Bush and Cheney’s 2004 re-election campaign manager Ken Mehlman gave a View from the Top speech at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

In his address, he pointed out the business of politics and elaborated on how he maneuvered the tactics to get Bush and Cheney re-elected. While political campaign heads conventionally considered U.S. cities as a mainstay of liberals and the outer areas and countryside as a conservative region, he aimed to further analyze that data to a point where each voter was better targeted.

Technology, which is used to direct conservative voters who are living in blue state regions, according to Ken Mehlman, can empower individuals. Likewise, raw data can be a vital instrument if used properly.

Mehlman, also former president Bush’s chief policy consultant between 2001 and 2003, said this could not be delivered solely by metrics, but by what he believed as “transparent metrics.” He stated that he could not emphasize on it enough since businesses, which he deemed as similar to politicians, put too much stress on selective statistics. “You can feel great about the fact that you’ve registered two million new voters, but if the other party has registered three million, you’re still behind.”

Another helpful strategy he applied to politics is to manage down. When he first served under Bush as field director in 1999, Ken Mehlman ignored the advice to attach himself to Bush to help him in his personal career. He realized that he could become a more successful leader by functioning with people under his rank, focusing on the people he could manage on his own.

Source: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/headlines/vftt_mehlman.shtml

Sean King, Park Strategies vice president, came out with an article for the Seoul Times. The article entitled “One Country, Three Systems? Unlikely” expresses some of Sean King’s sentiments regarding several Asian countries.

In the article, Sean King reflects on Hong Kong’s return to China after a decade, the crucial legislative and presidential Taiwan elections, as well as for the impact of Hong Kong’s experience on Taiwan. He shared his views regarding the resilience of Hong Kong’s economy being due to the country’s capital market listings, mainland growth, and tourism. He regards that critics have been unnecessarily pessimistic to Hong Kong’s fate, after all its rule of law has remained intact. Although the outbreak of SARS was not a good thing, the Chinese Yuan’s hook to the US dollar shielded Hong Kong from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

Sean King adds his disapproval of Beijing’s interference with Hong Kong’s attempted efforts towards universal suffrage. He made mention of Britain’s implementation of democratic reforms in Hong Kong after its consent to return the free market Mecca to China. He had also said that any protests made against the Anti-Sedition Law does not imply Hong Kong’s shout for a representative government. In King’s viewpoint, most Hong Kong citizens were in it for the sake of making more money.

Malignant mesothelioma is a scarce cancer of the tissue that lines people’s inner organs. Almost 2,000 new occurrences are diagnosed every year in the whole US. Of this group, nearly three out of four of cases involve the sac that protects the lungs, referred to as the pleura. This is known as pleural mesothelioma. In around ten to twenty percent of occurrences, mesothelioma may affect the tissue that encompasses abdominal organs, referred to as the peritoneal membrane, resulting in what is then acknowledged as peritoneal mesothelioma.

Being introduced to asbestos is absolutely the primary risk factor for this uncommon disease. After exposure to asbestos, the time to development of the mesothelioma disease might be two to four decades. Due to work introduction, cancer of the mesothelium is about 3 times more routine in men, than in women. Because the mass of instances rises with your age, there are around 10 times more cases in the males over age 64 than in the men in their midlife.

Developing Cancer of the mesothelium is a grave sickness, which, at the current time, has a very bad percentage of long-term continuance. On the other hand, if it is spotted quickly, regimens are then obtainable that might considerably prolong the patient’s life. New approaches continue to be and are being promoted by the way of clinical trials.

Utah introduced a bill designed to limit the use of RFID by state and county government. It was voted down. Maryland introduced a similar bill. It, too, was voted down. This is California’s second RFID bill. The first was… voted down.

So, California’s Bill No. 682 may not be an original idea, but it is important and relevant. And the strong bipartisan vote in favor of the bill is also important and relevant.

California Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) introduced the bill in February 2005. Yesterday the California state senate approved the bill in a 29 to 7 vote (21 Democrats and eight Republicans). If passed into law, the California bill will be the first legislation to limit the use of RFID.

An excerpt from bill 682: “This act would prohibit identification documents created, mandated, purchased or issued by various public entities from containing a contactless integrated circuit or other device that can broadcast personal information or enable personal information to be scanned remotely, except as specified.”

Nothing wrong with that.

RFID is amazing technology that represents tremendous positive potential. RFID may be the best tool we have to keep our prescription drug pipeline safe, to alert us when an Alzheimer’s patient wanders, or to warn us when our car tire is getting low.

It is not the best tool we have for identification.

New technology requires new vigilance. New uses of old technology also requre new vigilance. If we don’t make deliberate decisions about the role of RFID in our lives, someone else will. It is that simple.

Sally Bacchetta – Freelance Writer/Sales Trainer

Sally Bacchetta is an award-winning freelance writer and sales trainer. She has published articles on a variety of topics, including RFID, selling skills, motivation, and pharmaceutical sales.

You can contact her at sb14580@yahoo.com and read her latest articles on her website.