Lock Em And Load Em

Big Shots Named

The Big Guns in the U.S. Commercial Gun Industry acknowledge that the most powerful and strangely secretive force among them is The Freedom Group, and this single private company is quite a thing of a mystery.

Never heard of The Freedom Group? Neither had I, until only recently. Already, I'm guessing they're pro-gun. Or not. Depends on which rumor I warm up to, however.

By its own count, the Freedom Group sold 1.2 million long guns and 2.6 billion rounds of ammunition in the 12 months ended March 2010, the most recent year for which figures are publicly available. Within long gun circles where the big money is, that is the stuff of myth and folklore.

That's also just about 1.2 million guns and 2.6 bullets more than I've peddled lately at my garage sale.

I operate out of California, The Freedom Group originates from Manhattan.

But, ooh, TV movie conspiracy plot:
Backing this gargantuan Freedom Group is the private investment company, Cerberus Capital Management, which may cause a flicker of recognition to sweep across your windscreen.

Cerberus first came to a higher level of national attention when, as if on a tip in 2007, it acquired Chrysler. That deal meant widespread cash flow, never mind that Chrysler soon afterward had to be fiscally rescued by taxpayers.

So! You and I - we - had never previously been aware of this virus called "The Cerberus Freedom Grope," yet it has already cost us a heap of money. Huge Dollars; not immediately grasp-able amounts of dinero. We "bailed out" multi-billionaires? My mind'll have a time getting a grip on THAT.

It's just like a sci-fi TV show where the bad guys have been there in the shadows all along, maneuver with limitless funds, can have any of the latest gear they want and designer hideouts too. Headquartered in New York City, Cerberus has silently been acquiring big guns and ammunition.

Sold to Cerebrus:
Bushmaster, with gas-powered "black guns," that fire as rapidly as fast as the trigger can be squeezed. "It's clear that the militarized stuff is the stuff that sells and is defining the industry," its previous owner said on record.
DPMS (Defense Procurement Manufacturing Services) Panther Arms manufactures a wide range of military and civilian rifles. They're huge.
Remington, who, from flintlocks to M24 sniper rifles, is now making handguns for the first time in decades and supplying firepower to other governments including Afghanistan.
S&K Industries, which supplies wood and laminate for gun stocks,
Advanced Armament Corp., which makes silencers.
Barnes Bullets, which makes copper-jacketed bullets popular with precision shooters and police departments.
Marlin Firearms, a classic maker with two niche shotgun brands,
    Harrington & Richardson, and
    L.C. Smith
Dakota Arms, not an apartment complex,as the name might suggest, but a maker of high-end big-game rifles.

"We believe our scale and product breadth are unmatched within the industry," Carebrus' Freedom Group has recently said, sounding not unlike some puffed-up, stuffed-into-his-suit, spokes-cartoon.

Camera pulls back, pans over a multide of colorful graphs and dollar signs which tell the whole successful tale to this point: Cerberus manages more than $20 billion in capital. The companies it owns together generate a revenue of about $40 billion annually - more than either Amazon or Coca-Cola lately. Now they're practically an artillery monopoly.

With just one word, the Pandora's lid flies open with an ear-splitting, sky rocketing flare up. One word, one query: "Why?"

Once this inside info enters the Realm Of Our Attention, it finds a vacuum of intelligence and a nice, dry mound of conspiracy tinder, and boom! --all precipitation is over; it has happened. The catalyst has met its anticipated element. The predicted chemical reaction, known as, "Let The Rumors Fly," seems to explode everywhere at once.

And now everyone hears as the rumor bandwagon marches by. Maybe that's part of the plan. Wondering Why is certainly part of the plot in this script.

Oh, The Rumors!
Some Pro Gun Slinger theories suggest that the mysterious shadow power behind Carebrus' Freedom Group is actually some liberal and hedge-fund billionaire with a secret agenda all his own.

You don't need to know that "Hang the Second Amendment slash Secret Agena Rumor" because it's already been discredited. The shameful speculation involving dismantling the gun industry was so powerful that, just this October, the National Rifle Association issued a statement denying it. As far as rumors go, THAT rumor has SOME street cred.

You Say "Toom-Ah-Tow."
Bush Had Skull And Crossbones, These Guys Got A Mean Dog. The company's name is taken from Greek mythology, and a fabled three-headed dog, Cerberus, who guards the gates of Hades - to keep the resident in or the relatives out? Only now, we wonder.

But, nice ambience. Company's named after a dog from Hell. Oka-a-ay. Sure trumps wearing a red power tie at the next meeting. Wonder if they provide Dental Coverage at Dog-from-Hell Company; they'd have my fangs.

There's a rumor that this new gun industry has sold weapons to several questionable kingdoms, not only of Afghanistan, but also Thailand, Mexico and Malaysia, among others. Oh yes, and the USA! Cerebrus apparently obtained a brand new batch of business from our own U.S. Army, including a contract worth up to $28.2 million. [note: NOT a rumor, that; already been done.]

So, who are these guys? Who is it that's Involved In all this? Let's check the script's credits and meet our Cast Of Characters:

Financial Backer, George Soro; mysterious, very wealthy shadow figure behind sunglasses, lurking in streetcorners, shady side of boulevard. Stephen Feinberg, Co-Founder Cerebrus, chief Executive Officer and Senior Managing Directors.

The longtime Chairman of Cerberus' Global Investments Group, is a renowened individual. Perhaps you've already heard of him? An affable guy, Mr. D. Quayle. Yep, that Quale! Army Nation Guard Seargent, and former Vice President, Dan "Pototato" Quale.

Cerebrus' subsidiary Freedom Group, not to be outdone, has TWO retired generals on its board. Marines AND Army:

George Joulwan, former Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, retired from the Army, and

Michael Hagee, formerly Commandant of the Marine Corps.

These are the names behind the mystery. Ask them what's going on and you will not get the truth, but a good spin.

These guys cost you SO much of your future. These guys, a Secret Zillionaire and a handful of Once-Upon-A-Time Power Players, cost you SO much money, and the country more hassle and trouble than most of the famous bad guys you can think of. Most, not all. Still that's way too much to go unacknowledged, that'd be like trying to cross the freeway with your eyes closed.

Whew! And just think: next time a Chrysler Event pops up and they need a broad daylight "Highway Bailout," they got the D-list celebrities and the firepower to back it up.

--

DRUGMAKER MERCK CHALLENGES POP SOCIAL SITE

Wants To Know Why Rival Has A Facebook Page They Thought Was Theirs
It's an enormous world. Although we may continue watching in earnest, everyone is bound to miss something. Maybe that's why there are so many of us.

You know how you start noticing specific names, things, and trends only after they are brought to your attention? You may have gone a lifetime without discovering the value of Acid Stained Concrete Floors, or Pomegranate Jelly, but once someone you know raves about it, you give it a try, you begin to notice it wherever it is. And it has been there in the open all along.

That happens to me all the time, especially since I enjoy reading. After Victor Hugo, I have a whole new POV regarding Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. Before, it was only a lyric in a pop tune.

And so it is with my Attention Span falling upon the Merck Chemical Companies of Germany and the U.S.

Never heard of them, or really payed any attention, until I read the rock autobiography of Rolling Stones co-founder, Keith Richards, The book is simply entitled "Life," and contains the surprisingly well documented recollections of the guitarist, songwriter, performer and conciousness alterer, Richards, among which include mention of this distinctive drug maker's honorific monitor.
  Now I seem to notice that name more often, and when I do, a flicker of recognition lights up inside whenever I see it.

‘If you wanna get down, down on the ground, cocaine..."

Piracy On The High Seize 
The webpage, www.facebook.com/merck, was established over a year and a half ago by Merck KGaA in Germany, but, inexplicably, is has been seized and is being utilized by it's US rival, Merck & Co. in New Jersey, and now proclaims, "...This site is intended ONLY for residents of the United States and its territories..."

The German drug making firm, Merck KGaA, established nearly three-and-a-half centuries hence by a pharmacy owner in the city of Darmstad, in 1668, has begun legal action against social networking site, Facebook, after discovering the apparent takeover of its Business Page by American rival of the same name and origin, Merck and Company of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. The Germans believe the Facebook page is owned by them and that the American-based chemical manufacturer is, in fact, poaching.

The two drug makers both originated from the one commercial enterprise set up by a pharmacy owner in the German city of Darmstadt in 1668. After World War I, as part of the Reparations Package imposed on Germany, the business was split into two separate entities.

Lack Of Either Understanding Or Fair Play 
Merck KGaA's lawyer, reportedly stated that he had sent a letter and a series of emails to various Facebook staff asking to discuss what had happened to the webpage.

Simple enough: "please explain to your customer what happened to our web page." I understand that last sentence and I think you do, too. But, Merck KGaA  says the Facebook crowd "either did not understand the problem... [or were] intentionally giving unresponsive answers".

Merck's attorney said that when he had requested a telephone conversation, one of Facebook's staff "incredibly replied that 'no-one is available for a call at this time....' Later, Facebook limply recited, "We are looking into it."

I don't think this could EVER make a good reality TV movie with overused lines like that, long since cooked lifeless and limp.

"Don't forget this fact, you can't get it back, Cocaine..."

Are Legal Steps Taken Even On The Path Of Justice? 
Merck KGaA has documentation: these materials prove it had entered into an agreement with Facebook for the exclusive rights to www.facebook.com/merck in March of 2010. The German firm added that a number of its employees had been subsequently assigned administrative rights to the page, something that can only take place during the originating process, not afterward.

However, Merck KGaA said that when it had checked the site on 11 October this year it had discovered it had lost control of the page, and that content on the site now belonged to the American Merck. Of course they were surprised. A petition was filed immediately with the Supreme Court of the State of New York by Merck KGaA for the purpose of obtaining information as to why a website believed in good faith to be owned by the German firm suddenly is not anymore.

Covering Their Assets And Eating Them, Too 
Merck KGaA filed in New York rather than courts in California because that is Facebook’s headquarters state, and doesn’t allow pre-action disclosure to identify defendants.

"We are just trying to learn what happened,"a spokesman for Merck KGaA, Dr Gangolf Schrimpf, told the BBC.“We took action against Facebook and not against Merck & Co.

Someone's In Trouble
However, while Merck KGaA stressed that it had not taken any further action than requesting information, against its US counterpart at this stage, the court filing states that: "Merck is considering causes of action for breach of conduct, tortious interference with contract, tortious interference with prospective business advantage, and/or conversion."

Merck KGaA said Facebook “had not been cooperative” in attempts to seek information about the change. E-mails to Palo Alto, California-based Facebook’s press department didn’t receive a response. Facebook was unwilling to make a comment beyond saying that it was looking into the case.

Check That Cloud Lining: 

The good new for online marketers is found in between the lines. The "asides," comments seemingly thrown away or used in garnishing these statements, present a bright belief that, for commerce, Social Networks offer a much better way.

Branding experts say the Merck vs Merck Case reflects a growing realization that Social Networks can offer firms a better way of reaching their customers than through their own websites.

"Company communication departments have realised that many of the people they want to reach and influence are already on Facebook," said Simon Myers, speaking for the consultancy Figtree Network.

"As corporate content becomes more tailored and engaging, social media sites such as Facebook represent a brighter future of greater customer dialogue and interaction than the current corporate website with static content and pictures of people shaking hands."

That's an A-plus for Social Media marketing overall, and lesser grades all around for a few of it's manifold, confused players and users.

This is still a story with more questions than answers. 
Is Facebook playing favorites, being purchased under the table like a polititian or just plain stumbling through stupid missteps on its Way? Is Merck USA cutting a line?

None of the above? All of the above? Let's keep watching.

--0--

 

On Becoming Better At It All

IF POOR RICHARD HAD A BLOG
                        by Bobby Ocean

[first posted on Obtuse Angles just a few days ago)

The fastest way to accomplishing any goal is to first realize that aim inside. Once you take the time to know your idea's design well, your deeper, intuitive, creative mental facilities have a blueprint with which to undulge in Mysterious Ways.

That's a nice little piece of knowledge there. Just those words alone at the begining of a project can eliminate a lot of mis-steps, save a huge chunk of money.

As we all travel along through Life, many Common Sensical Sayings cross our attention span to remind us our priorities, pass along valuable insights, help us more surely achieve our goals. When it so happens that certain adages continue to apply, decade after decade, we know we have a Truism, what I call a Universal. Universals cross almost all barriers, work as currency Here as well as Over There, as Down Yonder, everywhere.

UNIVERSALS, A HYPER DRIVE STARTER SET:
There are some real gems in this marble bag:

ON LOOKING FORWARD
• Looking Forward means ALWAYS looking forward, into infinity, where anything can happen and the One Looking had better always be ready. There's only one way to always be ready and that is to Look Forward, Expecting Anything. This leaves no time for looking back or measuring sideways.

TWO POWERFUL FORCES
• Circumstances never turn out the way that you expected. Also, they continue turning. Because you know these Two Invaluable Insights they may act on your behalf. These are powerful forces you got going for you here.

THINK POSITIVE, ATTRACT POSITIVE •
Take care of yourself and maintain a sense of humor. If you are not well, don't come to work and infect the staff, stay in bed and recuperate at least until it's worked its way through your throat. If you have a bad cough go to the theater.

EACH TURN PRECARIUS
• The experience of yearning for that which is "out there" springs from one large false notion we call Desire. The choice to covet bears a Terrible Price. It leaves a Blind Spot. Similarly, one is frustrated with fighting such negative influences toward longing; go against them and you not only spend energy, you surrender the sum of it to the very thing you resist. Choose carefully.

STAY FAMISHED
• It is not supposed to be comfortable taking the time with eager business partners to define how you will share expenses or the division of labor until the terms have been agreed to afterward.

BE STILL = RESIST NOT
• Concerning negative thoughts and emotions: just be completely aware of them. For Each One, Bring Into Your Acceptance.
    -The current frame in which these impolses exist,
    -The feelings experienced,
    -The connections beneath the surface,
    -Your opinions, feelings, views of the entire picture,
    -Everything, and purely witnessing, just really be there.

GETTING CLEAR.01
• Bringing your completely non-judgmental understanding to each negative thought thread, past failure or unhappiness only seems difficult; it's not. those ghosts are not even here. Only the chemicals you call emotion and the images you call thoughts are here, at your beckoning. You can bear it. Bear witness.

GETTING CLEAR.02
• Novice executive samaraii and very green disciples who are seen getting rid of personal belongings, are not only practicing a protocol of non-attachment, but are also dis-attaching from poor grammer, such is redundant language. How, for example, can a belonging be other than personal?

GETTING CLEAR.03
• Being more concerned with how the other sees you than with the other, is a typical example of how and why the magicians' tool, Misdirection, works, this time as always with Thought being the Deceiver and the One Concerned, the Deluded.

EVEN SHORTER:

• A mind filled with fear is the melting pot of failure, a devout mind the portal to unlimited success.

• Dashed expectations may be only the surge or crest of the wave whose ocean of possibilities is still in motion.

• A disappointing income appies to the future, a disappointing outcome to the past. Neither addresses the present moment.

• Humor travels a twisted way to here, but usually brings a friend and makes more.

• It's hard to go against cravings that seem to come from the heart. If it helps, they don't come from it but at it, attacking. Resist not. Instead, watch the watcher.

• Pay less dues; pay more attention.

•  Cease desires,
    Still the heart,
    Regain your sight,
    Then re-start.

• Often you can recognize your true direction by the simple observation that it's not going the way you expected.

• It's often just a case of crossed wires. Pull back, take a breath. Next time you come together see where things stand from a WiFi POV.

• Anchor yourself in the present moment and prevent yourself from becoming swept away in thought and emotion.

• Boy have I got problems,"- epitaph, math teacher; "Boy. have I got Projects," - joyful exclamation of Someone Playing In The Infinite.

• It's play if you like what you do. It's work when you MUST play. It's art when you do your best soley because you can.

• Get it down. Lift it up. Pay it forward.

• Be willing to allow Higher Design to speak through you.

• Today is far too immense for just one word and yet it IS both the tomorrow you helped create yesterday, and the only game in town right now.

• Every time you remove a label, look deeper, the world around you  feels more alive, fresh and new, and grateful. You broaden the dimension of space.

• Perceiving without interference is the 'looking deeper,' beyond name tags and brand names, without engaging in concepts.

• Being open means not blocking new information trying to reach you with a shield of having all the answers. The seeming contradiction, "Be less so that you may be more," insists on continued inclusion.

• Leave the audience wanting.

--Hoping for that effect, I'll stop here.

In the ideas, special tips and enlightenments expressed above, that worked for countless others, self included, please find inclusive tools, no-strings helping hands, honest contributions - from a gradient sampling of souls, bakers through candlestick makers, the lofty, the lowly, enlightened, even lost, all intending us well. Ponder in good heart,

--0--

Notes On Radio:

What It Was Like To Be On The Air

YOU HAD TO BE THERE

I get a lot of requests which I suppose is normal for a person who played at being a disc jockey while playing the hits.

Readers of this space ask for my reflections on the wonder of what it was like to be square in the middle of that magical time when radio was really in service to its listeners, respected them and actually liked them. It was very transparent. You can hear when someone's smiling while talking to you on the phone. Same deal for someone on the radio.

Once, not very long ago, Radio was the most fun in the whole wide world. It had no world wide web sites, no way to Tweet about itself and rather than streaming online was making waves freely in the air outside.

"Look Ma! No wires! I'm just modulating the atmosphere!"

For many of us it was, at first, the entire world, and then later, our personal doorway, opened just for us, to the inside power knowledge of The Real Deal outside. Radio was power.

Radio just a few yesterdays hence was way ahead of merely being listenable, it was compelling in the sense that a magnet is to steel. Compelling all across the dial, not by force, coercion or constraint but by being so alive and entertaining as to necessitate listening.

One didn't want to miss a thing; this was one of a kind and all ours, these songs, fashions and events. It was the first time the largest slice of the demographic had even been recognized by the rest of society and it intoxicated us with the satisfaction that can only come from an audience wanting more. These things we couldn't miss were all so much bigger than life and fit into each one's imagination like it was cut to their lifestyle by an excellent tailor.

The dream became surreal and hyper enjoyable if you were the one on the radio, playing the records, the disc jockey!

Disc Jockys, that amalgem of the savage and the sacred, were the ones holding open that new doorway, our personal portal. They inspired wonder. Who were these guys? The very association with show business was for them like a Harvard diploma, elevating the headphone wearer to either the head of the table or very near the power players there seated by power of their sheepskins or relatives.

The era was one of the Top-40 radioman as much as it was of the chart topping songs and artists of the day in the same way hand-held wax cartons were a part of drinking milk then. The DJ's adulation was unfair in comparison and performance with hard driving, well rehearsed troubadours but it was popular vote. It was pure pop, non-stop and all part of the show.

We worked six days a week and there was no recorded DJ shows. You had to be there. Yes we were professionals and yes we deserved our paychecks. and yet, if you were to look a little deeper into each DJ, certainly the ones I have known, broadcasting was not so much our vocation as it was our obsession, a hobby-gone-wild more than a career. When the music grooved, when our scripts were clearly written, when the mic switch cracked open and the studio muted, we were at play.

WHAT HAPPENED
It was play because we wanted to do it. Play ceases to be play and becomes work only when we MUST do it.

It was play to execute our play better then the other station in contention. it also stops being much of a game when there are no competitors, no adversaries.

Once, not very long ago, entertainers and broadcasters owned all the radio stations all across the land. Then, laws written to protect people from any one owner posessing too many broadcast facilities, radio and TV - too much influence in any one market - were re-written, blotted out, the protection afforded your ears terminated, ethics quashed and careers dashed. Radio stations all across the land were made offers they could not refuse. They sold their heritage business to corporations that gobbled up radio stations like guitar players on pot gobble munchies, or brass sections down boilermakers.

For too many radio folks, the corporate environment, through cost-cutting, removed too many of the people we need to play WITH, but worse, eliminated our opponents, and thus the game itself.

I wonder how many stories there are from Broadcast Owners who, having heard what happened, now regret having sold out. We never hear from them.

--0--

DO WHAT YOU LOVE

In Passing, On Steve Jobs' Passing

In trying to find words to express how I feel about the recently deceased Steve Jobs, I find his words work best. I know that he communicated his ideas through words and, unerringly, he chose them with deliberateness. Constantly, he used them for furthering.

In Steve Jobs' own words, then, from the Commencement address at Stanford, spoken to the graduating class on June 12, 2005 when he was CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios:

"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle."

I love those two words, they're deep: "Don't settle." Don't ever think you don't have another option because you do. What you hold dear is worth more than assenting to another's limitations. It may not be the easiest path, but it will bring you back the love you invested through joy and satisfaction.

When it's a truth, it has universal application. The same advice that can bring you success in business also applies to the dance floor.

"As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

There is is again -  don't settle for less. In fact, push to make it even better than originally conceived. Know yourself, invest yourself.

Steve continues, "When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: 'If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.' It made an impression on me, and since then...I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Listen to these words from renowned mystic, scholar, activist and Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, in his book, "Be Still And Know," said, "Understanding and love are values tht transcend dogma." Jobs said much the same to the Stanford grads.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Jobs was right on the mark there, too. It does take courage to empty your head and heart of old thinking and concepts to embrace the complete unknown. Empty, you do not block out new information. That courage is in you. Own it.

"When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation....On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now...I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

Follow those words and you could just end up making a dent in the universe.

--0--

Bobby Ocean's Stuff For Sale

Pick Through it; See Whatcha Like...
Times are tough, I don't hafta tell ya. Most of us are lightening our load, selling our stuff and traveling lean.

I'm cleaning the garage and thought. "...this is a perfect time to inventory some stuff, might discover a few assets, never can tell. Well?" Could happen...

So let's look over da moichandise. Lessee...

• An Air Freshener...
• Keychain with Compass...
• A Couple Of Those Dollar Wire Mesh Back Supports...
• One Back Scratcher.
• Used Paperbacks, Assorted...
• Drug Store Readers In Different Strengths...
• Bottle Of Stain Remover...
• Micro-Fibre Towels, Two.

Oh yeah. There's a fortune here.

I could go on eBay and say, "Hey, best offer," but I'm far too much of an old Bob Barker Fan. (Please spay and neuter your pets, but don't tell them I said anything)

Instead, I just wonder, if there was a Special Showcase Channel For My Stuff, ya know? Would I push it?

Tell em what's in the Showcase, Johnny...

--0--

POPULAR OPINION HAS CHANGED AGAIN

It's ALWAYS Time To Update Our List

I have always had more than a keen interest in Pop Culture. As I grew through grade school, television added to my fervor. Then radio.

Pop fascinated me. Any popularly held viewpoint could change; it could be expressed in almost any way. There were experts who had a professorial delivery. There were snobs with their better-than-thou pontification, there were opinions in editorials, there were positions to protest, there were comedians with current relateable barbs. Popular opinion was entertaining and all over -- the news, it was in the papers, the movies. And it was in the songs on my almighty radio.

Popular Opinion was very commercial. marketable. It wore many masks and even occasionally surfaced as just what it is, the more current references to the past. It has been called Trivia, Name That Song, Books Of Lists, tons more, but its one common factor is its transience.

It's called "popular" opinion because the trendy, prevalent perspective would change all the time, like the weather. It could well be termed "Current Opinion," but that doesn't have the same phonic fluidity. Looking further, the whole phrase seems to infer an opinion involved, when it's really just complacent, dazed mental grazing. What was giddily popular one day becomes another's trivia.

During a career in radio broadcasting, as a DJ playing popular music ("the Pop Hits!, the Top-40, then 30, then 20"), the value of Popular Opinion became instantly apparent and, of course, grew with the ongoing experience. I had already decided that, if I was going to go on the radio and make a fool out of myself, it might as well be the most popular one. Now, decades later, looking back on the whole thing, I see a string of number one ranked stations on my resume. And much valued experience.

Occasionally, it so happened on the radio dial that a dark cloud formed over a frequency and its station's type of presentation completely failed with the public, When this happened, it was not an uncommon practice to change the call letters along with the music playlist and all the previous players. Sadly, I knew powerful people who really enjoyed the firing process.

Not very deep thinking but that's the way it was. And, that's the way it is. job insecurity is everywhere today, with a slight update. It's no longer so much "you're fired," as it is "we're changing the direction we're going and you're too closely associated with what we're leaving behind," or "we're eliminating that position. You'll have to apply for the new one."

Truth be told, it has little to do with the workers; it's their salaries that go beyond the newly hired boss' dictated pay grades. The Boss also has his strings being pulled and will also most probably be let go soon enough.

Why get rid of the personnel who were only doing what they were told? Because the new regime wants to totally distance the station from that previous "loser" image, Thus,  a clean slate. In radio that meant "re-branding" the call letters successfully enough to go out and sell time again.

Re-branding. It can certainly be misused. In radio slang, it is called "putting lipstick on the pig." I know broadcasting so I use it as a metaphor, but it is just one of thousands of industries suffering the same disabling effect of greed at the top.

The Top Ten Of List Disappointingly Ineffective Industries is such a small fraction of all of them that you might run away, crying if the entire list was posted. Still, it's a start. My immediate top Ten List includes: the Oil Industry, The Medical Profession, Fast Food, Banking, Wall Street, my own Broadcasting Industry, the Oakland PD and a few others that have achieved such a Massive Amount of Nothing, or Sustained Evil In Such Propensity that, if they were radio stations, would have been repackaged long ago.

Popular opinion, and consequent re-branding, is moving faster and faster now. You can see it everywhere. Some will see it in the current Occupy Movements, others in the Netflix Switcheroo from Quickster and back to square one again. Others witness radical changes from the standpoint of practicing To Live Without As Much, which can be akin to spiritual.

Considering how disastrously current popular opinions have changed on so many of the products, and institutions with which we grew up, it occurred to me to draw up a Short List that most needed a re-branding if they are to survive. (I'll leave the Long List for you to compile, k?)

Tracking Current Popular Opinion, we note the following need Emergency Re-Branding, stat! Your list may vary:

Fast Food Industry - Seen As: selling Mystery Meat along with chemically injected ground beasts and artery-clogging fried potatoes, to go. They've lost the Wholesome Feeling. Need to regain trust. Hmmm..
Should be Re-Branded as: Keebler Burgers.

Broadcast Radio and TV News - Seen As: completely missing the concept of the product they're assigned to deliver, losing focus of the big picture and constantly re-hashing shared footage. This is a result of corporate "cost cutting," the two-dimensional juggling of numbers that fired just about all the reporters, and reduced even shareholders' TV content to bad play-acting and rendering that new HD-TV screen close to useless, unless you like re-runs. They've lost the entire nation's trust. How can they be repackaged?
Should be Re-Branded as: "Ken and Barbie World News Rehash."

Banking Industry - Seen As: so greedy as to be institutionalized in a mental hospital, hiring only McHelpers with no authority whatsoever, willing only to make 30-years loans.
Should be Re-Branded as: "Safe Stay-cation Theme Parks," where you can still stand in long lines, spend all your vacation money and not have to go on those pesky rides.

Apple's New iCloud - Already Seen As: way easier than Facebook, but, then, isn't everything? It's looked upon as as way to save a lot of money and time by easily, effortlessly synching up all proprietary appliances with no cords, redundant downloading or personal time spent; it's automatic. Seen as a huge parting gift from Steve Jobs, it enters the marketplace beloved.
Could be Re-Branded as: "iCant Do Without It"

The Oakland P.D. - Seen As: that place in TV shows, like Wired, where everyone on the force has dark secret and multiple shadow alliances. Seems they go through their own Chiefs Of Police faster than TV Season pilot shows; been through three Chiefs and hundreds of cops in the last few years. They badly need to rid themselves of old thinking and start fresh.
Need to be seen as doing their job, so, in order to reestablish believability, so should be Re-Branded as: "The Oakland Boy Scouts," but until they achieve that stage, just call them: "The Oakland Raiders"

Oil Industry - Seen As: heartless fiduciary ticks on the warm, unprotected underbelly of an innocent populace. The people bought the damned cars they saw whizzing around corners, parking with ease, in the commercials. Now the people are inching along in Reality towards their jobs spewing fumes from the poisonous gas they were sold at a daily fluctuating price. They know they've been suckered. They pay for parking, maintenance, bridge fares, and know the money trap machines are addicted to gas. As SOON as any alternative is put on the market, they'll be all over it.
Should be Re-Branded as: "Not Snakes."

That's a Short List. Half a dozen embarrassing cases only. There are too many more; we could both blog for years. point is: their CEOs should, at the very least, resign.

Popular Opinion mutates and spirals in all different directions every day, faster and faster. In Online Marketing, it is becoming more and more important to protect your "Net Reputation." One sure way to maintain this critical focus is to concentrate on serving rather than harvesting for self.

When you find other ways, be sure to share. That's how our perception changes, twists and rolls. It is a spiraling energy. A revolution.

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