High Notes October 16, 2009March 16, 2017 THE MARCH IN TWO MINUTES AND 53 SECONDS My friend Eric made this. You’ll feel as though you were there. I’ve watched it five times (and I was there). I particularly love the sign one marcher carried – “I can’t believe we still have to protest this crap.” This is America, after all – no? Pass it on. AND HOW ABOUT THESE VIOLINS? They are from a town with a 12% unemployment rate. Their school is seriously underfunded and their music program is being cut back. Yet Ohio’s Newark High School Sinfonia tied for first runner-up at the National Orchestra Cup this past April. Just listen to them play.* *It’s okay to make breakfast while you do; no fancy close-ups or anything – just the music. I have lots of other stuff to write about today, but these two are just too good to dilute with anything else. Have a great weekend.
Rethinking Afghanistan October 15, 2009March 16, 2017 PRGX In July, Aristides’s Chris Brown suggested that PRGX might double. Now that it more than has, he writes: “I’ve sold most of our PRGX. The move from $3.10 to $6.66 was justified, and I don’t hate the stock here at 10 times forward earnings, but the shares have gone from very very undervalued to just somewhat undervalued, and that is a good reason to take some profits.” You want another reason to take some profits? On anything? Dow 10,000. Yes, I know “a bull market climbs a wall of worry,” so maybe my worries bode well. But I’d be very cautious here, my occasional nutty speculative suggestions notwithstanding. RETHINK AFGHANISTAN “Greenwald and his team ask Afghans themselves if American troops are making them safer. The answers are no, no, no, a thousand times no,” writes Gail Sheehy in her review of “Rethink Afghanistan.” I’ve not yet watched it, but I am reassured that the President and his team are so carefully and deliberately rethinking Afghanistan, whatever they conclude. BOGO AFGHANISTAN The film’s basic pitch: “Congress should begin debate on civilian alternatives to a failed military-based approach to bringing peace and security to the region.” With that in mind . . . Remember the guy I wrote about last week? The irrepressible Mark Bent, whose solar-powered “BoGo Lights” have a special significance for the millions of families around the world with no electricity? (“Their Lives Stop When The Sun Sets. Imagine! For $10, you can give a family several hours of light each night for a child to study by.”) Well, now Mark has another idea. Ninety percent of Afghans have no electricity and the Number One thing they want, he says, is light at night. What if our troops could clip half a dozen of Bogo Lights to their belts each morning and hand them, personally, to families that need them. On one side is the solar panel. On the other, in Afghan, could be a message: “Please help us leave your country and get home to our families. We miss them terribly. But we can’t leave until you are more safe. In the meantime, and long after were gone, we hope this gift from the American people helps light up your life.” With 50,000 troops handing out half a dozen lights each day it would take just weeks to touch the hearts and minds of millions. And maybe even demonstrate the potential of modern technology, versus the appeal of Seventh Century fundamentalism. At less than $10 in such quantity, we could cover the whole country for $50 million. Nothing, in the scheme of things. AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT Finally, there’s this thoughtful analysis presented as an open letter to the President. We learn about the Afghans, the Pakistanis, the Kashmiris, the Pashtuns . . . and the the Afghan code of Pashtunwali that keeps Bin Laden alive (but under which, even so, he could be rendered harmless). If you want an overview of what’s really going on, take 5 minutes to read it. “We are courting long-term strategic defeat,” Polk writes. But he offers solutions.
Paper, Puppets, and Pols October 14, 2009March 16, 2017 BZ WARRANTS Boise Paper seems to be doing pretty well, announcing preliminary third quarter results yesterday that Lazard Capital Markets termed “strong.” (“Overall, the results confirm our belief that Boise is able to generate significant cash flow in the current environment and is well positioned to outperform in a recovery.”) With the warrants now up 45-fold from last October’s mention, I’ve sold more than half. These warrants could still double or triple – or they could expire worthless. (You will recall that they give you the right to buy the underlying stock, BZ, at $7.50 any time until June 18, 2011. With the stock currently around $6, the right to buy it at $7.50 right now is worthless. But imagine if the shares hit $10 again before June 18, 2011.* In that glorious if somewhat unlikely event, the right to pay just $7.50 for them would be worth $2.50. And if the stock hit $14.50, the ceiling at which the company can force you to take your gains – stranger things have happened** – then the warrants, about 90 cents today, would be worth $7.00. So I’m not selling all of them here.) *For a little rueful perspective, here’s how the world looked to at least one BZ observer the last time it hit $10. **Although I can’t think of one. ACT ON PRINCIPLES If you happen to be a reader consumed with LGBT equality – not a requirement of your subscription – check out actonprinciples.org. A “Public Whip Count” at lower left lets you see the current Congressional tally on passage of various bills. Other features let you help move those tallies toward equality. If you do visit the site, don’t miss the video in the center of the page. I love that song: “What have you done today to make you feel proud?” PUPPETS Stephanie Hill: “If you hate puppets as you claim, then this would be terrifying, don’t you think? ☞ Too scared to look.
Marching in DC, Vibrating in Alabama October 13, 2009March 16, 2017 But first . . . DEP-oh-nO! Suggested here around $4.50 a few days ago (with the excuse, ‘boy’s gotta have a little fun), DEPO’s first drug trial results came in well and the stock closed last week at $6.36 – but sank to $3.82 yesterday morning after release of results on a trial of the drug for a different use. ‘Technically,’ writes my guru, ‘that trial worked, too.’ But it was complicated, and not as successful as would have been ideal – and the company didn’t do a great job of explaining all this on the conference call he audited yesterday morning. ‘I would buy the stock here and hold,’ he says, so I have. SPACE STATION Gray Chang: ‘You can see the actual International Space Station yourself [not just simulate building it, as per yesterday]. It looks like a very bright star or planet moving rapidly across the sky, like an airplane, but without any flashing or colored lights. To find out when and where to look, go to heavens-above.com and enter your location. Under Satellites, click ISS. You get an exact list of viewing times. Click on the date, and you get a star map showing the exact path across the sky. If you are lucky enough to have a viewing opportunity when the Space Shuttle is nearby, you can see both the space station and the shuttle at the same time.’ ☞ Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No – it’s . . . THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION! (Younger readers will have to forgive me. Superman – and the Lone Ranger – pretty much defined my childhood.) And now . . . THE MARCH Charles and I got to hear the President speak at the Human Rights Campaign dinner Saturday night – he was terrific, emphasizing the rightness of our cause and his commitment to it – and then got to attend the march Sunday, which emphasized the need to turn commitment into legislation at the soonest possible moment. Having inherited the happy gene and tending to see the best in any situation – an annoying trait, I know – I thought the march was pretty terrific, too, and certainly much better attended than I had expected. (If God truly hates us, as some of our antagonists insist, how do they explain the magnificent weather He provided?) I heard estimates ranging from 30,000 to 200,000, but whatever the true figure, it was definitely one heck of a lot of people, revved up for equality. A lot of them were quoting Bill Maher’s latest ‘new rule’ – ‘Everyone deserves equal rights. That’s why they’re called ‘equal.” . . . Some of the folks at the HRC dinner were unsure of the value of the march – would it really help to pass the legislation we need? (Answer: well, not directly, but if it energized thousands of folks to go back home and lobby their Senators and Congressperson, it could certainly help. And any time national attention is focused on inequality, as it was Sunday, it helps, because fairness is a bedrock American value.) From a friend on the steering committee: ‘The march was impressive but not historic. The weather was gorgeous and spirits were high. The lawn in front of the Capitol steps was full but not packed. The rally was fine, but only fine. The speeches weren’t interminable, which we had feared. I think Barney Frank got it right when he said that all the march would put pressure on is the lawn. My lingering concern is Maine. If we lose Maine, it will be said, with justification, that the march diverted resources and energy. That would be tragic. We’ll be sending some money to Maine shortly! We did have a great time in DC visiting wonderful friends.’ ☞ Most of the steering committee members were far more enthusiastic, I’m sure. And the whole thing was done significantly under budget, for about $185,000, which when it comes to running large events like this is pretty extraordinary. . . . And a fair proportion of the marchers were more than a little skeptical of the President’s speech – would it really keep another soldier from being discharged or give a gay couple legally married in Massachusetts rights equal to those of a straight couple? (Answer: well, not directly, but week by week LGBT Americans and the rightness of equality are being woven into the national fabric by the President and the actions of his Administration, and not just when he speaks to predominantly LGBT groups – which in this case was a group that extended to the entire CNN and C-SPAN viewerships.) From a 20-year old friend: ‘He’s got the House and 60 seats in the Senate. If he can’t get anything done for us under these conditions, when is he going to?’ ☞ After he passes health care? In the meantime, leaving aside all the other good and historic stuff he’s done on LGBT issues, next week, with any luck, Congress will give him the opportunity to sign the first federal LGBT legislation in our nation’s history, extending the definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation and gender identity. A small start in some ways, but finally a start. So I think it will all happen, and that old folks like me (I have to change that photo!) can marvel happily as it does, while others, both young and old, can be outraged that it took too long. Which of course it has – every American deserves full equal rights under the law from the day he or she was born. But it took women 144 years to get the vote and mixed-race couples 191 years to get the right to wed (or 102, if you start the clock at the end of the Civil War), so if we’re truly just months, not years, away from much of the equality we deserve, as I think we are . . . and possibly not much further than that from the big kahuna (if Bush v. Gore combatants Ted Olson and David Boies are successful in their joint effort to persuade the Supreme Court to rule marriage-bans unConstitutional) . . . then I think there’s reason to see the glass half full, even as we continue to press for full equality. JOE ROCHA There were so many amazing people at the march, most of whom did not get to speak. Watch Joe Rocha’s story. You will find it hard to believe. It includes the suicide of a presumably straight woman, even as the officer responsible for all this got . . . promoted. And speaking of insanity . . . is this a great country or what? Namely: LEGAL TO BUY AN UZI BUT NOT A VIBRATOR IN ALABAMA Click here. (Thanks, Jim!)
Our Space Station October 12, 2009March 16, 2017 24 WATTS FOR $160 Marty Rosen: “I just splurged for four of the six watt bulbs. We’ll see. But I thought you should know that according to their web site (and my invoice), the seller is having a ‘sale’ until the end of the year, and you can now get their $50 bulbs for $40.” ☞ Better still! If you make $463 in savings from each bulb over 15 years, as described Friday, that would be $1,852 on a $160 four-bulb investment. Normally, you’d discount that back to “today’s dollars” (counting the out years’ savings as worth much less than a dollar you save now). But if the cost of electricity rises over time . . . and at a rate equal to or greater than the “discount rate” you’d use in making this calculation . . . then this could conceivably be $1,852 in savings in “today’s dollars.” Of course, there a zillion variables here, and my guess is that our savings will be less. But still more than enough to make this a great gamble. (And tax free! The IRS doesn’t tax us on the money we “earn” by being more energy efficient.) The trick will be to have our electric bills fall even as rates rise – because we use less of it. (Same with gasoline.) THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION This is cool: watch the international space station take shape, stage by stage. A decade’s progress in about a minute’s video. (Thanks, Roger!) AND . . . SO WE DON’T ALL HAVE TO LIVE ON IT . . . Save October 24 and click here to be part of an international demonstration. As described in an email from Al Gore: On the melting slopes of Mt. Everest, Pemba Dorje Sherpa, who holds the record for the fastest ascent of the world’s highest peak, will be spreading banners and signs. On the dying coral reefs of the Maldives, the government’s entire cabinet will don scuba gear and hold an official underwater meeting to pass a 350 resolution to send to the Copenhagen summit. On the shores of the fast-drying Dead Sea, Israeli activists will form a giant human “3” on their beach, Palestinians a “5” on theirs, and Jordanians a “0” – reminding us we need to unite on this vital issue. ☞ We’ve come a long way since Columbus discovered America. We now have the power to make the entire world uninhabitable! Vice President Gore’s new book comes out November 3 – with solutions to this inconvenient truth.
More Light Restore a Blind Person's Sight for $33 October 9, 2009March 16, 2017 MY BULBS CAME! A couple of weeks ago I wrote about these $35 third-generation 5-watt LED lightbulbs and the even more expensive $50 6-watt dimmable variety. Well, six of each arrived today, and I’ve rarely been so happy. A kitchen that had four 100-watt floods in the ceiling now has four 6-watt dimmables, which even Charles – who is truly sensitive to shades of light – finds satisfactory. That is a 94% energy saving. The saving is less dramatic where I’m replacing 23-watt CFLs. And of course the saving is trivial with lights that rarely get used. Yes, they’re expensive; and, no, I can’t be certain they’ll last as long as advertised (my dimmable CFLs sure didn’t – though the nondimmable ones have done fine). But they do come with a 3-year warranty. And these are the kinds of risks I’m willing to take to be part of the green wave we all hope to see wash over the planet. If electricity runs you 15 cents a kilowatt hour – and I expect over time it will run even more – then going from 100 watts to 6 for (say) 6 hours a day saves you 94/1000ths of a kilowatt x 6 hours a day x 365 days a year x 15 cents per kwh = $30 and change per year. Not a bad return on a $50 investment. If they really last the claimed 35,000 hours, you would go more than 15 years in the example above before having to swap them out, having saved $463 in the meantime. More if the price of electricity rises further. A bit more still if you factor in the several incandescents you would have otherwise had to buy, and the value of your time in buying and replacing them. Better still in a warm climate, where you have little need of heat but pay lots for air conditioning, in part to counteract heat from your lights. My LED bulbs run so cool, you can comfortably unscrew them even while the light is on. Yes, it could pay to wait for the price to come down. (But really? Will the price of a $50 bulb come down by more than the $30 a year it’s saving you?) And, yes, the light from the cheaper, non-dimmable 5-watt bulb is pretty weak – I prefer the 6-watt. The former feels to my untrained eye like a 40-watt incandescent, while the latter (which can, of course, be used in a non-dimmable lamp) feels more to me like a 60-watt bulb. But this holiday season, why not give everyone a lightbulb or two? THEIR LIVES STOP WHEN THE SUN SETS One of the attendees at the Clinton Global Initiative last month, the irrepressible Mark Bent, founded the company that makes ‘bogo lights.’ These are solar-powered LED flashlights that can be handy to have around the house, currently on sale at $25.99, but that have a special significance for the millions of families around the world with no electricity. For them, nothing much is possible once the sun sets. One of Mark’s current projects is lighthaiti.org. Imagine: for $10, you can give a family several hours of light each night for a child to study by. AND WHAT IF IT’S ALWAYS DARK? Another Clinton Global Initiative participant, Britain’s Standard Chartered Bank, showed a video of Africans blinded by cataracts undergoing a 6-minute $33 operation that restores their sight. Imagine the impact on that blind person – and his or her family. Standard Charter committed to match the first $10 million in donations toward this end. Check out the seeingisbelieving.org website; and if you are a U.S. donor moved by the thought of restoring someone’s sight for $33 (or, in a sense, two people’s sight for $33, becase of the match) . . . and who wants the U.S. tax deduction . . . click here.
Out of Little Turkish Acorns . . . October 8, 2009March 16, 2017 DON’T SELL YOUR TKF? Suggested here at $5.47 six months ago, the Turkish Fund closed yesterday at $12.83. But it’s not necessarily time to sell. Tuesday, Heckman Global Advisors told clients: “For the third month in a row, Turkey stands at the top of [our] emerging markets ranking table. The market is attractive according to a broad array of investment indicators. Its 8.9x forecast 2010 price-to-earnings ratio is well below the 11.7x emerging market average. In addition, the market continues to receive support from a favorable terms-of-trade trend, relatively strong domestic price momentum, and strong institutional investor sentiment.” So maybe sell enough to take your original investment off the table and consider the rest “free” money to be held for the long term? Or, if you can afford the risk of a second global financial meltdown, hang on to the whole thing? Relatively speaking, in Heckman’s view, Turkey is still cheap. And TKF still sells at a modest 7% discount to its Net Asset Value, which helps at least in part to counter the drag of its 1.1% management fee. MEDICARE ADVANTAGE The program health reform opponents are so keen on protecting? Turns out, it’s an advantage mainly for insurers, with just 14 cents of each taxpayer dollar actually going to health care. ACORN Bill Press puts it in perspective. (As does Rachel Maddow, with this devastating review of the “Defund ACORN Act” – and how it may wind up defunding Lockheed, Northrup, and Blackwater.) One snippet: Recently, several ACORN staffers were caught in a right-wing sting video offering advice on how to convince the IRS that their pimp and prostitution operation was a legitimate business. Stupid! But most news organizations never followed up to report that those employees were immediately fired, that two ACORN offices actually reported the phony clients to the police, and that ACORN has since hired the former attorney general of Massachusetts to conduct a full in-house investigation. . . . ACORN’s monumental good work over the last 39 years far, far outweighs its few mistakes. ☞ They screwed up, got a wake-up call, need to tighten ship – but a death sentence? Only if Lockheed and Northrup and Blackwater get death sentences, too.
Avenue Q; Straight Shooting October 7, 2009March 16, 2017 GET READY TO ENLIST An article in the Joint Force Quarterly, published for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ‘calls in unambiguous terms for lifting the ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces,’ according to the Boston Globe. (Anyone who doubts the injustice of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell – or that it weakens our military – need just watch Colonel Fehrenbach’s four-minute video.) The good news, as explained here, is that the policy is heading for the dustbin: Progressives should realize that Obama had a plan for ending DADT, the plan is working, and that beating up Obama for not doing anything is counterproductive . . . Unlike Bill Clinton’s well-intentioned but ham-fisted attempt to integrate gays into the military ‘with a stroke of the pen,’ Obama’s approach respected the prerogatives of the brass and allowed the military as an institution to save face, while at the same time ensuring that the decision, once made, would face a minimum of internal resistance and sabotage. Yes, the Fabian approach inflicted undeserved damage on those servicemembers who have been discharged in the meantime, while also depriving the country of their services. But to have let that short-term consideration dominate the need to make the transition to a gay-friendly military as smooth as possible would have required an insanely high discount rate . . . ☞ ‘I just finished reading Colonel Om Prakash’s essay in the Joint Force Quarterly on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. I am running in a very heavy military district and I can tell you that an article in the JFQ has more influence on the military folks here than does the New York Times. But when the two work together, the impact is magnified (see Saturday’s editorial).’ – Krystal Ball (aforementioned candidate for Congress) ‘You don’t need to be straight to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight.’ – Barry Goldwater AVENUE Q Feedback on yesterday‘s admission of puppet confusion ranged from a succinct ‘face it, you’re just old’ (well, there’s that) to this gentler explanation: Jon Winkleman: ‘Avenue Q is definitely a generational thing. I am part of the first Sesame Street Generation. I even remember Sesame Street going on the air as a toddler. If you grew up on Sesame Street, you would think Avenue Q deserved a Pulitzer Prize. For most Americans 45 and under, the show defined our early childhood and view on the world.’ And this additional feedback: Brad Walker: ‘What you have to realize is that Marx and Lopez, the creators of Avenue Q, are Muppet Freaks. Here is a link to a pitch they gave to the Henson organization for a movie called Kermit, Prince of Denmark. Just the two of them, but they do credible imitations of all the Muppet Show regulars. Now take the concerns of young adults (first job, sex, racism) and filter it through a Sesame-Street sensibility, and you get Avenue Q. The first generation that grew up with the Muppets gets a musical that speaks to them.’ Anna Marasco: ‘I had wanted to see Avenue Q for about 3 years when they finally began touring. They booked a date in KC, which is about 2 1/2 hours from Omaha. I informed my husband that this was all I wanted for my birthday and I bought the tickets. Through a series of ridiculous scheduling conflicts, I ended up having to see this with MY DAD. My 60 yr old, Republican, Conservative Dad. My dad and I watched puppets have sex. My. Dad. And. I. Watched. Puppets. Have. Sex. Dad laughed his butt off. At the end, he said ‘That was a lot of fun! It was a good idea to take me instead of your mother. But it’s too bad they had that line about George Bush at the end.’ So if I could watch puppets have sex (along with my dad) you can watch them have sex AGAIN! For the Dems.’ Jonathan Edwards: ‘I saw it on Broadway several years ago. If it helps, close your eyes during the performance to minimize confusion. You really, really don’t want to miss ‘The Internet is for Porn.’ ‘ Kathi Derevan: ‘Clowns: No. Puppets: No. But I hope you Tivo’d or otherwise recorded last night’s Letterman show. Steve Martin and Martin Short were OMG hilarious. It still puzzles me to see these guys, approximately my age, who are now like the Grand Old Men of comedy. WTF? Aren’t they the New Young Things? What happened? Anyway. I’m serious. Find a copy if you don’t have one.’ ☞ Indeed. If this four minutes doesn’t make you laugh, call 911.
Puppets October 6, 2009March 16, 2017 HE’S NOT JEWISH? Well, a day or two after the Telegraph made the claim I linked to yesterday, the Guardian refutes it. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not Jewish. Assuming the Guardian is right . . . “never mind.” DEPO Suggested here Thursday, DEPO closed up 27% yesterday on good news. “Hold on, though,” counsels my guru, “because we are supposed to get the results of two other Phase III trials that I expect to work as well.” MINT Chris Hanacek: “Paying no cash to have mint.com track your finances may be penny wise and pound foolish. I would much rather pony up $50 for software that resides on my own Mac or PC than risk having my financial life hacked and/or data-mined.” ☞ Well, 1.2 million folks have taken this leap . . . and Quicken is buying it for $170 million . . . and it claims to use bank-level encryption – but I hear you. DON’T SEND IN THE CLOWNS OK, I’m not afraid of clowns, but I’m confused by puppets, and I tell you this because I have been asked to attend a performance of “Avenue Q” Thursday October 15 . . . and I am torn. On the one hand, it is a fundraiser for Krystal Ball, the pro-equality young mom / CPA / triathlete running to unseat an anti-equality Virginia Republican congressman – and tickets start as low as $65. On the other hand, the first time I saw Avenue Q – the long-running show that fully 95% of theater-goers adore, according to a scientific poll its TV ads tout – I was among the 5% that . . . well . . . didn’t get it. Was it the puppets I was supposed to identify with or the actors holding the puppets? Who was being funny? Did they have distinct personalities, or were the actors just basically the machinery that made the puppets work? Why were so many people laughing when I was not? What’s WRONG with me? Not gay enough (one of Charles’s recurrent complaints)? Just stupid? PUPPETS CONFUSE AND UNSETTLE ME. I won’t have them around the house. I hate puppets. But, boy, would I like to see Krystal flip that traditionally Republican seat – and what a fun audience it’s likely to be October 15, with a 6:30 VIP cocktail party preceding the 8pm curtain and a “talk-back session with the actors after the show.” The Act Blue page to learn more or sign up is actblue.com/page/aveq. You may or may not see me there.
He’s . . . JEWISH? And Don't Miss Mint.com October 5, 2009March 16, 2017 OVERCOMPENSATION So Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is . . . Jewish? And he overcompensates in denying this by denying the Holocaust? Read it in the Telegraph: A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots. A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver. The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth. The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad’s birthplace, and the name derives from “weaver of the Sabour”, the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran’s Ministry of the Interior. Experts last night suggested Mr Ahmadinejad’s track record for hate-filled attacks on Jews could be an overcompensation to hide his past. . . . ☞ Just as it’s hard for a Jew to succeed in Iranian electoral politics, so it’s no cakewalk for an openly gay American to succeed in today’s Republican party. Which may explain why Florida’s likeable governor, Charlie Crist, moderate in many ways, supported a ban on civil unions and supports Florida’s status as the only state in the union that bans gay adoption. This four-minute 2006 video makes the case that he is gay, and the movie “Outrage” – which airs at 9pm tonight on HBO – makes the case again. In opposing the rights of his LGBT constituents, could he be overcompensating? Obviously, I think it’s fine to be gay – or to be straight. And it’s okay, if sad, to pretend to be something you’re not. What’s not okay is to hurt other people lest you be thought to be one of them. SOCIALISTS/FASCISTS/CAPITALISTS Jayson Smith: “Kevin asked: ‘Why can’t someone be both a socialist and a fascist? The Nazis were the National Socialist party. Were they not socialists or not fascists?’ The Nazis were Socialists the same way the People’s Republic of China is a Republic.” ☞ Or the Democratic People’s Republic of [North] Korea, is Democratic. George Ehlers: “The yin and yang of capitalism and socialism: capitalism builds the automobiles; socialism builds the roads the automobiles use . . . capitalism builds the houses; socialism builds the sewage systems (or mandates the septic tanks) connected to the houses . . . capitalism produces the trash consumers throw out; socialism picks up the trash that would otherwise land in the nearest gully. And so on.” MANAGING YOUR MONEY Alice Gedge: “My first money managing program was MYM. I used every version. Then I switched to Microsoft Money and now that software is no more. Can you recommend a good replacement?” ☞ Everyone seems to use Quicken. But check out mint.com first to see if it meets your needs. It’s come a long way in the last two years. And it’s free!