It’s no wonder people hate BIG Business and the obscene lobbying efforts of major alliances.
Within the past several weeks newspaper around the country ran a color, one-page advertisement paid for by the American Petroleum Institute. That is the informational, educational and lobbying arm of the “the people of America’s oil and natural gas industry.”
The self-serving ad made several points worth repeating:
1) "The people of America’s oil and natural gas industry are working to help BP (British Petroleum), which owns the spewing well, and the authorities respond to the (Gulf of Mexico) spill."
2) “Clearly, there will be lessons to be learned….”
3) “… we are fully committed to doing everything humanly possible to understand what happened and prevent it from every happening again.”
4) The institute has “already assembled the world’s leading experts to conduct a top-to-bottom review of offshore drilling procedures, from routine operations to emergency response.”
Somebody give me a hanky. I am crying here.
The ad appeared before BP’s CEO Tony Hayward testified before a Congressional committee(or who didn't testify, depending on your point of view), who, if he is to believed, is not in charge of anything at his company and does not make decisions that could adversely affect his company and the world’s environment. Hayward was so bored at the Congressional hearing he kept checking his watch.
“I can’t answer that question,” was uttered by Hayward time and again. He might as well ‘fessed up and declared, “I won’t answer that question.”
If Hayward was the hearing’s mute, then the HIC (Hearing Idiot Child) was Texas Rep. Joe Barton. Barton actually apologized to Hayward for the White House’s “$20 billion shakedown” of BP, following BP's promise of up to $20 billion in restitution for businesses ruined by the underwater oil well blowout.
One would think Barton was snorting BBQ sauce when he apologized to Hayward for saying the White House’s “shakedown” of BP was a “tragedy.”
On the International SIASD Scale (Stupid Is As Stupid Does), with a 10 being Dan Quayle and Joe Biden and 1 being Stephen Hawkins, Barton is way north of Quayle and Biden.
The “tragedy” in regard to Barton’s statement -- which he retracted six hours later -- is that voters in a Texas congressional district elected that mental doofus to Congress.
Back to the main point: In case you missed the irony in the ad message … the ad was paid for by the Institute, which is financed by the oil and gas industry, which gets its money from YOU!
The next time you need to fill up at the gas pump, give a one-fingered salute to a BP station as you drive by. It won’t do any good, of course. But, then again, it can’t hurt either.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
If I don't blow my own horn ... who will?
The following is a unpaid commercial rift with ego-enriched facts.
George S. Smith of Cabot was recently named the 2010 Public Relations Person of the Year by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).
Smith, director of communication services for Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS), a global leading developer and manufacturer of precision positioning equipment, joined TPS in 2005.
Topcon is the largest company in the world focused exclusively on positioning control and machine control products, software and applications for the survey, civil engineering and construction industries.
AEM, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has offices in Washington, D.C., Canada, Europe and China and provides services to almost 1,000 members in the agriculture, construction, forestry, mining and utility industries.
A longtime Arkansas newspaper editor and publisher, Smith is a former vice president of Alltel Corporation, having served as vice president of media services for five year. TPS operates its marketing services operation from a Cabot office.
Smith was selected for the award by Publications in Construction and Agriculture (PICA), an AEM subgroup. PICA selects the annual winner of the award as an “outstanding example of best practices in media relations.”
The criteria used in the selection process include reliability, accuracy of content, quality of information provided, trustworthiness, integrity and level of experience about their company, products and industry.
Lawrence Buser, editorial director for Baum Publications’ nine trade magazines in the U.S. and Canada, presented Smith the award at the AEM’s annual trade show exhibitors education meeting in Las Vegas, May 18-19.
Buser said, “There is no one working with the AEM trade publications who is more responsive than Topcon’s George Smith. Without exception, he instinctively knows what individual publications want and need, and provides timely and relevant information that is educational and informative to our readers.”
Smith said, “To be honored by one’s peers is special; to be honored by people to whom one provides service is extra-special. Receiving this award is very humbling, and focuses the high level of importance that Topcon places on media relations.”
Smith praised Dennis House, vice president of media services, and Staci Fitzgerald, TPS communications specialist, both Cabot residents, for their commitment to ensuring Topcon is providing “worthwhile information in a timely manner to trade publications that cover the industries TPS serves.”
In the three-plus years Smith has been directing external communications efforts for TPS, the annual number of application and jobsite stories about the company in global trade publications has increased from 32 in 14 different publications in 2006 to more than 160 in 45 publications in 2009.
George S. Smith of Cabot was recently named the 2010 Public Relations Person of the Year by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).
Smith, director of communication services for Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS), a global leading developer and manufacturer of precision positioning equipment, joined TPS in 2005.
Topcon is the largest company in the world focused exclusively on positioning control and machine control products, software and applications for the survey, civil engineering and construction industries.
AEM, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has offices in Washington, D.C., Canada, Europe and China and provides services to almost 1,000 members in the agriculture, construction, forestry, mining and utility industries.
A longtime Arkansas newspaper editor and publisher, Smith is a former vice president of Alltel Corporation, having served as vice president of media services for five year. TPS operates its marketing services operation from a Cabot office.
Smith was selected for the award by Publications in Construction and Agriculture (PICA), an AEM subgroup. PICA selects the annual winner of the award as an “outstanding example of best practices in media relations.”
The criteria used in the selection process include reliability, accuracy of content, quality of information provided, trustworthiness, integrity and level of experience about their company, products and industry.
Lawrence Buser, editorial director for Baum Publications’ nine trade magazines in the U.S. and Canada, presented Smith the award at the AEM’s annual trade show exhibitors education meeting in Las Vegas, May 18-19.
Buser said, “There is no one working with the AEM trade publications who is more responsive than Topcon’s George Smith. Without exception, he instinctively knows what individual publications want and need, and provides timely and relevant information that is educational and informative to our readers.”
Smith said, “To be honored by one’s peers is special; to be honored by people to whom one provides service is extra-special. Receiving this award is very humbling, and focuses the high level of importance that Topcon places on media relations.”
Smith praised Dennis House, vice president of media services, and Staci Fitzgerald, TPS communications specialist, both Cabot residents, for their commitment to ensuring Topcon is providing “worthwhile information in a timely manner to trade publications that cover the industries TPS serves.”
In the three-plus years Smith has been directing external communications efforts for TPS, the annual number of application and jobsite stories about the company in global trade publications has increased from 32 in 14 different publications in 2006 to more than 160 in 45 publications in 2009.
What has gummit wrought?
The more things change ….
In reading an article recently, some phrases starting jumping off the page like a frog in a hot skillet.
“The plain fact is that the integrity of our government is threatened by a group lobby claiming to speak for millions of Americans.”
“The recent pay increase voted by members of Congress caused a popular explosion that sent many Congressmen back to private life….”
“Part of the problem is that Congress does not understand what it is spending. Enormous office buildings have been erected, connected by costly underground passages.”
“Congressmen speak to empty (seats).” A real debate on the floor has almost ceased to be. Congressmen pass their days in their private offices (and in meeting after meeting after meeting) ….”
“The forefathers of this country, when they framed out Constitution, were thinking in terms of a small nation ….They did not have the luxury or foresight to visualize a nation of (300 million) people occupying a whole continent ….”
“Had they anticipated such an outcome, they would no doubt have (implicated the following):
“The president shall be elected for a term of six years and shall be ineligible for re-election.
“Members of the Senate shall be elected for a term of 12 years and shall be ineligible for re-election.
“Members of the House of Representatives shall be elected to a term of three years and the alternate Congressional elections shall synchronize with presidential elections ….”
“Most voters take no interest in the choice of their legislators. Congressmen are chosen by the votes of small majorities ….”
“If these are permanent habits of our democracy, it is difficult to see how government of the people through its elected representatives can succeed ….”
The punchline? The source of the article is the Atlantic Monthly magazine, 1935.
As it is written … read it and weep.
In reading an article recently, some phrases starting jumping off the page like a frog in a hot skillet.
“The plain fact is that the integrity of our government is threatened by a group lobby claiming to speak for millions of Americans.”
“The recent pay increase voted by members of Congress caused a popular explosion that sent many Congressmen back to private life….”
“Part of the problem is that Congress does not understand what it is spending. Enormous office buildings have been erected, connected by costly underground passages.”
“Congressmen speak to empty (seats).” A real debate on the floor has almost ceased to be. Congressmen pass their days in their private offices (and in meeting after meeting after meeting) ….”
“The forefathers of this country, when they framed out Constitution, were thinking in terms of a small nation ….They did not have the luxury or foresight to visualize a nation of (300 million) people occupying a whole continent ….”
“Had they anticipated such an outcome, they would no doubt have (implicated the following):
“The president shall be elected for a term of six years and shall be ineligible for re-election.
“Members of the Senate shall be elected for a term of 12 years and shall be ineligible for re-election.
“Members of the House of Representatives shall be elected to a term of three years and the alternate Congressional elections shall synchronize with presidential elections ….”
“Most voters take no interest in the choice of their legislators. Congressmen are chosen by the votes of small majorities ….”
“If these are permanent habits of our democracy, it is difficult to see how government of the people through its elected representatives can succeed ….”
The punchline? The source of the article is the Atlantic Monthly magazine, 1935.
As it is written … read it and weep.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Growing up in Sutton, Arkansas
A gathering of the clan
creates memory swirls:
Pitterpattering of rain on distorted window panes;
ummm-yeah smell of cornbread sizzling in a hot skillet;
taste of well water two days after a spring shower;
sleep-inducing sound of a darting dirt dauber;
taste of buttermilk and cornbread mixed in a tall jelly glass
with just a touch of pepper, gently swirled
to make an abstract pinwheel in black and white;
a walk up the lane to the Duncan field
where the cattle thieves were hung and buried, disputing
the site of the graves,
as always,
not know exactly where they were “turned under,”
but, still, knowing exactly where they were “turned under”;
smell of honeysuckle in July, the scent accented by a syncopated orchestra
of field bees, covering the tangled vines like a moving blanket;
fishing in the farm pond and picking out the good fishing spots
according to age seniority, then arguing about why the fish wouldn’t bite;
milking the cows, allowing a calculated stray stream to hit a cousin’s foot,
and being intimately involved in a cow-chip fight when the milking was done;
trips to town on Saturday afternoons for ice cream
and rock-hard apples eaten on street corners,
killing time while the grown-ups do their business –
cash checks,
buy groceries,
dicker the price of Hope Diamond watermelons,
look at but seldom buy store-bought clothes;
games of Rook at sunset around the scarred, tipsy, small kitchen table,
big folks and their little clan-clones all playing hard,
always to win and cheating when one knows he will get caught,
loving each other when the catching is done,
laughing at the over-bidding,
whopping and hollering when the over-bid is made;
smell of eggs, fresh sausage and homemade biscuits on Sunday morning;
tangy scent of Aris Hair Oil intermingled with Old Spice After Shave lotion
as family members prepare for church;
the too-short walk up the lane,
three generations, walking in unison to the asbestos-sided
Nazarene Church to hear a sermon on sin
(all the visiting preachers were against it)
located south of Lambert’s Store, north of the T-road;
singing all-too-familiar songs to the rhythm banged out
by a strong-wristed woman playing an out-of-tune piano;
hearing Bible stories –
Samson and Delilah, Job and his Trials,
Moses and the Ten Commandments,
Jonah and the Whale;
Sunday dinner with a goose-necked preacher,
and ending up with just a wing and a back simply because we had “company”;
games of one-hole washers,
horseshoes,
kick-the-can,
buck-buck,
cowboys and Indians,
cops and robbers,
hide-n-seek;
roping chickens, delighting in watching them screech and run in circles;
a rooster named Old Red spurring early-morning risers en route to the outhouse;
stories from Uncle France, who lied about most things,
including, maybe, the origin of his own name,
but was loved by almost everyone who ever listened to his tales;
bedtime stories told while snuggling deep in down mattresses
covered by flannel sheets and handmade quilts;
going to sleep to the sound of crickets, hoot owls, night birds,
and the occasional coyote yelp;
Nannie slipping grandkids money before they left;
Daddy George never watching loved ones drive away.
And the most important memory of all: the knowledge that
love surrounded you every minute of every day.
Memory swirls.
creates memory swirls:
Pitterpattering of rain on distorted window panes;
ummm-yeah smell of cornbread sizzling in a hot skillet;
taste of well water two days after a spring shower;
sleep-inducing sound of a darting dirt dauber;
taste of buttermilk and cornbread mixed in a tall jelly glass
with just a touch of pepper, gently swirled
to make an abstract pinwheel in black and white;
a walk up the lane to the Duncan field
where the cattle thieves were hung and buried, disputing
the site of the graves,
as always,
not know exactly where they were “turned under,”
but, still, knowing exactly where they were “turned under”;
smell of honeysuckle in July, the scent accented by a syncopated orchestra
of field bees, covering the tangled vines like a moving blanket;
fishing in the farm pond and picking out the good fishing spots
according to age seniority, then arguing about why the fish wouldn’t bite;
milking the cows, allowing a calculated stray stream to hit a cousin’s foot,
and being intimately involved in a cow-chip fight when the milking was done;
trips to town on Saturday afternoons for ice cream
and rock-hard apples eaten on street corners,
killing time while the grown-ups do their business –
cash checks,
buy groceries,
dicker the price of Hope Diamond watermelons,
look at but seldom buy store-bought clothes;
games of Rook at sunset around the scarred, tipsy, small kitchen table,
big folks and their little clan-clones all playing hard,
always to win and cheating when one knows he will get caught,
loving each other when the catching is done,
laughing at the over-bidding,
whopping and hollering when the over-bid is made;
smell of eggs, fresh sausage and homemade biscuits on Sunday morning;
tangy scent of Aris Hair Oil intermingled with Old Spice After Shave lotion
as family members prepare for church;
the too-short walk up the lane,
three generations, walking in unison to the asbestos-sided
Nazarene Church to hear a sermon on sin
(all the visiting preachers were against it)
located south of Lambert’s Store, north of the T-road;
singing all-too-familiar songs to the rhythm banged out
by a strong-wristed woman playing an out-of-tune piano;
hearing Bible stories –
Samson and Delilah, Job and his Trials,
Moses and the Ten Commandments,
Jonah and the Whale;
Sunday dinner with a goose-necked preacher,
and ending up with just a wing and a back simply because we had “company”;
games of one-hole washers,
horseshoes,
kick-the-can,
buck-buck,
cowboys and Indians,
cops and robbers,
hide-n-seek;
roping chickens, delighting in watching them screech and run in circles;
a rooster named Old Red spurring early-morning risers en route to the outhouse;
stories from Uncle France, who lied about most things,
including, maybe, the origin of his own name,
but was loved by almost everyone who ever listened to his tales;
bedtime stories told while snuggling deep in down mattresses
covered by flannel sheets and handmade quilts;
going to sleep to the sound of crickets, hoot owls, night birds,
and the occasional coyote yelp;
Nannie slipping grandkids money before they left;
Daddy George never watching loved ones drive away.
And the most important memory of all: the knowledge that
love surrounded you every minute of every day.
Memory swirls.
Circumstances of Me
A quartet of business bugaboos derails more projects, more careers, and more companies than all other factors combined: Turf, territory, title, and ego.
Let’s get one thing straight quick: Every successful manager in history has a strong ego and sense of self. Every one of them understood and appreciated the necessary boundaries of division of labor within a company and tried to mesh their operations or project goals with the company’s mission. Every single one of them sought advancement in the corporate ranks.
Having a strong ego is part of the developmental make-up of every successful manager. But having a big ego is not the same as being confident in one’s abilities and being to view one’s accomplishments and potential in a realistic spotlight. It’s a fact that many managers are not as good as they think they are; many managers sell their attributes short, and; many potential great managers have not developed the attitude nor temperament to believe in their own abilities.
An uphill climb can bring personal and professional rewards.
A strong ego, tempered by realism, is priceless to a steady, uphill climb on the corporate ladder. But developing an ego as a positive personality trait, like the making of a fine wine, must be constructed under strict parameters, with little room for experimentation.
Confidence is just another word for ego … minus the obnoxious gene.
Let’s get one thing straight quick: Every successful manager in history has a strong ego and sense of self. Every one of them understood and appreciated the necessary boundaries of division of labor within a company and tried to mesh their operations or project goals with the company’s mission. Every single one of them sought advancement in the corporate ranks.
Having a strong ego is part of the developmental make-up of every successful manager. But having a big ego is not the same as being confident in one’s abilities and being to view one’s accomplishments and potential in a realistic spotlight. It’s a fact that many managers are not as good as they think they are; many managers sell their attributes short, and; many potential great managers have not developed the attitude nor temperament to believe in their own abilities.
An uphill climb can bring personal and professional rewards.
A strong ego, tempered by realism, is priceless to a steady, uphill climb on the corporate ladder. But developing an ego as a positive personality trait, like the making of a fine wine, must be constructed under strict parameters, with little room for experimentation.
Confidence is just another word for ego … minus the obnoxious gene.
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