Sarah Palin

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You know I’m not a fan of Sarah Palin. We may share common values. We may share common principals. But I want people in government who can manage. She hasn’t shown me any evidence that she can manage. I want to see a steady evidence of repeatable success. Can she manage time? Conduct a meeting? Build consensus? Mediate disagreements? Hire good people? Make tough decisions? Make the right decision with incomplete data? Avoid waste? Detect fraud? Detect bias? All of these traits and much more make up management. MANAGEMENT!!! It’s important—dang it.

So as you can see, I’m a long way from leading a parade for Sarah Palin.

But here’s the issue I want to bring up…why does the Associated Press devote 11 reporters to fact check her book? They went out of their way to NOT fact check Obama, Clinton, Biden or Ted Kenney’s books. How about fact checking Al Gore’s global warming or the jobs created by Obama’s stimulus bill?

I agree with Sarah’s comment, “11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book, instead of using the time and resources to ‘fact check’ what’s going on with Sheik Mohammed’s trial, Pelosi’s health care takeover costs, Hasan’s associations, etc. Amazing.”

I have been observing the media’s liberal bias for twenty years. For almost a decade I received daily emails from media watchdog group MRC. What we have seen in the last twelve months is extraordinary. I hope American’s can see what is going on and will run everything they read, see and hear through a liberal filter.

PS. Reading my comments on the importance of management experience may lead someone to think I’m priming or stumping for Mitt Romney. Let me just say that though Mitt’s management experience is extraordinary, I am completely unimpressed by his history of shifting positions. Deep down I don’t believe he is a Conservative.

Lack of Decency

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I’m so confused by some of Obama’s recent actions that I decided to read the Daily Kos to get the liberal perspective. Well, after spending about thirty minutes reading articles by what should be professional journalists, I decided enough was enough. The use of filthy language and sexual references was constant. When I say filthy, I mean filthy.

I don’t know why they would think that is acceptable. I realize that church goers and seasoned citizens are not exactly their constituency but you would think that when publishing for the masses they would want to portray some level of decency.

It makes me wonder how liberals talk when sitting down for Christmas dinner with grandma.

I’ve changed….No wait I’m back

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My whole life I’ve been the kind of person who would throw away bread that had the slightest bit of mold on it. Sorting through for a good piece was just too depression era for me.

Today I was making a sandwich to take to work. I noticed a tiny spot of mold on the last piece of bread. I thought to myself, “I can just rip that mold off.”

Well after eating three quarters of that sandwich for lunch; I’ve decided that I’m not old enough for that kind of behavior.

Harry Reid Gets Full Credit

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The people of Nevada make me sick. Every Nevadan is benefiting from the low life industries their state promotes. These include: drinking, smoking, gambling, and trades of the flesh. They gleefully collect tax dollars from these industries. These trades have no redeeming qualities. Using them to generate tax revenues is wrong.

Despite the damage these industries inflict on our country, Nevadans are too selfish to allow a remote portion of their state to be used as a nuclear waste repository. Utah’s would have nuclear waste passing through various portions of our state if Yucca were approved. Utah already shouldered the burden of storing and incinerating the countries chemical weapons.

So now after spending over $10,000,000,000 proving that Yucca Mountain is safe, the final decision is to keep all the nuclear waste spread around the country in over 100 locations.

There are lots of people to blame for this horrendous decision but in my book Harry Reid gets full credit. When we have a nuclear accident or a security breach at any of these sites, we should name the incident after Harry Reid. Don’t name a building, bridge or road after Harry. Name a nuclear spill after him.

The Way It Should Be

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Yesterday I had an awesome experience. It was Election Day so I stopped at the City Hall to vote. I walked in and was greeted by various volunteers. I went to the W section and was met by Sis. Wilson, who is a member of my congregation. She said, “Hello Brother Winkel. I need to see your ID.” You know, I’ve known Sister Wilson for a decade. I was surprised she asked for my ID….pleasantly surprised. That’s the way it should be: formal, consistent and mechanical.

Next they had me sign my name on the roster and handed me a ballot. I walked over to the booth, cast my vote, folded my ballot and handed it to another volunteer. She ripped a tab off and handed it back to me to place in the ballot box. That’s the way it should be: formal, consistent and mechanical.

Jimmy Carter goes all around the world monitoring elections. I’ve heard him say that in the countries he monitors that they elections have less fraud than in the United States.

Well Jimmy, I don’t have much use for you but if you can get the other 49 states working like we do in the State of Utah I would sure appreciate it.

Come On

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“Colts owner Jim Irsay said he wouldn’t vote to approve Limbaugh as an NFL owner. Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke harshly of Limbaugh. And several owners offered grim assessments that the outspoken Limbaugh would meet the standards of conduct demanded by the NFL.”

Wow, Rush can’t meet the standards of conduct demanded by the NFL? What standards is the NFL referring too? Here is a sample of NFL conduct by active players.

    Drug sales
    Domestic violence
    Rape
    Assaulting a police officer
    Battery
    Resisting Arrest
    Financing a drug ring
    Disturbing the peace
    DUI manslaughter
    Obscenity
    Lewd Conduct
    Disorderly conduct
    Trafficking cocaine
    Tax evasion
    Obstruction of justice

Guys, these are crimes detailed in THIRTY DAYS worth or news media. 30 Days!! It’s certainly not a comprehensive list. The Dallas Cowboys alone could fill volumes. And these are not problems faced by marquee players. These crimes are committed by journeyman players.

The take home lesson is the power of political correctness. That is all this about. The NFL is against Rush because he says what we all think—what we all know.

I know Rush loves pro football but he should feel blessed to not associate himself with such a pile of dirt bags.

Ooops! That could have just cost me a chance at NFL ownership.

For more on NFL Crimes refer to: http://nflcrimes.blogspot.com/

Selective Compassion

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The Federal Government has twice extended the unemployment benefits to Americans who live in states with unemployment over 6%. I am baffled that such an extension is not for all Americans. Is the pain experienced by a family in Utah less than the pain experienced by a family in Michigan?

Utah has less unemployment for a huge variety of reasons including: greater economic diversity, higher level of education, strong work ethic. These traits should be applauded not punished.

Justice should be measured evenly and so should unemployment benefits. It makes me wonder what we should expect when the government controls healthcare. My guess is that since Utah is one of the healthier states in the nation that we will receive less mammogram screening. Fewer flu shots. Fewer vials of antibiotic. Why should I assume healthcare will be treated differently?

I Wonder

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“ZURICH, Switzerland (CNN) — Woody Allen, Pedro Almodovar and Martin Scorsese have “demanded the immediate release” of fellow filmmaker Roman Polanski, who was arrested in Switzerland.”

Wo! Woody Allen demands his immediate release. We all better get going on this. After all, Woody is an authority on having sex with underage girls.

“It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by the police to apprehend him.”

This is a revealing statement. It shows how important they believe “International cultural events” are to society. Obviously they think it is more import than the rape of a child. I think it is bad for society to consider apprehending the rapist of a child less important than giving an award.

Isn’t a part of punishment a recognition that you did wrong? Fleeing justice is not a display of remorse. 45 days in jail for the drugging, rape and….I’m not going to get into the details, of a 13 year old girl is not justice. Part of the problem is that Hollywood is so immoral that they equate the value of virginity roughly equivalent of a car stereo.

I don’t care about his past struggles or his so called talent. That doesn’t in any way excuse him for this horrific crime. Horrific is what it is. Rape is horrific.

I wonder if Hollywood would be picketing for the release of Roman Polanski if he were an Exxon executive.

You have to forgive…..you don’t have to trust

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We have been commanded by God to forgive. We have not been commanded to forget. To forget would be unwise. How can you learn from your mistakes or the mistakes of others if you forget? We need to remember and make judgments based on what we have observed. The product of these judgments is who we will trust and who we will not trust. We are not commanded to trust. Trust must be earned.

Detroit lost our trust in the 70’s and 80’s when they sold us the Aries K, pacer, pinto, gremlin, fairmont, reliant etc. To make it worse, while they were pushing these piles of junk they were lobbying the government to increase tariffs on the quality Japanese cars. These tariffs made us poorer as a nation. Detroit squandered valuable resources such as time, money, labor and raw resources. It made our nation poorer because it increased the inflation rate.

In addition to decreasing our standard of living by raising costs and decreasing quality, they made it an issue of patriotism. They pushing the public to “Buy American”. Television commercials, bumper stickers and the slogan, “baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.” Give me a break.

I just finished watching “Flash of Genius”, the story about Robert Kearns who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. It’s no surprise that Ford raked him over the coals. Their management team was busy raking the whole country over the coals.

Twenty years later and we’ve got cash for clunkers and government bailouts.

Don’t forget; learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others. Stop trusting and stop buying American.

So you purchased a new computer…

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When you purchase a new computer do the following:

1. Find the Microsoft Windows Media (DVD) that came with the machine. This DVD is your lifeline. Unless you buy a new copy of Windows, this is the only copy of Windows that you can install on your machine. Everyone carelessly loses these DVD’s. I guess they think they will never need them again. Unfortunately, operating systems become cluttered and need to be reinstalled.

The other day I was working on a friend’s machine that had the same copy of Windows on it for six years. It hadn’t even been patched. It was slow, sluggish and spitting our errors like crazy. I was amazed that it still worked.

Don’t think that if you lose the DVD you can just borrow one from a neighbor to reinstall. It won’t work even if you have your original Windows License Key. The DVD is built to match the make and model of the machine. You need the original DVD and the original license key.

The DVD may not be labeled “Microsoft Windows XYZ”. It might say, “Recovery CD”. If you are not sure, call the retailer.

I was able to get replacement media from Dell. I got lucky.

2. Write down the Windows License key. It can be in various locations. They used to print it on the DVD. Sometimes it’s on a sticker on the media envelope. Check the bottom of the computer for the sticker with the code. It’s conveniently put on the machine where it receives the maximum amount of wear. Write it down now before it gets rubbed off.

3. Next label the DVD with the make and model of the machine. Half the homes in America have multiple computers. It can be tough to find the right DVD. Dozens of times I’ve asked people for their DVD’s so I can repair their machines. It’s always a joy sorting through the DVD’s looking for the right one.

4. The next step is optional. It involves separating the operating system from your data. The process is more technical and many people can’t do it themselves. I’m not going to go through the details but just talk about it generally.

It has been a best practice for decades to separate your SYS (system) volume from your data volumes. Your Windows partition or partition is inherently vulnerable. Running your computer is like cooking a meal—it can be messy. You don’t fillet, chop or whisk in the living room and you shouldn’t store your data with your operating system.

There are dozens of things that can crash your computer. When the computer goes down, files can be corrupted. You want to separate your data from your system files. Doing so reduces the chance of data loss and makes backup and recovery much easier. Microsoft is keeping users in the dark ages by putting the “user” directory on the same partition as the operating system. Millions of people have lost their valuable data because of this.

I recommend you create two partitions. The first partition should be around 40GB in size. That is usually enough for the OS and all the applications you will install. The second partition can use up the rest of the available. This is where you will store your data (music, personal files, photos, etc.). Windows allows you to redirect your “Users” directory to another location. This will be your “D” drive or whatever drive letter you chose. The goal is to have one partition for the system to use and another for your data.

Some machines have additional partitions already created for automatic recovery. I wouldn’t destroy those volumes. Just leave them alone.

There are tools available allow you to repartition the drives without hurting the working boot partition. I’m hoping that Windows 7 will allow you to do it natively.

5. Finally, create a backup plan. Your machine will crash. It will absolutely crash. There is no doubt about it. Don’t risk losing your photos, financial data, music etc.

I recommend two things: an external hard drive and an online backup service. Get an external hard drive and use it to backup your machine once a week. Second, purchase an online backup service for continuous offsite storage. There are many providers to choose from: Mozy, Carbonite, iDrive or Sugarsync. These services are available for MAC’s and PC’s. Some of these services have a free offering for people with less than 2GB of data. Online backup costs around $5 a month and is well worth it. The great thing about an online backup service is that if your house burns down you still have all your data.

If you follow these steps you will make MY life much easier.