Here’s my wish for the New Year: Let the AAPS Rule!
What are the AAPS?
Average Americans Protecting Society. Here’s what WE decree in 2010 and henceforth forevermore:
All companies supporting a lobbying effort in Washington have to apply the AAPS rule to their business decisions. For instance, should Merck develop a drug that may cure psoriasis but in the process causes liver damage, oily and gaseous emissions, suicidal thoughts, and the growth of a third eyebrow?
Yes, because it would reap windfall profits for the corporation! YEAH Money!!
OR–
No, it causes more harm to the body than good and causes more harm to the wallet than good. (Quite costly trying to cover up that third eyebrow.)
Consequently, the AAPS Rule favors the “NO” decision.
Should Wall Street Bankers get any kind of bonus? Should American companies outsource jobs overseas? Should OctoMom be allowed on television?
Application of the AAPS Rule would make these decisions a snap.
And America would be the better for it.
In 2010, lets the AAPS become a force to be reckoned with. All it takes are Average Americans letting their voices be heard loud and clear. Before the rage, before the revolution, apply the AAPS.
And have a happy, healthy, safe and sane, prosperous New Year.
I’m off to the Land of Bubbly Libations and to indulge a long-time goal of trying Veuve Clicquot Champagne. I promise to report back on the experience—unless I am so overcome by it that I hop on the next plane to Reims, France and beg the Clicquot folks to let me live in their vineyards.
In the meantime, here’s a bit of background on the French company that produces this well-known sparkling wine.
In 1798 when François Clicquot died, his wife, Nicole Barbe Ponsardin Clicquot was 27 years old. Against all odds and aghast Frenchmen, she decided to take over the operation of her husband’s small champagne company.
Long story short, Barbe Clicquot was a tremendous success. Not only did she grow the company into a worldwide presence by implementing mass production and mass distribution techniques, she also developed a process—called remuage—that vastly improved the quality of champagne—as it removed sludge, grit, and cloudiness.
Mme. Clicquot simply turned the bottles upside down and used “riddling”—a way to shake the bottles and make the offending aggregates assemble into the neck to the bottle where they could be removed. The result: clear, sparkling, superb wine that to this day, the Veuve Clicquot label is a symbol of excellence and la bonne vie.
Mme. Clicquot, noted for her audacious personality, was a FuchsiaWoman before her time. I will honor this “Grande Dame de la Champagne” tonight with a song on my clarinet: La Vie en Rose and a toast: “Honey, you done good!”
Here’s to AAPS, a fine champagne, and a great year ahead….
