David Cooper, One in a MIllion

David Cooper is an interesting man and one that could be an example to the rest of the world. He is a storekeeper in an age when the word has pretty well disappeared from our vocabularly. Every morning he has the front door at Coopers Red and White unlocked at 7am and it doesn't close until 8 at night 9 in the summer 6 days a week, 7 from mid June until the end of September. But if you need anything on a Sunday the rest of the year or some gas at 11 at night David opens the door puts on a smile takes care of you.

If there is anything David understands it is taking care of customers, want some groceries delivered, David is your boy and there won't be any fees for gas tacked on. He has more energy than anyone I have ever met, never complains and works tirelessly for the community in which he lives. I was over at the store the other night and he was talking with the manager of the rink, seems David was down volunteering on Sunday running the Zamboni and generally looking after things. If anyone needs at truck or a ride to town or something picked up David is the first to step up. Never misses a wake no matter how busy he is.

He is a very successful businessman, totally devoted to his family and his community and friends, I don't think he would know the meaning of the word enemy or petty, friends with everyone.

You certainly couldn't call David educated in a scholastic way but man does he know about what it takes to be successful. He will quickly tell you how much he hated school and avoided it as much as possible. I've heard him say on many occaisions "God, but I hated school, I'd rather shovel shit all day long than have to go. He says that sometimes he has a terrible nightmare. God, he says I woke up with the worst nightmare, I dreamed I was back in school, you know I'd rather shovel shit all day long than have to go back there.

He would make an interesting lecturer for a Masters of Business Administration class. They probably wouldn't pay much attention to him as he told them about getting up early, working late, satisfy your customers, keep your books straight, make friends of everyone you meet, never make anyone feel bad about themselves and smile no matter what. That is they wouldn't pay attention unless his personal net worth statement and balance sheet from his business was projected on a screen. You would hear the collective sucking in of breath and arseholes snapping shut then.

But Davids biggest successes are not monetary, they are the way he enjoys living life and relating and helping out the people around him. Now thats a real man.

Whats Wrong with being happy

I had to read deeper when I saw a headline on the www.canada.com website that read:

Canadians too "hedonistic" to change politics overnight.

First I had check on the meaning of hedonistic which I always understood to be a positive term meaning being happy. I was right, the online Merriam Webster dictionary says its "having a goal to find happiness." Once again I am confused, because usually the news focusses upon unhappiness or controversy as headline grabbers. Would I be right in jumping to the conclusion that pursuing happiness is a negative thing, because thats how I read it.

Apparently Paul Weyrich did an essay for the Free Congress Foundation, a US based think tank. He is of the opinion that its going to take some time under a Conservative government for us to turn from our public ethic of hedonism. He goes on to say, "but with leadership it well might be possible to change the public ethic". Now maybe I'm way off base here, but I don't think that even in the darkest corner of Stephen Harpers political policy ambitions there is a thought that it would be a good thing to actively seek to have Canadians to want to be unhappy.

I wonder if he will have a comment if he discovers that one of the goals I have in life is to not be hit by a car. I am pretty sure it would hurt and the long term effects could be "terminal". Would he write

"Jim Kinnee enjoys life to much to seek death by being hit by a motor vehicle."

And you know what, no matter how long or persuave an argument someone makes about the benefits of being "run over", I'm not going to change. But maybe I will, Weyrich goes on to state that the solution to this happy, want to live thinking can be overcome by appointing more small c- conservatives to the courts.

I must be dull, I just don't get it

I'm Starting to Look at the US Differently

I have always been a big supporter of the United States. When someone trashes the Americans I have always been quick to remind them about how much we owe to them as world leaders, but lately I am beginning to have some real concerns about how they conduct their affairs. Maybe its because as a Canadian we seem to put more value on things like honour, negotiating with a sense of fairness and believing that being polite and reserved are admirable qualities.

The squabble over softwood lumber that has been going on for years is a good example. I don't claim to have an understanding of that industry but I do know that there have been many decisions brought down in the dispute by trade regulatory bodies that rule the United States is clearly wrong in what they are doing. It seems that no matter what these agencies say the US is not going to abide by the rulings of the mechanisms they were instrumental in setting up say. It helps you to understand why there is such opposition to "free trade " with the US in other jurisdictions. They are becoming known as a rogue nation when it comes to living up to its standing agreements. The simple facts are, that they are imposing duties on lumber exports from Canada that apparently have no basis to be in place and then as an act of double dipping are paying these penalties out to United States lumber Companies. Thats the very worst kind of behaviour and blatent protectionism, shame shame on you.The US is becoming a classic example of "talk the talk" but can't "walk the walk" in a so many areas it is becoming part of the American culture.

It all came home to me when I was watching a documentary about a man on trial for war crimes. The man was Saddam Hussein and when his government was in jeopardy he ordered that his troops destroy their enemies and that included killing some of them. Suddenly it hit me, when the United States was in jeopardy George Bush ordered his troops to destroy their enemies and that included killing some of them. Apparently Saddams troops killed some innocent civilians, and apparently Georges troops killed some innocent civilians, interrupt me if I'm wrong but in both instances weren't the dead innocent Iraqi civilians. The difference is that Saddam is on trial for war crimes and George is portrayed as a defender of all thhings good and holy.

NOTE: I see on the news this morning that Saddam Hussein is beginning a process to have George Bush tried as a war criminal in the same fashion as he is being tried.

I have to stop for a while and sort this out in my head as suddenly I find it very confusing.

The part that I have real trouble rationalizing is that it just might be that George ordered the rain of destruction on Iraq for no valid reason, just like the US Dept of Commerce has placed duties on Canadian softwood lumber for, you got it, no valid reason.

Doesn't something seem a bit immoral here, its hypocritical to apply standards to others that you can't measure up to yourself.

Next item, the reconstruction of Iraq. During the first Gulf war the United States bombed the fuck out the Iraqi nation, basically destroying their infrastructure, oil terminals, roads, bridges, power plants, public buildings, the place was a wasteland. I remember General Swartzkoff and his famous pointer as he was showing who he referred to as the "unluckiest man in Iraq" to the laughs of the press corps and his staff. There was a bridge and the screen showed a laser aiming point in the middle, suddenly a vehicle sped into the crosshairs and the bridge suddenly blew up as about a ton of high explosive landed on this poor guys head.. HA HA HA the room exploded with laughter. What if this was the situation, the poor guy has his pregnant wife in the vehicle who was in labour and his two kids in the back seat, he's crying as he speeds along trying to calm his terrified wife and kids and get to a hospital. Wouldn't be quite as funny would it. Isn't it great to fight an antiseptic war and kill all these poor bastards from 30,000 feet and watch it from half a world away.

From what I understand the destruction to Iraq was about the same in both wars, here is a list from the 1991 war of the destruction

Schools and scholastic facilities – 3960
Universities, labs, dormitories – 40
Health facilities (including hospitals, clinics, medical warehouses) – 421
Telephone operators, communication towers, etc. – 475
Bridges, buildings, housing complexes – 260
Warehouses, shopping centers, grain silos – 251
Churches and mosques – 159
Dams, water pumping stations, agricultural facilities – 200
Petroleum facilities (including refineries) – 145
General services (shelters, sewage treatment plants, municipalities) - 830
Factories, mines, industrial facilities - 120

The difference was that after the first war Iraqi engineers went to work and within two years basically had eveything rebuilt. Now after the second Iraqi war the United States who decided they couldn't depend on the unskilled Iraqi construction forces to rebuild so they insisted it be done with good old Markan know how. (I use to love Lyndon Johnston come on TV and say "MA FELLO MARKANS"). Well sixty billion dollars and three years later you still can't turn on a light on for more than an hour in Baghdad. But at least as George loves to say, "we are the friends of the Iraqi people."

I think the whole world is starting to think, "with friends like this who needs enemies".

The Importance of a Vote

I had an interesting experience about democracy to day. I was talking with a business man friend who was very sour that the Liberals had lost the election. It kind of surprised me because this is a conservative thinking person who constantly grumbles about hye gives the government to much money all the time.

So I said, I'm surprised you would feel like that because it seems to me that the issues brought forward by the Conservatives are much closer to what you believe in. I would have thought you would probably have supported them.

"I'd never vote for a conservative" he said, "never have and never will!!!!

Now I am naive enough to think that the wonderful thing about democracy is that you get to listen to what the issues of the day are, analyze them and try to make a decision about which party has the best platform to serve the nation and yourself the best given the realities of the day. Apparently I was wrong, its OK to not pay any attention to what those issues are and just vote the same way no matter what. No wonder we have such a fucked up country in many ways.

I Think Voicemail is a Curse

For about 12 years I was the Administrator of a Government facility where 75 people from 8 Departments worked from. I came to recognize something about approximately 50% of them, they didn't understand that the most important of their jobs was to serve the needs of the public who incidentally paid all their salaries. This group looked upon interaction with the public as being an intrusion on their time.

Under the system that I had implemented at the time it was difficult for them to avoid that contact because every call coming to the center was answered at a receptionist position who could track them down and who knew where each person was. She could see at a glance from this wonderful thing called a switchboard if they were on their phone and maintained a status board where she could see if people were out of the office or in a meeting.

The culture that was in the facility was that the most important function of every person was to serve the publics requirements before the institutions. This meant there was no excuse for not responding promptly to a member of the public who was trying to reach someone. Now I believe every business or organization needs to put at the top of its list of priorities the necessity of managing contacts with clients and customers. Once voicemail is installed about 50% of individuals and probably 90% of government use it to avoid having to be in contact with the unwashed.

I get so fucking sick of phoning places and hearing "I can't take your call right now I am either away from my desk or on the phone, please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible. WHAT A PILE OF CRAP" What it really means is that I might check my messages at some point in the future and then if I think you are important enough I might get back to you.

One guy who worked in Charlottetown actually told me how much he loved voicemail because he never had to answer his phone anymore. I think that someone needs to design a telephone killer app that you could use to fill up a persons voicemail with electronic recorded messages and distribute it for free over the Internet with VOIP I think this could now be possible. Everytime you phoned someone who made you go through a menu, a system would deliver 50 voicemails to them which would fill up their voicemail box. They would then have to clear the messages out one at a time. The messages could sound like this.

"Thank you for taking my call on your voicemail. Its encouraging to know that my call is so important to you that you have chosen to record it for posterities sake. You must be psychic to know that my time is no importance and I have so much of it to spread around. Its nice to be treated with such respect by an an important person like you. In fact you have convinced me that hearing from me is so important I think I'll call back and leave you 50 more messages."

Please, Please someone invent a voicemail virus that kills the whole fucking thing.