Blowback and The Jerusalem Post October 2, 2001January 26, 2017 CMM John Lemon: ‘I’m not complaining. I didn’t invest that much, I’m still holding it and I’m a big boy, come what may. But I am curious as to your current opinion of CMM. I bought it at .70. It is obviously significantly down from that, closing at .38 today. If you liked it at .70, do you really love it now? Should I buy a little more and await the rebound, or has something catastrophic happened to the company that I missed?’ ☞ I bought a bunch last week at .41, so if you can afford the risk – and the risk is real – you know my opinion. Then again, having see the stock drop so much, you know that my opinion is flawed at best. Or buy some more now (and even more if it goes a lot lower), but then sell some of the first shares for a tax loss (having waited 31 days since your last purchase to avoid disqualification by the ‘wash sale’) and hope that one day the newer 41-cent shares are lightly taxed as a large long-term gain. In hindsight, it would have been wiser of me to recommend one or more of CMM’s preferred issues (which you can still buy). They pay dividends that, lately, have been paid in stock, not cash, which floods the market with new stock and, probably, is one reason for the depressed price of the common. Sorry it’s done so badly; thanks for taking it with such good grace. I’ve been pretty lucky here with most of my suggestions, and may ultimately even be lucky with CMM. But those modest and self-deprecating disclaimers I always make? I have good reason to be modest. This is just one example. Thanks to Cal Hullihen for this link to Chalmers Johnson’s op-ed piece in Sunday’s LA Times about ‘over reacting.’ Johnson is author of Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire. And to Alan Silver for this link to the Jerusalem Post. David D’Antonio: ‘The ending ‘salutation’ to the US Air Academy letter Friday – ‘God Bless America’ – is the part of this that bothers me the most. Whose God? The Christian one? the Jewish one? The Muslim one? This country was (supposedly) founded on ‘freedom of religion,’ Jerry Falwell notwithstanding. It seems rather ironic that someone would invoke God in this circumstance as I’m sure that’s what the terrorists were doing, as well. Throughout history, as he should be aware, God has been used as the justification for all manner of atrocities; this attack is just another example. I have no problem with the U.S. being united, but leave God out of it.’