I am increasingly upset with the news coming from Washington. The news media is reporting that Speaker Pelosi says there are not enough Democratic votes in the House to pass the health care reform bill approved by the Senate in December. My preference is that the House pass that bill and make required changes using the reconciliation process.

If Democrats don’t figure out how to do that and let this bill die or drag on for months, I will vote against Democrats in 2010 and beyond, and will urge all my friends and associates to do the same.

We didn’t elect you so you could get reelected. We elected you to stand for Democratic principles and to actually make them happen. Period.

You guys need to prove Will Rogers wrong!!

Maybe if our politicians get the message, they’ll get the courage of our convictions??

Tweetie version 2 blows version 1 and everything else away! There’s so much they got right it’s hard to explain. I have a couple of quibbles with the new version that are so minor, so deep, deep under what most users would ever notice, that I’d look like the anal retentive I must surely be.

Suffice it to say, if you’ve got an iPhone, pay the damn $2.99 for Tweetie. It’s fantastic!

often I sing when I’m all alone,
and no one can see me but me.
i think and wonder what i am
and how i came to be.

i can swim the ocean,
and it’s deep and wide,
and in the house above me
abide.

maybe one day i’ll fly like an eagle,
fly like a bird and go and go.
soar like an eagle,
walk like a lion,
although it won’t be i know.

but i can swim the ocean,
and it’s deep and wide,
and in the house above me
abide.

i guess the time has come for me to go.
and look around for something, oh,
just moving in my house you know.
moving slowly is not really bad,
moving slowly you see
the wonders of the deep,
just waiting there for me.

and i can swim the ocean,
and it’s deep and wide,
and in the house above me
abide.

and in the house above me
abide…

of course, abbey sings the hell out of it too!

I love golf and have spent countless hours watching, reading, practicing and playing it. As much as I’ve learned over the years, I’m always amazed when I listen to someone like Johnny Miller or Nick Faldo describe a golfer’s swing on television.

Miller and Faldo see things at full speed that I can barely recognize after they’ve explained it to me with the aid of super-slow-motion HD video. Supination? Angles? Inside path? Outside? Too steep? Too shallow? How about that “thump” sound in a bunker? Or how they can tell whether there was grass between the club and ball, whether the shot is fat or thin, by listening to the sound?

The thing is, when it comes to golf, I don’t know even one-tenth of what I don’t know. There are people who know a lot more, and I learn so much just by being in their presence.

That’s exactly how diversity works. It’s not that a group (racial, gender, ethnic, etc.) can only be represented by a member of that group. It’s more likely that non-members may not even know what they don’t know. It’s what they wouldn’t even think about unless someone “more diverse” (in background, experience, point of view) was there.

Justices describe the presence of Thurgood Marshall’s stories as more influential than his single vote on cases. His mere presence in the room altered the trajectory of their deliberations. They had to think about how Thurgood would hear and react to what they might say¹:

“‘Marshall could be a persuasive force just by sitting there,’ Justice Antonin Scalia told Juan Williams in an interview for a biography of Justice Marshall, recalling the justices’ private conferences about cases. ‘He wouldn’t have to open his mouth to affect the nature of the conference and how seriously the conference would take matters of race.’”

The same thing applies to the women who have served on the Court. They know stuff that the men simply would never consider. Their mere presence enriched the discussions, at least in certain areas.

BTW, my point is not a new one. For example, see Every Justice Creates a New Court by Linda Greenhouse.

Diversity affects companies the same way. It’s just always better to have a panoply of opinions and experiences. Courts and companies make better decisions that way. Especially when the leader knows how to assemble and manage a good team!

¹ The Waves Minority Judges Always Make by the New York Times’ Adam Liptak.

I like that we’re all invited along for the ride and also the continued embrace of social media. This is what Web 2.0 is really all about!

Missed the reunion tour because, really, how could the reunion be better than the original. OTOH, looking forward to listening to the recording. Downloading as we speak. I’ll read the review later…

Update: The music is very familiar and the musicianship is extremely high. It could only be better if they recorded awesome new songs or they really stretched out and improvised (the music is very “arranged”). Still I love it! It’s like seeing an old friend after a too long absence.

One nice moment. Al Dimeola is doing a solo and segues into Spain, where he’s joined by Chick. I was happy when I didn’t see Spain on the play list, but happier when I heard this spontaneous version.

btw, there’s also an hour-long village vanguard set by david sanchez available here.

enjoy!!

oopsies!