Rodent Regatta

Don’t state your position relative to your opponent’s. Don’t state your party’s position relative to the opposition. Tell us what you think. Tell us what you plan to do. Tell us what your party stands for.

We’ll do the comparing and contrasting. When your next statement begins with, “Contrary to what my opponent believes…,” you’ve already lost me. I want to know what you think without all the flourishes and embellishments. Veiled commentary about your opposition buried within your remarks will cost you my vote…period.

Whether you seek a career in politics or have chosen to term-limit yourself to 1, 2 or 12 terms, I don’t care. Just tell me what you think. If you want to talk about the war, don’t begin your remarks with some backhanded slap at how we find ourselves in a war. We’re there…what’s your position on what we do now? Some tax cuts were put in place. Don’t critique that decision. Tell me what you will do about taxation, now.

I’m not interested in whether or not you are angry. I’m not interested in whether or not you feel threatened. I’m not interested in how much (or how little) you fear for our nation. I want to hear your position on issues. Spending time talking about somebody else’s legal entanglements or failed policies or lousy strategies doesn’t tell me what you’ll do.

All we want to hear is what you will do if you get elected.

Oh…one more thing. When you get elected, remember that you are then to get on with the business of running the government of the country, the state, the county, the city or whatever. You are not there to run the politics of the country or state. Simpler, politics isn’t government. Politics is a method for getting elected to a role in the government. Learn that!

Chariots of Fire was playing on A&E this morning. The coffee was a repackaging of four bags of remnants. I called it pilgrim berry.

Deciding to really learn more about what Newsvine is all about, I began browsing. The first thing that caught my eye was I Have Seen the End of the United States. What an excellent take on the behavior of politicians and what it foretells of our future.

Wanting to learn more about Andy, I visited his web site. From there I learned of his employer’s web site. The message is clear that great, attention-grabbing web sites can also be standards-compliant and key marketing components for businesses.

Revisiting Andy’s site, I learned about his minimalist views of web site and weblog comments. Batting two for two with his writing, Andy’s site took me next to Online News Just Got Interesting where I learned of Khoi Vinh, his new role with The New York Times and the agency he departed.

Now, back to that Newsvine thing. It appears the vine really works.

Do you like design? Do you have goals for 2006? Do you plan? Do you need focus? Do you take notes? Do you want order?

via Ryan Schwartz, I give you The PocketMod

“No, you cannot enter state or city-sponsored retirement at age 50.”

“No, you cannot have a 12% raise.”

“Yes, I am going to do what Ronald Reagan did.”

Give ‘em 24 hours beginning right now or…

Fire ‘em—Now

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Over the next few hours or days, I’m going to flush my craw of some things that have stuck in it. Here’s the somewhat tentative list:

• Theater attendees in Memphis are wannabes
• Utility management at Memphis Light Gas & Water
• A Wal-Mart story you simply won’t believe
• Why they’re leaving my county in droves
• When will CEO’s get real jobs?

This—again somewhat tentatively—will be a batch of five articles during the rest of this weekend and into the new week. By Christmas weekend, the goal is to cleanse the attitude. Clueless customer service, or worse, customer service driven solely by the assumptions and preferences of the server is getting much worse. I’m beyond tired of it.