Customer Service

I am not an fan of Glenn Beck.  I am however a fan of good customer service.  I Received a post from my brother regarding the treatment that Mr. Beck received on a recent trip to New York and return trip on American Airlines.  Here is Mr. Beck’s post  on the subject http://www.theblaze.com/stories/glenn-beck-details-ugly-hatred-he-experienced-in-nyc-on-american-airlines/

I have no reason to doubt the veracity of Mr. Beck’s description of the events.  My take based on the description is that Mr. Beck and his family were the victims of some of the worst customer service I have heard of in a long time.  The servers and flight attendant’s behavior were unforgivable. 

I don’t care if the person your are serving is the most obnoxious individual you have ever encountered. (I don’t believe that Mr. Beck was anywhere near this) As a customer service professional, you should still provide the best service you possibly can. If you can’t do that, find another line of work.

At the very least, Mr. Beck deserves an apology from the restaurants, and American Airlines.  If the individuals involved, worked for me, disciplinary action would definitely be the order of the day.

Open Letter to Mitt Romney

Today you announced that Paul Ryan is your Vice Presidential Running Mate.  It is a good choice.

I must admit that currently I am not voting for you.  You haven't given me a reason to.  It might comfort you to know that I am not inclined to vote for President Obama again.

Now you need to get serious about the campaign.  It is not enough to run as I am not Obama.  You needs to show us where you want to take this country.  We already know what Obama wants to do.  So Mitt, if we elect you, what do you see America as in 2016? 

How do you intend to deal with this country’s problems? 

What is your Foreign Policy

What is your Defense Policy

What is you vision for the relationship between the States and the Federal Government?

What are your budget priorities?

You need to get your answers out and be prepared to say why they are better than the other guy’s
Only by defining yourself and having arguments ready can you stop the other side from defining you.  (I Know you won’t like their definition of Mitt Romney)

You also have some damage control to do.  Specifically, you need to get the stories about your tax returns out of the news.  Otherwise, Obama is going to beat you over the head with it from now until election day.  No matter what is in those returns, I guarantee that the speculation floated by the other side will be far worse.  You should reconsider releasing your returns.  At least for the years 2000 – 2011.  When you do, be prepared to answer all questions with clean facts. 

As far a attacking the other side.  Here are a few things you might want to take a shot at:

1.  In 2008 Obama promised to close Gitmo.  Its still open.

2.  In 2008 Obama promised to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  50%. We are out of Iraq, but not Afghanistan. 

3.  Unemployment is too high.  The country needs jobs.  How about a coherent plan with goals and metrics for putting Americans back to work.?

That is a start.  You have the money, Do you have the will to and the brains to pull this out?

Are they serious?

If the president and Congress are really serious about controlling the Federal Deficit. Here are some suggestions
1.  Allow all of the Bush tax cuts to expire as scheduled on 12/31/2012
2.  Revise the US tax code to create a flat rate tax on all income regardless of source.  No deductions, just a fixed rate on gross income. In the case of corporations. gross revenue.  This would result in making federal tax returns much simpler and reduce the cost of the IRS
3.  Abolish all all Federal Departments except.  Defense, State, Justice, Treasury, and Transportation.  Transfer all other functions to the states.
4.  Change our defense strategy from being able to run two global wars to defending US borders and territories.  This alone could result in nearly a 50% reduction in defense spending.
How about it? 

Does it Matter?

Voting has always been an obsession with me.  I have not missed an election since I turned 18.  I frequently bore people with political discussions. 
Lately though, I have been wondering if it is worth it.  It seems that no matter who is elected, nothing ever changes.  Part of that is the appearance that our two major political parties are in fact the same. 
Neither wants real change. Both serve the corporate masters that truly control this country.  You know the Multi-National Corporations that control the world economy.   These corporations exist sole to enrich themselves and ensure their own power.  They consider people nothing more that a commodity to be used for what ever purpose they want.
So why bother to vote?  If you are an Obama supporter, he has already been co-opted by the international corporate interests.  Romney is a product of the corporate world.  No other candidate has even a remote chance of getting elected.  The other parties do not have the resources to mount an effective national campaign. 
So Why Vote?

Why I Cannot Vote for Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is the Apparent GOP candidate for President of the United States. I cannot vote for him.

Mr. Romney has been touting his success at Bain Capital as his strongest qualification. He did a good job at Bain. The problem is that experience did nothing to prepare him for the presidency. The company made lots of money for its investors. That money was made by outsourcing US jobs to other low wage countries. This put thousands of Americans out of work.. At Bain, his goal was to make money for his investors not to act in the common interest of the country. In fact making money put Bain at direct odds with the good of the country.

Mitt doesn't talk about his tenure as Governor of Massachusetts. Why? Was it because his tenure there was average and unspectacular?

Add to that his constant changing of his positions on issues and lack of ideas on how to solve the problems our nation faces.

We need another choice

My Disappointment with President Obama

In a little over 4 months we will be electing our President.  Time to reflect on what President Obama has and has not done during his current term.

What he has done:

Got us out of Iraq.

Got Osama Ben-Laden

Signed a possibly unconstitutional Health care reform act (ACA)

Signed a first step law to reign in the banking industry

Bailed out GM and Chrysler

What he has not done:

Gotten us out of Afghanistan

Take decisive action to lower unemployment

Reign in runaway spending by the Department of Defense

Close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility

On the things he has not done, here are some observation with the full benefit of 20/20 hindsight.

The President’s first priority on taking office should have been lowering unemployment.  The quickest way to do that would have been a massive infrastructure bill.  This country has thousands of miles of roads, millions of miles of pipelines and electrical lines and thousands of bridges that need repair or replacement.  Getting that done would have done two things.  1. Put a lot of Americans doing productive work.  2. Placed our country in a better position to compete in the global economy.

He allowed the Defense Department to con him into a go slow approach to getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq.   As a result, getting out of Iraq took far longer that it should have and we are still in Afghanistan.  He should have given to orders and not taken any excuses.

He campaigned on closing Guantanamo Bay in 2008.  It is now 2012 and there is no sign that the prison will ever close.  Simple answer: he lied.  All of the prisoners could be transferred to a detention facility here in the US within a few months. 

The Defense Department needs to have a top down review of what they are spending all that money on.  For example, do we need 15 Nuclear Aircraft Carriers? Do we need all of those nuclear submarines?  Do we need to maintain military bases in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East?  Given the nature of the threat in today’s world, Big ticket weapon systems are not the answer.  We need to put DoD on a diet and be smarter about how we spend Defense dollars.

Give his poor performance in his first term, I cannot recommend a Vote for President Obama’s for Re-election.

Let’s Fix California

Do you like the way things have been going in California for the last 20 years?

This state is a political mess.  For too long we the people have allowed our government to run wild.  We have not been guiding our elected representatives in how to conduct the state’s business.  We have allowed special interests to corrupt our government for their own benefit.

In the movie The American President, Michael Douglas makes a statement that is so true.  “America is advanced citizenship; you’ve got to want it bad…”

To take back control of our state and local government, we must start being more active citizens.

The first step is making sure you are registered to vote. 

In a few days all registered voters will begin receiving their sample ballots for the June 5 primary election.  You can start by finding out who is running for the local, state and federal offices.  Then, you need to find out where the candidates stand on the issues.  Contact the campaigns and ask them where the candidates stand on the issues important to you.  Don’t let them brush you off. 

Then take that information and use it to decide who you will vote for.  These people are supposed to work for us.  It is time we started taking a more active role in supervising our elected representatives.

After the election, we need to hold our elected representatives responsible for doing their jobs.  At the state level, that means fixing the state’s broken budget system and getting the state on sound financial footing.  This must be done while at the same time maintain public safety and health, providing top notch public education, and maintaining our public infrastructure.