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"It
is impossible for ideas to compete in the marketplace if no forum for Letters to the President For many years I have received letters, emails and thank you notes, and the personal ones of course I have never shared with anyone, until now. In fact it has always surprised me how so many people with different opinions have been able to unite in The Business Forum - and even stay friends with me when they fervently disagree with something I either say or do. So to protect the identity of my critics and supporters I will just sign each letter or email with their initials when I put it up in this section. I know who they are and they know who they are, and now they know that I really do take all advice, compliments and criticism quite seriously. Responses
to my December 5th, 2003 Email Hi John, Responses
to my November 24th, 2003 Email Hello, Just trying to
help, PS By the way,
I lectured about CAPTCHA technology at a SANS conference in San Diego last
Spring and specifically mentioned Spamarrest as a good and effective product,
which unfortunately practices lame marketing email techniques, so it was
actually a non-endorsement for the company. My
response: Her response: You're a man of
integrity, I really respect that. Responses
to my November 14th, 2003 Email
Hi John: Being a skeptic, but realizing that George Carlin IS very intelligent for all his nonsense, this still didn't match up to me. So, I went to his website and checked it out. In some rather unflattering words he says he didn't write the piece. http://www.georgecarlin.com/georgecarlin/home/dontblame.html I still like it, it just isn't his.
One of those "best laid plans ... " problems. It is amazing that George
Carlin - "gross and mouthy comedian of the 70's and 80's" - could write
something so very eloquent ... Probably because he didn't. (Just a
guess). LM Responses to my November 18th, 2003 Email "I am a fool"
John, so sorry you got burned by an urban legend. I always check such things out at the Urban Legend Reference pages. This piece is covered at: http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/paradox.asp
where they say,
"The true author of the piece is neither George Carlin nor Jeff Dickson,
nor is he anonymous. Credit belongs with Dr. Bob Moorehead, former pastor of
Seattle's Overlake Christian Church. (He retired in 1998 after 29 years in
that post). The essay appeared under the title "The Paradox of Our
Age" in Words Aptly Spoken, Dr. Moorehead's 1995 collection of prayers,
homilies, and monologues used in his sermons and radio broadcasts." Dear John Can one measure emails by the tonne? I don't know. But there's a lot of them. Especially from MEPs (or rather their hard-pressed assistants and spokespeople) who have to work especially hard to make their individual voices heard above the throng during a plenary week in Strasbourg. There's plenty of reaction to the latest Court of Auditors' report, which, for the ninth year, has failed to give the EU's accounts the all-clear. Does anyone, apart from Marta Andreasen or Chris Heaton-Harris, care anymore? I suppose we should, even though the content of these reports is now as predictable as the rugby world cup. And, oh yes, there's the small matter of George W. Bush's state visit to London and Colin Powell's understated trip to Brussels. Is it even worth checking the emails? We all know the score by now. Dubya's the bad guy who conned America into believing Saddam Hussein had WMD and was best friends with Osama bin Laden. Colin's the reasonable guy that Europe can do business with. Then there's the usual array of would-be 'op-ed' pieces from Israeli writers keen to explain why building a wall makes perfect sense, and yet another missive from the Beverly Hills Business Forum, which I haven't quite got round to unsubscribing from. Why do they think an EU paper is much interested in California? Thank goodness for the delete button. But, hey, wait a second, what's this? 'Some extraordinary words by anonymous' reads the lead item on the aforementioned Business Forum. Lured in by the title, I hit a link which takes me to some, well, extraordinary words. This 'letter from America' is a bit cheesy in parts, so be warned, but it's also jam-packed with observations about life that totally hit the mark. Read on and see if you agree: Library Paper DA I
forwarded this on to my contacts, probably like many of your other contacts,
because I really liked the message. So I too have to learn that lesson. Yes, sadly, we have to check even the good postings. BS We
used to trust the typeset word in bygone years, now we have transferred that to
the cyber words.. Ironic. Is it the power of the Medium of communication or
the power of the word ...such a play We've all been there before. Don't sweat the small stuff. The message is still quite profound. MR Don't
go there. It is better to be an acknowledged fool who can enjoy life than a
paranoid who loses the ability to participate in life. John,
the characteristic of attributing wise sayings to Carlin and other show biz
people (Andy Rooney, et al) is amazing. Most all are phony. These guys
live in a self-worship cocoon, like Streisand, and are not to be taken
seriously. Don't worry about it. John, You're right, always double check. Good advise nonetheless. KL No John, you simply trusted a friend you thought worthy. A laudable error, in my book. FM The revised piece can be found at: http://www.bizforum.org/whitepapers/anonymous.htm Some Responses to Novembers' Letter from the President John, AK Right on John!!!! BP Thanks, John. I shared the advice about identity protection with my department. They're all good ideas. TR John, John,
Dear John: JB
Response
to the above:
John:
Keep up the
good work. People
who think this way, "John, John, Dear John: etc., etc.,"
have no clue.
I found it
interesting that a poll reported last week that 59% of Europeans consider
Israel the greatest threat to world peace. Not Afghanistan, Iraq, North
Korea or Cuba; Israel!
The US is
disliked, world wide for its stance on Israel and now Iraq. Those who
would have us abandon
these efforts,
"because of World Opinion", are as morally bankrupt as the
above stated Europeans.
Saddam was the
weapon of mass destruction!
Best Regards,
RH A Response to our piece on California Wild Fires As one who almost lost a home
in the Old fire, I am dismayed that the message is now focused only upon
insurance, etc. and still there are millions of trees dead and dying in our
local mountains which is being ignored. The public "up the
hill" still seems to think that we've dodged the bullet and now big
brother sees the dead pines and will somehow take the responsibility of all
tree removal. So far I fail to see that happening or even a target plan
out there other than it will take about six years, once started. A worried Californian.
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