Remembering 9/11 – Peter A. Gay

This blog entry is part of the Project 2996 initiative to remember the victims of September 11th.  It will be a placeholder until a fitting tribute page can be assembled.

September 11, 2001 changed the lives of countless people in the U.S. and around the world. That beautiful sunny Tuesday started out normal for most of us. We drove to work admiring the cloudless fall day in the northeast and went about our business. The same holds true for all the innocent people boarding the jets in Boston and Virginia that would ultimately be taking over by homicidal radicals and used as missiles against symbols of our nation’s economy, military, and government. Thousands of innocent lives were lost that day and today we pay tribute to each of them and assure they will never be forgotten.

Peter A. Gay was 54 years old on that fateful day. He was married and the father of two sons and a daughter. He was also a brother, son, son-in-law, brother-in-law, friend, colleague and leader. Besides being a wonderful family man, Peter loved to run, fish, boat, and was a well respected and admired leader at a major defense contractor where he worked from the time he got out of college.

There are several tributes for Peter that were already done, so I’ll ask that you visit the links below to see what a great man Peter was:

http://www.legacy.com/Sept11/Story.aspx?PersonID=91796

http://www.southofboston.net/specialreports/sept11anniv/pages/remember_1.shtm

http://www.wickedlocal.com/taunton/news/x289109198/Logan-memorial-honors-victims

Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” – words that have been attributed to Thomas Jefferson. Two centuries later, Gen. Douglas MacArthur stated “no man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.” We often hear these words paraphrased during times of great challenge (e.g., 9/11), but the attention level is often too short and the message is sometimes completely lost.

Today, the economy is in crisis and it’s easy to allow it to monopolize the news and all of our efforts, but we still have a persistent cyber and physical threat that can not be left unattended.

In many contact sports, it’s not a good strategy to go in thinking you are going to deliver a knockout punch or a submission hold to win right away. You need to break down your opponent’s defenses, hurt him, then go for the knockout or submission.

The economic crisis has broken down our “defenses”. We are down and hurt, but far from out; however, our enemies are seeing an opportunity. They know they can’t deliver the one shot knockout or submission – they tried and failed on 9/11, but if we are already hurt, they have a better chance at coming in for that shot or two and getting closer to a victory.

Maybe it’s a coincidence that we are seeing increased provocation. Maybe it’s a strategy to see if America is still powerful enough (or willing) to keep the world’s troublemakers at bay. Regardless, there are threats that we can’t ignore. Iran has helped create and sustain crises in the Middle East while they continue to pursue a nuclear weapon. North Korea is preparing to take their next step in testing a long range missile and Venezuela and Russia continue to provoke us any way they possibly can.

We’ve often heard it’s not a matter of “if”, it’s “when”…I submit that it is also “who” is going to be the first to test us and see if we can handle another crisis.

We must take every threat as a clear and present danger or we will pay the price. None of us know what the next attack will be, but it will probably be something asymmetrical and we better be ready to respond with speed, agility and decisive fury.

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.  Sun Tzu – The Art of War

Middle East in Crisis (again) – Is Iran Preparing for Battle?

Originally I was going to write about what I believe are two of the most immediate and dangerous threats to America:  first, Africa due to  the many lawless hot spots that are harboring and training terrorists. It’s becoming Afghanistan on steroids and we need a clear strategy on dealing with the issues. The second threat is Mexico – not only because of illegal immigration, porous borders, etc., but because of the drug trafficking and brutal killing that has been occurring. Drug lords are decapitating victims, including children, and displaying their bodies to terrorize citizens. They’re also using other methods of torture and murder that I won’t describe here – you can research by googling “mexico drugs murders”. It’s disturbing and it’s carrying over to the U.S. and must be stopped.

While Africa and Mexico are still a clear and present danger, recent actions in the Middle East combined with the timing (U.S. POTUS transition) may be a warning shot that this particular crisis is about to escalate.

Iran has blood on its hands in nearly every conflict in the Middle East. They support Hezbollah, Hamas and several other terrorist organizations that provoke conflict at an opportune time that reduces pressure and attention toward their nuclear program and other covert activities. It appears that Iran is once again behind a terrorist proxy (Hamas) provoking Israel with missile strikes as they did with Hezbollah in 2006 , which led to the Israel/Lebanon war. Any kind of cease-fire or semblance of progress toward peace in the Middle East, along with success in Iraq, spells doom for Iran; however, when the world is focused on other crises, Iran can continue to work on their nuke program and be confident that international sanctions will be limited.

So, why not throw a few bucks at Hamas and order them to break the cease-fire and get things fired up again? At the same time, why not instigate and fund protests around the world to make it appear that the world is condemning Israel. Why would Iran do that? In addition to refocusing international attention, could it be that Iran is setting the stage for an attack on Israel in the very near future?

The Israeli response to Hamas breaking the cease-fire may have been unexpected and the nominal reactions from other Arab countries may have been disappointing to the Iranians, but Iran may have things in place to take the opportunity to launch an attack. With a fresh Israeli offensive, an agitated Arab/Muslim community, and a U.S. in government transition – this may be Iran’s chance to take on Israel.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to this, but not be surprised.

Blog-ojevich: Pay to Play in Illinois

I have to admit, I mistakenly thought that Illinois and Massachusetts were the two most corrupt governments in the U.S., but I did a little research and found a N.Y. Times article (blogger’s note: given the lack of journalistic integrity at the NYT, I checked and this data came from DoJ) that lists Florida, N.Y. and Texas as the states with the most convicted public officials in a 10 year period (824, 704 and 565 respectively). Illinois came in 7th and Massachusetts 18th. Interesting.

Of course, that is the number of convicted officials and doesn’t really reflect the extent of the corruption nor does it highlight the types of crimes the officials committed.

This goes right to the heart of what I wrote about previously, Integrity. We continue to lower the standards and make excuses for the lack of integrity and look where we are – government officials are corrupt and buying votes and selling favors; mortgage companies have screwed people out of their homes; and financial institutions are stealing money.

Our New Years resolution should be to hold those in charge of our livelihoods – from the President right down to the Selectmen or Councilors – to the highest ethical standards. If there is overwhelming evidence of malfeasance, and especially if there is an indictment (e.g., Blagojevich), we should remove the offenders out of office – quickly. I believe in due process, but these folks can’t do their job while they are trying to save their butts.

It’s time to change from “pay to play” to  “if you play, you will pay (dearly).” No more excuses. Zero tolerance.

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy and Healthy 2009!!

Bailout or Bankruptcy?

GM, Ford and Chrysler were the latest to lobby Congress to help them help us save the economy (sarcasm intended). Rick Wagoner, GM CEO, stated in written testimony “This is about much more than just Detroit, it’s about saving the U.S. economy from a catastrophic collapse.”  How noble. The situation was so dire, Wagoner, et. al. had to fly in on their corporate jets to avoid having to pay the $25 luggage charge on commercial airliners. I hope everyone appreciates that $75 cost savings.

Didn’t the execs from the financial sector give us the same song and dance? We threw taxpayer money at the financial sector and it did nothing but send our portfolios south. Since a downturn in defense spending will soon be upon us, I guess we’ll expect to see all the defense companies in line with their hands out as well?

I was going to do my part and buy a new SUV in the next couple of months. Mine has 60K miles on it and it’s ripe for trade-in. I went to Cadillac to check out the 2009 models expecting to see lower prices (to reflect the economic conditions and the desire to move inventory). The 2009 Escalade is almost $80K! Keep in mind that the high cost of these vehicles is not because of high end materials, it’s due to the high labor costs. Cadillac did the right thing by making hybrids, but they have overpriced them to the point nobody will buy one. Needless to say, I’ll wait for the $20-30K depreciation to get my 2009…

Back to the bailout. The auto companies are asking for at least $25 billion of our money. When asked what they will do with the money, they didn’t know. I heard someone say “let’s hold a lottery and raffle off 1 million $25K cars”. Sounds like a better plan to me then sending all that money to companies so they can continue to mismanage it.

IMHO there are two choices: let the auto companies go Chapter 11, restructure, and start making a superior, environmentally friendly, and economical product – or – throw more money (our tax money) at them to continue executing a failed business plan. I predict the latter option will be the end of the U.S. auto industry and I will have to buy my first foreign car.

Integrity – Lost Value?

Webster defines Integrity as “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values.” Integrity is one of the core values of any good leader, yet Americans seem to be viewing this as a “nice to have” rather than demand it.

With all the stories of infidelity, extortion, bribery, voter fraud, and much more, we have to wonder what message this is sending to the younger generation. Integrity leads to trust, respect, and loyalty, yet we turn our backs and devalue it, which has resulted in a lack of trust, respect, and loyalty at home and abroad.

In the news, we have had a long list of scandals that show the lack of integrity with some of our leaders, including:

• A Massachusetts State Senator was indicted for accepting a bribe.
• An Alaskan Senator was convicted on 7 felony charges.
• A Louisiana Congressman was indicted for accepting bribes.
• The New York Governor is linked to a prostitute and his successor admits numerous affairs
• A Former Presidential candidate admits affair
• A Congressman forgets to pay tax on rental property
• Non-profit organization commits voter fraud

I can go on for quite a while, but that was the stuff off the top off my head and I don’t want to research or I’ll get real depressed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not without sin, but I’m an angel compared to these folks and may actually have a chance to get by St. Peter.

What’s disturbing is that we just try to brush all this scandal aside. We make excuses – infidelity is a private matter. He forgot to pay $70K in taxes. I don’t know how the $20K got stuck in her bra – it’s not important, she’s nice. We ignore the unacceptable behavior and, in essence, condone it; then wonder why we have so much corruption.

The worst outcome of all this is with our younger generations. According to an exclusive U.S. News poll:

• 84% of college students believe they need to cheat to get ahead in the world today.
• 90% of college students say cheaters never pay the price; 90% say when people see someone cheating, they don’t turn him in.
• 63% of college students say it’s fair for parents to help with their kids’ homework; 20% of adults think it’s fair to do it.
• Students say parental pressure (40%), peer pressure (40%), and the availability of new technology (31%) make them cheat.
• Over 90% of college students say politicians cheat often. Who else do 90% think are cheaters? The media–and high schoolers.

Further, the Josephson Institute for the Advanced Study of Ethics reports that in 2002, 37 percent of high school youths would be willing to lie to get a good job and that’s on an upward trend.

The moral of the story is that we are in danger of having the “I deserve it” generation enter our workforce and integrity is not on their minds. The same generation will be responsible for our national security, our government, and our money.

It all starts at home and we all need to walk the talk. It’s time to start holding people accountable for their actions and demand integrity from ALL of our leaders. It’s non-negotiable!

To Drill or not to Drill – That is the Question

After months of record oil prices that caused a lot of pain at the pump, we are finally seeing some relief, but don’t be fooled, we still have a problem.

According to the DoE, the top 5 oil producing countries are Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, China, and the United States. Twenty-five percent of the U.S. crude comes from offshore wells, but over 58% of our crude oil used in the U.S. comes from other countries.

Moreover, crude oil isn’t used only for gasoline. It’s used for fuel oil, jet fuel, diesel, liquid petroleum gases, lubricants, asphalt, and many other products.

While I fully agree we need to be more environmentally friendly and reduce our dependency on oil, our first goal must be to reduce our dependency on foreign oil (the 58% previously mentioned). It’s is just not logical to think that we will be able to wave a magic wand and reduce our >20 million barrel/day appetite.

Thus, the choice comes down whether we continue to get our oil from foreign countries and allowing it to impact our national security – or – we find/get more oil domestically.

Some will try to convince us that the oil offshore would take 10 years to hit the market and wouldn’t even make a difference. I bet Brazil said the same thing and now they are looking at 8 billion barrels offshore that will put them in the top 10 for oil producers!

I say let’s get crackin’. We have put this on the back burner for far too long and had we seriously looked at this problem over 10 years ago, we would have never had the problem we had.

Two things will happen if we allow offshore drilling: first, the markets will respond and realize that we are seriously going to attack this and prices will continue to fall. OPEC won’t even be able to control it at that point. Second, we will find ways to extract the oil much faster and safer and we will have the oil out in a few years not 10 years as opponents profess.

Drill here. Drill now. Don’t put off decisions until we go back up to over $100/barrell!