Perfect Business

Conservative republicans accused President Obama of opposition to business. What does opposition to business mean? Does it mean Bernie Madoff and AIG, no accountability, no enforcement, and no regulation? If so, then Obama opposes business. Does it mean uncontrolled pollution and collapsing bridges? If so, then Obama opposes business. Does it mean dangerous food, inadequate disaster response, and discrimination? If so, then Obama opposes business. Does it mean all the resources and all the income are controlled by a few people? If so, then Obama opposes business.

The conservatives accused another President of opposing business. His name was Theodore Roosevelt, and the business was Standard Oil. No doubt that ruined the country. By now we could have a government operated for profit by one corporation, like Idi Amin in Uganda. Wouldn’t that be perfect?

Here's Thinking For You.
Iffy

Full Ride

Shanna McLaughlin got a lot of exposure in a UCF locker room and subsequently on the internet, as the images went from less than outlandish
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/432879-shanna-mclaughlin-pics-the-playboy-playmate-and-ucf-fan-causes-a-stir#page/7

to borderline pornography as reported by some kind of illiterate scribblealazzi.
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6487262-shanna-mclaughlin-shot-nude-in-university-of-central-florida

One entertaining thing about the internet is just how much the information can be lost in translation, or even just transfer. Apparently the mere attempt to repeat information is too much for some reporters. Female nudity in college football locker rooms makes interesting headlines, but in this case it’s also misunderstanding at best and sheer fantasy otherwise.

But Shanna McLaughlin in the locker room doesn’t bother me. The more blessings we can find to celebrate the better as far as I’m concerned. What does bother me is that anyone employed by the university would think it was okay to provide access to university facilities without consulting the legions of bureaucrats we employ to administer such things, alum or no alum. Do you have any idea what kind of hoops a business has to jump through to get approved for operating on campus? The university athletic department wouldn't even dignify a polite inquiry from Iffy with a reply, but a publication connected to adult entertainment can walk in and somebody hands them the key.

I’m not complaining. I just want to make sure we understand who really runs this parking-lot carnival.

Here’s Thinking for you.
Iffy

The Wages of Sin is Wages

Mark Hurd bailed out of Hewlitt Packard after some kind of sexual harassment suit landed in their laps.
http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20100806/7ff465f1-26ff-485d-a021-cf6229cbd0e8

What exactly Hurd did to qualify for the shakedown is very unclear. Hurd himself and the company he is credited with revitalizing by cutting about a thousand jobs seem to be saying there was no sex and no harassment, only some kind of misinterpretation. For this minor carelessness they canned his ass, and he settled with his adversary for an undisclosed amount. Do you suppose she got forty dollars and a tee-shirt?

A pillow stuffed with about 30 million cushioned Hurd’s fall from grace. I don’t think you could call it a parachute. I don’t think there’s any way to make 30 million buoyant. Where do I sign up for harassment?

Here's Thinking for You.
Iffy

Gramatikly Speaking

For a long time, I thought hassle was spelled hastle. Funny how the rules work when you're not paying attention, and I was critical of Michael Zerbe because the introduction to his book insisted that the contributions of his colleagues could not be "underestimated." Speaking of which (if this can be considered speaking) is refudiating really a word, or is Marilyn Standard-Pseudonym just goofing on me? (cryptic Facebook reference) But on the other hand, why not?

I also thought the level of grammatical consistency in national publications was declining because of electronic communciations, but when I went back and started looking at publications from the Seventies, Twenties, and before 1900, I came to the conclusion that there have always been a lot of typos in all kinds of publications, in spite of pedantic ranting about excellence and accuracy in writing.

Experts like Bennett are probably some of the worst offenders. Not only do they make mistakes, but they claim to set the standards. So is the question really whether the message gets across or not?

Here's Thinking for You.
Iffy