Free Republic

The core issue is that changing political mores have established the systematic promotion of the unqualified and sidelining of the competent. This has continually weakened our society’s ability to manage modern systems. At its inception, it represented a break from the trend of the 1920s to the 1960s, when the direct meritocratic evaluation of competence became the norm across vast swaths of American society.

(Note: This was republished by Zero Hedge and it is not your average blog post) What Happens When the Competent Opt Out? By this terminal stage, the competent have been driven out, quit or burned out. What happens with the competent retire, burn out or opt out? It's a question few bother to ask because the base assumption is that there is an essentially limitless pool of competent people who can be tapped or trained to replace those who retire, burn out or opt out, i.e. quit in favor of a lifestyle that doesn't require much in the way of...

I don't see how the president's position and popularity can survive the oil spill. This is his third political disaster in his first 18 months in office. And they were all, as they say, unforced errors, meaning they were shaped by the president's political judgment and instincts. There was the tearing and unnecessary war over his health-care proposal and its cost. There was his day-to-day indifference to the views and hopes of the majority of voters regarding illegal immigration. And now the past almost 40 days of dodging and dithering in the face of an environmental calamity. I don't see...

Why is it that Americans are so hung up on rock stars, Hollywood celebrities, and anorexic models? Our culture is caught up (and brought up) in the influences of "America's Next Top Model" and "American Idol" hysteria. The obsession with these entertainment programs likely had some influence on the outcome in the 2008 presidential election, which resulted in the choice of a man who was not competent to serve in the government, let alone run the country. On the heels of the Obama phenomenon that swept the country, one would think that at least a majority of Americans have learned...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) will appear as the special guest at a fundraiser next week to benefit South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint's 2010 re-election, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by the Fix. The event, which will be held on Monday in Charleston at the home of Sheila and Bill Prezzano, features a number of power players in Palmetto State politics including money men Dick Coen, Bill Hewitt and O.L. Thompson as well as former Gov. Jim Edwards, former Rep. Tommy Hartnett and Republican National Committeewoman Cindy Costa. Hosts for the event are expected to donate...

At last week’s Summit of the Americas, President Obama acquiesced to a 50-minute attack on America as terroristic, expansionist, and interventionist from Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega. His response to Ortega’s denunciation of our effort to free Cuba from Castro’s dictatorship was that he shouldn’t be blamed “for things that happened when I was three months old.” Blamed? Hundreds of men, including Americans, bravely fought and died for Cuba’s freedom, heeding the call from newly elected president John F. Kennedy.....

People Accept Anger In Men, But Women Who Lose Their Temper Are Seen As Less Competent, Study Shows ScienceDaily (Apr. 4, 2008) — Whether you are running for president or looking for a clerical job, you cannot afford to get angry if you are a woman, Yale University psychologist Victoria Brescoll has found. Brescoll and Eric Uhlmann at Northwestern University recently completed three separate studies to explore a phenomenon that may be all-too-familiar to women like New York Senator Hillary Clinton: People accept and even reward men who get angry but view women who lose their temper as less competent....

You never know who you’ll wind up sitting by on a bus. So when I was lucky enough to slide in next to Meg Whitman, President and CEO of eBay, on a shuttle to Fenway Park on Day One of Mitt Romney’s Calling America fundraising event, I seized the moment to find out why such an accomplished person herself so eagerly sits on the front row of the Romney campaign … As one of the most successful executives in the world, Mrs.Whitman knows what it takes to run an organization. And this woman with an impressive resume of her own...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2007 – The continued support of the U.S. and international community to building a strong Afghan army and police force is essential as that country moves forward with social and economic progress, the U.S. general in charge of training Afghan forces said today. “Our ultimate goal here is to assist the nation by building Afghan capacity and capability to secure Afghanistan's territory and provide an Afghan shield for the nation's continued development,” said Army Maj. Gen. Robert Durbin, commander of Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan. Durban spoke in a news conference via satellite from Afghanistan. “This...

Monday, January 03, 2005 almost fUNnny . . . Day 9 of the tsunami crisis. I know I had promised to lay off the UN for a bit . . . but I can't. As one reader commented on a previous Diplomad posting on the UN, "it's like watching a train wreck" -- you know it's horrible, but you've just got to look at it. In this part of the tsunami-wrecked Far Abroad, the UN is still nowhere to be seen where it counts, i.e., feeding and helping victims. The relief effort continues to be a US-Australia effort, with Singapore...

<p>Editor's Note: This column is adapted from remarks Wilder made July 17 at the 2003 Virginia Governors' Project at UVa in Charlottesville.</p> <p>Each passing day fills me with a sense of deepening gratitude to the people of Virginia. They didn't listen to the touts of politics and the smart-money guys who said it couldn't and wouldn't be done, and never in Virginia. Virginia stood and stands alone in the distinction of electing an African-American Governor, and I continue to be proud to be a Virginian.</p>

<p>At a time when fighting the war on terrorism has become arguably the most important issue facing the USA, authorities are looking into an unlikely weapon to aid their fight: Six Sigma.</p> <p>Six Sigma is nothing like a laser-guided smart bomb but rather a statistics-heavy regimen of analyzing problems that has saved corporations billions.</p>

Judge says he is all there...