Enter The Whoop Ass
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce tried to protect its neck. Now it’s too late. President Barack Obama pulled out a new move that has mercifly eradicated the power of the corporate advocacy group, or so we think. It was no small feat leashing the Chamber either.
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce tried to protect its neck.
Now it’s too late.
President Barack Obama pulled out a new move that has mercifly eradicated the power of the corporate advocacy group, or so we think.
It was no small feat leashing the Chamber either.
In the third quarter of 2009 alone, the business lobby threw away a record $34.7 million against Obama’s proposed reforms to national energy policy, financial regulation, and health care finance.
In response to its expensive anti-reform campaign, Obama tore into the Chamber in front of the press in the East Room of the White House on Oct. 9.
“They’re very good at this, because that’s how business has been done in Washington for a very long time,” he said, referring to the Chamber. “In fact, over the last 10 years, the Chamber alone spent nearly half a billion dollars on lobbying — half a billion dollars.”
But that wasn’t Obama’s clever move; his strike came when he went around the Chamber’s lobbyists to seek his reformist agenda from its members directly.
In fact, the day prior to Obama’s public upbraiding of the Chamber, he met with Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos. Lewis Hay III of Florida Power & Light, Antonio M. Perez of Eastman Kodak, and Irene B. Rosenfeld of Kraft.
In all, Obama lunched with chief executives on three separate occasions since taking office.
It also helped Obama that other high-profile corporations softened the Chamber by either leaving the group as Apple, Exelon, PNM Resources, Pacific Gas and Electric, Mohawk Fine Paper, and Levi Strauss & Co. did, resigning from its board of directors as Nike did, or issuing statements as Johnson & Johnson and General Electric have.
The issue at stake for corporations like Apple, Nike, and Johnson & Johnson was climate change of which the Chamber continues to deny the existence and the science that backs it up.
For Obama the issue that lead to the death blow was the Chamber’s effort to deep-six new economic regulations, namely his proposed new federal consumer protections agency.
But the issue that set off the Chamber against Obama was the proposed public insurance option to national healthcare finance reform.
Friday before last, Chamber COO David Chavern lashed out at its “normal adversaries — trial lawyers, activist unions and environmental extremists” in a letter to members.
“Interest groups are looking for public leverage to force us to do things against the best interests of the business community… We intend to continue being successful, so we expect the negative messages to your organization may continue,” Chavern wrote.
However, if by “interest groups” Chavern meant IBM, Wal-Mart Stores, Time Warner, Eastman Kodak, Starbucks, Amazon.com and Coca-Cola, then he is in trouble since all them met with Obama and his top staffers (aid Valerie Jarrett and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel) at the White House.
R. Bruce Josten, the Chamber’s longtime lobbyist, even ridiculed Obama by describing the president’s avoidance of lobbyists as a hollow trick.
“Does he get some probably good input from CEOs? I’m sure he does,” Josten told The Washington Post. “Are they going to actively go up to the Hill and lobby? I’m sure they’re not.”
So the honeymoon is over between Obama and the Chamber. Both had worked together all last fall during his transition to Washington. The Chamber also backed the administration’s economic stimulus package and Obama’s nominees to economic positions in the federal government.
But the Chamber actually cut its own throat when it petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency for public hearings to clear up the science of climate change, according to SF Gate’s City Bright’s blogger Yobie Benjamin.
“Hearings would be a modern day Scopes Monkey Trial,” said Bill Kovacs, Chamber vice president.
However, what more science does the Chamber need, Benjamin argued, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its First Assessment Report in 1990.
Noted Benjamin, “The (IPCC) reports were approved after a painstaking peer review process by hundreds of leading scientists and experts. The reports confirmed the scientific basis for climate change.”
He added, “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s road to irrelevance is riddled with ignorance and a clear lack of understanding of science and appreciation of public sentiment. Like most intellectually challenged groups, they will try to bulldoze their path by spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt.”
So while both Obama and Chamber camps bicker over allies within the Chamber’s membership, questions still remain as to how strong Obama will lead on economic regulation, national healthcare, and climate change.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told the conservative propaganda machine Fox News via email that the administration is still willing to work with the Chamber.
“We have an open door to the ideas and suggestions of the business community including the Chamber,” she said.
At the same time, economist Paul Krugman noted the recent “change in tone” from Obama’s top economic brass on the financial beast known as Goldman Sachs.
Krugman quoted none other than Lawrence Summers, the Obama administration’s chief economist who helped create and implement the Obama’s bank policy, (i.e. leave Wall Street be and forget about Main Street):
“There is no financial institution that exists today that is not the direct or indirect beneficiary of trillions of dollars of taxpayer support for the financial system.” Indeed: Goldman has made a lot of money in its trading operations, but it was only able to stay in that game thanks to policies that put vast amounts of public money at risk, from the bailout of A.I.G. to the guarantees extended to many of Goldman’s bonds.”
Krugman is still flabbergasted that Summers continues to believe Big Bank nationalization would have never worked to solve the financial crisis last year.
However, Krugman preferred to drop the issue in support of job growth as a means to get banks lending again, though financial reform is greatly needed.
“For if we don’t, bankers will soon be taking even bigger risks than they did in the run-up to this crisis. After all, the lesson from the last few months has been very clear: When bankers gamble with other people’s money, it’s heads they win, tails the rest of us lose,” he wrote in The New York Times.
Former New York Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on Slate.com gave this call to action: push public pension funds and mutual funds to take politics out of corporate management through shareholder activism.
“They have failed to control the management of the companies they own because the actual owners of those mutual funds and pension funds — you and I — have failed to raise our voices,” he wrote. “We haven’t even asked questions.”
Spitzer added: “As long as the Chamber and the CEOs who are supposed to be our representatives are using our money to be overtly political, it is our duty to respond. If we are passive, we permit the chamber to hijack our funds and companies to support positions antithetical to our own views. Waking pension funds and mutual funds from their slumber on this relatively easy issue might finally begin the necessary process of fixing mismanaged corporations.”
New Book Of Poetry Recounts Bush Terms
A new collection of poems recounting the two terms of President George W. Bush is on sale now.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new collection of poems recounting the two terms of President George W. Bush is on sale now.
The chapbook “The President of War: And Cowards, Villians, and Fools Behind Him” covers 9/11, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Hurricane Katrina and other domestic tragedies such as the bursting of the housing bubble that unfolded during the Bush administration.
Kate Millett, Author of Sexual Politics and Flying, had this to say about poet Elizabeth Gerteiny’s new works:
“The Bush administration has resulted in the dumbing down of America. The President of War can lift us up. Vive la liberté!”
W. Leon Smith, publisher of The Lone Star Iconoclast, called the poems “brilliant.”
“Everyone should read this book to glimpse, step by step, the past eight years and the attempts of the war president to destroy the traditional home-spun values that had for decades exemplifed the hopes and dreams of America,” he said.
Most of the verses in “The President of War” book have appeared on Gerteiny’s website, www.bushandcompany.org.
Gerteiny currently lives in Connecticut with her family, two dogs and three cats.
INFO
www.thepresidentofwar.com/
One In Six Americans In Poverty: Study
According to a new study, one in six Americans lived in poverty last year.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — According to a new study, one in six Americans lived in poverty last year.
That’s 47.4 million Americans, reported the National Academy of Science.
This total is higher than the Census Bureau’s poverty rate calculations because the government bureau fails to calculate medical care, transportation, child care or geographical variations.
The NAS’s calculations did, however, and found roughly seven million more people in poverty.
The Census Bureau is under pressure through congressional legislation to update is 53-year-old poverty rate formula.
Former Bush Official Goes To Jail
A former official in George W. Bush’s administation is going to prison.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A former official in George W. Bush’s administation is going to prison.
It’s David Safavian, the former head of procurement appointed by the White House.
Safavian was sentenced to a year in prison for his part in the Jack Abramoff lobbyist scandal.
Specifically, Safavian, 42, was convicted of lying to investigators and giving Abramoff information about government property in exchange for a fully-paid golfing trip to Scotland.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman told Safavian that he could report to prison after his wife gives birth to their baby next March.
While Safavin pled not guilty, 17 other people pled guilty to crimes related to the Abramoff investigation.
The other Abramoff-related case involving ex-lobbyist Kevin Ring ended in a mistrial last week.
Abramoff himself is serving six years in prison.
Report: Unemployment Forced 400K Texans Off Health Insurance
In the first eight months of 2009, roughly 400,000 Texas lost their health insurance due to the lack of employment, according to a new report.
AUSTIN, Texas — In the first eight months of 2009, roughly 400,000 Texas lost their health insurance due to the lack of employment, according to a new report.
Families USA reported that Texas is behind number one California with the largest number of citizens who lost health insurance in 2009.
The advocacy group noted that the state’s yearly average unemployment rate was 7.1 percent. The average in 2008 was 4.9 percent.
The report stated that about 62 percent of Americans under age 65 get health insurance either from their job or a family member’s job.
Families USA now estimates that over 50 million Americans lack health insurance coverage.
The Urban Institute’s formulas were used to calculate unemployment numbers related to changes in uninsured.
Army Policies Lacking For Suicidal Soldiers’ Care
A review of military policies found that the U.S. Army had none for handling soldiers showing signs of suicidal behavior.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A review of military policies found that the U.S. Army had none for handling soldiers showing signs of suicidal behavior.
The review was released five months after Sgt. John Russell allegedly shot and killed five of his fellow soldiers on an Army base in Iraq.
“The report describes a man whose problems were known and who received some counseling, yet at critical times did not appear to get the help he needed,” the Associated Press said.
Russell was put on suicide watch the morning of the shooting, though his unit had known of his condition deteriorating at least four days prior to it.
On that tragic day, Russell was on his fourth visit to the mental health clinic.
An hour after military police took him back to his unit after his short visit, Russell returned to the clinic with a loaded rifle and allegedly opened fire on five soldiers.
Security at the Combat Stress Clinic at Camp Liberty was also “inadequate,” the report stated.
Obama’s Justice Dept. Favors States’ Rights On Medical Marijuana
The Obama administration’s Justice Department set forth a new policy favoring states that allow medical marijuana use last week.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration’s Justice Department set forth a new policy favoring states that allow medical marijuana use last week.
The policy states that federal prosecutors ought not go after patients or suppliers that trade medical marijuana in states that legalized the practice.
The three-page legal memo stipulates that agents will still bring the law down on violators of said state laws.
The Bush administration, by contrast, refused to accept the rights of 14 states that permit marijuana use for medical purposes.
Those states with some permits include Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
The policy memo was distributed to both the FBI and the DEA.
The Marijuana Policy Project hailed the memo as “a major step forward… toward respecting scientific and practical reality.”
However, Republicans were quick to criticize the move as a loss against Mexican drug cartels.
Specifically, though, the Justice Department instructs agents to target cases related to violence, illegal firearms, money laundering, among other issues.
Fed Chief Wishes Chinese Consumers Consume More
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has a few wishes.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has a few wishes.
On the top of that list is for China to make its consumers consume more U.S. goods; that way the global trade “imbalances” will level out, he said.
Bernanke also wished that the United States reduce its federal budget deficit in order to increase savings.
However, the Fed chief offered no ways to do so, according to the Associated Press.
In fact, Bernanke in his speech at the Fed conference focused primarily on those countries, like China, that have trade surpluses with the United States.
Bernanke pointed to the 1990s Asian financial crisis as an example of the trade situation in which the U.S. economy currently faces.
The world economy is in recovery with Asia to be leading the way, he said.
But talk about interest rates was nowhere in his talk; it is expected that rates will remain near zero until sometime next year.
The U.S. budget deficit increased to a record $1.4 trillion in the 2009 fiscal year ended September 30.
China is the largest holder of U.S. Treasury bonds, though decreased its load by about $3 billion from July to August of this year.
GAO Flunks Body Armor Tests
The standards by which the Army tests body armor received a failing grade last week.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The standards by which the Army tests body armor received a failing grade last week.
Congress’ chief investigators at the Government Accountability Office recommended that the new gear ought get a fresher look from an independent body.
So far, the Army has ordered 240,000 pieces of body armor plating, though its says the plates will be stored, not immediately issued to troops in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Unnamed Defense Department officials told the Associated Press that while a few errors were detected during testing, the overall scope of the process is fine.
The Army has also rejected moves for independent reviews since it claims no soldiers had died in combat as a result of flaws in body armor.
The GAO suggested that Congress ought to push for reviews by private ballistics experts.
The leaders of the House Armed Services air and land forces subcommittee, however, have failed to say what would happen if Army Secretary John McHugh doesn’t comply with their urge for him to follow the GAO suggestions.
Pentagon Opposed Anti-Rape Bill
The Pentagon opposed an amendment granting court access to employees who sue the defense contracts for rape.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Pentagon opposed an amendment granting court access to employees who sue the defense contracts for rape.
The White House, however, told the Huffington Post that it supported the amendment’s “intent.”
The amendment to the 2010 defense appropriation’s bill passed the Senate with 30 Republicans in opposition.
The GOP Senators generally claimed that Congress ought not interfer with how private companies negotiate their employees’ contracts.
The Department of Defense told the White House prior to the bill’s passing that its subcontractors “may not be in a position to know about such things” and cited “problematic” enforcement as an issue.
The Pentagon added, “It may be more effective to seek a statutory prohibition of all such arrangements in any business transaction entered into within the jurisdiction of the United States, if these arrangements are deemed to pose an unacceptable method of recourse.”
Freshman Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) submitted the bill after a 19-year-old KBR employee was allegedly gang-raped by her coworkers and temporarily imprisoned for threatening to speak out.
Upon return from Iraq, Jamie Leigh Jones was prevented from suing KBR because of a contract clause mandating that the problem be settled out of court.
Study: Expensives Mount In Death Penalty States
The death penalty process is a waste of taxpayer dollers for states that implement it inefficiently, according to a recent study.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The death penalty process is a waste of taxpayer dollers for states that implement it inefficiently, according to a recent study.
“At a time of budget shortfalls nationwide, the death penalty is turning into an expensive form of life without parole,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
The Center’s commissoned report found that the number of death row inmates has remained relatively level for the past three decades.
But states with the death penalty are incurring costs on average $10 million more per year than states with life sentences.
The study found increased costs in higher security and guaranteed access to long pardon and appellate process.
The Center also commissioned the study which polled 500 police chiefs across the country to gauge their views about the death penalties effectiveness in reducing violent crime.
The results? The hiring more police officers ranked number one in reducing such crime, while the death penalty was ranked last.
However, death penalty supporters have found that state prosecutors with the death penalty are more likely to receive plea bargains, which reduce costs from trials and incarceration.
That study was performed by the California-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation using U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics data from 33 urban counties.
Damned If You Do, Damned If You Bank
You could be Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad, or Abraham.
You’re still going to have to pay stupid credit card fees to your bank.
Next year, Bank of America will change an annual fee up to $99 to some of their best, most honest customers.
And if you bank with Citigroup, expect your annual fee for not putting more than $2,400 a year on your credit card.
That’s right.
Hell, you could be Mother Teresa of credit cards, but you must pay the fee for being an angel.
These new “punish the best customer fees” come after this year’s credit card reform passed forbidding credit card companies from raising interest rates on existing card balances.
So what happens to your credit score if you get hit with these annual fees?
According to Sandra Block, “Your Money” columnist for USA Today, you can do three basic things: call and complain, weigh the benefits, or leave.
“If your card issuer won’t waive the fee, you’ll have a choice: Pay the annoying fee or close your account. Unfortunately, this decision isn’t as clear-cut as it sounds, because closing an account could hurt your credit score,” Block wrote.
Unfortunately, she failed to suggest that you should call your senator or congressman and demand this theft not take place immediately.
But you’d think that credit card companies would welcome rules to limit consumer’s spending habits.
Instead, all of the top credit card companies except American Express are experiencing higher than normal delinquency rates.
Bank of America has the highest annualized card write-offs and payments at least 30 days overdue, which is why it is screwing with its best customers, you think?
To save its financial ass to the tune of $8 billion in the third quarter, Citibank cancelled hundreds of thousands of its gas station affiliated credit cards (namely Shell, Citgo, ExxonMobil, and Phillips 66-Conoco) with little warning, calling the closings a “routine review.”
And these cancellations occurred with good, active standing customers, too, MSNBC reported.
We must agree with Lita Epstein, author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Improving Your Credit Score.” who wrote at WalletPop.com:
“By raising interest rates so high, they threw a lot of people over the edge. Sure, people should not have gotten themselves in so deep with credit card debt, but knowing they were there the banks should instead be working with people to help them get their debts paid off.”
In other words, Miss Epstein ought to write another book titled,
“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to NOT WRECKING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY!!!”
— Nathan Diebenow
Jurisprudent Injustice
As much as I would love to find a little corner of Texas to acquire and call my home, just the thought of living in a state where Rick Perry is the governor sends a chill up and down my spine.
As much as I would love to find a little corner of Texas to acquire and call my home, just the thought of living in a state where Rick Perry is the governor sends a chill up and down my spine.
I need not reiterate all the preposterously improvident bad decisions the guy has made during his tenure, not the least of which is mandating the forced-fed inclusion of religious-based “creationism” into the curriculum known throughout the industrialized world as “science.”
What an excellent way to muddy the waters of truth with conjecture, while confounding the very youth who will before long be in charge of the state and country.
The plaint I offer herein is not about school policies or tax structure or toll roads within the Lone Star State.
While other heads of state seek out less severe methods of punishment in dealing with human beings who go astray, even making attempts at rehabilitation, I find it absolutely insane that Perry has ridden shotgun over 200 executions during his tenure.
That shocking total gives Rick the dubious honor of Number 1 on the list of hanging governors — 24 percent higher than the previous top dog, George W. Bush, aided and abetted 152 times in true Texas style by his ever-trusty sidekick, Alberto Gonzales.
Despite the fact that this is the 21st Century, and folks are supposed to be more enlightened than we were during the 1800s, Perry and Dubya have managed to pull Texas backward to the days of “Judge” Roy Bean.
Of course, Rick has considerable assistance from people such as Georgette Oden, an appellate prosecutor for the Texas Attorney General. In a posting on her blog, Ms. Oden offered that when other guests at cocktail parties ask “So, what do you do?” her response is, “I kill people.”
With a mindset such as this permeating the highest echelons of Texas law and order, there clearly is neither law nor order.
It is painfully evident that Perry has ripped a page right of Roy Bean’s playbook, the one that says that if someone needs killin’, then there’s no room for discussion.
The case that has pushed Perry’s overkill mindset squarely into national scrutiny is the execution in 2004 of Cameron Todd Willingham.
Willingham was sentenced to death for setting fire to his house in 1991, which resulted in the deaths of his three children. Although arson forensics have been proven unreliable in countless cases, Perry accepted as gospel the investigators’ findings as proof positive of guilt.
Just in time to curtail a possible halt of Willingham’s execution, he stymied efforts to conduct any thorough further investigation by forcing out Chairman Samuel Bassett and two other members of the Forensic Science Commission after they refused to relent to pressure to drop their probe; the commissioners had been scheduled to meet with fire expert Craig Beyler, who disputed the official findings.
Perry’s justification for eliminating continued investigation has been summed up in his personal opinion that Willingham is a “monster” and “bad man” – mostly based upon unfavorable accusations that he was abusive.
It seems to me that putting someone to death without full exploration of the facts is “abusive.”
In other execution news, Georgia sent convicted killer Mark McClain to his final reward last Tuesday, Oct. 20.
McClain was a career criminal who shot and killed Kevin Brown, a Domino’s Pizza manager, during a 1994 robbery. Unlike Willingham, who had gone to his death protesting his innocence, McClain admitted his guilt but swore it was unintentional.
Despite remorsefulness and acceptance of his fate as the will of God, neither the Supreme Court of Georgia nor the United States would stay his execution.
Then, we had cloture in the infamous 1993 Brown’s Chicken massacre in Palatine, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.
Although some might feel that’s not entirely an accurate assessment.
On a bone-numbingly cold January night, seven people — most of them teenagers — were slaughtered execution-style by person or persons unknown. Victims included the franchise owners (a married couple with children), employees, and customers.
The first victim had no idea what had hit him; the other six spent their final moments in unspeakable terror.
Not being accustomed to such gruesome horror, the suburban police department contaminated the scene and bungled the investigation.
Despite bragging to friends about perpetrating this heinous (not nearly a strong enough adjective) atrocity, it would be 13 years before someone came forward — in the form of a drug-addled girlfriend of one of the killers. She claimed fear for her life kept her silent for so long, until the pangs of conscience became too much to bear.
The first assassin, Juan Luna, eluded the death penalty in 2007 by making a full confession, and naming his associate.
This past week, following a long (eight week) and costly (on numerous fronts) trial, the second murderer, James Degorski, was also sentenced to life in prison.
Degorski was 20 when he and Luna (also 20ish) herded the victims into two walk-in coolers, made them kneel with their backs to them, then shot these innocent human beings in the iciest of blood.
In his confession, Degorski, a dullard scumbag loser who knew he’d never leave a mark on the world, stated that he “wanted to do something big.”
His solution was to massacre seven people in a petty robbery.
Although both of these worthless wastes of oxygen are among those most deserving of being put to death in the annals of murder, that shall never come to pass.
Two jurors actually bought into Degorski’s defense, that he was abused as a child, insisting on life rather than death row.
These are just three cases, yet their outcomes make it painfully obvious that our American system of jurisprudence has a long, long way to go before justice can truly be considered fair and equal.
Shalom.
(Erstwhile Philosopher and former Educator Jerry Tenuto is a veteran who survived, somewhat emotionally intact, seven years in the U.S. Army. Despite a penchant for late-night revelry, he managed to earn BS and MA Degrees in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. On advice from a therapist, he continues to bang out his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast — providing much-needed catharsis. Jerry is also licensed to perform marriage ceremonies in 45 states.)
Justice, et al.
As Uncle Hugh used to say, “Thinkin’ is the cheapest way to travel.”
Texas Hero
And it occurred to me just now that I let the passage of Billy Wayne Justice slip by without comment last week.
I should have known better.
The Hon. William Wayne Justice was, if not the most decent man I’ve ever met, certainly the most honorable.
And the bravest.
He was all that is best about the law: it protects us from ourselves.
It would be easy to throw criminals to the wolves and forget that some of us are simply weak, some unthinking, some uncaring, some dangerous, but all human.
It would be easy until someone you cared about stood on the brink of the wolf pit.
Particularly now that we have learned that no small number of those he insisted we treat decently were, in fact, not guilty of any crime.
Judge Justice made the State of Texas simply be humane, even to the undeserving among us.
And we hated him for it.
He made us educate children who had no say in where they were born or where their parents traveled in search of a better life.
And we hated him for it.
He made us teach black and brown children together with white children to be better people than we were.
And we hated him for it.
His enemies were all the worst things about Texas.
But he was, taken as a man, of all the best things about Texas.
Weep not for him, but for ourselves.
Vote 4
Amendment 4 on your the Nov. 3 ballot will create a fund to assist “emerging” Texas universities’ research efforts.
That is, someplace other than College Station or Austin might have some good ideas.
And we might actually want to bring those good ideas to fruition.
As I write this, I sit within a stone’s throw from a new herpetology research center that collects,
analyzes, and sends snake venom all over the world.
If you vote against Proposition 4 next week, try not to get snake bit.
What have you got . . .
for sale?
James Dean’s former high school is selling the stage where he did his first acting.
Officials in Fairmount, Ind. have no idea what it’s worth, but they ought to get something out of the only famous guy from there.
Never mind that he couldn’t wait to get away from there.
A letter jacket or a senior ring, maybe.
But a stage?
Put that in your knick-knack cabinet
Jeez, people, just turn it into a museum and sell movie posters or red poplin jackets and tours of places he disliked most or something.
Speedy Delivery
Finally, we in the Wild Horse Desert have se
t a legal precedent of a sort this week.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has taken up the case of Amber Lovill, a mother who failed a series of drug tests, notably for methamphetamine, while on probation for check-writing.
Nueces County probation officers and prosecutors decided that was not the best of prenatal care and jailed her in a felony treatment facility until her little boy was born.
Fine, except there are some legal complications. (You’ll like this; nobody’s clean in this one!)
First, that ain’t what the average speed freak gets for urinating in the state’s cup.
Not that Lovill is a speed freak; she was just pregnant and, if urinalysis is to be believed, took some meth.
Probably no candidate for mother of the year, but felony jail time?
Second, is jailing a woman for doing something that might be damaging to her fetus a good idea?
Damaging like speeding on methamphetamine or damaging like speeding in an automobile?
Or smoking cigarettes?
Or lifting heavy objects?
Third, did the unborn kid have anything to do with the sentence she got, which was to have the baby where she could be watched.
By jailers.
Who might not be the best of all possible nannies.
Finally, is taking speed necessarily more detrimental to a fetus than being in jail?
Which might not be the best of all possible nursaries.
All of which leads us all to ponder the ultimate question: Is jail better than speed?
Or, is urinalysis better than my analysis?
Simple Life
Zack and I like to keep things simple, not an easy task in this day and age. We’ve tried to take a few lessons from the past, when people seemed more self-sufficient.
Zack and I like to keep things simple, not an easy task in this day and age. We’ve tried to take a few lessons from the past, when people seemed more self-sufficient.
To that end, with some modern twists, I’d like solar power and wind power (so I could generate my own electricity and sell some to the electric company). I wouldn’t mind taking a page from the past and having a smokehouse for meat, a great garden (but with a really big freezer and reliable, consistent electric power to run it). We’ve already tried making wine and jelly from our wild mustang grapes. When we’re lucky enough to have a pecan crop, we can enjoy those (but what a lot of work to crack and clean them). We pickle cucumbers and okra. I’ve frozen peaches and various types of vegetables.
I assure you, people who were self-sufficient like this in the distant past worked VERY, very hard (and without modern conveniences). There’s all this talk of “going green.” I often wonder how many of the celebrities in Hollywood who claim this conviction actually hang their own clothes out or wash their babies’ diapers! I don’t think I can work any harder than I do already or go much greener than I already am. (And a lot of this “green” stuff is hype. You can bet someone is making a buck on it).
Hybrid and electric cars are a fine idea. But how safe can they be, sharing any road with 18-wheelers? And how many of those cute little cars could pull a huge, broken pecan limb out of a tree for me? I’m fond of my old, gasoline-powered truck, my diesel tractors, electricity — as much as I want whenever I need it. And from that electricity, I enjoy very much things like lights, fridge, freezer, washer, and dryer (the latter when wet weather won’t allow the use of my clothes line). We don’t turn on the A/C as much as most folks, but I’m very grateful for those window units when the heat becomes unbearable and threatens to make me ill.
I’d hate to do without my computer and a phone of some sort. (And I do like the convenience and security of a cell phone for emergencies.) I like my microwave oven.
I’m thankful for community water that’s safer than that from our well. (The problem isn’t the well, but the old, overhead storage tank). And in the winter, I’m glad for propane heaters. I’m aware we could manage with wood. At the alarming rate huge pecan limbs fall here, (especially during drought conditions which we always seem to have these days), I believe we’ll have a lifetime supply of fuel. Either way, with old, drafty windows and less than perfect insulation, we’re going to be a little chilly in winter.
I’ve heated exclusively with wood before. It’s a romantic notion and a money saver — if you don’t factor in the chain saw, gas, oil, maintenance, “excitement” (read: “danger”), and time. The reality of a wood-burning-stove is that it’s a huge amount of work. Anyone who has lived with one will tell you how cold an old, poorly insulated farm house can be at five or six in the morning. That’s one of the typical times the dying fire must be fed. Newer stoves have probably improved. My experience has all been vintage. I’ve never experienced a stove younger than seventy years — or older! The one we previously had in the farmhouse, kept my hair and clothing (not to mention the upholstered furniture) smelling like barbecue. For months. I didn’t actually mind it, but I suspect others did.
Now Zack wants BEES, another new experience for me. (His grandfather kept them, and he too, for a time.) He has wonderful memories of working with the bees, robbing the hives, and enjoying the honey. With every new project we undertake, every new task we learn, my precious, little, free time is sapped away. Wine-making, canning, pickling, growing our own veggies — all overwhelming. And this is on top of “normal, everyday life” (whatever that is). It certainly is different than “city life.”
Due to a late freeze this year, we lost our entire crop of fruits of all kinds and several plants in the garden. There were no peaches, plums persimmons, figs pears, spinach, peas, or beans. There weren’t even grapes. I was almost relieved (guiltily), unsure how I would find the time to wash, use, and freeze all the bounty, make the wine and jelly. Just watering and tending the garden — and dealing with the vegetables from it — took an inordinate amount of time. This ratcheted into high gear when the pickling began. And what hot work!
People speak of a simpler time, a simpler life. They romanticize it. We feel we’ve simplified things quite a bit, living as we do, where we do. We say that when one crosses our cattle guard, it’s like going back in time. But for anyone who has an idyllic vision of the simplicity of the past, let me assure you, there was — and there IS — nothing easy about this kind of simple.
(Gene Ellis, Ed.D is a Bosque County resident who returned to the family farm after years of living in New Orleans, New York, and Florida. She is an artist who holds a doctoral degree from New York University and is writing a book about the minor catastrophes of life.)
Dirty Diaper Football Makes Disposables A Must
Though I’m a parent who is many years beyond his children’s diaper phase (Ya Baby! WOOO-HOOO, You Know it! YOWZA!) …Sorry
Though I’m a parent who is many years beyond his children’s diaper phase (Ya Baby! WOOO-HOOO, You Know it! YOWZA!)
…Sorry
Anyway, I have several friends who are now embarking on this journey and who have asked my advice regarding cloth or disposable. Though I was a cloth diaper user — which is why my thumbs and index fingers look like pin cushions at a second-hand store — I suggest disposable for one simple reason:
Dirty diaper football.
In this arena, disposables have a distinct advantage over cloth.
First, you can’t throw a nice spiral with cloth. Too floppy, and the center of gravity…
…Well, there is no center of gravity. Your diaper football will simply wobble too much in flight to achieve any kind accuracy in your air game.
Second, the safety pins are a hazard, and they also affect the aerodynamics of your passing game. Forget any “hail Mary” plays with cloth.
And if you overthrow?
Trust me, you don’t want to go there.
Third, you can’t (or shouldn’t) punt a cloth diaper football. The same goes for spiking. Trust me: An “excessive celebration” call will be the least of your worries if you lose control of the end zone.
In fact, the only advantage cloth diaper footballs have over a disposable is that your opponent is much less likely to attempt a fumble recovery. Other than that, disposables are clearly superior.
And much easier to assemble.
Step one: Acquire a dirty diaper. If you can’t get one at home, ask around.
Step two: Remove the soiled diaper, keeping what will become your centrifuge intact. This will make or break the accuracy of your passes.
Step three: Roll your diaper football, making sure to maintain its center of gravity. Remember, it’s a lot like rolling up a stuffed cabbage. It will seem like everything won’t fit, but it will.
Step four: Warm up your throwing arm.
It’s that easy.
Oh, there is one other thing; check the integrity of your football regularly — especially before throwing “the bomb.”
You get the picture.
The 11 Proposed Amendments To The Texas Constitution
A few quick notes to Texans: I will vote for none of these, just as I have not voted for previous proposed amendments of the past decade of elections.
A few quick notes to Texans:
I will vote for none of these, just as I have not voted for previous proposed amendments of the past decade of elections.
The Legislature needs to buckle-down and do its job for the people of Texas.
The Texas Constitution has been amended more times than the U.S. Constitution.
It is time to rewrite the entire Texas Constitution instead of every two years adding amendments to it.
If a house is built on an imperfect foundation, you do not consistently add on to that structure. You rebuild the foundation and then the house won’t need as many amendments to it and can handle any add-ons better.
These never-ending proposed amendments are symptoms of a failing statewide political and legislative system.
I recommend voting “No” on each of these 11 items and demand that our elected legislators rewrite the constitution so that it is structurally sound.
Unfortunately, most amendments are approved by Texas voters, who really do not comprehend the issues because they are being manipulated and deceived by legislators and their special interests; however, it is up to Texans to send a message to their legislators to fix the constitution and quit adding-on to it.
(Peter Stern, a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator, is a disabled Vietnam veteran who lives in Driftwood.)
War & Peace: Afghanistan, The Soviets, Winter & Tolstoy
Did I just visit the cottage where Leo Tolstoy was born, the place he was buried or just a statue of the guy? As much as I love visiting Russia and want to stay here forever, all this tourist stuff is finally starting to just meld together for me and I’m getting all confused. Whose palace did I just visit? What was the name of that church?
THE STILLWATER BLOG
Did I just visit the cottage where Leo Tolstoy was born, the place he was buried or just a statue of the guy? As much as I love visiting Russia and want to stay here forever, all this tourist stuff is finally starting to just meld together for me and I’m getting all confused. Whose palace did I just visit? What was the name of that church?
But thinking about Tolstoy has also gotten me to thinking about War and Peace — and not only just the novel by that name but about the actual concepts themselves. How can we ever achieve peace in this world when the blood-thirsty war-hungry bully elements of human society always seem to be so much more powerful than the rest of us? Take Afghanistan for instance. RAWA, a peace-loving women’s organization in Afghanistan, didn’t defeat the Soviet Union. The USSR was defeated by fierce and brutal tribesmen sporting deadly USA-supplied weapons.
The Soviets didn’t leave because Miss Manners politely asked them to go or because the local imams prayed for them to go back to Moscow. The Soviets were forced back over the mountains by armed madmen.
What would Tolstoy have said about this?
Who knows what Tolstoy would have said — but my friend Anwaar Hussain has a lot to say about Afghanistan today. So I’m taking a break from reporting about the various landmarks, palaces and churches of Russia and reporting about events on the Af-Pak border instead. And take my word for it, Leo. The news about Peace there is NOT good.
According to Anwaar, the so-called Taliban have stolen the moral high ground in the Af-Pak region by making it appear that they, and they alone, are the chosen representatives of God — and it is now time for the American-backed Pakistan forces to take back the moral high ground. “The government should use all means at its disposal i.e. media, clerics, political leaders, etc., to highlight the fact that these are no godmen. These are common thugs involved in the drug trade, kidnappings for ransom and contract killings, to name a few activities, masquerading as godmen. Take their golden shoe away from them and beat them back with it.”
Anwaar also recommends that Americans need to stay out of the battle between Pakistan forces and the so-called Taliban. “For now, the Americans need to watch silently from the sidelines. They have lost much face with their blundering jaunts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the wanton killings in those unfortunate countries. They need to stand back and refrain from adding further weight to the Taliban’s golden shoe.”
So. What should America to do? Hire Pakistan to fight its battles for it? That won’t sit too well with the Afghans, who claim that Pakistan’s scheming intrigues against them have been responsible for most of their woes during the last several decades. But Anwaar goes on to suggest that it is also a bad idea for America to do nothing.
“Don’t talk of winding it up in days/weeks,” he recommends. “Be prepared for the long haul. By its very nature, insurgencies are protracted affairs. Even after several months, Malakand continues to remain on a low boil. Moreover, given South Waziristan’s terrain and the nature of the foe, a significant part of the militants’ strategy would be to encourage the military to penetrate deeper into the region i.e. farther up into the mountains, the favorite fighting ground of the militants, and then tie the soldiers down with hit-and-run tactics. That is likely to keep the soldiers engaged in a long-drawn-out operation in the unfriendly terrain over the winter.”
According to Tolstoy, isn’t that what the Russians did to Napoleon? Will the Taliban use winter to help defeat the Pakistan Army too? And never forget that the treacherous Af-Pak mountain winter is also a player in this Great Game.
I would love to go to Afghanistan again, to embed with the Marines and report on the war now going on there — but I’m not as stupid as Napoleon. I’ll wait until the winter is over.
Anwaar then goes on to state the obvious. “Above all, what needs to be remembered is that while there is no doubt that the Pakistan Army will eventually come out tops in this conflict, insurgencies are not defeated by simply killing all the insurgents. The root causes of this discontent, through reforms, education and reconstruction projects, will soon have to be addressed.”
PS: Anwaar also sent me the following information from his friend Agha, who has lived in Afghanistan since 2004, and I am now passing this information along because I think it’s important to know his POV. Then you can make what you want to out of it.
“With much bragging and swagger, the recent [Pakistan Army] Waziristan Operation [against Taliban-held areas] has been glorified as the mother of all battles,” wrote Agha, “and while it is important for military morale to spread the word that God or Allah is on side of the Pakistan Army, wars are not fought by propaganda or media alone. It all boils down to superior strategy, superior operational strategy and superior tactics by a military machine which is well supplied, has the right firepower at the right time, good intelligence, high morale and finally the physical endurance to climb the highest and steepest rocky pinnacles and traverse mountain gorges under the deadliest threats of ambuscades and annihilation.”
Then Agha offers his “two cents or half cents worth” of thoughts about Af-Pak. “First of all, the Waziristan Talibans centre of gravity is no longer the Mehsud inhabited area of South Waziristan. They have spread into Orakzai Agency, into DI Khan, into Bannu District, into Khyber Agency, Kurram Agency, South Punjab and most notably Karachi, which is a monster city of some 18 million souls some one third Pashtun or lets say one fourth Pashtun. Any tangible military operation in Waziristan will not destroy the Taliban. The Taliban require a broader strategy.
“Second, the Talibans are not an ethnic movement. They are an ideological movement and have some support, in all parts of Pakistan. Seen in this context the Mehsud tribe although the core leadership of Taliban is a diverse set up in which leadership may not be destroyed even if the Mehsuds are destroyed or suffer serious casualties.
“Third, they say that security and power are more psychological than physical. 15,000 British soldiers held all India in the First World War! Today 50,000 Pakistani troops cannot control FATA, 1% of the size of British India! Have things changed or have we changed? The Pakistani security forces have fast lost this moral deterrence since 2004 — with reverses in Waziristan, attacks on the corps commander and army chief and finally the GHQ attack. While apologists may brush them aside as of no consequence, the intangible trends are dangerous. A state cannot go on with an army that is no longer respected or feared — be it China, the USA or Pakistan. This is Pakistan’s most grave strategic imbalance or vulnerability.
“Fourth, the Taliban are supported by non-state actors in Pakistan, have silent supporters within the state actors, have foreign state and non-state supporters who support them for various agendas. By merely launching the army into South Waziristan, they cannot be destroyed.
“Fifth, the Taliban have been inflicting major damage on the USA are in Kandahar or Helmand since 2001, but these have been rewarded with rich construction and logistic subcontracts by US-AID agencies. The Taliban carry on drug and weapons trade day and night and are not interdicted by any US forces as I myself have repeatedly seen. Are they being prepared for Iran or at some stage China? It’s a question that only history will answer. These Taliban have their centre in Pakistani Balochistan but have never been attacked by the US.
“Sixth, so much propaganda and rhetoric has preceeded the Waziristan Operation that the Waziristan Taliban have had ample time to relocate to Birmal in Afghanistan and to other tribal agencies adjoining South Waziristan and even to Punjab, settled NWFP area and to Karachi which is the largest Mehsud city in the world!”
Agha thinks that the key to this whole issue may by implementing the following policies:
1. Economically empowering Pakistan’s tribal areas with export duty-exempt industrial zones producing products to be sent to the USA and EU. The naive US senate and congress have not addressed this core issue. The Kerry-Lugar Bill is a waste of time.
2. Serious reorganization of the Pakistan Army with heavy reliance on technology and on non-human military assets such as dogs, which have been so well used by many other armies fighting counterinsurgency. So far the Al Qaeda has failed to infiltrate into dogs!
3. Serious economic re-structuring of Pakistan with emphasis on power projects and incentives for small business.
4. A rapprochement with India so that the primacy of the Pakistani military in politics is reduced.
5. A gradual dis-engagement with the USA other than export-duty-free zones so that the demeaning impression of the Pakistani state and armed forces as petty vassals and mercenaries of the USA is reduced in the eyes of the Pakistani populace.
And here’s another quote from Agha that I am sure Tolstoy would love! “If military operations could pacify any country, there would have been no Vietnam or Afghanistan or even 50 plus expeditions into Waziristan since the 1890s until to date. The issue is not military alone but much larger. Seen in this context, the abject surrender of Pakistan’s political leadership to the Pakistani military to find a Waziristan solution is pathetic at best and shameful at the worst. As they say, war is too serious a business to be left to the generals.”
Perhaps our Congress should take note of that last sentence and engrave it on an arch over the capitol dome.
PPS: I also just read an interview with Zoya, a representative of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. “Eight years after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the human rights situation has not improved. And terrorists have actually gotten stronger in the last eight years. The war on terror is like a Tom and Jerry game between the Taliban and America. RAWA members would like to see the United States withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.”
Although RAWA initially welcomed the U.S. presence, RAWA changed its stance after learning that the United States is allegedly helping fundamentalist groups. “I think it is the Afghan people’s responsibility to fight against fundamentalist groups,” stated Zoya. Her organization seeks to promote democracy within Afghanistan by helping to fund and create alliances between democratic political parties, which will allow them to resist fundamentalist groups.
Perhaps, by following RAWA’s example, the meek will finally inherit the earth after all. However. Neither I nor Leo Tolstoy are holding our breath.
PPPS: After reading a lot of the news, opinions, dispatches, etc. coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Washington over the last eight years, I have finally realized that pretty much nobody knows what they are doing over there. So. Does this make Washington’s eight-year foray into that region a failure? Hardly. For those of us who have been following the money since 9-11, the whole point of this “war” appears to be merely a grand justification to subsidize America’s new favorite industry — the production of weapons.
Given this new way of measuring the war’s success or failure, the war on Afghanistan has actually been a rousing success — so why stop now when, according to this more realistic criteria, things are going really well! And besides, Afghanistan — along with Iraq, Palestine and perhaps sections of the Kenya/Somalia border — are pretty much the only shooting wars that America has left. And once they’re gone, how are America’s weapons manufacturers going to secure and maintain loyal customers, short of making Congress pass a law requiring every man, woman and child in America to own at least five hand guns, three rifles, two automatic weapons and a RPG?
If we leave the Af-Pak region now, the powerful weapons lobbies in Washington will just have to instruct Congress to go out and start another war. Isn’t it better to stay with the evil we know?
The Story Behind The Only Rangers Ever To Surrender
Fearing for their lives after the murder of the Mexican political boss, the Anglo residents of El Paso sent for the commander of the Texas Rangers Frontier Battalion on Oct. 24, 1877.
Fearing for their lives after the murder of the Mexican political boss, the Anglo residents of El Paso sent for the commander of the Texas Rangers Frontier Battalion on Oct. 24, 1877.
At first glance the killing of Luis Cardis appeared to be nothing more than the violent climax of a particularly nasty personal feud. But in reality the trouble in El Paso was all about salt.
Massive formations of the precious natural resource were located near Guadalupe Peak 100 miles east of Texas’ westernmost town. Under Spanish rule private ownership was forbidden making the highly coveted commodity free for the taking.
Generations of poor Mexicans eked out a modest living hauling salt to El Paso and into the interior of Mexico. Following Texas independence and annexation by the United States, the practice persisted in open defiance of a new law which declared that the salt was no longer public property.
Anglo arrivals did not learn of the existence of the salt until 1862, but the Civil War made private exploitation impossible. On the heels of the Confederate collapse, Radical Republicans took power in El Paso and elsewhere throughout Reconstruction Texas. They formed the secret Salt Ring in 1868 with the intention of reaping enormous profits, but dissension in their ranks and fear of the Mexican reaction postponed seizure of the Guadalupe deposits.
By 1872 the Republican machine was in shambles, wrecked by internal strife and the anti-Reconstruction backlash sweeping the state. Lawyer Charles Howard showed up that year in El Paso and in a matter of months became district attorney thanks to election rigging by Luis Cardis, an Italian whose dictatorial power was based on absolute control of the Mexican vote.
In the beginning, their alliance functioned smoothly and Cardis rewarded his obedient servant with an important judgeship. But the relationship soon soured, and Howard was badly beaten two years later in a bid for reelection when the Mexican bloc vote went to his challenger.
Infuriated by the betrayal, Howard swore to take his former benefactor’s life. But the refined attorney found he did not have the stomach for cold-blooded murder and twice let Cardis live after beating him to a bloody pulp. He worked up the nerve in June 1877 to pull a pistol on his mortal enemy at the Fort Quitman stage station but could not bring himself to squeeze the trigger.
In the meantime, Howard did what no one else had dared by acquiring legal title to the unclaimed salt. He was quickly confronted by enraged Mexicans, who forced him to sign a document relinquishing his right to their livelihood and promising his departure within 24 hours.
Howard, however, had other plans. Instead of heeding the threats and leaving town, he tracked down Cardis in one of his favorite haunts, the local dry goods store. Whether the political chief was actually armed caused countless arguments for more than a century, but what happened next is no mystery. Howard killed Cardis with twin blasts from a double-barreled shotgun.
In the aftermath of the sensational slaying, the panic-stricken Anglo minority summoned Texas Ranger Capt. John B. Jones. The famed commander of the Frontier Battalion reached the volatile powder keg on Nov. 7 after spending three bone-jarring weeks on a stagecoach that went by way of Topeka, Kansas.
Ten days later, a sympathetic justice of the peace released Howard on bail. The sight of the Anglo assassin on the streets of El Paso incensed Mexicans on both sides of the border.
Capt. Jones, whose services were always in demand, hurriedly organized a local Ranger company under the command of John B. Tays and handed him a second lieutenant’s commission. Jones then returned to Austin leaving the raw recruit with vague orders to keep the peace.
Lt. Tays, his untrained men and Charles Howard were surrounded in December by a bloodthirsty mob. After a siege of several days, Tays gave up and his entire company was taken captive, the only group of Texas Rangers ever to surrender.
A hastily assembled firing squad shot helpless Howard and mutilated his body with machetes. Two other Anglos suffered the same grisly fate before the rabble’s appetite for vengeance was satisfied.
Six suspected members of the mob were eventually indicted for the three killings. In spite of hefty rewards for their apprehension, none were ever arrested or brought to trial.
In an ironic postscript to the El Paso Salt War, the cause of the ruckus ended up in private hands. The haulers were soon out of business, and salt had to be bought over the counter like everything else.
(“Revolution & Republic: Texas 1832-1846” – “Best of This Week in Texas History” collection available for $10.95 plus $3.25 postage and handling from Bartee Haile, P.O. Box 152, Friendswood, TX 77549 or order online at www.twith.com.)
Creative Conflict Resolution
There are no gaps in communication; we fill in the missing information with our perceptions. No wonder there are so many conflict in relationships. Here are some thoughts for resolution.
Ask yourself creative questions that bring resolution:
1. What pre-conceived ideas do I have about this situation? How relevant are they?
2. What is the problem? Or am I making a problem where none exists?
3. Am I being a team player? Is the problem as much with me as with them?
4. Am I trying to force my ideals or priorities onto someone for my benefit?
5. What hidden agendas do I have? What is the secondary pay off?
6. How do I send conflicting messages?
7. What is the solution?
8. Is there a solution?
Be willing to not win. What is more important, relationship or being right? Be willing to overlook some misbehavior. Give up control, and give up being miserable.
Do not be defensive In times of conflict, do not be defensive, and do not become offensive. Be willing to let a point through. Recognize there are multiple nuances and be willing to compromise.
Don’t be offensive. Use productive strategies to make your point.
1. Rephrase. “Let me see if I understand what you are saying.” Soften your tone.
2. Listen. Let the person acknowledge “Yes” or “No” to your understanding. If “no,” let the person rephrase what they are saying or meaning.
3. Gain clarification. “What do you understand my position to be?”
4. Gently refute dogmatic assumptions with generalities. Such as, “some are like that, but not everyone.” “It may happen frequently but now always.” To the “Everyone thinks that” counter gently with “I don’t know. I cannot read minds.”
5. Ask for proof. Supplying proof is no gain or loss for him. If he cannot supply proof, be gracious and let him save face. If she cannot supply proof, this throws doubt on the validity on the argument.
6. Be specific about what you do or do not agree with.
7. Put up a stop sign. In a non-threatening way, raise your hand to cease the onslaught.
8. Invite a third party to arbitrate or to give input.
Receive criticism graciously. Value the person as having an interest in your well-being. Ask for insights as to why the plan is flawed and specific suggestions for improvement. Actively listen to words and filter out supposed hidden agendas. Allow compliments to make you feel good and criticism to spur you to do better the next time.
Give criticism effectively. Never speak in anger. Watch your tone of voice and hidden agendas. Have the person’s best interest at heart. Determine your aim. Be direct; state the problem and what you deem as a solution. Give space for evaluation and change.
To foster relationship amid misunderstandings, use magic words like “please,” “thank you,” and “I appreciate it.” Avoid threats and let truth or consequences prevail. Do not gloat when consequences come into play. Behave in a gracious manner when you are shown to be correct, and more importantly, when you are proven wrong.
(Mona Dunkin is a Motivational Speaker, Corporate Trainer and Personal Success Coach. Read past articles at www.monadunkin.blogspot.com.