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on how those Cantor Fitzgerald commercials take him back to the greedy years some people call “the 80’s.” I for one don’t think the greed ended there. Look at the news today – WorldCom “misstated” 3.8 billion greenbacks in transfers to make their bottom line look better. If you can’t bring home the bacon, you have to cook the books. The CFO of my old company didn’t like that joke. It hit a little too close to home. She was a forensic accountant who was hired to make our financials look good for potential buyers. The company got bought for a whopping $100 million in 1999. The company had 55 employees and about $10 million in annual revenue. The owner had become rich beyond his wildest fantasies. And we found out later the IRS was ready to take over the business just days before we got bought. The owner didn’t pay payroll taxes for the whole year leading up to the sale. He was in deep weeds, he rolled the dice, and he beat the odds. I think he had a little help from way, way south of here. By that I mean from hell. He’s always been very lucky. About a month after the company got bought a bunch of us are out to dinner with the owner. The check comes and he jokes that he can’t pay it because he’s living on a fixed income. “Yeah, we’re the ones who fixed it for you,” I say. The cachinnation occured with such gusto that everyone flailed uncontrollably and spilled their beers. Three people at the table laughed so hard that they threw up. The former owner of our firm was red-faced like a chubby little devil.

The culture of greed has been with us for a while. It’s as much a poison to a company as it is to the soul of an individual. Of course none of us knew the IRS was about to shut down the company – we didn’t know anything about the financials. We just did our jobs and took care of the customers. I imagine Enron was like before the unpleasantness there. Ditto for Worldcom. You put some tough-minded and greedy people at the top in companies and you get great results or you get calamity. The fallout from the Worldcom debacle is going to be felt in the markets for a long time to come. And for all us little people who invest in the stock market that pushes back the date we might one day retire.

I can’t knock capitalism. As an economic system it’s the best we humans have, but it’s like a gun – what people do with it might be bad. Democracy can be described this way too.

I won’t criticize the owner of Cantor Fitzgerald. I haven’t seen the commercials, but seeing this company that was ravaged by the 9-11 attacks rebuild itself gives me hope. I think this is a different situation than the 80’s. And the 90’s. And today at Worldcom.

First space rocks start heading our way, then Pavarotti retires. Now the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. I expect all the canned goods, bread, bottle and TP to be gone from the grocery store when I get there tonight.

to pursue a career in fashion design.

That’s a joke. I couldn’t resist with that hideous vest thing he is wearing. He’s looks like God’s piñata in that outfit.

The real story is here. He is way past him prime in so many ways. The story of his divorce is so.. so… American.

I just started yesterday with a company I started doing business with in 1999. I’ll get into more pedestrian details about it at another time. What is amazing is that everyone who works there is Christian – it’s quite a little ecumenical community! They eat together, pray together, some of them go to church together and this has an amazing effect on the esprit de corps and their productivity. One guy is Catholic, there are several Evangelicals and one Episcopalian. The last is a young woman who is as sweet as pie and is quite an athlete. She gets up at 4 in the A.M. every day to swim for an hour and a half, then runs or bikes for a spell in the evening. One of the men told me she doesn’t go to church because she feels so close to God when she is exercising. “To each his own,” he says. I was thinking more like “To each His own!” Jesus founded a Church when he walked this Earth. He wants us to worship Him in a certain manner. He wished for His sacrifice to be celebrated in a sacramental fashion. Can I question anyone’s love for Christ or their faith? I can’t. But I can ask, “What happens when you are running and you don’t feel close to God anymore?” Maybe when I get to know her better I will.

More on this later tonight if I am able. My brain is toast from acclimating to the new job – it’s quite a learning curve. I do have to thank God for giving me this opportunity to work and grow with such a fine company. I am shattered by His grace.

According to this 15th century fresco in the San Petronio basilica in Bologna, Italy, Muhammad is. And who isn’t too happy about that? Muslims – that’s who!

I would like to see a picture of the whole fresco. This photo from cnn.com doesn’t look complete. And the blue demon in the bottom left corner look remarkably like Shrek…