Seriously Funny

As you can see by looking back on this BLOG, I've found quite a bit of stuff about the Call, Milligan and his cronies but this just makes me laugh. Fowler writes the book, Anthony edits it, Frank reviews it on Amazon. I'm surprised James Stonebraker, aka the Truth Detector, didn't get in on the action. Again, this just shows a lack of objectivity way beyond any acceptable standards. Enjoy.

10 Steps to Success: A Commonsense Guide to Building a Successful Insurance Business (Paperback)by Daniel S Fowler (Author)

Edited by Michael Anthony (the editor from Arnold)


http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0595375561/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt/105-9819108-7296456?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1


15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
No one would ever pay money for this in a bookstore!, November 3, 2006
By
J. S. Burke
This book shows the problem with internet book orders. I bought it off the title and cover. When it arrived, not only was it extremely thin (think comic book thin) but it is just pure drivel. It is just the author wanking away about how he has had a happy life. It covers nothing at all about the insurance business. You could get more information just doing a Google search. I give it one star because it makes a good coaster for my Dr. Pepper as I read books that give much more real world knowlege...like The Dilbert Principle.


K.I.S.S., November 22, 2006
By
Karl FrankI don't know who came up with the K.I.S.S. principal, but this book personifies it. For those who don't know what K.I.S.S. stands for "Keep It Simple Stupid." A quick search on this principal will tell you the following from Wikipedia: "When dealing with a problem, there exists a frequent tendency toward complication that can lead toward solutions that are far more burdensome than the problem, or clever solutions that don't handle unusual cases within that problem domain. In keeping with such problem solvers, Computer Systems Analysts in times gone by were defined to be those persons who could complicate a simple problem beyond all recognition." That is the genius of Mr. Fowler's book. As a business man and a community leader, my experiences have revealed to me that keeping it simple is the key to success. As soon as you start to complicate matters, the sooner you will find yourself in a mess. The subtitle of the book says it all, "A commonsense guide to building a successful insurance business." The product details clearly state that the book is only 54 pages long. It would have to be some pretty thick paper to make it look like a novel. A smart consumer is a well informed consumer. When I buy books, I generally know what I am going to get before I buy it.

Blogger note: Although nearly every handbook and many dictionaries warn against confusing principle and principal, many people still do. Principle is only a noun; principal is both adjective and noun. The school principal is your pal.

Time to Grieve

I sat alone, surrounded by filing cabinets filled with medical charts. It was early in the evening. Our reserve medical unit was off duty but as usual I had paperwork to catch up on. The phone rang. I expected it to be one of my fellow airmen with an invitation for the evening. To my surprise, it was it was my active duty counterpart, the NCO in charge of Flight Medicine for Scott AFB. We exchanged pleasantries and he asked me to pull some charts from our files. As I wrote the names down of pilots, nurses and medical corpsmen, all of which I knew, I asked why he needed the charts. It was for the after crash investigation, he told me. Was this some kind of joke, I asked? No, it was part of a larger exercise. He had made sure our unit was participating, prior to making his request. Unfortunately for me, we had never done this sort of thing before and it was totally unexpected. As I pulled those records that evening, I never felt more alone. This was just an exercise but my heart sank with every name I read. I loved these people. They brought great knowledge, skill, devotion to duty and sacrifice for their fellow man. It was that evening where I learned an even deeper appreciation for those who take risks for others. It’s something that I’ll always remember and intend to share with others.
I write this reflecting on this week’s tragedy in Kirkwood. I have so much sympathy for these dedicated public servants, their families, colleagues and friends. God bless you all.

Lydia's House

Lydia's House

Since its incorporation in 1995, Lydia's House has worked to provide transitional housing, comprehensive, goal-oriented support services, and access to community resources for more than 275 abused women and their children. Lydia's House currently serves 35 women and up to 70 children! Lydia's House is Missouri's largest provider of confidentially-located, furnished apartments for abused women and children for up to 24 months, and is one of the largest programs of its type in the United States.

In partnership with its donors and volunteers, Lydia's House works to end domestic violence by continuing to provide a place of healing and a voice of hope for abused women and their children.

http://www.lydiashouse.org/abuseshelter/index.htm

Mehlville Fire Board Complies with the Law

In compliance with the Missouri Open Records (Sunshine) Law, the Mehlville Fire District has set the price for copies of records at ten cents. This is the highest amount allowed when the law was changed a few years ago. Prior to that, public entities were required to establish a rate based on their costs. The law's changes simplified this and gave them the ten cent ceiling. This probably doesn't get charged very often since the district may give copies away, and it does, in its best interest. This just passes the costs along to those who would be using these records for their own purposes. I've checked with a number of entities and they've all made this their policy. In fact I don't know one that doesn't have a ten cent rate. Now that the facts are before you, I must ask one question.

Where's the outrage?

The Call repeatedly blasted the Mehlville School District for its policy of charging ten cents. They complained about the district making a profit charging for records? It was one of the rallying cries by a Call sponsored candidate for the school board. This was a silly and self serving complaint as usual. The fact that the Call has not complained about the fire district's policy just shows their double standards.

Mehlville Fire Board Violates the Law

In another clear example of their double standards, Call Newspapers has not reported the ongoing open meetings violations of our fire district. The close personal relationship between Call owner William T. Milligan and Fire Board President Arron Hilmer continues to erode what little credibility they have.
Already admonished by the MO Attorney General's Office for failure to obey the law in 2007, the Mehlville Fire district has not posted nor conducted regularly scheduled meetings in 2008.
RSMO
321.200. 1. The board shall meet regularly, not less than once each month, at a time and at some building in the district to be designated by the board. Notice of the time and place of future regular meetings shall be posted continuously at the firehouse or firehouses of the district. Additional meetings may be held, when the needs of the district so require, at a place regular meetings are held, and notice of the time and place shall be given to each member of the board. Meetings of the board shall be held and conducted in the manner required by the provisions of chapter 610, RSMo.

Had this been the City of Crestwood, City of Green Park or one of our school districts, the Call Newspapers would be screaming bloody murder, not to mention, threatening or filing petty, malicious and vindictive lawsuits.

The Concord Call, Oakville Call, Sun Crest Call and Green Park Call are an embarrassing example of American journalism. As one of their former editors once told me " I don't know how he stays in business."

News From Our Capitol

Well Walt has hit two home runs in just one day. He has managed to serve two masters, Arron Hilmer and Bill Milligan both, although I don't think Arron will like the audio recording bill.


Rep. Walt Bivins plans to file the following legislation on January l6, 2008 upon adjournment. If you would like to Co-Sponsor please reply to this email or contact Betty at 751-9766. Thanks.

1. This legislation would allow Fire District Directors to place on the ballot voter authority to lower their property tax levy. Current language only allows ballot language to increase a district’s levy. (4033L.01I)

2. This legislation will require public bodies to make an audio recording of executive or closed meetings. In the event there is a Sunshine Law Challenge to what was discussed, the recording would be provided to the courts for an in camera review to determine if the complaint had any validity. (3887L.01I)

The first bill is somewhere between silly and horrible. Fire directors already can lower the rate if they like. This will only confuse voters into thinking their rates will go down. It will however tie districts' hands in the future. That's real forward thinking. I can see this moving into our school districts next. On behalf of the kids, let me thank Walt in advance.

The second bill I like but it ought to be video tape. Anyone can shut off an audio recorder.

Either way, Walt has really secured the sponsorship of the Call. He won't even have to spend any money on this race. Milligan will take the gloves off. Polizzi will be beaten like a bowl of eggs.

I Looked at the Concord Call.

It's been a while. Ever since the Call Newspapers honored my request not to send me their trash, I haven't read the thing. I came close yesterday when I went out of my way to pick one up. My wife and I have decided to buy a new car. This is a big decision for us so naturally I had to do some homework. I didn't read their paper and I tried my best not to notice their advertisers, except for automobile dealers. Fortunately, none of the dealers here in South County had an ad in the weakly newspaper. That was good news because I couldn't buy a car from one of their advertisers. That made my shopping experience much more enjoyable!