Stephen Crowley/The New York Times “The turmoil will not end quickly, nor will the measures taken by the government solve the underlying problems.”  Somebody said that this morning, and it could have been Secretary Paulson, or it could have been oracle Alan Greenspan.   In terms of accountability for our ruin, the Times helpfully fingered […]

I thought Obama had the edge in the debate last night, but that would not have been hard, considering the week this has been in the markets around the world.   I was only mildly surprised when I heard that Iceland was considering going out of business. The hardy islanders must have been pretty heavily […]

European Central Bank Chiefs Meet in London, Oct 2008   I was awake in the night. Not unpleasant, this aging thing. Just a few more chores to take care of in the silence, and time to go over things, roll them around in the brain.   I was going to try to construct a tale […]

The attacks of 9/11 should have taught me something about the weather. It is vastly powerful but not sentient; there is no caring in the gentle breeze or the fine high-quality sunshine of early autumn. It appeared there would be time for a long walk in the sunshine, and a session on the Hog to […]

It had been good, if a bit sobering, sitting in the pews of the Christ Episcopal Church in Rockville, MD. It left me both giddy and a little disoriented. I drove up there from Virginia with the top down on the Hubrismobile, and my hair was a glorious mess by the time I arrived.   […]

  So, it’s Friday, things are nuts at the office, and I thought I would duck home and take the last two conference calls out on the balcony where I could expose my skin to the sun in the first brisk breeze of autumn. I am reluctant to let the summer go.   It was […]

Two of a Bazillion Frames in the Andy Warhol film “Empire” “Exceeding Expectations” is the phrase the media is using to describe Governor Palin’s performance last night in the debate. That is what they said about us back at the Industrial College at Fort McNair, if we showed up on time, and at least looked […]

(L-R) Tony, Joe, Vic and Jiggs examine the Big Pink Styrofoam Ball   It is a festive day, or at least it would be if everyone wasn’t bummed out because of the Congress and the Market. They need celebrating the way we do in Washington at Big Pink. This year is a magical line-up of […]

Paul Newman left us over the weekend. He had the most striking blue eyes in Hollywood for several decades, a good solid marriage and great salad dressing. His eyes looked out at me from the fridge when I went to start putting dinner together and suddenly felt a sense of deep and irreparable loss.   […]

I was not going to get caught short like I did in the Nixon-Kennedy debates. That was the goal, anyway, but of course it got away from me. There were Chinese astronauts doing a space walk, according to the last message I read before leaving the office. I was uncertain if this was the past-tense account of […]