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I spoke with my mother today and she sounds a lot stronger. Late last week she inhaled some water she was drinking into her lung. She quickly developed Pneumonia and has been in the hospital every since.
She’s on her third antibiotic and it seems to be the magic bullet that’s doing the job. She will likely be a long time recovering, but she WILL be recovering.
And the good news doesn’t stop there. Bush’s poll numbers and up and that was BEFORE the convention started. The Kerry campaign is in disarray. They’re changing their campaign staff and that’s always a sign of weakness. If you have good people doing their job, you don’t replace them. You only make changes if things aren’t going well.
If Kerry is so much smarter than Bush, why can’t he run a better campaign? He IS the leader of the campaign isn’t he? Or is he just a figurehead that does what people tell him to do?
The French, like all democratic countries, can't content themselves with adopting a passive position. The Americans, British and other nations that are fighting in Iraq are not only fighting to protect Iraqis, they are fighting to protect their own countries.
The governments that decided to stay on the defensive will be the next targets of the terrorists. Terrorist attacks will occur in Paris, in Nice, in Cannes or in San Francisco. The time has come to act against terrorism, in the same fashion...that Europe fought Hitler. Every day, tens of people are killed in Iraq. They are not dying because we are going through a major national crisis, but because we have decided to combat evil. That's why the entire international community must assist us, as rapidly as possible, to improve the security of our country.
...the U.S. decided to disembark in Normandy, to eliminate Hitler. They suffered heavy losses to accomplish this objective. The same thing is happening today. People must assume their responsibilities. The decision to assist Iraq is courageous. Let me tell you that the French, despite all the noise they make--'We don't want war!'--will shortly have to fight the terrorists.
-- Iyad Allawi the Prime Minister of Iraq
I’ve been wondering lately, just how smart is John Kerry. Everyone likes to assume that Bush is a dunce and Kerry is oh, so much smarter. Kerry says he would do what Bush did, but he would do it smarter and better.
But is Kerry really smarter than Bush? Both graduated from Yale. After Yale, Bush went on to Harvard. Where did Kerry go? Boston University. If Kerry was really that smart, why would he go to Boston University and not Harvard?
We have Bush’s grades, but we don’t have Kerry’s. If Kerry is so smart, let’s see his grades.
Fighting with Shia gunmen in Baghdad, and Sunni gangs in Mosul, left about a dozen dead, and over a hundred wounded in the past 24 hours. American and Iraqi troops are now moving on Sunni warlords in the "Sunni Triangle" northwest of Baghdad. The Sunni minority bitterly resents their loss of power. For centuries, the Sunnis have dominated Iraqi affairs, and now the Shia majority is poised to take control. The interim government, led by a Sunni Arab, has been negotiating with other Sunni Arab leaders to get as many Sunni Arabs as possible to participate in the new government. But many of the Sunni Arab strongmen are hard core (either Saddam diehards or Islamic fundamentalists) and will fight. The government believes that, backed by American troops (who are very efficient at killing the poorly trained and led Iraqi gunmen). Iraqi police and troops can defeat the warlords one by one. The destruction of the Sadr militia in Najaf this month is an example of that. As residents, and journalists, return to Najaf, it becomes clear that the American troops were extremely efficient in killing the Iraqi gunmen, while keeping their casualties down. This, despite the conventional wisdom that urban warfare is bloody and frustrating for the attacker. This is no longer the case.
From StrategyPage.com
1. Once you are in the fight, it is way too late to wonder if this is a good idea.
2. It is a fact that helicopter tail rotors are instinctively drawn toward trees, stumps, rocks, etc. While it may be possible to ward off this natural event some of the time, it cannot, despite the best efforts of the crew, always be prevented. It's just what they do.
3. NEVER get into a fight without more ammunition than the other guy.
4. Cover your Buddy, so he can be around to cover you.
5. Letters from home are not always great.
6. The madness of war can extract a heavy toll. Please have exact change.
7. Share everything. Even the Pound Cake.
8. Decisions made by someone over your head will seldom be in your best interest.
9. The further away you are from your friends, the less likely it is that they can help you when you really need them the most.
10. Sometimes, being good and lucky still was not enough. There is always payback.
11. "Chicken Plates" (bullet proof plates for flak jackets) are not something you order in a restaurant.
12. If everything is as clear as a bell, and everything is going exactly as planned, you're about to be surprised.
13. If the rear echelon troops are really happy, the front line troops probably do not have what they need.
14. Happiness is a belt-fed weapon.
15. Eat when you can. Sleep when you can. Visit the head when you can. The next opportunity may not come around for a long time. If ever.
16. Combat pay is a flawed concept.
17. Having all your body parts intact and functioning at the end of the day beats the alternative.
18. If you are allergic to lead it is best to avoid a war zone.
19. When you shoot your gun, clean it the first chance you get.
20. Loud sudden noises in a helicopter WILL get your undivided attention.
21. Hot garrison chow is better than hot C-rations, which, in turn is better than cold C-rations, which is better than no food at all. WHAT is often more important than WHY.
22. Girlfriends are fair game. Wives are not.
23. Everybody's a hero on the ground in the club after the fourth drink.
24. There is no such thing as a small firefight.
25. A free-fire zone has nothing to do with economics.
26. Medals are OK, but having your body and all your friends in one piece at the end of the day is better.
27. The only medal you really want to be awarded is the Longevity Medal.
28. There is only one rule in war: When you win, you get to make up the Rules.
29. While a Super Bomb could be considered one of the four essential building blocks of life, powdered eggs cannot.
30. C-4 (plastic explosives) can make a dull day fun.
31. Cocoa Powder (found in field rations) is neither. Always make sure someone has a P-38 (compact can opener).
32. Flying is better than walking. Walking is better than running. Running is better than crawling. All of these however, are better than extraction by a Med-Evac, even if this is technically a form of flying.
From StrategyPage.com
According to Marxist doctrine, socialism is a stage of society between capitalism and communism where private ownership and control over property are eliminated. The essence of socialism is the attenuation and ultimate abolition of private property rights. Attacks on private property include, but are not limited to, confiscating the rightful property of one person and giving it to another to whom it doesn't belong. When this is done privately, we call it theft. When it's done collectively, we use euphemisms: income transfers or redistribution.
From Walter Williams
Karol has Vinca's across the south side of the house. It has a southern exposure and I have a soaker hose on a timer to keep them well watered. As you can see they are doing well.
From Cox & Forkum
The Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth are taking the Kerry campaign piece by piece. Every one of their campaign ads have been devasating. Here's their latest one.
(2004-08-26) -- President George Bush today announced a major strategy shift in his re-election campaign brought on by what he described as "the failure of my nominal opponent to present a single reason voters should support him."
The Bush-Cheney campaign will now simply ignore John Forbes Kerry, the Democrat candidate and Vietnam veteran who is also a U.S. Senator.
"It's hard to mount an entire campaign against an opponent who has no record, no bedrock values, no consistent positions, no new ideas and only wants to talk about something he hasn't done for 35 years," said Mr. Bush. "So far, the fight has been between me and anti-me...Bush against hate-Bush. From now on, we're looking at a one-man race for the presidency."
Campaign insiders said TV and radio ads will no longer mention the Democrat candidate, but will simply focus on the president's record and his vision for the future.
"I can't change people whose hearts overflow with hatred," said the president. "So I'll just focus on rallying those whose minds are still open. We're going to target what you call your sentient beings."
From ScrappleFace
Kerry is losing his battle with the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth. First, it was Cambodia. Kerry’s seared memory of spending Christmas in Cambodia being shot at by the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodians, and the South Vietnamese has now been show to be false. His campaign has admitted as much.
Then it was his first Purple Heart. It has now been revealed he got his first Purple Heart from an accidental self-inflicted wound from his own hand-grenade. Not exactly valorous stuff.
We now find out, when Kerry volunteered for Swift Boat duty when they were engaged in relatively safe coastal patrols. Shortly after becoming a Swift Boat commander, the Swifties were redeployed to rivers of Vietnam – a much riskier venture.
Sixteen weeks later, Kerry applied was received a ticket out of the combat zone for his three purple hearts.
Sixty years after Paris was seized by the "Allies," and the beginning of the American occupation, France remains a failed nation, mired in political corruption and beset by vast pockets of Muslim extremism, into which the gendarmerie fear to tread. The economy continues to struggle under economic policies driven by failed ideologies, and many of its best and brightest continue to flow out of the country, with only ex-dictators and their families, and hysterical movie stars willing to move there.
Sadly, history has born out the predictions of those who warned against invading in the spring of 1944. Many had pointed out what a poor prospect the region was for any kind of democracy, with its long history of belligerence and arrogance, and failed republics.
Everyone is upset with the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, MoveOn.org, ACT and other 527 organizations that are weighing during the campaign. I say, “Bring it on!”
This is the United States and we have freedom of speech. Here’ why we respect it, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
What is Kerry’s complaint about the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, “Make them stop.”
Johnson's entrepreneurial spirit was awakened at age 9, when his parents gave him his first computer, $50 and a checking account to help him learn about managing money. "I wanted to put more money into that bank account," says Johnson. "Things just expanded from there."
While most 10-year-olds were riding bicycles and playing video games, Johnson was the CEO of his first company, Cheers & Tears. The venture sold greeting cards that Johnson printed from his computer and eventually expanded to include online sales of Beanie Babies, ringing up $50,000 in monthly sales and making Johnson the second largest Beanie Baby retailer on the Internet.
Since then, he has launched a string of ventures that have brought him international fame and not-inconsiderable fortune.
These include SurfingPrizes.com, a business that paid users to surf the Web and at one point generated $15,000 a day in advertising revenues; Zablo.com, a group of online services for car dealerships that includes a system enabling potential car buyers to exchange their names, email addresses and phone numbers for a certificate worth $100 off the price of a car; and EmazingSites.com, aggregating several services from enhanced AOL Instant Messenger profiles to a $4.95 product that boosts cell phone reception.
From Business Opportunities Weblog
These kind of reports drive me nuts. What am I, chopped liver? Why can't I come up with ideas like this?
After over a year of fighting this “rebellion,”, U.S. combat deaths are less than 600, Iraqi and other coalition forces have suffered about as many. The rebels have lost over 10,000 dead. The rebellion isn’t over yet because, unlike the earlier ones, the rebels are so outnumbered, they cannot fight battles. In 1920 and 1941, large groups of armed Iraqis would confront British troops, in addition to guerilla attacks by small groups. The current hostilities are a very lopsided civil war, with over 90 percent of the population on one side. The Sunni Arabs fight on partly because they fear war crimes trials for atrocities committed when they served Saddam, and partly because they really believe that Iraq can’t do without them. The foreign terrorists fight because of the non-Moslem foreigners, and later will fight because Iraq will be seen as not Islamic enough because of cooperation with infidels (non-Moslems).
All of this makes Iraq a rather unique rebellion, guerilla operation, civil war, or whatever you want to call it. Comparisons to other guerilla wars will be difficult, because the size of the population supporting the guerillas has a direct bearing on the chances of the guerillas succeeding. In Iraq, the small portion of the population supporting guerilla operations indicates that the possibility of success is very low. But the fighting could go on for a while. The Malay insurrection of 1948-60 was carried out largely by the Chinese minority (37 percent of the population of 6.2 million). The Malay unrest, like that in Iraq, was pretty low key, with most of the population never bothered by the violence or military operations. The Malay situation eventually left 6,710 rebels and 3,400 civilians dead. The armed forces lost 1,865 (1346 Malayan and 519 British).
The American army has carefully studied the Malay situation, and that may be the most likely model to follow. The key to winning in Malay was making sure there was law and order at the lowest level. Iraq has a problem with criminals, as well as rebels, so effective policing is doubly important in Iraq. The war will be won in the villages and neighborhoods.
From StrategyPage.com
Karol has whole rows of these hot-pink Impatiens. They have done very well this summer. I have a automatic watering system that has stood them through the summer.
The wheels are starting to come off the Kerry campaign. The Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth ads are having their effect. Kerry has been unable to disprove their accusations.
Since he cannot disprove the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, he is instead attempting to silence them.
Kerry says he believes he can do a better job than Bush. However, for many years Kerry also said that he believed he was in Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1968. It now turns out that claim was a lie.
I wonder what else Kerry is lying about?
I have been offering everyone I could lay my hands on $100 if they came up with a name for my company that I ultimately use. Well 17:00 today was the cut-off for suggestions. Now I have to decide what name to use. Here are the suggestions I’ve received.
ABACUS
Account Pro
Account Sense
Account Ware
Account Watch
Account-Command
Account-ease
Account-EZ
Accounting Software Enterprises
Account-Mate
Account-Soft
Accu-Friendly Accounting Software
Apex Solutions
Arms Group
Arms Technologies
Armstrong Accounting Solutions
Armstrong Business Solutions
Bean Counters
BizSoft
BizWare
Black Ink Solutions
Book-Keep Software Design
Bottom Line Solutions
Business Accounting Software
Business Friendly Software
Business Software, Inc.
Business Solutions Inc.
Checkmate
Cheetah Business Solutions
Computer Geeks R Us
Computer Specialists, Inc
Count Me
Custom Fit Systems
Cutting Edge, Inc.
Flagship, Inc.
Flagship Solutions, Inc.
ProcessPlus, Inc.
Database Accounting Associates
DDH
DDH Business Solutions
DDH Services
DDH Solutions
Design Friendly Accounting Software
DODE Accounting Software
DODE Computer Consulting
DODE Software consultants
DoDec
Dollar Cents
Dynamic Business Solutions
Dynamic Software Solutions
Dynamic Software Solutions
Eagle Software Solutions
Eagle Technologies, Inc.
Enterprise Software Solutions
Enterprise Solutions
E-Z & Friendly Accounting Software
E-Z Design Business Software
E-Z Value
Fret Not Software
Fret Not Technologies
Friendly & Knowledgeable Accounting Software
Friendly Accounting Software
Great Plains Dudes
Great Plains Dudes - R – Us
Knowledgeable Accounting Software
KT Group
KT Software Solutions
KT Technologies
LedgerSoft
LedgerWare
Lorak Business Solutions
Lorak Software Solutions
Marathon Database Solutions
Materials in Progress
Megabytes,inc
Microsoft Great Plains Service
MoneySoft
Mouseketeers
Nex-Soft
POCKET PROTECTORS 'R' US
Presidential Solutions
Presilutions
Profit Solutions
ProfitSoft
ProfitWare
Quality Resources Corporation
Rasmin Inc.
Quality Software Solutions
Report ease
Report Sense
Shoesoff Accounting Software
Shoesoft Systems
Simple-Soft
Smart Choice Systems
Smooth & Easy
Soft Solutions
Soft-Track
Software Specialists, Inc.
Strong Group
Strong Tech
StrongArms
Stuff Check
Stuff Track
Stuff Watch
Summit Solutions
Supergeeks
T&A
TA Armstrong And Associates
TBA Software
TBA Unlimited
TEDCO
TeddyWare
TedPro
Ted's Team
TedWare
Tempest Business Solutions
That Online Accounting Firm
TK Group
TK Technologies
TPA Technique, Inc.
Widget Track
In our sales training class, we are covering something they call a Respect and Trust Inquiry. This inquiry takes 15 to 20 minutes. The purpose is to determine whether you trust and respect the prospect. If you do, you can go ahead and do business with them. If you do not trust or respect them, they you do business with the prospect at your own risk.
Our homework assignment is to do three Trust and Respect Inquiry before our session next Tuesday. I just finished one with one of my classmates in California. I will tell you, it’s a little unnerving. However, it is part of the sale method and I am determined to do what it takes to be successful at this.
I’ve decided that the name “Dodecahedron” has got to go. When contacting prospective clients and repeating "Dodecahedron" multiple times as well as spelling it out, I've decided to take our a "Doing Business As" Name.
I contacted all my clients as well as any one else I could lay my hands on for some suggestions. Here’s the list of possible names I have so far.
DODE Computer Consulting
POCKET PROTECTORS 'R' US
Tempest Business Solutions
ABACUS
Database Accounting Associates
Account-ease
Report ease
Simple-Soft
Account-Soft
Account-Mate
Checkmate
Count Me
Account Pro
Account Watch
Book-Keep Software Design
Soft-Track (Softrak)
Nex-Soft (Nexsoft)
Dollar Cents
Account Sense
Report Sense
Account-Command
Bean Counters
Stuff Check
Stuff Track
Widget Track
Stuff Watch
Shoesoff Accounting Software
Shoesoft Systems
Software specialists,inc
Computer specialists,inc
Megabites,inc
Smart Choice Systems
Custom Fit Systems
Supergeeks
Mouseketeers
I you have a suggestion, please add it to the list. I'm paying $100 to anyone that comes up with a name I ultimately use.
UPDATE: Here are some more entries
DDH
DoDec
Business Software, Inc.
Rasmin Inc.
E-Z Value
Business Solutions Inc.
Eagle Technologies, Inc.
TPA Technique, Inc.
Fret Not Software
Fret Not Technologies
Presidential Solutions
Presilutions
I did an hour of prospecting last Friday and again this afternoon. I made 60 dials on Friday and 64 dials today. I made seven offers today and five offers on Friday. I’m finding, so far, that I get to speak to the right person about 10 percent of the time.
So far, I have not gotten any appointments, but it make take several trips through my list to get any. Each time my list should get cleaner and I should do better.
I’m a little uneasy about doing this, but I need to tough it out until I get more comfortable with it.
This is one of Karol’s roses. I’m not particularly fond of roses. They are high-maintenance flowers. But she likes them so we have them. I think she planted this one last year. It seems to be doing quite well this year.
If you look closely, you can see a bee having his supper inside the flower. The bees are innocuous. They're too busy looking for food than worrying about stinging anyone
The overwhelming majority of federal income taxes are paid by the very highest income earners.
● The top 1% of income earners pay about 32% of all income taxes.
● The top 5% pay 51.4%.
● The top 10% pay 63.5%.
● The top 20% pay 78%.
I did some more prospecting in the last two days. Between yesterday and today, I got 1:15 minutes of prospecting in. In that time, I made 73 dials and gave my offer three times.
The ideas the instructor had for increasing our dial rate helped a lot.
It’s a little tough and I admit to having a few trepidations about doing. However, I need to generate some sales.
The above graph shows the present state of the NASDAQ. It's not a pretty picture.
I remain at 100% cash. When I’m in this mode, I almost enjoy watching the market drop. I guess you could say it’s a little like watching a run-away train. You feel sorry for the people on it, but boy are you glad you’re not on board.
My take, for what it’s worth is that economy has hit a soft patch in the road and has slowed. My own thoughts are this could well be due to the high price of oil.
That said, I believe this market WILL come back some day, but who knows when. In the meantime, I will remain on the sidelines and keep my powder dry.
Cash – it’s a wonderful thing.
We now know how Osama Bin Laden feels. In the upcoming election he wants ABB (anyone but Bush). It appears he is planning attacks that he feels will sway Americans to vote for Kerry.
I think Osama’s political prognostication is a little off.
I really appreciate that you are addressing the Kerry in Vietnam issue. As a preliminary matter, I initially thought that Kerry's and Bush's service in the late 1960s and earlty 1970s was irrelevant to the question of who would make a better President.
But, Kerry's emphasis on his service in Vietnam raises issues important to me.
First, as a combat veteran of Vietnam (Aug 1969-May 1970), I was starting to feel that if the Swiftboat veterans questioning Kerry's Vietnam service could not be heard, then this country is not worth defending. Fortunately, they are getting to be heard.
Second, even without the critics of Kerry's Vietnam service, the prominence that Kerry has placed on Vietnam is mystifying. For example, why would any active duty officer go back and restage his activities for film? What kind of person would do that? I had a camera in Vietnam, and I took pictures. But not in combat, and not to recreate my combat experiences. I suggest that this action suggests something important about Kerry's character, and it is not good. Along the lines of a Nixon and Clinton.
Second, emphasize four months in Vietnam and ignore one's Senate record? How can anyone buy that? Can Kerry believe that no one will pay attention to his Senate record? I find it hard to believe that Kerry can sell himself as a hawk now (and criticise Bush) when he has one of the most appeasement-oriented and anti-military and anti-intelligence records in the senate.
Third, if you add all of this together, plus the allegations of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, you get the sense that Kerry will say anything to get what he wants (in this case, the Presidency) whether it is true or not. Everthing points to an uprincipled person along the lines of a Nixon.
I am glad this is being aired. Do we really want a President who has this kind of character?
From The Instapundit
In my selling class this morning, the instructor was pleased that all members of the class are making phone calls. He said he has had other classes where people don’t do the work and he cannot help them.
He also related that at one time, he sold insurance and his bosses drove him crazy. In his organization, they would have contests of who got the most appointments. His bosses based their management style on the idea that the more appointments you got the more people you will sell.
That sounds like a good theory, but in practice, it breaks down. Our instructor had few appointments, but when he went on an appointment, he general closed the sale. On the other hand, one salesman in his group went on 20 appointments one week and closed none of them.
In High Probability Sales, we ONLY make an appointment if we’re confident we will close the sale.
One of the pleasures of living in South Jersey is the plethora of fresh produce available in the summertime. Karol and I have taken to eating salads for supper. Here’s what we had for supper tonight.
First, I laid down a base of salad greens. I don’t know what they are, but I bought them at the local ShopRite and they seem edible and they’re not lettuce. On top of that, I put a chopped up fresh tomato. Then some Feta cheese, some blanched broccoli, cooked sliced beets all topped by fresh lightly cooked beans.
This has proven to be a very tasty meal. This was my supper.
Stars & Stripes: I’m a GI overseas. Why do I want to vote for John Kerry?
Kerry: Because I’m going to do a better job of making America safe. I think that the folks who are deployed would be better served by a commander in chief who knows what it means to be deployed.
I guess that leaves out Hillary.
I was at a picnic yesterday. The weather was beautiful. Also at the picnic was an acquaintance that is an active stock trader. Whenever we get together, we trade war stories of mini-fortunes made and lost.
His trading style is to buy a stock and then sell Call options on it. He told me that last year he made a 50% increase in his trading. That’s very good. Then he disclosed that, so far this year, he is down 50%.
Since his down 50% is of a bigger number than his up 50% last year, that puts him down 25% from the beginning of 2003.
All I can say is, “Ouch!” He has my condolences.
John Kerry before the U.S. Senate March 27, 1986.
Mr. President. I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the President of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia.
I have that memory which is seared-seared-in me, that says to me, before we send another generation into harm’s way we have responsibility in the U.S. Senate to go the last step, to make the best effort possible in order to avoid that kind of conflict.
Except Kerry's statement is false. He was NOT in Cambodia.
From what I have read, it seems shrapnel from a hand grenade wounded Kerry. This resulted in him getting his third purple heart and a ticket home. The most interesting part of this incident seems to be, it was HIS hand grenade. Either he didn’t throw it far enough or couldn’t run quickly enough to get out of the way. I think if I had been in his situation, I would have not said a thing about it. I would have felt like an idiot.
These are Karol's white Dahlias. She has half a dozen across the front of the house.
I remain 100% cash. In this market I'm keeping my powder dry and staying on the sidelines.
Tom Junod writes an article in Esquire.com about his hatred for Bush. He has enough intellectual honesty to get past emotion.
The money quote:
As easy as it is to say that we can't abide the president because of the gulf between what he espouses and what he actually does , what haunts me is the possibility that we can't abide him because of us—because of the gulf between his will and our willingness. What haunts me is the possibility that we have become so accustomed to ambiguity and inaction in the face of evil that we find his call for decisive action an insult to our sense of nuance and proportion.
I spent an hour prospecting on the phone this morning. I made 38 dials. Here’s how they broke down.
|
Not In: |
18 |
|
Voice Mail: |
6 |
|
Gave offer to Gatekeeper: |
9 |
|
Gave offer to Decision Maker: |
5 |
|
Appointments: |
0 |
A letter signed by 24 Congressional Medal of Honor winners criticizing U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was released July 27.
The primary price of success is discomfort. If you’re not feeling uncomfortable, when you’re trying something new, you probably won’t be successful at it.
Some members of Congress are upset over Fox News.
Thirty-eight Democrats and Independents from the U.S. House of Representatives, has requested that Murdoch meet with them to discuss their concerns.
The lefties in this country loose their monopoly over the media and they go ballistic. ONE conservative new channel in a sea of liberal ones and they're unhappy.
A spokesman for Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said there were legislative avenues that the group could pursue as a secondary measure but declined to speculate on what those might be.
Can anyone say "censorship?" Hey guys, have you heard of the First Amendment?
I hope Fox tells them to go pound sand.
Have you seen this? Just click the link to view the video.
It is a devastating ad against Kerry by some of the people he served with in Vietnam.
I don't if this is true or not. I DO know, that if this were about Bush, the media would be on it like white on rice.
I understand that Kerry refuses to release his military records. I wonder why? Bush has released all his.
What liberal media?
My last stock was stopped out today. That puts me back at 100% cash. Trading has been very easy these last few weeks; I just sit on the sidelines keeping my powder dry.
Historically the market does better in the fall. Rumor has it, the market is afraid Bush will not be re-elected. Perhaps, once it looks more certain The Rock will be re-elected, the market will resume its rise.
I decided this was just too good to be true and fired another letter off to the local newspaper.
Senator Kerry says he has a "secret plan" to get the U.S. out of Iraq, but he's not going to tell us what it is. If we want his plan, we’re going to have to elect him.
Let me get this straight. A politician tells us he has a secret plan, but he’s not going to tell us what that plan is, until he’s elected. He’s not going to debate his plan in public. He assures us he’s an honorable man and we can trust him to do the right thing.
I recall another presidential candidate with a “secret plan.” Only this “secret plan” was to get the U.S. out of Vietnam. That presidential candidate was Richard Nixon – and we all know what became of him.
Ted Armstrong
Kerry has a "secret plan" to get more non-U.S. troops in Iraq, but he's not going to tell anyone. I recall another presidential candidate with a “secret plan.” Only this “secret plan” was to get the US out of Vietnam. That presidential candidate was Richard Nixon – and we all know what happened to him.
When asked who would be a better president, the journalists from outside the Beltway picked Mr. Kerry 3 to 1, and the ones from Washington favored him 12 to 1. Those results jibe with previous surveys over the past two decades showing that journalists tend to be Democrats, especially the ones based in Washington. Some surveys have found that more than 80 percent of the Beltway press corps votes Democratic.
I saw an interview with Kerry and Edwards on Fox News yesterday. Although the questions were frank, I didn’t think they were extremely tough. Here are the impressions I came away with.
● When Bush criticizes Kerry Bush is being negative. When Kerry criticizes Bush, he’s just making comparisons.
● Kerry would pursue the war in Iraq smarter and better, but he’s not going to tell us how. He’s not going to debate the right way to do things in public. That last sentence is almost an exact quote.
● Kerry and Edwards are going to raise taxes on only two percent of the wage earners. Presumably, that’s because this group is too small to defend itself.
● Kerry promised to lower the cost of a college education. I was disappointed, when the interviewer did not follow up with a question about how, if you give people money to go to college, won’t that raise the cost of education? You know the law of supply and demand.
● No one wore times. Neither Kerry, Edwards, nor Chris Wallace, the interviewer, wore a tie. It somehow seemed strange.
Part of my homework for my sales course was to come up with three offers. The offer should be no more than 45 words and take between 15 and 20 seconds to say over the phone. Here are the three offers I came up with.
Offer 1
This is Ted Armstrong with Dodecahedron. We sell Great Plains accounting software. It allows between two and 30 simultaneous users and it has a variety of modules for different business functions available. Is that something you want?
Offer 2
This is Ted Armstrong with Dodecahedron. We sell Great Plains accounting software. It uses the Microsoft SQL server database and lets you purchase those functions you need for your business. Is that something you want?
Offer 3
This is Ted Armstrong with Dodecahedron. We sell Great Plains accounting software. It has a reporting module that lets you create a wide variety of reports and it runs on the Microsoft Windows platform. Is that something you want?
I have to email them to the instructor tomorrow. I'll let them "cook" overnight. If I still like them in the morning, I'll fire them off to the instructor.
The thing to remember about this techique is, I make my offer and then, if the prospect says "No," then I say, "Okay. Goodbye." But I repeat my call every three to four weeks and each time vary my prospecting offer.
So far, I feel quite enthusiastic about their approach.
Retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who led U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, says he never thought the U.S. could be out of Iraq in a year. Five years, he says, is a realistic timeline. "It takes time to solve problems when you're talking about 25 to 26 million people," Franks noted that Iraq has to dig itself out of a "30-year hole."
Franks, 59, who retired from the military in July 2003, had a lot to say since leaving command:
● The biggest surprise for him was that they've found no weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the "reason we went to war." He says multiple Middle Eastern leaders, including Jordan's King Abdullah and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, told Franks that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. In January 2003, Mubarak said point blank to Franks, "Saddam has WMD-biologicals, actually-and he will use them on your troops."
● Franks and his warplanners expected 150,000 additional international troops to help with peacekeeping operations. They never materialized.
● Franks singles out White House Counter-terrorism Czar Richard Clarke as never providing him with "a single page of actionable intelligence" and of engaging in mostly wishful thinking. Franks also believes the U.S. invested too much in electronic spy surveillance and not enough in spies. "We can't send a Princeton-educated New York lawyer to infiltrate al-Qaeda. To get information, we have to marry the devil or at least employ him. You have to deal."
● Franks steered clear of Israel while he was a U.S. military commander and openly told Arab leaders that he was sympathetic to their issues. "For years I had told my Arab friends that I had ‘no Israeli visa' in my passport. This was an unofficial way of letting them know that I understood their side of the story."
● Franks was disappointed that the Iraqis initially chose looting and insurgency over pulling together to rehabilitate their country -- immediately coming out to guard museums, weapons depots, etc.
● Franks describes contentious battles among the military service chiefs over his warplans for Afghanistan and how he told his civilian bosses in the Pentagon that he wanted "to be left the hell alone" to run the Iraq war.
● Franks openly rebuts and takes issue with the long-standing "Powell doctrine" of over-whelming military force. Powell criticized Franks’ warplans for Iraq, drawing his ire.
● Franks believes the world is "far safer" without Saddam Hussein. Asked about Osama bin Laden, he says that, unlike Saddam, who was hated in Iraq, tens of thousands of Arab families would happily take Osama in as their hero. Franks believes Osama will be caught eventually, "even though we don't have enough sources on the ground."
