Tennessee GOP Development Council

I stumbled across the "Tennessee GOP Development Council" again.

I have been aware of it since its inception, but dismissed it as yet another feeble attempt by the GOP to create the thin patina of reaching out to Blacks. I've seen it many times.

The problem with GOP Black outreach programs is the GOP won't conduct the sustained, comprehensive effort that is needed to bring more Blacks into the party. The Party seems content to charter these toothless groups with limited or no resources, appoint some titular head, and dispatch them to the hinterlands with the charge to bring more Black and other minorities into the party. This exercise usually takes place within a few months of an election cycle. It is the consummate fools errand.

I have tried to tell the Party leaders that their efforts are a waste. Not because Blacks will never join the Party, but because changing people's deeply ingrained attitudes takes more than showing up at a church two weeks before an election. It takes more than getting a few Black ministers to climb onboard your rickety wagon for a bumpy ride down a lonely, desolate road.

Republican leadership just do not understand the arduous, solitary trek one has to make to travel from the Democrat camp in which you were raised to the Republican camp that you were raised to think was Satan's lair. Republican leadership do not understand that to be Black and call yourself Republican is to open yourself to scorn and ridicule from members of your family and community. Republican leaders do not grasp the fact that being Black and becoming a Republican opens you to being a little of an outcast.

Expecting someone to make this journey on nothing more that a single speech at Black church two weeks from election day is sheer lunacy.

Over the years I have tried to get GOP leadership to understand that winning converts requires a steady, sustained, long-term program that really can take as long as a generation to bear fruit. For more than seven decades, the Democrat Party has courted the Black vote. They have demonstrated their commitment to the Black vote at every election, before the election, after the election and when there is no election. If the GOP is to lure Black voters off the Democrat plantation, they have to demonstrate that same commitment.

Unfortunately, Republicans seem to believe they can accomplish this by pandering and throwing a few bones at selected "leaders" in the Black community. They have never grasped the concept of building and nurturing a cadre of new leaders.

A simple project that the GOP can institute that would make inroads into the Black community is a program of training and mentorship of entrepreneurs. Scratch any Black person and underneath you will find an entrepreneur aching to break out.

Republicans are always labeled the party of the rich. It is a label that they are hard-pressed to shed. Republicans are widely regarded as prolific political fundraiser and successful business people. If the GOP truly wants to court the Black vote, go into the Black community and teach them about starting, building, financing and managing a small business. Teach them how to write a winning business plan. Dispatch the fundraising leaders to the community organizations, non-profits, and fraternal organizations and teach them how to make their organization more financially stable. Become a mentor to these groups and guide them to the financial success that will empower them to make great changes in their communities.

I know that it is a long process. I know that it will not immediately pay great dividends. But it has the long term potential of an IRA paying 30-percent annual return. I have floated this idea to GOP leadership. They nod agreeably and then set about the task of finding a sympathetic Black preacher in the next election cycle.

Another small plan is to partner with the Boy Scouts. I recently met a district director who says they are pushing to create inner-city Boy Scout troops. This is an excellent opportunity for the Party to adopt a troop, provide resources to help teach them about America, patriotism, entrepreneurship, self-reliance, hard work, and perseverance. It would be a chance to free a generation from the cynicism, depression, and hopelessness that the Democrat Party relies on to hold its members.

The Republican Party is a party of great resources. A modest effort to deploy these resources in pursuit of the Black vote would pay greater dividends, be more successful and be more beneficial to the country than the current effort to throw open wide the borders in the vain hope of corralling a few of the Hispanic vote. If the GOP really wants to get a larger percentage of the Black vote, or at least be competitive for the Black vote, my plan should be the beginning.

Can you say Atlas Shrugged?

Is Halliburton's Move the Beginning of More Corporate Exodus from America?

So, Chris Rock Thinks Being Black is One Step Up From Being Retarded

"Is this country ready for an African American president?" "It's ready for a retarded president, why wouldn't it be ready for an African American president?" Chris Rock, March 16, 2007

Interesting connection that escaped me

Columnist Robert Novak wrote on July 12, 2001, that FBI and Soviet Mole Robert Hanssen had served as his main source for a 1997 column criticizing Janet Reno, then the United States Attorney General, for allegedly covering up aspects of the 1996 United States campaign finance controversy, (being investigated by Fred Thompson), which involved allegations that the People's Republic of China attempted to influence U.S. elections by illegally donating money to the Democratic National Committee and President Clinton's campaign.

Robert Hanssen is the subject of a new movie now out "Breach" with Chris Cooper playing Hanssen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen

Envy is so passe'

There has been a lot of screaming about the severance package size of Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli and indeed the compensation package size of many departing CEO’s. I grow weary of their protestations. These same people see nothing wrong with paying top athletes and entertainers millions of dollars to profusely sweat during a cardio workout.

Nardelli’s compensation/severance package was negotiated by the Home Depot board of directors as an inducement for him to COME to Home Depot—not LEAVE Home Depot. Nardelli was a a talented former executive at General Electric who came within a whisker of being its CEO. During his tenure, Home Depot posted sales of $90.4 billion, almost twice the sales figure of $45.7 billion recorded for fiscal 2000. During that same period, net income rose 130%, from $2.5 billion to $5.9 billion. Also during his tenure Home Depot's return on average invested capital stood at 16.8% for fiscal 2000, peaked at 19.5% in 2005, and will be 17.4% for fiscal 2006 and left Home Depot OWNING $25 billion worth of DEBT-FREE property.
Operating Income increased to $9.363 billion in 2006 from $5.830 billion in 2003. These are not numbers to be dismissed. Additionally, the severance package is not $210 million in cash. The bulk of it, as in most cases, is stock, stock options, retirement benefits, etc., and represents about 8% of Home Depot’s net income and .2% of its gross sales (revenue), and 3% of the operating revenue.

Now, as to the outrage expressed by members of the public who own no stock in Home Depot, are not employed by Home Depot, are not a vendor to Home Depot, do not sign the checks for Nardelli’s (or any other Home Depot employee) compensation, are not on the board of directors for Home Depot, and have no connection to Home Depot other than being a customer, knowing its name, knowing its location, and knowing what it does for business—BUTT OUT! It’s not your concern! The only reason you are exercised over this is your own envy and class hatred! If you don’t like the severance package for Home Depot’s CEO: don’t shop at Home Depot, don’t buy Home Depot stock, don’t work for Home Depot, don’t get appointed to its board of directors!

I venture to say, if any of you were in Nardelli’s situation and doubled the sales, quadrupled the net income of Home Depot you would be asking for more than the 8% that he is getting! As it is, Nardelli’s severance is the result of negotiation for labor compensation between him and the board of directors at Home Depot. It is the board of directors who will have to answer for their decision—for good or ill.

To put things into perspective consider the salaries of top entertainers:

Steven Spielberg $332 million
Howard Stern $302 million
George Lucas $235 million
Oprah Winfrey $225 million
U2 $110 million
Jerry Seinfeld $100 million
Tiger Woods $90 million

Now, look at top athlete salaries in football and basketball in relation to their percentage of revenue and value of the team:

BASKETBALL ($mil)
Team Player Salary VALUE OPREV %VALUE %OP REV
Miami Heat Shaquille ONeal $20.00 $362.00 $119.00 5.52% 16.81%
Phily 76ers Chris Webber $19.10 $351.00 $110.00 5.44% 17.36%
Minn. T-wolves Kevin Garnett $18.00 $303.00 $101.00 5.94% 17.82%
Ind. Pacers Jermaine ONeal $16.40 $324.00 $108.00 5.06% 15.19%
NJ Nets Jason Kidd $16.40 $271.00 $ 87.00 6.05% 18.85%
LA Lakers Kobe Bryant $15.00 $529.00 $156.00 3.01% 10.19%
San Ant Spurs Tim Duncan $15.80 $350.00 $121.00 4.51% 13.06%
NY Knicks Anfernee Hardaway $15.70 $543.00 $181.00 2.89% 8.67%
Dall Mavs Keith Van Horn $15.60 $403.00 $124.00 3.87% 12.58%
Houst Rockets Tracy McGrady $15.60 $422.00 $141.00 3.70% 11.06%
Orlando Magic Grant Hill $15.60 $247.00 $ 82.00 6.32% 19.02%

FOOTBALL
PLAYER-TEAM SAL VALUE REV OP INC %VAL %REV %OP INC
Ty Law N.E 9.60 1,176 250 43.6 0.82% 3.84% 22.02%
Brett Favre G.B. 9.53 911 194 22.3 1.05% 4.91% 42.74%
Jonathan Ogden Balt. 9.10 946 201 27.8 0.96% 4.53% 32.73%
Randy Moss Minn. 8.63 720 167 16.3 1.20% 5.17% 52.94%
John Tait Chi. 8.54 945 201 51.5 0.90% 4.25% 16.58%
Chris Samuels Wash. 8.35 1,423 303 108.4 0.59% 2.76% 7.70%
Samari Rolle Tenn. 8.31 886 189 48.3 0.94% 4.40% 17.20%
Peyton Manning Ind. 8.30 837 167 25 0.99% 4.97% 33.20%
Marvin Harrison Ind. 8.08 837 167 25 0.97% 4.84% 32.32%
Michael Vick Atl. 7.89 730 170 6.6 1.08% 4.64% 119.55%
Patrick Surtain Mia 7.88 912 194 33.4 0.86% 4.06% 23.59%
Donovan McNabb Phi. 7.86 1,024 218 54.2 0.77% 3.61% 14.50%
Isaac Bruce St. L. 7.64 841 179 33.2 0.91% 4.27% 23.01%

SALARY=ANNUAL SALARY IN MILLIONS
VALUE=TEAM VALUE IN MILLIONS
REV=ANNUAL REVENUE IN MILLIONS
OP INC=OPERATING INCOME IN MILLIONS
%VAL=PERCENTAGE OF VALUE
%REV=PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE
%OP INC=PERCENTAGE OF OPERATING INCOME

When compared against professional sports, who manage nobody or nothing but their own careers, Nardelli is a piker in terms of compensation as a percentage of revenue/income generated!

Apologies for my indolence

Quite a bit has happened since my last post. It has been nearly a month since my last missive and I apologize for being so lethargic with my postings.

The post-holiday season always seems to drag me down for an extended period and this post-holiday is no different. I have been preoccupied with some business dealings and have not been inspired to deal with much else.

Since my last posting a new year has dawned; James Brown and Gerald Ford have died; the Democrats began and ended their first 100 hours in the majority; and President Bush announced his troop surge in Iraq; the Knox County Charter was ruled valid and term limits were upheld; Barack Hussein Obama has emerged as a presidential “rock star”; All of this in less than thirty days!

My New Year’s Resolution is to be more diligent about this blog.

Crazy Research Project III

My search for the Six Degrees of Separation has landed me in Maybole, Scotland outside of Glasgow, Dumfries and Edinburgh.

Crazy Research Project II

More info on my 6-degrees quest: She is from Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Palma is the major city and port in the island of Mallorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of the island on the Bay of Palma. As of the 2005 census, the population of the city of Palma proper was 375,773, and the population of the entire urban area was estimated to be 474,035, ranking as the 12th-largest urban area of Spain. Almost half of the total population of Mallorca live in Palma. Palma (Palmaria) was founded as a Roman camp upon the remains of a Talaiotic settlement. The turbulent history of the city saw it the subject of several Vandal sackings during the fall of the Roman Empire, then reconquered by the Byzantine, then colonised by the Moors (who called it Medina Mayurqa), and finally established by James I of Aragon

Crazy Research Project

I know this may seem crazy, but I am participating in an experiment with Columbia University called the Small World Project to test the 6-degress of separation theory. I heard about this from an ABC News PrimeTime special on the topic. The project was one of their links/sources for the story.

I am supposed to find some connection to a receptionist at a women's clinic in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. So far I have found some friends who have connections in Spain and one with the hotel chain where this person once worked.

It's going to be interesting to see how this ends. I will keep you posted.

Meanwhile, if you have any connections to:
Palma de Mallorca, Spain,
Balearic Islands, Spain;
Dublin, Ireland;
Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare, Ireland;
León, Spain; or
Kells, Co Meath, Ireland

drop me a note. It may be cheating to use my blog, but if I can establish a connection with you, then I guess it is okay.

For more info: go to ABC News PrimeTime and the Small World Project at Columbia University

Ponder this

There is a hypothesis regarding the function of the human brain that says the human brain is a sophisticated recording device with a somewhat unsophisticated retrieval/cataloging system.

We actually record and file every thing we ever see, hear and/or experience, but our ability to retrieve the recordings is spotty.

Take that concept and dovetail it with the notion that we are spiritual beings in a human experience. What if, by design, the information is encrypted and the encryption key is held by a divine being who unlocks the accumulated information of a life upon the termination of that life and adds it to the storehouse of knowledge in the cosmos?

A soul is dispatched to learn and experience and to return to the cosmos upon death. Ponder that.

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE PASSING PARADE

The passing of Jeane Kirkpatrick has got me to thinking again about who now carries the torch of traditional Conservatism.

What has happened to the Conservative Movement? I mean the Conservative Movement that I grew up with. What happened to the Conservative Movement that was focused on limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual rights and responsibilities? Where is the Conservative Movement that had as its basic tenet if it's not in the Constitution, it is automatically suspect? Where is the Conservative Movement that wanted to beat back the ravenous government beast? Where is the Conservative Movement that, while recognizing the problems, also saw the opportunities?

Like many people, I became a Conservative (or more accurately recognized that my beliefs fit into the category of Conservative) because of the things I was against: libertine lifestyles, criminal coddling, unchecked Communist expansion, gun rights assaults, abjectly-failing education system, and a soul-robbing welfare system. Then Ronald Reagan appeared on my political radar screen.

He brought a message of conservatism overlaid with hope and optimism. Reagan's message was that we can and should defeat Communism abroad and over-reaching government at home because both are threats to the fundamental principles of individual liberty.

There was this almost unspoken idea that if you want to see the face of the ultimate, logical conclusion of expanding central government, you need look no further than the governments of Communist countries. These authoritarian and totalitarian governments rise because the people were led to believe that if they just surrender a little of their liberty, they will get greater security. This notion was a clear danger to Americans (at the micro level) at home and (at the macro level) to mankind across the globe.

Reagan recognized that free people are productive, healthy, creative, and prosperous. Enslaved people are non-productive, sickly, pedestrian and poor. Totalitarian regimes almost have to be expansionist and brutal because people who are subject to their tender mercies will not realize their full individual potential and thus the full national potential. Communism could only work if everyone across the globe were equally poor and enslaved.

Conservatism used to grapple with these ideas. However, with the fall of Communism abroad and during the intervening years between Reagan and now, we seem to have lost sight of these fundamentals. It was not until Newt Gingrich's 1994 revolution brought these ideas back to the forefront that we again had a national discussion on the role, scope, depth and breadth of government, once again overlaid with that optimism of the limitless potential of free men. Bob Dole (though no rock-ribbed movement conservative) picked-up the clarion call by resurrecting the memory of the oft-forgotten Tenth Amendment: (rights not specifically delegated to the federal government belong to the states and the people); which brings me back to my original question. Where is my Conservatism? Conservatism today seems to be following the well-worn path of Liberalism: captive to a single political party whipsawed between competing interest groups and is losing sight of those fundamental principles that used to hold it together. Instead of discussing what is the proper role of government and how much liberty should be ceded to the government, we argue over which of our favorite causes should be championed by government.

We ask government to reward people and policies we like and punish what we don't like through tax policy, regulation, or law. We ask government to slather money and power on the most vocal and highest profile interest group, or erect artificial barriers to the consequences of our own bad decisions. In one way or another, we have all become wards of the state. There is almost no independence from the hand of government. By our own actions we have traded the liberty to order our own lives for the security and money that comes from government. We have taken the kings coin and now we are all his men.

At one time the Republican Party embraced the concept of constitutionalism and was the home of traditionalist Conservatism. Now, Republicans seem just as comfortable with a plasticized and rubberized Constitution as are the Democrats and Liberals--so long as the Constitution is being stretched in their direction.

Republicans rose to majority status in Congress because of my old Conservatism. The leaders took it and wore it like a warm cloak to shield them during the dark, cold days when they were on the outside. It appears now that they have made it inside, they have cast off the cloak that served them so well during the dark times in favor of a bright, new cloak called Power.

Power looks enough like the old Conservative cloak to deceive those who rally around the old Conservatism, but it is different in that it gives the wearer access to the treasury where he can bribe with greater efficacy. Unfortunately, Power is a poor substitute for Conservatism, because wearing Power leads you down a dark and dangerous path of financial ruin and hubris. I hope someday soon that leaders (both Conservative and Republican) will find that old reliable Conservatism and put it back on. Meanwhile, If anyone should come across my old Conservatism while walking down a dark, abandoned street, please drop me a note. I will race to retrieve it.

A parody video about the dean of the Columbia University Business School, Glenn Hubbard.

The business students at Columbia Business School made this video when their professor was passed up for the chairman position at the FED.

Every Breath You Take

Witless, Nitwits and ner-do-wells!

From time-to-time, I receive a missive from family and friends with the witless statement, "African Americans are the only group of people who require PERMISSION under the United States Constitution to vote!"
How many times do I have to say This is flat-out untrue!

The basic right of all American citizens to vote, regardless of race, is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and can't expire with the Voting Rights Act.

The Voting Rights Act DOES NOT grant us permission to vote. Our right to vote is granted by being born in the US and being citizens of the United States. The Voting Rights Act creates enforcement mechanisms to assure that our right to vote is not abridged by certain common past practices, i.e. poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, etc. We have ALWAYS had the right to vote by virtue of being born here. However it has only been since the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (1865-1870) at the end of the War Between the States when this right was recognized, protected and enforced.

Amendment XV (1870)
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.


Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. (Done during Reconstruction and also decades later by the Voting Rights Act.)

The basic prohibition against discrimination in voting contained in the Fifteenth amendment and in the Voting Rights Act does not expire in 2007 — it does not expire at all; it is permanent.

To say that we need "permission" to vote is to accept the despicable notion that we are less than human beings and less than citizens in this nation. I, for one, will NEVER accept that premise, nor will I ever beg for my God-given rights or try to assert them from a kneeling position. I will ALWAYS assert my rights standing upright on my own two feet like a proud man!

I wish Jesse Jackson and the rest of the race hustlers would pick-up a copy of the Constitution every once in a while and actually READ it and stop spreading this scurrilous LIE!!

There are essentially only one way that Blacks can have their votes legally stripped away: Amend the Constitution to do so. That requires either 2/3 affirmative vote of both the House and Senate plus ratified by 3/4 of the State legislatures or a constitutional convention called by 2/3 of the state legislatures and the amendment ratified by 3/4 of the states.

Ronald Reagan Redux

"Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors, which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?"

Party of the Rich?

Interesting analysis from Thomas Edsall's "Building Red America" s reported in "Human Events"."

"Between 1994 and 2000, 88 congressional seats shifted from Democratic to Republican control, while another 46 flipped from the Republicans to the Democrats. The demographic profile of those new Republican seats may surprise you: Incomes were below the national average in two-thirds and the percentage of those with college degrees was below the national average in three-quarters. Two-thirds of the newly Democratic seats, in contrast, report incomes above the national average.

In the recent midterm elections, this trend continued with a vengeance. In the East, where Democrats picked up the overwhelming majority of their new seats, 57% of voters in households with incomes above $100,000 and 67% of those with post-graduate degrees favored Democratic House candidates. This decisive advantage among the most “privileged” one-quarter of the electorate helps to explain Democratic gains in affluent enclaves outside New York City, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, Palm Beach and the razor-thin victories experienced by Republicans who represent high-income suburban districts such as Representatives Chris Shays (Conn.) and Jim Gerlach (Pa.)."

So much for Republicans as the party of the rich.

Hilarious Site!

Cyclical Non-Uterine Dysmenorrhea

Staff Salaries

If you ever wanted to know what the staff of your Senator or Congressmen makes, it is now on the internet at this site.

If you wanted to know the reported costs of various travel for members and staff, go here.

Prior to this you had to trek to Washington and pour over mounds of documents.

Love This Article!

"Fat guys kick ass"

If I ate less, I'd lose weight. But I don't, because I love food.

That the world is run by fat guys is no secret (more on this later), yet Americans devote a tremendous amount of time, effort and money to losing weight without ever stopping to consider the advantages of obesity.

Barry Goldwater

Two important Goldwater (AuH2O) quotes to guide Republicans back to the majority:

"For the past twenty-five years the apostles of the welfare state, some Republicans, some Democrat, have been busy transforming that stern old gentleman with the top hat, the cutaway coat, the red, white, and blue trousers, from a symbol of dignity and freedom and justice for all men, into a national wet nurse, dispensing a cockeyed kind of patent medcine labeled "something for nothing," passing out the soothing syrup and rattles and pacifiers for grateful votes on election day."

"I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is "needed" before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents "interests," I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can."

My Blog

This is my third attempt at creating a blog. As always, it is a work-in-progress. I have started it with a compilation of campaign ads from the U.S. Senate campaign from Tennessee. Since they came from YouTube, I don't know how long they will be here after the campaign is over. We'll just have to see.

Hope you enjoy what you see. I will work assiduously to keep it up-to-date.