In a matter of hours the polls will open across the U.S.A.  I have already voted and no, I’m not going to say who I voted for because it’s not germane to what I’m about to write. Now that this dreadfully long campaign is mercifully coming to an end, I can’t help but wonder how and when we will recover from it.   In my opinion, no politician should ever be fully trusted nor hopes and dreams placed on their winning or losing. Perhaps a bit cynical on my part, especially being a glass half full kind of guy.  I am tired of the vitriol, hate-mongering, personal attacks, etc. I sense this country is more divided than ever before in my lifetime.  What good is that really?

God is sovereign and in control no matter who is in the White House next January. I hope and pray, no matter who wins, the people of this country will by God’s grace and mercy end the bitterness and rancor. The challenge I have taken up is to pray daily for whoever is elected. (Even if it’s the person I didn’t vote for.) Sincerely pray for him and his family, for safety, wisdom, discernment, decision making, etc.  Also to pray for those on his staff and those protecting him.

I know I won’t agree with everything he does (speaking of either candidate), but that does not mean I have to be bitter about it. Instead turn that frustration or anger into humble, sincere prayer for the man.

Against my better judgement, I work in corporate America.  Thus I hear, and to my exasperation, speak corporate jargon that is useless, misleading and not really necessary.

I know there have been many posts across the internet on this subject, but this list is what I have heard, and embarrassed to say, spoken in my work environment:

“leverage” = Use far too few people, to do far to much work, in a far too short a timeframe.
“resources” = People. But apparently we can’t be given that respect.
“going forward” = In the future.
“engagement” = Morale. Hiding the fact it’s low.
“operational effectiveness” = Efficiency.  Lack there of.
“thought leadership” = “Brilliant” ideas that are foolish.
“process improvement” = Fixing what was crap to begin with.
“stratification” = Re-organization of the company for the 100th time.
“business need” = Sorry, though your request makes sense, it’s far too smart and logical to be approved.
“heroic” = Insincere “pat on the back” for being overworked.
“client ready” = Covered up so it looks good to the client, but not the whole truth.
“blue chip item” = Deemed highly important even though it’s not.
“let’s parking lot that” = I don’t know the answer so I’m going to put that off until later and never answer you.
“reach out” = Call, e-mail, or IM someone.
“lets table that” = Let’s put that off until later since it’s making me look bad because I don’t know the answer and never will.
“one firm, firm” = ?  It’s not possible to have any sort of definition for this phrase.
“subject matter expert” = Experienced.
“touch base” = Meeting. But we won’t call it a meeting because the word meeting creates low “engagement”.
“body of work” = This doesn’t even make sense in my company’s business.
“learnings” = This isn’t even a word!
“circle back” = Start over again because every thing you did is wrong.
“showstopper” = We will all lose our jobs if we get this wrong.
“offshoring” = Get your resume in order.

I’m sure many have heard the same jargon or variations of such words.  Of course I’m sure there are many doozies I have not heard.

I work in corporate America for a large firm, which will remain unnamed for the purposes of this post. As with most large firms, we have an internal main news page that we view daily for internal news/announcements/info. As the anniversary of 9/11 was this past Monday, I expected to see a brief statement acknowledging that horrible day in America that none of us will forget (or so I thought). I checked several times that day and literally no mention of 9/11 at all. Not a peep.

Of course I realize that in the politically correct (PC) corporate world they fear offending people to the point of being unreasonable. It seemed to me that there was no reason or excuse for my company to not write a simple, brief note of reflection about 9/11 on a day that affected all of its employees. In a way it didn’t surprise me at all, since their actions have been similarly ignorant in the past. However in my opinion they hit a new low with ignoring this day.

I submitted feedback to the internal communications department of my firm (responsible for the content of our news page) expressing my disappointment and inquiring why they did not acknowledge that day. I have not received a response and probably never will which is a shame.

I can speculate as to why it was not mentioned, from a simple oversight/technical problem (very hard to believe) to fear of “offending” someone. The latter seems a bit over the top, but it would not surprise me if that was partially true. Who would they offend? Good question.

Ok I’m tired of Direct TV. Really tired. I have been a long standing customer, and really had no problems with their service until last December. I will spare you the gory details, lets just say it took over 12 calls to Direct TV, 3 calls to the local Direct TV technicians, over 11 hours of time on the phone/hold (including one time waiting 2 hours on hold with a Direct TV rep trying to call the local technicians), Escalated 4 times, 2 visits from the installers (who’s boss lied to me 3 times), 1.5 wasted vacation days from work, all over a month span to just get an upgraded satellite dish installed with HD receiver.

After all of that, it took 4 more calls and 3 more hours of time on the phone/hold to request a simple receipt for this transaction since it does not appear on my bill. Each time I was told they don’t give receipts and my request was “unusual”. Umm… for a simple receipt? I was promised one and never received one to this day. I gave up. Not sure what businesses do not provide a receipts if requested by a customer.

6 months have passed and now the HD receiver they gave me in this debacle, does not work, it is junk now. It took 3 calls to tech support, to finally get them to send a technician out. They had to nerve to try and charge me 70 bucks for the technician. Mind you the problem was not one that a technician needed to be sent. He arrived, looked at it for a minute and said “your box is kaput, call them to get a replacement.” Hmmm… um ok I told them that 3 times on the phone. What was the point of him coming out? Especially since he is not allowed to bring a replacement! So now a fourth call to tech support, They send out a new one. I get the new one tonight, hook it all up, press the power button and… (more…)

This is exactly why I refuse to go near any shopping malls or stores on the day after Thanksgiving. I like to get a deal as much as anyone, but when it’s necessary to sleep on the street overnight and fight though people to get to the goods first at 5 a.m. for a big discount, I’ll pass. My loss? Not a chance. Funny thing is most stores these days have comparable deals year round, not just on one day. Foolishness indeed. I was sleeping soundly while this insanity was going on.

Glad to report my friends in the Houston-area of Texas were able to return to their homes, all of which had little to no damage and the electricity was on. Gas is still scarce, but that’s really not a big deal considering what could have been if there was a direct hit by Rita.

They dodged the bullet however far east Texas and western Lousiana did not. The first pictures have come in from the air of the affected areas, complete devastation is best way to describe it.

I heard an ignorant comment by a TV anchor (now there’s a surprise) sitting so comfortably in their studio in New York. They said that if there were a good place for Rita to hit, it was where it ended up since it was not as densely populated. Well tell that to the who lost their homes there. The fact is there is no “good” or “preferable” place for any hurricane to hit no matter the size of the population.

I’m heading to Dallas tomorrow afternoon to help in the Katrina relief effort. There are some shelters and groups that I might be working with there, but am still working out the details since this has been somewhat quickly put together in the past few days. Thank the Lord for a cheap last minute airfare! I will try to blog from there about my experiences.

In the mean time, I have something to say to those out there who aren’t victims of this tragedy but feel the need (for political reasons or not) to point fingers as to who is to blame about what happened in the aftermath. You will have all the time in the world to point fingers much later on, but it is wasted energy now! Instead, focus on helping the victims, locally or in the affected areas. We cannot have the notorious American short attention span on this. It’s a long term recovery that should not be forgotten. Donations and help will be needed for quite a long time.

Please donate money and/or volunteer with these or other relief organizations:

• Salvation Army

• Samaritan’s Purse

• Red Cross

I have to say the more I watch coverage of this disaster the more I want to do something beyond what I have donated already. Like physically go do something. It’s so sad to see what is happening in the affected areas. I can not even begin to fathom what it must be like to be in that situation.

I’ve been watching the coverage on CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC. For the most part they have done a great job covering this story amidst difficult conditions. However, I have to say what in world are the big 3 networks, CBS, ABC, NBC thinking? Even tonight they have re-runs and worthless “reality shows” on. The worst natural disaster in the history of this country and they have that crap on TV with maybe an hour special coverage in prime time? Ugh! Clueless networks!

All of that and what I have to say is an apathy about this tragedy. Some people, including many I have encountered in the past few days seem to only be paying attention to this when it raises gas prices and complain about that. Ugh! Perspective people! Look… We have what could be close to a million homeless people from this! Thousands could be dead! The first complete evacuation of a major city in US history.

God help those people in need. And show us as a nation how to assist them.

Please consider donating money to relief organizations such as:

• Salvation Army

• Samaritan’s Purse

• Red Cross

Today Pat Robertson apologized for his statement Monday. The official press release included a brief apology and followed by a long explanation. After reading the statement, the final sentence seemed clearly sum up what he was trying to do:

“In any event, the incredible publicity surrounding my remarks has focused our government’s attention on a growing problem which has been largely ignored.”

There it is. This sums up his press release and his real intentions. Playing the political game of making an extreme statement to bring attention to the issues surrounding Chavez. The ol’ “All publicity is good publicity” ploy to promote an agenda.

Now I can understand trying to promote what he believes the government and public should be aware of. However, using such extreme an statement to gain attention is by no means acceptable as a Christian.

In addition, he commented on his TV show today that “I didn’t say assassination”, however he most certainly did! Come on Pat! Stop playing the tricks of politicians! Christians can be involved in politics and government, but shouldn’t conduct themselves like politicians.

Pat Robertson, the host of the “The 700 Club”, must have decided to turn off the “don’t say that on TV” filter in his brain yesterday when he made the outrageous request calling for the murder of the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez.

My open letter to Robertson:

Mr Robertson, Chavez has been shown to be at the very least a kook and a threat to many. Not too many will argue with you on that front. But calling for such extreme and frankly un-Biblical actions is just plain wrong. Did you ever think what you say in such an off-the-cuff manner would not have an affect or reaction? Especially in such a time where the news media is looking for any excuse to make Christians look bad. I think you knew exactly what you were doing and can come up with a list of speculation as to why you said it. In the end, from my perspective, there is no good reason why you made such demands.

Pat, I’m sure you believe that even Chavez can come to know Christ has Savior and Lord. As a Christian, is murdering Chavez a solution? Of course not.

I know we all say things we wish we could take back. I certainly hope that was the case here with you.

As an evangelical Christian, I do not agree with what Mr. Robertson said should happen to the Venezuelan president and would like to say his views do not represent evangelical Christians in America. Mr. Robertson should be reminded that Jesus came to save EVERY person from sin. Even President Chavez could turn from his evil ways.

Case in point, General Manuel Noriega. Remember him? The corrupt, drug running former president of Panama. Well he\’d5s in an American prison now. Despite the despicable, corrupt, and evil things he has done in his past, he has come to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior. It has been confirmed by many that Noriega is a changed man.
Even though the damage is done, I hope Pat will apologize and ask for forgiveness. I forgive him despite my opposition to his comments.

An article I read this past weekend about the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) discussing proposed changes to their policies was one of those “Give me a break” moments.

Most of the proposals to make things “easier” on travelers are frankly foolish and dangerous. For example: “lift the ban on carrying razorblades and small knives” and “allow scissors, ice picks and bows and arrows on flights”. This is completely ignorant and insane! Why in the world would they now allow similar types of objects that the evil terrorists used to take over the airplanes on September 11th?

As the 4th anniversary of that horrible day approaches, have they forgotten why they made all the changes to being with? I travel several times a year and I know many others who travel much more than that. They, as well as most people I encounter in airports know the restrictions on what is carried-on are many and I don\’d5t hear too many complain about it. It’s understood and makes sense.

Seems like they want to change things that should not change and remain the status quo for obvious changes needed. Case in point, another article reports babies, yes babies, are being denied boarding on flights because their name is exactly the same or similar to names on a terrorist watch list. Come on TSA! Get it together!

We all want to be secure and appreciate what they do, but this is an example of something that seems a bit ridiculous. At least the aforementioned “proposals” and are not implemented yet. I sincerely hope they won’t be.

Here in the U.S., today is Independence Day. A day when we celebrate our independence as a nation and the freedom that comes with it. Freedom unlike any other country in the world.

These days too many Americans are so focused on opposing the current administration that they lose perspective on what we really have here as a nation. Hearing people say they would rather leave the country than live here under George W. Bush. Of course those same people still live here, make a living here, and in the end probably never would have left in the first place.

My hope, though it may not be realistic, is that all citizens of this country would take time to be thankful for the freedom we have in this country. Many of us, myself included, take this freedom for granted everyday.

On this day when we celebrate our freedom, I most importantly what to thank all of our men and women in the Armed Services for what they do. We support you and thank you for your sacrifice in defending this country and keeping it free.