I have not had a great time with this matter of hotels. I didn't here from the Best Western people today, but that could be because they're investigating this matter -- as they said they would do. It's also Martin Luther King's birthday holiday, ....but hey, I did talk to the Best Western people on Sunday, huh? Hmm...
This will be resolved in some way. I was contacted by a reporter for the Florida Times-Union not on this problem, but on my remarks that the economic impact of the Super Bowl is under-estimated. The reporter's passing my hotel problem story to a person in their business section.
Maybe I'll have a public voice about this stuff, if only to get a room. But there's a real problem down there in Jax. For example, I finally used the website at jacksonvillesuperbowl.com for more than just maps. They've got a website for hotels and a hotline. Used the website but the closest hotel I located at a $150 price was in Georgia. Yep, South GA is about an hour's drive. But that's a whole hour.
When I called the hotline, I discovered that the guy on the other end of the line was just using the same website, because when he told me to go to the Jacksonville website, I said "I'm already there," and he said "That's what I'm using." Geez.
Oh, so you would think that the hotline guy was located in Jacksonville, and could tell me something about the area, like where to get Chicago-style pizza,right? Nah. He was in Chicago. Geez. If this were The Apprentice, who would The Donald fire?
After fishing around the Internet, I thought I found a room at the Florida Inn on Amelia Island, and at $169 a night as reported on their website. Check out their website by clicking on the word LINK. Then type in the dates of Feb 3rd to arrive and Feb 7th to get out of Dodge, as they said in Gunsmoke.
Notice that their are rooms at $169, right. Right? Yeah. So, I called them, with a smile. They person did report the room as available and at that rate!!!
But then they fax out this room form for me to fill out (fine), and the rates on the paper are from $600 for the same room, up to $900. And that's per night. Per night. Per night. Should I repeat this?
So, I called the Inn, and the person on the phone agreed that the prices were too high, but she didn't set them. She agreed that the price was set at a "scam level." I'm not kidding. She also told me that the Inn elected not to sign up with the Host Committee.
I'm not sure if that was a good move or a bad one.
I still need a room.
Monday, January 17, 2005
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Jacksonville Super Bowl XXXIX Hotel Room Fiasco - Pt 4
(This is the fourth installment on the problem I'm having getting a hotel room in Jacksonville for this year's Super Bowl. For the others scroll down below.)
There's more news in this unfolding nightmare. After I had the great conversation with Best Western's Paul Alben, I checked my cell phone voicemail, only to find a nasty message from my friend's friend who was supposed to have the room at the Best Western Executive Inn.
I had specifically instructed his accountant not to run my credit card until I called him. What I really did was use one of my debt cards that didn't have money on it, until I found out I actually had a room.
Well, on Wednesday I called to express concern that I didn't have the proper hotel confirmation. Well, his accountant seemed to understand my fear. But the guy who runs this brokerage firm in New York didn't. He basically started yelling at me that "He was only doing this as a favor," and "He wasn't making money on the deal anyway."
I tried to make light of the conversation by simply laughing or basically calming him down, but in my mind I was more nervous that ever. So, I kept calling Best Western until I received call backs starting Thursday.
Anyway, it turns out that they decided to run my card, without my permission. So, of course it came up declined. Now get this, the hotel rep I talked to when I called to report the cell phone message told me that some other firm seemed to have control of the rooms. There are 61 of them.
So if I placed $700 on that card's account, I may not have had the room anyway! The very fine print of the credit card authorization reads "All orders on on a try to fill basis." Plus, the document refers to tickets and not hotel rooms. Geez. A ticket broker trying to move hotel rooms.
Whew!
I hope Best Western comes through.
There's more news in this unfolding nightmare. After I had the great conversation with Best Western's Paul Alben, I checked my cell phone voicemail, only to find a nasty message from my friend's friend who was supposed to have the room at the Best Western Executive Inn.
I had specifically instructed his accountant not to run my credit card until I called him. What I really did was use one of my debt cards that didn't have money on it, until I found out I actually had a room.
Well, on Wednesday I called to express concern that I didn't have the proper hotel confirmation. Well, his accountant seemed to understand my fear. But the guy who runs this brokerage firm in New York didn't. He basically started yelling at me that "He was only doing this as a favor," and "He wasn't making money on the deal anyway."
I tried to make light of the conversation by simply laughing or basically calming him down, but in my mind I was more nervous that ever. So, I kept calling Best Western until I received call backs starting Thursday.
Anyway, it turns out that they decided to run my card, without my permission. So, of course it came up declined. Now get this, the hotel rep I talked to when I called to report the cell phone message told me that some other firm seemed to have control of the rooms. There are 61 of them.
So if I placed $700 on that card's account, I may not have had the room anyway! The very fine print of the credit card authorization reads "All orders on on a try to fill basis." Plus, the document refers to tickets and not hotel rooms. Geez. A ticket broker trying to move hotel rooms.
Whew!
I hope Best Western comes through.
Jacksonville Super Bowl XXXIX Hotel Room Fiasco - Pt 3
Hey. Best Western's Will Jansen did call me. He said that they were concerned about what was going on down there, and would check to see if the room was indeed there for me. Then I just now got a call from Mr. Paul Alben who represents Best Western's customer relations department. He's also going to check into the hotel matter. He agrees that third-parties should always give you a hotel confirmation number.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Jacksonville Super Bowl XXXIX Hotel Room Fiasco - Pt 2
OK. I called the office of Best Western CEO David Kong and was helped by his wonderful secretary. I also called a guy named Dan Williams who's VP of North American Hotel development.
Well, somehow, I got passed to a Best Western Customer service person who told me that Best Western had no control over what the individual hotels did. I told her I don't believe that. Any CEO who discovered that a hotel with his or her logo on it may be up to shady practices would certainly step in.
So, I called Mr. Kong's secretary back, and now I'm calling Will Jansen.
If you came into this in the middle, look at the first post on this about four posts down.
Going to the Super Bowl? Have hotel problems? Share them here.
Well, somehow, I got passed to a Best Western Customer service person who told me that Best Western had no control over what the individual hotels did. I told her I don't believe that. Any CEO who discovered that a hotel with his or her logo on it may be up to shady practices would certainly step in.
So, I called Mr. Kong's secretary back, and now I'm calling Will Jansen.
If you came into this in the middle, look at the first post on this about four posts down.
Going to the Super Bowl? Have hotel problems? Share them here.
Dan Siegel Busted For Pot Possession - Could Get Him Elected Mayor of Oakland, CA
If you click on the title, you will learn that Oakland School Board member and prominent Oakland community participant, and nice guy Dan Siegel was held by the Oakland Police after they found some weed in his bag at the Oakland Airport.
Dan handles it all well. He said, "Hey, I use it to relieve stress." I recall that Dan's running for Mayor of Oakland. I think this could get him elected. I'm serious. How many people reading this use pot for the same reasons? OK. Put all those hands down. Me? I'll take a trip to the gym or a good glass of Merlot. But, I think Dan's a candidate to consider.
If Mayor Jerry Brown slipped the pot in Dan's bag, the strategy backfired! LOL. Dan and Jerry are not the best of friends.
Dan handles it all well. He said, "Hey, I use it to relieve stress." I recall that Dan's running for Mayor of Oakland. I think this could get him elected. I'm serious. How many people reading this use pot for the same reasons? OK. Put all those hands down. Me? I'll take a trip to the gym or a good glass of Merlot. But, I think Dan's a candidate to consider.
If Mayor Jerry Brown slipped the pot in Dan's bag, the strategy backfired! LOL. Dan and Jerry are not the best of friends.
Oakland Athletics Lost $23 Million
In preparing the Sports Business Simulations Oakland Baseball Simworld for students to use this year, I always recalibrate the simulation to reflect the organization's fiscal pattern at the end of the previous season.
In this case, after balancing the sim, I learned something you're not going to see in the press -- yet. The A's are over $20 million in the hole, and that's a big reason why "The Big Three" pitching rotation was broken up. It's also why the owners are selling the team. In the Oakland Baseball Simworld, the A's franchise value is $172 million. That's what I believe the team's currently worth.
Try the Oakland Sim and see if you can dig the A's out of this hole. Go to www.sbs-world.com and click on "SBS Free Trial" on the left. Then run the Oakland Baseball Simworld.
In this case, after balancing the sim, I learned something you're not going to see in the press -- yet. The A's are over $20 million in the hole, and that's a big reason why "The Big Three" pitching rotation was broken up. It's also why the owners are selling the team. In the Oakland Baseball Simworld, the A's franchise value is $172 million. That's what I believe the team's currently worth.
Try the Oakland Sim and see if you can dig the A's out of this hole. Go to www.sbs-world.com and click on "SBS Free Trial" on the left. Then run the Oakland Baseball Simworld.
I'm Applying to Be On "The Apprentice"
Hey folks. I'm applying to be on "The Apprentice." This week, my friends former Mayor of Oakland and now Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris and Oakland City Attorney John Russo were good enough to come down to Lake Merritt and appear in my video. It was a great time! And Oakland never looked so good.
If you were on The Apprentice, e-mail me and share tips! Thanks!
If you were on The Apprentice, e-mail me and share tips! Thanks!
The Jacksonville Super Bowl XXXIX Hotel Room Fiasco
I’m planning to attend what will be my fourth Super Bowl, this one in Jacksonville, Florida. I’ve never been there. Regardless, it’s a city I look at with more than a bit of envy and anger simply because we lost to them, That’s right, I worked to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland, and not Jacksonville. Jacksonville won over Oakland and Miami at the NFL Owner’s Meeting in Atlanta, in November 1st-3rd 2000.
One of the reasons for their victory in 2000 was that they claimed to have 17,000 hotel rooms secured. To prove it they submitted signed contracts. Now, the NFL Super Bowl Hotel Contract is a 13-page affair that would scare the devil. And in a lot of cases, if you view some hoteliers as the devil, that’s what happened in the case of the SF Bay Area.
Well, more about that later. Let me cut to the chase. The NFL expected 10,000 rooms from Jacksonville, and got 3,500. That’s not including the cruise ships they brought in to make up the huge hotel room shortage.
Some people blame the NFL owners approval of an initiative called “Jax39” for this. The simple story is that the NFL team owners gave the Jacksonville Host Committee approval to gain more money from hotels than was allowed under the initial contract, and to pay for improvements to host the Super Bowl. In other words, they allowed them to gouge patrons.
I think the NFL set itself back to 1996, when hucksters and shady hotel people overpriced the heck out of people attending the 1996 Super Bowl in Phoenix. The NFL started issuing contracts after that, and things were more or less ok….until now. It’s a nightmare to get a room and many are going for over $400 a night.
I think I’ve got a room at the Best Western Executive Inn, and not for $400 a night, but for $170. I got it via a friend who knows a guy who runs a booking firm in New York. I generally get my room through the NFL, so this is way different. This time, Sunday Billings of NFL Special Events, who's a heck of a great person and has gotten my rooms for me all the way back to 2000, called me to explain the problem. It's a terrible deal this time.
I’ll say what I’ve said before: Jacksonville has no business hosting the Super Bowl. The region does not have enough hotels. Moreover, to build a large hotel room inventory just for the Super Bowl is stupid, as most of the hotels will go empty, and the Super Bowl’s not going to be there every year.
The Super Bowl is a measure of where a city and a region should be in order to be considered a "top-tier" economically successful urban place. The NFL has specific specifications for how many hotels and what kind, as well as the size of ballroom space. This is a great gauge for what a region needs, not just to host a Super Bowl but any large convention or event.
It's also a great way to determine if a region should be in the Super Bowl mix at all. I know that the Jacksonville people bugged the NFL for two years before they were taken seriously. And the Jacksonville boosters had a popular NFL owner in J. Wayne Weaver, who owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. That goes a long way, as the Super Bowl is a way of rewarding owners for being great team players. What I mean is, for example, San Diego Chargers owner Alex Spanos is known as the kind of person who will let you as a fellow NFL owner use his private plane. That's a "chit" he can "cash in" to get San Diego the bid to host the Super Bowl (Provided San Diego produces a good bid package.)
So, in honor of Wayne Weaver, the league fudged things a bit, I think.
Most cities that have over 50,000 hotel rooms within one hour of the downtown have them for one reason: there are a lot of people who live there, and so hotel rooms are needed to house people who visit the other people who live in the region. (Yeah, that's more than one reason, but whatever.) It’s not just a tourist matter, but simple population density as well. Jacksonville is not a truly large first tier urban area.
The Jacksonville host committee and hotel brokers are pushing people as far out and away as Orlando, which is three hours away, and comprises a whole other metro area. The NFL has always told us we have to find 17,000 hotel rooms within an hour of the stadium. The San Francisco / Oakland Bay Area has about 60,000 rooms.
That whole message of "hotel room radius" has been blown away with Jacksonville.
The NFL’s made a mess it has to clean up. I think one move is to avoid going into regions that are too small, and regardless of how much they want it or how popular the team owner is in the league.
American cities that have teams and enough hotels within an hour of the stadium (no cruise ships) should be the candidate hosts. Period. That includes Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, San Diego, Houston, Detroit, and New York, if they get a dome. The San Francisco / Oakland Bay Area is the best-undiscovered host region. (OK...1984 was a long way away.)
Oakland and the SF Bay Area would have been better hosts. And were it not for Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, we would have won.
In other words, Jerry lost it for us. And that’s something I’ll not get over for a while. He really mucked it up.
More on that, later.
One of the reasons for their victory in 2000 was that they claimed to have 17,000 hotel rooms secured. To prove it they submitted signed contracts. Now, the NFL Super Bowl Hotel Contract is a 13-page affair that would scare the devil. And in a lot of cases, if you view some hoteliers as the devil, that’s what happened in the case of the SF Bay Area.
Well, more about that later. Let me cut to the chase. The NFL expected 10,000 rooms from Jacksonville, and got 3,500. That’s not including the cruise ships they brought in to make up the huge hotel room shortage.
Some people blame the NFL owners approval of an initiative called “Jax39” for this. The simple story is that the NFL team owners gave the Jacksonville Host Committee approval to gain more money from hotels than was allowed under the initial contract, and to pay for improvements to host the Super Bowl. In other words, they allowed them to gouge patrons.
I think the NFL set itself back to 1996, when hucksters and shady hotel people overpriced the heck out of people attending the 1996 Super Bowl in Phoenix. The NFL started issuing contracts after that, and things were more or less ok….until now. It’s a nightmare to get a room and many are going for over $400 a night.
I think I’ve got a room at the Best Western Executive Inn, and not for $400 a night, but for $170. I got it via a friend who knows a guy who runs a booking firm in New York. I generally get my room through the NFL, so this is way different. This time, Sunday Billings of NFL Special Events, who's a heck of a great person and has gotten my rooms for me all the way back to 2000, called me to explain the problem. It's a terrible deal this time.
I’ll say what I’ve said before: Jacksonville has no business hosting the Super Bowl. The region does not have enough hotels. Moreover, to build a large hotel room inventory just for the Super Bowl is stupid, as most of the hotels will go empty, and the Super Bowl’s not going to be there every year.
The Super Bowl is a measure of where a city and a region should be in order to be considered a "top-tier" economically successful urban place. The NFL has specific specifications for how many hotels and what kind, as well as the size of ballroom space. This is a great gauge for what a region needs, not just to host a Super Bowl but any large convention or event.
It's also a great way to determine if a region should be in the Super Bowl mix at all. I know that the Jacksonville people bugged the NFL for two years before they were taken seriously. And the Jacksonville boosters had a popular NFL owner in J. Wayne Weaver, who owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. That goes a long way, as the Super Bowl is a way of rewarding owners for being great team players. What I mean is, for example, San Diego Chargers owner Alex Spanos is known as the kind of person who will let you as a fellow NFL owner use his private plane. That's a "chit" he can "cash in" to get San Diego the bid to host the Super Bowl (Provided San Diego produces a good bid package.)
So, in honor of Wayne Weaver, the league fudged things a bit, I think.
Most cities that have over 50,000 hotel rooms within one hour of the downtown have them for one reason: there are a lot of people who live there, and so hotel rooms are needed to house people who visit the other people who live in the region. (Yeah, that's more than one reason, but whatever.) It’s not just a tourist matter, but simple population density as well. Jacksonville is not a truly large first tier urban area.
The Jacksonville host committee and hotel brokers are pushing people as far out and away as Orlando, which is three hours away, and comprises a whole other metro area. The NFL has always told us we have to find 17,000 hotel rooms within an hour of the stadium. The San Francisco / Oakland Bay Area has about 60,000 rooms.
That whole message of "hotel room radius" has been blown away with Jacksonville.
The NFL’s made a mess it has to clean up. I think one move is to avoid going into regions that are too small, and regardless of how much they want it or how popular the team owner is in the league.
American cities that have teams and enough hotels within an hour of the stadium (no cruise ships) should be the candidate hosts. Period. That includes Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, San Diego, Houston, Detroit, and New York, if they get a dome. The San Francisco / Oakland Bay Area is the best-undiscovered host region. (OK...1984 was a long way away.)
Oakland and the SF Bay Area would have been better hosts. And were it not for Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, we would have won.
In other words, Jerry lost it for us. And that’s something I’ll not get over for a while. He really mucked it up.
More on that, later.
The Matter of Randy Moss and the Media
Look. The only people who really care about what Randy Moss did when he scored a touchdown against the Green Bay Packers (in Sunday’s NFL Wild Card Playoff Game) are the media. I don’t care, but I’m freaking tired of hearing about it. In fact, the only reason why we are paying attention to this is that the sports media people will not let it go.
Now, if the Green Bay Packers fans mooned Randy Moss, the media would not spend as much time on it. And you know what, when the 2005 NFL season rolls around, and the Vikings travel to Green Bay, I’ll bet they do it, and in the stands and before him while he’s one the sidelines, not as the team buss comes driving up.
Watch. Just watch.
Now, if the Green Bay Packers fans mooned Randy Moss, the media would not spend as much time on it. And you know what, when the 2005 NFL season rolls around, and the Vikings travel to Green Bay, I’ll bet they do it, and in the stands and before him while he’s one the sidelines, not as the team buss comes driving up.
Watch. Just watch.
A Great Weekend Dinner To Be Invited To
Last Saturday, I was invited to an impromptu dinner party thrown by my new friend Deborah and her husband Sean. Deb and I have been talking a lot about her coming to SBS as our CFO, so I felt “obligated” to make the trek down to Milbrea from Oakland…or let the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) take me.
I went even though I was supposed to go to the movies with Laura, but I thought she’d go down there with me. Nope. Wrong. So, I was alone. Sadly. I like her, but I think she wants to be more of a friend than anything. Whereas I would prefer a little more certain and serious tie.
Anyway, what was so nice about the party is that I felt instantly accepted by Deb’s husband and friends. It’s worth stating that since there are not a lot of African Americans in the Bay Area (10 percent) one wonders if they’re really going to be genuinely accepted in what (more often than not) are all-white audiences. I mean some make efforts to connect with you, but sometimes it’s clumsy.
But on Saturday, January 8th there was none of that at all. I stayed from 7 to 3 AM. And we talked about everything under the sun of popular culture. And, yes, for those who know me, I was not shy about eating. (I’m not fat, but I can pack away a lot of food.)
What made the night’s conversation flow, aside from the people, was the music being piped into the house from various speakers. The music was a mix of stuff from the 80s, 90s, and today. It was also the selection of music that people in late 20s and early 40s would like and talk about, especially after the wine flowed.
In fact, what occurred to me was that the people of America are increasingly mated by the cultural glue of music. I think that the larger selection of music from seemingly every decade and its quality and clarity have served to mesh generations in an unprecedented way. Moreover, music technology and the growth of communications systems are bringing people together and breaking down imaginary racial barriers every day.
While I think this is an amazing development, I have one question: Why isn’t anyone writing about it? What? I am. Yeah, but I don’t want to be the only voice. Ok, bloggers, I need help. Get to writin’
Oh, to show you how tech has progressed, I’m writing this from The Alley, having finished dinner here and enjoying an Irish Coffee as I write, with Rod Dibble playing the piano over there across the room…and, because I wanted to. Now, when
I get back home, I’ll upload this into my blog.
In fact, if The Alley had a wireless transmitter…
I went even though I was supposed to go to the movies with Laura, but I thought she’d go down there with me. Nope. Wrong. So, I was alone. Sadly. I like her, but I think she wants to be more of a friend than anything. Whereas I would prefer a little more certain and serious tie.
Anyway, what was so nice about the party is that I felt instantly accepted by Deb’s husband and friends. It’s worth stating that since there are not a lot of African Americans in the Bay Area (10 percent) one wonders if they’re really going to be genuinely accepted in what (more often than not) are all-white audiences. I mean some make efforts to connect with you, but sometimes it’s clumsy.
But on Saturday, January 8th there was none of that at all. I stayed from 7 to 3 AM. And we talked about everything under the sun of popular culture. And, yes, for those who know me, I was not shy about eating. (I’m not fat, but I can pack away a lot of food.)
What made the night’s conversation flow, aside from the people, was the music being piped into the house from various speakers. The music was a mix of stuff from the 80s, 90s, and today. It was also the selection of music that people in late 20s and early 40s would like and talk about, especially after the wine flowed.
In fact, what occurred to me was that the people of America are increasingly mated by the cultural glue of music. I think that the larger selection of music from seemingly every decade and its quality and clarity have served to mesh generations in an unprecedented way. Moreover, music technology and the growth of communications systems are bringing people together and breaking down imaginary racial barriers every day.
While I think this is an amazing development, I have one question: Why isn’t anyone writing about it? What? I am. Yeah, but I don’t want to be the only voice. Ok, bloggers, I need help. Get to writin’
Oh, to show you how tech has progressed, I’m writing this from The Alley, having finished dinner here and enjoying an Irish Coffee as I write, with Rod Dibble playing the piano over there across the room…and, because I wanted to. Now, when
I get back home, I’ll upload this into my blog.
In fact, if The Alley had a wireless transmitter…
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
How To Talk About Race in America
I write this because I am rather tired of hearing the occasional comments "I don't see race," "Race card," "Playing the race card", and "Race doesn't matter."
About 95 percent of the time I hear these comments, it's from someone white or Asian or Latino, but mostly white by far. Only twice in my life have I heard anyone black say a variation of those words. I can personally pinpoint the origin of the term "Race card:" the OJ trial in 1994.
It was during that "court media event" that I remember that term used. It was offered by a right-wing pundit in a debate and as attempt to diminish the imporatance of race as a factor in the police investigation. The trial itself aside, I didn't like the term then, and I don't like it now.
Today, the single reason why blacks and whites in particular can't talk effectively about race is the use of the terms I described above. As the culture becomes (happily) more integrated by the minute, we have to develop a more effective way of communcating. Thus, here's my primer I call "How to Talk About Race in America."
It's really a simple set of rules to be applied by both white or Asian or Latino persons and blacks when talking about race with each other:
1) First, allow the person to complete their sentence.
2) Avoid talking while the other person is talking, as that is the foundation for the development of an argument.
3) Don't use any term like "Race card."
4) Talk in general terms about race and at all costs don't talk about what you do that's racist or not racist at the start of the conversation. In other words...
5) Start by talking about race in America generally, if only to determine how each of you thinks. So, ask this question: do we have race problems? And follow it up with "What are race problems in your view?"
6) Don't justify yourself by explaining how many black (if you're white or Asian or Latino) or white or Asian or Latino (if you're black) friends you have.
7) If you're white or Asian or Latino, don't say "I don't see race" and then say "I have black friends" because you just admitted you see race.
8) Think of a joke to tell to keep things light, and no, not a racial joke.
There you have it. If you apply my primer, you and America will have gone a long way toward improving our collective culture!
About 95 percent of the time I hear these comments, it's from someone white or Asian or Latino, but mostly white by far. Only twice in my life have I heard anyone black say a variation of those words. I can personally pinpoint the origin of the term "Race card:" the OJ trial in 1994.
It was during that "court media event" that I remember that term used. It was offered by a right-wing pundit in a debate and as attempt to diminish the imporatance of race as a factor in the police investigation. The trial itself aside, I didn't like the term then, and I don't like it now.
Today, the single reason why blacks and whites in particular can't talk effectively about race is the use of the terms I described above. As the culture becomes (happily) more integrated by the minute, we have to develop a more effective way of communcating. Thus, here's my primer I call "How to Talk About Race in America."
It's really a simple set of rules to be applied by both white or Asian or Latino persons and blacks when talking about race with each other:
1) First, allow the person to complete their sentence.
2) Avoid talking while the other person is talking, as that is the foundation for the development of an argument.
3) Don't use any term like "Race card."
4) Talk in general terms about race and at all costs don't talk about what you do that's racist or not racist at the start of the conversation. In other words...
5) Start by talking about race in America generally, if only to determine how each of you thinks. So, ask this question: do we have race problems? And follow it up with "What are race problems in your view?"
6) Don't justify yourself by explaining how many black (if you're white or Asian or Latino) or white or Asian or Latino (if you're black) friends you have.
7) If you're white or Asian or Latino, don't say "I don't see race" and then say "I have black friends" because you just admitted you see race.
8) Think of a joke to tell to keep things light, and no, not a racial joke.
There you have it. If you apply my primer, you and America will have gone a long way toward improving our collective culture!
41, 42, and 43
Confused? Those numbers refer to the last three siting presidents. It also points to today's news of the ex-presidents heading a new funding initiative to the Tsunami-ravagged areas of Asia. (See CNN)
Even though I'm a Democrat, putting President Bush I and President Clinton together to head this effort was an excellent move both personally and politically by George W. Bush. The reason, for me, is that it shows that we can remove party lines and bring the best people to solve a problem.
On top of that, it seems to confirm a suspicion I've always has that Clinton and the younger Bush are more alike than people would think. I first formed this idea after watching the ceremony for the Clinton Library on CSPAN. CSPAN is great for presenting scenes of politicians talking together after a ceremony. Such was true in this case. The three Presidents seemed to be sharing a lot of information. I think the matter of the middle east and terrorism, combined with their Southern populist roots, have forged a bound between Bush II and Clinton that should be studied in more depth.
I believe that in their personalities are the keys to what Americans want in the people they elect to be President. In short, they connect with people on a personal level.
I think this effort will be very successful. Moreover, it marks -- in my view -- a turning point in Bush II's growth as an American President and a World leader.
I also think he and Clinton are sharing "presidential secrets." I just don't know what they are.
Even though I'm a Democrat, putting President Bush I and President Clinton together to head this effort was an excellent move both personally and politically by George W. Bush. The reason, for me, is that it shows that we can remove party lines and bring the best people to solve a problem.
On top of that, it seems to confirm a suspicion I've always has that Clinton and the younger Bush are more alike than people would think. I first formed this idea after watching the ceremony for the Clinton Library on CSPAN. CSPAN is great for presenting scenes of politicians talking together after a ceremony. Such was true in this case. The three Presidents seemed to be sharing a lot of information. I think the matter of the middle east and terrorism, combined with their Southern populist roots, have forged a bound between Bush II and Clinton that should be studied in more depth.
I believe that in their personalities are the keys to what Americans want in the people they elect to be President. In short, they connect with people on a personal level.
I think this effort will be very successful. Moreover, it marks -- in my view -- a turning point in Bush II's growth as an American President and a World leader.
I also think he and Clinton are sharing "presidential secrets." I just don't know what they are.
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