{"id":138,"date":"2009-03-25T17:43:17","date_gmt":"2009-03-26T00:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=138"},"modified":"2009-03-25T22:07:14","modified_gmt":"2009-03-26T05:07:14","slug":"the-problem-with-parties-the-scrubbing-the-toilet-strategy-and-the-watching-the-watchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=138","title":{"rendered":"the Problem with Parties, the “Scrubbing the Toilet” Strategy, and the Watching the Watchers…"},"content":{"rendered":"\t

The Problem with Parties:<\/strong><\/p>\n\t

I had some people over to the house to watch basketball on Saturday.\u00a0 I invited people over because I didn’t want to watch the NCAA tourney at a bar and have to pay 4 bucks a pint and have to drive after drinking.\u00a0 So I said come over and I’ll grill out.\u00a0 So I did.<\/p>\n\t

That works out great for the most part, except I didn’t watch that much basketball.\u00a0 I spent a lot of time outside cooking and not watching basketball.\u00a0 Then I tended some to the guests…made sure everyone had what they needed.<\/p>\n\t

Then if you invite people over, there are people you didn’t<\/em> invite over.\u00a0 They find out and wonder why.\u00a0 I don’t mind that much; I keep about my things the same, and if they don’t invite me next time, I live on….but the point is:<\/p>\n\t

I just wanted to watch the game and have a drink; I didn’t really succeed.\u00a0 I think the best bet would be to watch it at home by myself…that sounds a little depressing, but yet liberating at the same time.<\/p>\n\t

The “Scrubbing the Toilet Strategy”<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\t

Otherwise I had a trip to Cuba coming up for vacation….3 weeks.\u00a0 Sounds great.\u00a0 I was getting excited.<\/p>\n\t

Then work asked me if I was interested in going to S. Arabia for a on-site consultancy.\u00a0 I don’t actually have to say yes.<\/p>\n\t

But I think back to when I went to India with work a few years ago:\u00a0 I was just a little over a year into my job (same place I’m at now), and was not chosen to go to India because other people had more experience.\u00a0 But then one of those people backed out at the last second and I agreed to go.\u00a0 So I got my opportunity basically because I agreed to do it when no one else would…its the scrubbing the toilet strategy.<\/p>\n\t

Now is the same concept.\u00a0 If the project was staffed in the US they’d never pick me.\u00a0 There are lots of other more experienced consultants available, but most of those won’t agree to go to S. Arabia, so the pool dwindles.\u00a0 I get my opportunity when the someone backs out at the last second and the pool dwindles to one…me.\u00a0 So off I go to S. Arabia.\u00a0 I better dust off my djellaba<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t

Who Watches the Watchers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\t

Everyone knows I’m apolitical…mainly because there is little difference between the Republicans and Democrats.\u00a0 I believe that power corrupts…even the most well meaning people succumb.\u00a0 I believe the best government\/system is one that does not let too much power into any one set of hands.<\/p>\n\t

I watched President W. Bush grab power like a king and ignore the Constitution.\u00a0 Bush stripped civil liberties, ignored Congress, and basically ran the country like it was under martial law all in the name of the War on Terror (ever read 1984 by Orwell?).\u00a0 He used a crisis to extend his power while claiming (and likely really believing) it was for our own good.<\/p>\n\t

Now Obama takes office on a platform of change….and he grabs power too.\u00a0 He uses the crisis of the economy to do things the Fed and the Dept of Treasury were never meant to do. (The Fed nor the Treasury Dept are meant to bail out the economy. By law they cannot invest in companies.\u00a0 The proposal to tax the AIG bonuses 90% is likely unconstitutional.)<\/p>\n\t

Ever heard of the 10th amendment<\/a>?\u00a0 “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”\u00a0 To sum up:\u00a0 All powers not explicitly granted to the Federal government in the Constitution are prohibited.\u00a0 It is meant to limit power….crisis by damned.<\/p>\n\t

In the end the issue is that the power is never returned<\/strong>.\u00a0 Eventually it all sits with the overseers (the government)……but who watches the watchers<\/strong>?\u00a0 That’s the question.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Problem with Parties: I had some people over to the house to watch basketball on Saturday.\u00a0 I invited people over because I didn’t want to watch the NCAA tourney at a bar and have to pay 4 bucks a pint and have to drive after drinking.\u00a0 So I said come over and I’ll grill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3IMYj-2e","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":76,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=76","url_meta":{"origin":138,"position":0},"title":"You’re only as old as you feel","author":"kellio","date":"May 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Isn't that what they say? As if thinking you're younger can actually make it so? My wrist injury has made me face aging for the first time in my life. I remember years ago I said \"Youth will not rust in my possession.\" I was like 15 or so. As\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=76#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":107,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=107","url_meta":{"origin":138,"position":1},"title":"My weekend","author":"kellio","date":"November 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I went home for the weekend and saw some old friends.\u00a0 Jason had a party at his new house.\u00a0 I hadn't seen most of those people since college or a little after.\u00a0 Everyone is always the same mostly, except a little heavier, a little more wrinkled, a little less willing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I'm doing"","block_context":{"text":"What I'm doing","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/img_0247.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/img_0247.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/img_0247.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/img_0247.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/img_0247.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/img_0247.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=101","url_meta":{"origin":138,"position":2},"title":"Greatness…","author":"kellio","date":"October 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a consulting gig for work recently and got to see some pretty amazing sports memorabilia at a certain large sports apparel company's headquarters.\u00a0 This covered the entire wall. Bottom line:\u00a0 I loved Jordan.\u00a0 He made basketball look good.\u00a0 He achieved a greatness we all aspire to yet never\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=101#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/img_0202.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/img_0202.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/img_0202.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/img_0202.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/img_0202.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/img_0202.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":135,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=135","url_meta":{"origin":138,"position":3},"title":"In a World…","author":"kellio","date":"March 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"So I was talking to Brian Allex at dinner the other night and he told me he almost got into a McDonalds commercial.\u00a0 I mentioned (as I always do) that I wanted to be in a commercial too...as a voice talent.\u00a0 He said he gets demos all the time from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Favorite Entries"","block_context":{"text":"Favorite Entries","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/inaworldrecording.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/inaworldrecording.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasingeden.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/inaworldrecording.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":363,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=363","url_meta":{"origin":138,"position":4},"title":"Wikileaks: Are they doing anything wrong?","author":"kellio","date":"December 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I will keep Wikileaks separate from Julian Assange, since I'm more \u00a0interested in the concept of Wikileaks than the person representing it. \u00a0I will also keep the specific content of the cables largely out of the discussion, since that is not central to my question either (btw, I didn't find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Inside My Head"","block_context":{"text":"Inside My Head","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":302,"url":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?p=302","url_meta":{"origin":138,"position":5},"title":"How do you win a game?","author":"kellio","date":"May 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I wrote last time about the concept that Goldman is employing:\u00a0 \"all that is not illegal is permissible\". When they say they did nothing wrong, they mean they did nothing illegal. If some judge finds that what they did IS illegal, they will find another judge.\u00a0 If all judges find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Inside My Head"","block_context":{"text":"Inside My Head","link":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140,"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions\/140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chasingeden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}