DrZee's Blog

DrZee recommended Another Non-Apology Apology by DrZee

2009-09-10T12:06:05Z

DrZee Commented on Another Non-Apology Apology by DrZee

2009-09-10T13:00:14Z

Ooops, I am not a tech wizard, so the spacing is all whacked on my entry. And I attempted to use the "crossed out letters" font o the following words:

distinguished, honorable, and followers

All this looked fine on the "preview" but seems to have been lost on the "save."

Nevertheless, I enjoyed my first blog on TPM.

DrZee Commented on Wilson Apologizes for Calling Obama Liar During Speech by Brian Beutler

2009-09-10T12:41:53Z

As I wrote this morning in a blog, that is NOT an apology. Wilson is laying grounds for his outburst. The president made him do it. AND not only grounds, but he deliberately misquotes the president in the non-apology:

listening to the President's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill

He implies the president IS covering illegal immigrants. He goes on to say he disagrees with this statement. The reference is not to the president's original "not covered" statement, but to his own non-apology distortion.

And who do you think will be the poster boy on Hammity, Blech, and Retch? What will they focus their bright white media light on for the next news cycle? They'll ignore everything else and whip their crazies into a frenzy over illegal immigrants being covered in the president's health care bill. Yes... now grandma's not only being killed by President Obama, he's going to hand over her estate to ... gasp!... illegal immigrants.

Is it Halloween yet?

DrZee Commented on DeMint And Bachmann: It's Easier To Organize Liberals Than Conservatives by Eric Kleefeld

2009-08-21T13:06:42Z

No, don't dismiss those seemingly "small" acts -- like rudeness and not tipping. These behaviors tell a lot about a person, especially a person who considers himself "powerful."

Lo those many years ago... I was the primary administrator of a speaker's forum and we invited mostly political persons to speak at a variety of events. After awhile I could tell who was a horse's patootie just from the way his or her staff worked with us over the phone. I was never surprised when the person showed up and acted like a rock star demanding blue m&m's in the dressing room, ordered the staff around, and was late or perfunctory with his or her appearance/speaking engagement.

I happily worked with some wonderful people, and we did have some amazing politicians spend time with us. They wouldn't "look through" us when we met -- they weren't always looking for a more important person to talk to before even finishing with a handshake. Many times they would come early and while we were setting up, they would sit down and talk about family and food and what to see in town -- just regular people. I loved that part of my job. And these were both sides of the aisle. I could name names.... the best/most memorable of the lot were Sen. Joe Biden and Sen. Alan Simpson. The worst? By far, Rep. Duncan Hunter.

DrZee Commented on DeMint And Bachmann: It's Easier To Organize Liberals Than Conservatives by Eric Kleefeld

2009-08-21T13:06:17Z

No, don't dismiss those seemingly "small" acts -- like rudeness and not tipping. These behaviors tell a lot about a person, especially a person who considers himself "powerful."

DrZee Commented on Bachmann: No Government Control Over My Body! by Eric Kleefeld

2009-08-21T12:51:59Z

It's just too bad that the subtle art of IRONY is completely wasted on Bachman.

DrZee Commented on CNN Prez to Lou Dobbs: Drop Birther Story by Rachel Slajda

2009-07-24T21:30:45Z

Another Old White Guy bites the dust -- right along with the F22 and leftover mindsets of the 50's. It's taking them so long to realize we're in a new century. Eventually, they'll all be replaced. Let's just hope the replacements -- either party affiliation or none -- are professional journalists with a bias toward investigation and truth.

DrZee Commented on My God, The President's A Person! by destor23

2009-07-24T21:27:32Z

Maybe somebody's said this, but what keeps bothering me is.... Would the question been posed if that was a Bush, or even Clinton, presser?

No. Solely because the president is black, he gets the question about the professor being arrested. In fact, I'll go a step beyond and say that if Barack Obama is not president, the original story gets a couple of inches of ink in Boston. And that's it.

And I had one more question, or rather... a series of "I wonder"... I wonder who called in the complaint on Professor Gates? I wonder how long Prof Gates had been residing in that house. I was thinking... well, he had identification. And identification doesn't appear overnight. Last time I got a drivers license the one with the picture that can be used for an ID -- that took about a week or so. And then I wondered again.... did these neighbors never see him before that day? If he'd been living in that house for at least a week, I wonder why they didn't notice him. I know, I know... we hardly notice our neighbors these days. BUT... anyone savvy (or should I say "busybody"?) enough to watch a house and call the police surely watches his or her neighbors/neighborhood in general. I just wonder what the heck this person was thinking...

It's a puzzle. But what is not a puzzle is the fact that racial profiling happens -- day in and day out. Just because we have a black president doesn't mean "whoopee, all our racial issues have disappeared." OH CONTRAIRE (yeah, I know it's "au"... I'm going for irony).... OH contraire -- every bigot in the USA seems to be tumbling out of the closet these days -- emails, cartoons, jokes, comments, snide asides.... and that's just the Fox Morning Show.

Big sigh. I am glad the President didn't bypass the question and I'm glad he didn't bypass the extra comments today. Unlike Mr. Bush who never made a mistake -- our current president is living in the real world and has brought his real world life experiences to bear on the job. And we are all the better for his open approach to the work for which he was elected.

DrZee Commented on Twitter Users Heckle Hoekstra En Masse by Eric Kleefeld

2009-06-18T18:47:46Z

Exactly. Several of us have been talking about that -- the NeoCons taking advantage of the Iranian situation to "attack" -- by giving Israel the green light, or ... if they had been in power, doing it finally as they have always imagined. We're hoping (crossing fingers, chanting, checking the alignment of the planets) that nobody gets a bright idea (i.e. Cheney needs to be bunkered).

btw... A bear wandered into my yard last night, and now I know the utter terror of NIght of the Grizzlies.

DrZee Commented on Alan Keyes, Obama Birth Certificate Obsessive, Arrested On Charges Of Trespassing by Brian Beutler

2009-05-08T20:47:13Z

You mean to tell me that Notre Dame only gives degrees to students who are "pro life"? You mean no "pro choice" students receive degrees from Notre Dame?

Wow... that's pretty much amazing.

However did I earn my three degrees from a Catholic college?

Musta pulled the ol' sheepskin right over their eyes, eh?

DrZee recommended Obama: Transformational - but How? by TheraP

2008-10-19T19:59:06Z

DrZee Commented on Obama: Transformational - but How? by TheraP

2008-10-19T22:39:39Z

I entered a doctoral program of Leadership Studies in the summer of 1989. At that time the definitive book about Leadership was by Burns, 1978. I suppose it's still the "bible" on the subject. The words "transformational leadership" were new to me and my colleagues. The concepts of leadership fostered a vigorous study in the areas of business, organizations, sociology, psychology, and education -- areas where we were enlightening a whole new generation of leaders. The idea that we could change the world by being change agents; that we could flatten the organization (Peters); that we could be leaders and not managers; that we could be moral in our actions and plans for our employees and followers; that we could bring service and community into the world as viable aspects of any organization -- quite an amazing set of ideals for leaders to embrace. And maybe this study was a step before its time, although we worked through several non-profits organizations in small ways to bring about as much change as we could in those early years.

I must say, Barack Obama is the first transformational leader I have followed since I read Burns. The minute I heard him speak in Boston, I turned to my husband and said, "You just heard the first African American president of the United States." Actually, he could have been purple and the outcome would have been the same -- he has transformational leadership qualities that those of us who study leadership have been attempting to define all these many years. It's not just charisma, although that's a part of the picture. For example,I can see he knows that we, the followers, want viable renewal energy -- especially for transportation; so he will speak, he will move us to action as he states the "in ten years we will" program initiatives, and we will jump to perform and involve ourselves in that dream. I can see that.. and much more.

Obama is not a bureaucrat or a transactional leader. He will not lead from the top down; he firmly believes in the value of others' opinions and ideas. And by his example, Obama is a moral leader -- one who leads with strength and does not use power to take down his opposition, but uses power to build up his followers.

Most of what makes a good leader is the relationship between his or her followers and him or herself. We notice the nuances and the intelligence with which Obama struggles for answers. He isn't locked into one way to proceed. He listens, he asks, and he is not afraid to be his own person. Followers can trust that he will consider them in his decisions. And his decisions and actions will bring his followers along on the journey.

What we have missed in the last eight years, among other attributes of leadership, is the connection of leader to follower -- of openness, inclusion, consideration, communication, and inspiration.

Transformation is a two way street. We can see the best of ourselves in Barack Obama and he can see the best of himself in us. And together, we really can change the country, if not the world, one step at a time.