Daily Archives: August 10, 2012

08/10/12

The Mormon Way of Doing Business – A Book Review

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

Buy at Hachette Book Group or Amazon.com

For more information about the full length DVD visit www.jeffbenedict.com. This television documentary was produced for BYU-TV and PBS affiliate KBYU. Produced and written by Jeff Benedict, it features exclusive interviews with JetBlue Airways CEO David Neeleman; Dell Inc’s CEO Kevin Rollins; former Madison Square Garden CEO Dave Checketts; Deloitte & Touche CEO Jim Quigley; and American Express CFO Gary Crittenden.

Covering everything the 9/11 terror attacks to how Mormon missions prepared these leaders for business, this film is candid, emotional and incredibly inspiring. Whether a business student, a working parent or a CEO, you will never look at business the same way after watching this. www.jeffbenedict.com

Fair warning here, parts of my family are LDS and personally, I think they are some of the finest people on the planet. So, I’m biased… It’s my blog (she said smiling). They are the salt of the earth, intensely in love with God and morally upright. If a man or woman is to be judged on their character, then, aside from a few notable exceptions such as Harry Reid (Hey, who doesn’t have a rotten apple in the barrel? He can take it up with God when he meets his Maker.), the Mormons are in my opinion good people.

The Mormon Way of Doing Business is a great read. It highlights that through love of God and a desire to do the right, moral thing, you can be very, very successful. You don’t have to be corrupt or evil to be a success and be wealthy. That’s a myth. The Mormons have produced many, many successful business people. Here’s a short list:

  • Glenn Beck
  • David Neeleman, The Founder of JetBlue
  • Kevin Rollins, The former CEO of Dell Computers
  • Jim Quigley, The CEO of Deloitte & Touche
  • Kim Clark, The former Dean of the Harvard Business School
  • Dave Checketts, former CEO of Madison Square Garden Corporation, owner of the Knicks
  • Gary Crittenden, CFO at American Express
  • Rod Hawes, founder and former CEO of Life Re Corporation
  • Clayton Christensen, a leading Harvard Business School professor and consultant to Intel, Eli Lilly and Kodak
  • And now, our next President, Mitt Romney

Guess what all of them have in common? Check it out:

  • They are Christians.
  • They work long hours.
  • They have done 2 years of Missionary work.
  • They put God first, immediately followed by spouse and family.
  • They tithe 10%.
  • They spend their Sundays in church not only learning, but teaching and helping others.

Each successful business person of this faith worked their tail off, I guarantee it. In the beginning they did without and they were and still are humble. You see it’s all about character. And whether people want to hear it or not, Mormons are just regular people. Their biggest difference is their work ethic and their devotion to God. So, I have no time for anti-Mormon jokes or hate. I know goodness when I see it and it is ingrained in the Mormon faith.

They do differ in a few ways: they don’t drink, they stay married on the whole for a lifetime. They have large families and they store food and staples. And they are happy.

As far as business, you will see Mormons heavily in business disciplines and high tech. But you can find them in all fields, quietly working away. They remind me of the parable of the ant and the grasshopper. Guess which one they are?

There is a ton to learn on business, faith and family from this book. I wish my son would read it. The book was first written in 2007, but is timeless for anyone wanting to succeed whether you are Mormon or not. No religion guarantees success, but hard work, perseverance and solid determination make your odds pretty good.

This book is not an expose on these men, their companies, or the Mormon Church. Rather, the book examines what makes these executives tick and reveals their habits and secrets to success.

While you may not share the religious beliefs of Mitt Romney, he is a good man I believe. The same cannot be said for the Marxist in the White House currently. Given the choice, I’ll go with the God-fearing, moral Mormon and ditch the Marxist. I plan on reading this book once a month for a year, that’s how impressed I am with it. It has a permanent place on my nightstand. Buy it, read it and whatever your age, apply the principles to your life.

Buy at Hachette Book Group or Amazon.com

08/10/12

Romney Down by Nine as Conservatives Gripe

By: Cliff Kincaid
Accuracy in Media

GOP strategist Karl Rove says that Mitt Romney, who is raising more money than Obama, has absorbed “a punishing three-month Obama television barrage.” Rove seems fine with this, saying that Obama is draining his “war chest.” He seems to be holding out the hope that Romney will somehow turn things around because he is raising so much money and has so much to spend.

In claiming that Romney is really ahead by not being too far behind, Rove cites a Gallup poll that had Obama at 47% and Romney at 46%. A new and more recent Fox News poll shows Obama up nine over Romney, 49% – 40%. Other polls have different results, but this is a poll that comes from a source conservatives trust. It cannot be ignored.

Some of Romney’s campaign money is being spent on advisers such as the “Boston-based media strategist and political consultant,” Eric Fehrnstrom, who made the famous gaffe about Romney being like an Etch-a-Sketch.

In terms of favorability ratings, Obama crushes Romney by 12 points, the Fox News poll shows. Forty-five percent already have a negative view of the GOP candidate.

Here are some more of the startling results:

  • Obama beats Romney 43-39 on the question of who will do a better job of dealing with Iran.
  • Obama beats Romney 51-38 on the question of who will do a better job handling foreign policy.
  • Obama has a 48-40 edge on national security.

It is surprising that Romney’s support has not slipped even more. Commentator Charles Lewis notes that, in the past few days alone, Romney has stated that the groundswell for freedom of speech that led to the Chick-fil-A Day record turnout was “not part of [his] campaign.”

Romney also put concerns about Muslim Brotherhood infiltration at the highest levels of the State Department in the same category—not part of his campaign.

On top of this, he has confirmed his position that the Boy Scouts should accept gay adult Scoutmasters.

It is not surprising that conservative journalist Byron York has written a piece entitled, “Romney and conservatives remain uneasy partners.” Ann Coulter, a strong supporter of Romney, is quoted as saying that “Republicans are hapless Elmer Fudds, constantly employing people who couldn’t care less about the country, but want to be on TV and in spreads for Glamour magazine.”

She is not blaming the candidate but rather the advisers around the candidate. But Romney appointed them.

She is apparently referring to the telegenic but gaffe-prone Andrea Saul, Romney’s press secretary. “Who is the Democrats’ equivalent of Andrea Saul or the Etch-A-Sketch guy? Name one! The Democrats are focused on winning and hire spokesmen who don’t make constant unforced errors,” Coulter says.

Saul took fire from Coulter, Limbaugh and Eric Erickson of Red State for saying, in response to a Democratic ad that Romney had essentially killed a woman, that she would have stayed alive under Romneycare. This comment validated Obama’s claim that his national health care program, based on Romneycare, was justified. Saul’s bizarre comments came during a TV appearance on Fox News.

AIM has reported that the socialist behind Romneycare also devised Obamacare.

York writes, “The worries expressed by Limbaugh, Coulter and Erickson aren’t nit-picking. They are concerns about the very nature of Mitt Romney and the people he has chosen to run his campaign.”

But the concerns about the “nature of Mitt Romney” go deeper than TV appearances and gaffes by his aides.

At a news conference on Wednesday, former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy urged Romney to take a stand in favor of the five members of Congress raising security concerns about Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of the Obama Administration.

In this context, there is mounting concern about Romney adviser Robert Kagan, whose book, The World America Made, has curiously become a favorite of Obama’s. Indeed, it is reported that Obama recommended Kagan’s book to his advisers.

David P. Goldman notes that a theme of the book is that there is such a thing as “Muslim democracy” and that the U.S. should welcome it. Kagan argues that the U.S. can live and work with Islamist political parties taking over some Arab states in the Middle East.

Last January Kagan said, “In Egypt, especially, while the reaction to events has sometimes been slow, the administration has generally moved in the right direction. Obama deserves particular credit for not joining in the general panic at the electoral success of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

In other words, Kagan wanted Obama to move more quickly in overthrowing U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak.

Now we see where this piece of advice has taken us—the Muslim Brotherhood has taken power in Egypt and the U.S. is “engaging” with its members.

Despite this background and record, Republican Fox News commentator William Kristol, who describes himself as a conservative, says that he would recommend that Romney, if elected president, appoint Kagan as his deputy national security adviser. Kristol gave an interview to a reporter for Foreign Policy magazine talking about possible Romney picks.

Interestingly, Foreign Policy, which is not a conservative journal, also carries a revealing article on what is happening in Egypt. Under the title, Brother Knows Best, the piece notes that the Muslim Brotherhood is rapidly consolidating power in Egypt.

Of course, talking about Romney’s appointments as president may strike many as premature, especially because the Fox News poll finds Romney losing to Obama on foreign policy and national security. Perhaps this is because Romney has failed to draw a meaningful distinction with Obama on matters such as Muslim Brotherhood infiltration and influence over the U.S. Government. This may reflect Kagan’s influence over Romney.

The Soros-funded Think Progress has quoted Kagan as saying other nice things about Obama, such as, “I think he has a good policy in Asia, particularly in dealing with China. I think he’s strengthened our position in Asia with our allies.” These comments conflict with a Wall Street Journal opinion piece written by Romney himself blasting Obama’s Asia policy. “Barack Obama is moving in precisely the wrong direction,” Romney said.

If Romney’s advisers are counting on a bad economy to propel him to victory, the Fox News poll has bad news as well.

Romney barely beats Obama (by three points) on handling the economy. But the poll also finds:

  • Obama beats Romney 46 – 43 on taxes.
  • Obama ties Romney on helping small business.
  • Obama beats Romney 47 – 39 on helping people achieve the American dream.

As Karl Rove says, one thing is certain: Romney has lots of money to spend on the campaign, in an effort to dig himself out of the hole he has put himself in. Time is running out, even if the money isn’t.

Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism and can be contacted at [email protected].

08/10/12

The Council Has Spoken! This Week’s Watcher’s Council Results – 08/10/12

The Watcher’s Council

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match-up.

There’s an old saying that opinions are like a certain orifice in the body… everyone has one. What is also true in my experience is that the opinions of some people frequently resemble the product of that nether orifice… without the utilitarian benefit of helping flowers and other useful plants grow.

Governor Mitt Romney made a trip to Israel not too long ago where he was received quite well. As someone who has a little bit of knowledge and experience of the region, it’s fairly obvious to me (and apparently to the majority of Israelis) that Governor Romney is either being very well advised on the Middle East or, not being a stupid man, has grasped some essential realities about the place. Perhaps both.

Apparently a growing number of Jewish voters in America get that same sense, which meant the Obama Administration sent out the call to some of its surrogates to go into full attack mode on the matter. In this week’s winning piece, Joshuapundit’s Tom Friedman Beclowns Himself On Israel – Again, I examined in detail one of the more execrable of these surrogates and a column he wrote in Pravda-on-the Hudson that was notable – even for him – for the blatant untruths it contained, even descending to some classic anti-semitic libels. Here’s a slice:

You know, you have admire Tom Friedman, in a way.

No matter how often he’s been proven wrong by events, no matter what has happened in the interim, he still thinks it’s 1992 and the Oslo Accords are brand new and untested.

And not only does he remain clueless, but he feels the need to double down on his mistakes.

His latest op-ed in Pravda-on-the-Hudson is an absolute scream, and proof that Mitt Romney may have made some significant in roads into the Jewish vote by his Israel stance. So Obama’s number one shill has been deputized to herd them back into the corral.

You see, only President Obama and Democrats are allowed to get Jewish votes, and anyone like Sheldon Adelson who strays off the plantation is to be considered a renegade and demonized.

Take a look at this .There is literally not a factually correct sentence in it:

Much of what is wrong with the U.S.-Israel relationship today can be found in that Romney trip. In recent years, the Republican Party has decided to make Israel a wedge issue. In order to garner more Jewish (and evangelical) votes and money, the G.O.P. decided to “out-pro-Israel” the Democrats by being even more unquestioning of Israel. This arms race has pulled the Democratic Party to the right on the Middle East and has basically forced the Obama team to shut down the peace process and drop any demands that Israel freeze settlements. This, in turn, has created a culture in Washington where State Department officials, not to mention politicians, are reluctant to even state publicly what is U.S. policy — that settlements are “an obstacle to peace” — for fear of being denounced as anti-Israel.

Add on top of that, the increasing role of money in U.S. politics and the importance of single donors who can write megachecks to “super PACs” — and the fact that the main Israel lobby, Aipac, has made itself the feared arbiter of which lawmakers are “pro” and which are “anti-Israel” and, therefore, who should get donations and who should not — and you have a situation in which there are almost no brakes, no red lights, around Israel coming from America anymore. No wonder settlers now boast on op-ed pages that the game is over, they’ve won, the West Bank will remain with Israel forever — and they don’t care what absorbing all of its Palestinians will mean for Israel’s future as a Jewish democracy.

Let’s start from the very beginning. It was the Democrats who decided to make Israel a wedge issue,and they needed to do it because they nominated someone for president with far more anti-Semitic and ‘anti-Zionist’ close associations and baggage than any other presidential candidate in history. They did it because they needed to make Barack Obama’s questionable views and history on Israel mainstream and acceptable. That’s why George Soros created J-Street, and why Jews like Ed Koch, Sarah Silverman, Dennis Ross and Alan Dershowitz were deputized to perform in one of the greatest political con jobs in history.

And let’s remember… it wasn’t Barack Obama who shut down the so-called peace process, it was Palestinian unelected Gauleiter Mahmoud Abba. And Abbas did it because President Obama did something Friedman has advocated for years and that no U.S. president had ever done before. he made any Israeli building in Judea and Samaria or in all of Jerusalem a major, toxic issue.

Not only did he and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outright lie and repudiate written assurances and guarantees President Bush made Israel as part of the Road Map, but coming into office with an animus against Israel nurtured by long time associates like Edward Said, Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers and Rashid Khalidi, the president was convinced that Israel was the problem and that pressuring them was the solution. So the president not only created a hostile climate with the Israelis but gave assurances to Abbas and the ‘Palestinians’ that he could deliver the Jews on a platter.

Of course, after that Abbas refused to negotiate anything unless all his demands were met in advance, and naturally Abbas consistently vowed he would not make a single concession to Israel.

So when President Obama couldn’t deliver the Jews as he had promised, Abbas turned intransigent, and accused President Obama of leaving him ‘up a tree’. After which he and his minions declared the Oslo Accords dead, thus nullifying the entire basis of the agreement between Israel and the ‘Palestinian’ Authority.And then, doubling down, Abbas signed a unity agreement with the genocidal Hamas.

While Abbas may never have actually had any serous intent on negotiating anything, it was President Obama who created the preconditions that now hold things up, at least according to the ‘Palestinians’. As Mahmoud Abbas himself related, it was President Obama’s idea to make a building freeze a major issue when it wasn’t before, even to the point of creating a major diplomatic incident between the US and Israel over what was essentially a local zoning issue and then harshly criticizing Israel for rejecting an offer to resume the freeze that the US never made in the first place.

Friedman has boasted before that President Obama ‘listens’ to him on Middle East policy. I can well believe it.

In our non-Council category, the winner was Victor Davis Hanson with California: The Road Warrior Is Here submitted by Joshuapundit. It’s a report on the ground of how California is reverting in many areas to a virtually lawless and uncontrolled wasteland. And living in the state as I do, I can verify that VDH is not exaggerating.

Okay, that said, here are this week’s full results. Rhymes With Right was unable to vote this week, but was not subject to the mandatory 2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

See you next week! Don’t forget to tune in on Monday AM for next week’s Watcher’s Forum, as the Council and their invited guests provide short takes and explore one of the provocative issues of the day… don’t you dare miss it. And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter… ’cause we’re cool like that!