Stitch By Stitch is on our minds this month, as we salute those bright journalists and writers who dismantle the elaborate cloak of illusions fed to us by 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, by folks under the Buttonwood Tree, and by the ever-eager media.
We begin with our favorite television grouch, Andy Rooney, who frequently concludes the "60 Minutes" television
time slot with wit and laughter. One of Rooney's recent comments apparently provoked
over 30,000 pieces of mail as he called Mel Gibson a "wacko" and applied the same
epithet to Pat Robertson for claiming that he had a conversation with God. In response to a comment
about his age (85), Rooney replied: "I didn't get old on purpose. It just happened. If you're
lucky it could happen to you". Read about it at
Alan Greenspan called it "irrational exuberance". Maggie Mahar calls it just plain Bull, in her book
of the same name. Mahar, formerly a Professor of English at Yale University, is now a senior writer
for Barron's. With knowledge and precision she describes the follies on Wall Street and Main Street
that began in the 1980's and eventually led to the recent severe market decline.
Mahar's lively narrative style and depth of understanding give us a fascinating picture of what
went wrong and who is responsible. If you only read one book on investing this year "Bull" will
be your choice. (HarperCollins Books, 2003).
Fund Race will help you find out how much money your friends and neighbors have
contributed to each of the political parties. You can search by neighborhood or by city map, by zip
code or by name. You might even find yourself listed there.
Finally, we salute those feisty individuals that dare to defy the Party Line. Elizabeth
Blackburn was a co-discoverer of the enzyme telomerase which accounts for the "malevolent
immortality" of malignant cancer cells. A distinguished researcher and recipient of numerous
prestigious awards, Blackburn was fired from the President's Council on Bioethics recently,
apparently because of her objection to the introduction of politics into science policy.
Dr. Blackburn's laboratory can be found online at
President Bush's Council on Bioethics is available at
As the Emperor reveals himself to be quite naked, we value those who show us the truth,
stitch by stitch, especially when they leave us in stitches as well.
From the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania comes "Fact Check", subtitled
"Holding Politicians Accountable" and available at
If you haven't heard the word "infoganda" then you aren't watching John Stuart as he lifts the fog
of bulloney on the "Daily Show", seen three nights a week on television's Comedy Central.
Stuart pokes holes into much of the nonsense that passes for news these days, with irreverence
and wit. His courageous insights into media foibles and politicians' fakery are a refreshing
alternative to the pablum that most of the media feed us.