News from Bama today says that things are now approaching the point where a ten-digit telephone scheme is going to be tossed into people's lives soon.
There are guys sitting now...sweating. They never dreamed that this day might come. They always thought seven was holy and handed down by Democrats or the Baptists.
My dad is likely sitting there and wondering if he lives long enough...they might actually go to fifteen...maybe even twenty.
The curious thing is that fifty percent of the folks....still just have one phone in the house...no internet access...no cellphone...and kinda wondering why anything has to change. The other fifty percent have three numbers in the house, a personal phone number for each kid, a personal phone for the porch, and the guy is discussing some kind of plan to put a personal phone in the shed...which the wife is wondering who the heck would call him in the shed...especially at 10PM at night.
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Something is Better than Nothing
Around six months ago….General McChrystal took over the Afghanistan mission. He had a nifty meeting with the President and was told to review the war and make bold steps to fix problems.
Somewhere around 90 days into this….the General came to realize that we aren’t winning and we aren’t losing. We are having minimum effect. The war in the small villages isn’t being changed.
So the General sat down and did a review, and came up a month later with his ideas. Then he packaged it. What you can imagine is a full report (six hours of reading), and a executive report which you could read in thirty minutes. He sent them to the White House. He figured in two weeks…someone would call and then a discussion phase would start.
Three weeks passed….nothing. Four weeks passed….nothing. At some point….he probably asked the Pentagon about this and got this look from them that they couldn’t get anything back in discussion.
So he let a comment out, in public.
Things heated slightly. News got into the media. The wheels started to turn.
People got around to asking players in the administration about the Afghanistan changes and got this funny look.
So things got a bit heated.
The thing is….here was the president who operates under a one-plate situation. And
his plate was heaping over on the national health care debate. So in this time period, he was running around to make town hall meetings and talk up that. When he finally ended that session….he swung around the West….then took off for a vacation on Cape Cod. There, he had to deal with the CIA eruption of problems. Over the past two weeks….the UN business and then the Denmark trip to pump folks over Chicago.
Bluntly, he was a one-plate kinda manager as a lawyer. When elected to the Illinois house, he stayed a one-plate kinda manager. As a senator in DC, he was still a one-plate kinda guy. He has no background to comprehend a dozen major problems and forty minor issues….on a daily basis. He hasn’t the experience or the ability to see this great forest of management.
So you can imagine this 24-minute episode with the general. It was likely a heated 12-minute episode where the President laid into the general and told him his practices and discussions were hindering reality. The general stood there and said nothing. Then the President recovered….said that he’d review the plan….and take wisdom from some big guys in DC. The general just said “fine” and probably left.
At the end of the day….you more or less are stuck with a President who is a great campaign artist and a great speaker. It would have been nice if he was an executive, but you can’t have everything…..can you?
Somewhere around 90 days into this….the General came to realize that we aren’t winning and we aren’t losing. We are having minimum effect. The war in the small villages isn’t being changed.
So the General sat down and did a review, and came up a month later with his ideas. Then he packaged it. What you can imagine is a full report (six hours of reading), and a executive report which you could read in thirty minutes. He sent them to the White House. He figured in two weeks…someone would call and then a discussion phase would start.
Three weeks passed….nothing. Four weeks passed….nothing. At some point….he probably asked the Pentagon about this and got this look from them that they couldn’t get anything back in discussion.
So he let a comment out, in public.
Things heated slightly. News got into the media. The wheels started to turn.
People got around to asking players in the administration about the Afghanistan changes and got this funny look.
So things got a bit heated.
The thing is….here was the president who operates under a one-plate situation. And
his plate was heaping over on the national health care debate. So in this time period, he was running around to make town hall meetings and talk up that. When he finally ended that session….he swung around the West….then took off for a vacation on Cape Cod. There, he had to deal with the CIA eruption of problems. Over the past two weeks….the UN business and then the Denmark trip to pump folks over Chicago.
Bluntly, he was a one-plate kinda manager as a lawyer. When elected to the Illinois house, he stayed a one-plate kinda manager. As a senator in DC, he was still a one-plate kinda guy. He has no background to comprehend a dozen major problems and forty minor issues….on a daily basis. He hasn’t the experience or the ability to see this great forest of management.
So you can imagine this 24-minute episode with the general. It was likely a heated 12-minute episode where the President laid into the general and told him his practices and discussions were hindering reality. The general stood there and said nothing. Then the President recovered….said that he’d review the plan….and take wisdom from some big guys in DC. The general just said “fine” and probably left.
At the end of the day….you more or less are stuck with a President who is a great campaign artist and a great speaker. It would have been nice if he was an executive, but you can’t have everything…..can you?
Roman Polanski, Now, Why?
So the Roman Polanski episode……I won’t go into details over his crime….which most of you ought to already be aware of. After you sit and pause over the story….a guy who was in trouble over thirty years ago…sneaking out of the county….and just walking around various European and Asian countries without a bit of fear of being arrested. It’s a strange thing…thirty years, no trouble, no arrests….then you start to wonder why now…the Swiss would arrest the guy.
Today, the Swiss Justice Ministry said they rejected an appeal from Polanski to be released from prison pending his possible extradition to the United States…..which only added more fuel to the fire.
So why now?
When you look over at California...they are stuck....they can’t just look the other way....the guy screwed around with an under aged gal. So they actually have to let the law work the right way. The problem is....all of Hollywood is upset about this little issue....why mess with Roman Polanski?
The governor can’t look the other way. The prosecutor can’t look the other way. Both parties are stuck because they can’t view this in any other fashion.
Now the most interesting part of this deal. The Attorney General of the US....Eric Holder...is now involved because he’s forced into the extradition episode. The President likely gets five or ten email’s per day now....from the Hollywood elite who supported his campaign....to render aide to Polanski. In this case, he can’t do a single thing to help the guy without making the administration look bad.
In the end, the Hollywood crowd will be furious when Polanski is finally returned, and then the verdict of five years of prison (likely scenario) is rendered.
So why did the Swiss take this step? Gaze over at the tough handling of foreign banks in Switzerland. After a while, the Swiss finally decided to pinch both the administration and their supporters a bit. Polanski is just one small episode that will dig into the Attorney General for weeks and weeks. At every meeting for banking control...the Swiss guy will smile and ask if the AG wants to rush up the Polanski episode. The US guy will sit there and sweat because this is fairly stupid to push this into Swiss – US relations.
So that should be the full picture....right?
No. The current agreement worked out by the US and Switzerland over naming all the guys with secret bank accounts there....the filthy rich US guys who have the accounts....well....there is a limited number that they are going to hand over.
Currently, it's less than 5,000 names that will be handed over. What the IRS folks and Attorney General have to worry about...is that it'll end up being the Hollywood and political crowd that the Swiss name...which means a double-edged sword is about to fall over a bunch of folks.
Roman Polanski is just one fish in this mess...the Swiss have more folks to fry and make the AG and President start to worry about how big a mess they really want to make.
Today, the Swiss Justice Ministry said they rejected an appeal from Polanski to be released from prison pending his possible extradition to the United States…..which only added more fuel to the fire.
So why now?
When you look over at California...they are stuck....they can’t just look the other way....the guy screwed around with an under aged gal. So they actually have to let the law work the right way. The problem is....all of Hollywood is upset about this little issue....why mess with Roman Polanski?
The governor can’t look the other way. The prosecutor can’t look the other way. Both parties are stuck because they can’t view this in any other fashion.
Now the most interesting part of this deal. The Attorney General of the US....Eric Holder...is now involved because he’s forced into the extradition episode. The President likely gets five or ten email’s per day now....from the Hollywood elite who supported his campaign....to render aide to Polanski. In this case, he can’t do a single thing to help the guy without making the administration look bad.
In the end, the Hollywood crowd will be furious when Polanski is finally returned, and then the verdict of five years of prison (likely scenario) is rendered.
So why did the Swiss take this step? Gaze over at the tough handling of foreign banks in Switzerland. After a while, the Swiss finally decided to pinch both the administration and their supporters a bit. Polanski is just one small episode that will dig into the Attorney General for weeks and weeks. At every meeting for banking control...the Swiss guy will smile and ask if the AG wants to rush up the Polanski episode. The US guy will sit there and sweat because this is fairly stupid to push this into Swiss – US relations.
So that should be the full picture....right?
No. The current agreement worked out by the US and Switzerland over naming all the guys with secret bank accounts there....the filthy rich US guys who have the accounts....well....there is a limited number that they are going to hand over.
Currently, it's less than 5,000 names that will be handed over. What the IRS folks and Attorney General have to worry about...is that it'll end up being the Hollywood and political crowd that the Swiss name...which means a double-edged sword is about to fall over a bunch of folks.
Roman Polanski is just one fish in this mess...the Swiss have more folks to fry and make the AG and President start to worry about how big a mess they really want to make.
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