Hannah painting in Peru, 2007

Dear Family,

Hi! It's the end of my first year at Yorktown High School and I am planning to join my church’s mission trip to the Dominican Republic this summer. Last year I had the amazing experience of witnessing to Peruvians in the Callao Festival, Lima, Peru. I was able to watch as thousands were brought to Christ. With memories of last year dancing in my mind I can only dream of how awesome this year’s mission is going to be.

This year I want to be an asset to my team and need your help getting me there. I'm raising the money needed to devote to the mission trip which will be from July 23-30. Support goes toward food, logistics, rooming, and baseball equipment (for ministry to younger children in the Dominican Republic). Your support would mean so much to me this year, helping me reach my goal of $1,600. Even the smallest donation can make all the difference. If you’d like to send support online, you can do that at mcleanbible.org/rockevents.

Direct link for donations: HERE

Over the last year I’ve grown closer to Jesus and want to extend that feeling to others through ministry. I've been taking my friends to church and spreading God's word at school and in my sports activities. My electives also include art as a medium I hope to expand in as a ministry tool. This year I’ll be joining the Children's Ministry team, and the General Missions team, where I will be able to interact with all the groups and see all the various ways the Gospel can be spread. Other teams on the mission include: Drama team, Choir, Baseball, Clowns, and Construction.

Last year I was on the construction team, but this year I think I'm better suited for Children's Ministry. Last year the Construction team was delayed by circumstances and I was able to join with other teams and street evangelize. I had the opportunity to witness to Special Needs kids at a children’s school where we washed the kids’ feet, and once we were able to start construction, I was able to help paint the alleyway of the woman’s house we were working on.

Your support this year would mean the world to me and thank you so much for whatever you can give! The smallest donation counts. If you don’t want to donate online, any checks you donate need to be made out to Mclean Bible Church, Dominican Republic Mission; and Hannah Yoest needs to be written in the left hand corner. (The mailing address is: P.O. Box 9300 McLean, VA 22102)

Thank You so much for your help and love, please keep me in your prayers!

Love and Thanks,

Hannah

Posted at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Virginia GOP Convention
2008, Richmond, VA Your Business Blogger(R) is honored to be a delegate to the Commonwealth of Virginia GOP Convention.

We will be driving down this weekend with a partial Penta-Posse to vote for the future leadership of the Commonwealth and the Nation. The Convention will be a terrific education.

I hope to get the kids into a smoke-free/smoked-filled-back-room deal-doings. Everyone loves kids.

Except the baby-killing Obama. No, no -- Barack X. Obama has never performed an actual abortion.

That I know of.

He just votes for letting babies born alive ... to die. Obama opposed the Born Alive Infants Act. Not even Hillary Clinton did that. Not Ted Kennedy.

Goodness, not even the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) lobbied against the Born Alive Infants Act.

Obama against
Babies born alive
Warning: explicit images
thank you Catholic Fire

Thank you (foot)notes:

Nobody hangs up when a kid callsJeff Frederick is out-polling John Hager for Republican Party of Virginia chairman on the Family Foundation Blog.

Can Pro-Choice Gilmore win? Here's how.

See The Convention Is Almost Here.

Watch The Diva and The Dude work the phone bank in the Des Moines Presidential primary,

Dick Cheney is the headliner for the dinner on Friday nite.

Where are the strongest grass roots? It's not with the Obamanation.

Your Business Blogger(R) of Management Training of DC, LLC, is a licensed agent for the William Oncken Corporation; presenters of Managing Management Time(TM) fondly known as Monkey Management.

Posted at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Dreamer scored in the 93rd percentile in Math for her grade in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I promised her a reward night out -- But a daddy-daughter-dinner-date at Subways won't be happening.

A good deal of her education was in homeschooling where Your Business Blogger(R) worked with her on that topic that counted: Counting. The hard sciences that "girls don't do well."

Not good in Math? Not my girls. My expectation was that they would do well in the quantitatives. (Parent and teacher expectations are the biggest variable in the success of students.) My wife is a genius with SPSS and regression analysis . The Dancer and The Diva are rabid readers and love 'rithmatic -- and are bloggers.

The Penta-Posse are outliers on the bell curve of school age young'ums.

So. I promised The Dreamer a night out. But not at Subway. The restaurant is off the good-guy list for two reasons:

1) The company doesn't care for homeschoolers, and

2) They can't spell.

Our friend Don Wildmon at the American Family Association sends this along,

Subway tells home schoolers: We will not allow you to participate in our contest. Subway discriminates against home schoolers.

Subway, the sandwich restaurant, wants to hear your child's story – unless he or she is home schooled.

The national chain's "Every Sandwich Tells a Story Contest" offers prizes and a chance to be published on the Subway Web site and in Scholastic's "Parent & Child" magazine but specifically excludes home schoolers. Subway's website states:

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. Contest is open only to legal residents of the Untied (sic) States who are currently over the age of 18 and have children who attend elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted.

Subway will probably say they excluded home schools because of the main prize ($5,000 worth of athletic equipment to the winning child's school). But Subway could have given it to a local park, church or school of the winning home schooler's choice.

Subway's Web site promotion not only misspells "Untied (sic) States," but offers the grand prize winner a "Scholastic Gift Bastket (sic) for your home."

Subway's leadership clearly does not understand the value of homeschooling. In addition to learning how to spell, we are keeping our kids clear of the public schools' Family Life Education: Which is, as is commonly known, Sex Ed taught by liberals. When almost 20% of teens have herpes -- one would hope that this objective fact might persuade our feminist free-lovers that the condom classes might not be working.

Nope. The public payroll sex trainers are working even harder.

Here's some of what appears in Family Life Education for grades six through eight,

6.1 The student will learn that there are many health care and safety agencies in the community.
No need to talk with mom or dad, or aunt Sally or uncle Joe. The Planned Parenthood abortion clinic is just around the corner.

6.7 The student will be able to describe the etiology, effects and transmission of the HIV virus.
Clean needles for drug users? Contaminated blood supply? This is more important than spelling or math? The school will not reveal the detail of homosexual sex acts in the spread of the HIV virus. I did see a very nice man who teaches the course, however.

6.8 ...[E]valuate ...sexuality, and gender stereotyping...
The feminists are determined to get women in combat in the armed services.

7.7 The student will recognize that sexual behaviors are conscious decisions...
The public schools are a bit confused even about their own world view: homosexuality is a conscious decision; a preference -- not an orientation. FLE lurched into the truth.

So Subway supports only public schools, can't spell and doesn't like homeschoolers.

Dinner at Subway? No sirree -- We all are a-going to Chick-fil-a.


Chick-fil-A

Thank you (foot)notes:

Tom Peters once remarked that excellence should permeate an organization, especially for managing the perceptions of the customer. This is why managers make so much money. Airlines, in the consumers' mind, must understand that if the tray tables are dirty, the airline doesn't do engine maintenance.

The Army taught if boots were not shined, the soldier couldn't shoot straight.

If Subway can't spell, their food will make you [sic].

Send an e-mail to Subway President Frederick A. DeLuca. Tell him you will not eat with them anymore until and unless they allow home schoolers to participate. ©2008 Doctor's Associates Inc. SUBWAY® is a registered trademark of Doctor's Associates Inc.

This is an unpaid endorsement of Chick-fil-A.

See some commonsense at The sexual ‘revolution’ that keeps on turning

This is a cross post from Pro-Life Unity.

Posted at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Martha McCallum on FOX Charmaine will be appearing on the FOX News Live Desk with Martha McCallum to discuss today's hot topics:

Clinton's undisciplined messaging; McCain invites Obama to Iraq; Allergic to WiFi under ADA?

Alert Readers might be interested in our recent article in National Review Online by Your Business Blogger(R) and Charmaine on Hillary Clinton's management style: The woman can’t manage. “Bad Management”

Hit time is 1pm eastern on FOX News.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Please email us your comments.

See Does Wi-Fi Violate the ADA?

I'm dubious that this is a violation of the ADA. If the plaintiffs feel the effects of Wi-Fi signals even inside their specially protected homes, it's hard to see how the city (which has got to be an awfully minor contributor to the aggregate Wi-Fi signals within its boundaries) could reasonably modify its policies and practices to avoid the problems these plaintiffs are facing.

USAToday, Allergic to WiFi? Group fights Internet hotspots in Santa Fe,

[t]he World Health Organization says there's little to suggest that electromagnetic fields are responsible for the "range of non-specific symptoms" that such sufferers have described.

"A number of studies have been conducted where [electromagnetic hypersensitivity] individuals were exposed to [electromagnetic fields] similar to those that they attributed to the cause of their symptoms. The aim was to elicit symptoms under controlled laboratory conditions," the organization says. "The majority of studies indicate that EHS individuals cannot detect EMF exposure any more accurately than non-EHS individuals. Well controlled and conducted double-blind studies have shown that symptoms were not correlated with EMF exposure."

The World Health Organization reports on This reputed sensitivity to EMF has been generally termed “electromagnetic hypersensitivity” or EHS,

A number of studies have been conducted where EHS individuals were exposed to EMF similar to those that they attributed to the cause of their symptoms. The aim was to elicit symptoms under controlled laboratory conditions.

The majority of studies indicate that EHS individuals cannot detect EMF exposure any more accurately than non-EHS individuals. Well controlled and conducted double-blind studies have shown that symptoms were not correlated with EMF exposure.

It has been suggested that symptoms experienced by some EHS individuals might arise from environmental factors unrelated to EMF. Examples may include “flicker” from fluorescent lights, glare and other visual problems with VDUs, and poor ergonomic design of computer workstations. Other factors that may play a role include poor indoor air quality or stress in the workplace or living environment.

There are also some indications that these symptoms may be due to pre-existing psychiatric conditions as well as stress reactions as a result of worrying about EMF health effects, rather than the EMF exposure itself.

From TechDirt, If You're Going To Claim That WiFi Violates The ADA, Shouldn't You Need To Prove It Actually Hurts People?

Posted at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In Remembrance of
those in the
Submarine Service 40 Years ago the USS Scorpion was due in Norfolk, VA. She never returned.

She is, as the veterans say, on Eternal Patrol.

John Howland at USNA-AT-LARGE has set up a group for the boat,

Dedicated to and in honor of the 99 U.S. Navy submariners who perished in the loss of SCORPION in May 1968. The 40th Anniversary of that tragedy ...[is] (May 2008), yet the cause(s) of the loss remain a complete mystery.

USS Scorpion
40 Years on Eternal Patrol

This lack of clarity and closure has created a void into which charlatans now have full play in creating bogus theories for profit.

This unsatisfactory situation may result in the SCORPION 99 going into history forever at the mercy of the unscrupulous.

The solution that this group will work toward will be to encourage the U.S. Navy to, at the very least, put to rest the loss scenarios which have MINIMAL TO NO PROBABILITY of having actually occurred.

Your Business Blogger(R) wrote an article for National Review Online about those left behind from the loss of the USS Scorpion.

Five Days in May: The loss of the USS Scorpion.

By Jack Yoest

Yolanda Mazzuchi was about the prettiest girl in our school class. Our dads were in the Navy, often gone for months at a time. And they would be welcomed home at dockside with cheers and homemade signs. These gatherings at the D&S Piers at the Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia, were a regular part of our lives growing up. Families often took children out of school to celebrate a ship’s homecoming.

At 1 in the afternoon on Monday, May 27, 1968, at the height of the Cold War the USS Scorpion was due in port.

Yolanda didn’t know it then, but her dad was already dead....

###

Thank you (foot)notes:

More from BubbleHead.

And read about the Loss of the Bonefish.

Your Business Blogger(R) of Management Training of DC, LLC, is a licensed agent for the William Oncken Corporation, presenters of Managing Management Time(TM) fondly known as Monkey Management.

Remember Me at the jump.

Continue Reading »

Posted at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Dreamer writes, The Dude, a dominant male homo-sapien, attempts to explode a bottle of diet coke with mentos. Commentaries by The Dreamer and The Diva. Grip by The Baby Boo.

This is a typical Penta-Posse activity when not in the class room and distracted by getting a conventional education.

Proving that the public schools are good for something...

No animals were harmed in the making of this film.

Happy Memorial Day!

The frustrated attempt:

Success:

Posted at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Penta-Posse at
Arlington National Cemetary, 2005 Our good friend Mackubin Owens, Ph.D., has a terrific article up on NRO, Mystic Chords of Memory, From America's Founding, to the sacrifices of her sons and daughters, we remember.

This weekend, we mark the 140th anniversary of the first official observation of the holiday we now call Memorial Day, as established by General John A. Logan’s “General Order No. 11” of the Grand Army of the Republic dated 5 May, 1868. This order reads in part: “The 30th day of May 1868 is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers and otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.” Logan’s order served to ratify a practice that was already widespread, both in the North and the South, in the years immediately following the Civil War.

Alas, for many Americans today, Memorial Day has come to signify nothing more than another three-day weekend, a mere excuse for a weekend cook-out. Such an observance of Memorial Day obscures even the vestiges of its intended meaning: a solemn time, serving both as catharsis for those who fought and survived, and to ensure that those who follow will not forget the sacrifice of those who died that the American Republic and the principles that sustain it, might live.

"Mac" continues,

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address gives universal meaning to the particular deaths that occurred on that hallowed ground, thus allowing us to understand Memorial Day in the light of the Fourth of July, to comprehend the honorable end of the soldiers in the light of the glorious beginning and purpose of the nation. The deaths of the soldiers at Gettysburg, of those who died during the Civil War as a whole, and indeed of those who have fallen in all the wars of America, are validated by reference to the nation and its founding principles as articulated in the Declaration of Independence.

Some will object, claiming that linking Memorial Day and Independence Day glorifies war and trivializes individual loss and the end of youth and joy. How can the loved ones of a fallen soldier ever recover from such a loss? I corresponded with the mother of one of my Marines who died in Vietnam for some time after his death. He was an only child and her inconsolable pain and grief put me in mind of Rudyard Kipling’s poem, Epitaphs of the War, verse IV, “An Only Son”:

I have slain none but my mother, She
(Blessing her slayer) died of grief for me.

Kipling too, lost his only son in World War I.

But as Holmes said in 1884, “[G]rief is not the end of all. I seem to hear the funeral march become a paean. I see beyond the forest the moving banners of a hidden column. Our dead brothers still live for us, and bid us think of life, not death — of life to which in their youth they lent the passion and joy of the spring. As I listen, the great chorus of life and joy begins again, and amid the awful orchestra of seen and unseen powers and destinies of good and evil our trumpets sound once more a note of daring, hope and will.”

This Memorial Day the household of Your Business Blogger(R) will fly our Flag as we always do and remember those who "gave the last full measure" and died in service.

Dad is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The years on his head stone tell of his full life. Our family was so lucky.

Nearby head stones tell of service men who died far too soon. Far too young. In war for us.

Danny Boy
The BalladThe Irish classic Danny Boy has a long and varied history. The following explanation is my favorite and the simplest,

Once, a long time ago there was an old man who had raised many sons who he loved dearly. A war raged over the land that they lived in and one by one he saw each of them go off to fight and not return. Then one day, as harvest time drew near, he knew that his youngest, and most precious, son would soon be going off to fight just as his brothers before him. The old man was sad and knew that he may never see his last boy alive. He looked intently at the young lad, and with tears in his eyes he sang this song.

The ballad cannot begin to reveal the emotion and the pain of fathers and mothers who bury sons in a time of war.

I do not know how families do this.

But I do know that we must be grateful.

We are so lucky. Happy Memorial Day.

Thank you (foot)notes:

See Meditation on Suffering and Sacrifice,

The famous chapel on the grounds of the United States Air Force Academy nestled at the base of the Rocky Mountains is more truly a cathedral. Outwardly, it is all sleek silver-wing metal, with seventeen external buttresses, knifing severely skyward. Designed to evoke an air-frame, the architecture does not immediately summon spiritual devotion.

But cross the threshold, step inside, and one is transported to another plane. The solemn air is bathed in the soft splendor of muted light. While the stern steel silhouette dominates the external view, the interior reveals the fragile panels of stained-glass that the harsh ribs support. The intricate glass panes filter and animate the sunlight, illuminating the sacred space with almost a visual hush.

At the front of the chapel, a single row is roped off. "Reserved" the sign says, for all the United States aviators who are missing in action or prisoners of war. The only occupant of the pew is a single, burning candle.

"Greater love hath no man than this. . ." reads the plaque. The Scripture it alludes to concludes: "that a man lays down his life for his friends."

My thoughts immediately fly to my boy, my sweet Dude, who wants to be a fighter pilot. And baby Boo, who will almost certainly want to follow his older brother. My heart blanches. How could I bear it? And yet so many other mothers -- gold-star mothers -- even this very day, must find a way when their sons have given the last measure of devotion.

Be sure to read Charmaine's post from 2005, Memorial Day: Arlington National Cemetery

Danny Boy Lyrics at the jump

Continue Reading »

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

Launching area for the crew regatta
click on image for live feed web-cam Building Teams and Teamwork is the mantra of the modern manager.

How does a manager take a group of talented individual contributors and motivate them to, well, pull together as one unit in the same boat?

Last year The Chronicle of Higher Education lurched into the truth in an article All for One.

It was a story on rowing.

And in it Your Business Blogger(R) read a business lesson.

For both my business practice and The Dreamer's crewing at her high school.

Race Course
Click on image for live feed
web-cam The Oak Ridge Rowing Association and the Scholastic Rowing Association of America is sponsoring the 2008 National Scholastic Championships in Oak Ridge, TN. Several thousand visitors will go down to the river and pray for blue skies and flat water.

We are packing up the monster Huck-a-truck and the Penta-Posse (minus The Dreamer traveling with her team) and will gas-guzzle our way to the Volunteer State to watch our girls compete at the regatta.

With a monster carbon footprint.

Listening to the Oak Ridge Boys .

(Ain't America great or what?)

The Women's Freshmen Eight will row at 10:15am on Friday the 23rd. Please check the schedule.

The Women's coach was able to persuade decision makers to allow his team to use the Invictus. A new and faster boat used by upper class men at their high school.

Where tenths of a second determine winners, the perception of crewing a world-class shell can make the difference. If the women think they are faster, they will be.

Rowing is 90 percent mental, the other half is physical.

Apologies to Yogi Berra.

Scholastic Rowing Association
of America
Regatta 2008
Which brings us back to Notes From Academe, in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Writer Scott Smallwood visited the Cambridge University Boat Club in the UK to write about the yearly Oxford-Cambridge competition.

Alert Readers will recall that Charmaine and Your Business Blogger(R) read at Oxford and attended our first rowing event on the narrow creeks that pass for rivers at ox ford.

Duncan Holland, the Cambridge coach with some 20 years experience, helped Dutch rowers to an Olympic medal. He well understands that even though he's got winning seasons, only one race matters as a condition of (enjoyable) employment:

Beat Oxford.

Picking eight rowers seems like an easy task for a coach,

With rowing machines that can spit out reams of numbers about how fast and hard every rower can pull, what's so hard about choosing a team? Why not just pick the eight strongest guys and be done with it? It turns out...that team dynamics are trickier than that. The eight who are eventually chosen will be not necessarily the fastest individual rowers, but the best combination of rowers.

Smallwood continues,

Quintus Travis, a past president of the boat club and now treasurer, puts the mystery more bluntly: "There are always a couple [of rowers] who are stunted, but somehow they make the boats go faster."

The Brits can be brutal.

Mr. de Rond is a professor at Cambridge's Judge Business School and is studying the Cambridge athletes and the team and the coach,

...de Rond sees the answer [of the faster boats] in how team members bond. He draws a comparison from a 2005 paper in the Harvard Business Review by Tiziana E. Casciaro, of Harvard, and Miguel Sousa Lobo, of Duke University. The pair studied likability versus competence. Their work boils down to this: When choosing whom to work with, do you pick the lovable fool or the competent jerk? People, especially managers, often say they value competence above all. But in practice, they'll often trade some of that competence for likability. And that may not be so dumb.
Mr. de Rond doesn't think any of the Cambridge rowers are incompetent. No matter how lovable you are, you can't get in this boat unless you're a top-notch rower.

But here the Cambridge rowers become a self-directed team. Something business managers talk about but seldom see,

When the tentative roster was chosen," says [de Rond], Dan wasn't originally on the list." The other men successfully lobbied the coaches to put him in the varsity boat, even though by the numbers he was a borderline choice. Now, he says, [Dan's] social skills -- he's the class clown, really -- have improved the psychology of the entire team.

Like the coaches, this is where managers work their magic. To assemble a team that maximizes strengths and minimizes weaknesses, as Peter Drucker said.

So the women's coach got a better boat for his team. Coaches and managers get paid to figure out the immeasurables; the intangibles that go into building a winning team.

This Freshman Women's coach has got it figured out.

If he reported to me, I'd get him a raise...

Yorktown Crew Boosters Thank you (foot)notes:

On April 7, 2007, in the 153rd match-up: Cambridge beat Oxford.

This is a cross post from Management Training of DC, LLC.

All for One by Scott Smallwood was published on May 4, 2007 in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

See video from the Stotesbury Regatta.

From The New York Times, From a World-Class Rower, Tips to Sharpen Technique. Watch the video on how to film a rower's movement and a slide show on training.

Mix It Up

“There’s this saying that ‘Miles make champions,’ ” Michelle Guerette said. So she spends up to five hours a day on the water, doing a variety of workouts. Mix these pieces into your own sculling training:

BUILDING BLOCKS A base training session “addresses fitness, feeling and rhythm,” Charley Butt said. As with a runner, he said, what matters is “how a rower gets in the miles.” He advised rowing for 25 minutes at 75 percent of full pressure at a stroke rate of 16 to 20. Then, he said, paddle for 5 to 10 minutes and repeat. Maintaining a low stroke rate allows you to concentrate on technique.

Stan Hudy will not be at the races. A loss for us all.

Posted at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Your Business Blogger(R) just received an email from Alert Reader Janice who tells us about Hillary's presence at the State Street United Methodist Church in Bowling Green, KY,

I just received an email letting me know that, yes indeed, the Paul Fryman who was our former student at Asbury was the pastor who preached at State Street UMC in Bowling Green, KY this past Sunday when Hillary was there. He has been the subject of abuse because his sermon was on adultery. He has received hate mail and all sorts of attacks – including accusations of being a pedophile and needing therapy, etc. He has chosen (wisely) not to react or respond at all. Paul is a humble, guileless servant of Christ.

The service and Paul have been distorted unbelievably.

Here are some facts, in case someone asks you:

· Hillary's people called Paul and told him she would be in his church, it was not a request.

· He told her people that they were in a series of sermons and that the morning sermon would be on adultery from the Sermon on The Mount, making sure she knew what she would hear, the bulletins were already printed.

· Paul’s sermon was 12 minutes (not the hour-long that was in the press – that was the length of the whole service)

· Paul acknowledged the presidential candidate’s presence in the service (some reports said that she was ignored and unwelcomed).

· Reporters sat in the service with their laptops – did not participate in the service respectfully.

· His sermon will be put online as soon as possible so that people can judge for themselves. [he called for members of the congregation to make a new commitment to their own marriages and to be aware of the temptations that they face – it was not an attack against Hillary

Thank you (foot)notes:

Alert Reader Janice is a former Board Member of Asbury College and, with her husband were professors at the Methodist institution of higher learning.

See, While Campaigning in Kentucky Hillary Clinton Hears Sermon On Infidelity.

Read where CNN gets it wrong. This is not news.

But what is news is that CNN can't spell. Nancy writes into CNN,

May 18th, 2008 5:15 pm ET

Just a note - please check the spelling on the word "alter," which I belive [sic] should be "altar". Or at least that's how it's spelled at my church. See, all democrats are not Godless heathens.

Nancy must be pro-life...

CORRECTION: Janice Crouse, Ph.D., is a current member of the Board of Directors for Asbury College in Wilmore, Ky.

Posted at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

National
Review
Online Your Business Blogger(R) and Charmaine have an article up on NRO.

Bad Management: Hillary Clinton in practice.
May 5, 2008 4:00 AM

By Jack & Charmaine Yoest

Good management looks easy when good numbers come in. But when the numbers are down -- whether in sales or votes -- managing begins to look like real work.

As recently as this past November, the New York Times was trumpeting Hillary Clinton’s “No-Nonsense Style” as a manager. The story hailed her as a well-organized leader who had “honed” her skills, adjusted her style after the health care reform debacle, and had generated enduring loyalty from a cadre of skilled aides operating smoothly in HillaryLand.

Continue reading at the jump.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Kentucky and Oregon are voting today. Obama cannot win. Hillary cannot lose.

Full Disclosure: Charmaine served as senior advisor to the Huckabee presidential campaign.

See The Best Company Structure in Four Easy Steps and Management: 10 Tips.

Continue Reading »

Posted at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Walking the boat Forgive 'The Day in the Life of Your Business Blogger(R)' but as The Dreamer says,
Eat

Row

Sleep

Repeat

Crew.

So we packed up the Penta-Posse and Charmaine and we drove up to the Stotesbury Cup Regatta that the Yorktown High School freshman girls had qualified for. Even Katie Curic would be proud.

Stotesbury is the world's largest high school rowing event in the world with over 5,000 students competing. On the Schulykill River. The adjacent parkway is known to the locals as Sure-Kill.

Philadelphia was sold out.

Our girl rows strokes man or simply, stroke.

Racking the boat The Yorktown eight oar racing shell qualified to the semi-finals but didn't quite make it to the finals.

Even so, the boat will go on the to National's Competition in Oak Ridge, TN. Next week.

20 hours of driving for a few 5 minute races.

Thank you (foot)notes:

The perky Katie Curic is an alum of Yorktown High School.

Watching the rowing events and all the work demanded makes me think of the galley slaves of old. Ben Hur. Except these girls are slaves to their passions for crew. We all should be so lucky. To be a galley slave and love it.

The racing shells go for some $35,000. Not counting the other stuff. Like the trailer. At Yorktown, crew is supported financially by the Boosters. It is an expensive sport. I'll bet The Yoest family has written almost enough checks for The Dreamer to buy her own boat. Charmaine and I are galley slaves...and love it.

Traveling with children is always an adventure. Read where The Dude gets stuck in the Hampton Inn elevator. And the panic that followed. Dad is doing fine, now.

Edward T. Stotesbury was once one of the wealthiest men in America. On Stotesbury and the Regatta,

In 1927, Bachelors Barge Club President E.T. Stotesbury sponsored the award for the scholastic eights race in the first high school rowing regatta competition in the country. The regatta was held on the Schuylkill river near Boathouse Row. The award was a large sterling silver trophy, and the first winner was a crew from West Catholic High School. West Catholic won the race again in 1928 and 1929, which entitled them to retain permanent ownership of the trophy according to the regatta rules at that time. When West Catholic won the race again in 1930, 1931 and 1932, they retained permanent ownership of the second Stotesbury Cup. After that, Stotesbury announced that the rules would be amended and a new sterling silver Stotesbury Cup would be used as a permanent trophy. Since that time, the Stotesbury Cup Regatta has grown to become the largest high school rowing competition in North America.

For race results see Race #3, Girl's Freshmen Eight, Event 4, Head Race

Your Business Blogger(R) and Charmaine saw their first rowing event while reading at Oxford. Where they Bump. And burn a boat at the end of a regatta.

The Brits know how to bonfire.

UPDATE: more at the jump.

Continue Reading »

Posted at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

WARNING: Bad Language Links.

Charmaine on an earlier
appearance on C-SPAN

Charmaine returns to Neil Cavuto to discuss an on-air(head) talent dropping the F-Bomb on an open mike.

The Sue-Simmons-talking-head said one word too many. And the station did NOT fire her.

She though the mike was off...

Hit time is today, Wednesday at 4:40pm eastern on FOX, of course.

Sue Simmons
berates a staffer
Watch Simmons out of control here.

She apologized for saying "A word many people find offensive..."

That would be normal people.

Sue Simmons is not normal, of course.

The word does not bother her or her liberal friends on NBC --

Coarsening the culture.

Fortunately, nobody watches NBC anymore.

Please tune in and let us know what you think. Comments are down, so please email me.

America's Secular Challenge
Stacey Herb London Your Business Blogger(R) and Charmaine and The Dude had dinner last night with Herb London and Grover Norquist, Board Members of The Harbour League.

Dr. Herb London (yes, the dad of Stacey London) (no, she wasn't there) states that John McCain can win California. I ask him why.

"Obama can't get the Hispanic vote in California and McCain can," says London, who runs the Hudson Institute.

London believes that McCain is going to win big because there are still enough good Americans "in the heartland who share McCain's values." McCain holds for "American Exceptionalism" -- as so do most Americans, London says.

London, a Professor Emeritus at NYU and author of 21 books, says that he was once asked to write an essay on the most significant event of the last 1,000 years.

He wrote that the most significant event was not the internet or some war or penicillin or the creation of nation states.

It was the creation of America -- with our creed that states that the "citizens' rights are endowed by their Creator," unlike other 'democracies' in the world.

Pro-Life McCain will win because he loves America and loves life and the voters believe him. Barack X. Obama may love America but most voters don't believe him. And liberals don't care if he loves America or not...

McCain believes that America is exceptional. And he has the scars to prove it.

Thank you (foot)notes:

See How Voting for McCain is Like Getting a Root Canal.

The Harbour League is the 'go to' conservative organization in Maryland. Go visit.

Even though Stacey London, from What Not To Wear on The Learning Chanel, didn't attend, her mom was also at The Harbour League. She is a class act. The London's are great Americans. Buy their books.

Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform; hosts a weekly Wednesday meeting in Your Nation's Capital for conservative thinkers. It is invitation only.

Posted at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Eli Gold, from The Harbour League writes,

Dr. Herb London

As you are aware by now, on this Tuesday May 13th the Harbour League will be hosting a talk by the Hudson Institute president and THL board member, Dr. Herb London. In consideration of the attendance of our entire board of trustees, the event will take place at: The Cloisters, 10440 Falls Road in Lutherville, Maryland and not at the Harbour League's office.

The evening will begin at 7 pm (doors open at 6:30pm)with a talk given by Dr. Herb London entitled, "America's Secular Challenge: The Rise of a New National Religion". Dr. London will suggest that the rise of secularism in the United States is a flaccid response to the challenge presented by the fanaticism of radical Islam. In the so-called war of ideas we are handicapped in our ability to thwart the inroads of fanaticism by a reflexive belief in relativism, one dimension of secular humanism.

The rise of secular humanism not only challenges the traditional antecedent of the nation, it is an ineffective response to the challenge of Islam. The result? If you don't know what you believe in, you are unable to defend what is worthwhile. Something that, if understood, can change Maryland for the better.

Following the talk and question and answer session, there will be a dessert reception that will give you a chance to talk with any member of member of the board regarding the movement.

To RSVP to this for this event or to the dinner prior to the talk please visit www.TheHarbourLeague.org or call 410-753-4560.

We look forward to seeing you there.

The Harbour League
2800 Quarry Lake Drive, Suite 140
Baltimore, MD 21209
410 753-4560
410 415-0800

Thank you (foot)notes:

Herb London's daughter, Stacey London, will NOT be present (I don't think). Although he might answer questions...

Your Business Blogger(R) and Charmaine and The Dude will be attending.

More on Dr. London at the jump.

Continue Reading »

Posted at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Diva's root canal
credit: Dr. Eric Arbuckle Our family has endowed a chair -- not at the local university -- but at our dentist's office. You can use it if is not booked. We treat the chair like a fractional ownership of a Gulfstream G4.

The Penta-Posse has busted out more front teeth than an entire hockey team.

Your Business Blogger(R) is also minus a front tooth due to a basket ball mishap. Non-stop dental work is required to correct alterations caused by various bar-fights from decades past.

Dentistry, however modern, builds character...in parents.

I never really trust a man until he's had a child in a dental chair.

The Diva's tooth trials began with a base ball bat. One of The Dude's team mates was out of the dug out.

"Don't swing that bat in the stands...!"

When contact was made there was a mess: the crying, the wailing, the gnashing of teeth...

And that was just me. Not The Diva. She's got a high tolerance for pain. She might have even have more testosterone than me.

She also got smacked with a field hockey stick.

So. After a few years of patch work her tooth nerve has been removed, the canal filled, my wallet emptied.

And it still hurts. Me, not The Diva.

This is what passes for suffering in our soft times.

The Diva and Your Business Blogger(R)
on set at the Leadership InstituteThank you (foot)notes:

And this is why the country should vote for John McCain.

He knows real suffering.

Obama knows nothing.

The Diva at a piano recital circa 2004 Sports have been very good to our household. We are looking forward to the benefits of Title IX.

Posted at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Charmaine giving a lecture
on abortion at Princeton Rakes, Cads and leering Don Juans -- that is to say: all normal men -- have been attempting to seduce women for 4,000 years.

Our institutions of higher learning have noticed this and are helping out. No, not helping the parents, not the girls, not our culture.

Nope. Your local college administrator, acting in place of the parents, has now made it possible for the young women to undress in front of the young men in the privacy of their own (parental-paid) room.

This is not the No-Tell Motel. It is the college dorm room.

Higher Education has been working for decades to help separate not the women from men, but women from their clothes in front of men. And now the colleges and the men have succeeded.

The colleges, Your Business Blogger(R) would suggest, are acting less loco prarentis but just plain loco.

Charmaine recently appeared on CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck Show Monday, May 5, 2008 to discuss the emergence of co-ed dorm rooms on college campuses.

Watch the clip here at the Family Research Council. Sorry for the extra clicking.

"Professor" Diana York Blaine
Womyn's Studies

Normal people think co-ed dorm rooms are lunacy.

But the "professor" on the left is a typical Leftie that passes for normalcy on the local college campus.

Womyn's Studies Professor and lunar worshipper Diana York Blaine offers Alert Readers Full Disclosure on helping college men in learning all about the modern womyn. The nutty professor Blaine teaches at USC. It is not known if clothing is optional.

Higher Education at its best.

Research Institutions pride themselves on 'advancing scholarship.'

These days, Higher Ed is advancing an agenda.

And it is not a pretty site.

Thank you (foot)notes:

But sure to catch Charmaine's recent appearance on FOX News March 1, 2008 where she debated the prevalence of shock-style -- nasty -- advertising in the media. Click here to view the video -- please forgive the extra click on thru on the FRC site. Now that's a Pretty Woman.

Full Disclosure: Charmaine has taught Politics and the Family at the University of Virginia; Your Business Blogger(R) teaches Business at the Northern Virginia Community College.

Blaine tells us on her site that,

Dr. Diana Blaine is a PhD philosopher, writer, adventurer, bon vivant and buttkicker. She's read and studied how gender dynamics function in our culture...

Emphasis mine. Some lady. Email us your comments.

Posted at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jack and Charmaine This is wedding anniversary week in our household: We celebrate for 7 days.

Men's Health magazine reminds us why marriage works. The April issue has six compelling reasons to marry, by Anna Maltby.

Anna is a woman.

But the advice is still good,

If you are susceptible to vice, find a wife. She'll save you from yourself -- and improve your life -- in a variety of ways...

1. Increase your pay A Virginia Commonwealth University study found that married men earn 22 percent more than their similarly experienced but single colleagues.

[VCU is a terrific school located in Richmond, Virginia. Conservative. Good.]

2. Speed up your next promotion
Married men receive higher performance ratings and faster promotions than bachelors, a 2005 study of U.S. Navy officers reported.

[If the Army wanted you to have a wife, it would have issued you one, goes the old joke -- it looks like the military is a-changing its perception of the value of a helpmeet.]

3. Keep you out of trouble
According to a recent U.S. Department of Justice report, male victims of violent crime are nearly four times more likely more likely to be single than married.

[Your Business Blogger(R) has not been in a bar fight since getting married. But every few years I got to get the caps replaced on those cracked up front teeth from an altercation back in single days. And I wish that ringing in my ears would stop...]

4. Satisfy you in bed
In 2006, British researchers reviewed the sexual habits of men in 38 countries and found that in every country, married men have more sex.

[...]

5. Help you beat cancer
In a Norwegian study, divorced and never-married male cancer patients had 11 and 16 percent higher mortality rates, respectively, than married men.

[Charmaine is forever pestering me to get a(nother!) physical. Goodness, I had one back in the 90's. And the colonoscopy was her idea too. Such a pain in the ...]

6. Help you live longer
A UCLA study found that people in generally excellent health were 88 percent more likely to die over the 8-year study period if they were single.

The accountability and friendship of marriage works.

Excuse me now, I've got some yard work to do.

As one academic studying the men-marriage-maturity transformation wrote, "A rake, now out raking leaves,"

Posted at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

McDonald's is funding homosexual activism--and I'm NOT lovin' it!

Charmaine and the Penta-Posse
at a McDonald's
somewhere in Middle America
circa 2005 Buying a McDonald's hamburger now promotes the homosexual lifestyle. Here's a sample open letter to the McDonald's leadership, supplied by the Family Research Council,

Dear Chairman McKenna,

We are writing to request that you end your "Corporate Partnership" with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) and refrain from making corporate contributions to this or other homosexual organizations.

[If individual members of the board of McDonald's wishes to give to any charity, have it your way, so to say -- but a corporation should not
use earnings for charity. Charity is a test of the individual heart -- not corporate or government largess.]

We also request that you adopt a policy which would prevent your corporate officers from using the McDonald's corporate name to lend legitimacy to work they may do for such organizations. The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce exists to generate business for companies that are owned by homosexuals. While we do not object to McDonald's doing business with any suppliers who can provide a quality product or service at a good price, we also do not understand why anyone would engage in affirmative steps to seek out suppliers based on their sexual behavior, or assist in promoting businesses for that reason.

[Your Business Blogger(R) has spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in McDonald's PlayPlaces. I'm not sure I've ever seen a homosexual in a McDonald's. The demographics do not fit the fast food market segment.

No. The homosexuals do not want to eat at McDonald's any more than they really want to serve in the military. Homosexuals are on a marketing campaign for normalcy. And they are looking for a stamp of approval in basic cultural institutions: Ronald McDonald, marriage and the military.]

However, the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce does not exist just to promote the economic interests of their members. They also promote an extensive political agenda, including explicit support for legislation and litigation that would:

* Undermine the unique treatment granted to marriage between one man and one woman under the law
* Treat homosexual and "transgender" behavior on the same basis as race under federal civil rights laws
* Label disapproval of homosexual behavior a form of "hate" under so-called "hate crime" laws.

[Parents should ask if McDonald's will embrace open unisex restrooms where transgenders and transvestites and cross-dressers can have proximity to the wee ones.]

The NGLCC promotes a controversial social and political agenda that is offensive to tens of millions of your customers. A corporation like McDonald's, which prides itself on providing a family-friendly product in a family-friendly environment, should not be associated with any narrow political agenda. Thank you for considering my views.

Let the homosexuals dine on fast food at Starbucks. With the rest of the liberals.

Nope. The next time I need to take the Penta-Posse out for fast food -- Lord, the money we spend -- we will not go to McDonald's. And neither should you.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Market Research for McDonald's

Your Business Blogger(R) has enjoyed eating at McDonald's the world over. I'm not sure of the support for homosexuals in, say, China. See China's New Statue for Brotherhood and World Peace. And learn where the ad, I'm Lovin' It was developed.

Posted at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Charmaine was interviewed by LAURA MECKLER from The Wall Street Journal, McCain Speech to Shed Light On Judicial Philosophy:Social Conservatives Look for Assurance Of Common Agenda, May 6, 2008; Page A8,

In town-hall meetings, Sen. McCain makes a point to explain his positions on terrorism, taxes, the economy, energy and health care. But in his prepared remarks, he never mentions abortion, same-sex marriage, judges or gun rights. When asked, he often responds quickly and moves on.

McCain and Huckabee
How Important is Pro-life?

"Imagine if you were an economic conservative and someone never talked about tax policy unless they were asked about it," said Charmaine Yoest, [Ph.D.] a vice president at the Family Research Council, a conservative advocacy group focused on social issues.

Asked whether she thinks Sen. McCain really cares about the abortion issue, she said, "I don't know, and that's his problem."

When asked in February what social issues are most important to him, Sen. McCain didn't directly answer. "It's hard for me to rank them because a lot of us who are social conservatives focus on what we think are the threats to them," he said. "It's not so much that you have priorities...It's very difficult for me. I can't prioritize them for you."

John McCain is now giving a speech on the abuse of power by the courts -- liberal judges have no self-restraint and are making law based on their "own experience" -- not legislators' and the founders' intent. Liberals want "judges who push the limits of constitutional law."

And McCain is right. The country must have conservative judges.

###

Thank you (foot)notes:

John McCain's body language gives his positions away. See Is John McCain Courting the Religious Right? by Your Business Blogger(R)

Full Disclosure: Charmaine served as senior advisor to the Huckabee presidential campaign.

Posted at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Glenn Beck on CNN Today is Cinco de Mayo. Memorable for Your Business Blogger(R) for a number of reasons. One of which is our anniversary. The guys say this is not fair -- because it is so easy to remember...

So Charmaine and I are a-celebrating. Off to New York City. The Big Apple. See some old friends. Take in a couple of shows. Charmaine is looking forward to them...

I wish I was with her.

She will be appearing on The Glenn Beck Program: The Fusion of Entertainment and Enlightenment. (Which might be about the best reason to tune in CNN these days. CNN is trying.)

Delectare et Docere

She will debating the wisdom of the trend for co-ed dorms in institutions of higher education. See more at the jump.

Hit time is 7pm and 9pm eastern on CNN HeadLine News. Tune in and let us know what you think.

Martha McCallum on FOX Charmaine will also be appearing on the FOX News Live Desk with Martha McCallum to discuss today's hot topics:

Michigan and Florida Delegates, Celebrity Endorsements, Oprah Winfrey in Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church.

Hit time is 1pm eastern on FOX News.

Thank you (foot)notes:

National Review Online is running an article by Your Business Blogger(R) and Charmaine on Hillary Clinton's management style:

JACK & CHARMAINE YOEST: The woman can’t manage. “Bad Management” 05/05 4:00 AM More at the jump.

Please email us your comments.

May is also the anniversary of getting my car. (This is important to car guys.)

Continue Reading »

Posted at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is a guest post by The Diva. The script was written by The Diva. Really.

Talent on screen, The Diva ; Camera-Direction, The Dude;
Grip #1, T-shirt, clapper, The Dancer;
Grip #2 ALL paper, Baby-Boo
My name is Helena Yoest, and I was harassed by the principal of my school because of a shirt.

Ok, so I went to class, just like a regular school day, I had the shirt on, no one was offended or anything by it.

Then my teacher- Mr. Young- says "Mrs. Schaffner wants to see you"

I walk over to her in the hall, she was talking to some other teachers with one or two students flocking around her.

She stops talking when she sees me, pulls me over to a corner, and says plainly

"you can't wear the shirt"

Wow. 5 minutes into the day and I've been caught in this t-shirt. (say sarcastically) Shoot.

I say very politely "may I go get something from my locker?"

Mrs.Shaffner says, "eh, yes"

So I go down to my locker to get a piece of paper, it's a magical piece of paper that gets me out of trouble.

National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day From the American Life League.

Actually, it states my civil rights and how I CAN wear the shirt, no harassment.

I hand over the letter and she hands me a t-shirt with the school name on it. Oh joy.

So I head to the bathroom to change and I hear her say, "were going to have to visit the principal about this."

So there I am, in the principal's office. Mrs. Annan (the principal) reads the letter Mrs. Shaffner is babbling about how they've never had this happen before, while Mrs. Annan is reading.

Mrs. Shaffner gets called away to do vice principal stuff and

Mrs. Annan pulls up a chair to sit beside me. "How do you know about this political issue?" she asks. "My mom" I say.

"What would you think if a kindergartner went up to you and asked you what it is?" she says pointing at my shirt.

"I would say 'it's where doctors and hospitals kill babies'"

You should've seen her face when I said that. "I just don't want you to be uncomfortable."

She leads me to a bathroom "you can turn it inside out, or you can change, whichever you want" so I change into this ew yucky t-shirt with the school name on it, so they would be happy and quit bothering me.

This is how it was in the classroom:

"Whydya change your t-shirt?" my classmates ask.

"She made me" I say, which isn't stretching the truth.

I went to art, and my teacher came in the middle of it and said

"walk with me" so I walk with him and he says "you can change into your shirt now, or after art, what do you want?"

I changed after lunch.

Can you believe that?

The principal of an elementary school, pressured and manipulated a 5th grade student to do her wills.

The principal, of all people! Wow.

Growing, Growing...Gone Pro-Lifers are the new Progressives.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Please send us your comments!

The Penta-Posse L to R: Baby-Boo, The Dancer,
The Diva, The Dude, The Dreamer
The Roe Effect
The American Life League sponsors the annual trouble-making event. The Dude was also spoken to by school officials. But no action was taken against him.

The "magical piece of paper" from the American Life League.

See The Roe Effect

The Diva protesting at the Afghan Embassy, 2006
She is no stranger to controversy

The Diva making phone calls for Mike
at the Huckabee for President headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa
Video Credit: The Dreamer See The Dude's post on the Abortion T-shirt at Panzer Commander.

Posted at 7:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Dr. Mom has written extensively on women in management. I appreciate her writing: it keeps her and Charmaine out of Nordstroms...

Here is a speech she gave some 20 years ago -- it seems that mom was on the cutting edge.

Note her use of 'alliances' used by managers to get things done. Your Business Blogger(R) was using the term "networks." Bill Oncken uses "support" both as a verb and as an adjective describing 'system' in his "molecule of management."

Dr. Crouse has the better word, I believe.

The Managerial Woman
SETTLING IN, BRANCHING OUT, MOVING UP

By JANICE SHAW CROUSE, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs,
Taylor University

Delivered to the Career Women’s Council, Marion, Indiana, August 19, 1986

It is with a tremendous amount of gratitude and to be honest just a few pinches of regret that I stand here today and officially close the first year of the Marion-Grant County Career Women’s Council. I hope that you all share in the sense of satisfaction at what has been accomplished this year. There is a summary of the year’s activities at your place setting. Here you see the joint product of the hard work of this year’s officers and committee chairs as they worked to launch this organization and to plan challenging and interesting programs. I am proud of the growth and development that has occurred in our founding year and I know that you join me in expressing appreciation to each person who made this year such a success. Further, I look forward to the coming year since I know that the new officers whom we installed today are well-qualified and the plans which they have already begun laying out for next year are exciting. I look forward to seeing the continuing progress and growth which is sure to come under their leadership....

Continue Reading »

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