It is time to take back our country from all of the power-hungry criminal elements known as Congress. If we start a true grassroots effort to pledge to vote all incumbents out, we could truly be represented again. The time for action is now. We must take away the ability to extort their way. The Louisiana Purchase, the Nebraska sweetheart deal are just the tip of the iceberg. As a West Virginian, we have known pork barrel politics from former KKK Senator Byrd and the powerful Rockefeller. I am not just picking on Democrats, we need to strip them all and sent just representation. Anyone interested in producing a dedicated website that we can set up to make our pledges to vote out all incumbents as a nation and state by state? I realize that Mr. Byrd will not be alive for too many more terms, but WV is a Democrat state who did not vote Obama, but has always been to the left and I’m sure that we will continue to vote for him years after his death.
One of the legit “Good Guys” will be missed by so many!
In these times, we lose focus on what truly is important in life! We are in such a hurry that we naturally take people for granted, we miss an opportunity to make another smile or laugh. Sadly, we lost a true “good guy” yesterday. Craig was a soccer-coach,a basketball-coach and a referee for youth leagues. He ran his business at an excellence that will not be replaced, he was such a master of promotions. His passions for his family, his work, and golf will be such an incredible loss for all of those that loved him. Craig always had time to make you smile, laugh or think and just make your day better. I like to live by a simple philosophy, “Life is about experiences, make a memory today for yourself or especially for another” Craig was able to do that, whether on the golf course, at work or play. I guess, what I am getting to is that he left a mark on all who were lucky enough to know him or to call him a friend. Craiggers, you will be missed, unfortunately, probably even more than you knew. Much love, respect and fondess are my memories…May God give you the best seat in the house to watch over your loved ones and perhaps a Jack-Two Flush, pars and birdies, you deserve it.
Clinton power-broker, Dick Morris: The Nobel Prize to Obama: Europe’s Bid to Recolonize America
By Dick Morris And Eileen McGann 10.9.2009 Whether it was rewarding Jimmy Carter for criticizing the Iraq War or supporting Al Gore in his crusade against global warming, the Norwegian Parliament – which chooses the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize – has sought to use the award as a political tool to influence American politic s. Its prestige and moral power make the prize a potent weapon with which to help steer the direction of the colossus beyond the seas that controls a quarter of the world’s economy and most of its military power.
Now, the Norwegians have weighed in to support Barack Obama in his bid to reshape America so it looks more like, well, Norway, or at least like Europe.
European socialism cannot succeed without conquering the United States. If the European Union has high taxes and the US keeps its levies low, business and brains will flow to America. If the EU’s labor standards require long vacations, high benefits, and proscribe layoffs and ours’ do not, employers will migrate across the ocean to do their business in the States. If the Old World curbs ambition by taxation, regulation, and social opprobrium, the ambitious will flock to the New World as they have done for four hundred years.
So, Lenin was right. Socialism cannot exist in just one country – or one continent. It must dominate worldwide or wealth and power will flow to those who remain committed to the free market. Europe realizes this reality and it makes Obama’s election as president of the United States all the more welcome.
The Nobel Prize is really Obama’s payback for disciplining the unruly United States and taming it to be a member of the European family of nations. Europe wants to reverse the American Revolution and re-colonize us and it sees in Obama a kindred spirit willing to do its bidding.
Does the United States let its entrepreneurs run wild, coming up with fanciful new ideas and making billions from them? Obama will regulate and subdue business just like they do in Europe. Do U.S. businesses compete by slashing prices, aggressively pursuing markets, and jockeying for market share? Obama will make them behave themselves and stay in line just like European companies do. Do Americans work hard and push aggressively to make as much money as they can? Obama will raise taxes, emphasize community values, and narcotize their ambition by offering government largesse.
And does the United States still believe in a sloppy, contrarian democracy in which ordinary people can directly affect their government, states have powers, and courts can reel in executive authority? Obama will use his rubber stamp majority in Congress to pass new laws regardless of public opinion and make us obey.
In foreign policy, is the United States still willing to stand up, alone if necessary, to protect human rights in Bosnia, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan? Obama will curb this unruly independence and mold it within the fabric of appeasement that has dominated Europe for the past half a century.
All this heavy lifting, this conversion of America into a European state, deserves a reward. And what is a more fitting one than to give Obama than the Nobel Peace Prize? He obviously doesn’t deserve the award for economics or, given his health care ideas, for medicine. But the Peace Prize expresses Europe’s longing: to take back the nation its overly ambitious and uppity children founded.
What does a Nobel Peace Prize Represent?
King Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize based on 11 days in office! Feb.1st was the deadline for his nomination. The Nobel people have admitted that they awarded him based on what he may do in the future. I see it as a way for the Europeans to attempt to shape our foreign relations. With the President thinking about adding troops in Afghanistan, (2 months) this could be their way of influencing our decisions. The White House has declared war on Fox News, their wording is treating FNews as an opponent (sounds like campaign mode).
The Nobel committee recently gave Al Gore the same prize for his declaring Peace with the environment (we just recorded the 11th consecutive year of global cooling). The award was also given to the absolute hands down worst foreign relations President of all time in Jimmy Carter (he was as bad as the French at giving up). I will probably be getting an FBI background check just for posting this, but I wanted to see how others felt about Nobel?
Steelers 2009
This should be an improved team this season over last year’s Super Bowl Champions. The schedule looks on paper to be much easier than last year. Barring major injuries, I cannot see them losing more than 4 or 5 games and winning their division again. Week one was a very impressive performance by Big Ben and the offensive line in terms of pass protection. The running game is going to do better than 36 yrds. for the overtime game. It was an absolutely perfect evening for the game and we had awesome seats. Go Steelers
Gas Prices… Here we go again, $1.85 on April 21st, $2.89 May 31
It looks like we did not learn our lesson from last summer’s record gas prices. It seems as if the Drill Here, Drill Now is passe.
I have an idea to help families,travelers and everyone who drives: eliminate all federal and state taxes on fuel, only on the 14th and 28th of each month. By forgiving the taxes on just two days a month, it will encourage everyone to conserve fuel until the next tax-free day. The fuel taxes are anywhere from 70 to 90 cents per gallon, this will save people $15 to $20 per fill-up. What do you think of this idea?
Thanks to all!
With your assistance and visits to my blog, I received a 90 out of 100 on the semester long blog project and earned a B in the course. Thank you all so much for your visits and comments. 
Marketing to Children…Fair or Foul?
How do you feel about marketers aiming directly at your children? Do you think it is fair to market sugary sweet cereals, toys or kids meals to an immature and uneducated(in terms of advertising) consumer? Children do not often have the power to purchase these items, but do have the power of persuasion. The persuasion may be throwing a fit in the grocery store until you give in and buy the Froot Loops or it may just be them asking for the item repeatedly. 
There are many questions regarding the ethics of this type of marketing, let me know how you feel.
Emerging media, what’s next?
In the short span of nine week we have experienced first hand many of the new media available to us in the digital age. Blogging has been one of our focal points, but we have been exposed to so much more. We have become aware of paid inclusion and paid placement with search engine companies. Paid inclusion and paid placement are methods that determine which item is listed first when you do a search on a site such as Google.
We learned more about social networking, marketing to children and to minorities. We worked with corporate blogs, learning the difference between the official company blogs and the unofficial blogs that are so difficult to tell apart. We also explored the short marketing films that are beginning to take root with the mainstream. 
My favorite assignment was to develop and implement a mobile marketing plan for cell phone users without intruding upon the expected privacy issues. I used an opt-in program which called for the mobile-phone user to register for promotion and to voluntarily accept messages from the marketer. Did you realize that in a country of 304 million, there are over 200 million cell phone users and over 55 million are under the age of 20? 
IMC 619 Emerging Media and Markets has been the most challenging course in my IMC career to date. I have thoroughly enjoyed the subjects brought up in this course. Have you seen the digital billboards, the in-game ads on Xbox 360 or PS3? As a result of this course, one can only ask, “What’s Next?”
Breaking Down Cultural Barriers
With the nation’s exploding minority population, it has become so very important to knock down the cultural barriers in marketing.
To be successful with ethnic marketing:
Value the cultural customs, beliefs and symbols of your target group with special attention to their languages, accents and the way they interact with others. The uniqueness of their culture should be celebrated.
One in seven people in the US are of a Hispanic descent. Hispanic consumer purchasing power in the year 2007 was over $863 billion, up over 300% since 1990. Non-Hispanic purchasing power has only increased by 125% in the same time frame.
