Time for "Silly Season" in Earnest

It's already beginning...

"I have heard that Obama has said publicly, that he does not salute the American flag and will not. The other rumor is that he was said to have admitted that if elected, he will not use the bible, but the Koran for his inauguration."
"Did you hear that Hillary Clinton was implicated in the suicide of aid Vince Foster."
"John McCain was involved in a "close" relationship with a lobbyist. (Implication is that is was sexual)."

Is anyone else as sick of these Internet e-mail based whisper/smear campaigns (from all sides) using ridiculous statements such as this and much, much worse.... to whip up fear?

We are blessed with a choice of three outstanding Americans for the first time in a long time for the Presidency. For the first time in my adult life I am NOT choosing between the lesser of two evils and wondering if this is the best either party can do - IT IS!

The process has been fascinating, energising, invigourating and hand over heart, I would be able to support any of the three and find it incredible that such small mindedness from a lunatic fringe element is accepted as THE TRUTH!

Did you hear...? somehow makes it gospel and aren't you sick of rumours without any editorial discipline or individuals otherwise exercising their due diligence to dig for facts?

I spent 84-minutes this morning glued to my computer watching last night's Ohio debate... in Wales... on the Internet. I am more informed this year than any because of the Internet and its ability to show multiple viewpoints. Let's get our heads out of our bottomsides and when whispers are started ask, does this makes sense and is it real? Only when we behave like discerning adults and engage appropriately will these idiot consultants creating stupid ads and e-mail campaigns appealing to the lowest common denominator smear be silenced once and for all.

We alone can make sure negative ads don't work this year and force to the unemployment lines all graduates of the Karl Rove School for Campaign Strategy.

The coveted ... Golden Toilet Seat

SO did you require an extra cuppa after watching Hollywood’s Oscars until 5am?

Who got your vote? How did you do against the other punters? Were you glued to the tube watching breathless reportage of celebrity parties?

The ceremony ends early in LA. As an objective past participant, I can assure readers most parties will bump into our afternoon drive.

While we’re serious business people above such triviality, in greater Los Angeles, a city where people watch end credits to find the names of friends, those golden statues constitute life and death news.

And after 80 years can Oscar be more tedious, pompous or predictable? Yes. And 1.5 billion people worldwide endure this marathon as the 3,000 members of AMPAS, who no one knows, dress up and congratulate themselves by telling us who they thought were best for last year?

And watch we do. From pre-ceremony interviews along a red carpet above which people slept overnight in bleacher seats to catch a glimpse of the stars, to the incessant post-game commentary.

How will last night impact grosses? Did the writer’s strike hurt the broadcast? Was John Stewart better with writers than without?

Movies must appeal to women to succeed so did a dearth of hits like Titanic (neither No Country For Old Men nor There Will Be Blood fit this category) and Keira Knightley’s snub in Atonement dampen Oscar’s appeal?

Who cares? The biz does. Oscar loves underdog indie films. In 1995, our law firm’s client Kennedy-Miller Pictures was a surprise nominee for best picture for the delightful Babe.

They walked away with a statue for best visual effects and parlayed that into millions in a theatrical rerelease and DVDs (if there was ever a category for best line, James Cromwell’s “that’ll do pig, that’ll do,” wins hands-down).

Last night’s excitement though pales in comparison with a similarly styled UK competition in December.

Most of us missed an awards show that nearly allowed the mighty team of Pencelli Castle Caravan and Camping Park near Brecon to walk away with a highly coveted trophy – The Golden Toilet Seat.

That’s right, we’ve all seen the signs in Moto Rest Areas, but once again we missed the 2007 UK Loo of the Year awards celebrating excellence in hygiene, an aspect of customer service we all pay attention to when driving, shopping or camping.

Never to be confused with Los Angeles’ Kodak Theatre, these awards were held in a lavish ceremony at The National Motor Cycle Museum in Birmingham. Some 1,500 establishments were, according to Pencelli’s website, “brave enough to throw their mops into the ring to be judged” (warning, the puns will worsen).

Gerwyn and Liz Rees, the park’s owners, faced stiff competition from five-star winning camping and caravan loos at: Argoed Meadow in Cenarth; Daisy Bank in Montgomery; Morben Isaf in Machynlleth, Powys and River View in Pontarddulais yet flushed away all comers in their category to walk away with top camper and caravan park honours and then – the overall national award for the cleanest loos in all of Wales.

Said Gerwyn, “We won this award in 2003 and to find ourselves in contention again for 2007 was very surprising.”

The Reeses dutifully completed an entry form last spring and waited for an official inspector to come, unannounced.

“They say very little,” said Liz, “they inspect and follow the same grading system for every loo in the UK.”

While her husband wants to learn from and offers to accompany the inspector, he learns this is a serious and solitary business and this inspector works alone.

Like the Oscars, the water level rises with each round. By the time dessert is finished only one company remains standing high above the golden throne, having gone from five-star to category winner to country winner to UK winner and holders of the golden toilet seat award.

When Pencelli moved into the best of Britain finals, they proudly carried the Welsh Dragon against heavyweights P&O Ferries (Northern Ireland), JD Wetherspoon (Scotland) and the giant food chain Asda (England) who, emerged as national winners.

No one though could stop Manchester’s Trafford Centre from walking away with the seat prize for overall best of show.

The Reeses were justifiably proud of their effort and kept their fame in perspective.

Said Gerwyn, “It’s funny what we are doing is tongue-in-cheek, yet as people queue up in our caravan park lobby and it brings a smile, it’s also important.

“Loos means so much to people. It’s a place you spend five minutes a day and it weighs heavily on where your frame of mind stays during the day.”

Indeed. These champions will be back and a word of warning, they will be doubly prepared as they also won a 1st place Wales in Bloom Award for 2007. Sometimes competition as life, is not fair.

Two important questions remained unanswered. Did the ultimate winner in their acceptance speech say, “You like me, you really like me?”

And where exactly does the winner display a golden toilet seat? We’ll keep digging.

(As appeared in The Western Mail - photo supplied by Gerwyn and Liz Rees)

Quote of the week...

"What Mrs. Clinton has that Mr. Obama does not have, Mr. Obama can get. What Mr. Obama has that Mrs. Clinton does not have, she can never get."

- Alec Baldwin (?)
Yes the actor/director is a regular blogger at The Huffington Post

And therein lies the Democratic Presidential primary race. The more people look and see, the more enthused they become for real change.

Senator Obama's victory speech in South Carolina, may be a turning point. Fast forward 11 or 12 minutes into the video, close your eyes and, those of us old enough to remember, picture Dr. King speaking. It is eery.

10-0

As a gutted New England Patriots fan superstitious about win streaks, this one by Senator Barack Obama over Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Party primaries to determine the nominee for the November general election is impressive by any standard.

Pressure builds daily on the 800+ party elder/insider superdelegates (28 January column in this blog) to do the right thing and vote for the candidate with the most electoral delegates vs. following their personal political loyalties.

The Democratic party is in danger of both a brokered convention and eating its young.

In every state, turnout has swelled by 40%-80% with thousands of newly engaged voters coming to the polls for the first time or returning after a long absence. The Democrats have not seen anything like this candidacy since John F. Kennedy ran in 1960 against establishment candidate, Richard M. Nixon.

Going back to the end of January and South Carolina, a state that normally attracts 300,000 Democratic Party voters, more than 500,000 cast votes this year. The party is wringing its hands hoping this issue resolves itself and knows that those young and previously disenfranchised voters will leave if the nomination goes yet again to the "establishment" candidate.

Because of the Internet one can watch the entire stump speeches of both candidates vs. 10-second sound bytes. Sitting and watching a complete 43-minute speech by Senator Obama from last night means the opportunity to have the most informed electorate in our history. Watching these, full-length speeches, it is hard for even a cynic to avoid seeing the sea of multi-coloured, multi-aged faces behind the Senator as he urges us to follow what Dr. King called "the fierce urgency of now."

Every poll over the last five weeks shows Republican Sen. McCain defeating Sen. Clinton while Sen. Obama defeats Sen. McCain in November. So the party has an electability issue to face with Mrs. Clinton and the added fear a fall campaign would unite a fractious Republican party against her. Too, with Al Gore and Dick Cheney on the sidelines, we are in a unique election where neither an incumbent President or figurehead party leader Vice President is on the ticket.

The Democrats invented superdelegates in the 1980s to prevent the party nominating someone who is unelectable (this was in the wake of two horrific losses by Vice President Mondale and Governor Dukakis). These delegates are the ultimate party insiders; elected officials and lifetime members of the Democratic national commitee who control 40% of the delegates needed for someone to be nominated. In the early primaries, the committed superdelegates gave Sen. Clinton a seeming insurmountable lead (indeed, despite actual election results, she still leads in this category), even though Sen. Obama had won more delegates as decided by the voters. The issue gained media traction after the Super Tuesday delegate dead heat and before this current momentum building streak by Sen. Obama.

Watching results this morning in the Wisconsin primary a few numbers jump out.

- Senator Obama is winning November electability polls over Senator Clinton 67%-33%.

- Senator Clinton lost the blue collar and white male votes in an essentially blue collar state (her base and constituencies) to the broad charismatic change appeal of Sen. Obama.

I was stunned when a year ago several respected friends quit their jobs to work on the Obama campaign. I remember another friend being invited to private fund raiser 6-years ago when a young state legislator was visiting a home in Maryland. This confident young man so inspired him that he wrote a cheque on the spot and knew then he was in the presence of someone special. It was Barack Obama running for the US Senate from the state of Illinois.

I am torn in this race because I think Senator Clinton is very bright and has the skills to run an effective administration and be a very good President. Most though are tired of the drama around this former first family. It would be nice to leave the scandals of Whitewater, Monica Lewinsky, Travelgate, Vince Foster's suicide and the attack dogs this family brings in on the sidelines this time.

Change of this kind will help us all recover from the disastrous foreign policies of Bush and Blair and bring back the good name and standing of the USA. We are fortunate that all three candidates remaining in both parties could do that. That is what gives so many whether red or blue state in colour, a reason to be excited. The USA needs to sit again at the grown-up table.

The fat lady may not yet have sung, but she surely is warming up offstage. A loss on 4 March in Ohio and/or Texas will bring her onstage. The question is whether the Clinton's will have the grace to stop for the good of the party as Senator Edwards did or vanity and hubris will prevail?

Shout Out About The Shocking Service We Get Today

In 1966, five years before the opening of his crown jewell theme park in Orlando, Walt Disney succumbed to cancer. His service legacy lives on through the Disney Institute where executives from around the globe come to embrace the Disney ethos and, in theory, bring Walt’s Way to their businesses.

Walt ensured Disney executives never allowed themselves to live in an ivory tower. Once each quarter they came to the park and worked a full day “on-the-firing-line.” They interfaced directly with customers and did everything from operate the Flying Dumbo elephants, clean loos, drive parking lot trams and serve food in theme restaurants. He never wanted anyone inside the Disney organisation to become far removed from the customer at any time.

Can you see Sir Terry Tesco or BT Ben and their managers devoting an entire day to any single store or customer in this way? (Sorry to make the coffee snort out your nose.) It’s a pity because one need not look far inside either organisation, often not even beyond the store or 1st supervisory level to see how far service has slid down the slippery slope. And we are as much to blame by our apathy to poor service… we mostly shrug and endure it.

Why have we allowed mediocre to seem excellent and become so predictably numbed that companies know we will still come to them no matter how outrageously they treat us? From discontinuing 0800 free numbers so WE pay the bill to call THEM via costly 0870 numbers to discuss OUR account (from which they then get as much as half the cost of each call) to booking entire service departments on a permanent passage to India… we are abused, given the run-around for hours until worn down by an impenetrable system that can have us getting an ASBO if we demand proper service!?!

35-years ago, I worked after-school in a family-owned supermarket. The early 1970’s was a time of perfect, square, paper sacks, 20 smartly-dressed cashiers and white shirt and tie “bag boys” under the watchful eye of manager Bill Gear. Mr. Gear’s “office” was essentially a broom closet. You’d never find him there because his real office was the shopfloor where all meetings and job interviews took place, on the fly, during his constant walks which he interrupted many times to greet customers by name.

His was a message and example learned early; “the customer is the most important thing in my day.” Mr. Gear instructed every new employee in the art and science of paper sack packing. We watched as he built a perfect square sack every time. “Build a solid base in the bottom with cartons, boxes and bottles, then fill the open spaces so the sack remains upright, rigid and supported by the load inside. Pack it too heavily and elderly customers cannot lift and carry them… too lightly, the order is not balanced and you waste bags. Place frozen items in a separate plastic bag (who knew then about global warming?). This keeps the sack dry. And always, ALWAYS ask the customer if they have a preference.” His mantra became ours.

Can you imagine this happening today? The scanner lady sometimes remembers to ask her rote line, “do you need help with packing your order, sir?” I was talking to a new scanner who admitted her entire training regimen was a ½ day of health and safety training and a ½ day observing another at their till before being thrown to the customers. When I asked if there was training on how to speak, interact with and solve customer issues, she giggled, “no,” with the unsaid, “why would we do that,” hanging awkwardly.

Uncle Walter Disney would spin in his grave at these antics. So it’s time to name and shame. This column will periodically look at the most egregious examples and, in the words of Peter Finch from the film “Network” get you to open your windows and scream as loud as you can, “we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!”

Trust me, you’ll feel better and like me finally be deserving of the strange looks your neighbours already give you anyways.

As Appeared in The Western Mail 18 February 2008