Breaking the Fast

On Mother's Day the eleven-day fast came to an end at our church. News cameras rolled as a group of demonstrators spoke out for immigration reform, led by Marie Marroquin (pictured) of Mountain View's Day Worker Center.

The problem of illegal immigration resists solution because fundamental American values---family, the American dream, and the rule of law--are at war with each other. Wholesale deportation is impossible because of the sheer numbers involved and the plight of children who know no other home but America. And yet, any effort to fast-track the path to citizenship or even guest-worker status will mean that we have rewarded those who knowingly broke the rules and who refuse to accept the consequences of their actions.

Given the recent scandals that have distracted government leaders, immigration reform this year is looking even more remote. When faced with seemingly insoluble dilemmas an ancient means of coping was fasting and prayer. It looks like Ms. Marroquin has the right idea. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Draped in Red

On the day of Pentecost the altar is draped in red, symbolic of the tongues of flame that visited the disciples ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven. Unlike Christmas and Easter, Christianity's third great feast is little known outside the church; Pentecost has no symbols like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny that have captured the secular imagination. While important activities are not necessarily popular or fun, we did have the church picnic today, and the hamburgers were tasty.

Will the Alchemy Work?

Stir together a vast fortune, "big data" technology, the luxury of time, philanthropy, and intelligence higher than everyone else in the room, and one gets John and Laura Arnold [bold added]:

[John} Arnold, it turns out, had accumulated a fortune estimated at $4 billion in the past decade—only a handful of people on Wall Street made more during that time. Although he had not yet announced it, Arnold had decided to give almost all of it away. In October 2012, he closed his hedge fund, Centaurus Energy, and retired. In U.S. history, there may have never been a self-made individual with so much money who devoted himself to philanthropy at such a young age. [snip]

But at a time when charitable giving in the U.S. is still down from its peak in 2007, the Arnolds want to try something new and somewhat grander. John says the goal is to make "transformational" changes to society.[snip]

"We started with the broad mission of, 'How can we produce the most good?'" he says. His background as a trader, he says, is fundamental to the foundation's approach. He wants to spend a lot of time doing research and evaluating data, and then make a handful of big bets, even if they involve considerable risk.
"

Is it possible to do good by defining the means (data analysis, money, long-range planning horizon) but leaving the ends somewhat vague? Given the Arnolds' track record, I wouldn't bet against them.

The Sensibility of House Republicans

No, really, House Republicans may be acting sensibly:

House Republicans say they will not overreach on probing the Obama administration, having learned lessons from investigating the Monica Lewinsky scandal during the Clinton administration. [snip]

Impeachment is not something that has been bandied about around the House GOP leadership table, according to GOP leadership aides and a House Republican member who spoke on background.

Unless there is solid proof of high crimes and misdemeanors (using the people's definition, not lawyers' understanding) by the President, House Republicans should quash all mention of the I-word. Mr. Obama is still popular and could become an object of sympathy if there were a rush to start impeachment proceedings.

It's difficult to imagine that he would ever be as unpopular as his predecessor, but Mr. Obama may well descend to that level after three and a half more years of scandal and ineffectiveness, not to mention being the butt of late-night humor.

Thursday's Jay Leno:

This week will mark the 37th time House Republicans have tried to repeal Obamacare. If Republicans really want to do away with Obamacare they should endorse it as a "conservative non-profit" and let the IRS take it down!

A lot of critics are now comparing President Obama to President Nixon. The good news for Obama: at least he's no longer being compared to President Carter!

If I Weren't Laughing I'd Be Crying Dept.

The IRS' softball team is named the "Cheetahs." James Taranto:

We have to admit, "Cheetahs" is almost as funny a name as Ted Kennedy's dog "Splash."

There Will Be Cramming

At the Auto Body School the students are wrapping up this year's projects. The school is part of San Mateo County's Regional Occupational Program (ROP), which teaches skills that local employers seem to want.

Students bring in their own cars to work on. They also sand and repaint cars that other owners have left as training vehicles (finally I get to use that term literally). The cost is reasonable--less than $1,000, basically for materials but not labor.

VW rear carpet

Owners must be patient, because the project spans one (sometimes two) school years. The exterior of my beetle was more or less finished in March, and an upholsterer has been contracted to do the interior work. It will be a close call whether he can finish the work this week, when the facility will be closing for the summer. (Due to funding cutbacks the Auto Body School may be closing for good; ABS programs are no longer showing for the ROP fall semester.)

It's an educational axiom that, no matter the level or type of school, there will be cramming. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Six Months Later

A few days after President Obama's re-election your humble observer opined:

Now that the election's over we are likely, finally, to learn the truth about:

Benghazi

Obamacare's costs

End-of-year defense layoffs

FEMA's before-and-after performance on Hurricane Sandy

Unemployment statistics

Whether General Motors is really healthy

What the President meant when he said he would be "flexible" on missile defense

Six months later only Benghazi and Obamacare are still deemed to be important topics, but two are enough to serve the President's opponents; prolonged national conversations on either are unlikely to be helpful to the Administration's goals. A scandal that has seemingly come out of nowhere--also unhelpful, to say the least--is the IRS' targeting of "Tea Party" and "patriot" groups (actions suspected by conservatives over a year ago but ignored by the mainstream media).

Unfortunately for the President, none of the current set of problems can credibly be laid at the feet of obstinate Republicans or the Bush Administration. Welcome to your second term, Mr. President.

Another Favorite Leaves the Scene

One of the chief reasons I subscribed (note the past tense) to Barron's was to read Alan Abelson. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who missed his penetrating observations:

Alan Abelson passed away last week at the age of 87, and his absence from this column over the past few months has been noticed by its legions of loyal readers. We fielded scores of inquiries from folks whose weekends invariably started by turning to Alan's column. They clearly missed the enlightenment and sheer enjoyment he provided.

Over the 46 years that he had been writing for Barron's he had accumulated a vast array of sources that furnished insights on finance, the economy, and markets that were not available elsewhere. But what made his column a must-read was its dry humor. Here is Alan Abelson on the fiscal cliff negotiations:

While the world waited with bated breath for resolution of the bitter battle of the fiscal cliff, the telling moment of that monumental clash between the warring parties was an exchange a few steps removed from the Oval Office between the speaker of the House, John Boehner, and his counterpart in the Senate, Harry Reid. It was a chance encounter. Reid, a few hours earlier, had delivered a speech on the Senate floor excoriating Boehner for refusing to bring measures for a vote in the chamber he has putative control over, measures that would have averted a potentially disastrous plunge by the economy into the abyss. Still boiling with indignation, Boehner jabbed a finger at Reid and snarled "Go f--- yourself." (We can't repeat verbatim what he suggested Reid do; we are, after all, a family magazine. Suffice it to say it's an act that requires a degree of athleticism beyond that possessed by most mortals.)

We can't imagine another business publication daring to present the same content so amusingly without, er, going over the cliff. Another unique voice has left the scene. R.I.P. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Happy Mother's Day (Reprise)

Thank you for drying our tears when we got hurt.

Thank you for leaving work to take care of us when we got sick.

Thank you for cooking our favorite dinners when we were feeling empty inside.

Thank you for cleaning our room, feeding the pets, and doing other stuff that we promised we would do but somehow forgot about.

Thank you for giving us a warm safe place to come to when the world seemed cold.

Thank you for loving us no matter what.

Happy Mother's Day to Mom and to mothers everywhere.

Not the Target Demographic

The colombarium at St. Paul's

On a peaceful Saturday seventy mostly gray-haired students gathered at St. Paul's in Burlingame to acquire the tools and knowledge, not to mention courage, to help them accomplish their spiritual goals.

Why "courage"? Episcopalians are notoriously reluctant to discuss their faith, much less try to convert others. Yet, there's no alternative to evangelism if the Episcopal Church is to survive the century. Current membership of two million is roughly half the size of the church in its heyday.

There were short courses on prayer, lectoring, and evaluating grant requests. We could learn how to improve stewardship campaigns and how to be a better witness. For the more esthetically oriented, there were sessions on music, art projects, and theology in film. All very interesting, and I intend to sign up again next year. But there were only a handful of attendees under 30, and unfortunately I'm not the target demographic. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

The Excitement is Justified

The never-ceasing din of 24/7 sports has led some to plea for an off-season for fans. The worst transgressor is football, formerly a September-December activity (or November---in postwar Hawaii the king of sports was high school football, which ended the day after Thanksgiving). Now NFL fans can get their fix throughout the year, from the draft to minicamp to pre-season to the regular season, playoffs, and Super Bowl, after which the cycle starts all over. The cacophony never ceases as basketball, baseball, hockey, racing, golf, and tennis, as well as biennial to quadrennial events such as the America's Cup and the Olympics blare for attention.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, however, the current year-round excitement is justified. Both the hockey (San Jose Sharks) and the basketball (Golden State Warriors) teams have overachieved by making the playoffs and defeated favored opponents in the first round. The San Francisco Giants have won two of the last three World Series, while the Oakland Athletics surprised everyone by winning the American League West Division in 2012. The San Francisco 49ers lost to the Ravens in the Super Bowl and are one of the early favorites to win it next year. Only the long-suffering fans of the Oakland Raiders have nothing to look forward to.

FYI, per Wikipedia's entry on Multiple Major Sports Championship Seasons the most recent metropolitan areas to be home to two champions were Boston in 2004 (Red Sox and Patriots) and Los Angeles in 2002 (Angels and Lakers). Only once--Detroit in 1935--did three champions (Tigers, Lions, Red Wings) hail from the same city.

Misinterpreted Headline

There are "teaser" headlines that draw in readers, who often find that the content was overhyped. Then there is the misinterpreted headline, like the above.

I was hoping to read about the businesses that were being started to help medical providers and the public deal with Obamacare's complexity. The WSJ headline piqued my interest as a healthcare consumer, potential investor, or perhaps even as a potential consultant.

Instead, it was a rather pedestrian piece about how people hang on to their jobs because of healthcare benefits---which is old news---but now may venture out because Obamacare promises coverage at a reasonable price.

The pressure some Americans feel to cling to a corporate job chiefly for the health insurance could, conceivably, ease in coming years. Under provisions of the health-care law, new-business owners will be able to get coverage through public marketplaces, or "exchanges," beginning in October, for policies that will take effect starting in January.

Given that even Obamacare's authors have declared a train wreck coming, prudent employees and would-be entrepreneurs will adopt a wait-and-see attitude until implementation gets off the ground. Any startup explosion from workers chained to employer-provided health care will have to wait until 2014. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

All You Need is Space

L to R: Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows XP

WSJ tech columnist Walt Mossberg reviews two products that allow Windows 8 users to use the old Start screen. To this longtime Windows user it is like installing a new engine in an old car: go old or go new, but in-between is esthetically jarring.

As for me, very few applications need the latest equipment, so I keep a bunch of old machines running. All you need is space....and a tolerant roommate. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

The Question at the Center of Everything

Nearly 50 people showed up for the PARCA session on independent housing. (The Parents' Association for Retarded Children and Adults was formed 62 years ago and is now known by the acronym rather than its original name. The session was entitled "Transition toward Independence: Independent Housing for People with Developmental Disabilities.") They heard speakers from the Golden Gate Regional Center, the San Mateo Department of Housing, HIP Housing, West Bay Housing, and PARCA.

Many of the faces in the audience have become familiar over the years. The welfare of loved ones who will never truly be "independent" is a lifelong task. There rarely are solutions given in these sessions; but maybe they'll learn of organizations, laws, and people who can help solve some of the problems.

Their charges have differing medical conditions, the government classifications are different (e.g., Social Security Disability, GGRC client), and the caregivers have differing degrees of financial resources and expertise. But even those who can bequeath a house and other assets to their loved one know that someone will need to make sure that the bills are paid, the faucets are fixed, and the prescriptions are filled.

Everyone is tormented by the question at the center of everything: who will look after our loved one after we're gone? For most of the people there are years, even decades, to answer the question, but answer it everyone must. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Tragedy on the San Mateo Bridge

Burnt limo (Mercury News photo)

On the drive back from the Santa Barbara wedding we received a text "WARNING: there's a major fire outbreak on the San Mateo Bridge---do not use." A Northern California wedding party had suffered an "unimaginable" tragedy
: [bold added]

FOSTER CITY -- It was to be one of life's signature moments of happiness, something that always would be remembered, as a stylish evening meant to be richly shared with good friends. Nine women had happily tumbled into a stretch limousine for a girl's night out to celebrate the recent wedding of one.

They were heading for a bridal shower in Foster City Saturday night when, over the span of the San Mateo Bridge just after 10 p.m., sheer joy turned into unimaginable horror.

For reasons that are still unexplained, the interior of the white 1999 Lincoln Town Car suddenly became engulfed in flames, killing five of the women -- including the bride -- who were unable to escape the raging inferno. A veteran coroner was quoted as saying the incident was one of the worst he had ever witnessed. The deceased were so badly burned that positive identifications will require dental records. And grieving friends and family are trying to make sense of the tragedy.

[Update - 5/6: The limo was licensed to carry eight passengers, but there were nine in the party.]

[Update - 5/7: the driver's story. The names of the victims. So far, no word as to the cause.]

[Update - 5/8: "The limousine that burst into flames on the San Mateo Bridge, killing five women, wasn't required to undergo a state safety inspection -- or even carry a fire-extinguisher -- under the regulations that are supposed to ensure the thousands of limos on California's roads are safe."]