I’ve been playing a little poker lately. The more I play, the more I am seeing other things in terms of poker, or at least in terms of winning strategies. Poker is not a perfect analogy for the “war we now find ourselves in”, as President Bush recently put it, but I think there are some parallels. The most fundamental poker strategy is “know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.” Sometimes the right thing to do is to fold, cut your losses and wait until you have a stronger hand. Bad poker players hang on to bad … Continue reading →

The dark days of winter always make me feel gloomy. I’m not a skier, so I don’t look forward to snow. Cold makes me ache, and on cloudy days I just want to hibernate. For most of the past 20 years or so I’ve managed to spend a significant part of the winter in Guatemala, where winter is pretty much like spring here in the north. This year it looks like I will have business to attend to, so I will be spending the winter here at home. (For those who are on my distribution list to receive my yearly … Continue reading →

Yesterday at a press conference President Bush said, “Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government. And to the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility.” Well, to the extent that the president understands what it means to take responsibility, I applaud his statement. Perhaps he has turned over a new leaf and is considering taking responsibility for some of the other things that have happened during his administration. As Bill Maher put it “we’ve lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two Trade Centers, … Continue reading →