And This Was the Best Conservatives Could Offer?

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Ethics, Government, Opinion, Politics, Public Relations, Religion, Respect, Taxes, Women

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Conservatives, Dean Heller, Election, GOP, Karl Rove, Republicans, Richard Mourdock, Todd Akin, Willard Mitt Romney

Mr. Insincere

For President – Eddie Haskell?
Willard Mitt Romney is a poor choice for President by any standard. Sure he’s better that Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, or almost any of the other right-wing wackos that ran for President this time, but Romney is an embarrassment to America. He will say anything to get a vote, but we all know that is just a rich man who is trying to fool enough of the people enough of the time to get elected. In a party that has great people like Colin Powell, they serve up a smarmy equivalent of Leave It To Beaver’s Eddie Haskell for President. Epic fail.

Paul Ryan is not an alien from another world…as far as we know.

For Vice President – Paul Ryan?
Really? Ryan is a person who is a deceiver. If Satan had Apostles, Paul Ryan would be his Number 1. He, like so many conservatives, is owned and operated by America’s major corporations and his interest is in exploiting our country, not serving.

Charles P. Pierce wrote and interesting piece on Ryan’s family history on the Esquire Politics Blog. He definitely not worthy of the second highest office in the land…or any other office.

Senator Dean Heller making sure he’s seen at Reno Air Races crash news conference (2011)

For Senate from Nevada – Dean Heller?
When Governor Brian Sandoval appointed Dean Heller to replace the adulterous Senator John Ensign, his seat in the House of Representatives forced the cash-strapped state to hold a special election, which cost over $1 million. Nevada certainly hasn’t got its money’s worth. One of Heller’s first official acts was to propose legislation that would prevent millionaires from receiving food stamps. He must have done it as a joke, but nobody laughed.

Heller is a former Bank of America consultant and stock broker, but now he works for people with even more money. If politicians had to wear suits that identified all their sponsors like race car drivers, then he would have a suit covered in oil, mining, and gaming corporations. He is bought and paid for and the lowly citizens of Nevada are not even on his radar.

Heller is the guy who always shows up at major news events like the Reno Air Races crash last year to stand near the Governor as if to say, “see me, I’m here, aren’t I great!”

Richard Mourdock says the pregnancy from rape is what “…God intended..”

For Senate from Indiana – Richard Mourdock and for the House of Representatives from Missouri – Todd Akin?
Indiana and Missouri have many highly qualified conservatives that could be representing the Republican party as candidates for federal office; however, it would be difficult to find two less deserving to fill the job than Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin. Both seem to be weeds in the flower patch and yet both still may win despite their bumbling, non-factual statements about rape and pregnancy. If either or both win then the stupid people of the world can rejoice that they are well represented in the United States Congress.

2012 Idiots on Parade by Karl Rove
The lack of quality conservative candidates doesn’t stop at federal political office. Many Republican state candidates are embarrassments to the country in their own right, but why is the GOP field so bad? That brings us to one name, Karl Rove.

Rove’s laughing now.

Karl Rove is the God of Conservative Candidates. He decides who will gain millions of dollars in advertising support and who won’t. With that money comes the strings. Independent minded, critical thinking people is not what Karl Rove seeks. If you are going to be supported by the Republican party this year, you have to be Karl Rove’s political Boy Toy. Rove’s money comes from Big Oil and mega corporations and they expect payback.

That has led to a slate of corporate Yes Men who are supposed to stay within a script. Like a gang of henchmen, Rove’s army of zombies march across the nation with a brain eating agenda of kill the government, put women down, and give our money to the rich. Rove arms his candidates with some of the most distasteful tactics in politics today.

One of Rove’s typical tactics of taking the conservative candidate’s weaknesses and then running ads accusing the rival candidate of the conservative candidates weakness. If his candidate is a partisan obstructionist, then Rove’s team creates an ad that the Democratic candidate is partisan and only votes with their party. Blaming the faults of his candidate on the other confuses the issue and makes a response to the accusation almost impossible.

How long can Rove keep this up? It depends on the results of this election. If Rove’s candidates win then America can expect to see the same strategy in future elections. If his candidates lose then perhaps true conservatives can take their party back from Karl Rove and his corporate sponsors and re-build it into something more than a group of Tea Party zombies.

Gasoline Pricing Coincides With Conservatives Political Agenda

30 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Ethics, Opinion, Politics, Public Relations

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big oil, Conservatives, David Koch, fuel costs, gas, gasoline prices, oil, Oil Companies, President George W. Bush, Willard Mitt Romney

The issue that is clicking with voters during this Presidential campaign is the economy. Despite the fact that America is in a Recovery while the rest of the world struggles economically, conservatives are working hard to maximize the fear of another economic disaster. There is one factor that helps Republican agenda and that is oil prices.

8 Year History of US Gasoline Prices

The cost of oil is a major factor in our economy and conservative oil executives are acutely aware of the impact the price of gasoline has on the psyche of the American consumer. Oil companies (exploration, refining, distribution, and trading of oil products) cannot completely control oil prices, but they can artificially set prices high or low for periods of time to influence the market and our economy.

Cut the revenue for the government, while increasing spending causing a massive debt, starting two wars, and wrecking the economy. George W. Bush MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

A historical look at the past eight years of oil prices indicates an interesting correlation to a conservative agenda. Shortly before the 2004 Presidential election cycle average U.S. gas prices were under $2.00/gallon. That worked well for the re-election of George W. Bush who needed the economy to seem well-managed under his administration. In 2005 and 2006, gas prices peaked during the summer at just under $3.00/gallon, but prices dropped rapidly just before the 2006 Congressional elections which boosted the image that conservatives were on track with the economy and the two wars in the Middle East.

In 2007, oil prices jumped up again during the summer and then continued to go higher during the Presidential campaign. Oil companies made massive profits and high oil prices reminded skeptical Americans that we needed to have a military presence in the Middle East to keep oil supplies under American control.

This strategy backfired on conservatives as unregulated banking practices brought the American economy to the brink of its second Depression. As it became obvious that is was conservative’s worship of private business and lack of government regulation that caused the disaster, high prices at the pump just made the problem bigger. President George W. Bush was looking incompetent and Republican candidate John McCain was sinking fast in the polls.

Suddenly the U.S. average price of a gallon of gasoline dropped from almost $4.00 to just over $1.50. This occurred in the middle of the summer when gas prices are usually the highest. The historic drop in gas prices didn’t rescue McCain’s bid for the Oval Office, nor did pulling Sarah Palin out of obscurity.

However, low gasoline prices did help to thwart the rapid growth in hybrid and fuel efficient cars that caused a significant drop in the demand of oil in America. Low gasoline prices helped derail many efforts to make alternative energy viable causing losses to those who took a big risk in trying to end dependency on oil.

If you want to make the economy look bad, gasoline prices are the way to do it

While oil prices increased in the Spring of 2008, gasoline remained steady at around $2.75/gallon with little variation between summer and other seasons until after the 2010 Congressional elections. It was also at this time that the worst of the economic fallout hit the United States. Unprecedented job losses and business failures seemed to stem the up/down cycles of gasoline prices.

That steady trend ended after the Congressional elections with gasoline prices climbing and remaining over $3.00/gallon for the duration of the 2012 Presidential campaign. This coincides with conservatives efforts to put the worst possible face on America’s economy.

Billionaire Oil Refiner David Koch with spouse Julia

Conservative oil executives like David Koch have worked hard to influence the outcome of this year’s elections. Oil executives are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to elect conservatives, and gasoline at almost $4.00/gallon serves their agenda well, and gives them a ready supply of cash.

The problem is that gasoline prices at the current levels will allow alternative energy blossom again, so after the election gasoline prices must come down. If President Obama is re-elected the oil companies will be forced to help improve the economy or face a continued decline in demand. David Koch certainly doesn’t want to be put in that position.

Fear is the Mind-Killer of the Conservative

29 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Employee Retention, Ethics, Government, Management Practices, Opinion, Politics, Public Relations

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Conservatives, David Koch, economy, fear, FedEx, Koch Industries, Willard Mitt Romney

Conservatives: Doom Awaits Unless We Win

“The sky is falling!” That is typically the argument of conservatives. Fear works…at least for a while. Scared people are nervous and nervous people tend to vote conservative. The irony is that for at least a century most economic downturns occur during or just after conservatives have been the dominant power in the federal government. Scared people aren’t necessarily rational.

Conservatives also run most large corporations. This should not be a surprise as business operates on a basic motive of profit, which is to say, “What’s in it for me/us?” That concept is the same position that conservatives take on most political issues. Conservatives tend to see America as a dog-eat-dog world and those at the bottom are getting what they deserve.

Conservatives cold attitude has not improved with the massive growth in executive salaries. The exponential increases in compensation for those above the glass ceiling has created a clique of American business leaders who have lost their moral compass¹ as they’re lured into an ethical abyss by the motto that “Greed is good.” The unethical pursuit of profit in business took America to the brink of economic disaster in 2007, and left Americans into a financial collapse that is still playing out across the world.

As conservatives stand naked from the of their exposure of their past misdeeds, redirecting political issues is the only option to keep their failed policies alive. In past elections, terrorism has been the deep well that conservatives drew from to create a sense of panic among voters; however, after a decade of wars American citizens have no desire to engage in another Middle East Killing Field.

Koch to 50,000 employees: Vote for Romney
(Billionaire Oil Refiner David Koch with spouse Julia)

What is working for conservatives is the fear of economic disaster. Emails of impending doom are forwarded in mass by conservatives eager to create a sense of panic in anybody that lacks the intelligence to ignore them. Willard Mitt Romney has told business executives to scare their employees with threats of layoffs and cutbacks. Koch Industries and others have complied with Romney’s request and some have gone as far as to warn their employee will be fired if they vote for President Obama. Other companies, like FedEx, have made the announcement that layoffs are coming just weeks before the election leading to employee misgivings about their future if Romney is not elected.

The tactics conservatives are using will eventually turn on them. People become immune to fear when it is constantly thrust upon them. The more the Republican party uses fear, the sillier it sounds to an intelligent person. The deeper conservatives drink in fear and hate, the more likely they will become irrelevant in American politics.

¹Related Article: Mega Executive Performance Leads to Poorer Performance. 2010 May 31. Paul Kiser’s Blog. Kiser, Paul

Why Job Creators Aren’t

15 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Business, Employee Retention, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Management Practices, Opinion, Politics, Public Relations, Taxes

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business friendly, Conservatives, Employment, job creators, jobs, Nevada, Reno, Unemployment

Job Creators in Nevada

Willard Mitt Romney and other conservatives try to promote the idea that private businesses are desperate to create jobs if only the government will let them; however, in May Romney gave a wink to the idea that Job Creators might be holding back millions of jobs to artificially stifle job growth to favor conservative candidates in the upcoming election. At the same time conservative businessmen are threatening their employees with layoffs if President Obama is elected.

Are Job Creators the victim of the federal government, or are conservatives trying to manipulate the citizens in order to make themselves wealthier?

Protest outside The Venetian during Republican debates

Nevada has led the country in high unemployment during this recession and has been increasing in July and August (now 12.1%.) Reno, Nevada was ranked the worst city in the nation to find a job. Yet, last week the conservative TaxFoundation.org ranked the Silver State #3 in its 2013 Business Tax Climate for the second year in a row because of its ‘business friendly‘ tax structure.

Since taxes are not holding business back from creating jobs, why is Nevada the Rodney Dangerfield of American employment?

PROFITS, ALWAYS PROFITS
The answer lies with the problems low unemployment cause for businesses. Low unemployment pressures employers (Job Creators) to offer higher wages and better benefits to attract and keep employees. High unemployment means employers can control the job market, which means higher profits. There is no reason for major Nevada employers like casinos to desire a change in the current employment environment.

This is probably why Nevada ‘Job Creators’ like Sheldon Adelson of The Venetian in Las Vegas are spending millions of dollars in support of conservative candidates who will make them wealthier rather than spend the money creating jobs.

Oil Industry 11 of World’s Top 20 Corporations

01 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Customer Relations, Ethics, Human Resources, Politics, Public Relations

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big oil, BP, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Exxon, Mobil, Oil Companies, profits, Royal Dutch Shell

‘Big’ Oil is an understatement. According to Wikipedia, 11 of the world’s top 20 corporations (measured by revenue) are either oil producers, or trade oil. In fact, seven of the top ten corporations of the world are oil industry related. Forget Apple (No. 44,) Microsoft (No. 111,) or Google (not in top 185) because they are not even in the same league as oil corporations.

The Wikipedia study pulled together the financial data from multiple sources, including financial reports of major corporations. Oil companies have 60% of the revenue of the top 20, which means the average revenue per corporation of oil companies exceeds the average revenues of the nine non-oil related corporations.

World’s Top 20 Corporations by Revenue

The ‘Big Five’¹ oil companies are also made over $200 billion in profits during 2011, and as consumer pump prices remained high despite consumer demand that is at 1997 levels. Interestingly, oil companies, according to the Wikipedia study, employ only 25% of the total employed by the top 20 corporations.

¹NOTE: Big Five Oil Companies are: Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips

Romney’s Concession Speech

20 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Crime, Education, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Health, History, Opinion, Politics, Public Relations, Religion, Taxes, US History, Women

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Ann Romney, concession, Democrats, economy, GOP, job creators, Recession, recovery, Republicans, speech, Unemployment, Willard Mitt Romney

November 6, 2012 4:34 PM EDT

I know the polls have not closed in…well, anywhere, but the results of this election are obvious, even to a multi-millionaire like myself. We’ve lost…again.

Many complained that we lied and deceived the voters in an attempt to be elected. What were we supposed to do? Our choice was to acknowledge that President Obama did a great job in tackling the mess we created and began rebuilding the country, OR lie. We were not going to win any elections by telling the truth!

This campaign was built on the idea that we could fool people long enough to be elected President. As I said in May, 47% of Americans are too smart to be tricked by our twisting of facts, and we knew that 30% of Americans would vote for me no matter how bad we ran our campaign. So this campaign came down to sucking in less than 23% of the electorate. Unfortunately for us most of the citizens of this country are not as stupid as we had hoped.

But you have to credit us for our bravado in our attempt to buy and lie our way into the White House:

GOP Success: Stopping America’s Recovery

The Economy: Our fault, but that didn’t stop us from blaming President Obama. We almost convinced America that President Obama failed because he didn’t create full employment, didn’t pave streets in gold, nor had honey flow out of our taps in four years.
Unemployment: This one is funny, You’ll laugh. We told people that the wealthy are …ready for this..THE job creators! I know, I know. How stupid do you have to be to know that private business loves high employment. Low unemployment means employees can demand better pay, better benefits, better working schedules and all those other headaches that come when too many people have a good job. Employers now have employees by the short hairs and we’re never letting go.
The Recovery: It was remarkable under the circumstances, and conservatives fought hard to keep it from happening. There are no liberals in Big Oil and they worked with us to keep prices high this year. Still, no joy.
The Debt: The truth is that the Bush-era tax cuts cut knees out of the federal budget. That and two mega-wars, plus the devastation caused when my conservative banking friends wrecked the economy. Sure the stimulus and bailouts increased the nation’s debt, but none of that would have been necessary if conservative policies hadn’t put all the ingredients together for an economic disaster.
Big Government: We made it sound like President Obama made massive increases in government, and yet it was George Bush that created the TSA, and other massive increases in the size of federal government. Still, we just have to say ‘big government’ to stupid people and they start to sweat. It’s kind of fun.
Obamacare: We were blessed to have a major Democratic lead program that wouldn’t be effective until 2014. We could paint it to be anything we wanted and we wanted it to be evil. Who could argue with me?
Foreign Policy: Conservatives are warmongers. We love a good fight. We love a bad fight. We love it anytime we can send our young adults and technology to overseas to beat somebody up. I thought we had President Obama beat on foreign policy, but I sort of screwed it up in London…and Israel….and Poland. If you don’t like my foreign policy you can kiss my ass!

We also did a good job of ignoring what we didn’t want to talk about.

The Past: We had a Republican National Convention and we didn’t even invite either of the Bush’s. We didn’t need to highlight the past and good riddance to both of them.
Taxes: We didn’t want to talk about my taxes. As Ann said, if we let people see our taxes, “they will attack us!” Sure a President should have a thick skin, but who needs that when we can deny and hide? Richard Nixon taught me that.
Family History: I don’t want to discuss this, even now.
My First Name: Seriously, who would vote for someone named Willard?
Women: We probably should have been more sensitive to women’s issues, but really, who cares? Right Ann?
Education: Smart people don’t vote for idiots. Why did you think we didn’t want to talk about education?
Crime: We conservatives have always pushed a ‘lock’em up and throw away the key’ policy on crime. The problem is that it cost $30,000/year to house one inmate, and after they reach 55 years old, inmate costs go up to $60,000/year because of increasing medical issues. More inmates, higher costs. Who knew?

I know my mouth got this campaign into a lot of trouble, but honestly how can you only blame me for failed policies that are the very definition of being a conservative. Like everything else, it was the fault of the Democrats that I didn’t get elected as President.

Well, I guess I should end this before I say something stupid. I hope all of you feel better now that you won’t have Ann and I to kick around anymore.

Netanyahu Pushes America To Another War, Romney Eager To Oblige

14 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Communication, Ethics, Government, History, Internet, Opinion, Politics, Public Relations, Religion, Respect

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Benjamin Netanyahu, Cairo, Conservatives, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, Palestinians, President Barack Obama, red line, Violence, War, Willard Mitt Romney

Netanyahu to US: “Isn’t it time for another Middle East war?”

On Tuesday Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goaded the United States into a war with Iran. Demanding that the United States set conditions for war by establishing a ‘red line’ for which the United States would begin another war in the Middle East if Iran crossed it. Conservative Presidential candidate Willard Mitt Romney seems eager to appease Netanyahu by whining about President Obama’s work to end the existing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and assuring voters that if he is elected he will move quickly to send America’s young adults back into war.

Netanyahu used unilateral actions at Jewish/Christian/Muslim holy sites in 1996 and 2010 to insult and spark riots by Muslims

Netanyahu is no stranger to goading people into violence. In 1996, while throwing roadblocks into the peace process with Palestine, he authorized work in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem that was guaranteed to anger the Palestinians. His ‘in-your-face’ act caused three days of riots and took 80 lives. Like the brother who knows how to get his sibling into trouble, Netanyahu modus operandi is to push others into violent acts by doing something that seems innocent, but is actually extremely insulting.

By stimulating violence, Netanyahu was able to justify moving Israeli forces in to Palestinian-occupied Hebron in January of 1997. Eventually he was able to stop the peace process by refusing to compromise on any significant issue. Netanyahu has a consistent history of being the naysayer to any peace effort between Israel and Palestine since 1996. He also has pushed for issues that are designed to irritate Arabs, such as continue settlement of Israelis in Arab-controlled lands. Netanyahu’s provocation of Palestinians and other Arab countries has left the Middle East in turmoil and set the stage for violent groups in the Arab world to fester and grow.

The interesting coincidence is that just as Netanyahu is pushing America to go to war with Iran, Arabs are once again goaded with a mysterious film¹ on YouTube that mocks Mohammad. Riots in Muslim countries have resulted in attacks on American consulates in Libya and Yemen, killing J. Christopher Stevens, America’s Ambassador in Libya, and three other U.S. diplomats. The cast and crew of the film were misled as to the purpose of the film and the producer’s name has turned out to be fictitious. No one seems to be able to determine who actually produced the film, but it is clear it was intended to incite violence.

In addition, Romney’s reaction to the attack on America’s consulate was so rapid that one has to question if Romney’s campaign was anticipating a significant foreign anti-American event and pulled the trigger on condemning President Obama’s even before there was a reaction from the administration. Romney’s campaign misfired by citing a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo from Tuesday morning that condemned to provocation of the mysterious film prior to the attacks on the American consulate in Libya.

Romney’s campaign is citing America’s “freedom of speech” as the excuse for provoking Muslims with this film; however, conservatives are the first to react with rage over burning the American flag or defacing a Bible. American conservative anti-Muslim groups have now been connected to the latest efforts to promote the film on YouTube, and these groups are known to be rabid anti-President Obama groups.

The timing of this film, Netanyahu’s provocation, conservative promotion of the film, and Romney’s quick, albeit inappropriate, response to the violence seem to indicate that a connection is possible as part of an effort to motivate conservatives to support Romney’s sputtering campaign and his inept foreign policy efforts with allies and foes.

(¹The name of the film and a link to the film are intentionally absent in this article.)

NOTE: The acts of violence toward United States Embassies and personnel cannot be excused regardless of the provocation. This article is not overlooking the shameful thugs who are taking an opportunity to injure and kill innocent people. They should be identified and punished for what they have done. However, just like the person who enters into a theater and yells fire just to create a panic, the person(s) behind this inexcusable film that incited the outrage should be held responsible for lighting the fuse that caused the social bomb to explode.

4 Lesson’s Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer Has Taught Us

10 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Communication, Crisis Management, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Education, Employee Retention, Ethics, Human Resources, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Opinion, Public Relations, Respect, The Tipping Point

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CEO, employee morale, Google, Kathy Savitt, leadership, management by intimidation, Marissa Mayer, Mollie Spillman, Yahoo

Marissa Mayer: Management by Destruction

On July 16, Yahoo announced that they hired 37-year-old Marissa Mayer, a former Google Vice President (VP), as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to turnaround the company. A little over a month later Mayer hired a new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), which should not be surprising. How she did it tells us a lot about her management capabilities and about Yahoo’s Board of Directors.

Often a change in direction for a company will require new leadership in key management positions. Anyone who doesn’t know their job is in jeopardy when a new CEO walks in the door is kidding themselves. Sometimes a new CEO will ask for the top management to resign. Sometimes a new CEO will just give the old management team a severance package. Sometimes a CEO will take six months to get to know the company and then make changes. All these options a part of nominal business operations.

However, Mayer reportedly fired Mollie Spillman, her old CMO 1) by phone, 2) while she was on vacation, and 3) ten minutes before Yahoo’s official announcement that the new CMO would be Kathy Savitt.

Wow. Apparently, Mayer like burning all her bridges before she blows them up.

It’s important to note that Mayer’s age and/or gender are not at issue. Man or woman, old or young, what Mayer did was ethically questionable and has far reaching implications for Yahoo. Her slam-bam-you’re-fired-ma’am stunt is worthy of analysis for what it says about Mayer, Yahoo, and management-by-intimidation.

Lesson 1: Mayer’s Questionable Ethics and Leadership
It doesn’t take guts to fire somebody. Firing someone is easy. Firing someone is a power trip. If you walk up to person on the street and say, “You’re Fired!,” it will probably only get you a confused stare followed by a laugh, but if you say, “You’re Fired!” at an underling employee, you have shown you are dominant and all powerful. To fire someone is a rush to the sadist.

Separating an employee from an organization with dignity and respect takes sensitivity, experience, and humility. It requires that the manager talks with (not at) the employee, and it requires the manager check their need for power at the door. Firing someone over the phone while they’re on vacation demonstrates a lack of experience and a lack of humanity.

In her defense, Mayer may have been reacting to another executive who left Yahoo one week before. It is possible that Mayer thought that Spillman might also leave and decided she would exercise a preemptive strike by replacing her before she could find another job. Still, that’s a weak reason to behave like a tree house club President.

Lesson 2: How to Destroy Morale
When the CEO trash-n-bashes an employee it sends a message to everyone else in the company: Time to look for another job. How can any employee at Yahoo avoid wondering if they will be fired the next time they’re on vacation? How can any manager at Yahoo not believe that Mayer’s questionable ethics is now the model they should be following?

No Reason to Yahoo Behind This Sign

Mayer did make a peace offering to her employees soon after she took over by offering free food to full-time employees and a free iPhone. But her offerings weren’t free. In return for free perks she put extreme pressure to perform. She pushed a new product up by months and gave the development team one week to prove it could be done. When the team came back a week later and said it couldn’t be done on the schedule she demanded she said she would find another team that could do it.

This shows the classic fatal error in management-by-intimidation (MBI): Failing to trust and listen to the people you have working for you. It may be great to tell the investor a tale of tough-love while scratching your balls and dining on the company’s dime, but it really means that the customer is going to get a rushed, half-baked product that shows how mediocre your organization can be when it comes to innovation. Don’t get me wrong, some people…okay most people, need to be pushed, but most people don’t like to work in a threatening environment.

This shows the classic fatal error in management-by-intimidation: Failing to trust and listen to the people you have working for you.

The result of MBI is that all your employees start looking for other employment options. The people with great ideas and skills are grabbed up by the competition and Yahoo will be left with the people who nobody else wants. Now you have an organization consisting of the worst performers.

Lesson 3: Yahoo’s Future is in Doubt
In the past five years it has averaged a new CEO each year. That says more about the Board of Directors than it does about the CEO’s. The problem is that there is no quick fix and it is likely that Mayer management style is being encouraged by dysfunctional leadership in the Board room. Yahoo needs positive, creative, loyal, and happy employees if the company is to dig its way out of the hole its in. Creating an environment of fearful, anxious, angry employees is guaranteed to keep them noncompetitive now and in the future.

Throwing money, free food, or free iPhones may appease employees temporarily, but people want and need to be valued and treated with respect. The moment an employee feels that their neck is on the line is the moment they are no longer have ownership in the company, and when employees don’t have ownership, they stop caring. Uncaring employees are saboteurs in an organization. Yahoo likely has almost 15,000 saboteurs with intimate knowledge of the company’s secrets, weaknesses, and plans. That doesn’t bode well for customer satisfaction, nor company stock price.

Lesson 4: Inexperience Does Not a Good Manager Make
Of the Fortune 500 club, Mayer is the youngest CEO. Publicly, she has been a celebrated rising star at Google since she joined as employee #20 in 1999, and was Google’s first female engineer. Privately, some accused her of being a glory-hound seeking attention and fame. Despite having no business degrees (her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford are in computer engineering specializing in artificial intelligence,) she rose through the company to be a Vice President.

It was appropriate for Yahoo to hire a young executive. There are many people under 40 who are wise beyond their age, or have solid experience in people and resource management; however, Mayer’s lack extensive executive management experience seems to be demonstrated in her immature behavior.

Bonus Lesson: Micromanagement – Slapping Your Team in the Face
It was reported last week that Mayer is now reviewing the candidates for every open position at Yahoo. That’s correct, Mayer is overseeing every potential new hire for every opening in a company of 15,000 employees. Nothing says you’re a ‘stupid ass’ to your management team quite like taking away their ability to choose who will work for them. If anyone at Yahoo didn’t know that they are valueless, Mayer and the Board of Directors have certainly removed all doubt.

Every business school should be studying Yahoo. Studying successful management is important, but studying an organization that is in a meltdown can teach future would be leaders why you can’t build up your organization by tearing apart your employees.

Time To Talk About Willard Mitt Romney’s Birth Certificate

28 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Ethics, Government, History, Politics, Religion, US History

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Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Colonia Juarez, Edmunds Act of 1882, Gaskill Romney, George Wilcken Romney, LDS, Mexico, Miles Park Romney, Miles Romney, Mormon, Mormon Colonies, Mormons, polygamist, polygamy, Willard Mitt Romney

Miles Park Romney and His 5 Wives

Mitt Romney was born on March 12, 1947. His birth certificate says he was born in Detroit, Michigan. There is no dispute to these facts. The question is why was Mitt Romney born in Michigan? Mitt’s father was born in Mexico and his grandfather, Gaskell Samuel Romney was born in 76 years earlier in St. George, Utah. How did Mitt Romney end up in Michigan rather than in Utah or Mexico? Mitt Romney refrains from discussing his family history during his campaign to become the President of the United States; however, the journey from Utah to Michigan is as dramatic as any 19th century account of settling the American West.

Mitt’s great-great grandfather, Miles Romney, was born in Lancashire (now Cumbria,) England in 1806. In 1837, he converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormons) and in 1841, he moved his family to the United States (Illinois) to join a Mormon colony. Mile’s son (Mitt’s great-grandfather,) Miles Park Romney was born in Illinois in 1843, but the Mormons were driven out of their community in 1846. The family drifted for several years and finally settled in the Territory of Utah around 1850, a few years after the United States took the northern third of Mexico away at gunpoint following after the Mexican-American War.

Miles Park Romney – 5 Wives, 31 Children

It was Miles Park Romney who first embraced polygamy and married five wives and fathered 31 children during the course of his life, including Mitt’s grandfather, Gaskill, in 1871. Miles Park Romney was enlisted in the effort to make the new American West territory a mega-Mormon colony. He moved to Arizona in 1881, to establish a Mormon presence there; however, existing settlers were not agreeable to a religious takeover of their community.

At about the same time the United States passed the Edmund’s Act (¹) that made polygamy a felony. After attempts to challenge the law failed and law enforcement began arresting polygamists, Miles Park Romney took at least one of his families (he had two wives at the time) and fled to Mexico in 1885. Miles Park Romney settled at Colonia Juarez in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico along with other Mormons attempting to avoid arrest in the United States. Miles Park Romney never returned to the United States as he died in Mexico in 1904.

A contemporary image of Colonia Juarez, the Mormon Polygamist Colony in Mexico.

While still living in Mexico, young Gaskill Romney became an adult and married Anna Amelia Pratt in 1895. In 1907, Anna gave birth to Mitt’s father, George Wilcken Romney. A few years later the Mexican Revolution began and by 1912, the Romney’s were on the run back to the United States when violence threatened to involve their Mormon community. After living as refugees in Texas, California, and Idaho, the Gaskill finally settled his family back in Utah where they lived out much of the Great Depression.

As a young adult Mitt’s father, George W. Romney, completed a mission to Great Britain and then unsuccessfully attended several colleges in the United States. He married in 1931, and eventually moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1939, where Willard Mitt Romney was born in 1947.

That is how the person who will be nominated as the Republican Presidential candidate came to Michigan, via Mexico.

¹A Mormon account of the Edmund’s Act and the Polygamist’s flight to Mexico. (From OrsonPrattBrown.com – The Life and Times of Orson Pratt Brown)

The United States Congress on March 14, 1882, passed the Edmund’s Bill which gave new cause and impetus to Mormon interest in Mexico. The bill made illegal the Mormon practice of having more than one wife. The concept of plural marriage was one of the cardinal doctrines of the Mormon Church and its members believed it to be a divine principle as set forth in revelation to the founding prophet, Joseph Smith, Jr., in 1843.

In 1884, the United States government began active prosecution of the new law. The penalty for polygamy was set at $500,000 or five years imprisonment, or both. Cohabitation was punishable by a fine not to exceed $300.00 and imprisonment not to exceed six months. Federal marshals hunted down violators in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, and New Mexico….

Romneylans: A New Species of Stupidity

21 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Higher Education, Honor, Politics, Religion, Science, Taxes, US History, Women

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ACA, Affordable Care Act, Christianity, Climate change, Conservatives, economy, George W. Romney, Global warming, guns, Healthcare, Immigration, Jesus Christ, jobs, Mitt Romney, New Testament, NRA, patriotism, Romans 14:10, Romneylans, Romulans, Todd Akin, Unemployment

Romulans of the Star Trek kind

Romulans (Star Trek Series): A alien race ruled by a hierarchical society that is always at war or in an uneasy truce with almost everyone, noted by an almost illogical egocentric society using cunning and deception to gain the advantage. Also identifiable by their pointy ears and uni-haircut.

Todd Akin: Romneylan of the stupid kind

Romneylans (rom-nee-lans): Similar to Romulans, but without the pointy ears and the spiffy haircut.

Romneylans have invaded Earth (specifically the United States) and if they are not defeated we risk losing everything that makes America great.

Ironically, Romneylans are NOT identified by their alleged support of candidate Mitt Romney. Romneylans are actually united by an irrational hate for President Obama. If Bozo the Clown were running against President Obama, Romneylans would vote for Bozo. (NOTE: Mitt Romney is NOT Bozo the Clown and my apologies to any clown named Bozo.)

Romneylans are also noted for their hate for liberals, rejection of reason, and an unshakable commitment to stupidity. Some examples:

Patriotism: Romneylans (A.K.A.: Conservatives) believe that if you don’t agree with them then you are not an American. That in itself is stupid, but what takes it to a new level is the idea that beating your breast about America’s military might is considered patriotic, but it is unpatriotic if you support the civil servants that serve our country with honor and have made America the envy of the citizens of most other countries. Romneylans think that dismantling our government is patriotic.

Religion: Romneylans claim to be Christians. Christianity is identified as the belief in Jesus Christ and his teachings that can be found in the New Testament. Romans 14:10 of the New Testament states:

But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Romans 14:10 King James version

No need to interpret what is being meant by not judging others. Yet, Romneylans feel compelled to declare that the Bible gives them the right to persecute and pass judgement on almost anyone. Ironically, Jesus Christ is one of the most compassionate religious figures in human mythology, but Romneylans love saying “hate the sin, not the sinner,” which is quite possibly the stupidest thing ever said by a group of people known for stupid remarks. A glance at any Romneylan Facebook page and it is easy to determine that their hate is boundless and their compassion for anyone they hate is nonexistent.

Economy: The depth of stupidity of Romneylans is most evident with their take on the economy. The 2007-09 economic collapse in America occurred as a direct result of unbridled greed in private business and a lack of ethics throughout business in general. That is documented.

However, Romneylans believe that the economic collapse was caused by government regulation and that our economy can be restored by eliminating any of the safeguards that make ethical business possible. Romneylans depend on a permanent state of denial about what Conservatives and conservative policies did to bring America to the brink of disaster.

US Employment Data

Jobs: The impact of the 2007-09 Recession on jobs was felt through the first quarter of 2010. There is no magic bullet to recover the jobs lost during that time, but what is not going to help our nation’s unemployment is to eliminate civil service jobs that employ millions of middle class citizens. Romneylans rabid hate for government is the classic ‘biting the hand that feeds you’ syndrome.

Healthcare: One of the biggest problems America has faced in the last thirty years is the rising cost of healthcare. A major component of this issue is the uninsured citizen without access to affordable healthcare. The uninsured person can’t afford to see a doctor for preventive, or minor health issues, so this often results in that patient receiving no care until it becomes a major health problem. That increases the cost of treatment for which we all indirectly pay. The Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA) solves this problem.

However, Mitt Romney, nor his major contributors will ever have to worry about access to proper medical treatment, thus they don’t care about the millions of Americans who have no access. Ironically, many Romneylans will benefit from ACA either directly or indirectly. Unfortunately, stupidity rules the day with conservative voters and they have convinced themselves that ACA is akin to the Apocalypse, thus it must be stopped before it can take effect.

Another issue is women’s health, in particular, contraception and abortion. While some may say this is another religious issue, for Romneylans it seems to have more of a tie to the gender that is making most of the noise. (See Conservative Pig Influenza of 2012.)

Science: Anyone who seriously believes that Creationism should be taught in public and or private schools as an alternative option to evolution is certainly a Romneylan. Creationism has no basis as a rational explanation for how the universe and humans came into existence but that doesn’t stop Romneylans from declaring mythology as science.

Regarding climate change, science has demonstrated that we are witnessing an extraordinary change in Earth’s climate on a scale that exceeds any climate change during the last 600,000 years. A study funded in part by conservatives to disprove the science of global warming ended up confirming the data.

This doesn’t stop a Romneylan. They dispute science by being ‘skeptical.’ Skeptical is another way of saying, “I’m being stupid.”

Immigration: The Hispanics population in America is growing; however, Mexicans coming to America is not what is driving Conservatives panic attack on this issue. They are just scared white men. That’s sad, but Romneylans are taking their panic and turning into an issue that is long on fear mongering and short on facts. Romneylans are now trying to arm themselves and monitor the border. Guns and vigilantes can be entertaining, but not very smart.

One of the ironies is that most Romneylans nay not know that Romney’s father was born in Mexico when his family fled there to avoid prosecution by the United States of America. His family returned when they became concerned about violence in Mexico.

Romneylan with an open mind?

Guns: I was raised in one of America’s prime hunting communities. I was one of the first to complete an NRA (National Rifle Association) safety course. In addition, I was taught that guns and people don’t mix, so we had a rule to not come back into town with a loaded gun after hunting. Safety and respect for others was key.

Then the NRA became political and this was the cry of gun owners:

When guns are outlawed, only Outlaws will have guns

Clever. Here’s the reality. Almost every person will at some point in their lives be filled with so much anger that they will have a fleeting desire to injure or kill someone else. The NRA wants that person to have a gun accessible so they can act on that impulse. Does that seem smart or stupid?

Romney’s Medicare Dump and Run Strategy

18 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Honor, Politics, Public Relations, Taxes

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Brian Sandoval, Conservatives, Gilligan's Island, Jan Brewer, Medicare, Mitt Romney, Nevada, Republicans, Rick Gorka, Thurston Howell III, white board

Pssst! Hey Rick! Rick Gorka! Rick, I’m sure you’ve learned not to say, “Kiss my ass!” to the media, but add one more thing to your ‘DO NOT DO’ list. Don’t give Mitt Romney a white board…ever. It makes him look stupid….er, which is an amazing feat, but you did it last Thursday.

Why?

Time travel? Was Thurston Howell III in the 1960’s based on the 2012 Mitt Romney?

First, it makes Romney look like Thurston Howell III from Gilligan’s Island trying to explain how poverty is not a bad as it seems. A multimillionaire, who is so embarrassed by his wealth that he won’t make is tax filings public, shouldn’t be discussing the financial future of the other 99%.

Second, when everyone knows that Medicare is facing insolvency in the near future unless SOME changes are made, Romney saying he is making ‘No Change’ and that the program will stay solvent forever makes it obvious he is stupid or lying or both.

Image thanks to BusinessInsider.com from ABC news telecast

Romney versus the White Board. The White Board won.

Third, most states, like Nevada, are drastically cutting government programs as fast as they can. Romney telling the public that dumping money in a block grant to a Governor like Brian Sandoval or Jan Brewer and telling them to take it and care for your elderly is like giving money to a wino and tell him to go invest it in the stock market. It’s not going to happen.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan’s plan for Medicare is Dump and Run. Give states just enough money to create a bureaucracy but not enough money to help anyone. Does it make any sense to create 50 new bureaucracies as opposed to one central agency? Let’s leave the white boards to smart people. Like teachers who know how to use them effectively and who know the difference between fact and whatever it is Romney is trying to say.

Lack of Quality Jobs Killing Nevada’s Future

15 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Business, College, Education, Ethics, Government, Higher Education, Politics, Public Relations, Taxes, Universities

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Brian Sandoval, business friendly, Conservatives, Employment, GOP, job creation, job quality, Nevada, Republicans, Sheldon Adelson, Unemployment

No degree? No experience? Welcome to Nevada where you have no future.

For years Nevada conservatives have waved the banner of the ‘business friendly myth‘ that low taxes and minimal regulation will attract new business to Nevada. The truth is that ‘business friendly’ does little, if anything, to attract quality jobs and makes this former Mexican province one of the worst in the nation in societal quality-of-life factors.

Poor Job Quality
Typical experiences of Nevada’s unemployment disaster indicate a long-term unemployment crisis and not a temporary business downturn.

In May of this year a master’s degree engineering graduate from the University of Nevada wanted to keep his family in the state but had to move his family to San Jose, CA to find employment. Another unemployed resident couldn’t find a job because she was “overqualified.” Her skills consisted primarily of a stable work history managing a telephone answering service. In Nevada there are no jobs now nor in the near future that will be available for anything but the lowest qualified worker.

Sheldon Adelson: Godfather of Conservative Politics

While most of the country has experienced some recovery from the massive job losses between 2008 and the first quarter of 2010, Nevada has not, despite the assurances of Governor Brian Sandoval. Conservatives point to wealthy Nevadans as the ‘job creators’ who will be the source of new jobs. Instead wealthy people like casino mogul Sheldon Adelson have poured millions of dollars into campaigns for conservative politicians ( $70 million so far,) while the citizens of the state have borne the impact of the unemployment crisis.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal article by Ed Vogel stated that of the few new Nevada jobs available in the future, most will be low-paying, low-skill, non-career jobs. The top four fastest growing jobs in Nevada are 1) retail salespeople, 2) waiters/waitresses, 3) cashiers, 4) gaming dealers.

These type of jobs do not provide for a career with a progressive future and leave the worker with little spendable income after basic living costs. The highly qualified worker has little hope of finding a job that matches his/her abilities. This creates a ‘Catch-22’ scenario. Educated, skilled workers can’t find work in Nevada so they go elsewhere and businesses with high quality jobs want quality workers, which Nevada can’t retain for a lack of quality jobs.

Nevada is a perfect storm of failure under conservative ‘business friendly’ policies which financially benefit those who allegedly are the ‘job creators,’ but leave the citizens in a ‘unfriendly’ job environment.

Why Ryan, Why Now: Romney Repeats Mistakes of McCain & Nixon

13 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Ethics, Government, History, Politics, Public Relations, Taxes, US History

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GOP, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, paying taxes, Republicans, Richard Nixon, scandal, tax returns, vice president

Mitt Romney follows McCain and Nixon to failure

Mitt Romney had over two weeks before he had to reveal his choice for Vice President and it would have been advantageous for him to wait. Keeping the Vice President choice a secret would have built up anticipation and the pundits would not have been able to resist continued speculation on the selection. All this would have climaxed with the announcement of the choice on August 29, in prime time on center stage of the Republican National Convention.

Instead the announcement was handled with all the grace of an engagement announcement of a pregnant daughter. The news leaked on a Friday night during the final week of the Olympics and announced before most of the country was awake on Saturday morning. A Vice President choice should reflect the wisdom of the campaign, so why was this one handled as badly or worse than the McCain/Palin fiasco?

Simple. It was desperation.

In 2008, John McCain was desperate to shake up the campaign and re-energize it. Unfortunately, Romney has the same type of desperation, but for different reasons. Romney certainly needs to re-energize his campaign, but what is more critical is the need to shift the focus off the charges that he hasn’t paid taxes for ten years. Romney has his back up against the wall on this issue. If it turns out to be true his campaign is over.

Romney selected Paul Ryan, who seeks to control, not serve Americans, and is a no-compromise, anti-government, right-wing extremist similar to McCain’s Palin choice. Ryan will deliver the voters who are sworn to hate Obama and liberals under the idea that the ticket can be elected by 25% of voters. It didn’t work for McCain in 2008, and it will not work in 2012. It is not a smart choice, but at this point Romney needed something, anything to change the subject of the campaign.

Romney is operating like Richard Nixon in the belief that he can keep his worst secrets hidden through denial, lying, and non-cooperation. Instead he’s put a spotlight on the issue. His tactic of challenging people to ‘prove’ he didn’t pay taxes when he holds all the proof only makes him to looking guilty. It’s obvious he is hiding something in his financial past and if it is not about paying any taxes for ten years, then it must be something as damning.

Romney’s campaign is within hours, days, or weeks of imploding. If he fails to make his tax returns public then it will dominate the conversation about whether he is fit to be President. If he releases them then the truth must be bad enough to destroy his campaign. The only question is how Romney’s right-wing shift followed by complete collapse will carry over to other politicians who have embraced the extreme right.

Nevada’s Death By Stupidity: The Business Friendly Myth

11 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Business, Crime, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Higher Education, Politics, Public Relations, Taxes, Technology, Travel

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business friendliness, business friendly, Conservatives, Nevada, smaller government, spending

A shuttered grocery store sits in the shadow of one of Reno’s largest Casino’s

Nevada is the poster child of what not to do to save an economy. Politicians who promote failed policies continue to be elected in the State that leads the nation in being the worst at everything (unemployment, foreclosures, violent crime, education, etc.) Voters have been little more than Pavlov’s dogs in Nevada politics and are roped in by the claim that all Nevada’s problems can be solved by lower taxes and smaller government, which allegedly will make the Silver State more ‘business friendly.’

Once Reno’s 2nd largest Mall, Park Lane Mall is now just a sign in front of a vast empty space.

The problem is that Nevada is one of the most business friendly States in the nation and yet Nevada’s economic and social ills continue to spiral downward. Nevada has no income tax, no corporate or capital gains tax, and is one of the easiest States in which to establish a business. Yet, politicians win elections through promises of more jobs by making Nevada what already is: business friendly.

Nevada leads the nation in unemployment at 11.7% (April 2012). Ranked 50th out of fifty States in 2011 and 2010, and 49th in 2009, jobs¹, or the lack of them, is certainly a major issue for Nevada; however, Conservatives rank Nevada in the top three States as being the most ‘business friendly.’ The data used for this ranking is based primarily on low taxes and low business fees. So if Nevada is business friendly, why is the unemployment the highest in the nation?

Stores that relocate leave vacant commercial space, sometimes for years

(¹Unemployment for Nevada 2011 – 13.5%, 2010 – 14.9%, 2009 – 11.6%, 2008 – 7.0%. Note that in 2006, Nevada’s unemployment was only 4.2%.)

CNBC also has a business friendly ranking, but low taxes and business fees are only part of the factors considered. CNBC’s 2011 ranking placed Nevada as 45th in Business Friendliness. Among the major factors in the State’s poor ranking were Education (50th,) Economy (50th,) Quality of Life (44th,) and Technology and Innovation (37th.)

Nevada’s fate will be determined by the voter and if CNBC’s rankings are more indicative of business friendliness then Nevada voters must elect politicians willing to invest more money in quality of life issues and infrastructure. Revenue will have to be found to address the real issues or else the Silver State will continue its death spiral.

Next: Poor Quality Jobs and Education Killing Nevada

Massive Use of Hydroxic Acid In Animal and Crop Production

16 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Communication, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Public Relations, Science, Technology

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cattle, crops, dihydrogen monoxide, FDA, food production, food safety, hydroxic acid, water

Potatoes sprayed with Hydroxic Acid

Animals and crops in American food production are given massive doses of hydroxic acid. Hydroxic acid is a colorless and tasteless liquid that is used in animal production externally as a sanitation agent, but it’s also ingested in major quantities by animals that end up on your dinner plate. It is a naturally occurring compound that usually does not harm humans unless exposed to the lungs, but it tends to absorb other toxic and non-toxic compounds easily making it potential dangerous to humans.

Hydroxic Acid application system for cattle

Cows are exposed to hydroxic acid externally to fight off disease inducing bacteria and viruses; however, cattle have evolved to be completely dependent on internal use of hydroxic acid for normal bodily functions. All fish and shellfish are immersed in hydroxic acid before they are processed and the compound is typically used in the cleaning and preparing process.

Hydroxic Acid has become so significant to food production that the University of Nebraska is hosting the fourth annual World Conference beginning on May 30th to discuss the use of it for food production. Among the topics to be discussed are the future of hydroxic acid in food production and creative application of the compound in various food production environments.

Asking the right questions is the first step to getting the right answers

Paul Kiser – author and consumer of hydroxic acid

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has specific guidelines on the use and quality of hydroxic acid; however, there seems to be no effort to curtail its use in food production other than to avoid the waste of the compound. It is apparent that hydroxic acid will continue to be a part of America’s food chain whether we understand it or not.

For further information regarding hydroxic acid click on link.

Nevada Newspaper Goes Behind the Wall…to Die

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Business, Communication, Customer Service, Employee Retention, Ethics, Generational, History, Human Resources, Information Technology, Internet, Print Media, Public Relations, Social Media Relations, Technology, Traditional Media, US History

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Newspapers, online, Reno Gazette-Journal, RGJ, Subscription fees

RGJ’s main bunker…entrance in Reno

The Reno Gazette-Journal (RGJ) recently decided to lock themselves behind a wall and it will cost you at least $12/month to see what they have hidden. Does anyone else see the problem with this business model?

Allow me to reconstruct the history of news media in America to understand why this is a death sentence to the RGJ.

In the 1800’s newspapers owned the information world

1700-1900
In the 1700’s, newspapers became the source of community news. These newspapers often portrayed a political view, but were THE source of information in a society where travel was limited and information scarce. Writers and editors often became key figures in the social and political structure as the gatekeepers of what would be printed.

Radio was faster, but newspapers were corporeal

1900’s
The invention of radio and television gave new options to the public on how they accessed news. The radio offered broadcast news that reached more people faster; however, newspapers remained the source of news because it existed in corporeal form. News transmitted on radio waves disappeared if a person wasn’t in front of the radio during the broadcast. Newspapers; however, almost always gave more a more in-depth account of the events.

Television came shortly after radio and added the exciting features of seeing the reporter and moving images of events; however, newspapers continued to be the best source of significant events.

CNN was to newspapers what Wal-Mart was to Mom & Pop stores

1980
CNN was the first real threat to newspapers. It offered news 24/7/365 and it often relayed events in progress. People no longer had to wait for a newspaper’s version that would come the next day. The newspaper still had the corporeal advantage because CNN would eventually move on to the other news while newspapers could be read anytime. Newspapers also still gave more in-depth reporting on local news issues.

1995
It wasn’t until the creation of the Internet that newspapers faced a challenge that would threaten their existence. The public use of the Internet stripped newspapers of almost every advantage they held. News was not only reported, it was discussed and people reacted in real-time. With the development of the Google search engine topics could be accessed and researched at any time anywhere there was Internet access. The news was no longer filtered and limited to what an editor thought people should know, but rather raw information reached individuals who made their own decisions on what was significant to them.

Reporters who spent years in college and thousands of dollars in tuition and books now found themselves competing against bloggers who had no editors to please. Reporters might get the story and accurately report it to their community but in a real-time world their information was just following up to what people already knew. Newspapers have adapted by presenting an online version of the information that will be in the next day’s paper and that has helped writers compete and be read; however, investors want profit and that is the heart of the dilemma.

The Reno Gazette-Journal has decided that they will create demand and increase revenue by limiting access. That is a rational position to take if you have a product that has significant value and demand, but newspapers and their value appeals to a diminishing demographic. Older white males are dying off at an incredibly rapid pace and newspapers have little demand or value to younger, non-white, non-male demographics. How does RGJ expect to gain new readers by charging for access who have free access to local online news through three Reno television news station’s webpages?

There is another problem with RGJ’s decision that may impact the quality of writing. A writer for RGJ has to accept that their audience will be extremely limited. Blogs will exist for decades and are be searchable to anyone in the world. An RGJ reporters work is locked away behind a wall forever. Who wants to dedicate their life to writing and have it unread? Over time writers will have to decide how much damage RGJ is doing to their career by locking their work behind a pay wall. Once the good writers are gone, what value will the Reno Gazette-Journal have to anyone, paying or otherwise?

Should Conservatives Be Put In Time Out?

09 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Ethics, Government, Honor, Politics, Respect, US History

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Conservatives, extremism, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Rick Santorum, Ronald Reagan, tantrums, Time Out

When reason fails it’s time to try a Time Out

My six year-old son is mostly well-behaved; however, there are times he throws a tantrum that makes one wonder if an exorcism is appropriate. Anyone with a small child has probably seen their pride and joy go into a fit of shouting and anger where he/she can’t be reasoned with or talked back down to reality. It is at those times we send our son into his room for a few minutes to collect himself and try to re-engage with life in this world.

Swiss Citizen Michele Bachmann – Voted Most Likely to Know God…and He’s a Conservative!

My experiences with this type of behavior makes me well-versed in recognizing similar behavior in adults, a behavior that Conservatives seemed to have adopted as a way of life. In issue after issue Conservatives seem to take the most ridiculous position that can only be supported if one assumes we live in an alternate universe where logic and reason don’t apply. Applying the remedy that usually works with a six year-old, maybe it’s time for America to put Conservatives in Time Out.

Don’t get me wrong, I value the counter-balance that Conservatives give to the Liberal point-of-view. The input of both political ideologies are vital to help guide our nation through the constantly evolving challenges of human endeavor.

Rick Santorum – Extremist’s Lap Dog…but he’ll support Romney…didn’t you get his email?

However, Conservatives have been hijacked by a mob that sees compromise as the work of Satan. They believe that any viewpoint that doesn’t agree with the wild-eyed, gun-tote’n, racist, Bible thumpin’, right-wing ideology just ain’t American. Today these people are the face of Conservatism and are leading the Republican party around by the nose hairs.

Why are normally rational people allowing extremists to use their political party as their doormat? The answer lies in one simple fact, Conservatism is not what America needs now and rather than be put on the shelf for several years, Conservatives are trying to shore up their dwindling ranks with anyone that can fog a mirror and vote for their party.

Mitt Romney – It’s all Obama’s fault and I saved the auto industry!

Conservatives have never been successful at economic recovery, probably because their policies have a history of destroying economies, so when the chips are down Conservatives don’t get a lot of popular support by the rational-thinking public. Historically, this has meant that the Democratic party takes over and pulls America back on even keel.

However, in 1980, Conservatives like Ronald Reagan began creating a mythology to put the Republican party in power and pull the nation hard right. Their method required Americans willingly suspend disbelief and be led by faith, not by fact. Conservatives use short statements that rely on a hate-based philosophy that sounds great, but fails the truth test. A famous example is Reagan’s blame the government quote:

Ronald Reagan used words like the bullets in a prop gun. They looked real, but were just blanks

“….government is not the solution to our problem. The government is the problem.”

That statement sounds like a great truth, but it is just a hate-based strategy that uses a partial truth to make a false conclusion. Reagan could have just as easily said:

“….humans are not the solution to our problem. Humans are the problem.”

In the second statement, the partial truth is that humans and human nature is the source of our problems, but does that mean humans are not also capable of being part of a solution. Do we need to eliminate humans to solve our problems? It’s a silly statement.

Statements like these are meant to evoke emotion. The intention is to rile up a crowd and create a lynch-mob mentality. Extremists (at either end of the spectrum) eat up hate-based statements like these as if they were candy. Extremists don’t need a cause, they just need someone hate.

For decades Conservatives have been trying to stay in power by running into the political theatre and yelling ‘FIRE’ in order to direct us away from solving our problems. That’s not going to work forever because as Abraham Lincoln said:

You can fool all of the people some of the time
You can fool some of the people all of the time
But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

We need the Conservatives to be there to keep us Liberals in check, but to perform that role they need to be firmly rooted in reality and they are not. Until Conservatives can calm down and play nicely with everyone else they need to sit in the corner a while and think about how they can cooperate with the rest of us Americans.

Conservatives Casting Themselves in WWII Sitcom?

01 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Ethics, Government, Politics, Public Relations

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Colonel Klink, General Burkhalter, Hogan's Heroes, John Boehner, Karl Rove, Mitt Romney, Sargent Schulz, sitcom

Mitt Romney as the 'I-do-what-i'm-told' Schultz and John Boehner as the bumbling Colonel Klink

The more I listen to the public statements of the top Conservatives, the more I’m convinced that they are trying to play out the roles of the German soldiers in the late 60’s/early 70’s sitcom Hogan’s Heroes.

House Speaker John Boehner rants on as if he’s in charge of everything just like Colonel Wilhelm Klink who was the figurehead of his command.

Mitt Romney could also be cast as Colonel Klink, but he would be more appropriate for the role of Sargent Schultz who knows “nothing” and sees “nothing” even thought reality is staring him in the face.

Karl Rove even looks like General Burkhalter

In contacts, a WWII German officers cap and uniform, Rove could be General Burkhalter

Another key player in this political year sitcom is Karl Rove, who acts as General Burkhalter as he rarely gets his hands dirty with the details, but seems to have the power to make idiots more idiotic as he pushes absurd plans of conquest onto Colonel Klink and his underlings.

A typical script for their recasting:

(Colonel Klink and Sargent Schultz are in the Colonel’s office.)

Schultz: (Romney speaking with a bad German accent): Colonel, I know I’m not supposed to understand anything, but it does seem that the prisoners are not taking us seriously anymore.

Klink: (Boehner speaking with no accent at all) Schultz! How dare you question the authority of your superiors!

Schultz: Yes sir! I-I-I mean NO sir…I mean I was only trying to say….

Klink: Oh, shut up Schultz. Unfortunately, I believe you are correct. We tell the Americans…uhm, the prisoners what they are supposed to think and they go off and think whatever they want to. They seem to believe facts now rather than what we tell them.

Schultz: I know what you mean, sir. I tell them women are unimportant and they don’t believe me. I tell them it’s the economy and they seem to know it was our policies that caused the problems. I tell them the rich are job creators and they want to know why they are not creating jobs now that they are richer than ever…

Klink: Yes, yes, Schultz, I am perfectly aware of what the prisoners think of us.

(Enter Karl Rove as General Burkhalter speaking in a nasal bad German accent.)

Burkhalter: KLINK! Is this all you do is stand around and talk all day! Tell me you have something better to be doing!

Klink: No Sir! ….I mean YES, sir…I mean…Sargent Schultz, tell him what I mean….

Schultz: Ya Voldt, Herr Commandant! What the Colonel means to say–

Burkhalter: Oh, shut up Schultz!

Schultz: Ya Voldt, GenER-al Burkhalter, SIR!

Burkhalter: Klink, we have a problem with the prisoners.

Schultz: The Colonel and I were just–

Klink: Shut up, Schultz! …uhm, you heard the General…now, what were you saying?

Burkhalter: I said, we have a problem with the prisoners.

Klink: And which problem do we have with the prisoners, General?

Burkhalter: They don’t believe us anymore!

Klink: Exactly! We were just saying that the prisoners don’t believe us anymore! The Americans think we don’t know what the issues are and they know we caused many of the problems. They’re blaming us!

Burkhalter: And what was your plan to take care of this, Klink?

Klink: I…we…wanted to hear your opinion before we took any action, General Rove…I mean Burkhalter.

Burkhalter: The solution is so easy I’m amazed you didn’t come up with it on your own.

Klink: Well, we didn’t want to take credit for the General’s ideas…WHICH we knew you would eventually tell us. So what is the plan that we came up with before you told us?

Burkhalter: Klink, it is simple. When they say something is our fault we blame them!

Klink: We blame them?

Schultz: Excuse me, General, won’t they know we were to blame?

Burkhalter: The Americans are stupid.

Klink: So when they say we turned a blind eye to corrupt banking practices, and sent billions of dollars overseas to fight two unnecessary wars led to the economic collapse of the nation?

Burkhalter: We didn’t do it. It was the policies of the past three years, not the incompetence of the previous eight years.

Schultz: The economy is getting better?

Burkhalter: It’s their fault it’s not getting better faster.

Klink: Our abuse of women and ignorance of their issues?

Schultz: They created the issue, we love women!

Burkhalter: …women in their place, of course, but you’re getting the idea.

Klink: General, you always know what’s best!

Schultz: That is why he is the General and you are….uhm.

Klink: Schultz….!

Burkhalter: I must be going, by the way, I’m taking your Secretary into town to visit a sick brother. She will be back tomorrow.

Klink: Of course, General Burkhalter. Please let her know that if there is anything we can do….

Burkhalter: No Klink. I will have everything in hand. Goodbye! (Burkhalter leaves)

Schultz: That is strange, Herr Commandant.

Klink: What’s that Schultz?

Schultz: Your secretary was just telling me she is an only child.

(Cue music.)

The Second Coming of Mitt Romney

23 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Ethics, Government, Politics, Public Relations, Religion, Women

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Conservatives, Etch A Scetch, GOP, Mexican Immigrants, Mitt Romney, Mormon, Republicans

The 'Next' Mitt Romney is Coming

Mitt Romney now has been anointed by the Republican party to be their nominee for President. The crown of thorns will be placed on him in August, but the Victor of The GOP Hunger Games has been decided. To gain this ‘honor’ Romney had to become someone who was ‘seriously conservative.’ To appease the wackos in the far right he had to remake himself into a blue jeans-wear’n, women hate’n, gun-luv’n, good ole white boy.

Now that he has completed his mission, he is absolutely unelectable as President. The Spring 2012 version of Mitt Romney has become someone everyone can hate. To women he is the symbol of the Republican desire to dominate and control them. To the middle class, he is a rich, arrogant millionaire. To the far right he is the worst best-case scenario. Despite polling data that currently puts him close to President Obama, Romney carries so much baggage that he can’t say anything without contradicting himself.

To have a chance of winning in November, the Romney image must die and be reborn. His campaign knows this and they have been planning for the Second Coming of Mitt Romney. On March 21, senior campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom was questioned by CNN about the problem of being too conservative in the primaries to win the moderate vote in the general election. Fehrnstrom answered with the now infamous ‘Etch-a Scetch‘ response:

“I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes,…It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again.”

Romney’s campaign has obviously been constructing a ‘new’ Mitt Romney; however, the candidate cannot afford to lose the wacko right, so the Vice-President honor has to go to someone who will suck in those from the Church of Christians in Name Only. Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and Sarah Palin are possibilities for that role. Newt Gingrich is only in the running for the position of “Most likely to be an answer on Jeopardy®” ¹

(¹In the category of Famous Hypocrites: In 2012, he ran a Presidential campaign complaining about the size of the Federal Debt, while running up a debt of almost $4.5 million himself.)

Romney to be recreated in whose image?

Many political analysts predict Romney’s running mate will be Hispanic, but that seems unlikely as Romney has family roots in Mexico that have yet to be exploited in his campaign. There is the issue of the reason he has family in Mexico, but there are many ways that the connection to Mexico could be made without highlighting the Mormon Polygamy Colonies from where his father, George Romney was born.

Part of Romney’s extreme makeover has to be a move back to a more moderate position on all issues. This can best be achieved by the technique of plausible denial of responsibility. In Romney’s case he needs to separate himself as the decision maker on all hot button issues. His answer to Planned Parenthood’s future? That will depend on who the people elect to Congress in 2012. On Immigration? That depends on who the people elect to Congress in 2012. On Obamacare? Well, you see the pattern. By shifting the decision to ‘the people’ he will absolve himself of appearing too moderate or too extremist.

The Next Mitt Romney will be vastly different from the one that was ‘seriously conservative;’ however, if anyone can pull off a Second Coming it will the Mr. Blue Jeans common man…I mean Mr. Suit millionaire…the destroyer of companies…uhm…the creator of jobs….I mean the Mormon from Massachusetts, Michigan, Mexico,…I mean the …oh who knows…?

Romney Defending Women? Who is He Kidding?

14 Saturday Apr 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Ethics, Government Regulation, parenting, Politics, Religion, Respect, Women

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Ann Romney, Conservatives, GOP, Mitt Romney, Planned Parenthood, Republicans, Romney, Rush Limbaugh

“the Democratic Party has done an effective job trying to mischaracterize our views”

Mitt Romney, regarding women’s issues. April 2012

Romney keeping his hands clean from touching women's issues

According to Mitt Romney the reaction of women to the Republican view of issues important to them (women’s health choices, birth control, education, social justice, etc.) is part of an evil plot by the Democrats. Romney seems to feel that the GOP’s well-documented misogynistic views would not be an issue, if only women and the other political party would conveniently ignore them.

Among the many alleged ‘mischaracterizations’ was last month’s tirade by Rush Limbaugh who made a horrific personal attack on Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown law student, calling her a slut and a prostitute because she voiced her support to require mythological-based institutes to offer physician ordered pharmaceuticals even if it was contrary to their mythology.

If Romney was not just another Conservative Pig-in-a-Suit he COULD have said:

Mr. Limbaugh’s characterization of Sandra Fluke was slanderous and outrageous. His attack on this honorable American was absolutely and unequivocally inappropriate for in any decent society. Mr. Limbaugh should immediately apologize to Ms. Fluke and to women in general. This type of discourse should never occur in the media or on the street as it lessens the moral character of every citizen of this great country.

Instead Romney’s reaction was:

“I wouldn’t have used those words.”

What words would Romney used? Would he rather Limbaugh called her a whore or a bitch? Romney inferred his approval of Limbaugh’s statement in general, just a difference of verbiage.

In addition to his impotent reaction to Limbaugh’s remarks, when asked about Planned Parenthood, a program that provides a wide range of low and no cost health care for women, Romney has been quoted as saying:

“…we’re going to get rid of that!” (Romney, March 2012)

Despite his clear views against women and issues they care about, multi-millionaire, jean-clad Romney is now trying win women back. His campaign is surrounding him with women at political events where, rather than listening to them, he talks down to them. He tells women that the economy is what they care about and that a recovering economy under Obama is bad for women. Romney wants women to support him in his bid to return to the Republican policies of deregulation that destroyed our economy at the hands of Conservative business men who decided “Greed is Great” even when it put our country at the brink of disaster.

Ann Romney betraying American women with a kiss

Ann Romney, Mitt’s spouse, has been put front and center as the face of ‘the average’ woman. As a homemaker raising five boys she would seem to be a great image to counter the chauvinism of the Republican party; however, there is a disconnect between the difficulty the spouse of a multi-millionaire might have raising five boys and that of a woman of five boys whose husband has just laid off because Mitt Romney’s investors have just purchased his company and sliced it up and sold it off for the capital. Somehow the challenges Ann Romney may have had in deciding which SUV to take to the boy’s soccer game just doesn’t seem to be a fair portrayal of women.

Romney’s campaign was up in arms about one Democrat who said that Ann Romney “has not worked a day in her life.” While that remark was poorly worded, there is no comparison between the resources Ann Romney had with millions of dollars at her disposal and the average American woman. If Romney feels that is a ‘mischaracterization’ he can kiss my Karl Rove.

Romney is Wrong

06 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, History, Management Practices, Politics, US History

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Airlines, banks, Conservatives, Mega Oil Companies, Mitt Romney, Romney, steel industry, US Steel

“Liberals don’t like business.”

Mitt Romney, April 2, 2012

Mega-millionaire Mitt Romney trying to look 'common' to the little people with Senator John McCain

Mitt Romney is wrong…in so many ways,…but this week Mr. I-wear-jeans-so-I’m-just-like-you got it wrong at a political event in Wisconsin. Romney claimed to know what liberals think, and he thinks liberals don’t like business. That fodder is being served up to Conservatives who have spent years characterizing liberals as the spawn of Satan, but per normal, the truth is far from the five cent analysis offered by the Republican Presidential nominee (stick a fork in the GOP selection process, the wanna-bes are done.)

Liberals don’t trust business, but liberals do respect the importance of business in a healthy society. Not trusting business does not equate to not liking business.

Liberals are justified in their skepticism. Business is driven by profit. It is the alpha and omega of all enterprise. Business typically doesn’t believe in fair play, sympathy, or what is right for America. In fact, business has little interest in doing what is right even for its own customer. In publicly owned companies, the investor and next quarter’s profitability usually trumps the wants and expectations of the customer. Consider banks, airlines, and oil companies. Those are three major industries that have proved over and over that the individual customer is a piece of meat to be used and abused. Airlines fight even basic human rights for their passengers.

The fact is that business can’t be trusted. Business fails…. a lot, and they fail, not because government drove them to failure, but because the leaders of those companies were greedy, stupid, or both. Most companies last a few decades before they do something stupid, or fail to be smart about the future. A recent example is Kodak. For decades it was the dominant players in the camera film industry, then it had competition, and then it failed to adapt to a digital world. Where is Kodak now?

On Monday, Romney singled our the United States steel industry as an example of how government regulation has killed business. Again, Romney was wrong; however, he gave a classic example of how greed and stupidity by business executives destroyed their own companies. During the 20th century America’s steel industry failed to reinvest and upgrade their steel plants, believing that they were too big to fail. They were wrong.

There is no doubt that labor unions also played a role in escalating costs of United States steel; however, even an executive of US Steel admitted it was the shortsightedness of management that opened the door for competition to challenge and overtake the domination of the United States in steel production in the 1970’s and 80’s.

There is no doubt that private business is important to America’s economy. Yet, business needs oversight to keep them honest and to save America from the greedy and the stupid.

Mitt Romney might think that pandering to the myths of the right will make him a good President, but he would be wrong.

Will The Supreme Court Hand The Election To Obama?

30 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Politics, Public Relations, Women

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Affordable Care Act, Conservatives, Healthcare, insurance, Mitt Romney, Obamacare, Supreme Court

This week the Supreme Court became Hand of God regarding the fate the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Conservative Justices seemed to indicate that they were heading to a decision that would at the very least gut the heart of the law and void mandated health coverage for all Americans. This legislation has been one of the few new laws that Conservatives have allowed to pass during the Obama administration and they are panting over the possibility that they may be able to thwart it before it fully takes effect.

Equal Justice?

The irony is that if the Supreme Court rules against the law, they will likely be handing the 2012 election to President Obama. The ramifications of their ruling might even end Republican domination of Congress.

Why?

Conservatives desperately need an issue to unite the Republican party and bring moderates to their side; however, the key issues that they hope will sway the majority of voters are wearing thin:

Illegal Immigration is going to be a hard sell in an election year where racism has become a central issue in the country. Recent state laws regarding illegal immigration have been proposed and voted into law almost exclusively by Conservative, white males. The issue is becoming more about the motivations of the white politicians and less about the non-existent threat they have tried to create.
Abortion and contraception has become an issue that is so toxic to Conservatives that women are rallying together to take on the Taliban-like Church stance on the issues. Even Christians are beginning to question the extremism of the issue.
The cry to kill government is getting old and some people are beginning to link government with jobs and economic prosperity, especially since every effort to reduce government has consistently resulted in higher unemployment and major economic recessions.
The flat tax concept inherently raises taxes on everyone but the rich and the more people discuss it, the more people see the stupidity of it.
The rich, oil companies, big banks, etc. are our saviors. Is anyone but Conservatives really buying it?
Gay marriage is an issue that has turned on Conservatives and bitten them right in their own family. The whole ‘save marriage’ campaign has run its course and is now looking as stupid whoever it was that came up with the idea in the first place.
It’s hard to justify changing Presidents when the economy is growing, and even harder to argue that considering the economic disaster of 2007-09 was caused by Conservatives, that they should be the ones to make it better. Sure oil prices are outrageously high and the economy might suffer, but since Conservatives run the oil companies and the speculation market, how is that President Obama’s fault?
The National Debt is certainly an issue that Conservatives would like to use, but the reality is that America’s debt is not at 100% of our Gross National Product (GDP,) which is where Franklin D. Roosevelt had to take it (actually he exceeded 100% of GDP) to get America out of the Great Depression. We recovered from that and enjoyed some of the most prosperous years in our history.

So what is left?

The Affordable Care Act. By labeling it, “Obamacare” and seeding the media with wild statements of doom if it is allowed to be fully enacted, it has become the only issue in which almost all Conservatives can come together; however, if the Supreme Court takes that issue away by gutting the law then there is no rallying point for Conservatives.

Yet, for Americans in general, the blatant use of political power by the Conservative Justices on the Supreme Court to take away affordable healthcare may serve as a banner for the opposition. Republicans already have a reputation for acting with America’s worst interest at heart (unregulated banks, unbridled greed, laws targeting Hispanics, and obstruction of legislation and federal appointments) and the death of the Affordable Care Act may breathe life into America’s growing dislike for Conservative destructive meddling. In a year when Republican Presidential candidates are not exciting anyone in large numbers, the Supreme Court could eviscerate any hope that Romney might have of winning the White House.

Conservative Pig Influenza of 2012

24 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Ethics, Government Regulation, Health, Politics, Public Relations, Women

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Conservatives Rick santorum, contraceptives, fertility, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Republicans, Rush Limbaugh, Sandra Fluke

Conservative Pig Influenza Outbreak Shows Its Ugly Face

I’ve been out of the loop for most of February and early March, but it seems that while I was otherwise occupied, a major illness struck America, which caused a rash of insanity to Conservatives. Prominent people representing the conservative ideology seem to be infecting each other with special type of pig flu.

I guess I should have had some clue of what was to come in January when the Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure foundation decided to carve out their heart with a spoon by cutting funding to Planned Parenthood. Komen’s CEO spun the organization’s rationale with all the sincerity of a Botox injection by saying that it wasn’t a political decision….no, it was a…a….procedural decision…yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket.

The Komen fiasco seemed to be just an isolated incident of self-inflicted madness. Who would have known that the Conservative pig flu was just getting started.

Rick Santorum is not looking well these days.

The Republican Presidential candidates have been subject of several outbreaks of stupidity, but Rick Santorum demonstrated that something more than a minor bug was going around in Conservative circles when he expressed his desire to throw up.

Why?

Almost a half a century ago the late President John F. Kennedy said that church and state should be separate to protect the right of religious freedom. That was the idea made Santorum want to vomit. Apparently, Santorum wants a Taliban-type government where a single, tyrannical church rules the government rather than a government that safeguards freedom for all citizens from the mythological dogma of a single church. Apparently Conservative pig flu can be intestinal in nature.

God's Witnesses to the Conservative Inquisition

The 2012 strain of Conservative Pig Influenza obviously impairs good judgement as House Conservatives held a hearing on the issue of impregnating women. The panel of expert witnesses for the hearing consisted primarily of celibate, religious males. The hearing focused on singling out physician-prescribed pharmaceuticals that have been used for decades for a variety of female-related health issues, one of which helps women to control their personal fertility.

At issue was whether or not religious institutions could force their religious beliefs on those women (of any faith) involved in their institutions by denying availability of those pharmaceuticals to them. With all the impartiality of the Spanish Inquisition the Conservatives concluded that women and their highly educated, licensed physicians should not be allowed to make reasonable personal health choices. The Conservative Pig Influenza was now an epidemic.

Paul Kiser

Non-Conservatives held an unofficial hearing to allow testimony by those barred from speaking in the Republican Inquisition on contraceptives. This unofficial hearing was the trigger event that caused Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh to fully succumb to the Conservative Pig flu and begin a two-day personal attack on Sandra Fluke, a female Georgetown law student. He called her a slut and a prostitute because she testified in support of allowing women and physicians to have access to traditional fertility-controlling pharmaceuticals from religious affiliated institutions.

Limbaugh also made the bizarre leap of logic that if the government was protecting women’s access to fertility pharmaceuticals, that he must be paying for their private health care coverage. He then demanded that since (in his mind) he was paying for fertility pharmaceuticals, he should be allowed to have a video of any sex act performed by her or anyone else who used contraceptives.

Rush Limbaugh Wants Sex Videos

Limbaugh eventually apologized by saying he was only trying to be humorous. Conservative Presidential candidates responded to Limbaugh’s rampage accordingly. Mitt Romney said that he ‘wouldn’t have used those words’ in describing Ms. Fluke. Santorum said Limbaugh was only being entertaining and Newt Gingrich said that it was all the fault of the ‘elite media’ for making a big deal of Limbaugh’s character assassination of a private citizen voicing her First Amendment Rights. The Conservative Pig Influenza of 2012 has gone pandemic.

The CDC has made no official announcement, but it is expected that the Conservative Pig Influenza of 2012 will last through the summer and into the Fall. Fortunately, the most susceptible to the disease are white males over 40. The public can protect themselves by avoiding any contact with them.

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PR & SM Nightmare: Komen Foundation Race To A Self-Inflicted Kill

03 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Communication, Ethics, Honor, Information Technology, Internet, Management Practices, Politics, Public Relations, Religion, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Women

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Karen Handel, Nancy Brinker, Planned Parenthood, Public Image, Race for the Cure, Susan G. Komen

Founder & CEO Nancy Brinker leading a PR disaster

It is a public relations worst case scenario.

The decision-makers in an organization make a bad decision and then after it becomes public, the organization desperately seeks to ignore the obvious. Unfortunately, in a Social Media world, making a bad decision is tragic enough, but to try and deny the obvious is fatal. Such is the fate for the Susan G. Komen Race to the Cure foundation.

When a for-profit angers their customers they may see a downturn in sales, but often the customer often has some dependency on the product or service, so they may be willing to eventually forgive and forget.

Non-profit organizations are different. Non-profits depend on public goodwill and in the case of the Susan G. Komen foundation, they are heavily dependent on the active involvement of volunteers and donors of all political and religious views for their Race For the Cure® runs. While the Komen foundation’s purpose is noble, there are many organizations working on behalf of cancer victims and raising awareness of cancer issues. The Komen foundation has no lock on those people who have supported them in the past and continued goodwill is necessary for their continued survival.

A View To A Kill
The Komen foundation had been haunted by religious and conservative political groups once it was learned that grants by the foundation had gone to Planned Parenthood. These grants were specifically for women’s breast health issues, but the conservative groups kept pressure on the foundation to stop all funding of Planned Parenthood.

Karen Handel and Sarah Palin at campaign event

Enter Karen Handel, a rabid anti-choice advocate. Handel unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Georgia in 2010, on an anti-choice/defund Planned Parenthood platform. Her campaign was endorsed by Sarah Palin and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. Handel narrowly lost in a primary run-off election. In April 2011, The Komen foundation hired Handel as Vice President in charge of public policy. The choice of Handel in this position was a clear message the Planned Parenthood funding would be in jeopardy and the first step in the PR nightmare to come.

In December 2011, the Komen Board of Directors created a procedural rule that would allow the organization to defund Planned Parenthood. The reaction within the organizations was immediate. According to an article by Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic, Mollie Williams, the senior public health director quit in protest. At least two sources in Goldberg’s article indicate that the procedural rule was invented to allow the Komen foundation to cut funding to Planned Parenthood.

After the decision became public the reaction throughout Social Media was quick and massive. People began announcing their condemnation of the decision and that they would no longer support the Komen foundation and the Race For the Cure.

A Possible PR Save?
Once the scope of the reaction became obvious, the Komen foundation might have had a public relations opportunity to save the organization by voting to reverse their decision and immediately firing Karen Handel and any others responsible for putting the organization in a public image blood bath. That move would have instantly made them the target of conservative political and religious groups, but the organization had already experienced that pressure. A reversal would have helped to restore their public image and bought back some goodwill.

The one thing they could not do was spin the decision to try and make it look palatable to the non-Conservative public.

The Nail In The Coffin
Rather than facing up to the bad decision the Komen foundation, led by CEO and Founder Nancy G. Brinker, instead began aggressively spinning the decision and denying the conservative religious and political motivations. Choosing to stand by the decision has now compounded the PR disaster assuring a slow and dishonorable death for the Komen foundation. Blogs are discussing the organization’s budget and how much money is retained for administrative costs. Certainly they might gain some short-term financial support from well-financed Conservative donors; however, they will not be able to replace the legions of volunteers who made The Race to the Cure possible in communities throughout the country.

It is apparent that the Susan G. Komen foundation leadership has little understanding of the impact of Social Media on public relations. They have acted as if they were operating in 20th Century media environment where a bluff could be held through a news cycle and the voice of the organization could drown out the facts of a situation. Now Nancy G. Brinker has spent all her credibility and has become the face of the scandal. Unfortunately, there is no turning back now. The Race For the Cure has made themselves political by making this decision, and by trying to spin the story they have made a serious wound a fatal one.

UPDATE:

At approximately 8:30 AM PST on Friday, February 3, 2012, CNN said the Komen Foundation was reversing its decision and would fund Planned Parenthood.

PBS Station To Cut After-School Programming To Attract Donors

28 Wednesday Dec 2011

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Education, Ethics, Generational, Management Practices, parenting, Public Relations

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Child Development, children, children's programming, Idaho PTV, KNPB, Kurt Mische, Nevada, PBS, PBS Kids, PBS Kids Go, Reno

: Paul Kiser

Reno, Nevada PBS affiliate, KNPB is cutting almost a third of its dedicated children’s programming and all of its dedicated after-school shows that target school-aged children. Effective next week all PBS Kids shows on KNPB will end at 12:30 PM, cutting 2.5 hours from its current 9 hours of children’s programming. The programming cuts will put KNPB third from the bottom of 30 western United States PBS stations in total hours of daily children’s programs and the only PBS affiliate without after-school programming.

Kurt Mische, President and CEO of KNPB, denied that the station is cutting ‘all’ programming for school-aged children, and noted that programs like NOVA, Nature, American Experience, and Great Performances “are of great benefit…and interest…to school age children.” Those programs along with the Antique Roadshow will now air once a week at 5:00 PM after PBS News Hour and The Charlie Rose Show, which will fill the after-school time slots at 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM.

Mische indicated that the programming changes are being initiated to attract donors and money, which school-age children are not providing to the non-profit organization. He explained,

“Making our changes will allow us to serve a larger audience of viewers…and donors…who not only watch but help to financially support our important service.”

Another PBS affiliate recognizes the issue, but has different philosophy regarding programming for school-age children. Ron Pisaneschi, the Director of Content for the PBS affiliate in Boise, Idaho (Idaho PTV) said that there is more programming competition for the attention of school-age children because of commercial children’s television on the cable channels, but added, “even though the audience is small, we want to serve them.”

Hours of Daily Children's Programming of 30 Western US PBS Stations

Programs cut from KNPB’s schedule are The Electric Company for 6-10 year-olds, Cyberchase for 8-11 year-olds, Super Why! for 3-6 year-olds, WordWorld for pre-schoolers, and a second daily airing of Arthur for 4-8 year-olds. KNPB already had cut Fetch! for 6-10 year-olds earlier this year. The only two PBS stations with fewer hours of children programs are Rohnert Park and San Mateo, California. Both are in the San Francisco area market where PBS affiliate KQED has 19.5 hours of children’s programming in addition to a 24-hour PBS Kids channel. San Mateo PBS affiliate KCSM has only one hour of daily children’s programming; however, KCSM is currently up for sale and accepting bids until February 14, 2012.

Ironically, Mische’s attitude about the value of children’s programming to KNPB and to the State of Nevada was more supportive last year when he stated,

KNPB is proud to be a leader in education. At a time when education in Nevada garners its share of negative publicity, KNPB is taking action to impact education and life-long learning. We broadcast 52 hours per week of award winning, high quality, and trusted children’s programs that delight and teach youngsters.

KNPB 2010 Annual Report

The children’s shows, including all after-school shows will be cut effective January 2, 2012.

A version of this article first published as
PBS Station To Cut After-School Programming To Attract Donors

on Technorati.com

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3rd From Sol

~ Learn from before. Live now. Look ahead.

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Conservative Pig Influenza of 2012

PBS Station To Cut After-School Programming To Attract Donors