D'oh! of the week/Let's move forward

Stupid stuff is said and done all the time. We are human after all, and mistakes happen. Here's my number one D'oh! of the week.

"Let me just clarify: You're telling me that the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment?" ~ Republican Senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell on October 19, 2010.

Let me be frank: Just because you think that most, if not all, politicians are dirty doesn't mean that you should nominate any random person for elective office. Don't get me wrong, I don't like either major political party and would love for a quick-witted, honest, and open candidate to run as a third-party option. The problem is that most people with those characteristics are too smart to get swooped into politics, at least at the national level. So, on election day, it becomes a choice between the lesser of two evils.

This year is all about getting even, finding someone to blame for the economic mess. Some of the CEOs and executives at financial institutions, and some of the government bureaucrats, need to be held accountable for their action (or inaction). We have changed the laws and regulations, and hopefully we'll be better equipped to prevent this type of exuberance in the future. (It is debatable whether we will actually learn any lessons.)

But we really need to move on--focus on rebuilding the country as a way to emerge from the recession. Yes, bridges and roads need repair, but what about reemerging as a global leader in innovations--both design and implementation? (That means opening our borders to the best and brightest from all over the world. It also means that the government needs to stop spending money on wars/conflicts/weapons and instead invest it in technological developments.)

Return/Books

Another incarnation of my blog. What can I say, I’ll keep reinventing until it feels right. For the most part, I have been tweeting any goings on, so it has been more 8 months since I last posted (on wordpress; 12 months on blogger [gasp!]).
Things have changed a bit, but I’d like to get back into posting longer form thoughts/ideas/etc.

Topic of the moment: Latest reads :-)
I finished reading the final installment of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest) last night. It was every bit as thrilling as the previous two. Lisbeth survives the brutal attack (including being shot in the head) and then every protagonist joins in to save her. New antagonists are introduced and the story takes a bit of a twist, focusing on “the Section” and its conspiracy to shelter Zalachenko. After freeing herself, what is poor Lisbeth to do?
It’s a shame that Larsson is dead—he was an excellent story teller.

Now, I’m also very close to finishing Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed. Ahamed tells a biography of sorts—of some of the most influential financial leaders of the early 20th century. He takes the reader into the mind of the decision maker in order to expose the errors made from just before WWI through the beginning of WWII. Of particular note, Ahamed focuses extensively on the true cost of reparations levied against Germany after WWI. What happened in Germany certainly did not stay there—economies were interconnected, globalization had already begun.

The next book on my reading list is the latest Dan Brown mystery/thriller, Lost Symbol. (I waited until it came out on paperback to buy it.)

Until next time …