Greg Hartnett

As I have really taken a fancy to this blogging thing, I am now involved in more than a handful of pretty active blogs (keeping with a Hartnett tradition of “anything worth doing, is worth over-doing”).

In an attempt to make my participation a bit more efficient, I am on a quest for all of the latest and greatest Blog accessories, tools, etc… The first that I am trying is w.bloggar - a Windows based interface used to manage multiple blogs. As a trial run, so far so good. I will update as the stroy unravels…

Upon return from a very fruitful business trip to New Orleans (I attended the WebmasterWorld Conference), it really strikes me that I am getting older. A handful of years ago, ‘Nawlins would have been right up my alley. Loud, dirty, and raucous, New Orleans appeals to the idea of who I used to be. Up for anything, laid back, and looking for fun, the Mister Charlie of 25 could be in New Orleans monthly. Now almost 35, I would probably be OK not seeing New Orleans for another handful of years.

Being at the conference really opened my eyes to what I should be doing. It is all too easy to get caught up in running a business (or two), and keep your head down, concentrating on doing everything. Brian and I have long known that we should be “out there”, selling the business - focusing on the big picture ideas and deals. We have a great team in place to handle the running of the business - it is up to us to propel the business(es) to the next level.

Look for team BOTW / Hotline at a conference near you…

How do you feel about Army recruiters hanging around public schools trying to lure your kids into service?

With the situation in Iraq growing ever worse, the role of recruiters is becoming more important to the war effort, and increasingly more difficult. Recruiters are turning more and more to their little black book, the “School Recruiting Program Handbook”. Some excerpts worth mentioning:
“The goal is school ownership that can only lead to a greater number of Army enlistments.” “The football team usually starts practicing in August. Contact the coach and volunteer to assist in leading calisthenics or calling cadence during team runs.” “If you wait until they’re seniors, it’s probably too late.” “Get involved with local Boy Scout troops. Scoutmasters are typically happy to get any assistance you can offer. Many scouts are [high school] students and potential enlistees or student influencers.”

As could be anticipated, if you are lucky enough to be a “have” instead of a “have not”, chances are that the recruiters will leave your kids alone. History has shown that the kids in those schools are not the kids who fight America’s wars.

Most parents don’t even know that Uncle Sam is in the schools. The Army needs to be honest and forthright in their recruitment policies. War is not for kids, and smooth talking recruiters should not be allowed to prey on easily influenced children, too immature and unprepared to make decisions that could result in having to kill, or be killed.

If you are interested in the medical marijuana plight, by now you are aware that the Supreme Court ruled for the prosecution in the (Ashcroft)Gonzales v. Raich case. A setback for sure, but far from the end of the battle. For a variety of views, check out the following:

Drug Reporter
The Australian News
National Post
Santa Cruz Sentinel

A passage from Chomsky’s Hegemony or Survival seems somewhat relevant:

One of the leading academic authorities notes that “a provocative case can be made that US drug policy contributes effectively to the control of an ethnically distinct and economically deprived underclass at home and serves US economic and security interests abroad.”* Many criminologists and observers of the international scene regard that as a considerable understatement. The analysis helps explain why the US-sponsored actions are carried out with ever greater enthusiasm and zeal even as they increasingly fail to achieve the alleged goal of dealing with domestic drug use, and why measures that are known to be far more effective, specifically prevention and treatment, are scarcely funded.
The governors of Colombia’s targeted southern provinces, along with peasants and human rights activists, have proposed plans relying on manual eradication of coca and poppies and support for alternative crops, but to little effect. Meanwhile the land is poisoned by fumigation, children die, and the uprooted and scattered victims suffer from sickness and injury.
Peasant agriculture is based on a rich tradition of knowledge and experience gained over many centuries, commonly passed on from mother to daughter. Though a remarkable human achievement, it is very fragile and can be destroyed forever in a single generation. It is being destroyed, and along with it, some of the richest biodiversity in the world. Campesinos, indigenous people, and Afro-Colombians are now joining the millions in rotting slums and camps. And with the people gone, multinationals can strip the mountains for coal, extract oil and other resources, and probably convert what is left of the land to ranching by the rich or agroexport in an environment shorn of its treasures and variety. Informed analysts and observers describe Washington’s fumigation programs as another stage in the historical process of driving poor peasants from the land for the benefit of foreign investors and Colombian elites.

*Jason Burke, Sunday Observer, May 18 2003.

Tuesday saw another fire in Oyster Bay (Cove) - this one approximately 1/2 mile from where one of the houses on the 18th was set ablaze. Odd that I can’t find any mention of it anywhere, but I assure you that there was indeed a fire.

Things are getting creepy on the Gold Coast…