"My Adventure:  A Personal Recollection of 9/11"

I was in my office (SW corner of Liberty and West, Trade center is northeast corner of liberty and West) for the first plane crash. I heard the crash, but thought nothing of it.  It sounded like a trash dumpster hitting the ground.  Fred, next door, asked if I heard the crash and then said the Trade center was on fire.  We were on the third floor so I had to crouch down, twist my head and look up to see the top floors of the trade center on fire.  There were a dozen small fires up and down Liberty Street, people running south to Battery Park, away from the towers.  Confetti was falling out of the tower, like a ticker tape parade. More

"Six Degrees of Vernon Jordan"

Just about everyone involved, except the Board of Directors, in the Enron scandal has been pilloried by the press, Congress and the public.  Skilling and Lay claim ignorance and blame Arthur Andersen.  Andersen blames its partner, David Duncan, and faulty and incomplete information from Enron.  Skilling lays additional blame on short-sighted bankers and investors.  Investors blame Enron and the auditors and analysts.  Analysts blame Enron and the auditors.  But where was the Board?  Why were they asleep at the wheel?  Isn’t it their jobs to oversee the company?  And why do Boards seem to suffer from narcolepsy at the very moment their oversight is needed most?  This is true for Enron and Global Crossing and Kmart and on and on. more

"Economic Terrorism"  (containing "My Adventure" and "Six Degrees of Vernon Jordan" as well as a screed against immorality).

Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., in his “Age of Jackson” remarked that the advent of corporations in America brought about actions from men, behind the shield of the corporation, that they would be ashamed to commit in their private life.  What he failed to state is many people want that shield.  If I had a choice between six months at an outplacement center or $8.5 million, I ‘d choose the latter. more

Funeral for A Friend

I put Miss Jones to sleep on July 11th, 2002.  She was thirteen years old. more

I Love My Volvo-August, 2002

We purchased (actually it was a lease) the car in April 1991, in Denver CO.  The Mrs. was expecting a baby in July of 1991 and we wanted a car with four doors.  Those who know me are always surprised that such a hip and happening person like myself would be drawn to the simple, boring design of the Volvo, but I am.  It is one of the many contradictions that define me. more

Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Conservative Hypocrisy-August 2002

Here is what I find interesting.  When it comes to baseball (and I suspect other things also) conservative writers and thinkers (can I say conservative thinkers in the same sentence, or is that an oxymoron?) abandon their conservative/free-market rhetoric and become socialist contortionists.  That is, the substance is socialism, and the rhetoric is twisted into sound free-market economics.  To paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield, Take George Will, Please. more

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