The Decision

Well, everyone was shocked yesterday when the Supremes let Obamacare stand as a law.  The biggest surprise was the Roberts joined the majority to deny conservatives an expected win.  There is a lot of gnashing of conservative teeth and high-fiving of progressives today as the pundits try to assess the effect on the November elections.

My theory is that Roberts diabolically re-defined the penalty for not being insured as a "tax" to stick Obama with the onus of instituting a new TAX, despite the President's earlier  protestations that the penalty assessment was "definitely not a tax".

Figuring that almost everyone hates taxes - especially during tough times - Roberts calculates that ship Obama will be sunk in the election.  Thus, Republicans will take over both houses and the Oval Office and procede to repeal a law which the majority of Americans do not want.

No one in Massachusetts will benefit from this law, but we will all find that our costs for healthcare will be jacked-up to cover the costs of implementing the behemoth bill that almost no one has read in its entirety.

I have a problem with the focus of the challenge.  I do not question the constitutionality of a government mandate - there are plenty of those already in force, controlling our right to drive, own guns, engage in commerce, who we can rent to, who we can hire...

My challenge is the back door parliamentary trick that passed the law in the first place, without the sufficient majority of votes.  Why didn't the Supreme Court take a look at that process?

Stolen Valor
As further evidence that there is something wrong with the current Supreme Court, they also released a ruling that it's ok to lie about your past and claim honors that you are not entitled to.  They are willing to limit free speech when it comes to shouting "Fire" in a crowded theater, but not to constrain the free speech of liars who claim titles and honors that were not earned.

My respect for the SCOTUS has been diminished by these decisions.   Lucky for them that they are not subject to election.  

Stupid Marketing Tricks

Most companies should fire their Relationship Marketing Director.    I am referring to a cadre of young, smart, gen-x-ers who majored in Marketing at college, and then scored their job because they had 800 friends on Facebook.  They are so plugged-in to their smart ass phones that they have developed a tin ear to the complaints of their victims - er customers.

These over connected wireless e-terrorists are a plague, they pump out content to you like a fire hydrant spewing water.

Relationship Marketing is another new technology that is fundamentally not understood, and therefore mis-used  by the people who manage it.   These purveyors are so enthralled with the idea that they can reach zillions of eyes for small money, that they think nothing of wasting your time with daily sendings.  It costs virtually nothing to gather the emails of victims, er customers and send them something every day.  One company called Avenue that sells big size clothes to fat chicks somehow got my email address. Now, no matter what I do I cannot get off their mailing list.  Avenue sends at least one annoying  sale alert every day.  Someone at that company is probably taking credit for any online sales, citing the quality of their vast mailing list.

But I suspect many others, like me, eventually  figure out how to make unwanted mail go directly to spam blocker. It's aggravating to have some stranger lurking in the shadows and confronting me whenever I check my mailbox. It is plain and simple junk mail and it goes quickly into the trashcan, just like snail mail.

Avenue.com has no way of knowing how many good addresses they have because they fail to clean-up the list.  This is just one company.  I have similar problems with Dockers, Staples and a bevvy of others that I have on my blocked list.  

Even worse are the Facebook pages.  I had to "hide" all "updates" from my favorite beer company (Sierra Nevada) because they posted some inane and irrelevant un-entertaining thing every day.   Facebook does not have a convenient way of de-friending the companies if you have "liked." their Page. [update:  you CAN get them off your wall; just go to their page and "unlike" them].  It would be ok to post something once a week or so, but this yammering every day is just aggravating.

 GM recently announced that they were stopping their Facebook ads because they were not getting results. Maybe other companies will soon realize that most of the FB subscribers just want a free space to connect, but develop a blind eye to ads.

Here are a few suggestions to Relationship Marketers, not that you asked...

1. Do not e-mail every day.  No matter how much they love your product, you just don't have enough pertinent content to keep getting their attention every day.  Realize that multiple mailings punish those who responded to your initial ad.  Be respectful of those who give you their e-mail address.

2.  Maintain your database.  Remove those who have requested removal.  Do not  sell those emails to other affiliated parties.  Getting spammed by a company that you asked to remove you is infuriating.  Do you need negative mentions on Facebook?

3. Asking prospects to "Like" you on FB is a sure way to get them to hate and hide you, if you post every day.  If you do that most people will hide you and unsubscribe from your posts and you will never know.

4. Take me off your list.

Other than this I have no strong feelings on the matter.

Happy Bloomsday

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

Definitely time to go back and re-read Ulysses.  

More Thoughts for Grads

Commencement is a time for reflection and wisdom.
my advice:  when life hands you lemons, make lemonade,
                                 sell the lemonade
                                 take the money and buy a gun
                                 go and shoot the bastards who
                                 gave you the lemons.

Good luck

My Speech to 2012 Graduates

When I was a student at Watertown High, my parents were constantly disappointed with my academic performance. My grades were generally in the “C” vicinity. I was not one of the honor students who get chosen to speak at the graduation ceremony. Heck, I was just happy to see my name on the graduation program.   

However, despite a mediocre high school career, I did eventually go on to get a college degree, had a fairly successful career, raised a family, and stayed married (44 years and counting). Having made it this far, I wish to offer a few unsolicited  words of encouragement to the graduating class of 2012. 

“Hello graduates. As you sit here today, ready to march into a new phase of your life, many of you probably feel a little uncertain about the future. This is completely normal, because the future is not promised to anyone.   

In fact, if you talk to older people, they will probably tell you, ‘Honey, you have no clue about what you are in for!’ Fifty two years ago, I was sitting where you are now and wondered about the future. When it happened, a lot of it surprised me.  

The journey can be wonderful and wild. Here are a few things I would like you to consider: Your personal view of the world will change dramatically in the next 7 years of your life. You should not do anything that cannot be undone until you are at least 25 years old, on your own and working at a job you like. Delay having children, getting married, getting a tattoo. These are typically choices that people tend to regret after a few years have passed - after it is too late. 

Also, you should not trust anyone who is on commission or on quota to tell you the truth about the thing they are trying to sell you. When I enlisted in the Air Force, three months after graduation, the recruiter, who had a quota to fill, convinced me to sign-up under a different career field than the one I wanted. When I got to basic training and told them the recruiter said I could change fields, they just laughed. I ended-up on a base in Wyoming, working in the maintenance department, operating a traffic marking machine. I do not denigrate the work. In fact, I actually learned some valuable lifelong skills, but this was not what I signed-up for.  That recruiter lied to me for his own benefit.

You cannot always control what happens to you, but you can control how you deal with adversity. In the Air Force, I kept applying for a change and was eventually granted permission to switch fields. Later, after graduating from college, I was hired as a headhunter for a Boston recruiting firm. I lasted all of two months before the boss called me in and fired me. I was devastated ... for about an hour, until I realized how much I hated that job. I had been dreading going into the office everyday, and was feeling very stressed. Suddenly, I was free, a weight had been lifted, and my possibilities looked brighter. Within a few days I found a better job. 

The best way to have a successful life is to keep your eyes open, don't give up, keep at it until you find something that you enjoy doing, and wait until you meet someone who will put up with you for 40-50 years (and will edit your writing). 

All the rest of life is window dressing. Thank you and good luck.”