Edward Kennedy: A Man and a Legend

Today we all heard the sad news of the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy. Known as the Lion of the Senate, his passion for championing the rights of the downtrodden will go down in history.

While I did not always agree with his politics, my respect for him is unwavering. He was able to bring both sides to the table and come up with compromises and agreements in situations where many would have called it completely impossible.

My heart goes out to his family and my thoughts are with them in this their hour of need.

Senator God be with you! The world has lost one of the greatest politicians in history.

Zappos Bridal Shoes

Has everyone heard of Zappos? I first learned about Zappos while I was working on a Business Process Improvement project for the company I work for. Because of what I learned about the company culture and their drive to make sure that every customer is completely satisfied I suggested this site to a friend of mine when she was planning to get married.

The selections they have are phenomenal and the quality is unparalleled. My friend was completely blown away by the number of bridal shoes that they had available to purchase. The shoes that she chose for her bridesmaids were absolutely gorgeous and her shoes were just stunning. She cannot stop talking about the experience that she had with Zappos and has recommended it to a number of friends.

If you want to experience incredible service and passion for making customers happy please take a look and make use of this incredible company. They just can't do anything wrong from what I have been able to tell. Brides worldwide should really look at this and they can be sure that at least as far as the shoes are concerned there are no worries with having the perfect bridal shoes.

Politics today: How we have chosen the anointed ones.

I believe that there is a great misunderstanding of how things are supposed to work as opposed to how they actually work. I truly would like someone to point out where in the Constitution (You remember the Constitution don't you? The document that is supposed to guide us in making the laws and policies of this land?) I am somewhat perturbed by the fact that Congress now seems to think that since they have a majority of Democrats that they have been anointed by God to pass legislation with no assistance whatsoever from the Republicans. I am, as I am sure you have already guessed, a Republican but I am well aware of how badly the Republicans have handled things recently and I DID vote for Obama. That being said, we have a 2 party system that is supposed to instill co-operation and bipartisanship so as to bring forth the best possible legislation for our country. Standing up and basically saying screw you guys we won is a show of the most unbelievable arrogance.

We do need a lot of what is being proposed but my major problem with this is that with all the talk we really have no serious details. I believe that it should be a federal crime, punishable by some serious fines and the loss of your seat in the legislature for you to stand up and speak to and vote for a piece of legislation that is thousands of pages long without having read through it yourself, word for word, to make sure that you know exactly what you are voting for. I don't really care what your staff thinks about what you are voting for. We elect our legislators to represent us. I don't want them voting one way or another based on what a staff member thinks about legislation. I want to you know what YOU think guys. Put it on the record and see how many of you win another election once the public sees exactly what you think rather than what you say.

The Micheal Jackson Phenomenon

Michael Jackson was one of the best artists that the world has known. Few people have been able to match the unbelievable talent and popularity that he enjoyed and fewer still can say that they came from the background he had. Many people do not recognize him for what he accomplished. He became an incredible talent at an incredibly young age. What we have seen over the last week or so is something that I honestly would have expected given the circumstances.

I also want to say that while I am a Republican I am ashamed of the despicable comments that came from a conservative lawmaker. Michael had some legal problems in years past but this bozo has apparently forgotten that he was acquitted of those charges which make him innocent.

Michael we will all miss you.

The Hazards of Overseas Journalism

Today 2 American journalists were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for what the North Korean regime calls the "grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing."

As much as I feel for the families of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, it must always be remembered that journalism is not welcomed at all in many countries around the world that do not allow free speech and great caution must be taken when reporting from area in or closely adjoining these countries.

It has been said by the families of these young women that they had no intention of crossing into North Korea and that may very well have been the case when they left on this assignment but, it is a fact that any great journalist will take some serious risks to get a good story and it pays off in many cases. I suspect that if someone came to them and said I can get you into an area of North Korea where you can speak to some of the people who live there; my guess is that they would jump at the chance to be able to bring back a story of that kind.

I can completely understand their need to do this. I would very likely have done the much the same thing in their situation. There are many good journalists but the journalists that have become great have taken chances. Some with their reputations such as Dan Rather, who made the announcement to the world that President Kennedy was dead before anyone, anywhere had actually confirmed it. That became his starting point and he went on from there to become an extraordinary newsman. ABC anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were both very seriously injured in Iraq when the convoy they were traveling in was hit by a roadside bomb. They were doing what they needed to do in order to get the raw truth out to the world. In so doing they placed themselves in peril and in this case paid a very heavy price.

The 2 young ladies in North Korea are actually quite fortunate. They could certainly have been charged with spying for the United States and while I am not familiar with the laws of North Korea I would not be surprised if the penalty for that is death.

I hope and pray that a release can be negotiated for them but if not then we need to think of them as courageous young ladies who were doing what the believed needed to be done in order to bring back stories of the common man that would otherwise never see the light of day.

Tragedy

I am sure everyone has now read or seen something on the horrible incident to befall Air France Flight 447 over the South Atlantic off the coast of Brazil. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the passengers and crew of that flight. I cannot begin to imagine the feelings of those left behind but my heart and the hearts of tens of millions around the world go out to you in your time of despair.

It matters not what is going on in the world when something like this happens and the world takes notice. Despite the difficulties involved in recovery of meaningful data I am certain that the investigators will not rest until they have reached a conclusion as to what happened.

It is difficult I am sure to think in terms of recovery and data analysis in times like these but the deaths of your loved ones will not be meaningless. I realize that this will come as little comfort now but this accident will do, as others in the past have done, a great deal in terms of making it safer than ever to fly.

Remember that even as they throw off the bonds of this earth and move on to the next stage of existence they will not be forgotten.

Legal Help

I was online the other day looking for a lawyer to review some potential contracts I have had offered to me. While I was searching I found a site that would be enormously helpful to anyone that lives in New Jersey. I am not in New Jersey but close so I have sent some requests to see if any of these attorneys are perhaps also licensed in this state. This website is something that is actually pretty easy to maneuver as websites go.
This site covers just about any non-criminal law issue that I can think of. This is a pretty effective site. I come from a back ground that includes web site hosting and I can tell from that experience that this is a very well done site.
If you need legal assistance with something that is not related to a criminal matter and you live in New Jersey, I can absolutely recommend this site for its ease of use and wealth of issues that they support.