Well Said

The President sharply rebuked Senator Trent Lott today. It's a speech worth reading, which you can do by clicking here.

A Great Letter

Following is a copy of a letter written by Michael Thomas to The New York Times regarding the latest outrage from Bear Stearns:


The Editor
The New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036


Sir:

While I defer to no one in my enthusiasm for tradition, it is disturbing to see the firm of Bear Stearns & Co. acting so in character by demanding, under the threat of relocating 1000+ jobs from the city to New Jersey, a $40 million subsidy at a time when New York is in financial crisis.

As this firm’s action makes perfectly clear, the only thing Wall Street understands, or values, is money. QED: the only way to deal with blackmail is with a healthy return dose of the same.

Bear Stearns, and any other firm undertaking this ploy (and you can be sure, if one gets away with it, others will follow,) should be put on notice that that such a course of action will be grounds for a permanent or term disqualification from doing business with the city and the state. No pension fund business, no advisory business, no state and city agency underwriting or brokering, no commission business, no clearing business on city/state-related accounts – and so on. The nimble minds at Bear Stearns are capable of weighing the discounted present value of the loss of city and state business for, say, 10 years against the $40 million “or else” subsidy the firm is seeking.

Ancillary measures might also be considered. A single traffic officer stationed outside Bear Stearns’ fancy East Side headquarters with the sole mission of ticketing limousines for moving and standing violations could represent a potential for single employee-productivity that will have our Mayor’s eyes spinning with delight! A word might also be had with Bear Stearns’ banks of fiduciary account and clearance.

This city is in a state of emergency. I grew up during a comparable if less physically immediate crisis, namely World War II, when about the worst crime, patriotically and every other which way, was what was called “war profiteering.” This is what Bear Stearns is up to. They should not be allowed to get away with it, not as long as the city and state have the means to squeeze back: hard.

With every best wish,



Michael M. Thomas


UPDATE: A reader emails with the following: "FYI: In case you didn't know, the NYT company made a similar demand from City Hall and got financial incentives to keep its headquarters in NYC and not move them to NJ a few years ago. "

The Values of The New York Times

It's not often that they are so perfectly captured. Click here.

Hooah

If someone in the military responds to something you said or wrote by saying "Hooah," what does he or she mean, exactly? This question, which I know has been vexing you for years, has now been answered authoritatively. And the answer is: here.

Two Good Columns

Tom Friedman and William Safire both wrote excellent columns this week. You can read Safire's wise and well-reported view of Billy Bulger's choice by clicking here. You can read Friedman's take on what he calls the most important political trial in the world by clicking here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/04/opinion/04FRIE.html

Good News on Wi-Fi

The solution to the "last mile" issue of telecommunications may well be wireless fidelity, known in techie circles as "Wi-Fi," which enables high speed access without cables or 3G networks. The problem with Wi-Fi has been that it's sort of like ham radio; a hobbyist's deal. No longer. Yesterday, IBM, AT&T and Intel announced that they had formed a company to build out a national network of Wi-Fi "hot spots." The announcement was simply great news.

Truth and Leadership

Read this story and ask yourself this question: What will it take for Cardinal Law to do the honorable thing and step down? What further revelations are necessary?

The Agony of Defeat

Roone Arledge died today at the age of 71. He virtually invented televised sports and from there went on to build a world-class television news operation at ABC. I didn't know him, but my cousin, James Walker, worked for him at ABC News. And James would, from time to time, regale me with Arledge lore.

The Roone Arledge story that is lasered into my brain involves a couple of camera crews returning from the Gulf War. As is always the case in stories like this, they flew into JFK late in the evening. It was cold and rainy and utterly bleak. I don't think there is anything more depressing than waiting at JFK Baggage Claim at midnight on a miserable night. And these guys had risked their lives covering the war, only to learn that much of what they had filmed never aired.

And who was there to meet them? Roone Arledge, who thanked them for their hard work.

You can read more about Arledge's passing today by clicking here.

An Excellent Blog

David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, has an excellent web-log which you would be well-advised to bookmark (or put on your "favorites" list). In his posts today, he references the work of David Warren, whose knowledge of the Islamic world makes his newspaper columns especially interesting. I urge you to read Warren's speech on the coming Islamic implosion, which you can do by clicking here.

Call It Journalism

Gerald Boyd has issued a memo on behalf of his boss Howell Raines addressing the controversy over the New York Times's ridiculously overblown coverage of the alleged membership controversy at Augusta National. It really has to be read to be believed.