For all of the wonderful things life in the Internet age provides us, there are some notable drawbacks. One of them is that email and popular social media tools like Twitter and Facebook provide powerful launching pads for unchecked rumors and popular myths. Often these rumors and myths are proven false by websites like Snopes.com and FactCheck.org, but not this time.
The Internet has been abuzz with rumors that if you drive down Interstate 35 near the town of Wyoming, Minnesota, you'll see a billboard bearing the image of a smiling George W. Bush accompanied by the question "Miss me yet?" The online rumors were confirmed by this image:
Many initially thought the picture was a hoax created through Photoshop. But now multiple people have confirmed its existence. The mystery surrounding the billboard quickly morphed from a "Fact or Fiction?" story into a genuine "Whodunit?" Who paid for the ad, and what was their motivation? Are they Obama supporters sarcastically hoping to remind disgruntled liberals about how things were under Bush, or are they Bush supporters sincerely hoping to remind voters of the past administration?
To get some answers, Yahoo! News tracked down Mary McNamara, the general manager at the Minneapolis office of Schubert & Hoey Outdoor Advertising, the company which owns and leases out the billboard space.
"The ad was purchased by a group of small business owners who wish to remain anonymous," McNamara said. However, McNamara did offer this political bombshell: "Some of the people in the group who paid for this were Obama supporters."
McNamara told us that the message the group hoped to convey was one of "Hope and change, where is it?" She went on to say that she has yet to receive any negative feedback about the ad, which has been up for about a month, and added that some have even contacted her office offering to donate money to keep it up.
However, not everyone is buying McNamara's portrayal of the group's ideological makeup. Cindy Erickson, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party in Chisago County, where the billboard is located, suspects the ad's funders are conservative activists posing as Obama supporters.
"I don't have any idea who did it, but my thought was that they're Tea Party people," she said. "Regardless, it's been the subject of many conversations around here."
via Mystery swirls around George W. Bush 'Miss me yet?' billboard - Yahoo! News.
Remembering Bush is gone is such a happy thought... But where, god, where is the satisfaction of ended wars, and the closed Gitmo, and the recovering economy that was supposed to replace him? We waited so patiently. We worked so hard in hope of peace and truth. Reward us.
5 comments:
Small businesses can survive in any economy if the business owners are willing to do what it takes to adapt to changes in the economy. It doesn't matter who is president, what matters is how we run our businesses.
Cindy Erickson knows full well what the billboard's purpose is....how is that hope and change working for you? People ought to anxious for November to come around!!
"Small businesses can survive in any economy if the business owners .... ."
Well try running a business next door to competing corporate monster that gets support from local, state and federal government. Ever compete with likes of Walmart?
The days of "small business" were long gone.
"Ever compete with likes of Walmart?"
Our small retail computer store is thriving in a shopping center that is anchored by a Walmart. We sell computers, monitors, keyboards and other things found in that Walmart. There are some keys to surviving in this environment though - in our book "19 Ways to Survive" we actually dedicated an entire chapter to it because it is so important to small businesses to learn to compete against the box stores. For instance, we don't recommend going head to head with Walmart on price - you won't win. For a business like ours this means offering computer repair services and custom computer builds. - this strategy works so well that Walmart employees actually SEND customers to our store! Granted this is just one way to compete but small businesses can survive and thrive next to box stores every day - they just have to learn how.
In my opinion the reason why small business owners fail is because there is plenty of advice out there about how to start a business, but no one talks much about making it survive. In 2007 when the recession started, we nearly closed, and we struggled to find books on small business survival. We were fortunate to have other business owners around who gave us advice and ideas that helped us rebuild - today we are growing and hired 3 new employees just this month. We want other small businesses to do the same. We wrote "19 Ways to Survive" and started our web site / blog to give other small business owners the ideas they need to keep their businesses open.
Lynn, tell your story to all those people who lost their businesses because, despite what they did, lost out to larger businesses.
At least you acknowledge that it was a "struggle" and found it difficult. At least you recognize there is a problem out there. In your struggle you took time and and energy away from making money to find a way to survive. Some small businesses just don't have the resources to do that.
Your “19 Ways to Survive” apparently did not reach enough people soon enough. Perhaps it can help others in their struggle with large competitors. But, would it not be nice if the large competitors didn't take advantage of their enormous economic and political clout to overtake their smaller competitors?
In the end, how much you want to bet, that some large business will buy you out in the future?
Thanks for the reply
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