They were noisey, not just there

While driving to complete an errand today, I found myself thinking about those who had passed on: family, friends, colleagues, mentors, and acquaintances ... why I remembered some and thought so seldom if at all about others. Once again, I found myself lamenting the creeping mediocrity and sameness that I sense in the business world, American society, and quite frankly in many folks with whom I deal on a social level. A flash of "I wonder why?" was soon replaced by another "Aha!" moment.

The people I remember and miss were not necessarily the nicest, or smartest, or kindest, or funniest, or wealthiest. What made me remember them was their ability to illicit strong responses in others. That's right ... they could bring people to anger, or side-splitting laughter, or hot-to-trot debate, or raucous sharing of like's and dislike's, or name-calling debates about politics and religion, or howls of protest, or "Oh my gosh!" moments, or head-shaking realizations about their abilities to think, create, reason, screw up, offend ... whatever.

And do you know why the could do that? Simple. They were not afraid to be themselves, speak their mind, tell someone they loved or disliked them, challenge what they didn't believe, call BS by its name as soon as it reared its ugly head. They also loved taking on the status quo and abusing "sacred cows." They suffered fools not at all, and were totally fearless when something or someone attempted to intimidate them. They were strong, loyal, took big risks, won often and screwed up quite a bit, too. In other words, they lived (not by any stretch of the imagination to be confused with simple existence).

I wonder what would happen in the modern business world, in local and US politics, and in many households today if everyone acted that way? What do you think?

Wasn't it sweet of Hillary?

Wasn't it sweet of Hillary to jump to the defense of her man, Bill, after the mean ol' "right wing press" suggested his blowup during the Chris Wallace interview was nothing more than another of his infamous staged versions of "The Real Truth According To Bill?" Now wait a minute ... haven't I seen that tactic before? Ummm, let me see ... somehow I am getting a vision of a blue dress, but I am not totally sure what I am remembering, are you?

From the land of fruits and nuts, yet another potential ruling

Okay, so now we have another Far Left activist judge out in California about to outlaw the death penalty unless it can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the execution method (lethal injection) is painless to the convicted. Wonder if this same kind of concern was shown for the victims of those waiting on death row? My point? I really have not enough moral purity to judge absolutely the rightness or wrongness of the death penalty. I do however have plenty of ability to comment on the Left Wing idiots populating many of the courtrooms out West. Here's what I wonder. What is the population out there doing to undo the travesty these idiots are trying to force on the rest of us?

Does it still exist in the workplace?

Leadership and management are terms often used interchangeably in today's workplace. Nowhere have I ever experienced anything to make me think such use is proper.

Granted, MBA "factories" turn out nice little cloned "managers" ... all polished to high luster, fully up-to-speed on Excel and MS Project, with Blackberries blazing, and their contact matrix on autopilot, turning out possible sources for consultants, agencies, and other foolproof budget drainers whose mission in life is to analyze the heck out of the status quo, give those who hire them a false sense of job security, and otherwise lull all those who fall for this nonsense into the stupor of mediocrity.

Of course, once analyzed, more of the same must be done, because no one from this elite flock knows how to think, how to vision, how to influence and change perceptions, or what generally to do, if anything at all, with the information.

If my observation is correct, the future of American business is less than hopeful. Is it too late? Or will true leaders finally assert themselves and save our way of life?

Falwell & "manufactured" rage

Don't you just have to chuckle about the so-called "rage" of the Lefties about Rev. Falwell's offhand comment stating that if Hilary runs it would do more good to mobilize his constituency than if Satan did? Aside from likely being the truth, it was clearly just a humorous observation - the type often made by party loyalists of either party when blowing off steam about the other party. My question: Is this "manufactured" rage all the Left has to offer? Geez, where have we seen "manufactured" rage before?

Let me see if I understand

So let me see if I have this. The Pope states there is a problem with that faction of Islam that preaches and practices "conversion" by the sword, the knife, the bomb ... whatever. The fanatics who follow and practice that particular strain of the Muslim faith protest to demonstrate what an insult such an observation is to the Muslim faithful ("How dare he suggest our particular strain of religion is violent and destructive!").

And to absolutely prove to the world how off base the Pope is, in calling them on this, they promptly fire bomb numerous Christian churches, murder at least one nun, threaten everyone west of Tehran, and who knows what other atrocities they've committed that have yet to be seen or discovered.

Why am I struggling with their logic?

How would you know?

I hadn't really paid that much attention to the newest Viagra commercial until tonight. Upon careful review, many things about it caused me to chuckle, not the least of which was the litany of warnings the spokesperson has to go through at the end of the commercial to satisfy all the regulatory requirements such products have to deal with if they are advertised on television.

There's the very well known warning about which many jokes have been told, the one about the "four hour" issue. We won't go there, because that road is already well traveled.

No, the warning that cracked me up tonight is the one about, "In the event of a sudden loss of vision, stop taking Viagra immediately!" Well, this caused me to ask, "How would you know?"

Here's why I think that (Now bear with me here and remember this is somewhat of an ol' codger's recollection about such things but ... ). If I have taken this product and have used its magic effects to the utmost of my abilities, sooner or later (Stop it ... don't write your own joke at this point in my ramblings.), something "splendid" will most surely occur. When it does, there's a pretty good chance I've thrown my head back, tilted my head vaguely toward "up", clinched numerous and sundry body parts including most of my face, forehead, etc. and have possibly stretched both my mouth and eyes/eyelids as tightly as I can (known in some circles as contortion), and I can almost assure you my eyes close while all this is going on.

So, once again I ask, how would you know? What do you think?

Well past ridiculous

Does it bother you as much as it bothers me, that with all the important and history altering events going on in the world today, there are still reporters, so-called "news organizations" and various and sundry media outlets who, almost on a daily basis, give us updates on the likes of Paris Hilton, Sean Penn, Madonna, etc.?

Are my fears ungrounded?

I've watched parts of this week's two-night ABC series on 9/11. Despite debates that will no doubt and uselessly occur about the historical accuracy of some parts of the series, it serves as a stark and painful reminder of those terrible events of September 11, 2001. I found watching it to be an emotional experience, those emotions mostly switching back and forth from sadness and loss to extreme anger and apprehension.

The sadness and loss is of course easy for almost anyone to understand. The extreme anger should come as no surprise either. The apprehension might be something one looking in from a distance might misinterpret.

No, I am not concerned about another such attack. One will or will not occur regardless of my thoughts about that. Also I will not let the subhuman slime who plan and conduct such strikes rule my life.

No, what concerns me, what I am apprehensive about is a waning of fear and concern I see in friends and acquaintances. Popular press, short attention spans, pack mentality, lack of comprehensive analysis of the day's events being a given because many just "don't have the time" to keep up with the news, all threaten our country's resolve and our chances for succeeding in what will be a multi-generational war to save our way of life.

I hope my fears are ungrounded. Are they?