laboratories of democracy

This week is dominated by my attendance at the National Conference of State Legislatures, http://www.ncsl.org, annual convention in Nashville, Tennessee as a guest of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), www.atr.org. I am not certain where to begin since a large conference of state legislators like this one generates numerous blogging topics so for today's post I am going to highlight just a few observations from yesterday:

• During the debate regarding ATR's "Tax Pledge" a "public employee and state legislator" from Montana challenged ATR's president to use his influence with legislators to call on them to quit "accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists.........I don't accept such contributions myself, instead I get my support from labor unions........." Amazing!!! Most of the attendees at this debate laughed at this woman's completely biased and ignorant statement -- as if labor unions don't lobby or perhaps they are pure and above politics?? I am still amazed at her statement. If this is the kind of person serving in public office I am concerned for the taxpayers of Montana.
• Amtrak -- I stopped by their booth having been attracted by the great map they had showing Amtrak's train and bus routes across the USA and Canada. I asked their lobbyist working at this booth -- "what is your major policy issue?" -- to which he replied "we need more money" . Then I asked him if airline safety issues affected their passenger numbers and he said, "yes we had 25 million passengers last year which is our highest yet!!" Stop and think about this now -- Amtrak needs more tax dollars to stay in business at a time when their passenger traffic is at its highest levels!!?? Clearly this is a broken business ruined either by poor management or restrictive labor union agreements or a potent combination of both.
• Athletic Trainers -- I also visited the National Athletic Trainers Association, www.nata.org, (NATA) to discuss a health care issue with them. To my great surprised the two women working at this booth were clearly obese thus not a great advertisement for NATA's membership. This would be the same as visiting a Catholic priest while he was getting a lap dance from a stripper!!!

Overall the NCSL conference exhibitors are essentially here to lobby/promote the need for regulation -- massage therapists calling for state certification/regulation are but one example I noticed. If anyone thinks that government needs to grow they should attend this conference someday to get a better sense of how LARGE government already is today before they call for new programs to be created. Seeing conferences like this one are rather disturbing if you appreciate the concepts of economic liberty and individualism.

Off to the show,

Todd

The Worst Kind of Parents

Yes, I count my blessings since I always had two loving parents raising me (and they still do) to give me a good start on being successful in the world. Sadly, this is not the case with millions of people around the world. People/orphans do need assistance at times in their life but overall I much prefer the work of private sector organizations such as -- www.leftotell.com -- versus government social programs.

This "private sector versus government sector" choice was highlighted for me in today's Financial Times newspaper which included an article, "The left makes it a three-way tussle" focused on the upcoming presidential election in Brazil. Brazil has three leading presidential candidates for their October election -- current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Geraldo Alckmin, and Heloisa Helena Lima de Moraes Carvalho.

My concern in the Brazilian presidential language is the tone/language used by Lula and Heloisa Helena which includes:

• Lula -- "refers to himself as the paizao (big daddy) of Brazil"
• Heloisa Helena -- "I want to care for Brazilians as a mother cares for her children."

No thanks!! I do not want Big Brother to evolve into "Big Mother and Father" via an expansion of government and the welfare state. The choice of language used by these two Brazilian politicians is completely patronizing and should be rejected by Brazilian voters. Government is not my family nor should it be yours.

Good luck Brazil,

Todd

Celebrity Endorsements

While reading the sports page in today's newspaper as I flew to Nashville, Tennessee I noticed that New Orleans Saints (formerly University of Southern California) running back (that is American football for my non-American friends) Reggie Bush was fined US$10,000 for wearing "Adidas" cleats during a recent game versus the official "Nike" or "Reebok" shoe which the National Football League (NFL) requires. Mr. Bush was quoted as saying that "Adidas took care of the fine.............." so let me congratulate Adidas for a great week of advertising/earned media for a mere $10,000 in addition to a victory for personal freedom. This is a delicate balance/legal question here since it is clear that as the ultimate employer the NFL can mandate all aspects of what "uniform" players must wear including their cleats. From my perspective all parties -- Bush, Adidas, and the NFL -- won via a simple monetary fine with no injured parties.

The Reggie Bush news story reminded me of the August 14, 2006 clipping I made from USA Today showing a photograph of Cuban President (dictator) Fidel Castro relaxing after his recent surgery. The photo -- included in this blog posting -- shows Comrade Castro holding a copy of "Gramma" the Cuban newspaper published on August 12th as "evidence" that he is alive and well. Beyond the propaganda effort what I most noticed in Castro's photograph was that he was wearing a red, white, and blue polo shirt (the colors of the USA's national flag of course) complete with an "Adidas" logo on the right chest area!!!

Adidas is a German corporation thus a symbol of the Western capitalism/consumerism that the Cuban revolution abhors but perhaps Adidas' product placement gurus has exceeded all expectations by getting none other than Castro himself to wear their logo????!!!! Imagine the possibilities of such "celebrity" endorsements. What's next -- President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela joining Donald Trump to do Pizza Hut advertisements? All kidding aside -- I am left to wonder why Castro would choose to wear an Adidas-branded polo shirt versus his usual army fatigues.

The world -- it is a changin'

Todd

All Politics are Local

Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Tip O'Neil, made the phrase "all politics are local" (he said "is" but "are" would appear more appropriate) famous in his book, "Man of the House" (an interesting read I could recommend as a biography) but today I found out that he was given the phrase by his father who only ran for public office one time for city council (http://www.geekbooks.com/blog/archives/000006.html).

Last week I was able to attend my own local city council (Apple Valley, Minnesota) to see them in action. Between business travel and racquetball night falling on Thursdays when the council meets I have not been able to attend since I moved here. The meeting itself was uneventful since it lasted only 30 minutes and nearly 20 minutes was dominated by a technical demonstration of a new (federally mandated -- so much for the 10th Amendment) voting machine for this year's elections. After some basic questions about the machine's operation and the inevitable comments about "hanging chads" the demonstration fortunately ended.

I have to educate myself on this a bit more but the city council met at 6:30 pm for its "informal council meeting" followed by the 8 pm "city council meeting" (formal I guess) which was followed by a closed session focused on a legal dispute regarding eminent domain so the general public could not attend. Assuming we want open, transparent government with the general public involved I see no reason for the council to meet "informally" versus just having the one session for us common taxpayers to attend at 8 pm.

Regardless of the bland agenda items I am glad I attended and would encourage readers to become local watchdogs themselves by attending their own local government meetings to see their tax money at work.

Act locally,

Todd

Sending the Wrong Message

This week's news stories confirmed the obvious -- there is NO limit to subjects that cry out for bloggers to offer their observations!!! Earlier this week I read the press accounts reporting that the Chicago City Council approved legislation mandating a "living wage" to be paid by "big box retailers" such as Wal-Mart and Target:

http://www.socialistworker.org/2006-2/597/597_20_BigBox.shtml
Chicago passed a law late last month that requires stores that are 90,000 square feet or more to pay a minimum wage of $9.25 an hour and $1.25 in benefits starting next July, rising to $10 and hour and $3 in benefits by 2010.

Now I could focus this posting on "what exactly is a 'living wage'" since I am an opponent of minimum wage laws -- by offering a contrarian argument in favor of mandating a "minimum wage" of $100,000 annually or why not $200,000 annual versus $9.25 per hour. Sadly though the 18 year old high school drop out who can barely read and write is not worth $100,000 annually -- would you pay such a person $9.25 per hour or perhaps less given their credentials? Exactly - less - so why is the government mandating wage rates? This is the same government which in most jurisdictions has 100% control over the K-12 education system which is producing a "product" known as unqualified graduates and then these same governments turn around and tell the business community, "and when you hire these people this is how much you have to pay them......................."

Enough of the basic economics. Let me reflect on my shopping experience this afternoon since I went to my local Target store. Target (or "Tar-jay" of course) is indeed a Minnesota and national retail success story that leaves me with a good feeling after I shop there since I think they are "doing it right" so I wish them continued success. However, as I walked into Target today I noticed a display of screen print t-shirts apparently being marketed to teenage girls. These shirts had the following phrases on the chest areas --

"I didn't do it"

"Blame it on my sister"

When I read these phrases I had an instant flashback to the newspaper coverage of the Chicago City Council vote on the living wage which included a photo of two women wearing trade union and/or ACORN t-shirts jumping up and down cheering the successful vote. Two related points to make here --

1.) The phrases on the t-shirts that Target is selling really seem to undermine personal responsibility -- a key trait to have if you want to succeed in life or choose to simply exist as a "victim"

2.) The women celebrating in the photo are adult versions of what I fear teenagers buying the t-shirts mentioned earlier will become later in life. These women were happy because the new $9.25 per hour wage was being created by their city council versus a world where these two women would have worked very diligently at Target and perhaps pursued additional staff training that they did at home when they weren't working so they would EARN a pay raise by making themselves more valuable in the work place. A quick search on Target's website shows that employees have access to Education Loans and Tuition Reimbursement options as noted at this website --

http://sites.target.com/site/en/corporate/page.jsp?contentId=PRD03-000538

Why is this important? Because such improved skills would serve these women should they have to move away from the protective arms of the Chicago city government. What if a tornado wiped out Chicago like the hurricane did to New Orleans forcing these women to relocate to Rockford, Illinois where there is NO living wage (none that I can find) -- clearly they would be better served by expending their energy improving their job skills (by studying at night) versus expending their energy rallying/lobbying at the Chicago City Council. This would give them greater freedom and upside potential for higher wages versus becoming recipients of today's version of "government cheese" welfare known as "living wages" handed out by city hall public "servants".

I love Target stores but they should consider the messages they are sending to their consumers with these t-shirts.

Study more, lobby less

Todd

Political Amnesia

"Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times."

Gustave Flaubert

Clearly how pure a person's political philosophy is apparently dependent on political party bosses -- at least in central Minnesota. To say I was stunned at this Associated Press article in today's Pioneer Press newspaper, "DFL asks Johnson challenger to quit" http://www.wctrib.com/articles/index.cfm?id=9502&section=homepage&forumcomm_check_return&freebie_check , is a complete understatement.

Background for my non-Minnesota readers and Minnesotans who don't follow politics (this posting might encourage you to avoid politics altogether I fear) --

• DFL = Democratic Farmer Laborite Party = Democratic Party of Minnesota
• State Senator Dean Johnson (Democrat) of Willmar, Minnesota is seeking re-election for another 4 year term to his senate seat in November but first he must win the September 12th primary election.
• Senator Johnson is the Senate Majority Leader and is the Democratic Caucus Leader of course.
• Senator Johnson WAS a Republican state senator six (6) years ago but is a Democrat today: http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200001/12_mccalluml_deanjohnson January 12, 2000 Prominent state senator Dean Johnson of Willmar has joined the DFL party, after more than two decades as a Republican legislator. Johnson has often sparred with the Republican party over abortion, gay rights and other issues, and Republican leaders say they're not surprised by his switch.
• Senator Johnson's opponent -- Michael Cruze -- has been asked by the Kandiyohi County DFL chairman, Sam Nelson, to end his primary election campaign against Johnson because apparently Cruze's name "shows up in local Republican Party records............."

Now this is an amazing case of political amnesia or denial of reality by Sam Nelson. Johnson's "conversion" (he is a Lutheran minister thus my religious reference) to the Democratic/DFL Party in 2000 was only 6 years ago so apparently Johnson (who LED the Republican Senators in the senate from 1992 to 1997) is completely in step with DFL policy positions today while Cruze is not??

Let me call on Mr. Nelson to consider a very CRAZY idea -- let the voters in the district decide between Johnson and Cruze. No election needs some party boss/king maker wanna be such as Sam Nelson giving candidates a litmus test. Since Cruze is legally qualified to be on the ballot let the primary election proceed with a "choice" for voters -- a fundamental concept that the Democrats pride themselves in defending but apparently "choice" should only apply to abortion and not political candidates or the K-12 education system.

Per my comments in my "Camera Whores" posting the Democratic Party primary election voters in Connecticut "chose" to defeat incumbent US Senator Joe Lieberman on August 8th in favor of political newcomer Ned Lamont (a newcomer just like Michael Cruze is in Minnesota). so why shouldn't Minnesota voters be able to exercise their own ballot choice? This election choice is what keeps the American democracy healthy but clearly Sam Nelson does not appreciate this concept.

Historically yours,

Todd

Camera Whores

Personally I love primary elections because they serve many purposes including -- forcing incumbents to re-connect with voters and providing an outlet for voters to "make a statement" via the ballot box. Yesterday's (8 August) primary elections in the states Connecticut and Georgia were no exception.

In Connecticut's Democratic Party primary election incumbent US Senator and 2000 Vice Presidential nominee, Joseph Lieberman, was defeated by cable tv executive/rookie politician Ned Lamont. That same day Georgia's Democratic Party primary election voters (voting in a run off election to be exact) sent US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney packing her bags since she was soundly defeated by a former county commissioner, Hank Johnson.

Having watched the news clips of Lamont's and McKinney's speeches once the polls closed on election night two distinct - but politically intriguing elements - caught my attention immediately:

1.) Lamont (a white man) -- standing directly behind Mr. Lamont at his podium were the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson (both black men) who looked like bookends holding Lamont upright!!!

2.) McKinney (a black woman or is it womyn, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Womyn, as the ultra-feminists say?) -- clearly stated in her concession speech that the election had been "stolen" from her due to "electronic voting machines.............." A new conspiracy!!! Yea.

THE BIG QUESTION -- I may have missed someone in the media posing this question but I really doubt it. If Ms. McKinney was a victim of a "stolen election" whereby African-American/black voters were dis-enfranchised in GEORGIA why then were Sharpton and Jackson (black men) at a rally for a white man in CONNECTICUT??

Here is an example of Sharpton and Jackson's "voting rights" work in New Orleans:

http://www.sweetness-light.com/archive/revs-jackson-and-sharpton-protest-in-no
"We want the Voting Rights Act," Jackson said at a news conference before the rally. Black leaders have argued city elections could violate the landmark 1965 law designed to ensure voter equality.The city election could have a broad effect nationwide, Sharpton said: "What happens in New Orleans will affect voting rights all over the United States."

I am happy to be corrected if I am wrong but it appears that it was more important for Sharpton and Jackson to stand with a "winner" in Connecticut since Lamont's victory was a clear message that Lieberman's support of President Bush and the war in Irag comes with a huge political price -- versus standing with a "victim" (McKinney) in Georgia.

Clearly like moths to the flame Sharpton and Jackson much prefer to bask in the lights of TV cameras at a victory party versus working in the trenches with someone like Ms. McKinney. How quickly these two wolves in sheeps' clothing move to where they feel the political winds are carrying them.

November approaches,

Todd

Make Money Not War

Yes I know the Gordon Gekko-- "Greed is Good" -- speech from the movie Wall Street but I would never advocate pure greed. However I do support people utilizing their God-given talents to make the most of themselves so they can accumulate all the resources (legally and ethically) they want. Now ideally these same people would have enough care for others to utilize some of these resources to help those less fortunate thus helping the rest of us to avoid social engineers creating government programs to equalize the world around us.

I was reminded of a potential blog posting theme while talking with my buddy Stephen at a recent think tank conference. Stephen told me that he declined to be interviewed for a Junior Achievement (www.ja.org) job because it "did not pay enough" versus keeping his current career where he could use his talents to make substantially more money which would allow him to continue his financial support of J.A.'s programs. This conversation reminded me of my immediate thoughts when I heard the announcement that former Arizona Cardinals player (American football for my foreign friends) turned US Army Ranger , Pat Tillman, was killed during his service in Afghanistan. NOTE - I have a fraternity brother who is an Army Ranger so please do not doubt my respect for these soldiers. I would be proud to be one myself but I am at least 20 years too late for pursuing that option!!

Now I salute Mr. Tillman for his sense of patriotism and by no means would taint his memory but I would have preferred a different scenario for everyone concerned. If Mr. Tillman and I were sitting around talking on the patio while grilling and he asked for my advice regarding whether or not he should leave the National Football League for service in the US Army Rangers I would have said:

1.) Pat, keep playing football in the NFL

2.) Make millions of dollars from your contract, sponsorships, and public appearances.

3.) Use some of your wealth to create a foundation to educate the children of Afghanistan


Sadly, Pat Tillman's career as a US Ranger was too short due to his untimely death. Let's say he killed 2 or 3 Taliban soldiers during his tenure and contrast this effort against a possible $5 million endowment for the "Pat Tillman Afghani Children's Fund" spending at least $250,000 annually generated by a nominal 5% return from the endowment.

Those 250,000 dollars would provide for the creation of 25 schools being built annually across Afghanistan assuming they used the Room to Read model -- www.roomtoread.org -- "Just US$8,000 to US$12,000 in investments, depending on the country, is enough for us to build a school that will support over 150 students and last for years to come."

Rest in Peace Pat Tillman,

Todd

Pace Corps

"There is no other country on the planet that affords those kind of opportunities to those who come here."

General Peter Pace


Due to travel in July I completely missed the story of the Chairman of the USA's Joint Chiefs of Staff - General Peter Pace, US Marine - when he testified before a US congressional field hearing regarding immigration reform. General Pace's testimony regarding immigration reform was compelling and calls for commentary in the blogger community.

As reported in the media (www.twincities.com) General Pace "choked up and was unable to continue for about a minute as the opening witness at the hearing." General Pace's (Pace = "peace" in Italian) testimony was very emotional for him as he described how his father was born in Italy in 1914, immigrated to the USA, and became an electrician in New York City. General Pace is clearly a success story especially since he is the first Marine to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff but General Pace's siblings are also successes since his sister became a lawyer and his older brother is a US Naval Academy graduate currently serving in the armed forces. This is a great human story since General Pace's father was able to escape the destruction of World War I in Europe via his immigration to the USA thereby getting the opportunity to raise successful children - children who contribute to the well-being of American society.

This story leads me to believe our current Peace Corps program should be completely re-structured to focus its recruitment efforts on America's newest immigrants. Imagine the Peace Corps sending a successful Mexican-American immigrant entrepreneur/naturalized American citizen to serve for two years in the jungles of Chiapas, Mexico teaching his former countrymen the principles of economic growth. This would be a huge departure from sending the stereotypic, young, idealistic, recent college graduate to serve in a developing country.

Open borders and open minds,

Todd

Paddles not Pollution

Due to some computer problems and travel this weekend I have been unable to post for a few days but hopefully I will be back on schedule this week via daily postings. First my computer issues -- having grown up around a family-owned small business I am a big fan of this company model which was confirmed this past week when I needed some computer updates. To compare costs I contacted the "Geek Squad" at Best Buy along with "Global IT", a small consultancy owned by one of my neighbors in Apple Valley, Minnesota. Overall costs were very similar but the difference was that my neighbor was willing to do the work the same day (Friday evening actually) because he had travel plans this past weekend. By contrast, Geek Squad told me, "hopefully we would have it completed on Monday for you to pick up........" (a full 3 days later versus same day service from my neighbor).

I was glad to have the computer returned on Friday night since I had my own travel plans this past weekend as a participant in the annual "Mississippi River Challenge", http://www.mississippiriverchallenge.org, (MRC). The MRC is a annual 44 mile, 2 day paddle down a stretch of the Mississippi River which cuts through the Twin Cities of Minnesota to raise funds to support the work of the Friends of the Mississippi River.

My partner for this trip was Pete, a fraternity brother from Iowa State University, and a veteran of our canoe trips to the Boundary Water Canoe Area in Northern Minnesota. Beyond Pete I want to thank all of my friends who contributed money as donors to this worthy cause. The trip itself was a "challenge" on the first day due to an all-day head wind that worked against us. The second day was a challenge because we did not get much sleep the night before due to a VERY serious rain storm but the water and wind were calm so overall the second day presented great paddling.

Overall I enjoy this annual charity event especially since it is focused on one of my hobbies - canoeing - and because the event is focused on raising public awareness about the quality of our waterways. Sadly, I saw a lot of garbage along the river - primarily plastic bottles - which gave me several ideas for next year including asking companies like Cabela's or Gander Mountain to donate fishing nets for each paddler on the the MRC so we can all work to clean the river along the way. A great model for such a full-blown clean up could be the "University of Okoboji campus clean up" (www.okoboji.com) which includes scuba diving focused on cleaning the Okoboji lake system in Northwest Iowa.

All things flow downstream,

Todd

Haircuts

Years ago I was completing my Masters in International Management degree at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota which required an economics course taught by Dr. David Opp. I was reminded of his discussion regarding "tradable and non-tradable goods" today as I read my local newspaper which had this front page headline -- "Northwest Airlines Rushes to Block Threatened Walkout" -- which is focused on the potential strike by flight attendants.

Dr. Opp always cited "haircuts" as the perfect example of what a "non-tradable good" is meaning it is economically impossible to "export" a "haircut":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradable

From what I have read from flight attendants' trade unions they clearly believe their members are "non-tradable" yet in the Business Section (do labor union leaders read this section???) of the same newspaper today there is a short article that states Air China trains ".......as many as 500 new flight attendants a year." Since Northwest Airlines has nearly 9,200 flight attendants involved in this labor dispute this seems to create a market for Air China to increase its training to supply replacement workers to Northwest. Such a replacement of workers would appear an easy task since the Minnesota to China air corridor is reportedly the shortest flight path between our two countries thus Northwest will always be well-positioned to capitalize on the rise of the Chinese economy.

Overall I have always enjoyed the service supplied by Northwest's flight attendants but today I fear their leadership is mis-guided much like the mechanics were in 2005 when they went on strike. I posted an important question on my blog at the time that if the mechanics were willing to take home equity loans to continue their strike (as was reported locally) why not instead use that equity money to start there own business servicing corporate jets -- perhaps asking a few flight attendants to join them in the venture?

The world needs more entrepreneurs and less tribalism,

Todd

Raise your hands if you are guilty!!

As a fan of scuba diving and the Spanish language I took great interest in today's news that the President/dictator of Cuba, Fidel Castro, "relinquished his presidential powers" (temporarily) to his brother Raul due to surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding which will require several weeks of rest. Essentially I can't legally travel to Cuba since I am a US citizen bound by federal law preventing such activities since scuba diving in Cuba would require me to spend money which would assist the Communist dictatorship apparently. Reminder -- I was able to travel to the Soviet Union in 1986 where I did spend money while distributing contraband Western literature/news magazines. Given the thousands of nuclear war heads the Soviet Union had at the time clearly they were a greater danger to the USA at the time versus the Cuba of today which is armed with hundreds of 1950's era automobiles :-)

So with Fidel's health clearly failing at age 80 and given Raul's age now at 75 the Cuban-American community was reportedly celebrating Fidel's further steps towards the grave as a sign that the "next Cuban revolution" (my phrase) is growing near as the old guard fades away. This is a great reminder that the US-led trade embargo against Cuba imposed to isolate Cuba from the world economy and force Castro from power has COMPLETELY FAILED since Fidel has been in power since January 1, 1959.

Now Castro has had a long run in power having lasted longer than all the leaders in the world except for these two:

1.) King Bhumibol Adulyadjej of Thailand -- crowned in 1946

2.) Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom -- crowned in 1952

I would never equate the Castro dictatorship to the royal governments in Thailand and the United Kingdom but I would highlight the archaic system known as dynastic rule. For the best (worst?) example of dynastic rule look no further than the starving masses in North Korea where the jump suit wearing, sushi-eating, rapist known as President Kim Jong Il is managing a genocide being ignored by the world community simply because the national starvation diet works at a slower pace than Hitler's gas chambers.

Question -- why should someone serve in political office as ruler for 60 years such as the King of Thailand? Had he lived to serve out his 4th elected term US President Franklin Roosevelt would have served for 16 years having clearly ignored the guidance of the "greatest man on earth" as he was known at the time -- President George Washington -- who completely shocked the world but essentially being the first ruler to voluntarily and in an orderly fashion transfer the power of his political office to his freely-elected successor choosing to retire to his life as a gentleman farmer in Virginia.

Today's rulers/presidents/prime ministers should study the life of President/Citizen Washington with a particular focus on the gift of orderly democracy he gave to Americans. I do wish that both Fidel and Raul Castro realize their dream of a workers' paradise is completely dead before they die themselves so that they will learn from the wisdom that President Washington gave to future generations by creating a orderly, peaceful transfer of power within Cuba coupled by free and transparent elections.

Adios diablos rojos,

Todd

Spring Football

Great news in today's newspaper -- more American football to be created in Spring 2007 with the creation of the All American Football League (AAFL) !!!

I love all forms of football -- Canadian, Australian, college, NFL, NFL Europe, Arena, and even some elements of the now defunct XFL -- so I welcome the AAFL and wish them luck. The AAFL could use a name change -- perhaps Campus Football League -- since AAFL is a bit wordy plus such a name change would reflect the AAFL's business model. The AAFL plans to field :) eight teams for their 2007 season which would play their games in university football stadiums.

The AAFL is being created by former NCAA President, Cedric Dempsey and 12 other founders from the "worlds of sports, education, and business..........". Investors can secure team franchise rights for $2 million to $3 million and team players must be college graduates with expected salaries of $100,000 per season.

From what I have read so far about the AAFL I like the model for these reasons --

• The $100,000 per player salary goes against my free market principles BUT it gives the league a known budget for franchise owners as the league launches its initial season.
• The AAFL's focus on using university football stadiums makes better use of such facilities since the AAFL's season will be in the Spring with the college football games beginning in late August/early September. This should help improve university revenues plus it would help create career opportunities for current and former university team members.
• This league creates a US-based development league for the NFL or even the CFL for second tier talent at the university football level -- players that need to develop their skills more to compete at the highest levels.
• Baseball -- I love our national past time but after Spring Training in Arizona and Florida I have to admit the season is a little boring until the World Series hits so having some football to watch would be a nice distraction.

Granted we have already seen the US Football League and the World Football League come and go so perhaps the AAFL will simply produce more collectibles for consumers to trade on eBay but regardless of their future I am excited to see this league play within the university environment.

See you on the gridiron,

Todd

Bug Hunting

After my run this morning I was reading today's newspaper when I noticed a photo of 10 year old Tayler Russell showing off one of the lobsters he caught in the Florida Keys. Yesterday was the first day of the mini-season for "bug hunting" in Florida. Lobstering in Florida is known as "bug hunting" apparently because their lobsters are much smaller than Maine-style lobsters.

This photo caught my attention because I used to go bug hunting in the Florida Keys with my very dear friend from racquetball/handball events - Jim Murphy - who lived in both Minnesota and Florida running his insurance business. Sadly Jim crashed his airplane in the Florida Everglades several years ago thus ending the life of a great friend, businessman, father, and adventurer.

Life goes on with my racquetball and scuba diving but Jim's presence will always be missed.

Enjoy your friends,

Todd

San Francisco

Last week was dominated by my attendance at the American Legislative Exchange Council's annual conference (www.alec.org) which was held in San Francisco. Following the end of the conference I spent part of Saturday touring the city a bit since the last time I was in San Francisco was in 1988. Here are some highlights of my touring:

• Bomb Threat -- As I tried to leave my hotel room one night in search of great Thai food in China Town I was detained in the lobby due to a bomb threat at the "Metreon" building which was about one block away. The following day I read a very short newspaper article about this incident that stated -- "The bomb squad found the package contained shoes and clothing, possibly belonging to a homeless person............" so no one was harmed. Perhaps we need the TSA (Transportation Security mis-Administration) to branch out from the nation's airports to include homeless shelters under their jurisdiction?? :-)
• California Historical Society -- has a small museum/photo gallery at 678 Mission Street, www.californiahistoricalsociety.org, which is dominated by photographs of the great earthquake and firestorms of 1906 complete with several items from author, Jack London. My chance visit to this museum was rather fateful since I grabbed my copy of "The Seawolf" by Jack London to read on my flight to San Francisco last week not even giving a thought to the fact that London spent his career in San Francisco -- rather a fateful event!!
• City tour -- I always enjoy the city bus tours for their efficiency but especially liked the one I did with the Great Pacific Tour Company (www.greatpacifictour.com) since they use large capacity mini vans and the tour guide - Jim - grew up in the Minnesota/Nebraska area so he was fun to talk with during the tour. The highlight of the tour for me was the view of the city and bay from the top of "Twin Peaks".
• Giants -- I was able to attend the San Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres baseball game at AT&T Park which was my first visit. What a fabulous stadium that really puts our own "Metrodome(morgue)" to shame. The gelato stand was a nice departure from peanuts and popcorn!!!

Enjoy your travels,

Todd

Left To Tell

Several months ago I posted a commentary here regarding the film "Hotel Rwanda" which I happened to see while working in Brussels, Belgium. Since Rwanda was formerly the "Belgian Congo" it was very interesting to watch a film that opens with a scene blaming the former colonial masters for the Hutu vs. Tutsi tribal conflicts that led to the genocide there in 1994.

I was reminded of this experience last week while I attend the American Legislative Exchange Council's, www.alec.org annual conference in San Francisco. One of the conference's sessions featured a speaker who survived the Rwandan genocide named -- Immaculee Ilibagiza -- who spent 91 days hiding in a bathroom with six other Tutsi women. Ms. Iligazia's speech was very compelling and sobering since I complain if I have to sit in traffic -- this woman sat on a bathroom floor for 3 months while nearly starving as she hid from machete-toting rape gangs in Rwanda. Time for me to quit my bitching!!!

During Ms. Ilibagiza's speech the audience also learned that she taught herself to speak English using a French-English dictionary while she was hiding in the bathroom from the Hutu death squads. This is especially amazing since the US public school system is spending millions and millions of dollars to instruct non-English speaking students and to teach English as a foreign language. Perhaps these students and their parents should get motivated by reading Ms. Ilibagiza's inspiring book - "Left To Tell" - which I read before the conference was completed.

Beyond her book and her work at the United Nations Ms. Ilibagiza is the founder of the "Left To Tell Charitable Fund" based in Carlsbad, California:

www.lefttotell.com

The fund is focused on helping the orphaned children of Africa build new lives.

The Rwandan genocide is a tragedy of course but another tragedy is that an estimated 800,000 people were killed in about 3 months while the world sat by and watched. This happened in a world of 24 news channels and news alerts being sent to mobile devices yet somehow this genocide did not justify a world response.

Hopefully this book will encourage an end to tribalism so people can live their lives to their full potential.

Todd

I need government help!!

Last week the State of Minnesota's Department of Finance reported that our state government now has a $447 million budget SURPLUS for the fiscal year ended June 30th. Now I was traveling in Europe last week so perhaps I missed it but I did not hear of one of our 201 state legislators or Governor Pawlenty call for a special session to "return this surplus to the people that produced it............." If any one of these 202 people called for tax refunds PLEASE let me know so I can congratulate them and help them for the November elections.

Without hesitation I am a big fan of Governor Pawlenty (Republican) since he is an ideal leader for Minnesota and a true gentleman on a personal level. I know the governor is limited in what he can do here -- sure he can force the legislature into a special session BUT he can't dictate what they debate or what to do of course. Governor Pawlenty's other two challenges are -- 1.) Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson (Democrat) would never agree to a special session designed to actual give us our money back, and 2.) A high percentage of state government spending is on "auto-pilot" due to spending formulas so even if we had a special session to create tax refunds the state budget deficit would go up because of this auto-pilot spending (initially at least) although tax revenues would increase later since taxpayers with more money in their pockets generate economic growth, government programs do not generate such growth -- only press releases or new forms of welfare.

Let me encourage readers to create our own "crisis" (remember Hillary Clinton's "health care crisis" or today's "homeland security crisis") by calling for budget surpluses to be returned to taxpayers -- whether we choose to spend, save, or invest these dollars should be our choice not under the authority of government authorities.

I finally admit it -- I want the government to help me get MY money back :)

Todd

20 years later

Having worked in Brussels, Belgium this past week I decided to take a day tour of Ghent and Bruges on Saturday after being encouraged by my fiancee to get out and see the area more -- clear evidence of why men need women in their lives to help create a healthy balance :) This was my first visit to Ghent but it was a return visit to Bruges having traveled there as a university student in 1986. From my perspective the tour company should simply drop the Ghent visit from this day tour since it wasn't really worth the time. The "highlight" I remember from the tour guide's comments in Ghent was something to the effect -- ".........this used to be a royal prison but today is the city archives building.........." Well, damn. Now I can die peacefully having seen this landmark!!

Bruges was a much better visit although the nostalgia of my 1986 visit biased my view of Bruges today, 20 years later. Overall the city was still clean, picturesque, and vibrant but it seemed to have seen substantial tourism growth as evidenced by the multitude of shops selling post cards and lace goods. I did have a very nice lunch -- which I would rate with a standard "3" out of 5 having simply met my basic expectations -- at "Restaurant Charles Quint" ( www.charlesquit.com ) of a regional chicken, potato, and carrot dish served by a waitress from the UK. For a minute I had to stop and think if I was still living in London when I first heard her accent having utilized my poor French when I entered the restaurant. Speaking of French I spoke "un peu" at a chocolate shop which surprised the woman at the counter who said that the vast majority of people don't even try French or Dutch/Flemish opting for English immediately. Our tour group made a short visit to the Church of our Lady-Bruges (built in the 14th Century) which is the standard stop in nearly every European city I have toured. The primary feature of this church building is the "Madonna of Michelangelo" statue located in a separate altar area. Sadly, European churches are essentially museums given the decline of religion for most people. I would argue that official, government-sanctioned churches (such as Danes being required to belong to the Lutheran Church until a certain age when they can opt to quit I am told) have resulted in driving people away from church life into the modern "church" known as the welfare state where government "solutions" are worshiped.

The highlight of my entire day was the canal boat tour in Bruges (4.80 euros per person with the group discount) which routed us through 5 or 6 sections of the canal system which is primarily dominated by private homes -- similar to Amsterdam but less colorful. Given the heat of summer in Bruges I would highly recommend this boat tour as the best way to see the city which helps you avoid the multitude of bicycles and horse drawn carriages which constantly force the tourists to move. I have noticed that the new distraction for tourists is holding their digital cameras aloft to take photos of nearly everything around them thus ignoring oncoming traffic including the electric tram which nearly hit one such shutter bug today.

Since tour buses are not allowed in the central city of Bruges our tour group had to take a city bus (for 1 euro per person) back to our tour bus parking area. A bit of advice for the city planners -- the next time you need to purchase new buses for your fleet please consider buying buses that have windows that open so passengers/tourists don't risk passing out from the heat of summer.

Time to shower,

Todd

Tigers in the Holy Land

PHOTO - courtesy of the BBC


After seeing today's newspaper headlines such as --


"Israeli offensive into Lebanon sparks oil (price) surge"


my first thought was how can the residents of the Middle East hate each this much after thousands of years? At what point do you simply grow weary of hate and revenge? Granted these are rather philosophical questions so I pose another more substantive question -- "How many Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded for Middle East peace negotiation efforts?

Thanks to this helpful website I have the answer -- http://www.almaz.com/nobel/peace/:

1901 -- the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the International Red Cross and a French peace society. This does not have anything to do with the Middle East, I am just noting "1901" as the start date for historical context.

1950 -- awarded to Ralph Bunche who was the "UN Mediator in Palestine"

1978 -- awarded to Sadat of Egypt and Begin of Israel

1994 -- awarded to Arafat of Palestine, Perez of Israel, and Rabin of Israel

2002 -- award to former US President Jimmy Carter for his "international efforts reducing violence, etc..........." so I note him here given his role in the Egypt and Israel peace treaty which led to the 1978 Nobel Prize

It appears we can safely say that for the last 56 years the Nobel Peace Prize has had some level of focus on the Middle East conflict yet the violence continues. The Nobel Prize is a "noble" endeavor but I would encourage them to consider non-public officials should they plan to award a future award focused on the Middle East since the seven (7) people awarded for their roles in peace efforts for the region were public officials when they were involved.

Perhaps the world's religious leaders, corporate CEOs, and sports celebrities should step forward to exert their leadership in the region. Why not have the Dalai Lama spend some time touring the region especially since the Chinese have made it clear he is not welcome in Tibet (yet another issue for the Nobel committee!!) or perhaps Tiger Woods could use his fame to have a major golf tournament organized for the Gaza Strip to drive economic interest in the region since jobs generate peace!! Now that is creative thinking that I would like to see leaders like the Nobel committee promote and seek out when they make their next selections.

Fix it since it is clearly broken,

Todd

Prayer is a Taxable Transaction

Dear Flock:

Some comedic relief provided by my fiancee is copied below for your enjoyment.

This makes me wonder if the Internal Revenue Service will exist in the afterlife?

Pastor Todd

DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING TEXT IS JUST A JOKE, NOT A THEOLOGICAL STATEMENT

A little boy wanted $100.00 very badly and prayed for weeks, but nothing happened. Then he decided to write God a letter requesting the $100.00. When the postal authorities received the letter to "God, USA" , they decided to send it to the President. The president was so amused that he instructed his secretary to send the little boy a $5.00 bill. The president thought this would appear to be a lot of money to a little boy.

The little boy was delighted with the $5.00 bill and sat down to write a thank-you note to God, which read:

"Dear God: Thank you very much for sending the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you sent it through Washington, DC., and those assholes deducted $95.00 in taxes."

Author -- Unknown, unless you can tell me :)

Regulate Everything!!

Yet another strong argument for school choice in the US public school system!!

The July 12, 2006 USA Today newspaper featured one of their classic bar chart graphics, USA Today Snapshots, entitled, "Which industries should be more government regulated?". The results of this survey of 1,833 respondents age 18 and older by Harris Interactive were:

Oil -- 55%
Pharmaceutical and Drug - 51%
Health Insurance - 46%
Electric and Gas Utilities - 43%
Managed care such as HMOs - 43%
Tobacco - 36%
Hospitals - 28%

Really?? The follow up question to these 1,833 people should have been, "okay, how much MORE can we regulate these industries, should we just have them nationalized by the government so we can live in a regulated paradise like Cuba?"

I could offer several examples of how these seven (7) industries are highly regulated today so let me pick just 2 of them since I have ZERO financial interest in their well-being:

Electric and Gas Utilities -- granted state and federal laws have been amended in the last decade or so to inject some market competition/reduced regulation in this industry BUT the state public utilities commission (PUCs) are still operating at full staffing levels. The PUCs still have a lot of oversight power especially since such regulated utilities must file "rate cases" compiled by teams of lawyers and accountants to see changes in the rates they charge to customers.

Hospitals -- in an effort to use our limited resources "efficiently" most state governments require hospitals wanting to expand their operations to get approval via a "certificate of need" or "certificate of public convenience and necessity" which seeks to prevent competing hospitals from wasting money by building competing facilities.

So you think this is wide open, no regulation capitalism at work?? These 1,833 respondents need to read more books and less USA Today starting with any book they find at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute -- www.isi.org

Educate don't regulate,

Todd

Caveman Lawyer

Whether government regulators/lawmakers are fascist in nature or truly well-intentioned it really doesn't matter to me since I assume they are fascist until they prove themselves to be otherwise. However, I really have to sit back and laugh at them on days like today!! As I sat in a Brussels cafe enjoying lunch I was looking out the front window where I noticed a guy about 30 years old reading a newspaper while smoking a cigarette at a sidewalk table. Then a group of four teen-age boys walked by with the last one -- probably 15 years old -- stopping to ask the guy at the table if he could "bum" ("have a cigarette as a gift" in proper English) a cigarette. Despite the high cost of cigarettes I did not see this guy hesitate to pull a single cigarette from his carton to give to the boy AND then the guy even offered to light it for the boy!!

So regardless of increased taxes on tobacco, public smoking bans, the raising of the legal age to buy tobacco products, and multiple millions of tax dollars/euros/pounds spent to educate people not to smoke informal market exchanges such as this bumming episode happen. So what should be done to stop such human interactions? Increased foot patrols by police officers to prevent such voluntary, non-monetary transactions by checking the IDs of all people seen smoking on the street?

My "Caveman Lawyer" brain says "no" opting for a world of less laws and greater personal freedom but try to explain that to your local bureaucrat who is obligated to justify their role in this world where the bright lights and tall buildings scare me. (FOOTNOTE - all credit for the Caveman Lawyer reference go to my comedic hero Phil Hartman of Saturday Night Live fame, may he rest in peace - http://snltranscripts.jt.org/91/91gcaveman.phtml

Hey, can I bum a slice of pizza? :)

Todd

Cheese and Browsers

Today the phrase "surfing the web" is understood by most people to simply mean "reviewing the range of content that is available on the Internet via the use of a web browser" such as Internet Explorer or Firefox. However, since language evolves quickly especially as a result of someone's geographic location/isolation there are no doubt other ways to say "surfing the web" which I was reminded of on my flight to Brussels this weekend.

While enjoying some downtime at the airport sky lounge I read this phrase on the packet of cheese I was having:

"SKI us on the web: cabotcheese.com"


"Ski" don't "surf" this Vermont cheese company's website -- a great example of "place theory" in practice since "ski the web" is a product of Vermont's ski slope culture and the lack of opportunities to "surf" the ocean such as California offers :)

A personal reminder to myself to not assume we speak the same "language" known as English in all settings.

Thank you for skiing Space Beagle,

Todd

One more nutty bar please!!

As if we don't travel enough in our professional lives my fiancee and I traveled to the "Iowa Great Lakes" area known as "Boji" by the natives, http://www.okoboji.org, this past weekend for a mini-vacation with my brother's family. We stayed at Arrowwood (formerly Village East) which has historically been a lovely resort but I fear that "something is broken" since I left with the impression that guests are not getting value for money (or the owners are draining out as much cash as they can) as noted in these observations:

• The resort's on-site restaurant, Minerva's, was a bad experience for breakfast with slow service, cold food, and an unresponsive staff when I lodged my complaint thus they receive my first ever "0" rating out of 5.
• The lifeguard at the indoor pool was either sleeping or listening to music so from a liability and cost standpoint the resort would have been better off simply posting a "Swim at Your Own Risk" sign
• The on-site health club is nice but seems to be fading due to lack of new equipment and the need for some modernizing decor.
• Upon check out I complained about the restaurant quality again to which the desk staff simply smiled and said "ok" which was sad since I am a native Iowan and expect better.

Beyond Arrowwood though the Boji trip was a joy as noted by these trip highlights:

• Arnold's Perk -- a local coffeeshop complete with mis-matched furniture and all things organic. The staff here clearly loved their work and the patrons all acted like one friendly family with other patrons including the two grandmothers who shared a couch with us and provided an overview of Boji for my fiancee. I got a chuckle out of this coffee shop's sign in the front door which said, "Friends don't let friends drink Starbucks" :)
• Nutty Bars -- a simple recipe of vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate then rolled in crushed nuts but really damn tasty!! There are few things much better during the heat of July.
• Arnold's Park -- the local amusement park on West Lake Okoboji complete with rides for "kids" of all ages. My victory in the go-kart race against my brother will be cherished as my own version of NASCAR :)
• Gepetto's -- a fine dining restaurant that replaced Maxwell's in the Central Emporium. We had an excellent meal here of -- halibut, crab cake, filet mignon, and mushroom demi-glace chicken. The service, ambiance, and overall location were excellent. I rate them with a "4" on my 5 point scale.
• Taco House -- not the same without my buddy Kent dining with me at our old stomping ground but we our families had a great meal of soft shell tacos plus their famous "brown sauce". I am completely biased so will reward them with a "4" rating since it is an institution that I always have loved about Boji plus they have the largest collection of low cost Mexican art in the State of Iowa I believe :) Again, great staff here who enjoy their jobs -- amazing that this restaurant was not created by a government jobs program isn't it??

Enjoy your vacations,

Todd

Give Me Ice Cream or Give Me Death

The Declaration of Independence....gave liberty not alone to the people of this country, but hope to all the world, for all future time.

Abraham Lincoln


Personally I don't celebrate the 4th of July I opting to celebrate "Independence Day" which happens to fall on the 4th of July every year. This is an important distinction I believe since we celebrate Christmas Day not the "25th of December" -- Christmas has meaning of course as the birth of Jesus Christ which brought hope to the world while Independence Day served as the birthday of a new nation which was vastly different from any governments existing in 1776.

Independence Day this year was spent running a 5 mile race with my fiancee which was organized by Apple Valley Freedom Days, http://www.avfreedomdays.com/, followed by walking in our local parade with the owners of Kalli's Popcorn Shop who happen to be our neighbors. Kalli's not only sells popcorn but they also offer hard and soft ice cream including the "Flavor Burst" soft serve ice cream. I am a huge fan of the butter pecan but after trying the "blue goo" this week (which tastes like wedding cake frosting) I now have split loyalties :) Kalli's is a great small business story which I hope expands to other cities given their quality customer service and great products. I would rate them with a "4" (out of 5).

Speaking of ice cream here is some trivia I read in Life Magazine this week:

• In the summer of 1790 George Washington spent $200 on ice cream which is equal to $4,100 in today's dollars.
• The Italians created ice cream in the 17th Century -- question; but did Marco Polo steal this idea from the Chinese as he apparently did with other inventions such as noodles???
• The ice cream cone first appeared in 1904 at the St. Louis World's Fair
• Vanilla is still the nation's favorite flavor since it accounts for 26% of sales with chocolate at 12.9%. No statistics were available for "blue goo" but I am searching :)

Whether you say 4th of July or Independence Day please take a moment to reflect on what the Founding Fathers and Continental Army accomplished in the 1776 to 1789 time period to give us the freedoms we take for granted today such as the freedom to eat ice cream, own a firearm, the right to public assembly, shop at a book store, or blog about any subject imaginable.

I am thankful for these freedoms,

Todd

Bombing North Korea

Admittedly I am still a Cold War Warrior having done my small part to help destroy the Evil Empire, formerly known as the Soviet Union. While touring there in 1986 I distributed contraband materials I carried in my luggage -- magazines, newspapers, paperback books, audiotapes, etc. -- to help generate a "war of ideas" via the Soviet dissidents and black market traders (they wanted to trade for boxer shorts which inspired me to predict that their economy would collapse when I returned to Iowa State University and it did in 1991!!!) I met during my travels.

Today I had a rude reminder that communist dictators are alive and un-well given today's newspaper headline --- "North Korea Missile Launch Defies U.S." -- which highlighted North Korea's failed launch of a missile that fell into the Sea of Japan. Apparently President Kim Jong Il is upset with the quality of the sushi he imports from Japan while he lets his people starve by eating tree bark!! :-)

One quote I did not see reported is former US Vice President Walter Mondale's comments about two weeks ago calling for a pre-emptive US attack of North Korea. Interesting at the time since I don't remember Ambassador Mondale calling for similar action on Iraq:

http://www.drudge.com/news/82809/mondale-backs-strike-north-Korean-missile

Given my growing dis-trust of most governments I have evolved into what I call an "armed dove" -- meaning I prefer peace but will hit hard as a hawk when needed whether defending my home and family or acting as Commander-in-Chief should Americans draft me in 2008 since I am over 35 years old :-) Today, I do not see any need for a US-backed coalition to invade North Korea or even a massive bombing campaign but I do want to advocate the following solution.

Let's bomb North Korea with items from the free world like I did the Soviet Union in 1986 but on a massive scale via air force deliveries and on the ground covert operations by bringing humanitarian relief and cultural tools from the free world to the people of North Korea to enable them to stage a "coup de masses" against that jump suit wearing, sushi eating, bad hair day, mad man known as President Kim Jong (very) Ill using the following tools:

Step #1 -- BODIES: Use the US Air Force and allies to drop food supplies in rural villages. I am not talking bags of rice in UN-labeled bags -- I am talking; trail mix/gorp, jerky, hot dogs, lunch meat, bread, cookies, potato chips, bottled water, etc. Get these people fed and healthy for the revolution to come.

Step #2 -- MINDS: The next airlift by the air force planes would include examples of Western/free world culture including; the Victoria's Secret catalog, People magazine, mail order catalogs, USA Today, Asian language books and magazines, Men's Health (my favorite), and translated reports (in Korean of course) explaining President Kim's lavish lifestyle. The airlift would be coupled with supplying local insurgents with hand crank-powered radios and portable DVD players with extra batteries - since electricity is not a local resource - and a collection of DVDs such as "CNN Presents - North Korea" to show the North Korean slaves what the outside world is like so they are inspired to publicly oppose President Kim's regime.

Step #3 -- ARMS: I don't know of any successful revolution that did not include the use of firearms. In this step we would use the entire US and allies' intelligence entities to distribute weapons to villagers not to select individuals who could simply resale the weapons on the black market or in a neighboring country. Empower the people to lead their own revolution -- I trust factions of the army will join their fellow countrymen to oppose President Kim.

Step #4 -- DEADLINE: Give President Kim a firm deadline to dismantle his missile program then if he does not comply simply destroy all key infrastructure via a massive air strike coupled with a one week long propaganda campaign prior to the air strike consisting of dropping leaflets to citizens across the country and beaming radio and TV signals from Voice of America to all markets.

With all of these factors working in concert a grassroots uprising OR even better an exodus by President Kim to a country granting him asylum should he opt not to commit suicide (keep hope alive!!) should be the end result followed by a Transition Council (South Korea, China, Japan, US, Russia, and Australia given their growing role as regional policeman such as in East Timor) to manage a post-Kim North Korea leading to a national referendum regarding the unification of North and South Korea.

Nuclear war avoided, the minimum loss of human life, and the removal of President Kim -- not a bad outcome for the world.

Sleep well President Kim,

Todd

Vienna Waltz

Greetings from the former capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire - Vienna. Today everyone lives in harmony under the protective umbrella of the European Union :)

My travels bring me to Vienna for the third annual European Resource Bank (ERB), http://www.rbeurope.org, which is a gathering of free market think tanks from across Europe including several American guests. This year is a unique gathering since the ERB is being held in conjunction with the World Taxpayer Associations, http://www.worldtaxpayers.org, annual conference.

Overall the best value of this conference is re-connecting with old friends and develop new contacts to work with on public policy issues across Europe. Due to numerous factors - cultural, historical, tax law among others - the free market movement is not as extensive as in the USA but there is progress and reason to be optimistic. One such example is this think tank based in Sweden -- http://www.eudoxa.se -- which was founded by a group of true "intellectual entrepreneurs" who can work in at least six languages covering topics such as biotechnology, global warming, and tobacco harm reduction. This is an impressive group of thinkers who clearly did not attend American public schools :)

The conference ends this evening with a black tie Austrian Ball in the Palais Liechtenstein which I am hesitate to attend due to my allergic reaction to all things royal - give me an elected legislative body and executive with all their associated warts and flaws anytime!! Since the conference events have dominated my time here I have not visited many local restaurants but last night a group of us dined at "Sirk" in the Hotel Bristol. Now while the wait staff service was excellent I have to rate them with a "2" (out of 5) since my "roast beef" apparently was a German phrase for "bad steak" although my cucumber and shrimp soup was rather good. The desserts our group shared saved the day though since I really enjoyed my chocolate-banana dish coupled with the selection of chocolates provided compliments of the kitchen so I must revise by bumping Sirk up to a "2.5" rating -- I am a sucker for food bribes I guess.

Always fun to visit Vienna including the gay pride three of us had to walk through today on our return to our hotels.

Nacht,

Todd

Welcome to class Earth Muffin

Without hesitation I admit that I love blogging and ranting against the growth of government. So it always encouraging to see Comments posted responding to my bloc thoughts such as this question to me posted by , "Earth Muffin" (EM), regarding my posting on Warren buffet, "Market Decision by the Market Master":

Earth Muffin said...

Dearest Space Beagle:
If you can admit to the need for some gov't, regardless of its size, how, in your tax free world, would this gov't be paid for?
9:11 AM

Since EM's (no doubt an "organic" muffin) question contains three themes let me dissect and respond to them below:

1. "Some government" -- I have never called for "zero government" like some anarch0-capitalists I know since I am essentially a "law and order libertarian/classical liberal" with one thought driving my world view -- GOVERNMENT SHOULD DO VERY FEW THINGS AND IT SHOULD DO THOSE THINGS VERY WELL SUCH AS NATIONAL DEFENSE
2. "Tax free world" -- no where on my blog nor in conversations have I called for a tax free world. Hell, I am open minded about rising tax revenue -- why don't we raise taxes on public employees' and Congress' retirement pensions if government "needs" more revenue??? :)
3. "How to pay for it" -- Please note Item #1 above first because if we can't agree on an initial premise then you will have no understanding of my worldview. In general I am a great believer in user fees such as the creation of toll roads -- if you drive on a highway then buy a token/electronic pass card to pay for the cost to maintain the highway. Sure, you say, "but how can we add user fees to a nuclear missile or a Stealth bomber?" to which I would advocate a "war tax" -- here the US Congress would have to impose a tax to pay for national defense via a broad-based tax such as a national sales tax or an income tax. Why would this be a good idea? Such a "war tax" would completely empower taxpayers because it would be TRANSPARENT since we would know exactly what the tax amount is and what the tax would be used for -- can you say this is true of our current tax code?? NO, you can not. Stating the obvious now -- we might even have less war if we had such taxes assuming taxpayers refuse to support such taxation and/or vote Members of Congress out of office.

So my dear Earth Muffin please give me a world in which -- private property is respected, government does very little and for very little cost, free trade exists for all goods and services, and nearly 50% of our income (includes -- income tax, payroll tax, social security, Medicare, capital gain tax, property tax......................) is NOT subject to the tax slavery we live in today.

Please visit my friends here if you need more education on these issues:

http://www.cato.org

and

http://www.reason.org

I trust when you run for public office you will use my advice to guide your decisions :)

Class dismissed,

Todd

Market Decision by the Market Master

While watching yesterday's press conference by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates regarding Mr. Buffett's decision to give nearly $37 billion of his current $44 billion fortune to five private charities I was overwhelmed by optimism. Knowing that $37 billion was being donated to worthy private sector charities (Mr. Buffett's "market decision" made by spending his money just like consumers do when they choose which grocery store to shop in) versus the dark prospect of Mr. Buffett passing away leaving his fortune to be attacked by our nation's inheritance ("death") tax. This is simply AMAZING news since both Mr. Buffett and Mr. Bill Gates, Senior (Bill's dad) have been historic advocates of death taxes as noted here --

http://www.pgtoday.com/pgt/articles/mt_rushmore_and_a_history.htm


The bulk of Mr. Buffett's donation will go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which is primarily focused on reforming schools and improving health care delivery systems and resources. I would much rather see such enlightened billionaires expending these massive cash resources versus ANY government program at any level of government.

Unfortunately I could not watch the entire press conference so if Mr. Buffett commented on the concept of "death taxes" I missed it but let me call on him to not only drop his support of death taxes but to come full circle by declaring his opposition to all income taxes. Why should a welfare recipient who starts a small business to better their life have to pay a portion of their wages -- probably earning $20,000 to $40,000 initially as they get started -- to the government? Why not let this entrepreneur choose to hire more employees to help others get off welfare or simply save their hard earned dollars for an earlier retirement?

Congratulations on your personal choice Mr. Buffett -- let's expand the range of choices for more citizens.

Todd

Freedom Fries

When the US-led coalition invaded Iraq I was living in London, United Kingdom so I saw first hand the anti-war protesters (nearly 500,000 by some estimates) that marched to Hyde Park to have their voice heard. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean some Americans reacted to the lack of support from France for this invasion by boycotting French products which included the practice of "French fries" being re-named "Freedom fries" by food vendors. Personally I have never had any complaints against the French people other than the country's political/trade union/government culture which is clearly destroying their economy by locking people into a form of "entitlement slavery" manifested in the current welfare state but that clearly deserves a stand alone blog posting.

I was reminded of the "Freedom fries" controversy last week while reading my local newspaper, the Pioneer Press of June 15, 2006, which carried the article, "Students, staff bid teary farewell". This article focused on the closing of Parkway Elementary School in St. Paul, Minnesota which is being closed to "make way for the district's growing French-immersion magnet school, which will serve more than 400 students this fall."

Now since the State of Minnesota's motto is "L'toile du Nord" (French for Star of the North if you don't know AND the name of this magnet school) I should not be surprised by such a local interest in the French language given the impact French explorers had on this region. But the mere fact that a "French"-immersion school would see such substantial growth at all generates the observations noted below:

• Market decisions - while Minnesota does not have a wide open, school choice system there is indeed some amount of choice for parents and students. This French immersion school is booming because families chose it over other options. Tell me again why we need the US Department of Education with its multiple layers of bureaucrats to dictate what local school districts should do? If there is indeed some enlightened Education Department employee in Washington DC that saw the market interest in such a school and made it happen for students please tell me who this person is so I can congratulate them!!!
• Languages -- when I attended high school in the 1980's the only foreign language offered was "French" which seemed to really limit us given the rise of Spanish in the USA. I simply find it amazing that a French-immersion school would be successful in today's world given the decline of French globally and the rise of languages such as Chinese and Arabic in terms of geo-political importance and given the anti-French sentiment expressed via the "Freedom fries" protest.

It is developments such as this one that convinces me that even more school choice is needed so local citizens can create an even wider variety of magnet and immersion schools. Imagine a high school devoted to literature, welfare reform, or even cancer research -- the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota would be an ideal partner in such a venture devoted to cancer. For more on school choice please visit my friends at -- www.heartland.org or www.ij.org

Choices not czars,

Todd

Would you buy a car from this guy?

Well, the world has truly come full circle indeed!!! Today's USA Today reports that Governor Corzine (Democrat-New Jersey) plans to sell "800 used vehicles from the state motor pool to save an estimated $2 million in annual costs to ease the state's financial woes............"

In terms of the most trusted/respected professions in the economy -- "politician" and "used car salesman" are not typically ranked very high by citizens and now Governor Corzine has combined both professions into one :) All kidding aside let me congratulate Governor Corzine for his leadership to save taxpayers money by actually cutting expenses out of government. However, 800 used vehicles should only be a beginning. What buildings does the State of New Jersey own or lease that should be sold/terminated combined with the elimination of state government jobs? Even if the public employee trade unions don't allow Governor Corzine to eliminate jobs he should at least aggressively push to have the vast majority of state employees work from their homes via telecommuting. By utilizing telecommuting across state government Governor Corzine would reduce real estate costs, reduce traffic congestion, and theoretically would improve family life (perhaps juvenile crime?) by allowing parents to work from home.

Governor Corzine should now lead the nation by calling for the elimination of all telecommunications taxes within the State of New Jersey to further encourage telecommuting to not only reduce government costs and traffic congestion but to facilitate the development of start up businesses. Who knows, perhaps a few state government employees -- once removed from the collectivist environment of a public employee cubicle farm -- would be inspired to start their own small business once empowered by telecommuting tools thereby further reducing the government workforce.

Encouraging baby steps Governor Corzine,

Todd

Founding Fathers

Amazing that one full week has passed since I last posted here -- still love the "Dwarf Protest" posting so if you get a chance please consider reading it -- but finally back blogging after a busy week of social events with the girlfriend (JAN) and a business trip to Washington DC so my fingers are "content-rich" and ready for several postings today :)

During the past week the USA observed the "Fathers Day" holiday so I made my usual call to my father thanking him for raising me and giving me the right tools to succeed in life. I spent most of the day on a picnic with JAN's family in Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Minnesota which is truly a local treasure for those of us living "south of the river". The weather that day was beautiful and Holland Lake was busy with people fishing, canoeing, and kayaking.

Assets such as Lebanon Hills remind me to reflect on the vision and planning of the "founding fathers" (not sexist, just historically accurate in most cases) of our cities/counties. Having the vision to set aside nearly 700 acres in the middle of the Twin Cities' south metro area for a regional park is impressive. So as I enjoyed Fathers Day with JAN's family I thanked not only my father for teaching me to love the great outdoors but also the numerous founding fathers across our country who created a quality of life unknown in most countries in our world.

Thanks dad,

Todd

Dwarf Protest

"Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered"

Aristotle, Greek philosopher and scientist (384 BC- 322 BC)


Upon my return from Northern Wisconsin this week I attended my friend Cecily's annual conference in Minneapolis -- http://www.pushthefuture.org -- which is focused on "futurist" (my term) themes, not just fads but exploring entirely new markets and ways of doing things.

What I most enjoy about attending a conference such as this one is that I get exposed to an entirely different set of speakers and perspectives from my normal routine. Cecily's contacts in the arts community really opens doors for her to secure some very creative thinkers. Following below are random quotes and observations made by the conference speakers:

"Gold Farmers" -- sometimes my ignorance amazes me!! Who knew that some people work full-time "harvesting" items of value found on online games (like a magic sword in some fantasy game) so they can sell them via services such as ebay. You can see more at -- http://www.chinesegoldfarmers.com , a documentary by Ge Jin

"the concept of 'play' in the 21st century will be what 'steam' was in the 19th century......." -- Julian Dibbell

"just knowing that Hubbell (the astronomer) started as a lawyer but became an astronomer gives me hope for humanity.........." :) Lawrence Krauss, Professor of Astronomy

"Dwarf Protest" -- sorry I did not catch the name of the online fantasy game that Katie Salen (online game designer) mentioned in her speech but I was really struck by her example of why companies should be prepared for customers altering and utilizing products in ways the original manufacturer never intended simply by working outside of the rules/regulations/laws. Ms. Salen's example is called the "Dwarf Protest" where a group of online gamers playing the role of dwarfs were upset with what they perceived as "inferior powers" in the online game. So what did the dwarfs do? They set a time and place for all dwarfs to "meet" in the game to jump up and down as a sign of protest and to demand more powers to play the game more effectively. The result? The computer servers hosting the game crashed due to the jumping dwarfs.

"Architecture for Humanity" (AFH) -- Cameron Sinclair is the co-founder of this organization focused on sustainable building design that is specific for local, native populations and their environment. Yes, I am completely biased against government "assistance" so I was very excited to see Mr. Sinclair's Power Point presentation contrasting AFH's schools versus school built by a UNICEF program which were beyond laughable -- the UNICEF people in charge of these schools should be prosecuted for fraud!!!

Overall a very good use of two days of the work week. The 2007 theme for the PUSH conference is "SuperPower" so I encourage you to watch their website for the program details.

Enjoy your own future,

Todd

burned down cafe

Due to a mini-vacation over the past weekend followed a two-day conference in Minneapolis this week my ability to post comments here was severely restricted but I am back at my desk blogging away this afternoon so I hope you enjoy and perhaps even learn something new for your travels from my musings :)

Wow!! What a great weekend trip to the Apostle Islands area in Northern Wisconsin which is only a 4 hour drive from the Twin Cities of Minnesota. A group of fraternity brothers and their significant others/joy of their lives gathered to share a large cabin located on Madeline Island, the main island in the set of 22 islands in this national park area. The original explorers apparently could only identify 12 islands when they arrived thus the "Apostle" name as the legend goes.

We took the ferry boat from Bayfield, Wisconsin to Madeline Island where our cabin was located early Friday evening after traveling at a "velocity higher than local authorities would approve" :) so we could catch the 5 pm ferry. The evening was spent catching up with each others' lives and grilling buffalo burgers and steaks supplied by the one fraternity brother I had not seen for 6 years so the nostalgia was running high coupled with the beer consumption. On Saturday my girlfriend (JAN) and I completed a 6 mile run along a very quiet, tree lined road which was an ideal setting complete with the sounds of our iPods -- so much for the sounds of nature!!

The rest of Saturday was spent touring Bayfield after a ferry ride that convinced us that Lake Superior was too rough for us to charter a sail boat. JAN and I enjoyed a wonderful lunch sitting on lounger chairs on a sunny sidewalk followed by a walking tour of the city including two bed and breakfast establishments as we made plans for a return trip to the area. My overall observation was that while it was considered early in the tourist season for this area the Apostle Islands remain an undiscovered jewel by most tourists which is fine with me and that customer service in all the businesses we visited was top quality and very friendly.

Following another round of grilling and making smores on the camp fire (thanks to JAN for this great idea) on Saturday night our merry little band traveled the 3 miles down the road to a local institution, "Tom's Burned Down Cafe", which I last visited in 1998. Overall the place was still the same -- truly a burned down cafe with no walls or roof but sadly they have added a circus tent-like covering over a portion of the bar. As we entered the bar my fraternity brother Larry was asked by the door man if he wanted to pay the $4.00 cover charge (hey, live music buddy!) OR do 20 push ups so they could get in for free -- 20 push ups of course since $4 will get you a beer.

As we left Tom's that night I set my empty water bottle near the exit "door" so the door man said, "hey, what do you think this is , a recycling center.............." so I had to do 20 push ups to cover the recycling charge -- all was done with good humor of course so loosen up and leave your stress at home like I did that night. Okay, friends that know me well are probably laughing so hard they can't read beyond this paragraph but I am being honest.

Sunday was uneventful since our entire group simply packed up and went our separate ways to get home to friends and family.

The Apostle Islands remain on my short list of ideal vacation spots so I hope you have a chance to enjoy them but not when I am there so it doesn't get TOO crowded :)

Support ferries,

Todd

Clubbing

“I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” Groucho Marx


Over the years that I have lived in the Twin Cities of Minnesota I have belonged to the following private social clubs:

Decathlon Athletic Club
Calhoun Beach Club
Minneapolis Athletic Club
Minnesota Club
University Club

Today only two of these five clubs still exist as the traditional private members' clubs complete with oak paneled rooms and social events. While these clubs offered "reciprocal membership privileges" so that we could utilize other such clubs when we were in that area of the city this reciprocal process was tedious to say the least since it required a card of introduction, etc. The problem I would identify is that these clubs focused on retaining their "island" status refusing to move with the changing market conditions in terms of a more mobile population and families with young children looking for fun activities. I always believed that clubs like my beloved Decathlon Club could have survived against the big chain health clubs by essentially merging into one entity that allowed members to use clubs when and where you wanted. For instance, I could play racquetball at the Decathlon Club in Bloomington on a Monday then on Tuesday use the Minnesota Club in St. Paul for a lunch meeting with one seamless membership card and no "reciprocal" paperwork. Not only would such a "one entity" approach have added value for members it would have reduced overall operating costs for these private clubs by eliminating overlapping operations and by aggregating purchases for volume discounts.

I was reminded of my thinking on these clubs this week when I read this article, "Wirth seeks high end hotel at site of Chicago social club", in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Wirth Companies purchased the former Minneapolis Athletic Club (MAC) in 1998 for a mere $4.5 million then spent $50 million to convert it into today's Grand Hotel complete with a Lifetime Athletic Club (one of the nation's largest chain health clubs). The article was focused on Wirth's pursuit of the Chicago Athletic Association -- another piece of prime real estate -- for conversion into another high end hotel. The MAC is a perfect example of how the private members' clubs I love failed to successfully change with market forces since its ambiance started feeling like a nursing home for old, white men -- not a good place to meet women I can assure you :) versus a fun, energetic place to bring your family.

The demise of private members/athletic clubs in the USA is worthy of an MBA case study project to better understand -- changing market conditions/demograhics, marketing, and operational synergies.

Sadly I won't be seeing my friends at our annual gourmet dinner at Decathlon Club since it is gone having been replaced by a water park. Ah, but the memories are treasured!

Enjoy your own club,

Todd

Offshoring, Outsourcing, and Out of the Box Thinking

Unfortunately I did not hear the entire interview but today Neil Cavuto of "Cavuto on Business" interviewed a gentlemen talking about how the US economy is dominated by entrepreneurial capital but yet "our government does not change/keep pace..........." which reminded me of a speech I heard former Speaker of the House/potential presidential candidate Newt Gingrich give several years ago in the 1990's about the use of cathode ray tubes in the US's air traffic control system!!! Imagine your iPod having more functionality than air traffic controllers having at their work stations -- that won't make you sleep any better on your next flight :)

Mr. Cavuto's guest stated that "today's banking center is in Charlotte so why not move the Department of Treasury there.............." which makes a hell of a lot of sense to me especially given my childhood in Iowa during the "Farm Crisis" when small towns literally died out, plus my years of working in rural economic development in the 1990's where local activists chased jobs, and today's debate/fear about US jobs being "outsourced" India and China.

So why not bring some urban renewal to Washington DC by "off shoring" federal government jobs around the country to smaller, less expensive cities in our country? I love the idea of the Department of Agriculture moving to VERY affordable Des Moines, Iowa which is home of the World Food Prize (thanks to John Ruan for his leadership) and how about moving the Department of State to Seattle to place more emphasis on the rise of Asia's economies.

Sure this might affect real estate prices in Washington DC but imagine how the parking would improve when you visit the Smithsonian. :)

On a more serious note such a decentralized government would be more secure, less expensive, and would be easy to manage assuming government utilizes today's modern tools -- email, videoconferencing, skype, Instant Messenger, etc.

Save money via geography,

Todd