Ready to Take the World Stage on a Moment’s Notice September 16, 2008January 3, 2017 But first . . . LEHMAN This is upsetting in a whole lot of ways, most specifically for my wonderful friends who worked there. Bill D. (an angry investment banker personally unscathed): ‘Fiscally responsible? This is now the SECOND time in 20 years that the US financial system has been brought to its knees and the US government has had to effectively nationalize large swaths of the financial system. And, in each case, this has been after around 8 yrs of Republican control over the levers of oversight and regulation. The first one being the savings and loan crisis (the Keating Five and all that) and now the current mortgage crisis. The deficit has ballooned after Clinton left us with a surplus. Would you trust the republicans with YOUR money? The GOP likes to say that government is the problem. It sure is… When they are in charge of it.’ CHICKENS They continue to come home to roost and they’re not all back. But the sun will come out tomorrow; America has an opportunity to regroup and renew itself (you know who I think has to win for that to take place); RSW, the ‘safe-ish way to short the market,’ won’t go up forever (though I doubt it has peaked); and if you eat right, walk or bike a lot, and do your crunches, you will feel better even if your index funds are down. (Peppy music helps too.) SEEDLINGS This is not the time to be taking risks you can’t afford. (The only time that makes sense is: never.) But if you are fortunate to have play money to supplement the core investments you have in (say) index funds and TIPS and cash, you might want to plant a seed every so often. For example, yesterday I bought 50,000 Boise warrants at 12 cents – and an $8 commission at Ameritrade. Chances are, in 2011, I’ll take a $6,008 loss when the warrants expire worthless. (If Boise goes under, I might get to take that loss much sooner.) The paper business is certainly not great right now. The stock is barely above $2. (The warrants were over $3 less than a year ago.) But what if, what if, what if. Three years is a long time. If the stock got back up to $9.50 (which I neither predict not expect, but than which I have seen stranger things happen), you have a twenty-fold long-term gain (the warrants give you the right to buy the stock at $7). Over the years, many such seeds I’ve planted have failed to germinate. These likely will, too. But not necessarily. And now . . . PALIN/McCAIN – #1 Bill M.: ‘Sarah Palin is driving me crazy. I maxed out to Hillary, but because I am a registered lobbyist, Obama won’t accept my contributions. I couldn’t even buy a yard sign on line for $8! What can I do?’ ☞ You can sign up to lobby your neighbors. But your experience with this draws a sharp contrast: The McCain campaign does take money from lobbyists. Is in fact run by lobbyists. Not to say lobbyists don’t do a lot of good for the world . . . or that the fine lobbyists for the tobacco industry and chemical industry don’t have your children’s health foremost in mind (hey, I own some Dupont) . . . or – especially – that it’s fair to lump the lobbyist hired to fight fuel efficiency standards (why do I think she’s a Republican?) with the lobbyist hired to advocate for stem cell research (why do I think he’s a Democrat?). Everyone and every industry should have a chance to have his or her or its say. But when lobbyists are hired to regulate their own industries, or when lobbyists write laws legislators pass in the middle of the night, we need a change. PALIN/McCAIN – #2 I know this has been widely expressed elsewhere, but watching Sarah Palin with Hillary Clinton on ‘Saturday Night Live’ (surely you’ve seen it by now?), I found myself fumbling around for a pen to write: ‘His number one issue is national security, so he chose as his understudy a spunky mom who can see Russia from her house?‘ This is deadly serious stuff – world security. He met her once and he figured that was adequate due diligence? This is exactly what you would do if you were the Party that’s great at winning elections but terrible at governing. If the security of our financial system had been Senator McCain’s number one issue, would he have chosen a spunky mom from Jersey City because, from her window, she could see Wall Street? And, yes, I know Bush 41 didn’t die, resign, or become incapacitated, so it didn’t matter that Dan Quayle was Vice President. Indeed, most Presidents don’t get replaced in mid-term. Only 9 out of 43. But it’s like insurance. Even if only 9 of 43 families lost their homes to fire at some point in their lives, wouldn’t it still be prudent to carry fire insurance? John McCain – who would never put politics ahead of national security – has made the judgment that Sarah Palin is ready to take the world stage on a moment’s notice. ‘Well, of course not,’ a Republican friend told me when I expressed that thought. ‘But first he needs to get elected and then he’ll fix it.’ Huh? I know how you fire an inadequate Treasury Secretary or FEMA Administrator. How do you can the Vice President? PALIN/McCAIN – #3 Sarah Palin is the most popular governor in the country – and I want to be very clear: I like her, too. I disagree with her on almost everything, from the effectiveness of ‘abstinence only’ sex education to her views on the Bush Doctrine. And I am alarmed at the possibility of her becoming President. But this is one kick-ass hockey mom. If it were a movie and nothing real were at stake, you bet I’d be rooting for her to win. Who wouldn’t? But it is not a movie. And where everyone is pointing out how small Wasilla is (‘the city of Wasilla,’ as Governor Palin calls it), and how small Alaska is (Brooklyn’s borough president represents four times as many people), what I never see noted is that Alaska has no state sales, property, or income tax. In fact, each resident gets $2,100 a year back from the state, from its oil wealth; and with the price of oil soaring, Governor Palin added yet another $1,200. (So if you have a family of seven – if I understand this right – the state pays you $23,100 for living there.) How hard is to be popular when instead of taxing the voters you’re giving them money? And when you’re pulling in more earmarks, per capita, than any other governor? (That said, all this fuss over earmarks may be overdone. As noted months ago, they amount to less than 1% of the federal budget. And not all that money is wasted – some new bridges and research grants are good investments.) Still, to be fair, she was voted Miss Congeniality long before she ever got to hand out free money or fight for earmarks. So I don’t dispute that people truly like her. I like her. I just don’t see in her another Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, Angela Merkel – or Hillary Clinton. I don’t blame Governor Palin. She didn’t represent herself to John McCain – I assume – as anything but what she is. It was he who concluded that ‘she knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America.’ Straight talk from a fine judge of talent. Can’t wait to see who he picks to run FEMA. Senator McCain acknowledges that economics is not his strong suit (he’s reading Alan Greenspan’s book) and Governor Palin says she got a D in macroeconomics from one of the six colleges she went to on her road to an undergraduate degree. I am not mocking her – and I’m certainly not calling her stupid. I am mocking the notion that she is qualified to be President. Which it seems to me is a baseline qualification for being Vice President.
Hidden Strength; Hidden Weakness September 15, 2008March 28, 2017 Whatever the polls show going into Election Day, we won’t know the results until late that night. In recent years that’s always been true; but it will be even more true this time, for two reasons. First is that it’s hard to know how much the polls may be skewed by people saying they will vote for Obama, because in their heads they know they should; but not voting for him because, well .. . you know. My hope is that as people get to know Obama over the 50 days ahead, this factor, however large or small it currently is, will diminish as they increasingly come to see him as so many of us already do: the warm, wise, steady, exceptionally talented American success story – and loving dad – that he is. Second is that it’s hard to know just how powerful the Democratic under-the-radar grass roots effort will prove to be.The polls can’t weight heavily as “likely voters” millions who’ve never voted before, or millions of “sporadic” voters. But this time they might turn out. (To encourage them in your neighborhood, sign up for the Neighbor to Neighbor program.) We’ll just have to see. So today I offer two items, one touching on each of these unknowables: WHY WE MAY WIN COLORADO There are lots of reasons, but this one – another field report from Alex, my pediatrician pal who took six weeks out to organize for Obama – puts it in very human terms: I have been home in Los Angeles for 24 hours. I finished my Obama Organizing Fellowship, and wanted to send out one last reflection on my time working on Obama’s Campaign for Change in South Eastern Colorado. I am going to miss the friends I made. I enjoyed my colleagues on the campaign; we worked side-by-side almost 100 hours a week. But I also developed a few deep friendships with community members. The Obama Campaign’s mantra is “respect, empower, include.” At first I thought this was a little weird to hear staffers refer to this, but I now get it. The Campaign focuses on building relationships with people in the community and empowering them. As an organizer I spent most of my time sitting down in coffee shops, in living rooms, and on front porches talking with people. I would explain why I decided to forgo my first job after Residency and work for free for 6 weeks on The Campaign. At the end of our “one on one,” I would do the “hard ask.” I would explain that it’s not enough for the two of us to agree that our country needs change. I would ask that they host a house meeting and invite everyone they know so we can recruit more volunteers. If they didn’t want to do this, then I would invite them to attend a training session to learn to register people to vote or to help with phone calls. I saw this as advocating for that person in the same way I advocate for my patients. I also try to empower my patients to take control of their children’s lives. Pediatricians practice community organizing daily. The focus on relationship building works. I left CO having made a few close friendships with locals. Theresa is a 55 year old Latina woman who is hard drinking, chain smoking, and has a loving family. She is an ex-Army vet and ex-medic. At the foot of her driveway is a sign that reads “I am Latina and I vote.” She is Catholic and pro-life, but disagrees with Bush/ McCain’s foreign policy, economic policy, and basically the whole Republican domestic agenda. Her house is decorated with crosses (she explained to me, “I am Mexican, after all”). After visiting her on my last day in CO, she handed me a two-foot faux stone cross and said, “I have no idea what religion you are, but you gave me the power to become politically active and I just wanted to give you something that is special to me.” She gave me her favorite cross. Another volunteer I recruited became very active in The Campaign. I spoke to her almost every day because she volunteered a few hours of work a day. Every few days, she would tell me that on reflection, she could not believe that she had become so politically active. I trained her to teach voter registration to her neighbors and she led regular training sessions out of her living room. She is a special-ed teacher, in her 40’s, living in Rocky Ford, a town of a few hundred people. But now she is also a community leader for Obama in Southern Colorado and vital to our winning in her county. ☞ Multiply this story hundreds or thousands of times in every state, and you get a sense of what might be possible. If you’d like to inspire your neighbors to get involved, I repeat: sign up. HOW RACISM WORKS This letter to the editor recently appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class? What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said “I do” to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards? What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to painkillers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of the “Keating 5”? What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker? If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are? This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference. — Kelvin LaFond, Fort Worth ☞ And to a certain extent, it likely always will. But how much? And how much, specifically, on November 4? We’ll just have to see. …(Third Estimated Tax Payment Due Today)…
The Big Picture And Five Video Clips September 12, 2008March 11, 2017 THE BIG PICTURE Kennedy lowered Eisenhower’s top federal income tax bracket from 90% to 70%. Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter left it there until Ronald Reagan lowered it to 50% in his first term – still too high – and then to 28% in his second, which overshot and launched us on our disastrous National Debt spiral. (Less than a trillion dollars when Reagan and the Republicans took charge, it will be TEN trillion by the time Bush finally leaves. That’s a nation-damaging 70%-of-GDP-and-rising, up from a much more manageable 30%.) Clinton took the top rate back up to 39.6%, turned the deficits into surpluses by the end of his Administration, and urged that we use that surplus to ‘Save Social Security first,’ which was another way of saying, ‘shore up the nation’s finances and economic reserves.’ Empirically, the Clinton/Gore tax rates seemed about right: Almost everyone prospered, very definitely including ‘the rich’; and our finances were sound. His successor, our very own George W. Bush, immediately went back to the old Republican let-our-kids-and-grandkids-pay-the-bill ways, lowering the top bracket on earned income modestly, but slashing the top bracket on income from wealth. If you were an heiress with a $40 million capital gain, he cut your tax on that gain from $8 million to $6 million, adding the $2 million difference to our National Debt. If you were that same heiress with $4 million a year in dividends, you saw your tax slashed from about $1.6 million to $600,000 – with, again, the extra $1 million a year added to our National Debt. These are the tax cuts Senator McCain wants to make permanent, adding to them by letting the estate tax expire – so billionheirs inherit tax-free – and lowering the corporate income tax so that, if you are that heiress, the corporation you own stock in will be able to pay you a higher dividend. All of which might be fine, if we could afford it. I like rich people. By some measures – though not remotely by Senator McCain’s – I am a rich person. (Asked to define the point at which one moves from being middle class to being rich, Senator McCain answered, “if you’re just talking about income, how about five million?”) But we can’t afford it. We are watching our country go down the tubes, month by month, and we need a strong, smart, inspiring young leader – who gets it – to set a new course and get us all pulling together (or as close together as a democracy ever pulls) toward the brighter days that are absolutely possible . . . but – if the last eight years of Republican stewardship have proven anything – are by no means assured. MORE OF THE SAME – TWO 30-SECOND SPOTS You won’t see this ad in safely-blue states, but in the toss-up states the point is being made that McBush both think the economy is strong. They just don’t get it. And in this rather delightful one, the point is made that McCain, while not precisely the same as Bush, is pretty darn close – a point that Barack Obama has been making at practically every event this week. As in: Now, for nineteen months of this campaign, we’ve been talking about changing the ways of Washington. Changing the policies of George W. Bush. Changing this country we love. And you know what, folks? We must be on to something – because now everyone’s talking about change. I don’t know if you caught any of the performances in St. Paul last week, but it basically looked like every other convention they’ve had for the last few decades. Lots of yelling. Lots of name-calling. Lots of saying things that aren’t true. But this time, a whole lot of folks who’ve been running Washington for the last eight years actually got up there and told us that they are just the people to change it. They are basically asking us to put the bull back in charge of the China shop. Seriously. John McCain, who’s been in Washington for twenty-six years, actually got up there on stage with what looked like his eight or ninth house in the background, and he said, “I’ve got news for the old, do-nothing crowd in Washington: change is coming.” Ok, Senator, well you let us know when it gets here because after twenty-six years we haven’t seen any signs of it yet. Then John McCain stood up and said that if he’s President, it’s over – over – for the all the special interests and lobbyists in Washington – which I guess means that his campaign manager’s out of a job. And his campaign chairman. And the five other corporate lobbyists who actually run his campaign. They better watch out because John McCain’s coming for them. He said that, quote, “We were elected to change Washington. But we let Washington change us.” And you know what? He’s right. Because today, the John McCain who once showed occasional independence from his party has racked up a record of voting with George Bush 90% of the time. There’s a lot of words you can use to describe that kind of judgment, but change isn’t one of them. Change isn’t four more years of tax breaks for the richest corporations in America, but not one penny of tax relief for more than 100 million middle-class families. Change isn’t four more years of an energy policy that feeds our oil addiction with more oil and $4 billion more for the oil companies. Change isn’t four more years of tax breaks for the very companies that ship American jobs overseas. That’s not change. I know something about change. I’m a candidate who’s actually taken on the lobbyists and special interests, and I’ve won. I did it in Illinois, when I passed reform to stop politicians from pocketing campaign contributions for their own private use. I did in Washington, when I stood up to leaders in both parties to pass reform that stopped the lobbyist gift-giving and the free meals and the fancy jet rides subsidized by big corporations. Washington lobbyists do not run my campaign, they have not funded my campaign, and they will not drown out the voices of working people when I am President. That’s what I call change. Change is a tax code that doesn’t reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it. I cut taxes for working families and I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of working families when I am President. That’s change. Change is creating jobs in America by giving tax breaks to the companies that actually stay here. Change is an energy policy that will eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in ten years by investing in wind power and solar power and the fuel-efficient cars of the future that we will build right here in America. That’s change. Change is a health care plan that will lower your premiums and cover you no matter what. Change is when your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses, and when we finally keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day’s work in this country, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons. That’s the change I’m offering in this race. That’s the change we need in this country. And that’s the change we’ll have when I am President of the United States. MAVERICKS? Nun-uhn. DINOSAURS All actors are idiots, of course, so their views should be ridiculed (well, except Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger and the late Charlton Heston), but here is a clip from Matt Damon (who must be an idiot, because he went to Harvard) – and he asks an interesting question. (The truth is, of course, actors are not idiots and neither is Sarah Palin. There’s lots to like about her. But as President of the United States? As the most powerful person on a planet in crisis? Just because Dan Quayle never got tapped doesn’t mean it can’t happen. It several times has – once, after just 31 days.) LIES And one last video for your weekend entertainment, showcasing some of the messages John McCain has approved. THE REAL McCAIN Buy it for everyone you know – lest we make another colossal error and choose the wrong man.
Apology September 11, 2008March 11, 2017 WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU Click here to see whether your taxes would decrease – and by about how much – if Obama were elected. The site then goes on to contrast the McCain and Obama tax plans. GRABBING A BEER WITH THE PRESIDENT Of course, there’s more to this election than your taxes, but let’s face it: for many people, that – and which candidate they just like better – is how they make up their minds. It’s an interesting dynamic. If you were selecting a brain surgeon for your child, would you choose the one that left the most money in your pocket? The one with whom you’d most like to grab a beer? I’m not saying being President is brain surgery, but you’re definitely entrusting your children’s lives to your choice. And it is the most important job in the world. So I tend to go for intellect and temperament over likeability. The good news is that, first, as that tax calculator shows, Obama will likely leave more money in your pocket. And that, second – at least in my view – Obama just happens to be the more likeable candidate. He has that great unforced smile, attracts enthusiastic crowds, and, at the end of the day, just seems to be more comfortable in his own skin. LIPSTICK The Republicans have put lipstick on a pig and called it a plan for change. Where’s the change in making tax cuts for the wealthy permanent? Where’s the change in saying you don’t mind staying in Iraq for 100 years? Where’s the change in vowing to appoint ‘clones’ of the Bush Supreme Court Justices? That was Senator McCain’s word: clones. Clones are not about change, clones are about more of the same. And frankly, where’s the change in mocking and belittling Democrats like Al Gore (who never said he invented the Internet, but actually did more to nurture it than almost anyone) and like John Kerry with his three purple hearts? (Remember the purple-heart Band-Aids Republican Convention-goers were all supplied with to mock his service?) Where’s the change in mocking community organizers who spend their youth trying to lift people up? Or in mocking Democrats for their ties to Hollywood. Didn’t Ronald Reagan have a tie to Hollywood? Hmmm. What was it? It’s on the tip of my tongue. Oh! I know – he was an actor! APOLOGY They want an apology for using the word lipstick? How about an apology for what they’ve done to this country these last eight years? They’ve cut the value of the dollar nearly in half. They’ve borrowed $4 trillion from our kids to give tax cuts to billionaires. They’ve sent thousands of our kids to die invading the wrong country. They’ve diminished our standing in the world. They’ve done nothing on health care. They’ve held back stem cell research. They’ve fought against worker protections and against benefits for returning veterans. They’ve installed corporate lobbyists as regulators. (Their Interior Department, we learned on last night’s news, was literally in bed with the oil industry.) They’ve dug us into a deep, deep hole. And they want an apology? The only thing more ridiculous than their wanting an apology from us is their wanting four more years. AND YES . . . I do remember what day this is – and our great friend, Rob Deraney, whom we lost that day. (It was actually Rob who introduced Charles and me.) But the best way to honor the memory of those we lost is not, as former Mayor Rudy Gu911iani recently did, mock community organizers – the same mayor who insisted on putting the City’s emergency control center in the World Trade Center – but rather to help get our great country back on track. Tomorrow: The Big Picture
Free Video Clips, Expensive T-Shirts September 10, 2008March 11, 2017 RUNWAY TO CHANGE Click here to see 26 designer Obama T-shirts and tote bags, priced to win. THE REAL McCAIN Buy it for everyone you know – lest we make another colossal error and choose the wrong man. FIVE McCAIN VIDEOS They play one after another. With more here. Tomorrow: The Big Picture and More Boiling Water
Not Shouting Fire on a Largely Deserted Street September 9, 2008March 11, 2017 THE PROUD BOYFRIEND (AGAIN) Remember Dara Torres, the 41-year-old mom who won three silver medals swimming at last month’s Olympics? Click here to see her walking down the runway of Charles’s spring show this past Sunday. I love that Newsweek led the day’s fashion coverage with this – but how could they not? Dara turns out to be about the nicest, most positive, down-to-earth woman you’ll ever meet. Dara Torres went for fashion gold on Sunday, when she modeled two looks in Charles Nolan’s utterly charming collection. Nolan’s show is always enjoyable, thanks in part to his commitment to the inclusion of “real” people along with models on the runway. This season’s batch included a holistic healer, a grandmother, a ferry boat captain, and oh yeah, a 12-time Olympic medalist. His inspiration was sportswear of the 1920s, with fanciful — yet eminently wearable — dropped-waist dresses, beautifully tailored topcoats, and slouchy, cropped chinos, in rich shades of olive, khaki, cream and navy, with flashes of intense turquoise and neon green for good measure. Nolan’s line is sold at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beachwood Place. One of the many things I like about his collection from season to season is its agelessness. Through impeccable cut and a light hand with fabrics, Nolan’s clothes look equally at home on models who range in age from 15 to 70-something. Talk about Olympic caliber. ☞ Meanwhile, Charles’s Dalmatian-like nose and quick wit saved the day last night, in a totally unrelated incident (but since I’m bragging). We were walking on West 56th Street when Charles said he smelled something burning. I smelled it, too, once he mentioned it, but made no connection between smelling it and doing anything about it. This is New York. All kinds of smells. And fires are handled on the 11 o’clock news, by firefighters – how did this concern us? Even so, Charles traced the smell to a pile of black plastic garbage bags outside a restaurant, more or less neatly placed next to a tower of cardboard recyclables, all awaiting the night’s garbage pickup. Someone had apparently tossed a still-lit cigarette butt onto the pile of garbage bags, and it had apparently melted through to some now-smoldering rags inside. I was slow to grasp the potential problem (’12-alarm fire consumes midtown block; film at eleven’), but Charles ripped open the bag and flung himself atop the blaze – well, he carefully extracted the smoldering rag and stomped it out – and it was, in all, a complete non-event. But it was interesting . . . because as we were walking away, and I finally focused on the situation, I realized that within a few minutes, the smolder would likely have become a blaze, igniting the adjacent tower of cardboard, which in turn could have ignited the wooden scaffolding overhead, which in turn could have led to live coverage on Eyewitness News. SOLD OUT Apologies to those who saw yesterday’s link to this evening’s event for Barack Obama with Sarah Jessica Parker – by noon, the last of 400 tickets was gone. THE REAL McCAIN Buy it for everyone you know – lest we make another colossal error and choose the wrong man.
The Polar Bears Are In Hot Water A Cooking Tip September 8, 2008March 11, 2017 PRAYING FOR A PIPELINE Listen to the Republican Vice Presidential nominee exhorting worshippers to pray for a pipeline. I have little standing in matters of faith, but it strikes me as oddly unChristian to mock community organizing amongst the downtrodden . . . and yet pray for the construction of an oil pipeline. No? Oddly unChristian, yet completely in line with today’s Republican Party. They mock Al Gore, they mock John Kerry (and his Silver Star and three Purple Hearts), and now they mock Barack Obama. Only Sarah Palin – who lobbied for the Bridge to Nowhere, and raised taxes in Wasilla, and left her tiny town, which had been debt-free, $22 million in hock, and says she got a D in macro-economics at the University of Idaho – only she has what it takes to cope with our country’s enormous economic challenges and regain the respect of the world. She and her running mate, the hot-tempered ‘maverick,’ fifth from the bottom of his class of 899, whose campaign is run by lobbyists and who voted 95% of the time with George W. Bush. To augment her prayer and facilitate the pipeline, Governor Palin has sued to strip the polar bear of its Threatened Species status (tell that to your 10-year-old and ask her how she wants you to vote in November), ignoring the scientists (here we go again) – or worse. ‘Essentially, she lied,’ said University of Alaska professor Rick Steiner, according to ABC News. Both she and Senator McCain are fine Americans and remarkable people. But they are running this campaign out of the same mocking, dishonest Republican playbook (Obama is ready to lower almost everyone’s taxes, not raise them), in the urgent Republican hope of getting four more years. SAVE MONEY, TIME, AND THE PLANET The fastest way to grill, roast, bake, boil or broil something, of course, is to microwave it. This makes Charles a little crazy – he even roasts toast, which can’t be an efficient use of energy, though it’s darn good toast – but I am the kind of guy whose artichokes take six minutes instead of 45, and whose baked potatoes, back when I ate baked potatoes – likewise. (The truly fastest way to grill, roast, bake, boil or broil something, is not to cook it in the first place. Those readers trying to lose weight, save money, or accustomed to scraping extra mashed potatoes into the garbage, have doubtless considered this.) But if you are one of those gourmets who insist on boiling things, I have a suggestion. Get one of these, if you don’t already have one – a kettle – and bring your water to a boil fast, without a lot of heat escaping, and with a whistle to alert you to when the water is boiling*, so you don’t keep it boiling longer than you have to, steaming up your kitchen, and, if you’ve lost track and become engrossed in a rerun of Law and Order, boiling all the water away, only to realize it when you begin to smell metallic fumes – which can’t be good for you, and which can set off your smoke detector and scare you half to death, and lead to your falling off whatever you’ve climbed on to try to silence the damn thing – and then, with your pot molten and bone dry, have to start the boiling process all over again. (Not that this has ever happened to me.) Okay? Let me recap. You boil water in a kettle. And now the kettle is whistling. You return to the kitchen, deftly shift the kettle off the hot burner (which you leave burning), switching it for the dry pot of pasta or potatoes or shrimp or whatever you were going to boil . . . even as you pour two or three quarts of boiling water from the kettle into that pot, over the pasta, potatoes, or shrimp. Tada! You’ve saved time, money (by using less energy), and, in a tiny but real way, lived a little lighter on the land. The engineers in the crowd will note that much the same result could have been achieved simply by using a lid. But (leaving aside whatever extra heat escapes from under the lid that a sealed kettle would retain), the problem with this is that, to know when the water has reached its boil – sans a kettle’s whistle – you have to stand there in the kitchen and watch the pot. I will not insult this readership by supplying the next line. *I think the model I linked you to has a whistle, but it doesn’t say. COME MEET SARAH JESSICA PARKER IN CHARLES’ STUDIO TOMORROW If you happen to live in the New York area and want to help Barack Obama, check this out. It could be fun.
How Much Life Insurance Would the McCains’ 35-Year-Old Son Need (If They HAD a 35-Year-Old Son and If He Had One Infant Child and Had Converted His GLDD Warrants Into Stock)? September 5, 2008January 4, 2017 NEW TOPIC PLEASE Dennis King: ‘I lived through 2000 and 2004, the other highly ‘political’ years for your site. I can remember having the same reaction then as your Friend yesterday who wants a ‘New Topic Please.’ However, in retrospect maybe you did not go far enough. No matter which side of the debate one is on, most would agree that things would be quite a bit different if the elections had gone the other way. The best way to help people make the upcoming decision is to throw a lot at them so that they can be better informed. Of course you walk a fine line. Throw too much and some will duck or walk away to avoid it. Not good. Give us a few other topics as well and many will stick around sometimes even paying attention to a few of the really important ones. This of course will mean a lot more work for you. No problem . . . just double the subscription price.’ Brian A.: ‘As a Republican (supposedly) from Arizona, I really wanted to vote for McCain, but Sarah Palin was such a poor choice that this will now make it three presidential elections in a row that I vote Democrat. I’d like your opinion on how much life insurance I need: I’m 35, my wife stays home with our one-year-old, I make about $100K/year, and we have about $350K in a combination of 401(k)/IRAs/savings. We rent, with no debt. Does $500K level premium term life insurance for 20 years sound about right?‘ ☞ Finally back to insurance. In the first place, it sounds as though you’re doing great. In the second, take a look at intelliquote.com to get an idea of your options. If you’re in good health and have never smoked, the kind of coverage you’re thinking about should cost you around $400 a year. Doubling it to $1 million would cost only about $650. There’s no magic answer, and lots of subsidiary questions: Do you already have some group coverage at work? Have you considered the Social Security survivors’ benefits your heirs would receive? Are there affluent grandparents in the picture? Is your prospective widow someone who could go out and earn a good living if need be? On the off chance you die within 20 years, will you have the good sense to do it in an accident where some deep-pocketed malfeasor can be proven to have been at fault? Any of those factors might lessen your need for coverage. But I plugged your numbers and reasonable assumptions into the ‘insurance needs’ module of my trusty old copy of Managing Your Money (long since orphaned) and it came out with $473,000 – so your $500,000 is a good ballpark. Thorsten Kril: ‘Anne’s story about Sarah Palin was kind of hard to believe but the WSJ has a story which confirms many points. I.e. as mayor she fired most department heads, not because they were corrupt or anything but because they had different opinions than her. Like the police chief who did not want that people can carry around concealed weapons in town. It also confirms that she approached the librarian about censoring what books would be on the shelf. Imagine having somebody like this as vice president or, should the worst happen, as president.’ Jim Reed: ‘I love ‘The Daily Show.’ If you are in the public spotlight and say one thing today and something exactly opposite later, they will show the videos back to back. Last night they featured Karl Rove, Bill O’Reilly, Dick Morris and Nancy Photenhauer. You can watch it here.’ John Baer: ‘Why don’t you list the debunking websites in your column again? That should be enlightening for all.’ ☞ Fightthesmears.com and factcheck.org are good places to start. THE SPEECH Let me spare you thoughts on Cindy and John McCain’s speeches at least until Monday. Suffice it to say, the McCains mean well, and they care, but they are not the change we need; and voting 95% with Bush is not being a maverick; and misleading people into thinking their taxes will go up when they will go down is not straight talk; and if the Clinton/Gore tax rates were such a drag on the economy, how come 22.8 million new jobs were created? and if cutting taxes for the wealthy stimulates the economy and still allows for a balanced budget, how come the economy is in the crapper and 75% of our $10 trillion National Debt (by the time Bush finally leaves) will have been racked up under just three of our 43 Presidents: Reagan, Bush, and Bush? Don’t get me started. THE REAL McCAIN Buy it for everyone you know – lest we make another colossal error and choose the wrong man. GLDD This is the ‘spaculation’ that began a couple of years ago as Aldabra warrants at about 70 cents each (and then more at 35 cents each) – a SPAC that went on to acquire Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, symbol GLDD, that left us with a choice. Either sell our warrants for $4 and change – but pay short-term capital gains tax. Or pony up $5 in cash to convert at least some of the warrants to stock, start the clock ticking again, wait a year, and perhaps then sell – perhaps at an even greater profit – with less of a tax to pay on the gain. (For those who’d bought the warrants inside a tax-deferred retirement account, the choice was simple: just sell and take the profit. Likewise, those who’d bought early enough for the warrants already to have gone long-term.) Now a year has passed, and it turns out that the first choice, despite the higher tax, would have been a lot better: a relatively quick $3.50 profit on each warrant, less ordinary income tax. Choice #2, ponying up $5 in cash to convert each warrant into a GLDD share meant committing a total of $5.70 or $5.35 to each share (depending on what you paid for the warrants) . . . and with the stock around $7.50 today, more like a $1.80 long-term gain. A smaller gain on a not-so-quick profit. I did some of each. I sold all the warrants that had already gone long-term and even some of those that were still short-term; but converted many of the warrants to stock, thinking that one day the stock might be $12 or $14. I still think that; but times are tough, so with GLDD nicely in the black, I lightened up on what was a very heavy holding. Which probably means the stock is headed straight up.
Savings Bond Calculator (Sort of.) September 4, 2008March 11, 2017 NEW TOPIC PLEASE! A friend: ‘Please give us the date of the next column which will not have the words Obama, McCain, Democrat, or Republican, so we can mark it on our calendars. Otherwise, we are going to cut your salary in half.’ ☞ I feel your pain. I am so sick of this. Truly. But do we really want to say, decades from now, that when the world hung in the balance, we spared ourselves thinking about it and wrote about loud sneezes instead? Or about not sneezing with your mouth full? Because the world actually does kind of hang in the balance. It really does matter who’s in charge. The Republicans have done a dreadful job for us, weakening the dollar, weakening the military, diminishing our standing in the world, diminishing the role of science and reason in our governance, exploding our debt, and jeopardizing the future of our children. But they are very, very good at winning elections. Rudy Giuliani did a terrific job last night of mocking and belittling Barack Obama. Sarah Palin, likewise. Norm Coleman zinged Obama with . . . ‘John McCain would rather spend his time creating 200,000 new jobs in America than talking to 200,000 Germans in Berlin.’ Wide grin! Delighted applause! But of course while Obama was talking to 200,000 Germans in Berlin, John McCain wasn’t creating 200,000 new jobs in America – he was having lunch at Schmidt’s ‘Sausage Haus.’ Mitt Romney zinged Michelle Obama with . . . ‘There has never been a day when I was not proud to be an American.’ What does that even mean? My-Lai? Proud! Abu-Ghraib? Proud! Japanese internment? Proud. Napalming Vietnam? Proud! Near the bottom of the industrialized world in math and science education? Proud! Highest prison population? Proud! At the top in violent crime? Proud! Are we really going to chart our course based on who’s more mindlessly proud of everything America has done? Of course we’re all, on balance, deeply proud of America – and with very good reason. But do we really want to entrust our future to the candidate who wears the largest lapel pin? Every Republican Convention speaker talks about how McCain will cut taxes (at no cost! who needs taxes! the military will pay for itself! the interest on our mostly-Republican $10 trillion National Debt will just pay itself! we can just keep borrowing! the chickens will never come home to roost!) . . . whereas Obama – who has made it crystal clear he will lower taxes for 95% of Americans – will, they say, raise them. Raise, lower – what difference does it make as long as you smile, wear an American flag, and make fun of bright, thoughtful people? (A friend marveled to me today how the Europeans pride themselves on choosing leaders who are their best and brightest, where we mock our best and brightest and go for the guy near the bottom of his class. Bill Clinton – the Rhodes Scholar – was an exception, and all we got from that was eight years of peace and prosperity, a strong dollar, and the respect of the world.) John McCain is a maverick, they say (even though he says he’s voted with Bush more than 90% of the time, ‘higher than even a lot of my Republican colleagues’), who sticks to principle above all else, except when he doesn’t . . . calling evangelical leaders ‘agents of intolerance’ in 2000, then embracing them in 2007; criticizing tax breaks for the best off and now embracing them; speaking out against waterboarding, then voting for it; against ethanol and later for it; against overturning Roe v. Wade, now for it; and on and on. Not to say he’s alone in changing positions from time to time . . . but some kind of unique straight talker? Give me a break. Rudolph Giuliani mocked Obama for, among other things, voting ‘present’ 130 times while in the Illinois legislature. He did not mention that this was 130 times out of 4,000, or that there seem to have been good reasons for many of those votes. Or that in 2007 John McCain missed – ‘by a wide margin,’ according to The Real McCain – more Senate votes than any other senator except Tim Johnson (who was in a coma part of the time), including all the others running for President. Where Obama voted ‘present’ about 3% of the time, McCain missed 261 of 468 votes in the first 15 months of the current Congress – about 56% of the votes – including a number of key ones. Like a vote on the Improving America’s Security Act that codified the 9/11 Commission recommendations. Is it possible he didn’t want to go on record with most of his Republican colleagues in opposing this? The Real McCain sites the example of a vote on $1.2 billion for local law enforcement enhancement that was sandwiched between 15 other votes that day, all the others of which McCain did cast. Is ducking a vote better than voting ‘present’ to register an objection to it? The point is, the Republicans are great at mocking and belittling and Swift-Boating. But the result has been eight years of tremendous harm to our country, with the very real possibility of four more. There’s no denying that Sarah Palin is spunky and appealing – but that doesn’t make the teaching of creationism in high school science classes a good idea, or the teaching of ‘abstinence only’ an effective way to protect our teenagers against disastrous mistakes. And is she really ready to be a world leader like Barack Obama or Joe Biden or Al Gore or Hillary Clinton? Or, for that matter, General Eisenhower or Richard Nixon or George Bush Sr.? I just don’t see Sarah Palin in that league. If it hasn’t already hit your inbox, this strikes me as an informed, balanced biographical recap by one of her neighbors in Wasilla: ABOUT SARAH PALIN by Anne Kilkenny I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city. She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because she is a “babe”. It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months. She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby. She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym. She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit. Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans. Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters. She’s smart. Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign. Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a ‘fiscal conservative’. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents. The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing. While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city. As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s surplus, borrow for needs. She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them. While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day. Sarah complained about the ‘old boy’s club’ when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys”. Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below). As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he ‘intimidated’ her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support. She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness. Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her. When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the ‘old boys’ club’ when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined). As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the ‘bridge to nowhere’ after it became clear that it would be unwise not to. As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as ‘anti-pork’. She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative. Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her ‘Sarah Barracuda’ because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her. As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as ‘AGIA’ that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum. Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned ‘as a private citizen’ against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species. McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it. CLAIM VS FACT •“Hockey mom”: true for a few years •“PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since •“NRA supporter”: absolutely true •social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional). •pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it. •“Pro-life”: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation •“Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000. •political maverick: not at all •gutsy: absolutely! •open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions. •has a developed philosophy of public policy: no •”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR. •fiscal conservative: not by my definition! •pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards. •pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents •pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history. •pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union. WHY AM I WRITING THIS? First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations. Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that “Bad things happen when good people stay silent”. Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings. Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life. Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s attempt at censorship. Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable. CAVEATS I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can’t recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall–they are swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers. You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my “about 5,000”, up to 9,000. The day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s. Anne Kilkenny annekilkenny@hotmail.com August 31, 2008 SAVINGS BOND CALCULATOR Same friend: “When you do start reporting about money again, you might want to give out the following address – www.savingsbonds.com. Put in your bond’s security number and purchase date, it gives you today’s value. Works even for series I bonds.”
National Security September 3, 2008March 11, 2017 McCAIN’S FELLOW POW Voting for Obama. Watch him here. And from his essay circling the Internet: . . . John was offered, and refused, “early release.” Many of us were given this offer. It meant speaking out against your country and lying about your treatment to the press. You had to “admit” that the U.S. was criminal and that our treatment was “lenient and humane.” So I, like numerous others, refused the offer. This was obviously something none of us could accept. Besides, we were bound by our service regulations, Geneva Conventions and loyalties to refuse early release until all the POW’s were released, with the sick and wounded going first. . . . . . . [H]aving been a POW is no special qualification for being President of the United States. The two jobs are not the same, and POW experience is not, in my opinion, something I would look for in a presidential candidate. . . . He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced first hand. Folks, quite honestly that is not the finger I want next to that red button. . . . GENERAL WESLEY CLARK Voting for Obama. Watch him here. TODAY’S MILITARY Giving to Obama. Read it here: AP – Military donations favor Obama WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. soldiers have donated more presidential campaign money to Democrat Barack Obama than to Republican John McCain, a reversal of previous campaigns in which military donations tended to favor GOP White House hopefuls, a nonpartisan group reported Thursday. . . . NATIONAL SECURITY The world yearns for an America, and an American President, it can root for and be inspired by again. And HAVING most of the world on our side again would be good for our national security. Who would be more effective? A tough-talking, impulsive President seen as an extension of the Bush regime, who has trouble remembering whether Iran is Shiia or Sunni and thinks Afghanistan borders Iraq? Or one who has the nations of the world waving American flags again. THE REAL McCAIN Buy it for everyone you know – lest we make another colossal error and choose the wrong man.