Colin Powell’s Rules

 
1. It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.
2. Get mad; then get over it.
3. Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.
4. It can be done!
5. Be careful what you choose. You may get it.
6. Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision.
7. You can’t make someone else’s choices. You shouldn’t let someone else make yours.
8. Check small things.
9. Share credit.
10. Remain calm. Be kind.
11. Have a vision. Be demanding.
12. Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.
13. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

Names Forever Used Up

Some names are forever used up. It is difficult to give a child those names in our society. They include, but I am sure are not limited to:

• Adolf
• Elvis
• Jesus
• Oprah
• Tiger
• Barack

Do you know any other names in this category?

Global Village

 

Fact: If you woke up this morning in good health and looking forward to a successful and productive week, you are luckier than 1 million people – who will not live through this week.

Review this PowerPoint slide show. Global Village

Thinking in terms of numbers, it appealed to me. The pictures are a bit syrupy at times, but otherwise the message is powerful.

MobilityPass Sucks – Take Two

 

The chatter about MobilityPass being a rip-off-firm is continuing, and I have not seen a single positive post about them yet. In retrospect, I got lucky, because all they got out of me was the cost of  the modem, and since I could not get that to work with them for two months, I never got around to getting as far as usage charges.

Here is a good summary post so you can see other horror stories.

Chelsea / Letterman / Obama

Chelsea travels to New York City for a week. She schedules to attend the David Letterman show on Monday. It turns out it’s the show where the exclusive guest is Obama. At the beginning of the show, when Obama walks in, the camera pans the audience a couple of times, and there is Chelsea, wearing a red shirt and white sweater, front and center, in the first row, standing and applauding.

How cool is that?

Men are Created Equal – Almost

The United States at the time of the American Revolution (the signing of the Declaration of Independence) had a total population of 2,500,000 people in the 13 original states. Out of those 2.5 million, 500,000 were black slaves. In Virginia alone, there were 200,000 slaves. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both Virginians, owned about 200 slaves each. They were among the richest citizens in the country. John Adams from Massachusetts, a lawyer of modest means in comparison, owned no slaves at all.

The most famous section of the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, reads:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

It would take another 90 years before slavery was abolished after the Civil War and another almost 150 years before women could vote.

A Stricken Marine

The news blub at MSNBC below was published today with the following second paragraph:

While an Associated Press photographer was embedded with Marines in Helmand last month, a Marine convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, or RPG. It struck Lance Corporal Joshua M. Bernard severing his legs. He was treated on the scene, but later died at a combat field hospital.

This kind of paragraph is easy to write for the AP reporters or MSNBC. Let me give it a try:

A young American named Joshua, somebody’s son, brother, friend and classmate, joined the U.S. Marines after High School. He was proud of his decision to serve his country, and he knew intellectually what he was getting into. He was sent to Afghanistan in the heat of the summer. He wrote emails home to his family and friends, complaining about the intense heat of the desert, describing how scared they all were. But he was trained for this and he was proud of what he was doing.

On a routine patrol mission their convoy was hit. It happened so fast,  there was no time to reflect or think. Joshua looked down and noticed that his legs were gone, blood rushing from his stumps. Intense pain and blurred vision overtook him. Utter panic overpowered him. He had just enough time to wonder about how in the hell he got himself into that situation. It had not been his plan to die in the dirt far away from home. He would not see his family again. There was also that photographer. Joshua noticed he took pictures of him. He closed his eyes. What a waste. Darkness. And then the pain faded away.

I think about the war differently when I put myself into the head of Joshua. Is it worth it?

Reflections on the Moon Landings

A few weeks ago we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing. I was 13 then, and I was in front of the television. Since I was in Germany, it was in the middle of the night. I remember the awe and the fascination about what was happening.

40 years have now gone by. 70 percent of all people alive today were not alive when the first moon landing occurred. Of those that were alive, let’s say those that were younger than 8 probably didn’t care much and while they were there, they didn’t have the same experience  that I did. That’s another 10 percent.

So a full 80 percent of the world’s population did not have the experience of sitting in front of the television that day, watching those grainy pictures from very far away. To them, this is the distant past, sort of like the Nazi regime is to me, even though it only happened a dozen years before I was born.

And so goes the circle of life.

Legalizing Marijuana

In my 52 years, my lips may have touched a dozen joints, mostly in my early twenties. I do not recall my brain being affected by it. I am not a smoker so inhaling makes me cough horribly so the whole experience is pretty pointless to me. Once I felt the effect, after eating a couple of potent brownies. It was a fun night with a lot of laughing.

Today I found this MSN headline about consideration of legalizing marijuana in California. What a good idea!

We should be able to buy marijuana by brand name in boxes at the drug store. There would be ingredient labels. The stuff would be cheaper, safer and more accessible. Those of us that are not interested are not affected. Those that are, who now have to take actions that incriminate them to get it, do no longer have to hide. The government could tax it heavily, like alcohol, cigarettes and gasoline. The price would be substantially lower than what it costs from the guy in the hooded sweatshirt on the street corner. And the entire criminal trafficking enterprise would starve out for lack of market.

I do not believe that there would be any more use of marijuana than we currently have already, whether with juveniles, or with adults. It would just be a lot cheaper and safer.

And while we’re at it, why don’t we do the same with cocaine? I have never touched it, so I don’t know what the attraction is, but there must be a powerful one, or else there would not be such a massive market.

Selling cocaine at the drugstore would drive the entire cartel industry out of business. The market would be gone overnight. No more killings in Mexico, the police corruption would ebb off, since the money would be gone, and the brutality would subside.

Sounds like a win/win/win/win proposition. Where do I sign?

Perspective

I am reading Michael J. Fox’ book right now. I couldn’t help but notice that Barack Obama is two months younger than Michael J. Fox – and three years younger than another Michael was – Michael Jackson.