THOUGHTLESS

Gary is very determined!

Undoubtedly, Gary Fulcher has had better starts for the day. Having not thought it was his turn for Thought for the Day, instead of arguing heatedly that everybody else was wrong and he was right, he tried fishing around on the internet. No fish. Not only that, but the merciless Dennis Kurimai was right on him for recognition $$$. Prez Mark ended the agony by lurching into the Pledge of Allegiance, which is always a good Thought.

Gary is nothing, if not persistent and relentless. At the end of the meeting he offered the following gem, which unfortunately was only heard by an anonymous non-reporter: "Men are like wine, some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age." This by none other than Pope John XXIII! You and I can drink to that, Gary.

GUESTS

Rotarians: John Sherry, Lafayette Nooner

Anna Stevenson, Lafayette Noonette                      

Other:  Debbie Wiener, buddy of Buddy

Lei Hurd, ditto

Ashley Englehart - Daughter of Hays

Gladys Lam, $200 friend of Home Team and John Kallio

HAPPY NOVEMBER

Leander always has a good time

 Leander Hauri is always a generous guy, but so far this month he's outdoing himself.  Apparently he looked everywhere on his birthday but all restaurants were closed - EXCEPT our beloved Postino.  Don't know what they served him, but it must have been good as he kicked in $40 to the club and $300 to the Foundation.

Ashley Englehart's birthday was on the same day as Leander's. Her celebration involved a spa and other luxuries. Don't know how much of that Daddy Hays took care of, but he did benefit the club with $20.

Better win 'em all, Skip

Mark accused Skip McCowan of getting a promotion. He clarified that it wasn't a promotion, just a lot of added work with no pay.  It is an honor, however, as he is on the board of directors for the Defense Research Institute.  Not defending our nation, perhaps, but defending the defense barristers, which is another worthy cause. 

Bob Riegg wasn't aware of his 19th anniversary with the club, and didn't demonstrate much celebrating. He did offer up $20 however.

John Sherry, the Nooner invader, announced a deal that can't be refused - the pony race at Golden Gate Fields on 11/11. $35 covers valet parking, club admission, prime rib buffet, and your picture with the winning horse. GGF will donate 10% of admission fees from Rotarians to Rotary International. John has five tickets left.

Choosing Rotary over Cal, George?

Trying to outdo this, George Chaffey offered two free tickets to the Cal Bear game against the Washington Huskies tonight. Not a hot item. He then offered two to the Oregon game next week.  That created a little more stir; a quack or two were heard.

Bob Riegg announced that Budd McKenzie, our hero in Afghanistan, is having a container packing party on Sunday, but it's doubtful this tabloid will reach anyone in time to do any good.  A great cause anyway.

Similarly, by the time you see this, John Fazel's Rush Ranch barn project will probably have already happened - it began at 8:15 a.m. Saturday.

Big thanks went to Hays and Leander for the venue and the administration, respectively, of our magnificent TGITLFOTM last Friday.

That was sweet, eh David?

But happiest of all -

Was David Waal -

Who pulled the White Ball.

A BETTER AMERICA

Even Mark thinks Buddy is a little goofy today

Buddy Burke, our out-of-control program chair, introduced the speaker as an unemployed truck driver's helper and heroin addict. This bit of Georgian humor apparently was intended to make a contrast with the real accomplishments of Marty Nemko, who is the only person in the Commonwealth Club's 110-year history to be asked to speak eight times. A renowned career coach and author for many years, you can hear him as host of "Work With Marty Nemko" every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. on KALW 91.7 FM. You can also see him walking the Reservoir six days a week with his dog, Einstein. He is a Paul Harris Fellow by way of his wife, Dr. Barbara Nemko (who actually is a Rotarian).

Marty knows how to handle this crowd

Despite his laurels in the career counseling field, Marty apparently went through a mid-life crisis, for he urgently felt the need to do something fresh.  Like making a better America.  Better than the one where everything is watered down in order to reach political agreement. Hence the appearance of his newest book; "What's the Big Idea? Disruptive Proposals for a Better America."  To be exact, 39 disruptive proposals are made, of which we were about to hear four.

Proposal # One: A better way to elect our leaders. First, limit all campaigns to two weeks, and have them funded not by special interests, but entirely by taxpayers. Have an unbiased organization such as Consumers Union communicate voting records and platforms. Make debates free-form, like running a meeting, which shows how a winning candidate will act. Invite participants from the two traditional parties and at least two new parties. The goal would be to find leaders who are ideologically diverse, better at running things, and look to what is good for the nation as a whole.

Proposal # Two: This one wasn't real flattering toward higher education as it now exists. Marty asserted that behind the ivy, things are scurrilous. Universities tend to care more about big money, research and prestige, rather than students. They are aided and abetted by the media. The proposal is for a college report card - rigorous posting of information on finances and student growth (which presently is very little between freshman and senior years). The idea is to see what percentage of students really do graduate in four years and become employed. This comparison of cost against value added could turn the world's most overrated education system to greatness. Skip McCowan asserted that UC Davis changes its statistics by hiring recent graduates for a day. A tiny bit tongue and cheek, perhaps? Marty added that the UC system also plays a game where average SAT scores refer to "regularly admitted" students, not factoring in more challenged groups.

Proposal # Three: Reinvent homework, which most students hate. Provide 30 minutes of online immersion, with a world class, creative teacher available to every kid in America at night. Then during the day, the local teacher in effect reviews and reinforces the homework. 

Big ideas to get the juices flowing

Proposal # Four: Our income tax system is crazy, featuring cheating, long hours of preparation, audits, CPAs. This should be replaced with a system producing the same revenue, a tax on consumption, a VAT on everything except the most basic items. The pugnacious Robert Riegg thereupon started a debate, asserting the VAT in Europe is unpopular because it is regressive, and Marty's proposal would protect only the poor, not the middle class. The conclusion seemed to be that the devil is in the details, and success might depend on the rates that are set.

What with these four, not to mention the other 35 proposals, you'd think that Marty's life philosophy would indeed be devilish in its details. Not so.  His idol is his father, who as a Polish teenager in 1939 was dragged out of his home and together with most other Jews, lost his parents.  After the war, he came to America with nothing.  He got employment at a Harlem shirt factory and started his rise in the world by saving, buying shirts which he resold on the street, and somehow studying English.  As a teenager, Marty asked his father why he never talked about the Holocaust. The answer: They took five years of his life and he was never going to give them one minute more. He learned to always look forward...never look back.  That's the simple, bottom line. Thank you, Marty!