Let's Use Shame To Fight Covid-19

Wear a mask, wash your hands, keep six feet apart, don't gather in groups. 

Pretty darn simple but some

among us just don't want to play by those rules and its been demonstrated over and over they are risking the health of others. 

What can be done? During the 1918 pandemic San Franciscans refusing to wear masks risked being hauled into special pandemic courts and slapped with heavy fines or some days in jail. Even though I rather like that idea, I realize such a move would be rather difficult in today's overly litigious society. Police have better things to do than develop writer's cramp handing out citations (although they should step up in egregious situations such as large parties.)

But there is shame, one of the most powerful tools we have to regulate behavior. Shame, what Sartre called the "immediate shudder which runs through me from head to foot" is fundamental and painful. Even the thought of the shame attached to a certain act is enough to deter someone from dancing down the wrong path.

Delivering shame is easy. Localized web sites and Youtube channels showing people flaunting the rules needed to fight Covid-19. Is your neighbor hosting 15 at a mid-summer dinner party? Grab a snap and post away, including the address. Don't know the names of the young jerks gathering at the beach or park? That's OK, just zoom in on the faces. This could be bigger than the Karen or Instant Karma vids so enjoyable to watch and actually have some impact on a serious issue. 

There's always a downside, right? Pretty minimal in this case. The infraction is evident in the video or photo which was taken in public. Malice can hardly be attached because the poster likely doesn't know the people involved in the group hug or kegger. Crazy people seeking revenge? Don't require registration to post. 

What fun. And for such a good cause. 

 

"Hair" Then and Now

A New York Times story on a revival of the '60s musical “Hair” and its social context includes an interview with Gail Furman, who admittedly was contemptuous of those who fought in Vietnam. “I was very angry if people didn’t burn their draft cards,” she said.

Today, psychologist Furman counsels veterans retuning of the Middle East wars for whom “she feels sympathy and support.”

Like Furman and millions of others who grew up during the “Hair” era, my opinion of people who serve in the military has evolved. Sadly, it took us two unjust wars and 40 years to reach a conclusion we should have understood intuitively.

Why I'm The Perfect Corporate Director

Yahoo's board sheepishly followed CEO Jerry Yang's lead and voted to reject Microsoft's takeover offer. I am sure part of the directors' decision process was based on what they might lose in compensation. Fees, options, that kind of stuff.

While understandable, such personal considerations are all too prominent among so-called independent directors of publicly held companies. And they are wrong. So, I offer myself as the perfect corporate director.

What makes me perfect is my personal philosophy, best expressed by Neil McCauley, a lifetime criminal portrayed by Robert De Niro in the movie Heat.

"A guy once told me: do not have any attachments, do not have anything in your life you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you spot the heat around the corner."

A Fantasy Job Ad

We seek a highly professional (insert job) to help take our company to the next level.

The ideal candidate will have at least 10 years of relevant experience coupled with a track record of increasing responsibility that goes beyond mere job titles. Deep management experience is a must because he or she will be responsible for building and leading a diverse team.

This position requires energy, creativity and first-rate organizational skills.

Note: Regardless of other qualifications, applicants must prove they were born on or before Jan. 1, 1968 to be considered. We do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, country of origin, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or disability.

Executive Privilege Not

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Loyal even after leaving the White House, President Bush's former political director Sara M. Taylor obeyed his instructions and declined to answer most of Congress' questions Wednesday about her role in the firings of federal prosecutors.

I don't understand why ex-White House employees think they get a pass on this kind of thing. Under this scenario, a floral arranger could refuse to discuss presidential flower preferences if George told him to keep his mouth shut.

Scooter's Commuted Sentence

He doesn't have to go to prison.

But he remains a convicted felon, which means his law license is toast, his right to vote is gone and he can't go quail hunting with his former boss because he can't be in possession of a firearm.

Sounds like enough for now. For a guy like him.

Mary Cheney Speaks the Truth

“This is a baby. This is a blessing from God. It is not a political statement. It is not a prop to be used in a debate, on either side of a political issue. It is my child.”

-- Vice presidential daughter Mary Cheney, a lesbian, responding to comments on her decision to become pregnant.

Enough With The Execution Debate

The Iraqi government says its decision to hang two of Saddam's convicted cronies is irrevocable. The pundits will once again decry what they believe is an injustice. I don't get it.

1. Yes, the death penalty is wrong, stupid, and accomplishes nothing. Why anyone would expect the Iraqis to agree with that statement is beyond me.

2. Yes, their trial was a sham. So were the Nuremburg and Tokyo trials after World War II.

3. Yes, Saddam's execution was undignified. By definition, all executions are undignified.

Stupidity Is No Defense

The Wall Street Journal today chronicles the resignations of two more corporate executives who guaranteed themselves big profits by backdating options grants. This time it was Mark King, CEO of Affiliated Computer Services Inc., and Warren Edwards, the company's CFO.

Edwards lawyer says, "He engaged in no intentional misconduct and acted in good faith at all times in connection with the company's longstanding and historic options granting practices." King’s lawyer says, "He acted at all times in good faith and did not engage in any intentional misconduct."

These lads were running a $5.4 billion corporation. Now they declare they were too dumb or too naïve to understand that backdating option grants is illegal unless fully and promptly disclosed to shareholders.

Dennis Hastert in the Private Sector

Let’s say Dennis Hastert is the CEO of a $1 billlion, publicly traded corporation. He is informed that one of his most visible executives is sending “inappropriate” emails to a teenage boy.

Hastert instructs one of his aides to tell the errant executive to stop sending the emails.

Unfortunately, the bad boy exec not only doesn’t stop, but ratchets up the sexual content of the emails. Eventually, some of his missives hit the press and scandal erupts.

Hastert's knowledge of the issue also is reported. The company’s share price tumbles, employee morale plummets, and customers wonder if they want to do business with a company so poorly managed.

Hastert is asked in for a chat with the board.

Chairman: What steps did you take after the admonishment?

Hastert: I assumed that he would obey my instructions.

Chairman: You didn’t speak to him directly, follow up in any way, instruct anyone else to follow up and report back or take any other steps to resolve or monitor this potentially explosive situation.

Hastert: Obviously I was wrong.

Chairman: Yes, Dennis, you were. Please excuse us now because we have a personnel matter to discuss. Keep yourself available.

Mark Foley and the GOP

Should we show at least a soupcon of compassion for Mark Foley, disgraced ex-congressman, proto-pederast and, he says, alcoholic? Only on one point, his agonized refusal to admit his homosexuality.

As for the GOP leadership, well, it's hypocrisy of a far more cynical sort.

Basic human compassion for Foley is qualified only because there is no information about whether he ever had sex with boys. Fringe arguments from NAMBLA aside, orientation aside, sex with adolescents is wrong and illegal.

But we shouldn't wait to condemn the House GOP leadership. It knew months ago of Foley's emails and simply brushed away his "inappropriate" writings with a "knock it off." After all, he was a solid conservative vote and a mortal lock for a seventh term.

Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans defend their cynicism by saying they knew Foley was acting improperly, but they never saw any emails about "stripping down" or using the word "horny."

Republicans have already lost any claim to fiscal conservatism. Now their conerstone of family values is crumbling. All that's left is their plan to bring God into government. Given their track record, the next scandal will probably involve satanic rituals in the members' cloakroom.

The HP (Wrong) Way

Hewlett-Packard’s image as the Goody Two-shoes of corporate American is in ruins and the company is better for it.

A couple of generations of PR and marketing savants convinced investors, the news media and company employees that Bill and Dave’s management style and ethics, forged when the company was housed in a garage, remained the foundation of the company as it morphed into an $86-billion global behemoth.

The spin rate increased as the scandal developed.

Every time CEO Mark Hurd, former Chairman Patricia Dunn and other directors, executives and their hangers-on opened their mouths about the leak probe, they declared that stealing phone numbers, bugging reporters’ computers, and tailing people violated the lofty standards informing the legendary “HP Way.”

Next came denials they ordered or were aware of the nasty things done on their behalf (the Fifth Amendment of the powerful). Then they accepted ultimate responsibility using hackneyed phrases about ship captains and dollar bills. Finally, they sniffled, “I let the company down.”

Such formulaic and cynical responses demonstrated that the “HP Way” – whatever that was -- left the building long ago.

Now, Dunn says she was dismayed anyone connected with HP would employ allegedly illegal techniques. To date, she’s offered no evidence that she or anyone else referenced ethics and standards before or during the snooping. She fought like a tiger to remain on the board, probably because an unprompted resignation might indicate greater responsibility than she wanted to admit.

Hurd fumbled his response from the beginning. At first he said he was only vaguely aware of the investigation. Then he said he knew a little more than he let on initially but never read the report on the mess. That means he wants us to believe that as the CEO of an $86-billion global corporation he didn’t care much about the details of a probe into market-moving leaks from the boardroom. It's sort of a Ken Lay-lite defense.

The company’s top lawyer resigned and is invoking the Fifth. The company lawyer directly responsible for ethics resigned as has the person who supervised the investigations. HP’s chief outside counsel is hiding behind a PR blitz to position him as the eminence grise of Silicon Valley.

Somebody once or currently connected with HP likely will end up with a felony record. The legal sharks are hungry. All the senior managers and the directors are personally and properly embarrassed.

So what is good about this?

HP's true nature -- no better or worse than any other large organization -- has been revealed. No longer will it have an extra half-ounce of credibility on its side of the scales when problems or questions arise because that weight resulted from an image rather than substance. In short, it will have to work damn hard for a long time to earn the trust of its customers, employees and shareholders.

Which is what Dave and Bill did in the beginning.