MONDAY, February 28, 2005

• The 77th annual Oscars.  This year it was a good show, tastefully done, with great competition in all categories.  There also was a definite sub-text of Hollywood politics and messages sent by the movers and shakers from that shaky venue.  The Passion of the Christ, an instant classic, was basically ignored, together with its creator. Martin Scorsese, again the bridesmaid for the fifth time, was denied his long-overdue rightful acknowledgement; I wonder who he aggravated in the last thirty years.  And Clint Eastwood won "Best Director" for thumbing his nose at bedrock societal mores.  "Tinsel-Town" may at times be intelligent, gifted and entertaining...but it is not America.
• Iraq.  In addition to having failed to insure security for that defeated nation, are our armed forces now marching in place?  The latest attacks, with great loss of innocent life, will not be hailed as one of America's greatest hours.  For that I must blame the flexibility-challenged Secretary Rumsfeld, and now also his boss.
• What is all the furor about driver's licenses, their responsible control, and fear about a national identity card?  As most recently reflected in the hacking of one of the nation's treasure troves of private information, and by today's Bank of America report of the breaching of its ATM program,  the only ones now benefitting from our multiple "national identity cards" are the criminals...and most likely the terrorists.  How long can that go on before we all suffer grevious harm?  And how long will it take for software companies to finally be held legally liable for their "defective, unreasonably dangerous" output under Product Liability? Where are the class action lawyers when you need them?
• Harvard President Lawrence Summers has picked up some support for his recent politically incorrect suggestions regarding the "weaker sex" and some intellectual disciplines: scientific facts!  Imagine that.  See "Harvard President's Controversial Remarks Supported By Some Scientific Experts", by Matt Crenson (The Day, today, Mation, pA4).  I personally don't know what the last word will be on this subject.  But I do know that the immediate reaction of his detractors was hysterical, and then political...in any case certainly not consistent with the intellectual integrity that is supposed to be synonymous with an academic institution, liberal or otherwise.

FRIDAY through SUNDAY, February 25 through 27, 2005

• As you will have noted by now, I frequently make reference to The Day (theday.com).  This is, in my opinion, the premiere newspaper of New London County, Ct. in the quality and scope of its coverage. It also has been judged the premier newspaper of its size in New England.  It would be even better if it referred more to the Wall Street Journal offerings rather than to those of the NYTimes...but we won't go there today.
• Several articles in today's The Day deal with public school education.  But there is still too much of "show me the money" mentality on the part of our educators rather than interest in root cause analysis.  The best quote comes from the recent National Education Summit of the nation's governors, from Microsoft's Bill Gates: "America's high schools are obsolete.  By obsolete, I don't just mean that they're broken, flawed or underfunded, though a case could be made for every one of those points.  By obsolete, I mean our high schools - even when they're working as designed - cannot teach all our students what they need to know today."  See also: "K-12 Establishment Is Putting America's Industrial Leadership at Risk", by Robert J. Herbold (in Imprimis, February 2005, Vol. 34, No. 5 - www.hillsdale.edu)  And this, while excellent parochial schools are struggling and closing.  These schools, like St. Bernard High School in Montville, Ct., are providing superior education without reference to students' religious preferences.  St. Bernard enrolls 15-20% non-Catholics yearly.  Vouchers, anyone?
• Another item of regional interest and national relevance: President Fainstein of Connecticut College in New London, Ct. has just announced his resignation as President.  After taking over about four years ago, he had to be a retrenchment leader...and he has been a good one.  Such leaders are rare and are very valuable...much more rare and valuable than good-times administrators...but never properly appreciated.
• For those following the medical malpractice debate, the NYTimes has a good article today: "Bush's Next Target: Malpractice Lawyers" (by Steve Lohr, Sunday Business, Section 3, p1).  A lot of facts and insight...and a correct conclusion: a $250,000. cap on non-economic damages would solve little.  See also my offerings on this web site.
• Once again Thomas L. Friedman presents a cautionary tale for all of us: "Someone Shrank The Dollar" (The Day, Friday, Feb. 25, 2005, Commentary, pA9).  A hint: what happens when the foreigners who hold 43% of all U.S. Treasury bills decide to look elsewhere than in the dollar to invest their money?  When Korea hinted at that last week, there was a major sell-off in the U.S. stock market.  Our non-saving, effluent society had better get a grip...and soon.

THURSDAY, February 24, 2005

The following responses to today's news stories are not only rapid, but short.

• Health care costs are again in the news, with nothing added except wringing of hands.  Read my offerings on this web site, under The Involved Citizen, going back to 1978.  The solution is still the same: pay the price for the best health care in the world...or ration / prioritize!
• More from the public education mafia and their supporters regarding the "No Child Left Behind" law.  They want the money without the oversight, without the accountability, and certainly without competition.  So much for "the best interests of the child".
• Connecticut, a very "Blue" state, is now favoring civil unions for same-sex pairs.  But that's not good enough for the gay and lesbian community, who "demand" full marriage rights.  More arrogance and irresponsibility.
• Doug Wead, the President's "friend", is now expressing some remorse over his recent actions.  Didn't Judas do that too?
• Once again we in New London are hearing about getting laptops for all 9th and 10th grade students.  How about seeing if they can pass tests in the 3 R's first?
• Bankruptcy is and should be a bad experience for people who have over-extended themselves.  But for The Donald, he of the perpetual pout, it is just another useful business tool for self-aggrandizement.  What's wrong with this picture?
• A big ad in today's local paper: "Save a Life: Adopt a Pet".  We fret about dogs, cats, deer, foxes, even tigers.  So what about little babies?
• Bush and Putin.  A useful article that puts the matter in perspective appeared in the WSJ on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005 ("Give Putin A Break", by Padma Desai, Opinion, pA12).
• Why is the British Royal Family the Brits' favorite piniata?  No reasonable motivation is ever ascribed to their actions, most recently the Queen's decision to miss the coming civil marriage ceremony of her son,  but to attend the other festivities. Give it a rest!
• "Pay for Performance" may be the Medicare and managed care industry's latest incarnation of an earlier unethical practice: to reward physicians based upon how little medical care they gave their patients.  "Caveat Emptor!"

MONDAY through WEDNESDAY, February 20 through 23, 2005

• The recently revealed "tapes" of George W. Bush in informal private conversation years ago with a "friend".  As Sam Dash said to Sen. Joseph McCarthy: "Have you no shame, sir?  Have you no shame?"
• We have been witnessing, during the last 20 or more months, the undermining of our military ground forces through the shortsighted and stubborn leadership of Sec. Rumsfeld.  We now hear, from former Sec. of the Navy John Lehman, that our Navy is also heading in the same direction...with too few ships sailing after too many assignments.  This is wrong.  We keep hearing that the U.S. is the "only remaining super-power in the world", supposedly thereby commanding the grudging respect of allies and adversaries alike.  But much of that has to be perception since, with luck, we will not get too many chances to demonstrate actual power.  And perception, a fleeting thing, is more important than fact when dealing with people.  Therefore, among other things like a larger standing Navy, we need a fair draft.    The general subject is addressed in an article appearing in the Winter 2005 edition of the American Scholar, entitled "Class Warfare", by Josiah Bunting lll (p12).  It begins with a quotation from George Washington: "It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defence of it."

SATURDAY, February 19, 2005

• Former Navy Secretary John Lehman expressed some common sense in a talk at Connecticut College yesterday.  There he defended the Patriot Act and the detention of terrorist suspects in our base in Cuba.  He reminded us of a WW ll incident involving eight German saboteurs who had landed on Long Island, all of whom were tried and executed within six weeks.  "Franklin Roosevelt took the view that terrorists are not covered under the Geneva Convention...they do not have access to the American legal system...By being terrorists, they forfeit those rights."   Exactly!  President Franklin Roosevelt was one of that rare breed...a Democrat who knew how to conduct a war after  America had been attacked ("Lehman Defends Bush Terror War Tactics", by Robert A. Hamilton, The Day today, Nation, pA4).
• One does not have to be "homophobic" to consider many homosexuals enemies of society by virtue of their totally irresponsible sexual practices.  The most recent example, preceed by years of reports from the West Coast about their return to their bad old ways, relates to a new and very resistant strain of HIV that rapidly progresses to AIDS, as reported in a NYTimes editorial yesterday.  The broader homosexual community would do well to police and sanction its own, before it ever seeks acceptance by society.
• In recent days, a flap in East Lyme, Connecticut is playing out over the suspension of a number of highschool students caught in an off-campus drug den.  Criminal indictments are now also coming forth, all this against the backdrop of objections by some parents.  What are you thinking, folks?  Schools have for the last two decades been falling under the weight of having had to step in for irresponsible parents, in loco parentis.  So, in the memorable words of Ted Turner: "Lead, Follow, Or Get Out of The Way!"

FRIDAY, February 18, 2005

• Talk about Kyoto and Global Warming, in today's The Day (theday.com) is a new report from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, finding "greenhouse gases" as the main cause of established global warming.  More compelling is this: "even if environmental changes are made immediately, researchers said, some parts of the world - including the western United States, South America and China - won't be able to stop dramatic water shortages, melting glaciers and ice packs, and other crises in the next 20 years." (Nation, pA4).  Even more compelling is this: "A Bush administration spokesman greeted news of the study with indifference".  The world cannot afford another tobacco industry syndrome...much less time, many more people involved, worldwide.  Time to get educated on the subject and to let your opinions be known, folks.
• Talk about institutions.  Another example of their genetic shortcomings is the current and continuing flap over comments made recently by Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers (WSJ today, pA1).  This is a continuing saga involving professors at that hallowed liberal institution who have been chafing for the last three years over President Summers' exercise of his freedom of speech...and his "telling it like it is".
• Within two weeks we have lost a second national treasure, Arthur Miller.  Apart from his great literary career, he was simply a good man.  Rest in peace.

MONDAY through THURSDAY, February 14 through 17, 2005

• As noted in an earlier comment in this section, the problems uncovered during the last year regarding the FDA have been disappointing.  As a physician, I always regarded the work of this particular Federal agency as above reproach.  I should have known better.  FBI, CIA, EPA, FAA...these and many others are examples of institutions - structures of humans which, whether public or private, magnify rather than sublimate the imperfections of man.  The thing they do really well is to hide responsibility from the outside observer.  In our modern society, we cannot avoid the organization and the "organization man".  Just beware!  That is, or should be, one of "Murphy's Laws".
• That brings up another set of related subjects: protection of the "whistle-blower",protection of press sources, attorney-client privilege and physician-patient confidentiality. In none of these cases is it public policy intent to enable the hiding of criminal actions or - in the case of physicians - to allow serious risk to a third party.  Physicians know this well.  The other groups need to get back to their foundation bodies of ethical principles, rather than to hide behind over-broad "penumbras".  In each case, these professionals have dual responsibilities: to the individual, and to the public at large.
• The Kyoto Treaty is now in effect, without the participation of its main industrial producer and polluter...the USA.  What is arguable is the impact on global warming of the very modest and gradual changes prescribed by the treaty.  What is not arguable, except through a tobacco company defense (ie. obfuscation and falsehood), is the contribution of human activities on the definite global warming now well under way.  And what is not acceptable is our country's failure to date to offer an alternative approach to a real problem.  The Bush Administration is inclined to attack really big problems.  It's time to try this one on for size.
• North Korea and other "nuclear rogues".  The problem of nuclear proliferation is beginning to resemble "the war on drugs": repeated brave words (and bilions of dollars) accompanied by a wink and a nod for true implementation.  No country that feels vulnerable in a dangerous world and that has the opportunity to get nuclear weapons will reject that option without a comparable shield.  That's just "realpolitik".  To put it another way: we can follow the ages-old paradigm of "first violence, then peace"; or we can develop an better paradigm: first justice, then peace.
• Once upon a time, not long ago, the public's information regarding medical care was filtered through a "learned intermediary"; ie., peer reviewed journals, expert clinicians and the output of serious scientific panels.  No longer.  The "learned intermediary" has been supplanted by the latest talking head and the latest self-styled "expert" on the evening news.  So: Celebrex is, or isn't, dangerous to your health; ditto, hormone replacement therapy, psychotropic drugs,  ADHD treatments, and most recently even the flu shot as relates to the elderly.  All this is worse than non-sense; it is counter-productive and dangerous in its effect on the public health.  I know: the public asked for such direct access to the raw data of medical research and opinion.  I suggest that they re-think that approach and that they bring back the "learned intermediary', including their personal physician, before they get seriously hurt.  Read also: "What Makes A Drug Too Risky?  There's No Easy Answer", by Ron Winslow, WSJ yesterday, Marketplace, pB1.

SATURDAY and SUNDAY, February 12 and 13, 2005

That's rich...Frank Rich, that is.  The perennial culture critic of the NYTimes, who came out as a flaming liberal during the recent Presidential campaign, has posted yet another pretzel of commentary in today's edition: "How Dirty Harry Turned Commie" (Arts and Leisure, Section 2A).  Actually, it was reassuring to me to learn that I was not the only moviegoer who was outraged by the ending of "Million Dollar Baby"...as I already noted in the Thursday offering of this section.  The article attempts to provide cover for Clint Eastwood with a "who, me?" defense: Eastwood allegedly had neither a political point to make, nor a guarantee of greater box office returns to produce.  Give me a break!  He knew or should have known what message he was offering to the viewing public.  As an antidote, in addition to the comments I made on Thursday's "rapid response", see the book by Wesley J. Smith entitled "Culture of Death...The Assault On Medical Ethics in America" (Encounter Books, San Francisco, Ca., 2000).  Another benefit of Mr. Rich's article to me was a term that I had not heard of before: "Holly-weird".

GS

FRIDAY, February 11, 2005

• By this time, I should be over my Democrat - bashing...until the next election cycle or until they show signs of educability.  But no such luck.  The foolish and arrogant comments, positions and actions that continue to be taken by them are mind-boggling.  The most recent is the imminent choice of Howard Dean to be Chairman of their party.  See "Howard Dean's Party", by Ted Van Dyk, a long-time national party participant (WSJ yesterday, Opinion, pA12).  See also George Will's article in Newsweek (Feb. 14, 2005, p68) entitled "Harry Reid's 'Roulette'".  In it he roasts the "usual suspects", like Reid, Dean, Ted Kennedy and Barbara Boxer...who make it all so easy.
• Meanwhile, a Republican who is giving meaning to the great democratic ideal of "people-power" is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California.  And, as we know, "if you want to see the future, look to California."  See "Schwarzenegger Rewriting Rules In California", also by George Will, in The Day, yesterday, Commentary, pA11).

THURSDAY, February 10, 2005

• Here's another report that should rattle a lot of cages, and rightfully so.  "Brain-damaged Patients May Still Have Awareness", by Benedict Carey, in The Day, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005, Nation, pA4.  This preliminary finding is based on new brain imaging studies.  If expanded and verified, it will require a new definition and revised protocols for determining "brain death" and therefore regarding the timing of death itself for hundreds of thousands of patients currently in "minimally conscious" or in "permanent vegetative" states.  And it provides yet another reason for every person to consider completing  "Advanced Directive" and "Power of Attorney for Health Care" documents...if he or she wishes to have clear input in the final decision-making under the principle of "patient self-determination".
• As I have been complaining  for the last 18 months, the National Guard and the Reserves are being decimated, present and future.  See: "Guardsmen, Reservists Hit Hard At Home By Call-Up...Part-Time Military's Future May Be At Stake, Some Say", by Dave Moniz, USA Today, Monday, Feb. 7, 2005, p1A.   If this is intentional on the part of the Dept. of Defense, let us in on the rationale.  If not, it is another stupid mistake for which Sec. Rumsfeld should resign.
• Evolution vs. Intelligent Design.  Why must it be either / or?  Why not both / and?  It is both logical and likely, from a scientific as well as a Faith point of view, that that is how man came to be.  First read Genesis.  Then look up into the sky and talk with an astronomer.  A related article on the subject appeared in the same USA Today as noted above, "The Forum", p15A: "Where Did We Come From....", by Rabbi Gerald L. Zellizer.
• Now a snap quiz.  Have you been reading the WSJ?  Check out especially the Opinion pages for Feb. 4 and Feb. 7.  I hope that History and Social Science teachers of classes begiinning in Grammar Schools are using this resource also.  It could go a long way toward correcting the politically correct and value-neutral and revisionist history that school children and college students have been stupidly exposed to in recent decades.

MONDAY through WEDNESDAY, February 7 through 9, 2005

• Ash Wednesday.  "Remember: Dust thou wert; and to dust thou shalt return".  A sobering message for a world in great need of direction.
• Consider the case of a baby girl, born in the 25th week of pregnancy weighing 8 oz, remaining in the hospital for five months, and this week discharged weighing over 5 lbs.  So where, may I ask of the pro-abortion gang, is the Due Process of the 14th Amendment and the Equal Protection of the 5th Amendment of our Constitution.  And where is the "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" of over 45 million other little babies destroyed since the legal, medical and moral abomination called Roe v. Wade?
• Consider more "family values"...like the Florida "parents" who tortured and starved their 5 children.  Is there evil in the world?"  You bet there is.  And civil society has a right and an obligation to deal with crime through justice and punishment, including the death penalty in egregious cases.  Another word from our God: "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.  Not vengance, which is God's...but Justice, which is ours to seek and apply...with the fate of our eternal souls depending on it.
• I haven't seen the reports by Diane Saccharine or by Paula Perky, but Katie Cutie was doing her level best to promote the Pope's retirement on today's Today show.  Could it have something to do with his teachings?  I hope there exists an "Italians with Disabilities Act".  His Holiness should apply, right away, in order to keep his job as long as he is mentally competent.
• Here's a book recommended to me on very good authority: "When Jesus Came to Harvard", by Harry Cox.  More on that later.

SUNDAY, February 6, 2005

• Three items in today's news illustrate the undemocratic foolishness of leaving a legislative vacuum regarding important societal issues for lawyers and judges to fill, either out of necessity or arrogance.  1) A Cook County judge ruled that a couple can sue a clinic that accidentally discarded a viable frozen embryo in a wrongful death action, finding that "a pre-embryo is a 'human being'...whether or not it is implanted in its mother's womb."  (The Day today, Nation, pA4).  2) The City of New York will appeal a Federal Court's finding that legal barriers to "same - sex marriages" are "unconstitutional".  3) The Justice Department will appeal the action of some universities that bar ROTC representatives from meeting with their students, under a distortion of "free speech" doctrine.  "Common Law" was and is an integral part of our Anglo-American body of Law.  But the current increasing reliance on that mechanism (trial by combat) to address seminal issues of society represents a dangerous cop-out by our legislative leaders, our true representatives in this representative democracy.
• Talk about "representative democracy".  The people of Iraq are entering a situation wherein they can once again demonstrate that "in a democracy, the people always get what they deserve".  The majority Shiites and their clerics can now oversee an inclusive government involving Sunnis, Kurds, and secular interests of all stripes; or they can ride herd, pick their new despots, and have a civil war.  The choice is their's.  We hope that their better leaders remember the maxim: "HE WHO SEEKS EQUITY MUST DO EQUITY."  The Israel - Palestine conflict is a clear example of what happens when all parties involved ignore that principle.  "Victory, then Peace" has not worked in thousands of years.  Only "Justice, then Peace" can work.
• And you though that "Defensive Medicine" didn't hurt real people.  This term, a combination of "Above all, do no harm" and "Physician, heal thyself", refers to some physicians in this litigious society playing it safe, through commission (of excess diagnostic work) and through omission (failing to offer risky but promising treatments to their patients).  A clear example of the latter appears in today's The Day: "A Decade After Drug Revolutionizes Stroke Care, Only 3% Get It", by  Marilynn Marchione (Nation, pA9).  Read it and weep.  This situation will not change unless and until too many Americans and their lawyers stop viewing going to the doctor as a national lottery: "See your doctor and chance winning big".  This way, everybody loses!

FRIDAY and SATURDAY, February 4 and 5, 2005

• Ossie Davis. There are some good people that you just take for granted...until their gone.  There is one thing that I heard him say during an NPR interview last year: "You can't float through the world.  You can't be incidental or accidental."   AMEN.
• Secretary of State Rice.  Already I sense a fresh breeze in Foggy Bottom.  Her comments since taking office have been clear, straight-forward and to the point, whether referring to Iran or speaking directly to her Russian counter-part.  I wonder what she will have to say when she gets around to the re-play of the Rwanda genocide now taking place in Darfur...while the U.N. sits around parsing the word in its usual pusillanimous posturing.  See today's interview with Lt. Gen Romeo Dellaire, Force Commander of U.N. Assistance Mission to Rwanda, 1993, and related articles [at NPR's website at] www.npr.org.
• News Flash: "Media's Coverage Has Distorted World's View of Iraqi Reality", by LTC Tim Ryan, Commander, Task Force 2-12 Cavalry, First Cavalry Division in Iraq, in World Tribune.com.  This article is so authoritative that it is reproduced in toto on this web-site under The Involved Citizen, Other Topics)

THURSDAY, February 3, 2005

More on Social Security Reform.  There will continue to be enough facts and half-truths provided by all the players for many months to come.  AARP wants no change, for the sake of "no change".  The Democrats object to a raiding of the SS payroll taxes for two reasons: they want to maintain the integrity of SS; and they don't want lose a massive cookie jar of money with which they have fostered all manner of good and really bad ideas.  The Bush Administration wants to save SS for the coming generations, in no way a shoo-in at the present time...especially considering "Confronting The Costs Of An Aging Population" (by Jonathan Weisman, in The Day today, World/Nation, pA5).  But the current proposal to allow a third of the 12 1/2% annual SS payroll taxes (half from employer and half from employee) to be invested in personal accounts is too much of a risk to the individual and for the nation, in my opinion.  What will be in everyone's interest will be to avoid "fighting word" statements like "dead on arrival" coming from Democrats...and for all to negotiate in good faith so that all the parties can ultimately claim part of the glory of having addressed and resolved this vital issue.  Meanwhile, the retirees and near-retirees might remember what they and their parents learned in the Great Depression: "I FIGHT POVERTY...I WORK!"

GS

THURSDAY, February 3, 2005

• The State of the Union speech.  As predicted, President Bush looks and acts like anything but a "lame duck".  This time, the Democrats had better figure out a different game plan than the obstructionism and demagoguery of recent years...if they ever want to see the inside of the White House again, except as guests.  Also, did they think that they were in the House of Commons, with their boorish behavior at one point in the speech?
• Israel and Palestine.  Something is new is really going on there.  Let's hope.
• Iran, "the world's primary State sponsor of terrorism" (President Bush last night), is continuing to test nuclear - capable material, despite its assurances to the contrary.  And the European nations are simply making believe that it's not true.  Sound familiar?
• With all the heavy news always surrounding us, there was a time when my wife and I could escape to the movies for a little respite.  No more. Hollywood can't make an up-beat, life-affirming story to save its soul; and that may actually be what's at stake.  Today we viewed Million Dollar Baby.  The actress was excellent.  But in the end all was for naught, as Dirty Harry returned with this month's Hollywood political message.  What a waste.  It could have been a great movie.  Too much to ask.

SATURDAY through WEDNESDAY, January 29 through February 2, 2005

• Let me simplify things for myself: READ THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. It's the best collection of news and articles that you can find on a week-day basis.  The most recent example is yesterday's edition, which has several articles on the Social Security debate getting under way...and from commentators on all sides of the issue.  You can't ask for anything more.
• National and international travel: bad and getting worse.  For a sample, see my friend Morgan McGinley's article in The Day on Sunday ("The Woes Of Travel", Sunday, Jan. 30, 2005, Perspective, pB1).  I thought that what was supposed to happen with "de-regulation" of the airlines was "survival of the fittest", with the weak going bankrupt...and not being subsidized to come out.  But we seem to have taken up the same game plan as that of Japan, where the weakest industries have been propped up - to the detriment of the whole Japanese economy - over the last decade. (The most recent example is their efforts on behalf of their weakest auto maker, Mitsubishi.  It might be good or necessary social policy...but it's lousy business: a race to the bottom.  And now we hear that the administration plans to remove the subsidy for Amtrak.  Within the above context, WHY?
• When is that great deliberative body, the Congess of the United States, going to debate something substantive...like the definition of "torture", its applicability to "terrorists", and the relevance and applicability of the Geneva Conventions of War to the entire question?  And what about the death penalty?  In the absence of such debate and resolution on a national level, we have the spectacle of sometimes arrogant judicial legislation.  That is not what our democracy is about.
• President George W. Bush: much more than the Democrats bargained for, and more than the Republicans had a right to expect.  Hang on tight; we're in for a good ride, this time in the right direction. (See WSJ today, Opinion, pA14).