What is Your Hobby?

What are hobbies and do they actually help us relieve stress from everyday work and relationships?

In thinking about hobbies I started where most might, Wikipedia. Usually Wikipedia has a history page and column that breaks down by various subheadings like ‘word origin’ or ‘controversy’. With ‘hobbies’ it merely gives a dictionary definition followed by an outline of things considered hobbies under types like ‘outdoor’ or ‘collecting’. Everyone has an idea of what is a hobby and what isn’t. I never considered sports or fitness to be a hobby but the list includes volleyball, weightlifting, cycling and many other competitive sports. Ok, so I can say anything outside of work that contributes to joy, relaxation, mental acuity or skill is a hobby.

Everyone needs a release that takes them outside the day to day existence and allows the mind to change direction by focusing on something other than work or relationships. We hear phrases like “the need to recharge” to explain why everyone needs an activity or skill outside of their career madness. Nothing is worse than losing sleep over a difficult day at work or thinking hard about a problem related solely to a career move. Stress from work and family is part of life but having an avenue for release is important for managing it.  This is supported by research but most of us don’t need to understand the research to understand what is obvious to most, hobbies renew our minds.

I’ve always tried to have some activity or pursuit removing me from my daily routines. There was an 18-hole golf course at my Army barracks in Louisiana where soldiers and visitors played almost year round. The weather was warm (humid) most of year so a course that stayed open for 12 months was normal. I didn’t play the course too many times but I loved going to the driving range and smacking balls down the long yard toward the parking lot. Gripping a club and bashing a tiny white ball was strangely therapeutic even though I never spent more than 30 minutes at it. I am sure if I looked into the how’s and why’s of golf it would make sense scientifically—something about endorphins maybe. It wouldn’t matter.  I like knowing that it worked for me and nothing else could at that time.

I looked at a couple of blog posts to get a sense of how others (non-academics) think about hobbies. Typically, almost everyone agrees that some form of hobby or learned skill is therapeutic. My favorite entry was one that explained  how through hobby individuals discover quirks and preferences about themselves. Most introspection helps us understand how our mind processes events and works through problems. Writing helps me untangle philosophical knots and complex problems by examining them closer. By taking apart the separate bits that make up problems and spreading them out like puzzle pieces (metaphorically), I get answers to what seemed impossible hours ago. I am not really sure how it happens but for me, writing just works.

Some find peace in solitude while others get joy from interaction. 

Finding a creative outlet through a hobby brings self-awareness and creativity to anyone willing to engage. Who knows, it may even lead to a different career or a new way to earn money. I have a few friends who have transitioned into rewarding jobs because of their skill with music, or their detail with photography. The internet has opened up countless possibilities for craft workers to sell handmade goods all over the world.  

Find a skill or an activity that brings out talents and use it to pursue joy and a refreshing break from normal stressors of life. I know I will.

A life cut short

Depression is a hell of a thing.

It isn’t a subject anyone likes to talk about or even think about but every once in a while someone we know (knew) does the unthinkable. I’ve known a few people who have taken their lives and although I don’t pretend to know the reasons or the situations surrounding the decision, it makes me heart-sick. The most recent example is of a kid who grew up across the street from me in my community college years. He was junior high aged (13-14) when I first met him and although we didn’t have a lot in common we played basketball together and talked about sports, girls and movies.

Our relationship was difficult to explain given our age differences. I did a post high school stint in community college that ultimately forced me to join the Army. I wasn’t ready for college. I had zero discipline for school work and the will to get better just wasn’t there. In the year and a half I lived with my dad right across the street from him. I could look out my window most days and find him shooting hoops in his driveway, committed to improving his game. He was a solid athlete. I like to think I showed him a few things on the court but really he was better than me at the same age. I was a decent competitor and allowed him to sharpen his quickness by playing someone bigger and stronger.

 I needed someone to look up to me as much as he needed a coach.

I joined the Army shortly after he started high school and at most would wave to him on a visit back home. I don’t remember talking to him much after I moved out. My dad eventually sold that house and moved north of there, different part of town. When I finally did get out I moved in with my dad at his new house while applying for school and working odd jobs. I never saw the kid with the quick dribble again but would occasionally bump into a classmate of his or someone else from the neighborhood. He seemed to be popular with the girls by all accounts. This never surprised me. He was a good looking kid and very athletic.

What emotions lead a person to do such a terrible thing and force the rest of us with an empty longing? I haven’t seen the kid in 20 years and I’m sadder than I imagined. Such promise, such a waste. How awful must those close to him be feeling? Obviously the happy kid with the big hoop dreams turned into someone darker than I ever knew somewhere in that 20 year time frame. It happens every day. People let their minds convince them of the futility of getting help or that hope is not a real thing, something for other more deserving people. I am not sure how depression works per se. Is all depression clinical or is it only clinical in suicidal people? Are suicidal people always losing a war on depression or do they have good weeks, days?

I recently heard suicide described as jumping out of a burning high rise building.  Hitting the ground, apparently, is much better than suffering the smoke and flames of the moment. Depressed people see suicide as an escape from the disease slowly eating their mind. Jumping from a high rise building may ensure a violent end but staying is torturous. This was the situation during the attack of 9/11 from the workers in the World Trade Center. Deciding to leave the flames and smoke certain to suffocate them, they leapt out the window and fell to their death. It is a grisly consideration but one that at least goes a little way toward describing suicidal tendencies.

As a Christian I am doubly saddened by any news that a person has lost an ongoing battle with the enemy. Evil is always looking for an entry point to deceive and betray. The entry point for too many of us is our thoughts. I don’t mean to insinuate depression is something that can be overcome through positive thinking only. In the same way that many of us struggle to lose weight or quit smoking, others battle horrible thoughts and torturous emotional darkness. Some aren’t prepared for the onslaught. Medicine can go a long way toward helping an individual cope and maintain normality. Only God can move the clouds away and cause light to drive away the darkness, and the pain that comes with losing a precious life.  

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts in your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 (ESV)

Wacky Wall Walkers!!!

Remember Wacky Wall Walkers? 

No… didn’t think so. They were gummy-like sticky toys that came with the purchase of certain General Mills cereals in the eighties. It was a spider I think, or maybe an octopus. I couldn’t wait for another box of cereal to get the next toy because by the time the original box was empty the spider had lost its stickiness. The idea was to throw the gummy spider with the sticky legs at the window and watch it slowly ‘walk’ its way down. It only worked a little bit right out of the package on the first throw. After, it dropped to the floor and picked up lint and hair which meant the next throw would stay on the glass for half the time. You might get in a third toss in before having to take it to the sink and wash the gunk off the spider’s legs.

I never got tired of hoping the new toy would be better than the old. “Maybe next time was the mantra.” It might even ‘walk’ from window to floor like a spider should. Despite all the evidence of the failure that was this toy, I tore through the plastic every time and fell for the scam anew. Ok…so it wasn’t a scam really, just a silly toy with hardly any value outside the cereal box. I don’t remember being super frustrated or annoyed with the lack of progress. I am sure at least once I chucked it across the room in a dramatic fit of 7 year old angst, cheated by adults again!

What I most remember is the eagerness to try again, use a different strategy. Hot water only this time, a counterclockwise method of scrubbing the carpet fibers off the tentacles or maybe cleaning the window to a streak free shine, all were options. I never quit thinking of new methods for getting the toy to perform, or to look like the one on the freaking cereal box! What was my drive then? Did I really not understand that the toy was junk and never intended to do a full walk down the bay window like the advertising promised? of course not. Every new package represented the chance to start over, to get it right, to make the toy walk.

The great thing about kids is they are rarely discouraged out of an activity despite how upset they get at the time. Their limited life experience doesn’t promise anything, hope is eternal and the future is still in front of them. Adults are different. Most of us have let someone down or been let down at some point. Ask most of us and we can tell you what we are good, bad or indifferent at. We’ve tried getting a degree in one skill or discipline but dropped out when it got expensive and difficult. We work at relationships for a while but quit win they get tough or don’t deliver some level of happiness.  

I can’t remember all the resumes I’ve held off sending to employers because of previous rejections. What happened to that determination to wash off the gunk and try again or beg Dad for a new box of Golden Grahams and hope for a better spider? I forgot how to climb uphill and got content to sit and have lunch. 

I imagine we push forward with resolve as kids because our memory pool is shallow and we don’t know that failure could be right around the corner. We haven’t built up a tolerance for it, thank God.

Adults need to get back to the resilience toward life that kids employ naturally. We give up on bettering ourselves too easy and slide into mediocrity by not moving forward and not ignoring the times we fall. It probably starts in adolescence, the sorting of talents or lack of talent into groups. Some is unintentional, no one wants to pick Eric for basketball so he ‘learns’ not to pursue it. Much is intentional though and based on aptitude or intelligence. Kara gets put in low level reading groups and struggles with other subjects. Tests tell us what we are good at and instead of working on the bad, low skill/low aptitude, we pursue the good.

Failure leads to more failure and a general turning away from activities that caused pain and embarrassment sets in. The first casualty in the mind war is determination. Once that dies we start to see other challenges the same way. Never get picked for basketball? Don’t bother with football.” “Can’t play the piano? don’t even try guitar.” “Struggle with math? don’t take physics.”

The only way to reverse the pattern is to keep trying that thing that looks so impossible. Celebrate the small victories. Keep buying the cereal box with additional crappy toys and refuse to be frustrated. Interview for the job even when it seems daunting and re-apply if they reject you. When someone says “You’re acting like a child” say “thank you!” and then give them a wedge.

Most importantly get back to a place where effort wins and hope springs eternal. A place where sticky toys are all the rage.

  

Castro's Death

Fidel Castro died. I get these news updates from the BBC on my phone and I glanced at it quickly the other day. My first thought was “It’s about time; no one has gotten more mileage out of a legacy than that old warhorse.”

Remember the character Scar from the Lion King (yes the cartoon)? Anyone who wants to understand Cuba since Castro need only watch the Lion King after Scar steals the throne. Animals starve and turn on each other to fight over scraps and barren patches of earth. Scar only cares about control and ignores the well-being of the kingdom as oppression and infighting overtake the land. He schemes new ways of getting power and uses crooked associates as poverty and starvation overtake a formally prosperous land.

Lion King is maybe an oversimplification, but only slightly. Art imitates life after all and the Disney story isn’t all that old, early nineties.  Cuba provides a striking real world example of what happens when evil leaders get control of the levers of power. Havana was never a model of decent governance even before Fidel Castro took over though. In fact, it was the rampant corruption of officials during the Batista regime that created the seeds for a Communist revolutionary like Fidel to rise. The government was basically open to the highest bidder; the mafia ran drugs and prostitution there. In the The Godfather: Part II Hyman Roth describes his involvement with the ‘friendly’ regime like this:

What I wouldn't give for twenty more years! Here we are, protected, free to make our profits without Kefauver, the goddamn Justice Department and the F.B.I. ninety miles away, in partnership with a friendly government. Ninety miles! It's nothing! Just one small step, looking for a man who wants to be President of the United States, and having the cash to make it possible. Michael, we're bigger than U.S. Steel. 

 So the government was awash in mafia money in the fifties and most of Havana’s hotels, restaurants and night clubs were tied in with American business. The Cuban people can be forgiven for wanting to be rid of the corrupt dealings of Fulgencio Batista and his military dictatorship. But once Castro proved a tyrant locking up opponents and killing political prisoners they should have tired of him too. Especially after witnessing the decay, the starvation and the rafts loaded with exiles desperate to leave the failed state. His long reign is an example of how far a country can regress economically and still refuse to blame the leader for the desolation.

We in the US always hear stories about how much the Cubans loved Castro. It always seemed unlikely to me. I understand the myth of the defiant leader thumbing his nose at the United States and going his own way. Being allied with the Soviet Union and encouraging ships loaded with missiles to cross the Atlantic wasn’t just a ballsy move, it nearly started a nuclear war. The so called ‘love’ for Castro had to be rooted in nationalistic pride because what else is there? Industry and agriculture suffered immensely with the trade embargo and only in the last 10 years could private citizens own their own restaurants and actually keep a portion of the income for themselves.

  After that near catastrophe the war against Communism became strictly ideological and mostly fought through proxies. The CIA tried to take out the Latin American dictator with a grab bag of silly tactics, exploding cigars and methods to make his beard hair fall out. Once the Soviet Union fell apart the real power behind Castro (if it was ever really there) ceased and he ceased to be a real threat.    

I’ve already read countless biographies of the Cuban strongman since his death so I won’t retell ancient history. What is important to me is winning the BIG war of ideas. The one that says American capitalism and the democratic process won this battle so admit it! Your poor country is a result of bad policies and anti-free ideas you’ve worked so hard to keep out of the public! This is the long war and I am not sure we can win it now. In some ways these ideological battles are never won, just advanced. The BIG ideas should serve as a signpost in history of how NOT to run a country, how NOT to stifle freedom and how NOT to oppress religion.

There are too many frustrating aspects of Cuban Communism to cover here but the biggest one for sure is the positive reception Castro receives by much of the American press. The press always mentions the universal education that all Cubans get and the ‘wonderful’ health care. The quality of the learning is never questioned, only the amazing achievement of universal schooling is lauded--as if no difference exists in the types of health care or education. Most public schools in the US have a second language requirement for Americans to graduate high school. How many people can honestly say they speak a second language? According to education statistics most American kids know at least one second language; the truth is quite different.

So making something 'universal' doesn’t fix what it is supposed to fix?

Fidel Castro actually lived to see a small victory in diplomatic relations. The president of the United States dismantled much of the embargo and took steps toward full relations in commerce. It is a hell of a thing to walk back when you think of the effort Americans have spent clothing and feeding Cubans who escaped the poverty stricken island. The hope is that Havana looks more like Miami instead of Mosul in 20 years. But Cuba needs a democratically elected government with a non-political police force and relatively free markets. Doing it the way Obama has is doing it on the dictator’s terms. It cements anti liberal dominance and even encourages further oppression from future leaders.

By killing the embargo and starting relations with Havana, the US acquiesces to a cruel government without any preconditions. The worst part is Cuba doesn’t offer the US anything but industries that are a shell of what they were 40 years ago. The sugar plantations are a tiny fraction of the nation’s wealth and the tobacco leaves have been mostly replanted in Costa Rica and Honduras.  Any questions about President Obama’s leftist ideologies were answered with this foolish détente. There is a shred of hope that the Cuban people will get a taste of capitalism and reject communism.

Just like in the Lion King though, nothing will change in the land until the evil and greedy ruler is deposed. Fidel Castro’s death is a positive development towards removing some of the darkness hovering over the once lush island country.   

   

Social Media's Future: Sell! Sell! Sell!

Imagine your best Jerry Seinfeld impersonation and repeat after me “What’s the deal with Facebook? It isn’t a book, and it’s not for your face!”

Sorry, that joke might have been funnier back when Facebook was still sort of new.

Actually I love Facebook. It really is a hodgepodge digital network for news of all types whether friends or national interest. Plus there is something addicting about the scroll function; it’s like an endless morass of sweet stories and cat videos followed by vile ranting and virtue signaling from college freshman (Yes Tom… we all think Tibet should be free). Trying to scroll to the end is like trying to run through a park fountain without getting wet. You know it’s impossible but the thrill is too much to resist. So you scroll. Until the time gets away from you and re-evaluate how pathetic your life is that you just spent hours reading other nonsense and believing most of it (is it just me?).

The point is we all spend time and money on things we enjoy and believe in. Or at least, we support financially organizations, communities and projects we understand and have some relationship to. For instance, I give money to the church I attend because I love the cause. Christian churches are community centers that help the poor and bring people closer to Christ and (hopefully) into a relationship with the heavenly Father. I understand how they are funded and what those funds purchase. Most people support what they can see and understand. I can see a useful value in social media but not an investment opportunity, partly because most tech companies don’t have machines and factories. So if the business goes bankrupt what is left to sell off? maybe some intellectual property in software which, by the way, got shared through open sourcing.

Even the worthwhile bits aren’t really worthwhile.

This is where my tech knowledge gets me into trouble. I don’t usually write about tech companies because…well, most of it goes over my head. I can turn on my computer (Yay!!!) and upload some photos to a sweet desktop icon that says “photos” (although very slowly). I get the business side of Silicon Valley, whiz kids and their fiefdoms. I can’t figure out how Facebook, twitter, and other social media sites are worth billions and can round up enough investors for an IPO. Advertising is supposed to be enough revenue? Sorry I don’t see how to squeeze real value out of these companies that isn’t at least partially a promise on advertising dollars. Nothing wrong with it of course, it just doesn’t equal value in the traditional sense of the word. They don’t crank out widgets which can be priced or have machinery with fixed costs.

Look I get it OK, I am the kid with the crayons and coloring book trying to stay inside the lines while everyone else is painting on canvas and listening to Mozart. I still say San Francisco and the whole tech world is sitting on a bubble that grows every time a new app gets talked about. Also, if the software your company invented is so great why are you sharing it? Sell it man! I am less of a naysayer on the tech world and more of a skeptic. I’ll admit to missing out on what are some great buys because I frankly don’t get most of it.

So there is your advice kids; firstprinciples doesn’t understand it; it must be voodoo. 

Most of it is just my personality. When it comes to technology and newer different ways of doing things I am a little tepid.  I’ve always believed though, invest in what you know and stay away from what you don’t. There are exceptions of course; learning about new companies and products is part of making money. If after a full day of studying and reading about the latest R&D in an industry, you still feel like the kid with the crayons? Stay away. I am not the type to come home after a hard day of work and utter the phrase “I just got a great tip on a can’t lose investment honey!” The good part of that though is that I’ll never come home and utter the phrase “I just got a great tip on a can’t lose investment honey!”

So be yourself and buy what you know. In the meantime if a social media company bombs and loses money for shareholders, don’t say you weren’t warned. We saw this in the late nineties with the overvalued dot coms selling pixie dust and dreams to investors who didn’t understand what they were buying (especially pixiedustanddreams.com, they really cleaned up). It was the new, hot thing and they were ‘all in’ like a Texas hold ‘em rookie. I realize many of these companies do fine and in most cases the financials are sound and here to stay. I just need to catch up.

Until then I’ll keep my pessimism and approach life like Jerry Seinfeld “What’s the deal with…?”

The Program: Armstrong's Hubris

I watched a great movie the other night about the Lance Armstrong fiasco. Called The Program it summarized the professional life of Armstrong and the US Postal cycling team and their incredible run of victories. Lance was the star and the crew rode for him to make sure he won in the end. It was a sobering look at competition and the lengths that athletes will go to win. Winning is everything to certain people and when cheating is the price of victory far too many engage in it. Survey after survey proves this to be true and especially in sports where the margin of victory is so slim.

There are two parts to the Lance Armstrong saga crucial to understanding how he got away with doping and being a ‘squeaky clean’ spokesman for cancer research.  Journalist David Walsh, of the Sunday Times, who covered cycling and wrote about Armstrong before he became famous, was persona non-grata once he accused the American of being 'on' something. Second, the irresistible story of a man beating testicular cancer to win the Tour de France became a sponsors dream. By dream of course I mean a huge payday for a lot of companies, not to mention top billing and top money for a somewhat obscure race. American Greg LeMond had won the Tour in the early nineties but the tour had never been a big deal in the US and only a slightly bigger deal in Europe.

Armstrong, who is played by Ben Foster, develops emotionally and physically from an average racer into a seven time champion. Movies like this have a built in advantage of not telling the story so much as watching the transformation of a person into something unrecognizable, an inflated version of  the celebrity we think we know. We know the story. We know the man. We know every crooked and concocted lie, every myth about the daring Texan with superhuman will. This film doesn't engender compassion from the viewer for Armstrong. Nor does it give him a pass for being just another biker enhancing performance in a sport known for dopers. Although there are scenes that show his humanity and good will, this film is a warning against hubris.

Armstrong isn’t a politician seeking to rule a kingdom or a business owner trying to buy out his competition. We don’t take him seriously as a powerful man because he just rides a bike after all, what is the harm in that? The blueprint for how he succeeded though is textbook hubris. From the intimidation campaigns against those who accused him of being a cheat, to his manipulation of the press and the sponsors who couldn’t get enough of this story. The press doesn’t come off well as a character in this, really no one does except the Times writer, Mr. Walsh, who stood against the legal onslaught Lance directed towards him.  Floyd Landis is the tragic figure of the whole affair. If the events of the movie accurately depict history than Landis is the moral character brought low by a failing, an immoral charge for which he is swiftly punished.

I do remember Landis winning the Tour right after Armstrong retired; he tested positive for high levels of testosterone, an indication of doping. There were rumblings of US postal cycling being full of cheats from the European press and especially the Sunday Times which had the goods on Lance from the beginning. By the time Floyd Landis won the gig was up on American racers. The evidence against the Livestrong spokesman was piling up no matter how much he denied it, threatened his accusers with lawsuits, and challenged the integrity of the reporters. It ended so ignominiously with the Oprah interview which showed Lance for the self-absorbed athlete few had really seen.  

Ben Foster looks and sounds like Lance Armstrong so much that the camera often shows live footage of the tour champion spliced with film shots of the actor on his bike. His portrayal of the professional cyclist as a ‘hungry’ competitor moves the film from an uphill slog during his cancer recovery to fast downhill ride through the winning stages. One great shot in the movie’s climax is of Lance in his home standing atop the steps excoriating his enemies, cursing old friends who accuse him of cheating, and threatening to destroy anyone not loyal to him. The camera shows him high up looking down, a man in control of his kingdom. This is hubris personified. We see Lance Armstrong as an arrogant bully who is competitive to the core and has no concern for ethics or truth. The scenes where he is giving motivational speeches are equally creepy because although he looks genuine and truthful we know how the story ends. 

We all bought into the myth of Armstrong and the Livestrong motto. The lesson from the whole sordid affair is that healthy skepticism of power in all forms is a good posture for anyone. Don’t discount a report or an accusation because of fear that the truth could ruin something you hold dear. Great stories about individuals overcoming horribly tragic events are all around us, when someone is lionized for it tread softly and don’t ignore warning signs. Armstrong’s record win right after cancer treatments should have raised eyebrows in the sports writing community more than it did. The warning signs were there if one just looked. This is the thrust of the film; writers and even sponsors knew but wouldn’t say because it was good for the sport. It sold papers and magazines and generated interest in cycling. It sold bracelets and generated money for cancer research, who wants to stop that?

There is a parallel with the rise and fall of Lance Armstrong and the housing crisis of 2008, my brother pointed this out. Both situations grew up under the ‘watchful’ eyes of those who were supposed to monitor the events and make rulings on the participants. Cheaters never got reported because it was easier to look away and make money by ignoring the deception. Hopefully the doping scandal that Armstrong orchestrated leads to a cleaner sport in the future, if only slightly. I am afraid that more sophisticated methods of enhancing performance are already being used. Athletes will always seek to find an advantage in sports that includes drugs; sadly the monitors are always one step behind. 

One for the Ages!

Well I am in a good mood! Trump is the president for the next 4 years (at least) and his rise was totally remarkable, unlike anything seen in politics in my lifetime. Oh sure, other remarkable unexpected elections probably came about across the country on some level, Schwarzenegger was a California governor after all . Never has the highest office in the country been awarded to someone with no government experience, no military experience and no applicable work experience. OK the last one may not be entirely convincing since many in the business community think their boardroom acumen is perfectly suited for dealing with Congress.

I was a late (very late) supporter of the Trump campaign. At some point you look around the tent and realize no one is left to vote for but the orange guy with the floppy red hat. I was reluctant and still am that he can put a coalition together that gets manufacturing back and stops immigration from the Southern border. I am hopeful though that with the GOP House and Senate he stands a better chance than with a divided Congress.

Here is a short list of things I’d like to see happen in the first 100 days.

1.      1 Nominate Ted Cruz for the Supreme Court. If he accepts, which he probably will, he represents a solid conservative voice that shapes the thinking on decisions for the next 30 years. Putting Cruz on the SCOTUS takes him away as a presidential challenger and resident pain in the ass Senator and gives him a larger stage. Plus, Ted wants to prove to everyone how smart he is (and he REALLY is). Give ‘em a chance, we won’t regret it!

2.      2  Repeal Obamacare (ACA) and replace with ANYTHING resembling a market driven plan. The House Republicans under Paul Ryan have (I guess) been working on it for a while, but you know…Obama. How much of mess this program really is? Ever tried to untangle a box full of old clothes hangers? Like that…but more like warehouse full of hangers in boxes. Oh, and the instructions on how to begin are 2000 pages long, and in Chinese. It should have been an albatross around the president’s neck the last few years but never seemed to be. The only real ACA stuff I read was in my Heritage Foundation blog updates. Anytime the press uttered the words “Affordable Care Act” the White House staffers should’ve run out shrieking like they had seen a ghost. It wasn’t just a disaster, it was a predictable disaster.    

3.      3 Reassure our allies in Europe (NATO) that the alliance is still strong. Trump will insist on letting them all know if they want the defensive umbrella of NATO they better pay up. Rarely do all the allied nations pay their percentage. This ‘freeloading’ is what Donald Trump has explained causes the US to keep funding defense for the continent. I don’t agree completely with his assessment, but allies are crucial to world stability and free trade. Make nice with Europe. We need them, they need us.

4.      4 The regulatory state is a nightmare and although I can’t begin to determine which industry needs the most help, an overhaul should be done. Start with ‘environmental’ regulations put into effect strictly because of climate change non-sense. I don’t mean start tearing up the Clean Water Act and allow industry to dump toxic sludge into lakes and rivers. Quotas and limits on industry should be scrapped. They are as arcane as war era food rationing plans. Trump should take restrictions off the coal industry that the current president helped establish. The price of electricity should determine how much coal or natural gas we use, not onerous and expensive federal measures.  

Those are four just as quick as I could come up with them. Certainly there are aspects of a Trump presidency that worry me but with a true belief in this country and the unlimited potential of the market, I am optimistic.

 The missing element in this country (and the world by extension) has been tough leadership and moral certainty. The US navy keeps the pirates around the horn of Africa in check because it has the moral clarity to protect the sea lanes. Ditto for the South China Sea and the Dardanelles. Moral certainty means other countries interested in trade and travel accept the arrangement of peace and stability the US ensures in much of the world. This tenuous position of give and take power politics is ALWAYS in play in theaters around the world. Why is Russia a constant thorn in Eastern Europe? They represent the ‘other’ side of influence, state run economies and zero citizen freedoms. Only when US hegemony is removed, or severely curtailed, will we realize how good we all had it. I hope Trump begins to get a sense of the responsibility this country has as a default guarantor of peace. Something tells me he’ll get help where he needs it.     

Oklahoma State Questions--Summarized

Thought I’d do a quick overview of the State Questions on the ballot this year. Something to keep in mind about SQs in any year is they are written to advantage a group or groups of people and not necessarily designed to fix a problem.

SQ 776- Vote Yes

Simply, it affirms the legislature’s authority to pick a method of execution if one method has been ruled invalid. Also, it prohibits the death penalty from being ruled unconstitutional. This probably came about because of the botched execution of Lockett a few years ago followed by another execution where the wrong drug was used. It’s a good idea to ‘affirm’ the right of capital punishment because lethal injection as a tool is increasingly complicated. Drug makers refuse to sell certain 'killer' drugs and independent groups move to block executions. Who needs it. I’ve never had a problem with capital punishment; the method of execution is beside the point.

SQ 777- Vote Yes.

Basically this is a way for farmers and ranchers to use modern technological methods, mostly large scale production.  I am always leery of laws and amendments that make other potential laws unenforceable. The agriculture trade groups backing this bill hope to avoid be court cases by opponents over whatever silly ‘violations’ outside groups manage to drag up. The courts have to apply a strict “compelling state interest” in order to stop legal firms from using the law as an anti-competitive measure. If you pair it down the law is really an attempt to make it tough to sue farms for everyday legal farming techniques.  

SQ 779- Vote No

Teachers deserve more money in terms of salary and benefits but this measure won’t help. Any sales tax increase drives business away from local stores (Yes, I do work in one) and toward online sites like Amazon. It is a bit frustrating to see that not all the money even goes to elementary and secondary teachers, whatever it amounts to. ‘Higher Education’ also gets a slice of the pie. I guess that means TCC (Tulsa Community College) and a few tech schools will get almost 20%! This is the most frustrating part. Colleges should NOT get sales tax money. Sales taxes always have the biggest impact on those who can least afford the increase in food, gas and clothing. Who in our society can least afford it? Teachers.

SQ 780, 781- Vote No

There is an encroaching laissez-faire attitude toward drugs and drug use in the country. Prison overcrowding is a problem (I guess) and when one compares the lock ‘em up rate to other countries it seems we use prisons like others use public transportation. Squeeze a bunch of people in and keep the funding low. Yes our drug laws are tough. Prison overcrowding doesn’t worry me like kids who may become addicted does. The problem isn’t the law it’s the culture. Normalizing drug use will increase the availability of drugs (legal and illegal) and strain services meant to help addicts recover. And guess what? Those new addicts will need new treatment centers and additional state paid counselors. I’m not unsympathetic to low level drug offenses being reduced by judges or by adhering to a program for recovery. This exists already in most states. Good behavior and showing up for treatment means reduced sentencing for most offenders. This bill is unnecessary.

SQ 790- Vote Yes

Voting No will send you straight to Hell…I am pretty sure (kidding). This is a restore-our-heritage type of debate that overturns previous legislation that prevented public money from being used to pay for ‘religious’ organizations, events, displays…The problem is the phrasing on ‘religious’ was never applied in a consistent way. Sometimes private (Christian) schools got federal money under certain conditions and sometimes they couldn’t. Like most legal questions regarding State/Religious fights, we wait to see how the court rules and either celebrate the victory or start drafting the legal challenge. If you think the Ten Commandments isn’t religious (like me) but culturally and ideologically significant, vote Yes. So 790 erases the restriction on public money for religious monuments like the Ten Commandments engraving. I’m not even sure how much difference it will make since unfortunately the courts always decide these things. This is a tentative Yes.

On a side note I don’t think the Ten Commandments monument is a Christian symbol or representative of any religion. It’s a statement of principles, a set of values underpinning the Constitutional order and it gets codified in every amendment and addition to the legal landscape. The truths espoused are fundamental to right thinking citizens whether Christian, Muslim, or Atheist. Any great institution has a core set of values that acts like a rudder on a ship. Drifting off course…check the rudder.

SQ 791- Vote Yes

There is no good reason in the world why grocery stores shouldn’t be able to sell wine and high point beer. Really all this law does is take down existing barriers that liquor stores have to work around in order to comply with the current law. It allows them to sell cold high point (above 3.2 alcohol percent) beer in addition to selling cork screws, coolers and other non-alcohol related stuff. Under the current set up, liquor stores separate the booze from the goods and run two independent companies, kinda silly. I expect this measure pass smoothly, like um…beer through a funnel.

Hope that helps!

Victory at Last

What a game...What a team...What a season!!!

Fly the W

The Fed and Accountability

I heard an interview with Larry Kudlow recently on ‘professionals’ at the Fed. By professionals (my word not Larry’s) he means academics without experience running a bank or institution who use modeling to make decisions. Something gets lost when economists move from higher education to federal offices and eventually hold titles, director of this and coordinator of that. Stack enough decades together and patterns of behavior on finance repeat themselves over and over until the thinking defines the institution. The Fed is in such a state.  

During the seventies and eighties federal institutions drew its experts (primarily) from community bankers, farmers and small business owners. The idea being that real world experience in a field was critical to making tough decisions on a larger scale. The people responsible for the economic health of the nation have a clear understanding of market principles and the consequences of tweaking the currency. For sure, the Federal Reserve has always been responsible to clean up dumb political decisions made by administrations hoping to goose the economy. 

Private sector bankers typically have rational ideas on lending versus a government employee who hasn’t met a payroll or bothered with ledgers. Not that public sector workers can’t be trained or understand how global finance works, but according to Kudlow, they lack the economic philosophy. 

Economists from similar schools and similar philosophies will come to similar conclusions when making decisions. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Talk to salesmen at a convention and their opinions and attitudes on money and work will be familiar to each other and the profession. Ask teachers who they like for president in any election year and the response will likely be the Democrat. Surgeons vote alike and join the same clubs; their thinking on issues is familiar across states as is their salaries. The free market allows for like-minded people and groups to employ and be employed by each other. In the public sector (especially federal) this creates problems because bureaucrats are un-elected but have an increasingly outsized role in how Americans buy and sell.  

 Kudlow wasn’t bemoaning the institution of the Fed as much as arguing for a more accountable Fed. Government offices that draw heavily from one school of thought eventually stop listening to other schools, and thoughts. When everyone thinks the same way the mechanism for pulling back on bad ideas isn’t there. A rethink is needed when accountability is lacking.

The Central Intelligence Agency drew almost exclusively from the WASPy Ivy league schools right after World War II. Part of it just seemed logical, pick college kids with parents who attended the same clubs, went to same churches. The agency got bigger and through political will was forced to change its loose way of operating and accounting. Some high profile failures like the Bay of Pigs forced Congress put a lid on some of their crazier schemes. The CIA recruits from all over the US now.

Larry Kudlow didn’t make any suggestions about how to turn the Federal Reserve around but interestingly he is on the Donald Trump team of advisers. If Trump does win I think the country will see some positive moves toward a more accountable system of lending. The president’s authority over the Fed chairman is limited and presidents don’t like to interfere too much lest they get blamed for a messy problem. Kudlow is a known supply-sider advising a borderline protectionist candidate (Trump) on economic indicators. It is an odd pairing but one that can work if Trump does get the nomination next week. 

First comes accountability then comes philosophy.

"Do You Believe in (baseball) Miracles?"

The Cubs are in the World Series!!!

I almost can’t believe I wrote that last sentence but there it is, how sweet! They need to finish the season with a win of course but just getting there is a feat that this team hasn’t seen in 71 years—of just appearing in a World Series! Since 2003 I’ve been an occasional watcher of the north side abysmals, but always a fan. Why that year?(head drops...lets out a long sigh) This was the infamous Bartman year where that poor S.O.B  reached for the foul ball and ‘interfered’ with Moises Alou’s ability to catch it. The entire city knows now that it was a foul ball, out of play, and Bartman was within his rights to reach for it. Alou overreacted (shouting at him) and so did the tipsy outraged fans at Wrigley. He was escorted out like a criminal by some security guards who protected him from beer-throwing, cursing, threatening fans—a sickening display really.

ESPN did a brilliant documentary on it called “Catching Hell” outlining everything from crowd behavior and crowd psychology to rules governing fan interference. They even selected a sermon from a minister on the connection between Steve Bartman and Hebrew scapegoat traditions.

2003 was my junior year of college. I had time to spare and the Cubs were good! That meant skipping the occasional class to catch an afternoon game and rushing home from late classes to catch the last few innings. Not a lot of work (school or other) got done that year and the biggest let down was that playoff season where we lost to the Marlins. They were just better. Bartman or not, our guys couldn’t strike out the Florida club and managed to create additional problems by overthrowing runners, missing ground balls and walking batters. They were abysmal. Our pitching led by Kerry Wood and Mark Pryor had been almost automatic until the 6^th game of the series (the Bartman game). Kerry Wood threw the last game poorly. Marlins advanced. Cubs stayed home. Wrigleyville faithful drowned their sorrow in Old Style and raised their fists toward heaven—Greek tragedy style. It was further proof their ivy walled stadium was cursed. 

Until last Saturday…they never got over it.

   

The most I could muster since that heartbreaking fall of ’03 was watching WGN (when they still played games) on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Cubs had stars in those years and reached the playoffs a few times; in 2008 they got swept and of course just last year the Mets knocked them out with AMAZING pitching. Last year made a believer out of me like it did for so many. This team was built to win. The front office made purposeful decisions to spend money on young talent and develop it. The General Manager Theo Epstein had similar results with the Red Sox in the early 2000s and he made good on his promise to Chicago to invest long term. Fans sense a dynasty is being put together in the best place in the world for baseball, Wrigley field. Nothing is guaranteed of course but the talent this team has trained, traded for and developed is unlike any team before.

I can’t imagine having the time or passion that I did in ’03 ever again. Baseball is just too slow a game for me to sit down for 3 to 4 hours a night and watch. I suspect this is true of most people, even Cubs fans. The pace and regularity of the sport makes it difficult to focus exclusively on the game. We just don’t watch TV like that anymore and even with the DVR recorders, who can catch 50 games a year let alone 162? 

 I’ll be watching every pitch of this historic World Series though. I might even record a few next season and follow the club better in 2017. So I am not the most dedicated fan anymore but like so many others who have hoped, and believed this day would come—GO CUBS!!