To Macy's executive officers and board of directors;
It has come to our attention that Macy's is actively discouraging the acknowledgement of Christmas and Christianity as being central to this holiday season. "Happy holidays" and "trying to make all religions feel welcome" is a lame token gesture and it disrespects the primary American faith, Christianity. The honoring of Christianity does not exclude other faiths.
Please register our extreme disagreement with your position. My wife and I have been loyal Macy's customers for years and we're proud to be such.
Your legacy with the celebration of this sacred season has been an important part of what makes America such a wonderful place to live.
For you to take such a destructive and politically correct posture related to Christmas and Christianity is a cowardly act in our estimation. You are bowing to the hypersensitive few who believe that freedom of religion should mean freedom FROM religion. We find that outrageously offensive!
Our future as Macy's customers is being seriously reconsidered. You have many worthy competitors. Perhaps it is time you watched “Miracle on 34th Street” once again.
Don't forget what made you great.
Merry Christmas,
Jim and Paula Cathcart
PS we will be copying this message to all our friends who might shop Macy's.
PPS Please do not send us a form-letter reply justifying your actions. Nothing can justify this insult to Christianity.
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Monday, November 08, 2004
Politics: We must come together they say
The election is over and both sides are saying we must "come together" as one country. They promise to "reach out" to the other side and to "do (their) part to work together." Nice words, but let's watch for the actions that back it up.
It is easy to say you will do "whatever it takes" to get something done. But the speaker of those words often is found recanting with an "except for" statement.
I think it is time we started holding people accountable for what they say. How can a person be "a man of his word" if his words don't serve as official notification of his commitments? If you say you will do it, then do it. Period. If you say you won't, then don't. Period.
We just witnessed a campaign filled with sound bites many of which we treated as if they didn't count toward or against the person who said them.
In our society it used to be that a person's word was their bond. They were bound to (committed to, with consequences) do or not do what their words had indicated. I just want to scream "tell the truth dammit!"
If you call someone a liar, be prepared to PROVE they lied. If you claim you did something, or didn't then be prepared to document that fact.
Why don't we trust politicians? Because they keep changing their words.
A big reason I didn't vote for John Kerry and still wouldn't is that he is not a man of his word. If you wish to find documentation of that let me know. I have seen volumes of published direct quotes. They are easy to find, in fact one of his opponents published a radio ad with about twenty first-person recordings of Kerry's contradictory statements.
On the other hand, I did not find this to be the case with George Bush. Though one could argue about technical inconsistencies in his choice of words, there was no contradiciton in his stated messages. He kept saying the same things and then doing them. People say he lied about WMD. Horsefeathers!
He and the rest of our leaders including Kerry and Clinton, believed that Saddam had them.
They say he was fighting this war as a personal vendetta or just to secure riches from oil. Give me a break! How shallow do you think our leaders are? We have a full compliment of representatives and legislators to keep a president from such selfishness.
In order for us to come together, somebody has to agree to broaden their position. Two parties who continue to disagree fully cannot find a common ground. There must be compromise. Both parties need to do this but MOSTLY the Democrats. They lost. The voters they wanted to win over, weren't won over.
For them to assume that a three million person majority is a group of uninformed or unenlightened people is absurd. The Democrats were not right in determining what the people of America want. Continuing to sell the same unpopular message will not "bring us together."
That's like saying, "we obviously disagree, so I will keep on selling until you finally agree with me." What're you nuts? That won't work.
Now is the time for the Democratic Party to elect new leadership. Terry McAuliffe and his mean-spirited cohorts must go...totally. They are not capable of effecting change in the party. They won't change.
The Democrats need to reimbrace the principles that Zell Miller talked about at the Republican convention. Their party needs to be a party of encouragement, not entitlements. People want hope. Reagan gave them that after Carter had removed it. And Reagan, not Carter, is regarded as the finest president in several generations. Clinton claimed to offer it, but his hope was tied to his ability to ride the empty shell of his economic policies through an "irrational exhuberance" tech boom and its inevitable crash. Short term solutions always have corresponding payback time.
To come together the Democrats must determine how to be optimists again. Kerry ran a "what's wrong with America (under Bush) campaign." There was no cause to get excited about having him as our leader, he only enticed us to remove Bush. He claimed to be an optimist but showed no evidence of it. His was a campaign of blame and despair. That is what divided us. Just as Gore did in 2000. And what has happened to Gore!? Ohmigod, that guy has gone radical. Pity.
Kerry betrayed his countrymen upon return from Vietnam. His actual words and deeds were quoted and shown by the North Vietnamese to our POWs to break their spirits. He, Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden and a few others worked vigorously to betray our efforts and demonize our troops. It worked, a whole generation looked down on them and ridiculed them when they returned "home." Now Kerry has tried it again. He spawned such films as Farenheit 911 just as he spawned Apocalypse Now and Platoon from the Vietnam Era. Kerry claimed he was a war hero. But he didn't own up to being a traitor too. Heroism isn't permanent, nor is betrayal. But betrayal requires contrition and retribution. He never did admit his betrayal.
It is interesting that Kerry spoke for only one minute in his acceptance of the democratic nomination about his twenty years in office, but he spent plenty of time reminding us of his four MONTHS of service in Vietnam.
In contrast, Lots of people have accused Bush of draft dodging while ignoring his volunteering for fighter jet training, knowing that he'd be among the most likely to be called to active duty. His dad flew 50+ combat missions and was shot down twice in WWII. So he chose to follow the same path in his military service. He did not volunteer for Vietnam but he served honorably, as I did, in the National Guard and fulfilled his service.
Then he went on to serve his country rather than betray it.
And, by the way, when someone accuses another of draft dodging and cowardice for having joined the reserves or national guard, they are insulting all of us who served in those armed forces. I, Lt. Jim Cathcart, USAR and USNG, deeply resent that.
People accused Bush of being ignorant or non-intellectual, while ignoring his Yale MBA and his years of success in running businesses and serving impressively as the governor of Texas. What is it that people are missing? Do they think that debating skill is the best indicator of presidential capacity? If so, why don't they hold the master debater to his words?
This has become a rant more than a commentary, sorry for that, but please don't interpret the rant as being all emotion and no substance. I've thought long and hard about what I'm saying here, and I am willing to be held accountable for my words.
In closing, yes we must come together, but we won't be doing that on the margins. People come together closer to the middle. America is an English speaking, Christianity-based, heterosexual, free enterprize society based on personal freedom and personal accountability. Our society is built upon the family unit as its basic building blocks. This is where the middle is. A church going, straight Christian is not "the radical right." They are the mainstream.
Mainstream Americans believe in the right of people to determine their own sexual preferences but not in their ability to impose that preference as an entitlement of special minority status. Mainstream Americans believe that everyone should be able to practice their chosen religion. But freedom of religion must never become freedom FROM religion. Our country is built upon the assumption that people will have strong beliefs, not avoid and criticize beliefs. Church and State are inseparable. You can separate parts of them but Statecraft will always reflect our beliefs. Always. No matter what our beliefs are. A society that doesn't teach values and character is doomed to spend eternity in a courtroom fighting over technical definitions of laws. Trust only grows where integrity is cultivated and required.
There is no freedom without being accountable. We can't use entitlements as our nation's success strategy. Freedom and being held accountable for what you do and SAY are the key to our society. Let's mean what we say.
It is easy to say you will do "whatever it takes" to get something done. But the speaker of those words often is found recanting with an "except for" statement.
I think it is time we started holding people accountable for what they say. How can a person be "a man of his word" if his words don't serve as official notification of his commitments? If you say you will do it, then do it. Period. If you say you won't, then don't. Period.
We just witnessed a campaign filled with sound bites many of which we treated as if they didn't count toward or against the person who said them.
In our society it used to be that a person's word was their bond. They were bound to (committed to, with consequences) do or not do what their words had indicated. I just want to scream "tell the truth dammit!"
If you call someone a liar, be prepared to PROVE they lied. If you claim you did something, or didn't then be prepared to document that fact.
Why don't we trust politicians? Because they keep changing their words.
A big reason I didn't vote for John Kerry and still wouldn't is that he is not a man of his word. If you wish to find documentation of that let me know. I have seen volumes of published direct quotes. They are easy to find, in fact one of his opponents published a radio ad with about twenty first-person recordings of Kerry's contradictory statements.
On the other hand, I did not find this to be the case with George Bush. Though one could argue about technical inconsistencies in his choice of words, there was no contradiciton in his stated messages. He kept saying the same things and then doing them. People say he lied about WMD. Horsefeathers!
He and the rest of our leaders including Kerry and Clinton, believed that Saddam had them.
They say he was fighting this war as a personal vendetta or just to secure riches from oil. Give me a break! How shallow do you think our leaders are? We have a full compliment of representatives and legislators to keep a president from such selfishness.
In order for us to come together, somebody has to agree to broaden their position. Two parties who continue to disagree fully cannot find a common ground. There must be compromise. Both parties need to do this but MOSTLY the Democrats. They lost. The voters they wanted to win over, weren't won over.
For them to assume that a three million person majority is a group of uninformed or unenlightened people is absurd. The Democrats were not right in determining what the people of America want. Continuing to sell the same unpopular message will not "bring us together."
That's like saying, "we obviously disagree, so I will keep on selling until you finally agree with me." What're you nuts? That won't work.
Now is the time for the Democratic Party to elect new leadership. Terry McAuliffe and his mean-spirited cohorts must go...totally. They are not capable of effecting change in the party. They won't change.
The Democrats need to reimbrace the principles that Zell Miller talked about at the Republican convention. Their party needs to be a party of encouragement, not entitlements. People want hope. Reagan gave them that after Carter had removed it. And Reagan, not Carter, is regarded as the finest president in several generations. Clinton claimed to offer it, but his hope was tied to his ability to ride the empty shell of his economic policies through an "irrational exhuberance" tech boom and its inevitable crash. Short term solutions always have corresponding payback time.
To come together the Democrats must determine how to be optimists again. Kerry ran a "what's wrong with America (under Bush) campaign." There was no cause to get excited about having him as our leader, he only enticed us to remove Bush. He claimed to be an optimist but showed no evidence of it. His was a campaign of blame and despair. That is what divided us. Just as Gore did in 2000. And what has happened to Gore!? Ohmigod, that guy has gone radical. Pity.
Kerry betrayed his countrymen upon return from Vietnam. His actual words and deeds were quoted and shown by the North Vietnamese to our POWs to break their spirits. He, Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden and a few others worked vigorously to betray our efforts and demonize our troops. It worked, a whole generation looked down on them and ridiculed them when they returned "home." Now Kerry has tried it again. He spawned such films as Farenheit 911 just as he spawned Apocalypse Now and Platoon from the Vietnam Era. Kerry claimed he was a war hero. But he didn't own up to being a traitor too. Heroism isn't permanent, nor is betrayal. But betrayal requires contrition and retribution. He never did admit his betrayal.
It is interesting that Kerry spoke for only one minute in his acceptance of the democratic nomination about his twenty years in office, but he spent plenty of time reminding us of his four MONTHS of service in Vietnam.
In contrast, Lots of people have accused Bush of draft dodging while ignoring his volunteering for fighter jet training, knowing that he'd be among the most likely to be called to active duty. His dad flew 50+ combat missions and was shot down twice in WWII. So he chose to follow the same path in his military service. He did not volunteer for Vietnam but he served honorably, as I did, in the National Guard and fulfilled his service.
Then he went on to serve his country rather than betray it.
And, by the way, when someone accuses another of draft dodging and cowardice for having joined the reserves or national guard, they are insulting all of us who served in those armed forces. I, Lt. Jim Cathcart, USAR and USNG, deeply resent that.
People accused Bush of being ignorant or non-intellectual, while ignoring his Yale MBA and his years of success in running businesses and serving impressively as the governor of Texas. What is it that people are missing? Do they think that debating skill is the best indicator of presidential capacity? If so, why don't they hold the master debater to his words?
This has become a rant more than a commentary, sorry for that, but please don't interpret the rant as being all emotion and no substance. I've thought long and hard about what I'm saying here, and I am willing to be held accountable for my words.
In closing, yes we must come together, but we won't be doing that on the margins. People come together closer to the middle. America is an English speaking, Christianity-based, heterosexual, free enterprize society based on personal freedom and personal accountability. Our society is built upon the family unit as its basic building blocks. This is where the middle is. A church going, straight Christian is not "the radical right." They are the mainstream.
Mainstream Americans believe in the right of people to determine their own sexual preferences but not in their ability to impose that preference as an entitlement of special minority status. Mainstream Americans believe that everyone should be able to practice their chosen religion. But freedom of religion must never become freedom FROM religion. Our country is built upon the assumption that people will have strong beliefs, not avoid and criticize beliefs. Church and State are inseparable. You can separate parts of them but Statecraft will always reflect our beliefs. Always. No matter what our beliefs are. A society that doesn't teach values and character is doomed to spend eternity in a courtroom fighting over technical definitions of laws. Trust only grows where integrity is cultivated and required.
There is no freedom without being accountable. We can't use entitlements as our nation's success strategy. Freedom and being held accountable for what you do and SAY are the key to our society. Let's mean what we say.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Develop Leaders BEFORE You Need Them!
For the past year I've been working with leaders and educators throughout the highway 101 corridor here in California to develop a new Leader Development initiative called "The 101 Leaders Institute."
This is an alliance of organizations concerned about the future of this area, all of whom are committed to the idea of developing leadership talent. Too often we educate people in how to lead and then expect them to get the needed experience on their own. I believe that a system needs to be provided to help assure that those in leadership roles do in fact have the skill to lead.
I've seen numerous civic and business meetings where well-educated leaders were in charge, yet, despite their education, they couldn't run a meeting well, or organize a project or motivate people to volunteer their time or resources.
Our solution is to network the resources of the universities, training companies and community resources so that people at all levels of society have a path to follow to gain the needed experience while practicing what they have learned.
Many years ago I was on the national staff of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the US Jaycees. My role was Senior Program Manager of Individual Development, in other words, the guy in charge of Leadership Training.
We had 356,000 members at the time and what I did was; write training programs, manage four chairmen in each state and fly around the country giving convention speeches to get everyone to use our training programs. Not dissimilar to what I do in my own company, Cathcart Institute, Inc. today. The purpose of Jaycees was Leadership Training through community service. (lower case intentional.) Our job was training leaders. Doing service projects in the communities was simply our medium for training. We wanted our "graduates" to be prepared to move into business, civic and social leadership with real-world experience in making things happen. It worked. And it continued to work for generations.
Today the Jaycees have deteriorated significantly from the 1970s. They have much less than 100,000 members and are not in all communities as before.
But then, our society's needs have evolved too. It is not just the young people who need to learn to lead now. Adults need it too.
That is where 101 Leaders comes in. We want to use a project-based system to allow people to develop their abilities and make their marks in society.
The structure is this:
1. Hold a Leadership Summit at a place like the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and offer a powerful lineup of speakers and influential presenters. Have each university or firm sponsor a portion of the program and provide a "track" of learning for certain types of leaders, according to their own unique resources and interests.
Civic leaders would go to one institution, non-profits to another, business leaders to another, entrepreneurs to another and community leaders to another. Even private citizens with no affiliation would be able to enroll in the system.
2. When one "signs up" with 101 Leaders they will fill out a profile and be assigned to a coach or guide. That person will register them into the courses and experiences that are indicated and help monitor their progress throughout the year. (The course would be one year long.)
3. As phases are completed there will be quarterly Leader Roundtable events to interact with others in the system, hear featured speakers and interact with existing leaders.
4. www.101leaders.org will become the website home for those in the system. They will have resources there, be able to track progress, report results and ask questions.
5. A yearbook will be published annually to list all those who are making a contribution in this region. It will be laced with leadership lessons and personal profiles. A virtual who's who for this region with a "and you can too" element to it. Sponsors and providers will have ads throughout the publication as well.
Much is yet to be determined for this project but all input is welcomed. If you have some thoughts, challenges, questions, etc. please let me know. This model will be portable once proven. It can be duplicated in any distinct region where providers are available and leaders are needed.
We must develop our leaders constantly and intentionally lest we find a crisis that lacks the folks to lead us beyond it.
Thanks for reading.
Jim
This is an alliance of organizations concerned about the future of this area, all of whom are committed to the idea of developing leadership talent. Too often we educate people in how to lead and then expect them to get the needed experience on their own. I believe that a system needs to be provided to help assure that those in leadership roles do in fact have the skill to lead.
I've seen numerous civic and business meetings where well-educated leaders were in charge, yet, despite their education, they couldn't run a meeting well, or organize a project or motivate people to volunteer their time or resources.
Our solution is to network the resources of the universities, training companies and community resources so that people at all levels of society have a path to follow to gain the needed experience while practicing what they have learned.
Many years ago I was on the national staff of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the US Jaycees. My role was Senior Program Manager of Individual Development, in other words, the guy in charge of Leadership Training.
We had 356,000 members at the time and what I did was; write training programs, manage four chairmen in each state and fly around the country giving convention speeches to get everyone to use our training programs. Not dissimilar to what I do in my own company, Cathcart Institute, Inc. today. The purpose of Jaycees was Leadership Training through community service. (lower case intentional.) Our job was training leaders. Doing service projects in the communities was simply our medium for training. We wanted our "graduates" to be prepared to move into business, civic and social leadership with real-world experience in making things happen. It worked. And it continued to work for generations.
Today the Jaycees have deteriorated significantly from the 1970s. They have much less than 100,000 members and are not in all communities as before.
But then, our society's needs have evolved too. It is not just the young people who need to learn to lead now. Adults need it too.
That is where 101 Leaders comes in. We want to use a project-based system to allow people to develop their abilities and make their marks in society.
The structure is this:
1. Hold a Leadership Summit at a place like the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and offer a powerful lineup of speakers and influential presenters. Have each university or firm sponsor a portion of the program and provide a "track" of learning for certain types of leaders, according to their own unique resources and interests.
Civic leaders would go to one institution, non-profits to another, business leaders to another, entrepreneurs to another and community leaders to another. Even private citizens with no affiliation would be able to enroll in the system.
2. When one "signs up" with 101 Leaders they will fill out a profile and be assigned to a coach or guide. That person will register them into the courses and experiences that are indicated and help monitor their progress throughout the year. (The course would be one year long.)
3. As phases are completed there will be quarterly Leader Roundtable events to interact with others in the system, hear featured speakers and interact with existing leaders.
4. www.101leaders.org will become the website home for those in the system. They will have resources there, be able to track progress, report results and ask questions.
5. A yearbook will be published annually to list all those who are making a contribution in this region. It will be laced with leadership lessons and personal profiles. A virtual who's who for this region with a "and you can too" element to it. Sponsors and providers will have ads throughout the publication as well.
Much is yet to be determined for this project but all input is welcomed. If you have some thoughts, challenges, questions, etc. please let me know. This model will be portable once proven. It can be duplicated in any distinct region where providers are available and leaders are needed.
We must develop our leaders constantly and intentionally lest we find a crisis that lacks the folks to lead us beyond it.
Thanks for reading.
Jim
Monday, November 01, 2004
Welcome to my new web log!
Let me know what you would like to learn more about or comment on. My home site www.cathcart.com shows you my areas of expertise and more can be learned about me and my ideas by visiting www.relationshipselling.net, www.professionalspeaker.com and www.101leaders.com .
In this site I will occasionally comment on a number of issues and ideas. Your input is welcomed and I will do my best to respond on a timely basis.
If you need a quicker reply, my management office is at info@cathcart.com and they can reach me each day.
Best wishes for a George W. Bush second four years.
Jim
In this site I will occasionally comment on a number of issues and ideas. Your input is welcomed and I will do my best to respond on a timely basis.
If you need a quicker reply, my management office is at info@cathcart.com and they can reach me each day.
Best wishes for a George W. Bush second four years.
Jim
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