Secretary of State Comity Club

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, before which John Kerry appeared as a war protester in 1971, and of which he most recently has served as Chairman, today confirmed him in a comity vote as U.S. Secretary of State. 

The nomination will now go to the full Senate for another comity vote.

Electras wild-man bass player John Kerry (standing, left of drummer) - St. Paul's Academy, Concord NH, 1961

If you believe in diplomacy, then U.S. Secretary of State is a pretty influential role on the world stage.  I hope our next Secretary of State John Kerry, with whom I dined in style one evening, has as much success and influence as did Reagan Chief of Staff and G.H.W. Bush Secretary of State James Baker, with whom I attended church services, in his day (1989-1992).

With a reeeeeaaaal stretch, one could argue that Katherine Harris has been the most influential SOS in recent history - as the fifty State Secretaries of State each get to count the votes in their own state.  And after our history together, she's still my favorite among the three...

Fellow Breast Man Roger Ebert

Poolside: an Urgent call . . .

Roger Ebert is one of the best ever - perhaps the finest -  movie/film critics in the world over the past 50 years (Take that, Paulene Kael!).  He and partner Gene Siskel (R.I.P.) created the "thumbs up/down" rating shorthand and had true chemistry as a reviewing team. 

Roger is a fanatic, on par with Peter Bogdonovich; he's also always honest and thoughtful - and I think quite fair - in his reviewing.  I appreciated this review of Roger's.  I still disagree with RE about Ryan's Daughter, though....

Thumbs Up !

Usually treated as an amusing footnote to his bio, the young Ebert of 1970 dabbled in debauchery with my hero Russ Meyer as screenplay collaborator on Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

Ebert Surrounded - the Gang's All Here

In the spring of 2005 I finally got to meet Roger when he was honored with a CINE Lifetime Achievement Award on M street NW in Washington DC.  A friend had invited me to the event at National Geographic TV, and after seeing the Raymonds (Patient Zero progenitors with their high-quality PBS innovation "American Family" that indirectly begat today's 'reality' sewage) honored, I caught up with Roger.

First stop (establishing shot): Men's Room.

"Porter Hall," I introduced myself.  Ebert brightened, quizzically. "We have a good, mutual friend - RM" I continued.  "How do you know Russ?" asked Roger, and we were off.

Initial exposition and plot-set-up.  Backstory.  All that rot.  Choice private anecdotes for validation (see below).  Confirmation.  Camaraderie.  Continuity.  Drama, pathos and everything else, in ten minutes chat and a stroll from the Sumner School building down to the street, round the corner and a sidewalk parting at the cab on 17th street, NW.

Ebert instantly connected the dots - he had heard Russ talk of his Washington 'insider' buddy, referring always to a "Porter Hall," whose original namesake is a shady character whom Ebert/Meyer contrived in the BVD script, played to a villainous T by Duncan McLeod.  Well, that insider is yours truly.

Two Gentlemen without Equal

Roger and I lamented RM's passing the previous September.  By his words about Rus,s it was instantly, abundantly and cantilevered-ly clear that Roger had been as genuine and devoted a friend as any man could ever have.

Now, Russ was without doubt the best raconteur I ever met, with a genius for tale-telling, a vocabulary that he could have copyrighted, and a bottomless well of incredible stories ("Hemingway rousted us out of our fartsacks and paid our way into the best whorehouse in Paris"... "I screwed Uschi all that summer on the carpet of my office at Fox!"... "Ebert got blown by the pool!" ... etc.).

On and On . . .

The bond between Roger and Russ was borne out by the hours of tales RM had spun with me about his exploits with the youthful Ebert, which are more fully chronicled and liberally sprinkled throughout RM's 19-lb., three-volume "Breast of Russ Meyer."  And RM loved to recount these hi-jinks when we were out on the town.  Once, over huge portions of liver and onions at the Daily Grill in Palm Desert, Russ referred to Ebert (with obvious gleeful affection) a "that Moravian bastard!"  Russ was a demanding friend - he had no distractions in his own life other than self-selected obsessions, and he offered little and grudging latitude to those of us whose attention he craved; yet, although he no doubt vied competitively with her for RE's attention, RM always spoke with highest regard for RE's wife Chaz.

When we met, Roger was already struggling with the cancer that would eventually ravage his larynx, shoulder, jawbone, and facial structure.  Head held high, he soldiers on un-deterred, and un-abashed, just like his best friend.

News: Roger Ebert passed away April 4, 2013.

Rest In Peace, and See You At The Movies. 

Keep Counting, Florida !!

My shining moment with Madame Secretary, here.

Cheers, all!

Katherine Harris, at the Orchid Ball
"Those Who Do Not Learn From Their History Are Doomed To Repeat It ! "

Winston Churchill,   paraphrasing George Santayana 

Citizen Kelley: Standing with Local Hero Larry Kelley

Sound and Fury

(Amherst, MA. September 11): 
We in scholarly Amherst like to think we're the center of wisdom.

Nevertheless, often, we can be as closed-minded as many an academic 'burg - and in our most grandiose overreaches we achieve a pettiness, didacticism and tragedy worthy of Horton Foote's Orphans' Home Cycle characters of Harrison, East Texas.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...! 

Kevin Joy and Larry Kelley unfurl the Big One on the Town Common, 2011

Counterpoint: Each year on September 11, Larry Kelley and many other local citizens, police and firefighters help bring attention to this momentous day in the history and life of our nation.  Believe it or not, this upsets some in the town.

Viewed from within the Amherst bubble, Fox News appears downright alien

Larry was called to Boston last week to appear on Fox News, to explain to the rest of Planet Earth just how we in Amherst make sense of things, such as debating whether and how we ought to raise the flag on 9/11.   Predictably, we have a Professor here in town who attested before the Town Select Board on September 10, 2001 - the evening before the attacks - that Amherst should not fly the American flag because "[The U.S.] flag is a symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and oppression."  This was eleven years ago, and got us plenty of attention in the aftermath as you would imagine.

What's rich is that so many fellow travelers here used to believe (circa 2000-2008) that dissent was the highest form of patriotism; now, in our current 'flap' over whether to raise the flag on 9/11 we simultaneously prove, and truly get to re-test, this maxim.

Tell It, Brother

Fast forward to 2012: There's more to the story, but in a nutshell one third of the town electors like to see the flag, so citizens get to see it once every fifth year.  What ???  Essentially, many in Amherst have "mixed feelings" about being part of the United States, the balance know that the town should observe 9/11, and so the Select Board put the flag-flying to a vote of the unruly 200+ Town Meeting congregation some years ago and - like Mayor Villaraigosa last week - made the determination that the vote had gone 2:1 against flying the flags.  The ingenious solution? Fly the flags every third year, to reflect public sentiment!  Then, at ten years, the Select Board voted to make it every fifth year because - I suppose - 5 years is an easier rhythm to remember than 3.

You're Wearing That, Larry ??

As town gadfly, Larry Kelley's daily local impact - and his occasional national prominence - are notorious, and thus frequently rankle the populace and the powers that be.

Flag-raising is only one front for soldier Kelley, and this week's national media attention not the first time he's figured in Amherst's questionable notoriety.

Loyal local patriot Stanley Dornakowski

In large part through Larry's civic-minded agitation, the melodramas of Amherst's high school drama department - (1999: first school or town ever to ban West Side Story, which has been performed in over 3,000 communities, over imaginary "racism"; 2004: righteous acting-out by staging the Vagina Monologues) -  have brought Amherst under Good Morning America's lens and drawn international O'Reilly Factor scrutiny for the healthy dose of opprobrium that some think we so richly deserve.

Fanfare for the Common Man (photo - C. Jones)

Larry is also an entrepreneur (and married to an entrepreneurship professor - they know what-of they speak in that household) who has operated a successful local fitness and instruction business, and had a hand in establishing a superior Chinese Immersion Charter School in the area, naturally a threat to the local public school hegemony.

Now he energetically publishes the fine "hyper-local" news blog Only In Amherst.

Larry holds everyone's feet to the fire, including mine.  He forces the town government to be more transparent, the school committee more accountable, the university - administration, students, and the larger eco-system such as party-house landlords - to be more responsible.

He raises the standards of local journalism through competition and innovation.

We need more Larry Kelleys.

Cinda and Larry frame the real issue

As a sixth generation Amherst native, Larry also contributes much to the community in his role of ersatz local history curator.  The current speculation on the existence of a second photographic image of our Emily Dickinson is something Larry reported on 3 weeks ahead of the local press, and he has the bloodline to pursue the facts.  Larry is a Local Hero.

Remember Our Heroes today

And meet two of mine: Ann Judge and Jerry Della Salla

Ted Koppel Out-Ran My Wife !

Shopping Cart Week BONUS:

During our courtship, the current Mrs. Porter often noted for me that her choice in men ran to the cerebral...

No sucker for good looks or a glib line she, I was reminded again and again: she appreciated a man with a strong intellect.  Notwithstanding her passing references in unguarded moments to hunks like George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and their ilk, she pressed this point - that what really excited her was a scholarly man.  Her ideal swain: Ted Koppel.

Koppel: Cerebral

Perhaps this was her way to assure me that, while I must not consider myself a handsome nor captivating escort, I could take consolation and think myself a wise man - after all, what else could explain her wanting my company?

Koppel: Shana Keppola (That hair!)

Now, any canny hyperbole aside, she truly had a "thing" for Ted Koppel.  My theory: I counted my wife among those millions Koppel had no doubt put soothingly to sleep in his days as NIGHTLINE anchor, with that reassuring, somnolent cadence and that trance-inducing 11:30pm timeslot.

Now, in the spring of 2000 I was working closely on an internet (bubble) news venture with Tara Sonenshine, who'd been Koppel's longtime producer at ABC News.  Through Tara, I learned Ted was a neighbor in Potomac, MD - but due to good breeding, I'd never have dreamed of trading on our friendship for a cheap 'hit job.'

Koppel: Dapper

Not so my dear wife. One Friday evening, as we were in the Sutton Place Gourmet supermarket in Bethesda to grab a few items and head home, there in the crosshairs among the flatbread, flavored oils, and porcini mushrooms: TED KOPPEL.  My wife gasped, spluttered, and tried to drag me toward him.  I slipped her grasp.

She closed the gap to six feet and cried out (I liberally paraphrase): "Mr. Koppel, Mr. Koppel! Ohyouaresuchagreatjournalist!!  Ooh,oh! And I always say that if I had to be stuck on a desert island with only one person and it couldn't be my husband, I'd pick you, you, YOU!"

Koppel: Pincer move

Koppel looked quizzical for a second, then my wife blurted out "I'm picking up a few things for shabbos. You too?" (gambling, using the Ashkenazic pronunciation, reaching for the Jewish connection). Oy... 

The picture of grace, Ted cheerily responded, "I'm sure you'll have a wonderful evening - Shabbat shalom!" as he wheeled on his heels to briskly charge away down the nearest aisle before giving any chance for reply.

I helped my wife to catch her breath and make it to the car.  We carried our groceries home, and enjoyed a lovely evening.

Bedtime Hypnotist Koppel

But at 11:30:05 that night, did I catch her standing a-twinkle at the window, looking at the moon....

And seeing . . . Ted?

"... this just in ... " :  ABC moves Nightline to 12:35am

At the Deli Counter with Mrs. Vice President

"You call that LEAN ????!!!!"

A Shopping Cart Communion:

There I was, fourth in line at the delicatessen in the hurly-burly of Katz's Kosher Supermarket on a Saturday afternoon in Rockville, MD.  Each of us yanking our broken-down carts back and forth, waving our paper tickets, and craning our necks for a clear view of the goods behind the glass.  Jockeying for position....

... when up on the left flank a cart and driver flash past me, and swerve right up the the counter.

"Joey! Bring that box in from the car!  They'll be here any minute!"

Annoyance: sure, everyone is pushing and shoving, but to have the chutzpah to actually cut the line so brazenly - who would try that, in such a tough crowd?  From behind, the hair looks familiar... still, it's an awfully pushy move.

But lo, the counter guys all dropped their towels, brightened their punims, and fawned and teemed to hang their paws over the glass-top like so many Kilroys - literally elbowing each other like Kurt Rambis and Bill Laimbeer under the hoop, to wait on this lady.  "Yes, Yes! It's all ready - won't be a moment!  Yes, allow me! Just wait - here it is, Here It Is!"

Vice President Lieberman

Up from the kitchen comes a huge, 4-foot by 2-foot cardboard catering box, with the name LIEBERMAN along the side in big hand-lettered magic marker.  Instantly I was in her thrall, a Portnoy among the Kilroys.  Less than a year earlier, I'd voted for Gore/Lieberman, and brought my new two-day-old home from G.W. Hospital and right through the middle of the pitched 35-day turf war between Bush and Gore supporters outside the Naval Observatory on the way up Massachusetts Avenue.

Hadassah Lieberman could have been (should have been? may have been?) the Second Lady of the U.S.A.

Hadassah had class, charm and integrity that I admired during the campaign, and as she collected her havdallah nosh, wheeled from the counter to head home and prepare for company, and passed me at close range, I could swear she had a twinkle in her eye for ol' Portnoy himself.

Pas de Deux with Chris Blackwell

Millie's Boy, "Lollipop"

Chris Blackwell is a dashing and charismatic creative genius, superior businessman, and has an incredible life story.  He discovered, published or managed some of the biggest acts to break out in music from the 60's to the 80's, most notably Bob Marley and U2, but also favorites Jethro Tull, Free, Traffic, King Crimson, ELP, Cat Stevens, Melissa Etheridge, and on and on.

Dapper Gent Chris Blackwell

When I met Chris, it was 2002 and we were dancing to the music of potential merger - he with Palm Pictures, and my colleagues and I with Artist Network Ventures.

Anyway, back in 1972 Chris had produced the soundtrack to "The Harder They Come" starring Jimmy Cliff and had made it a supreme international hit, and a major steppingstone in the popularization of reggae in North America.  Through my father I knew Ekweume Mike Thelwell, author of the 1980 adapted novel based on the earlier film.  But our connection to Chris here was made through Jimmy Cliff, who by now was on our label in London.

Marquee: Hendrix Ate Here

We first met in NYC for discussions about connecting Chris' Palm - and its movie, music and publishing businesses - with ANV.  We Art-Venturers were cultivating a small stable of UK-based musicians, developing television concepts, and renovating the storied Marquee nightclub venue in London.

We were also trying to develop a Napster-like service and, separately, a wildly weird installation module concept featuring 5.1 Surround Sound egg-chair listening stations for Barnes & Noble's college bookstore business... but I digress.

Talks lasted for a few rounds, and Palm was at the time involving itself with former colleagues of mine at National Geographic Society in Washington DC - connecting Palm's 'world beat' and 'indigenous' musics with NatGeo's various exoticisms.  Think "Koyanisqaatsi," Philip Glass' avant-masterpiece from Palm-predecessor Island.

Blackwell in his element, digging new music, 1982.

Ultimately, the only transaction that resulted from all this speed-dating was not between Palm and ANV, nor, really, between Palm and NGS, but rather between a junior executive of Palm placing himself into the NGS firmament... but I digress.

Anyway, on a sojourn to DC, Chris was to visit NGS and I was his envoy.  He and his entourage stayed at the new, trendy Hotel Rouge, where we sipped highballs in the dark at happy hour on Friday and then all went off together to the evening's film screening.

Kate Simon's Marley Portrait, Govinda

I asked Chris to entrust his Saturday morning to me and to trust my judgment.  Being of notoriously impeccable judgment himself - he did!  And he wasn't sorry.

My wife and I returned Saturday morning to schlepp Mr. Blackwell to the finest rock photography gallery in the US - my acquaintance Chris Murray's Govinda Gallery on 34th street, NW in Georgetown.  We enjoyed a fantastic exhibition rife with exquisite Dylan, Hendrix and other 60's/70's iconic imagery - some instantly recognizable, much deliciously unique and unforeseen.  Chris lingered and studied, immersed in the beauty of the prints and paying special attention to a set of b/w Rolling Stones images from 1964.

Coda:

Knowing Chris Blackwell and working with him, just a brief while, was greatly inspiring.  He's a decent, enthused and remarkable man with an incredible ear for talent.  And what's more, I learned something from him about keeping one's principles, even in the venal and cutthroat star-maker machinery of the business of music.  Although he'll do plenty fine without my well wishes, Chris is a super nice guy and I do wish him well in the resort biz - 

For old time's sake,

here's a beautiful video set to Bob Marley's "Waiting In Vain."

John Edwards - A Painful Fall From Grace

"While I do not believe I did anything illegal, or ever thought I was doing anything illegal, I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong and there is no one else responsible for my sins.  I am responsible, and if I want to find the person who should be held accountable for my sins, honestly I don't have to go any further than the mirror.  It's me.  It is me and me alone."

Sunshine, Go Away Today - Don't Feel Much Like Smilin'

When John Edwards ran for president in 2004 he lamented with passion about "the two America's, ... where some attend the public schools in the good neighborhoods, with the well stocked library, and the nice athletic fields, and the clean classrooms... while others sit in crumbling buildings, with no books to study, and no opportunity to ever get ahead ..."  What he never remembered to mention was the third America - where his kids and mine went to private school and enjoyed excellent teaching and attention, with all the amenities.

Edwards came to town following election in November 1998 as Senator for North Carolina.  He later smartly enrolled his young children in St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School, where my daughter also attended.

"President Edwards"

It wasn't unusual to see a 'public servant' like Ken Bentsen, Jr. (D, TX 25th) or media politicos like Tucker Carlson and Cokie Roberts around the corridors.  But there was definitely a buzz around Mr. Edwards, a dapper barrister rumored to have Presidential ambitions.

You are correct if you imagine that Elizabeth Edwards was a much, much, much beloved woman in the school. Very involved, and very full of life.  She is deeply missed by the staff and many friends she made among the parent/volunteer tribe, and when we worked together on the annual fundraising auction she made a point to contribute a week at the Edwardses' North Carolina beach house.  Separately, we arranged to offer a luncheon in Washington with John, for the high bidder and ten guests.  The private meal was hosted at Sen. Edwards' next door neighbor's very beautiful home in what had been until 1959 the Cuban Embassy on 30th Street, N.W.

That particular prize went for the high bid of the evening, over $20,000, purchased by the wife of a lobbyist.  Welcome to Washington!

Beloved Alma Mater: St. Patrick's

On Family Fun Day in spring 2003, there was Senator John Edwards, on campus.  We passed each other in the hallway between the church nave and the school development office at St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School.  Holding hands with his young children Emma Claire and Jack, he looked kind and fatherly, but intensely focused at the same time - he was thinking about something.  "Hello, Senator!" I ventured, and in response he smiled gently, nodded in my direction and kept moving.

I was struck by his height - maybe my height at best - 5'6".  He's listed as 5'11" but on this day he was 5'6" - or else on that day I was 5'11"! In this sense, I guess, I was uplifted by his presence.

That was nine years ago this month.  Much water has passed under the Edwards bridge.  John launched his own 2004 Presidential run resulting in selection as Sen. John Kerry's Vice President.  Edwards later made an aborted attempt for the 2008 nomination as well, but by then was mired already in a terrible cascade of family betrayal & loss, and personal, political and ethical scandal.  Some might say today that, under Ponte Edouard, justice has rolled down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.  But in the end, none of us - saints and sinners alike - really know.

There has been precious little Family Fun for John Edwards lately.  I despair for his children, and miss his wife, and I hope that time is kind to all concerned.

My Two Dates with Kathleen Turner... and a 28-Years-Late Thank You!

Do you remember where you were when you saw Body Heat in 1981?  I do... both times.

I had success on a first date with a college co-ed early that autumn, after watching the intensely seductive film together.  We spent the next three months together, and then parted ways when she had to leave town.  By December, I was barking up another tree and invited my new flame to watch Body Heat with me.  It had worked once, so why not?

"You're not very smart, are you? ... I like that in a man."

Well, this next relationship lasted two and a half years.

Nearly thirty years later, Kathleen visited our little burg of Amherst MA to help celebrate the Amherst Cinema and Pleasant Street Theater in our first annual Gala.  It was a beautiful night, and she really captivated the room.  No question that she's Still Got It.

Heat vs Humidity

After Q&A in which the Hollywood and accomplished stage actress shared brash insights and frank anecdotes, I saw my opening and pinned her down.  She locked on an listened to every word, every lurid detail of my story - chuckling, raising an eyebrow, tossing her hair...

"WELLDIDITWORK??!!" came the demand.

What do you think? was my reply.

We'll Meet Again...

Hearty-and-I-mean-hearty guffaw and a Big Wink from the star.  "I SHOULD HOPE SO!  ATTABOY!"

Twenty-six years ago tonight at the 1986 Academy Awards, Ms. Turner was a nominee for Best Actress in Peggy Sue Got Married.  But she and I go back a bit further than that, to two lovely, portentious nights.  We'll always have heat.

As I told Ms. Turner, I'll forever be grateful

Drinking with Mad Scientist Dean Kamen

Dean & his Segway

May, 2007 (Chicago):  NCIIA, a great organization that encourages technology entrepreneurship by preparing engineering concepts incubated on the campuses to launch, was at the Chicago Art Museum to participate in presentation of the Lemelson-MIT "EurekaFest" Awards to technology innovators.  I was part of the scene and our patron, the Lemelson Foundation, had invited an impressive guest-list.  Included was the great but enigmatic Dean Kamen - originator of the FIRST competition (similar to NCIIA's work, but targeted at high school age science whiz-kids) and inventor of numerous products including the Segway.

Father Jack had a bent for the dramatic

I was cutting through the crowd with a glass of fine red wine when I spotted the diminutive Kamen, clad in trademark denim work shirt and pants.  Strode right up and introduced myself - he certainly knew of NCIIA and I also had a personal card to play: My mother-in-law and her late husband had owned a vacation home on the perimeter of StoneBridge Golf & Country Club in  Boca in the 1980's-90's.  Their next door neighbors and friends were Dean's parents, Jack and Evelyn.

Jack had been an illustrator for Weird Science,  Tales from the Crypt, and MAD Magazine in the 1960's.

Well, Dean and I shot the breeze for a bit; he had mixed memories of Boca Raton and obviously preferred the inventor's bench and the life of the mind to life on the golf course.  Dean was a bit of a nebbish - but he's the awesome nebbish who invented the Segway!  He seemed interested in my tales of Discovery Channel's groundbreaking Australian co-pro "Beyond 2000" and two years later he would combine with Discovery's Planet Green network to create the series "Dean of Invention."

Valpo "Reverser"

We saw the awards given out, and the wine bottles cleared away.  Next morning, early, I drove into Indiana to pay a visit to the Valparaiso U. engineering department and survey their Tech. Entrepreneurship program.

Toward the end of the tour, Dr. Doug Tougaw stunned me with a visit to the lab where his senior class quirky cap-stoners had reverse-engineered a Segway to build a clone from scratch, "for less than $1,800!"  Doug had his guys fire that thang up and give it a go.

Total boldness: the vehicle wheeled and dealed.

Innovation Run Wild

I marveled, and later that evening wrote to my new friend Dean, alerting him to the work of these enterprising engineers.

I imagined he might take an interest in the program, or at least offer a word of encouragement.  However, he never acknowledged my note, nor our conversation.  Oh well.

... The great screenplay "The A-Rabs Are Coming! The A-Rabs Are Coming!"  includes a magnificent scene with a pair of octogenarian blue-bloods cutting figure eights in the driveway to their Nantucket manse on a pair of birthday Segways.  Thank you, Dean Kamen!  Thank you.

Hallowe'en and The Visible Hand of the Market: Trick-or-Treat with Alan Greenspan

Smith got it right*

All Hallow's Eve, 2003 and I am the chaperone to my daughter and her fourth grade friends as we wend our way door-to-door toward the upper end of tony Chain Bridge Road, N.W. in Washington, D.C.

Knock! Knock!  A door swings open and NBC Newswoman Andrea Mitchell beams at the kids. I beam back - I've always thought Andrea was delicious.

Wealth Redistribution

Andrea reaches for the large candy bowl and prepares to offer it, but stops herself short as it's nearly empty and in need of replenishment.

Holding the bowl in mid-air, our lady of the house calls back over her shoulder, "Dear! More candy!"


A rustling of plastic is heard, and then a gnarled hand appears from behind the door, extends over the bowl, and deposits a 4 or 5 "fun size" 3 Musketeers bars.

Greenspan: Visible hand of the market

The hand retracts, then appears again - three more times, the hand extends, like The Addams Family's "Thing," but sporting French cuffs and a suit jacket.


Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, Ayn Rand acolyte** who freely admits the U.S. income tax system is a wealth redistribution scheme, doling out scarce resources to the needy.

A couple of Romantics

Fun Size from the Fed

...and,

this night, to the irrationally exuberant.



* Smith (1776): "It is not from the benevolence of the Butcher, the Brewer or the Baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages"

** Greenspan (1957): “ ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is a celebration of life and happiness. Justice is unrelenting. Creative individuals and undeviating purpose and rationality achieve joy and fulfillment. Parasites who persistently avoid either purpose or reason perish as they should.” 
(emphasis mine)
 

Roger Mudd and the Fannie Mae Kerfuffle

Newsman Mudd

One afternoon in 2005, on the sidelines at Washington Episcopal School in Bethesda, MD, I met Roger Mudd - star CBS correspondent throughout the 1960's and 1970's, and subsequently host, co-host or contributor to NBC News, Meet the Press, and McNeil Lehrer Newshour.  I knew Roger's son Matt because our daughters were lacrosse teammates and playing against WES that day.

Matt greeted me, introduced me to Dad, and we enjoyed a few moments of sunshine before I told Matt "I just heard your brother on the radio as I was driving here!"   Roger's ears perked up: "How did he do?"  "Fine - they didn't lay a glove on him!"

Dan Mudd: Taught me Laddered T-Bills and Mark-to-Market

At the time - that very day in fact - older son Dan, then the C.O.O. in Franklin D. Raines' Fannie Mae, had spent 2 hours testifying before a senate committee regarding improprieties at FNMA.  These problems, from which Dan himself emerged wholly intact, did reveal substantial wrongdoing by Raines and CFO Tim Howard, in what would be preamble to the unraveling of Fannie Mae as a structural support to the housing and financial markets in 2008 (see Reckless Endangerment for a superb account).

Dan too had kids at the school, and he and I served for 4 years together on the Budget & Finance committee for the small ($6 MM annual budget) operation.  A USMC vet,  he patiently taught me some simple principles and terms of art in the course of our work together.  On one occasion, attending a winter fundraiser together, Dan (well, his driver) jumped the dead battery in my Isuzu Trooper.  Today, Dan is CEO of Fortress Investments.  And today Fannie Mae is asking the U.S. Treasury (that is, you and me) for another $5.1 BB in protection against the consequences of its business decisions.

Of my exchange with Roger regarding Dan, I'll say it was funny to share the news I'd just consumed retail, from NPR, with this giant of journalism, but satisfying to learn he'd suffer this fool gladly, and I guess that he needs to source his facts like anyone else, no matter how dubious the source.  In this case, he was able to get corroboration later - not only from other news sources and intermediaries, but likely direct from the subject.

Roger Mudd at 83 continues to consult on the presentation of documentary programming and and to share historical, political and ethical context on the History Channel.  He has also generously endowed a center for Ethics study at Washington & Lee University in Virginia.  And he's a devoted grand-dad who likes a good lacrosse game once in a while....

Lucy Wilson Benson - Absolute Class

I can't tell you enough about how much I admire this lady!  My friend Lucy Wilson Benson serves as Chairman of the Board for the Amherst Cinema Arts Center, operator of the Amherst Cinema and the Pleasant Street Theater.  It has been my privilege to meet and get to know her whilst serving on the Board myself for the past four years.

In Virtue, One Gains Knowledge...

"You Never Can Tell!"  A devoted Smith College alumna, (Class of '49), Lucy married an Amherst man - Physics professor Bruce Benson - and has scaled the heights.  The phrase "distinguished career" is so often overused, but it fits Lucy like a smart Peck and Peck suit.  She became local, then state, then (1968-1974) national head of the League of Women Voters. Jimmy Carter named her Undersecretary of State, at the time the highest ranking woman ever at the State Department. 

''Don't ask me what it feels like to be a woman Under Secretary of State, because I don't know. I do know what it is like to be an Under Secretary of State, however.''

Lucy later served our state exceptionally as MA Secretary of Human Services under Governor Mike Dukakis.  A woman with clear head, a quick tongue - always constructive and right to the point.  A lover of life and funny as hell.

Two Beauties of the Silver Screen

Here is a nice profile written a few years back, in the Amherst College campus paper, about LWB.

I am proud to know Lucy - she went out to change the world after college, did so, and has remained our "United Nations of Amherst" treasure.

And her hair is spectacular!

Happy Mother's Day, from Ben Stiller and Kate Hudson

Ben, Kate, have you called your mothers yet today?

Happy Mother's Day,
Anne Meara, the cheek-pinching mom,
and same to you Goldie Hawn, the mom I'd like to pinch!

With love,

TOM