Displaying 91 To 120 Of 125 Comments What IS leadership and what kind of leader do WE want? Hi, Abby. Good topic. Leadership is standing for something bigger than yourself. Sometimes leadership is standing up and saying, “Follow me,” the classic Infantry leadership motto. Sometimes it can be saying nothing at all, but leading by example, by following a moral code and not asking of others what you would not do yourself. Leadership is telling the truth when speaking the truth is difficult. Leadership is communicating clearly, convincingly and being willing to put the country’s (or others’) interests ahead of your own. Leadership is inspiring people to do what they did not think they could achieve. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 15, 2011 @ 7:21 am FOR BEGINNERS ONLY — Building Better Characters Through Chemistry KT, thanks for the kind words. I consider myself a beginner, but will always consider myself a beginner. I’m glad you found something worthwhile in the post. I was an English Lit major in college (poetry was my first love) and I always wanted to write novels, but something held me back — a lack of courage to be honest. What if the book is no good? What if people didn’t like it? What if…? Alan Cole told me that my first novel probably wouldn’t be published in today’s competitive market… but, that ‘By God,’ it was a book!’ Something few people start and even fewer finish. He inspired me to try again. The idea for the novel came to me from a picture of an underwater cave garden taken in Grand Cayman. From the garden, I conceived a city, then a world and then characters. The novel is about a world that has never seen the sun. Now the positive ‘what-iffing’ began. I worked hard on developing the characters. The downside is that I did such a good job that there were numerous occasions when my characters refused to follow my outline. They were true to their now well developed natures, but gosh that was frustrating. Some professional writers scoff at the notion of rebellious characters. One said, “Of course my characters do what I tell them.” Oh, well. Maybe my characters will be better behaved next time. The biggest gift writing gave me was that it changed me — how I looked at things — how I listened. It made me more attentive — and more assertive. You would not believe the questions I found the courage to ask people. For me, writing helped make the world’s colors brighter, its sounds more intense. One of my life regrets is not starting writing earlier. That’s my lesson learned and one I’m happy to share. And if you ever decide to share some of your poetry here, I’ll be sitting in the front row. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 16, 2011 @ 8:35 pm I have indeed. Good magazine. I’ve explored the gamut of resources out there from books on the subject, writing clubs to conferences. At conferences I met a lot of folks who really like the idea of writing — sometimes more than the act itself. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 16, 2011 @ 7:42 pm KT, thanks so much for adding to the post. Great comments. And, yes, character motivation or “wants” is critical to moving the story. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 16, 2011 @ 6:29 pm The book is much harder and the rewrites are harder still. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 16, 2011 @ 6:28 pm LFer — You raise a good point. When I was doing research for the post, one of the things that shocked me was just how little corporate America pays in taxes. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget $60K is certainly a lot of money for most folks. The US National Debt clock says each citizen owes ~$46K and counting. See: http://www.usdebtclock.org/ (They use 311M for citizen count.) As for what happened to the money, from my perspective it went to tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Their answer would probably be that it went to fund entitlement spending. If you haven’t checked out the debt clock website, please do. It’s quite interesting. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 16, 2011 @ 4:42 pm I did instructing in the military. Many times your students are exhausted. Keeping them awake can be a real challenge. After the military, I completed an MBA program with Florida Tech at one of their extension sites. Since PM was what I did at the time, they asked me to stay on as an instructor upon graduation. What I learned from the experience is that preparing to teach a class is: (a) an incredible amount of work. On average, I spent 3 to 4 hours prepping for each hour at the podium… AND (b) the experience was extremely rewarding. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 15, 2011 @ 4:50 am CORRECTION: The $4.9 trillion increase in the Federal debt under GWB was for BOTH terms. My apologies for the error. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 14, 2011 @ 5:30 pm Buddy: Nothing to forgive. Quite the contrary, thanks for wading through the somewhat lengthy post. Also glad you found it entertaining. I used to do some teaching in a prior life. It’s depressing as hell to hear the hollow-thunking sound of heads hitting the desktop as unconciousness sets in. I do try to serve up opinion pieces sprinkled with bits of dark humor. My wife tells me I fail more frequently than I succeed. So I intend to use you as a reference. 😉 » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 14, 2011 @ 2:49 pm Cher: Thanks for the kind remarks. (And thanks for what you do. I enjoyed your column today. I appreciate what you do immensely.) I grew up in Mississippi. My wife and I got married at the end of our senior year in college. She came home crying one day during her student teaching period. She had a young student coming to school barefoot in the winter months. Angry, she got the child’s home address and drove to see the parents about the lack of shoes. When she arrived, she found them living in a converted chicken coop and too poor to buy shoes for all the kids. I know this sounds like a five-miles-to-school-in-the-snow story, but it’s a true one. Not everyone starts life’s race from the same starting position. When I hear stories about how important it is to cut social programs, my thoughts wander back to Mississippi and those who are less fortunate and never had the opportunities my wife and I were given. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 14, 2011 @ 2:25 pm 2CCP: That’s where the 4% reduction in tax revenue has gone… to corporations and wealthy. John Boehner, in response to a question about a loss of jobs resulting from tax cuts, said, “So be it.” Yet when President Obama suggested ending tax subsidies for the most profitable industry in the US — the oil industry, the Republicans said the subsidies were necessary to preserve jobs. The transfer of wealth that has taken place over the last two decades is simply incredible. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 14, 2011 @ 2:05 pm Boomer: I’ve seen the Prestige. I rewatched the trailer and had forgotten about the intro. I see the similarity. I stumbled on an article about con men and their techniques which prompted me to do some more research. The result was the post I submitted. I’m glad you liked the piece well enough to include it on your FP page. Thanks! » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 14, 2011 @ 2:00 pm Kesmarn: Thank you very much. I appreciate your taking time to respond. I hope Wisconsin is a permanent wake-up call for the middle class. What is surprising to me is how little coverage the events in Wisconsin are getting in the MSM. I think the story is HUGE, yet it appears to draw a ho-hum reaction from the big 3 networks. Don’t understand that. It has been sadly amusing to watch McConnell and Boehner try and convince the President to take the lead on cutting entitlement programs. When the debate gets down to cutting Social Security and Medicare or giving more tax cuts to the wealthy, I suspect we’ll see more Wisconsins. One thing is for sure, I believe that day is rapidly approaching. We shall see. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 14, 2011 @ 12:18 pm CL, sorry the piece doesn’t work for you. I confess to being a ‘numbers geek,’ but I hope you are wrong in your assessment that the great “middle” is too frightened or somehow unable to absorb the math. You may be correct. The news media certainly seems to think so, because they don’t go into the numbers, either. Humbly submitted, the desire for simple statements about complex issues is part of the ‘dumbing-down’ problem. Witness Sister Sarah who has become a millionaire by chanting the words, “freedom and liberty” to the Tea Party crowd. While the bumper-sticker approach may work, there is a cost for having the debate at this level. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 14, 2011 @ 9:07 am Oldpol, thanks for the note — and kind words. The story (and our current situation) is sad; I agree with you. There is an incredible amount of information available through the internet, yet facts seem to be a smaller part of the debate than ever before. We’ve reduced tax revenues by ~4% of GDP. That’s a huge amount of money and yet politicians are talking about fractional budget cuts that won’t accomplish anything other than provide a soundbite for the six o’clock news. Man, it would be nice to have some real adults in our government house. Oh, well. Grab an oar. It’s a long row back to a sane government shore. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 14, 2011 @ 8:30 am The main stream media, both print and electronic, are failing horribly in their duty to inform the American public. They let the silly soundbites go unchallenged and the level of thoughtful analysis that we used to get from someone like Walter Chronkite is a thing of the past. I wonder if the people who are fighting so hard to ‘take their country back’ are going to enjoy living in the nation they are remaking. Thanks for writing… staying engaged… and caring about the issues. At this point, folks like you other cyber-world citizens may be our best hope. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 14, 2011 @ 8:17 am Cher, thanks for providing the selection of Wisconsin photographs. They made my day. I hope the demonstrations are a sign of recognition that there really is a difference between Republican and Democrat and that a severe and long-term case of Buyer’s Remorse has set in. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 13, 2011 @ 2:44 pm A Little Truth About Business and Taxes PW — I retired from the private sector last year. I was responsible for pricing for all of our products. In the 20 some-odd years I was with my last company, competitive pricing was always a heated issue (translation: shouting matches with Marketing). Here was our price matrix format: labor + Labor Overhead Total Price Never in my total 28 years of doing this type of work did taxes and their impact on our prices come up in the discussions. Supplier prices — big topic. Internal labor — big discussion. Taxes – a small part of our indirect rates — not a discussion element. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 7, 2011 @ 7:30 pm Republicans at war and Dems are AWOL — or so it seems. Never thought I’d see the day when teachers were considered Public Enemy Number One. The world has changed and there will be a price Will CEO’s, billionaires & Republicans call the shot Common sense has been replaced by rote ideology » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 7, 2011 @ 5:45 pm Cher, Thanks for your usual great collection of informative articles. I have a couple of questions for you or other members orbiting nearby. The article on Social Security says SS is not part of the Deficit. Here is the 2010 budget / spending as presented by Wikipedia. Social Security is roughly 20% of spending and a definite contributor to the $1.2T deficit. What am I missing? 2010 US Federal Budget Outlays……..$3,552,000,000,000 80% of spending consumed by the following: Social Security ……..19.63%….$697,257,600,000 —— Re: Dem Budget and other messages. Why aren’t the Dems messaging more? The Republicans come out en masse before the cameras at least twice a day, but Obama and the Senate Dems seem oddly quiet considering the various critical debates going on. Is this a strategy or a reflection of a cowed party? » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 7, 2011 @ 2:20 pm Yes Virginia, There is Class Warfare Lady, you make a number of great points. Humbly submitted, however, while you personally may not need a CiC to pound the table, some do. The Pugs ran the table in the last election due in part (IMHO) to the Dems not controlling the message. Demoralized Dems stayed home in droves. I think a lack of passion from Dem leadership is a large part of the reason. President Obama is a good manager. And as you say, he did a great job keeping us out of second recession and helping the country begin the climb out of the hole that GWB and no-pulse Cheney dug for us. But leadership is also required. Leadership is the art of getting people to give or do more than they themselves think they are capable of. It requires passion, adrenalin, inspiration. Green eyeshade-type management isn’t going to get the base to turn out. I’ll vote in November. You’ll vote in November… but how many won’t vote because the passion that Obama displayed on the campaign trail is no longer evident? Thanks for responding. ‘Tis how I learn. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 7, 2011 @ 6:55 pm AdLib: I really enjoyed your post. What do you call class warfare when the other side does not fight back or, as you pointed out, does not even realize an attack is underway? My only, albeit tiny, objection to your post is a compulsive (ok, and admittedly improper) desire to rework your title somewhat. I want to include the term ‘war crimes’ because I honestly believe the fraud being perpetrated upon the American people by the wealthy in this country is a crime. As you accurately point out, class warfare is certainly being waged, but it is purely one-sided. And there are times when Democratic Troops appear to be completely absent from the field. The other reason I’m anxious to include ‘war crimes’ in your title is that the Dems have superior firepower in their arguments and positions, yet the Republican war machine seems always able to frame or recast the context of the debate in a manner favorable to them. This seems to me to be a self-inflicted crime as well. How and why does this keep happening? There were no death panels — with the possible exception of Governor Brewer’s. There was no government “takeover” of healthcare… and I am still suffering from traumatic stress disorder over the fact that the nation is still questioning and talking about Obama’s citizenship. MEDIC!!! INCOMING!!!! And our Democratic Commander in Chief seems to have folded the passionate colors he flew so boldly during the campaign. He absorbs attack after attack from the right in a most gentlemanly-like manner… which is fine…, but I’m looking for a mad-as-hell Commanding General — someone willing to stand up and say something along the lines of the following: “My fellow Americans, we are at a crossroads in our nation’s history. We are spending one-third more than we are taking in in the way of taxes and this cannot continue. There are those who say America’s best days are behind it, that we are taxed too heavily, and that the only way out our current financial situation is to cut spending on everything but Defense. But my fellow Americans, I see another way. We can ask corporations who currently pay little or nothing in taxes to contribute a fair share. We can look at the $665 billion dollars we spend annually on Defense and ask ourselves. Do we really need to spend 32 times more than Canada? Do we want to gut Social Security for future recipients so that we can continue to give tax cuts to those in our society who do not need them? America is currently engaged in two wars and while I do not discount that we have enemies or propose that America disarm, I am suggesting that more Americans are threatened by unaffordable healthcare than by Al Qaida. Social Security is, in many cases, all that stands between millions of Americans and poverty. At the present rate of taxation, Social Security must also be considered at risk. I am also saying that if America must go to war to protect its interests, that we should pay for these wars as we go and not add them to the debt burden of our children. My fellow Americans, taxes in the United States are at their lowest level in sixty years. Americans pay ten to twenty percent less in taxes than other industrialized nations. By maintaining these unrealistically low tax rates, we are failing to invest in America and along this path lies our certain demise. I say to you that our taxes are too low. We need to go back to rates that allow us pay down the deficit and invest in America once more. But there is something else that is too low in America — it is the rate at which our corporations employ Americans. For too long, American corporations have invested in their overseas manufacturing plants at the expense of creating jobs in this country. Every day as your Commander in Chief, I ask Americans to risk their lives and be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Well, America I ask you this. Is it too much to ask that our corporations put America and Americans before the goal of maximizing profits? And I also say to you that the median family income in this country has remained stagnant for too long. We can do better. We should do better and we should begin this process today! These are facts, my fellow Americans. And here is the question. What kind of America do we want to build? Do we want an America where all Americans have a realistic chance of achieving the American dream? Or do we want an America for the rich… and by the rich? It is the choice before us. I believe we can afford Social Security. I believe we can afford to pay our teachers a fair and living wage. I believe that all Americans should have the right to collectively bargain. And I believe it is time that American corporate interests stop funding a war on the American people in the form of low wages and the manipulation of the American political system for the benefit of a privileged few. I leave you with this final thought. An America without its middle class is not an America that you or I will want to live in. We can correct the path we are on and build an America that works for all Americans – not just the wealthy elite in this country. To take this path requires only honest debate and decisions made in the interests of the American people — ALL of the American people. Thank you… and good night.” » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 7, 2011 @ 4:12 pm Enjoyed the column. Thank you for ‘going there.’ Great poems can reduce a topic to a searing, brilliant essence or turn a subject on its head and present it in a completely unexpected perspective. Speaking of perspective, my favorite ‘perspective’ poem: A man said to the universe: — Stephen Crane » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 7, 2011 @ 7:47 pm Cher: What a great compilation! I really enjoyed reading this post. Thanks for all the work. I know it doesn’t just ‘happen.’ I particularly liked the article on “risky contractors.” There used to be literally hundreds of major prime contractors (those capable of delivering major weapon systems and subsystems), but industry consolidation has lead to so few major aerospace primes that there is no real competition and it often seems that the Government works for the major primes — rather than the other way around. Presently Lockheed, Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are the top five. Lockheed and Boeing in particular have tremendous political clout and are so large and involved in so many programs that the Government has very little leverage. Leverage by Boeing and Lockheed over elected officials… Well, that’s another story. Bob » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 4, 2011 @ 2:31 pm “… glaringly obvious …” I think it is obvious to those who are looking. What puzzles me is why so many seem to be unconcerned. How did America’s teachers get to be a Public Enemy? Never thought I see this happen. Second question. Why isn’t the MSM digging into some of the areas that Rachel Maddow has been reporting on? And the Dems, in general, seem to think if they don’t fight back that the Republcians will stop hitting them. And meanwhile, the Republican elect-me-to-office so I can dismantle it keeps on chugging along. Weird. Sad. Scary. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 2, 2011 @ 12:59 pm The Tea Party militia is certainly being used by the Republican command and control group, but I do think TP interests and motivations are separate and distinct from that of big business. Corporate interests are focused on the bottom line. I suspect Tea Partiers not so much. It is going to be interesting (and possibly amusing) to watch the reactions of the sixty-something TP’ers when John Boehner and company begin their reconstructive surgery on Social Security and Medicare. This will likely tear a hole in the TP universe space-time continuum — unless the Republicans can figure out a way to convince President Obama to take the lead and the blame. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 1, 2011 @ 9:15 pm Chase, not at all. Understood you perfectly. Sorry if my comment left you with the impression that we were cross-wise. And thanks for noting my attempt at “4g” dark humor. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 1, 2011 @ 9:04 pm I’ve watched my extended family pass down the poison of racism to three generations. It’s a painful thing to experience. Bush ran up $5T in debt without a peep from the so-called Fiscal Conservatives. In fact, I do not recall even hearing of the Tea Party until after President Obama was elected. While many are legitimately concerned about the debt (myself included), the objections to President Obama run deeper than fiscal issues. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 1, 2011 @ 8:21 pm I do remember the Southern strategy. And I humbly confess…I miss the grits. 😉 (Sorry. You can take the ex-pat southern boy out of the south, but you can’t make him forget the food.) » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 1, 2011 @ 8:14 pm Truth, thank you. While I agree that the Dems / progressives / Lib forces are losing the air war, I’m not sure media laws are the answer. Step one would be for the Dems to begin responding, but for reasons I find puzzling, they never seem to engage. Tonight on MSNBC, Lawrence O’Donnell was talking about Mike Huckabee claiming that Obama was raised in Kenya. Huge numbers of Republicans believe the President is a Muslim and was not born in the states. I suspect slightly less believe the earth has been visited by aliens. Thanks as well for the website links. I shall check them out. » Posted By SequimBob2 On March 1, 2011 @ 8:07 pmComments Posted By SequimBob2
Material and ODC
G&A (applied to the above)
Fee
____
We understand and will support the need for sacrifice
But what about the rich? Will they contribute, too
Or will all the pain be borne by just me and you
While working class Americans are abandoned to rot
Will Teachers and Unions simply be cast aside
And the only voice remaining be a Governor’s pride
So that a clear path forward is not plain to see
But in 2012, Americans will face a clear choice
Dems, best find your backbone and use your voice
2010 US Federal Budget Tax Receipts…$2,381,000,000,000
Projected 2010 Deficit ……………$1,171,000,000,000
Dept. of Defense……..18.74%….$665,644,800,000
Unemployment, Welfare…16.13%….$572,937,600,000
Medicare…………….12.79%….$454,300,800,000
Medicaid, SCHIP …….. 8.19%….$290,908,800,000
Interest on Debt………4.63%….$164,457,600,000
Obama’s cerebral nature appeals to me. Kinda nice to have brains in the White House, but the collective Democratic clock is being ‘cleaned’ by street-fighter politicians on the other side. Dems really need to see some points on the scoreboard now, or the campaign messages of hope-and-change-part-two will likely be tuned out.
“Sir I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”
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