Caught ya’!

Have you ever gotten a reverse 9-1-1 call? How about one that tells you to lock your doors and stay in your house because criminals are on the loose in your area?

That happened last weekend in my quite hometown state of North Dakota. Most of the time, life is quiet and stable there. So last weekend when law enforcement in the rural western part of the state, caught two escaped convicts from an Alabama prison, I shouted, Woo hoo!

The takedown happened near the city where I was born, in Stark County. That is an especially rural area, and while I’m sure there is crime, the officers there don’t spend most of their days looking for killers and thugs. It’s just not part of life up there.

So I have to believe that the ongoing training law enforcement officers are required to take  prepared them for this event. These two criminals (and their two accomplices) were in prison for murder and attempted murder – they are not nice guys! They got through seven states without getting caught.

A rancher, one of those who received the reverse 9-1-1 call, heard his horses get skittish and called authorities. They caught all four good-for-nothings, but not without gunfire exchange…started by the convict imprisoned for stabbing someone, i.e., atempted murder, who came out shooting!

In these “tough economic times” (which by the way I’m sick of hearing everyone whine about–be proactive, take action and stop looking for handouts!), cities, counties and states should not make cuts to law enforcement and education. Those essential services protect us every day and prepare our children for the future, empowering them to continue making the United States greater.

If you want law enforcement officers prepared for any situation, even those that don’t happen frequently where you live, tell your city and county commissioners, and your state legislators. Make sure where you live officers are adequately trained, equipped and compensated so they can afford to stay in that profession, looking out for the rest of us.

I have to ask…will those N.D. law enforcement agencies get the $5,000 reward?

Airlines – attention please!

I traveled recently for the first time since airlines added the checked baggage fees. Paid $15 per bag each way, on top of the nearly $500 ticket! But anyway…

What annoyed me more were the other travelers who in their “brilliance” [and that is laced in sarcasm] decided their gynormous bags were in fact carry-on size so they could skip that little extra fee! Annoying because THEY ARE NOT CARRY-ON SIZE. [yelling intentional here]

More annoying is that the AIRLINES SEEM TO ALLOW IT! What kind of b.s. is that? They all post those cute little boxes by the check-in kiosks so we can make sure our carry-on bags fit there. Yet airline staff ignore all those who walk by with bags two and three times bigger than that box.

One very overweight woman had two “carry-on” bags, each so big she could not even lift them into the overhead bin. And yet…none of the airline staff said a word.

Come on! Either enforce your rules or skip the extra fee. It’s not fair to those of us who do play fair, who go along with the system and pay the stupid fee.

For you passengers, if you really cannot afford the extra fee, maybe you can’t really afford to travel by air. If you can, then do the rest of us a favor and check your bag or pack lightly enough that you can board with one-count-em-one carry-on and a purse or briefcase.

It’s a matter of courtesy and safety.

Nerdling

I’m a bit of a nerd…not smart enough to be a geek-nerd; just sort of weird. Ask anyone who knows me. They’ll tell you. And they luv me anyway (I think!). I luv me, too!

As a kid my favorite thing to do in the summer was to play school. See, told you? A nerd!

Thankfully the neighborhood kids and my younger sister and brother went along with me. We often set up the classroom in Lisa Poe’s garage back in southern Indiana and I was always the teacher.

So it made sense that for as long as I could remember I planned to be a teacher when I grew up. Funny how dreams and plans change.

I never became a teacher, although even today I toy with the idea. If the state I live in didn’t keep laying them off left and right, I would do it! It really is what I should have done all those years ago.

Plus it pairs nicely with my other dream–writing! My career has always included writing but I mean the book-writing-and-selling type writer. That one I’m still working on.

So what’s your dream and what are you doing to pursue it? My absolutely, positively dream job(s) would be a writer on the Ellen show or a writer with Cirque du Soleil.

I don’t really see myself moving to Paris…but haven’t ruled out Europe so who knows. But L.A. doesn’t seem so outrageous!

What’s different?

Besides money, what is really the difference between “Octo-Mom” and Angelina Jolie? There’s a rumor that Jolie is pregnant for the 7th time, on top of all the adopted children.

Call me crazy, but I don’t see how either one of those women can really mother that many children. But since Jolie has money and presumably staff, i.e., hired mommies, nobody questions her sanity.

I’m not suggesting either Octo-Mom or Jolie are sane, but I think it’s unfair and a mistake that nobody investigates Jolie as mother.

Stick to your core

I’m feeling quite intelligent today and since I don’t have a politician’s ego, I actually think about doing the right thing (trying to at least). As opposed to simply getting votes.

So it occurs to me that like many businesses, U.S. government at all levels, has made a classic operations mistake. It expanded its “business” beyond what it does and knows how to do best. Its core mission.

Isn’t the core mission of government to serve taxpayers? And by serve, wasn’t the intent things like police, fire, education, transportation, military? Those are the things government does best–better than private can do.

Yet somewhere along the line (and my guess it was during an election year) government stepped outside its core mission. Someone thought, we’re doing so well with all that, why not do more? And of course that person won said election and the push was on for all elected officials to expand government services and assure re-election.

Private businesses that expanded their business lines when the economy was booming, are scaling back now, returning to their core mission…to what they do best. Government must follow that example.

Is there a cost, a human cost to doing that? Absolutely! Votes will be lost. Some taxpayers will need to step up and meet their own needs. For those truly unable to provide for their needs, government can and should be there.

It’s clear there is no more revenue to be had for a while. Just as government is after private businesses to change their models, it must find ways to cut its costs and that means services outside the scope of government’s core mission. If it could do and did those things well, perhaps deficits and budget shortfalls would not scream at us from every corner.

We need today’s elected officials to be brave leaders. Leading means doing it right, and sometimes that means tough decisions. It requires visionaries who can see beyond today or tomorrow, and instead of slapping “band-aids” on the economic business, they force the rehab that keeps us “clean and sober” for generations to come.

Be afraid, be very afraid

In the short time the Obama administration has been at the helm, my fears about his total inexperience have only mounted. He and his bunch of tax-evading cronies do not seem to understand Economics 101.

Once upon a time, I might have said that people in pay grades much higher than me know better than me how to solve the current economic crisis. Given the current situation at the federal level and nearly every state level of government in America, I no longer believe that.

I think it’s pretty low-level economics to understand that if this president’s administration keeps spending trillions of dollars – seemingly every day – it won’t take long for the U.S. dollar to have absolutely zero value. We might as well all start printing our own money at home. Neither will have gold or other collateral backing them up but who cares!

I hope soon someone helps them recognize that this is not the way to fix things. We all need to follow basic financial principles: at home, in business and in government. In government, that sometimes mean cutting services because revenue, i.e., tax dollars, is down. At home it might mean cutting cable T.V. out of the family budget because Mom no longer has a job.

It’s not the 21st Century American way I know. But the model we closed the last century with, doesn’t work too well.

Back to their roots

Another newspaper down. This time in Colorado. My heart goes out to those journalists and others across the country who fear for their jobs. And to all those in nearly every industry right now who feel constant uncertainty…job security is now an oxymoron.

 

But I am starting to feel that newspapers were all too slow in changing their business model. Now in this crisis situation, thoughtful decision-making may not happen. Kind of like buying a car because yours broke down and the absurd repair bill makes it more sensible to buy another. Here you are without wheels, and places to go! You buy the first good deal you find; no research, no shopping around and sometimes you end up with a lemon.

 

I think it’s time the papers—and the public—make the dramatic paradigm shift we all need. Our “brick and mortar” world is shrinking as more and more of us function online. Case in point: this week I clothes-shopped online at three different stores. I’m not the kind of shopper who needs to walk around a mall to feel satisfied. If I can get right to what I need/want efficiently, I am satisfied. Luv the Internet!

 

Same with news. There are so many sites with 24/7 news offerings, we can stay in the know without buying papers. Personally, I still prefer to read a paper, but I also go to several online news sources during a day.

 

For those online news sources to be reliable, journalists and writers with ethics who want to validate facts before going public and who, generally, remain unbiased, must staff them. (Something most young journalists need to work on, in my opinion.)

 

That leads me to paying for service. Perhaps it is time to tax Internet use. We all pay to use the Internet already because we need an Internet Service Provider (ISP), in my case Comcast. I’m not an economic analyst, but let’s say every ISP customer pays an extra $5 a month; $60 a year. With an estimated 3 million U.S. population (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html), that means $1.8 billion in revenue to fund news sites. Maybe the ISPs match that amount, something they cannot pass onto their customers.

 

As I blogged about before, I think it’s time for the local papers to become weeklies…again. Back to their roots. Sunday papers sell because they include a feature, often investigative in nature, the local feel good stuff like weddings and anniversaries, along with the stores’ sale circulars. They can cut costs and pool resources so not every brick and mortar shop has print and production resources. Regionalize that aspect of the business.

 

It’s time; it is past time, for all industries and all of us as individuals, to tighten up. Working together, sharing resources, paying reasonable fees for things we use means we access the services and products we need, we can trust the providers of those services and our country is more solvent because of it.

 

Not saying that single change is the answer to all our economic woes. Wouldn’t it be nice if it was that easy? <sigh> But I believe it’s a good place to start and provides a model other industries could consider.

MIA

Kooper--ready for some foooootball!! Jan 31, 2009

 

 

Kooper has really cut into my writing time over the past month. Who is Kooper, you ask? New boyfriend? New boss? Baby?

 

Kooper is our new puppy. Since it’s been 13 years since we Nikki, our late Bichon, was a pup, I had completely forgotten just how much like infants/toddlers they are. And my husband and I just started dating when I got Nikki so he wasn’t involved much in the training of her so this is a real “trip” for him!

 

Like children, puppies are wonderful for the soul…despite the sleepless nights. The same characteristic I love in children, I am enjoying with Koops. Seeing the world through young eyes means everything around is a new adventure. A leaf blowing across the lawn, a hawk soaring overhead, balloons, bands playing at a local block party, a motorcycle roaring up the street, every person we see—all of it!

 

Watching the world in motion is a pastime of mine as a writer, but Kooper has given me a fresh lens with which to observe. And his spirit changes the way I engage with the world around me. More than just watching, we explore. It takes me back to my childhood and the fun of discovering new things and places.

 

Most of what Kooper and I are discovering aren’t really new to me, but they feel new when I see his reactions. Each day he gets a little braver and approaches each new thing a bit more eagerly. But often at not quite four months old, he is still a clumsy, cautious and adorable pup.

Is retro really nouveau?

I’m no economic expert, but like many, as I hear about all the economic woes in the U.S. and globally, I want to be part of the solution. A recurring thought for me is that perhaps our 24/7society has come full circle and we now need to try some “retro” approaches.

 

For example, newspapers – the actual print paper – cannot completely disappear. We need them. There is a lot of information in a paper that may be on the Internet, but in a single paper, is much easier to find.

 

But…do we need daily papers? Perhaps it’s time for them to go back to weekly publication. A nice, big Sunday paper with all the stores’ sale circulars, calendar of events, investigative stories and of course ads because those dollars are the bread and butter of a paper.

 

What about stores? Do they all really need to be open 6 a.m. to midnight (slight exaggeration there)? The great majority of us work Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 

Why not close one or two days a week? On the weekdays when you’re open, cut your hours to 12 noon to 7 p.m. Stay open longer on the weekends when consumers have time to shop.

 

For those of us who cannot work around your store hours, there is Internet shopping. The 24/7 store.

 

Wouldn’t that beat bankruptcy and shutdown? Isn’t it better to make use of what we have then continue to add empty, neglected buildings and warehouses to the American landscape? Let’s prevent sending more people to the unemployment lines.

 

For other service-oriented operations – including government – cut to four days a week. Doesn’t even have to be a three-day weekend, although that might be a nice benefit for your employees. In today’s economy most people would take a four-day paycheck over no paycheck. You cut your operating expenses as you weather this financial hurricane.

 

Americans are creative survivors so I have no doubt we will get this turned around. I’m tired of the panic, and especially tired of mainstream media’s push to fuel that panic. Let’s stop whining, pointing fingers, crying “woe is me” and get clever about how to fix it. Look to the past to find models that can work in 2009.

Yo no habla espanol

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090123/Nashville.English.First/

 

I respectfully disagree with Nashville voters; and voters in other cities that have already voted down “English first.” Once again Americans demonstrate that they do not understand moderation. We are an all or nothing society.

 

Having one language as the official and “first” language in our country (or city) does not make us exclusive. If I travel to another country, let’s say Italy and finally achieve my long-time dream, I fully expect I better have some command of their language. By the way, that would be Italian.

 

Just like if they visit here, they know our language is English and they prepare for that. The difference is that other countries are much better at teaching their citizens—and by citizens I mean children—more than one language. If more Americans were more multi-lingual, the language would not be a barrier.

 

Our country was founded on the English language, just as it was founded on the Christian faith. Maintaining those principles does not lessen our inclusive nature. If I invite you to my home and we have a dog but you don’t like dogs, you’re not going to feel excluded because I won’t turn my dog out while you’re there. You may exercise your right to cut short your visit, but you won’t let that difference stand between us.

 

I believe the same is true with language. If we speak different languages, there are some limitations to how we communicate. But it is possible. We could – crazy notion alert! – work together, teach one another bits of the language and forge friendship and education in one easy swoop. But here in America we need to stand firm on our foundation; it is what separates us from the rest of the world.