Month: December 2005

A magazine recently ran a “Dilbert Quotes” contest. They were looking for people to submit quotes from their real-life Dilbert-type managers. These were voted the top ten quotes from the Dilberts we work for in corporate America, circa 2004:

1. “As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday, and employees will receive their cards in two weeks.”
(This was the winning quote from Fred Dales, Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, WA)

2. “What I need is an exact list of specific unknown problems we might encounter.”
(Lykes Lines Shipping)

3. “E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business.” ]
(Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)

4. “This project is so important, we can’t let things that are more important interfere with it.”
(Advertising/Marketing manager, United Parcel Service)

5. “Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule.”
(Plant Manager, Delco Corporation)

6. “No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We’ve been working on it for months.
Now go act busy for a few weeks and I’ll let you know when it’s time to tell them.”
(R&D supervisor, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing/3M Corp.)

7. Quote from the Boss: “Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say.”
(Marketing executive, Citrix Corporation)

8. My sister passed away and her funeral was scheduled for Monday. When I told my Boss, he said she died on purpose so that I would have to miss work on the busiest day of the year. He then asked if we could change her burial to Friday.
He said, “That would be better for me.”
(Shipping executive, FTD Florists)

9. “We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees.”
(Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)

You may wonder why I would support anyone this early, particularly someone who is not a declared candidate. But he’s making all those all-but-declared candidate noises, setting up means of collecting contributions and the like.

So why Russ Feingold? For one thing, he seems to make up his mind before consulting a pollster, unlike the 2004 Democratic candidate for President.

He opposed the war in Iraq at a time when doing so was not very popular, and he voted in the Senate against our involvement. When he spoke a few weeks ago on ABC News’ This Week, he spoke forcefully about how the administration’s case for war didn’t make sense. He noted, and I believed it then and now, that the war in Iraq is fomenting terrorism, not stopping it. He’s also been a proponent of finding a way out of Iraq before the recent flurry of “me-too”ism.

He stood alone in his opposition to the vile so-called USA PATRIOT Act. (And for information about the none-too-desirable reauthorization of the bill, which may be voted on as early as TODAY, check here.)

He is the co-author of the McCain-Feingold bill to try to limit campaign spending. If it has not been a complete success, with so-called 527s popping up to get around the bill, it seemed to have curbed some of the abuses.

He appears to be his own person. He broke with most of his fellow Democrats and voted for John Roberts for chief justice. But he hasn’t eliminated the possibility that he will be a part of a filibuster if Sam Alito turns out to be the kind of extremist that the early signs suggest.

If he runs, he’ll have some so-called negatives, among them:

He’s Jewish. That’s not a problem for me, but it may be an issue for some of the leaders of the Democratic party who fear offending some segment of its base.

He’s been divorced, twice. Nelson Rockefeller’s one divorce followed by remarriage really hurt him when he ran for President in the1960s, but Ronald Reagan’s divorce was hardly an issue when he ran in`1976 and beyond. How the situation affects Feingold, I just don’t know.

I came to my decision before I discovered one fact that is personally fascinating; he’s five days older than I am. Same month, same year, same astrological sign.

Of course, if he ultimately chooses not to run, I’ll look elsewhere, but no one else particularly interest me, and I have absolute antipathy for some of the possibles bandied about.

Tanith Belbin, resident alien, and Ben Agosto, U.S. citizen, is the team that provides the United States with the best chance of medalling in ice dancing at the 2006 Olympics in a couple months. Tanith, a Canadian, applied for U.S. citizenship in 1999, but the process is such that she wouldn’t be an American until it was too late for the Games.

A member of Congress wrote legislation allowing Tanith’s citizenship process to be expedited. However, the mother of one of the other competitors complains to her Senator, one Hillary Clinton, to the effect that a foreign national should not be given special treatment. Ironically, the only reason that the U.S. will have three ice dancing teams instead of two at the Olympics is that a team skating for the United States came in second at the World Championships. That team? Belbin and Agosto, of course. (The Worlds have different criteria for nationality than the Olympics.)

The legislation, which was attached to another bill, was defeated, but Tanith and Ben have hope that the item will revived and attached to another bill.

Will Tanith Belbin gain her citizenship before January 10, the deadline for picking the Olympic teams?

Will Ben Agosto recover from the painful injury that is keeping them out of competition in Japan this week?

Will Belbin and Agosto be on the Olympic team?

You are Kate. Breathtakingly beautiful, seemingly
pure of heart, and you can even sew your own
curtains! You listen to Patsy Cline anywhere
and know how to work a farm. Your past haunts
you. An accused criminal, are you innocent or
guilty? The only thing thing we know you’re
guilty of is not giving Charlie the attention
he needs.

Which Lost Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Meanwhile, two stars of the show are arrested for being under the influence of alcohol, twenty minutes apart. I suppose living in a tropical paradise seems romantic, but the work and the isolation are starting to take its toll. I know Rodriguez started this season; how about Watros?

Gordon will receive a copy of a Dave Barry book.
Both of them will get a copy of my Hello CD (a bunch of songs with Hello or Welcome in the title), plus a CD I just whipped out from Hello records. Hello was a record label that put out interesting music. I have albums from 1993 through 1996.
The track list for this is:

Backstabbing Liar-Mono Puff
Cellar Door-Laura Cantrell (who I heard on A Prairie Home Companion just yesterday)
Your New Boy-You Were Spiraling
Red Bra & Panties-Will Rigby
Dark Green-the Coctails
Jack Hammers-Chaz and the Motorbikes
Prince of Orange-Andy Partridge (yes, the guy from XTC)
South Carolina-John Linnell
Sodium Mask-Hello, the Band
YeahYeahYeah (Atomic Mix)-Alaska
Our Lady of Oklahoma-Peter Stampfel
Happy-Go-Dumpy Summer-Brian Dewan
The Ocean-Kurt Hoffman’s Band of Weeds (yes, the Led Zeppelin son, done…differently)
The Whiskey Makes You Sweeter-Amy Allison and the Maudlins
Sinners of July-Spondee
Love Song 110-Spanish Fly
Don’t Let’s Start-They Might Be Giants (live)

And they get the other stuff too. The package goes out tomorrow.

Oh, the answers:
At first so strange to feel so friendly
To say good morning and really mean it
To feel these changes happening in me
But not to notice till I feel it.

Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon) by the Mamas & the Papas, written by Papa John Phillips.