Tuesday, July 28, 2009

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Don McNay: Bait and Switch Business Relationships Top
All of this, all of this, all of this looks so easy. But all of this, all of this, all of this ain't so easy. -Saliva Entrepreneur coach Dan Sullivan spoke at the Million Dollar Round Table International meeting a few weeks ago. Sullivan said that entrepreneurs often neglected people who were their best clients. He compared it to marriage. He said that when people are in a courtship, no one is ever "too busy." Once they get married, the spouse is often secondary to factors like work, family, and other interests. Sullivan said that many spouses could be accused of "bait and switch." They were sold one type of relationship and got another. The same hold true for many business clients. Sullivan, "The Strategic Coach" is one of the most important influences in my life. I spent a year traveling to Toronto to take his classes and the experience was life changing. I thought I knew everything he had to say but when he used the "bait and switch" line, it was like a punch to the gut. It made me realize what many of us do, in business and life. We overlook the people who are closest to us. My structured settlement firm was built by attorneys and claims people referring clients to me. Business doesn't come from any other source. Most have been sending clients for over 20 years and are intensely loyal. When they quit referring me and start using a competitor, it hurts. It REALLY hurts. It is like losing a family member. It doesn't happen often but it happens. When I find out why, it is almost universally the same answer: Someone else took the time to build a closer relationship. It is never about competence or job performance, it is always about relationship. Sometimes the competitor has a geographic or family connection but more often than not, it is because the referral source has not seen me in a long time. Sullivan has you list your top 20 clients. When you go down the list and note the last time you have seen them in person, it can be an eye opening experience. Email, texting and sending a monthy newsletter doesn't count. To keep a relationship, you have to spend time with them. Dan Sullivan noted that the "bait and switch" trait was one that many entrepreneurs shared. Especially those who experienced rapid growth and success. The business owner is so focused on a higher goal that they forget about the people who help get them there. Malcolm Gladwell wrote an outstanding book called, The Tipping Point and discussed people called "connectors." Connectors go out of their way to refer people to other people. I'm that kind of guy. If I like a service, person, or product, I tell everyone about it. I have a wide social network and plenty of life experiences. If you want a left handed bricklayer in Cincinnati, I can find you one. (In fact, I know two of them.) About 20 years ago, one of Al Gore's close friends needed a dentist for his daughter at midnight. I found the right person within 15 minutes. I give more restaurant reviews than Zagat. We just eat in a different style of restaurant. I may be good but I have friends who are better. In our little network, we can find experts at everything. How and why a person refers tells a lot about character. Often times, people will use a referral question as a way to find employment for an idiot brother in law. They aren't interested in helping a person solve a problem, they are trying to steer income to a buddy. When I find a person like that, they are never going to get a referral from me. I ultimately can't trust their judgment or motives. I want my referer to send the best person for a job, not a person who needs a job the most. When people get to the top and dominate their profession, they assume that potential customers will come to them because they are the best. Thus, they leave themselves vulnerable to someone who is developing relationships at other levels. Mark McCormick, who founded the IMG sports marketing empire, gave a great example in his book, "What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School." McCormick's first three clients were Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, the three greatest golfers of that generation. He naturally assumed that all other golfers would come to him and his lack of a "courtship" allowed competitors to spring up and pick off business. McCormick and IMG figured out their mistake. Tiger Woods is one of IMG's current clients. They started their courtship of Tiger early on and I am sure of one thing: You will never hear Tiger complaining about IMG giving him a "bait and switch" relationship. Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is one of the world's leading authorities in helping injured people and lottery winners deal with complex financial issues. McNay is also an award winning, financial columnist. McNay founded McNay Settlement Group Inc., a structured settlement and financial consulting firm, in 1983. The company's home office is in Richmond, Kentucky. McNay has Master's Degrees from Vanderbilt and the American College and is in the Eastern Kentucky University Hall of Distinguished Alumni. McNay has written two books. Most recent is Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers and What to Do When You When The Lottery. You can write to Don at don@donmcnay.com or read his column at www.donmcnay.com. You can reach him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/donmcnay and on Twitter at twitter.com/Donmcnay McNay is a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table and has four professional designations in the financial services field. More on Twitter
 
Carol Hoenig: Cursing In Tyler Texas, a Grievous Offense? Top
Occasionally, a local story makes national news; some are worthy of the attention while others aren't. The local story I'm about to share certainly does not merit national news. Not because it's not my local story--after all, I live on Long Island, but because it's a non-issue. Or it was until KLTV received a complaint from a father who was offended that performer Shawn Phillips had some curses as part of his lyrics at a free concert he was giving in an East Texas Park and now people are talking. Quite likely, I wouldn't even be writing about this, except to say that this summer I met up with my brother, Carl, who lives in Maryland, in the Adirondacks so that we could see Shawn Phillips in concert together. My brother likes to remind me of the time we were both teenagers living on our farm in Upstate New York when I had him come into my room to listen to a new album I'd bought that had me galvanized. It was Shawn Phillips' Second Contribution and the phrasing, word choice and music was something I'd never experienced before. Carl agreed and has been a fan ever since. He's actually the one who told me that Shawn would be performing in the Adirondacks. What a night we had with front row seats in the small venue watching someone whose talent has been greatly ignored by the mainstream; we couldn't help but feel we were in on a very special secret. After all, Ravi Shankar taught Shawn to play the sitar and Shawn then helped teach George Harrison. Yes, that George Harrison, with Shawn doing backup vocals on "Lovely Rita (Meter Maid)" on The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Fast forward to Tyler Texas when Shawn recently performed at Bergfeld Park amphitheater and angered a father, who had his children with him, by Shawn's use of profanity. I can't be sure, but maybe the father was expecting a rousing chorus of Kumbaya and was disappointed when he heard something else altogether. So, what's my point? Sure, there are people who are offended by curses and sometimes I am one of them. Sometimes, too, I am the one risking offending others with what comes out of my mouth. It actually depends on the circumstances. However, I do wonder if it's easier to express anger at something so minor than at something much bigger. For instance, I'm still mad as hell that we are at a war we have no business being in. And I'm mad as hell that the fallout is not only soldiers returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder or in a casket, but the Iraq and Afghanistan citizens, including children, many children, who have lost their lives because of the previous administration's missteps. Maybe the angry father has his own big issues that bother him, but he would do better teaching his children about justice and loving one's neighbor instead of making curse words the enemy. More on Afghanistan
 
Jim Jaffe: Secret's Out -- Our Government Is Rationing Medical Care Top
There's some sad and shocking news for those who have been manning the ramparts in opposition to health reforms that would allow our government to ration medical care. The rationing has already begun. Our crafty government has been imposing rules that determines who gets what care for decades. What we're talking about now can more honestly be seen as the end of that process rather than the beginning. Today's real questions are whether the rationing system already operating should be expanded and can be used to yield improved results. Asking whether Americans will allow rationing is untimely and irrational. The answer is clear -- they already are. Efforts to avoid rationing entirely are a quixotic effort to close a barn door that's been open so long the hinges have rusted away. In my continuing quest for truth, justice and transparency, here's an effort to strip away some of the veils cloaking this clandestine rationing. Consider these: l. America's largest insurance plan, Medicare, pays for some procedures, but refuses payments for others or sets standards that must be met that help some patients while denying treatment to others. For instance, bariatric surgery for the obese is only available at selected institutions and only reimbursed when the patient has another weight-linked disease. I'm told private insurance plans make similar decisions. 2. A bureaucratic government agency known as the Food and Drug Administration decides what drugs can be sold in the United States. A delightful painkiller my South African friends recommended simply isn't available in the U.S. 3. Hospital emergency rooms are required to provide at least some treatment to stabilize the condition of those whose lives are at risk, but there's no similar mandate for chronic conditions. So motorcycle injuries are guaranteed treatment, but cancer isn't. 4. Most insurance plans are required to offer new moms a 48-hour hospital stay and the benefit expands to 96-hours if the baby is delivered via a cesarean section, but the federal government doesn't mandate a hospital option for heart attack victims. 5. My insurance plan, sponsored by my former employer, the American government, doesn't generally pay for abortion services. That decision was made in Congress by some of the very folks who today are most outspoken against rationing. 6. Really sick people who need an organ transplant are at the mercy of an allocation system backed by the government. Demands exceeds supply, so rationing is required to help decide who the lucky winners are. In the absence of a health care fairy who will provide anything we want at a cost we can easily afford, there's a need to set priorities. Priorities is a polite word for rationing. We used to have a simpler system in America. A half century ago, when there weren't near as many expensive cures as exist today, we had a much simpler system that was mostly based on money. Those who had a lot of it -- or good insurance -- enjoyed an all-you-can eat health care buffet. And those who didn't, didn't. It was a simpler system. But no one I know suggests it was fairer. Ever since then we've been trying -- with more than a little success (something both sides of this debate seem strangely loathe to acknowledge) to come up with a better system. Today's debate is simply the latest chapter, but it won't be the last one. Rationing, it would seem, is here to stay. And its time for those who apparently missed the inaugural announcement to confront this long-established reality. More on Barack Obama
 
RJ Eskow: Elmendorf vs. Orszag: A 'Teachable Moment' ... For Geeks and Nerds Top
This week a bitter confrontation between individuals from two distinct social groups offered our nation a rare and precious "teachable moment," an opportunity to grow beyond those things which divide - or unite - us as a people. Those individuals, of course, are OMB Director Peter Orszag - a geek - and the CBO Director, uber nerd Douglas Elmendorf. Their struggle is our struggle. Through it we can learn not only about ourselves, but about how to understand and talk about ... numbers . That's right. I said we can talk about numbers. Wait! Don't go. This doesn't have to be boring! Numbers can be exciting ! First, the conflict. As NBC's First Read reported: "Peter Orszag accused Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf of 'overstepping' in a Web post Saturday ... Orszag, a former CBO director, accused Elmendorf of playing into a stereotype that the CBO often overestimates cost and underestimates savings." This is war ... between two analytical types whose names sound like characters in a Tolkien novel. And they didn't just throw down. They did it on blogs . The conflict began when Elmendorf blogged that the new Medicare advisory panel charged with reforming payments was likely to generate a paltry $2 billion in savings over the next ten years. Orszag replied by saying, in effect, that short-term savings was never the point, adding for good measure that the CBO had "overstepped." While it ain't exactly rival rap entourages exchanging gunfire outside a radio station, it's pretty badass stuff for number-cruncher types. Orszag's post also suggests that the CBO would be wise to restrict itself to "qualitative" and not quantitative projections over longer periods of time - a polite way of say "you can't touch - or quantify - this." (His "qualitative" comment even includes a hyperlink ... back to the very post it's imbedded in. Is that kind of head trip? Some ultra-hip, self-referential "meta" critique of the blogging medium itself?) "Playing into a stereotype"? Those are fighting words in any context. The stereotyping in this case is between Orszag as geek and Elmendorf as nerd. While people consider the two terms interchangeable, here's the difference: A 'nerd' is conservative, number-fixated, and highly rational. A 'geek,' while equally bookish and intellectual, is more given to flights of intellectual fancy and wild imagination. A nerd can count. But a geek can dream. Each of us can be a nerd or a geek at different times of our lives, of course, or even at different times of the day. But in this fracas, that's how the social divide breaks down. Why? Perhaps it's because Elmendorf's job is to calculate the bottom-line effect of any program on the government and its coffers, while Orszag (who once held Elmendorf's job) is allowed to project the long-term and systematic change that new ideas (like advisory panels) might have. There may be bigger savings in Orszag's vision (I think there are), but dreaming those sweet dreams isn't in Elmendorf's job description. For those of us who love our policy by the numbers, it's heady stuff. It's hard dollars vs. soft. It's expenditures vs. imagination. Elmendorf is the stone-faced banker who won't lend the money, while Orszag's the inventor holding a prototype of the hula hoop. Elmendorf's the dour landlord who says "Sorry, kids - the theater's closed," while Orszag is Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland saying "Hey, kids! Let's put on the show right here !" Orszag is the right brain and Elmendorf is the left. Orszag is the ... oh, you get the point. Does any of this matter? Actually, it does. We need to apply both types of rigor, but policy analysis is no different from judicial analysis. Numerical impartiality can be a mask for ideological leanings and other assumptions. Both Elmendorf and Orszag have important roles to play, but I think Orszag is right to look at a larger and more quantitative picture. Real "healthcare reform" will come in ways we can't quantify yet. I was also surprised by the ideology that seemed implicit in Elmendorf's recent testimony about health reform. It was striking that he noted simply the cost to the Federal government, and not the potential for overall savings. Even more noticeably, according to the Wall Street Journal, he commented on the support many health policy analysts have expressed for taxing health benefits (an idea I'm not crazy about ). The vast majority of health analysts believe there are great savings to be had, along with improved health outcomes, from structural reforms of the very kind that the Medicare panel represents. Elmendorf's selective use of health analysts' thinking reflects either ideology, a mode of thought, or (to be fair) simply his necessary focus as the "expenditure and revenue guy" on Capitol Hill. It's not up to me to adjudicate between these two analysts, whatever my biases. I do think Orszag has the cooler job, and perhaps as a result has a broader outlook. But that may only prove that I'm a geek. As for resolving this throwdown, maybe the President can invite the two of them over for a beer. Or an Ovaltine. They can watch sci-fi movies, chill out, and resolve their differences. In the end, however, health care isn't about the numbers at all. It's about human lives. Numbers are only tools to help us achieve the right ends. If those of us who love numbers remember that, this will have been a true "teachable moment." RJ Eskow blogs when he can at: A Night Light The Sentinel Effect: Healthcare Blog
 
Billy Kimball: My "Teachable Moments" with the Cambridge Police Top
The recent uproar about the arrest of the distinguished Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates called to mind my own experiences with the Cambridge police during my years in college, several decades ago. As with the incident involving Prof. Gates, each of these encounters provided what President Obama called a "teachable moment," a unique opportunity for constructive debate and, ultimately, enlightenment. I know I learned something every time; my hope is that our nation can, as well. ENCOUNTER #1 Location: Harvard Yard Description: Provided refuge to three athletes from upstairs who had been throwing water balloons at passers-by after a Cambridge Police car had idled slowly past, causing them to flee their own rooms and seek sanctuary in mine. Lessons Learned: Hopes of befriending popular athletes by doing them a service quickly dashed; friendship of popular athletes probably not worth expulsion; even sensitive pacifist intellectuals can be provoked to violence by water balloons. ENCOUNTER #2 Location: Claverly Hall Description: Resident tutor threatens to "call the Cambridge Police" after I put speakers in the hallway in order to play new Rolling Stones album to fellow students. Lesson Learned: Resident tutor is a complete dick. ENCOUNTER #3 Location: Mt. Auburn Street Description: Cambridge policeman gives me a $35 ticket for parking in a "No Standing" zone while I am trying to help attractive senior girl move some furniture from storage in the Lowell House basement. Forced to admit to cop that I can't move her Volkswagen Rabbit convertible because I can't drive a stick shift. Lessons learned: Attractive people have strong sense of entitlement; women can spend a very long time in the bathroom; always calibrate language carefully when volunteering for anything. ENCOUNTER #4 Location: Outside Boston-Boston disco Description: Attempt to deescalate conflict between inebriated roommate and a local man is misunderstood. Both roommate and local man overreact and become extremely disrespectful towards me. Policeman* on motorcycle tells us all to "shut the fuck up and go the fuck home." Lessons learned: Just wearing a tuxedo is an affront to some people; my friends are not always worthy of me; a shared enemy can forge a bond between antagonists; even if they fail to behave professionally, sometimes it is a relief to see a policeman ENCOUNTER #5 Location: Unclear Description: After celebrating football victory over Colgate in popular student hang-out, I experience a period of temporary amnesia during which time I acquire some bruises on my legs and a deep scratch on my face. Among the possibilities to be considered are that these injuries were inflicted by the Cambridge Police. Lessons Learned: You can't blame the Cambridge Police for everything; getting two beers for the price of one is not necessarily a bargain; when bad things happen, it can be constructive to think about how much worse they might have been; sometimes just sitting down and having a beer with some buddies creates more problems than it solves. *Technically, this was probably a Boston policeman More on Barack Obama
 
CNN: Multiple Bombings Slowly Destroy US Soldier's Brain - He Commits Suicide (VIDEO) Top
CNN has a heartbreaking report of a U.S. soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was subjected to multiple bombings. Despite serious injuries, he was repeatedly sent back to duty. Doctors now believe that the bombs were slowly destroying his brain. He was eventually sent back to the U.S., but the full extent of his injuries were never treated, and he ended up committing suicide, police believe. The story is devastating. WATCH: Send us tips! Write us at tv@huffingtonpost.com if you see any newsworthy or notable TV moments. Read more about our media monitoring project here and click here to join the Media Monitors team. More on Afghanistan
 
Bill Barol: Walter Cronkite: A Yet Further Reappraisal Top
A July 17 appraisal of Walter Cronkite's career was corrected at length by The New York Times on July 22. In the last week a number of additional factual errors by the Times' Alessandra Stanley have come to light. The Normandy invasion did not take place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the first person to wade ashore at Utah Beach was not NFL great Bronko Nagurski. Mr. Cronkite did not, as reported, have the letters "LOVE" and "FEAR" tattooed across his knuckles. The London headquarters of United Press, where Mr. Cronkite worked during World War II, was not located in a hollowed-out volcano. Nor was the wire service staffed predominantly by super-intelligent howler monkeys. Mr. Cronkite did not abandon his family and live in a yurt with Mama Cass Elliott for six weeks during The Summer of Love, subsisting on "peace, harmony, and good vibes." Nor did he ever publicly express a desire to "bring the system down from within, man, just set it on fire and watch it burn." To the end of his life, Mr. Cronkite never claimed to be able to move objects with his mind. (That was Douglas Edwards.) It has never been confirmed that Mr. Cronkite and Frank Sinatra engaged in a drunken, floor-clearing brawl over Ava Gardner at Mike Romanoff's Beverly Hills restaurant, leaving several waiters injured and causing thousands of dollars in damage. Nor did Mr. Cronkite later drive his two-seater Alfa Romeo through the front gate at Sinatra's Palm Springs home, weeping copiously and challenging the singer to "come out from behind Giancana's skirts." Mr. Cronkite was not, as originally reported by Ms. Stanley, a "fifty-foot tall metal man with lasers for eyes and the black, cold, unfeeling heart of a Barbary pirate." The Times regrets the errors.
 
Durbin Aims To Stay Neutral In Senate Race Top
Durbin said he "doesn't think the field is complete at this point" for the senate race. Meanwhile, he isn't picking a horse. More on Senate Races
 
Stormy Daniels' Political Advisor May Have Been Hit By Car Bomb: Reports Top
Porn star Stormy Daniels' potential senatorial campaign was rocked yesterday by an explosion that blew up her political advisor's car in New Orleans, according to local news reports. The advisor, Brian Welch, was not injured in the explosion. In surveillance footage aired on TV affiliate ABC-26 , a man is seen opening the drivers'-side door, throwing an object in the car and the vehicle exploding. "It looks like the pictures you see in Iraq following a roadside car bombing," reporter Glynn Boyd said of the damage to Welch's car. "It looks like someone, somehow, was trying to send a message." Welch, told ABC-26 that he is awaiting more forensic information, but believes that someone intended to harm him. "When you rule out everything else, you're sort of left with the obvious." "No one has seen anything like this before...not in such a dramatic fashion," says Welch. "It's too early for me to go pointing fingers. I'd like to hear officially what happened and then we can take it from there. If someone's trying to send me a message like this, it's not going to work." Welch also described his experience to WGSO 990 on Tuesday morning, claiming that he would not be deterred. Local political blogger Stephen Sabludowsky noted: Some of the cynical are pointing fingers at possible future or past opponents or their associates. However, it is possible that the incident could have been totally coincidental or have nothing to do with politics, whatsoever. A spokesman for the New Orleans police department did not return calls from Huffington Post. Recently, Daniels formed a Senate exploratory committee, the first official step toward her run for U.S. Senate against David Vitter, who was linked to the "D.C. Madam."
 
Alan Au: Style Stock Slips...How Will Fashion Fare The Recession? Top
By Alan Au Alan Au - Marketing Director & Vice President of Jimmy Au's for Men 5' 8" and under, Beverly Hills, California Original designers who truly influence culture will survive the recession as their collections are bought and remembered not only for their quality and style but because they will be copied/knocked off and found in the Forever 21s and Targets of the world. So what styles will survive? While some people will be innovative and put creativity to the test by working with what they have, most people will conform to a more classic or traditional (not always the same) look choosing staple items that have style longevity. Those with flare and few extra bucks to spare are opting for new accessories rather than full ensembles to stand out. I expect subtler choices rather than blaring design differences when expressing individual style. Niche desingers who cater to specific consumer needs will also maintain some regularity as their customers do not have alternatives to choose from. I've notice at my own store, Jimmy Au's for Men 5 '8" and Under (JimmyAus.com) that though we have experienced a drop in sales, customers are still buying however as I noted earlier , shoppers are going for staple items like blue and black slacks or shirts as opposed to brown or gray or leather jackets. On the other hand, some of the affluent who always pride themselves on being a part of fashion's elite will express themselves as loudly as possible as to say "I wasn't affected" or "I knew how to take advantage of the situation". The affluent and celebrity persuasion are having even more designer wear thrown their way in hopes of influencing consumers who are engulfed in celebrity news to buy styles caught on Hollywood's elite and posted everywhere in the media. It's well known the media and celebrity play a mega role in influencing consumer buying trends. But it's clear to me that the recession will persist and cycle will and minimize the influence celebs have on style on the street. At this time people are feeling the economic pressure of a downward economy so badly luxuries like hi-end fashion are being perceived as frivolous and bit shaming. The recession is adversely affecting the entire fashion food chain. It's survival of the fittest. What survives after the recession will create a new fashion landscape and altered food chain. Old media and new media may be reaching a tipping point; fashion marketing is not far behind. More on The Recession
 
Dan Solin: An Investment Riddle Rubix Cube Masters Can't Solve Top
A globally diversified portfolio of index funds invested solely in stocks was down a whopping 40% in 2008. The same portfolio is up 19% in 2009, year to date. Here is the data for a portfolio invested 60% in stocks and 40% in bonds: 2008: down 23% 2009 (YTD): up 10% Raise your hand if your market beating broker or advisor told you to "flee to safety" at the end of 2007 and to get back into the market at the beginning of 2009 so that you would not miss the rally. I am not seeing any hands. My point exactly. Brokers and advisors (and financial pundits) have no ability to time the markets or pick stocks. But that doesn't stop them from continuing to pretend they do. And it doesn't stop investors from relying on their flawed predictions. Which brings me to the riddle: Why do investors use market beating brokers and advisors? I deal with this subject in this week's video. The views set forth in this blog are the opinions of the author alone and may not represent the views of any firm or entity with whom he is affiliated. The data, information, and content on this blog are for information, education, and non-commercial purposes only. Returns from index funds do not represent the performance of any investment advisory firm. The information on this blog does not involve the rendering of personalized investment advice and is limited to the dissemination of opinions on investing. No reader should construe these opinions as an offer of advisory services. Readers who require investment advice should retain the services of a competent investment professional. The information on this blog is not an offer to buy or sell, or a solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any securities or class of securities mentioned herein.
 
Mike Farrell: Where the Hell Is the USA? Top
Buried on page A23 of Sunday's L.A. Times (7-26), an article says ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has set up camp on the Nicaraguan side of his country's border with that neighboring state, hoping his family will be allowed to visit him there. Where, in the face of this continuing insult to democracy, is the USA? Where is the Obama Administration? Why has Secretary of State Clinton not flatly condemned this outrageous, illegal coup d'etat and demanded its end? As recently as the Summit of the Americas on April 17th, President Obama inspired hope by pledging "that we seek an equal partnership" and promising "engagement based on mutual respect and common interests and shared values." "We must not tolerate violence and insecurity," he declared, adding "true security only comes with liberty and justice... bedrock values of the Inter-American charter." Yet today the Obama Administration quibbles about compromise. With whom? With which element of this assault on democracy do we share values? This tragic situation takes me back to 1982 when, on a mission for Concern America, I delivered medical supplies to UNHCR camps in Honduras for refugees from the murderous governments of El Salvador and Guatemala. In those days Zelaya's country, one of the poorest in Latin America, was referred to derisively as the U.S.S. Honduras because Reagan's CIA used it as the base for their Contra war against Nicaragua's dreaded Sandinistas. It was clear then and on subsequent trips that the U.S., viewing everything through an anti-communist filter, had consistently aligned itself with the most violent, repressive and authoritarian forces in the region to the detriment of our standing in the world. We not only trampled our principles but did so in a way that made us hated and feared by people who yearned for nothing more than the freedom we claimed to embrace and champion. Returning to Honduras in 2004 with the Center for International Policy to support Padre Andres Tamayo and his followers in their 'Marcha Por La Vida' (March for Life), we demanded an end to illegal logging and the resultant rape of the countryside. It was another rich but frustrating experience. Threats to Tamayo's life (five environmentalists had already been murdered) and attempts to destroy the Marcha were foiled, but as inspiring as it was to walk with the good Padre, it was depressing to see that so little had changed over the years. The vast majority remained poor and powerless while the wealthy controlled business and dominated social and governmental decision-making, carefully coordinated with counterparts in North America. Padre Tamayo's popular movement struck a chord, however, and the effort we supported led to some progress in democratization, including the election of President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales in 2006. And that year we returned to meet with President Zelaya and celebrate the establishment of Democracy Without Borders, a project of the Center for International Policy. For all Zelaya's ineptitude, his attempts at environmental protection and efforts to make economic changes that confer a degree of opportunity on the underprivileged made him anathema to those long in control of the levers of power. Last month, unable to accept his attempt at constitutional reform, they acted, forcing him out of the country at gunpoint and setting off a storm of protest from the people. The coup, though fronted by Roberto Micheletti, the former head of Congress, is clearly the child of wealthy influence brokers and a power-hungry military. If successful, it promises the return of the bad old days and bodes ill for the region. The UN General Assembly quickly condemned it, as did the Organization of American States, the European Union and heads of government in the region. How then do we understand the Obama Administration's dawdling? Has the anti-communist filter been exchanged for a pro-business one? Former Ambassador Robert White, now President of the Center for International Policy and an expert on the region, says the solution is simple: all Secretary Clinton need do is have U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens call a press conference in Tegucigalpa and, with the OAS representative at his side, read the OAS resolution and state that the return of President Zelaya is firm U.S. policy. Then he can stand back and "watch the coup regime unravel." Instead, Honduran citizens are dying in pro-democracy demonstrations and others are murdered or disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Failing to restore a stolen presidency makes a mockery of Obama's words at the Summit of the Americas. So what keeps Secretary Clinton from denouncing this theft of government and demanding the return of the elected president? Certainly her relationship with Lanny Davis, the well-connected DC lawyer who has been hired by the financiers of the coup to be their U.S. mouthpiece can't supersede support for democratic rule... Can it? Mike Farrell, author of "Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist" and "Of Mule and Man," is spokesperson for Concern America and a member of the board of the Center for International Policy. More on Honduras
 
Alicia Whitaker: NYC's Newest Business Incubator Top
Here's some good news: there are twenty two business start ups benefiting from access to space, interns and support services in a loft-like space at 160 Varick Street in lower Manhattan. The City of New York, the Real Estate Division of Trinity Church, NYU and NYU Polytechnic Institute collaborated to open this new business incubator on July 1. " If successful, this venture will generate new jobs and new businesses and a new generation of entrepreneurial New Yorkers," says Director Bruce Niswander. It's no secret that small businesses tend to have a high failure rate. The goal of an incubator is to produce successful businesses that will leave the program financially viable and independent. The hope is that these "graduate" companies will go on to create new jobs and commercialize new technologies while strengthening local, state and national economies. Graduates move on to lease commercial space within a given period of time, often two to three years, which in turn makes room for new companies in the incubator. Both the access to low cost space and an array of support services make a huge difference to an entrepreneur - their chance for success is increased because of their access to knowledge, capital and networks. There are lots of people and politicians milling around, making positive noises about stimulating the new economy and supporting recovery from recession. But getting it done requires collaboration by "heavy lifters" who aren't daunted by bureaucracy and politics. In this case, Carl Weisbrod, President of the Real Estate Division of Trinity Church,(with real estate holdings that total approximately six million square feet over 28 sites) worked with Mayor Bloomberg's economic team, The NYC Economic Development Corporation, and with NYU Polytechnial Institute to open the new center in a Trinity property. NYU Poly operates the incubator. A driving force in all of this is the incubator's Director, Bruce Niswander, a modern day Renaissance man who has degrees in law and business and a background in chemical engineering. He has the street cred of having started successful ventures as well as a history of teaching people how to launch commercially viable start-ups. His passion and practical "been there/ done that" stance communicate confidence and drive. He came to NYC from Columbus, Ohio, two years ago to lead another incubator in Brooklyn, the BEST Center for Entrepreneuring and Technology. He learned enough about how to get things done in New York and is now taking no prisoners as he garners the support for new businesses at 160 Varick Street. " My job is to make sure that the companies we have here are 'investable'. They have a twenty four month plan that we work month-by-month to focus on tasks that must be done and on budgets and cash flow. Their plans address products, operations, marketing and selling, and staffing." This disciplined planning approach keeps people on track but is sometimes difficult for entrepreneurs who are often "creators and dreamers, not the sales people they need to be. Eighty five percent hate the sales process but need to focus on this to be successful. " The center is housed on the top floor of 160 Varick and has offices around the edges, cubicles in the center and a number of informal seating areas to encourage interaction. There are shared facilities - copiers, internet access and conference rooms - and the refrigerator and coffee machine that are essential for getting people together as well as for fueling their efforts. In addition to being a great place to work and providing access to experts, a huge advantage of this center is that entrepreneurs can hire the hungry-for-experience students of New York University and NYU Polytechnic Institute. Students work in unpaid internships for college credit or are on the payroll of the incubator, not the start-ups. Some transition to full time jobs with their venture teams. More than three hundred ventures applied for entry to the incubator. Products and services range from People Data Solutions, a talent exchange for people laid off from Wall Street to ChubbyBrain, (http://www.chubbybrain.com/) a service that tracks start ups to provide an index of early-stage activities. Some of the startups are now working together: Clifton Charles, a custom, on-line shirt company, is collaborating with i-Concepts, a company that provides fashion branding expertise. There are a handful of energy companies, including Rentricity (www.rentricity.com/) that manufactures a reverse flow valve to create electricity from water flow with no carbon. The twenty two who made this first round have access to an extraordinary network, including angel investors, venture capitals and other sources of funding for expansion. But Niswander believes that " the markets need to become more small business -friendly...and we need to use our money-muscle to make it happen." Niswander and others are working on a global strategy to link incubators in key geographies. " Mexico City, Tokyo, Shanghai, Mumbai, Abu Dhabi, Paris, and Dublin are all cities with incubators who know that we ultimately must work together - we need to become partners in new business creation. At the end of the day, everybody needs a job they can do to receive enough value to survive. Getting people excited about a job is the only thing and we will play a role in that beyond New York City."
 
Colin Powell Suggests Republicans Are Afraid Of Rush Limbaugh, Says Sarah Palin Not Ready To Be President (VIDEO) Top
Colin Powell, in an appearance on Larry King tonight, said that Rush Limbaugh is entitled to say anything he wants, and that he doesn't take "umbrage" with any of the remarks Limbaugh directs at him because he "can handle his criticism. However, Powell warns that the problem I have with the party right now is when [Limbaugh] says things that I consider to be completely outrageous, and I respond to it, I would like to see other members of the party do likewise. But they don't. When King asks if he thinks GOP members are afraid to take him on, Powell responds, I know of several instances where sitting members in Congress or elsewhere in positions of responsibility in the party made like criticisms of Rush and within 24 hours they were backing away because there is a strong base of support for Mr. Limbaugh. WATCH: Embedded video from CNN Video Powell also talked about Sarah Palin, calling her an "accomplished woman," but not one who is ready to be President of the United States. WATCH: (Video courtesy of Media Monitor D.J.) Send us tips! Write us at tv@huffingtonpost.com if you see any newsworthy or notable TV moments. Read more about our media monitoring project here and click here to join the Media Monitors team. More on Video
 
David Quigg: A Vote for President Schwarzenegger Is a Vote Against the "Birthers" Top
Even at my most drunk and grandiose, I would not attempt to convince anyone that I'd make a better president than Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arianna Huffington, Mel Martinez, Jennifer Granholm, Henry Kissinger, Andrew Sullivan, Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher, or Anh Cao. None of those people can be your president. I can. Why? Because I'm made of sturdier iron than Thatcher? No. Simply because I was born here. Because I've wrestled budget messes more capably than Arnold? No. Simply because I was born here. Because I'm more astute than Arianna? No. Simply because I was born here. Because I know more about Congress from reading books than Martinez knows from being a senator? No. Simply because I was born here. Because I've led a state facing more challenges than Granholm's Michigan? No. Simply because I was born here. Because I have Cao's refugee perspective on why it's worth risking one's life to make it to the safe harbor of America? No. Simply because I was born here. If I'm ever your president and you find yourself realizing that Schwarzenegger, Huffington, Martinez, Granholm, Kissinger, Sullivan, Mandela, Thatcher, or Cao could be doing a vastly better job, please take comfort in the knowledge that I was born in Port Jefferson, New York. What's more, I was born in Port Jefferson, New York before I could even think or make choices for myself. Talk about foresight. I mean, really. Cuba?! Vietnam?! Canada?!!! What were those fetuses thinking? It's as if none of them had read Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution. It's right there: "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President ..." Let's get serious here. Article II, Section 1 should be amended. It's antiquated. What's more, it is all that gives even the flimsiest veneer of legitimacy to the ongoing fringe fixation on Barack Obama's birth certificate and the claims by so-called "birthers" that the president is not an American citizen qualified to serve as president. (Incidentally, the birthers and their claims got the last best smackdown they deserve from Jon Stewart here. ) To be clear, I don't propose we amend the Constitution to render Obama eligible to remain president. Obama was born here. He's eligible. That does not seem to be open to sane debate. But Article II, Section 1, as I said, is antiquated. The worldview it has come to represent -- the paranoid xenophobia of the birthers -- deserves to be repudiated. Not recklessly, mind you. America's founders included these restrictions for a reason. In the wake of the Revolutionary War, the founders didn't want a Constitution that would permit the king of England to run for U.S. president. I get that. Nowadays, we need a Constitution that eliminates any chance that Osama bin Laden might win the presidency by hiring Rove and Carville to cobble together the God-hates-gays vote and the it's-the-economy-stupid vote. I get that, too. I even get that we want a Constitution that prevents Nicolas Sarkozy from winning the White House in 2012 by squiring Carla Bruni around on a presidential campaign tour of America's beaches. But I don't see who it hurts if Sarkozy wants to resign as president of France, move here, participate in our civic life, become a citizen, and run for the American presidency as soon as he becomes eligible under the amended Constitution. In 2032, let's say. We deserve better than the status quo. It's a short-sighted patriotism -- and indeed a perverse, self-defeating conservatism -- that decides in the maternity ward itself that Margaret Thatcher will never, ever, under any circumstances be worthy of the presidential aspiration that is the birthright of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. Huffington Post blogger David Quigg lives in Seattle. His own blog is here . His Twitter feed is here . More on Barack Obama
 
Amy Goodman: Obama's Military Is Spying on U.S. Peace Groups Top
Anti-war activists in Olympia, Wash., have exposed U.S. Army spying and infiltration of their groups, as well as intelligence gathering by the U.S. Air Force, the federal Capitol Police and the Coast Guard. The infiltration appears to be in direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act preventing U.S. military deployment for domestic law enforcement, and may strengthen congressional demands for a full-scale investigation of U.S. intelligence activities, like the Church Committee hearings of the 1970s. Brendan Maslauskas Dunn asked the City of Olympia for documents or e-mails about communications between the Olympia police and the military relating to anarchists, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) or the Industrial Workers of the World (Dunn's union). Dunn received hundreds of documents. One e-mail contained reference to a "John J. Towery II," who activists discovered was the same person as their fellow activist "John Jacob." Dunn told me: "John Jacob was actually a close friend of mine, so this week has been pretty difficult for me. He said he was an anarchist. He was really interested in SDS. He got involved with Port Militarization Resistance (PMR), with Iraq Vets Against the War. He was a kind person. He was a generous person. So it was really just a shock for me." "Jacob" told the activists he was a civilian employed at Fort Lewis Army Base, and would share information about base activities, which could help PMR organize rallies and protests against public ports being used for troop and Stryker military vehicle deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2006, PMR activists have occasionally engaged in civil disobedience, blocking access to the port. Larry Hildes, an attorney representing Washington activists, says the U.S. attorney prosecuting the cases against them, Brian Kipnis, specifically instructed the Army not to hand over any information about its intelligence-gathering activities, despite a court order to do so. Which is why Dunn's request to Olympia and the documents he obtained are so important. The military is supposed to be barred from deploying on U.S. soil, or from spying on citizens. Christopher Pyle, now a professor of politics at Mount Holyoke College, was a military intelligence officer. He recalled: "In the 1960s, Army intelligence had 1,500 plainclothes agents watching every demonstration of 20 people or more. They had a giant warehouse in Baltimore full of information on the law-abiding activities of American citizens, mainly protest politics." Pyle later investigated the spying for two congressional committees: "As a result of those investigations, the entire U.S. Army Intelligence Command was abolished, and all of its files were burned. Then the Senate Intelligence Committee wrote the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to stop the warrantless surveillance of electronic communications." Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Rush Holt, D-N.J., and others are pushing for a new, comprehensive investigation of all U.S. intelligence activities, of the scale of the Church Committee hearings, which exposed widespread spying on and disruption of legal domestic groups, attempts at assassination of foreign heads of state, and more. Demands mount for information and accountability for Vice President Dick Cheney's alleged secret assassination squad, President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, and the CIA's alleged misleading of Congress. But the spying in Olympia occurred well into the Obama administration (and may continue today). President Barack Obama supports retroactive immunity for telecom companies involved in the wiretapping, and has maintained Bush-era reliance on the state secrets privilege. Lee and Holt should take the information uncovered by Brendan Dunn and the Olympia activists and get the investigations started now. See/hear/read the full exclusive hour broadcast exposé on Democracy Now!: Declassified Docs Reveal Military Operative Spied on WA Peace Groups, Activist Friends Stunned Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
 

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