Shame on Virginia. Cradle of American democracy gives in to money.

Virginia

Virginia has brought shame upon itself

What’s it say about the people of Virginia and their election process when only two of seven candidates for President qualify to be put on the election ballot for the state’s March 6, Super Tuesday, Republican Primary Election. It says that our nation’s cradle of democracy and home to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson no longer cares about what people think and instead cater to only the monied people in politics.

As you can learn in the link below only

English: Governor Mitt Romney of MA

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney and Ron Paul will appear on the Virginia ballot. They don’t even leave space for a write-in candidate. That tells you how corrupt the politics of Virginia are. In order to appear on the ballot candidates must have submitted to the Virginia Secretary of State’s office 10,000 valid signatures of Virginia voters by last Saturday, December 24th, 2011.

Republican presidential candidates are picture...

Presidential Debate

A blind man without a stick or a dog can see that when only 2 of seven legitimate candidates qualify for a state’s Presidential Primary election ballot something is wrong. And as usual that something is money, and corruption. Romney is by far the lead candidate in fund-raising; Paul has done well with fund-raising but more important in his case is that he possesses the most ardent zealots supporting him.

Those with considerably less money, Rick Santorum, Michelle Bachmann, and Jon Huntsman didn’t even try in Virginia. Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry made last minute stabs at getting enough signatures; but each fell short.

Gingrich Fails to Qualify for Va. Primary Ballot – ABC News.

Some reasonable qualifications for appearing on a Presidential ballot should be asked for. For instance, requiring candidates to provide proof of native birth in this country with a birth certificate is perfectly acceptable. But asking them to qualify by possessing enough money to hire a bunch of signature gatherers is reprehensible. Shame on you Virginia. Shame!

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

December 27, 2011
Categories: National Politics . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: 2 Comments

My favorite Christmas’

Christmas lights 2010

Christmas lights

An epiphany hit me a few years back that will forever enable me to value Christmas even more than I already do. It dawned on me that if you’re lucky you’ll enjoy about 80 Christmas’ in a lifetime. Eighty! That’s all. Obviously some will enjoy 100, and sadly some will only be present to enjoy an extraordinary few. So I’m averaging.

It seemed to me that 80 wasn’t much. I mean, if you packed them all back to back you don’t even get three months worth. Then when you subtract the first 3-5 years that you will never remember, and subtract the holidays when you have to work, and subtract the times when circumstances keep you from your loved ones the number diminishes more and more.

So for a celebration I have already always enjoyed, I vowed to really cherish each Christmas, and to remember them.

My childhood Christmas celebrations were usually fabulous. For this I can thank my father. Dad was really big on Christmas. He always decorated the house with the most lights of any other on our middle class block. And he spoiled my brother and I with everything we wanted every year and a few things we didn’t know we wanted. I distinctly remember one shopping season when I went out of my way to ask my Dad NOT to buy me the increasingly popular plaid shirts that every department store seemed to have. I didn’t like them. I got two that Christmas. I didn’t wear them for months…but then gave in to the fad and wore them all the time.

Fonzie (interpreted by Henry Winkler), star of...

The Fonz

When The Fonz was real popular on the TV show “Happy Days” in the late 70s I asked for a leather jacket as a gift. I wanted to look like Arthur Fonzerelli. I guess I wasn’t specific enough. Because my Dad did buy me a leather coat. But it was a bomber’s style coat. The kind with the furry collar lapel. Again, I didn’t like it at first. But like my Dad somehow always knew…I came to love it. I wore it religiously from age 13 well into my 30s when my added 20 pounds didn’t make it a good look any more. I gave it to my son about 5 years ago. Like me he didn’t like it or ever wear it…until recently. In the past 2 months he doesn’t go anywhere without it. You better believe I love that.

I was working on Christmas Day 1985 as a DJ at a small country music station. But before working the night shift and after visiting my Mom’s home and then my Dad’s, I managed to squeeze in a short 10 minute visit at my girlfriend’s house. There, at the age of 21, I asked my girlfriend to be my wife. I gave her a humble diamond ring; black hills gold leafs with a small diamond laying between them. My wife deserved so much more. So on Christmas morning 2007 after our kids excitedly woke us up to tell us that Santa had come, before getting out of bed, I rolled over, reached into my nightstand and pulled out the ring’s replacement. The much larger stone and white gold looked beautiful on her finger. And still does.

But easily my all time favorite Christmas was 1998. Our house was full with visiting family from California, and as usual we hosted the Christmas dinner. All our loved ones were there. My pregnant wife went into labor right after we’d all enjoyed our desserts, and around 8:30pm Christmas night we waved goodbye to all those people in our house and drove to Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, WA where we were presented at 6:03 am December 26th, 1998 with our all-time best Christmas gift. We gave our daughter the name Micah Noel. Micah being the Biblical prophet who foretold the birth of a savior in the City of David, Bethlehem. And, of course, Noel the 14th Century English word for Christmas.

I’ve been blessed with many great Christmas’; but these are the highlights. May your day be special and most important may it be a memory representative of how few of these holy days we get to enjoy in our very short lives.

English: Nativity scene

The birth of Jesus

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

December 23, 2011
Categories: Uncategorized . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on My favorite Christmas’

An email to Total Broadcasting video customers

What follows is an email sent today to Total Broadcasting monthly video customers:

Friends,

Español: Logo Vectorial de YouTube

YouTube this month dramatically changed its channel format. The goals of the change appear to be toward making YouTube more “social” friendly. In other words to allow for more comments and interactions for visitors to YouTube. The changes are also particularly helpful to those who have lots of content (i.e. Monthly videos) on their channels. It’s all good and its all going to benefit the wise decision you have already made to use video to help market you and/or your business. The YouTube changes for now remain optional. For the time being you can maintain your channel in the old format. I don’t know yet whether that option is indefinite or whether a cutoff date has been established for when your channel will automatically be changed to the new layout.

To give you some sense of the changes look at our Total Broadcasting Channel for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/user/msradioman?feature=mhum

What is really exciting is that I am able to apply all the important links for our company on the screen immediately to the left of the Featured video. In our case I have 8 websites connected to me or Total Broadcasting posted from Twitter to Yelp.

If you are one who subscribes to Total Broadcasting’s video upload service we have not changed your channel to the new format but will do so when we next upload a video in about a week; unless you instruct us otherwise. I would advise that you go ahead with this change. My guess is that there is a time when the change will occur anyway, and in the meantime your channel will be one of the few that merely looks OLD and not up to date. Of course you can sign in to your own account and change your channel to the new format yourself any time you wish. You don’t have to wait for us to do it for you.

To learn more about the changes on YouTube watch the videos and read the blog on this link: http://sheexperts.com/youtubelayout/

FACEBOOK:

The changes on Facebook are ALL about making your decision to use video that much better. Facebook’s Timeline will go into effect for everyone on December 24th if you have not already made the change. So far the changes seem to only apply to personal and not to business pages. I can’t imagine that will continue.

But what is really exciting about this is that photos and videos are made much, much more prominent in the Timeline format and can be especially “Featured” by you should you choose, and you should.

You made a good decision in choosing video for your marketing and increasingly the internet is making that decision look better and better. Thank you for choosing Total Broadcasting.

Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.

Michael Schuett

Total Broadcasting Service

425-687-0100

Related articles

December 21, 2011
Categories: Business . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: 1 Comment

Do YOU listen to Non-parents giving parenting advice?

The Seattle Times Editorial offered a printed hand slap to Washington State Senator Mike Baumgartner that I didn’t feel was appropriate, but got me thinking about parenting and non-parents. See what YOU think.

Official portrait of Senator (D-WA).

Washington U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell

In the Editorial “Cantwell challenger makes rookie mistake in commenting on marital status” it is written: In a fundraising letter (attacking Senator Maria Cantwell‘s position on availability of “Plan B” contraceptive pills to teens without parental consent), Baumgartner mentioned that Cantwell is unmarried and “has frequently voted to undermine the role of parents in child rearing.”

Baumgartner is a declared Republican candidate to challenge Cantwell for her Senate seat in 2012. Good luck with that, Mike. :-\

The Times goes on to ask what Cantwell’s marital status has to do with her views on the Plan B contraceptive and its availability to teens without that teens parental consent. To which I respond, it has a whole lot to do with her views. If you don’t have children you can’t possibly imagine the responsibilities, the weight of each and every day decisions, and the day-to-day challenges a parent faces.

I have had several friends over the course of the years who have chosen to go through life without kids. A couple of them come to mind on this subject. My old friend Deborah, (really a co-worker more than a friend) would never hesitate counseling my wife and I on what SHE thought should be done with any of my three kids. My kids range in age by a full 12 years youngest to oldest. So the unsolicited advice ranged from what to do about a crying baby, to how to deal with a rebellious teen. Now Deborah is a smart person but completely full of herself. And the fact that she had a college degree in “Early childhood development” was something she never failed to mention. But when Deborah or anyone else offered parenting advice I would listen, because you never know when you might luckily stumble upon a gem of a good idea. But usually I would be a little offended that a non-parent felt knowledgable enough to offer such thoughts, and I would take the advice with a grain of salt, or with the knowledge that it came from a person without a clue.

I’m a sports fan. I played football in high school. I believe myself very knowledgable about the game. But despite the fact that I had my “bell” rung a few times and had the wind knocked out of me by 150-180 pound high school opponents I can’t relate in any way to what Tom Brady goes through. Did you see the hit he took in the Denver game last week? He got blasted by Broncos D-lineman Elvis Dumervil.

English: Elvis Dumervil, a player on the Natio...

Elvis Dumervil

Dumervil is 6-foot and 260 pounds. And he runs a 4.5 second 40 yard dash. I’m almost as big as he is but if he hit me I might not get up. I can’t possibly imagine.

Most non-parents are smart enough not to offer parenting advice. It’s quite arrogant to do so and to think you can relate. Trust me, you absolutely have no idea. So I think it’s perfectly appropriate for Baumgartner to question Cantwell’s marital status and childless status when Cantwell takes political positions that take away the rights of parents.

What do you think?

Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.

Related articles

December 21, 2011
Categories: National Politics, Uncategorized, Washington State . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off on Do YOU listen to Non-parents giving parenting advice?

Previous page Next Page »