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8B ♦ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2007 Businesses run for re-election every day It was not the way I wanted to end the year, but I have only myself to blame. One of my cardi nal rules is to exercise care when doing business with friends. That is how friends can become ex-friends. I have adhered to that rule with a few notable excep tions. My insurance agent, now retired, is a neighbor and friend. My attorney is a longtime friend. Besides, my wife loves him better than biscuits and would beat me severely about the head should I ever contemplate a change of attorneys. That is no small factor in his favor. But doing business with friends can lead to disap pointment, too. For a number of years, I have been dealing with one particular finan cial management firm. Not Top story of 2007: The surge, the military and the media There should be no question what the top story of the year was: America’s coun terinsurgency campaign in Iraq, the Democrats’ hapless efforts to sabotage it, and the Western mainstream media’s stubborn refusal to own up to militaiy progress. What happened in January defined the rest of the year. We rang in 2007 with vehe ment liberal opposition to the “surge” of 21,000 added U.S. troops and tactical changes to secure Baghdad. In the ensuing 12 months, Democrats tried and failed repeatedly to undermine this military strategy and starve the war of funding. Their poisonously partisan allies at MoveOn.org attempted to smear surge architect and patriot Gen. David Petraeus as a traitor. The New York Times and Associated Press fought tooth and nail to obscure the successes of the surge with their relentless “grim milestone” drumbeat. But by year’s end, with Shiites and Sunnis march ing and praying together for peace, even anti-war Democrats and adversarial media outlets alike were forced to acknowledge that undeniable military prog DONATE TO GOODWILL. ♦ 2209 Moody Road ♦ 115 Margie Drive i ♦ 1355 Sam Nunn Blvd I ♦ Galleria Mad - 2922 Watson Blvd m www.goodwillworks.org m Building fives, families, and communities THE SPORTS CENTER ANNUAL CUSTOMER APPRECIATION SALE EVERYTHING IN THE STORE WILL BE ON SALE WITH DISCOUNTS OF UP TO 50% larjuimum Remington ■ ArnnrctMHi l ‘ ,lll,ir " DECEMBER 29,2007 thru JANUARY 1,2008 START THE NEW YEAR RIGHT WITH A TRIP mmnmrm TO if LOWRANCE TrMtfjn THE SPORTS CENTER MUMtfl LOCATED AT 1444 SAM NUNN BLVD, PERRY GA EXIT 136 JUST OFF 1-75. HOURS 8:30-7:00 MONDAY-SATURDAY 1-5 SUNDAY SPORTING GOODS (478) 987-5727 SALE DOES NOT APPLY TO ANY WEBSITE ORDERS onl y did JSR- , they do a y \ the presi Dick Yarbrough dent to the columnist reception- yarb24oo@bellsouth.net ist were like family to my family. We celebrated when they birthed babies, and we grieved when they fought serious illness. They told us about their vacations, and we told, them about ours. We reminded them regularly how much we appreciated their man agement of our dollars, and they told us how much they appreciated our business. It was a great relationship. And it came crashing down. way to SO? Hell Michelle Malkin yes. Were malkin@comcast.net there other ancillary factors that contributed to the decrease in violence and the “awak enings” in Anbar province and Baghdad? Yes again. But go back to January. Refresh your memories of the anti surge rhetoric and the spec tacularly misguided conven tional wisdom. When the Senate Foreign Relation Committee’s reso lution opposing the surge passed 12-9 on Jan. 24, Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the panel’s chairman, disingen uously claimed it was “not an attempt to embarrass the president.” Bull. That’s what the Democrats have been trying to do all year. Biden argued: The mea sure “is designed to let the president know that there are many in both parties, Democrats and Republicans, that believe a change in our mission to go into Baghdad gssmaum ZanuHF U mmtut As inevitably happens, organizations change. New management appears. New people get invdlved. Old friends leave or are too busy doing new things (like asking me to help them develop new leads for the business). The culture of the organization also changes, and it is not the place you started out patron izing. Bigger is not always better. The wise Woman Who Shares My Name wouldn’t know a REIT from the Ritz- Carlton, but she sensed the cultural changes long before I did. Don’t tell her I said this, but I’m not as smart as I think I am. She is. I am not an easy person with whom to deal. My stan dards are high, and my toler ance for poor service is nil. Until the new crowd took over, that wasn’t a problem. - in the midst of a civil war - - as well as a surge in ground troops ... is the wrong way to go, and I believe it will have the opposite - I repeat -opposite effect the presi dent intends.” Seven months later, staunch anti-war Democrat Rep. Brian Baird of Washington returned from Baghdad and recognized reality: “As a Democrat who voted against the war from the outset and who has been frankly critical of the admin istration and the post-inva sion strategy, I am convinced by the evidence that the sit uation has at long last begun to change substantially for the better . . . the people, strategies and facts on the ground have changed for the better and those changes justify changing our position on what should be done.” Wrong-way Biden insisted the anti-surge resolution wasn’t meant to embarrass the president. Opponents of Char-Broiled Sizzling Steaks L7B Exit 19f » t®7*#B77 W unelobatatimeU BOAT & ATV SALES (478) 987-3580 OPINION Under the old regime, the customer was always right and was treated right, which meant this customer was rarely cranky. In a classic case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the new management team succeeded in turning one of its most loyal and satisfied clients into an ex-customer overnight, and it didn’t seem to matter a whole lot to them. They appear relieved to be shed of me and my small-potatoes account. Likewise, I am sure. Besides, they have lost what had attracted me to them in the first place superb service. I have now replaced the bad actors with a new com pany composed, ironically, of executives from the old organization who convinced me that they wanted my the Baghdad mission insist ed they didn’t want America to fail. But let’s not for get where the Democrats came from in January - and where the party leadership remains. A Fox News poll in mid-January revealed that a disturbing 49 per cent of Democrats either wanted us to lose in Iraq or “didn’t know” if they want ed us to succeed. All but two Democrats voted in the House to oppose the surge. As our troops succeeded, these surge critics went from arguing against the strategy to arguing whether violence dropped in Baghdad to arguing about why that decrease occurred. Through it all, Gen. Petraeus and the troops serving under him have remained stalwart, can did and courageous. He told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Jan. 23: “The way ahead will be neither quick nor easy.” That’s also what I heard Education for everyone. 158003 157822 business and promised that they would take of it. I sus pect their track record will be equally as good or, hope fully, better. I just pray they don’t get so successful that they choose to merge or get bought out or develop “new synergies” and leave me with a bunch of tone-deaf and bureaucratic managers. Once is enough. Life goes on, and so will the company I just left, but I am still trying to figure out how such an outstanding financial management firm got from where they used to be to where they are today. We didn’t change. They did. Why am I telling you all this? To remind you that if you own, manage or work in a business or service that deals with customers/clients, you run for re-election every repeatedly from officers I interviewed while embed ded in Baghdad in January - just as the first wave Evening classes for the real estate Salesperson Pre-Licensing Course start January 29. This is the first step in acquiring a real estate license. Call (478) 951-3733 or (478) 218-8052 for additional information or go to www. robbinsfree. com (DonaUf Tree ScfiooC of^aCTstate GMC Warner Robins Winter Quarter January 14—March 8,2008 Registration Starts January 7th • Tuition = 179 Credit Hour • Includes cost of textbooks • Day, Night & Weekend Schedules • GED & Vocational diplomas accepted • Small class sizes • Financial Aid available www.gmc.cc.ga.us/warner robins/ For information call: 478-329-4729 801 Duke Avenue, Warner Robins, GA 31093 GMC is accredited by SACS. HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL day. And you are only as good as the last experience your customers had with you. I cut my teeth in a demand ing business with demanding bosses and was taught that there were only two rules for dealing with customers. Rule One: The customer is always right. Rule Two: See Rule One. On the other hand, if you are a potential customer or client, I have some advice on doing business. Friends? You want to do business with them? Let me strongly sug gest you go find a bunch of Quakers. It will save thee a lot of heartburn. You can reach Dick Yarbrough at yarb24oo@bellsouth.net, P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139, or website: www.dick yarbrough.com. of surge forces was being mobilized. It’s a message the instant gratification See MALKIN, page Bij Junior College ******* * iii H- ipii|ii 7305