EMS MAGAZINE.com

EMS MAGAZINE.com: "The Write Stuff: Telling EMS Stories
By Brent Braunworth
A review of Brent Braunworth's book, Blood, Guts and Tears: True Stories of Courage, appeared in the June 2001 issue of EMS Magazine. In the following article, Brent shares some tips on how to get published.
One of my reasons for becoming a firefighter/paramedic, aside from saving lives and property, and helping people, was because of the great stories that could be told. Let's face it, every one of us in our business has been at a party or some social gathering and had some regular Joe ask, 'Hey, were you on that call?' or, perhaps, 'Have you ever been on a call like that?' And when we answer, what happens? All eyes are on us, and all ears are turned in our direction. Total silence, just like E.F. Hutton.
I look at writing as simply putting a 'good story' down on paper. Now, if you already have a 'good story,' so much so that when you tell the story people listen and seem interested, then I figure that's 95% of the battle of writing. Ask any newspaper reporter, and he or she will tell you that getting the story is the hard part, not writing it.
So, if you have a good story, what's next? Transferring it to paper. This article is about how I started.
There's no doubt I had a need to write (I wrote my first, still unpublished novel at age 14), but that doesn't mean that everyone has to sit in a dark, locked room, typing away and poring over manuscripts all night, night after night, to be a writer. Maybe you're interested in trying a short type of story and don't know how to get started. What I did was get some adventure-style books and stories similar to what I thought I might like to write. Back then, I read a lot of Joseph Wambaugh, figuring the police genre was similar to a firefighter's. Af"

Hints to Turbocharge Your Manuscript

EMS MAGAZINE.com: "Hints to Turbocharge Your Manuscript
By Charles E. Stewart, MD, FACEP
1. Print it out and read it. (You can't get the flavor staring at the monitor.)
2. Read it out loud. This is a simple polishing tool for your manuscript.
3. Simplify…Simplify…Simplify.
4. Fine-tune your organization. Does the same subject show up in two or
three different places?
5. Add periods—make your sentences about 17–20 words long.
6. Cut the flab—anything that doesn't add to the ideas will take away from
your manuscript.
7. Advance the story. Every word should move you forward.
8. Be specific. You must use the right word for each concept—be ruthless!
9. Strengthen your verbs. Concrete nouns and verbs add action to your
writing.
10. Define your terms. Do you take for granted terms that your reader needs
to know?
11. Look for loose ends. Put yourself in the reader's shoes—poor planning
and organization will leave your reader hanging.
12. Convert negatives to positives.
13. Streamline sentences.
14. Eliminate expletives.
15. Scrutinize your paragraphs. Does each paragraph deal with one point or
idea?
16. Check your pronouns—does each noun agree with each pronoun?
17. Work your nouns and verbs—use the right noun so that you won't need
an adverb.
18. Check for parallel construction. Headings should be similar in
construction. Elements in a series should be alike.
19. Ferret out repetition. The same words should not be used too often or
too close together.
20. Go active. Passive voice will leave the reader bored.
21. Eliminate the prepositional phrase—use a separate sentence.
22. Delete clichés.
23. Get a second opinion. Have someone else"

"Chuck's Writing Checklist for Nonfiction

EMS MAGAZINE.com: "Chuck's Writing Checklist for Nonfiction
By Charles E. Stewart, MD, FACEP
Planning?
Why did I consider this topic?
Did I analyze my audience?
Did I analyze the targeted journal/magazine's usual publications (if appropriate)?
What is the deadline? (How much other work do I have to do?)
Is there a special consideration, format, length or word count?
Should I use a particular style manual for this manuscript?
Did I select a logical method of organization such as chronology, importance or spatial order?
Did I shape the writing by finding the best way to organize the material?
Did I group similar ideas?
Did I reject nonessential ideas?
Did I select the proper tone?
Did I order ideas in a logical way?
Did I outline key points?
Do I have an introduction, body and summary?
Did I draft by writing my ideas in sentences and paragraphs?
Did I revise my draft and rethink my ideas?
Did I remove anything that is illogical?
Did I cut unnecessary words, sentences and paragraphs?
Did I rewrite confusing passages?
Did I edit and proof my writing? (Really—you need to print it out and read it!)
Did I spell-check and physically reread for errors in spelling?
Did I check for grammatical errors?
Did I check for punctuation errors?
Did I check for capitalization errors?
Did I properly credit other peoples' thoughts and writing?
Did I have somebody else proofread my work?
Charles E. Stewart, MD, FACEP, is EMS Magazine's medical editorial consultant."

Time to sell stock in your long distance carrier!

This will put long distance carriers out of business. It won't help the local carriers either.

Boston.com / Business / Technology / Software turns phone into walkie-talkie: "Software turns phone into walkie-talkie
By Jason Straziuso, Associated Press Writer, 9/18/2003"

How To Be A Successful Expert Witness

Landings: Hangar-Talk: The Phil Kolczynski Law Forum:

See the link for a great how-to article

Busy Month

It has been a busy month, strategic planning and the start of school. The first fills the workday and the second fills the off-hours.

My son, a new high school freshman, has an early bird class that starts at 7:00 AM, so he has to be there well before that time. Therefore, I am getting to work early myself. Since our daughter is in 5th grade, I can expect eight years of this.

Freaky Friday

I just took my wife and 10 year old daughter to see the movine Freaky Friday. Surprisingly, it is a very good movie. Both my wife and I were in tears near the end. It is sort of a vanilla plot; an old chinese sorceress (who works in the family chinese restaurant) causes a mother and a 15-year old daughter to switch bodies (mother's consciousness in the daughter's body and vice versa). Jamie Lee Curtis is the mother. Some teenager is the daughter.

New Blog!

I have started a blog to describe my transition from work to retirement.

It is located here ==> http://www.retirementjournal.blogspot.com/

Take a look! Come back often!

Oswald Chambers: My Utmost for His Highest

This can be found at:

http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/utmost/calendar/

Creed [Rules] or a Personal Relationship?

Discipleship means personal, passionate devotion to a Person—our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a vast difference between devotion to a person and devotion to principles or to a cause. Our Lord never proclaimed a cause—He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself.

Oswald Chambers "My Utmost for His Highest"

Questions:

I am generally pro-Bush, there being no slightly viable alternative, but this is good:

US Attorney General John Ashcroft was visiting an elementary school. After 15 minutes speaking he says, 'I will now answer any questions you have.' Bobby stands up and says: 'I have four questions':

1. How did Bush win the election with fewer votes than Gore?
2. Why haven't you caught Osama bin Laden?
3. Why are you using the American Patriot Act to limit civil liberties?
4. Where are the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

Just then the bell goes and all the kids rushed out to play. Upon returning, Mr Ashcroft said: "I am sorry we were interrupted. I will answer any questions you have.'

A little girl called Julie stands up and says: 'I have six questions':

1. How did Bush win the election with fewer votes than Gore?
2. Why haven't you caught Osama bin Laden?
3. Why are you using the American Patriot Act to limit civil liberties?
4. Where are the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?
5. Why did the bell ring twenty minutes early?
6. Where's Bobby

Its Been Almost a Month!

Well, its summer. I took some vacation at home. Then went back to work. They had me document the processes that I have kept in my head for the last four years, in anticipation of my retiring some time in the near future. Now I am doing a worthless bottoms up analysis of a segment of the market that is not valid (which I explained in the above documentation.)

Why did those fools at the Powerball pull the wrong numbers?

Did You Know?

Chritianity is an Eastern religion with meditiation.

Focused Attention

This may be the wrong title.

While engaged in a snit with my spouse over who controls my agenda when I am home (see posting from 6/13), I would just sit in a chair without speaking or moving for long periods of time. [This was a pissy way of demonstrating that I could / would do nothing without her say-so. It drove the point home.]

I discovered, however, that sitting still and doing nothing really, really focuses my attention. I guess when my brain cells aren't being used for voluntary motion they are readily available for other tasks…mental tasks. Focused attention. Focused meditation.

Wonderful!

Annual Physical

I just completed my annual physical.

I had lost 20 lbs in the 18 months since the last one [I actually gained 10 and lost 30.] The PSA score was 0.4, which is excellent. My blood pressure went down, but they have also lowered the boundary between moderate and high, so I am still high. My LDL cholesterol was up (due to Atkins diet), but the HDL was up higher (due to weight loss, despite no exercise).

No problems. Doc said I should take a baby aspirin every day, exercise, avoid animal tissue, and live for another 45 years (past 100).

Vacation---Pre-retirement Practice

Just spent a week on vacation around the house. Tried to spend time working the stock market, but the wife gets real upset if she cannot set my agenda if I am around. She doesn't give a hoot if I am at work, but just let me be around the house doing my own thing and she gets in a snit. I can see that I will need to have an outside "office" when I retire.

This weekend

Just got back from a road trip to Branson for my niece's wedding. About 10-11 hours on the road each way. It was a good trip though. Got to see lots of family that we haven't seen in a long time. Ate way too much. Drank too much. Did not go see a show, even though two of my nephews are perform in them.

Daughter just came in to announce that the jacuzzi is leaking again. The last time this happened (the last time they used it) the plumber was unable to find the problem. He said, "Just don't over fill the tub. If there really is a leak, we will have to pull the whole thing out and replace it." This is a nearly impossible task. Maybe we could turn it into a giant floral display in the bathroom. It is under a skylight.

Two of the most useless things in the world: skylights and jacuzzis.

Ghost Stories

The following stories are true, from my own experience.

Ghost Story Number One

One summer night, I was sleeping in a sleeping bag in the front (west) yard of the farm near Cable. It was a bright, moon-lit night, with little or no breeze. I woke up during the night and saw a 8 to 10 large objects in the south yard. The objects looked like sheets hanging on the clotheslines fixed between the trees and the house, EXCEPT they were luminous (glowing of there own accord, not reflected moonlight) and they were moving in a very slow circle, as though dancing.

I watched them, without moving a muscle for what seemed like 10 minutes, but was probably 30 seconds. I finally got up the nerve to make a dash into the house through the front door. I immediately went to my bedroom, which was on the second floor overlooking the south yard. Due to the slope of the yard, the second floor window was as high as a third floor. I looked out the window and could see that the glowing objects were still there, moving slowly in a circle. I went to bed with my head under the covers.

I was the first one to get up the next morning. I immediately checked the south yard to see if anything was there. Nothing was on the clothesline and there was no other sign of the night's activity. I asked my mother if she had left anything on the clothes line the night before and she said that she had not.

Ghost Story Number Two

Our family had six kids and two adults, so there was never a moment when the activity/noise level ever reached zero. One time, when I was 14, the rest of the family went camping in Arkansas for a week. I was elected to stay home to feed the farm animals.

About the second evening, I became aware that the noise level had still not dropped to zero. I could hear voices throughout the house, but I could not quite hear what they were saying. I could hear traffic on the stairs, going up and down one step at time. Not knowing any better at the time, this only raised my anxiety level slightly. I just went on eating kipper snacks. This went on for the entire week (noises and kipper snacks).

There are many strange things about that house. During the 17 years that I lived there, we often returned to the house to find that lights were on, which we were sure had been turned off when we left. Since we had a large family and rarely locked the doors, there could have been lots of ways for this to occur. Later, after we sold the house, I understand that the new owner was unable to keep renters for very long and that the police came several times to find out who the intruders were. They never did.

Ghost Story Number Three

One evening, in about 1960, Oog, Denny Frye, and I were playing in the barnyard of the farm near Cable. It was after dark and each of us had a .22 rifle, looking for targets of opportunity. The old barn, which may have once been a church, sat at the opposite end of the barnyard. We decided to go inside the barn, up to the haymow on the second floor, to shoot pigeons, which liked to roost in the peak of the roof.

We climbed up the ladder to the hole in the floor of the haymow on the south end. The haymow was filled with unstacked bales on the south half and a huge pile of very old loose hay on the north half. It was totally dark, except for a large number of tiny holes in the roof (probably the result of prior hunting trips) which allowed the moonlight to shine through the roof. We carefully moved to the north half and climbed the stack of hay, so as to be very near the peak of the roof.

Suddenly, we stopped. About three feet from us, were a pair of cat-like eyes staring at us, about a foot above the floor. The eyes were 12 to 18 inches apart, just staring. We actually discussed this for a moment. We tried to scare it away by yelling...no response. We waived our hands to see if they were just caused by the moonlight through holes in the roof...nope. Finally, I aimed my .22 between the eyes and fired.

One eye winked.

You never saw three boys move so fast, even though the haymow was totally dark and full of loose hay. We did not even touch the ladder on the way down. We finally stopped under the yard light, about 25 yards from the barn. We then aimed our rifles at the barn and pulled the triggers.

Nothing...the bullets were duds. We cycled through the entire box of .22’s. None fired.

We went in the house, said nothing to anyone, and went to bed.

Early the next morning, we went to the barnyard and retrieved the dud bullets. We could see where the firing pin had struck the rims of each of them in the proper location. We loaded our guns with the duds and tested them. They all fired.

We told no one and did not discuss the incident again. About 25 years later, I asked Oog and Denny, separately, if they remembered that night. They each did, and they each remembered the story exactly as I have told it here.

Probability and Risk

I have had several discussions in the last few days on the subject of probability and risk. One's view of the subject is a clear indication of maturity. Why? Things happen. Doo Doo Occurs.

Risk is a combination of probability of occurance and the impact of that occurance when it does occur. Some event or outcome that is a low probability but high impact can be a high risk (nuclear war).

Probability is usually used to find the most likely occurance or range of occurances. But a mature person looks at the "tails" of the curve. The tails never go all the way to zero (in a normal curve). There is still a finite probability that the really extreme outcome will occur. That means it WILL occur, eventually. Regardless of how many "normal" (middle of the curve) events have occurred.

Example 1: The Space Shuttle o-rings experienced blow-by on several launches. Middle of the curve. Don't worry about it! It finally had a blow-by that was aimed in the wrong direction. Tail of the curve...One shuttle down and seven dead astonauts.

Example 2: The Space Shuttle had between 30 and 70 insulation events. Middle of the curve. Don't worry about it! Finally had an insulation loss at just the right amount, at the right phase of flight, hitting tiles at just the right angle...One shuttle down and seven dead astonauts.

Example 3: Kennedy High School Electric Car Project gives demonstrations at Middle Schools to drum up enthusiam for the program. Lets kids who have learner permits drive the car around a parking lot. Lots of kids drive the car with no problems. Middle of the curve. Some decide to "hot rod it" at 20 Miles per hour. A little less middle of the curve, but the small accidents have no damage or injuries. Low impact. One girl decides to hot rod it, has a small accident, but there is a guard rail at head height. Tail of the curve...Dead on Impact.

This could go on...and on...and on! Maturity is displayed by an understanding that Doo Doo Occurs! The immature have not had enough tail-of-the-curve experiences to have a proper view of probability. They may understand the impact, but that is only half the risk.

e-Pay

e-Pay is wonderfull!

I don't mean any specific service. Ever since the Post Office raised their rates to 37 cents, it has been more cost effective to pay bills by mail. All but a couple of my monthly bills are now on a "send me an e-mail invoice and I'll authorize payment of a certain amount on a certain date" basis. Bills that are fixed amounts, like mortgage, car loan, life insurance, bank service charges are set on an automatic basis. All others require the process listed above. I also get my salary, IRS refund, Iowa State refund by direct deposit. I always make brokerage transactions by wire transfer. It great!

This saves on stamps, paper, time, etc. I highly recommend it!

It's the WEEKEND!

And a long one at that.

About 80% of the rest of the office has already left...most taking vacation, some just on "personal business."

My 10-year old daughter wants to get her ears pierced. Peer pressure. We may let her do it, but she loses major, major credibility points. She has brought this up before, but always backed away because of the pain.

My 14-year old wants to go see the MATRIX II tonight. We would rather that he did not. He won't. We have tickets tonight to a local live theatre show, which we have had for weeks. A new girl has joined his school and her mother seems to be on a total campaign to corrupt our kids. The mother continually tries to set up group trips to "events" that are strictly "R" to "X". She even offers to buy tickets. Outrageous!

Great Quotes of J. M. Keynes

"In the long run, we are all dead."

"The markets can be irrational longer than you can be solvent."

Great Discussion of Deflation

From John Mauldin at Frontline at InvestorsInsight.com

Find it HERE

Republicans Fail Again

The Democrats espouse an awful agenda: "Government knows better than you when it comes to spending your money" and "free sex for anyone, regardless of the cost." and "America is always wrong." As such, I can never support a Democratic candidate for any office, anywhere

Theoretically, the Republicans are different. They try to cut taxes, etc. But they have a fatal flaw also. They compromise, compromise, and compromise. Again and again and again. The purpose of tax cutting is to force a cut in government spending, thereby freeing up more resources to be allocated by efficient decisions of consumers and investors. But the Republicans have moles. A bunch of "moderates" who espouse the Democratic agenda and should really move to that party.

Enough ranting.

Draft Resolution on Iraq

The subject resolution can be found here: xxxx

Back at Work

Why?

Lots of people are out of the office this week. Some are visiting customers, some are at the RAA Show, some are trying to burn vacation and catch a three day weekend. Very little is going on at the staff level. Just documenting what I did for the last three months and trying to develop a useless bottoms-up analysis of the government (read military) repair market for my company's equipment.

Bottoms up means count the worldwide inventory of aircraft by type, determine the avionics configuration, determine the MTBF of the equipments (per flight hour), dollarize that figure, then locate the flying hours per year for each type, then do a sumproduct on the whole thing. This is totally useless, since government only perform the repairs that they can afford. They all have huge inventories of spare LRUs and do not hestitate to cannabilize parked, stored, and retired aircraft. All of the services have big backlogs of unserviceable units waiting for funding. A proper market analysis would look at funding, not flying.

That is one reason I am retiring within the year.

Great Weekend!

What a great weekend!

I had just worked 27 of the last 28 calendar days on our Strategic Plan. Long days, for me...16 hours. The plan was delivered. So I took Friday off.

The weather was perfect: high 60's and sunny on Friday, high 70's on Saturday. I worked in the yard most of both days, plus cleaned out the garage, hung the air chair (a canvas swinging chair) and a hammock. Absolutely wonderful!

Took the family to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner to celebrate Mother's Day (delayed) and to recognize Alyssa's 99th percentile score on the "Computational Assessement Test." Listened to two of the three sermons I missed at church and one of the three Sunday School lessons...while playing Snood. Went to church on Sunday, ate lunch at a Mexican Restuarant, vege'ed out, played more Snood, etc. The whole day was a total blessing.

Bush bears the burden during difficult times

By Dick Morris, former Press Aide to Bill Clinton

His tie hung low around his shrunken neck like a necklace. His ears seemed larger as his face looked gaunt. Hair graying, his eyes burned with intensity and purpose as he addressed his nation announcing the war. The burden of the presidency seemed etched in the lines of his face. George W. Bush looks like he has aged 10 years in the last 27 months … and matured 20 years. Elected president, he has become a leader.

After Sept. 11, he responded to events. Now he transcends them. As this president faces the tasks imposed by history, he rises from its pages. It’s time for us all to thank the Lord that we have this decisive man in office at this crucial time.

One comes to respect his intelligence and political skill, but more his clarity, his understanding of what is important and his focus on the values he carries in his soul. His wisdom is not the product of complexity or subtlety. It stems, instead, from the simplicity of his profound understanding of good and evil.

In the State of the Union speech, he spoke of his daily task of facing new terrorist threats and the hourly burden of responding. Now we watch in awe at the dignity with which he bears our burden.

Like a gyroscope he keeps his bearing, always rising above the coming horizon. He intuitively knows where he must lead like the needle of a compass shows us the north.

I don’t agree with very much of his domestic program. It is too limited and based on an assumption of governmental inactivity that I do not share. I think that Bill Clinton was the better president up to the water’s edge.

But, on the critical aspect of his presidency, the war on terror, he is right on and has always been. He keeps his political balance as he maintains his internal ballast. His clarity of vision rises above that of his predecessor and his grasp of the requirements of history is deeper and more thorough.

Clinton always lamented that he was not in office during a time of overwhelming national emergency. He once told me that you needed a war to rise to top ranks among presidents. Yet it is the bitter irony of his presidency that he had a war to fight, he just never realized it and never fought it.

Bush would be wasted in another era. His skills would not have been as finely developed as they have been under this challenge. We would never have truly known him. He likely would not have even come to know himself as well as he now has.

Some say Bush’s diplomacy has failed. That’s not true. He succeeded in conducting negotiations without letting his purity be corrupted or his vision dimmed. This is the ultimate success, not failure, in diplomacy.

Others say he has squandered the sympathy the world had for us after Sept. 11. Again the criticism is wide of the mark. He demanded their tears give way to resolution, their empathy to action, their victimhood to victory. He didn’t dissipate global support. He mobilized it and those whose camaraderie was phony fell away.

Bush has not abused democracy, he has mobilized it. Nor has he shattered checks and balances, he has carried them into action. He is not overreaching the powers of his office, he is using them.

Roosevelt, Lincoln, and Churchill all looked different to contemporaries than they do to historians. FDR seemed to emerge as a wartime leader only after Pearl Harbor rescued him from a time of vacillation and indecision during the late 1930s. Lincoln appeared to be weak and unable to harness the moral issue of slavery to the task of winning the war. Churchill seemed an imperialist and an empire builder pining for war in a time of peace.

But history has a different view of all three.

Bush lives amid the ambivalence of democracy, but we are watching a Roosevelt, a Lincoln, or a Churchill in the making.

Dick Morris is a former consultant to President Clinton, Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and other political figures.

HOW TO WRITE AN OP-ED

An op-ed is an essay or guest column intended for publication in the opinion section of a newspaper. These are called op-eds because they usually appear on the page Opposite the Editorial page. Scores, perhaps hundreds, of submissions come in to a newspaper every day, competing for space on this page. In most newspapers, the allotted length is between 500 and 750 words. In most cases, te op-ed is intended to present a new, or different, point of view.

Editors have some very concrete requirements for selection, more or less in this order:

1. a provocative idea on any subject

2. an opinion on a current issue that is controversial, unexpected, authoritative and/or news

3. a call to arms on a neglected subject

4. bite and wit on a current issue

Without a forceful point to make, an op-ed is doomed to rejection.
This makes the op-ed page hostile to announcements of events, status reports or plain old news. This is the news section for blunt opinion, advocacy, denunciation, outrage, astonishment--all the heavy emotions. Editors want to be leaders in shaping the public debate, and you will do best by helping them achieve that goal.

WHAT NEWSPAPERS WANT

The editors of local and regional papers who choose which op-eds to use look for strong local interest. They don't want a generic slant. Tell a local story--of a real person, family or group and how your issue has affected them.

Timeliness is another characteristic editors look for. Even if your op-ed does not break new ground, you may be able to find something current to tie it to: a holiday, anniversary, election, upcoming conference, report, vote in Congress or some pending action by local or state government.

Sometimes, the signer (author) of the op-ed can make a huge difference. Even though you draft it, having the op-ed signed by a local or national expert, your group's president, a member of the clergy or a well-known politician, could make it more likely to be chosen.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN TO WRITE:

Call the newspaper first to confirm the name of the editorial or op-ed page editor, and to find out the criteria for submissions. Some newspapers accept op-eds by fax--but ask first. You should also ask about the approval process. In most cases, the newspaper will call you to clarify some of the facts only when they've decided to print your piece.

USING PROFESSIONAL HELP

Often, the person who drafts the op-ed has experience and information to relay, but relies on a writer with past op-d successes to shape and edit the draft. The problem is that newspapers are inundated with unsolicited op-eds; some big city papers get more than 100 each day. Using writing and placement professionals can sometimes make the difference in whether or not an op-ed gets published, however it does not guarantee placement. The tighter, punchier piece will have the edge over its competitors.

The typical process involves a discussion between you and writer to decide on the subject and form. A first draft by you. An extensive edit by the writer.
Minor tuning by you. A final draft by the writer. An okay from you before mailing to the target newspapers. The final version should be what you want to say, said in a way that can help you achieve your goals and that is likely to get published.

Don't be suprised if the newspaper asks for revisions. Typical requests include shortening, verifying facts, or providing a timely news peg. You and the writer can work together on this final leg of op-ed production.

GETTING STARTED

The first ste in writing an op-ed is to think through what message you want to deliver to readers. What are your goals for this op-ed: recruiting volunteers, starting a grassroos campaign, sustaining or increasing public funding, passing new legislation or educating opinion readers and the public?

Defining the goal will help you to determine which audience you need to reach:
the general public, local or national policymakers or specific groups like voters, teachers, doctors or senior citizens.

Defining the audience will also help you to determine to which the op-ed should be submitted: your local daily or weekly paper, a professional journal, a state or regional paper like the "Denver Post" or "Boston Globe," or the much more competitive national papers like "The New York Times" or "The Washington Post."

Other helpful hints for writing op-eds: consult materials that already exist--newsletters, speeches and policy papers--for background information; concentrate on one issue; work from an outline; keep sentences and paragraphs short; avoid cliches and jargon, and back up assertions with credible facts. Here are 10 helpful hints to consider when writing the op-ed:

1. Try to reduce your point to a single sentence. For example, "every child deserves a family."

2. See if your sentence passes the "wow" test or the "hmmm" test; if not, the point needs sharpening.

3. Any point worth making will have to be defended. Muster your best four supporting arguments or data bits and state each one in a single paragraph. Be as specific as possible. Avoid starting sentences with "There is/are" to employ the active, rather than the passive, voice.

4. Raise the opposition's best arguments and demolish them with countervailing facts, withering irony, condescension or whatever is appropriate, but deal with them.

5. Let yourself become emotional. Write a dozen such paragraphs and choose the best one.

6. Ask yourself what is the minimum background information a reader absolutely has to have in order to grasp your point. Write two paragraphs that summarize this information.

7. Imagine your target reader browsing through the newspaper on a workday morning, impatient to find, something interesting, gulping coffee, checking the time. What kind of statement might catch this person's attention? If you can raise questions, surprise, intrigue or baffle your reader into reading beyond the first paragraph, you stand a chance the editor will let you put the entire op-ed in the paper.

8. Now, write the piece. Write about 1,000 words (four double-spaced pages) maximum. Restate your key points in the final paragraphs.

9. Cut out half a page: Eliminate repetition. Trim words, not ideas. Check every word ending in -ly and see if you can't eliminate these and all the other adverbs.

10. Submit the piece at 750 words. Don't forget to include your name, title and affiliation at the end

The Real Strategic Issue of Iraq

Look at this article from Time Magazine. Although they are not the most reliable source on earth, this is a really good discussion of the importance of Iraqi oil to the political make-up of the entire world.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,450939,00.html

Working on The Strategic Plan

Late in the evening. Working on sizing the addressed market for a strategic (5 year) plan. What a waste of time!

I spend hours and hours developing very detailed build ups of the market from large data sources. Then make "adjustments" at the end so that the answer matches what the bosses want. I guess that is a form of Bayesian Analysis.

I just found a major spreadsheet error in some intermediate steps. When corrected, it made no difference in the final answer.
I guess that it beats working for a living.

Lobbying/Advocacy Techniques

In the past, we have all been confronted with incidents when legislation has been proposed and on some occasions passed without our knowledge. When the legislative activity is almost completed it is too late to build a solid grass roots lobbying campaign and, therefore, we as individuals and/or organizations have responded by attempting to block the legislation at the last minute.

The time has passed when this can be our primary means of influencing legislation. It is important that we begin to assess our real strengths, develop appropriate means for deploying our forces and determine long range plans for what will be in our best interest.
The following guide is presented to assist you in understanding the legislative process and to concretely develop sophisticated grass roots lobbying or advocacy strategies on a regional level.

I. The Basics

It is necessary to know who you represent. Are you an individual, a local or regional organization? You must have a clear sense of your own image and purpose if you are to convey your concerns in a convincing and professional manner.

If you represent an organization, you must know your numbers. How many people do you really represent and do you have a mandate to represent them? Whenever possible, work through a group or coalition. Numbers count.

II. Problem Identification

The next step is to identify the problem and the proponent of the bill.

• Who is behind the legislation being proposed and why?

• Who are the other powers involved (i.e., labor, the bar, the insurance industry, or other professional organizations)?

• Do you have a clear statement as to the intent of the bill?

• Have you identified the specific repercussions of the legislation if passed?

• Have you sought advice from other organizations that may be familiar with similar types of legislation?

• Are you ready to take a position and react in a positive manner?

III. Implementation of Political Action Decision

• You should have available a complete listing of all legislators (parliamentarians, senators, congresspersons) including their committee assignments and the districts they represent.

• Get to know the staff persons for key legislators. Often, due to the busy schedules of legislators, you are more likely to be able to meet with the staff persons than the legislators themselves. Staff persons can be powerful allies. Treat them with respect.

• Each legislator should hear from their own constituents. They will be much more responsive to the concerns of those individuals who actually reside in their legislative district.

• When writing about a specific act/bill, the first paragraph should refer to the number of the bill, and contain a clear statement of your position, either in favor or against the bill.

• Use your own words, avoid the appearance of a form letter and make the letter only one page long.

• If you are responsible for initiating the activity for a large group of concerned individuals, provide each individual with a prototype letter they could refer to along with any other information you may have, including the bill's repercussions.

• A courteous and reasonable letter that requests a response from a legislator is the ideal.

IV. Educate Legislators

Make a list of members that are in key positions and committees and then have your members visit them in their districts. It is important to see them in their district, if at all possible. They will have more time to talk with you, react to your concerns and be more open to actively listening to what you are saying. If you are representing an organization, it is critical that all members contacting legislators take the same position. You should design an outline of information which should be presented at each of these meetings and that outline should be adhered to strictly. It is damaging when different members of the same organization tell legislators different stories. It undermines the credibility of the group as a whole. The easiest out for a legislator is to say that "the people just don't agree; I don't know what they really want"

V. If a Crisis Arises

Call your legislator immediately. This will buy time; for you and your organization until your network of interested parties can become involved.

VI. Enlist Cooperation

Key members of other organizations can help support or defeat legislation that will likewise affect the persons they represent.
When a politically sensitive bill or amendment is introduced, you must know what other parties might support or resist such a change, and, as such, to whom you might look as a potential ally. Once identified, you should also attempt to get on the newsletter mailing list of these various special interest groups.

VII. Appear at All Hearings

Amendments to the proposed bill may crop up; they should be heard and clearly understood. An apparently simple amendment can change the intent and outcome of a bill and therefore change your position on the legislation.

VIII. Prepare Testimony
The legislature can be advised as to your position.

• Survey the literature prior to writing your testimony. Consult others who have expertise on the subject matter. Study the literature and know your subject.

• Write the testimony providing opinions supported by factual data and write in simple English. Stay with the issue.

• Remember that legislators usually do not have the time to do their own research. Try to help by having available objective data relating directly to the proposals at hand. (Supplemental material maybe attached to the testimony).

• After you have finished writing our your statement, put it aside and draft a 2 or 3 page summary-type statement and highlight the most important points. Use this for your actual testimony and submit the other for the record.

• Present your testimony, time allowing, before authorities in the field for their reactions prior to giving testimony. This should allow for constructive criticism, for revisions or for modifications, if necessary. You may want to role play the hearing for practice.

• Time your testimony to insure that you remain within the time allotted for your testimony.

• Know something about the legislators on the committee before which you will appear. By all means, know their names. Also know the functions of the committees.

• A pre-hearing briefing on last minute details should take place prior to testimony to insure all things are in order.

• Give sufficient good quality copies of your testimony to the committee chairperson in advance of your presentation.

IX. Presentation of Testimony

• Be presentable, that is, professional and moderate in appearance and dress.

• Address your comments and attention to committee members and not the audience. Address committee members by name, especially the chairperson.

• In your introduction, identify yourself and your area of expertise and the organization(s) you represent; cite importance of the issue; thank committee for allowing you the opportunity to present your remarks.

• Ask that your written statement, and attached documents, be included in the record.

• Talk, do not read, if at all possible. Speak loud enough to be heard.

• Do not waste time. Why is the proposal good or bad? What does it do? What are the fiscal implications? Where is the money to come from? Go to the heart of the matter at once.

• Be aware of what others have already testified to and do not repeat old data.

• Avoid substantial deviation from the subject unless absolutely unavoidable.

• Do not be antagonistic. Avoid inflammatory comments, criticizing the committee or its members. Avoid holier than thou attitudes.

• Close testimony with a very brief summary and offer to respond to any questions the committee may have.

X. Questions, Debriefing and Follow-up

• Be prepared for questions -- try to anticipate those likely to be asked and prepare accordingly.

• Have a thorough knowledge of the purpose, structure, and services of your organization.

• Do not be evasive in answering questions. Give direct and brief responses when you can. If you cannot answer, say so. Offer to look into the question and submit a statement at a later date.

• Thank the committee for allowing the presentation of your remarks and indicate that you would be happy to be available for future consultation.

• Bring an adequate supply of your remarks along for distribution to members of the committee.

• After you testify, remain in the hearing room for at least a few minutes so that you may answer any inquires.

• A debriefing session should follow hearings for assessing the impact and effectiveness of the testimony.

• Follow-up activities should be charted. Contact should be maintained with committee staff aides to follow the bill or issue.

Communicating with Legislators

It is estimated that less than ten percent of all voters will write to members of the legislature in their lifetime. Yet as issues become more complex, lawmakers do not have time to seek out the opinions of their constituents on every issue and increasingly value this unsolicited input.

In writing your letter, remember these points:

• Keep it short and to the point. Time is valuable and a concise letter will get better attention.

• Be specific and factual. At the top of the letter, identify your topic: Regarding bill No. ____, sponsor, title.

• Do not be insulting, intimidating or threatening. Don't try to lecture your legislator. Just give him or her the facts and your honest opinion.

• Back your stand with sound reasoning. If you are knowledgeable about an issue, give the legislator the information on which you are basing your opinion. If you have particular insight into a problem, make sure your present it logically.

• Use your own language. Several hundred identical letters can produce a curiously negative effect. The impact comes for the legislator knowing you care.

• Write correctly. Take time to check spelling, punctuation and meaning to the best of your ability. It is often a good idea to let someone else check your letters for typos and mistakes.

• Write or print legibly. A typewriter isn't necessary.

• Don't write on every issue. It may lessen your letter's impact on an important issue.

• Compliment your legislators when they work or vote for a piece of legislation important to you. Remember, they are human and appreciate.

• Address your letter correctly, using appropriate titles. You can close all letters with "respectfully" and your signature.

Practical Considerations in Working with Legislators

Developing your Position

• Involve as many as possible from within your interest group when developing your position or legislative program.

• Seek universal agreement and support from within your ranks. Work to maximize areas of agreement and minimize areas of disagreement.

• Develop concise position papers on your most important issues. Be specific in outlining the nature of the problem and the proposed solution. Document facts when possible and attempt to use third parties and other highly respected sources when citing relevant information. Be sure all of your information is accurate.

• Seek input and agreement from those regional agencies and other bodies which will later be called upon by lawmakers for views and information.

• Build a coalition among organized groups which have reason to share your concerns and views.

• Identify your strengths and express them in the most meaningful terms possible.

• Keep updated on pending legislation which may strengthen or hamper your efforts.

• Create awareness of your position or program among your grass-roots membership and the public via news articles and newsletters.

• Prioritize items on your legislative program.

Communicating your Position

• Develop a mutual acquaintance with your lawmakers.

• Become familiar with the personal interests and concerns of a given lawmaker prior to formal contact.

• Understand the effect and limitations of various means of contact and use the method which best meets the situation (meetings, telephone calls, letters, telegrams, petitions, etc.).

• Develop a timetable for action which recognizes and interfaces with the time-table of the legislature.

• Face-to-face visits with lawmakers in their home districts are very effective.

• Don't expect to have a substantive meeting with a legislator, particularly in the capital, during a legislative session, unless you have an appointment. Even then, understand that they may be delayed by developments beyond their control.

• Identify the reason for your meeting in advance. This will allow the lawmakers and staff an opportunity to be better prepared.

• Avoid asking your lawmakers to meet several times on the same subject with different people from your interest group. Include all those appropriate in a single meeting, but avoid a crowd.

• Identify and use your most knowledgeable and articulate spokespersons.

• Be polite, but firm and avoid confrontations.

• Seek a specific commitment but do not necessarily interpret a lawmaker's unwillingness to make a specific commitment as opposition to your position. A lawmaker may have legitimate reasons for hesitation, none of which may be related to opposition (e.g., the need to discuss the issue with other involved groups).

• Keep the door open for future contact if a particular lawmaker appears to be opposed to your views. A lawmaker may change positions after learning more facts.

• Do not discount the value of meeting with legislative staff, particularly if it is impossible for you to visit with the lawmaker.
Follow-up. Letters of appreciation and/or summarization should follow meetings or other verbal discussions. If you were asked to provide additional information, do so promptly. When you write, be sincere. Say what you want in your own words. Don't copy a form letter and avoid covering several issues in a single letter.

Other

• Study the power structure of the legislature. Recognize the composition, role and powers of the majority and minority parties in the legislature and understand that politics are an integral part of governing.

• Identify legislative leadership which is important to your concerns. When it is necessary or appropriate to communicate with these individuals, your own regional lawmakers should be made aware of your efforts.

• Commend lawmakers for a favorable vote or response. A note or telephone call is effective.

• If indicating displeasure to your lawmakers, be constructive and suggest alternatives. Avoid personal attacks.

• Recognize that compromise is often an essential ingredient of the lawmaking process.

• Understand the role of legislative staff and the functions of central staff versus a lawmaker's personal staff.

• Keep your group's central lobbyist informed of your work and results.

• Personal visits and written communications with lawmakers and staff must be planned as part of a continuing year-long dialogue. Contacts over a period of time are more effective than visiting only when a bill is coming up for a final vote.

Numbers of ICAO Flight Freedom Rights

1 The right to overfly one country en-route to another.

2 The right to land in an other country for a technical stop.

3 The right to carry traffic to a foreign state.

4 The right to carry traffic from a foreign state to the home state.

5 The right to carry traffic to/from third countries en route.

6 The right to carry traffic between two foreign states via the state in which the airline is registered.

7 The right to carry traffic between two foreign states entirely outside the territory of its home state.

8 The right to carry traffic between two points within the territory of a foreign state on a route with origin/destination in its home country (Cabotage).

9 The right to carry traffic within a country by an airline of another country (Stand-Alone cabotage).

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, because you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

--Dilbert

Criteria to Commit to War

Probably from Rumsfeld around the time of the 1st Gulf War

Two thousand years ago the Roman poet Horace wrote, "Force without wisdom falls of its own weight." Nothing that I do as the secretary of defense is more important than my role in advising the president on when and how to use military force in this post-Cold War world.
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Today we no longer face the monolithic threat from the Soviet Union. Today the threats to American interests stem from ethnic conflicts, nuclear proliferation, and humanitarian crises. Responses to these complex and diverse situations require flexibility, hard choices, and sound judgment. In short, they require wisdom..
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Wise decisions about the use of force have a political, a military, and an ethical element. The political element involves a judgment as to the nature of the interests at stake and whether the use or the threat of use of military force is the most appropriate way to protect those interests..
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The military element involves a judgment as to the capability of the U.S. military forces to achieve our goal and the probable losses entailed..
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The ethical element involves a judgment as to whether achieving our goals by military force is in keeping with America's fundamental respect for human life -- the lives of our military personnel and the lives of people of other nations..
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One of the most profound decisions that a president must make is whether to risk the lives of our people or threaten the lives of the people of another nation. The courage, the loyalty and the willingness of our men and women in uniform to put their lives at risk is a national treasure. That treasure can never be taken for granted, yet neither can it be hoarded like miser's gold..
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You and your colleagues are in uniform for a purpose -- to defend our nation and its interests against threats here at home and abroad..
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As the secretary of defense, it is my job to help the president decide when and where military forces should be employed. First of all, by making clear what national interests are at stake. Then, by asking what level of force is necessary to effectively advance those interests. And by asking the ethical question -- should force be used for those purposes? .
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Over 50 years ago President [Franklin D.] Roosevelt faced this awesome decision. He decided to deploy America's fullest military power to help defeat the forces of tyranny and aggression around the globe. That decision was clear-cut. America's interests were not in question. Indeed, our very survival as a nation was at stake..
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Historians have debated some decisions about the level of force in the Second World War. President [Harry S.] Truman's decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima was perhaps the most dramatic. The political element of this decision was sharply focused -- namely, to end the war quickly, once and for all. .
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The ethical element was more complex. By dropping the bomb, as Truman put it, "The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed." But by ending the war quickly the bomb would save tens of thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives who would have died in the ensuing combat. Truman made the decision, the ethical decision and, I believe, the correct decision, to save those lives..
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Today, unlike during World War II, most of the current and foreseeable threats do not threaten the survival of the United States, so we do not face the level of political and ethical questions about using force that FDR and Truman faced. But the problems we face are still very complex and very dangerous, so they still require us to think clearly about the use of military power..
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Today I believe there are basically, three different cases in which we may use our armed forces, all of which involve political and ethical questions. .
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The first category is when our vital national interests are threatened. Our second category is when important, but not vital, national interests are threatened. The third category is when a situation causes us deep humanitarian concern. I want to consider each of these in turn..
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A threat falls into this first category of vital interest if it threatens the survival of the United States or key allies, if it threatens our critical economic interests or if it poses a danger of a future nuclear threat. If we determine that we face such a threat, we must be prepared to use military force to end that threat, and we must be prepared to risk a military conflict to protect our vital interests. But we also must be prepared to weigh our political aims with our ethical responsibilities and to do that balance with great wisdom..
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Our confrontations with Iraq these past few years involved our vital national interests. Indeed, they involved all three of the threats, which I mentioned. They were a threat to key allies; they were a threat to critical economic interests; and a future nuclear danger.
In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait and threatened Saudi Arabia. It verged on controlling all of the gulf's oil, which amounts to two-thirds of the world's proven reserves. Control of that much oil would allow a hostile state to blackmail the industrial world and threaten the health of the world economy, and the revenues from that much oil would allow Iraq to renew -- and to renew with vigor -- its plans for building a nuclear bomb. So in 1990 we knew that our vital interests were at stake. Our political aim was to blunt the threat to those interests quickly, so we marshaled our forces and sent them to the gulf, but it was six months before we actually used military force. Why did we wait the six months? .
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First of all, we wanted to prepare our forces so that victory could be assured with a minimal loss of life. Also, we had an ethical responsibility to exhaust all possibilities for a peaceful resolution: to make war the last resort and not the first resort. We did exhaust these possibilities..
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The decision to start the war was, indeed, a decision of great moment. We as a nation made a political decision that we had to respond, but we also made an ethical decision: that the cost of not stopping Saddam Hussein's aggression outweighed the potential risk to American, allied and, indeed, even Iraqi lives. We also faced a tough ethical decision when victory was near at hand. .
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President [George] Bush decided, for political and for ethical reasons, not to make Baghdad and the capture of Saddam Hussein the goal. There were many reasons, but the paramount one for the president was that the cost in casualties from all sides would have been too high. He has received much criticism for that decision, but it was the ethical and, I believe, the correct decision..
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Last October Saddam Hussein posed another threat when Iraqi forces again massed near the Kuwaiti border. We marshaled overwhelming forces in the gulf, deploying troops to augment the troops already there. That decision, I can assure you, was not taken lightly. The president and I fully recognize that sending troops to the gulf under those conditions again risk conflict and risk American lives. But once again the cost of not deterring Iraqi aggression outweighs the potential risk. This time our quick action served as a deterrent, and the Iraqi forces returned to the garrisons without a fight..

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The political and the ethical questions are difficult when we have vital interests at stake -- as those cases illustrated -- but they're even more difficult in the second category when we have important, but not vital, interests at stake. These cases are more difficult because we have an obligation to weigh the risks against the interests involved and because the threats are not always clear-cut. But we must be willing to consider the use of some level of force commensurate with our interests. We want to influence the outcome in these cases because some outcomes will advance our interests while others can harm them, but our use of force must, therefore, be selected and limited, reflecting the relative importance of the outcome to our interests..
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We have a range of options here, from using U.S. military assets for logistical operations to using U.S. combat forces. The decision of what to use, whether it's a C-130 transport or an Army combat division, will reflect the costs that we are willing to pay to achieve the outcome that we want..

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Our military action in Haiti fell into this category. A military dictator overthrew Haiti’s elected government. This threatened important, but not vital, U.S. national interests. It threatened our interest in protecting democracy in this hemisphere, in preventing the flow of refugees and in our deep concern in putting a halt to a cruel systematic reign of terror over the Haitian people. .
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We could have used military force to protect those interests, but initially the risks outweighed the benefits. Over time, economic conditions and diplomatic efforts failed to resolve the threat, and indeed, the threat to our interests began to increase. So there came a time, a significant moment, when the president decided that the threat to our interests was great enough that we needed to take action. But we were prepared to call off the invasion up to the moment the first paratrooper left the plane, because we had an obligation to prevent the loss of lives if we could..
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As in Iraq last October, the threat -- just the threat -- of military action was sufficient to avoid the use of military force. However, in this case, the threat only became fully credible after the invasion forces were actually launched. The planes were actually in the air with their paratroopers on the way to Haiti when the Haitian government finally agreed to allow the forces in. So when the military junta finally stepped down, at the 11th hour, we did call off the invasion, and we arrived in Haiti then as friends rather than as invaders..
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Bosnia is another case where important, but not vital, U.S. interests are threatened. It may be the toughest security question we face today, both from a political and from an ethical standpoint, even though it is clear who the aggressors and who the victims are. Bosnian Serbs are the aggressors. The Bosnian government and its supporters are the victims. .
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The atrocities perpetrated by the Serbs, in particular the ethnic cleansing, are abhorrent. Therefore, some say that America has an ethical obligation to solve the Bosnian tragedy by entering the war on the side of the Bosnian government. .
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We have rejected that advice, because America does not have enough at stake to risk the massive American casualties -- and they would be massive -- as well as the casualties to other parties and civilians that would occur if we participated in a wider war. Therefore, that course is unacceptable..
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At the other end of the spectrum are those who say that America should do nothing -- that Bosnia is a tragedy, but it is not our tragedy. Doing nothing is unacceptable, too. It's not only unacceptable from an ethical point of view, but it's unacceptable from a national security viewpoint as well, because we do have a security interest in preventing the violence from spreading and stimulating a broader European war. We do have a security interest in limiting the violence. We certainly have a humanitarian interest in mitigating the effects of the violence and the human suffering. We have been able to achieve those goals in Bosnia and achieve them at an acceptable risk to Americans..
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It is a tough ethical decision to stand aside when we perceive that evil is being done, but we have decided to not commit U.S. combat troops to Bosnia to end the war. The cost in American lives, not to mention the cost in Bosnian lives, would be too great, especially when weighed against the limited U.S. interests at stake. But we have decided to commit U.S. military forces to the region to prevent the spread of the war, to limit the violence and to mitigate human suffering..

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For example, we have placed troops in Macedonia, under U.N. command, to help prevent the spread of the violence. We are enforcing the no-fly zone, which keeps the Serbs from bombarding cities in Bosnia. We are supporting the heavy weapons exclusion zones around cities. We're airlifting food and medical supplies for humanitarian purposes. These actions have been effective.
To date the violence has been contained to Bosnia. We have seen civilian casualties drop from 130,000 in 1992 to around 2,500 in 1994, and thus far in '95 there have been fewer than 100 civilian casualties. That is not to say that we are happy or satisfied with 100 civilian casualties, but it is an enormous difference from the over 100,000 that occurred there in 1992..
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We are engaged in the longest humanitarian airlift in history -- three years long, 15,000 sorties, longer than the Berlin airlift. In spite of these efforts, nobody can feel satisfied from an ethical standpoint about Bosnia. The cases where we weigh our interests against our risks are, by their very nature, ethically unsatisfying..
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Ironically, this also holds true when America is faced with a call to respond to humanitarian crises, and we in the Defense Department get those calls about once a month. On the surface, deciding whether to respond to earthquakes, starvation, disease or civil wars may seem easy, but it is not, because our forces cannot, and should not, be sent to resolve every humanitarian crisis in the world. .
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Generally the military is not the right tool to meet humanitarian concerns. There are other organizations -- government and private -- that exist to do this work. We field an army, not a Salvation Army. But under certain conditions the use of our armed forces is appropriate, and in other conditions it is not appropriate. I'd like to give you a criterion for when we use them and when we don't.
Let me go to Rwanda as a classic example. The civil war in Rwanda was a human catastrophe of massive proportions, yet intervention of U.S. forces would not necessarily have been effective, but certainly would have involved very large casualties. Like many other nations, we decided to concentrate on using diplomatic tools until the military and civil contact exhausted itself. Those diplomatic tools proved to be ineffective. That conflict and the resulting exodus of the more than 2 million refugees created a human tragedy of biblical proportions. The starvation, the disease and the death dwarfed the ability of the normal relief agencies to cope, and the need for relief was urgent..
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At that point and under unique conditions we were able to act. In the entire world only the United States military had the capability to jump-start a relief effort and begin saving lives in the short term. Only the U.S. military could conduct a massive airlift over long distances on short notice to bring in the specialized equipment needed to relieve its suffering. And we did..
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The joint task force quickly set up an airlift hub at Entebbe [Uganda], and the 24-hour airlift operations at Goma [Zaire] and Kigali [Rwanda], and the relief flights surged. American planes delivered nearly 15,000 tons of food, medicine and supplies to the refugees. U.S. troops were called from Europe. At one time we had almost 2,000 troops in Rwanda. Before two nights passed they began making clean water for the refugees at Goma. What had been a cholera epidemic that was taking 5,000 lives a day was stopped overnight..
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The lesson learned from Rwanda is that there are times when we can, and we should, intervene in humanitarian crises. But Rwanda also gave us a set of criteria that we use for looking at future humanitarian issues. The first of those is if we face a natural or manmade catastrophe that dwarfs the ability of normal relief agencies to respond. ... The second test is if the need for relief is urgent and only the military has the ability to jump-start the effort. Third, if the response requires resources unique to the military. And finally, if there is minimal risk to lives of the American troops. .
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Rwanda met all of those tests, and so I recommended to the president -- and the president accepted the recommendation -- that we would go in there with humanitarian efforts. We did. We saved probably 50,000 to 100,000 lives with that relief effort. We finished it in three or four weeks, then we pulled out and came home again -- turning the water purification equipment we'd taken in over to the relief agencies..
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Choosing the right thing to do in a chaotic world is not as simple as some may think, particularly when it comes to using military force. It's not merely a matter of asking our heart. We also have to ask our head. We have to ask, "Can American interests be protected without resorting to using military force?" We have to ask, "Is it truly worth it to risk the lives of our men and women in uniform?" .
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There's a painting that hangs outside my wall in the Pentagon. It depicts a poignant scene of a serviceman with his family in church. Clearly he is praying before deployment and a long separation. Below the painting is a wonderful quote from Isaiah in which God says, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And Isaiah replies, "Here am I. Send me.".
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When we talk about using military force, we are talking about risking the lives of people who say, "Here am I. Send me." Many times in history we have accepted that offer. We will have to accept it again. But we must never, never misuse it..
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Thank you

A History of Teaching Math

Teaching Math in 1950:


A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.

The cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is the profit?


Teaching Math in 1960:


A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.

The cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is the profit?


Teaching Math in 1970:


A logger exchanges a set "L" of lumber for a set "M" of money.

The cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth one dollar.

Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set "M."

The set "C", the cost of production contains 20 fewer points than set "M."

Represent the set "C" as a subset of set "M" and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of the set "P" of profits?


Teaching Math in 1980:



A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.

Cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20.

Your assignment: Underline the number 20.


Teaching Math in 1990:


By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20.

What do you think of this way of making a living?

Topic for class participation after answering the question:

How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees?

There are no wrong answers.


Teaching Math in 2000:


A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.

Cost of production is $120.

How does the accounting firm Arthur Andersen determine that the profit is $60?

Breaking and Entering

How to dissect an organization

Eric Nalder

Seattle Times

1120 John Street

Seattle, Wa. 98109

Phone: (206) 464-2056

Email: enal-new@seatimes.com
In our bellicose jargon, we refer to them as targets . . . as in "the target of my investigation." Perhaps that's because they pop up like shooting gallery icons in the course of a newspaper reporter's life.

One day a tipster introduced me to the fascinating world of nuclear weapons plants, and then a faulty o-ring sent me packing to a Utah rocket plant. The errant crew of the Exxon Valdez redirected my attention to tanker companies and from there - to mention a few - it was the University of Washington football team, the Seattle Fire Department, a bunch of crime labs and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

If our best stories are told through people, our toughest reporting tasks often involve cracking the associations they form. The challenges are myriad since the 265 million people in this country have created - so far - 6.5 million businesses, 220,000 non-profit organizations and 85,000 state and local governments. Each has its own culture, and more are being formed every day.

Ergo, the first rule for investigating organizations is to be flexible.

The second rule is that you must stop thinking of them as targets. After all, you are not going to shoot the organization. You will lift off the lid, pull out the parts, read the operating instructions and discover how it works.

Then you may expose its flaws, and in the process write some meaningful poetry.

First, though, you must lift off the lid.

The manual for dissecting an organization starts with basic questions:

Who are the players?

Who is in charge?

Who are the regulators?

What are the rules?

How are things done?

Where are the mistakes recorded?

Where is the spending recorded?

Who knows the story and how can I get it?

To answer these questions, here are some suggestions:

WHO ARE THE PLAYERS?
Lists: Every organization and government agency has payroll lists and phone books, which are frequently available on computer disc. For the government agencies you cover, routinely make FOIA or state public disclosure requests for these documents, as well as the job application resumes and personnel files. At private companies, cultivate helpful employees to provide the same. Be sure to ask for outdated payrolls rosters and phone books to get the names of former employees.

Newsletters: Most organizations publish internal newsletters that contain employee names, and other bonus information. Writing about a secretive Army Ranger battalion which had a classified roster - I gleaned a third of the names from a year's worth of the post newspapers at the Ft. Lewis library, just because the Rangers were frequently mentioned as accomplished athletes.

Associations: Contact the professional associations since they sometimes give out rosters, and they publish newsletters. They also hold annual conventions where you can meet lots of potential sources. Books on file in the library have lists of professional associations.

Courts: Check the local courts for lawsuits that might list employees, and keep in mind that disgruntled workers who have sued the firm or agency are sometimes good sources of information. Even an innocuous suit involving a land dispute might contain helpful names. Be on the lookout for depositions.

Whistleblowers: State personnel boards and the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board in Washington, DC have on public file the names of government employees who have appealed disciplinary actions. Some cases involve whistleblowing. For towns and counties, check the local civil service commission. To contact people who have submitted confidential environmental and or safety complaints to state and federal agencies, try getting around the confidentiality requirements by asking the regulatory agency to forward a letter from you to the complainants.

Licenses and Permits: State licensing bureaus provide lists of a wide variety of professionals who have state permits, including real estate agents, surveyors, undertakers, manicurists, architects, and nurses. You can frequently search for them by company name. The FAA has the names of pilots employed at an airline. The Coast Guard registers crew members on U.S. flagged merchant ships (and don't overlook the Liberian Services in Reston, Va. for licenses on Liberian flagged vessels, and the Panamanians, etc.) At each agency, some biographical and disciplinary information is usually available.

Contracts: Contracts with government agencies frequently include the names of the employees who work for contractors. For example, a housing authority applying for a HUD grant often includes resumes of key employees and officers.

Bankruptcy: Federal bankruptcy court records are a goldmine, since they contain, among other things, the names of employees who were stiffed for their wages.

Newspaper morgue: The business section of your own newspaper lists employees who were promoted or reassigned.

Old city directories: Newspaper and public libraries have old copies of the city directories that list the place of employment of local residents.

Outside contacts: You can get information on employees from a company's customers, suppliers and competitors. And remember, too, the unions. Companies have lawyers and accountants, and sometimes they have ex lawyers and ex accountants. Ex wives of company bosses can also be helpful. And don't assume that a banker won't tell you anything.

Gripes: Try the people who register their gripes with the Better Business Bureau, or the city licensing agency, or the licensing department, or in letters to the editor.

Hangouts: To meet sources, hang out at the restaurants, bars and cafes located near the company office. Or maybe there's a gym where the troops play basketball.

Tour: Take a tour of the agency. Meet people. Take note of the names you see on desktops and on those little magnetized ''in" and ''out" signs that are frequently located at the receptionist's desk.

Interviews: The best sources, of course, are the employees themselves. When you interview them, ask each one to tell you what they know about the others. You can quickly build a roster this way. Ultimately you want to know how people interact, and who is the best source for each type of type of information. If you already have a payroll list or phone book, read out the names to prompt your interview subject's memory. During one recent investigation, had each interview subject to through a roster and by doing so I developed very useful dossiers.

When an employee tells you something important, always follow up with the question: ''How do you know that?" The answer will frequently include the names of other players.

WHO IS IN CHARGE?

Government: It's relatively easy to obtain a roster of bosses at government agencies. Resumes should be available and much of the personnel file should be open for your perusal. Pay attention to the place where the bosses formerly worked, because you can learn a lot about them there. Verify what they have said on their resume.

Disclosure: Elected officials, of course, file documents disclosing their finances and campaign contributions, but keep in mind that the top appointed officials at the federal and local level must frequently do the same.

The unofficial hierarchy: Learn about the shadow bosses. Sometimes a member of the city council runs the show at city hall more than the mayor, or a particular contractor has more power within a state agency than the director. Ask employees about this. Request the desk calendars of the bosses to learn who they meet with regularly, and get travel records along with an itinerary.

Private companies: One of the best resources is Dunn and Bradstreet. The free version of a Dunn and Bradstreet report has bare bones information, but the $l00 version is much better. Another source of the names is your state's corporations office. In addition, the county recorder keeps records regarding limited partnerships. Loan documents on file at your state's Uniform Commercial Code office frequently contain names. Credit reports are available on line. The local Chamber of Commerce might have information as well. Of course, the company phone book is a key. Service club directories contain names of company leaders. Bankruptcy records point fingers of blame when a company gets into financial trouble. Keep in mind as well that employees, suppliers and customers can provide additional information on informal hierarchies. Who does it/he/she contribute to? How much? Why? What do the politicians who received donations say about your subject? Does the business have it's own PAC? Many large companies, including privately held ones do. And if they've got a PAC, they've got to file with the FEC and, often, with state and municipal authorities as well (often there'll be two PACS, one for federal elections, one for state). If a company has its own PAC take a close look at who contributes to it. You'll most likely find key company officers and, perhaps, friends or business associates who can offer other avenues for reporting. A particularly good web site for FEC data is:
http://www.tray.com/fec.info

Publicly traded companies: The Edgar site operated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm) provides valuable documents such as the 10K and the proxy (known as Def 14A). These have names of executive officers including their wages and perks, age, title, time with the company, familial relationships and a brief biographical description. Annual reports, available from the company's investor relations office, contain more puffery but have additional valuable information. Ask the relations office for resumes on company officers Stock analysts are a great source of information on company bosses and on the informal hierarchy. Lists of stock analysts are available in Nelson's Directory of Investment Research and Bloomberg News. Be aware of possible bias if the analyst works for a brokerage house that serves as the company's investment banker.

Non profits: The IRS 990 form contains the names you want plus financial information. Non profit organizations are required to release the 990 if ask for the document at the office during normal business hours. You can also fax your request to the IRS. The proper address in our region is the office of Return and Income Verification Services, Ogden (Utah) Service Center, 801 620 6671. The reply should take 30 days. Dan Langan of the National Charities Information Bureau says you'll get quicker service from the IRS if you cite the IRS CODE and DO NOT cite FOIA. Keep in mind that some 30 states require charities to keep their 990s on file with the state, and you will frequently get quicker service there. The agency in Washington is the Charities Division of the Secretary of State.

Other sources: Nothing is more valuable than the contacts you make with secretaries and clerks. Take a tour of the company. Sometimes these are offered to the general public. Talk to competitors, suppliers and customers. Check court files and interview the litigants. Talk to the boss' neighbors and his buddies at the golf and country club.

WHO ARE THE REGULATORS?
Federal government: The inspector general offices for each federal agency have web sites, and a directory for them is located on Ignet at www.sba.gov/ignet You can search inspector general reports by key word or topic. The General Accounting Office is a good resource, as are the internal audit agencies (i.e., the Army Audit Agency, etc.). Cultivate sources at the audit agencies. Staff members from congressional committees are sometimes helpful, and there are directories that can help you locate them. The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel receive complaints on personnel issues. Check the court files and the Federal Election Commission.

State and local governments: The state auditor's office is a good starting place, but don't forget legislative committees and the city council staffers, as well as the various offices of internal audit. The state attorney general's office and the state police conduct investigations at state agencies. Each government agency has an office that answers complaints and claims. Remember the personnel office, the unions and OSHA. For police, there is the office of internal investigations and frequently there is an ombudsperson.

Private companies: You might locate some government audits if the company has a government contract. The GAO and the IG might also get involved. The SEC acts as a regulator for publicly traded companies and, in an ad hoc way, so do the various stock analysts. What kind of business is your company engaged in? If it is involved in a regulated business as most are then you can get information from a variety of sources; i.e., for transportation companies you can get reports from, among others, the FAA, ICC, NTSB, local state highway police and (if waterborne) the U.S. Coast Guard. The city business registrar will have some basic information. The city engineering and building departments, and the county assessor, will have data on the structures that the company owns. As mentioned before, the state licensing department might have complaints filed against licensed professionals. The Uniform Commercial Code Office keeps a record of loans. The state revenue department will have some releasable information. OSHA and your state labor office will supply reports on safety and wage and hour complaints. It might even be relevant to ask the police and fire departments for records on emergency calls to the business location. Check the court files for lawsuits, of course, and the Better Business Bureau for complaints. (Council of Better Business Bureaus has information on businesses and charities at http://www.bbb.org)

Non profit: While the IRS 990 form is one good source of information, an even better one is the audited financial statement. Under some circumstances, charities are required to release their financial statements. Langan gives the example of public TV and radio stations which are required by agreement with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to make their financial statements publicly available. In some cases, charities file the theirs audited financial statements with the state. Or you can always ask the people at the non profit agency to give you a copy. If they don't, ask them why they are not willing to release it.

Watchdogs on the perimeter: Organizations like the Government Accountability Project receive whistleblower complaints, while environmental organizations take care of the dirty discharges and poisonous products. The National Charities Information Bureau, based in New York, keeps an eye on charities (http://www.give.org). Some state agencies also oversee charities, but keep in mind that they say most of their leads come from the media. Your library will have a list of private organizations that watchdog various businesses. Lawyers who have sued the company might also be aware of organizations, and or groups of complainants. Canvass the neighborhoods surrounding a company for activists who might keep an eye on the place, and cruise the internet. Think about the work that the company performs, and imagine what kind of people might come in contact with that work. I found information about tanker companies among the ship pilots, tugboat drivers and oil terminal operators. Use your imagination.

WHAT ARE THE RULES?
Government agencies: You'll be buried for too long if you try to read every law and regulation that affects your agency. Learn to use the indices in the federal law, and the code of federal regulations, to more precisely locate the sections that apply to your subject. For a shortcut, watchdog agencies and organizations can point you to the relevant language. You can get a government agency to do the work for you by filing a FOIA request asking for any and all laws, regulations or internal policies that apply to whatever you are writing about.

Private companies: Use the same process, but in this case go to the government regulators who oversee the business. Find the laws and regulations that they are empowered to enforce. Remember, too, that there are general laws governing the operation of a company - taxes, unfair consumer and labor practices, wages, etc. - that might be relevant. Various agencies, like the Labor Department, administer those laws and they can help you with the details.

Internal regulations: Agencies, non profit organizations and companies all have their own internal policies and regulations. Request them from government agencies and get someone inside the private organization to provide you with the rulebook.

The history: When you find the rules and regs you are looking for, read the legislative history and interview the experts to learn how the law or regulation into being. You might find that the old problems that were supposed to be fixed by the new law haven't gone away. Or you might find that new problems have arisen as an unintended consequence of the law. You can also locate the people who spurred the change in regulations, and get their perspective on current events.

HOW ARE THINGS DONE?
Tactical plan: Once you have a grasp of your subject, sketch out a plan for figuring out the way the organization works. As a general rule, you should file your FOIA requests to the government agencies early in the process. While the agency is deciding whether to honor your request, you will be getting to know some employees who will leak the documents to you.

People trail: Decide who are you going to interview and in what order. Sometimes you must catch certain people quickly before they are scared off. Other times you must circle them, talking to their friends and associates. Also decide where you are going to interview people. It is frequently best to talk with them at the place where they are doing the thing you are writing about. But sometimes you might want to surprise them at home, where they are likely to be more candid. Talk over the plan with your editor and your fellow reporters.

Getting the inside story: Once you have your roster of players, you'll need an insider to guide you to the players who are most likely to talk freely about the hidden stuff. Find the home addresses for those people and visit them at a convenient and non threatening time (7 p.m. is often a good). Tell them you are working on a story and you could really use their help. Offer a brief rundown of the story you are working on because, sometimes, their curiosity about your story will get you in the door. And telling them something about your story is a good way to prompt them to give you more information. If that doesn't work, apologize for the intrusion and appear as though you are backing off. Get the person to talk about something else. Anything else. Maybe you noticed an unusual plant next to the walkway, or the family dog, or something on the wall that indicates a hobby. Say something about it. As a general rule, if you can get people talking about anything, you can gently move them back to the subject you are interested in. As you move back to the subject that interests you, start with non threatening questions. Ask the person about the work that they do, and then ask what they know the person or the problem you are interested in. If the interview subject balks, reassure them that they are not the only person you are talking with and "it's really no big deal." You explain that what you need as a reporter is a little help. Be honest. (See my interviewing handout Loosening Lips (below) for other techniques.) As you get to the most important stuff, it's important for you to organize your approach. Follow a chronology. When the person says something significant, always ask ''How do you know that?" That question is a perfect door opener to other sources, and for some reason it usually gets people to say more. Also ask for examples. When a person tells you that the bosses are unfair, ask for an example. And always ask people to suggest other ways of getting the information you need, and other sources. ''If you were working on this story, how would you do it?"

More on the paper trail: Whether you are using FOIA with a government agency, or a mole at a private company, get your hands on the memo traffic. If the agency is in trouble, or if rules are being violated, there will be plenty of memos. Make sure you follow the memo trail to the end. Audits, of course, are helpful, as are pieces of outside correspondence. Travel records and desk calendars are good sources of information. It is very important, at some point, that you visit the department that keeps the records and meet the record keepers. Drop in unannounced, if that's possible, and do so in a friendly and casual manner. Ask for a tour. Your goal will be a detailed explanation of the records system in the agency or company. An alternative is the midnight visit. If a source works the graveyard shift, ask if they can bring you to work one day and give you a tour (as long as it is legal).

WHERE ARE THE MISTAKES RECORDED?
Anecdotal: As you meet with sources, ask people to tell you where the mistakes are written down. Every company and government agency has a system. Sometimes there is more than one place where the mistakes are recorded. At Department of Energy nuclear weapons plants, for example, some screw ups were described in ''Unusual Occurrence Reports" and others were memorialized in ''Off Normal Reports." There were also audits, internal memos, internal letters and surveillance reports.

Paper trail: Government agencies are required to release lists of relevant documents. With private companies, you've got to ask people to describe the system (more on that later).

WHERE IS THE SPENDING RECORDED?
Anecdotal: Besides the obvious internal sources, you might find yourself a friendly private auditor who has dealt with company or agency you are examining. Be wary of organizations that keep two sets of books. It does happen. If necessary, try to find a mole within the bookkeepers office by visiting people at home.

Paper trail: Reading a balance sheet is never easy. Find yourself an expert, maybe an inside source or perhaps someone from the accounting office in your own newspaper. Remember that a balance sheets shows you how the money was spent, and a budget shows you how they planned to spend the money. You'll want both. Be sure to follow the budget trail. Get the budget proposal made by the agency head to the agency chief executive, and the one submitted by the CEO to the council or legislature. Look for stuff that gets lopped off or added, and read the narrative to learn more about the agency's needs.

WHO KNOWS THE STORY AND HOW CAN I GET IT?
After you have made your document requests, and toured the plant, you need an excuse to move in. Sometimes the best excuse is the simple act of copying documents.

Whether you have made a FOIA request of a government agency, or talked a company into sharing some of its records with you, you can win friends by offering to help with the copying. Once you get there, get yourself assigned to a table, and ask directions to the restroom and the soft drink machine. Be courteous and don't get in the way. Meet people. Chat. Listen to conversations. Basically, you want to become a part of the operation. Doing so, you will witness stuff you would never see in the annual report.

Come up with an excuse to return several times. Move around with confidence. Act like you belong. Act like they are lucky to have you there.

Ask people to retrieve records for you, and accompany them to the file cabinets. Learn how the filing system works, and offer to pull out the stuff yourself. Pretty soon you'll get direct access to the records.

Drop in on the bosses several times. Have valid questions, don't be a pest, but get them accustomed to talking with you several times. Ease them into informal conversations.

If something important happens - a critical meeting, an accident or a major incident - be there. Instruct your sources to inform you whenever they expect a significant event. If necessary, ask sources to keep diaries for you on what goes on in the office.

If your story involves a factory, get down on the floor and learn how to operate the machinery. Don the protective clothing that the workers wear, and handle the same tools. If you are writing about crooked cops, hang out with the cops. It pays to be on the scene. The best interviews are conducted with the eyes, as well as the voice and ears. Be there, and you will be aware.

If people are nervous about giving you access, explain to them that you can write more accurately about their operation if you have firsthand knowledge.

As you collect information, organize it into two major files. One is a chronology and the other is something I call an aspects list (aspects of a story).

The information I put into the aspects list is labeled by category. For oil tankers, for instance, I set up categories like ''crew training, double hulls, enforcement of rules, engines" . . . and so on. While I read clippings, examine documents and review interview notes, I enter, under the proper category, any quote, fact or idea that seems useful. To properly identify each item, I label them with an asterisk followed by a key word that designates which category it falls under. (i.e. *training for crew training, *double for double hulls and so on). By using an asterisk, I have created a very handy search word. (I do this in the body of my interview notes as well). That way I can search very quickly for the entries that relate to each category of my aspects list. At the end of each entry, I note for myself where I can find the original document or my raw notes in my paper files or in my computer database.

An aspects list and a chronology will help you better understand your subject, and, more importantly, it is tremendous guide while you write.

Before you write, decide what the story is. A poorly written investigative piece is usually the work of a disorganized reporter who is not sure of the point.

If you cannot write with authority, then you are not ready to write. Do more reporting.

Thanks to the following people for their help: Duff Wilson, Stanley Holmes, Tom Boyer, Tom Brown, Dan Langan, Deborah Nelson, Greg Heberlein and David Boardman.