Citadel Broadcasting to be kicked off NYSE on March 6

Check out this story from Erik Sass writing for MediaDailyNews on Media Post.

After a steep decline in its stock price, Citadel Broadcasting will be de-listed by the New York Stock Exchange on March 6 -- the nadir for public companies. Citadel's stock price plummeted along with the broadcaster's revenues over the last couple years, losing 99% of its value since 2004, as investors bail on what looks more and more like a medium in distress.

Companies are liable to be de-listed when their stock price falls below $1 per share; last week's Citadel's hovered around $0.14 per share. De-listing isn't automatic, and only occurs at the discretion of NYSE officials, who may choose not to de-list a company if it demonstrates future viability and presents a plan to boost its stock price.

However, on Thursday, Feb. 26 the NYSE rejected Citadel's proposal, indicating that stock-market officials don't believe the revenue trends will turn around any time soon. Citadel's failure to convince the NYSE is especially ominous; officials are usually fairly generous in their financial assessments, trying to avoid de-listing a company if at all possible.

Read the rest here (btw, as far as I'm concerned the journalists from MediaDailyNews are the best, most insightful folks in the business.)

In the financial biz companies sometimes do things that are considered "material events", actions that are so big that they can impact the stock price. Sometimes the events are company or industry specific other times they are nation wide.

When things are going great people say, "Do more of this, it's the pathway to success." When things are going poorly people say, "Do less of this, it's the pathway to doom."

So when a company and an industry is not doing well the falling stock price often is the trigger that forces them to do something different. But not always.

In the conservative media world their first step is to look for help from the sugar daddies, rich people who will pay them for the privilege of losing money every year as long as their ideas get pushed.

This method is used by The Washington Times which is funded by Rev. Moon. It has been shown that the Washington Times loses 20-30 million a year.

If you have secure funding you don't have to change much, "We're going to do the same thing, only louder. And this time with hats!"

Above: The Rev. Sun Myung Moon(shown here with pointy white hat) is the backer of the money losing Washington Times and the backer of Louis Farrakhan's Million Family March that took place on Oct 16, 2000, check out the Fredrick Clarklson article here)

The conservative corporations may have folks that say "Government bad!" on broadcast radio, but when it comes to getting help from the government, they are the first in line to get special breaks. For years they have been crying that they need more stations to survive.

"As their hard-luck story goes, only the elimination or drastic reduction of ownership limits can save major media conglomerates and, by extension, the public good they offer."
- p. 35 Fighting for Air, Eric Klineberg

They got what they wanted so now what? Citadel is the largest pure play radio corporation. What will they do? They won't be asking for a bail out, that's for sure, not when their hosts Rush and Hannity and their buddies screamed at the Automakers and bankers for taking government money.

If things don't work out Citadel will just have to go into bankruptcy. I say that because that is what their radio hosts want to happen to the Automakers, so I'm sure they will be fine when it happens to them.

I want the execs at Citadel to reflect on the words of Brian Sussman during the time the Automakers were in trouble.

"Now the urgency of GM's request has stirred up all sorts of worries that GM may have to file for bankruptcy protection. I say bring it on. [...] GM needs fewer dealerships, it be would a much more efficient way to do business."
–Brian Sussman, evening host 12-02-2008 (audio link: one. two.) transcript 2.

When things are going poorly people say, "Do less of this, it's the pathway to doom."

Sock Monkeys as Spock Monkeys

Do you suppose I could get a tiny fedora for mine?




Buy them at Spock Monkey.com

h/t to Abel Undercity two-fisted tales

Padre Mickey On Ash Wednesday

From Padre Mickey's Dance Party blog:

Over the centuries the Church has advocated mistreatment of women, it has advocated the persecution of Jews and those who are not Christians, and there were those who used the scriptures to support such views and the Church has had to repent of those evils. Right now there are those in the Church who want to ostracise and exclude people because of their sexuality, and they are able to find support of this exclusion in the scriptures. I believe that we, the Church, will eventually repent of this attitude, too. We all need to repent of the way we treat others,we as humans and as the Church need to repent for the way we have treated this planetand how we have polluted it and how the Developed World has exploited the earth’s resources to enrich their societies to the exclusion, oppression, and poverty of the Two Thirds World.The Church must repent of any support it has given to the government of the United States and its war in Iraq.

Repentance is more that wearing ashes on our foreheads, repentance is more than saying, “I’m sorry,” repentance is more than fasting and praying and giving alms. Repentance is a change of mind and heart it is the decision to follow God’s way instead of our own way. It requires discernment; we need to discern what is God’s way and what is society’s way. When we decide to follow God’s way instead of our own way, we will follow the Ten Commandments which we so often ignore. But when Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was, he said we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength and to love our neighbor as our selves. It seems to me that if we as people and as a Church truly repent, if we truly follow God’s way instead of our own, if we do love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves, we won’t have the problems we have today, the Church will not be dividing along lines of sexuality and different understandings of authority, because we would be doing what God calls us to do, we would not be concentrating on things which divide us but we would be working for those things which unite us.

Read the whole post here:

I Wish I was a Better Speck of Dust

h/t The Naked PC Newsletter.com blog

Dick Cheney's Theme Song. Now With Tesla Coils!

The excitement begins at 43 seconds in.

h/t
plasmator and Cory Doctorow from Boing Boing

Will Citadel Broadcasting Hire That Guy Who Killed Two UUC Church Members?

Photo by Lisa Hudson, AP

Later this week I'm going to print Jim Adkisson's manifesto in which he talks about how much he hates liberals. This was the note he wrote before he when out and shot eight members of the liberal UUC Church. He killed Linda Kraeger, 61 and 60-year-old Greg McKendry, the liberal hero who died shielding others from gunfire.
(For a post on What This Means, read my friend Sara Robinson at Orcinus. )

Did you ever wonder what kind of person talks about killing people because of their political beliefs? What kind of people use threats of violence to others in their everyday work life? Mobsters. Gang members. Street criminals. Talk Radio hosts.

Which publicly traded companies have a philosophy that accepts and embraces these people? Citadel Broadcasting (CDL) for one. Can you imagine paying someone big bucks who says that his co-workers should trace, hunt down and kill someone, "like a mad dog" just for sending an email with political views they don't agree with? (see video below) Citadel Broadcasting hires and pays these people.



Maybe Jim Adkisson should have searched for work at Citadel before he went on his shooting spree. Based on his note, he would have fit right in. Maybe he can broadcast on KSFO from prison, after all, Lee Rodgers isn't in the studio, he broadcasts from Arizona. What's great about working for Citadel is that you can even break the company's own rules about threatening talk and still get your contract renewed. Sweet!

(Jim, if you want to apply for a job at KSFO do it though their close friends at BAJOBS.com I'll bet that if you can't find one there, BAjobs can find you another company that doesn't require employees to following any rules, better yet, apply to Citadel directly Citadel Broadcasting Human Resources Susan Arville can tell you how they allow people to ignore the violence rules AND ignore the female harassment rules. )



How do Talk Radio hosts get away with it? Well partly it is because they have convinced the very people they are threatening to defend them. Nice trick. Kind of like the way they get the automakers they insult to pay them.

Defending People Who Incite Violence
Two weeks ago I spoke to a guy who told me my example of violent rhetoric from a talk radio host directed toward specific individuals was not inciting violence.

He said, "Only if the person was physically standing there and said, "Go get 'em." and the people heard him and then went right over and did something violent to another person would it be inciting violence. And even then, the person who did the violence had a choice, he didn't have to act."

As I listened to him I realized that he, like a defense lawyer, was figuring out how he would protect the client (the radio host) as an intellectual exercise. I know this was the case because he said, "At least that is how their lawyer will defend them. They will say that the radio host is not responsible for the actions of the person who committed the violence." He was thinking about how to defend the "free speech" even when it involved the one area most people agree is NOT covered --the "don't yell fire in a crowded theater someone might get hurt" part.

But responsibility for the act is different from the act of incitement. And legal responsibility is different from a moral responsibility.

Talk Radio is Regulated for Words Deemed Harmful
How did this regulation happen? Enough people decided that obscenity and indecency are harmful to the public so they convinced the FCC to make corporations take steps to prevent these words and phrases from reaching the public.

Whether or not you agree with these views, the fact is an obscenity said over broadcast radio can cost the corporation money if they allowed it to be broadcast. The fines can be up to $350,000. So, the corporations, to protect their bottom line, reissued guidelines. They made sure the seven second delay buttons, which they have been using for decades, were still working. Producers were told to keep their finger on the button to protect the public. Some slipped. Fines were levied. Radio host were fired. The corporations fought the fines under the mantle of "our right to free speech" but it wasn't as if they didn't know the score regarding obscenity and indecency when they got into the game.

But when it comes to suggesting, on the public airwaves, that a group of people be killed there is no FCC regulation or fines. And, as we have seen, the self-regulation of the corporation's own policies are ignored.

There are no FCC regulations that would result in a fine if, for example, a radio host said, "We'll trace you back, run you down and kill you like a mad dog." or "Liberals need to be hanged." or millions of Muslims need to be killed (and they don't mean terrorist Muslims, just plain ol' Muslims.).

In 2007 I asked current acting FCC commissioner Michael Copp,
"Is the public good being served by conservative radio hosts that suggest that their political opponents be killed?"

His answer was "go to the advertisers" since there are no regulations at the FCC level. That is what I did, but even after 28 advertisers left the KSFO hosts are still at it. They are even allowed to ignore the company's own self regulation policies and keep on broadcasting. What will it take for something to change? Does someone need to act on their words? Wait, someone did! But since it wasn't their specific words and they weren't there to tell Jim to pull the trigger it still wasn't enough.

At Citadel Broadcasting station KSFO it appears you can call for the death of your political opponents on the air, violating the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics of your parent company and profit!

I wonder if the rest of the employees at Citadel Broadcasting are paying attention to how clearly the KSFO hosts ignore the rules? Will they will follow suit since there are no consequences? Follow the money! Who's making money? The people who break the rules! Unless it costs money when you break the rules (via FCC or internal guidelines) people in media corporations won't follow any rules.

Brian Sussman can finally start Bring Your Gun to Work Day and there is nothing Citadel can do to stop it. If they want to challenge Sussman's second amendment rights, I say go right ahead and when you do be sure to tell his fans you have required him to follow your rules Citadel. I'll bet they will be very upset. (And when you get the upsetting letters be sure to remember this is the audience you are courting and encouraging, see how comfortable they make you feel when you tell them you are requiring Sussman follow your rules and regulations.)

If you ask him to not bring his gun to work he will probably talk about how you have made KSFO a "Victim disarmament zone." and suggest more guns. In case you haven't noticed, that is the new tactic. Their solution to gun violence is more guns (frankly I thought it was tax cuts, because usually that is the conservative's answer to everything).


Sussman certainly won't following any code of behavior rules if the Great Lee Rodgers doesn't have to. As Brian reminded us just after Obama got elected.

"I don't use my gun for hunting, if you know what I mean." (audio link)

(Sussman is SO subtle, he wants his listeners to understand the connection between Obama being elected and how he uses his gun. Wink. Wink.)

Yes, KSFO advertisers from BMW, Mercedes and Toyota the Citadel Broadcasting Corporation encourages these men. Read what Jim Adkisson said in his manifesto then compare that to what Lee Rodgers or Brian Sussman have said on the air for years.

Talk radio hosts are supposed to get people to act, to buy advertiser's product. What if the product is violence toward a group of people? Well then we have our own version of Hutu Power Radio. The results are not an abstract intellectual exercise. It's bodies on the floor of a church.

Jim Adkisson is talk radio's biggest success story.
I'm sure right wing talk radio hosts are proud of themselves. Adkisson didn't just buy the product, he bought the ideas and he ACTED! That is what a real right wing conservative would do, right? Act! Are the hosts telling us that they DON'T mean what they say? Lee Rodgers has said in the past that he means EXACTLY what he says. (audio link) As Rodgers has also said, "Nobody is gonna tell me, what to talk about or not talk about or in what fashion on this radio program. It ain't gonna happen!" (audio link)

Bottomline, the stations profited, and that is all that matters. That is the only "public good" that matters to the owners of the broadcast licensees. Unless there are financial consequences nothing changes.
===========
UUbuntu caught my typo on the church being the Unitarian Universalist Church not UCC.
Thank you for the correction. It was the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
He wrote an excellent post on the subject.

South Dakota Is More Modern than You Think

This is from one hundred years ago! See that man flying? Not Photoshopped!

I spotted this from Phila on his excellent Friday Hope Blogging


And hello to another Atriot I finally met in person who is from South Dakota.

Citadel Broadcasting Radio Host Lee Rodgers calls Chrysler PR Person Liar and Ass Kisser

Jiyan Cadiz and Kristin Starnes, Corporate Public Relations
Chrysler LLC

Dear Jiyan and Kristin :

Citadel Broadcasting radio host Lee Rodgers, on radio station KSFO in San Francisco, has called you a liar. I'm not sure exactly which one of you he specifically is referring to, it is whichever one of you told ABC Radio News journalist Chuck Sivertsen last December that the price for flying nine corporate execs from Detroit to DC was about $500 each.

The corporate PR person said that it only cost $500 a head to send nine of them on a private jet from Detroit to Washington is lying in his or her teeth, that's a total crock, it's a bunch of bullbleep and let me see -- Chuck said coach from Detroit, 663 dollars. I haven’t even looked but I suspect if I went on the web to Orbitz or Travelocity or one of those I could find a coach fare between Detroit and Washington for a good deal less than that.
--Lee Rodgers, KSFO, ABC Radio / Citadel Broadcasting 12-02-2008, 5:50 am

Calling you a liar is bad enough, Rodgers also thinks you are ass kissers.

Well corporate PR people in general are a bunch of ass kissers. They will do almost anything you know, “Don’t get the boss mad at me! For gods sake don’t tell the public the truth! I’ll be in trouble!” that’s the mentality.
-- Lee Rodgers, KSFO, ABC Radio / Citadel Broadcasting 12-02-2008, 5:50 am

Jiyan and Kristin, how does it feel to be called a liar and ass kisser to the Bay Area and the world via the Internet? Does it make you angry? When Rodgers and his colleagues call for liberals to hang (audio link) or calls us liars, crackpots, Communists, Stalinists or dipbleep goo goos, we have no recourse. You do.

The San Francisco Bay Area is a major market, radio has an impact on the people who you hope will buy your cars. If you don't think radio was important you wouldn't advertise. On radio what people say is as important as HOW they say it, especially when there are no visuals to distract. Below is an audio clip of Rodger's exact words, so you can hear the contempt he feels for you.

(audio link) (Transcript 7)

Why advertise on a station with a host who calls you lying ass kissers and says your boss, Robert Nardelli, Chairman & CEO of Chrysler, is whoring himself out to the automobile workers union?

"Let's whore ourselves out to the automobile workers union."
-- Lee Rodgers, morning host on the Big Three American automaker executives, 12-04-2008
(audio link) transcript 1.

(By the way, you don't have to take my word for what they said, contact your ad buyers to obtain the full audio from December second, third and fourth. I have copies, but when it comes directly from the station to the ad buyers to you, KSFO won't be able to make up any nonsense like it's edited or out of context. It will really be an ear opening experience.

I'm sure you will find their entire attitude toward your company and industry very distressing, after listening to them attack you for hours you may choose to re-evaluate your ad purchases.

(FYI. Your company currently advertises on KSFO, most recently you advertised on Feb. 9, 2009 at 6:10 pm. The ad was a live read for Dodge and Chrysler finance.)

Isn't it interesting Jiyan and Kristin that because of truth in advertising laws your company, Chrysler, can't lie about your products on KSFO, but KSFO hosts can repeat falsehoods about your company and products as well as call you liars and ass kissers with no consequences? ( transcript 4)

Every time you advertise on KSFO you are paying Rodger's salary. When you don't respond to Rodgers' and his co-hosts inaccurate information about your industry you encourage people who hurt your brand. Why pay for this abuse?

I guess you are lucky just to be called a liar by Rodgers. His regular fill-in host, Brian Sussman, wants another automaker, GM, to go bankrupt! transcript 2.

How Citadel Attempted to Deal with Conservative Talk Radio's Hate for American Automakers

As a corporate PR person, (a.k.a ass kisser to Lee Rodgers) you might have been involved with the The National Automotive Roundtable hosted at Citadel Broadcasting’s WJR in Detroit (760am), with host Paul W. Smith. WJR interviewed your boss,
Robert Nardelli, Chairman & CEO of Chrysler, Jiyan Cadiz and Kristin Starnes' boss.

Also participating were:
Rick Wagoner, Chairman & CEO of General Motors
Alan Mulally, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company
Ron Gettelfinger, President of the United Auto Workers Union
Annette Sykora, Chairman, National Automobile Dealers Association

Citadel Broadcasting hosted this to help you "deal with the misconceptions of the industry". I listened to the entire show but they didn't address who was SPREADING these misconceptions in the first place. It's Citadel's own talk radio hosts! Of course the usual suspects in conservative right wing media had a role to play (link) but lots of the heavy attacking and misinformation came from talk radio.

Citadel employs people like Rodgers and Sussman who spread misinformation locally, but they also broadcast national talk radio hosts who spreading misinformation nationwide.

The WJR two hour show was a nice gesture. But it was broadcast once, after the damage was done. If you listen to Brian Sussman or Sean Hannity during the days your boss was in D.C. looking for help you will hear them practically screaming about how the American auto industry shouldn't get any help from the government.

After taking millions of your ad dollars during the good years conservative talk hosts could at least have given you an opportunity to tell your side of the story. It appears talk radio hosts want you to fail. I don't know if it is because of their pathological hate of unions, the government that was going to help you or just out of spite. But remember, they are not journalists; they have no charter to hear your side or get to the truth. Like most conservative radio hosts, they don't run corrections.

Modern conservatism on talk radio does not mean pro-American business or worker. KSFO conservatives attack American businesses and their own advertisers. The evidence it clear if you listen. They figure you are too busy and have to short of an attention span to notice them.

As a major advertiser you have a way to deal with talk radio hosts who want you to fail. You don't have to advertise on their programs or stations.


Sincerely,

Mr. Spocko

P.S. Please let me know what you plan to do to protect our brand. Given the history of these hosts, any management or sales rep claims that attacking you was a "one time deal" or that the hosts won't do it any more should be backed with some written guarantees. Perhaps some union autoworkers could be tasked to monitor them to make sure they are keeping their word and not spreading misinformation about your industry or calling YOU liars.

Molly Peck, National Advertising Manager, Chevrolet. Why Reward Radio Hosts Who Want You to Fail?

Molly Peck, National Advertising Manager, Chevrolet

Dear Molly:

The radio hosts from KSFO in San Francisco have insulted your company, brand, management, and employees. They've called your management incompetents who whore themselves out to the autoworkers union. They've rooted for your bankruptcy, wanted your dealers terminated and said your retired workers are a burden who don't deserve health care or pensions. These insults are currently rewarded with extensive ad buys on KSFO. The Chevy Volt ad was in heavy rotation during this time period on the internet stream and during mid-day broadcast hours on KSFO.

"Let's whore ourselves out to the automobile workers union."
-- Lee Rodgers, morning host on the Big Three American automaker executives, 12-04-2008
(audio link) transcript 1.

"Now the urgency of GM's request has stirred up all sorts of worries that GM may have to file for bankruptcy protection. I say bring it on. [...] GM needs fewer dealerships, it be would a much more efficient way to do business."
–Brian Sussman, evening host 12-02-2008 (audio link: one. two.) transcript 2.

"If this is part of their so called business model, kiss your tax dollars good bye if Congress puts them into this dumb outfit.[…] The whole thing is just nonsense."
- Lee Rodgers commenting on the Chevy Volt 12-02-2008 (audio link) transcript 3

After taking millions of your ad dollars during the good years they could at least have given you an opportunity to tell your side of the story. But they are not journalists; they have no charter to hear your side or get to the truth. Like most conservative radio hosts, they don't run corrections. Instead, they continuously and willfully misstate the facts about your company and industry. (link) transcript 4

What are they talking about when they aren't attacking you? Here are some highlights:

The women in your organization might want to hear the hosts recent discussion about hiring outgoing Presidential Press Secretary Dana Perino for KSFO. Rodgers wonders if "full frontal nudity" in the studio would be part of Perino's role, to show off her "great rack". (Audio link)

In the past Rodgers has said he wanted:

• Supporters of a Republican presidential candidate traced so he can "run you down and kill you like a mad dog." (video link. audio link) transcript 5
  

• Liberals to be hanged; (audio link)

• A Nebraska man with multiple convictions be tortured with electrodes attached to his testicles before they "blow his bleeping brains out". (audio link)

(Management knew of and approved of all these comments. Rodgers proudly acknowledged them (audio link) and regularly reminds everyone, "Nobody is gonna tell me, what to talk about or not talk about or in what fashion on this radio program! It ain't gonna happen!" (audio link) Keep that in mind before you ask him to stop the insults or death threats.)

You might consider removing your advertising from all of KSFO's shows since there is no way of knowing if your ad might run after Rodgers jokes about lighting a dog on fire (audio link), Brian Sussman jokes about raping men in showers (audio link) or traffic reporter "Officer Vic" jokes about electrocuting a journalist. (audio link) Here's "Officer Vic" reading your commercial for GM dealers (audio link)

KSFO sales reps will probably dismiss the insults as simple news commentary, say the clips are out of context or expect you to trust their interpretation of the audio instead of your own ears. You and your ad buyers can ask them for copies of the full broadcasts containing the attacks on your managers and workers, and you will hear the viciousness of the attacks for yourself. (KSFO is part of the ABC Radio Network which is owned by Citadel Broadcasting NYQ: CDL) .

They are counting on you being too busy fighting for your financial survival to listen or to even care about what they said. Perhaps some of your local dealers would like to listen to the programs to confirm the attacks, especially since it most likely was their co-op ad dollars that paid the attackers' salaries.

As the top conservative talk radio station in the Bay Area, they assume your ad buyer will simply look at the numbers, believe their self description as conservative and buy ads. You can now hear that conservative does not mean pro-American business or worker at KSFO.

They mock your organization and its obligations, and associate your brands with their attacks and inappropriate content. Should these people represent you to the Bay Area? Should your ads be embedded in their internet feed to the rest of the world? Does their claim "I bought a Chevy!" during the go-go years make up for the attacks now?

FYI, the last time I attempted to let advertisers hear what they were paying for on KSFO, ABC Radio/Disney had my entire blog shut down with a meritless copyright claim. (Electronic Frontier Foundation Link) (New York Times article link) The courts have since ruled in favor of bloggers' fair use of audio clips. (EFF link) Sadly this time, I expect privacy invasion and more character assassination from KSFO. This is their preferred method rather than addressing their own hosts' attacks on companies, groups or individuals. When you hear how they characterize me--the person who is alerting you to these attacks--please consider their comments about you as a guide to their character.

I can object to their sexism, violent rhetoric, and attacks on journalists, liberals, Muslims and American auto manufacturers, but they don't care what I think. Rodgers doesn't think you are very smart either, "It's hard to figure who's dumber, the people who run the airlines or the American car companies. (audio link) transcript 6

Do you want to advertise on KSFO, a station that is tainting your brand?. I want to emphasize that you do not limit their speech by removing your paid support. No one is compelling you to advertise. They are already attacking you; why pay for the attacks? They will cry that you are trying to silence them, but as Matt Zimmerman from the EFF said, "While such radio personalities certainly have a right to air their views, the First Amendment says nothing about a right to advertiser-subsidized speech."

A friend of mine in the advertising business said that I'm naïve--that after a little behind the scenes groveling from management, some "clarifications" from the hosts, and a bunch of free ads, you will forgive them in time for Presidents' Day sales. It's your decision where to put your future ad dollars. However, given the history of these hosts, it is only a matter of time before one of them commits some new verbal atrocity. When that happens, do you want your company associated with them? Controversial comments raise their ratings but don't necessarily lead to more sales for you. Will you wait for their next horrific comment or hope that they will change? Please let me know what you decide to do to protect your brand.

Sincerely,

(Sent via email Jan. 11, 2009. I didn't hear back from you so I'm posting this here. Your spam filters might have caught this email because of the quotes I used from the hosts. Ironically what they say while promoting your products is so foul your own internal email systems won’t let you receive my email using their broadcast quotes, just one more thing to keep in mind when you decide who to associate your brand with in the future.)

P.S. Note to the corporate PR people reading this, Lee Rodgers thinks you are liars and a "bunch of asskissers." Keep that in mind if someone asks your position on pulling advertising on KSFO. (audio link) (Transcript 7)

Cc

Ed Peper, Division General Manager-Chevrolet

Kim Kosak, General Director, Chevrolet Advertising and Sales Promotions
Jan Thomas, Advertising, Promotions, and Motorsports

Paul Montalbano, President, Stewart Chevrolet Cadillac, Colma, CA
Dan Gatto, President, F.H. Dailey Chevrolet, San Leandro, CA
Richard Slade, General Sales Manager, F.H. Dailey Chevrolet

Carolyn Normandin, Volt marketing communications
Terry Rhadigan, Volt marketing communications

spockosbrain.com

The Magic Elixar! ©

A man goes in to see a psychiatrist. He tells the doctor that he's depressed, drinking too much, taking drugs, has lost his wife and his job, and his children hate him. He asks the doctor how he can resolve his problems.


"Tax cuts," said the doctor.

Richard H. Davis
From the comments tread at Hullabaloo on Paul Krugman day.

Conservatives like to think tax cuts solve all problems, that's why this joke is so timely (and funny to me.) But. They. Are. Wrong.

And yes, I know I spelled elixir wrong. I know what I'm doing. In the naming branding game all the good words are taken, so you either make one up or misspell one so you can own it. Right now in some brainstorming session in a conference room in Schenectady this phrase just came up and they think "Oh this would be so funny and hip. We'll name our new drink this! See if it is available." Guess what folks, it's mine!

Publish Post

I'm going to copyright this phrase and spelling so when a drink company or drug company wants to use it they will have to pay me! I'll take $400,000 or best offer for the naming rights . There is already a company named Elixar, but nothing with both Magic AND Elixar. I'll be rich! And then I'll want tax cuts. :-)

The Magic Elixar © Spocko

Today's Word is "Away"

Personally this is where I want some wingnuts to go.