The Maverick

I join the nation in morning of Senator John McCain. Senator McCain was a courageous and principled leader on some of the greatest issues of our time -campaign finance reform, immigration, human rights, promotion of democracy, treatment of prisoners, national defense and deterrence of foreign aggression.

Senator McCain grew to become a man of compassion and humility. On one of his last speeches on the Senate floor, he personally reflected that "Sometimes, I’ve let my passion rule my reason." The most important moment occurred when the Senator reminded the assembled body, "Whether or not we are of the same party, we are not the President’s subordinates. We are his equal! As his responsibilities are onerous, many and powerful, so are ours."

Senator John McCain is a true American Patriot that served his country - A Hero by every definition of the word.

Rest In Peace.

For the Love of the Game

For the Love of the Game

In the summer of 1987, I feel in love for the very first time.   The love affair that bloomed nearly 25 summers past still remains my mistress.  As a twelve year-old boy I discovered the game of tennis – I loved everything about the game.   The smell of new balls, how the ball sounds on the strings, the feel of new grip.  

In my mind, the entire game made sense – points turn into games, games in sets, and sets in victories or defeats.  I loved the logistics of every point.  The fact there is no hiding in tennis, no time outs, no substitutions – it is just you in the arena.  As Yoda once said, “do or do not, there is no try.”

In the summer of 1987, my friends and I assembled on my neighbor’s tennis court, picked-up rackets, some old balls and started playing.   I was instantly addicted to the game that would become my love affair. I checked a book out of the library to learn how to play.  I still remember an illustration showing a man pressing down on an accelerator showing what do do with the front foot on a forehand.

I wanted to play tennis all of the time!  I heart broken when other people occupied the court and I, the spectator.   Mid-summer my parents bought me my first tennis racket – a ProKennex.   If my memory serves me correctly, I slept with the racket next to me for a week.  

The following summer, my parents signed me up for tennis lessons through the local recreation center.   My first real tennis lessons! The lessons were held at Saline High School and it was Mecca to me.  There were eight courts – eight courts!!!!    A whole new group of kids that wanted to play tennis all the time like me.  Initially, I was only signed up to play two days a week but I begged my mom to sign me up for both sessions the second half of the summer.   She did!  My pilgrimage to Mecca was no short haul either -  I had to bike six miles round trip on a 10-speed each day to play tennis.   It was pure joy.  

I played multiple sports in high school and never had the skills necessary to make the varsity tennis team till my senior year.  Going into my senior year it was my only goal to make the Varsity squad.  I knew that I had to practice over the winter and to do that I had to join a club.    I could only afford to play in the evenings because it simply cost too much indoors. So, I would wake-up 5:30am, drive to club, and hit with anyone I could find for an hour.  It was free to hit before 8am.  Luckily, I found a several tennis geeks hanging around the courts ready to hit before the sun raised.   I played three to five times per week in the mornings and just barely made the Varsity team at three doubles.   

After high school, I put down the rackets for the better part of fifteen years.  Sure, there were occasional summers where I dusted off the rackets in closet and hit but nothing serious.    Luckily, I have found the love of the game once more and a great group of guys to play with on a regular basis.  

I hope one day to share my love of tennis with my son and daughter.  To teach them, that tennis is very much like life – what you put into it is what you get out of it.  If you worry about inputs, hard work and dedication, the outputs will take care of themselves.  That tennis is like life, it is best played, not watched.  

Bitcoin - A Greater Fool

The meteoric rise of bitcoin, and its offspring, has been fascinating and confusing. The greater fool theory states that the price of an object is not determined by its intrinsic value but rather the irrational beliefs and expectations of market participants.  

There is not a fundamental way to value bitcoin and any assertion to do so is absurd. Bitcoin produces nothing except the assumption that it can be sold to someone later at a greater price. Certainly, the First Movers in the cryptocurrency market have become millionaires. The First Movers had a steady stream of market participants that apparently could afford to lose everything on a roll of the dice. When the dice turn cold, and they do, and the market participants realize that there is no intrinsic value -- It will be like watching The Devils Advocate, a great movie with a horrible ending.

Its far easier buy great companies or assets, that produce stable earnings that deliver a return on investment. A bird in the hand is still worth two in a bush.

The Checklist Manifesto

Atul Gawande, a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, makes the case that checklists can assist us in managing human fallibility.  Dr. Gawande takes real world examples of checklists used in construction, medicine, and aviation to contend that short, straightforward checklist can greatly reduce the chances of failure.  

My favorite example of a checklist comes from the commercial aviation when the engines fail during flight. The very first item on the checklist is “FLY THE PLANE.”  

We all have mental checklists that we do on a daily basis, Dr. Gawande contends these checklists should be written down and followed to ensure important steps are not overlooked. The book is focused on the medical profession but useful in many industries. 

Here’s the publishers description of the book: The modern world has given us stupendous know-how. Yet avoidable failures continue to plague us in health care, government, the law, the financial industry—in almost every realm of organized activity. And the reason is simple: the volume and complexity of knowledge today has exceeded our ability as individuals to properly deliver it to people—consistently, correctly, safely. We train longer, specialize more, use ever-advancing technologies, and still we fail. Atul Gawande makes a compelling argument that we can do better, using the simplest of methods: the checklist. In riveting stories, he reveals what checklists can do, what they can’t, and how they could bring about striking improvements in a variety of fields, from medicine and disaster recovery to professions and businesses of all kinds. And the insights are making a difference. Already, a simple surgical checklist from the World Health Organization designed by following the ideas described here has been adopted in more than twenty countries as a standard for care and has been heralded as “the biggest clinical invention in thirty years” (The Independent).

Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame

As a terrorist attack occurred in France this week, Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame traded places with a female hostage. Moments later, Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame was tragically shot and killed. France gained a national hero but lost a brave soul. Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame reminds us the Good in people outweighs all the Evil in the World.  

au revoir mon héros.

Dreamers

The American Dream is the ideal that through hard work, persistence and sacrifice everyone has an equal opportunity at success. A wall does not separate those that dream and those that achieve the dream. The wall that separates the dreamers and doers is hard work, persistence and sacrifice.  

A, big damn wall won’t change anything for anybody. That’s because people that want to provide a better life for their family will work harder, be more persistent and sacrifice more to achieve their dream.  

The Emperor Has No Clothes

On December 2, 1954, a chilly day in Washington DC, Senator Prescott Sheldon Bush (Fater and Grandfather to #41 & #43) brought the antics of Senator Joseph McCarthy to an end. Standing up to Senator McCarty was considered foolish - political suicide - you were labeled a communist or a traitor. However, brave men gathered and fought back. 

On that chilly day, Senator Bush said the actions of McCarthy "caused dangerous divisions among the American people because of his attitude and the attitude he has encouraged among his followers: that there can be no honest differences of opinion with him. Either you must follow Senator McCarthy blindly, not daring to express any doubts or disagreements about any of his actions, or, in his eyes, you must be a Communist, a Communist sympathizer, or a fool who has been duped by the Communist line."

When will brave men gather once more?

Will it be the last act of War Hero, a lame duck Senator from Tennessee with nothing to lose or another brave soul from Arizona, Senator Jeff Flake, pointing out - the emperor has no clothes.

MY SOUL IS FILLED WITH SARROW...

MY SOUL IS FILLED WITH SARROW for the families affected by the tragedy that occurred in Las Vegas last evening. Once more, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, will have to manage ungodly grief as they try to comprehend an unexplainable loss - a life deprived of the rest of its years. I can not imagine the piercing pain as family members travel to Las Vegas to escort their loved one home for the last time. Once more, the call for prayer has sounded but I fear this will not bring solace to the fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, deprived of so much. My soul is filled with sorrow as the call of prayer will certainly be issued once more, once more, once more….

I AM GRATEFUL for the First Responders of our nation. Once more, the Law Enforcement and Emergency Responders headed into the chaos. As the rhythmic thunder of gunfire rained down hell on the concert, our heroes journeyed into the storm. It was the heavily armed and armored Las Vegas police that faced down the shooter. Once more, Law Enforcement was called to a scene that resembled a battlefield to face a criminal armed like a soldier. I am grateful to the brave men and women that serve in Law Enforcement that face down our worst nightmares on a daily basis. 

I AM DISAPPOINTED in social media. It is painful to read the baiting posts that are solely intended to sow discord among friends. I do not understand friends that politicize events and then villainize those with opposing views. It is the very thing that Trump does to oppress his opposition. I don’t know how the labeling the shooter as a terrorist or a lone shooter brings solace to the families affected by this tragedy. 

I HAVE HOPE that we will find a dim-light in this darkness that leads our Nation to a better tomorrow. I have to believe that from this tragedy tiny ripples of change will become a tsunami. It may take a very long time, but I believe that the butterfly flapped its wings at just the right point in time to cause a tsunami of change.

Independence Day 2017

A young delegate from the Commonwealth of Virginia drafted a declaration that set in motion a revolution. Members of Congress signed that Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. 

In 1861, the Civil War determined that we would be an indivisible nation born of a declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty. We fought each other, came back together, and accomplished ungodly things as a nation. 

In 1914, America sent our young men to the shores of Europe to fight against tyranny. 

Roosevelt spoke the words “We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” that lighted a fire that brought us out of a economic depression. 

On December 7, 1941, we entered War II and joined the world to end the advancement of Nazi Germany. 

The 35th President challenged us to reach for the stars and we landed on the moon. 

Dr. Martin Luther King gives us a dream where we all live in a nation where people are not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. 

Our nation has cultured an environment in the sciences that has cured polio, developed antibiotics, lead to the information age - vacuum tubes, integrated circuit board, and the internet. 

The gloom that hangs over our nation, the sorrow, the dejection, will pass. Remember, it started with a declaration from a young man in Virginia which lead to the birth of the American Spirit. That Spirit still lives on… 

Happy Independence Day.

Arlington National Cemetery - May 30, 2017

The cover of the WSJ this morning is graced by a very touching picture of Larry Mace visiting his son at Arlington National Cemetery. As a father, my heart aches for Larry Mace and his son, Stephen, who sacrificed so much wearing the cloth of our nation.

America: Armed & Very Dangerous

We live in an age dominated by rapid advances in technology of all kinds.  Our growing technological power has enabled us to produce more powerful and more dangerous arms. The enduring right to keep and bear arms entitles people to have access to more guns, which have the potential to hurt more people than ever, thanks to the new technological advancements of those weapons. This has laid us open to disaster on an unprecedented scale, by accident or design.

Handguns, rifles and assault weapons, whether in the hands of the innocent or the insane, can kill large numbers of people in a very brief moment in time. These technologies are designed for the singular purpose of inflicting enormous casualties, and in the hands of insanity, things can go dramatically wrong.  That we know is true from the recent tragedies in Santa Barbara, the FedEx shooting in Georgia, or those at Fort Hood, or Jewish facilities in Kansas.

The mass killing of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School didn't result in substantive changes to our mental health system and laws governing access to weapons. I don't think these recent tragedies will make a substantive change to America’s political landscape on these issues, either.   I do maintain hope, though.  

The argument that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” must cease to justify America’s right to keep and bear arms. If we examine this argument using reduction ad absurdum, we can replace the word ‘Gun’ with ‘Nuclear weapons’ and the result is “Nuclear weapons don’t kill people, people kill people.”  I trust even the most vocal supporter of the right to keep and bear arms would oppose a nuclear-armed Al Qaeda or Iran or James Egan Holmes.

There is no way to eliminate risk from the world, and we would be foolish to try.  As a Nation, it is time for substantive changes to mental health system and laws governing access to weapons.  We cannot continue to ask parents to bury their children for the sake of the right of the people to keep and bear arms.  Our forefathers derived the right of the people to keep and bear arms from the English Bill of Rights drafted in 1689. Technology has progressed since William III reigned over England.  It is time we progress at a Nation too.  

Richard Martinez, the father of 20-year-old Christopher Michaels-Martinez, one of six killed in the Isla Vista, California shooting rampage: “Today, I’m going to ask every person I can find to send a postcard to every politician they can think of with three words on it: ‘Not one more.’   People are looking for something to do.  I’m asking people to stand up for something. Enough is enough.”

There has to be a solution for the people to keep and bear arms that is more forgiving of human fallibility. Changes in mental health system and laws governing access to weapons can only do so much. I wish I had the solution to the problem and I wish I could present the solution here today.  However, recognizing that a problem exists is the first step in solving it. America is great; we are a people that face our problems head-on, and we should not be a nation that hides behind faulty logic.  

 Not one more.

Little Boy 1945

At 8:15 a.m. on August 6 1945, Little Boy — the first atomic bomb to be used in war — was dropped by the United States Air Force from the Enola Gay, a B-29 Bomber - 600 meters above the dome in this picture.