Oh Get a life!

UGH, sometimes the network news drives me out of my mind. They make stories where there are no stories! David Gregory of NBC News is such a moron. Tonight he's all indignant on Hardball that the Vice President's office waited a day to inform the press of the V.P.'s hunting accident.

David Gregory, it's not about you. "We have difficulty getting answers to these questions because of decisions the V.P. and his staff made."

It is a hunting accident. It is NOT politics. What does Dick Cheney's mis-handling of a shotgun have to do with ANYTHING relevant to anyone else in the country.

Chris Matthews, "Why was this handled so differently?" Chris, it's handled differently because it is the V.P. of the United States. For the love of God, get a clue. Stop acting so indignant. It's disingenuous of you. Phony.

State of the News...

It’s 9:17 p.m. EST. President Bush has been presenting his 2006 State of The Union speech for about 4-7 minutes or so. I’m watching the speech and surfing the web at the same time and can’t help but notices that both Boston.com and the WSJ already have published articles on the speech. Yes, they’re media outlets that get text of the speech ahead of time, but is it really journalism to have the headline “Bush to say ‘America is addicted to oil’ in Speech,” on Boston.com and “Bush made lessening reliance on Mideast oil….” As the top story on WSJ, even before he’s STARTED the speech – let alone finished.

It’s 9:21 now. CNN.com says, “Bush: We will Fight for Freedom,” and goes on to say “President Bush used his State of the Union speech to spread his vision of a world free of dictatorships and terrorists. Referring to terrorist attacks in London and Russia (something he HASN’T actually done yet- my Tivo has a delay for live TV, but it’s not THAT bad) he said: Terroirst hope these horrors will break our will, allowing the violent to inherit the Earth.”

9:23- Foxnews.com “We Seek the End of Tyranny,” and goes on to say “President says nation must not falter in War on Terror, should end dependence on Mideast oil through alternative energy.” Hasn’t said that yet.

9:26 – www.nytimes.com – “Bush Messages: Defeat Terror and ‘Keep America Competitive’” Well, the story has time stamped 9:17, but he hasn’t yet said what they say, that “President Bush _said_ tonight that Americans must break a national “addiction” to oil to preserve their country’s prosperity and security. Of course the caption under the what actually looks like real time photo does offer a future tense outlook: “The speech is _not expected_ to offer any bold initiatives for 2006 or present any significant news on Iraq.” Guess the caption writer isn’t “real time,” same liberal bias though!

9:29 – www.washtimes.com – Holy cow! The Washington Times – what a bunch of hacks! The lead story for this conservative paper is…”Coretta Scott King dies at 78.” That was SO this morning’s news, it’s like they stopped to think before they wrote something. Amateurs!

9:32 – www.drudgereport.com – “America is Addicted to oil” – well, we expect Drudge to have the scoop ;-)

9:34 – phew, we’ve gotten to the part where only half the crowd stands and claps for ideas. That would be the Democrats sitting down to the suggestion of re-upping on the Patriot Act. They wonder why they’re perceived as weak. Look at that, Hillary is smiling.

9:36 – news.bbc.co.uk – “Bush Warns US of ‘oil addiction.’” Not surprising, hasn’t said it here yet, but those Brits are five hours ahead, so the speech is over there, right? ;-)

9:38 – abcnews.go.com – wow, something he actually already has said, “President Bush asked Americans to reject the false comfort of isolationism.”

9:40 – www.cbsnews.com – “We Will Never Surrender” – nope, hasn’t said it yet.

9:40 – Bush asks to make his tax cuts permanent, camera quickly pans away from frozen-sitting Democrats.

9:42 – “Pass the line item veto,” Those pesky Supreme Court Judges won’t clap for ANYTHING!

9”42 – bets joke, “two of my dad’s favorite people – Me and President Clinton.” Hillary barely cracks a smile!

9:43 – “Congress did not act last year on my pleas to save social security” – the Democrats go wild, Hillary looks giddy – shameful.

9:46 – www.bloomberg.com – “Bush Seeks Support on Terrorism, Offers Modest Domestic Plans.” Google stamps it as 37 minutes ago, technically before he began speaking (wow, they’re good!)

9:48 EST – “America is Addicted to oil” PHEW! Big line FINALLY happens.

9:49 – Bush proposes all sorts of new spending on alternative energy. Hmmm…where are those nutty environmentalists on this one?

9:53 – Okay, yeah I admit it, this is kind of a boring State of the Union so far.

9:55 – Oops, I realized my time may be off – backed up with Tivo a while back to see Hillary get giddy about bankrupting Social Security.

9:56 – Weird. NBC will only show the left hand side of the gallery. (W’s left).

9:57 – Finally, those judges clap….for Sandra Day O’Connor.

10:02 – NBC pans the camera to John Kerry, millions of Americans heave a sigh of relief to see him…in the audience!

10:03 – It’s over. 51 minutes from start to finish they tell me. Wow, not an exciting speech. Oh well, time for the talking heads to take over the talking (ugh, bores).

Game, Set,....

Finally, the Senate confirmed Samuel Alito to the Supreme court. Look at this SHAMEFUL picture that CNN put on Cnn.com to accompany the announcement of a Justice of the Supreme court being sworn in. It looks like a picture of someone who has been arrested coming out of court. This is a man who has hit the pinnacle of his profession, one that should be revered in this country, and one of our main “journalistic” outlets takes a cheap shot at him with a “frog walk” picture? Unbelievable.

He wasn’t treated much better by the democratic portion of the United States Senate. In a shamefully partisan split vote, Judge Alito was confirmed with a vote of 58 to 42- only 4 democrats voting for confirmation (and one “Republican.”) To put this in context, Clarence Thomas, the man most railroaded and reviled by the left (unless you consider Judge Bork) got 11 democratic votes! Compare that with votes for far left Justices such as Justice Ginsberg, and consider which party is actually working under the auspices of the Untied States Constitution.

So long Maestro...

Fantastic tribute to Alan Greenspan by Milton Friedman in today's WSJ entitled, "He has Set a Standard." It's always so interesting to see 12-cylinder brains just go at it and see what scraps you can catch as they fall off the table. Messrs Friedman and Greenspan though friends have apparently long disagreed about strict rules versus administrator discretion in central banking policy. Mr. Friendman's tribute conceeds, halfway. He points out in full detail Greenspan's success versus the first 70 ineffectual years of the Federal Reserve. He conceeds that Greenspan did an excellent job keeping the money supply consistent and noninflationary while at the same time holding out that not every adminstrator will have Mr. Greenspan's talents. (Incidentally, he points out what many of us know --that it was Ronald Reagan who set the "hands off the Fed" example, first with Paul Volker and then with Alan Greenspan, that all Presidents (thankfully) now follow).

Incidentally, to my "Massachuestts" friends who haven't figured out that the economy is booming and has been for a long time -- Mr. Greenspan used his last day in office to raise the Fed Funds rate (a 1/4 point) for the FOURTEENTH time in a row. That's done because the head economist of the land is fearful of inflation, a sign that the economy is growing too fast (again, fourteen times in a row).

Also, for those who consider the Federal Reserve to be a "black box," two great reads are Bob Woodward's Maestro, as well as Secrets of the Temple.

Many Happy Returns...

I was traveling Friday and unfortunately missed the chance to note a happy anniversary. Friday was the twenty-fifth anniversary of Ronald Reagan as the fortieth President of the United States of America. You could easily make an argument that the most important President of the twentieth century was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and you’d probably be right. However, I don’t think there is any argument over who was second, and in the category of favorites (at least for me) first, and that is Ronald Reagan.

There was a great op-ed piece in Friday’s Wall Street Journal entitled “Still Morning in America.”:

“Perhaps the greatest tribute to the success of Reaganomics is that, over the course of the past 276 months, the U.S. economy has been in recession for only 15. That is to say, 94% of the time the U.S. economy has been creating jobs (43 million in all) and wealth ($30 trillion). More wealth has been created in the U.S. in the last quarter-century than in the previous 200 years. The policy lessons of this supply-side prosperity need to be constantly relearned, lest we return to the errors that produced the 1970s.”

I was in the Boston Museum of Science this weekend and happened past an exhibit on the ever changing population of the United States. The current population of the United States is estimated at just over 297 million people. People are being born at rate faster than they our dying in the country, but statistics that most interested me dealt with choice. Every 38 seconds someone in the world immigrates to the United States. The statistic for people emigrating, or moving away from the United States, was one every 137 seconds (it may have been 178 or 187 – should have written it down).

What the statistics above tell me is that when a decision is based on choice – where to live, the United States has a net gain of people voting “with their feet” to live here. It would be interesting to compare these numbers with those of other nations, especially those that are often held up as better at this or that than the United States.

Rightly or wrongly, in my heart of hearts I still believe in the United States as the land of opportunity. Not perfect in any way, but definitely the fairest, the most hopeful, and always representative of any honest, hard-working person’s best chance. I love Ronald Reagan not just for his numerous accomplishments (say…saving the entire world from Nuclear Holocaust- gotta love that one!), but because he never stopped believing in America. Ronald Reagan, more than any other President in the twentieth century, did the most to hold up the U.S. as the “shining city on a hill,” and to re-introduce Americans to the goodness that is the United States of America.

A great listen...

Years ago, if you volunteered that you liked “books on tape,” you were liable to provoke a few snickers (maybe that’s just because I hung out with English majors). To fit on the most common format, two cassettes (about three hours of listening) most books required drastic cutting to fit onto this new audio format. Listening to something on tape back then was equated with reading the “Cliff Notes,” instead of doing the work to read something.

However, in college in 1989 and finding myself driving my mother’s Ford Escort with an AM radio only (same Car/AM radio combination that introduced me to Rush by the way) I was lucky enough to stumble upon my first book on tape. I was even luckier when it turned out to be a great story by a great author, “Presumed Innocent” by Scott Turow.

To this day, Scott Turow is one of my “go to” authors for a good novel. His writing just totally sucks you in. Unfortunately, he seems to write way too slow. Don’t quote me, but I feel like he only puts out a book once every three or four years!

I am reminded of all this because I’ve just finished listening to the latest Turow work, Ordinary Heroes, in audio format. The book is a bit of a departure from Turow’s other fiction works in that the main story takes place during World War Two, following Captain David Dubin of the JAG core (Judge Advocate General). Of course, the book still touches on Turow’s ever present fictional Kindel county, by framing the Captain Dubin story with one of his son, a reporter in modern day Kindel.

So between that first book on tape 15-16 years ago and this latest one a lot has changed. Subject to a whole lot of “car time” over the years, I’ve only listened to probably around 200 more books in what would otherwise be “junk” time (okay, I don’t know exactly how many, but it must be in that range). Of course for the past several years it’s been much better. Instead of tapes, you load multiple audio format books onto your iPod. Instead of abridged version, you get the entire book. And thanks to companies like Audible.com, you have access to a much wider assortment of “reading” material.

Yes, I still “read” the real way, but the advantage of these books on tape is that you can absorb that much more. I tend to devote most of my “real” reading to things that I consider work or career related (okay, sometimes loosely). The books I take in on the iPod tend to be the “fun” stuff I might not normally make time to read. Or it may be all those books I wish I had time to read, but can’t seem to find the time.

American Capitalist

After a false start of just a few chapters last year, I’ve recently picked up and finished pouring through Roger Lowenstein’s biography of Warren Buffett, “Buffett – The Making of An American Capitalist.”

This book is a great read, especially for any like-minded business-book junkies like me. Having said that, I’m not sure there is a whole lot I can say about Warren Buffett that a thousand others haven’t beat me to many times over. However, what does occur to me is that I can further clarify a post to this blog I made back in December.

In a post prompted by the "news of the day," and entitled “Predators serve a purpose, (Dec. 11th)” I talked a little bit about my view of corporate raiders serve a purpose by keeping the management public corporations on their toes. Since Warren Buffett has often played the White Knight role, protecting the occasional good management team of a company put in play by raiders, it occurred to me that I should also highlight what I think is a much more important, perhaps even “noble,” component of the free market – the true long term investor.

From the book:

“One time, Buffett said an investor should approach the stock market as if he had a lifetime punch card. Every time he bought a stock he punched a hole. When the card had twenty holes he was done—no more investing for life. Obviously, the investor would filter out every idea but the best.”

Much more than corporate raiders, the long term investor holds up and supports our market system by financing industry. Warren Buffett actually stands out among the world’s super-rich because his fortune was not built solely one main business, but instead on his ability to evaluate many different businesses. The brilliance of Buffett is not just that he is able to assess intrinsic value of a business, but also in his ability to allocate capital by repurposing free cash flow from one business into another.

“ What counted was the profit as a percentage of the capital invested. That was the yardstick by which Buffett would grade Chance’s [the top manager at Berkshire Hathaway’s textile mills] performance.” A Buffett would say, “I’d rather have a $10 million business making 15 percent than a $100 million business making 5 percent,” Buffett said. “I have other places I can put the money.”

Incidentally, my favorite business book ever, that is, the one I think if studied enough could probably replace my entire MBA, was written by Warren Buffett himself! The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America,” is actually and edited compilation of Buffett’s writings, primarily from Berkshire Hathaway annual reports.

In combination, the two books are a great course on Warrant Buffett the man, and the philosophies that have made him the second richest man in the world.

Pictures...

I get no credit for this from my friends, but I'm actually a really nostalgic person. Very much from my own personal experience, but I also attach a lot of feeling to famous people I don't know. I came across this picture of Peter Jennings in a "famous people who passed away in 2005" article. It's great.

I'm a "big bad Republican" who loves to rail at media-bias I see on the TV (and it's there every day) and I actually think of Peter Jennings, as part of that media establishment. But, at the same time, I totally love Peter Jennings. Somewhere around the age of ten, I really got "into the news." I credit my father, who always wanted to watch the national news. Somewhere a year or two after that I became one of the one or two kids in class who knew the name of foreign leaders - who knew the location of countries around the world.

I forget exactly what year, but somewhere in my life, Peter Jennings and ABC News became my favorite Network news outlet. I know it was my favorite, because my dad would watch one national news show at 6:30, and then we'd switch channels and watch a second on a different network. Later on in life I became a Tom Brokaw fan, but for a good ten years, Peter was the man. I'm very sorry that he's gone....

"Don't mess with Texas!"

I _love_ this picture. All my "commie" friends...eat your heart out! (Totally cop-ed it from Time "pictures of the year," but no one reads my site anyway...

Real (good) Sports

I have just seen what I think might be the best hour of sports reporting I think I’ve ever seen. I’ve liked Real Sports, with Bryant Gumble in the past, but I’ve never made it a must see television show. Tonight I watched the 2005 “recap/best-of” show and each story was more interesting than the next. Four stories from 2005 that were heart- wrenching/inspiring, astounding (in a bad way), outlandishly funny (and again, astounding), and finally just plane happy.

The first story was from right here in Boston and profiled Rick and Dick Hoyt. I’m not a native New Englander, but I feel as though every year I have been here I’ve seen some mention of the guy who pushes his wheel-chair bound son through the Boston marathon. Rick Hoyt was choked by his own umbilical chord before birth and was born without the ability to move any part of his body save his head. He wasn’t able to communicate with his own mother and father until hooked to a computer when he was twelve, his first words being “Go Bruins.” In 1977 Rick inspired his father to push him through a five mile road race to inspire a man who had recently become a quadriplegic; this despite the fact that his father was no athlete. Now 65 years old, Dick Hoyt has pushed his son through endless marathons and triathlons—either pushing his son in a wheelchair, riding him on a specially handlebarred bike, or pulling him in a raft while swimming. Even so he beats out many athletes despite the added weight.

The second story was maddening, astounding even in 2005. The story profiles the constant presence of outright, unabashed racism of European soccer crowds. Any time a black athlete in one of these games is passed the ball they are berated with a “monkey chant” or bombarded with actual bananas. Not just a few, but ten or fifteen at a time. That’s a lot of people practicing pre-meditated hate. What’s more, this isn’t just one stadium or country practicing this, but multiple throughout the UEFA. Hundreds of fans at once giving a Nazi Seig Heil salute (Spain and Italy, as well as Eastern European states were singled out as the worst, though British white supremacists were also profiled). I’m reminded of the article I wrote about where France disallows Muslim head-dresses ("What did you expect France?"). I know the United States has a racism problem. I know it’s still there, but this…was…astounding. Horrifying even. No excuse really. I’m certainly going to pause the next time one of my liberal friends tells me that we need to worry because “W” has lowered the respect of Europeans around the world. (yes, I know it’s an unfair generalization- but they obviously have their own issues).

The third story was finally funny – in a “this is unbelievable?” kind of way. In Kentucky there is a horse by the name of Storm Cat. A grandson of the famous Secretariat, Storm Cat only made around $500,000 total in winnings as a racer. However, it turns out that the offspring of Storm Cat had a gift for running ($90 million total in winnings so far). As such, Storm Cat gets sold out for stud. Twice a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year Storm Cat…has sex with other mares (that’s 730 a year “for those of you in Rio Linda” minus a few repeats and rejects). The Stud fees for Storm Cat are…hold on to your hats here…$500,000 for each conceived horse. Given that the horses are timed to be in heat, that’s a lot of baby horses, $20 million per year at the current rate. Storm Cat is currently the father of at least 1,200 horses! Probably the funniest, and at the same time unbelievable thing I’ve seen on TV in a long time.

Lastly is the story of Ryan Belflower, a special education student who beat the odds by making the varsity basketball team at his High School. The story is heart-warming, and good, and reminds me of the movie Rudy. In the end Ryan gets to play in “junk time” during games where the team is either winning real well or losing real bad. The story ends happily when Ryan finally makes a shot in his 26th game, and last chance in regular season as a senior. He goes on in a playoff to make two straight three pointers. The best part is the overwhelming support of his community and school, proving that sometimes, people…are just…good.

Great show. (HBO is _SO_ much better than normal TV).

Rich is right

Rich Karlgarrd's latest column is must read. It's entitled "The World's Worst Disease," and unforuntately too man people have it....

“It won’t fail because of me.”

I just finished reading Andrew Chaikin’s book about the Apollo program entitled “A Man on the Moon.” This is a fantastic read, especially for someone my age who “missed out” for the most part on the most exciting piece of America’s space program. Having been born in 1970, I of course missed the first landing on the moon in 1969, and was blissfully ignorant of the five other landings that finished up in 1972. At this age, men having walked on the moon –the moon – has always just been a fact of life. I feel cheated for not having been born at an age where such a fantastic voyage was still just a possibility.

This is a great book for reliving the excitement and wonder of what is surely the greatest exploration missions undertaken by man. The book is a fantastic narrative of who the Apollo astronauts were, how they made it to the moon, and what they did there. But putting the amazing adventure and science aside, what the Apollo program really is is an example of an enormous undertaking done right:

“It was being part of a team that was dedicated to something that transcended individual aspirations. That’s what Apollo was. It was thousands of people who were willing to work day and night…You can’t imagine what that’s like compared to an every day experience. “
- Ken Mattingly, Apollo 16

“The Lesson,” as Chaikin explains of Apollo, “is that we can do difficult things, when the objective is clearly defined, and when enough people and funds are dedicated to accomplishing it.” I am struck by what a huge, wonderful, and unquestionably good thing this was, accomplished on the backs of literally thousands and thousands of people who all said to themselves, “it won’t fail because of me.”

Of course, reading this book every page you’re continually struck with the thought, “why did we stop?” Men have not walked on the moon now for thirty-four years. As one of the astronauts points out in the book, the moon has a surface area one quarter that of the Earth’s. Why should we think we have it figured out because we visited it in six small places? If mankind is to explore space further, it inevitably will re-start with the moon. There is no Mars landing without first revisiting the moon and “setting up shop.”

The real tragedy of the Apollo program is how we just abandoned it and all the knowledge gained with it. You might think that since we did it once that we could, with a little elbow grease and a few greenbacks, accomplish it again. You’d be sadly mistaken. In truth, everyone who made Apollo is gone. The scientists, the engineers are all retired or dead or both. You may think there’s massive blueprints that NASA can just pull out of a drawer and rekindle moon missions when it pleases, but unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. As Ken Mattingly warns, “If you don’t build things, you don’t know how to build things. We can’t handle a ten-year hiatus. There won’t be anybody left.”

It’s both incredibly exciting and at the same time sad that the real action in space at the beginning of 2006 is in private space flight. Burt Rutan and SpaceshipOne have jump-started a private space industry that will eventually be mammoth. Unfortunately the achievement has nothing to do with exploration, but more of applied engineering. Just like any “cheap revolution,” as Rich Karlgarrd calls it, the reduction in price of anything really good will foster it’s increase use. Space tourism will come to the masses eventually because so many “rich” people are willing to finance an as yet un-built private space ship fleet by committing $200,000 of their own money today.

While any space enthusiast has to be excited by the coming onset of a private space industry and its associated price deterioration, there still remains a role for a publicly financed space program. In a word, “exploration.” Thomas Jefferson opened up a whole new world for the United States when he financed Lewis and Clarke’s expedition through the West. You could say that over time adventurers would have found the same routes, but exploration and scientific discovery is sometimes better when done in the name of a people. I think the world would be well served by another Jefferson or Kennedy pushing us to explore further.

What I really wish is that I’d been old enough during the Apollo program to have had that “holy-s***, they did it!” feeling. Now that it’s so far in the past I worry that not enough of us sit around thinking what it’s like on the moon, or even what's next.

“It’s the moon that people want to hear about, and like all his colleagues, when [Pete] Conrad is introduced as one of the twenty-four men who went there, the question he is almost always asked is, What was it like? And he gives the neat, two second answer he developed long ago: “Super! Really enjoyed it!”

Sobering

The Boston Globe today has published on their website pictures and brief bios of all of Boston's 2005 victims of homicide. Seventy-five people in all (so far - two days to go). It's a ten year high for murders in Boston. Looking at the pictures on this page you'll find that murder victims in Boston are mostly young black men. Just eye-balling it from the pictures I would say close to 90%. Reading through the page you'll find that the most prevalent way to be killed is to be shot, with stabbings a distant second.

I'm a conservative and put a great deal of faith in the U.S. Constitution. As such, I really do believe in the Second Amednment right of citizens to legally own and bear arms. At the same time, looking at a page full of people murdered with guns can't help but give any reasonable person serious cause. If we were a country with out prevalent, easy access to firearms would most of these people be alive? Logic tells me the answer is "absolutely!" Sure, some of those people may have been killed otherwise with a knife or other method, but more likely handguns are just far too easy a way to kill people.

Even still, I do not believe gun control laws will put this genie back in the bottle. It is an assumption on my part, but I don't think I'm that crazy to guess that most of the guns used in these crimes were handguns, and that most of them were illegally obtained. I do subscribe to the theory that if you make guns illegal (or just harder) to own, only the criminals will have the guns. Perhaps that's an oversimplification, but I do believe it's the case.

Looking at a map of where most of the killings took place, combined with the listed occupation for most of the murder victims, it's probably fair to state that most of these killings happened to lower income individuals. Given that the there is a clear dominant trend of a single demographic being victims, there must be a single overall cause, either environmental or cultural or something for this. I absolutely don't believe in a direct correlation between being poor and proneness to violence. Obviously, if that were the case you'd see a larger distribution of other races and more women who are also poor committing these crimes.

There must be an answer. Given that no one can wave a magic wand and make gun disappear, what is it? More police? More after-school programs? More role models? More welfare? More job training? More opportunity? More scholarships? More busing? Is there even a government solution to this problem? It would appear that somehow young African American men need to be reached en mass somehow, but what is it?

A nobel cause

"In Iraq, more than 10.7 million votes were cast by about 69.9 percent of eligible voters, the commission reported. By comparison, 64 percent (or 126 million) of Americans eligible to vote reported casting ballots in 2004, the U.S. Census Bureau says...." (from CNN.com)

Hmmmm....well, those aren't American Idol numbers, but damn if that is not a major foreign policy success for the United States of America. Gee, could it be that the impatient, vision-less, naysayers of the left (and right) were wrong and that all people yearn to be free?
Those with a real vison for the Middle East see the potential for the Domino Theory, only a democratic one.

Dad

I’ve felt very uncertain about whether this post was something I wanted to publish on my blog. I’m worried that it may be far too personal to share and worry it might not be appropriate. It’s about my father. My dad died last week suddenly at the age of 74. I hate so much that he is gone and that perhaps I didn’t fully appreciate everything about him before he was gone.

My father disagreed with me most of the time on politics, but he really did love a good discussion. He was very enthusiastic about this little blog exercise I have going and was very supportive. I’ve found writing to be a very interesting experience these past two months “blogging,” and I think putting words down on (virtual) paper is going to be a core piece of learning to cope with our loss. I certainly don’t think it will stop at this post, but the words I wrote and spoke at his memorial were my best effort at a tribute to my dad. I’m not certain why I’m holding back on whether to share them. I spoke them to a room full of many strangers, and I put them on the blog here in hopes that someone might learn something about the great man that was my father. I post it here because I love him so much.

My talk (you’ll just have to imagine me choking up three or four times….)

Over the past few days I have been reflecting on my father’s life and the experiences that shaped it. What has occurred to me more and more is that while you might not be able to tell at first look he was actually a complex man with many sides to his personality.

One of my favorite sides of my father that I would like to share with you was who we always referred to as “Dr. Ditson.” If you asked him about how hospitals and doctors had affected his life, he probably would tell you story after story of how the times he had been in the hospital with one surgery or another and how incredibly miserable the places were. But I think this piece of my dad that I admired so much was also shaped by hospitals.

If you were ever in the hospital and were confused about the things being done to you by poking and prodding by the medical profession, you could not have any stronger a set of advocates than Bob and Joan Ditson. If there is anything I’ve learned from my parents about medicine over the years it is that just because someone is a doctor, (my dad’s words) it sure as hell doesn’t make him smarter than you. Doctors and nurses are good people that are there to be a resource for you- but as my father would say, you need to “watch them like a hawk.” Your good health is yours and your family’s responsibility.

I’m pretty sure I have never seen my father be more on a mission than when he was taking care of my mother after her stroke. In the fall of 1989 my mother had a pretty severe stroke. She has been a strong woman my entire life but I am positive she could not have pushed through and gotten to where she is today with out the absolute singular focus of my father. Outside activities were dropped, friends were appreciated, but secondary, and the sole focus of his life became my mother’s welfare.

Everyone loved the image of my father with his shorts, chamois cloth shirt, his wool hat, and wool socks, and his collection of utility belt items clipped to his hip. But when something important needed to be done or a doctor needed to be pulled into line, my dad would assume his Dr. Ditson persona – dark blue suit, his red “power” tie, and his ever-present clipboard full of questions.

My father spent three years in the hospital in the early 1950s, mostly alone, with no similar advocate of his own. His mother lived far away, and could not visit often because of money. There is no question that those difficult years shaped the rest of his life. With my mother in the hospital, this time was different. She had a champion. With my dad on the job, doctors returned calls, they answered questions, and she received the right medications and treatments on time.

If there was anything that my father’s hospital experience built in him it was a deep and profound understanding of pain and hurt. Because of that my father built the gift of compassion and of empathy. Over the 13 plus years my parents ran the motel there is story after story after story after story….of complete strangers sitting in that motel office with my father and my mother—pouring their hearts out about their struggles and their pain for hours at a time. People just don’t do that with strangers unless they detect real compassion and caring in a person. And my father had that.

My dad was really supposed to die in back in the 1950s. He had Ulcerative Colitis, which lead to three major surgeries which were at the time still not considered to be routine. When he was leaving the hospital the doctor basically told him that the results of the disease meant he should limit his hopes for life, he said that his highest aspiration might be as a hospital orderly. The doctor told him this. If that probably well-intentioned, but short-sighted doctor were here today I’d ask him to take a look at the pictures of my dad we have here today. They’re pictures of a successful 30-year professional, a second-career business proprietor, and a loving husband, father, and grandfather.

My mother and my daughter and I are all very thankful that Bob Ditson decided to endure for fifty plus more years. We are very thankful for the time we had with him and want to thank you all for being here as our friends.

On Message, finally!!!

I don't know if it's the Brain or if it's Karen Hughs back on the job, but "W" is finally getting on message! President Bush, from the same Brian "Barbie" Williams interview mentioned in the last post:

"My strategy and my plans are these. I will listen to the commanders. I understand that war is objective based, not time table based, and we will complete this mission for the good of the country."

YES! "Objective based." They're reframing the discussion to be about how to WIN, not when we're going to exit. This is positive.

I'm Chris Matthews, and you're not

Ugh, Chris Matthews is such a bore. Tonight on Hardball they keep showing and totally HARPING on the Brian Williams interview on "does the President read?"

So the questions from Williams went like this... (paraphrasing) " Here is Time and Newsweek, do you read these magazines." Answer, "no I really don't." Then "How much of the network news do you watch?"

First of all - Time and Newsweek are pretty much crap! These are MASS market magazines that have some fine articles, but are really just People Magazine level consumption of the news. Sure, they have some good articles, but other times it's "McNews magazine-ed down." The same goes for the Nightly News on any of the networks! It is produced for mass consumption. If you want to be a truly informed person in this country, you MUST read from multiple sources (I'd say three or more a day- probably more). And at least five or six different sources a week- probably more.

Then Matthews asked something totally asinine of Brian Williams, "Did you get the feeling Brian that he really wanted to do this interview or his uh, public relations people said you have to get out there and kill the idea that you're isolated." Then followed a very serious reply by Brian Williams to this silly question. UGH! I like Hardball, I watch it all the time, but oh my God! Chris Matthews is such an arrogant ass! Just come out and say you hate the President! Having these totally random, unimportant, and completely pointless conversations about whether the President felt like having an interview with Brian Williams - a male Barbie doll - is ridiculous. Of course he didn't! Who wants to talk to an overly-biased thick head who is paid to basically try and trip you into saying something dumb?

I am SO SICK of the insuation that the President of the United States is uninformed or stupid. It is way too hard to become the President of the United States of America - one in 300 million people each election (well, less considering the number of elegible candidates) to be a STUPID person and get elected. Just get over it. Stop the silly media machine.

When the President answers Barbie Williams that yes in fact he does read the papers, what Paper do they show in the produced-by-a-liberal-member-of-the-media news story. USA TODAY -- the nation's "McPaper." Give me a break.

Only in America

I love the Arnold Schwarzenegger story. You need go no further than his speech to the Republican National Convention in 2004 to understand why this is a great American story. This is a man who grew up in the shadow of communism and made himself into a world class athlete, a powerful movie star, and finally a voice of the people in the form of the Governor of “Kali-FORN-ya!” What a perfect example to the rest of the world – in America, anything is possible, anyone can make themselves a success. Only in America.

My admiration and love for the story aside, I will admit to just a little bit of a surreal feeling to see Arnold Schwarzenegger deciding the fate of inmates on death row. Today the governor denied clemency for Stanley Tookie Williams. Mr. Williams is one of the founders of the Crips street gang, and the convicted murderer of four people. Mr. Williams cause has been taken up by several Hollywood movie stars, as well as many anti-death penalty advocates.

It would seem that Mr. Williams has worked tirelessly since his incarceration in the late 70s to reform himself. He has written multiple children books warning of the dangers of street gangs. He has even been nominated by a Swiss legislator and some college professors for a Nobel Peace Prize (only in America!)

I am not surprised by Governor Schwarzenegger’s decision to deny clemency. Only in America would a death sentence be drawn out for twenty-four years while the condemned is allowed to exhaust every single avenue in his or her defense. I think that’s a good thing for our system, and actually shows our humanity. At the same time, that’s twenty-four years that the four people Stanley Tookie Williams murdered never will have.

See, I told you so ;-)

"By the way, Governers get elected president I’ve noticed the pattern, Governor Romney. "

-Chris Matthews on Hardball tonight. Interviewing your next President, Mitt Romney.

Predators serve a purpose

Chances are as an individual investor, you don’t have much say in the management direction of your favorite publicly listed company. Sure, you may be a billionaire, or even an “A” list hedge fund manager, but chances are (given my small readership) your biggest equity investment doesn’t include much in the way of voting rights. I bring this up because of the latest in Wall Street dramas to hit the business press.

Every so often a story comes up that is worth reading every episode. Eighteen months or so back it was Oracle’s fight to acquire Peoplesoft. Today the most interesting soap opera of the business world is Carl Icahn versus Time Warner. This is a story that promises to play out for a good portion of the New Year. Essentially, Carl Icahn is a corporate raider who is angling for the ouster of Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons, as well as for the break up and sell off its cable assets.

Ever since Barbarians at the Gate, I’ve loved a good buyout story. Partly I enjoy them for the drama, but I also appreciate how some of them are illustrative of how free markets and the “profit motive” benefit the greater good. It’s almost cliché that any time Hollywood wants to portray a businessman as “evil” it reaches for the a fat cat CEO or for the stock “Corporate Raider” persona. Gordon Gecko, as portrayed by Michael Douglass, in the movie Wall Street was a Corporate Raider, as was the “bad” Richard in the movie Pretty Woman. (Don’t get me wrong, as portrayed in the movie, Gordon Gecko was a cheater—not part of a positive free market). I wonder if Hollywood understands that corporate raiders are the bane of the “fat cat” CEO’s existence.

In reality, corporate raiders serve a purpose. Motivated by financial gain for themselves and their investors, corporate raiders cull the herd of the weakest competitors. In doing so, they weed out bad management teams, they add transparency into the finances of public companies, and unlock unrealized market value. It was profiteer short-sellers, among others, that brought the Enron house of cards crashing down. It is buyout artists that find companies that are being abused by their management teams.

Let’s go back to my starting premise. Say you’re an individual investor that is approaching retirement and have held Time Warner stock in your 401k account since 1995. Basically, you got screwed. Time Warner made what is widely called, the worst business deal ever, by overpaying for America Online. Your stock lost a considerable amount of its inherent value in this transaction. If you stuck in there and are still holding the stock you may in fact get some of that value back. One way that might happen is that the company may actually deliver on what it says it’s going to do. Another way is to have Carl Icahn or someone like him come along.

Carl Icahn is smarter than you (probably – certainly smarter than me). He’s also a pretty powerful guy, able to control billions of dollars. Mr. Icahn has made his fortune opportunistically. When he finds a company that he believes is not managing its assets properly, he steps in. He does that by taking a position in a companies publicly traded securities (either stocks or bonds). In effect he becomes a large owner or holder of the company’s debt. Then he becomes and “agitator” for change. Rightly or wrongly, he pushes for changes in the company that he believes will increase the value of the company.

In the current situation, Mr. Icahn believes Time Warner investors should have the choice of owning either cable assets or content assets (both currently owned by Time Warner in a single entity). He thinks the parts are worth greater than the whole, and a part owner of the company is pushing to split them up. Furthermore, he thinks management is overpaid. He points out, “At Time Warner they spend $500 million a year for the top layer of executives, and it’s unnecessary.” Maybe that is a reasonable number, but it does sound like a lot, doesn’t it?

I doubt very much that Carl Icahn is thinking much about your little Time Warner position in your 401k. I could be totally wrong. Maybe he is motivated by helping the little guy. The point is, it doesn’t matter. “Corporate Raiders” have just as much influence on keeping the management of public companies honest as does the SEC. This isn’t to say that corporate raiders have a monopoly on the right way to run businesses. Mr. Icahn could be completely wrong. This could be a play for “greenmail,” essentially an agitator financier’s way of getting paid off to go away – not positive for the company or your 401k.

I don’t want to give the impression that I think everything that results from the break up of a poorly run company is positive. Individual lives are often affected. People get laid off sometimes. Pension funds get raided sometimes. (Both of these happen through management teams sometimes as well). Sometimes the buyout artists are overleveraged, or incorrect in their estimates of unrealized value.

My point is not to paint corporate raiders in a good light as wonderful people. The point is that it doesn’t matter. Their self interest acts as one of many driving forces in an overall free market, and some of those affects have a decidedly positive affect. How will the Carl Icahn versus Time Warner drama end? Only time will tell.