Annika!

I hadn't seen Annika Sorenstam's card from Friday, but I found it by clicking here. It's definitely worth a look.

Where Is Tom Wolfe When You Really Need Him?

If you fly "private," as Denise Rich does, it only makes sense that you bring along your personal guru. Some who fly "private" bring along a whole entourage; masseuse, chef, guru, whatever. A fine account of this, ah, micro-trend can be found by clicking here. You really cannot make this stuff up.

Grief's Deceit

I found this on the WSJ's "Best of the Web." It's worth repeating.

"Death was quick, but grief, I find, keeps going on and on and on and it affects me in strange ways.

I feel no denial. No anger. No bargaining. No depression. And this makes me wonder if I'll ever get to peace and acceptance. These five classic stages of grief, cited so authoritatively by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, aren't working for me.

Instead my grief is amorphous, deceitful, unpredictable. Sometimes it hides behind distractions; sometimes it covers my spirits like the pall on Mike's coffin, and sometimes it knocks me flat, particularly when I think of Mike's beloved wife, Max, and their little boys, Tom, 7, and Jack, 3, who must live their lives without him."

-- Marguerite Kelly, writing about the death of her son, Michael.

New York City Blues

The best article about the New York City fiscal crisis can be found by clicking here. The killer fact: Over the course of the last decade, New York City has added not one private sector job and nearly 100,000 public sector jobs. There's a tipping point for most everything and New York City is in danger of tipping over.

Guest Comment on "Front Running."

Jim Cramer of TheStreet.com posted this comment recently on the "front-running" scandal. It's worth reading.

Random musings: "If I see corruption, I take no prisoners. I have filed more complaints, gotten on the phone to more governors, asked for more government intervention than just about anybody in this country. So if I say that I think this New York Stock Exchange investigation is overblown, you should think twice before you think it isn't. This investigation seems more like a case of negligence by some Floor brokers who shouldn't overlook trades from "the box" -- the outsiders trying to get in -- than fraud. Before decimalization, we had much more front-running than we do now. When specialists could take an eighth, sometimes they couldn't resist. When they can take only a penny, big deal. They shouldn't do it, but if they really were ripping people off, you would see it in their earnings -- which, by the way, stink."

"The real issue here, as far as I am concerned, is a competitive one. We have lots of people trying to get into trading. It is important for many of them to tarnish the NYSE in any way they can. Is the NYSE innocent of any wrongdoing? Of course not. Did some specialists front-run? Sure. Can some people not resist taking advantage of others? Yes. But I refuse to buy into the notion that the whole darned place is corrupt. And this is coming from someone who has spent 14 years fighting front-running, writing people up and demanding investigations when I thought they should occur. Fourteen years ago I wrote a piece for The New Republic talking about how corrupt the specialist system was during the crash of 1987. It hurt my business mightily. I didn't care. I knew the critical piece was right. I think I played a role in trying to clean it up with my writings. If I thought it was corrupt now, I would be coming at the issue with guns blazing. I don't owe anyone down there and don't care one whit what they think of me. But darn it all, the Exchange is getting a bad rap on this one. There are some bad apples. They will be picked. But beyond that, things are working better, and more fair, down there than at any other time I can recall. I gotta call it as I see it."

Front-Running

The "front-running" scandal at the New York Stock Exchange is a huge story and The Wall Street Journal's coverage has been excellent. The Board of the NYSE will fracture over this. And the future of the NYSE itself is at stake.

Exactly Right

Every so often, someone comes along and just nails it. Read this column in today's Financial Times.

The Masters

What was Tiger thinking? He himself says that the least reliable part of his game is driving accuracy. He himself knows that he can stripe that knock-down 2-iron 250 yards. And yet he went with the driver on the third hole (a short --350-yard -- par four) and he never really recovered. The decision was all the more astonishing because Tiger's course management skills, especially in major championships, are legendary.

The absence of a Tiger charge deflated the last two hours of Sunday's broadcast. Two things stood out: Mike Weir's steady putting and Jeff Maggert's professionalism. Weir three-putted only once during the entire tournament and he made four-footer after five-footer all day Sunday. Maggert watched his day turn to ashes with a triple-bogey on the front and then a snowman (an 8) on the 12th hole. But he never quit, and went on to birdie 14,15 and 16. He finished the tournament under par, a testament to his ability and character.

Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say

"The gravest danger to freedom lies at the perilous crossroads of radicalism and technology. When the spread of chemical and biological and nuclear weapons, along with ballistic missile technology -- when that occurs, even weak states and small groups could attain a catastrophic power to strike great nations. Our enemies have declared this very intention, and have been caught seeking these terrible weapons. They want the capability to blackmail us, or to harm us, or to harm our friends -- and we will oppose them with all our power.

For much of the last century, America's defense relied on the Cold War doctrines of deterrence and containment. In some cases, those strategies still apply. But new threats also require new thinking. Deterrence -- the promise of massive retaliation against nations -- means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend. Containment is not possible when unbalanced dictators with weapons of mass destruction can deliver those weapons on missiles or secretly provide them to terrorist allies.

We cannot defend America and our friends by hoping for the best. We cannot put our faith in the word of tyrants, who solemnly sign non-proliferation treaties, and then systemically break them. If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long.

Homeland defense and missile defense are part of stronger security, and they're essential priorities for America. Yet the war on terror will not be won on the defensive. We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans, and confront the worst threats before they emerge. In the world we have entered, the only path to safety is the path of action. And this nation will act.

Our security will require the best intelligence, to reveal threats hidden in caves and growing in laboratories. Our security will require modernizing domestic agencies such as the FBI, so they're prepared to act, and act quickly, against danger. Our security will require transforming the military you will lead -- a military that must be ready to strike at a moment's notice in any dark corner of the world. And our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and resolute, to be ready for preemptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and to defend our lives. (Applause.)"

-- President George W. Bush, West Point Commencement, 2002

What A Day!

The fighting forces of the United States and the United Kingdom have won a tremendous victory in Iraq. They performed brilliantly and this is their moment. God bless them all.