Bob's BLOG

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. Alexander Tytler "Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage."

In the news recently, there has been much said about a Veteran (90+ years old), recipient of the Medal of Honor, and homeowner who was threatened with legal action if he did not remove a flag pole upon which he flew the American flag.  Not the first time this sort of thing happened and won't be the last. We should not have to take into account the fact the Veteran was 90 years, or medal of honor recipient, or homeowner - he IS an American home owner who just so happened to be proud of that fact!  He has all the right in this country to fly the American flag (period)....condominium or no condominium. In a letter last week, Sen. Webb of Virginia urged the association to "consider the exceptional nature of Col. Barfoot's service when considering his pride and determination in honoring our flag".  Nice words, Senator...but you should have done your homework!  Wow! this Senator doesn't even get it... "If that act of patriotism offends anyone, then so be it...

On the web today, yet another, school says it will put a halt to celebrating the Christmas Holiday since one person says it is against their belief or offensive to them.   That is all it takes...one person!   If they have one (just one person) person say that a specific celebration, such as Christmas, is offensive to them, then the school overreacts and rules out all celebrations as potentially offensive.  Many public school educators don't get it.  They simply don't want to offend anyone.  However, they take it a step further and say the school will only celebrate the season as a "winter holiday" in order to offend no one.  Well, here is something they should think about and take into consideration:  Celebrating Winter Solstice as a "Winter Holiday":   Winter Solstice, also known as Yule, is the shortest day and longest night of the year.  Winter Solstice occurs usually on the 21st December, although astronomically speaking, the ...

Over one month ago, I wrote that Obama was wondering how he could pander (without appearing to be pandering) to the American voters before sending more troops to Afghanistan.  He did as I predicted; he pandered - and then sent more!  He originally had four options, regarding the war: bring them home, statuesque, send more, or send none.  What he stated, after committing 30 thousand more troops, is truly odd to say the least.  He sent troops, and in the same breathe, he decided to bring them home, after 18 months. Wait, the WH (guarantee this) will retract the "18 month" as an oversight comment (monitor was on the blink perhaps!).  Can't begin to imagine how Robert Gibbs will answer those questions! He hasn't figured it out that you just can't please everyone in America or the World.  He is still trying to please everyone and forgets to help those that needed an honest commitment most - the Warriors in Afghanistan!  I would really like to know the t...

Senator Corker: These are words you sent me in an op-ed..."Unfortunately, I believe the Obama administration’s proposal takes us in exactly the wrong direction. It would be, in Governor Bredesen’s words, “the mother of all unfunded mandates,” sending billions in costs to already overburdened states...and, Congress’s first objective should be to do no harm."   I totally agree with your assessment! If the Obama administration is to blame for this health care debacle, and intent on moving us in the wrong direction, your work is to remove this legislation entirely from consideration. Then do the right thing and begin the reform in a step-by-step process. One large package will never fix this issue.  It will kill health care as I and the vast majority of Americans have known Health Care.  I pay premiums and am happy with my service provides.  We can all agree the biggest issue we all face is to ensure ALL Americans have access to Health Care. This should be whe...

I can actually say that I personally have never charged friends for helping them out or doing something for them.  Never have, never will!  That's just me! I can say I have helped my son do jobs for friends when he has had to charge them for his services - when he needed the money.  Rightly and justly so - he needed to do so!  (This is not to say he has not helped me out when I needed money when I helped him do the work - he gave of HIS money)  I have discovered that when you help a friend out and not charge them for your help you always are welcomed as a friend.  When you charge them a service fee you eventully become a contractor.  I would rather be a full-time friend than a part-time contractor.  Two distinctly different terms.

If you don't have the time, make it!  If you have the time, give of it!  Bob Sever

In my previous blog I asserted that freedom of expression does entail freedom to offend. In fact, in many ways freedom of expression is the right to offend. No one ever fought for the right to say nonoffensive things. I salute those that fought for our rights...!

Now this is something that really gets my gourd.  They are selling "FAKE PINE" trees at stores for the Christmas Season.  Can you tell me just one thing that I would want to do with a fake pine tree in my house -since apparently its not a fake Christmas Tree.   I realize that it was only a custom and erecting a Christmas Tree can be traced to 16th century Germany, though neither an inventor nor a single town can be identified as the sole origin for the tradition.   The earliest that a "real" pine tree was ever used and decorated for Christmas was in 1521 in Germany (in the region of Alsace).  In the Cathedral of Strasbourg in 1539, the church record mentions the erection of a Christmas tree - not a pine tree!  I like the term - Christmas Tree. But, I know all this.., as I'm of German Decent, but now I am an American - just "American", thank you!!!  And, I/we celebrate Christmas!  A Christmas Tree has been a "tradition" for us ever sin...

I refuse to blame others for who I am, for if I do, then I lose the right to be my best...Bob Sever

If you choose not to take care of IT, IT will take care of IT, and you might not like what IT did with IT....Bob Sever

The question is:  "Will Obama send more troops to Afghanistan?"  He has only four choices, send none, keep the statuesque, bring them home, or send more Here is my prediction:  He will send more troops later, much later!  Here is why I think he will send more and why he has not yet sent them.  (When he sends them it will take months to get them in place) First, his procrastination is indicative of his inexperience as a military commander.  As seasoned commanders know, you have to choose, oftentimes without all the information at hand, but you have to choose, or the enemy will choose for you.   Second, he is listening too much to his inner circle who are even less experienced on these matters.  Third, his inner circle has told him to fear those that elected him to the job based on his campaign promises.  In other words, this is all about pandering!  It is so sad to use politics to base ones decisions on, but it i...

It is always the common people who stand at the doorway, always willing to safeguard and protect those behind them; all the while the protected shout, throw stones and faintly offer to sacrafice their lives for those standing in the doorway.  Bob Sever

Now that Obama won the Nobel Prize for Peace can you just imagine the conundrum he is currently facing regarding Afghanistan.  He has the promise he made during his campaign to get out of Iraq within 18 months of his election, just to have this situation sprung on him.  His left friends are saying "pull out" altogether and the military is saying we will "lose" most surely if we don't reinforce NOW.    Well, while he is savoring the peace prize (which he got nominated for within 6 weeks of taking on the Presidency - go figure!), pulling the plug on the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic (really really really dumb!), entrenched in Guantanamo Bay (broken promise), tending to Czar replacements (rightly so), committee meetings with everyone that is someone or knows someone (he apparently needs lots and lots of people to help him think) to discuss some obscure General's request for more help, while we have our "kids" in Afghanistan putting...

"There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance."  Walt Whitman "The genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges, or churches, or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors, but always most in the common people."  Walt Whitman "And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt."  Sylvia Plath

I was fascinated by this article, I found it published in Historybuff.com.  Most know the story of the War of 1812, Fort McHenry and its connection to the STAR SPANGLED BANNER, but did you know the facts associated with the defenders that were there within the fort that night - they are highlighted in red below? For most American’s, all we know about the Star Spangled Banner is that Francis Scott Key wrote it as a result of seeing Fort McHenry being bombarded through the night. There is more information that makes it even more remarkable. Guarding the entrance to Baltimore harbor via the Patapsco River during the War of 1812, Fort McHenry faced almost certain attack by British forces. Major George Armistead, the stronghold's commander, was ready to defend the fort, but he wanted a flag that would identify his position, and one whose size would be visible to the enemy from a distance. Determined to supply such a flag, a committee of high-ranking officers called on Mary Young P...

Here is what Obama said in a CBS' "60 Minutes" interview to air Sunday night, Obama said he's "focused on overhauling health care the right way. "I have no interest in having a bill get passed that fails," he said. He acknowledged he will "own" whatever measure passes Congress, effective or not.  He may own it but he won't be under the plan as he and the Congress will insist on a personal plan for themselves, as they currently have.   He should have an overriding single interest - get it right initially and you won't have it fail!  It will fail, if not done correctly. I agree we need HealthCare reform and we should have reform NOW!  We do need to get this right, we don't need anyone telling us it is there way or no way.  Obama and the entire Congress should have vested "interest in getting it right the first time - for each item they overhaul".  Perhaps it will take one item at a time to fix the problem and not by pushi...

The NICHE market:  Websters defines niche as: "a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted or a specialized market".  Niche marketing may be the best strategy when going up against a big business or the established business. There are drawbacks however to this strategy.  There may be less product/service bid opportunities, higher initial costs to gear up with specialized tooling/machinery, single proposal development costs might be higher do to the complexity of the proposal. etc.  The benefits may be found in less upfront marketing costs, less inventory costs, fewer marketing staff, less proposal development costs (it takes money to put a proposal together. and if you don't win you just ate those costs), etc.  However, I feel that pursuing a niche market has many advantages.  And, the advantage can be increased significantly if you pursue a business model that you enjoy and are good at doing. I remember when...

Here are my thoughts on beginning any business.   Please offer any comments you might have. I believe the single most important step to starting up any business is the development of a sound Business Plan.    Monitoring the health of a business is possible with a sound business plan.  Business plans are like a road map and needs to be followed.  It has been said, "if you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there".  Without a clear, concise, and structured plan, the business eventually runs out of steam, money, whatever the intent might have been, etc.  Maintaining and refining the business plan is an essential and ongoing aspect for the new start and for those already in operation. I see a solid business plan being more important than having a wheel barrel full of money - sooner or later the money will run out.  Failure to achieve even a modest return on investment during the early development stages of a business will ...

Apparently, Mr Feinberg,  aka business CZAR, will begin "negotiating" compensation levels with top management for the large firms that were recently "bailed" out by the government.  As the Government now contends, "they were making too much for the too little services they provided their firm, and with to little relative benefit for the stockholders".  "Thank you", is all I can say to Mr. CZAR.  Go get em!  (I am not a fond proponent of these zillion dollar deals, but i do buy stock, and if these firms do not deliver, I exercise my option to move my money to those that hopefully will) Next, I hope they appoint a CZAR that will begin looking at the professional athletics that are negotiating 5, 10, 20, even a hundred million dollar deals.  These negotiated salary/incentives are outrageous too!  Perhaps, after the government negotiates players deals, we average Americans will be able to afford going to a game and buying a "hot dog and soda...

After 35 years service with the federal government I have decided to do something I have always wanted to do. I have always wanted to start a business. Perhaps so much so in fact that, my chosen profession of 35 years in Government actually positioned me to help others start their own business. As a former business adviser I had a mission; my mission was to help others become successful, now I am on my personal mission. (Funny thing the "word" mission - I'll get into that a bit later) I had often been asked what I was going to do once I retired from the Government. Most folks I met wanted to know if I was going to get a "real job" when I got out of the Government.. Cute, huh! I'm sure all the other dedicated Government employees out there have heard that being expressed before....! Well, it's now my time to find out what a real job is all about. In retirement, I should be relishing the life of leisure in my golden years. However, I can still feel ...

I had to go back into history to find out what I now know about CZARs . Give Obama a break on this one. He was NOT the first president to use CZARs to help him run the country. Actually, it was Roosevelt, who first used them. And, then they were referred to as "dictators". Nixon even had them and since he did not like the term "dictators", he referred to them as CZARs . So shut up you right wing hooligans. Again, Obama did not start this one, he just expanded on the idea. Last count I heard was he had about 34 CZARs running around the country. Don't ask me who they all are and how much they make or what they do. But, I have an idea on one thing, bet you they make more money than you or I. In my schools days, I was taught and under the impression that "checks and balances" were part of our Constitution. Our Founding Fathers very much wanted it this way for a specific reason, "so that no branch of the government became more powerful tha...

This morning as I turned on the TV set on my way to make coffee, a national ( CNN:HLN Channel) news segment had apparently earlier asked its viewers to write in and tell them who "they would raise taxes on if they had the ability to do so". I'm paraphrasing now but here is how it was played out: One person wrote in and said, "raise taxes on the big oil companies but do it APPROPRIATELY". This individual's email actually had the word APPROPRIATELY spelled in capital letters. The second individual wrote in and said, "raise taxes on the junk food companies because they make food taste good which forces us to eat it and yet it is bad for us".  (They will one day raise prices on Junk Food, mark my words!) Honest, i'm not making this up!!!!! As to the first writer, i'm ASSUMING (I capitalized this word to make a point too) they think raising taxes APPROPRIATELY would not effect the average consumer - ergo, their use of the CAPS! In o...

Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. This is Wikipedia's definition of the term Spam. Apparently, it is not abuse when the Government SPAMs its own ordinary citizens. And, get this, they even use our taxes money to hire a company to do the spamming for them. Even worse, they SPAM us on the subject of Government run HealthCare - which I last heard, the vast majority of Americans think is heading in the wrong direction. Now in my opinion this is just another example of plain abuse through and through! I don't know about you, but I think this is also another way of raising our taxes. Just like my checking account, if you spend you have to put it back into your account or you get a naughty overdraft notice. In today's climate of economic downturn, don't you think they could use the monies more wisely. And, where is the cross-the-board outcry fr...

I have been mulling this thought over for some time now and feel it needs to be put to pen. Ever wonder how many of our elected officials in Washington were real entrepreneurs before seeking your vote? I wasn't really sure, but I had my own opinion! Well, most are lawyers. To be an entrepreneur or to want to become one takes a drive that not all individuals have. Long tedious hours, broke one moment rich the next - then broke perhaps again - then having to make the payroll, paying bills, wondering if you're going to make it, re-wondering, thinking rethinking, etc. Hard life! Entrepreneurs are almost like the everyday married couple I guess; long hours, being broke one moment a little money the the next - then broke perhaps again, paying bills. Takes a rare breed to be successful at being married and/or an entrepreneur. The exhilaration of success is ONE driver that surely inspires and keeps a person going in business. Bottom line is that it takes a deep abiding drive, i...

I know and realize that all too often I make the remark "Im Retired". Perhaps it is out of fear of the unknown, the realization that live is coming to a close, or, just to "rub it into your face" and/or for whatever reason you might feel. Nevertheless, I am very happy to have made it this far in life, so I thought I would put to words what this time in my life means to me. Here's a poem I composed for all the other retirees and retiree wanna be's to read. Hope you enjoy! I Am Retired. The fallen have gone before me, the newly risen yet to come. I await the morning sunshine, prey, I view a setting sun. I am retired, but day is not yet done. Work no longer beckons me, to drive its hurried lane. I settle in as a passenger prey, cruising never to refrain. I am retired, but the finish I've yet to gain. Sons and daughters go their way, inspired, humbled or driven' For them did I toil and terry, Prey, they surpass all my livin'. ...

Apparently, the World Health Organization (the WHO) ranked and rated 191 counties health care services a few years ago. Now who would question the rankings and ratings of such a highly respected organization as the United Nations? (The World Health Organization ( WHO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health .) Now, I absolutely trust the United Nations and have the utmost respect for this organization. (snicker!) To cut to the chase: America ranked a meager 37 th out of 191 (slightly ahead of Cuba and Slovenia). Simply amazing! To verify this rating and what is within the report check out: (www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks/html). Well, the real irony I discovered by doing my own research of their report is: Who did WHO ask to rate their countries systems? The receivers of services - you and me? NO.! The WHO went directly to the providers of services - and, some providers did not even li...

What is life? Life is a gift, accept it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Life is a mystery, unfold it. Life is a game, play it. Life is a struggle, face it. Life is beauty, praise it. Life is a puzzle, solve it. Life is opportunity, take it. Life is sorrowful, experience it. Life is a song, sing it. Life is a goal, achieve it. Life is a mission, fulfill it... One of my goals has been to attempt to fulfill the above each and every day, I will paste them on my screen-saver, desktop and other places to remind each day. Perhaps it will make me a better person; perhaps, just as important, these may inspire, uplift, or get someone through a daily or life long struggle. Guess what? One thing I have learned since I began posting to my blog is: "there must be lots of lonely people out there". Why, just yesterday, I received an email for one such lonely person. Her name was Pamela and she said she saw my "postings" on-line and was so impressed she felt ...

Oh, so true... I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half the things you do, you might just as well turn over to me, And I will be able to do them quickly and correctly. I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done, And after a few lessons I will do it automatically. I am the servant of all great men. And, alas, of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine. Plus, the intelligence of a man. You may run me for profit, or run me for ruin; It makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me And I will put the world at your feet. Be easy with me, and I will destroy you. Who am I? I am HABIT! Since retirement, I have taken a more active roll in...

Who would have known....! A dear friend of mine inspired me to create my very own BLOG. Apparently, she too feels, as do I, the compelling need to put into words the thoughts of yet another BOB. So, here goes. I wish to begin by championing some of my life long tenets - my BUTS, so to speak: (I will be sharing more of my BUTS throughout my blogs) I don't always want to be a leader - but, I will never always be led I don't always want to be a follower - but, I will follow what i believe in I don't always want to be an activist - but, I will remain active I'm retired - but, I am not out of the race... Enjoy. Since these are my very own personal blogs (and yet open to the world), I can only promise to try my best. Hopefully, my blogs are ' ing'ing , as in: inspiriting, motivating, moving, refreshing, stimulating, stirring, inspiring, and informing. Hey, all I ask in return is your indulgence of my inner perspec...