David Politis

I have purposefully delayed making any public statements about the effort of legal authorities in Texas to protect the rights of children and women living in the compound of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Eldorado, Texas by raiding said compound and removing the children from the premises.

The sworn statements of the 911-operators were quite convincing and the ongoing public relations blitz from the Texas authorities has been quite convincing that illegal and nefarious activities had occurred inside the FLDS compound and temple.

Nevertheless, there has also been a small but growing chorus of individuals and organizations that have begun to speak out against the actions of the Texas legal system and in behalf of the rights of the disenfranchised FLDS children, women and men.

Into the exploding legal discussion about the entire Texas v. FLDS matter comes a very poignant blog essay from Utah’s own Rand Bateman in his post “Why You Should Be Concerned About The Events In Texas.” I encourage you to read it.

To Rand’s commentary, I add my own thoughts below.

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I’m not a lawyer, but it would seem to me that a reasonable court (judge and/or jury) would examine the matters of fact in this pending case and throw the whole dang thing out due to a pesky little known/used legal concept called “illegal search and seizure.”

I suspect that once such evidence was deemed inadmissible, then the entire raid on the FLDS compound in Eldorado, Texas would be suspect (it would also seem to this layperson), and that each of the governmental entities in Texas tied to this fundamentally flawed legal exercise would be likely subjects to what is sure to become in combination multi-billion-dollar civil lawsuits because the FLDS church and its individual members saw many of their civil liberties and rights trampled under the storm trooper boots of Texas justice.

For the record, as the father of five children and uncle to dozens of nieces & nephews and cousin to dozens of second young cousins and the like, I do NOT condone in any way, shape or form abuse in any manner, particularly child abuse. In fact, I’m quite convinced that Jesus Christ got it right when He said (paraphrasing) “It would be better for them (any who harm little children) if a millstone were hung around their neck and they were drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Personal religious differences aside between my own beliefs and those of any other faith, FLDS included, this country was STILL established (in part) upon the fundamental (no pun intended) right of religious freedom.

Clearly the Texas prosecutors and law enforcement officials understood that they could not pursue legal action against the practicing polygamous members of the FLDS religion without risking losing in trial the argument that the current prohibition against polygamy is actually legal.

For the record, I understand there is a fair amount of debate on this subject, but I suspect that the growing rights of and protection afforded common law and homosexual couples would eventually create an insurmountable wall affording similar rights and protections to practicing polygamists. In this regard, I’m further convinced that Utah’s Attorney General Mark Shurtleff was correct in not pursuing legal charges against practicing polygamists as I’m convinced the State of Utah would eventually lose such a case.

Unfortunately, it appears to this writer that the Texas authorities glommed upon the unverified and apparently false claims made by the non-existent and supposedly sexually abused “Sarah” as a pretense to swoop in like avenging angels to protect the rights of the children and women in the FLDS compound.

If true, I fear that in so doing they have trampled under feet the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, no matter how different or repugnant the Texas authorities may have found the FLDS practices.

God bless and protect the FLDS children, youth, women, men, mothers and fathers of Eldorado. And God bless us all.

Today (Thursday, 3-6-08), finds me and two of my Politis Communications colleagues (Bacon & Lindsay) in Nashville, Tennessee.

We’re here for a series of meetings with new client Debut Broadcasting (OTC BB: DBTB), as well as to attend parts of the 39th Annual Country Radio Seminar.

It’s my first trip to Nashville, and I must say, my eyes have sure been opened; what a beautiful city Nashville is.

In many ways Nashville and the surrounding area reminds me of the hill country in and around Austin, Texas. On top of that, it’s clear that Southern hospitality is certainly alive and well here in the capital city of Tennessee.

And I’m looking forward to our visit tonight to the Wildhorse Saloon.

What does it mean to be a CEO? The Chief Executive Officer of a company or an organization?

This is not a rhetorical question, as I was asked this very real question the other day by a client who has been asked to step into this role by a company’s board of directors following the death of the firm’s CEO. Not an easy task, mind you.

That said, I’ve given the question some serious thought. Here’s what I’ve come up with.

What it means to be a CEO — by David Politis

By the very words that make up the title — Chief Executive Officer – I believe that a CEO is the ultimate executive officer within an organization and the executive to whom all other executives, officers and employees ultimately report to.

Under the guidance and direction of the board of directors, the CEO is the person who sets the overall goals and objectives for the company, as well as the strategies necessary to accomplish such goals and objectives.

In my opinion, the CEO is the person ultimately responsible for coalescing each of the disparate programs, ideas, campaigns and opportunities within an organization into a cohesive plan of attack, as well as the person responsible for marshaling the personnel and resources necessary to successfully win the company’s battles and wars.

Read the rest of this entry »

No, “Back on the Ladder Again” isn’t meant as some metaphorical mumbo-jumbo.

I actually did get back up on a ladder for the first time in more than two months yesterday to take down the Christmas lights on the outside of our home. So what’s the big deal?

Well . . . while putting up those same Christmas lights the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day, I fell while stepping off a ladder, jamming my extended right arm in the process and fractured a bone in my elbow and tore some ligaments near my wrist. No, not fun.

After about six weeks of healing (no cast, mind you), my arm and wrist got back to mostly normal. (I can straighten my arm to about 175 degrees or so, but that’s okay. The fracture happened on my jacked up right arm anyway, the one I got the shoulder surgery on a couple of years back, so what the heck?)

So . . . yesterday was my first fateful day back up on the ladder (and on the roof too). And yes, I was a bit tentative, particularly since there’s a fair amount of snow on the ground still. (Thankfully none on the roof.)

The good news, is that there is no news. The lights are all down and packed away, and I’m no worse for the journey.

Re.:  If you want my continued business, please fix your Website.

Ronald L. Nelson

Chairman & CEO

Avis Budget Group, Inc.

Dear Mr. Nelson:

I choose to use a debit card for most of my electronic payment transactions. Apparently, certain Budget Rent A Car locations do not accept debit cards for payments, which is fine. At the same time, however, many Budget Rent A Car locations do accept debit card payments.

As a result, such a nonsensical, on-again, off-again policy where the traveler is left to decipher if/when a debit card is an acceptable form of payment is crazy — and very unfriendly to the customer.

When I arrived this past Friday at the Budget Rent A Car location for the San Diego Airport, I was told in a surly manner that “We don’t accept debit cards.”

When I asked, “Since when?” (as I have used debit cards many times at other Budget rental locations), I was simply told that this was the policy and that the only way I could use my debit card was to

• Provide a current utility bill (less than 60 days old) addressed to the same address as my debit card billing address;

• Present a current passport or military identification;

• Produce a current vehicle insurance card; or

• Present a round-trip airline ticket, e-ticket or travel itinerary for your current travel disclosing a return date and the renter’s name.

Unfortunately, I do not carry any of the above-listed items with me when I travel domestically, and I now use my BlackBerry for keeping track of my travel itinerary. Unfortunately, this was not sufficient, and the only way I could rent a car from Budget in San Diego was to provide my confirmation number to the counter clerk and have her look it up in the backroom.

All told, instead of taking my average of three-to-five minutes at a rental car counter, I ended up wasting 20 minutes. No, I was NOT HAPPY! 

As crazy as it seems to me to sometimes accept a debit card with no hassles and then at other times require a traveler to jump through all sorts of hoops to be able to use a debit card, it’s a company’s prerogative to do so, whether I think it’s whack or not.

However, these policies are not easily found on the Budget Website; in fact, you have to go looking for them to even find out that they exist, and even then it’s not perfectly clear whether some locations accept debit cards or not.

I finally found the policies under the Debit Card User Instructions section.

Here is my suggestion, Mr. Nelson.

Unless you have Neanderthals supporting Budget’s Websites, it should be quite easy to create a simple Web-based, pop-up window that would appear anytime a prospective customer was about to complete a rental reservation at the San Diego airport. The language in this pop-up window could simply read as follows:

Please be advised that we do NOT accept debit cards as payment at this location without additional identification or information. Please click here for a list of such required information/identification. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause you and thank you for your continued patronage.

This way, any time a traveler made a reservation at a Budget reservation that does not EASILY accept debit card payments, he/she would know in advance of the policy and could make arrangements in advance to prepare for such additional requirements.

If, for some reason, your personnel or external partners/agencies are unable to write the software code necessary to complete this simple task, please let me know and I’ll be happy to refer you or your colleagues to some programmers who can do so.

For the record, I have been a long-time Budget renter, and I hope to continue to be a Budget customer in the future. (My RapidRez number is GE352C.)

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to avoiding such auto rental hassles in the future with Budget Rent A Car.

Sincerely,

David Politis

c/o Politis Communications

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SOAR Communications

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