"It is something you only want to do once," said Gary Bauer.
"What's that?" I ask. "Running for president?"
"No," he says. "Falling backwards off the platform."
Alert Readers will well remember Gary Bauer falling off the podium while flipping flapjacks on his run for president. It was funny and no one got hurt.
Except, maybe, his chances for president...
The Baby-Boo, the caboose on the Penta-Posse, made a similar slip and fell off the elevated platform at a press conference today.
Falling is something everyone has to do. Baby-Boo has got his 'falling' out of the way -- and is now ready to run without a slip for president.
Baby-Boo may not be 35 years old, but, then, he's not that much younger than Obama.
Gary Bauer still laughs about his tumble and the uncertainly all presidential campaigns generate on the trail. Gary is a class act. (Your Business Blogger(R) would still be mad and a-blaming someone...)
She says that all voters should care, "...[A]bout the public policies the person is going to put in place."
Charmaine is pictured at left on an earlier CNN appearance debating abortion.
The policies of which Charmaine speaks are the 'vote-changing' issues Grover Norquist writes about in his book Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives.
The Leave Us Alone coalition is made up of groups who want the government to do only constitutionally-restricted work, and to, well, leave us alone.
Following is a short list of loose associations Norquist cites who want less government and less outside intrusion:
The Alert Reader will note that this conservative Leave Us Alone coalition includes the Pro-Life community. This is the only group in Grover's group that wants the government and the courts to protect life and stop the option of killing of unborn children -- just as the government stopped the option of slavery.
The Christian Left is willing to sacrifice freedom in order to pay higher taxes -- this small segment that occasionally attends church is delighted with large government and the government confiscation of property, life and wealth.
These young Christians are confusing government with God -- remember, for most liberals, the government is their god.
The Leftist group is a bit confused on Biblical teaching and looks forward to the tyranny of a ObamaNation. Mature followers of Jesus Christ look to the Ten Commandments, including the directive, Do Not Kill, or more accurately, Do No Murder.
The deliberate taking of innocent life is a vote-changer for thinking Christians.
Obama makes clear what he will do about the killing of babies -- born and pre-born,
"Thirty-five years after the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, it's never been more important to protect a woman's right to choose. Last year, the Supreme Court decided by a vote of 5-4 to uphold the Federal Abortion Ban, and in doing so undermined an important principle of Roe v. Wade: that we must always protect women's health.
"With one more vacancy on the Supreme Court, we could be looking at a majority hostile to a women's fundamental right to choose for the first time since Roe v. Wade. The next president may be asked to nominate that Supreme Court justice. That is what is at stake in this election.
Your Business Blogger(R) has a degree in Education and was pressured by the National Education Association (NEA) to join the union years ago.
"The NEA is great when you get sued," said the (very large) union rep.
I declined to teach and went into a less violent business: The Army.
The NEA is having their convention in Your Nation's Capital next week. On July 2nd Pro-Life Educators and Students (PLEAS) will be conducting a rally at the Washington Convention Center from 10:00am and 2:00pm.
This press conference would have my attention even if I didn't have 5 kids in the public schools or if Charmaine wasn't speaking.
If Charmaine is speaking, you'll want to listen. And this time we own the mic.
Charmaine is pictured above elbowing aside pro-abortion NOW President Kim Gandy at a open press conference in 2005. This is the only Women in Combat of which conservatives would approve.
PLEAS Coordinator Bob Pawson says, "Pro-Life teachers, school employees, parents, and students are invited to come pray and peacefully picket...Hillary Clinton and/or Barack Obama will surely address NEA's 9,000 Delegates, as they did last year."
Pro-Life teachers are concerned that their teacher union dues support and promote abortion and political candidates who tolerate the holocaust of the unborn.
Pawson explains, "Late-term abortionist George Tiller spoke at NEA headquarters for the [pro-abortion] Feminist Majority Foundation's Leadership Conference in March 2008." Watch the YouTube video here. Warning: graphic pictures of dead children.
No pro-life speakers or political candidates are supported by the NEA.
NEA union President, Reg Weaver is backing Obama; "every public school employee needs to get squarely behind the Obama candidacy."
"The National Education Association supports...the right to reproductive freedom" -- the abortion code-words.
The "NEA supports the ...Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision which now permits abortion on demand through nine months of pregnancy. The NEA is silent on the Dred Scott decision which also codified the ownership of one human being by another. The Dred Scott slave owner is the Roe v Wade feminist.
UPDATE: Press Conference at the Family Research Council building at 9:30 to 10:15am, then on to the presser at the Convention Center at 10:30am.
Charmaine's talk reminded us of the eternal values. Life and Death; this side of eternity and beyond.
At a recent funeral -- they seem to come faster and faster as we get older and older -- we talked about burials. Cremation, well, lights our fire and speeds up that dust-to-dust transition.
Charmaine asked what we plan to do with the ashes, where on earth to put them. We talk about the extended family's burial plots.
"Where do you want to get buried?" She asks.
"37º18'N, 137º55'E," I say.
"What?"
"The Sea of Japan," I remind her. Women!
"What's there?" she wonders.
Bonefish.
***
June 18th is the day we remember the loss of USS Bonefish.
My father, then only a teen-ager from Jersey, left high school, went to war and was assigned to the submarine, USS Bonefish. Just before the final mission of the Bonefish, my father walked off the gangplank - transferred to another assignment. Another man took his place.
On its eighth mission, on June 18, 1945, the Bonefish was lost fighting the enemy in the Sea of Japan, with the loss of all 53 officers and men. It was the last U.S. submarine sunk in World War II...
The article was first published by a number of outlets including the Virginian-Pilot in my hometown.
Wednesday, June 18 - Pre-Assembly Workshop: Re-Engage: Christ as Culture's Hope
Dr. Charmaine Yoest is Vice-President of Communications for the Family Research Council. In that role, she oversees all aspects of FRC's strategic communications and messaging. Dr. Yoest is an author, a political analyst and an expert on domestic and international social policy. She has served as a Contributing Editor at the Heritage Foundation in Policy for FRC. Dr. Yoest holds the Ph.D. and M.A. in Politics from the University of Virginia. She and her husband, Jack, live with their five children in the D.C. area.
Dr. Yoest will speak to the ways the Gospel message intersects contemporary culture and its influence on the hearts and minds of women.
Sinclair Ferguson is Senior Minister of the First Presbyterian Church (ARP) of Columbia, South Carolina
and Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster
Theological Seminary. A graduate of the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, he is the author of some two dozen books, has authored numerous articles and has contributed to various symposia. His writing interests have ranged from works of scholarship to books for children. He has served as minister of two congregations
in Scotland, one on Unst, the most northerly inhabited
island in the United Kingdom, and the other at the center of Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. For more than twenty years he has been a member of the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia
and Dallas, and has served as a visiting professor in various other seminaries.
Sinclair and his wife Dorothy have been married for thirty-five years. They have three sons, a daughter, and three grandsons.
Jeff Jeremiah began serving as the Executive Pastor/Stated Clerk of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in October, 2006. Prior to that he served as pastor of First Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Renton, Washington for twelve years. His ministry in the EPC began in 1987 when, as an associate pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church of Bethesda, Maryland, the church joined the denomination. At Fourth Presbyterian his pastoral responsibilities ranged from diaconal and visitation ministry to executive pastor and senior associate, beginning his ministry under Dr. Richard Halverson in 1980.
He is convinced that the church of Jesus Christ must come to grips with the 21st century reality that the United States is a mission field and that the missional agenda of the EPC is the most effective way forward.
Jeff has been married to Cindy for thirty years. Together they have three sons – Daniel (26), Jeffrey (24) and Michael (20) who all live in Washington State.
Robert Norris, host pastor, has been Senior Pastor of Fourth Presbyterian
Church since 1984. Rob came to Fourth after serving three years as Executive Pastor of Program at First Presbyterian Church, Hollywood,
California. Originally from Wales he also previously served as Assistant Minister at The City Temple, London, Chaplain to the City of London University, and Chaplain to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. He holds degrees from Kings College, London, and St. Andrews, Scotland, has served as adjunct professor at Reformed Theological Seminary, and has taught in seminaries in Ukraine, Malta, Japan, and Sudan. He and his wife Caren have five children.
Bill Vogler, Moderator of the 27th General Assembly, will speak at the Moderator’s Service of Communion and Prayer on Friday morning. Rev. Vogler is the founding pastor of Grace EPC in Lawrence, Kansas, where he has served for the last 19 years. Bill has served on several committees in Mid-America Presbytery and General Assembly.
Bill has been married to Karen for 34 years. Karen has served in women’s ministry in General Assembly, Mid-America Presbytery and at Grace. She leads Bible studies and retreats on various books of the Bible, prayer and reading through the Scripture. Bill and Karen have three children (Joshua, married to Nicole; Sarah, married to Damon; and Grace, a Sr. at Kansas State University), and one grandchild (James to Josh and Nicole).
Denis Haack is the author of The Rest of Success: What the World Didn’t Tell You About Having It All, and has written articles for such journals as: Reformation & Revival Journal; Eternity; Covenant; and World. He is currently working on his Master of Theological Studies at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. His undergraduate studies were done at the University of Minnesota and University of New Mexico. After a few years of living in a Christian commune (yes, that’s right, they were hippies), he staffed a church as a youth pastor and was recruited by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship with whom he eventually became area director of New Mexico, Arizona, and part of Texas. To support himself and his family, he did everything from pumping gas to delivering flowers to starting a janitorial business that didn’t boom until he gave the business to a friend who took the idea and ran with it. Before he and Margie owned a home, he always declared that their lawn would be made of rocks so he wouldn’t have to mow, but he’s now the proud owner of a self-propelled Honda lawnmower which he also uses to mulch every leaf that blows into the yard.
Denis will bring a keynote address and lead one of the breakout sessions. Learn more about Denis and his ministry at www.ransomfellowship.org
Steven Garber has a classroom among many people in many places. Known as “a public teacher,” at the heart of his own calling is the longing that people understand the integral character of faith, vocation, and culture. He directs The Washington Institute, whose core conviction is that the church and society are renewed as a richer, truer vision of calling is taught and practiced. Steven is the author of The Fabric of Faithfulness: Weaving Together Belief and Behavior. A Senior Fellow for the C.S. Lewis Institute, he has contributed to the volumes, Faith Goes to Work: Reflections From the Marketplace and Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalogue, as well as to the Mars Hill Audio journal, (Tacit Knowing, Truthful Knowing: The Life and Work of Michael Polanyi). A native of the great valleys of Colorado and California, he, his wife Meg and their children live in Virginia where they are members of The Falls Church.
Steven will bring a keynote address and lead one of the breakout sessions.
You can find out more about Steve and his ministry at www.washingtoninst.org
Walt Mueller is the founder and President of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, serving churches,
schools, and community organizations around the world: in their efforts to communicate the Gospel cross-culturally by helping those who know and love children and teens to understand today’s rapidly changing youth culture. He has appeared on numerous media outlets internationally – including CNN, Fox News, and the BBC – to discuss teenagers and their world. The work of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding has been embraced by the federal government, offering CPYU numerous opportunities to be salt and light in the culture-at-large. He is the author of five books including Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture:
Bridging Teen Worldviews and Christian Truth, and the Medallion Award winner, Understanding Today’s Youth Culture, which is currently being totally re-written with Zondervan. Walt’s commentary and analysis
on youth culture is heard on CPYU’s daily radio program, Youth Culture
Today. He earned his B.A. in Sociology from Geneva College, his M.Div form Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and his doctorate in ministry to postmodern generations from Gordon-Conwell Theological
Seminary. Walt and his wife, Lisa, live in Elizabethtown, PA., and have four children: Caitlin, 23, a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh; Joshua, 21 a junior at Messiah College; Bethany, 19, entering
college; and Nathaniel, 14 in the ninth grade.
Walt will be leading one of our breakout sessions.
Richard Cizik, an EPC minister, is Vice President for Governmental Affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals. His primary responsibilities include setting NAE’s policy direction on issues before Congress, the White House, and Supreme Court, as well as serving as a national spokesman on issues of concern to evangelicals. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Whitworth College; an M.A. in Public Affairs from the George Washington University
School of Public & International Affairs; a Master of Divinity from Denver Seminary; and an honorary Doctorate of Ministry from the MethodistEpiscopal Church in Christian Leadership. He is the author of over one hundred published articles and editorials, author and editor of The High Cost of Indifference (Regal Books), a contributor to On Christian Freedom (University Press of America), and the Dictionary of Christianity
in America (Inter-Varsity Press). Richard and his wife, Virginia, have two boys, Rich Jr., and John, ages seventeen and fourteen. The family resides in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Richard will be speaking during the lunch gathering at the Hyatt Regency
on the National Association of Evangelicals’ landmark document “For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Engagement,” to which he was a major contributor.
###
Thank you (foot)notes:
Full Disclosure: Your Business Blogger(R) served as a Deacon in the EPC.
Charmaine and I are indebted to the Fourth Presbyterian Church. We met there. I picked her because she was virtuous and industrious. I don't know why she picked me... The Alert Reader will notice that both the Norris's and the Yoest's have five kids in each family: We will fix Social Security all by our selves.
This is in no way an endorsement of Richard Cizik, who does not believe that abortion is the evil of our time. He would be more comfortable in another mainstream denomination -- like say, the ones that are losing membership for fuzzy thinking and confused Biblical interpretations.
What is the purpose of life? The EPC gives the answer in the first question. At the jump.
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. No, evolution is not taught. But I do subscribe to Intelligent Design.
Charmaine will be speaking from her experience as a senior adviser to the Huckabee for President campaign.
Alert Readers will recall Charmaine also served in the Reagan Administration as a White House (unmolested) intern .
She also served in the Office of Presidential Personnel under Bob Tuttle, current Ambassador to the Court of St. James's.
The Women in Politics panel is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008, from 9:30 to10:45 a.m., at the Darden School's Abbott Auditorium.
From UVA,
...[S]peakers on this panel: UVa. alums
Charmaine Yoest [Ph.D.] (Family Research Council, former adviser to Mike Huckabee) [confirmed]
Cheryl Mills (advisor to Hillary Clinton) [confirmed],
and Janet Napolitano (Governor of Arizona) [awaiting confirmation].
We may also ask [other] alums... The panel will be moderated by Vesla Weaver, assistant professor of politics and a UVA alum as well.
At this point, our conception of the Women in Politics panel is:
More than ever before, women - Republicans, Democrats and Independents - are making a difference in the American political arena and U.Va. alumnae are among those leading the way. Please join us for a panel discussion of the contemporary role of women in American politics.
Potential topics include the 2008 presidential election, the historic role of Senator Hillary Clinton's candidacy and the short list of women who may be considered as vice presidential nominees in both major political parties.
For more information on the conference, please visit the conference Web site.
###
Thank you (foot)notes:
Tips for visiting Mr. Jefferson's University. While at UVA, never say 'campus.' Say 'grounds.'
Address Ph.D.'s not as 'Dr.' but as 'Mr.' or 'Ms.' in keeping with our third president's sense of fraternite and Voltaire and all things French. Egalite run amuck.
Your Business Blogger(R) of Management Training of DC, LLC, is an adjunct professor of management at NOVA and a licensed agent for the William Oncken Corporation.
FRIDAY, JUNE 6 – 9AM-3PM*
WHAT: A grassroots training seminar designed to educate and equip citizens to promote traditional family values in your community. Learn practical how-tos for effective communication and creating and managing your message to be persuasive in the public debate!
WHERE: Thomas More College
Merrimack, NH
Charmaine will be speaking on the power of words to frame a debate. She noticed that Your Business Blogger(R) has a line drawing of the HMS Victory over his desk; a profile of the body of the ship that Lord Nelson made famous in the sea battle at Trafalgar against the French; against Napoleon. The English won, as usual.
VICTORY. There is no ship in the Royal Navy named "Success." And this is where President Bush gets the Global War on Terror wrong: Men don't die in combat for "Success in Iraq." They will sacrifice and die for "Victory."
We don't have "Success in Jesus." We have Victory.
The wordsmith knows the difference. (And the Christian...)
Charmaine will also speak on Bimbos. If you are anywhere in the Northeast, go visit and sey hey to Charmaine.
###
Thank you (foot)notes:
"Bimbos" as we are using it, is the intellectual property of Merrie Spaeth. Another brilliant women who knows the power of words. And like Charmaine, she worked for Ronald Reagan, of course.
Spaeth reminds professionals and public speakers to always recite the positive and to never repeat the negative accusation -- usually advanced by a commie reporter. Public affairs should only be handled by professionals.
When I say 'public affairs' I am not speaking of Bill Clinton's weaknesses...
Most Americans think the country is on the wrong track. Representatives like Heather Wilson may have been a part of the deterioration of the GOP branding and why citizens are dismayed: Republicans are not behaving like Conservatives. Wilson she wanted women in combat. She advanced abortion. This is not a conservative. Wilson just lost her primary race. Thank goodness.
Watch Charmaine's debate with Heather Wilson(R) from New Mexico a few years ago on women in combat. Ignore the Army women exposing their breasts.
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
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].
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,"
UPDATE: School Officials direct student (our Diva!) to remove Pro-Life T-shirt. DEVELOPING...
The Penta-Posse L to R: Baby-Boo, The Dancer,
The Diva, The Dude, The Dreamer The Roe Effect Today is the Sixth Annual National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day.
The bright blue t-shirt shows a baby growing and growing then black -- nothing. So simple even school age children understand what abortion does.
So compelling that even the teen-aged Dreamer donned the shirt.
Our five wee-ones will be wearing the garment-billboard today at school and around town.
Here comes trouble.
Our public school system is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic party, Planned Parenthood and the teachers' union.
(The only debate allowed is who would be better for the country, Obama or Hillary. And how awful Ronald Reagan governed and when global warming will kill us all. War is not the answer, etc and etc...)
National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day So our city is our mission field.
The schools will not be happy to see Pro-Life T-Shirts. We will be setting up a legal defense fund when the sheriff comes a-calling. Details to follow.
The American Life League sponsors the annual trouble-making event. The legal eagles at the ALL non-profit have provided a helpful handout for the students if they are confronted with the intolerant abortion lovers.
Free Speech in the public schools? We'll see.
Growing, Growing...Gone Pro-Lifers are the new Progressives.
###
Thank you (foot)notes:
UPDATE: It took 8 minutes before one of the Penta-Posse principals called -- comparing abortion to the disruption of "liquor, cigarettes or guns..." The school is really unhappy with the Pro-Life T-shirt. Your Business Blogger(R) was most polite. DEVELOPING...
UPDATE: The school leadership has made The Diva turn her shirt inside out -- Charmaine found out and lost her sense of humor -- the t-shirt is right side out, we think. A school official asks The Diva, "What will you say when the kindergarteners ask about your t-shirt?" The Diva doesn't miss a beat, "That doctors kill babies..."
The Diva protesting at the Afghan Embassy, 2006
She is no stranger to controversyIf you are a student at a public school, you have a right to wear a pro-life shirt to school. Our experience is that most young people who wear a pro-life shirt to school on National Pro-life T-shirt day do not have any problems. Occasionally a misguided school official may ask you to remove the shirt. This is a violation of your rights.
Read more at the jump from the good-guys at the ALL.
"Stacy London is co-host of The Learning Channel's What Not to Wear and has been with the show since its first season. After growing up in Manhattan, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College with a double degree in 20th-century philosophy and German literature."
Stacy London is a very bright young woman with a father almost as famous, Herb London.
[Stacy] began her career as a fashion assistant at Vogue magazine and later returned to Conde Nast as the senior fashion editor at Mademoiselle. She has styled fashion photos for other editorial publications, including Italian D, Nylon and Contents.
The Harbour League is hosting a star-studded event on May 13th in Baltimore, Maryland. Make plans to be there. Eli Gold runs the non-profit think tank and writes,
I want to make you aware of a very special evening that The Harbour League will be hosting. It is an evening that will give you a chance to meet and chat one-on-one with leaders of today's conservative movement.
America's Secular Challenge Stacey Herb London
On May 13th, 2008 The Harbour League will host an evening with the board. This will be the first time that our entire board will be in one place at one time to answer your questions regarding today's conservative movement, where we are and where we are headed.
The Harbour League's Board of Trustees includes: Eli Gold, Chairman; Herb London, President of the Hudson Institute; Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform; David Keene, President of American Conservative Union, as well as various other leaders in the movement.
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.
I also would like invite you to a private VIP dinner prior to the evening's event. For the first time we will open the board's pre-event reception and dinner to the first fourteen reservations.
The cost for dinner is $200 per plate (dinner is discounted for members). This is an opportunity to have an intimate dinner with these opinion leaders. So reserve your spot soon! Dinner reservations can be made by calling The Harbour League at 410-753-4560.
The presentation and dessert reception is free for Harbour League members, $5 for non-members. Please feel free to forward this invitation to your colleagues. A RSVP is highly recommended since seating is limited. Media covering this event should contact The Harbour League in advance.
I hope to see you at the event on May 13th.
Sincerely,
Eli Gold
Chairman
When you RSVP click "America's Secular Challenge."
Stacy London will not be there. Sorry for the bait and switch: Terrible marketing. My bad.
But her father, Dr. Herb London, will be there. Meet the proud papa and get a hint on why she is a success. And buy his book.
###
Thank you (foot)notes:
More on Stacy London at the jump
Your Business Blogger(R) and Charmaine and one of the Penta-Posse will attending -- we hope to see you there!
UPDATE: Alert Readers noticed that Your Business Blogger(R) originally spelled Stacy as "Stacey." Error corrected and she provided a nice pub shot -- a class act.
Management Training for Church Leaders:
The QuestionsYour Business Blogger(R) would often tease Preachers about their work-load.
After all, they only work one hour a week. On Sunday.
Pastors always laugh at that old joke. Diplomacy is part of their discipline.
But as managers, Pastors have double duty.
They have the work of an individual contributor.
They have the responsibilities of management.
Between the christening, marrying and burying, they really do have the hardest job on this side of eternity.
***
The Christian Church which shepherds believers and their faith worldwide, is nevertheless much like any organization in terms of order and structure. Basic management principles apply.
Pastors often must focus on numbers: numbers: attendance, budget, seating, parking, programs.
But the Pastor as manager doesn’t manage numbers, he manages behaviors.
If not of the congregation, then hopefully of his staff.
The following questions concern management strategies. The numbers will follow once skills are in place.
All church organizations and staffs experience personnel challenges and management concerns. The following questions concern management strategies and skill building for pastor-managers who can benefit from knowing that the numbers will follow once the staff is trained and trusted, and skills are in place.
Remember:
The Pastor leads people and manages behaviors.
The Pastor doesn't manage numbers; he manages behaviors.
The Pastor doesn't manage staff; he leads people.
The YouTube video presents 5 common questions. Here are the 5 answers and bonus solutions to many church management problems.
1. What does the church leader, the manager really do?
Plan, Lead, Organize, Control, Motivate.
The pastor’s focus must be on both the congregation and his staff. This requires skill building and continuous learning as the pastor also undoubtedly must commit serious time and attention to study and sermon preparation.
Here the Pastor is radically different from the manager in business and government. In business there are many areas of which the manager will know little or nothing. But he depends upon department heads to support him.
A great deal of the Pastor's time is consumed in the research and review of the sermon. This is work that only the Pastor can do -- this is vocational time.
The Pastor is one of the few managerial disciplines that has considerable management time and the vocational-knowledge responsibilities of an individual contributor.
For most managers the formula is simple: Knowledge plus Network equals Success. The manager's success is dependent on getting his network...to work. To succeed, the manager needs the support of his Ruling Board, outside peers, and staff.
2. What does the individual contributor do?
The work. The individual contributor does the hands-on work -- in business it would be the accountant, brick layer, college professor. This is the vocational, the knowledge-worker.
The manager, in a routine management position, has few vocational duties.
Except for the Pastor.
His is one of the few positions requiring both extensive hands on -- sermon writing -- and management skills. Little wonder Pastors run out of time.
3. Pastors, why were you hired?
If management wasn’t mentioned, that’s not unusual. Indeed, the search committee had a list of KSA’s (knowledge – skills – abilities), but often they don’t delve into management maturity or the candidates ability to garner support of his network. Pastors usually are hired for their wisdom and judgment.
Traditionally, seminaries haven’t focused on the day-to-day management challenges. So even pastors over 50 may only have the management maturity of a twenty something. Henry Ford once said that, "If you take all the experience and judgment of men over fifty out of the world, there wouldn't be enough left to run it."
4. Can the church manager be a victim?
Many Church leaders feel this way – but the Pastor must have impact on his church and the community. The manager must be in control of events or favorably influence outcomes.
The successful Pastor- manager is able to develop a team that is proactive. The Pastor and his staff are on the "offensive" for good. For example, a church received visits by the police for violating noise level ordinances. That church was on defense.
The best Pastor-manager and his team would have anticipated any community friction and worked out solutions.
5. What happens when the team/church staff is angry?
Even if the staff displays no emotion because they are “people of faith,” they still need
a trusted manager to whom they can turn and who knows how to deal with their concerns and get to the bottom of the matter. The worst outcome of an angry staffer in a church work environment is not disobedience, but incentive-stifling compliance. Such negative attitudes, in turn, damage the manager who will often need his team to protect him from (his) mistakes.
In the army the cliché was, “Take care of the troops and they will take care of you. And if you don’t take care of the troops, they will take care of you – the troops always get even.” But even if the staff displays no emotion, the manager will often need his team to protect him from (his) mistakes. The worst outcome of an angry staffer is not disobedience, but supervise compliance.
Of course church staff aren't really into vengeance; they just hurt, withdraw, and stay
out of sight as much as possible. This is especially true for staff with a distracted pastor-boss and it is why staff-building events, lunches, silly contests and required prayers together seldom work.
Your Business Blogger(R) and Charmaine
and the Penta-Posse on Easter Sunday
2005 Grand Canyon6. Who are the church ‘constituents’ and ‘customers’?
This is the classic dilemma in the non-profit world – the disconnect between who gives and who gets. The constituents, who tithe in the pews, are not the customers; recipients of charity from the pastor’s discretionary fund or outreach budget are the actual customers.
These ‘customers’ probably are not even members of the church. This poses unique challenges for church managers and staff, who need skills and understanding. Many church employees, especially the young, don’t know that the dynamics they find frustrating are the result of working for a non-profit.
7. When is counsel, coun-‘sell’?
A council of advisors - akin to a church’s Administrative Board or Vestry - should ‘sell’ counsel, advice to the pastor. The pastor can buy the advice or not and making the best decision is the wisdom of mature management.
If the senior pastor isn’t trained to make good decisions by asking for recommendations, people at all the other levels will suffer the consequences and have no opportunity to express themselves.
8. What is the most important concern for the church staff? The work/ministry, the people/congregation or the boss/Pastor?
The Pastor. (Staff and Pastors always get this wrong – staff thinks it has the answer and gives the wrong answer. Pastors know the right answer and give the wrong answer, out of embarrassment…)
Even in the atmosphere of 'servant leadership' the Senior Pastor is the final arbiter, the final decision maker and sets the tone for decisions made by subordinates.
Here again, the church leader is quite different than other business leaders. In any other 'industry' some managers might prefer to be low profile. Pastors do not have this option; commanding a pulpit three times or more a week puts him, well, front and center whether he wants to be seen or not.
It is the Pastor's direction that counts in making decisions on the strategic direction of his church. Every church staff member, of course has his work to do.
The staffer does not have his own agenda.
Only the Pastor.
9. Is office politics good or bad?
Politics is the normal interaction of people and power and position and process. Office politics in a church setting is a tool to be acknowledged and used by church management.
10. Is it better for the church leader to have the answers, or to ask the questions?
Neither. It is best for the church leader to have competent staff who anticipate questions, research alternatives and present recommendations. Why does the pastor have to think of everything? (I know, I know…I’m sorry to ask.)
But if the structure only allows for a few associate pastors – those who insulate the church leader or senior pastor – to offer information, the intelligence and experience of other staffers who work in different parts of the church is wasted.
The subordinate should bring not only questions, but suggested answers. The church leader can then grade the answers and make decisions on staffer’s recommendations.
11. How does the Pastor know when he is managing well?
The best church staff will bring a memo/course of action/decision that will require nothing more than the Pastor’s signature.
There is friction if communications channels aren’t in place. Many challenges may not even be known to some staffers who could make a difference; the manager should be looking for input.
12. Does the Associate Pastor have the “right” to church resources?
Nope. The mere position of authority may or may not command compliance from the church bureaucracy. It has to be earned.
Church managers, like mid-level managers in any organization, do not have a "right" to assets or support from his peers in sister departments -- even if the manager's position warrants.
The professional manager nurtures his network.
13. Who is the boss? Who is the subordinate? How can an observer tell if the Senior Pastor they trust as their spiritual leader is the one really making the decisions?
The military has the template. There is a term for a subordinate in the Army called, “Action Officer.” There is no doubt when the superior officer and junior officer work together, that the action, the next steps remain with the lower ranking Action Officer. Management training teaches managers and staff to understand who is tasked with an assignment and what the follow-up will look like. Training reviews the understanding of clean lines in the chain of command and who has the next move.
14. Is there a relationship between the time a manager ‘works’ and the results?
No. The manager should see himself, not just as the captain of a ship – but as the helmsman with a light touch on the rudder. Where the slightest movement, the smallest effort moves the rudder and can direct the largest vessel.
15. What is the Pastor responsible for?
All that his church does, or fails to do.
Even if The Senior Pastor delegates to another pastor and gives him both the responsibility and the authority, the congregation will likely still demand that the Senior Pastor do it instead: the christening, marrying and burying.
16. What makes for the best Associate Pastors?
If the Associate Pastor, or any staff, waits until being told what to do or has to ask what to do, the senior pastor is not running a healthy organization -- he is running a kids-daycare center for adults. Associate Pastors need to know what to do, how to do it, and when. Training and discipline preparation for them is not unlike the Army’s definition: Prompt obedience to orders or the initiation of appropriate action in the absence of orders.
Every Senior Pastor’s deam.
Every Senior Pastor should be training his successor.
17. When should the church leader raise his voice? – When should the church leader not take counsel?
When the sanctuary is on fire. And a fire-and-brimstone sermon, to be sure.
Emergencies are the few times that a direct order -- or direct shouting -- is required. And maybe not even then if you’re Presbyterian…
In most instances the Pastors should make a moment to take council of the mature adivsors. Seldom in any situation will the manager need to raise his voice.
Mark Siljander and
Your Business Blogger(R) And I'm not alone.
"You know about that cliche: Want a friend in Washington, DC, get a dog?" Mark asks me.
"Yep, Truman, I think..."
"Not true," says Mark, laughing.
"Johnson?"
"No, no, the cliche is wrong." He's upbeat. A former public servant, currently indicted, unworried, unhurried.
Another congressman, Asa Hutchinson emailed us, "I consider myself an informal advisor and friend" of Siljander.
He still has friends. In this town! Alert the media...
Well, maybe not that.
Mark has been unjustly targeted and will be cleared. But this is when -- with most indicted congressmen -- friends who were actually "friends" and don't recall knowing le accuséd.
This is a case study on having friends. (Mark does have the added benefit of being innocent...)
"No one has left me," says Mark. "Except the media, thank goodness."
The helicopters, the satellite dishes, the circus have stopped blocking his drive way.
His friends stayed with Mark. Clients, however, have become a bit skittish. It is business, you see.
So his business has stopped, the bills have not. And the kids refuse to stop eating.
So what has caused all the ruckus? The government is confused over the source of funding for Mark's research. (Yes, yes, confused government is redundant.) Alert Readers can read the product of the work.
Get Mark's new book is A Deadly Misunderstanding, published by HarperCollins.
< A Deadly Misunderstanding
by Mark D. Siljander
Buy the book,
I did. His 13 trips to Sudan in 2007 seem to have raised some concern. And Mark speaks lotsa languages.
This is getting Siljander in trouble. Perhaps he should have traveled with Louis Farrakhan. And worshiped with Jeremiah Wright.
But instead of running for President, Mark Siljander was teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ attempting to bridge cultures.
And is paying for it dearly.
But Mark is taking this well and is not whining about the injustice --
(Nobody likes a martyr: that's why they killed so many of them...)
***
Alert Readers will recall that Congressman Siljander was the author of the Siljander Amendment to HR5490[5], which says simply that life begins at conception and would be under protection of the 14th Amendment.
Al Gore voted for it.
Mark has spent his life working on the issues that conservative, pro-life, God-fearing citizens care about.
He needs your help today.
Friends have set up a defense fund to help cover his legal costs. Please buy his book and contribute to his defense.
Please send contributions payable to:
"Greenberg Traurig, PC",
put on memo "Siljander Trust" and mail to:
The Honorable Edwin Meese
c/o Mr. Joe Reeder
Greenberg Traurig, PC
2101 L Street, NW
Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20037
Donate to this hard working friend. One never knows where random injustice will strike again.
On June 26, 1984, the U.S. House of Representatives was considering the Civil Rights Act of 1984, a bill to expand the reach of key provisions of four previously enacted federal civil rights laws, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Pro-life Congressman Mark Siljander (R-Mi.) offered a one-sentence amendment to revise the bill's definition of the key term "person."
The Siljander Amendment read, in its entirety, "For the purposes of this Act, the term 'person' shall include unborn children from the moment of conception."
The House conducted a straight up-and-down vote on the Siljander Amendment which failed, 186-219.
Mark Siljander is a car-guy. Elected to congress at 29, he tooled around town in DeLorean. (Jalopnik reports a comeback in 2008.) One of his projects was a frame-off restoration of a Hurst Olds 442.
Mark's wife sent us an email. Excerpts at the jump.
Charmaine, Your Business Blogger(R)
Penta-Posse at the Grand Canyon
Easter 2005A few years ago Alert Readers will recall that Your Business Blogger(R) et al attended a Sunrise Service on the rim of the Grand Canyon in John McCain's home state. The Grand Canyon is Federal Property, but the surrounding locals quietly support a congregation of church and state.
McCain is a Red-State kind of guy -- even though Arizona is one third blue.
So it is likely that McCain would permit a continuation of Easter Services on Federal Lands.
But would any Democrat candidate? Obama or Clinton?
We may have a hint. We know the church habits of Obama and the Clintons.
Cross Obama attends the Hate America First church and is mentored by Jeremiah Wright.
The Clintons attended Foundry Methodist church when they lived in the White House in Washington, DC.
Your Business Blogger(R) attended services a time or two at Foundry Methodist during the Clinton tenure. It is a liberal church that differs from Obama's church only by degree, not kind. I stopped visiting.
Your Business Blogger(R), John Wesley Yoest, now has little use for the church founded by John Wesley.
The United Methodists at Foundry have run off the Biblical rails,
"...we proclaim this statement of welcome our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters: we affirm you..."
Obama and Clinton support liberal churches. Clinton's church supports Obama's church. It is likely they would both enforce liberal theology. It is certain Obama and Clinton will both support liberal positions.
Sunrise Service, Grand Canyon
Photo Credit: The Dreamer
I would predict that either Democrat would shut down Easter Services at the Grand Canyon.
Barack Obama with
America Hater Jeremiah Wright "I'm here to help you get elected. Do you want me to campaign for you? Or against you?" Quipped Jerry Falwell to a conservative candidate.
Your Business Blogger(R) once served on the Board of The Family Foundation in Virginia and had the honor of meeting Falwell and learning how he was so effective in politics.
The burden of the candidate is to know how to gather support, package it and send it forth, was Falwell's philosophy. Falwell has a lesson for Obama.
Jeremiah Wright had said, "God D@m America" from the pulpit. Wright is a part of Obama's life, formerly with the campaign.
Gary Baurer, left, Jerry Falwell, and John McCain far right
Liberty University function, Lynchburg, Virginia, 2006
photo credit: Charmaine Barack Obama must distance his candidacy from his pastor. Obama's problem is to know who should do the talking.
And it's not him.
Every sales professional, account manager and marketer knows the value of using surrogates, or testimonials as they are known in business. The classic Xerox sales training program, Personal Selling Skills or PSS, taught that a sales rep only uses proof when faced with customer skepticism of the value proposition.
To use a third party if the sales rep was not believed.
If the customer didn't believe the sales representative, then, and only then would the sales pro present backup evidence -- a believable third party endorsement who does the talking. The sales rep knows that this is when his voice is silent and the customer should hear the testimonial from another customer or respected authority.
The salesman, like the politician must shut up. Difficult for both to do.
Barack Obama is sounding like a salesman who keeps talking and talking when the sale is not being made. It sounds like pleading, like whining -- even if the words are elegant: it doesn't sell.
Your Business Blogger(R) carried as bag as a sales guy for decades
