Some news no news,
some news bad news,
no news is good news
The headline should have been a “grabber,” but it wasn’t. It was old news.
Inferno in California.
That’s like saying “Ocean is wet,” or “College students get drunk in Cancun.”
The older I get the more curmudgeon-like I become. I love news … but only the news I like. I don’t want to read anything about a whole herd of subjects, including:
Michael Jackson: He’s dead, for gosh sakes! He was a museum freak when alive and people won’t let him rest. He was a drug addict and a pedophile. The last great thing he did was “Thriller” and that has gotten old after the 1.732 millionth viewing.
Ted Kennedy: He’s dead, for gosh sakes! He was not a great man, but a spoiled rich kid who never grew up, never accepted responsibility for a single thing in his life, and taught all his bad traits to a host of younger Kennedites.
Fashionableness of Michelle Obama: She looks good in clothes (except for the black widow spider dress at the Dems convention). She slick, intelligent, a great role model for moms, and I’m sick to death about what she wears and how much it costs. It’s not news. It’s fluff.
Barack Obama news conferences: The president, well-spoken though he is, tends to talk in 33 1/3 rpms. when he should be giving us information at 78 rpms. A good speaker’s first priority is “Don’t put the audience to sleep.” Lately, the president’s news conferences are worst than feminine hygiene commercials.
Joe Biden: The old saw about the vice presidency not being worth a bucket of spit is not true in Biden’s case. He is worth a bucket of spit.
Dick Cheney: He’s dead, for gosh sakes! He just doesn’t know it. His trademark arrogant smile does not look good on a political corpse. He, like Biden, is also worth a bucket of spit.
Nancy Grace: She’s a hiccup in a world of roar-ers. Her middle name is Condescending and her nickname is KIA -- Know It All.
Larry King: He’s dead, for gosh sakes! It’s just that nobody’s has told him.
A corpse talking should be reserved for movies featuring Freddy Krueger.
Macaulay Culkin: The “Home Alone” kid star is rumored to be the mystery dad of Michael Jackson’s son. The son’s nickname is Blanket. His real name is Prince Michael II. Personally, I’d stick with Blanket. There are few things on this planet spookier than having Macaulay donate sperm for a surrogate child. The only thing that comes to mind is having Jacko as one’s poppa.
(Oh, I didn’t want to read anything about Jacko. But, this tidbit was, well, titillating.)
Fires in California: It’s California. The whole durn state burns. Every year. It’s not news. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the state. Saying California is on fire is like reporting the tide came in.
Ratings or surveys of the performance of politicians: Honestly, surveys don’t make a bit of difference. Ratings really don’t mean anything; they are just a blip on a slow news day. For example, 57 percent of Americans reported in a recent survey would replace the entire Congress.
Wait a minute! Hmmmm. Now that is a durn good survey!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Charge the roar!
The short missive below is a chapter in a completed, but as yet unpublished management guide titled "The Circumference of Me. The book is a compilation of short management lessons designed to aid college students, people entering the business world, managers stuck on an unpleasant rung in the business ladder, or experienced managers who simply need a motivational boost.
On the Serengeti plans of Africa lions hunt antelope. The prey is swift of foot; the hunters are not as fast. Regardless, lions have to eat. Presented with an age-old problem, the lions figured out how to change the way the game is played.
The old males lie in the tall grass. The younger members of the pride, mostly made up of females, stalk the antelope her, pushing them into the grass toward the old lions.
As if attached to a mental string, the stalking lions charge en mass an the antelopes sprint away crazy-fast until they get close to the old, hidden males. All the old lions have to do is stand up and ROAR! The single act terrifies the her into reversing its direction … straight into the ready claws and teeth of the pride.
The lions act on instinct, as do their prey. If the antelope could overcome their instinctive fear and CHARGE the ROAR, they would break through untouched.
The hesitation, the fear, that’s their undoing.
Charge the ROAR in your life. Recognize the fear for what it is and work to overcome it. You will find yourself in the open; you will be free. That’s when you catch your breath and learn how to smile again.
Republican Party in a world of hurt
There is no such thing as "pristine" politics or "pure" political parties. Those parties which have limited appeal or do not care to build on their core messages in order to encourage a difference of opinion on key issues, who do not openly welcome those with some diverse opinions, will curl up and die.
There are signs that the National Republican Party is accepting that central party politics is partially to blame for the resurgence of the Democratic Party. Now, the question remains: Will the party welcome those fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats and Independents who feel they are foundering outside the political arena or their respective parties or non-parties, as the case may be?
For too long the Republican Party has been complacent to let a few voices speak for the entire contingent of party faithful.
Who is leading the Republican Party today? If Rush Limbaugh or Karl Rove or Dick Cheney are considered the top echelon in party leadership ... the party is in trouble. They instill a feeling of power only in those who feel powerless to make change on any level. John McCain? He is certainly a leader. But his quiet demeanor did not, and does not, create an environment for positive change for the party. Sarah Palin. Oh, please!
These politicians are the past spokespersons of the party, not the future.
There is a dearth of national leadership at the top of the Republican Party, of that there is little doubt. That's all the more reason to start working on the local level to elevate the presence -- and the quality of candidates -- in order to build the party from the bottom up.
Here’s a handful of truisms for politics of the future:
1) The candidate and his/her campaign have to appeal to a broad base of voters who have more common sense than just voting a straight-ticket;
2) Voters have to believe that positive change is possible if enough good people get behind an idea or candidate; and,
3) Voters elect to band together to regain their faith in the legislative process by negating the status quo and embracing positive change in form of a candidate who promised to fight for real change.
In other words, the dynamics of today's politics have to change.
Why not start now, by supporting any candidate, regardless of party, who vows to fight the status quo and demand term limits for national office holders?
An unpaid political announcement:
George S. Smith
Arkansas District 28 - State Senate
The common sense candidate
There are signs that the National Republican Party is accepting that central party politics is partially to blame for the resurgence of the Democratic Party. Now, the question remains: Will the party welcome those fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats and Independents who feel they are foundering outside the political arena or their respective parties or non-parties, as the case may be?
For too long the Republican Party has been complacent to let a few voices speak for the entire contingent of party faithful.
Who is leading the Republican Party today? If Rush Limbaugh or Karl Rove or Dick Cheney are considered the top echelon in party leadership ... the party is in trouble. They instill a feeling of power only in those who feel powerless to make change on any level. John McCain? He is certainly a leader. But his quiet demeanor did not, and does not, create an environment for positive change for the party. Sarah Palin. Oh, please!
These politicians are the past spokespersons of the party, not the future.
There is a dearth of national leadership at the top of the Republican Party, of that there is little doubt. That's all the more reason to start working on the local level to elevate the presence -- and the quality of candidates -- in order to build the party from the bottom up.
Here’s a handful of truisms for politics of the future:
1) The candidate and his/her campaign have to appeal to a broad base of voters who have more common sense than just voting a straight-ticket;
2) Voters have to believe that positive change is possible if enough good people get behind an idea or candidate; and,
3) Voters elect to band together to regain their faith in the legislative process by negating the status quo and embracing positive change in form of a candidate who promised to fight for real change.
In other words, the dynamics of today's politics have to change.
Why not start now, by supporting any candidate, regardless of party, who vows to fight the status quo and demand term limits for national office holders?
An unpaid political announcement:
George S. Smith
Arkansas District 28 - State Senate
The common sense candidate
Texas is Numero Uno!
Texans can take pride in the fact their state leads the nation in several very important categories.
While Louisiana is the nation’s leader in crawfish consumption per capita, and Alabama leads the 50-state pack in the per capita consumption of Moon Pies and fried Twinkies, Texas ranks at the top in the number of its residents who are uninsured.
Can’t you see Texas feeling their breasts as they swell with pride?
Texas also ranks first in the nation in number of areas with a short of mental health professionals (the state accounts for almost 10 percent of the total of the entire nation!), and is second from the top (or bottom, depending on whether you are an optimist or a pessimist) in the areas of “nursing shortage,” not enough primary health physicians, and not enough dentists to serve the populous.
Texas also ranks second in the total number of tuberculosis cases and third in alzheimer’s cases, but dropped to fourth in the number of cases of AIDS and cancer.
The state managed to stay in the Top 10 in the number of reported cases of syphilis (No. 10), but only managed 21st place in the chlamydia category.
Texas held strong in the “poverty” grouping, ranking fourth overall with 16.4 percent of residents’ making income below the national poverty limit, a whopping 30-plus percent over the national average.
With Mississippi and Arkansas placing Nos. 1 and 2 in the overall obesity rate race, Texas could manage only a paltry 14th place. And the state’s progress in this category in the future is in doubt: Texas fat kids are only ranked 20th in the nation.
But, there’s hope. The state showed its game plan to climb up in that ranking by placing No. 8 in the “adult physical inactivity” category.
There’s reason to question the state’s obesity rankings. Texas is second in the nation in tons of lard consumed per capita, trailing only California.
Assuredly, Texans must do better.
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