Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Monday, June 12, 2006
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Corporations
Great article, Mickey about the secrets of corporations. #6 is probably the one that counts the most. The rest are just over-kill by the corps but thanks for shining some light on them. Once you have Congress in your pocket, you’ve won the battle.....I am not really encouraged by the win as discussed in the other article.
Chalmers Johnson was great on c-span last night. He discussed his book, “The Sorrows of Empire” among other things. He says that the situation is hopeless and cannot be fixed politically. More and more are coming to that conclusion. If his conclusion is correct (I agree with him) then the discussion should center around what are the possible non-political ways to achieve change. BUT, the demise of the Empire will be a good thing for humanity, right? So maybe we should be concentrating efforts on how to help it along. No body needs an empire.
About anything you ever say on the Internet affecting a job possibility. Yep, that’s true. Also, A few days ago, the government, that has done extensive research on my every keystroke, arrived in town with a van load of documents on me....not a car trunk filled, but a van load. They are still searching for that one phrase to hang me with. I am not in a job search, but any one’s computer activity can be used any way the government or a prospective employer wants to. The big problem for a citizen, when the government attacks them, is NOT what is found on the Interenet, but how it is twisted and taken out of context. The lawyers in the State Attorney General’s office are experts at twisting and obfuscating the real facts.
To James...you were concerned about where to get clothing that did not come from a source that exploited labor. I was thinking about that and remembered that in Vermont nudity is not against the law. Flashing and streaking are illegal because they are considered to be “sexual” acts. Just plain nudity is OK. In the 21 years that I have lived here only one person has ever taken advantage of the nudity allowance, probably because it is usually too cold but if you move up here your clothing issue will be solved.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/12 at 07:51 AMOh no… is Mudge going to move up there too?
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 06/12 at 07:56 AMYep !!! He is packing, even as we type.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/12 at 07:57 AMYikes… well, here’s the last I’ll offer about jeans, and no that’s not me modeling in the photo here, and no I’m not going to spend this much money on jeans, hemp or not:
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 06/12 at 08:22 AMHello Expendables. Lively start to the discussion here today. Yes, the Empire (and the culture that created it) must be brought down but that won’t happen because we buy $90 hemp jeans...that’s for sure.
James: Go used. Look up garage sales on Craig’s and find used, cheap jeans.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/12 at 09:58 AMYou know what is really great about corporations? How they can fire you at a moment’s notice with absolutely no regard for any events in your personal life or how long you worked for them, but get so offended if you quit even giving 2 or 4 weeks notice. I am being sarcastic here (just in case there was any confusion)
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 06/12 at 10:00 AMMaybe, but honestly-- is that what you do? If you don’t mind my asking. My area’s riddled with thrift shops I’ve bought so much stuff from, but I’m just worried that any jeans I buy there girls just won’t like the fit of… oh forget it. I gotta write a novel on company time now. Seriously.
Posted by James on from still at work 06/12 at 10:03 AMSimultyping, JOS, but yeah… you’re talking to the perpetual temp here. I love it! With at least as much sarcasm as you.
Posted by James on from still at work 06/12 at 10:11 AMHey JOS, what’s up?
James: Yeah, a fair amount of my wardrobe is used...or it that “pre-owned”?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/12 at 10:29 AMMickey, that article should definitely be expanded to a 7 Stories Press / Open Media pamphlet a la Kevin Danaher’s 10 Reasons to Abolish the IMF & World Bank. I would love to see some good hard facts on specific companies that do these horrible things, in your language of course…
James, I’m with Mickey on the jeans issue: buy used. I’m with Rosemarie: buy cheap. Fret about more important matters. And for chrissakes man, you’re 33, what are you worried about girls for? There’s a world of WOMEN out there looking for a sensitive and engaged person like yourself. Maybe half a world, I dunno.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 06/12 at 10:36 AM35 actually, and yeah, I meant women, really, I did. But it can get so hard to tell the difference. Mudge would have a solution, and that would be to stay inside an write, and he’d be correct. On company time or not.
As for engaged, no, been there done that, not for me. Kidding, I know what you meant.
Yeah, lots of my wardrobe is pre-owned, but jeans just feel like the final frontier. Hm.
Posted by James on from still at work 06/12 at 10:51 AMHi all.
@ James : enough with the pants already… please. The expendables have covered all the bases: used/pre-owned, discount/thrift, union-made/fair-trade, and finally, nakedness. Pick one!
@ Kier : related: http://corporatecrimereporter.com/
While there, be sure to check out the “Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990’s”. Good stuff.Posted by RT on from The Buyou City 06/12 at 11:07 AMHey everyone, just got back to civilisation. The festival rocked, the Foo and the Prodigy in particular. I’ll try and catch up.
I suppose its a vaguely appropriate time to bring up my employment status - as a freelancer I have a job until my line manger loses hers, due to the wonder of corporate takeovers, and I have no idea when that might be. Keep ‘em insecure, keep ‘em quiet seems to be the order of the day.
The US team are doing OK in their ‘soccer’ match against the Czechs...and as I’ve typed that they’ve gone 2-0 down.
“summer” - no shit.
Posted by Mew on from sister's Mac 06/12 at 11:37 AMWhat’s up, Mick.
As you all can tell from my nickname “Commando” JOS, I prefer eliminating pieces of my wardrobe completely...I suppose I will just decide to go naked eventually.
Off topic...this morning I read another article on the fact that prescription drug traces are being found in the rivers, lakes and oceans of our world and (of course) our drinking water. All put there when users of these drugs urinate, obviously.
Some of the more prevelant seem to be the hormones that make up birth control pills and anti-depressents. I am all for birthcontrol and the treatment of depression (have had my share of that over the years)...but this is something that we really need to think about. The effects of the pill could be changing the sex of certain fish species and who knows what prozac is doing...the article mentioned negative effects to shell fish.
Just something to think about…
Posted by JOS on from Downtown Chicago 06/12 at 12:22 PMThis one’s for you, JOS #6
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/12 at 01:02 PMHello again...welcome back, Mew.
Keir, I like your idea and will put out some feelers about a pamphlet version.
RT: I like your style.
JOS: I strongly recommend the new Derrick Jensen book for a look at just how bad the mass poisoning is.
Captcha sez: Company (did it read my main post?)
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/12 at 01:11 PMDefinitely will follow that suggestion, Mick. I’ve read several of his books and found his work to be excellent.
Thanks, RMJ! When I worked for large corporations I used to have many passive aggresive ways of “fighting” those rules (always late, 2 hour lunches, calling in sick on Mondays, claiming to be “alergic” to computer screens, etc.). I was usually considered to be very good at whatever job I was doing so I never got fired...I mostly just annoyed the crap out of whomever my manager was. Pretty silly way of acting really…
Thank Jesus H. Christ I don’t have to deal with those corporate rules anymore…
Posted by JOS on from Downtown Chicago 06/12 at 01:37 PMThe blot on my CV is working for ABB - the company which sold nuclear power technology to Korea (no problem with that) under the watch of director D. Rumsfeld (oho). Hey I was an IT tech, I was just doing my job…
To be impartial (in that wonderful BBC sense), Donny has protested that he’d left that post, perhaps in protest at the Clintonite policy of threatening Korea with nuclear annihilation then profiting from the utterly predictable diplo-milito-commercial opportunity, something Don is absolutley against. Morally.Oh, and no shame losing horribly to the Czechs. They’re a very decent side
“England”. Pronounced “In-Ger-Lund”, at least until we’re dumped out of the World Cup by a superior and nearly as arrogant team. Pleasingly, the only thing that got a bigger noise on Saturday than the Foo’s attempt to stroke the English sporting ego was their storming exit and the inevitable boob-flash. Hooray for boobies.
Posted by Mew on from sister's Mac 06/12 at 02:03 PMHey Mew, as long as we’re fessing up: I temped for a summer at Philip Morris headquarters. Did a fine job too---as the assistent to the building maintenance manager (4,000 employees in one building). Nice people worked there, and received two cartons of cigarettes every friday.
RMJ: number 8 on your list would be my kind of humor. If it was a joke.
RT: Russel Mokhiber is great. Does anyone here remember “Ari and I” or “Scottie and me”...? It’s been over a year already.
Somber news for me (although maybe not for this crowd) http://tinyurl.com/mkhfk.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 06/12 at 02:41 PMKeir...most on the list were experienced by me. #8 on the list happened when a blood vessel broke in my daughter’s head and my boss would not let me off work to rush her to the hospital. Anyone who has ever had a boss-from-hell should read the list and add to it.
If it is confession time, I worked for Pratt and Whitney and also General Electric when GE was designing nuclear power plants. I worked in the department that actually did the design and testing of large steam turbines. I am old enough to remember all of the misinformation, “Better Living through chemistry”. I think that gem was from Dow Chemical. When I worked at GE, people thought that electricity from nukes would soon be so inexpensive that it would be free.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 06/12 at 03:06 PMWell, if we’re in shame and self-loathing mode, I might as well kick in: For a short while, I worked in the corporate fitness facility for Bristol Myers Squibb. I helped keep the execs in top-top shape to pollute the rivers, lakes, and streams JOS mentions above.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/12 at 03:10 PMThanks for the heads-up on the ‘7 habits of highly effective corporations’, Mickey!
And ‘hi’ from a cold Daylesford - I would be surprised if the temperatures get up to even 50F today - to Rosemarie, James, JOS, Keir, RT and Mew. Might yet go back to bed to curl up with a good book - those orders are only 3 weeks away, Mickey ..
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 06/12 at 04:54 PMHi everyone!
this article ties in with the corporation theme http://tinyurl.com/f4otm whoever heard of Restless Leg Syndrome?
and I guess this one does as well kind of: http://tinyurl.com/k7t6w
and a good movie on the corrupt corporations the movie is about corruption in Japanese corporations but all corporations follow the same patterns therefore making the theme of the movie universal.
http://tinyurl.com/qw7uvPosted by TM on from 06/12 at 05:12 PMYou know, I feel like my daily posts here aren’t complete until the Expendables have added some related links to round things out. Thanks, TM. I can always count on you for links worth clicking.
Hi Helga. It’s sunny and comfortable in Astoria. Feels like mid-May.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/12 at 05:20 PMAh shit the World Cup! Here too! I HATE football (pause for savage grind of teeth). Spent Saturday (England’s first game) avoiding it like the blazes. Hate it, bores me, incites ridiculous OTT emoting on a mob scale. Hope the fans enjoy it, and that the England team go far, and soon. Mars sounds good.
I’m against expensive trousers on principle. You can get cheap jeans which are pretty good, but then I’m not CK billboard material and frankly, I’d be worried if I were. (how’s that for a cop out?)
Love to all the Expendable nation.
MZ, that article held within its words a lovely touch of dynamite. It does my world good to know such things are being written.
Captcha says “like.” Oh yes.
PS, a friend of mine was at a festival at the weekend, & Guns N Roses started early. Early? Axl Rose must be a changed man.
Posted by Chris Wood on from Manchester, odd wet lovely Manchester 06/12 at 05:35 PMI enjoy football, in fact I enjoy most sports I bother to learn the rules to (American football is the one thing I refuse to enjoy - stupid sport.) I prefer cricket and rugby union, which do also get caught up in the nationalistic bollockery - but not so regularly. I think the thing with actually very trivial things like sport is to enjoy them (or not) independent of what anyone is telling you to feel. Easier said than done, the brain-buggering from advertisers and ‘pop culture’ generally has been particularly pervasive this time round I’ll grant you.
Out of respect to Chris I pledge to keep the WC out of my posts from hereon in. No WC jokes from me. No siree.
The USA’s chances of qualifying for the next round seem to have gone down the shitter though.Posted by Mew on from sister's Mac 06/12 at 06:14 PMNever been into spectator sports myself, but I do find Edge of Sports intriguing reading occassionally.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 06/12 at 06:22 PMHey Chris, Mew, and Keir. I just heard screaming and horns honking in my neighborhood but since Astoria is quite the melting pot, I had to check to see who won. It was Italy this time. Tomorrow, when Brazil plays Croatia, there will be plenty of noise around here...from both sides.
As for Dave Zirin, I agree Keir. He’s great.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/12 at 06:26 PMHi y’all
101F on the back porch, off to wash the greasy icky sweat off me.
Bye y’all
captcha’s back in oracular form: “southern”
>snerk<Posted by Mudge on from Austin, Texas 06/12 at 07:56 PMHey Mickey, apropos spectator sports: I just read your ZNet sustainer article from Sunday. Damn good stuff, right on target, hit the nail on the head and all that.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 06/13 at 02:19 AM
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