Since Wednesday I have been attending a user’s conference for the DP provider of my employer.  Too infrequently in life we get the opportunity to spend time with people outside of our daily routine, our closest circle of friends or the co-workers that we spend more time with than our families.  It’s hard to tell if I preferred the company more of the employees of our host, those whom I had met at previous conferences or those that I met for the first time at this particular event.  It is refreshing to have an opportunity to be brought up to date with significant factors impacting your career while acquainting and reacquainting with peers in your industry. 

          While I was greatly disappointed to not be the recipient of any of the magnificent door prizes given at this event for the past 12 years, again, I have to admit that this was perhaps the most fun, most informative, and most productive convention I have attended to date.  From the positive affirmation that the work I do and that my employer pursues as an industry leader and the understanding that many of the frustrations I face on a day to day basis are shared by others I came away from this event refreshed and anxious to get back to work. 

          It is significant that my peers, in such diverse locations as South Carolina, California, Oregon, Texas, Wisconsin, Puerto Rico, South Dakota and even my home town face many of the same issues that I do on a day to day basis.  It is comforting to share victories and defeats, dreams and concerns, anecdotes and horror stories with people that have similar responsibilities and experience in my chosen profession. 

          The industry I work in is dominated politically by conservatives but I was able to find quite a few like minded liberals while avoiding any obnoxious political discussion on breaks or in the hospitality suite.  Well, I guess you would have to survey the conventioneers to confirm the reliability of the statement that I wasn’t obnoxious.  I make that assumption based on the fact that I did a significant amount of promotion for the Red Hog Diary during my time in Salt Lake City and it didn’t result in negative feedback in the way of comments, eye rolling, or fisticuffs. 

          Next year’s conference will be in Tucson and I met several Harley riders who expressed an interest in possibly putting together a ride to the event.  That would be a great thing if it comes to pass. 

          Friday evening I got quite a scare in the men’s room after spending quite a bit of time in the hospitality suite.  I greeted a young man as I made my way into the restroom and he responded, “I think I’m supposed to meet you.”  By the time he had said that I was standing at the urinal doing what I had come to do.  Proper men’s room etiquette is that a greeting is permissible but once you begin to go about your business conversation is pretty much frowned upon.  I wasn’t quite sure I heard him right and I nervously said, “Huh?”  At that point he laughed and said, “Oh my God, that sounded really bad but I think I’m supposed to meet you.”  Instantly I became somewhat alarmed and needed a little clarification as I sorted through some of the fight or flight thoughts that were reeling through my head.  It didn’t take long to sort out that this particular gentleman was Chris from a Rapid City credit union that I was in fact supposed to meet at this event.  I had met senior VP from his credit union at a previous convention and she had emailed me that she would not be attending this year but had asked me to not lead Chris astray should our paths cross in Salt Lake City. 

          Being one to never lead a rookie conventioneer astray I proceeded to lead Chris out of the restroom to show him where they hid the Kiwanis flag that had proved such a hit for me in the hospitality suite the evening before.  Chris was of the proper conventioneer’s spirit that he agreed to follow me back into the lounge in a parade like fashion as we waved the flag back and forth while making a lap around the bar while singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic at the top of our lungs.  It was shortly after that when the President of the host organization made his way over to see how we were doing.  At first I was concerned that our behavior had caused him to become concerned but in a short time realized we had just managed to catch his attention and he wanted to say hello.  Whew!  The conference winds down after a couple final sessions this morning and then it’s off to the airport to begin my journey home. 

My boss has asked me not to wear any of our logo wear until I am out of town.  I’m not sure what he means by that but I will honor his wish.  Have a great Saturday!

          Salt Lake City is one crazy kind of place.  On one side, you have that whole polygamy thing…I don’t really get what that’s about and then the other crazy thing about Salt Lake is their totally whacked out drinking laws.  Our hosts for the conference I am attending have been very gracious and most hospitable.  They have included, as part of our entertainment, an open bar hospitality suite that runs from 7 PM to 1AM each evening.  You know a Red Hog would have to do his best to maximize my company’s investment in conference fees by spending as much time as possible taking advantage of a situation like that.  I was a little disturbed, however, when my boss and I walked into the lounge after meetings yesterday and Elizabeth, the very young, friendly, and attractive waitress ran up to me and welcomed me back while informing me “I am so glad you are back because you were the most fun customer last night.”  Oh oh. 

          Immediately my still clouded mind raced back to the events of the prior evening.  I was grateful that I couldn’t come up with any behavior that would qualify as embarrassing to my employer or my family but then again…my mind was still a bit clouded from the previous evening’s libations.  Had this conference been located anywhere other than Utah I may not have had quite the same peace of mind with the events of the night before.  In Utah alcohol dispensing is highly regulated and mixed drinks are limited to no more than one ounce of alcohol per serving, beer is 3.2% alcohol by volume and wine can not be poured in servings greater than 5 oz.  I feel bad for the martini drinkers in our group because the one ounce alcohol limit renders the old standard cocktail to look rather diminutive when served in a 6 oz. martini glass.  When martini drinkers are first served an expression of, “is that all I get?” flashes across their saddened faces. 

          Fun was had by all again last evening but I sensed things were getting out of hand when one of the conventioneers returned from the rest room with the local Kiwanis American flag and stand and set it up as a back drop to the table he was sitting at.  Immediately he flashed out of the lounge and then returned with a large leather chair from the lobby and set it before the flag at his table and proceeded to offer a fireside chat for those at his table. Okay, it was me but really, I don’t think things got much more out of hand than that.  Just in case, when I return to the hospitality lounge this evening I plan to be several steps ahead of my boss so any comments on my behavior by the bar staff can remain somewhat confidential.  Happy Friday!

 

          A final note.  Gee you have to feel bad for the mere millionaires of the country this morning.  Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans was made up entirely of billionaires for the first time. 

          Do you smell sulfur?  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez referred to President Bush as “the Devil” Wednesday in a speech on the floor of the U.N. General Assembly.  He went on to claim that President Bush, “came here talking as if he were the owner of the world.” Chavez then appealed to the American people to “halt this threat” and claimed American policy was one of “domination, exploitation and pillage of peoples of the world.”  While his comments were preposterous they were not contextually different from President Bush’s appeal only one day earlier when he asked the moderates of Islam to halt the threat of extremists in the Middle East.

          To refer to George W Bush as Satan gives him far too much credit.  We all know the president is not Satan.  The Vice President is Satan!  Once we get passed the absurdity of the comments by Chavez we should examine what was behind the belligerent and undiplomatic comments and look at the reaction within the U.N. Assembly itself.  Many people are upset and are immediately discrediting the comments by Chavez.  That would be a mistake.  Within the U.N. Assembly the response to the words by Chavez by some was laughter and applause.  The fact that those words were not immediately met with gasps of incredulity by the Assembly is a reflection of world opinion of Bush policies throughout the world.  It is unfortunate that Chavez did not make his speech more in line with what we would expect from a head of state. 

          When a head of state refers to someone as Satan or Hitler or refers to people who don’t support his policies as being sympathetic to Nazi’s we tend to not want to take them seriously.  The fact that world opinion is such that Chavez was not booed off of the podium is something that Americans would be wise to pay attention to.  World perception is that in world affairs America only acts when it has to but otherwise operates too unilaterally and that is something that discredits all of the positive things America does as a world leader.   While it is unfortunate that Chavez chose to open his speech in a sophomoric manner the fact remains that there was a lot we should learn from his message and the response to it. 

          I love to fly.  I woke up Tuesday morning at 4:15, 4:25, and 4:35 and finally in a panic at 4:45 because I hadn't packed yet and had to drive over two hours to catch my 8:45 flight from Des Moines to Salt Lake City.  Being vertically challenged, a nice way of saying I’m fat because I am short for my weight, I take a great interest in seat assignments when flying the friendly skies.  I boarded my plane as late as possible to eye the seating arrangements.  My plan was to find an empty row and pleasantly ask the flight attendant if it would be possible to claim an empty row so I could have a little room and relax in my under-caffeinated state.  All my strategizing proved to be for naught as I finally made my way onto the plane and saw my seat, 5 B, with no occupant in window seat A.  Eureka!  This was going to be a fantastic day.  What were the odds of being assigned the only empty row on the near to capacity flight?

          I stowed my laptop in the overhead compartment, pulled my book from my back pocket and settled into my seat.  Everything was going to be fine.  The stewardess made her count and reported to the captain.  We would be in the air in no time.  Then the stewardess passed through the plane again, making another passenger count and returned to the cockpit but seemed to spend a little more time before turning back and looking in my direction.  Something was wrong.  A ground crew member boarded the plane and began talking with the stewardess and then he kept glancing back in my direction.  My mind was racing as I looked at my watch, rechecked our departure time on the boarding pass and looked back at the conferencing airline employees who were still looking my way.  There was frantic talking over hand held radios at the front of the plane and still more subtle glances in my direction.  What was this?  Did I match some profile description?  Did the fact that I was flying on a Bush’s-ratings-are-down-so-we-better-declare-a-fear-inducing code orange day have anything to do with a heightened mistrust of large dark haired and brown skinned man?  I was losing it and sweat started to form on my brow.  Perhaps the fact that so many of my posts have been critical of Boy George that I was about to be extraordinarily renditioned to some third world country and tortured until I confessed to some terrorist plot.  Hey, it could happen. 

          And then it did happen!  Well something happened and it scared the bejesus out of me.  We had a late passenger.  As my luck would have it, this late passenger booked for our flight had the seat assignment of, you guessed it, window seat 5 A.  I quickly resorted to my original pre-flight paranoia when I saw the passenger huff and grunt her way onto the plane.  This particular passenger was even more vertically challenged that moi and I watched passengers being flailed to and fro as her hips popped from row to row as she waddled her way back to row five.  I began to rise from my seat to allow her access to her seat assignment while casting my best puppy dogged “you’ve got to be kidding me” look in the flight attendants direction.  The two largest passengers on the plane had been assigned side by side seats on one of the smallest planes in the Delta fleet. 

          At this time superior training and a whole lot of tact and compassion came into play and the stewardess whispered something to a passenger in the second row that nodded and immediately moved across the aisle.  The stewardess then came back to row five and asked in a very polite and quiet voice if the late passenger would possibly prefer to sit in row two where she could have a little more room.  I have to admit that a look of relief came across the late passengers face because she knew as I knew that there was no way in hell the two of us were going to be even remotely comfortable if we had to share those seats.  I’m here to tell you that customer service is not dead!  Delta loves to fly and it shows and I guess I kind of like it after all.

 

          I have to thank my friend Jay for sending me the following story the other day.  Thanks Jay: A plane is about to crash.  There are 5 passengers on board but there are only 4 parachutes.  The first passenger says, “I am Ronaldo, the best football player in the world.  The football world needs me and I can not die on my fans.”  He grabs the first parachute and jumps out of the plane.  The second passenger, Hillary Clinton, says,  “I am the wife of the former president of the United States, I am the senator of New York and I have a good chance of being president of the United States in the future.”  She grabs a parachute and jumps off the plane.  The third passenger, George W. Bush says, “I am the president of the United States of America.  I have huge responsibilities in the world.  I am the decider and besides all that, I are the smartest president in the history of my country and I can’t shun the responsibility to my people by dying.”  He grabs a pack and jumps off the plane.  The fourth passenger, the Pope, says to the fifth passenger, a young school boy, “I am old.  I have lived my life as a good person and as a priest should and so I shall leave the last parachute to you.  You have your whole life ahead of you.”  To this the little boy says, “Don’t fret old man!  There is a parachute for each of us!  The Smartest president in the history of America just took my schoolbag!”

          When was the last time a politician shocked you by demonstrating a selfless virtuous behavior?  I’m proud to report it happened in my state this weekend.  Kevin Wiskus, a Republican congressional candidate from south central Iowa disaffiliated with the Republican Party because they mailed an extremely negative flyer to the residents of the district.  Wiskus will now run as an Independent in his bid to unseat incumbent Kurt Swaim. 

          Unknown to Wiskus, the state Republican Party sent a mailer that accused Swaim of being soft on child sex abusers.  The ad referred to work Swaim had done as a court-appointed public defender in a lascivious acts with a child case that resulted in only a four day sentence.  The ad alluded to the idea that Swaim was only to happy to put the sex-offender back on the street for under a thousand dollars.  The ad went on to report how Swaim had voted for a law that allowed sex offenders to be released early.  The bill that Swaim supported was a Republican sponsored bill.

          The facts are that Swaim, as a court appointed public defender did not have a right to choose the cases before him.  As an officer of the court he is obligated to provide the most effective counsel possible or he would place his career in jeopardy.  Some would even argue that it is your right as a citizen to have competent representation in a court of law but that concept is somewhat foggy considering recent efforts by our national leaders.  Wiskus, in a letter to Swaim and his wife, said, “Though I had no knowledge of this vicious attack on you, I ask that you please accept the most sincere and humble apologies to you and Julie.”

          Not surprisingly, House Speaker Chris Rants, R-Sioux City and the Iowa Republican Party are defending the mailing.  The official word of the state party is that the piece is true and nothing in it is misleading.  Rants said Republicans will continue to be aggressive in this years election and “Republicans are not going to be punching bags.” as if it were the Republicans who had been the target of the smear politics. 

          Not living in the district, were I to have a vote in that race, I would look long and hard at the integrity of Kevin Wiskus and consider how that integrity might benefit my community.  The timing of this news and the stand-up integrity of the Conservative leaders of the Armed Services Committee in their refusal to allow the President to torture prisoners or convict with undisclosed evidence is restoring my confidence in American politics.  Integrity is an individual’s characteristic and no one political party can claim exclusive ownership of it although I must admit I was beginning to wonder. 

 

          I’m airborne tomorrow.  I will be attending a CUSA Users Conference in Salt Lake City for the rest of the week.  You know me, it will be all business.  The only reason I ever step foot in a reception or hospitality suite is for the numerous networking opportunities with other credit union professionals that enable me to provide better service in my daily responsibilities.  While the approaching conference looked like a welcome respite from the single parenting situation I have found myself in I am now finding my departure bittersweet.  The kids have been great since their return on August 17^th and their voices have filled the house with laughter and my evenings with endless trips to pick up empty pop cans, loads of dirty laundry, dirty dishes and well we won’t talk about the seven year olds underwear last Saturday.  Let’s just say he must have had an extremely startling experience at some point during the day.  In spite of the added duties, the complete loss of peace and quiet and my seemingly permanent separation from the TV remote I must admit I will miss them dearly.  I’m a family man, that’s just how I roll.

Our President was questioned recently as to whether he would want North Korea or Iran to "interpret" the Geneva Conventions rules on treating prisoners.  Our fine leader clearly articulated his well thought out answer in the video link above. 

 

I am honored today because my Saturday post was picked up and run as a contributing author contribution to The Peace Tree.   The Peace Tree is written by Kim Gongre and a leading progressive website for Peace, Social Justice and Liberal/Progressive Politics.  Kim is so good at what she does that her site is listed on Conservative hate sites.  You can visit the peace tree by clicking the link above or the link in my "Friends and Passions" bar on the right column.  Happy Monday!

JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer reported Saturday Sep 16th that “Those three dollars you've set aside in your tax returns as a good deed toward clean presidential elections? Forget about it. Nobody wants them anymore.”   Just6dollars.org is a non-partisan organization leading a grassroots effort to reform the way officials are elected in the United States.  The principle behind the movement is that the cost to tax payers of six dollars is insignificant compared to the more than $200 per person cost of “pork barrel” spending from last year alone.

          Campaign finance reform efforts from congress in recent years have been insignificant and benign to the efforts of the money machine that defines Washington politics.  “Under current rules, no one can take the public money without agreeing to strict spending restrictions. Had Bush or Kerry accepted the money in 2004, they would have been limited to spending less than $45 million each in the primaries. Operating outside the system, Bush raised nearly $270 million and Kerry $235 million.  Campaign strategists and campaign finance analysts say they can imagine the new crop of presidential candidates concluding that the entire government handout is not worth the trouble. "Anybody who takes federal funding will do so at their own peril because they will be dramatically outspent," said Tom Rath, a Republican National Committee member from New Hampshire.  (From Just 6 dollars website)

          Publicly financed elections, at the $6 level, would equal or exceed the amount of money raised and spent in the 2004 elections for all Congress, Senate and the White House campaigns.  The most appealing aspects of public finance reform would be the elimination of the need for legislators to spend time raising funds when they should be at work resolving the very important issues facing this nation.  Publicly financed elections would reduce if not eliminate the very real obligations that our elected officials have with their donor base.  Imagine a President and legislature that were beholding to all of their constituency and not just the wealthiest and most organized of their home base. 

          So who supports public election financing?  Former Republican Senators Warren Rudman of New Hampshire and Alan Simpson of Wyoming and former Democratic Senators Bill Bradley of New Jersey and Bob Kerry of Nebraska.  The benefits of publicly financed elections would be that our leaders would be elected based on their ability and character and they would be accountable to the voters.  As citizens we could once again have confidence in our elected representatives and as individuals we would once again be energized to participate in the political process.  Money buys access to our leaders under the current campaign laws.  Wouldn’t it be fantastic if your Senator needed your six dollars at an equal significance with that of Exxon, Halliburton and AT&T? 

          It is not surprising that the list of supporters of meaningful campaign finance reform does not include many incumbent legislators.  They have lost sight of the fact that principles and idealism are the forces that made this country great.  Please join me in sending them a reminder that the people of America are what make this nation great.  Visit Just6dollars.org today!