My (Baby-Boomer) Presidents

Since we have finished the presidential primaries and will soon be in the campaign for the new President of the United States I thought I'd reflect on the commander-in-chiefs since I was hatched and what I remember them for.

Harry Truman-He could make a decision even if it meant over 100,000 were going to die as a result. I can't even imagine.

Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower-Didn't do much while he was pres other than play a lot of golf. As a result, he spent a helluva lot less of our money.

John F. Kennedy-JFK had the charisma of a movie star and the sex drive to sleep with one. Somewhere along the way he pissed someone off and we lost him. I was really upset when he was assassinated. It felt like the world was going to end. But, my little brother, Joe, was born a week later and life moved on.

Lyndon B. Johnson-A mean old man who exercised his immense power in Washington to get what he wanted. He took Roosevelt's Fair Deal and ramped it up to the Great Society. That's political talk for dramatic increases in domestic federal spending. He snookered the public into believing we needed to go to war with Vietnam. It was a big mistake and it ultimately wore him out.

Richard M. Nixon-"Tricky Dick" could have been a great president, but he was a serious Rule #1 violator. He thought he was bigger than the law and he paid the price. Shameful.

Jimmy Carter-Probably was the smartest president of our time and the least effective. The country was a mess under his watch.

Ronald Reagan-This guy could flat out communicate. You wanted to believe everything he said. I saw him speak before he was president and it was something special. Nancy was kind of a pain in the ass, though.

George H. W. Bush-It's hard to know whether he was defending our interests in the Middle East or was he doing the dirty work for his Saudi Arabian buddies.

Bill Clinton-How could one person cheat and lie, yet still be so admired by everyone except his wife.

George W. Bush-Just a disaster. How could one president do so much harm to such a great nation in just eight years. We'll be paying for his mistakes for a very long time. Unlike Clinton, his wife likes him. Somebody has to.

Now, we must decide between two polar opposites trying to morph into moderates. Geez, can we have a do-over?

Gun Control II

Assuming today is a typical day in America, there have been 34 more people killed by gunfire since I posted my blog yesterday. That is more people than were killed last year in the Virginia Tech massacre. Remember how shocked you were that day. Well, you should be shocked everyday.

Send a letter to your congressman before one of your loved ones is a statistic.

Gun Control

First, I need to tell you where I am coming from. I was born the day that President Truman ordered 50,000 troops into Korea to stop the spread of communism and as a youngster, a hunter shot "Bambi's"(look it up) mother. Then, I grew up to the sounds of air raid sirens signaling the impending attack from the Cuban nuclear missiles in the '60's. Then, we spent our childhood shooting each other with our "tommy guns" and "Matel" (the same folks that created the "Barbie Doll")toy guns. But, we all lived to play another day.

Now, my contemporaries in the Supreme Court still seem to think(that's debatable) that we need to have guns to protect ourselves. Give me a freakin' break! They voted 5-4 to allow everyone in the U.S.A. the right to have a gun.

As a result, over a hundred people die in Indianapolis annually as a result of gunfire.

Anyone who wants to become President will be wary to even bring it up, but whoever has the courage to propose legislation to take guns out of the hands of everyone other than law enforcement and the military will earn my vote.

Nuf said.

My Reconciliation Tax Bill & Bart

For those of you who are out of the loop, the property taxes are whacked out in Indianapolis, especially downtown. My tax bill last year for the property I own nearly doubled from 2006 to 2007. However, when the you know what hit the fan, the governor told everyone to pay their 2006 tax bill in 2007 and that the state would bill us the difference in 2008. Confused? Most people are.

Well, I received my "2007 Reconciliation" bill today. The property taxes are still 50% to 80% higher than 2006 and this is after the state raised the sales tax by 1% and the city raised the restaurant tax by 1%.Then, they raised the local income tax an additional .65% while not allowing any debate from the public.

To put it another way, it is like buying a new car with cash and then walking out the door of the dealership and setting it on fire-every year.

So what does this have to do with Bart Peterson? In case you do not remember, he was the smiley face that spent all of the money which created the tax mess. Well, I decided to ease into my work day by having breakfast in one of my favorite haunts-Shapiro's Delicatessen and try to forget about my taxes while reading about my 401K going down the tubes in the Wall Street Journal. When, who should appear? Old smiley face Bart was back in town from his stint teaching government at Harvard. Hey, you need to teach the future leaders how to overspend while they're young.

Maybe I could spill some coffee on him. No, he was in the corner of the room and it would have been too obvious. Or, how about throwing my bagel at him. No, was I hungry. I could have just walked over and bitch-slapped him. No, I don't like lawyers or jails. I guess I just could have made him a deal on my new low-mileage burned out Chevy.

What Is Going On?

Who wants to guess where the price of oil is going to be? I thought I knew, but I was low. I thought people would wise-up around $2.50 per gallon of gasoline. Nope. Then, I thought things would grind to a halt at $3.50. Nope. Traffic was just as heavy as ever.
Now, we've passed $4.00 and they say demand is down a measly 4%. Wake up people! It's going higher. Now is not the time to cash in your 401K just so you can fill up your SUV to go to the mall. Demand has overtaken supply. If you don't understand that basic premise, it's too late for you.

Not to sound like an old fart, but I'm not so sure the little lady and I are going to start living a little like we did back when we got hitched. You don't need to be married to cut back, but it's always easier when you're a team. I can't tell you how seldom we had dinner out and how often we ate macaroni & cheese with crackers crumbled on top to make it look like a "dish". Moreover, I never bought tires for the old heap if you could still see the tread lines on the tires. It made driving in the rain more fun anyway. We had no A/C, no dishwasher, no cable(we did have a 15" color RCA, though), and could fit all of our clothes in a 4 ft. closet with room to spare.

So, what do you do? Live on what you make, live with the ones you love, and vote all of the knuckleheads in your local, state, and federal government out of office who messed up a pretty good thing,

My #1 Pet Peeve

Everyone has a #1 pet peeve. Yours might be lousy drivers, people who talk too much or too loud, smokers, drunks, liberals, conservatives, television commercials, traffic, Windows upgrades, losing a button, hot flashes, bad spelling & improper grammar, unrelenting increase in the price of gas, taxes, politicians, and I could go on and on. But, I won't. Let's get back to my #1.

My #1 pet peeve relates to my work. What I do for a living is not rocket science and it is not important what I actually do , but let's say after 36 years of hearing most of the questions that pertain to my industry at least a hundred times, I have most of the answers on the tip of my tongue when I hear "I am having trouble with my _______". Since my job is helping people solve their problems and getting them back to making a living, I am more than willing to help. And, in return, they will purchase my products and services. We both win.

However, I continue to encounter folks who have tried everything that "they know" and cannot solve the problem at hand. So, after patiently listening, I give them a possible solution based on my 36 years(which BTW is way too long in any business)of experince. You would think the response would be, "I'll give that a try" or "Why didn't I think of that?" or "You're a frigging genius".

No, that's not what they say. They say, "That's can't be right". Not right? This is not a multiple choice test where answers A, B, C, and D are incorrect and E is none of the above. If they know what's not right and they don't know what is right, why are they wasting my time!

That's my #1. And if you don't agree, don't call me.

Self-efficacy & The Lukens Gene

I'm not trying to impress you with my vocabulary, but I read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today that described "self-efficacy". The article was titled "If at First You Don't Succeed, You're in Excellent Company". It detailed all of the famous people you've read about and their corresponding failures followed by magnificent successes.

One particular example was Thomas Edison and his eventual invention of the light bulb. After 1000 failures he finally found the right combination. Later, he described it not as 1000 failures, but merely 1000 steps. I guess that's why people with "self-efficacy" don't quit when others would...they just expect a series of steps to happen before they get the job done.

So, what does Thomas Edison have to do with "Self-efficacy"? As quoted in the WSJ, "What makes some people rebound from defeat while others throw in the towel?" Self-efficacy-the unshakable belief that they have what it takes to succeed...because they believe persistent effort will let them beat the odds". I asked Julie about this term and of course, getting her doctorate in "behavioral science", she instructed me that a guy named Al Bandura came up with this term and it is a major concept in the field of helping people change their behavior...who knew??

Suddenly, it occurred to me that I know of a group of these people and they ALL have the same last name-Lukens. Matter of fact, I married one of them and you've never seen a more determined bunch in your life. They are changing health care, where we will get our oil someday, they have built bridges and dams in places where they couldn't be built, built churches, and include several women who ran companies when it was thought only men could. Whatever the challenge, they have the stuff to do whatever needs to be done. And I warn you, do not try to stop them. They won't let you!

Presidential Campaigning in Indiana?

Lo and behold, after 40 years of being ignored other than the occasional flyby for a fund raiser, there are real(sorry Ralph Nader) presidential candidates running around Indiana telling us how important we are.

Well, they're a little late. The last time the Indiana primary meant anything, I wasn't eligible to vote. Even if I had been, the best candidate at the time was Nixon?! Anyway, I was more worried about passing organic chemistry, avoiding the draft, and getting dumped by a girlfriend. I had my priorities.

Now, I'm more concerned with eating organic, avoiding drafty rooms, and staying regular.

I do have a new priority which is a comfortable retirement which brings me back to the candidates. They can make retirement difficult for a boomer. How? They promise you everything and deliver nothing. I don't believe Hilliary anymore, McCain will eventually do a 180 on his positions, and Obama keeps talking about "change" in Washington. I frankly believe the federal government cannot "change" while it is being controlled by hundreds of special interests.

So, what can I do? Vote. Hopefully, everyone will vote, because I can live with what the majority wants. That's what a democracy is suppose to be all about.

Bad Decisions by .....

Indiana University
*Hiring Mike Davis, Rick Greenspan, Kelvin Sampson, & Adam Herbert
*Firing Bobby too late & retiring Bill Mallory too soon
*Spending $100 million on new athletic facilities when they can't sellout their current venues
*Making me take German and Organic Chemistry

Eric Gordon
*Coming to IU to play basketball
*Leaving college early for the NBA
*Thinking he is ready for "the next level"
*Thinking he was ready for basketball in "The Big Ten"

Hilliary Clinton
*Marrying Bill Clinton (obviously)
*Thinking she would be a good President (obviously)
*Picking Evan Bayh as her running mate (Ha! Ha! Ha!-God, I hope not)

Bart Peterson
*Building Lucas Oil Stadium
*Building a $30 million library for $140 million
*Building a $1 billion airport terminal when the one we have is adequate
*Taking my vote for granted along with 54% of the taxpayers in Marion County

George H.W. Bush
*Thinking Barbara was cute
*Thinking Jeb was good name for a son
*Not giving a full set of chromosomes to George W. Bush

George W. Bush
*Running for Governor of Texas
*Running for President of the United States
*Not taking English as a second language at Yale

But seriously, the only bad decision you can make is not making one.