Damning With Faint Praise

Dick Cheney thinks Sarah Palin can be an "effective" vice president. Wow. Does that mean she could be just like him? Or does it mean she could work the vice presidency like others before him?

Hmmm. Depends on what John McCain is looking for. Does he want someone to do all the heavy lifting while he remains detached from the economic and foreign policy issues facing the country like our current administration? Does he want someone he can groom for the 2012 presidential campaign so Republicans can try to create another dynasty? Is he simply trying a cynical approach to wooing women (don't even get me started on why his campaign thinks his wealthy accomplished wife needs a stupid cookie recipe on their website)?

I don't like Sarah Palin's politics. I think she's a hypocrite regarding choice, I hunted with my dad as a kid but don't believe the NRA needs to support my right to an AK-47, I have a rich spiritual life but don't believe God's will is at stake and Alaska is the poster child for earmarks.

Do I envy her willingness to step up and take on this potentially historical task. You bet I do!Even more I envy the support system she has that permits her to do that. Maybe the real reason Sarah Palin is so popular: Many women would settle for their families to simply pick up after themselves.

The Money Shuffle

Here is my video response to John McCain's exciting new tax code plan according to the Wall Street Journal.

Social Networks Rule The World

Facebook Connect. Remember that phrase. It's going to change the way people connect across all social networking platforms.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, says FB Connect is a way to extend its brand across other applications by letting people use their FB username and password instead of needing to put up yet another profile.

It underscores the extreme importance social networking will have in our lives. It also underscores the fact that those who ignore this development will fall behind (yes, I am talking to my fellow baby boomers). In fact ignoring social networking has already caused business folks to fall behind.

I am astounded at the amount of time other less boomerish people spend on connecting via the internet. I spend an hour a day and think that's a lot! Still I have "met" people and because I see their faces and look at their photos and postings I know more about them than the customers I talked to for twenty years in a previous life. What richer relationships we could have had...it was a different time.

We will see regional networking grow as well. echaincommunity is a perfect example. Based in Atlanta echain owner Carrie Podber developed a brilliant site that combines virtual networking with face to face introductions and events. It's the absolute best of both worlds for those living and working in Atlanta. Carrie's on to something. Watch her fabulous idea spread.

Regardless if you network locally or across the world it's imperative that anyone serious about operating in the business/global world jumps in with both feet. There's no worse feeling than the remorse of "I wish...".

G8 Focuses On Important Issues

OMFG. Seriously.

According to The New York Times yesterday the G8 agreed to check all ipods and other MP3 players for illegal downloads at customs. Since teenagers' devices contain roughly 50% illegal material the agents should be very busy.

We didn't get a plan to stop the genocide in Darfur. We didn't get a plan to wean ourselves off oil. We didn't get a plan to deal with world-wide hunger. We did get a plan to halve the carbon output by 2050. They will all be dead by then so no real courage there.

Why are the G8 even interested in something so low level? I guess they had to do something while they were there besides eat and take photos.

OMFG. Seriously.

Cheaper Is Not The Answer For Addicts

I spend every Wednesday evening from 7 to 8 at a meeting for parents of young adults with substance abuse problems. The stories are emotional and it is literally a safety net for parents who have felt isolated during the struggle to 1) keep their children alive and 2) teach them how to live without the drugs and/or alcohol that runs their lives.

I am luckily not in the group whose children switched to heroin from oxycontin because it was cheaper. Being unable to purchase the drugs needed to keep the addiction going may have forced these kids to seek treatment before putting needles in their arms. Plus it is estimated that addicts spend 90% of their day thinking about their next fix.

Listening to Al Gore on Meet the Press yesterday it occurred to me that his radical goal of becoming oil free in ten years is similar to the radical goals addicts must make. In order to break addiction you have to give it up. No alcoholic can have champagne for New Year's. No pot head can simply reduce his bong use to mornings only. Getting cheaper drugs doesn't work. It just extends the agony.

It's the same with using oil for energy. We spend too much time figuring out how much gasoline to buy or what thermostat setting is best, where to find the cheapest energy, how to afford it based on the number of hours worked/miles driven/number of drivers.

The best way to become an ex-addict is the radical way: Give It Up. It's painful in the beginning. Relapses occur. Some don't make it. But for those who do the outcome is joyous and without fail the addict says s/he never wants to feel like that again.

If we can expect this from 15 to 25 year olds we ought to expect it from ourselves.

When Does It Become A Conspiracy?

I am not generally a conspiracy theorist. It takes too much time physically and mentally. I did detect a pattern yesterday that could almost send me over the edge.

Have you noticed that as manufacturing jobs (laborers and management) have declined so has financial help for college? At the very time young people are being turned away for jobs because their grandmas got them college loans particularly in the community college sector are nearly impossible to get. While I do not espouse the "you can't afford to go to college" theory at all it can be exceedingly difficult to work enough to take more than a class or two a semester.

Big deal. But that's not the whole pattern. If you can't get a job and you can't afford post-secondary training what's left? Assuming you're not in prison it's the military. If young people had no alternative and started joining the service Congress and the President would not have to do the dirty work of reinstituting the draft. Whew! Win-win for some. Lose big time for others.

Tell me I have too much time on my hands. Otherwise we are seeing America's future fight silly wars and "third world" countries turn out the scientists and engineers who will really run the world.

You're Always On...

My mother always said there are two different sets of manners: One for home and one for everywhere else. I could pick up chicken with my fingers at home but used a fork and knife at a restaurant. I could wear a plaid shirt and striped shorts at home but I matched when I went to church. I could respond to any conversation at the breakfast table but I kept my opinions to myself when sitting with the adults at Grandma's Sunday dinner.

This is exponentially more important when waiting for a news segment to start no matter how close you are to the interviewer. It's hard to believe Jesse Jackson's mother didn't teach him that.

That sounds harsh - even to me. His mother probably did. What may have happened is Jackson became so insulated he forgot. It's a dangerous place as he has learned to his chagrin. I do not care about his opinions or his language. He's entitled to them. It is still America.

There are a couple lessons in this debacle. One is that outside our homes we are always on. Even social networking requires better manners than what might happen face to face. The second is the more you have to lose the more you will lose!

Don't let the virtual world lull you into complacency. My mother also always said a person's reputation took years to build and seconds to lose.