Daily Motivations - 20080911

Daily Motivations"

Put a smile in the path of a complaint…once daily. -- Sam Parker

Today's Topic: Improvise to Maximize

Great conversations result when there’s an easy give and take, a go-with-the-flow sensation, along with an acute sense that you are being heard at a deeper level than the normal chitchat. In this instance, good conversations resemble improvisational theatre. Improv actually depends upon all the actors paying close attention to each other and then working with whatever is presented to them. Let me repeat that: pay attention and work with whatever is presented.

Select someone you’d like to (or need to) talk to. Open up the conversation by stating either why you’ve initiated the conversation or by asking an open-ended question. Then, practice these techniques:

Encourage talking by saying, “Yes…tell me more.” This means that no matter what is stated, don’t change the subject, get defensive, fail to listen, or ignore the response. You have the opportunity to create new and positive results by building upon whatever is said.

Don’t plan your response while the other person is speaking.

Seek what is provocative, interesting, or new in what you are hearing. There’s a gift somewhere. Trust me. Ask the other person to expand on something that intrigues you – even if it bothers you.


"The Patriot Post"

"If Obama is Hope, God save us from Despair." --- Mac Johnson

"To prevent crimes, is the noblest end and aim of criminal jurisprudence. To punish them, is one of the means necessary for the accomplishment of this noble end and aim." -- James Wilson


"The e-mail Bag"

From The Publisher:

If Barack Gave This Speech...I'd Vote For Him. Here is the speech Barack Obama would have to give to get me to vote for him:

My Fellow Americansand I do mean Americans.

I am not an African-American. I am an American who happens to have an African father.

I am not a Democrat. I am an American who happens to be a member of the Democratic Party.

I am not a liberal. I am an American who thinks that some answers to our societal problems can be found in government but most answers to our problems will come from you.

I believe that this nationwhile we have made many mistakes in our collective historyhas become historys longest-lived experiment in self-government precisely because we have always tried to do the right thing. We have not always succeeded but we have always tried.

I believe that we, as a nation, are good and do noble things. Again, we dont always do so without making mistakes, but were always out there doing what we perceive to be the right thing.

When I talk about change, what I mean is that, perhaps we need a fresh set of ideas in Washington because even my opponents will privately acknowledge that Congress has become an incumbent protection system on both sides of the aisle and that has the effect of stifling new ideas which might work.

Further, both political parties should be ashamed of themselves for the way theyand I will specifically include my opponent and I in thishave performed in Congress in the past.

I have spent the past four years in the Senate largely running for President.

In retrospect, it was probably not the best use of my time, since I could have legitimately been bringing change to Washington during that time.

Nonetheless, I have somehow maneuvered myself into the position I am today and perhaps, if Im realistic and do not let my press clippings overwhelm the reality, I might actually be in a better position to help fix a broken system.

With that in mind, let me tell you specifically what I will do if you honor me with the job I am seeking.

I will immediately appoint my opponent, John McCain, Secretary of Defense. He has forgotten more about the military than I will ever learn.

I will consult with the commanders in the field and Senator McCain and their advice will govern the future of our activities in the Middle East.

On the economic front, I will use my bully pulpit to explain to Wall Street that we can do things the easy way or the hard way. They need to stop squeezing the last nickel from people who cannot afford to pay it in areas such as mortgage securitization, oil speculation and other activities, which have the additional consequences of affecting the economy negatively. We can either regulate them in ways they wont like or they can fix the problems themselves.

I must be honest with you.

Any Presidentincluding the current Presidenthas a very limited ability to change economic factors. Presidents cannot lower gas prices or raise wages or lower interest rates or raise the value of your house or make someone give you a loan.

Presidents do have a bully pulpit and I would use mine to remind Wall Street that Main Street is watching and we can make their lives much more difficult should they choose to be particularly rapacious. The one thing I can immediately do is to allow for additional oil drilling in places where we have previously not allowed such activity. If nothing else, it is a matter of national security.

While we are on the subject of our current President, let me also say that President Bush is a decent, honest man who, like every other sitting President, has faced great challenges which none of us can actually know until we take the job.

I may disagree with his politics, but I would urge you to understand that George W. Bush is a patriot, a great American and I cannot promise you that after you elect me, I might not do many of the same things he did. Theres just no way to know until Im on the job.

I hope my honesty hasnt scared you. If you vote for my opponent, you are also voting for a great American. If you honor me with your vote, Ill do my level best not to embarrass you. Good night and God Bless America,

If he gave that speech, Id vote for him.

RED WEINBERG




Above Obama's Pay Grade

By MICHAEL REAGAN
Special To The Penny Press

Anybody who watched Barack Obamas sorry performance during last weeks Saddleback Civil Forum on thePresidency with Pastor Rick Warren had to come away with the question, What is this guy doing running for president of the United States?

The worshipping media described his comments as nuanced, the word they use to describe wishy-washy. It was full of those on the other hand answers to Pastor Warrens probing questions.

Obama was anything but wishy-washy, however,when hesaid that knowing when human life begins was above his pay grade. He was just plain evasive, obviously seeking to play down his extremist view that abortion at any time, in any circumstance, is perfectly acceptable to him.

This isnt surprising since he took the lead in the Illinois Senate in fighting a bill that would outlaw the barbarous murder of newborn infants who survive being killed in a partial-birth abortion.

During the forum, his struggle to please everybody by straddling the issues was plain for all to see. He showed he was willing to say and dowhat he believed everybody wanted to hear. When you try to find any real depth in his beliefsyou quickly discover he is utterly shallow and soulless, a sloganeer instead of a missionary.

He's just a politician on the make, trying to be all things to all people -- an empty suit proclaiming empty promises.

Being without real depth, his platform merelyfloats on a surface of promises categorized as Hope and Change, neither of which is clearly defined.

He assures us that he wants to change Washington and sweep away all that this city represents. Yet one has only to look at this weeks Democratic National Convention to understand that its not change, but lots more of the same.

Just look at the roster of speakers lined up and try to find a single new face. Its the same old lineup, the same old roll call of familiar Democrat politicians who have constituted the leadership of the national Democratic Party for eons.

Change? Does inviting Jimmy Carter (arguably the worst president in our long history and a dedicated foe of Israel) constitute meaningful change?

Is John Kerry a new face, or simply a retread of a failed presidential candidate who represents his partys recent past as well as its immediate future?

How about putting Al Gore on the speakers dais? Al Gore, the high priest of the phony climate-change religion who to this day cant accept the fact that he lost to George Bush in 2000 and never stops whining about it. Thats change?

Just what changes the old Democratic order when you have Bill Clinton speaking one night and Hillary Clinton the next night?

Is Mayor Daley, Obamas strongest backer and the boss of the corrupt Chicago Democratic machine, a symbol of change?

You look at this upcoming convention and you have to ask yourself, Have I not seen this show before?

We saw it in 2004 and 2000 and 1996 and 1992, and every other Democratic convention going back to Harry S. Truman. And by the way,if Truman were alive today he would be the one familiar face who wouldnt be invited to speak.

Plain-spoken Harry would take one look at Obama and wed be hearing some of his patented obscenities. Truman had no tolerance for politicians who tried to pass themselves off as messiahs, above the give and take of everyday politics.

Change? Its simply more of the same old thing: power-hungry politicians lusting after the authority to impose the decades-old Democrat, socialist, big-brother programs on the American people. An authority the people wisely continue to deny them.

Barack Obama hasnt demonstrated that by virtue of any past experience that he possesses the capacity to be president of the United States, a job far above his pay grade.
For this week's entire issue go to www.pennypresslv.com