Thinkin’bout Stuff

Had a great time with great friends tonight, even though we dared enter into the treacherous waters of politics.

We’ve known each other for 15 years, but politics never really came up before, so it was interesting to hear that most of us are pretty much in sync with our view of the recent election.  It was also good to see that any differences with some of the folks were not divisive, we just disagreed and left it at that.

But one interesting thought came out of the discussion: Why not have an apprentice or training period for presidents?

When we started this whole USA thing, life was much simpler.  Maybe it was no big deal for someone to get elected and then, with little or no experience, just jump into the president gig.

But now?  Not so simple.  The problems facing our new president would overwhelm even someone with strong qualifications and extensive experience as an executive and leader; the man we are looking to for leadership is a good script reader who will hopefully surround himself with adults who can put the right words on the teleprompter.

In what other field do we hire someone into a position where he has no qualifications or experience?  We would, at the very least, expect a new hire to go through a training period, no?  Chef, heavy equipment operator, project manager, surgeon… thousands of other jobs, all requiring some experience, training, knowledge… all apparently except elected positions like president.

So… why not?  What’s stopping us from adjusting to the complexities of our world?  Why not hold elections two years before the new president takes office, have him or her train under the current president and then take office after a two year apprentice period.

There would likely be challenges, like dealing with huge egos and folks calling for the backup to come into the game every time they don’t like what the starter is doing… but isn’t that better than handing over the keys to the country without any training?  Think about it, for the first 6-12 months we can expect all those friendly dictators out there to test this guy (Biden’s words); wouldn’t it be better if this guy (or any guy) actually was already up to speed with the job before he had to pass the test.

We can’t afford our presidents to flunk tests, so I think we should find a way to make sure they have had sufficient time to study, don’t you?

All that from one margarita… think what we could have come up with after a few more

While searching through archives, came across a recording I had of some folks gathering for a church benefit concert our band was invited to play at less than two weeks after 9/11. The event had been planned weeks earlier and we decided to go forward in the hope that it might help lift the spirits of those joining us at this outdoor event.  At the end of the event, someone asked that we lead the folks in singing God Bless America and I gotta tell you it was a very emotional experience so soon after 9/11…

Since YouTube is a video site, I added some photos I’ve taken, since 9/11, to show a little bit of our great country.

Here’s a reminder of what it was like before our “leaders” chose to engage in extreme partisan politics and, in my opinion, the left turned their anger and hatred inward:

“Everyone will go to school, everyone will have a job, everyone will be equal, no one will exploit or be exploited… and all those who oppose this wonderful vision will be crushed” — from Amerika

… will our next president learn from this latest faux pas.  Seems like, when he leaves his script, he has a tendency to put his foot in his mouth.

Not only was it poor form to make fun of a former First Lady about rumors she spoke with the dead during her husband’s presidency, he made fun of the wrong First Lady.

While it has been said that Nancy Reagan consulted with astrologers, it was Hillary Clinton who reportedly had discussions with Eleanor Roosevelt, who was deceased at the time.

So.. kudos for showing enough class to call and apologize, but concern that he too frequently goes for the laugh line instead of acting statesmanlike… we don’t need a comedian in the White House.

Gov. Mike Huckabee on Cavuto talking about government bailouts of banks, manufacturers, states, etc:

We are truly indebting our children and grandchildren in a way that is irresponsible, recklessly irresponsible… when we talk about the greatest generation, what made them the greatest generation, they sacrificed their own immediate interest for the better interest of their children and they sacrificed for future generations.  We are sacrificing future generations for our selfish needs right now.

In my state, car inspections are done by local garages and you pay for the inspection.

My car failed so badly I sold it to the local scrap yard for $150 rather than pay $3,000 to get it fixed.

One of the many things it failed for were the tires.  The local garage said the tires were dry rot and would need to be replaced or the car could not pass inspection and be driven.

Here’s where it gets interesting.  When I put the car in for inspection, I also asked them to rotate the tires, obviously not realizing the tires could no longer be driven on safely.

So, here’s what the folks at the garage did:  they failed the car for inspection, then rotated the tires and charged me $20 for the rotation.

Well, that just didn’t seem very logical to me, so I questioned the bill.  The explanation that they were just doing what I asked them to do when they rotated the tires did not satisfy me.  So the “customer service manager”, in an attempt to display how they were looking out for my interests, went on to explain that they at least did not charge me for the emmissions inspection sice, knowing that the car failed for so many things anyway, they decided to not do the emmissions inspection.

Well now, that was quite nice of them to not charge me for work they didn’t do, but I expect a bit more from folks I have been bringing cars to for several years.

I know it might seem unreasonable to some, clearly these folks are in that category, but I don’t expect them to perform work that is clearly not needed and charge me for that work either.

I pointed out that not charging me for work not performed does not justify charging me for work not needed, so she offered to split the difference and knock $10 off the cost of the next visit.

I politely cancelled future appointments and explained that would not be necessary since I would be taking my business elsewhere in the future.   She seemed unfazed; apparently business is so good they no longer need me as a customer.  With dozens of garages in the area, not surprisingly I don’t need them either.

And that, my friends, is how you lose a customer forever and potentially future customers who will never be recommended to grace your establishment by this rather displeased ex-customer.

It isn’t about the $20, nor the $10… it is about trust.  I can no longer trust that these folks are not going to perform unnecessary work just to pad the bill.  That trust was already diminished because they billed me for this work, but I was willing to give them an opportunity to correct what may well have been a mistake.  Since the “customer service manager” confirmed that it was not a mistake and in fact a conscious decision to charge me for unnecessary labor, that trust is gone for good.

You would think that, with folks like me being very careful where we spend money these days, they would have been a bit more careful with the trust I loaned to them.

Too bad really…

Folks, if you own a business, please keep in mind that there are others like me voting with our wallets, and there are less and less “votes” to go around these days.

Chris, can I call you that, Chris?  After all, you keep referring to “Barack”, so in this new era of informality where you feel comfortable enough to refer to our next president by his first name, I’ll just call you Chris. 

I confess I rarely watched your show, which should come as no surprise since you probably know all of your viewers by their first name as well.  However, I am fairly certain you never referred to President Bush as George… why is that?

Anyway, I suppose I am digressing a bit, just seems you are rather cozy with the new prez for a “journalist”.  Then again…

Chris, now that the election is over, it is refreshing to hear you finally admit that you are not now nor have you ever been an actual journalist.

You have been a partisan mole from the start.  By admitting your “job” is to do everything you can to ensure Barack succeeds as president after 8 years of taking the opposite view of your role in your “reporting” on anything related to our current president, you have confessed to being 100% in the tank for Barack.

In fact, you seemed stunned that anyone was even questioning why you would think that your job as a “journalist” was to ensure Barack was successful.  Isn’t that not only the job of every journalist, but the job of every single American, nay every living being on this planet? 

Now that the world has been freed from the evil wizard from the north who migrated to the southwest to grow in strength and power, calling his evil minions to his side as he plotted to steal our country from the rightful successors to the throne, Gorefindal and Kerrymingle…

OK, maybe your delusions are not quite as far out there as that, but clearly you have fallen under the spell of The One.  How else do you explain your total acceptance of all things Barack without any evidence that this man can accomplish anything he promises via his speech writers. 

You don’t want to ask any questions, you don’t want to know the answers, and you certainly do not appreciate anyone else asking any questions that could cause this delicate flower, Barack, to fail.  We must nurture the Barack because, how did you say it, we need our president to be successful.  One wonders if you would be of the same mind if Senator John McCain had won (I don’t think it would be appropriate to just call him by his first name… after all, he’s an adult).

In this video (saw it on FoxNews… you know, a real news network), Chris looks as if he has won the lottery and been promised unending life in the same day:

Even the other folks on the show appear stunned that Chris is showing his true nature.