If You Can Label It You Can Sell It

"If you can label it, you can sell it."

"The Alchemists tried turning lead into gold and failed.  The Marketing People succeeded by selling lead to the Alchemists.

The Quotations of Slim Fairview. (c) 2017

Remember the pet rock?  Adopt a Cabbage Patch Kid?  Here we go.

LABELS

When I was young, a label spoke to the quality of the merchandise. Dunhill tobacco pouch, Florsheim shoes.

Today, a label speaks to the price of the merchandise. Everything does come with a price.  But many times the price is more than dollars and cents.  Every label has a price.

If you carry a Birkin Bag, you'd better be a celebrity.  If not, you will be viewed with contempt for parading around with a $60,000 pocketbook.  On the other hand, if you wear Birkenstock Sandals, don’t you also pay a price; a price for marketing yourself?  You are marketing yourself, aren't you?  Really?  Aren't you?

Florsheim Shoes, Gucci Loafers, Birkenstock Sandals are all quality products. Different price ranges, but all quality products. And each sends a different message.  Who are you labeling your product for?

Label v. Logo.

You're logo is not the little picture you hired that graphics designer to create for you.  Your logo is, in fact, how your customer feels when buying, wearing, or using your product.  Your label is what your customer tells other people he paid for your product--not in dollars only.  To understand logos, read my article "YOUR LOGO".

There is, of course the cynical approach.  Two outstanding examples of that are:

P.T. Barnum:  “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

H.L. Mencken:  “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”
 

Now, we move onto serious marketing people.  For this we have the Four Marketeers.

• Redesign

• Reconfigure

• Relabel

• Repackage

These are the four cavaliers of successful marketing.

There is an old saying on Madison Avenue.  “Half of all advertising works.  But nobody knows which half.”

The issue, of course, is not advertising.  The issue is marketing. And, I've said this repeatedly.  Marketing:  “Find a need and fill it.”  

Don’t get T-Boned at the intersection of Marketing & Madison.  Marketing Trumps Advertising

Relabel

WHY THE BUY IN?  Is that the hard question?  No.

If you'd read my article "MARKETING 1959" you will already know that wearing leggings (snow pants) made you a target of derision and teasing.  I remember the "consumer pushback" as my Mom tried getting me into my leggings. 

Then, one day, my buddy had to wear them.  And someone began, "Ha, ha, you had to wear leggings."  But he was ready. 

"They're not leggings, they're ski pants".

 

Suddenly they became an icon of cool.  Okay, why the buy in?  Why did the other boys in the class suddenly buy into the premise?

Two reasons: 

In part, to be a part of it all if they had to wear them.

In part for protection from derision if they had to wear them. 

Call it relabeling, not rebranding.   You’re not switching from the discount store brand to the designer brand. The product was renamed.

  

For example:  My Dad wore a robe.  Noel Coward wore a dressing gown.

However, one of the most brilliant relabeling strategies was employed by Japanese Automakers. 

When US car manufacturers wanted to enhance revenue, they outsourced their work off-shore.  This was an effort to cut costs.  However, you don’t sell a lot of Oldsmobiles in a country where people earn $5. A day.

When Japanese auto makers wanted to enhance revenue, they opened plants in the US and hired American auto workers.  What happened? 

Japanese automakers began selling cars that were made in America by American workers. 

There will be more to come.

If you find anything here to be helpful, please don't hesitate to send me a really tricked out Mac Book and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note. 

Sincerely,

Slim

Box 33
Pen Argyl, PA 18072

slimfairview@yahoo.com 

Copyright (c) 2013 Bob Asken

All Rights Reserved.

Teamwork is for Teams

"A team is not a committee.  A committee is not a team.  Teamwork is for teams.  

Committees do not solve problems, they create them." ~ Slim Fairview

I do not like sports analogies. However, as we are discussing teams, we must use them.  Also, I do not like long introductions.  Therefore:

Here is the metaphor:

The Giants have 11 men on the field. For the purposes of  this discussion they are:

One Center

Two Guards,

Two Tackles

Two Ends

One Quarterback

Two Halfbacks

One Fullback

Each player plays a position. (A Job Title)

Each position has a job description.

Each player has some degree of discretion within the parameters of his assignment which he may exercise as different situations present themselves, at the time they present themselves, and in the way that they present themselves.

If a defensive lineman decides not to break through the line, the tackle must decide whether and how to change his approach--to handle his assignment.  Others must make adjustments accordingly.

"The joke is in the way I say it, not in what I say." ~ Slim Fairview.

The Tackle does not call a time out, walk across the field and say to the Receiver, "Listen, you missed that last pass, how about I run down field with you in case there is another problem?"

The Halfback does not stroll over to find out what is going on.

If there appears to be a dispute, the QB does not go over to implement some conflict resolution.

The Coach does not come out onto the field to suggest that the tackle head up a committee of back fielders and receivers to look into the problem.

Human Resources doesn't not go out onto the field to suggest bringing in a consultant who might hold a training session where everyone will have the opportunity to play different positions in order to become more sensitive to the other players feelings.

A fan does not come out onto the field to represent stakeholder interests and suggest we need a field 200 yards long to expand the market and six downs per play for revenue enhancement.

A second stringer does not go out onto the field to suggest increasing the number of players on the field to 15 or 20 so more people get to play.

There are a few things to consider though.

The team already has a shared vision

The team already has a defined goal

The team members already have their assignments

The team members already have their job descriptions.

Also there are other similarities

The opposing team presents a set of  knowns and a set of unknowns.

The offensive team knows the strengths and weaknesses of the defensive team. They do not, however, know which members of the defensive team will present the problem--or where.

If that defensive lineman decides to go around the offensive line rather than through it, then the Tackle must made a decision--on his own--"do I pull back or not?"  That decision will influence the action of, say, the Fullback. He may now be forced to move to protect the QB from being sacked.

In the same manner, the defensive line must also respond to situations and changing situations as a team.  That means each player has a degree of autonomy to make decisions within the parameters of his assigned position.

"As a team" means each individual doing his own job--not someone else's job.

A defensive lineman must decide where to go, depending on which offensive player is carrying the ball and in which direction he is heading.

You won't win many football games if you tell your defensive linemen, "Don't worry about where the ball is going.  Let me worry about that. That's my job.  If you want to be helpful, just do what I tell you to do.  If I want you to do something else, I will tell you." (Right in the middle of the play, eh?  That comment is pretty much what I was told on at least two occasions by a boss who made a serious error in judgement.  That according to many bosses.) 

Back to Congress

Everyone is entitled to an opinion.  True!

Everyone is entitled to express that opinion.  True!

The right to an opinion does not confer value upon that opinion.

"Opinions are like hemorrhoids.  Sooner or later almost every Congressman has one."  ~ The Quotations of Slim Fairview.

Case in Point:

Congress has 535 members.

Congress has a 5% approval rating.

You can't put 535 Congressmen into a 5% bag.

Back to football

Credentials:

Each football player has credentials.  Each team has a record.

Players have training, ability, experience and a track record.  Teams have a record of wins and losses, over and against which teams, and the analysis of the reasons why.

For example: Both Quarterbacks have a record of passes, pass completions, yards gained and lost, runs, yards, gained, sacks, and wins and losses.

Still, one QB wins and one loses.  Obviously, no one wins or loses on his own. Each has 10 other players on his team.  Each player doing his job. And only his job. Each team has a coach who writes plays (strategic planning) and a coach who replaces players who get tired, makes too many mistakes, or fails to perform to the (measurables) standards of the team.

When was the last time you replaced someone on your team? As they say across the pond--"Dropped for not scoring."

GET THE MESSAGE?

Teamwork is for teams.  A team is not a committee.  A committee is not a team. Committees do not solve problems, they cause them. 

Replace your committee with a team.  

Be sure your team is in compliance with the paradigm of a team.

There are those who believe that a committee is the best way to deal with a problem.  I will now refute, repudiate, disparage, and debunk their delusions with one word--Congress.

Einstein (The Physicists) said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  I assume he meant better results. 

"I am no Einstein.  I know nothing about physics." ~ Slim Fairview.

"Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting better results." ~ Slim Fairview

From, The Quotations of Slim Fairview (c) 2013

Einstein also said, "You don't measure the intelligence of a fish  by its ability to climb a tree."

Slim Fairview said, "If you want someone to climb a tree, you hire a cat."

"If you want to know something, Google it.  If you want to understand something, ask an old person." ~ Slim Fairview.

If anything herein has helped guide you toward clear thinking and solid action, please do not hesitate to send me a really tricked out Mac Book and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note.

or

GoFundMe

Warmest regards,



Slim.


Robert Asken Box 33 
Pen Argyl, PA  18072

LinkedIn Profile 


slimfairview@yahoo.com

Copyright © 2013 Robert Asken 

All Rights Reserved.

Marketing Trumps Advertising

Of all the isms in the world, the worst is credentialism.  Credentials are ubiquitous.  Everyone has at least one or two.  Whether in economics, or in engineering, or in management, or in just experts in general, everyone has credentials.

As Glinda said to Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, “Are you a good consultant or a bad consultant?”

To which Dorothy replied, “I’m not a consultant at all….”

Here is the metaphor:

You have two experts. One works for a store that sells red paint. One works for a store that sells blue paint.

The red paint expert says, “Paint the walls of your company red. Your employers will get all gingered up and make more widgets.”

The blue paint expert says, “Paint the walls of your company blue. Your employees will be more relaxed and make better widgets.” 

Ostensibly true…or half true.  However, half the truth is a whole lie.

What the red paint experts don’t tell you is that the red paint employees will make more widgets, but more mistakes.  What the blue paint experts don’t tell you is that the blue paint employees will make better widgets, but fewer widgets.  But wait. There’s more! 

To stay in business, Mr. Widget must make a choice:  produce more widgets for the discount widget market, or make better widgets for the upscale widget market. 

While that sounds simple enough, there is a lot more to it.

If he goes with discount widgets, he will need to adjust his "supply chain": cheaper steel, cheaper nuts and bolts, cheaper paint or powder coat.  Also, he must adjust his distribution: more trucks or bigger trucks?  He must also change his marketing, advertising, and warehousing allocations.  If he signs a deal with Mr. Wal-Mart, he’s reached the discount widget market—almost.  He will still have competition from those with more experience and facility with selling discount widgets.

If Mr. Widget goes upscale, he will dial back the quantity of steel, but must ramp up the quality of the steel, the nuts and bolts, and the powder coat.  He must also change his marketing, sales, and advertising strategies.  How will he sell widgets, where, and to whom? Coach? Macy’s? Neiman Marcus?

Each market strategy has its own challenges.

Ron Johnson did a bang up job at Apple Stores.  At JCP?  Not so much. 

Ron Johnson wanted to sell, “Every Day Low Pricing.”  The Customers wanted to buy, “Discounts and Coupons.”  Ron Johnson tried to convince the customers to buy what he wanted to sell instead of selling what the customers wanted to buy.

MARKETING TRUMPS ADVERTISING

Forty years ago, my marketing professor scolded me on (at the very least) one occasion, “That’s advertising. That’s not marketing.”

Advertising: Convince the customer to buy what you want to sell.

Marketing:  Find a need and fill it.

Now the hard part.  In addition to the above, in order to protect himself from being T-Boned at the intersection of Marketing and Madison, he must consider the following:

Technology:  Will his competitor buy the new Widgetmaster 5000?  Should he?  What are the opportunity costs?

Innovation: Will his competitors make aluminum widgets, or titanium widgets, to either cut costs or improve quality?

R&D:  Will small entrepreneurs nibble away at his profits?  Two kids with a 3-D printer may begin making plastic widgets.  However, 2 kids with a 3-D printer + Crowdfunding = 2 kids with 20 3-D printers producing plastic widgets.

Before you spend your money on paint (and consultants) remember:

“There are no unintended consequences, only unwanted consequences.” ~ Slim Fairview. From The Quotations of Slim Fairview © 2010 – 2013

If you find anything here to be helpful, please don't hesitate to send me a really tricked out Mac Book and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note. 
Thank you Slim.

Bob Asken
Box 33 
Pen Argyl, PA 18072

Warmest regards,

Slim

slimfairview@yahoo.com

Copyright © 2013 Slim Fairview

All rights reserved.

Einstein's Fish

Einstein said, "You can't judge the intelligence of a fish by its ability to climb a tree."  By extension, "You can't judge the intelligence of a cat by its ability to swim under water."  

Why bring up what appears to be the same statement?  

Because, If you want someone to climb a tree, you hire a cat. If you want someone to swim under water, you hire a fish.  Simple enough?

By extension, Einstein (A theoretical Physicist) also said, If you prepare for war, you get war.  If you want peace, you prepare for peace.

George Washington (A General) said, If you want to insure the peace, you prepare for war.

If I want to hire a General, I will hire George Washington.

If I want to hire a physicist, I will hire Albert Einstein.

If I want someone to climb a tree, I will hire a cat.

If I want someone to swim under water, I will hire a fish.


I understand that Einstein worked at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton.  After some research, I found that they don't always entertain mathematicians and physicists.  They also entertain people like historians.  I began dropping hints.  I thought it was like the MacArthur Foundation.  They find you.  They don't. You have to apply.  If I have to ask....I lost interest.

It should also be noted that I was passed up again for the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant.

Which begs the question:  

How will I ever become a Genius if no one gives be a Genius Grant?


Warmest regards, 

Slim

slimfairview@yahoo.com 


On the topic of the Empirical Method of Analysis.

Eggheads and Cracked Eggs.


On the application of analysis over credentialism.

Will the Facebook Revolution Spread to China? Probably Not.

Will the Facebook Revolution Spread to China, Part 2--Credentialism




Copyright 2013 Slim Fairview
All Rights Reserved.

Twittergram?

"Twittergram for Phil Boins."  Lieutenant Abrams. Return of the Thin Man.

Is Twitter the new Western Union?

Yes.

Twitter is Western Union.  The Tweet is the telegram.  Instead of opening up the envelope, you click the link to open the file.

LinkedIn is your company.  Your network connections are your colleagues.

Your Blog is your Customer Tech Manual.

Facebook is your Information Supply Chain.

Your Website is your Sales Department.

"Social Media is the Medium.  Greater than the Sum of its Parts." ~ Slim Fairview. From The Quotations of Slim Fairview.

It's not your grandchildren's Social Media anymore.  Social Media is Business Media.

Warmest regards,

Slim

slimfairview@yahoo.com

Copyright (c) 2013 Slim Fairview
All Rights Reserved.

Failure? Success? Why! How!

People create obstacles between themselves and their goals.

Then, they pretend that the problems are not problems because they

• They have the solution to the problem

• They can solve the problem

Then, they work on the solution to the problem that they themselves have created.

This time wasting technique--this impediment--is a self-created, self-perpetuating, self-defeating process.

The most important part of the process of failure is the energy expended, the time wasted, the techniques employed, in solving the problem.  The process:

• Research
• Reading
• Self-Help Books
• Writing a Journal
• Watching programmes about the problem
• Talking to People in Support Groups who serve as enablers
• Irritating the people around them (who have problems of their own) causing people to avoid them thus creating the self-fulfilling prophesy.

I can also add the energy expended and the time wasted defending the above self-defeating behaviour.

If this problem is not personal but institutional, the problem may be external, but the process of failure is the same--the elaborate process that avoids dealing with the problem and perpetuates it from there.

Let's define the problem.

Let's involve as many departments as we can to avoid solving the problem.

Let's explore as many aspects of the problem as we can pretend really do exist.

(The result of 3 & 4)

1. Sales
2. Marketing
3. R&D
4. Production
5. QC
6. Engineering
7. Finance
8. Advertising
9. HR
10. Accounting
11. Shipping
12. Receiving
13. The Outside Consultant & of course
14. Carl the Pretzel Man

Right now we are witnessing the EuroCrats embracing this process.

Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Einstein, a scientist, understood the empirical method of analysis.

You do something (the experiment) and document the results.
You repeat the experiment. If you duplicate the results, you form the conclusion.

To create change, you either change the variable (V) or you change the constant (K).

Let's use the metaphor of baking a cake.

If you have only medium eggs, you can change the amount of flour using one egg to make the batter work.

If you need a bigger cake and you can't change the size of the eggs, you increase the number of eggs from one to two.  If you fail to create a cake, you keep the number of eggs (2) constant (K) and adjust the amount of flour.

Why use this metaphor?

When I was a youngster, I was at my girlfriend's house. Her sister was trying to bake a cake. She failed.  Her Mom encouraged her not to give up. To keep trying.  She tried again.  She failed.  Her Mom encouraged her not to give up. To keep trying.

I went over to help.  I read the recipe.

A recipe has three parts:

Ingredients
Quantities
Process

"Did you separate the eggs?"
"What's that?"

I showed her how to separate the eggs, beat the yolks, beat the whites, add the yolks, fold in the whites.

She baked the cake.  Success!

Ingredients?  Yes!
Quantity?  Yes!
Encouragement? Yes!

The missing element?  The Process!

All our failures: Personal, Institutional, Governmental do not routinely, but ultimately, arise from a failure in the process.

When Congress, European Leaders, and Business Leaders--the leaders who fail, not the leaders who succeed--recognise that there must be a change in the process, they will begin to succeed.

Warmest regards,

Slim

slimfairview@yahoo.com

Copyright (c) 2013  Slim Fairview
All Rights Reserved.

If anything herein is helpful, please do not hesitate to send me a really tricked out MacPro and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note.  Thank you. Slim

Consultants: Credentials or Qualifications?

Consultants: Credentials or Qualifications?


Recently, what caught my attention was a discussion about people graduating with MBAs who want to go into consulting. Isn’t consulting a later-in-your-career choice?  Something you do after a few decades of experience?  The way a retired General working for defence contractors after decades of military experience as opposed to a 2^nd Lieutenant graduating from West Point choosing to go into consulting as an alternative to going into the Army?

Case in point:  The GSA did not waste money hiring jugglers and clowns.  The GSA wasted money hiring consultants to teach teamwork and leadership skills by having employees build bicycles.

Why?

Well, what are the deliverables?  The target dates?  The measure of value added?  The argument could be made that we are dealing with intangibles. I will refute that later.


The Back Story:

A few decades ago, I participated in an exercise for a class on teamwork.  The class was broken up into groups of four or five.

The exercise?  You are stranded on an islands with a list of provisions that you are to rank in order of importance.  Then to explain your decisions.  Then to discuss all the decisions to come up with a list.  In addition:  The weather is damp. It will get colder in the night. And we are told that there are no right or wrong answers.  The purpose is to learn to work as a team.

Briefly: a knife, a rope, a gun, a cigarette lighter with no fluid, a bottle of whisky.

I listened. I waited.  I began my list”

1. Cigarette lighter with no fluid.

2. Bottle of whisky—

AHA!!!!!  Whisky does not make you warmer. It only makes you feel warmer because you are losing body heat because alcohol dilates the blood vessels….!

True. But…

1.  That was not my point.

2.  The interrupter did not wait for me to finish speaking

3. The interrupter interrupted to repudiate my point based on an assumption

4.  The interrupter did not ask me why I made the rankings.

 
My Choices:

I was a Boy Scout. It is difficult enough to make a fire by rubbing two sticks together or by using flint and steel with tinder under the best of conditions.  It is damp. It will get cold.  The Whisky burns.  No claim of right or wrong.  Only the failed procedure.  Or is it?

You can figure out most of the above yourself.  The “aha” moment for me was when I realised that the instructions said, “There are no right or wrong answers.”  Yes there are.

Remember, “Who’s to say what’s right or wrong?”  I won’t go there. Why not? Simple.

You make the right choices, you live.

You make the wrong choices, you die!

Simple? 

No.

Simple!


In Business It Is The Same.

Remember Ron Johnson?  CEO at JCP?

Johnson tried to sell, “Everyday Low Pricing.”

Consumers want to buy, “Coupons and Discounts.”

Johnson tried to convince the customers to buy what he wanted to sell instead of selling what the customers wanted to buy.

Now, Bill Ackman, successful investor, has many credentials.  In fact, he has about a billion credentials.  Still, he appears on Mad Money, with Jim Cramer, in an effort to sell Penney-Stocks. I will not belabour the point.

Credentials.

Diet books, get rich quick books, and self help books, do not work.  If they did, then, as a nation, we would all be skinny, rich, and happy.  Instead, as a nation, we are fat, poor, and polarised.

The authors all have credentials.  They all sell books. They are all successful.  Like Bill Ackma, they are successful at being successful.

How many millionaires and billionaires do you know, who became millionaires and billionaires, by reading books written by millionaires and billionaires?  Get the point?


Deliverables:

 
Case 1

“Hello, Bigelow?  Highpower here. Standwell Industries.  The reason why I am calling is because the consulting firm of Seniors and Elder LLC put you down as a reference….”

“Great Job, Highpower.  In 2011, we had 41 incidents.  In 2012, that dropped to 27. And in the first half of this year, only 8.   And production went up 10% in 2012 and 10% in the first half of 2013.”

 
Case 2

“Hello, Downhill?  Highpower here. Standwell Industries. The reason I’m calling is  because the consulting firm of Young, Turk, and Wiseacre put you down as a reference….”

Enough said? 

No.

Enough Said!


If you find anything here to be helpful in terms of marketing your consulting firm, or saving money by rethinking your choices….

Please do not hesitate to send me a really tricked out MacPro and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note.

 
Warmest regards,

Slim

slimfairview@yahoo.com

LinkedIn Profile:   http://www.linkedin.com/in/slimfairview


Copyright © 2013. Slim Fairview

All rights reserved.

 

Russia's Syrian Strategy

Lest we forget. 

Try This Theory

Russia sends ships to Syria. Not to repulse the United States, but rather as a signal to Syria. President Assad gets the message and invites Russia to send peace keeping troops to Syria. 

Sound familiar?  It should to anyone 75 years old. 

President Assad relinquishes control of chemical weapons that he does not need, repulses the United States picking up credibility in the Middle East, cements ties with his allies in the Middle East and with Russia--as does Russia--and forestalls US Military action. 

Speak softly and carry a big stick is fine when you are the only one with a big stick; or the only one with any stick.  However, when someone else also carries a big stick, you need an alternative foreign policy.  Then, too, if many people have small sticks, you must work harder at diplomacy.  Still, even if you are the only one with a big stick, someone with a book of matches will reduce the potency of your big stick.

Let's compliment President Putin on his diplomatic finesse: 

He comes up with a way of letting Assad save face....as my Mom taught me 52 years ago, "Always give someone an out." Something we've never learned. 

Meanwhile, we watch Russia prove that they are as good at "diplomacy" as ever. 

Warmest regards, 

Slim. 

slimfairview@yahoo.com 

The companion pieces: 

The Business of Wisdom in Global Affairs 

The Future of the G 20 in Good Times and Bad


Copyright 2013 Slim Fairview 

All Rights Reserved

CNBC Circa 1862

For Those Who Understand Metaphors:

What if the 24 hour news cycle existed in 1864 and Europe watched the American Civil War unfolding before them?

Middle East RSVP

O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us

To see oursels as ithers see us!

It wad frae mony a blunder free us,

An' foolish notion:

As I was gazing into my Liquid Crystal Ball, I had the opportunity to see myself in a previous life.  I am watching television when my programme is interrupted by a special report from Brussels.

The UN Security Council is holding an emergency meeting over the conditions in America.  World Leaders are condemning the atrocities of the Civil War citing over 50,000 dead at Gettysburg and now, after the burning of Atlanta, Sherman’s March to the Sea.

On official said, in exchange for remaining anonymous, “Will we wait until every American has been Shermanised before we take action?”

Recent reports have confirmed that 50,000 American’s died in the three day battle at Gettysburg and almost 9,000 Americans were killed in the burning of Atlanta.

Leaders in England and France have reported that they are already sending warships to the Gulf of Mexico and the Potomac Basin, but claimed this was only to prevent a blockade to prevent the shipment of tobacco and cotton to Europe.  They did, however, admit that they were discussing putting boots on the ground to intervene.

The Russian Ambassador to the UN has stated that he will veto any resolution that involves military intervention.  He went on to issue this statement:  “It took the Americans from 1776 to 1789—thirteen years—to create a constitution.  This is a Civil War, and Europe has no business interfering with American domestic problems.”

The Greek Ambassador to the UN said, “We had a democracy 3,000 years ago.  We may have made some mistakes, but we learned from them.  We will be only too happy to send a delegation to Washington to help the Americans set up a stable democracy.”

The Italian Ambassador to the UN issued a statement saying, “Our government supports the initiative proposed by the Greek government and will be happy to participate.  After all, we had a democracy 2,000 years ago. We too, made a few mistakes, but we also learned from them and want to help protect the American people from this carnage.”

England’s Foreign Minister denied reports that the warships en route to America are carrying cannons to bombard Washington, saying “We are not taking the cannon-fire option off the table.  We are only saying that it is an option that we are prepared to exercise if the carnage in America does not stop.”

The Ambassadors from Spain and Portugal will be arriving in Brussels soon, carrying a joint proposal for a cease-fire but conceded, “There is little hope.”

On a related note,  A statement from Sandringham House:

The King, The Emperor, and The Czar issued the following joint statement.

In fewer than 100 years, Democracy in America has led to this Civil War of horrific proportions. 
An Annus horribilis.  Therefore we are planning to send a delegation to meet with Presidents Lincoln and Davis and with Generals Grant and Lee to discuss the establishment of Monarchy in America.

The nice thing about the Liquid Crystal Ball is that is reveals history as it might have been.  It does not, however, reveal history as it will be.

SANTAYAN “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”

SLIM FAIRVIEW “Those who never learned history are doomed—Period!” 

Fin

Warmest regards,

Slim

LinkedIn Profile

slimfairview@yahoo.com

If you find anything here to be helpful, please don't hesitate to send me a really tricked out Mac Book and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note.  Slim.

Copyright (c) 2013  Bob Asken:
All Rights Reserved