Brookfield Basics

Sixty-seven years ago this Sunday, America was signifcantly and forever changed.

The ancient Hawaiians called Pearl Harbor "Wai Momi", which literally translated, means "Water of Pearl".  On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacked the United States Naval installations located there. 

I can remember my father, by all accounts an educated and articulate man, reflecting back on that day and trying to capture in words the staggering impact of the attack.  His inability to do so told me more than his words could have.  In Kohler, he and two of his brothers would enlist to serve in the Navy, Air Force and Army respectively.  His third brother was too young to serve, and my Uncle John has shared that the day his older brothers enlisted was the loneliest day of his life. 

Pearl changed everything.  World War Two (not the policies of FDR's New Deal) ended the Great Depression, and dragged America out of her geo-political isolationism.  There were 3,581 casualties at Pearl, and hundreds of planes and ships were lost.  It could have been much worse, as the U.S. aircraft carriers were out on un-scheduled training missions, thereby saving them and their enormous crews from certain destruction.  The most devastating loss was the U.S.S. Arizona, whose Memorial (below) is anchored in beautiful simplicty in the center of Wai Momi.

World War Two had already been raging in Europe for nearly two and a half years.  Hitler had already consumed Austria and Checkoslovakia, and his seemingly invincible Wermacht had conquered Poland, France, Greece, and most of Russia.  America had been on the sidelines, offering only material assistance to England through the FDR/Churchill brokered lend-lease program.  But after Japan's attack, and Hitler's declaration of war against the U.S. on December 8, we jumped into the war with both feet.  We vowed total victory, the only satisfactory measure of which would be the unconditional surrender of Germany and Japan.  For the next three and a half years the United States waged total war on two global fronts, and in that short span, traveled from defeat and isolationism, to complete victory and world prominence.

Prior to Pearl, Japan had enjoyed a series of stunning victories in China, the Phillipines, Singapore and the Malay Penninsula, the horrific savagery and barbarism of her conquests rivaling anything the Naziis did.  America was led in the Pacific war by our greatest soldier, General Douglas MacArthur, whose genius and leadership confounded, bedazzled, and ultimately defeated the Japanese.  MacArthur conquered more territory, inflicted greater casualties, and sustained fewer casualties than any commander in history.  He accepted the surrender of Japan in May of 1945 on-board another battleship named for a State - the U.S.S. Missouri.

The road to victory in the Pacific War began in 1942 at the battle of Midway, where on the brink of another major defeat, the pilots of the USN's Dauntless dive-bombers wrote their names into immortality.  Having located the Japanese fleet of carriers, they knowingly flew into almost certain death to attack and destroy them.  Most did die, but not before crippling the Japanese fleet and turning the tide of the Pacific War.  Remembering Pearl Harbor as he watched the Japanese carriers burn, Naval Airman Wilmer Gallaher exulted into his radio, "Arizona - I remember you". 

It was a different time.

Just four months from now, in April of 2009, this community will elect two people to the position of School Board member.  The Seat currently held by Steve Schwei is to be decided, and after nearly twelve years of service, Steve has announced that he will not seek re-election.  His position is an Area Seat, which means anyone eighteen years of age and living in the South-East quadrant of the School DIstrict can seek this office.

The Seat currently held by Meg Wartman is also up for election, and Meg has announced that she will seek re-election.  Her position is an At-Large Seat, which means anyone of legal age living anywhere within the boundaries of the District can seek this position.   

Anyone interested in running must act quickly.  Even though the election is not until April, there is protocol required to be eligible.  Papers must be filed and signatures must be gathered to declare and establish candidacy.  These requirements are driven by State Statute, and not by any requirements of the School Board or the District.  All filings and signatures are due at the District Office by January 6, 2009 in order to be a candidate.

Anyone considering this can contact a current or former Board Member to discuss what is entailed with Board service - see the District's web site at  http://www.elmbrookschools.org/display/router.aspx, and click on the Board of Education tab on the left side of the page to get contact information of current members.  There are also two meetings next week designed to answer questions for anyone considering seeking office; there will be Adminstrators and current Board Members present to do so.  The first is Wednesday, December 10th at 7 PM.  The second is Thursday, December 11th at 9 AM.  Both meetings are in Conference Room 130 at the Central Administrative Offices at 13780 Hope Street.  Questions regarding requirements of filing for candidacy, or the specific boundaries of the Area seat, can be directed to Ms. Pat Felde (Fell-Dee) of the District Office at 262-781-3030 - Extension 1140.  Pat is knowledgeable and extremely helpful, and can answer any questions you have.  

Lastly, as he nears completion of his fourth term, I want to acknowledge and thank Steve Schwei.  His service represents an enormous sacrifice which has seen him devote thousands of hours of work, attend hundreds of meetings, and study countless reports. 

I like to think that we live in a community where, regardless of one's views, people can appreciate and respect that.

The Holiday we know as Thanksgiving has two foundations in our nation's history.

The first lies in the autumn of 1621.  The people we know as the Pilgrims gathered to give thanks for having survived their first winter in North America, and for the liberties they enjoyed upon coming to this continent. 

The second lies in the year 1863, our country in the crucible of the Civil War and mourning the 55,000 casualties of Gettysburg.  Just a few months after that battle, President Abraham Lincoln issued a Proclamation which served to establish this day as a National Holiday.

Here is a brief look back on both events.  From the Journal of Nathaniel Morton of Plymouth Colony we read:

"Being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectations, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses or towns to repair unto to seek help.  And for the season it was winter, and they that know of the winters of this country know them to be sharp and violent".

And in November of 1863 Abraham Lincoln penned this closing stanza to his Thanksgiving Proclamation:

"We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no nation has ever grown.  Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to claim this necessity of reclaiming and preserving grace.  It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole of the American people.  I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, to set apart and observe the last Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving".

It was the Pilgrims whose magnificent courage and modest conventions established the traditions that we now know as Thanksgiving.  Two hundred and forty two years later, it was Lincoln who institutionalized this Holiday, and wove it into the fabric of our national life and consciousness.

Amongst many other things this Thursday, I will give thanks for the heritage these people left.

I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.

This posting is a re-print of last year's Thanksgiving comments, and the first part of its title is taken from a Sergio Leone film of the same name.

The French Revolution occurred in 1789, but remains one of the most profoundly impactful events of the last one-thousand years.  Forged from that crucible of upheaval and social strife, Napoleon was the political child of that event, and more than any one individual, wrote the history of the 19th Century.  All of history's immortal commanders have been men of genius, and he was no exception.  His audacious strategies, brilliant combinations, and on field leadership make his campaigns the object of study in military academies to this day. 

He was witheringly impatient with slow witted or slow acting subordinates, as one of his generals learned.  The last official act of that unfortunate commander was to send the great Bonaparte a memo asking, "why have you not sent me the requested reinforcements"?  Like the back of his hand Napoleon's reply fired back, "Because I never reinforce failure".

Last week the top executives of the auto companies, disdaining travel with the likes of you and me on the pedestrian nuisances known as commerical flights, flew private jets into Washington to sing a triumvirate chorus of the "bailout blues".  Napoleon would have known what to do with the jet-setting executives.  He would have dispatched an emmissary to greet them on the tarmac, issue the same acid reply noted above, and sent them back to Detroit.   

Given the now established pattern of bailouts this one is certainly difficult to say no to.  But say "no" we should because it has no chance of SOLVING anything.  It will not STOP the death spiral of the auto companies - it will only PROLONG it.  It's not the bad economy that is killing Detroit - the auto makers were spewing red ink for years, even in good times.  I predicted the bankruptcy of the Big Three automotive manufacturers fifteen years ago, and first wrote about it on this blog nearly two years ago.  I further argued that it is only under the auspices of Chapter Eleven that they have the remotest chance of survival, and the sooner they file the sooner they have a chance to fight their way back to some semblance of health.  The chief of General Motors keeps prattling on about how "bankruptcy is not an option", but that's just Beltway rhetoric.  The fact is his company is ALREADY bankrupt, and is only operational because it still has a few months of cash left.  Filing Chapter Eleven will not mean death for the auto companies.  Rather, it would allow them to continue operating (as Delphi has), and give them a chance to change the carcinogenic management habits and labor agreements that were put in place over forty years ago, when the world was an entirely different place.  If this  bailout goes through it will only be a matter of time before they come back for another one.  That's not clairvoyance - it's actuarial reality.

A bailout, no matter how large, will only prolong the death spiral.  The economics of today's global environment simply do not allow for paying employees in retirement nearly the same wages and benefits they had when they were working, particularly when the number of those retirees is five times greater than thoses currently employed. 

It is sad and it is unfortunate.  But it is an inexorable reality that no President and no Congress, Democrat or Republican, can change.  

The sooner we realize that the healthier our public policy and private economy will be.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the Twentieth Annual Brookfield Central High School Thanksgiving Dinner for Senior Citizens. 

The Student Council gets the credit for underwriting the cost and staffing the event.  The planning was handled by Shirley Smanski and Su Edington, with assistance from Principal Don LaBonte, and Associate Principals Natalie Collins and Jim Darin.  Students staffed the parking lot to assist residents who needed it, and to ensure they were comfortably and swiftly seated.  They also waited in attendance on them, bringing them coffee, water, dessert, or anything else they might have desired.  It was clear that both youth and seniors enjoyed each other's company.

This day was special to me for several reasons.  It was my first attendance of this fine and noble tradition.  Secondly, I had the pleasure of escorting my mother, God-mother, and three of their life-long friends to the event.  I was able to meet and visit with several delightful people, and end the afternoon by a surprise visit to my daughter's locker at the end of her school day.  Lastly, and most importantly, it was just heart-warming to see so many of our local residents turn out and enjoy each other's company, and be waited upon by the students.

Over three hundred area residents attended, and while visiting and eating, enjoyed music provided by The Lancer Jazz Ensemble led by Jason Gillette, and the Choir, led by Phil Olson.  Superintendent Matt Gibson played a medley of seasonal and patriotic songs on the piano, and was joined in song by the seniors.  He also recogonized a World War Two Veteran who was in attendance.

It is a unique event.  It is a uniquely AMERICAN event.  If you are a senior citizen and have not attended, I urge you to consider doing so next year.

So often we hear about problems or negative issues in our schools, and I don't suggest that yesterday obviates such concerns.  But it should be placed alongside of them in recognition that, even in times like these, there are ALWAYS things to be thankful for.  And even amidst all of the bad news out there, we still have young people who find joy in offering events like this, and serving those who paved the way for them.  That is something to celebrate.  More importantly, it is something to nurture and encourage. 

I walked home with a lighter step than I have had in some time.

Thanks to everyone involved, and most of all, to our seniors.

It's time for a feel good story - wrapped inside of a warning.

In the final analysis the only thing that really matters on this earth is the people in our lives, be they well known and loved, or be they strangers we might encounter only once.  I met such a stranger Friday morning morning by the name of Riley.

I hesitate to write about this because it is not my intent to call attention to what happened.  But it was such a defining and revealing moment that I wanted to explore it.  Revealing because it showed me what a huge difference twenty minutes can make in someone's life, and it underscored the reality that when we talk about "helping people", we can only do so one person at a time.  It was defining because it showed me with stark clarity the capacity that each of us has to choose.  We can choose to sew the seeds of peace, or seeds of unctious self-involvement. 

I was in Germantown driving on Pilgrim Road, hustling to be on time for a "very important" appointment, when suddenly I was confronted with a different, and far more important one.  I noticed a young boy sitting on the sidewalk who was in obvious distress.  It was 8:15 in the morning; broad daylight in a "safe and suburban" setting.  I was deeply preoccupied with my meeting, knowing it was going to be difficult, and I figured he would be fine.  So to my shame, I kept driving for a few hundred feet.   

Suddenly I was gripped with the strongest sense of concviction I can recall.  The conviction took hold, I parked quickly, and ran over to him.  Kneeling down so as to speak eye to eye, I learned he had been riding his foot-powered scooter to school and took a nasty spill on the sidewalk.  He was clearly in pain but thankfully he was more frightened than injured, with just a scrape or two to show for his mishap. I assured him he was going to be fine, and after a few pats on the back and further reassurances, we stood up and started chatting.  His name is Riley and he is a fourth grader at MacArthur Elementary School.  I told him I had a son in the fourth grade, and that created a definite connection as his dark and worried visage began to relax and brighten.  I offered him a ride to school which was just a half mile down the road.  I hesitated to do so for obvious reasons, but I did not want him getting back on that scooter so quickly after his accident.  He accepted, and I took him right to the office to be sure he would be checked out and OK.  Lastly, and as a sad reflection of the times, I realized that his parents might be justifiably concerned upon hearing Riley tell them the story of a strange man stopping and giving him a ride to school.  So I made sure the Principal had my name and phone number in case they wanted to allay those concerns.

I think the feel good part of the story is obvious.  The incident left me with a feeling of bouyancy for the remainder of the day.  And I kept thinking of my own fourth grade son, my "Buddy", and praying that if he ever had such an accident someone would be there to help him.

So what's the warning in which the story is wrapped?  It lies in those few moments after I first saw Riley; the few seconds where I just kept driving, more concerned with my pathetic little meeting than I was with a nine year old boy in turmoil and pain before my very eyes.

That's the blessing Riley gave me.  He revealed with riveting and unflattering clarity, that there are two of me.  The one who attempts to do right, and the one who is content to "drive on", and let someone else deal with it.

I gave some time and some attention to Riley.  He gave me back a bit of myself.

I am in his debt.

I am going to take a break from blogging for a bit - don't know how long.  Given what is going on in the world my heart is just not in it right now.  And just as I am not overly interested in writing, I am certain you are not too concerned with hearing from me at this time.

How the heck did we get here?  That question can only be answered with a book or a few sentences.  I'd like to write a book some day, but for now, two paragraphs will have to do:

I believe that at the root of all of this political and financial turmoil is a lie that that to our shame, we have believed.  Post-modern intellectuals and our universtiy campuses have told us for forty years that things like "truth" and "morality" and "ethics" are relative; that there is no objectively definable and un-changing definition of such things. 

And I believe we have looked too often to Washington for every solution to every problem, when in fact the problems either originate or are magnified there.  It is time to look to ourselves, our beloved families, our churches, and our communities for solutions.  Big Government is broken - and I believe the only fix is term limits for Congress.

As we consider how we are going to navigate this crisis in our own lives, and as we consider who we are going to vote for at all levels of office next month, I ask that we all give some thought to such matters.

I believe it is time to walk what Jeremiah called "the ancient paths" again.  It is time to seek the simple truths that don't change and are not relative.

They are there - we just need to remember how to look for them.

Our energy policy in America today is dysfunctional.  And the reason it is dysfunctional is that Congressional (and Presidential) leaders are unwilling to portray realities to the American people such that we can forge a cohesive way forward.  They clammer and clang about being "energy independent" and "bringing relief to the pump", as if their empty rhetoric could make it so.  I believe both candidates, but in particular John McCain, missed an enormous opportunity by not making this a key component of the campaign. 

Reality Number One:  While we absoluely need to explore alternative energy sources (especially nuclear), there is no reason to believe that ANY alternative to fossil fuels is going to have a measurable impact for at least fifteen years.  So while we pursue alternatives, we also need to pursue every drop of oil and every cubic foot of natural gas we can.

Reality Number Two:  We would want to fully exploit our fossil fuel alterantives even if we were farther down the road with alternatives than we are.  As fragile as our economy is right now do you want it to be MORE or LESS dependent on the likes of Iranian President Ahmadinejad.    

Readers of this column know that I love northern Michgian.  Lake Michigan, the Au Sable River, the Leelanau Penninsula, Tahquamenon Falls - all have their claim on me.  I have written of her land, shore and water many times, and to the extent my heart can reside in a physical place, it does so there. 

I came to love northern Michigan when I lived there for nearly five years.  I worked for Amoco Production Company and spent many months as a roustabout working in the "oil patch".  And a result of working there is that I learned exploration for and production of oil and natural gas can co-exist comfortably with the environment.  I remember walking in the woods with some out of town visitors and telling them we were within one hundred yards of a producing oil well.  As they considered the dense forest and beautiful greenery, they simply did not believe me.  But a short walk down a trail revealed the truth, for the forests and fields of northern Michigan, topography that Melville would have described as "loveliness unfathomable", are replete with well-heads and pump jacks inexorably pulling energy out of the earth. 

While it is certainly true that the drilling phase is messy, sites can are restored to a level of pristine cleanliness that is all but pre-production, with only some trees cleared to make room for the well head equipment.  That was the case thirty years ago, and with the technological advancement that has occured since then, the energy companies can look for and produce this bounty with even less impact on the environment.  It is simply no longer credible to suggest that the exploration for and production of oil and natural gas is a significant environmental threat.  Yet many still cling to this tired and long debunked argument.

So what?

Well - Alaska's ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) is currently sitting atop staggering reserves of natural gas and oil.  Estimates peg the amounts as fifteen BILLION barrels of oil and nine TRILLION cubic feet of gas.  And the estimates of reserves that exist off-shore are far greater than even these numbers. 

It is time to unfetter our energy companies and send the unequivocal signal to them that it is time to go and get it.  And it is time to realize that such a decision can be taken without trashing our responsibility to the environment. 

And the only group of people keeping us from doing exactly that is the United States Congress. 

I was on the UW campus Saturday afternoon and at the Badger game Saturday evening.  It was a beautiful autumn day, and I was again reminded of the myriad reasons that for me, make the pageantry of college football superior to any other sport.

The fans narrowley missed out on a Badger victory.  They also missed out on the tremendous and always entertaining performance of the spectacular UW Marching Band.  The band, already on probation from an incident two years ago, was suspended from this game for activity occuring on the previous week's trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Officials are interviewing band members "one at a time" to investigate "allegations of serious hazing", alcohol consumption, and "inappropriate sexual behavior". 

Now here are a few quick thoughts.  First, for the University to suspend a band that is almost as much a part of the football program as the team itself, is a very serious step.  The timing of the suspension reveals this with even greater emphasis, for this was no afternoon game against South Dakota State.  It was a night game against the mighty Ohio State Buckeyes, served up to our sports-frenzied nation on live, prime-time television.  For officials to deny the kids this chance, and the invaluable publicity attendant with such a show, indicates that the alleged behavior went well beyond college kids just having some exuberant road-trip fun.  

Further, the suspension of the band prior to the results of the investigation being completed, tells us that what has been alleged was not only serious, but dangerous.  If the allegations are true, the University was probably exposed to enormous financial liability.  And worse, students may have been subjected to risk of emotional or physical harm.

Lastly, it tells us that someone was so alarmed by what they saw that they took it upon themselves to come forward with an anonymous tip to Band Director Mike Leckrone.  We will probably never know, but in all likelihood it was a student of small group of students that took this step.  If that is the case it was an act of tremendous courage, for doing so put the wildly popular and successful program in serious jeopardy.

As is typical in such matters, we can surmise that most of the kids in the band are great students and musicians, and that the alleged behavior is a case of a minority emperiling the entire group.  The protection of that majority is all the more reason to take swift and definitive action, along with protecting the University from potentially staggering litigation. 

The competition to be a member of the UW Marching Band is enormous, and those who wear the red and white have earned that spot with hard work and talent.  UW officials are correct in conducting a thorough and confidential investigation.  They are to be encouraged to take firm and decisive action against any members of the UW Staff or band that may have emperiled its collective good standing and health.  

Membership in the elite UW Marching Band is an honor and a privilege.

One that should be revoked if necessary.

In the interests of disclosure, I have no formal or informal relationship with the UW Marching Band, nor do I know any individuals currently associated with it.

I have no idea what the average age of the readers of this column is, or how many will recognize this title, taken from the lyrics of Neil Young's great protest song, Ohio.

He wrote it in condemnation of the fatal shootings of four students at Kent State University on May 4, 1970.  The disjointed and fractured guitar riff, the devastating salvo of lyrics that form the title of this column, and the hauntingly repeated background vocals of "four dead in Ohio", are imprinted upon the musical DNA of an entire generation.  

I thought of this song last night when I saw more sad news from Ohio.  Yesterday a Federal Judge there enabled thousands of people to register and then vote on the same day, without even modest checks of identification or residency to stem what will now be a tsunami of illegal votes in next month's Presidential election.  It is news that will result in many more than "four dead" voting in Ohio.   

Of all the important stories that are routinely ignored by America's hopelessly biased main-stream media, election fraud is the most serious and the most damning.  Regardless of where one stands on the political spectrum, we can all recognize the reality of the last ten years.  It is the reality of dramatic increases in voter fraud, along with one of our two major political parties that is consistently and adamantly opposed to even the most moderate steps to ensure that pople who ARE voting SHOULD be voting. 

It is a reality that will probably decide our next major election.

And it is a tragedy as great as the one Neil Young wrote about. 

So proclaimed the fictional character Lucas Jackson - better known to us as Cool Hand Luke.

In my mind's eye I see Paul Newman barking out that line, delivered with a visage that was half grin and half smirk.  His face was sardonic, sarcastic, challenging, and joyful all at the same time.  It was acting in the greatest sense of the word; an indisputable talent that held the power to move us.  Those five words and that one look defined the character of Cool Hand Luke. 

I was saddened yesterday to learn of the death of Paul Newman; Academy Award winning actor, race-car driver, businessman, entreprenneur, and husband.  Working in an industry populated by the world's most desirable women, he could have had any one of them with little more than a nod.  Despite this, he lived in lifelong fidelity to the wife of his youth; his marriage to Joann Woodward a marital lighthouse to an industry of foundered vessels.  I was further saddened to think it has been forty-one years since the release of Cool Hand Luke.  Where did THOSE years go?

Paul Newman was huge.  He possessed what the actors and actresses of Hollywood's Golden Era had - presence, charisma, size.  Does anyone believe any of today's "A-list" leading men, while perhaps matching Newman's striking looks, could even THINK about pulling off a role like the Cool Hand?  Russell Crowe - perhaps.  Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, or George Clooney - please.  Newman practiced his craft at a time when Hollywood had left behind its Golden Age and was transitioning to the modern world of American entertainment.  "Cool" is something we can't really define, but know it when we see it.  Newman had it, and along with Steve McQueen, epitomized Hollywood cool in this era.   

He appeared in over seventy films, with Hud, The Verdict, Slap Shot, and Absence of Malice listed as my favorites.  But I believe his defining work, a film that has entered into the iconoclastic halls of our popular culture, is Cool Hand Luke.

It was remarkable on many levels.  Directed by Stuart Rosenburg, it had an incredible number of actors who used it as a springboard to roles in film or television, like George Kennedy, Dennis Hopper, Wayne Rogers, JD Cannon, Harry Dean Stanton, Joe Don Baker, Ralph Waite, and others.  It firmly cemented the prison film as a major genre in Hollywood.  Lastly, it was a pivot point for leading-men roles, as it entrenched the concept of the "anti-hero" in American cinema and popular culture.

The title of this piece is taken from what I believe to be the foundational scene of the movie.  It comes just past the the film's half-way point, where Luke had become a cult figure in the prison and was locked in mortal combat with the warden over his refusal to "get his mind right", to conform to the "Boss".  His fellow prisoners clearly began to look at him as a savior figure, and Luke was pressured to achieve increasingly outrageous acts in order to hold their rapt attention.  So while lazily reclined on his cot, he issued this challenge, which immediately became the subject of furious prison wagering.  His first lieutenant George Kennedy (Dragline), said, "Luke - no one can eat fifty eggs" - and the bet was on.

The scenes of Newman eating the eggs (in one hour) ranged from hilarious to wrenching.  The scene of him at the end of the gluttonous fest, arms outstretched on the table, abdomen distended and feet together, was an unmistakable caricature of crucifixion, and a clear foreshadowing of Luke's ultimate sacrifical death to free the men.

So many scenes and so many lines from that film remain ensconsced in our minds and our daily parlance, and none more so than the infamous, "What we have here is a failure to communicate". 

It is a tremendous film, full or heartbreak, humor, and humanity; revealed to us by a great actor at the height of his craft.

Watch it again, or for the first time. 

And tip your hat to a Hollywood legend as you do so.. 

William Manchester is my favorite historian.  An unparalleled researcher and a lover of language; he wrote of the great men and wars of the Twentieth Century, and wrapped them in context and insights so illuminating as to make his work unique amongst all I have read.  Such insight came at the price of personal experience - Manchester was a decorated U.S. Marine who was severely injured on Okinawa.  In his stunning memoir of World War Two entitled Goodbye Darkness, Manchester wrote of he and his comrades on Okinawa that, "we were living very fast".  He meant that they knew they were living in a pivot point of history.

Last week we saw the pivot point in a financial maelstrom of almost mythological proportion, and Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson and the world's financial markets have also been living very fast.  The debate about whether or not the U.S. Government should have done what it did is now academic.  What CAN and NEEDS to be debated are how it should best manage the bailout.  In order to do this it is critical to understand the foundational causes of this crisis.   

Our two Presidential candidates tried to respond to these very questions, and neither one acquited himself well.  Barack Obama did what he does - smoothly and articulately dispense a bunch of high-sounding but empty words, continuing his pattern of spewing rhetorical Cheetos to a nation hooked on political junk food.  John McCain looked frustrated and confused as he groped for a position.  I longed for one of them to say something like, "this is an incredibly complex and important matter and I am simply not going to use it as a political whipcord until I have had a chance to think it through".  How refreshingly courageous this would have been.  

Because problems like this are so ENORMOUS we assume the causes and solutions must be of equal size and complexity.  We view a dizzying menu of things like "sub-prime packages" and "securitizations" and "unwindings of debt", until the whole matter becomes an opaque bowl of data-laden goo.  While all of these things have their place in the discussion, they are simply too large for us to assimilate, and worse, cause us to lose sight of the truly foundational issues.  Our eyes move from headline to headline, and our ears absorb panel discussions until we contract intellectual lock-jaw.  The lock jaw then turns into capitulation; an almost involuntary "shrugging of our intellectual shoulders".  This is not a healthy development and we need to resist it.   

Amongst many enablers of this crisis there was one primary primary factor - the years of ridiculously easy money proferred by the Fed, in spite of nearly two decades of unsustainably soaring real estate values.  Alan Greenspan now postures that years of record low interest rates were not the cause.  I agree, but more so than any one factor it enabled this crisis.  And more than any other individual's, it was his hand that held the great National Needle of Morphine as it dripped the narcotic of rate reductions into our fiscal veins.  This would not have happened had Paul Volcker been Fed Chairman.

But while easy money ENABLED the crisis, it did not CAUSE it.  I believe there are two primary causes of this mess:  human greed and something closely linked to it - a failure of CHARACTER on the part of the leaders of America's enormous financial institutions.  

We all have it within us to be greedy; it is a propensity of our nature and one that can only be combatted with discipline and care.  But for all the prattle about "change" on the campaign trail, I trust we all agree that neither candidate is able to change the condition of the human heart.  Greed cannot be eradicated, and will always be an issue in our dealings.  It was greed on the part of prospective home buyers that led them to "rent" three-hundred thousand dollar homes because they were not content to "buy" a two-hundred thousand dollar home.  It was greed on the part of real estate speculators.  And of course, it was greed on the part of banks and brokerage houses, now joined together in an incestuous relationship, who churned out these packages to millions of such people, consciously spurning the time-honored and proven traditions of their industry.

But we need to loook further and deeper.  We need to acknowledge that it was a crisis of character on the part of the leaders of these institutions.  Men and women who simply knew better but could not bring themselves to stand up in their board rooms and say, "ENOUGH - NO MORE.  We will no longer engage in such risky and unsustainable conduct.  It may be legal, but it isn't RIGHT".  It tells us that managers who DID do this had the courage to say "NO" to the orgiastic joy ride of their industry.  It reminds us that a senior manager's FIRST and SACRED responsibility is to act in the best interests of their SHAREHOLDERS - NOT to achieve a particular level of quarterly bonus for their staff.  

Please remember this the next time you hear someone say, "I am more interested in a person's policies than I am in their personal character".  There are pivotal times in history where character is inseparable from policy, and indeed, far more important. 

So where do we go from here?

There is an interesting development ocurring which predictably, is going  under reported by our fallow mainstream media.  There are actually banks and financial firms that are still on their feet.  And some of them are beginning to enter the picture and conduct negotiations to buy some of the failed banks.  This tells us two things.  First, that such institutions were led by people who decided they would NOT engage in such incendiary practices.  And secondly, it tells us that the market can help the Government sort this mess out by purchasing the assets of now defunct organizations at a hugely discounted rate, and begin the process of building up their capital base and balance sheets into a stable condition.  The single best thing the U.S. Government can do right now beyond what has already ocurred, is to create an environment where such transactions are transparent, encouraged, and applauded.  It is also time to create an agency akin to the Resolution Trust Corporation and put the RIGHT PERSON in charge of it.  I don't know who that might be, but amongst many who have the professional competence, I would look for a person of unquestioned and Olympian CHARACTER.  I hope and pray that Paul Volcker, or someone of his caliber, is available to serve. 

Lastly, I believe this crisis has taught us that economics is more important than finance.  Economics is the foundational science of commerce, for it is the study of how human beings make decisions under the context of unlimited wants, finite resources, and the condition of the human character.  Finance is the methodology through which economic decisions are enacted.  It is finance that says, "Hey - I have figured out how to mass produce uncollateralized loans for people who cannot afford them".  It is economics that says, "Well congratulations - but that is a BAD idea".  Finally, it is people who understand economics and combine it with personal character who say, "I don't care how much pressure builds up - we are NOT going to do it".    

The final and most important lesson of this crisis is to listen to the laws of economics, and to political and financial leaders who understand them. 

And who have the courage to respect them. 

I believe that the voices we listen to when receiving our news is becoming as important as the news itself.

Most people I know expect our leaders and our pundits to disagree and to hold different views.  They not only expect it; l believe they want it.

What we don't want, but regrettably have come to expect, is the strident tones of apocolyptic rhetoric that seem to have become the norm in the last fifteen years.  There is a savagery in our public discourse that is more than concerning - it is alarming.

And this is why Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal has been my favorite columnist for a long time.  

Ms. Noonan is extremely bright and erudite, but this does not distinguish her.  In a field littered with so many poor writers, she is a very good one.  Her penetrating observations combine with a talent for making complex issues and relationships seem clear, and her use of analogy is brilliant.  Unlike the glut of talking heads who follow in her wake, she actually has some knowledge of cultural and political history.  She is willing to put in the hard work of honest self-reflection and editing of content, an old school journalist who honors the traditions of her profession.  And all of these are qualities that DO separate her from most of her peers.

She "made her bones" thirty years ago in a world dominated by men, and is rightfully proud of that accomplishment.  But her pride is tempered with, dare I say it, feminine style.  

But more than all of this, Peggy Noonan possesses one quality that puts her at the very top of my list.   

She is gracious.

Graciousness is a virtue, a pattern of character and behavior that indicates one possesses and is willing to dispense - grace.  And it is all but non-existent in the profession of print and television journalism.   

Regardless of our walk in life, I think we can all learn from Peggy Noonan.

I had dinner last night with a man who was in Manhattan on 9-11.  He saw the second plane; he smelled the burning steel and fuel; he wintessed the death and mayhem.  Driving home I recalled another dinner I had with my father decades ago, where somehow we got talking about Pearl Harbor.  My Dad was an articulate and educated man, but he could not capture for me the reaction that the country experienced upon news of the attack.  He tried to convey what it was like as he huddled around the radio with his parents and siblings, listening to Franklin Delano Roosevelt give his famous address to Congress.

We all have our memories of 9-11, and as the number of Americans who have first-hand memories of Pearl Harbor declines, 9-11 will stand as our singular collective memory of the United States of America being attacked by a hostile foreign power. 

Winston Churchill once said that "All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word:  freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope".

As I think of 9-11 and peel back the emotional onion layers of what that day holds for us, I try and think of Churchill's "great things".  Images that recall the unimaginable courage of the men and women of the NYFD - people who ran UP the staircases as maelstroms of fire, concrete, steel, and death poured down.  An itinerant taxi driver stopping to comfort a Wall Street Executive.  A mother clutching her child to her bosom, as the raw scenes of death and mayhem revealed with savage clarity the things that really matter in life.

But I also use the memory of 9-11 to try and put complex and incredibly difficult issues into a sense of focus.  In my view there are realities about 9-11 that some don't want to confront.  Worse, as evidenced by the sad case of Professor Ward Churchill, there are those who would contort these realities into such a mosh of post-modern psycho-babble as to have us think of OURSELVES as the guilty party, a party who actaully DESERVED this "rough justice".  What a sad irony that this small-minded and hate-filled man would share the same name of the great Statesman. 

The personal loss and tragedies of this horrific event can only be experienced on an individual level.  But on a national level we can look back on 9-11 and use it to remind ourselves of a few things.  9-11 serves as a reminder that there ARE such things as right and wrong.  9-11 reminds us that there is such a thing as EVIL in the world, and that it requires a response from us, both individually and collectively.  It reminds us of what Alexander Solzhenitsyn told us - that evil resides not in countries or polticial systems or creeds, but rather that it resides in the human heart on an individual by individual basis.  It reminds us that there is a DIFFERENCE between people who board a bus to get across town, and those who get on a bus with C-4 strapped to their bodies.

There are DIFFERENCES in the world.  There are DIFFERENCES in belief systems.  There ARE such things as good and evil, and choosing one vs. the other is an individual responsibility that MATTERS.  

My father's generation would not have felt the need to articulate such things - they viewed them as self-evident.

Why have we lost the courage to say so?

Perhaps recovering some of that courage is the best way to honor the dead of 9-11.

Tuesday of last week saw high humidity and temperatures approaching the mid 90's.  Then on Saturday morning as I walked around the Farmers Market there was a chill in the air.  Where else but the upper Midwest would you run air conditioning on Tuesday and wear sweats just a few days later? 

Realizing that the Market's season is drawing to a close made me appreciate it all the more.  What an array of bounty spread before our eyes, where in the space of a hundred yards you can purchase delectables ranging from steak to a smorgasbord of baked goods, spices and vegetables.  It is a feast for the senses - the brilliance of the floral arrangements, the deep green and pale yellow of the peppers, the scent of bakery, and OH MAN -  those tomatoes.  All too soon we'll be in the aisles of Pick 'N Save skeptically eyeing their limp imposters, and wistfully thinking to ourselves, "You call yourself a TOMATO"??!!  And all of this taken in while young performers serenade us with violin and harp.  What a tremendous way to spend a lazy half-hour on a Saturday morning.

Autumn is here, and as long as I can remember it has been my favorite season.  The cooler temperatures, crisp air, fabulous color, and our agricultural bounty all combine to stamp this magical season's impression upon us.  It got me thinking about something I wrote nearly twenty five years ago that I titled Fall's Run.  Barb and I were hiking the Leelanau Penninsula in northern Michigan (pictured above), when we stumbled upon one of the most fabulous and confounding sights in all of nature.  We sat and gazed in silence as the salmon were "running" up the Leland River.  I was mesmerized by the sight then, and am transfixed by its memory now.  I wrote a tribute to those noble creatures which I present below.  I apologize as the blogging software does not allow for proper spacing.

Fall's Run

As the leaves softly turn to a burnished gold, and the air cools and crackles and snaps in the night;

The earth yields her bounty in richness untold, and the rivers are home to an ancient sight.

A bottomless impulse that has no name, summons them from the boundless deep.

Irrestible object or immovable force - the next generation their harvest to reap.

Shining bands of ribboned steel, explode from the surface and up through the mist.

They know not what drives them, what makes them die; a force as committed as a clenched fist. 

Like angry mortars they hurl themselves, into the teeming, foaming spray.

Battered and dazed they do not relent.  Rest - regroup - then back to the fray.

A haven up-river beckons them, where their journey began in a quiet pool.

To find it, to reach it, and pass on their life.  Then die in that water, sweet-calm and cool.

Why must it be that very same spot, where the light of day first reached their eyes?

How do they know it, what guides their way, through miles of shore traveled long ago?

Some few make it back to that very same spot, to pass on their spirit which now ebbs away.

Exhausted and battered, destroyed and withdrawn.  Yet never defeated in the gentle cool sway.

Their victory won they complete the chain, their bodies surrender the seed of new life.

With me or without me their years spin away, their redmeption won through this noble strife.

The almost mythological trek of the salmon remains for me one of the seminal experiences in all of nature.  It's autumn in Wisconsin folks - let's get OUT THERE.  

Over the course of the last twenty years the two governing parties in Washington DC have morphed into a gelatinous political goo.  This goo has subsequently congealed into a dough so homogenous as to render the once proud and distinctive parties all but indistinguishable from one another.  Both are so addicted to the drug of incumbency, and both are so devoted to the god of big government that it is difficult to discern any measurable differences.  I am convinced the only cure for this is term limits, but that is the subject of another column.  

But one of those few remaining criteria is the matter of judicial appointments, and with millions of kids in America returning  to school amidst the heat of a Presidential race, we see a case that reveals the importance of this issue.

In April I wrote about a ruling of the California Supreme Court in which the Justices opined that "parents do not have a Constitutional right to home school their children" (see link at bottom).  First I need to correct an error in that article, as it was a California District Court of Appeals that made that ruling - NOT the State Supreme Court.  I had read an article which reported it as a Supreme Court decision, and I wanted to acknowledge and apologize for the subsequent error in my posting. 

In that initial ruling the Appellate Court decided that parents or guardians would be allowed to home school only if they first received a certification from the State, thereby making their choice and conscience hostage to the approval of the California's edcuational beaurocracy.  Parents across America choose the option of home schooling for a variety of reasons ranging from academic performance, to spiritual beliefs, to protecting the physical safety of their kids.  The notion of these parents being able to exercise their rights only after being properly "certified" is as invasive as it is alarming.  Thankfully the same Court reversed its decision, and two weeks ago ruled that home-schooling parents will NOT need to be certified by the State.  The Court even went so far as to say that "such matters are best decided by the legislature...."

A high Court exercising judicial restraint and recognizing the proper distinctions between itself and elected legislatures is a rare and welcome event. 

This particular issue will come back.  But for now the causes of educational freedom and individual liberty won a significant victory in California. 

It is a victory that has national implications.  

http://blogs.brookfieldnow.com/brookfieldbasics/archive/2008/04/03/bone-of-their-bone-and-flesh-of-their-flesh.aspx