate switching to wind and solar energy which together barely represent one percent of the electricity generated daily? Neither is dependable and neither can ever meet the needs of the nation.

What better way than to oppose the use of coal for plants that generate just over fifty percent of the nation’s electrical power or to keep a multi-billion dollar repository for spent nuclear waste closed?

What better way to kill millions of people who fall victim to a disease like Malaria than to ban DDT, the most effective way of eliminating mosquitoes from transmitting it?

What better way to embolden a nuclear attack on the nation, killing millions, than to advocate treaties to reduce our nuclear deterrent?

There are no environmental solutions except those similar to the Nazi “final solution” that killed six million of Europe’s Jews and five million other presumed enemies of the state in Germany. Those in charge of Germany in the 1930s were dedicated environmentalists.

So, James J. Lee is one less environmentalist thanks to a SWAT team, but what are we to do about Dr. John P. Holdren and the host of other environmental crazies seeking to eliminate humans from planet Earth?

ARE WE LOSING OUR PASSION?

timbryce — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:20:50 +0000

Maybe it’s just me, but does it seem the majority of people protesting in the Tea and Coffee parties are either Baby Boomers or older? When you watch Town Hall meetings on television, it seems the audience tends to be older as well. I find it interesting these people seem to be more politically engaged than younger people. Maybe it’s because we have had more practice. Going back to the 1960′s and 70′s, we were engaged with what was going on in the world; for example, we were active in such things as Zero Population Growth and Earth Day, not to mention the Viet Nam War and Civil Rights. When the age to vote was lowered from 21 to 18 in 1972, young people surged to the precincts, but interest in the electoral process slowly deteriorated over the years.

To me, it seems the Gen Xers and younger simply do not care; they are not engaged. I find this rather strange and perhaps another symptom of the generational split in our country. The young people entering the work force today strike me as rather apathetic and really do not wish to debate the issues of the day. Instead, I see quite a few parroting whatever the media tells them to say. When I challenge them on a remark they have made, such as “Why?”, I generally get a blank look and an evasive answer. I don’t have a problem with a person taking an opposing position, but they should be able to articulate the rationale for their position. I do not see the passion which drove the political discourse 40-50 years ago. Is it necessary for mom and dad to tell them what to think or does everything have to be scripted by television?

When I was growing up, we discussed just about everything around the dinner table, be it politics, religion, school, sex, drugs, sports, ethics, world events, or whatever. True, our parents made their positions clear to us, but it was more important to them to have their children engage their brains and learn to question and think for themselves which means, No, we didn’t always agree, but we learned to respect the opinion of others. I don’t know too many families who do this anymore. It seems a shame to me that the dinner table is used for nothing but eating.

Another area that concerns me is the short attention span of American voters. There was substantial outrage this year over Obamacare, the stimulus packages and bailouts, the growing national debt, the oil disaster in the Gulf, and our general lack of direction. I’ll be curious though to see what the voter turnout will be in November. A good turnout will mean people have a good memory and politicians should be forewarned for the 2012 elections. However, if there is a bad turnout, it will mean “Business as Usual” for politicians. If this happens, I think a lot of crybabies should just shutup. I can’t help but believe a lot of what we are experiencing could have been avoided had people not become apathetic and failed to vote in the last election, both young and old.

Keep the Faith!

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Not Everyone is Meant to Be a Winner

Minnette Coleman — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:57:00 +0000

This trend started some years back that baffles me. In a world dominated by fierce competition schools, sports teams, and even some youth clubs were giving awards to every child- just for being a child. There was no spirit of competition, no desire to become the best. And although it is sad when children get left back socially because they didn’t get picked for the team what is sadder is the growing number of people who think mediocrity is something be rewarded.When I graduated from Catholic school 8th grade I ranked number 3 in a class of 42. I wasn’t a really competitive child but I had naturally good math skills- I was number 1 in the category- and wrote fairly well. I probably would have gotten better grades in English had my penmanship looked less like that of a doctor then a 13 year girl. On graduation day I got my math award while Alice Clark and Lynn Mapp took first and second honors for the class. Boys were not interested in the fact that they didn’t get awards for scholarship. There was the top altar boy and top bus monitor. All male awards. The girls who didn’t go away with anything were satisfied with having boyfriends. And boys didn’t go for brainy girls.

Not everyone left grade school or high school with distinctive awards in that era. You earned what you got. We were always told before each ceromony that we were all good students who had tried our best but some had tried harder than others. Those were the ones that were the winners. Even when it came to situations in college I didn’t receive awards because of the color of my skin or because of affirmative action. I won because of hard work, putting my nose to the grindstone as they say and trying to be number 1.

So what is wrong with that? It is true that in many instances teachers and coaches have pets. They have students they like to work with or students they beleive in because of past actions. They often don’t give the other students a chance to compete on the same playing field. Parents started complaining about their little darlings not bringing home any awards and soon the spirit of competition ended up in the crapper. It was not a not child left before scenario. It was a every child is a winner fest where kids who never ran one lap around the track got team spirit awards. Children who never opened an extra book excelled in the reading club.

This is a setup for the failure of too many children in the future. When are these children going to learn that the world is a competitive place? What is going to happen when they have to apply for colleges and jobs that require hard work and a competitive spirit? We are preparing our kids for a life of failure or at the best a mediocre existence.

It is never good for any child to have everything they want. From candy to awards moderation should be the key. Not everyone can be a winner all the time. Not everyone is going to be a winner. But there is nothing wrong with preparing children to understand the real world and what is required to make it in life. It is not sitting around waiting for a gift because you showed up. Life is something you must work at. And unfortunately a lot of children are not being taught that.

MEDIA PIGS

timbryce — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:28:53 +0000

Whether in business, government, or volunteer organizations, we all inevitably run into “Media Pigs.” You know, self-promoters who insist on having the spotlight on them and object when others get more attention, particularly their competitors. To me, the person who best exemplifies this concept is Rev. Al Sharpton who is quick to take the microphone and queue the camera if an African-American sneezes. The focus seems to be more on the Reverend then the issue. Frankly, such people rub me the wrong way.

If there is a photo-op, the Media Pig is shown either shaking hands or trying to console or comfort someone. He/she is very cognizant of where to strategically stand in a photo too, usually in the front row and left side of the picture frame, so that his/her name will be listed first in the caption underneath. In press releases, the Media Pig also takes center stage so that he is properly recognized, regardless if he had anything to do with the announcement or not. I have even seen institutional histories written around individuals to highlight their accomplishments and overshadow others. I tend to believe history is more reliable when written by others, not yourself.

There is also no such thing as a media event that is too small for a Media Pig, be it a photo-op, press release, an appearance, an interview or whatever. It is not uncommon for such a person to spend more time cultivating his/her image than getting anything else done.

We all crave recognition in some form or another, it’s human nature, but it’s a matter of degrees. Whereas some people get by with a pat on the head or a word of encouragement, such as “good job,” there are those who possess egos which need to be stroked liberally. These are people who usually suffer from megalomania with delusions of grandeur, and such people tend to upset the harmony of a team effort. In fact, the word “teamwork” is not in the Media Pig’s vocabulary unless, of course, it can be used for political gain.

The Media Pig craves recognition, be it in a large or small institution. For example, Media Pigs love to be judges in county fairs where they award blue ribbons. Make no mistake though, these self-promoters are more interested in advancing their careers than anything else; “Look what I did, look how great I am.” Such vanity is commonly found in government where politicians try to demonstrate to their constituents something they have accomplished so they will be reelected. Entertainers also tend to fall into this category as they normally have ready access to the media.

It is one thing to occasionally seek the approval of others around you, quite another to be the center of attention. Quite frankly, I haven’t got time for Media Pigs, nor do I give them the time of day. I am more inclined to agree with Thomas Carlyle who said, “The work an unknown man has done is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground green.”

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

For Tim’s columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

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Tune into Tim’s THE BRYCE IS RIGHT! podcast Mondays-Fridays, 11:30am (Eastern).

It’s Crying and Lying Time Again – Election Season

David Citrus — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:15:29 +0000

It’s Crying and Lying Time Again – Election Season

It’s lying time again – less than 75 days before mid-term elections on November 2, 2010. The tide of lies, slandering, blaming and name-calling is washing over us. At such a critical time in our nation’s history, serious issues are on the table and the truth is…… well, complicated and elusive. The underlying message is, of course, only one party is up to the task ahead.

I have a nagging suspicion that elections bring out the absolute worst in Americans. Normally rational people become raving ideologues with minds closed tighter than a Wells Fargo safe on a stagecoach headed for Deadwood. Friends turn on friends, kin against kin and so forth. Someone we had dinner with yesterday adopts an opposing view and we are certain they have been invaded by an inferior intellect and a paucity of sound values.

The good news is, as the campaign heats up, you can be sure that the right wing racists, militants, religious zealots and greedy rich opposing the corrupt, mindless, and immoral air-head liberals will be exposed. Or is it the other way around? No need to worry, you will learn all about it in the coming weeks. Fortunately, you can trust the neutral press to expose the real scoundrels.

Election time is also bothersome. It gets us to thinking about things we may have ignored for the better part of two years, even at times causing a mild stirring of our conscience, or challenging long held beliefs. Such eventualities may, God forbid, reminds us that we probably should think of core “issues” rather than partisan ones. Like maybe we are all in the same lifeboat called America, albeit pulling on our own oars. This may account for the darn thing never staying on course – everybody having his own mindset about the destination – which brings me to the next point.

The founding fathers left a map of sorts in the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Federalist Papers.
The inherent principles led us to become the greatest, freest and most generous society the world has ever known. Some years later, the president who freed the slaves, Lincoln was his name, said the only people who could destroy us were “ourselves”. I think that means we should stick to the principles set forth in aforementioned papers and not do as the Europeans do just so they might like us – which they don’t.

Our forefathers intuitively knew that when all the dust settles a healthy economy is what fuels jobs and a better lifestyle. They also trusted in the goodness of the American people, which worked out well. Today our politicians create nothing but an appetite for taxes on the wages of the shrinking working class. They then use part of that money to bribe segments of society like teachers, labor unions and government workers to vote for them. Pretty smart when you think about it – using someone else’s money to bribe folks to vote for you. Too bad the Europeans thought of it first.

There are some other questions that might be important when thinking about emulating Europe’s politics. Who freed whom in two wars? How are their ways working out? Do we really want to be like Greece, England and France? Even the Chinese are shucking the idea of a government-driven economy in favor of a capitalistic monetary engine. Oh, they won’t admit it because Communism is all about the absolute authority of the State. But, you can be sure of one thing common to most Asians – they are real good at counting – and capitalism, not communism, fuels growth and higher living standards for everyone. Japan’s economic power has been phenomenal for decades. The Chinese have gone to school on the economics of capitalism, albeit with a wink and a smile to the entrepreneurs in the name of Communist orthodoxy.

Well, not to worry – our elected officials who, in a July 2010 Gallup poll registered an eleven percent approval rating by their fellow citizens, are keeping a keen eye on our interests. And they have the help of the media, who received a twenty-two percent confidence rating. Lest you think that is collusion, relax friend, the progressives have re-discovered socialism and communism, first proffered by Lenin and Karl Marx in the 1800’s. Is there an oxymoron in that progressive-Marx-Lenin link?

Oh well, back to the elections.

Quite inconveniently and by sheer accident, it may even be that some lessons of history, discussions about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and government’s proper size and role, will surreptitiously creep into the national conversation. But don’t count on that. That stuff is ancient history and largely banished from the political discourse and academic curricula of today. That fool Spaniard Santayana who said, “Those who can’t remember the past (history) are doomed to repeat it,” has been relegated to the trash pile with other old folks. He would have us looking at the social models playing out in Russia, North Korea, Greece, Portugal and other nations as some kind of lesson. That is pure rubbish! This is a “brave new world” driven by the young where wisdom of the elders is greatly overrated.

As you might already suspect, politicians have long ago figured out that middle class America lacks the intellectual gravitas to deal with weighty issues. Leave it to the politicians, press, sequestered academics and others who make claim to being the upper echelons of society. They instinctively know that a lot of wasted time and money could be saved if we did away with elections altogether. You can bet they have already thought of that. It certainly eased the path for Lenin, Mao Tse-Tung, Castro and Pol Pot.

The antiquated model of America, where citizens were considered equal and capable of shaping government’s role and their own destinies is past. Never mind that bunch of dirt farmers, scientists, merchants, soldiers, salesmen, country lawyers who proposed such a theory and then having it work? Who would have thought it! And how about that concept where elected officials were temporary citizen statesmen, representatives of their constituencies, not career parasites. Now that was a novel and quaint idea. Alas, that time has passed.

Sorry folks, the world is far too complex for those not “in the know” and properly credentialed by the Harvard- and Yale-like educational institutions to be trusted with affairs of state. For now you can vote, but leave the driving to the pros. All you need to know is who is on your team and the election ads will inform you. Your part is to work at approved occupations, pay taxes and serve in our wars. Weighty decision-making is too far a reach for cretins that comprise the masses, like yourself.

Yet, I can’t help but wonder if there was a time in our history when people were Americans first and party-devotees second. Did people ever think that, “if it is your ox being gored today, it could be mine tomorrow”? Are we actually all stakeholders in the course of politics that shape our destiny, or simply grist for the elites mill of perceived progress? Did people actually consider, “what is best for America, rather than what’s in it for me”? Did they believe that labor, material and management were a contiguous chain that had to work together to fuel the economic prosperity of us all? Did anyone ever think that promoting class warfare was divisive and destructive to a healthy society? Do Americans ever think it is about all of our rights, or is it all about me?

Anyway, I was just thinking. What do you think?

America Goes Buggy Over Bed Bugs

Alan Caruba — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:13:05 +0000

America Goes Buggy Over Bed Bugs

By Alan Caruba

When The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and all other media in America begin to devote lots of space and time to the subject of bed bugs, you know America has a real pest problem.

Uniquely, I know a lot of pest control professionals because I have worked closely with the industry for a quarter century providing public relations services.

So let me say that I have the ANSWER to the nation’s plague of bed bugs.

It’s called PESTICIDES.

Not just any pesticides, but specifically the ones that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has successfully banned or forced pesticide manufacturers to stop registering or manufacturing because of the cost involved.

The truth you will never read elsewhere is that there are pesticides that will rid the nation of this massive bed bug population explosion and they will do so rapidly. Can you imagine an end to the current bed bug infestations just about everywhere in say, a month?

The problem is that the pesticides I have in mind are not available because the EPA has removed them from use by either pest control professionals or consumers. Meanwhile, pest control professionals are doing everything they can with the methods available to them, all the time being called unreliable or worse. The options they have at their disposal are few and usually expensive.

The public keeps being told that bed bugs are resistant to many of the presently available pesticides. That’s true. There is one, however, that does work against them. It’s Propoxur, a carbamate, and pest control professionals and state health officials alike are waiting for an emergency exemption to use it because the label permitting its use is already in existence. A pesticide can only be used against the insect pests for which it has received a label registration.

Propoxur used to be available, but in 1996 the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) was passed and changed the rules under which individual pesticides were deemed toxic. Instead of meeting a safety factor rating of, say 100, FQPA demanded a new rating of 1,000. It’s call a “risk cup” and it swallows perfectly good pesticides whole and makes them go away. It was one of those arbitrary and bureaucratic rulings that had no relationship to the actual science or even the risk involved.

That’s how environmentalists who want to end the use of all pesticides work the angles. They find ways to get legislation and regulations passed that effectively eliminate any rational reason for a manufacturer to spend some $300 million to bring a new pesticide to market. Then, after one has been working successfully for fifteen years, the EPA requires that more money be spent to re-register it for use despite ample evidence that it poses no health hazard when properly applied.

That’s a rigged game and, ultimately, it is rigged against Americans who understandably expect and want to be pest-free.

Now, why would environmentalists want to end the use of pesticides? Because, without them, insect and rodent pests spread disease and disease kills people.

If there is one thing that really bothers environmentalists it is the presence of human beings on planet Earth. Scratch a Green and they will tell you there are too many people and they need too much food, too much water, and take up too much space to exist.

The fewer number of pesticides that are permitted for use, the sooner the pests will develop resistance to them. That is one reason the bed bug population is thriving. As a colleague of mine points out, however, “Resistance is the pattern in nature. Plants have an arsenal of pesticides they naturally produce to ward off attack by insects, and they need them, because insects develop resistance to what they are using to defend themselves.”

“If bed bugs were transmitting some sort of deadly disease,” says my colleague, “we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We would get Dursban tomorrow and bed bugs would be gone by the end of the week.”

The problem, however, is that the EPA forced Dow Chemical Company to stop making Dursban available to consumers several years ago. It fell into the “risk cup.”

Why is there a massive bed bug population explosion in the U.S.? Ask the EPA.

Accepting What Comes: Aging Gracefully

scottqmarcus — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:10:16 +0000

When my mother celebrated her 70th birthday (I was a mere lad of 40), I asked her if she felt any different from when she was in her thirties. She pondered the question for a moment and replied, “No not really. I look in the mirror and it’s obvious I’m not who I was – and the parts don’t always work they way they used to; causing me to slow down. I’ve got some annoying aches and pains. But, big picture? Inside, I feel like I always have.”

I’ve since queried other seniors about whether they feel “elderly.” Whether the respondent was 70, 80 – I even got to ask someone who was 99 – the answer was almost always identical, “I pretty much feel like I always have.’”

This begs a question: At what point do we accept that we’re “old” – or at least “older?”

This somewhat gloomy line of thought has been prompted by the realization that if we come with a warranty, I fear mine lapsed recently. Since I hit “double nickels,” seemingly all at once, my parts are sore, not working well, acting quirky, or just plain out of sorts. I have pains in places where I did not even know I had places. I am continuously complaining about some dang cramp or soreness, which I do not like doing, and I assure you that is definitely NOT me. My foremost fear is that I shall soon devolve into a cranky, wrinkly, grey-haired, curmudgeonly man-creature, who brandishes his cane at the clouds and rants at the heavens about the unfairness of life.

This is even more troublesome because I’m doing my bit to forestall that unhappy outcome. I walk regularly, eat well, take vitamins, don’t stress (except about this), attend Yoga classes, ride a bike; and – I might point out – I’m a heck of a nice guy! One would therefore assume with such a powerful curriculum vitae of healthy habits and proper outlook, I should easily surpass 125 years before I even go so far as to pull a muscle.

My loving wife has (gently) pointed out that I’m “not as young as I was,” and these symptoms could be interrelated. However I refuse to accept it’s the aging process. I’ll age gracefully (whatever the heck that means) but will not go gently, so off to the doctor I go where I inventory everything that’s sore, bruised, inconsistent, nasty, gnarly, gross, inflated, swollen, hot, cold, flat, red, or black and blue. He types and listens; studies the computer; clarifies a few details; and then says, “I’ve got good news and bad news.”

“What’s the good news?”

“There’s nothing serious; no need to worry.”

Sigh of relief… “What’s the bad news?”

“Your wife is right.”

“But Doc,” I proclaim, “I take good care of myself,” as if that argument will cause him to reverse the prognosis.

“Yes, you do. But at your age, things don’t recover as quickly. It would be worse if you weren’t doing what you’re doing.”

So, that’s it? Sounds like an attitude adjustment might be in order.

They say this is a “normal process” and I’m obviously I’m in it. In all honesty, I do enjoy the peace, self-confidence, and serenity at this stage of life. My marriage is wonderful. My friendships are close. And, overall, I am happy with where I am. That’s what really matters.

Placed in that perspective, I can handle a few bumps, bruises and a periodic cramp, as long as it’s “nothing serious.” I really do think I’m fine with that.

About the author: Scott “Q” Marcus is a THINspirational speaker and author. Since losing 70 pounds over 15 years ago, he works with overloaded people and organizations who are looking to improve communication, change bad habits, and reduce stress. He can be reached for consulting, workshops, or presentations at 707.442.6243 or scottq@scottqmarcus.com. He will sometimes work in exchange for chocolate.

I BELIEVE…

timbryce — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:38:37 +0000

Over the years I have learned our lives are defined by what we believe in. We act and make decisions based on our perceptions and beliefs. Perceptions deal with our senses, how we see, hear, touch, taste, and smell things, representing our input devices. Beliefs though deal with concepts such as morality, our values and priorities, and how we apply logic. Maybe the best way to think of a person’s beliefs is it represents how someone is programmed. What we believe dictates our actions and decisions. For example, if we believe it is safe on the other side of a door, we will open it. If we believe someone is a fool, we will treat him accordingly.

Actually we have hundreds of beliefs. Here are a few of my own personal beliefs I would like to share as they apply to living in the United States and not in any particular order:

* I believe we must all live and enjoy meaningful and productive lives.

* I believe our personal and professional lives are one and the same; that our work is a reflection of our personality.

* I believe in the Golden Rule, that we should “do unto others as we would have others do unto us.”

* I believe it is important for good to triumph over evil, right over wrong.

* I believe in the sanctity of the family unit.

* I believe capitalism is the best economic system for promoting personal initiative, human freedom, and competing in a global economy.

* I believe everyone should pay their fair share, but their own fair share only, not someone else’s.

* I believe in helping my neighbors and those less fortunate than myself, but I do not believe this should be mandated by anyone, particularly government.

* I believe the U.S. Constitution is an extraordinary document that defines who we are as Americans and, as citizens, we should preserve, protect and defend it to the best of our ability.

* I believe the United States is a beacon for freedom, liberty, and human rights.

* I believe we should practice citizenship. If we don’t like it here, we should leave and move elsewhere.

* I believe in being patriotic to my country and cherishing the symbols of it, such as the flag, the pledge of allegiance, the national anthem, etc.

* I believe government should not be overly intrusive in our lives. Government should serve the people, not the other way around.

* I believe in my interpretation of God. If you want to practice my religion, that’s fine; if you want to practice another, that’s fine too, and; if you don’t want to practice any religion at all, I have no problem with that.

* I believe America is not perfect and that it is our duty, as citizens, to make it better. I also believe it is important to follow the laws and rules of the land, otherwise chaos will reign, but we should also challenge the status quo in order to evolve and improve.

* I believe in America.

This is but one person’s interpretation of America. It doesn’t represent liberal or conservative doctrine, just mine. However, I cannot help but wonder if any of our government officials believe any of this.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

For Tim’s columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

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Tune into Tim’s THE BRYCE IS RIGHT! podcast Mondays-Fridays, 11:30am (Eastern).

Happy New Year!

Genevieve — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:23:27 +0000

January 1? Nope.

September 2nd, 2010.

Yes, the official year starts after all the Christmas wrapping paper is stuffed into the recycle bin, but for me, and, I suspect, for many other moms and dads, the first day of school is the REAL start of the year.

This year in Canada, it’s early. Usually they wait until after Labour Day, but something to do with the Canada Games (yes, I know. There was a memo. If I could find the memo I’d read it and explain it here, but I have no idea where anything is.) means they start earlier this year, have shorter Christmas and Easter breaks and a VERY long February holiday (2 weeks). Anyway, that means I have one more day of holidays with my kids before I pack ‘em on the bus again.

This is, for me, a day of mixed emotions. Back in June, they ran screaming off the bus, hooting and hollering about Freedom! while I watched mine disappear with the dust of the bus. Gone were my daytime hours of uninterrupted writing time.

I made them cupcakes to celebrate (and also made them really mad because we haven’t joined in with the popular “Grading Gift” trend – our kids get no gifts for graduating from elementary grades. We can’t figure out why people do that – isn’t two months of holidays enough of a present?) and we played loud music and danced around a bit until they tired of that and got sucked, once again, into their Nintendos.

That was when I started getting nervous. Day #1 and Nintendos were already up and running …

When would “it” start? The dreaded “B” word … I knew it was coming … how long did I have…?

I put them in camps to try and keep them from uttering that B word. I cleared out everything I could find at the library to avoid the B word. We had friends over to play, we had sleepovers, we had the hot tub going, the trampoline bouncing, smores on the campfire, bugs, toads and frogs were always entertaining … and yet the B word loomed.

I think it took two days before it reared its ugly head. Two Days. Mommmmmmmm……

Somehow we survived. I even managed to get a book published, get a fair amount written on the next book, and help edit, publish and promote another half dozen books for my friends on Night Publishing.

Now Back To School looms (ironically just as Hurricane Earl threatens to hit us hard out here on the east coast) and the B word will (I hope) be a thing of the past.

I will get more writing done.

I will get more editing done.

I will get more ME time.

But if I’m honest, I have to admit that I’ll miss listening to their conversations, whether they’re with me or each other. I’ll miss (in a strange way) arguing/debating/discussing ways to alleviate their boredom (among other things). And now that they’re going into grades 6 & 7, well, they aren’t such little girls anymore.They’re like small grownups, and their points of view are much more engrossing (sometimes) than they used to be.

Did I spend enough time with them? Are my hours/days/weeks at the computer too selfish? Or, as they assure me, do they find inspiration from a mom who is motivated to fulfill her passion and chase the Dream?

I re-read a great article today by my personal deity, Diana Gabaldon, regarding time spent writing versus time spent with family. This is my favourite bit, written to help authors find time for their art:

“If you can’t manage to do without sleep in any appreciable quantity, you’ll have to eliminate some other activity in order to use that time writing. In the interests of Preserving the Sanctity of Family Life, I don’t recommend eliminating dinner, bedtime stories, or sex. However, I am unaware of any studies linking frequency of vacuuming to frequency of divorce, and while all things are possible, I don’t think your children will come back as adults and sue you because they’ve suddenly discovered repressed memories of you not cleaning the refrigerator.”

So I don’t think it’s too bad if once in awhile I dropped them off at the lake (with supervision, of course) and then came back here to type. I think it’s okay they were on their own once in awhile to figure out creative solutions to the B word. They’re growing up, and I guess I am, too.

Tomorrow we stuff the backpacks.

Thursday we meet the bus and I wave goodbye (feeling a twinge of regret, I’m sure), then retreat into my stories.

To all moms and dads and kids … Happy New Year … all the best in 2010/2011!

Sadness, Self Control and Sugar

Minnette Coleman — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:35:02 +0000

Some years ago I learned to change my eating habits so that I wouldn’t tip the scales like a great whale. My sweet tooth was my problem. Although I love vegetables and could eat salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner, having something sweet like candy or cookies or cake. . .okay I have to stop because now I am salivating. Something sweet was always a reward for a job well day, a day that was good or plain old dessert.

Then I learned that sugar could help get you through sadness. Not only did I have to change my eating habits but I had to learn self control.

I went to two nutritionists trying to learn the secret of properly losing weight. The first one took me off sugar for a month. All sugar which included fruits, wine, and my favorite chocolate candy. It wasn’t as hard as I thought, but don’t get me wrong it was hard. I learned to turn my head while others indulged in sugary treats or even bananas. A month and 14 pounds lost later I felt I could handle any food deprivation. Then something bad happened to a close friend, the sadness sat in and I lost the desire to try to live without sweets.

It wasn’t that I bought a whole cheesecake and ate it alone. Cheesecake would never be my choice to break a dietary fast. Besides being lactose intolerant I have never been one to just sit and stuff my face until I explode. I don’t like the painful aftermath of over-indulging. I just eat things I didn’t need, a habit that I had picked up as a lonely teen. After a few days of brownies and chocolate bars reality sets in and I come back to earth and to something normal. I am always thankful that I didn’t learn to turn to alcohol to get me through tough times.

Years later, after the pounds reappeared, I decided to try Weight Watchers. I didn’t like the original idea of public flagellation if you didn’t meet your goals but I did like their method of teaching one to loose weight. Moderation in everything made sense and helped me loose weight. I didn’t remain with them for long but I followed that little premise. One could have their cake and eat it too if one planned their food day correctly. It meant that I could have something sweet each day, nothing something sweet each hour.

Still sadness brings me back to sugar. Sadness is sour. It is vinegar to me. The dregs of sadness cannot be quenched with sweetness. The sweet is a temporary fix supplied in a moment of weakness. Weakness that appears because you are saddened by some incident, by some loss. The taste of dark chocolate on my tongue makes me smile. And if I eat only a small amount the sweetness is better than a drug. When we overeat or overindulge we cannot get the full effect of the food or drink we are longing for. It is really too much of a good thing. And in the end you cannot remember what that good thing tasted like. But just a hint of sweetness for me pulls me up and reminds me of happier things and happier times. Would I want to eat a whole pound of dark chocolate to suppress the sadness flowing through me? I think not. After the first few pieces the thrill is gone. The taste of joy is a memory.

My learning self control has been one of the best things that ever happened to me. A few years back I became the keeper of the sweets in the office. Besides the cases of wine that I store in the cabinet near me I have several different kinds of candy and cookies year round. Sometimes I eat a serving a day, sometimes I don’t touch them. When I am saddened by life or the world as a whole I look at my options in the cabinet, make one and indulge. I have become pretty good about walking away. My thoughts turn to not being able to fit in my clothes and having to spend money I don’t have to purchase newer, larger ones. My thoughts turn to having too much to eat when I don’t need it, poverty in other countries and the fact that after a while the sweetness is gone and the sweets have not taste.

Still it is not easy. Learning of something sad last night I dreamed of chocolate croissants. This morning I made sure not to pass a bakery or any place that might have sold something that was large and sweet. The sadness is still in me but I am not ready for the sweet. Sometimes it is best to let your soul marinate in pain until you understand it. Then the reward of the sweet being chocolate, a beer or a movie you long to see, will be that much tastier.

But there is nothing like the sweet to make your life smile.

OUR PERMANENT RECORD

timbryce — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:35:05 +0000

One thing young people are not very cognizant of is their personal record, particularly teenagers. Whether or not we ever see it, we all have a record that follows us from birth and well beyond death. It hovers above us like a vulture shadowing its prey. We may not see it, but make no mistake, it is always there tracking our every move, and I believe this is what young people do not comprehend.

As a systems man, I can tell you authoritatively, the government, the medical community, the financial community, and law enforcement have been collecting and maintaining data on us the moment we first entered a doctor’s office (be it in the womb or in person), opened a bank account or credit card, received a social security card, went to school, or received a ticket for jaywalking. Understand this though, there is no single record on any one of us as the data is physically maintained in several different places.

There are actually four parts to our personal record:

* Education – specifying the schools we attended, when we attended, the grades we earned, and if we graduated or failed. Employers pay particular attention to such data.

* Medical – specifies doctor and dentist visits, diseases contracted, procedures, medications, and treatments. Again, employers are interested in such data, particularly in sports and the military.

* Credit – for every financial account you open, your debt is closely followed as well as how well you paid your bills. Any time you miss a payment on a credit card, house payment, or car loan, it is recorded and influences your credit rating, not just now, but for years afterwards.

* Criminal – there is a tendency by young people to misunderstand their criminal record. Even as a juvenile, any and all violations of the law are recorded for years and years. Once again, employers are interested in such data, as well as the military and just about everyone else. Laugh as you may at being arrested in 8th grade, such a snafu may prohibit you from getting the job or opportunity of your dreams later on.

Unfortunately, it is not until we get a little older and wiser do we comprehend the necessity for maintaining a clean record, and usually too late to change it. Some things cannot be changed such as grades. If you try to falsify your academic record, it will inevitably be discovered and your reputation will be ruined, and in all likelihood you will face a serious misdemeanor (thereby updating your record again). It is also next to impossible to alter your medical and credit records, they are what they are.

In some instances, criminal records can be modified depending on the infraction. For example, certain misdemeanors can be esponged from a person’s record by the court providing the person agrees to certain terms, such as performing community service or attending special classes. Nonetheless, it is better not to get an infraction than to try and have it esponged.

It’s actually a little scary how much data there is on all of us, and we hope it is all safe and secure from public consumption. The point is, whether we like it or not, all of our actions are being recorded, and being a juvenile doesn’t mean you are exempt or have an excuse. Just remember, no matter how hard you try, you cannot outrun your record.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

For Tim’s columns, see:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

Like the article? TELL A FRIEND.

Tune into Tim’s THE BRYCE IS RIGHT! podcast Mondays-Fridays, 11:30am (Eastern).

SWI – Total List of Countries visiting SWI over the last 60 days

Bob Grant - Editor — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:26:27 +0000

Visits

10,288

% of Site Total: 99.98%

Pages/Visit: The average number of pages viewed during a visit to your site. Repeated views of a single page are counted.

Pages/Visit

1.70

Site Avg: 1.70 (0.01%)

Avg. Time on Site: The average duration of a visit to your site.

Avg. Time on Site

00:01:49

Site Avg: 00:01:49 (0.02%)

% New Visits: The percentage of visits by people who had never visited your site before.

% New Visits

79.54%

Site Avg: 79.53% (0.01%)

Bounce Rate: The percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page).

Bounce Rate

73.34%

Site Avg: 73.34% (-0.01%)

Pages/Visit

Avg. Time on Site

% New Visits

Bounce Rate

	Detail Level: Country/Territory City Country/Territory Sub Continent Region Continent	Visits
1.	United States	6,453	1.88	00:02:19	72.99%	70.09%
2.	United Kingdom	635	1.32	00:00:53	86.14%	80.47%
3.	India	529	1.51	00:01:24	96.60%	77.50%
4.	Canada	503	1.44	00:01:00	83.10%	74.55%
5.	Australia	240	1.38	00:01:27	85.00%	80.42%
6.	Philippines	208	1.32	00:00:40	95.19%	85.10%
7.	Malaysia	104	1.41	00:01:29	95.19%	78.85%
8.	Germany	91	1.25	00:00:27	94.51%	86.81%
9.	Mexico	69	1.42	00:00:35	97.10%	75.36%
10.	Indonesia	59	1.31	00:00:22	79.66%	79.66%
11.	Netherlands	59	1.37	00:00:42	94.92%	77.97%
12.	China	55	1.20	00:00:50	90.91%	89.09%
13.	South Africa	54	1.35	00:00:41	90.74%	79.63%
14.	Russia	54	1.19	00:00:16	100.00%	87.04%
15.	Singapore	52	1.13	00:00:05	98.08%	88.46%
16.	Argentina	52	2.77	00:02:37	88.46%	44.23%
17.	(not set)	52	1.17	00:00:38	90.38%	88.46%
18.	Japan	47	2.64	00:06:49	40.43%	48.94%
19.	Poland	46	1.57	00:00:28	86.96%	73.91%
20.	Ireland	35	1.26	00:00:47	100.00%	82.86%
21.	France	34	1.29	00:00:29	94.12%	85.29%
22.	New Zealand	34	1.56	00:00:33	100.00%	76.47%
23.	Pakistan	32	1.31	00:00:46	96.88%	78.12%
24.	Spain	32	1.19	00:00:23	96.88%	81.25%
25.	Brazil	30	1.23	00:00:16	100.00%	80.00%
26.	Romania	27	1.33	00:00:28	96.30%	85.19%
27.	Italy	26	1.19	00:00:14	92.31%	80.77%
28.	Sweden	23	1.09	> 00:00:00	95.65%	91.30%
29.	Colombia	22	1.36	00:00:05	100.00%	68.18%
30.	Belgium	22	2.45	00:03:23	72.73%	45.45%
31.	Norway	19	1.26	00:00:02	100.00%	78.95%
32.	United Arab Emirates	19	1.16	00:00:04	94.74%	84.21%
33.	Denmark	19	1.79	00:01:18	100.00%	68.42%
34.	Hong Kong	18	1.11	00:00:02	100.00%	88.89%
35.	Thailand	17	1.59	00:00:52	82.35%	82.35%
36.	Hungary	17	1.24	00:00:29	94.12%	76.47%
37.	Vietnam	15	1.00	00:00:25	93.33%	86.67%
38.	Turkey	15	1.20	00:00:11	100.00%	73.33%
39.	Saudi Arabia	15	1.40	00:00:05	100.00%	86.67%
40.	South Korea	15	1.40	00:00:50	100.00%	66.67%
41.	Egypt	15	1.53	00:00:47	100.00%	73.33%
42.	Greece	15	1.13	00:00:16	100.00%	86.67%
43.	Nigeria	14	1.50	00:04:05	92.86%	78.57%
44.	Czech Republic	13	2.08	00:00:11	100.00%	84.62%
45.	Switzerland	12	1.33	00:01:45	83.33%	66.67%
46.	Bulgaria	12	1.17	00:00:42	100.00%	83.33%
47.	Iran	11	1.55	00:01:30	100.00%	45.45%
48.	Finland	11	1.36	00:01:21	90.91%	63.64%
49.	Costa Rica	11	1.18	00:00:02	72.73%	90.91%
50.	Slovenia	11	1.36	00:02:00	90.91%	72.73%
51.	Portugal	10	1.10	00:00:07	100.00%	90.00%
52.	Malta	10	1.40	00:00:09	100.00%	70.00%
53.	Kenya	10	1.20	00:01:34	90.00%	90.00%
54.	Trinidad and Tobago	10	1.20	00:00:25	100.00%	70.00%
55.	Venezuela	9	1.11	00:00:01	100.00%	88.89%
56.	Austria	9	1.33	00:01:39	100.00%	77.78%
57.	Jamaica	9	1.11	00:01:09	77.78%	88.89%
58.	Taiwan	8	1.88	00:02:23	100.00%	75.00%
59.	Kuwait	8	1.25	00:00:03	75.00%	87.50%
60.	Chile	8	1.12	00:02:13	100.00%	87.50%
61.	Lebanon	8	1.62	00:02:17	100.00%	75.00%
62.	Sri Lanka	8	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
63.	Albania	8	1.38	00:00:10	87.50%	75.00%
64.	Puerto Rico	8	1.50	00:00:31	87.50%	75.00%
65.	Israel	7	1.00	00:02:16	100.00%	85.71%
66.	Bangladesh	7	1.00	00:00:08	85.71%	85.71%
67.	Slovakia	7	1.86	00:00:07	100.00%	57.14%
68.	Ukraine	6	1.17	00:00:11	100.00%	83.33%
69.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	6	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
70.	Serbia	6	1.17	00:00:09	100.00%	83.33%
71.	Croatia	6	1.50	00:00:03	100.00%	50.00%
72.	Ecuador	5	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
73.	Oman	5	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
74.	Lithuania	5	1.20	00:00:40	100.00%	80.00%
75.	Peru	5	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
76.	Belarus	5	1.20	00:00:26	100.00%	80.00%
77.	Qatar	5	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
78.	Senegal	5	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
79.	Côte d’Ivoire	5	1.00	00:00:00	60.00%	100.00%
80.	Nepal	4	1.50	00:01:38	75.00%	75.00%
81.	Cambodia	4	1.25	00:00:07	100.00%	75.00%
82.	Uruguay	4	1.00	00:00:00	75.00%	100.00%
83.	Honduras	3	1.67	00:00:42	100.00%	33.33%
84.	Morocco	3	1.67	00:01:30	100.00%	66.67%
85.	El Salvador	3	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
86.	Latvia	3	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
87.	Ghana	3	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
88.	Isle of Man	3	2.33	00:00:19	66.67%	66.67%
89.	Dominican Republic	3	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
90.	Mongolia	3	1.33	00:00:38	100.00%	66.67%
91.	Jordan	3	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
92.	Estonia	3	1.33	00:00:46	100.00%	66.67%
93.	Kazakhstan	3	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
94.	Panama	2	1.50	00:05:29	100.00%	50.00%
95.	Bahamas	2	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
96.	Cayman Islands	2	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
97.	Mauritius	2	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
98.	Algeria	2	3.00	00:04:26	100.00%	0.00%
99.	Myanmar [Burma]	2	1.50	00:00:02	100.00%	50.00%
100.	Cuba	2	1.00	00:00:00	50.00%	100.00%
101.	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	2	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
102.	Moldova	2	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
103.	Iceland	2	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
104.	Cyprus	2	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
105.	Guatemala	2	1.50	00:02:27	100.00%	50.00%
106.	Libya	2	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
107.	Uganda	2	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
108.	Montenegro	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
109.	Tunisia	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
110.	Maldives	1	4.00	00:02:06	100.00%	0.00%
111.	Netherlands Antilles	1	5.00	00:00:24	100.00%	0.00%
112.	Botswana	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
113.	Mozambique	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
114.	Uzbekistan	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
115.	Macau	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
116.	Saint Lucia	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
117.	Bahrain	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
118.	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
119.	Afghanistan	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
120.	Fiji	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
121.	Luxembourg	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
122.	Tanzania	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
123.	Georgia	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
124.	Syria	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
125.	Sudan	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
126.	Northern Mariana Islands	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
127.	Liechtenstein	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
128.	Guernsey	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
129.	Brunei	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
130.	Bermuda	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
131.	Barbados	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
132.	Bhutan	1	2.00	00:00:14	100.00%	0.00%
133.	Gabon	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
134.	Macedonia [FYROM]	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
135.	Laos	1	2.00	00:00:15	100.00%	0.00%
136.	Vanuatu	1	2.00	00:00:08	100.00%	0.00%
137.	Namibia	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
138.	Zambia	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
139.	Bolivia	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%
140.	Aruba	1	2.00	00:00:15	100.00%	0.00%
141.	Guam	1	1.00	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%

SWI – Top 200 Page Views over the last 60 Days

Bob Grant - Editor — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:23:58 +0000

Pageviews

17,495

% of Site Total: 100.00%

Unique Pageviews: The number of visits during which one or more of these pages was viewed.

Unique Pageviews

13,865

% of Site Total: 100.00%

Avg. Time on Page: The average amount of time visitors spent viewing this set of pages or page.

Avg. Time on Page

00:02:36

Site Avg: 00:02:36 (0.00%)

Bounce Rate: The percentage of single page visits resulting from this set of pages or page.

Bounce Rate

73.38%

Site Avg: 73.38% (0.00%)

% Exit: The percentage of site exits that occurred from this set of pages or page.

% Exit

58.77%

Site Avg: 58.77% (0.00%)

$ Index: The average value of this page or set of pages. $Index is (Ecommerce revenue + Total Goal Value) divided by Pageviews for the page(s).

$ Index

$0.00

Site Avg: $0.00 (0.00%)

Unique Pageviews

Avg. Time on Page

Bounce Rate

% Exit

$ Index

	Page Title	Pageviews
1.	Speak Without Interruption	2,987	1,497	00:03:01	25.17%	28.96%	$0.00
2.	Publish America Scam or Not? To Trust or Not To Trust? « Speak Without Interruption	616	581	00:07:38	93.58%	91.72%	$0.00
3.	Prentiss Gray « Speak Without Interruption	553	371	00:00:55	59.94%	58.95%	$0.00
4.	I Am Now 30 and Not Bald: Hallelujah. « Speak Without Interruption	530	393	00:01:35	71.76%	73.40%	$0.00
5.	Latest Posts « Speak Without Interruption	474	389	00:01:43	70.71%	55.70%	$0.00
6.	Rebuilding Adrenal Health « Speak Without Interruption	345	322	00:05:22	91.61%	91.30%	$0.00
7.	General Topics « Speak Without Interruption	334	254	00:01:44	68.40%	67.07%	$0.00
8.	A Soft and Gentle Man « Speak Without Interruption	255	236	00:03:12	93.33%	79.61%	$0.00
9.	World Issues « Speak Without Interruption	207	136	00:01:02	50.38%	58.94%	$0.00
10.	Contributor’s Bios « Speak Without Interruption	202	155	00:01:27	55.81%	46.53%	$0.00
11.	How Do Women Respond to Winking « Speak Without Interruption	165	159	00:03:38	95.60%	94.55%	$0.00
12.	EARRINGS « Speak Without Interruption	156	113	00:00:25	74.34%	71.79%	$0.00
13.	Minnette Coleman « Speak Without Interruption	146	118	00:00:51	23.29%	23.29%	$0.00
14.	Amazing Wild Bald Eagle Moment! « Speak Without Interruption	139	103	00:01:07	72.82%	74.10%	$0.00
15.	How to Activate Your Crown Chakra to Draw Sexual Energy Upwards « Speak Without Interruption	132	122	00:03:23	91.80%	90.91%	$0.00
16.	Subway Story- Pervert on the Train « Speak Without Interruption	127	123	00:05:45	92.62%	92.13%	$0.00
17.	ETHICAL BEHAVIOR AT WORK: AN OLD-FASHIONED SOFT SKILL FOR THE NEW WORLD « Speak Without Interruption	126	117	00:04:32	92.11%	91.27%	$0.00
18.	TALKING WITH YOUR HANDS « Speak Without Interruption	123	121	00:02:16	95.87%	96.75%	$0.00
19.	Neil’s in the house… the best poster’s ever: From beawesomeinstead.com « Speak Without Interruption	114	82	00:00:39	68.29%	71.93%	$0.00
20.	Three YouTube Clips of Ben Franklin « Speak Without Interruption	114	80	00:04:29	30.38%	67.54%	$0.00
21.	Unemployed Husbands, Unsympathetic Wives « Speak Without Interruption	108	105	00:10:05	94.23%	95.37%	$0.00
22.	Thank You Soldier « Speak Without Interruption	105	85	00:02:48	82.14%	79.05%	$0.00
23.	SOFT SKILLS TRAINING GOES TO SCHOOL! « Speak Without Interruption	99	87	00:05:13	84.88%	82.83%	$0.00
24.	A Celibate Marriage: the pain and unhappiness in an era when sex sells « Speak Without Interruption	97	91	00:03:23	93.10%	92.78%	$0.00
25.	Weighing Up Traditional Publishing & Ebook Publishing « Speak Without Interruption	93	81	00:03:54	80.77%	68.82%	$0.00
26.	Have You Seen the (Naked) Statue of David? « Speak Without Interruption	92	91	00:00:27	98.90%	98.91%	$0.00
27.	Kaye « Speak Without Interruption	90	71	00:01:30	28.57%	33.33%	$0.00
28.	Brothers in arms – a revolution just for fun « Speak Without Interruption	88	77	00:06:39	65.00%	65.91%	$0.00
29.	Erythritol—A Sugar Substitute as Low as You Can Go on the Glycemic Index « Speak Without Interruption	86	86	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%	$0.00
30.	A Quick Way to Call a Meeting to Order « Speak Without Interruption	76	73	00:04:13	95.83%	94.74%	$0.00
31.	My Kind of Hero: Bernard Loeffke, Major General USA (retired) « Speak Without Interruption	72	63	00:06:52	80.00%	79.17%	$0.00
32.	Giving back through journalism « Speak Without Interruption	70	54	00:00:35	35.90%	25.71%	$0.00
33.	Military ‘Food’ for Thought, America vs. China « Speak Without Interruption	70	64	00:04:41	93.75%	91.43%	$0.00
34.	Bob Ellal « Speak Without Interruption	69	47	00:02:18	63.16%	47.83%	$0.00
35.	Jack B Rochester « Speak Without Interruption	68	52	00:01:38	69.57%	66.18%	$0.00
36.	PALMETTO BUGS « Speak Without Interruption	68	49	00:06:47	83.67%	70.59%	$0.00
37.	An upward trend for SWI « Speak Without Interruption	66	52	00:01:04	26.47%	28.79%	$0.00
38.	My daughter’s wedding « Speak Without Interruption	65	60	00:04:53	95.74%	78.46%	$0.00
39.	The Importance of a Great Book Cover Design « Speak Without Interruption	58	53	00:07:00	88.68%	87.93%	$0.00
40.	Do Not Spare The Rod « Speak Without Interruption	57	56	00:01:43	96.43%	96.49%	$0.00
41.	ETHNIC JOKES « Speak Without Interruption	56	52	00:02:24	92.31%	92.86%	$0.00
42.	The (Black) Hair Thing « Speak Without Interruption	56	54	00:05:58	93.94%	71.43%	$0.00
43.	Top 9 MLB Players Of The Decade. « Speak Without Interruption	56	54	00:05:37	96.30%	96.43%	$0.00
44.	Writing the Cover Letter, Synopsis & Bio « Speak Without Interruption	55	54	00:04:22	98.15%	98.18%	$0.00
45.	Not All Factories in China are Sweat Shops « Speak Without Interruption	54	43	00:00:12	76.74%	79.63%	$0.00
46.	Another Disadvantage of Being a Woman- Being a Nun in a World Ruled by Male Priests « Speak Without Interruption	49	45	00:05:31	88.89%	91.84%	$0.00
47.	If you love a good book, Charlotte Castle’s “Simon’s Choice” is one of the best « Speak Without Interruption	49	42	00:02:12	83.87%	67.35%	$0.00
48.	Carla René « Speak Without Interruption	48	37	00:00:48	100.00%	35.42%	$0.00
49.	Inclusion- A Mosque at Ground Zero « Speak Without Interruption	47	37	00:07:54	50.00%	44.68%	$0.00
50.	paul perry poet « Speak Without Interruption	47	37	00:00:34	35.29%	38.30%	$0.00
51.	An Invitation to Writers (All Countries/All Languages) « Speak Without Interruption	45	36	00:01:15	21.05%	15.56%	$0.00
52.	It’s Just Little Girls Dancing- But There’s the Rub « Speak Without Interruption	45	42	00:03:38	95.12%	91.11%	$0.00
53.	Lay On, MacDuff « Speak Without Interruption	45	44	00:01:29	95.35%	93.33%	$0.00
54.	A new author with an imaginary day-job needs fans to mock her! « Speak Without Interruption	44	38	00:02:05	78.57%	38.64%	$0.00
55.	FRONTERAS TIRANTES « Speak Without Interruption	44	35	00:00:40	77.14%	79.55%	$0.00
56.	Would you complisult a frenemy? « Speak Without Interruption	44	40	00:05:21	87.18%	86.36%	$0.00
57.	A Letter From Your Guardian Angel « Speak Without Interruption	43	41	00:02:12	78.05%	81.40%	$0.00
58.	About SWI « Speak Without Interruption	43	36	00:02:06	50.00%	18.60%	$0.00
59.	Overcoming lies and lying attitudes « Speak Without Interruption	43	39	00:04:40	94.87%	90.70%	$0.00
60.	Me and My Bully: A Kind of Essay « Speak Without Interruption	42	40	00:02:42	94.87%	92.86%	$0.00
61.	16 Book Components and Special Sections for Authors « Speak Without Interruption	41	40	00:02:23	95.00%	95.12%	$0.00
62.	God Created Woman For Man « Speak Without Interruption	41	41	00:01:28	95.12%	95.12%	$0.00
63.	How to Work For (and live with) a Bureaucracy Without Going Mad « Speak Without Interruption	41	36	00:04:34	81.48%	65.85%	$0.00
64.	Oily Hole « Speak Without Interruption	41	19	00:01:57	60.00%	17.07%	$0.00
65.	The Great March « Speak Without Interruption	41	28	00:03:18	66.67%	39.02%	$0.00
66.	A week of book reviews, #1: THE MAGUS, by John Fowles « Speak Without Interruption	40	38	00:08:34	94.59%	92.50%	$0.00
67.	Strange Fruit Living Just Enough For The City « Speak Without Interruption	40	35	00:05:23	100.00%	37.50%	$0.00
68.	What Hat to Wear? « Speak Without Interruption	40	36	00:01:32	25.00%	27.50%	$0.00
69.	Intolerant of stupidity « Speak Without Interruption	39	29	00:04:16	77.78%	30.77%	$0.00
70.	Overdose claims relationship (part two) « Speak Without Interruption	39	35	00:06:02	84.85%	82.05%	$0.00
71.	SB1070 « Speak Without Interruption	39	25	00:02:34	68.00%	64.10%	$0.00
72.	God and Governance in the USA « Speak Without Interruption	38	31	00:08:31	76.47%	63.16%	$0.00
73.	A Mosque Grows in Mahattan « Speak Without Interruption	37	31	00:04:50	20.00%	32.43%	$0.00
74.	Friday weirdness: How can you be in two places at once when you’re really no where at all? « Speak Without Interruption	37	34	00:10:43	78.12%	83.78%	$0.00
75.	Me and My Bully: A Kind of Essay (continued) « Speak Without Interruption	37	34	00:03:40	87.88%	89.19%	$0.00
76.	Purchase Contributor’s Books « Speak Without Interruption	37	30	00:02:11	0.00%	40.54%	$0.00
77.	Press and media get PWND: The Apple news conference « Speak Without Interruption	36	36	00:06:34	82.76%	83.33%	$0.00
78.	The Bugs Bunny Guide to Linkbuilding « Speak Without Interruption	36	28	00:00:12	85.71%	77.78%	$0.00
79.	The Poetry of Government « Speak Without Interruption	36	30	00:01:52	83.33%	55.56%	$0.00
80.	A Proud Look « Speak Without Interruption	35	35	00:17:38	97.14%	97.14%	$0.00
81.	Red Lipstick « Speak Without Interruption	35	34	00:00:10	97.06%	97.14%	$0.00
82.	Tyree Harris « Speak Without Interruption	35	16	00:01:29	55.56%	22.86%	$0.00
83.	We Don’t Know Poverty « Speak Without Interruption	35	29	00:06:47	75.00%	48.57%	$0.00
84.	Experimental Fiction Writing —Classes Online Are Now Available « Speak Without Interruption	34	28	00:30:45	73.08%	73.53%	$0.00
85.	Michael Crumling « Speak Without Interruption	34	21	00:00:30	60.00%	29.41%	$0.00
86.	Sex « Speak Without Interruption	34	28	00:01:25	50.00%	32.35%	$0.00
87.	The worst thing about being Gay? – Having Ann Coulter on your side. « Speak Without Interruption	34	31	00:01:32	84.62%	50.00%	$0.00
88.	Closing Pandoras Box « Speak Without Interruption	33	26	00:02:55	33.33%	30.30%	$0.00
89.	Ok, Mystery time! « Speak Without Interruption	33	29	00:06:37	77.78%	51.52%	$0.00
90.	THE DEPRESSION OF 2010 « Speak Without Interruption	33	20	00:06:04	40.00%	39.39%	$0.00
91.	African-American « Speak Without Interruption	32	24	00:01:49	80.00%	37.50%	$0.00
92.	TIN HEADS – INTRODUCTION « Speak Without Interruption	32	18	00:05:38	70.00%	46.88%	$0.00
93.	The Blessing of Being Bowlegged « Speak Without Interruption	32	32	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%	$0.00
94.	The Hamilton Heights Rapist- A Test for Police and Community « Speak Without Interruption	32	32	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%	$0.00
95.	EXCESSIVE USE OF PROFANITY « Speak Without Interruption	31	26	00:03:29	92.00%	80.65%	$0.00
96.	I Think this is one of those Hideously Disfiguring Disappointments I Warned you About « Speak Without Interruption	31	23	00:06:22	40.00%	35.48%	$0.00
97.	Peggy Klaus « Speak Without Interruption	31	25	00:01:42	70.83%	70.97%	$0.00
98.	Reader’s Corner: Sandford’s New “Prey” Novel « Speak Without Interruption	31	27	00:00:51	80.00%	61.29%	$0.00
99.	Business Management « Speak Without Interruption	30	9	00:01:18	50.00%	13.33%	$0.00
100.	Sex Surrogates: The “Logic” of Professional Psychologists Part 3 « Speak Without Interruption	29	28	00:21:23	89.29%	96.55%	$0.00
101.	Wow. Oh, wow. Oh, wow-oh-wow-oh-wow. « Speak Without Interruption	29	23	00:04:21	57.14%	24.14%	$0.00
102.	Adam and Eve – the greatest love story « Speak Without Interruption	28	28	00:03:44	92.86%	96.43%	$0.00
103.	Budget Cuts and Rats! « Speak Without Interruption	28	26	00:05:12	80.00%	53.57%	$0.00
104.	How to attract a literary agent: a brief, personal memoir « Speak Without Interruption	28	27	00:06:32	92.59%	92.86%	$0.00
105.	IMPLEMENTING BUSINESS ETHICS « Speak Without Interruption	28	26	00:00:49	92.00%	89.29%	$0.00
106.	The Disappearing Lord « Speak Without Interruption	28	25	00:04:03	71.43%	53.57%	$0.00
107.	Bald Eagles Landing on Beach « Speak Without Interruption	27	24	00:00:15	87.50%	85.19%	$0.00
108.	A mansion and a yacht…….. « Speak Without Interruption	26	26	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%	$0.00
109.	Contact Us « Speak Without Interruption	26	19	00:02:08	0.00%	30.77%	$0.00
110.	PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY « Speak Without Interruption	26	24	00:04:03	90.00%	50.00%	$0.00
111.	Street Story: Buy My Book « Speak Without Interruption	26	24	00:03:47	20.00%	30.77%	$0.00
112.	MARRIAGE: IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO « Speak Without Interruption	25	22	00:00:46	87.50%	40.00%	$0.00
113.	“We are Sorry for the Inconvenience” « Speak Without Interruption	25	24	00:01:19	94.44%	72.00%	$0.00
114.	A Powerful Testimony to Courage and a Call to Action: a book review « Speak Without Interruption	24	18	00:04:38	50.00%	45.83%	$0.00
115.	Books in brief: A review of “Writers and Their Notebooks” « Speak Without Interruption	24	21	00:05:26	85.71%	87.50%	$0.00
116.	Danielle Steel Interview « Speak Without Interruption	24	24	00:26:52	95.83%	95.83%	$0.00
117.	I don’t think more writing can be healthy for a writer. « Speak Without Interruption	24	20	00:02:43	0.00%	29.17%	$0.00
118.	Medicare is a financial failure as will be Obamacare « Speak Without Interruption	24	18	00:06:45	83.33%	75.00%	$0.00
119.	Someone Knows The Hamilton Heights Rapist « Speak Without Interruption	24	23	00:01:45	90.48%	87.50%	$0.00
120.	WHERE IS ISLAM GROWING? « Speak Without Interruption	24	21	00:03:09	80.00%	54.17%	$0.00
121.	Who Decides What is Classic? « Speak Without Interruption	24	23	00:06:06	77.78%	54.17%	$0.00
122.	steve sangirardi « Speak Without Interruption	24	16	00:01:16	63.64%	58.33%	$0.00
123.	Answering Mr. Gray « Speak Without Interruption	23	18	00:03:40	66.67%	26.09%	$0.00
124.	Bob Grant – Editor « Speak Without Interruption	23	19	00:00:41	100.00%	34.78%	$0.00
125.	General McChrystal Should Go « Speak Without Interruption	23	19	00:03:14	25.00%	43.48%	$0.00
126.	Hamlet’s Oedipal Complex « Speak Without Interruption	23	21	00:07:26	90.48%	91.30%	$0.00
127.	Helping Women Take Care of Themselves « Speak Without Interruption	23	21	00:01:21	90.48%	91.30%	$0.00
128.	Relationships Advice: Transference Causes Divorce « Speak Without Interruption	23	22	00:00:14	95.45%	95.65%	$0.00
129.	Review of ‘Old City, New Rumours’ – edited by Ian Gregson and Carol Rumens « Speak Without Interruption	23	20	00:01:45	83.33%	82.61%	$0.00
130.	Subway Story- Urban Legend « Speak Without Interruption	23	22	00:00:43	95.45%	95.65%	$0.00
131.	VONAGE WORLD MOBILE – VoIP TO GO « Speak Without Interruption	23	21	00:04:21	80.95%	91.30%	$0.00
132.	What is Fear of Success? « Speak Without Interruption	23	22	00:01:36	66.67%	43.48%	$0.00
133.	“His name was Mohammed, and he was a good man” « Speak Without Interruption	23	19	00:02:01	72.73%	60.87%	$0.00
134.	A reason for War? « Speak Without Interruption	22	19	00:02:28	0.00%	36.36%	$0.00
135.	CONTESTACIÓN A UN RETO « Speak Without Interruption	22	16	00:00:10	81.25%	72.73%	$0.00
136.	Hi, we’re North Korean, conquer us! « Speak Without Interruption	22	19	00:02:25	66.67%	31.82%	$0.00
137.	WHY WE NEED A MIDDLE CLASS « Speak Without Interruption	22	17	00:05:11	71.43%	45.45%	$0.00
138.	Chemotherapy Plus Qigong: Cancer Cure? « Speak Without Interruption	21	21	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%	$0.00
139.	Heckling and Hate Speech « Speak Without Interruption	21	20	00:01:36	94.44%	85.71%	$0.00
140.	Just a Spoon full of……..Apple Cider Vinegar « Speak Without Interruption	21	21	00:00:00	100.00%	100.00%	$0.00
141.	no love story « Speak Without Interruption	21	18	00:01:33	66.67%	38.10%	$0.00
142.	A GRADUATION TOAST « Speak Without Interruption	20	13	00:05:14	42.86%	45.00%	$0.00
143.	Blood and Sulfur and Men who Morph « Speak Without Interruption	20	19	00:16:04	94.74%	95.00%	$0.00
144.	Farmer Judd « Speak Without Interruption	20	12	00:01:59	0.00%	20.00%	$0.00
145.	Healing Dose of Happiness « Speak Without Interruption	20	18	00:03:02	100.00%	45.00%	$0.00
146.	I should’ve been the one to paint the Sistine Chapel « Speak Without Interruption	20	17	00:01:58	0.00%	15.00%	$0.00
147.	Martin Shane « Speak Without Interruption	20	15	00:00:57	66.67%	40.00%	$0.00
148.	The Koch party – Get the rednecks to do the dirty work. « Speak Without Interruption	20	16	00:03:57	75.00%	45.00%	$0.00
149.	Why We Must Forget About Race « Speak Without Interruption	20	19	00:03:40	40.00%	30.00%	$0.00
150.	Background Action « Speak Without Interruption	19	19	00:01:00	93.75%	94.74%	$0.00
151.	China Cleaning their Environment « Speak Without Interruption	19	15	00:01:33	73.33%	78.95%	$0.00
152.	Documenting History to Prove It Happened « Speak Without Interruption	19	16	00:04:22	71.43%	73.68%	$0.00
153.	Jose Antonio Ponce « Speak Without Interruption	19	14	00:02:54	66.67%	47.37%	$0.00
154.	Of Coffee and Consequence « Speak Without Interruption	19	16	00:02:46	50.00%	15.79%	$0.00
155.	THE DIGNITY OF WORK « Speak Without Interruption	19	17	00:01:27	88.24%	89.47%	$0.00
156.	The Truth About Harlem « Speak Without Interruption	19	18	00:01:04	94.44%	94.74%	$0.00
157.	The tool of fond remembrance « Speak Without Interruption	19	14	00:01:29	0.00%	26.32%	$0.00
158.	“OCEAN LINER SINKS IN MEDITERRANEAN” « Speak Without Interruption	19	16	00:01:18	87.50%	84.21%	$0.00
159.	A Special Birthday « Speak Without Interruption	18	15	00:00:53	66.67%	16.67%	$0.00
160.	Adult Bald Eagle Steals Juvenile’s Fish « Speak Without Interruption	18	15	00:01:00	64.29%	83.33%	$0.00
161.	Peacetime in Krakow « Speak Without Interruption	18	14	00:04:39	66.67%	61.11%	$0.00
162.	Saying No! to a Ground Zero Mosque « Speak Without Interruption	18	16	00:01:35	40.00%	22.22%	$0.00
163.	Short Stories « Speak Without Interruption	18	14	00:00:40	55.56%	55.56%	$0.00
164.	Transparent Relationships All Round « Speak Without Interruption	18	18	00:03:58	88.24%	83.33%	$0.00
165.	What the world says about Nigerians « Speak Without Interruption	18	14	00:03:22	85.71%	72.22%	$0.00
166.	“Little Guide to Unhip”, by K. J. Rigby « Speak Without Interruption	18	15	00:01:04	62.50%	50.00%	$0.00
167.	“Oh! You’re a writer! How exciting. You know, I’ve always wanted to write a book.” « Speak Without Interruption	18	15	00:02:33	0.00%	27.78%	$0.00
168.	“Spoilt” by Joanne Ellis « Speak Without Interruption	18	14	00:00:33	70.00%	72.22%	$0.00
169.	A Hole Called Ground Zero « Speak Without Interruption	17	17	00:04:48	80.00%	64.71%	$0.00
170.	A list of crap I no longer wish to hear about « Speak Without Interruption	17	15	00:02:34	100.00%	52.94%	$0.00
171.	Are You a Surface Dweller? « Speak Without Interruption	17	15	00:07:15	84.62%	82.35%	$0.00
172.	Enjoying this moment « Speak Without Interruption	17	15	00:00:52	0.00%	29.41%	$0.00
173.	Letter to Oedipus from his foster mother Merope « Speak Without Interruption	17	16	00:00:49	93.33%	94.12%	$0.00
174.	River separates life from death « Speak Without Interruption	17	15	00:00:52	83.33%	35.29%	$0.00
175.	The Little Site « Speak Without Interruption	17	9	00:01:13	0.00%	11.76%	$0.00
176.	The New Society « Speak Without Interruption	17	16	00:03:02	50.00%	35.29%	$0.00
177.	The Shankees have come to town « Speak Without Interruption	17	13	00:00:58	66.67%	41.18%	$0.00
178.	The Truth About Prejudice-You’ve got to be Taught « Speak Without Interruption	17	16	00:02:34	87.50%	88.24%	$0.00
179.	Tim Roux « Speak Without Interruption	17	14	00:00:47	50.00%	29.41%	$0.00
180.	America’s Muslim problem « Speak Without Interruption	16	15	00:04:07	100.00%	43.75%	$0.00
181.	Come September « Speak Without Interruption	16	15	00:03:36	57.14%	31.25%	$0.00
182.	Equilibrium « Speak Without Interruption	16	13	00:02:41	75.00%	56.25%	$0.00
183.	Gary Coleman – Little Man, Big Problems « Speak Without Interruption	16	14	00:00:13	83.33%	81.25%	$0.00
184.	George Steinbrenner, great American loser « Speak Without Interruption	16	15	00:00:52	50.00%	31.25%	$0.00
185.	Glenn Beck is Still A Fat, Angry, Crazy Person! « Speak Without Interruption	16	8	00:00:42	62.50%	50.00%	$0.00
186.	Grandfather and the Deer « Speak Without Interruption	16	15	00:03:45	84.62%	75.00%	$0.00
187.	Kathmandu, home of the World’s dirtiest toilet. « Speak Without Interruption	16	16	00:00:49	83.33%	56.25%	$0.00
188.	Limitations « Speak Without Interruption	16	16	00:04:34	100.00%	25.00%	$0.00
189.	NBC: Mensa Members Need Not Apply « Speak Without Interruption	16	11	00:00:10	81.82%	68.75%	$0.00
190.	Page not found « Speak Without Interruption	16	16	00:00:16	85.71%	81.25%	$0.00
191.	Wasting Time « Speak Without Interruption	16	16	00:01:27	100.00%	37.50%	$0.00
192.	What Hurricane Katrina Taught Me « Speak Without Interruption	16	16	00:05:35	50.00%	25.00%	$0.00
193.	Attitude « Speak Without Interruption	15	13	00:00:42	66.67%	20.00%	$0.00
194.	Conflict! I need more conflict! « Speak Without Interruption	15	15	00:01:14	25.00%	26.67%	$0.00
195.	Demons in the Corners « Speak Without Interruption	15	14	00:04:00	100.00%	26.67%	$0.00
196.	EDUCATION AS A WEAPON « Speak Without Interruption	15	10	00:06:37	60.00%	40.00%	$0.00
197.	There Will Never be Enough Books « Speak Without Interruption	15	15	00:07:00	25.00%	53.33%	$0.00
198.	Unique Christmas Decorations « Speak Without Interruption	15	12	00:00:08	91.67%	80.00%	$0.00
199.	What was I thinking back in the day? « Speak Without Interruption	15	12	00:01:24	41.67%	46.67%	$0.00
200.	A week on the edge #2: Royal Navy flogging—no longer practiced « Speak Without Interruption	14	12	00:01:46	91.67%	85.71%	$0.00

Republicratarian?!

Michael Crumling — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:32:56 +0000

As a child, I heard that you should not discuss politics or religion in polite company. When I broke this rule as a teenager, I learned some of the reasons why you shouldn’t. However, if you don’t discuss these issues, you can never learn, nor can you come to any consensus. Honesty seems to be the best method of arriving at acceptable solutions in compromise. What is disconcerting is polarization. My mother always told me to think for myself, and arrive at my own conclusions. She was referring to gossip at the time, but the same philosophy is applicable here. I grew up around a great many Democrats. My great-grandmother, “Granny” was from Brooklyn, New York. She used to tell me stories of how our distant relative named Al Smith had run for President as a Democrat. By her recollection, he was turned down because he was a Catholic. As she was a Catholic, she was proud that John Kennedy was elected as the first “Catholic” President. My father was a Teamster, and the union was “right” about everything. I heard stories of Harry Truman (whom I probably would have really liked) and others in politics.

At about 18, I was given “Atlas Shrugged”, books by Thoreau, Kant and Voltaire among others. They certainly broadened my perspective on many things. This emulsion of opinion, philosophy and thought, caused confusion at first, and then opened the door to critical thinking. As an adult in business, this experience was invaluable. I encountered some folks of the Republican philosophy there. They spoke of the greatness of Calvin Coolidge and Eisenhower. They wanted to work hard and get ahead in life. It was Reagan who got my attention. I voted for him, and don’t regret it. His thoughts and methods challenged me to once again examine my own. He made me feel good about the United States.

So am I a Democrat, a Republican, a Libertarian or an Independent? Well, that depends. I have voted for all of the above, so what does that mean? The Democrats espouse to be “for the working man” and support for “government services”. As an individual, I have empathy for others. It is easy to walk a mile in the shoes of others, to attempt to understand them. This is probably a secret to my success in life. The Republicans say they want you to be able to “keep more of what you earn” and espouse “limited government”. I work for it, why can’t I keep it? The Libertarian philosophy allows for “individual liberty”. My attitude is live and let live. The Independents say, well what the heck do they say? So on balance, I agree with some basic tenets of all of them.

The Democrats tend to go too far for my tastes as it relates to the role of government in our lives. I really don’t believe that education is a federal role. When renting an apartment to a woman who got Section 8 housing, fully paid utility bills, and food stamps, I noticed that she had a better television, a new SUV, and great furniture. I paid for the building, and I couldn’t afford any of that. I did however get a fat tax bill to help in supplying this to her! I guess because I was “rich”. They don’t have a problem with abortion as birth-control, but don’t spank the little bastard, and god-forbid you fry a mass murderer! The Republicans want too much specificity over one’s personal life, while at the same time wanting to limit governments’ role. They say that they are for freedom and capitalism, yet want to tell us who to sleep with, what is “dirty” and what is not, and what you should do with YOUR body. They see no waste in the Defense budget, $300 hammers and all! The Libertarians are for liberty. The problem there is where to draw the line, or not to draw one at all! Independents, much like “moderates” are wet dish rags at times. Some things in life are worth fighting for! You can’t just fence-sit. So there is much hypocrisy in “party” politics.

So that leaves me with what I am not. I am not for unlimited freedom. You can’t rape children, kill your neighbor, or tell other people how to spend their resources. Rape a kid, and I can’t write here what I think we ought to do to you. However, my Dad was 22 when he married my 16 year old mother. I suppose that he would be a “predator” these days. I think that is a load of bull puckey. If they both consent at that age, it is nunya.

But the limits should be slight. I don’t care what you do as long as you don’t step on my toes. I couldn’t complain about my neighbors, because I don’t mind their business. Leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone. I don’t care about pornography, drugs or prostitution. There are worse things you can give someone than an orgasm. But if you have a disease and give it around willy-nilly, jail for you. If you want to take drugs at home and hurt no one, go for it. But give it to my 10 year old kid and I’ll exercise my second amendment rights. Read what you want, write what you want, and say what you want. Just understand that there may be consequences like a punch in the nose or the need to listen to some malarkey so you can get your say.

So to paraphrase a song …if you mind your own business, you won’t be minding mine. But we have an environment of partisanship, division and polarization. I don’t believe that someone is a bad person if they don’t agree with me. That being said, that doesn’t make me wrong. It may be cliché, but the devil really IS in the details. And while I do generalize about the parties philosophies, I don’t mean to stereotype. I firmly believe that most people are good by nature.

Open and honest communication, and a willingness to listen, is required to solve complex issues like abortion, race, gays, taxes, sex-education, religion or lack thereof, and all manner of contentious debate. The puppet masters keep us arguing over the same, and taking our eyes off of the ball; the magicians’ sleight of hand if you will. Opinions and individuals, however misguided, should be valued and respected. It is the only way we can ever regain the upper-hand over those who would subvert that which makes America great. Be proud, say it loud, but listen as well! There just might be a solution there.