by admin | May 25, 2007 |
I was asked to speak at a Memorial Day celebration in the small town near our ranch. I guess they had gotten the word that I was an easy mark when there was a podium and a microphone involved. For reasons unclear to me at the time, I had a hard time deciding whether or not to accept. I’m sure they weren’t looking for much. A few words in memory of those members of America’s military who had sacrificed in our behalf and in celebration of those who still served. No jokes, no pithy stories. Just a few words to make people feel a little better. Before making my decision, I spent more than a little time trying to figure out what I would say and how I would say...
by admin | May 19, 2007 |
These words uttered by General Douglas McArthur as he left Corregidor for Australia in 1941 shaped his place in history as well as the strategy of the Pacific Command and his own behavior for the next three years. It also pretty much sums up what most Americans know about the Republic of the Philippines today. I first visited Manila almost exactly twenty years ago as I was surveying possible new locations to plant the my company’s flag in Asia. My mind was pretty much made up as I left the doors of the worst airport I’d seen in Asia and entered what Dante might have called the gates of hell. It surely had the same climatic conditions, and the sights,...
by admin | Apr 15, 2007 |
S. decided without much discussion that another morning of birding was out of the question for her. The downtown shops were a powerful morning attraction, and knowing that we had the afternoon booked for birding at the Fennessey Ranch was the clincher. S. dropped me at the docks to join Capt. T and his boat the Skimmer about daybreak. I was lugging all my gear, and he and his first mate were prepping the boat. In a quiet moment before the rest of the group arrived, I chatted with him, asking how long he’d been doing this, and he quickly surmised that I really meant why are you doing this? He presented himself as an outgoing, well educated, aggressive...
