Cats, Squirrels and Speculators

Our daughter and her family, who live in Potomac, Maryland, have two cats who like to roam in their spacious home. They are the same age and play constantly with one another. These are young house cats, in good shape, and not declawed.

The kitchen eating area is situated in a spot near window walls which look out upon a ground-level deck, facing a lawn which runs up to a line of trees and a woodpile further out in back. The deck sits near double-pane glass doors which form the window wall.

One Friday morning, at breakfast, my wife and I watched two squirrels who like to hop on the deck in search of bird seed fallen from the feeder. The two active cats like to watch them as well. The cats run along the perimeter of the glass, looking for a way to get at those squirrels.

The squirrels have come to know that the glass barrier protects them. They are very audacious, having lost all fear as they run alongside the outer perimeter of the glass doors, taunting the cats. Indeed, one Friday morning, my wife spotted one of those squirrels which came right up to the bottom of a glass door, stood on its haunches, and defiantly began scratching the glass, a mere half-inch away from Lightning, the male cat on the opposite side.

The following Saturday evening my wife and I, just after retiring, heard a ruckus outside the bedroom door. Early the next morning, I discovered the source: Lightning the cat had found an unwelcome intruder -- a mouse. I don’t know how it entered the house, but it would not be leaving intact. Unlike the audacious squirrel of the previous day, the mouse did not enjoy the protection of a glass wall.

Investment bankers and their minions who ginned up the sub-prime debacle threatening the economy (hedge fund executives of Bear Stearns are a few that come to mind) might have thought they were like that squirrel on the opposite side of the glass. They teased the ‘cat’ incessantly, thinking that they could get away without penalty, gorging on ‘free seed.’ Like those Potomac squirrels, investment bankers believed they were safely beyond reach of the regulatory ‘cat.'

What they discovered is that the protective window wall of financial speculation was a mirage and that, for some of them, their fate would become that of the mouse.


Note: For recent articles about proposed regulation of the nation's financial services industry, including securities firms, mortgage brokers and insurance companies, see www.washingtonpost.com/

Tamping Down N. J. School Costs

Sometimes, it takes a little perspective coming from a different place to get a better view of how things are in your own neck of the woods.

"The News-Press," a Fort Myers, Florida newspaper which covers Lee County, had a front-page story on March 26, about the financial condition of that county-wide school district. The county includes Cape Coral and tony places such as Sanibel Island. For its 2008-2009 school year, the county is proposing a $1.5 billion budget, of which $700 million is for operating expenses.

Because of economic conditions in Florida, Lee County School District faces a cut of $30 million in state aid. Therefore, the district is considering cuts of $3.76M in personnel and $3.83M in other reductions. Even the Collier County School District, which includes poshy Naples, Florida, is facing a proposed $8 million cut, according to The Naples Daily News. The newspaper indicates that the causal factor is a predicted "general revenue shortfall of more than $2 billion" at the state level.

So, while states like Florida are cutting back on school subsidies because of reduced state tax revenues, New Jersey continues to dole out cash which it doesn't have, while proposing to sell off a large chunk of New Jersey's asset base to give out even more Monopoly money. Simultaneously, New Jersey places no serious limits on the extent to which its school districts can continue to increase real estate taxes.

I'm not arguing for downgrading education in New Jersey -- but, when is enough, enough? How long, if ever, will it take for New Jersey, which has the highest education costs in the nation, to get serious about addressing the high expense of its school districts, and to place permanent, real, and enforceable limits on school tax increases?

Voter Enfranchisement

Although it doesn't affect New Jersey voters directly, the ongoing debate about how to deal with delegates from Florida and Michigan in the last Democratic primary can't be confined to those states.

Cut through the issue of what to do about the seating of delegates in the upcoming Democratic National Convention, and what you encounter is the basic right of voter enfranchisement -- the obligation of government to count every person's vote.

Viewed in this light, it doesn't really matter what Howard Dean or the DNC think. The votes of Michigan and Florida need to be counted as cast in the party's primary elections. Voters should not be made to pay for the mistakes and disagreements of party leadership.

A recent front page story in the Cape Coral Daily Breeze (Florida), affirmed that the "Democratic delegates will be seated." But, when you read further into that article, what you come across is that Leonard Joseph, Executive Director of the Florida Democratic Party concedes that, "The slates's composition is out of the voters' hands and (is) now up to the national party's rules and bylaws committee and the credentials committee." So much for according the respect which voters are due!

We in New Jersey have our own problems, and they are not trivial. But at least the votes of both Democrats and Republicans will be counted as cast in each party's primary. Where are Al Gore and of all the other Democrats who were so outraged in 2000, when Florida was in the midst of its 'chad' problem, an issue which resulted is the election results of that state going all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court?

Peace for a Day

This weekend was at least one day that I had to remove myself from the political dissonance of the last two weeks. The Easter holiday, it seems, needed to be a time to focus on something more meaningful than the posturing emanating at both the state and national levels, some of it, ironically enough, in the name of religion and patriotism.

My wife and I drove to Potomac, Maryland, where we rendezvoused with our children and our grandkids to celebrate this joyous feast. There comes a time when an American has to call a timeout and pay attention to matters other than government and politics. For us, Easter is one of those times.

I hope that those of you who profess the Christian tradition as your claim to faith had a weekend of good will. It’s just as important to extend the spirit of Sunday’s celebration to all sincere people of faith in the Bridgewater area, however different that tradition may be. Even to those of good will with no particular faith conviction.

In the words of the Irish bard, “May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back.”

This Week’s Friday is not a “Rockin’” One

On Monday, March 17, the Courier News published a front-page story about Good Friday. I’m sure that the newspaper had good intentions. I also suspect that someone there must have been embarrassed. At least I hope someone was embarrassed. On the front page, picture and all, was a lead story describing how churches were planning to add an “entertainment value during Holy Week.”

The primary headline in bold letters, just above that lead-in, read, “Have a rockin’ Good Friday.” Now I don’t know your thoughts on this matter, but I think I can safely say that Jesus had anything but a “rockin’ Good Friday.” Even the non-religious would probably agree that hanging on a cross for endless hours is not conducive to the best of times. The Romans themselves thought this form of punishment to be so extreme and cruel that it was outlawed for all Roman citizens.

I’m not a prude, and I’m well aware of the statistics which show that most traditional, mainline Christian churches have lost millions of members in the last few decades. I support the notion that Christian denominations should do all they reasonably can to attract new membership. But reducing the description of one of the most sacred days in the Christian calendar to a “rockin’ Good Friday” is not the way to get there.

Despite that, I think that some prudent editor must have caught this awkwardness, because the online edition of the same story did not carry the print edition’s designation. Thank goodness for good sense.

Let’s reserve the rockin’ celebration for Easter.

Courier Columnists

The Courier News has several good paid columnists. One of those is the recent addition of Jay Jefferson Cooke, new to the newspaper’s staff.

I remember when, in the early 1990’s, Carol Hunter and her husband, Tom Perry, were a team on the C-N. Carol rose to the rank of editor (close enough, I can’t remember her exact title!), while Tom wrote columns. Those were hectic days, especially in Bridgewater and Raritan, where things got hot on the Board of Education. Today, when that happens, hardly anyone takes notice, because there is no continuous coverage of what goes on there – a place where most of the township’s and borough’s real estate tax dollars are spent.

Back then, both the Courier News and the Star Ledger (even the weekly Messenger-Gazette) had dedicated reporters attending just about every meeting. It’s a situation that kept the voting public and parents very informed. Now, the school board and administration hardly get any attention, because there is rarely anyone on the scene.

Tom Perry’s columns often referred to the goings-on in school affairs and in local politics. He was very good at it. He named names and got his facts right. He was a straight-shooting columnist who felt responsible for what he wrote and was generally respected by his readers.

Jay Jefferson Cooke’s columns are more personal, and very different in style from those of Tom Perry, but both guys (ditto for Michael Riley) share the same quality of good writing which comes from the heart, the gut and the intelligence. That doesn’t mean that a person always will agree with such a writer. But it usually assures that the reader will be drawn to what such people write and will give the topic some consideration.

I missed Tom’s columns after his departure. Although Cooke's subject matter is somewhat different, he helps to pick up the slack.

Iraq the Ungrateful

This is a story that you can expect not to read much about, or to see analyzed in depth on cable news networks and prime time television: In a disgusting display of cowardice and extreme prejudice, terrorists in Iraq are responsible for the death of Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho who was kidnapped in Mosul, Iraq on February 29.

According to an Associated Press report, Rahho was “the second most senior Catholic cleric in Iraq. " In the same dispatch, “President Bush, the Pope and Iraq's prime minister condemned Rahho's kidnapping,” and “U.S. officials in Baghdad called it 'one more savage attempt by a barbaric enemy to sow strife and discord.'”

The Chaldean Church has had a presence in the land that is now Iraq since the 2nd Century, well before the time of the Prophet Muhammad, who was born around 570 A.D.

Before the steady sectarian crackdown on Christians in Iraq after the second U.S.-led invasion, Chaldeans comprised about 550,000 of Iraq’s estimated 700,000 Christians. Since then, there has been a vast exodus of Christians from Iraq, estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. Some observers believe that the remainder may be forced to go underground to assure its minority survival.

Is this the kind of democracy we can continue to expect from our Iraqi “allies?”

Ace is the Place

Thursday afternoon, on my way home from a couple of appointments, I stopped by Post Hardware on Route 22 East in Bridgewater, just across from the Bridgewater Commons Mall. I needed to get a few bags of salt for the water softener.

While approaching the entrance, I noticed the ubiquitous window ads that highlight a revolving selection of sale items which Post Hardware always features. One in particular caught my eyes -- that of an entrance mat.

If you’re in need of a new medium-sized outdoor mat, are environmentally conscious, and always keep an eye out for a good buy, this one may fit your needs. It’s an 18''x30'' decorative mat made in California from materials 100% recycled in the U.S. The non-skid base is made of crumb rubber from old tires.

Ever wonder what happens to the leftover shells when you buy bags of shelled walnuts at the local grocer or at a Costco? In this case, they are ground up and blended into the recycled rubber base to form a non-skid gritty surface. Pretty ingenious. Oh, and the price? The sticker reads $21.99, but it’s being sold for $9.99

Note: For a pictorial view of Post Hardware’s location, see http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&q=post+hardware,&near=Bridgewater,+NJ&fb=1&view=map&cd=1&hl=en

Sad, Nonetheless

He became known as “Client Number 9” in what began as a Federal investigation into a possible money structuring scheme. Now, the matter might just as well be renamed with the title of a song made famous by the Beatles, "Love Potion Number 9."

My mom had many short admonitions, one of which was the popular, The bigger they are, the harder they fall. It’s such a simple statement, but so full of wisdom. I don’t know precisely what it was about Eliot Spitzer, but he seemed to have a way about him that left a question mark – as if there were something else unsaid or undone, or that the hammer would fall later, when you least expected it.

The fact that he tagged himself as a (expletive deleted) steamroller before his fellow politicians wasn’t a good way to begin his career as Governor of New York State. I don’t like arrogant people. Never have; never will.

Some have tried to wash away Spitzer’s alleged trysting as peripheral to his personal life and public service, so as to make it inconsequential. In a recent TV interview, no less a figure than Harvard’s Alan Dershowitz, a high-profile lawyer, said of Spitzer’s behavior, “We are making much too much of sexual deviation...”

On the other hand, Mary Matalin, a political strategist being interviewed on the Don Imus Show, observed that, “…What higher calling is there than a dad’s behavior relative to his daughters.” You decide which of those statements makes the most sense.

No Immunity for Bridgewater or Somerset County

The financial tsunami engulfing Wall Street threatens to drown markets and to tank the economy. The effect is being felt locally. Three factors brought this about:

1. Sub-Prime Loans Fed by Complex Financial Instruments. It was like a financial merry-go-round. A person went to a local bank, obtained a loan for a home purchase at an absurdly low introductory rate and left happy as a pig in mud.

The bank, though, did not hang onto that mortgage note. It worked with financial ‘wizards’ on Wall Street, who repackaged those mortgages into bond-like securities. Those securities were then traded in the financial markets. At that point, the borrower no longer knew who actually held the debt. Neither did the bank. In fact, neither did the ‘wizards’ of Wall Street.

These derivative securities allowed banks to off-load entire mortgage portfolios. By getting those loans off their balance sheets, banks and their Wall Street partners were able to slice and dice loan portfolios and to push them out into the bond markets. This enabled a continual remarketing of loans, thereby providing even more cash to fund housing construction .

2. Over-Extended Consumer Housing Demand. Hundreds of thousands of consumers, if not millions, were lured into buying homes at temporarily low teaser rates. The mortgage agreements specified that these initial rates would rise to normal market levels. However, many of those contracts were well below the repayment ability of borrowers who should have exercised far more prudence and restraint than they did. These were not good deals. When the hammer came down, too many of those borrowers found themselves unable to meet the higher monthly mortgage obligation.

3. The Federal Reserve. When, in the early 2000’s, Alan Greenspan, then Chairman of the Federal Reserve depressed interest rates to their lowest levels in 50 years, he set up the conditions which led to the current mess in the housing market. His purpose at the time was to stabilize the stock market and to stem any further damage to the economy. It was a good strategy because it pulled the country out of a pit. But Greenspan kept rates too low, too long -- he admitted as much in his post-retirement book.

Those artificially low interest rates had a corollary effect. They fueled a boom in the real estate market. Lured by the availability of easy money, Wall Street firms kicked into high gear to market an alphabet soup of derivative instruments (CDO’s, SIV’s, MBS’s, etc.) to keep the party going. But it could not be sustained.

Ben Bernanke, the current Fed Chairman who inherited today’s housing market bust may be repeating Greenspan‘s mistake: Lower interest rates quickly and hope that it doesn’t create more problems than it cures.

What Greenspan and Bernanke seemed to have glossed over is that existing legislation authorizes the Federal Reserve to prevent the errant behavior of financial institutions. Prudent regulatory oversight would have pre-empted the excesses of banking and financial houses. Both chairmen were asleep at the switch.

Opinion. The conservative behavior and fiduciary responsibility which America should be able to expect from its large financial institutions is a myth. If it were not, the deplorable condition of some of the biggest U.S. fiduciary establishments would not require a Federal Reserve bail-out and infusions of cash from Middle-East kingdoms

London-based Breakingviews.com is harsh on some of those bearing responsibility. Quoted in Saturday’s edition of the The Wall Street Journal, it refers to, "…the periodic recurrence of banker stupidity." Enough said.

Only Eight Left

If you find yourself shopping at the Bridgewater Commons Mall this weekend and you want a cup of Joe or a sandwich to maintain your energy, brace yourself for a surprise: The food court is being renovated, and there remain only a handful of eateries where you can refresh yourself.

A floor to ceiling partition now walls off about 85% of the former food court floor space. Only a few food emporiums are left on the upper level. Sbarro’s Pizza and Buffet Italiano is still in its original spot. Next is Sarku Japan in the corner position, followed by the cookie queen, Mrs. Field’s.

Facing the upper level escalators, leading up to what used to be the food court is the pretzel concession of Auntie Anne’s, which also maintains a second location on the middle level.

If all you want is coffee, bagels, or pastries. Gloria Jean’s is for you. It’s located next to Macy’s inner mall entrance on the upper level, just across from the escalators. You can find similar offerings at Starbuck’s, on the middle level near center court.

Should you have the time and are up to a real meal, McCormick & Schmick’s seafood restaurant on the middle level is your destination.

My wife and I will miss Michael’s Deli. It was a very active and varied eatery which drew plenty of early morning and lunch patrons with its wide assortment. That’s progress, but count ’em: There are now only eight food concessions available for your gustatory delight.

Civil Disobedience, Student Style

Today’s local newspapers were replete with stories and opinions about a group of Hunterdon County students at the Readington Middle School. These are the kids who were pinched by the administration, because they paid for their lunches with pennies.

The Star-Ledger ran a story about it in today’s county section. A same-day Courier News editorial discussed it, and the editorial page featured comments from Joan Greiner’s blog. The one thought that really grabbed my attention, though, was encapsulated in the last sentence from Jay Jefferson Cooke’s article in the Courier News. He wrote, “I don’t know where I’d be eating today if a few people hadn’t protested at a few lunch counters some years back.”

In 1849, Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay entitled, Civil Disobedience. It became the gold standard for carrying out non-violent protest. When Mohandas Gandhi, the renowned leader of non-violent resistance in India once was asked the source of his inspiration, he referred his American questioner to the works of Thoreau. Martin Luther King was Gandhi’s American counterpart. Both paid dearly for their techniques of protest.

Obviously, the stakes for a group of young school kids challenging the time allotted for lunch doesn’t carry the same import as that of people protesting peacefully for civil rights. But the thinking is similar. So is the risk. Perhaps it’s not such a bad idea to carry through with the kids’ detention. It can underscore to these young minds that sticking your neck out in public for a good cause can achieve gains, but not without cost.

I wonder if Schools Superintendent Jorden Schiff and Principal Catherine Hollinger would consider an assignment for these kids built around the essay, Civil Disobedience. The administration and teachers should read it first. It makes an excellent basis for children to understand that they are not the first to have thought of poking peacefully – if not without irritation, at authority.


Note: For Joan Greiner's blog post, see http://cnflemington.blogspot.com/. For the Courier News editorial see http://www.cn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080304/OPINION01/803040316/1009. Jay Jefferson Cooke’s article is at http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080304/NEWS01/803040402/1006/NEWS01. The Star-Ledger story is at http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/somerset/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1204608986194610.xml&coll=1

Franklin A. Yates, Bridgewater Citizen

Frank was a long-time resident of Bridgewater – longer, in fact, than the lifetimes of most people in this township.

Although born in Ancón, Panama Canal Zone, just two years before the canal’s completion by a U.S. led construction team, Frank would not see the U.S. mainland until his late teens, when he left to study at MIT in Boston.

His dad, who was a U.S. citizen, had gone to Panama to teach English, where he subsequently married a native Panamanian, Eudoxia Arias. At the time, U.S. law recognized the child of such a union as a citizen of the United States.

The survival skills and disciplines which Frank acquired in his childhood and teen years in Panama would serve him well throughout his life. He was an intelligent and diligent tri-lingual student. In high school, the French Consul presented him with an award for best student. Frank would go on to graduate from Balboa High School as valedictorian.

Frank was especially proud of his proficiency in Spanish. During his years in Bridgewater, he always sought out Spanish speakers, and never passed up a chance to strike up a conversation when he saw Latinos or Hispanics working in his neighborhood.

Although Frank belongs to an era which is slowly but irrevocably slipping into the past, he left a set of values and characteristics which are timeless. He was a highly-focused, self-effacing, selfless person, rigorously dedicated to his family, job and community. Had he been a participant in the workforce of the 60’s and 70’s, the growth years of the electronic and computer industries in the Bay State, he could have comfortably written his own ticket.

Instead, when Frank graduated from MIT sporting an electrical engineering degree, he slammed headlong into the job market of the Great Depression. Even that was not enough to daunt his indomitable spirit. He eventually landed a job in the Boston area, where he met his wife-to-be, Marjorie, a Jersey girl and Radcliff student.

The couple moved to Bridgewater, where Frank and Margie settled down and raised a family. Frank landed a war-related job where he was the key person to develop sub-horsepower electrical motors. This engineering achievement would provide critically-needed accuracy for anti-aircraft guns.

I could go on, but you get the idea: We all stand on the shoulders of people who preceded us and to which we owe gratitude and the obligation to follow in their footsteps. That’s really part of the essence of America, isn’t it?

Frank left us on Wednesday, February 20th, at the age of 95. But the example of his life still shines in Bridgewater.

Note: Did you know that Presidential candidate John McCain was also born in the Panama Canal Zone?