Yoest, Yoest, Bennett, c. 1998

Bill Bennett, host of Bill Bennett's Morning in America made a statement in his morning commentary and made a story in main stream media.

He said, words to the effect, if every black child were aborted we'd have less crime.

His transgression was not merely the unfortunate unknown terrible cause and effect, but that Dr. Bennett violated the First Law in Public Debate known by media savvy professionals:

1) Don't do Hypotheticals.

If a question or a rebuttal starts with, "If" change the subject. If you are thinking "If" change you mind.

"I don't deal in hypotheticals," is the only verbiage used if "If" comes up.

Bill Bennett is guilty of nothing else.

Full Disclosure: Your Business Blogger(R) was awarded his very first consulting contract in a minor role for Bill Bennett when he was Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Ace has Freakonomics backstory.

Junkyard Dog has busybody in chief.

Outside The Beltway has more on Bennett.

Right Voices has making a point?

Mudville Gazette has Open Post.

Drakeview has this week's Carnival of the Capitalists.

The Political Teen has Open Trackbacks.

Captain Ed has Bogus Journey.

La Shawn Barber is thinking about writing on Bennett. She could add to the debate.

Posted at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)

Graphic credit: EddingsChonicles

...even if you didn't see them for the past few days. A number of comments were accidentally deleted.

If I can find a way to blame the staff, I shall.

Until then, I apologize. I understand the hassle, but please do a re-do of your comment if you don't see 'em.

Even the snarky ones.

Thanks

Posted at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Christine and Tom DeLay, with the Hammer Cake

I ran into Tom DeLay and his wife Christine at an event earlier this year in your Nation's Capital. Before he was indicted for "criminal conspiracy," allegedly moving money from corporate donations to Texas political races.

Having studied the man in the flesh a number of times over the years, I believe the charges are most unlikely. The facts alone point to his innocence.

Nevertheless, with such a public political indictment, throw 'innocent until proven guilty' out the window -- the accused must be proved innocent. And even then, the headlines will have moved on to fresh kill. Only bleeding is allowed above the fold.

For the innocent individual, political hardball can be devastating. Ray Donovan, the smeared Reagan nominee, after his exoneration asked, "Where do I go to get my reputation back?"

So too for the corporation: Where do you get your brand back? If your company is aligned with a political loser(or worse), is your brand damaged goods?

Given those realities, Your Business Blogger has to ask: Should corporations even make political donations?

Let's start at the beginning of this funding cycle. Not at the end user -- the politician -- but with the goal of the corporation.

The purpose of a corporation is to maximize shareholder wealth -- it's nice if the corporate citizen increases the stakeholder well being, but that's not the job of the for-profit enterprise.

Political contributions should be a board-level policy where donations are made only if the corporation's interest is advanced. Not to advance the agendas of individuals in the company.

For example, Starbucks donates 100% of its political contributions to the Democratic Party, supporting the Kerry campaign in particular.

I would submit that Starbucks should only make donations as an investment in the continuation of the corporation's goals. And not the personal worldview of Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz. Unless the corporation is the extended playground of the founder. Which may well be the case.

Here's why. A Congressman will get some 150 personal phone calls each day. Some he takes immediately, some tomorrow, some delegated, some ducked.

The unwritten cascade: Friends First, Horrendous Enemies second, constituents third. A known donor to a competitor's campaign would have his call returned with a lack of urgency not seen with the above-mentioned group. Interns make those returned calls. Next week. Maybe.

(One politico had code words for his donors. Any large contributor was known as "A Great American." Those calls were put through fast.)

If you are not a constituent, money does buy you -- well, maybe not love, but at least a returned phone call.

If a company board recognizes a real corporate need to influence a political issue, through interest or association groups, follow these rules:

Corporations should donate only to winners in the political process.

Corporations should never donate to underdogs. Losers get the company nothing, not even good will.

Corporations should donate to both political candidates (through interest groups) only when both are in a statistical tie.

Individuals can, of course, make their own decisions. But this should not involve the Company kitty.

Starbucks Howard Schultz and George Soros have not separated the private personal from the public business. For example, individuals can care and contribute deeply on both sides of abortion.

However, the abortion issue should not be funded by corporations unless they benefit from that industry, such as Planned Parenthood Clinics.

Corporations making charitable donations will be covered in upcoming posts. (The answer may surprise.)

Captain's Quarter's reviews the weak case.

Right Wing NutHouse has hunting Repubwicans.

GOPBloggers advocates full disclosure of funding.

The StakeHolder sees nothing amiss.

Sacred Monkeys reports the Texas Democrats have been hit hard.

Legal Fiction doesn't care for DeLay but has questions.

Michelle Malkin has overview.

See Mudville Gazette at Open Post.

The Political Teen has video.

Outside the Beltway has blogger reaction.

Update 25 Oct: Brand Autopsy has more on Starucks.

Update 17 Jan 2006 The Window Manager has more on movies.

Posted at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tom DeLay
credit: Ray Lustig/
Washington Post

Tom DeLay has been indicted and charged with criminal conspiracy. He is accused of conspiring (text of indictment) with John Colyandro and James Ellis to violate the laws governing campaign contributions.

DeLay's attorney calls the indictment "skunky." Following is the text of DeLay's response (via The Corner):

These charges have no basis in the facts or the law. This is just another example of Ronnie Earle misusing his office for partisan vendettas. Despite the clearly political agenda of this prosecutor, Congressman DeLay has cooperated with officials throughout the entire process. Even in the last two weeks, Ronnie Earle himself had acknowledged publicly that Mr. DeLay was not a target of his investigation. However, as with many of Ronnie Earle's previous partisan investigations, Ronnie Earle refused to let the facts or the law get in the way of his partisan desire to indict a political foe.

This purely political investigation has been marked by illegal grand jury leaks, a fundraising speech by Ronnie Earle for Texas Democrats that inappropriately focused on the investigation, misuse of his office for partisan purposes, and extortion of money for Earle's pet projects from corporations in exchange for dismissing indictments he brought against them. Ronnie Earle's previous misuse of his office has resulted in failed prosecutions and we trust his partisan grandstanding will strike out again, as it should.

Ronnie Earle's 1994 indictment against Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison was quickly dismissed and his charges in the 1980s against former Attorney General Jim Mattox-another political foe of Earle-fell apart at trial.

We regret the people of Texas will once again have their taxpayer dollars wasted on Ronnie Earle's pursuit of headlines and political paybacks. Ronnie Earle began this investigation in 2002, after the Democrat Party lost the Texas state legislature to Republicans. For three years and through numerous grand juries, Ronnie Earle has tried to manufacture charges against Republicans involved in winning those elections using arcane statutes never before utilized in a case in the state. This indictment is nothing more than prosecutorial retribution by a partisan Democrat.

The President quickly issued a statement of support for DeLay.

Posted at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

After an hour watching Hollywood's version of a female leader, we need an antidote. We need the real thing.

October 10, 1980

Posted at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Actually, we've got three winners. In last week's contest, I asked you to guess the salaries of the Commander of the Salvation Army compared to the head of the Red Cross.

I was pretty interested to see that no one came anywhere close to guessing that Marsha Evans makes $651,000. . .But who would?

So our first place winner is Janette, who came closest to getting Evans' salary right -- at $450.

But we're going to give a tie for second place to Toni and Matt who guessed $85/$375 and $90/$360 respectively.

Super-fly "I Think Therefore I Blog" t-shirts will soon be on their way to you three!

Posted at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

8:57 Live-blogging coming up shortly. Stay tuned -- and comments are open. Let me know what you're thinking, too.

9:01 Already I'm distracted by the collagen mouth.

9:02 The President is having a brain aneurysm and the Chief of Staff comes to the Vice President and tells her she must resign. That is SO implausible. Stoopid.

9:03 And what's with starting it out in France?

9:06 Now she's directing the military telling them how to move around individual ships in the Med. And she says "um" every other word. AAAARRRGGGHHHHH.

9:08 She's canvassing her children, asking them what they think about whether or not she should become President.

9:11 The President asks her to resign. No WAY that would happen. No WAY.

9:14 Look, we all knew I would hate this show. But I would so LOVE to see a depiction of an American Margaret Thatcher ascending to the Presidency instead of this stammering lightweight scenario. . . And did I mention yet the collagen lips that are so puffed up it gets in the way of her talking??

9:18 See what I mean. What kind of real American woman politician would contemplate resigning in this scenario? None. It's ridiculous.

9:19 Okay, finally I scene I really liked: her husband tells her she is making the wrong decision. They seem to be setting them up as a real team with a real marriage. That would be nice.

9:23 Check out Drill Sergeants observations in the comments!! Great catch on the Creationism line -- that obviously makes the Speaker evil.

9:25 So the Speaker is trying to talk her into resigning and says the Islamicists wouldn't follow a woman (the leader of the Free World can't be a woman) I guess he's forgetting Pakistan's (former) Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. . .

9:29 On the plus side: it was a great scene seeing a woman taking the oath of office. It will happen some day. And people won't be as freaked out as they are depicting. It will seem natural because once she gets there she will have earned it. She won't say "um" every other word. No collagen either.

9:31 Voice-over from a news show saying "she was wearing a navy suit." I like that -- they do always comment on a female pol's clothes.

9:33 She is in the Oval Office looking at the former President's stuff. That wouldn't happen either. They would have cleaned it up right away.

9:36 They just had a scene where the former President's secretary declines to stay on and tells Mackenzie she won't stay because it would make her feel cheap. I worked in the White House. Nobody talks like that to a President -- or a Vice President. This is just so frustrating because I want to see a female President with real gravitas!

9:39 Okay that's kind of fun: a scene where the husband is shown his office in the East Wing as the new "First Lady."

9:40 First Cabinet meeting. Like Johnson, she keeps them.

9:46 Is it possible to jump the shark in the very first episode? You've just got to love this story line where she is planning to send in the United States cavalry to rescue one African woman who was caught in adultery and is facing torture. . .

9:53 Okay, been there done that with the kid spilling juice on the suit!

9:54 Hey, that's the Richmond state capitol -- we used to live there.

9:56 Ya know, if they are going to send the copters into Nigeria, couldn't they fix the Nigerian email scams instead??

10:03 Special thanks to the Drill Sergeant for watching with us and adding his great comments! Very fun.

(And stay tuned: I'm getting my comments fixed this next week and will soon roll out new ones that don't require moderation!)

###

UPDATE: After dozing off in the middle, and who can blame him??, Jay Tea at Wizbang comes back with a great assessment of "Commander-in-Chiffon."

Darleen says she could only take 23 minutes.

And here's what I love about bloggers: Jeff Harrell notes that Geena Davis' concluding speech is given at night, while they depict the rescue scene as happening at sunset in Africa -- but in fact, Jeff says, "when it’s nine o’clock in the District, it’s one in the morning in Lagos." Hah. I know it's a minor point, but it goes to the cheesiness of the whole production.

I suppose that's enough already, but I also liked Jeff's point that on another show (which one? 24, I think?) there is a female president and her gender is never used as an issue.

Posted at 8:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (2)

"President" Geena Davis

Tonight, Tuesday, Charmaine at Reasoned Audacity will be live blogging the first episode of the ABC network series featuring a female president in the White House.

Charmaine will compare and contrast leadership styles of the Executive Branch under President Reagan with that imagined by Hollywood.

Presidential Personnel, Oval Office, c.1986

Charmaine is third from the left, front row. (Your Business Blogger will not enter the picture for another two years, so to say.)

Thank you (foot)notes:

Experienced broadcaster Slake will not be watching.

Pinko Feminist Hellcat writes that no amount of TV can help her political preferences -- and her unhappiness with Bush.

Laura at The Wide Awake Cafe will not be watching.

Jessica at Feministing will be watching (for the hype).

Mudville Gazette has Open Post.

Posted at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Salvation Army

Charmaine at Reasoned Audacity will be announcing the winners in her Guess the Compensation Contest tonight. Leave a comment on your guess at her post.

The T-shirt Prize

I will assume that some might be tempted to take a peek at the answers -- Charmaine was careful not to ascribe such a nefarious action, I am less so. Gender difference, I guess -- so contest entries will also be judged on subjective content as well as the objective answer.

Charmaine will be live blogging the new Commander in Chief. Contest winners posted after the broadcast tonight.

Posted at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow night at 9pm the new show "Commander in Chief" debuts on ABC. I'll be live-blogging the show -- be sure to stop by and join the fun.

Not a Chance

Yes!

Prediction: There will indeed by a female President in the Unites States. She'll be a conservative Republican.

Posted at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

Markets hate uncertainty. France has a future which is most uncertain -- which is another (real) reason not to do business there.



France is beginning to pay citizens to have children because their birthrate is far below replacement. But this may matter little -- Islam is quickly encroaching on French culture.

In early summer in the God-fearing USofA George Weigel gave a talk about the decline of European civilization and his new book, The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God. He uses the post-modern architecture of the monstrous "cube" that is the Great Arch of La Defence in Paris and the ageless cathedral of Notre-Dame as metaphor.

I bought the book. Read it. Saw the future.

The Cube

Weigel writes about a possible outcome for Europe:

Then there is the nightmare scenario...Europe fails to reverse its demographic decline; its finances ... perilous, its native populations ... demoralized, and recent arrivals ...assertively Islamic.

...it has happened before. The once flourishing Greco-Roman-Christian civilization of North Africa... within eight decades...disappeared into the sands... destroyed by advancing Islam.

Notre Dame

In significant parts of Europe, the drama of atheistic humanism would have played itself out in the triumph of a thoroughly nonhumanistic theism.

The crisis of civilizational morals that Europe is experiencing today would have reached its bitter end in a Europe in which the muezzin summons the faithful to prayer form the central loggia of St. Peter's in Rome, while Notre-Dame has been transformed into Hagia Sophia on the Seine

-- a great Christian church become an Islamic museum.

Weigel's prophesy is coming too soon, and so close.

Here's the business angle. As in any relationship trust is necessary between individuals to bind contracts. And business can be done with trusted individuals of Muslim faith. But seldom Muslim countries.

Under current French leadership it is easy to predict instability for France. A poor venue for strategic investment except for tourism.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Jihad Watch has France detains Jihadists.

Donald Sensing has excellent backstory at Europe Trending Gloomy.

Update 14 Oct 2005 Random Numbers explains why investors don't care for France

Best of Me carnival submission

Posted at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Predictably, our culture has drifted from Get It On, to Get-It-Over-With. . .

One more thing about the mom who pimped out her daughter and a friend to two men they met at a mall on a shopping trip.

My Brilliant Brother mentioned that post to me and said: "You know, Charmaine, that woman didn't exactly pimp out her daughter."

It's putting a fine point on it, but he's right. There is another layer of this story that I passed over.

What the mother actually said was that it was time for her daughter to "have sex and get it over with."

That's a statement worth pausing over.

While we are all justly horrified at this woman's terrible lack of normal, human maternal protectiveness, this mother came by her attitude naturally just by breathing the noxious fumes of our modern MTV sex culture. How many degrees of separation are there, really, from this mother who charged into criminal neglect, and the mothers who communicate the same "get it over with" attitude to their daughters more subtly, but perform a similar role as enabler with their permissiveness?

We've spent the last several decades letting a sniggering, crude, crass, adolescent, Get It On approach to sexuality overtake our sexual mores.

Yeah, I'm talking about you, Wonkette. And you, Amanda Marcotte.

Virginity, once respected and valued as a mark of self-discipline and self-respect, is now often viewed skeptically as a burden and an embarrassment.

We've morphed into the Get-It-Over-With culture. And women are the poorer for it.

# # #

Take a break for Lunch Specials at Basil's Blog.

Posted at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (41) | TrackBacks (5)

It is well known that a good consultant can graph out a trend line using the random numbers from thrown dice. I have for you, Gentle Reader, still another data point in the continuing question of Pepsi Patriotism: The #24.

Your Business Blogger has allowed that Pepsi might, just might be able to get something right as Pepsi President, Indra Nooyi, gives America the Digitus Impudicus.

I thought her NASCAR sponsorship was an example of her loyalty to American Values.

But I was wrong.

Radio Blogger uses NASCAR teams to put blogs into neat discreet market segments. Radio Blogger puts them along his left sidebar as blogroll.

For example, under
Richard Petty Blogs, you have:

Hugh Hewitt
Instapundit
Michelle Malkin

Under Darrell Waltrip Oddblogs:

Lileks
The Corner
Virginia Postrel

And under Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wiseguy Blogs, one sees:

Fraters Libertas
Infinite Monkeys
Lucianne Goldberg
Shot In The Dark
Spitbull

However, the category that caught my attention was:

Jeff Gordon Dark Side Blogs:

Buzz Machine
Daily Kos
Matthew Yglesias
Press Think
Princeton Progressive Review
TPM Cafe

So there you have it. Jeff Gordon, #24, is associated with very, very left of center anti-capitalists. And (gasp) Nooyi sponsors him.

The Finger, The Donation, and now, The Number.

(What all this has to do with Jeff Gordon is irrelevant. As long as I can draw a tight scatter diagram along a line.)

Pepsi President Indra Nooyi is consistent with her anti-American branding. Validated here in an unbiased third-party blog presentation uncovered by my crack research team. Nooyi continues to give America the finger.

Mere coincidence you say? Watch me prove it. On the next roll of the dice.

Like any good consultant.

Thank you (Foot)notes:

Chris Dickson is drinking only Coke.

Sepia Mutiny has Clout is Cool.

StlRecruiting says Pepsi should have a blog.

Gall and Wormwood points us to Chris Muir's cartoon.

Kerfuffles has concerns.

Roscoe's Blog has Saddam-Pepsico Connection. And a tax deduction.

Thanks to Mudville Gazette for Open Post.

Posted at 7:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)

If you work for Senator Chuck Schumer (D) you do not have friends in the growing storm. Your world is changed.


Charmaine Yoest on phone
Top of Chuck Schumer's head center

Your only friend is your lawyer. And even here you are not your legal counsel's friend. You are now what these economic rent seekers call a "client."

Your Humble Business Blogger has been on both sides of the table dealing with the FBI and legions of lawyers. You cannot win, even if you don't lose. You will cry. Start now.

The Schumer scandal is in my current state of Maryland involving purloined documents from our Republican Lieutenant Governor Steele. The Democrats are doing the purloining . You, Schumer staffer, are guilty.

Your counseling sessions should begin with advice from Hugh Hewitt:

First, write down this number: 202-974-5600... for Chadbourne & Parke in DC, ... Abbe Lowell. ... he is the city's best bet for criminal defense ... It is best to be the first one to the firm before conflicts kick in. Bring your wallet. Probably dad's wallet, if you are young staffer in over your head. In fact, you'd better tell dad right now.

You will remember Lowell, Esq. and his combat with Ken Starr. As Hugh Hewitt suggests, the DC battlefield requires local guides.

In politics, as in business, guilt or innocence is irrelevant.

At one of my start-ups 15 years ago, we received a letter from a competitor's legal team challenging our patent. "To respond you need to budget $25,000," our lawyer said.

"But our patent is air-tight! This is frivolous! Outrageous!"

"Indeed," our legal counsel almost smiled.

That time the company paid, or, rather, our funders.

Another tangle with a business partner over disputed expenses was mediated by lawyers. Him guilty; me innocent.

No matter, for a year or two the lawyer fees were greater than the Yoest family home mortgage payments. And I don't get Christmas cards from my lawyers.

Because I was never a friend. And now I am not even a "client."

So young staffer, even if you could never get arrested, your time has come. You say you are innocent? You never touched, viewed, aided and abetted the stolen Steele stuff?

I once asked Morton Blackwell -- who ran the GOP in Virginia -- why Clinton's cabinet stood behind Clinton and lied for him during the Lewinsky event.

"Because," said Blackwell shaking his head, "Clinton only hires people just like him, who think and act like him." Birds of a feather kind of thing. (The only exception would be Jesse Brown.)

No, you are guilty. You're in a barrel headed over Niagara Falls, New York. What now?

Here's what you do:

1) Hire legal counsel.
2) Resign from Schumer's office
3) Do exactly what your legal eagles say.
4) Do not go home to NY.
5) Find the cameras.

I was at the Roberts' confirmation hearings with Charmaine as she lobbied in the lobby. The most dangerous place to be was between Schumer and a camera. But now you must beat him to the cameras, learn to stare into the bright lights and repeat the script your legal team will write. Sincerely. Faking it with your whole heart.

I can help you. email me. I can give you more free consulting.

So, young staffer, this experience will get you prepared when you deal with your divorce attorney in the coming years, but that will be easier.

Penta Posse
Senate Office Building
Thank you (foot)notes:

Checker Board has Ominous.

Captain's Quarters has the story.

Atlas Blogged has questions.

Kennedy v The Machine has silence.

And remember, Hugh Hewitt has the naming contest.

The Anchoress is not bored. Which makes good reading for us all.

MaxedOutMama has Schumer Staff Pulls.

GOPinion has more.

GOP Bloggers has the payoff.

Michelle Malkin has the dirty trick story.

Mudville Gazette has Open Post. And while there, see Toe in the Water with dangerous dolphins.

Posted at 6:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)

A mother took her 13-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old friend on an overnight shopping trip. While at a mall in White Plains, New York, they "ran into" Gilberto Gonzalez, who is 19, and Michael Berger, who is 18.

I can't quite imagine what happened in that interaction at the mall because the next part of the story is inconceivable: the two men met the mother and the two girls at a room in the Crowne Plaza Hotel. For sex. With the girls. With the mother's collusion. She provided the beer.

The two men had sex with the 13 and 14-year-old girls while the mother was in the room!

That's an outrage. But it gets worse.

The men are now being prosecuted for rape. That's good.

The mother is being prosecuted for second-degree rape. Maybe good.

But the judge says he is going to sentence the woman to six months in jail and 10 years probation, if she convinces him "that she understands the seriousness of the crime."

Six months in jail? Six months in jail? For pimping out your daughter? And a friend?

The judge is the one who doesn't understand the seriousness of this crime.

His name is Judge Rory Bellantoni, 9th Judicial District, Westchester County, New York.

Posted at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (5)

Jeff Cornwall

See Top 10 Reasons That Businesses Fail by Bobby Guy on Jeff Cornwall's blog The Entrepreneurial Mind.

Your Business Blogger has made each of these mistakes. More than once. Good to see them all on a single list. I suppose.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Way to Grow post up with reviews.

Morning Star has Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as background.

Be Excellent recommends a business coach.

Posted at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You can watch the Judiciary Committee vote online today at the Washington Post and at C-Span 3. I think the Post is better.

Senator Specter began with his "yes" vote at 9:40 this morning. It looks like the Democrats are pursuing a feeble "Good Cop/Bad Cop" strategy with Leahy voting yes while Biden, Kennedy, Feinstein and others go with the predictable "no."

Look, I can't resist: this is a "Stuck on Stupid" strategy for the Democrats. They want a more "moderate" candidate next, but why should the President bother? If he can't get these guys for Roberts, he won't get them for anyone else.

Posted at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

From Waco Kid!

We're all General Honore fans now. But, honestly, the "Stuck on Stupid" press conference was an almost brutally aggressive presentation.

So yesterday I asked Jack: "Why did that work so well?"

The answer is really interesting and up over at his site: it's a "Reverse Fisk."

Posted at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Bill White
Mayor of Houston

This is how grown-ups approach a Category 5 hurricane -- with red tail-lights.

Three cheers for Bill White, Mayor of Houston.

Via Michelle Malkin, who found it through Jason at Generation Why? (Love his tagline: Every morning when I wake up, I read the Bible and the Newspaper... Because I want to know what both sides are up to.)

Posted at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

. . . great graphic follow-up to today's new cathchprase: "Stuck With Stupids."

Posted at 9:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Lieutenant General Russel Honore gave a press conference today that will be long remembered and will become a part of media relations folklore.

Your Business Blogger has been on both sides of the microphone at a few press conferences. Permit me to 'reverse fisk' The General's performance. Astute observers know that LTG Honore did it right. Here's what happened on the subliminal level in seven easy lessons.

General Russel Honore

Look at The General. 85% of all communication is non-verbal and even a clueless reporter might understand that the three five-pointed silver stars might be some indication of rank and importance. (Less than one percent of entry level Second Lieutenants will become General Officers.)

The sunglasses normally don't work for normal people making a presentation. Eye contact is necessary to establish trust in a small group. But The General is not normal; nor is the situation. The General doesn't need this rule due to this caveat: In this setting the shades are intimidating.

Think Terminator in Aviators.

Lesson One: Own the Microphone. Set the stage.

Here's some of what The General said at the press conference:

...by order of the mayor and the governor,

Every elected mayor and politically appointed dog-catcher outranks any member in the Armed Services. The General is respectful of the chain of command. Reporters don't like and don't understand hierarchy. Just ask their editors.

...and open the convention center for people to come in. There are buses there. Is that clear to you?

It is perfectly clear. And that is what is so refreshing. All General Officers are subject to Senate confirmation. All General Officers are politicians, and usually sound like politicians. But not this one.

There is no doubt who is in charge.

Lesson Two: Direct message.

...Buses parked. There are 4,000 troops there. People come, they get on a bus, they get on a truck, they move on. Is that clear? Is that clear to the public?

Here we see the different agendas of the politico, Mayor Nagin, and the professional, General Honore. The General is using the press conference and the reporters as a public service forum to accomplish his mission. Mayor Nagin merely wants to be liked and re-elected.

[A female reporter asks]: Where do they move on...

[Honore]: That's not your business.

You cannot wait for all the traffic lights to turn green before leaving town. What The General was saying was that the plan's end may or may not be detailed at this moment -- the important part is to start. The first phase is known. The plan will unfold in phases, not all at once.

This is how the military works. When a unit moves, the subordinate will report up the chain of command when he crosses the "Start Point" at a predetermined time. Woe to the leader who misses the when and where of the starting gate. Missions and objectives always change, but there must be movement to start.

Lesson Three: Know your audience.

[Male reporter]: But General, that didn't work the first time...

[Honore]: Wait a minute. It didn't work the first time. This ain't the first time.

After action reports are evaluated after action. Not during. Not before. The General is wise enough to never criticize the previous commander -- not in public, certainly not in a press conference.

You got good public servants working through it.

Praise in public; reprimand in private. The General will soon violate this maxim, gloriously.

You are carrying the message, okay? What we're going to do is have the buses staged. The initial place is at the convention center. . and that's where we will use to migrate people from it, into the system.

The General is a professional in his use of the press: to convey the information The General wants reported.

Lesson four: Get Action

[Male reporter]: General Honore, we were told that Berman Stadium on the west bank would be another staging area

[Honore]: Not to my knowledge. Again, the current place, I just told you one time, is the convention center....

Rumor Control. The only feedback The General wants is to know if bad information is disseminated.

Lesson Five: Do not be distracted

Once we complete the plan with the mayor, and is approved by the governor...

Chain of command, again. But it is now obvious who's running the show.

... Let's not get stuck on the last storm. You're asking last storm questions for people who are concerned about the future storm. Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters. We are moving forward...

This is the biggest challenge of press conferences: the collegial need to answer a question. But that's not always necessary. A reporter's question should always be handled in one of three ways:

1) I know the answer and here it is.
2) I don't know the answer and will find it.
3) I know the answer, but I'm not telling you.

The General is using a (very original) version of #3.

...And don't confuse the people please...help us get the message straight. And if you don't understand, maybe you'll confuse it to the people.

Most of the reporters do have the story straight. But good work by The General is not a story. 'If it bleeds, it leads.' Mayor Nagin was a bloody fool that made great copy. The General is clean. No story.

[A male reporter]: General, a little bit more about why that's happening this time, though, and did not have that last time...

[Honore]: You are stuck on stupid.

Few ever spoke to the press this bluntly and survived. And every politician would like to demonstrate such bravery. A reprimand in public; real Non-judicial Punishment. It worked.

The General pulled it off. He does not have to be accountable to the Fourth Estate as politicians must.

Lesson Six: Be honest.

He continues:

I'm not going to answer that question. We are going to deal with Rita. This is public information that people are depending on the government to put out.

Version #3, again.

This is the way we've got to do it. So please. I apologize to you, but let's talk about the future. Rita is happening.

The General is not begging. The General is not sorry. He is using soft wordings as a pillow for the reporter he knocked on his backside.

Lesson Seven: Be Yourself

And we can have a conversation on the side about the past, in a couple of months.

Stuck on Stupid has now entered our lexicon and Honore for the history books.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Charmaine at Reasoned Audacity for Honore.

The Political Teen has the video.

Visit Mudville Gazette and Open Post and while there see bRight & Early with SOS.

Michelle Malkin has links and a question.

Sister Toljah has more as always.

Outside the Beltway has Traffic Jam and while there see BrainShavings with race hustlers.

The Accidental Misanthrope has an outstanding review of Leadership vs. Management. Sustitute Nagin for Manager; then Honore for Leader.

More at Dean's World at Honore Hero. Follow his links for a pronunciation guide. Good stuff.

SOS is now the war cry for the GOP against the DNC. See CaliforniaConservative and the Arnold campaign.

Chaos-in-Motion is confused about Honore's presentation. Chaos is left of center, I think.

The Radical Centrist has more on the role of the press.

Dr. De Doc has Birth of Memelet.

Andi's World has the counter example at bad PR for Code Pink.

Fake News has real humor.

See the best in graphics at PenguinPoletariat.

Update: Any Letter hosted Carnival of the Capitalists.

Posted at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (2)

Alert reader, Carl at Gelf Magazine has outstanding reporting and an astute observation.

Dr. Yoest, I saw your post about yesterday's NYT article ...And noticed your comment about the methodology: "The article is heavy on anecdote and fails to ever explain its methodology -- the source of its "data" is email responses from some young women at the Ivy's. So, even though I think the conclusion is interesting and one that I agree with, in all honesty the researcher in me has to point out to you that this is not terribly reliable reporting."

Carl continues:

It seems you had reason to be suspicious. Over at Gelf, to which I contribute, we've run a copy of the survey the NYT reporter emailed to Yale students, as sent to us by one of the recipients. The survey seems to have leading questions, basically implying that all Yale women must be straight and want kids: story here David Goldenberg byline .

Well done. Carl nails it down:

Among the leading questions, many from right at the top of the survey:

When you have children, do you plan to stay at home with them or do you plan to continue working? Why?

If you plan to continue working, do you plan to work full-time in an office, or full-time from your house, or part-time in an office, or part-time from your house? Why?

If you plan to stay at home with your kids, do you plan to return to work? If so, how old will you wait for your kids to be when you return?

Was your mom a stay-at-home mom? Explain whether she worked, and how much she worked! Were you glad with her choice (to either work or stay-at-home or whatever combination she did)?

How do you think college-age men at Yale feel about whether wives should stay at home with their kids?/

In polling we call this "priming the pump." It is used to direct answers with subtle questions with subtle assumptions. Good polls are designed to uncover the truth (of opinion) across a broad sample. Bad polls have an agenda. This is, as Carl suggests, a bad survey.

I will have more in coming posts on The NYT's political and cultural agenda.

No matter what our differences in the blogosphere, the work by Gelf Magazine shows us why the NYT chopped 500 jobs and is bleeding red ink. The NYT has lost the public trust -- because of such questionable reporting.

Outside The Beltway has more on the NYT's firings.

Posted at 2:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Prediction: With General Honore in charge of preparations for Hurricane Rita, you'll see a different scenario.

Now making its way 'round the web is the new cathchphrase: "Don't Get Stuck on Stupid." Here's Honore at a press conference yesterday:

Let's not get stuck on the last storm. You're asking last storm questions for people who are concerned about the future storm. Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters. We are moving forward. And don't confuse the people please.

Radioblogger has the full transcript and an audio clip. Via Will Collier at Vodkapundit (great comments).

And Political Teen has the MUST SEE video. Via Memeorandum with a great roundup.

UPDATE: Welcome Political Teen readers -- interested in the question of leadership? Take a minute to participate in a contest here at Reasoned Audacity comparing the salaries of the heads of the Salvation Army and the Red Cross.

Posted at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (4)

See how "Sarah" is getting it right. To get your next job, assignment or project PASS this test! See how the mythical composite Sarah learned new behaviors to find new opportunities.

As first appeared in The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia, January 20, 2002

To get a job, first get a plan and then get busy

by Jack Yoest

Two years ago Sarah, a technology worker asked, "How do I get a life?" Now she asks, "How do I get a job?" With unemployment the highest in six years, uncertainty has arrived this holiday season like the proverbial lump of coal: How would she find work?

Sudden unemployment, or looming job uncertainty, is one of life's great challenges. It's a stress test, but it's one you can learn to pass.

Here's how: use this coming New Year as an impending event to trigger the start of new behaviors. This is the time to be jolly, reduce uncertainty and increase paycheck security. Here's how Sarah, and you, will PASS this test!

Get a Plan. New Year's Resolutions notoriously never make it past the Super Bowl. So get a plan. Don't confuse the ultimate goal -- new job or new assignment -- with the individual steps you will take each day. Write down the actions you will do every day, every week.

PASSing involves managing behaviors, not goals. One of Sarah's action items was to shake ten hands at every event she attended.

Your Plan should be concrete and specific; your behaviors should be discrete and measurable: include numbers of phone calls, numbers of people you meet, number of letters you send. Numbers, Numbers, Numbers. This is important. What you count, counts.

Get Accountable. Find a friend and let them know your plan. Regularly update the friend who might be your spouse, relative, or bartender. This is the most difficult part of the process: ask for help and manage your mentor, someone who cares about you. If you can't find a mentor, email your plan to me. (I don't care about you either, but what works is telling someone what you will do and then reporting that you did it.) Asking for input is key -- people may not have a job for you, but they will always have advice.

Get Seen. The cliche is wrong: it's not

Continue Reading »

Posted at 8:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's where she was at 5 AM -- she's now a Category 4 storm with winds at 135 mph.

Posted at 8:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The New York Times is horrified. Elite young women at presitigious Ivy League schools are indicating an interest in, gasp, motherhood.

The article is heavy on anecdote and fails to ever explain its methodology -- the source of its "data" is email responses from some young women at the Ivy's. So, even though I think the conclusion is interesting and one that I agree with, in all honesty the researcher in me has to point out to you that this is not terribly reliable reporting.

The more interesting question is: what is the Times up to here?

Well, the headline may read neutrally: "Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood," but the text is anything but. The idea that young women might choose motherhood is clearly, from their perspective, a bad trend.

Let me offer my own anecdotal evidence: frankly, the young women the Times quotes, who feel comfortable expressing a preference for motherhood, don't sound at all like the co-eds I taught at the University of Virginia, who felt pressured to be single-mindedly devoted to a high-powered career track -- and would admit to interests in marriage and motherhood only sotto voce.

Here's the good news, Shirley Tilghman, President of Princeton, said to the reporter:

"There is nothing inconsistent with being a leader and a stay-at-home parent. Some women (and a handful of men) whom I have known who have done this have had a powerful impact on their communities."

Cheers for her.

Here's the bad, from Peter Salovey, dean of Yale:

What does concern me, is that so few students seem to be able to think outside the box; so few students seem to be able to imagine a life for themselves that isn't constructed along traditional gender roles.

The man is dean at Yale and he misses the irony that he is the one who isn't thinking outside the box?

Memo to Peter: You've got it exactly backward. In today's world, thinking outside the box involves constructing a life outside traditional male career paths. For both men and women, but especially for young women.

It is precisely the female inclination to think outside the box -- sequencing, part-time work, entrepreneurial innovation -- that is enlivening the 21st century work world.

UPDATE: Ann Althouse also reacting. She uses as a title the quote from a Harvard administrator: "When we work so hard to open academics and other opportunities for women, what kind of return do we expect to get for that?" Goes to my point.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: The Anchoress weighs in, and picks up on this quote: "They (these young women) are still thinking of this as a private issue; they’re accepting it," from a Yale women's studies prof, natch.

And Betsy Newmark.

Posted at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (6)

Citizen Smash is looking for a job.

The number one characteristic a hiring manager should study is not on a candidate's resume: Character. Hiring committees know only about an applicant's mettle from a third party observation.

This is an openly biased endorsement for Citizen Smash at Indepundit.

We all can evaluate track records, competencies. We can objectively measure and manage knowledge, skills and abilities.

The subjective measure of a man is more challenging.

The most important component in getting a measurement of character is checking references. In critical positions I like to have an enthusiastic champion for the candidate somewhere in the "degrees of separation" between us.

I've never met Smash, but please accept my reference. Here's how I know Smash is one of the good-guys:

Charmaine, my better half at Reasoned Audacity, was working the G8/Live8 in the UK when her site crashed. Our host didn't take kindly to the spike in traffic volume.

So there was Charmaine in London on 7/7 and she couldn't post. We were racking up transatlantic charges working to get her back online (with an unresponsive web hosting service -- a topic for another post.)

Smash immediately understood the frustration of a fellow blogger and quickly posted her most recent entries from the Google cache.

If he would do this for an unknown "large mammal," then it is a reasonable bet that he might be a bit more responsive to a supervisor who signs his check.

Hire Smash. Contact him. Or contact me.

He's looking for a job in IT. Please pass this link on to someone who might know someone.

Come back for later posts where we discuss the biggest mistake a manager can make.

Thank you (foot)notes:

BloggerJobs and Hiring.

9Rules is hiring blog writers.

Belmont has discussion on culture.

Hiring Tech People has two questions for candidates.

BNET has hiring for passion.

Woodster has good news for geeks.

My Blog of HR has blogging makes the world go around.

Basil's Blog continues in this public service.

Report to Mudville Gazette for Open Post. And while you're there see WILLisms reporting on Europe's anti-American leanings and unemployment (only Will could put them both in the same post and pull it off.)

Good posts at Outside the Beltway with Traffic Jam.

Posted at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)

Santana Moss
Running for the win
(Jonathan Newton/Post)

12:09 AM

No. Way!

Did you SEE that??

"Dad! 80 yards in 10 seconds!" the Dude yelling and screaming. . .

Go Skins!

Posted at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cody B. Brown
Hudson, Colorado
June 30, 1980 - September 16, 2001

Stacy, from Not a Desperate Housewife, spent last week blogging for her nephew, Cody, who was killed by a drunk driver four years ago this month. Seven other friends were also killed with Cody when the drunk annihilated the SUV in this picture.

The drunk, of course, survived.

Posted at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Clinton on "This Week"

Watching Monday night football. (Come ON 'Skins!) For real entertainment value, I should let the Dude live-blog this (What? What? C'mon challenge that call!)

But me, I've gotta go for the political angle.

And I'm really irritated. The ad flashes across the screen: BushClinton Hurricane Relief. . .

What? What?

Did they come up with this one while Karl Rove was in the hospital too? I've got to challenge that call.

Seriously. When will Republicans learn?

Bush gives Clinton serious political real-estate with the BushClinton byline. And what does Clinton do?

He covers the Sunday talk shows yesterday with criticism of the Bush Administration. "Well, in my administration. . . "

Former President Bill Clinton, asked by President Bush to help raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, offered harsh criticism of the administration's disaster-relief effort on Sunday, saying "you can't have an emergency plan that works if it only affects middle-class people up."

Mr. Clinton's comments in an interview on the ABC News program "This Week" could prove awkward for the White House, given President Bush's eagerness to involve his Democratic predecessor in a high-profile role to raise money for the hurricane's victims.

I'm surprised Bill didn't rip open his dress shirt to display his "Hillary 2008" undershirt.

When will Republicans learn?

UPDATE: No way. Now they are interviewing President Clinton about the hurricane relief effort at halftime.

* * *

Three cheers for Holly Aho guest-blogging at Mudville -- check out Open Post.

Hey Basil's Covered Dish goes well with Monday Night Football!

The Anchoress with an essay on Clinton's "Captive Heart."

Lorie Byrd says he's shameless. . .and a "no-class slime!"

Posted at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

I love Tom McMahon's 4 X 4's. . .

Posted at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The Judiciary Committee will vote on the Roberts nomination on Thursday. . .

UPDATE: Left-wingers haven't given up yet. One group is trying to mobilize bloggers to action:

All progressive blogs must FEATURE a prominent Stop Roberts action center. If you have a web page of any kind, the absolute bare minimum is to have in the top fold of your main index page (if not on every page of your site) the toll-free Capitol telephone number (877-762-8762), plus an exhortation to call your senators specifically to oppose Roberts, and not in teeny-tiny type, but in large bold type that nobody could miss.

This cuts both ways. Do call your Senator, and ask them to Support Roberts. Ask them the key question: if you can't support this nominee, who could you support?

Posted at 9:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gwen Stefani
AP Photo
Stuart Ramson

Singer Gwen Stefani has released a new line of clothes -- a line extension of her name as brand.

And Robin Givhan at The Washington Post doesn't like it:

...[T]he fashion industry ... is populated by corporate marketing teams ... It is overrun with celebrities working to increase their fame. . .

This is the downhill road to cultural hell... It is being pushed along by consumer demand, lowbrow tastes, society's obsession with celebrity, and the rising costs of doing business. Fashion has already ceded significant aesthetic authority to pop stars and actresses.

(She might be right about cultural hell, but let's keep in mind that this is the woman who wanted John Roberts' kids to wear clothing from the Gap to the White House.)

The business case is easy. In bringing any new product to market a company should identify thought and opinion leaders to champion the product or service.

I Want You All Over Me
Like L.A.M.B.

Robin Givhans' confusion continues:

And of course, there was exuberant use of her L.A.M.B. logo in its Gothic script. The logo (love, angel, music, baby) dates back to Stefani's collaboration with LeSportsac in 2003, a deal that essentially was the creative catalyst for the current business.

A singer as fashion model as business model. If the thought or opinion leader is the product, then whatever she wears and sells or sings is a simple line extension. And a low risk money maker.

Something business understands and journalism doesn't.

Co-opting symbols: lamb from JollyBlogger's Church. The image originator won't sue.

Basil's Blog has terrific Covered Dish.

Posted at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ten reasons economic anarchists have not taken kindly to your Business Blogger:


Elephane Eggs

referred by Loaded Mouth
1) I spent $96.95 to fill my gas tank and didn't blame President George Bush.

2) I put the gas in an SUV, a Suburban, giant monster truck.

3) To haul my overpopulating five children.

4) While stopped at Sam's and WalMart.

5) On our way to a Bible study.

6) In land-grabbing suburbia.

7) After supersizing at MacDonald's.

8) Following a little league baseball game where they, gasp!, kept score.

5 May 1990

9) While hanging with the mother of my said children.

10) Whom I met when she worked in the Reagan Administration.

10)(a) After I got out of United States Armed Forces.

Thank You (foot)notes

No Cleveland WalMart has more at "Poor Jack Yoest"

TAS at LoadedMouth corrects Yoest.org -- Truth or Consequences is their tag line, not their title. Ad hominems included. Debate not.

See the best of faith-based capitalism Compensation Contest at Reasoned Audacity.

Visit Mudville Gazette at Open Post. And while you're there drive by Below the Beltway on Economics in One Lesson on gas pricing.

Starling Hunter at The Business of America has the Wal Mart Carnival.

Posted at 5:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Credit: GrowABrain

When does persistence begin to look like lunacy? Typical sales managers will typically berate their teams to never give up! to keep pounding the pavement! overcome that objection! flog that prospect!

I know. Your Humble Business Blogger used to do the berating.

I come to you from a recent encounter on the receiving end of being a sales prospect. And I love sales guys -- The easiest people to sell to are other biz dev cheerleaders like me. However...

Death of a Salesman

Jeff Otis, VP from AngelVision telephoned me three times -- on his fourth attempt, I took the call. Readers will remember the 70 minute sales presentation I endured from this marketing outfit.

During Jeff's call I referred him to my post on their presentation and some observations/criticisms. (File under Prospect Alienation Program.) After the call I get a gracious email from Jeff wishing me success yady yady ya. He's a class act. But it ends there.

Six hours later I get another email from Mike Jingozian, at Angel Vision. The, "I'm from Harvard and very smart" CEO. It looked like a form letter or worst, much worse -- spam. He closes with:

AngelVision

Technologies

P.S. Just a reminder that it takes three months to produce an Impact Movie - so if you want this tool ready by next quarter, we need to start now.

Start Now. NOW NOW NOW

(A "PS" is very effective in persuasive writing: it might be the only thing the prospect reads.)

Anyway, my good friend Mike, from Harvard, also attached his client testimonials. He forgot that he sent me 11 gushing pages of hard copy, harvesting an entire California Redwood forest to put paper in mailboxes across the country.

Now if there is any one screw-up any company must avoid is having the company name, like, say 'AngelVision Technologies,' in the same sentence as 'spam.'

This firm does not know the difference between sales resistance, dealing with objections and smart selling and account management.

In upcoming posts, I'll review exactly how the seasoned sales professional knows when to stop, using a three word question.

Our [AV] Impact Movies avoid unnecessary paper waste, help preserve our valuable natural resources such as forests and oil, protect wildlife habitats, and do not contribute to landfills.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Outstanding selling wisdom at GrowABrain postings on Salesmanship.

Posted at 12:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're having a contest: How much do these heads of two prominent charities make in annual salaries?

Todd Bassett
National Commander
Salvation Army

We've got the honor system in play here -- no fair looking up the answer before you play! Leave a comment with your best estimate of how much money Commander Bassett and Ms. Evans make each year.

Marsha Evans
President and CEO
The Red Cross

The answers -- with the salaries of the leaders of the United Way, Goodwill and Catholic Charities as well -- are over at Jack's blog.

The winner is the one who comes the closest to getting both right. And what's the prize for our winner?? One of Jollyblogger's "I Think, Therefore I Blog" T-shirts!

A salute to Mudville Gazette for Open Post.

And complete your Weekend Assigned Reading for My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

And have a seat at Jo's Cafe and enjoy the specials.

And step out to Basil's Blog for the Saturday Picnic.

Posted at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (6)

Salvation Army
My favorite triple A: US Army, Dick Armey, Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army should be first among your charities during this season of Hurricane Katrina. Here's why.

I once sat on a board to evaluate administrative overhead costs of hundreds of 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organizations.

The Salvation Army always had about the lowest admin burden.

For example:

American Red Cross, Marsha Evans earns $651,957.

United Way, Ralph Dickerson Jr., president of the United Way of New York City, $420,000.

Goodwill Industries, George W. Kessinger, $386,575

Salvation Army, W. Todd Bassett $166,850

and

Catholic Charities USA, Thomas A. DeStefano, $116,362.

Full Disclosure: I once asked a woman in the Salvation Army out for a date (B.C., before Charmaine). She turned me down ever so politely. I always had a weakness for uniforms.

Thank you (foot)notes

Argghhh! has reporting on Katrina.

Left of the Middle has concert.

Relay Blogger has nonprofit donations.

Emmy Advance Media has an excellent posting on brands during a crisis:

Everyone wanted to do what they could to help - but how? That was the question, and to answer it, America turned to trusted brands: The American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, MSNBC, MTV, CNN to name a few. The bigger the brand, the bigger the trust.

Let it Bleed points to "permanent joint rule by WalMart and the Salvation Army."

Stand to The Daily Brief and the Gulf Coast will rise again.

medmusings has info on physician volunteering.

Thanks to Point Five and open trackbacks.

Report to Jack Army and his festival.

Smash has good links.

Update 23 Sept 05: CorporatePR supports the Red Cross.

Posted at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

What happens when you throw a (political) war and no one shows up?? I was completely immersed in the Roberts hearing this week, but it turned out to be a lot of heat, but very little fire. More on the hearings to come, so do stop back by.

More importantly, my dad had an angiogram yesterday which revealed one of his arteries had 95% blockage. Putting the stent in was unusually difficult, the doctor said. But, he is doing very well and headed home this afternoon, and we are so grateful.

So. Here's a little political humor for my dad . . . who will love it.

Did Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard watch the John Roberts hearings? This clip from The Ghost Breakers is 24 seconds of perfect political humor. . .

No spoilers here, so let me just say: Some things haven't changed since 1940.

This is a movie I have to rent.

UPDATE: With thanks to my friend, Cherie. And Neddy at Kerfuffles has this clip, too.

Posted at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Alexis de Tocqueville
David Wayne who pens JollyBlogger is bringing together bloggers with an eternal perspective: God Bloggers. Friday, September 30th at 6:30pm. Details.

Tocqueville would not be surprised.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Mudville Gazette for Open Post.

Complete the Weekend Assignment at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

Meetup is outside the beltway but on Outside the Beltway at Traffic Jam.

Visit Cao's Blog and her open Trackback post.

Posted at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The NCWIT
Brad Feld has about the best blog published for early stage companies. But I have a (rare) disagreement with him. The National Center for Women in Information Technology, NCWIT, appointed a male as the board chair. The gentleman, Brad reports, was the most qualified. And this may very well have been true.

But is competence the only criterion in hiring?

Equal Employment
Opportunity

Over the years, I have been confronted with this question. In two different companies, I hired a homosexual and a woman with serious health problems. In each hiring decision I had a short list of candidates who were nearly equal in knowledge, skills and abilities.

In these two instances I hired the second best resume.

I hired not the best resume, but the best person.

Another smart Brad, Brad Reynolds was Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under President Reagan. We once had a conversation about hiring practices. He gave me some sound advice:

When two identical candidates are being interviewed, choose the one who had to come over the roughest road to get to you.

So how hard was it for the job seeker to get in my office? What hurdles? What hassles?

Campaign for
Human Rights:
Group Rights vs.
Individual Effort

We hear a lot of blather about equal treatment for racial groups, equity for equity feminists, anyone in plaid pants. But there are individuals who have had unusual life challenges and have had to negotiate a more difficult trail.

I would suggest that a woman should have been selected to chair the women's organization, "to ensure that women are fully represented," as claimed in their mission statement. A woman rather a man because, I would submit, she had a tougher row to hoe to get to the candidate pool then to the board. A woman would have been the best person.

The characteristics that drove her to get herself in front of the selection committee, would be the very qualities needed to make the organization a success.

The NCWIC should have appointed a woman as chair.

Posted at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

Tom Peters once said about managing airlines, "If the tray tables are dirty, they don't do their engine maintenance." Lack of attention to detail is not confined to a single block in the org chart. It is usually systemic. And can be historic.

New Orleans

1927 Mississippi Flood
Photo Courtesy of NOAA

US Dept of Commerce

Mayor Nagin's errors are writ large and small. Let us look at the tiniest of details: spelling. From the Wall Street Journal:

The New Orleans contingency plan...states: "The safe evacuation of threatened populations is one of the principle [sic] reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan." But the plan was apparently ignored.

What concerned Your Humble Business Blogger was that "[sic]" which borders on well deserved sarcasm. Principle; Principal? Whatever.

If a manager can't spell, should he be entrusted with a city?

During my first days on active duty in the Army, I was flooded with some paperwork and I made a few typos. But we had a Cold War to win. Spelling shouldn't count.

My boss lost his sense of humor and I was reprimanded, verbally. (But I remember it physically.)

"Son," the senior officer said, "You need better attention to detail."

I became acutely aware at age 23 that details were important in the adult world. Especially where a mistake would have my people in body bags.

Something Mayor Nagin never learned.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Excellent analysis at Sailor in the Desert on Tragedy.

See Outside The Beltway and Traffic Jam. Which points us to Master Snitch! and his biting epic poem.

Visit Mudville Gazette on Open Post. Good reading at Banter in Atlanta posting the Katrina's ripple effect.

Ace reviews chain of command in NO/LA.

Michelle Malkin has quote round up of my people.

Review Managing Product Development at How Much Planning is Enough?

Bad Hair Blog actually says it better.

Posted at 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Faisal and Alfia

Nikah Day

Some wear wedding garments.

Pictured is my business partner Faisal Alam and his new bride. He was always interested in making money. The only world domination he'd like would be of a large market segment. Like Microsoft.

He loves business. He loves his wife. My kind of guy.

Thank you (foot)notes:

The Happy Husband with the tag line, "Celebrating Marriage in a Hostile World."

Trey Jackson has fighting the real enemy.

Posted at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jennifer O'Neill
Jennifer O'Neill will present the keynote talk celebrating the 25th anniversary of the local Crisis Pregnancy Center.

Friday, October 7th 2005.

These centers are deserving of your pro bono time, talent and treasure. They get mine.

Contact me or the Greater Baltimore Crisis Pregnancy Center for more information.

Cross posted at Jack Yoest.

Posted at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jennifer O'Neill
Jennifer O'Neill will present the keynote talk celebrating the 25th anniversary of the local Crisis Pregnancy Center.

Friday, October 7th 2005.

These centers are deserving of your pro bono time, talent and treasure. They get mine.

Contact me or the Greater Baltimore Crisis Pregnancy Center for more information.

Cross posted at Reasoned Audacity.

Posted at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters recently was noted by Playboy Magazine as one of the top five winning political blogs. It is well deserved.

Your Humble Business Blogger is a regular reader of CQ because of his analysis of politics and his personality. Charmaine and I met Ed as he live-blogged Justice Sunday II in Nashville in real life. He's a pro. Articulate in person as he is in paragraph.

The gathering of an assembly of people -- moves participants on a molecular level. This is why Blogger Meet-ups are so popular: I R L sells best.

Sales professionals have always known this. The highest close rate for a sales presentation is a face to face meeting. And showing up, as Woody Allen said, is 80% of success.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Writing History writes Hollywood's Pimp. Not Ed.

My Diva, age 8, posting for Ed

exposed by Lance McMurray

It is well documented from DailyKos that Ed Morrissey uses proprietary blogging software and child labor for his detailed lengthy posts.

Among Capt. Ed enthusiasts: Anchoress
Scoopstories
Trazos
Fraters Libertas

Thanks also to Outside the Beltway for Traffic Jam.

Posted at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Integrity is still important

Every manager will one day soon need to give direction to his staff on the Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling of ... Web Logs. Every supervisor in any business from pipefitter to preacher needs Blog Management.

The self-policing of "a virtuous people" is necessary to avoid government oversight and intrusion. Or a visit by a camera crew from 60 Minutes.

Milton Friedman

Your Humble Blogger wrote on this virtue for The Scripps Howard News Service some years ago:

Nobel laureate Milton Friedman has said that a cultural prerequisite of capitalism is the holding of truthfulness as a common virtue. When you can trust a merchant's word, says Friedman, "it cut[s] down transaction costs." Without adherence to common moral principles we must substitute external controls to govern business behavior; efficiency demands a framework of standards and accountability.

Substitute "blogger" for "merchant."

Informal policy guidelines have already been published as many alert readers already know. Guidelines should be added to a manager's skill set.

Charlene Li at Forrester Research (a consulting firm with a blog) wrote on this last year.

Sample Corporate Blogging policy

1. Make it clear that the views expressed in the blog are yours alone and do not necessarily represent the views of your employer.
2. Respect the company's confidentiality and proprietary information.
3. Ask your manager if you have any questions about what is appropriate to include in your blog.
4. Be respectful to the company, employees, customers, partners, and competitors.
5. Understand when the company asks that topics not be discussed for confidentiality or legal compliance reasons.
6. Ensure that your blogging activity does not interfere with your work commitments.

She also outlines personal blog standards.

Sample Blogger Code Of Ethics

1. I will tell the truth.
2. I will write deliberately and with accuracy.
3. I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly.
4. I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes so as to maintain the integrity of my publishing.
5. I will never delete a post.
6. I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic.
7. I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate, and do so promptly.
8. I will strive for high quality with every post -- including basic spellchecking.
9. I will stay on topic.
10. I will disagree with other opinions respectfully.
11. I will link to online references and original source materials directly.
12. I will disclose conflicts of interest.
13. I will keep private issues and topics private, since discussing private issues would jeopardize my personal and work relationships.

A thank you note to Le Pen through Christian Connett at ReciprocityBlog.

The more we bloggers can maintain our own ethical standards, the less the public will need the heavy hand of the law, except, maybe for spell checking.

WizBang was studying blogging ethics a year ago.

CyberJournalist wrote in 2003 on Blogger's Code of Ethics.

USC Annenberg has Influence peddling, "Just don't call yourself a journalist when you're cashing that check." And points us to WOMMA.

BL Ochman has whatsnextblog writing on full disclosure.

See Blog Ethics who links to Rebecca Pocket posting weblog ethics.

daniweb has firing offense.

Tim Worstall has Blog Ethics from the NYT.

Cynthia Webb writes for Washington Post, The Great Blogging Ethics Debate.

The Jewish Ethicist posts, Is the blogger responsible for defamatory posts?

From Web Log Ethics Survey Results,

...the limited support from bloggers for a blogging code of ethics poses a serious problem for advocates of on-line social responsibility. If any inroads are to be made in terms of bloggers regulating themselves, consensus in the community must be developed.

Imprint has be honest and fair.

Martin Kuhn from UNC presented a paper at Harvard on blog ethics,

...it is shown that many bloggers have ranked "factual truth" and "free expression" as the two highest duties of the "good" blogger.

BuzzMachine has a review.

Analysis by Christine Hurt at Conglomerate. Thanks to Instapundit. And more. And links to Bill Hobbs.

Update 23 Sept 05: BuzzMarketingWithBlogs has powerpoints. Short and compelling.

Posted at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

The Bush Administration certainly did not need Your Humble Business Blogger to remind them of the need to have very, very companies fix the Hurricane Katrina disaster with very, very large contracts. The Administration was working on this all along, I would surmise.

Louisiana's Governor and New Orleans' mayor Ray Nagin should hire Halliburton and leave the Big Easy for the big dogs.

As they should.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Michelle Malkin has the back story.

Posted at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

www.missingkids.com

Part of the tragedy of the Hurricane Katrina Aftermath is missing children. The flood waters destroyed pictures. Tearful, panicked mothers attempting to describe a precious little one. What would a parent do? No image for a missing-child posting.

Nothing for the milk cartons.

To find the little one fastest a picture is best.

ISO 9000

Naval Aviation

Smart managers know that disaster can strike a business much as the breached levees destroyed New Orleans' families. Many businesses, especially those with an international scope, use the ISO 9000 certification as a template for recovery.

ISO 9000 standards are used not only to produce a product or service of consistent quality -- but also as a framework to replicate an enterprise.

If the building burns down, the employees have a 'business picture' to rebuild.

Store the plan two ways: atoms and bytes. The physical paper document is off-site and, most important, web based. Do this with your loved ones: your business; your family.

My Penta-Posse

Today, email and send pictures of your family to a loved one.

And cc me. Jack@Yoest.org (Yes, it's worth the spamming I'll get.)

A picture can help get your business back, and maybe your child.

Thank you (foot)notes:

A Mom and Her Blog

The Indepundit.

WILLisms

RightWingSparkle

Common Sense Runs Wild

Darleen's Place

And read JollyBlogger on Suffering.

Michelle Malkin reports real charity.

Basil's Blog has outstanding posts.

The Monster Blog has The Need to Help After The Hurricane.

Update 23 Sept 05: BoingBoing has the single item to take.

Posted at 4:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The USS Pueblo
is a popular tourist attraction
on the Taedong River in Pyongyang
North Korea

North Korea is trying to use the USS Pueblo to force Condi Rice to make nice.

Won't happen.

Captured Crew Members
USS Pueblo, 1968

It isn't ladylike, but Condi is smart enough to remember the strategic use of "The Hawaiian Good Luck Sign."

This is an update from my post Indra Nooyi: Meet the USS Pueblo and Digitus Impudicus.

Outside the Beltway has the story at North Korea Offers.

A Salute to Open Post at Mudville Gazette

And thanks to Outside the Beltway's postings at Traffic Jam.

Posted at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Remember Professor Pottymouth?

Now comes the bestseller rankings: #1 is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. No surprise there.

And from Princeton is #6 Bullsh*t, by (tenured) Professor Harry G. Frankfurt*.

These two academic achievements have one thing in common: neither have footnotes.

*As ranked by The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 9, 2005.

Posted at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

John Roberts

Judge Roberts is before the Senate giving his opening statement. He has no notes. No paper shuffling. No "where's page 10?" He had his points memorized and his delivery easy and practiced. No downcast furtive glances at talking points.

Only direct eye contact. Believable. Confident.

Twenty years ago I was in product sales training under a brilliant education specialist who was as thorough and demanding as any drill sergeant. He required that the class memorize a presentation pages and pages long. A memorized spiel will not soon leave you. Maybe never.

Sometimes, if Charmaine bumps me in the middle of a deep sleep, I will mumble, "Our mission is to improve patient care in a cost effective manner."

SCR 268

My Uncle Joe had to memorize the capabilities of a radar unit when he was in the Army. He was recently in the hospital for a mild heart attach. We talked. He related how the "SCR, Signal Corps Radar 268 had an effective range of 40,000 yards..." This from over six decades ago in WWII. Uncle Joe is 87. "You still remember this?" I asked amazed. "Why? How?"

"It was my job," he said simply. The commitment of the Greatest Generation.

A memorized paragraph will be with you even when everything in your body and mind freeze up. No matter if facing a Senate Committee, customer, or cardiac arrest.

A Thank you note to Right Side of the Rainbow for "Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire."

See Page Ten at My $.02 Worth.

A salute to Mudville Gazette for Open Post.

Thank you to Outside The Beltway for Traffic Jam. And be sure to pick up My Vast RightWing Conspiracy and her bloodlust while you're there.

See Atlas Shrugs on Roberts questioners.

Vololk has more.

Read Don Sturber and the political colonoscopy.

Betsy's Page has a take on Dana Milbank.

Update 23 Sept 05:The Political Teen has Open Track Backs.

Posted at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

. . . with no notes. Major power move. Impressive.

Posted at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm heartbroken to have to report to you that I've just heard that Baby Susan Torres died last night of sepsis.

She was in the arms of her father.

We are comforted only in the thought that she is now with her mother, and in the strong arms of her heavenly Father.

God bless the Torres family as they confront this fresh grief.

UPDATE: Here's the Washington Post with a statement from Justin Torres.

The Torres family website is here.

All of the posts on Susan Torres on one page here.

Posted at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

Originally Published for the

Scripps Howard News Service

THE Holiday Inn in Colorado Springs has the notice "Certified Breakfast Bar" proudly displayed above the juice and jelly. I understand certifying elevators, accountants and jet engines, but a breakfast bar?

What has happened in America where even my croissants must now be credentialed?

Continue Reading »

Posted at 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

In war every soldier's death is a public event.

The Falling Man

credit: Richard Drew, AP

Because of 9.11, we are all soldiers now.

A Thank you note to Michelle Malkin on 9.11 for Tom Junod's The Falling Man in Esquire.

Posted at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

From FreeRepublic.com

Always remember.

Posted at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Jack Kemp was fond of the old phrase, "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."

Pfizer is demonstrating real charity providing medications in the Katrina Aftermath. This generates good will which, unfortunately, can't be listed as a line item on financials.

Hurricane Katrina Survivors:

Visit a nearby pharmacy to receive an emergency supply of your Pfizer medicines.

Victims of Hurricane Katrina who have lost access to their Pfizer medications can receive an emergency supply at any Walgreens, Rite Aid, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club or CVS pharmacy.

From now until September 16th, Pfizer and these pharmacies are helping survivors obtain their Pfizer medicines. No matter where patients may be residing, if they are from the affected areas, they can go to any Walgreens, Rite Aid, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club or CVS pharmacy and ask the pharmacist for help. Many independent community pharmacies will also be participating.

Patients without prescription drug coverage will get their medicines for free.

Pfizer and our partners will continue to do all we can to support the efforts of healthcare providers in the area. We are expediting donations of our medicines to relief organizations and local hospitals, and we urge any hurricane victims who do not have their Pfizer medications to contact or visit a pharmacy right away to receive an emergency supply during these difficult days.

For more information, please visit a nearby pharmacy.

A Thank you note to Britt Blaser at Escapable Logic writing Free, as in Lipitor.

Full Disclosure: I interviewed with Pfizer in the late seventies. They didn't hire me. And I still like them. So do many others, I hope.

Posted at 2:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. And here is where Pepsi's Indra Nooyi gets something, somewhere right.

Jeff Gordon, #24

Posted at 2:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My husband got tired of bugging me to write "the WalMart post." Finally, when I said: "you know, you really ought to start a business blog and write it yourself. . ."

He did.

And now I love the WalMart post, and wish I had written it! I've always wondered about the left-wing vendetta against WalMart, and Jack explores why the Left hates the mega-store so much.

Mary Landrieu
Although my favorite post of his from this week is one on Tears and Leadership. I know as a woman I am supposed to think that tears are okay -- that Pat Whats-her-name got a bum deal for crying in public -- but I think Jack makes a very strong case for No Tears among leaders.

He cites Mary Landrieu's teary tour of New Orleans as a case in point. And, honestly, can you imagine Margaret Thatcher crying in a situation like that? When we finally do have a female president, it will be a woman who successfully navigates these treacherous shoals of handling personal emotions publically.

Kanye West
New Pepsi Spokesman
And lastly, for those of you who followed the Indra Nooyi story here at Reasoned Audacity, Jack examines the wisdom, or not, of Pepsi's marketing decision to hire Kanye West as their new spokesperson. . .

Posted at 1:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Should the new memorial to September 11th's Flight 93 be renamed the "Mecca Memorial?" Ace has the whole story.

I'm getting geared up for the Roberts confirmation hearings next week and so I hadn't paid much attention to this controversy over the memorial. But this caught my attention: Sarah Wells says -- and developed the graphic to prove it -- that the "Crescent of Embrace" points to Mecca.

My first thought: Surely not.

But this has got me shaking my head. What do you think?

I agree with Ace: Let's have a memorial done with trees that "coincidentally" shapes a cross.

Posted at 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Woke up yesterday facing a drive to Philadelphia to check on Jack's uncle who is in the hospital . . .

Checking email before leaving -- (punctuated by: "Your shoes are in the closet. . . get them on and get in the truck!)

And found a message from one Cotillion member to another about the "chaos and mayhem" of being a mother. . . ("C'mon, let's get going, gang. Get in the truck!")

But her conclusion really hit me:

Right now it just LOOKS like choas and mayhem, but it's just love dressed up as life.

Thanks to Rightwing Sparkle for a thought that stayed with me through a long, weary day full overflowing of love and life.

Posted at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Indra Nooyi

Indra K. Nooyi, CFO and President of PepsiCo first came to our attention for her middle-finger namaste to America. She outlined how the USA gives the world the middle finger in a speech at the graduation ceremony for Columbia MBA's. This caused a number of adverse reactions including boycotts by some of the US Armed Forces in Iraq.

But wait, there's more.

Hopeless is his pet name...
You may never find him,
but you've got
great taste.

Back in 1999 Nooyi was a Corporate Officer and the Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy & Development. Here's an example from a campaign in Australia of Pepsi corporate strategy from that era.

What an odd, yet clever, man-mocking ad.

Especially for men: Pepsi was hoping that the nipples visuals would distract the guys from the text. Read the message? ... Well maybe not. ("Text?" Male at Pepsi focus group asks: "What Text?")

And the slit mini-skirt as she leans back on her can -- but not a can of Pepsi to be seen.

Anyway, the subtext is clear: as long as women have Pepsi, women don't need men. Nooyi, marketing Pepsi like a feminine hygiene product. Interesting strategy for a company that might need male consumers.



Pepsi pitchman, Kanye West
NFL kickoff show
Here's the story board: Selling to male consumers. It's football season. And Pepsi has a new pitchman: one Kanye West, who was, "...loudly and lustily booed during [the] NFL kickoff show."

The Maneuver Marketing Communique, one of the best business blogs in the business, provides a gut check on West as headliner at the pre-show for Thursday night's NFL game. And his debut as a Pepsi spokesman:

I am sitting here watching the opening entertainment for the new NFL season and one of the "star" performers is Kanye West. Yes, the same Kanye West who spewed one of the most ignorant and hate-filled diatribes during a live TV benefit for Katrina survivors earlier this week. His "performance" this evening was followed up by a Pepsi TV spot starring Kanye West. It turned my stomach.

Read Maneuver's entire post. They are referring to Kanye's rant live on NBC that "President Bush doesn't like black people."

(The clip is Must See TV! Mike Myers' reaction shot, standing next to Kanye, is a case study for media consultants.)

Mr. West is a Grammy Award winning rapper and Pepsi Pitch Person (P3) with a natural angst that passes for talent. He believes that AIDS was formulated by the US government to kill black people.

(It is not known if Nooyi shares West's understanding of AIDS.)

Kanye West is also a producer for gangsta rapper, Ludacris, who was also a P3, until public outcry forced Pepsi to play another tune. Ludacris is best known for "edgy" lyrics:

Ludacris, formerly on Pepsi payroll

I got my twin glock .40's cocked back/Me and my homies, so drop that.

My shotguns are cold and hard . . ./My triggers are always talking about some squeeze me, squeeze me.

Hollow bullets I pull it,/I'm about to live in vain/And then I drill 'em, refill 'em,/make sure they feel the pain.

And my favorite, "I've got ho's in different area codes." Ludacris can make this rhyme. A style like Ogden Nash, content like Tony Soprano: Ludacris and Kanye knocking back a Pepsi hangin' with the ho's at Bada Bing.

Pepsi didn't learn no lesson from Ludacris. Kanye West recently announced that his upcoming 2006 album will be entitled: Good Ass Job.

And, say Pepsi, please.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Update 23 Sept 05: Ace has Kanye swiping.

Update 23 Sept 05: Mudville Gazette has Open Post.

Continue Reading »

Posted at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Go Beth:

Disaster Mongers

Why don't you click my Amazon Honor System or PayPal tip jar, so I can continue to serve readers in the hurricane-devastated areas with my writing, OK? They're so needy, and I want to be able to continue blogging FOR THEM. Oh yeah, the rest of you, too, but especially for them. I won't give that money to the hurricane victims or buy anything with it for them, but I want you to donate to me BECAUSE there ARE hurricane victims who read me. And I have server/bandwidth charges associated with serving them, y'know.

My headline gives it away: yes, we're talking about Planned Parenthood. They are raising money for hurricane relief. . .but, oh by the way, the money actually goes to their clinics. Beth just skewers them.

So typical of Planned Parenthood. Craven hypocrites.

Beth has the whole story. She got it from Deborah Grilli at Choose Life who says:

I still maintain that they are an anti-child, anti-woman organization. [Yes! Exactly.] And please don't tell me the women in the shelters need birth control because they're being raped . . . I think we all know birth control is not the kind of protection they need.

Well said.

You know sending Beth money for her bandwidth (and Deborah too), not such a bad idea. . .

Posted at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

"Law-breaker, union-buster, tax-escapee..." says Ralph Nader about WalMart. The generosity of $17 million by the retailing giant during the Katrina Aftermath has muted criticism, but changed few minds.


WalMart Protesters
Why do left of center political activists picket and pick on this American success story?

There are five basic reasons this market segment of Blue State politically liberal consumers do not care much for WalMart:

First, WalMart is a 'Right to Work' company, an open shop. WalMart sees little need for unions, but neither do employees. Low-cost WalMart doesn't care for high-cost unions. The only people interested in unionizing WalMart are unions themselves and the Democrat Party.


Child-like Mocking
Second, WalMart's political donations favor the Grand Old Party. Readers will remember the Fast Company chart depicting political donations of various companies: Starbucks gives to Democrats; Dunkin' Donuts to Republicans. WalMart supports the red in Republican; Costco loves blue Democrats.

Third, Corporate WalMart is Pro-life. For example, the crisis pregnancy center in Baltimore recently received a grant from the retailer. The Left and our feminist friends at the National Organization of Women do not like this brand of private sector activism.

Fourth, WalMart makes money, lots of money. WalMart sales are the largest in the world at $220 billion, with $7 billion in profits. Which is too much money for critics like activist Jim Hightower. And liberals and governments want a say in how all this loot is distributed.

Fifth, WalMart is heartless to competitors. It is the All-American retail marketing-machine: big, patriotic, delivering goods to families faster, better, cheaper. And . . .crushing little mom and pop boutiques. Survival of the cheapest, so to say, isn't pretty. (This is the only Darwinism the Left doesn't like.)

WalMart has whipped up the perfect storm for the Liberal worldview: generous, pro-life, pro-Bush, pro-war, pro-American.

For more conversation --

WalMart sues blogger Duane Gran.

As one could guess Daily Kos doesn't care for WalMart. Warning: adult language in D-Kos comments.

More opinions at AllWaysSlowPrices

The leftist American Street is not happy about the lack of progress on WalMart boycotts.

WalMart Watch doesn't care for the Arkansas company. A well done blog except, perhaps, for the snarky content.

These Leftist do have style: Wake-Up Wal-Mart. See what union money from the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union will buy for a blog.

Feministing would give WalMart the finger.

Anti-WalMart at No Cleveland WalMart hat tip credit to NRO

Goodness, the WalMart hating Marxists have clever logos.

Labor Blog has WalMart Nazi story.

Business Blog Consulting says WalMart needs a business blog.

Boston Activists Blast Wal-Mart reports The American Constitution Society.

Movie Marketing Update has info on new anti-Walmart DVD,

Based on an early look at blog trend tracking sites like Blogpulse, Icerocket and Technorati, the chatter in the blogosphere is just starting to pick up. But once the amplifying effect of thousands of linking blogs takes hold, expect this film to generate massive grassroots level buzz as the November 13th [2005]release date approaches.

The BoxTank says "...f*ck George Bush" in the boxtank to take a break until after the favorable WalMart publicity dies down, I think.

Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind reports WalMart is actually in the publishing business.

Think Progress say WalMart's generosity isn't enough.

Truth or Consequences has more on WalMart looters.

UPDATE: Read Brand Autopsy on WalMart feel-good.

UPDATE: Wizbang on WalMart outsourcing. Not what you think.

Update: Protesting Report at Volokh

Update: Venture Chronicles reports on pickets.

Update 9.16.05: Truck and Barter has an outstanding analysis of efficiency at Spend Time in the Lunchroom.

Update 9.16.05: VoluntaryXchange asks questions about union activity.

Update 26 Sept: Sepia Mutiny say WalMart is as evil as Starbucks.

Memory Keeper says there is no free lunch.

Update: 11 Oct 2005 Chip Mathis has why do lefties hate WalMart?

Update 13 Oct 2005 Individual and Community has more on multi-level marketing.

Update 25 Oct Business Pundit askes if WalMart is a Good Corporate Citizen?

Credo Advisors has comments.

Update 23 Nov 2005 The Business of America is Business has an outstanding analysis on The Political Dimensions.

Update 10 July 2006 This post was included in the Carnival of Wal-Mart I hosted by The Business of America is Business.

Posted at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (2)

Rule Number One:

Never Give a Bureaucrat a chance to say no.

Morton Blackwell, founder of The Leadership Institute, wrote The Laws of the Public Policy Process that has 45 such pithy points.

They are helpful to anyone dealing with the servants grinding out the sausage of law, policy, rule and reg. I keep a copy framed near my desk -- even when that desk was a part of the Office of the Governor.

Governments and most any very large organization have what my favorite political scientist would call ''multiple points of accountability.'

This is where any stakeholder or key influencer or television camera can veto an action. The Bureaucrat learns very quickly that vetoes will come fast and from all directions with lethal effect onto any movement by said Bureaucrat. There is no penalty for no decision. It is safer for a simple preemptive "No."

Remember our Bureaucrat is in a matrix (an organizational structure; not the movie -- although it may seem that way). He can get fired by a number of bosses. Or worse: to work past 5pm or on Saturday.

We have seen the inner workings of the Bureaucrat in his natural habitat: Hurricane Katrina.

I have found one method of confronting this breed in the public or private sector:

Don't.

Instead try these three Bureaucrat workarounds:

1) Use a third party. Watch how our Congress does it: Closing military bases a hot potato(e)? Form a commission. Afraid of the abortion issue? Let the Supremes decide. There is always someone, somewhere who will sign off or lift off your project -- for a price. (Call me for rates.)

2) There are some Bureaucrats who can be inside champions for your project. Here's how you can identify this rare subset: Ask them if they like the child's game of 'Whack-a-Mole.' If the Bureaucrat brightens up, leans forward and smiles, start enlisting. If the weather turns cloudy, walk away. Think CIA and spy recruiting.

3) Or my favorite -- simply proceed with your initiative, process the paperwork after the fact and beg forgiveness. At 4:55pm. Friday's are best.

The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina can be managed by governor Kathleen Blanco, Louisiana's CEO, if she would start using all three tactics. (Be sure to stay tuned for my posting on firing top executives.)

Obsidian Wings says terrorists are winning this war.

Chernkoff has Katrina details.

Michelle Malkin doesn't want another darn commission.

Captain Ed has reporting at New Orleans And Louisiana Blocking Aid To Refugees In City.

Volokh reports that money is seldom the problem.

WILLisms says News Orleans should be rebuilt with caveats.

Frank Patrick says we've turned a corner but,

What Next? -- I've been in a funk this week, not unlike mid-September, 2001, but probably more progressive as every bit of news out of New Orleans is more and more depressing. At least the aftermath of 9/11 seemed to be a coming together. There is a lot of that, but the big headlines and lead stories about shootings and lootings and bodies in the streets for days sounds more like a third world civil war than a modern US city.

Johanna Rothman has an outstanding risk analysis at
Managers and (Disaster) Planning.

TVNewster says bureaucracy got in the way in Aftermath.

Brendan Nyhan reports growing discontent with FEMA.

Mark in Mexico is unhappy that Bureaucrat Blanco still won't enforce evac order,

How many more will have to die before she gets off of her fat *ss and makes a decision? 50? 500? 5 from every disease on the list? What an incredibly stupid cow she must be.

Seth Godin has Bureaucracy = Death.

Update: 4 Oct 05 WunderKraut has view as civil servant from the other side.

Update: 31 Oct Triple Pundit has Carnival of the Capitalists.

Posted at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)

Governor Schwarzenegger just announced that he will veto the gay marriage bill that the California legislature passed yesterday.

I'm surprised. And impressed.

He gave precisely the right reason: the California people passed a Defense of Marriage bill defining marriage as one man and one woman just five years ago in a ballot initiative. Here's the statement from his press secretary:

We cannot have a system where the people vote and the Legislature derails that vote. Out of respect for the will of the people, the governor will veto (the bill).

Even though some people were saying the pressure from his base would force him in this direction, I thought Schwarzenegger would cave in to pressure from his friends in Hollywood to be politically correct.

Nice to be wrong on that.

Blue Mass Group has more on homosexual marriage amendments.

Posted at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (2)

This impresses me more than gold braid on a sleeve:

The chief justice's three children gathered near the of the coffin:James, a lawyer and former college basketball star; Janet, also a lawyer; and Nancy Spears, whom Rehnquist frequently credited as an editor of his books about Supreme Court history. Their children, Rehnquist's grandchildren, fidgeted and sobbed.

In the end, having children and grandchildren who will cry at your funeral is what matters most.

Thanks to Outside The Beltway and Traffic Jam.

Steal The Bandwagon reports exploding heads.

Posted at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mayor Nagin in grubby T,
tears to follow
courtesy Wizbang

Mayor Ray Nagin cried during a WWL radio interview about Hurricane Katrina. Senator Mary Landrieu shed a tear on This Week while describing "one pitiful" crane working on a levee. The Aftermath is heart breaking and everyone should have a good cry.

But not the boss. Not in public.

A hundred years ago, as a young army lieutenant, one of my first lessons was that, "An ounce of appearance was worth a pound of performance." How petty! I thought. So superficial!

And so true. But appearances matter.

My first superior in the army was a Captain Aykroyd, a soft-spoken West Pointer who was most patient in providing guidance in the finer points of Leadership. I once was tasked with the delivery of a pink umbrella misplaced by some Colonel's wife.

Your Humble Blogger, sunglasses,
sans umbrella

So I was off, with a jaunty step.

"No," Capt Aykroyd said. "An Officer does not parade about with a pink umbrella."

I instead wrapped the offensive girly accoutrement with manly red, green and yellow firing range flags and completed my mission. Appearances are an authentic part of the Conduct of Leadership.

I did not need to be reminded to never cry, never blubber in front of the troops.

In World War II on May 13, 1940, Winston Churchill gave his first speech to the House of Commons as Great Britain's Prime Minister. He famously said:

Courtesy PowerLine

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering.

Churchill offered tears; he didn't produce them.

He closed his speech thus,

"Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."

And so must we.

The Mahablog cites cites FEMA as a case study in management.

Happy Furry Puppy doesn't care for Presidential images.

The Left Coaster would rather see dead bodies than Bush rolling up his sleeves.

Thanks to Outside The Beltway and Traffic Jam.

UPDATE: camedwards doesn't like Republicans crying either.

Posted at 7:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I say again: logistics. And Teflon at Molten Thought knows from logistics. A former Air Force logistics officer, he gives us a 12-point assessment of underappreciated issues involved in the Katrina relief efforts.

My favorite is #4:

4. We do not yet have teleporter nor replicator technology like you saw on "Star Trek" in college between hookah hits and waiting to pick up your worthless communications degree while the grownups actually engaged in the recovery effort today were studying engineering.

Funny. But most of it is serious. Dead serious. Like #10:

10. No amount of yelling, crying, and mustering of moral indignation will change any of the facts above. Facts are facts. Opinion is cheap.

I found Teflon via John Cole, who caught my attention when he pungently expressed something I've been thinking: "What part of disaster these [deleted] people don't understand. . ."

Exactly. When reading some of the criticism coming from the Left, it really does sound as if they think a "disaster" can come in neat packages, tied up prettily with a bow.

It wouldn't be a disaster if everyone were back sipping cappucino and eating beignets already, much though we wish they were. . .

Posted at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

From Merri Musings
This week's Cotillion is a more sober affair. . .with most of our attention focused down South. Annika gives us a "Kiss to Build a Dream On;" while Right Girl aptly reminds us that "We're all Southern today;" Merri gives us heroes, great and small; and Stacy honors the "Real America."

Thanks ladies for a labor of love.

Posted at 8:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Leadership is setting the strategic direction; Management is getting things done. Katrina's havoc shows us that government bureaucracies do not perform well in large scale emergencies where people are dying.

Pundit Guy gives us this picture: 205 New Orleans buses, under the command -- or not, as the case may be -- of one Ray Nagin. Via Ace who asks "Bush's Fault?"

The Washington Post and others have been critical of the senior leaders running the Katrina operations. And I would agree that the "middle management" should be replaced -- by one or both organizations that can deal with death and destruction:

The US Military and private business.

The governments have called up uniformed services. But I fear that the Cavalry was called in too late; a most unfortunate decision by the state's governor. The civilian leadership should now give more control to the three star general on site and make him truly in command. And to implement control and rescue, the civilian leadership should hire (the liberal) Public Enemy Number One :

Halliburton.

The Wall Street Journal has correctly suggested that only very large organizations like Bechtel and Halliburton know how to manage very large disasters. The military uses small platoons and big business knows how to use work-group platoons to accomplish a mission. And we've seen this before.

During the Year 2000 roll over we faced such a challenge: a disaster with a known timeline. Your Humble Blogger had the Y2K responsibility for Health and Human Resources, a $5 billion enterprise in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The boss, governor Gilmore, a former military intelligence officer, knew what we could and couldn't do. So he hired the biggest IT consulting firms on the planet and bought their solutions packages. In my weekly staff meetings I had a dozen of the smartest, profit motivated experts in the business sitting in the room. They let me think I was in control at the head of the table. And maybe so. But these consultants wouldn't let me, a mere bureaucrat make a mistake.

(Half of the world's internet traffic passed through Virginia; my continued employment depended on no adverse incidents.)

So Virginia spent $215 million and nothing happened. Nothing crashed. Except for that super-secret CIA satellite...and some defibrillators. Not my fault. No one died.

Louisiana's Governor and New Orleans' mayor Ray Nagin should hire Halliburton and leave the Big Easy for the big dogs.

The Evangelical Outpost has more on small unit tactics to win this battle with nature.

Ace of Spades has more on the Mayor.

Thank you to Basil's Blog for the Covered Dish.

Wizbang has it as always: Res ipsa loquitur...

The Sideshow is unhappy with the redtape.

Michelle Malkin picks between a uniform and the uninformed. (Hint: she goes for the Big Red One, not the little red cup.)

Daimnation has more New Orleans urban legends.

Eric McNulty at Worthwhile has more on what big companies should do.

ProfessorBainbridge.com also says disaster relief effort should be outsourced.

Fastcompany has rebuilding the Big Easy.

Update: ProfessorBainbridge has more on contracts.

Update: 4 Oct 05 Monster blog has Crisis Management.

Posted at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not every request for pricing is an objection. I recently sat through a conference call/web based sales pitch by AngelVision for creating a flash presentation to promote one of my companies. But AV would not tell me what it costs before the pitch. It reminded one too much of the Amway "get the whole story" ploy for a face-to-face sales call. This left a bad taste and, for my part, unnecessary sales obstacles.

But wait, there's more, 7 more: AV made these additional mistakes:

1) Start the presentation on time. AV could not immediately locate the CEO as pitchman for the assembled, waiting prospects. If you can't find the presenter, the show must still go on -- with an understudy if need be.

2) Never let 'em see you sweat. So AV's lead presenter was lost. There appeared to be a very capable VP on hand to provide information, asking qualifying questions, giving a warm-up act. Say most anything, but don't tell potential clients you can't synchronize an Outlook calendar and don't know what to do next. Fill the dead air with some anticipation. See The Consultant's Jargon Generator. Unless it's part of the act, don't let on that your hair's on fire.

3) Don't tell me how smart you are. AV's very accomplished CEO couldn't tell us quick enough about his Ivy League degrees -- sounding too much like a college sorority sister establishing a pecking order. I know he was smart because he told me so.

4) Never introduce yourself. Let someone else do the bragging. I am leery of any forty-year-old man telling me what University he attended. (Unless it's Oxford. Like me.) AV's CEO should have had his very capable VP's whisper as an aside, confidentially, "You know, he went to Harvard." Find an accomplished Ed McMahon or a good second banana to say, "Heeereee's Johny!!!"

5) Never discuss religion or politics. AV has pet causes that alienated -- something about rainforests, peace in our time, landfills, I think. And Starbucks. I was left with the impression that the AV commune sits in a circle in Oregon and sings Kumbaya, which must be very impressive to creative media potsmokers. But not to decision makers with a five figure buying authority.

6) Never provide backup/proof unless the client is skeptical. AV sent me eleven (11!) pages of landfill of client testimonials. A few blurbs would be better, sure. And the client list. But pages of telling me how smart you are instead told me how insecure you are.

7) Do as I say; Not as I do. AV highlighted their product as avoiding the need for those pesky salesmen calling and bothering and trying to sell you something. Then I get two follow-up sales telephone calls from AV. Now, I love sales guys -- I started off selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door 35 years ago -- but don't put salesmen down, then use them when (appearing) desperate.

Bottom line: I didn't buy. The AV manufactures suggested retail price is $17,500. But! if you buy now! now! your investment! is onlyninethousanddollars....I had a low four figure budget and AV did not close the gap between my needs, my money and their solution. Which is actually very good.

With Shadrach
the Big Dog, 1995

If I knew how much that doggie in the window cost, and AV knew enough to tell me upfront, you'd be reading a very different analysis about a very different AngelVision.

Be sure to see Guerilla Marketing for Consultants

More at B2B Lead Generation Blog at Marketing to Small-Medium Businesses.

Good reading at Carnival of the Capitalists.

Update 13 Oct 2005 Individual and Community has more on multi-level marketing.

Posted at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is an incredible piece of work. Rick Moran of RightWing NutHouse has compiled an exhaustive, detailed, meticulously sourced timeline of the events leading up to the moment Katrina struck New Orleans, and the rescue efforts following.

Essential. Reality doesn't much resemble the invective hurled from the Left that we've seen relayed in the MSM.

(Via Powerline.)

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Wow. This is cold-blooded.

KosKids strategizing on how best to capitalize politically on the New Orleans crisis. . . via LGF.

Posted at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (3)

Jesse Brown

Jesse Brown, 58, passed away some three years ago. He was my friend and business partner. This inaugural post on Labor Day 2005 is to honor his memory and his work.

He was wounded by enemy fire in Vietnam leaving his right arm and hand partially paralyzed. This never slowed him down.

I once asked him when he was at the pinnacle of his career what drove him to work so hard. Money, I thought; status, celebrity? No. "I just want to help my friends," he said.

His passion for service helped him become the Veteran's Affairs Secretary for Bill Clinton.

And yet he helped me, a nobody who worked for a Republican governor.

Jesse is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, not far from my dad. Two warriors to whom I owe so much.

See Reasoned Audacity for more on the ANC.

Posted at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Analysis of threat from infectious disease in wake of Katrina -- could malaria and cholera revisit the United States:

America's commitment to mosquito control has been declining steadily since we eradicated malaria, and even fear of West Nile Virus didn't spawn a massive re-commitment to funding mosquito abatement programs. Worse, to my knowledge nobody has ever had much success in clearing mosquitoes from the sort of massive water-soaked ecology that now is New Orleans, nor the scale of water-pooling debris found along the Gulf tri-state area.

Watch for the rebirth of the DDT debate . . . I hope we don't start hearing about the "mosquito net for every person" mantra that we heard from liberals before the G-8 . . .

Thank you to Basil's Blog for the Covered Lunch.

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Bush made the announcement at 8:00 from the Oval Office.

UPDATE:

On the Left, it's all about the quotas. From Armando at Daily Kos:

In short, Social Conservatives have gotten their nominee - his name is John Roberts. For replacing O'Connor, Bush must pick a Justice like O'Connor, not Scalia, Thomas or Rehnquist.

No. No. No. There is no such thing as an ideological quota per seat on the Court. Or gender. Or race.

Posted at 8:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Chief Justice William Rehnquist
1924-2005

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, William Rehnquist died tonight after battling thyroid cancer. A spokeswoman from the Court said that Rehnquist's three children were with him when he died at an Arlington, Virginia hospital earlier this evening.

News reports are already noting that his legacy includes moving the Court "toward a more conservative ideology."

I would add that among his most important acts in a long life of public service is the fact that he authored a dissent from the majority decision in Roe v. Wade that made abortion legal:

To reach its result, the Court necessarily has had to find within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment a right that was apparently completely unknown to the drafters of the Amendment.

Taking that stand, joined only by Justice Byron White, is an honorable legacy.

* * *

See "Rehnquist the Great?" by Jeff Rosen from The Atlantic in April (via Michelle Malkin).

Posted at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (3)

Cornel West
So I'm sitting in the lobby of the Omni Shoreham between panels, doing a little blogging. . . .

Who walks up, with a group, and asks to sit down? Cornel West.

I'm now surrounded by him and his posse. Would it be unethical to tell you what they're talking about??

ssshhhh.. . .Cindy Sheehan. . .and Hillary!

UPDATE: Ran into Cornel West again later and got this pic. This was just before the keynote speech by Rashid Khalidi, who was, it turns out, one of the group I'd been sitting with earlier in the evening. Dr. Rusty Shackleford has the goods on the Khalidi talk.

Posted at 5:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stroll over to Willisms.com. . . then tell me again about how blogs are all about argument and short on facts? Great graph, Will!

Posted at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

John Cole on the levee debate.

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Katrina, August 29
Winds at 160mph
While I'm sitting through panels at the APSA convention, my Brilliant Brother has some thoughts on New Orleans with which I concur heartily.

* * *

We've all been shocked by the events unfolding this week along the Gulf Coast in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, but the situation in New Orleans has been particularly horrifying. TV crews have repeatedly focused on the messes in the Superdome, convention center, and area hospitals. Images of people screaming for help, many elderly, or holding babies in obvious distress along with stories of no food or water and no sanitary facilities have just boggled our minds.

Could this really be happening right here in the United States?

Along with these news stories has been blame and recriminations pointed particularly at the federal government for a perceived lack of response to the disaster.

The question that hasn't been adequately addressed however, is: "Where was the plan?"

It is clear that this disaster was not unanticipated. The potential for rampant flooding in New Orleans as a result of a major hurricane was apparently well understood. With that knowledge, the City of New Orleans and State of Louisiana should have had a clear plan for trying to cope with the aftermath of this catastrophe. That plan should have anticipated that all the infrastructure including water, phone, electricity, and sewer would be disrupted throughout much of the city including the Superdome and convention center.

Ray Nagin
Mayor, New Orleans
The mayor of New Orleans has repeatedly called (and yelled and whined) for aid, but where was the plan and the leadership implementing the plan that should have been in place? The responsibility for the initial response to this disaster should have been at the local level NOT at the federal level.

A favorite cartoon of mine shows someone at a blackboard deriving a bunch of hairy equations. In the midst of the complex math, right at a critical point in the derivation, there is a blank area with just the text "then a miracle occurs."

A wise professor looking on, points at the "then a miracle occurs" section and says: "I think you need a little more work here."

Apparently, somewhere in the middle of the New Orleans disaster plan there was a blank area where someone just wrote in "then a miracle occurs" -- or the equivalent "then FEMA steps in and bails us out" -- and no one spoke up and said "I think we need a little more work here."

That's not the way to make a plan.

* * *

<

Pundit Guy gives us this picture: 205 New Orleans buses, under the command -- or not, as the case may be -- of one Ray Nagin. Via Ace who asks "Bush's Fault?"

Greyhawk at Mudville has details on New Orleans' actual disaster plan. "Then a miracle occurs" is about right. By the way, the document begins: "Under the direction of the Mayor. . ."

Posted at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (3)

Paul Mirengoff getting a laugh from John Kienker, Claremont Review of Books, and Scott Johnson

Following Scott's presentation at the American Political Science Association in DC, Paul began his remarks by invoking Law and Order, turning to the panel and saying: "The only thing you forgot to do Scott, is read the MSM their rights."

Paul then tackled the central question of the panel: how does the rise of the blogosphere influence politics?

Answer: The MSM is less able to dictate the political stories people can access. Blogs help circumvent the gatekeepers.

Then he moved to question the secondary effect. Will blogging affect how the MSM behaves?

Using a business analogy that I thought was particularly effective, Paul argued that the MSM is in the position much like how any big company reacts when threatened by an upstart competitor -- it is still less than a year since bloggers even registered on the national radar screen.

What do bloggers contribute to the debate? Paul argued that bloggers are now out-analyzing the MSM on Roberts -- blogging does, in fact, represent a real threat to the status quo.

So how will they react? Returning to the analogy, in business, you must move to emphasize your core competency to be competitive. But what is that for the MSM? Paus says their core is to provide "fair and balanced" news coverage; to provide objectivity in covering the news.

He then observed that "That's the one thing bloggers have a hard time providing." No one spends the time and energy it takes to be maintaining a blog consistently without being highly motivated.

Then he asked the key question: But aren't MSM reporters motivated by political passions in the same way??

Posted at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Scott Johnson,
Powerline
Talk about knowing your audience. In making his remarks to a room full of political scientists at the American Political Science Association meeting this morning here in DC, Scott Johnson set the context by referring to Theodore White's series of books on "The Making of the President." Scott then gave us his own version of "The Making of the President 2004," with a special Powerline chapter.

What a treat it was to hear Scott tell the story of his famous "Sixty-First Minute" post, which was the launch of Rathergate.

Knowing the end of the story, it's fascinating to hear Scott talk about getting email from readers about the possibility that the Killian memos might be forgeries, writing up the post, and hitting the publish button "at 7:51." Then, he says, he headed to work . . . only to find 50 emails from readers waiting for him by 8:30.

By 7:00 that night -- less than twelve hours after he hit "publish," the CBS execs were meeting in war council mode to strategize their next move.

Scott framed his remarks as a "case study in the power of the Internet" and said it was an example of the "collective intelligence" the web enables. I love that phrase.

He concluded by analogizing blogs to pamphlets from the Revolutionary Era, saying, of those writers, "many of whom were amateurs like us."

Blogs, then, he said, are "back to the future."

Posted at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Michael Barone, Scott Johnson, Paul Mirengoff

Michael Barone, of US News (who also has a new "Barone Blog") and John Fund, of the Wall Street Journal, were both in the audience at this morning's panel on blogging and politics at the American Political Science Association meeting. As your Brenda Starr on the scene, I'll report something Scott and Paul will be too modest to tell you: as he left, after chatting with the Powerline guys at the end of the panel Barone said:

With Scott Johnson and Paul Mirengoff

More on the substance of the great panel later. . .

* * *

Rusty Shackleford has a great overview of a somewhat testy encounter between Scott and Peter Canellos of the Boston Globe during Q&A.

Posted at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (2)

Ramesh Ponnuru
National ReviewI spent the day today at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. Got to hear some great talks; see some good friends.

Gerard Alexander, UVA and
Michael Ledeen, AEI

For bloggers, there's some particularly good news: we've arrived! Tomorrow morning (10:15, Omni Shoreham), there's a panel on, none other than, blogging. Scott Johnson and Paul Mirengoff of Powerline will be there. I met Scott today and he is really terrific.

Henry Jaffa
Claremont

I'll be sure to get a post up about their talk as soon as I can, so do check back throughout the day tomorrow. . .

Posted at 1:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jack talked yesterday with a friend of ours from New Orleans. His home is gone.

Other family friends are from Mobile and we haven't heard yet how they are doing.

Another friend sent an email to say that her parents lost everything -- she was flying them here to be with her. . . and they were coming with only the clothes on their backs.

Our world has become a smaller place. It makes me wonder: there may not be very many who aren't connected, personally, in some way with those who are suffering in the South.

Today the blogosphere united for a "Blogging for Katrina Relief" Day. I want to recommend Samaritan's Purse, run by Franklin Graham. They already have trucks loaded up and headed south. . .

Headin' South. . .
The Church on the Move!Some people have been wondering whether any other countries will offer their help. Probably not. But we do help our own. The news has been full of horrifying tales of lawlessness and degradation in New Orleans, but I am confident that in the days ahead we will see more and more of the courage, strength and kindness that is at the heart of American culture driving out the evil now trying to take center stage.

And for the last word, a fellow blogger, Paul at Wizbang who is from New Orleans, makes an appeal for Americans to set aside politics for the moment (note to Bobby Kennedy) and concentrate on the victims:

Think about it for a second from my chair... (I'm not whining but) I'm almost 40 years old.... Here is the sum total of all my worldly possessions: 4 pairs of shorts, 5 shirts, 2 pairs of shoes, 4 pairs of underwear, 1 pair of blue jeans, a box of family pictures, 2 flashlights, a piece of trench art my grandfather brought back from WWI and my father's hammer. (Hey, it means a lot to me!) That's it. Everything else is gone. And BTW, I'm unemployed.

I tell you that not to whine but to let you see the tree thru the forest. Multiply my situation by about a million. Stop and think about that... A million people homeless and unemployed.

* * *

I was wrong about the other countries. Michelle says they are "coming around, sort of."

Via John Hinderaker: a doctor in Louisiana says give to the Salvation Army -- already on the ground, doing good work (as usual), not the Red Cross. . ."they do not have a sizable presence here and are only fishing for money like after 9/11."

Posted at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We got a formal wedding invitation . . . with no date on it. Instead, it said they'd let us know when the groom could be home for the ceremony.

This picture was taken on day three of a six-day leave. Pretty short honeymoon.

The new husband is now back in Germany, training for deployment to Iraq.

Always remember the families. . .the wives, the children, the mothers and fathers. . .of those who serve, so that we can be safe.

God bless you Josh and Charlee. May you grow old together, in joy and peace.

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. . . Princess Shoes!" (The Dancer with her fashion consultant.)

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