REAL WORK

I sell stuff. Most of my life I have been in the process of influencing others to do what I think is best. It took me until I was about 35 years old to realize that I should be a Salesperson. At that point, I had a good middle management job with hundreds of people working for me. I quit to go sell food.

In the business of selling, there are too many people who talk about selling and too few who really know how to do it. I think I know how to sell almost anything, but I could be wrong. I am SURE I know how to sell food to Restaurants and I really like to do it. My wife, Pam, is better at selling than me. She can talk with the toughest Buyer or Chef and win their trust. Pam is real. She is genuine and buyers can see this quality in the first five minutes of talking with her.

Today, I left my Office to go sell with a Distributor Salesperson named Jake. It was great to hang around out by the Dumpster, waiting for the time to go see the Buyer. We walked in and went into the kitchen. This is a place that few customers ever get to see. Then back, through the storeroom, and to the area the Chef calls his "Office."

The Chef was a Japanese man who spoke only limited English. I was there to show him two kinds of shrimp. I handed him my card with two hands and bowed slightly. He nodded his head and accepted me. We sold him a case of shrimp and I think he will become a long term customer for the Distributor. It was only one case of shrimp, but it felt good to be back in the mix. Jake was glad I was there to help him discuss shrimp. In the process, I helped him with salad oil too. It was real work, like back in the good old days. It almost made me want to head over to 7-11 in Eureka for a Hot Dog. Man those were the days.

GLOBAL WARMING

This Global Warming is really a problem. It is 37 below in North Dakota and I hear it may get to zero in St Louis on Thursday. Ha ha ha ha. Al Gore must be freezing his butt off if he is in Tennessee. Here? in Los Angeles it is 83 today....a little too warm for me. I drove the convertible this morning but at lunch I had to put the top up. Just too warm. We had to run the air conditioner last night. It was 78 and a little too warm for sleeping.

MICKEY

The Lyrics from the Frank Sinatra song, My Way, tend to sum it up.

I've lived a life that's full
I've traveled each and every highway
and more, much more than this
I did it my way

Mickey Rourke won the Golden Globe last night for Best Actor for his role as Randy "the Ram" Robinson. Over the years Mickey Rourke had turned down roles that may have won him the Oscar. He was offered the role of Elliot Ness in the movie the Untouchables. He was offered the role of Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop. He was offered the role that Tom Cruise took in Rain Man. In each case, Mickey did it his way. Much of the time this would be considered, the hard way.

Mickey grew up a tough kid learning to box at an early age. At one point in his amateur career, he won 12 consecutive fights with first round knock outs. Think about that. He won twelve fights in a row by knocking out his opponent in the first round of the fight. I first remember him in Body Heat. He played the arsonist who helped William Hurt cover up the crime. It was a small part but Mickey had style. His style carried over to many other great and not so great roles. One of his really interesting roles was as Francis of Assisi in the movie Francesco. Mickey reportedly donated his salary from the 1989 film to the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Mickey is Irish Catholic and has the IRA tattoo on his left arm.

Regardless, in a movie world of pretend tough guys Mickey Rourke stands out as the real thing. In 2006, Mickey called Tom Cruise a "cunt' for his comments about Brooke Shields. Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Johnny Depp all praise Mickey's work. Go see the Wrestler and support the film and this original actor, who has done things his way.

SENATOR BURRIS

As a former resident of Illinois, I am from Belleville originally, I want to weigh in on this Soap Opera in Illinois State Government. Today, it looks like Roland Burris will be admitted to the US Senate.

Many people have said this would NEVER happen. Senate Majority Leader, Harry "Scary" Reid said just last week that he would not allow Burris to be seated. Dick "the Dick" Durbin, the sitting Illinois Senator also said this would NEVER happen. My dear mother in law last weekend told me she did not think it would happen. And yet, it seems to be ready to take place.

Why? Isn't the Illinois Governor a crook? Didn't he try to sell the Senate seat? Isn't there a criminal trail ready to start? Well, maybe and maybe not.

First, let's drift back in time. Most of you do not know anything about History. Senators were always appointed by the State Governor. Much like the House of Lords, that the Senate was design around, these were never elected positions. The original goal was to balance the large states with big populations with the small states with small populations. The House would be elected by popular vote. The Senate would be appointed by the States. Governors tended to appoint friends and supporters...duh. Then in 1913, we passed the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. This provided for direct election of Senators and replacement by appointment in the case of death or resignation.

Zoom forward to today. The legally elected Governor of Illinois has the right to appoint the Senator to replace Obama. There really are not rules about who or who may not be appointed. Truth be known....I'll bet favors have always been exchanged for these and other appointments. Regardless, this is how the system works.

So, Roland Burris will be the new Senator. It is legal and nobody is going to try to stop a Black man from becoming Senator to Replace Barrack Obama. If I had been the Governor, I would have appointed myself. I still think he is going to be out of work soon.

1984 is here..BIG BROTHER is watching

BIG BROTHER, in case you don't read much, was the fictional identity of the dictator of Oceania. In this future totalitarian state, the population was under constant surveillance by "telescreens". The book, 1984, was written by George Orwell. Originally, the title was to have been 1948. Orwell believed that Cold War England would decline into a life of constant surveillance.

Today, London has the most public surveillance cameras of any city on earth. Now they are coming to Amerika.

Redflex Traffic Systems is an Australian company which has developed Traffic Control systems for Red Lights and Highway Speed. Here is a link: http://www.redflex.com/ Our recent trip to Scottsdale gave me first hand knowledge of these Traffic Cameras. You need to begin to fight these systems and the SURVEILLANCE that is coming to your freeway, street, and neighborhood.

Arizona is the test ground for these systems. Redflex has an agreement with Arizona Department of Public Safety to install 200 freeway cameras in the greater Phoenix area. They believe that these systems will issue over 103 million dollars worth of traffic tickets in 2009. Redflex sets up the cameras and systems for a percentage of the ticket revenue. As drivers have become aware of the cameras, they have reduced their speed in these areas. Now Redflex is setting up "Mobile Camera" units using decoy vehicles including BMWs and pick up trucks.

Redflex are not the police and they do not have to follow the same rules the police would have to follow. A Redflex ticket sent to your home assumes that you are guilty until proven innocent. It is up to you to prove that you DID NOT speed. Ya, how are you going to do this? They set up the system that pays them to issue tickets. They do not care who is guilty. They just want to issue as many tickets as possible. You have to PROVE you did not speed.

If you Google Redflex or Speed Enforcement in Phoenix you will get hundreds of articles and Blogs about these Cameras. Trust me, these cameras combined with an expanded TSA will result in CONSTANT SURVEILLANCE in the coming years. We need to stop this before we have no right to privacy left.