Common Core: Are You A Good Switch Or A Bad Switch? Part III

25 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, College, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Higher Education, History, Internet, parenting, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Public Relations, Science, Taxes, Technology, Universities, US History

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Common Core, Conservatives, conspiracy, funding, math, parent protests, reading, Republicans, school districts, school funding, teachers, Teaching, writing

PART III: An Answer to the Question: Good? or Bad?

Implementation of Common Core

THE VERDICT
In the past year significant political forces have targeted Common Core. The protests have been at near hysterical levels in many communities around the country. The complaints about Common Core are as follows:

Standards create a factory-like environment that attempt to put all students in one ‘box.’
Teachers focusing on test scores, not educational achievement
Parents don’t understand math methods
United States history under Common Core is un-American because it includes both positive and negative aspects of the history of our country
A belief that parents should define school curriculum, not the school, district, state, or federal government
A belief that President Obama is behind the implementation of Common Core and other conservative conspiracy theories

Many of the issues have been generated by conservative voices after a push by Republicans during the past election cycle to ignite anger and votes against public education. Almost all of the complaints would have occurred from any attempt to improve and refine American educational techniques, especially when those improvements involve standardization for all American schools.

If you believe that setting minimum standards in reading, writing, and math is bad, then Common Core is bad. If you believe that children in your community should graduate with similar skills to other students around the country, then Common Core is good. If you believe that a high school degree should be the end of a person’s education, then Common Core is bad. If you believe that every student should receive an education that would prepare them for college, then Common Core is good.

THE REAL PROBLEM
Despite the politicizing of Common Core, there is a real issue in implementing any change in education. Funding.

Any business that seeks to upgrade or improve their methods knows that there is a real cost to any change. Yet, even smart business people seem to forget that to improve our educational system requires a major funding commitment. It takes money to research and establish new programs. It takes money to train school districts, principals, and teachers. It takes money to create new teaching materials, and it takes money to educate parents.

What Common Core is missing is the funding needed to make it a success. Until we can accept the fact that a commitment to education requires a commitment to funding, then we will continue using 20th educational techniques in a 21st century world. America’s efforts to update our educational system will cost money and Common Core is a victim of a society that has abandon quality education because it costs too much.

THE HYSTERIA OF THE LOUDEST VOICES
Unfortunately, Common Core lost a lot of support in the past twelve months. Much of that was due to the political rhetoric during last year’s campaigns, but some teachers are also pulling back support. This is not surprising. As parents become more vocal in opposition, few teachers are willing to oppose parent sentiment even if they are wrong.

Common Core is not a perfect educational system, but it does attempt to better prepare America’s children for a higher level of achievement. Most of the real issues can be resolved with better funding. Just as a school built in the 1950’s is no longer relevant for 2015, education methods of the pre-information era are not relevant today. Our population is continuing to increase and the skills our children must have to thrive as adults are going to advance. Education is going to be expensive, but if we don’t pay now, we will pay more later.

PREVIOUSLY: Part I: A Primer in American Education
Part II: What is Common Core?

Epilogue : The 2010’s

20 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Business, College, Communication, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Higher Education, History, Honor, Information Technology, Internet, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Public Relations, Religion, Respect, Science, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Space, Taxes, Technology, Traditional Media, Universities, US History

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Caucasian, college graduates, Conservatives, Equality, GDP, high school graduates, poor, racism, racists, Reagan agenda, Republicans, Ronald Reagan, The 1%, un-wealthy, wealthy, White politicians

The 2010’s – End of Civility

White Conservatives: “Go F**k Yourselves America”

Population: 308.7 million
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: $47,805
Median Annual Income: $47,793
Life Expectancy: 78.7
Average Age at Marriage: Men 28.2, Women 26.1
% of pop. w/high school degree or higher: 87.0%
% of pop. w/college degree or higher: 30.0%

REAGAN: The Killer of America’s Prosperity
From 1950 to 2010 the population of the United States of America doubled (+104.0%.) The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) tripled (+218.1%.) The median annual income is eleven times more than 1950 (+1028%.) Life expectancy has increased by over 15% (15.4%.) Men AND women are marrying an average of over five years older in 2010 than they did in 1950 (men +23.7%, women +28.6%.) The percentage of people with at least a high school degree is now almost 90% versus 34% in 1950 (+153.6%.) Today, 30% of our citizens have at least a college degree versus 6% in 1950 (+383.9%.)

Something went right for America in the last 60 years. But that is changing.

Prior to the Great Depression, Republicans controlled the House and Senate for the majority of the previous 70 years. After the Great Depression both the House and Senate was under Democratic control until 1980. In 1980, America began folowing the conservatives agenda (Reagan 1980-1988, Bush 41 1989-1992, Republican control of Congress 1994-2008) of dismantling the government at all levels, start more wars, give more money to the wealthy, and give less help for the un-wealthy. Since 1979, the wealthiest 1% after-tax income has increased by 200%.

U.S._Income_-_Changes_by_Income_Group_1979-2011

The 1% are 200% wealthier since conservatives took control of the government

Since 1980, annual increases in U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has stalled and fallen.

ANNUAL GDP GROWTH: Post World War II, U.S. annual GDP began a steady growth until shortly after Ronald Reagan became President.

GROWTH SACRIFICED FOR GREED
Post-war prosperity was spurred by significant federal government projects and programs. Conservatives derailed that by blaming government for economic issues that were caused by corporate and business greed.

Despite the obvious failure of the Reagan agenda, conservatives have taken a position of complete denial and fantastical thinking. They no longer believe they have any obligation to acknowledge or respect the rest of America. Conservatives are behaving as a child would behave when they are not getting their way, even though their request is completely inappropriate. Rather than accepting that President Obama was elected twice by a majority of Americans, Republicans have blocked all efforts to move forward on measures proven to generate American prosperity because it would make those that have more, give more.

Reagan conservatives have failed and they are backed in a corner of failure. They will not accept reason, nor facts. Civility would force them to accept their failure, so they must be uncivil. They are willing to destroy America, rather than acknowledge failure.

WHY ARE WE HERE?
America has experience massive change in the past 65 years. Most of that change has been good, but the one aspect of the American concept, the idea that we are all created equal, is the one issue in our country that has cast a shadow over us for centuries. White males believe that they are superior to all others and as our demographics have changed Caucasians have worked to obstruct equality rather than accept it.

Segregation was not considered racist until it became obvious it was motivated by whites who were racist. Dismantling government programs that benefit the poor and those in need may not be considered racist, until we realize that these ideas have been pushed forward almost exclusively by white politicians. Telling America that the rich are too burdened to pay a fair share of their taxes is not considered racist until you examine the loop of rich white people giving money to white politicians to pass laws that will reduce taxes on the wealthiest who are almost all white.

America is a country that has yet to commit to everyone being equal. In the 1950’s, white people took their money and ran away to the suburbs. In the 1960’s, the federal government finally stepped in and paid attention to the unequal treatment of African-Americans. In the 1970’s, we became distracted by unethical leaders, war, oil shortages, and inflation. In the 1980’s, we were conned into the idea that our government was to blame for all our problems in the 1970’s, while the Reagan spent money that America didn’t have to spend. In the 1990’s, the conservatives regained control of Congress and began dismantling the federal government and ending ethical business oversight. In the 2000’s, Republicans led America down a path of war and destruction that almost wiped out our economic system.

Why we are here is because we have become weak. We have listened to fools and we know they are fools. They are willing to tear America apart for greed and their own racist ideals. To a racist, compromise is unthinkable, and that is why conservatives will never work towards a unified nation.

THE SERIES: The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1970’s The 1980’s The 1990’s The 2000’s

This is Why (2015 vs the 2000’s)

19 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Business, College, Communication, Crisis Management, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Higher Education, History, Honor, Information Technology, Internet, Politics, Pride, Print Media, Privacy, Public Image, Public Relations, Religion, Respect, Science, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Space, Taxes, Technology, Traditional Media, Universities, US History

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2004 Tsunami, 9/11, Afghani, Amazon.com, Anthrax, Assault weapons ban, Conservatives, Election 2000, Facebook, Florida vote counting, George W. Bush, Global Financial Disaster, Global warming, Hurricane Katrina, Iraq, Mars, NASA, Opportunity, Pope John Paul II, President, President Barack Obama, Republicans, Rovers, Saddam Hussein, Smartphone, Space Shuttle Columbia, Spirit, Supreme Court, Texting, Twenty-ohs, Twitter, Virginia Tech Massacre, Wikipedia, YouTube

The 2000’s – The Defeat of America

Decade of Fear: Y2K, 9/11, WMD’s, Katrina, Banking Collapse, Unemployment, Global Warming

Population: 281.4 million
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: $44,492
Median Annual Income: $40,703
Life Expectancy: 76.8
Average Age at Marriage: Men 26.1, Women 23.9
% of pop. w/high school degree or higher: 80.4%
% of pop. w/college degree or higher: 24.4%

TWENTY OH’s
If the 1990’s were a seismic event of technological and social change, the twenty-oh’s is when the tsunami of change hit. Had nothing else happened but the advancement of the Internet, the changes by that alone would have drastically remade the world as we knew it; however, the twenty-oh’s were not content in merely redefining society and the way we communicate, the first decade of the new millennium was going to do an extreme makeover of all our expectations in life. Here are twenty things that made us say Oh!

Y2K, the disaster that never came (Jan. 2000)
Elections of 2000
1. Florida election fiasco (Nov./Dec. 2000)
2. Supreme Court appoints George W. Bush as President (Dec. 2000)
Attacks of September 11, 2001
Anthrax letters
Wars of Just Because
1. Afghanistan (2001-2014)
2. Iraq (2003-2011)
Rise of Smaller and Smarter Technology (Entire Decade)
1. Smartphone
2. Texting
Space Shuttle Columbia destroyed on reentry (Feb. 2003)
Mars Rovers bounce to successful landings and missions
1. Spirit (June 2003)
2. Opportunity (July 2003)
Saddam Hussein captured (Dec. 2003)
Assault weapon ban expires (Sept. 2004)
Online Wonders
1. Amazon.com
2. Facebook
3. Twitter
4. Google
5. YouTube
6. Wikipedia
Indian Ocean Earthquake/Tsunami (Dec. 2004)
Pope John Paul dies (Apr. 2005)
Global Warming
Hurricane Katrina (Aug. 2005)
Virginia Tech Massacre (Apr. 2007)
Global Economic Disaster (2007-08)
1. Financial giants collapse
2. Housing market collapses
3. Auto industry collapses
4. Massive unemployment
Price of gas soars, and falls….as a function of conservative politics
Barack Obama elected as President (Nov. 2008)
Nuclear weapons
1. Iraq
2. North Korea

The Twenty-oh’s began with the most bizarre Presidential election in American history, followed by the most shocking attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, followed by two United States initiated wars that would be fought simultaneously, followed by the loss of the Space Shuttle and its crew on reentry to Earth, followed by an earthquake/tsunami that would kill almost a quarter of a million people in 14 countries in one day, followed by a massacre at Virginia Tech, followed by a near meltdown of our global financial system, followed by an African-American being elected as President.

THE GREAT CONSERVATIVE FAILURE
Despite all that happened, it was politics that defined the 2000’s. Keeping with the two-faced Reagan policy of “America Can’t” and money must be taken from the poor and given to the rich, President George Bush took the cost of running two wars off the books so that he could look like he was cutting government spending when he was, in fact, putting the government deeper in debt and running massive deficits.

Behind the scenes, a decade of conservative-driven deregulation in the financial industry created a bad debt bomb that exploded in 2007-08. Almost overnight, America’s economy was devastated by greed and a lack of common sense. People who saw the disaster coming took the attitude that everyone else was unethical, so why should I be the only good person? When the curtain fell on Wall Street, Republicans, who created the environment for the disaster, quietly stepped away and whistling as if they were unaware there was a problem.

Bush 43, was completely out of his league in dealing with the problem. To repair the damage to our economy would require taking actions that was would essentially prove that the Reagan doctrine was the cause of the disaster, and President Bush was not willing to take the necessary actions. Fortunately, Barack Obama had just been elected and, with Bush impotent in action, the 44th President stepped up and began to manage the crisis and establishing a plan of recovery.

The Republican caused disaster did not cause conservatives to humbly acknowledge their failure, but rather pushed them to further deny the facts. As the economy began recovering, conservatives began blaming Democrats for not making the recovery happen faster. As conservative predictions of Democratic policy failure began to be proven wrong, conservatives began raising absurd and meaningless issues to redirect people’s attention (e.g.; Obama was not an American, Obama was a Muslim, Obama had a secret plan to take everyone’s guns away, etc.)

Because the Reagan doctrine was based on white, 1950’s suburban thinking, the hate for President Obama came naturally to the white, male voter. Instead of a political correction for the failed Reagan agenda, conservatives became even more rabid and illogical. By the end of the decade America was heading for defeat at the hands of conservatives who had taken away American prosperity and were unwilling to accept any idea that didn’t match their failed version of the world.

NEXT: Epilogue

THE SERIES: The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1970’s The 1980’s The 1990’s

This is Why (2015 vs the 1970’s)

15 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Business, Crisis Management, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Health, Higher Education, History, Honor, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Taxes, Traditional Media, Universities, US History

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1973 oil embargo, Afghanistan, American Hostage Crisis, Arab, Conservatives, Democrat, Egypt, fuel, GOP, Iran, Israel, Middle East, Munich Massacre, Munich Olympic Games, OAPEC, oil, oil prices, oil shortages, OPEC, petroleum, President Gerald Ford, President Jimmy Carter, President Richard Nixon, Republican, Russia, Soviets, Syria, USSR, Watergate, Yom Kipper War

The 1970’s – American Implosion

The Decade of Oil Domination

Population: 203.2 million
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita: $23,381
Median Annual Income: $7,559
Life Expectancy: 70.8
Average Age at Marriage: Men 23.2, Women 20.6
% of pop. w/high school degree or higher: 52.3%
% of pop. w/college degree or higher: 10.7%

ENEMIES DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN
America was rocked by the internal conflicts during the 1960’s, and the 1970’s did little to sooth the hearts and minds of the citizens. Inflation slowed slightly in 1970, only to be followed by recession. Then the White House was rocked in 1972, by an ever-growing scandal called ‘Watergate’ after the place where Republican operatives attempted to break into Democratic headquarters. Over the next year it would be revealed that the Republican party, including President Richard Nixon played dirty politics during the President’s re-election campaign and then used power tactics to cover up their misdeeds.

In the Fall of 1972, the world was shaken by a group of Palestinians that took Israeli athletes hostage in Germany’s Summer Olympic Games. The Palestinians were given logistical assistance by German Neo-Nazis which helped them penetrate the athlete’s living area and capture eleven of the Israel delegation (two of the eleven were killed during the invasion of the Israeli rooms.) As the world watched, the Germans eventually attempted a botched night rescue as the hostages were moved to an airport. The German snipers were untrained and had no night vision equipment. Every aspect of the German rescue plan was flawed and the Palestinians eventually made a decision to kill all hostages during a stalemate in the fighting.

In October of 1973, Israel responded to a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria (the Yom Kipper War) with a counter attack. The United States and Russia quickly began resupplying their allies (US/Israel and USSR/Syria-Egypt) with arms and materials. In response the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC, later OPEC) began a six month oil embargo that created massive fuel shortages in the United States. This caused the price of oil to rise from $3/barrel to $12/barrel and sparked a new round of inflation.

OUTCOME: American Politics
By the late 1974, the Watergate scandal had ended in resignations by the Vice President and President. Gerald Ford, who had just replaced the Vice President, became the President and limped his administration through the end of Nixon’s term. By the 1976 elections people were done with the Republican party and Jimmy Carter was thrust into the job of restoring faith in government.

OUTCOME: Oil, Greed, and the Middle East
The OPEC oil embargo and the Munich Massacre sent a message that America should be focusing on the Middle East, but the Watergate scandal had caused an information overload, so many Americans still saw Russia as the main foreign threat. However, because the Middle East had massive oil reserves it became the most strategic region in the world for oil consuming countries. This caused the governments of Russia and the United States to attempt to secure the region for each country’s own self-interest.

The questionable tactics of unscrupulous American oil companies opened new wounds in the Arab world. Our public image had been defined by U.S. business and political interference in internal matters of many Arab countries. Americans were caught off guard by the festering hate for America in the Middle East.

OUTCOME: Economic Instability
The roller coaster of inflation, recession, inflation left Americans with a sense of fear about the economy. The typical American was caught by surprise in 1973 when the oil embargo practically put the United States on its knees. The pride America had after beating the odds in World War II and putting a man on the Moon were all erased by one unethical President and our country’s economic vulnerabilities.

THE NEW HOPE EXTINGUISHED
Jimmy Carter’s election in 1976, brought a new hope to America. That produced a new fear for Republicans. Nothing could hurt conservatives more than to have a Democratic President restore America’s self-confidence. President Carter focused on peace and humanitarian initiatives that conservatives said made America look weak. Fortunately for conservatives, the Middle East would be what they needed to derail the Democrats and return to power.

In 1979, Russia invaded Afghanistan and students in Iran overran the American Embassy and took hostages. At the same time a mythical oil crisis (world oil supply dropped by only 4%) drove oil prices up to $39.50 per barrel in one year. The events dominated the news and overshadowed Carter’s re-election campaign. Republicans successfully used political ads to paint Democrats as out of touch during the worst political crisis of Carter’s administration. The events of 1979 could not have been more perfect for the resurgence of the disgraced conservatives.

NEXT: The 1980’s

THE SERIES: The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1990’s 2000’s Epilogue

Republicans Violated Sedition Act of 1918

10 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Ethics, Government, Higher Education, Politics, Public Image, Respect, Universities

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Benjamin Netanyahu, Congress, Conservatives, Fraternity, Frats, GOP, Homeland Security, Iran, John Boehner, nuclear weapons, OU, Republican, Republicans, SAE, Sedition Act of 1918, Ted Cruz

There comes a point where it is clear that the line has been overstepped. Unfortunately, the realization comes after the offender(s) have not only crossed the line, but they have gone way beyond it.

Such is the case with the Republicans in Congress.

Congress was established to be a deliberating body of government. Issues are to be brought before the members, researched, debated, and a unified outcome reached. That doesn’t mean it is a consensus, just that every voice is heard. If it were not to be this way then our forefathers would have just had the losing party of each election stay home while the winning party runs rampant without listening to opposing voices.

However, Republicans in Congress have decided to act as if they represent the only voice in America, and as if they are in charge of the world, while placing Americans in peril. Of note:

Republicans have obstructed funding for Homeland Security and threatened to make the employees work without pay.
Republicans have invited Benjamin Netanyahu, the most hated person in the Arab world, to speak before all of Congress in order to provoke a new war in the Middle East.
Republicans have threatened the leaders of Iran with hostile acts if they agree to a nuclear arms deal with….the United States of America.

The last act can only be interpreted as an act of sedition, because for Republicans, not Congress, to make threats to a foreign country in order to derail diplomatic relations of the State Department and the President is not allowed. It violated the Sedition Act of 1918.

“…the use of “disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language” about the United States government, its flag, or its armed forces or that caused others to view the American government or its institutions with contempt.” (Sedition Act of 1918)

The Act was repealed in 1920; however, the fact that the Republicans who signed the open letter to Iran’s leaders could have been charged with sedition demonstrates how far over the line that they have gone. They have the behavior of OU Frat boys happily singing songs of hate and firm in the belief that they are the Master Race.

Boehner’s Mismanagement of Politics

22 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by Paul Kiser in Management Practices, Politics

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Congress, Conservatives, Epic Fail, John Boehner, Republicans, Speaker of the House, Tea Party

Speaker Boehner: A political epic fail

During Tuesday night’s State of the Union Speech, Vice President Biden could have worn a “I’m with stupid” t-shirt with the arrow pointing to the left and Boehner wouldn’t have understood the joke.

John Boehner is possibly the most clueless, out-of-date Speaker of the House in the history of America. Here is a man no one respects, no one likes, and in which no one believes. He is in a position of great power and yet he is a cartoon of power. His ineffectiveness is only exceeded by his inability to grasp the larger vision of his duties. He is the definition of epic fail.

We can make a lot of excuse for his failures, but he sits in political bath water that smells like urine because he peed in it. He simply lacks the intelligence of independent thought and is incapable of doing anything that is unexpected.

Certainly Speaker Boehner is confronted with a difficult position. While everyone talks about how the Republicans now run the House and Senate, the fact is that Boehner’s failure to put right-wing extremists in their place has created a three party government consisting of Democrats, Republicans, and wackos.

There is a segment of America that loves wackos…right up until someone exposes their stupidity and then wackos become everybody’s joke. Boehner is the one person in a position to expose the right-wing extremists as the buffoons they are, but rather than do that, he has coddled them in order to promote the myth of a united Republican party.

If Speaker Boehner extended a alliance to moderate Republicans and Democrats he could end the rhetoric, slap down the wackos, and make the Republican party look like leaders. More importantly, he could become an effective Speaker of the House crafting legislation that President Obama would have to take seriously. Instead, he tries to wear a mantle of stupidity in order to appease the stupid, and employ meaningless posturing that makes him look foolish and President Obama look even more intelligent.

Speaker Boehner will be the reason that Republicans will find 2016, to be even more disappointing than 2012.

Has Reno NBC Station Gone Fox News?

28 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Branding, Business, Communication, Ethics, Government, Honor, Management Practices, Opinion, Politics, Public Image, Public Relations, Taxes, Traditional Media

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advertising, Affordable Care Act, biased reporting, Channel 4, Conservatives, educating, Fox News, Intermountain West, Kristine Frazao, KRNV, NBC, NBC News, News, Obamacare, PR, RT, Russian Television, Sinclair Broadcasting Group

Reno NBC affiliate becoming a Fox News clone?

The lead news story for Wednesday night on Reno’s NBC affiliate, KRNV was anti-government attack on the Affordable Care Act. The story was attempting to stir up outrage on the advertising budget to promote the new program that will impact millions of uninsured Americans.

The only opinions offered were in opposition to money being spent for advertising without any attempt to find an authoritative source to offer an explanation for why the public needed awareness of the new program. In fact, the only independent source on the story, David Williams, CEO of the anti-government organization, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, suggested that taxpayer money should not be used to educate or promote the Affordable Care Act. He stated:

“This isn’t Coca Cola or Pepsi, this is healthcare, they shouldn’t be advertising…”

The $17 million per month spent to educate American citizens on a program to directly benefit them was about $2 million less per month than the coal, oil, and gas industry spent during the first eight months of 2012 to promote drilling and/or oppose clean energy.

Kristine Frazao – Corporate News Correspondent

Reporter From Russian Television
As confusing as the Fox News-type slant of the lead story, was the person reporting it. The reporter was not an employee of the local KRNV station, nor was the story generated by the parent NBC News organization. The reporter was Kristine Frazao, the National Correspondent for the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which consists of 167 television stations, of which approximately half (88) are Fox, CW, or MyTV affiliated stations.

According to a November 2013 article in Broadcast & Cable (B&C,) Sinclair does not own KRNV, but did purchase three other stations of the Intermountain West group excluding KRNV and the Las Vegas affiliate, KSNV. Sinclair has, according to the story, agreed to operate and provide services for the Reno NBC affiliate.

However, Frazao is new to the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Prior to this year, Frazao spent three years with Russian Television (RT.) Russian Television began broadcasting in the United States in 2005, and its website states that RT:

“…acquaints international audience with the Russian viewpoint.”

Frazao is known for her anti-government reporting and as a reporter in San Diego was criticized for asking a Comic Con attendee why she and the other attendees weren’t protesting in Washington, D.C. against the government rather than coming to the southern California for the science fiction convention.

Taking Sides in Reno

KRNV On The Conservative Side?
Frazao’s anti-Obamacare report was likely well received by conservatives in Northern Nevada and perhaps that is why Reno’s local NBC affiliate has taken on a Fox News attitude in reporting. Recently, KRNV changed its tag line from “Where News Comes First” to “On Your Side.” That explains many things about Wednesday’s lead news story.

Public Relations Techniques That Kill Organizations

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Crisis Management, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Generational, Information Technology, Internet, Management Practices, Public Relations, Respect, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Technology, Traditional Media

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anti-listening, Conservatives, Managing the message, Nancy Brinker, Planned Parenthood, PR, Race for the Cure, sim, sm, Susan G. Komen

In Part I, “Why ‘Managing the Message’ Doesn’t,” we discussed the dangers of trying to ‘manage the message’ in a Social Media world. Part II looks at the techniques used by organizations to manage the message and why they fail.

Organizations that adopt a manage the message policy for Public Relations (PR) assume that they are the controllers and manipulators of the public image of their organization, which demotes the public to the role of a mindless zombie. If that doesn’t sound stupid enough, let’s look at the methods that organizations use to manage the message.¹

[¹ I realize that I’ve used the words Manage the Message five times in the first two paragraphs; however, “insulting PR techniques” isn’t quite specific enough as there are so many of them. 😉 ]

Corporate PR: We manage the message by not listening

Anti-listening Techniques
The subtle use of anti-listening techniques is one strategy used by organizations who seek to manage the message. The concept is simple: an organization can’t be held accountable for issues that don’t exist. By not listening an organization can effectively deny existence of an issue because they can claim ignorance, therefore can deny accountability.

One example is the use of formalized procedures for communication from the stakeholders, including the public. An organization might ignore or restrict communication on their Facebook page, requiring complaints and comments to be made through a process that is more complex or requires greater risk to complainer.

EXAMPLE: From the Facebook page for a Parent/Teacher group of an Elementary School after parents discussed concerns about major changes in the school calendar:

“Please remember that this page is used for the PTC to share PTC sponsored fundraising events and activities. If anyone has comments/complaints about the school they need to be addressed with the administration.”

(From the School’s Marketing Director)

The strategy of denying open discussion of issues allows an organization to divide and conquer people who may object or have a strong reaction to negative events or significant changes. By restricting public comment on their website or Social Media formats such as Facebook, an organization can prevent all but the most committed people from voicing their opinion or concern. For those that do comment, the organization can hide dissent and concerns behind a veil that only they have access to, so the true scope of the issue is hidden from public.

The problem with this technique is that issues or concerns do not go away by ignoring or hiding them. Whether expressed or not the reaction exists and it impacts the public image of the organization. A divide and conquer strategy increases the reaction once people discover that others share their concerns. In the Social Media world, the truth will eventually come out through a disgruntled customer, employee, or other source. Once the full scope of the deception is exposed the organization will lose all credibility and once the organization loses credibility the public image is also lost.

In January of 2012, the Susan G. Komen Foundation was receiving massive condemnation for a politically charged decision to defund Planned Parenthood. Rather than accepting that the public voice was valid, CEO Nancy Brinker attempted to double down on their position by claiming a bogus conservative-initiated Congressional investigation was reason to deny the grant requests by Planned Parenthood. Her efforts to paint an obvious conservative-motivated action as justified left her and the organization looking like right-wing wackos who had no clue that the organization depended on the perceived goodwill of the public.

By the time they tried to back peddle and fix the problem it was too late. Race For the Cure events in 2012 lost as much as one-third of the participation from the previous year and many donors question the use of their money by the Foundation. The irony is that Nancy Brinker had founded the organization thirty years earlier in her sister’s memory and now the Susan G. Komen name is not so much a symbol of fighting breast cancer as it is a reminder of conservative attempts to use backdoor methods to inflict their religious beliefs on everyone else.

MONDAY: The Dark Side of PR: Distraction and Deception Or ‘Armstronging’ the Public. When ethics are not a consideration, an organization is headed into a downward spiral that will almost always end with a public image that can be fatal.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Conservatives Weaponize Religion, Worship Wealth

02 Friday Dec 2011

Posted by Paul Kiser in Politics, Religion, Taxes

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Tags

abortion rights, Conservatives, Dean Heller, gay marriage, Iowa, Republicans, Rick Perry, S.1931, tax breaks, The Family Leader, wealthy

First Conservative Church of America?

In the past two weeks Conservatives dropped any pretense about their goal of creating new laws that will be used as weapons anyone who violates their version of religion. At the same time Conservatives in Congress also continued to elevate the millionaires and billionaires to demigod status.

Few would deny that Evangelical Christians control most if not all religious conversations among Conservatives, but that was even more apparent on the Saturday before Thanksgiving when the Iowa-based, ultra-Conservative religious group, The Family Leader, hosted a round-table discussion with six of the most prominent Republican Presidential candidates. Prior to the start of the two-hour event, organizers spent 45 minutes outlining their plan for national domination by controlling who will be elected to a political office.

Groups like The Family Leader, Focus on the Family, and The Truth Project hope to create a “worldview” in the United States that uses local, state, and federal laws as their weapons to enforce their mythological beliefs on all citizens. It was hard to argue with their ability to control Conservative politics with six Republican candidates at their beck and call.

Paul Kiser

Conservatives have worked to pass laws that denied equal rights to Gay Americans, created impossible building codes for women’s health clinics that honored a woman’s freewill, and define birth control as murder. The Iowa event made it clear that Republican Presidential candidates have nothing but praise and support to groups who seek to replace fair government with interpretive mythology.

After the event, Conservative Presidential candidate Rick Perry joined Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum in signing The Family Leader’s Pledge to Marriage. The vow that implies that being Gay is a learned behavior (presumably that can be deprogrammed,) that African-Americans were better parents when they were slaves, and demands the candidate commit to 14 points, including an Amendment to the United States Constitution that forbids legal Gay marriage, and a rejection of Sharia Islam law.

Conservative's Deity: Wealth

In the same week Conservatives offered the economy of the United States as a sacrifice to the richest Americans by rejecting any plan to secure America’s future that would include a restoration of tax revenue from those who owe the most to this country for their wealth. Despite Conservative attempts to spin it as the fault of the Democrats, the simple fact is that there was only one issue that kept Congress from creating a solution to America’s current and future debt issue and that is imposing fair taxes on those with incomes over $1 million a year.

This week appointed Senator Dean Heller from Nevada joined in the worship of the rich by authoring Senate Bill 1931 (S.1931) which proposes legislation to temporarily extend tax cuts for middle and lower incomes by taking jobs and money from some of the very people the temporary tax cuts are supposed to benefit. Heller, a former Bank of America consultant and stockbroker who, according to the Las Vegas Sun, is worth between $2.5 and $11 million, offered the new law in order to shelter the wealthy, including himself, from the Democrats proposal that would re-establish some of the tax revenue that was cut during the Bush administration.

As an apparent joke to the wealthy and an insult to those who are not, Heller included provisions in the bill that millionaires; 1) could, if they felt like it, donate money to the United States Treasury to lower America’s debt, 2) would not be able to collect unemployment nor food stamps (we allow millionaires to collect unemployment and food stamps now?), and 3) make them pay more for Medicare, assuming they can’t afford private health insurance. All three provisions are symbolic gestures that pale in comparison to the jobs and wages lost by the rest of Senate Bill 1931.

Conservatives point to the Bible as their rationale for everything they do. The Bible says,

“Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 19:24

It seems Conservatives like Senator Dean Heller, who scored a perfect 100% favorable rating from the Christian Coalition of America, are unconcerned about what the Bible says.

A version of this article first published as
Conservatives Weaponize Religion, Worship Wealthy

on Technorati.com

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Satan’s Board Meeting

26 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by Paul Kiser in Politics

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Bachmann, Boehner, Cain, Conservatives, Romney, Satan

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Paul Kiser

Nervously they waited for ‘The One.’ Cain was visibly nervous as he shifted in his chair. Sweat was trickling down his face and his expression kept changing from a smile to a frown and back again. With the exception of Bachmann, all the other people gathered seemed to fill the air with a growing tension, as if something really bad were about to happen to one or more of them. Bachmann smiled as she looked around the room. She was the only one who seemed happy to be at the table.

Good morning, Sir!

Bachmann leaned forward and put both hands on the table as she caught Satan’s eye and she gave him a flirtatious look and a wink…

Satan briskly entered the room trailed by Limbaugh and Murdoch. Everyone stood up at his entrance into the Board Room. Bachmann leaned forward and put both hands on the table as she caught Satan’s eye and she gave him a flirtatious look and a wink, to which Satan just gave her a nod. Bachmann had hoped for more. Cain managed to smile and spill out, “Good morning, Sir…,” and then quickly looked down as he was ignored. Satan reached the head of the table and smiled and said, “Sit, sit, …no need to be formal here among friends.” The group breathed a heavy collective sigh and all relaxed into their chairs.

"I told them we should tax the poor!"

“Are you with us or not?” asked Satan. Romney’s words stumbled out, “ya.., yes, Yes, of course…ALWAYS!”

“Gentlemen,” Satan began. Bachmann might have taken offense, but she couldn’t decide if he had singled her out of the rest of the group as an honor, or if he was just ignoring her, so she just decided to pout a little. Satan continued, “We are making great progress, but we are not there yet.” Satan paused for effect. The room stopped breathing. “Mitt!” The words caused Romney to snap his head toward the dominant presence in the room. “Are you with us or not?” asked Satan. Romney’s words stumbled out, “ya.., yes, Yes, of course…ALWAYS!” Romney tried to smile, but it didn’t quite look right. Satan continued in a low voice, “I’m just not feeling the love, Mitt.” Romney face looked pained as he said, “How could you say that?…I’m Mormon for devil’s sake!…We have millions of people believing that Jesus came to America and that God gave us a book on golden plates! What more can you ask?”

Satan's not feeling the love from Mitt

Satan smirked, “That’s yesterday’s news, Mitt. What have you done for me lately?” Mitt looked down. Satan continued, “Herman has come up with a plan that will put more of a tax burden on his employees and less on him. Ricky has a similar plan that will make millionaires richer and the working class take up their slack…this is what I’m talking about!” “I’ve also called for an electrified fence to keep the Mexican Catholics out of America!”, Cain blurted out. Bachmann followed quickly, “I said we need to make the poor pay taxes!” “Yes Herman, your efforts to pit Christians against Christians are noted. Michelle, please remember you’re only here for entertainment,” replied Satan. Herman beamed as Bachmann returned to pouting.

Satan continued, “People, remember our goal! America, is the biggest threat to my domination of the world. Everyone wants the freedom, independence, and prosperity that Americans enjoy and while we have made progress in killing this dream we are far from claiming victory. The world needs to see that America is just another failed republic. A place of despair and fear where people intentionally sabotage the dreams of their neighbors.

Ten years ago today we were able to take away the American right of unwarranted suspicion and covert investigation with the Patriot Act, ….heh, heh,…I still get a kick out of that name, …but that was only one victory. We have to crush free-thinking with our thinking, and what is our thinking?”

“CONSERVATIVE,” answered everyone in unison.

…Satan turned to Boehner and said, “John, you have done well to kill that hope by blocking every move to restore America’s economy, but now we must crush the American spirit once and for all.

“Exactly,” said Satan. “We must continue to destroy the American economy by tearing down the very thing that keeps it running, the government. Once we have weakened the government sufficiently we can let greed run rampant. No one can stop us once the government is made impotent.

We almost had it all wrapped up in 2008, but then Obama came along and everyone had…,” Satan’s expression changed to look like he had just tasted dog poop, “…hope.” Satan turned to Boehner and said, “John, you have done well to kill that hope by blocking every move to restore America’s economy, but now we must crush the American spirit once and for all. We need more distraction to keep the liberals off balance. Talk about more anti-abortion laws, Christians always love it when they are allowed to determine what other people can and cannot do, so let them! And even Herman knows we can’t go wrong with immigration! Nothing unites white men like the fear of Mexicans. All of you have a special place in Hell on reserve, but you have to make it happen for me, first.”

Satan abruptly ended his speech, turned quickly and marched out of the room. His sudden move caught Limbaugh and Murdoch by surprise, causing Limbaugh to move quickly to his right, who subsequently colliding into Murdoch, who was still unaware that Satan was leaving. Both fell in a heap, then scrambled to get up and follow Satan. As they exited the room filled with silence. Finally Cain said, “I think he likes me.” Bachmann turned to Cain and said, “Herman, shut up.”

What I’m Not Buying This Year

13 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by Paul Kiser in Branding, Business, Communication, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, History, Honor, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Politics, Pride, Public Relations, Random, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Respect, Rotary, Taxes, The Tipping Point, US History

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Blogging, Blogs, Christine O'Donnell, Conservatives, Crime, Depression, Ethics, Executive Management, Good Government, Hispanic, Illegal Aliens, Illegal Immigrants, LoCOS, Management Practices, Mexican Nationals, Mexico, Nevada, New Business World, Political Parties, Politics, Public Image, Public Relations, Publicity, Re-Imagine!, Recession, Republicans, Rotary, Sharron Angle, Tea Party, Unemployment, Unethical Business Practices

by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Tis the season and there are a lot of political candidates out there selling their version of what is wrong with this country/state/county/city and how they are going to fix what ails us. This year is different from most because it seems that a lynch mob has taken over a prominent role in politics and like most lynch mobs they don’t need facts, they just need someone to be angry at and someone to blame.

It would be easy to label the people behind this political lynch mob as ‘stupid’, but that is probably overly harsh. These people are driven by emotions, not a lack of intelligence, so stupid is not the correct term. I prefer to describe the lynch mob as people who have a Lack Of Critical Observation Skills (LoCOS for short.) This year the LoCOS are trying to sell a lot of garbage and I’m not buying it. For example:

Nevada: The best at doing it wrong

LoCOS: Lower taxes will improve the economy
To the LoCOS who are selling the load I have one word. Nevada. Nevada has no Income tax. Nevada has no Capital Gains tax. Nevada has no Corporate tax. Nevada has no Inventory tax. Even conservative business groups rate Nevada as one of the most ‘business-friendly’ states. Nevada is to business what the Bunny Ranch was to male ego.

According the LoCOS argument, Nevada should be awash in new business. Nevada’s economy should be booming. Nevada should be the poster child of the low tax concept.

The fact is that the State exposes the Lo Tax/Mo Biz as a myth. Nevada is Number ONE in unemployment (2nd place Florida is over a full point better than the Silver State.) Nevada is Number ONE in crime. Nevada is Number ONE in housing foreclosures. Nevada is consistently among the lowest in unbiased education rankings. Nevada is proof that lower taxes does not make for a better economy.

(Article: Nevada’s State of Disaster)

LoCOS: Business is better at running our government
Let’s remember that it wasn’t government that put us in a recession but business…BAD business. Government was an enabler, in that it stopped regulating and monitoring the unbridled greed of the incestuous investor-run business world, but at the end of the day it was business people who made all the decisions. The corporate executives chose to ignore the obvious result that would happen from their greed and dove head on into unethical practices that doomed our economy.

Greed is inherent in business. Greed is why business exists. There is no ‘care for fellow citizen’ in the business world. Business is based on competition, winners and losers, and often the losers are not the weakest, but rather loser’s are the one’s with morals. Business only keeps to a moral compass when there is an unbiased arbiter oversees its activities. That is the role of government.

This year we are seeing the perversion of investor-run business with clearer eyes. The Chamber of Commerce has abandoned their mission of promoting good business in the community in favor of attacking local governments and promoting only those candidates that will remove the protections for honest business and our citizens. It is ironic that anyone would suggest that business, with its greed-driven motives and proven track record of unethical practices, should replace good government.

Don’t get me wrong, a strong economy needs good, healthy businesses, but good, healthy businesses need a strong government to create and monitor the rules for which guide and protect all. The leap of logic of the LoCOS, that our government should be run as a business, is as absurd as saying that FIFA needs fewer referees on the soccer field.

LoCOS: The trillion-dollar debt is bad
The LoCOS must have Alzheimer’s.

I’m not in favor of a large deficit, especially when it involves sending US dollars to finance the destruction of another country …. but I’m really not in favor of is a Depression. That is what we faced in early 2009. Business had raped our economy through outrageous, unregulated practices and we were on the brink of an abyss that had no bottom. Again, business, not government caused our economy to fail. Initially, our country let big banks suffer the consequences of what they had done, but it quickly became apparent that what was about to happen was the massive collapse of the entire economic system, which would have forced the United States government to take over the day-to-day operations of almost all of our major financial institutions.

Cheney's Folly: The start of our debt problems

The alternative to a nuclear meltdown of our economy was to lend money to those institutions, help initiate controlled purchases of ailing banks, and invest government money in key assistance programs. Was it a bailout? Yes, but it was investing, not buying, which meant we would get the money back in almost every case.

The government also invested money in the mismanaged auto industry that, if not preserved, would have sent us into Depression-era unemployment overnight. Yes, it increased our nation’s debt. A debt that had gone from surplus in President Clinton’s years, to a deficit under George Bush. It would have been better if we had not spent so much money on Cheney’s overseas folly and already been in the hole when the house of cards of bad business fell, but there was no choice. The decisions made in late 2008 and early 2009 were necessary and save our country from disaster.

Have we recovered? No. But the LoCOS rage over a big deficit is being driven and financed by the major corporations that would prefer the citizen forget what really happened. I wish business hadn’t forced us to use trillions of taxpayer’s dollar to remedy their greed, but we had no choice.

LoCOS: Government is bad
Government is really, really good providing it is run by reasonable people who truly care for the citizens … all the citizens. There is one difference between civilization and anarchy and that is government. Every time I hear the LoCOS point out an example of bad government I can think of a hundred ways that government has made our country great. I mentioned to a person that the airlines need to be regulated again and they pointed out how, under government regulation, an airline was forced to maintain a route to a small city that was not profitable. Yes, that is tough, but what about the scores of lucrative routes that government regulation handed that same airline on a silver platter? I’m really weary of the single exceptions to how great government has been in making this the strongest country in the history of the world. Single exceptions do not make an argument for destroying our country.

Government is the foundation of our society and the only people who don’t benefit from a strong government are the greedy and unethical. When we were in school we would have rather had no teachers telling us what to do, but that wouldn’t have made our education better. It’s time we stopped making the argument of a 5th grader…and time we started respecting what a blessing it is to have a government that keeps our society from devolving into anarchy.

The Face of the LoCO People

LoCOS: Electing stupid people is smart
This one mystifies me. A candidate from any other party would be laughed out of politics for saying or doing something stupid and yet candidates for the LoCOS wear their stupidity like a new hat. LoCOS candidates are avoiding the media, saying one thing, then changing their story. They scream about illegal aliens and how they are destroying our country, then it’s revealed they were employing them. They dress in Nazi uniforms. They steal other people’s work and claim it as their own. They take campaign money and pay their personal bills with it. They have to explain to people why they are not a witch. They threaten violence on people, yell about almost anything, deceive, and often outright lie…and the LoCOS cheer on.

I know that the quality of candidates of the LoCOS is a reflection of the lack of respect they have for our country and government, but isn’t prima facie evidence that the LoCOS can’t really be trying to improve our country when they are represented by the worst of the worst?

LoCO S: Illegal aliens (=Hispanics) are destroying this country
First, let’s remember that a major portion of the United States (California, Nevada, Utah, southwestern Wyoming, western Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas belonged to Mexico until the mid-1800’s. We took the land from them at gunpoint and paid fifty cents on the dollar for the land. I could make a strong argument that Mexican nationals are not really the illegal aliens in Alta California, Nuevo Mexico, and Tejas, but I will let that dog rest.

(Article: America’s Hostile Takeover of Mexico)

Regardless of the history of Mexico and the United States, the fact is that a typical tactic of a lynch mob is to find a symbol (person or group) that has little or no opportunity to defend themselves and present them as evil. This is a tactic used by the KKK, the Nazis, and every ultra-right wing, nationalistic, racist group. It doesn’t matter of whether the targeted group is guilty of anything, just that they, or no one else, is able or willing to stand up and challenge the accusations. Mexican immigrants are the perfect target for a group like the LoCOS.

The facts are that:

Most Mexican undocumented immigrants lead quiet, peaceful, law-abiding lives in the United States (a fact that the LoCOS lie about)
Mexican undocumented immigrants are working jobs that no American citizen wants to do
That the United States is the primary enabler of the drug wars in Mexico (we buy the product and sell them the arms)
Mexican undocumented immigrants can’t file for Income Tax refunds (which most would get if they were citizens) so the United States collects and keeps all the money deducted from their pay.

But according to the LoCOS, they are pure evil and responsible for our all our economic and societal ills. In Arizona, a sheriff’s deputy called that he was under attack by Mexican drug smugglers and was shot. He became the hero of the LoCOS.

Deputy Puroll's wound

Despite a massive effort, no drug smugglers were found. Now it turns out that the wound was from a bullet fired at close range (not from 25 yards as he claimed) and likely self-inflicted. Almost no one questioned the story of the deputy at the time, despite the inconsistencies in his account. Why should they, blame it on the Mexicans. Naturally, the story has to be true!

To me, the whole issue of ‘illegal aliens’ is a tornado in search of a trailer park. The damning terminology, the use of single examples, and falsified facts all indicate that the LoCOS need to create a threat and it the Muslims are too far away to pick on so the target is Mexican nationals.

The New Testament of the Bible has clear instructions on how a Christian is behave. Jesus said to love thy neighbor as thyself. The Apostle Paul says, “…as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another..” (1 Thessalonians 4:9). The LoCOS often boast of their devotion to Christ and then desecrate his teachings by their un-Christian attitude towards those of Hispanic descent.

I’m not buying it.

LoCOS: Threatening our government and the electorate with armed rebellion
Several members of the LoCOS, including LoCOS candidates have indicated that ‘some people’ may be mad enough at our government to invoke ‘their Second Amendment Rights’. I don’t care how you say it, to suggest that some people are going to take up arms against their fellow citizens (if the LoCOS don’t get their way) is wrong. In this country we vote, and we don’t take up arms to enforce the LoCOS will on the majority. Anyone who suggests this is a threat to our Constitution and to this country. Mad or not, there is a line that cannot be crossed over.

I know that everything I said here will not make any difference to the LoCOS. In fact, they will be outraged that I spoke out against their unbridled illogical arguments. You can’t reason with a lynch mob. But sometime in the future we will all look back on this and say, “What were the LoCOS thinking?” The problem is that they are not.

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