Now the Gypsies Are Suing Borat November 15, 2006January 9, 2017 PPD For those with an interest in multi-level marketer Prepaid Legal Services – covered in this space a while back – a fascinating overview on proposed FTC regulations and more. IRAQ Kathleen Harrington: ‘Having participated in the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Plan for 20 plus years, it sure has been a great way for citizens to share in our state’s oil wealth and could be a stabilizing factor in Iraq. But I am pretty sure that Hillary Clinton (and probably others) have raised this idea before.’ ☞ All the more reason to think it’s a good one. Paul deLespinasse: ‘Hillary Clinton has suggested something similar. With both of these people, it is better late than never. My article suggesting an oil dividend as an ALTERNATIVE to the war came out before the war. It is still a good idea. I also discussed the basic principle of capturing and distributing the net rental value of scarce natural resources in an Alaska-style social dividend in a 1998 virtual book that can be accessed here.’ ROMANIA According to this Associated Press report, ‘Offended villagers are threatening to sue the film’s producers for paying them a pittance to put farm animals in their homes and perform other crude antics.’ Romanians from the Village of Glod (which means ‘mud’) got paid $3.30 each to be passed off as Kazakhs. Nothing that a $50,000 gift to the village and $1,000 to each of the villagers wouldn’t fix. Chris Peppey: ‘As a filmmaker and a teacher of filmmaking, I cringed each time I saw the unspoken rules of filmmaking broken. Real documentarians rely on trust and goodwill of the public. Ethical questions abound in every cut when you are making a documentary. I have a sneaking suspicion that the ‘evangelical’ scene was staged. The more that comes out on their methods the better.’ ☞ I’d have to see it again to decide whether I’m really anti-Borat, or just not a big fan. But clearly, now that they have a huge financial success, they could buy a lot of good will by fessing up and sharing some of the proceeds. OH, CANADA Don: ‘While you’re searching for good ideas, one that occurs to me is that we need to make it ILLEGAL FOR POLITICIANS TO LIE. They have such a law in Canada. We’ve already made it illegal for ordinary citizens to lie to federal officials. That law is 18 USC 1001 – what they nailed Martha Stewart on. In Canada, the law states that federal politicians shall conduct their offices ‘with honesty.’ Currently a group called Democracy Watch is advocating an investigation of Prime Minister Harper on charges of lying. Pre-election he promised ‘no new taxes’ on Income Trusts (a company format with near-zero taxes). Post-election – yes – he raised taxes on Income Trusts (and crashed the market). ‘We’d need a Constitutional amendment, I guess. Something like: ‘In any official matter, any material misrepresentation by an elected officer shall be punished by [penalty], upon presentment by any citizen, and conviction in the Supreme Court.’ The penalty would need to be stern. Perhaps the French Revolution can provide inspiration for a method. ‘Bush got elected based on a lie. Obviously, this problem is not merely theoretical. We really need to clean up our system. You’ve spent a lot of column space dealing with the accuracy of votes. But what good are votes, if people vote based on lies?’ ☞ And just in case this idea is not immediately workable, how about a free press that forcefully and aggressively holds politicians to account? And that does its level best to provide context and proportion? (I think it’s called The Daily Show on Comedy Central.) Tomorrow: Save a Fortune on Drugs; Your Daughter’s Self-Image; and More
Finally, Steve Forbes Has a Good Idea November 14, 2006March 5, 2017 Can it be just a week ago that we went to the polls? Our big challenge, those of us who identify as Democrats, will be in recognizing that we are diverse – Ned Lamonters and Joe Liebermaners – and in spending most of our energy finding common ground rather than thinking the worst of each other. And looking for good ideas. JONATHAN LEVY’S GOOD IDEA Jonathan Levy: ‘The Democrats should schedule a vote to explicitly reaffirm the right of the minority to filibuster. Possibly even strengthen it. I think it would send an important message – that Democrats’ principles remain constant, even when political advantage shifts. Since the measure probably would pass close to 100-0, it would also create an important precedent for when the Republicans take back the Senate, which will surely happen someday.’ CLARE DURST’S GOOD IDEA Clare Durst: ‘A few years ago Rhode Island switched from the old lever machines to simple, collapsible voter booths, at which people mark paper ballots that are then fed into one OCR machine – face up, down, or backwards, it works no which way. The machine eats and counts the ballots or spits them out if there’s a mistake (like voting for too many school committee members), at which time the voter gets a second chance. At your urging, I registered myself as a poll worker (15-hour day) and observed this setup in action. It went extremely smoothly. The directions were clear, the poll lists easy to read and mark. We handled only about 100 voters an hour but there was never a line for more than five minutes. We had a special machine for visually impaired voters to use but none wanted to. This seems like such an easy solution, and such a cheap one, I don’t know why all states don’t use something like it!’ ☞ Why, indeed? Support HR 550. STEVE FORBES’ GOOD IDEA Alaskanizing Iraq. It sure beats his flat tax – and as a long-time Forbes-family fan, it’s nice to have something good to say again. Steve writes: Fact and Comment Slick Solution Steve Forbes, 11.13.06, 12:00 AM ET In September Iraq’s political leaders agreed to post-pone until 2008 any moves to “carve up” the country into autonomous states. The principal reason for the delay was the ever divisive question of who would control the country’s immense oil wealth. Most of the oilfields fall in Kurdish and Shiite areas. The Sunnis are afraid that regional autonomy will mean they will be bereft of their share of the black gold. This setback underscores the need for us to forcefully push the so-called Alaska solution. About a quarter of Alaska’s oil and gas royalties goes into an entity called the Permanent Fund, the assets of which are managed by investment professionals. About half the revenue stream is distributed to the state’s citizens each year; the remainder is reinvested. This year each qualified resident of Alaska is receiving $1,106.96 from the fund. The only way that Iraq can hold together–absent an oppressive, mass-murdering regime à la Saddam Hussein’s–is by setting up Swiss-style autonomous regions. In Switzerland the German, French and Italian communities have lived peaceably side by side for more than seven centuries, while in the rest of Europe the three groups fought one another incessantly until the end of World War II. Switzerland is really 23 countries under one flag–that’s how many cantons (autonomous districts) there are in that mountainous country. Plans to use such a sensible approach in Iraq, though, always flounder on the oil question. An Alaska model would neatly and equitably deal with that: Every Iraqi living in the country would get a cut, regardless of where he or she resided. The Alaska approach has two powerful advantages. Virtually the entire Iraqi population would have a stake in making sure insurgents didn’t disrupt oil production, and almost every Iraqi would have an incentive to have a bona fide address at which to collect the checks. This would be a great boon to security. When the provisional government of Iraq was formed after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the U.S. approached its leaders about adopting an Alaska-like program in Iraq. But, as with politicians everywhere, this group was leery of the idea of not being in complete control of this source of money. They resisted the idea. Given the situation in Iraq today, however, we should push hard and persistently for the government to go the Alaska way. We should do so publicly so that the Iraqi people begin to understand what’s at stake. Our patience with Iraq is not infinite. The Iraqi government’s recent statement that it won’t crack down on local militias, and its reluctance to clean out the multiplying death squads infesting its police forces, are the latest examples of a regime failing to acknowledge that we are not going to be there forever. Adopting an Alaska solution would immeasurably strengthen Iraq’s elected government–and enormously increase the odds of our eventually pulling out of Iraq with a sense of a mission accomplished. ☞ It may be too late for this now, I don’t know. But it might have been a great plan to go in with from the get-go. (If we had had a plan.)
Borat The Back Story November 13, 2006March 5, 2017 But first, very briefly, from the DNC, and echoing the 2000 Time profile I borrowed from recently: Washington, DC – The Democratic National Committee responded to news reports that John McCain is entering the 2008 presidential race today. ‘If the reports are correct, we welcome John McCain to the race,’ said DNC Communications Director Karen Finney. ‘The question is, which McCain is running: the McCain who called right wing extremists like Jerry Falwell an evil influence, or the McCain who spoke at Liberty University as he attempted to cater to the far right in advance of a presidential run? Or the McCain who opposed overturning Roe vs. Wade or the McCain who said he would support South Dakota’s ban? As an opportunist who supports the Bush Administration’s failed policy in Iraq and changed his mind on tax cuts, a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her health care, and campaign finance reform, it’s hard to tell which John McCain will enter the race.” And now: MORE THAN YOU COULD POSSIBLY WANT TO KNOW ABOUT BORAT’S HOTEL CHECK-IN SCENE Isn’t it nice to get back to something not unimportant? Even if it is playing on four screens simultaneously at my local multiplex? Friends told me that Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is the funniest movie they’ve seen in . . . maybe forever. (If you loved it, don’t miss, also, the website, complete with deleted scenes.) I like funny movies, and I majored in Slavic Languages and Literatures, so Borat had my name written all over it. Somehow, though, for all the laughs (and there’s much about it that’s pretty wonderful), I was feeling vaguely uncomfortable during much of the movie – and now I understand why. (Well, there was the ‘Jew’ stuff and the nude wrestling scene and the excrement at dinner, but apart from that.) First, though, by way of background, in case you haven’t seen Borat, here’s a snippet from Reuters: College frat boys in “Borat” movie sue filmmakers Nov 10, 2006 By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Two of the college fraternity brothers shown guzzling alcohol and making racist remarks in the “Borat” movie have sued the studio and producers for fraud, saying filmmakers duped them into appearing in the movie by getting them drunk. . . . In a lawsuit filed on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, plaintiffs named as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2, both from South Carolina, agreed to appear in the film after producers promised it would never be shown in the United States. The movie, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” debuted last weekend as the No. 1 film in North America, grossing more than $26 million in domestic ticket sales. The film stars British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as the title character, Borat Sagdiyev, an unwittingly offensive TV journalist from Central Asia whose boorish sensibilities clash with ordinary Americans he meets on a cross-country road trip. The story line is driven by a series of improvised encounters with people who become Cohen’s unsuspecting foils while taking part in what they think is a real documentary. . . . Fallout from the movie, Tailleiu said, cost one of the students a job at a major corporation and another “a very prestigious internship. . . . As I was watching the movie, I kept wondering whether some of the players, besides Borat and his Kazakh sidekick, were actors – or at least in on the gag. Because to the extent they were, it would be a little less funny; while, to the extent they really weren’t, I would feel embarrassed for them. So I spent some of my brain that should been laughing trying to imagine how this was done. Did the civilians have any clue? Did they sign releases? Well, it turns out that a long-time friend and sometime reader – one of you, that is – was in the movie! He’s an executive at a grand old Dallas Hotel, and is an exceptionally polite, shy, and hospitable soul. Those of you who have seen the movie will know him as ‘Vanilla Face.’ I was so focused on Borat, as he walked into an elegant hotel with his pants down below his underwear, I didn’t even realize it was my friend in the scene with him until we had occasion to exchange emails about something else: I’m in ‘Borat’ [he wrote], much to my embarrassment. Borat tried to check into The Adolphus, and I had security throw him out. He was making racial slurs, spouting profanity, and generally making a spectacle of himself. They ‘cast’ me in the role of the sophisticated hotelier. The location scouts lied to me; they told me they were filming a piece on The Adolphus’s art collection, history, and so on. I had a million questions. ‘What did you say? Did they get you to sign a release? How? Did they give you lines to say? Did they all burst out laughing after they filmed it and let you in on the joke? Have you seen it? Are you famous now?’ 1. I don’t believe I said anything; I was dumbstruck. It obviously shows in my face that I was appalled by what he said to me. 2. They lie about what they are going to film and have one sign a release on that basis. They refused – after the fact – to give me a copy of the release that I signed. (I have an e-mail from them describing the nature of the filming, and it is a pack of lies, to be blunt.) I’ve signed countless releases over the years and never suspected that this one was any different, given the e-mail I was sent. I can forward it to you, if you want to see it. (They choose location scouts who appear completely trustworthy. It took me a long time to get over this trust issue, believe me.) 3. It was unscripted. They are looking for a completely natural reaction (at least, in my case it was!). 4. They never let me in on the gag; the director maintained that he was just as surprised by what happened as I was. 5. I’ve never seen it, and I would be too embarrassed to watch it. Friends have told me that I fare far better than the rest of the victims in the film. 6. Oh, I’m famous all right. People stare at me on the DART light rail and wonder where they’ve seen me. (I’ve been in movie trailers all summer long.) Friends all over the country – and abroad! – have e-mailed and called me. Of course, the reaction is: OH MY GOSH, I KNOW THAT GUY! THAT’S DAVID DAVIS FROM THE ADOLPHUS! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HE DOING IN THIS FILM? Friends in Hollywood have said, “When did you start acting?” I was recently introduced to Michael Sheen (he plays Tony Blair in THE QUEEN) as a fellow thespian. His face lit up as though I were truly a legitimate actor. I could’ve have crawled under the carpet and died. My face has been as red as a tomato almost constantly since the trailers started – and now it’s worse with the movie hitting 2,500 screens. Somebody shoot me! Dave, the reluctant movie star It seems they set it up as a travel documentary – no mention of Borat, just wanting to film this grand old hotel. Then, in the midst of the walking tour, as they are passing the front desk, in walks Borat with his pants eight inches below the top of his underwear. He had no advance reservation; he was a “walk in.” They were supposedly filming my walking tour of The Adolphus. The director, in fact, said, “Does this kind of thing happen often?’ He acted as though it was a complete surprise to him, too. The camera crew immediately followed the action (Borat’s unceremonious eviction from the hotel), which was a dead giveaway that this was what they were really after. We started putting the pieces together when the crew were unresponsive to my calls to the location scout, after they went outside. The next day we pulled the security camera tapes to see what was going on outside and discovered that they had a production crew setting up Borat’s “grand entrance.” That’s when we knew absolutely that we had been set up. I also called a friend at the Dallas Film Commission and she told me that she was certain that this had some connection to a man who had been spotted driving around Dallas in an ice-cream truck with a bear in the back of it. Of course – not knowing the plot – it all sounded completely absurd. I walked them through The Adolphus, showing them the hotel’s art collection, The French Room restaurant, etc. As we walked through the Lobby Living Room, I talked about the hotel’s history (i.e., the hotel was founded by Adolphus Busch in 1912, the year the Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic, etc.). This went very quickly because there were no re-takes – which I thought was rather odd. I’m not exactly Cary Grant or Michael C. Hall. It seemed rather perfunctory. They seemed eager to get on with it – and move to the registration lobby. When we arrived there, the director asked if I wouldn’t mind stepping behind the front desk and answering some questions about the famous people who have stayed at The Adolphus. It was getting late, so I didn’t protest (even though I thought it was very odd). I had just started talking about Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s visit to The Adolphus when Borat walked into the registration lobby and headed straight for me. The first words out of his mouth were, “Hey, Vanilla Face!” Since he followed that with racial slurs and profanity, I immediately turned to signal our front desk manager to call security. I was stunned by what Borat said, but I was more concerned that guests and staff might hear him and be offended by his insane remarks. Fortunately, our security staff is top-notch and had him out the door before he had a chance to say anything more. The crew offered no apologies, nor did they admit that they were in on the plot. In fact, the director said, “We will come back next week and reshoot this. You are obviously shaken by what has just happened.” The location scouts stayed behind and acted as though they were completely baffled by what had occurred, too. Afterward, I called and left voice mail messages for the location scout who had initially contacted me, but she never returned my call. I was completely shell-shocked and went home that night trying to make sense of it all. I obviously need to buy a TV, watch HBO, and thumb through PEOPLE MAGAZINE occasionally. It’s not that I don’t have a sense of humor; it’s that I was deceived into participating in a film that I would never have agreed to appear in had I known the truth. They also took away something very precious to me: trust. I’ve worked with many location scouts over the years who do their level best to live up to their promises – and make the movie industry look sterling in the eyes of those who take them at their word. A decade or so of trust vanished with BORAT. I almost avoided the whole mess because I initially turned them down because we were very busy. But, they came back to me a couple of days later and said they really wanted us to be in this travel piece. The location scout came to the hotel and “interviewed” several people for the on-camera role. I wasn’t keen on doing it myself, since my dad had died recently and my family was experiencing those horrible firsts: the first Father’s Day without him, his birthday, etc. In short, I wasn’t my usual perky self. After interviewing everyone, the location scout came back to me and said, “You’re the one that we want.’ I turned them down, and, then, they came back, again – and I felt guilty that I wasn’t doing my job. I agreed to do it on a Sunday night. I pulled myself together to help them, only to find myself the subject of a practical joke from which I could not extricate myself. The producers of the film didn’t know me or my background, other than I fit the profile of someone they could picture looking ridiculous on screen. It wasn’t that they were unpleasant or unkind. It was that I wasn’t even a person to them. Of course, you can imagine the teasing I’ve been getting from everyone at the hotel. They have a sense of humor about it, even if I don’t! Dave has nothing to be embarrassed about, of course. But even so, talk about a loss of privacy – and control! It’s not like Candid Camera, where, after the prank, everyone has a good laugh and then the subject is persuaded to sign a release. This has a meaner edge to it. [When, initially skeptical, he questioned the location scout about what they wanted to do, here’s the explanation he got:] From: jenny hunter Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 11:02 AM To: David Davis Subject: Filming Request – The Adolphus Hotel July 20, 2005 Mr. David Davis The Adolphus Hotel 1321 Commerce Street Dallas, Texas 75202 Dear David: It was great speaking with you today! I do appreciate your taking the time work with us. Per our conversation, I spoke with my producer who provided me with the below information. I do hope it proves to be helpful to you. As you well know, America does not fit one stereotype; it is a diverse country that operates on a variety of accepted attitudes and practices. In New York City we see a place that embraces the hustle and bustle and the “tell it like it is mentality.” We see tight spaces, large crowds and bright lights. In Washington, DC, the people of this capital city abide by a strict set of rules and regulations, serving as role models for the rest of the world. In Dallas, we see the ‘New America,’ where sophistication, patience and Southern hospitality are a complete package. Each of the above cities is unique in its own way, but they have one thing in common: success. Haverford Mills is privileged to be a part of a new documentary style film that highlights America at its best. It is our hope that we may capture that ‘New America’ – sophistication and Southern hospitality – in Dallas. One way of illustrating this would be to film in a historic Dallas hotel, shooting anything from the grandness of the hotel lobby to the professional look and nature of an experienced service agent. For this project, our camera crew would be using two unobtrusive handheld cameras, and the shoot should take approximately 30 minutes-1 hour. Our intent is for the film to be distributed to and seen in theaters worldwide. We do hope we may arrange to film with The Adolphus Hotel, David. Please do feel free to call or e-mail me with any questions you may have. Thank you in advance for your consideration. Best regards, Jenny Hunter Haverford Mills Productions Field Department Coordinator So there you have it. A little Borat back story. When you’re in Dallas, if you’re on expense account, stay at the Adolphus. One of the hoteliers there – very shy, and not the tannest guy in the lobby – is a friend of mine and one of your fellow readers.
More Hope November 10, 2006January 9, 2017 And so ends the week of a billion emails. Tell me you haven’t been drowning in them – pre-, during, and post-election. But it was a very, very good week, from my point of view. As bleak as things are – bleaker, I think, than many realize (‘The ship of state is on a disastrous course, and will founder on the reefs of economic disaster if nothing is done to correct it,’ writes the Guardian, paraphrasing the Comptroller General of the United States) – the tide may be turning. This is still America – America – and as much tragic damage as has been done these last six years to our standing abroad, and by the erosion of our finances at home, we are still the nation that self-corrects better than any other, and that, for all its missteps, lurches generation after generation toward an ever more perfect union. If those sentiments sounds familiar, give yourself a gold star – they’re lifted from Tuesday’s column. If you read the whole thing, let alone its links like the one above, from the Economist, give yourself three gold stars – it was only a few words shorter than Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow. Take the weekend off. See ‘Borat’ (a friend of mine was in it – I hope to have his inside story for you next week). See ‘Man of the Year’ (the comedy about voting machine technology). See ‘Stranger than Fiction’ or ‘Babel’ (I hope to be close to the front, on the aisle). (Better still, read Paul Krugman’s column today. He completely nails it, as usual. And I’m pretty sure you can get to it free – I think Times Select has been running a free trial promotion thru Sunday this week.) If you didn’t read Tuesday’s column – perhaps you decided to vote instead, or have a life – I commend it to you now. Not because it’s in Pynchon’s league (reading 20 pages an hour, I never even attempted Pynchon) – or Paul Krugman’s, for that matter – but because (a) I’m too lazy to write something new. And because (b) hope is underrated – it deserves a second look.
Lou Gehrig Eating Pumpkin Spice Muffins in a Blimp (And Making Elections Verifiable) November 9, 2006March 5, 2017 Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus – and he gave us Virginia. (In case George Allen has not yet conceded as you read this, pending the ‘recount,’ note that there’s almost nothing to recount. If I got this right, 93% of the votes were cast with paperless ballots. Have I mentioned HR 550 and the importance to democracy of having verifiable elections?) BALLOTS Juan Jover: ‘You write, ‘You’d vote on the touch screen . . . then check the paper ‘receipt’ to be sure it reflected the candidates you chose . . . then drop it in the ballot box on your way out.’ In reality, in a good system, the voter never touches the paper ballot. It is printed at the voter can see it through a window, so there is no chance that the voter would walk out with the ballot (which would create two problems: (1) the voter could sell the vote, and (2) the count in the machine would not match the ballots in the box). Another way of obtaining the same result of auditability (and this is a preferred method) is that the voter marks a paper ballot (like in a standardized test), then the voter puts the ballot in an optical scanner attached to the ballot box. You put the ballot through the opening in the scanner, which then reads the ballot and deposits the ballot inside the ballot box. So there is no chance for the voter to walk out with a ballot. In addition, to voter verifiable paper ballots you need to mandate by law a certain percentage of precincts, selected at random, to be recounted manually. As you know, in many states there is a recount mandated by law if the results are very close. If there are no mandatory random audit somebody could cheat by a larger percentage and would never be caught since there would be to recounts to compare the results from the machine vs. the results from the paper ballots. The bill you’ve been advocating, HR 550, mandates both things (among others).’ BLIMPS Joel Grow: ‘As romantic and whimsical as they are, I’d say don’t make a big investment in blimps. My dad flew them for many years for Goodyear, and loved doing so, from flying over the ’39 world’s fair (when the ailing Lou Gehrig was a frequent passenger who became a pal of dad’s) to scouting for German u-boats in WWII, to promotional flights before and after these events. But he said himself, and the writer implies as well, that their inability to fly in almost any kind of bad weather makes them unreliable. Many much larger rigid airships, like the Hindenburg, Akron, Macon, and Shenandoah, all crashed in bad weather with considerable loss of life.’ ☞ I love writing this column, because inevitably one of you will turn out to have had a father who drove Lou Gehrig around in a blimp. YOU CAN’T SAY WE DON’T KNOW HOW TO BAKE Ralph Sanders: ‘The wages of sin is pumpkin spice muffins. Last Sunday, it occurred to me that not only are churches that exclude gays being hypocritical and un-Christian, they’re paying for their prejudice in ways they don’t comprehend. At our church, the Center for Spiritual Living in Seattle, all are welcome equally. Sexual orientation simply is not as issue, and we are infinitely the better for it. We have affinity groups: singles, couples, elders, and lesbians and gay men. One of the ways the affinity groups contribute is by taking care of the coffee and snack table in Fellowship Hall between services. The gay men are, not surprisingly, very good at this. This past Sunday, not only was their center piece beautifully designed and seasonally appropriate, but the goodies were freshly made right there in our kitchen. The highlight was just-out-of-the-oven pumpkin spice muffins! If this is sin, brother, bring it on!’
:-) November 8, 2006March 5, 2017 I was going to say: ‘Today’s column writes itself. Have a nice day.’ But let me add: Now we can assure paper trails in future elections, so our democracy can remain secure. Not a small thing. (See ‘Man of the Year‘.) And now we have a situation that recalls the memorable speech at the end of ‘The American President,’ where Michael Douglas, as the President, says: ‘We have serious problems, and we need serious people to solve them.’ I am a little heart-broken that Scott Kleeb of Nebraska and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois won’t be among those serious people – Americans don’t come any better than these two. But for all the obvious reasons, it was in the main, in my view, a great night.* Now have a nice day. *And did you know that Democrats are expected to have majorities in 55 of 99 state chambers (Nebraska, you will recall from the 7th grade, is unicameral), with two more chambers tied, which makes last night’s result the largest chamber shift since 1994?
Hope November 7, 2006March 5, 2017 Hope is in the air. As bleak as things are – bleaker I think than many realize (‘The ship of state is on a disastrous course, and will founder on the reefs of economic disaster if nothing is done to correct it,’ writes the Guardian, paraphrasing the Comptroller General of the United States) – the tide may be turning. This is still America – America – and as much tragic damage as has been done these last six years to our standing abroad, and by the erosion of our finances at home, we are still the nation that self-corrects better than any other, and that, for all its missteps, lurches generation after generation toward an ever more perfect union. The missteps of late have been staggering. But . . . but . . . The most obvious ‘but’ is the hope that Congress will change hands and resume its heretofore suspended oversight function. (‘Congress,’ writes Garrison Keillor, ‘which once spent an entire year investigating a married man’s attempt to cover up an illicit act of oral sex, has shown no curiosity whatsoever about a war that the administration elected to wage that has killed and maimed hundreds of thousands and led our own people to commit war crimes and squandered hundreds of billions of dollars and degenerated into civil war.’) Nancy Pelosi, if we take back the House, will, I think, fight for a hike in the minimum wage – the first cost-of-living raise in nine years – and fight to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices, fight to restore trimmed college aid, fight for better treatment of our troops and veterans, and fight for verifiable elections. (In America, we have to rely on the word of Diebold that our elections are tamperproof? With no way to recount the ballots? Have you seen Man of the Year? It’s much better – and more important – than you might have guessed from the ads.) She will also fight, I think, to restore some measure of collegiality to the House. Nor need a Democratic Congress, if we get one, alarm friends who disagree with us: * GOD. Abortions went down under Clinton/Gore, have gone up under Bush/Cheney. Democrats and Republicans don’t come at it from exactly the same place, but we all wish there were fewer abortions . . . so that’s some common ground to build on. One example of tremendous progress we could make toward this end would be to allow over-the-counter sale of Plan B, ‘the morning after pill,’ which prevents pregnancy and thus the need for abortion. It’s not the total abstinence that the other side would prefer; but it’s a heck of a lot better than abortion. * GUNS. Jon Tester, who we hope will be the next senator from Montana, opposes most gun control – and so, for that matter, did DNC Chair Howard Dean, who had a consistent A-rating from the NRA throughout his decade-plus as Vermont Governor. Whereas Chuck Schumer, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee favors gun control. But so what? Senator Schumer represents New York. The gun situation in (say) the housing projects of Bedford Stuyvesant is different from (say) the situation in Vermont or Montana. One size need not fit all. * GAYS. Experience thus far suggests that allowing GLBT Americans and their children equal rights and first-class citizenship does not wind up diminishing the rights – or breaking up the marriages – of everybody else. It’s important to respect the discomfort many people still feel with these topics . . . and to allow Kansas and Mississippi more time to chew this over than California and Massachusetts. But, increasingly, people see Rosie on ‘The View‘ or Ellen on ‘Ellen‘ or Barney Frank on Bill Maher, and simply welcome them as part of the American family. I got this email from a reader tonight, and it left me wondering what proportion of America, in 2006, would still find it repugnant: ‘In 1962 after having just arrived in Los Angeles at 20, I met a young fellow, 21, who knocked my socks off. We stayed up all night in my tiny furnished apartment in Hollywood and talked until we both fell asleep. When I woke up, he was gone and I was disappointed. He showed up at my door two hours later with his bags packed and asked if he could move in. We’ve just celebrated the 44th anniversary of that night and his very presence still brightens any dark corners in my world. We’ve never been apart one night since then. For two guys with minimum education, we’ve managed to build a really good life together, and at 65 and 66 we are co-parenting two children, a boy aged 7 and a girl 2 1/2. They live three days a week with us and four days a week with their two moms. We have created a great family and when another boy asked our son how he had two moms and two dads, his reply was ‘I guess I’m just lucky.” No question, some will find that repugnant or threatening. But I think by now a large proportion of the citizenry would actually find themselves rooting for these characters. Love and happiness are precious wherever they are found. Would Jesus really disagree?) * TAXES. Taxes may go up on the wealthiest of us, as they did when Clinton took office. But boy were those ever good years for the wealthy – and for everyone else. We were all in it together. The Republicans fear the economy will collapse if we push the long-term capital gains rate back up to 20% (even though it was 28% under Reagan and 36% under Eisenhower) or if we fail to eliminate the estate tax on billionheirs. But it’s more likely that, over time, the economy will collapse if we don’t act responsibly. And the social contract will tear if the yachts just keep getting bigger while the average family struggles to make ends meet, with little hope of attaining financial security for retirement. * TERROR. Sixteen national intelligence agencies agree we have made things worse. We have done just what Bin Laden dreamed we would, greatly weakening ourselves in the process – and leaving him alive to make videotapes. Democrats don’t want to cut and run. As suggested yesterday, we want to stop and think. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are not doing a ‘fantastic job,’ as President Bush believes. (Take 80 seconds to watch this video.) Well, this was supposed to be a column about hope. But fear crowds out hope, so maybe it’s not entirely inappropriate to get that off the table first. Democrats will not take away your guns or go nuts on taxes – we don’t like paying them, either. Democrats will not force your daughters to have abortions or to marry lesbians. Democrats will not take the heat off terrorists. And Democrats – I hope – will be respectful of your views and concerns, because we all need to do a better job of that. So. All that said: I find it hopeful that the House, and perhaps even the Senate, may be changing hands. And that the rest of the world may look at tonight’s results and surmise that we are beginning to get back on track – very rightly concerned with our security, but uncomfortable being a nation of torturers with a global chain of secret prisons. I find it hopeful that the two spectacularly talented, decent frontrunners for the Democratic nomination in 2008 are . . . a woman and a black guy. Who says we don’t lurch, generation after generation, toward an ever more perfect union? We really do. I find it hopeful that Rush Limbaugh has lost more than half his audience – at 13 million weekly, I’m told (I haven’t checked this), down from 30 million. America works best when citizens think for themselves. Dittoheads scare me. I find it hopeful that we might yet embrace the promise of embryonic stem cell research that could save your parents or children (or, heck – you) from the misery Michael J. Fox and his family are going through or that Ronald and Nancy Reagan, or Christopher Reeve, endured. I find it hopeful that DuPont (up 20% since it was suggested here last fall) managed to raise output nearly 30% in the last decade or so while cutting its energy consumption 7% and its greenhouse gas emissions 72% – and saving $2 billion for its shareholders. I find it hopeful that everyone from Laura Bush and Rupert Murdoch to Barbra Streisand, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and Warren Buffett came to the Clinton Global Initiative in New York a few weeks ago and, between them all, pledged more than $7 billion for innovative projects to help fix the world. Everything from planting trees in Africa to Wal-Mart’s commitment to take an estimated 213,000 trucks off the road by 2013 by leaning on its 60,000 suppliers to ship their goods with less wasteful, bulky packaging. You want to be inspired? Watch the video. Hope is in the air. It is in the wisdom and example and grace of Muhammad Yunus, who founded the Grameen Bank decades ago and launched the ‘microlending’ model that has helped lift millions out of poverty. He was at the Clinton Global Initiative, and, just a week or two later, received the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. ‘Every single individual on earth has both the potential and the right to live a decent life,’ wrote the Nobel Committee in announcing the award. ‘Across cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development.’ It is in the work of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s Carter Center (‘waging peace, fighting disease, building hope’), which has – among so many things – led the campaign to eradicate Guinea worm, cutting the number of cases by 99.5%, from 3.5 million in 1986 to 10,000 in 2005. It is in Bono’s global Product Red campaign. It’s in the blossoming of the Chinese and Indian economies that promise to move hundreds of millions out of poverty (and into line to buy American goods and services). It is in the increasing willingness of some evangelical leaders to suggest – as many of their followers have doubtless already concluded – that Jesus might not have favored preemptive war, waterboarding, and massive tax cuts for the rich. It’s in the terrific young candidates we have running for the House and Senate today like Tammy Duckworth in Illinois and Scott Kleeb in Nebraska and Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota and Kirsten Gillibrand in New York – and so many others. It’s in two guys, 65 and 66, who met 44 years ago in Los Angeles and haven’t spent a night apart since; who are passing on their example of love and commitment to their two children, one of whom we already know feels he has lucked out. It’s in Kerry Kennedy’s ‘Speak Truth to Power‘ that was performed last month in New York, celebrating the courage of astonishing people around the world who, at great peril to themselves, insist on justice . . . and recalling that most hopeful and famous of speeches, delivered by her father Bobby Kennedy, Jr., in Apartheid South Africa in 1966, in which he said: ‘Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope. And, crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.’ So there you have it. I don’t know what will happen today, but I’m hopeful. Don’t forget to vote! Not sure where your polling place is? Other questions? Call 888-DEM-VOTE OR 866-OUR-VOTE Observe problems at the polls?
Short Strokes (As in . . . "down to the") November 6, 2006March 5, 2017 ‘This is not an election anymore, it’s an intervention.’ – Andrew Sullivan ‘We’re not the cut and run crowd. We are the stop and think crowd.’ – Bill Clinton ‘We don’t care whether you’re white or black or brown or purple – you are welcome in the Democratic Party. We don’t care what religion you are or how big your bank account is – you are welcome in the Democratic Party. We don’t care whether you walked in here or rolled in here, whether you’re first generation American or a Mayflower descendant – you are welcome in the Democratic Party. And we don’t care what gender you are or what gender you like to hold hands with. So long as you like to hold hands, you are welcome in the Democratic Party.’ – Joe Andrew* * DNC Chair, 1999-2000, paraphrased from his stump speech. It was inspired by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was born into privilege, but who – humbled by polio – came to see that everyone needs a helping hand from time to time, and that we are all in this together. Not sure where your polling place is? Other questions? Call 888-DEM-VOTE OR 866-OUR-VOTE Observe problems at the polls?
Give It Up for Dick Armey (And Three Cheers for Silt) November 3, 2006March 5, 2017 BOTCHED JOKE, BOTCHED WAR Tuesday, you get to decide which bothers you more. A REPUBLICAN VIEW Here is former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas: How did we go from the big ideas and vision of 1994 to the cheap political point-scoring on meaningless wedge issues of today – from passing welfare reform and limited government to banning horsemeat and same-sex marriage? The answer is simple: Republican lawmakers forgot the party’s principles, became enamored with power and position, and began putting politics over policy. Now, the Democrats are reaping the rewards of our neglect – and we have no one to blame but ourselves. FRANK RICH This interview provides an awfully good overview of how it all happened – including a 2002 quote from a presidential aide that America is an empire now and can ‘create its own reality.’ Who was it who said pride goeth before the fall? (Oh, that’s right – it was God.) (Well, sort of.) BECAUSE OF IRAQ This is the perfect 30-second clip to forward to that colleague or relative who might actually vote Democrat Tuesday . . . if it weren’t for their concern over terrorism. BECAUSE OF TORTURE This is the story of a young woman assigned to interrogate Iraqi detainees, who – it has been learned three years later – killed herself. CENSORING WHAT OUR TROOPS CAN READ Click here (assuming your Internet access is not being selectively blocked). # DREDGING Fortis Bank issued a research report on a Dutch dredging company called Boksalis last week. The lead paragraph is encouraging to those of us who hold Aldabra Warrants (ALBAW). You will recall that Aldabra is a shell that was formed to acquire an existing business – any business – and that the business it is in the final stages of acquiring is . . . a dredging company. The order backlog of the largest dredging companies is currently at record levels. In addition, our list of to be awarded projects is now EUR 10.5bn. On the other hand, the capacity expansion is relatively modest due to the scarcity of ship engines and yard capacity. We conclude that the dredging industry will operate close to peak utilization rates until at least 2013 (our former estimate was at least 2009). We also expect that the increasing price level for new projects, according to our sources 10-15%, will gradually be visible in the Boskalis P&L. We slightly increased our estimates for 2008e and beyond and delayed the introduction of mid cycle estimates until 2013 (was 2010). Overall, we decided to increase our price target to EUR 65 (was EUR 55) and reiterate our Buy recommendation. BOREALIS Stephen Willey: ‘Re the following offer – deal, or no deal?’ Share Exchange Offer We are prepared to exchange up to 200,000 shares of Roche Bay plc for 400,000 shares of Borealis Exploration Limited. This is a current, today, you give us 2 shares of Borealis and we effectively give you 1 share of Roche Bay plc. The terms will change daily reflecting current pricing on RCHBF and BOREF. Please call or e-mail exec@borealis.com for the particulars of this offer. This exchange is a great deal for Borealis and for its shareholders. We are working very hard so everybody has full disclosure. ☞ It is a great deal for Borealis and its shareholders – except for any shareholders who are dumb enough to take it. Each Borealis share represents ownership of a share of the Roche Bay subsidiary (because Borealis, which is divided into 5 million shares, owns about 5 million Roche Bay shares). So let’s say you owned 400 BOREF and traded them for 200 RCHBF. All you would own is 200 RCHBF – where before, you owned the equivalent of 400 shares – twice as much! (plus your little piece of all the other Borealis subsidiaries, like the powerful little electric motor, delusionary as they may or may not turn out to be). Why would you do this? (It’s a great deal for Borealis and the shareholders who don’t take it, because if 400,000 BOREF shares were exchanged for 200,000 RCHBF shares, BOREF would no longer be split 5 million ways but rather 4.6 million. Each share’s proportionate ownership of the subsidiaries would increase a little.) (Delusionary: not a word, but should be.) Paul Grand: ‘I’m suspicious that you may be intentionally misleading us by promoting BOREF. I say this because your behavior seems to run against common sense and your own investment advice. You’ve owned a ton of this speculative stock for years. Yet you mention that you picked up more on a recent price drop. Why would you continue to invest in such a highly speculative company of which you already bought a ton of at a much lower price if not to encourage others to buy? Someone in your shoes could potentially profit by investing in a small cap speculative stock (any stock) and then relentlessly promoting the hell out of it (even if you don’t really believe in the company) thereby significantly influencing it price. After a sizable increase, you could then sell the stock at its peak and leave all of your readers eating crow. I’ve always trusted your advice (and have benefited nicely from it) until now. I’m skeptical as this just doesn’t seem to make sense. I hope I’m wrong.’ ☞ Good news, Paul – you are. But they are fair questions. It would be difficult to do what you describe, even if I were of a mind to, because I own too much. Even small sales can drive the price down a lot. Indeed, I’d actually be in a better position if I had bought the shares without sharing the idea. First, I might have paid a bit less (fewer buyers to compete with); second, I would not feel obligated to announce that I had soured on it, if I had (and thus add to the selling pressure). As to the high degree of risk . . . even though I own ‘tons,’ I have not bet more on this than I can truly afford to lose. For me, the loss of the dream would hurt worse than the loss of the money. Not sure where your polling place is? Other questions? Call 888-DEM-VOTE Observe problems at the polls?
Good Clean Fun November 2, 2006March 5, 2017 THE GOOD SENATOR Marty P: ‘My worst grudge against McCain is his stand against torture and then his agreement to pass legislation that not only allows torture, but also dumps the fundamental right of habeas corpus.’ THE GOOD CONGRESSMAN Allen: ‘Thanks for the Barney Frank video. I am a heterosexual who can state unequivocally that I love him too.’ CLEAN ELECTIONS Lourdes Kelly: ‘There has been practically no publicity on California Proposition 89 on Clean Money and Fair Elections (which is non-partisan). It would be a great service if you would apprise your California readers of the opportunity to go the way Arizona and Maine have gone to eliminate lobbying and big money in political campaigns. For a summary, analysis and arguments, please suggest that your readers read pros and cons the Official California Election Guide, pp. 82-89.’ ☞ Vote YES on Prop 89! CLEAN ENERGY Jeff: ‘Check out ‘Budgets Falling in Race to Fight Global Warming.’ Apparently, Thomas Edison was ahead of his time.’ In a conversation with Henry Ford and the tire tycoon Harvey Firestone in 1931, shortly before Edison died, he said: ‘I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.’ HOT AIR Dan Nachbar: ‘At 9:40 AM on Friday, October 27, the much anticipated maiden flight of the Personal Blimp prototype took place over Amherst, MA. Your humble correspondent was at the controls. This moment was nearly five years in the making. It was a great pleasure, and relief, to be aloft at last. After making a few short hops, I handed the ship over to my co-builder Mike Kuehlmuss. Mike also made a series of short hops and then executed the first 360 turn. In all, we flew untethered for 20 minutes before the increasing wind made further testing that morning too risky. Some pictures and a short video from the first flight are available here. The airship handled wonderfully, if I do say so myself. The tail-mounted engine/propeller arrangement worked just as expected. So, for the first time, there is a small blimp that can both control its lift (because it uses hot air rather than Helium as a lifting gas) and be easily steered (previous hot air blimps have had very poor steering). Flight testing will continue here in Massachusetts until the snow gets too deep. Between flights, we’re spending our time growing from ‘two guys in a garage building a blimp’ to a bona fide market-oriented start-up venture. So the hard work is really just beginning.’ ☞ Can a tie-in with Blimpie be far behind? Not sure where your polling place is? Other questions? Call 888-DEM-VOTE Observe problems at the polls?