"You Win Some, You Lose Some"

From the mouth of a local hero, Darvin Moon, who lost in the final round of the World Series of Poker, to a 21-year old, “wunderkid” -- the youngest champ in the history of the series.

Although Moon is a logger, I’ll forgive him for that. He’s the real deal. The kind of guy those of us who have to live more inside the beltway than the woods of Garrett County, Maryland, have come to love about Garrett County. With his five million dollar haul, he’s not looking to do too much for himself. He will upgrade his 14 x 70 trailer to a modular home, maybe get a custom Corvette. But he wants to spend the money “bettering other people’s lives… putting relatives through college … possibly getting a youth rec center up and running…”

He plays for the fun of it. Shouldn’t we all?

Believe it or not, I put my hands on a Southwest Airline article I ripped out of the magazine back in 2003 about the top female poker player, Annie Duck. Her Winning Tips apply more than just to poker (my ruminations in italics)...

1. Play tight. … be willing to fold bad or mediocre cards.

Relationship, job, whatever… if it’s just giving you mediocre returns for your investment, it’s time to fold.

2. Have fun… if you’re not, quit.

We spend far too much time at work to not have fun – if you haven’t laughed today at work, take a moment to wonder why.

3. Practice… nothing beats experience.

Practice does make perfect… or at least better. And yes, experience always comes in handy, but without #4, experience is just old.

4. Read as much as you possibly can.

If you’re not about life-time learning, your experience is like a pond without a source of fresh water. Stagnant. Experience only gets better with more learning.

5. Be focused… don’t just pay attention to your cards. Study your opponents, the faces, and body language, tendencies in the way they play…

It’s why I force myself to watch Fox News.

6. Learn from other players… regardless of whether a player is good or bad, they always have something to show you.

I’ve learned more from bad bosses (how not to do things), than from good ones.

7. Err on the side of aggression … it’s better to be a raiser than a caller because you pick up a lot of other ways to win besides having the best hand.

Take the risk. Never underestimate the power of being bold. Make the move even if you don’t know where you’ll end up – you’ll be surprised at the results.

Courage on Climate

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) courageously stepped forward to work on a bipartisan climate and energy bill with Senator John Kerry (D-MA) and Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT). Among many eloquent and important statements Senator Graham has made about why he wants to work collaboratively on solutions, he recently wrote, “As a conservative, I have always believed we can and should be better stewards of God's creation. I also know we can strengthen our economy and national security by becoming energy independent."

Senator Graham is not about “No.” He’s about, No, but …let’s keep working. He thinks the Kerry-Boxer and the Waxman-Markey bills aren’t the answer. Instead of joining with other Republicans in the party of “No,” he says, if “we work together …. we can balance environmental protection with the needs of business.”

“If we work together.” So he’s willing to work - isn’t that what he gets paid to do?

And for this, the Republican Party of Charleston County, South Carolina passed a resolution censuring Senator Graham because he has “weakened the Republican brand.” Uh?

And what brand would that be? A brand that doesn’t step up to the plate and work on the tough issues. A brand that is more about obstructionism than constructive dialogue. More about misinformation, dishonesty and fear-mongering. A brand that walks away and doesn’t deliver.

That Republican brand might want to revisit its roots and re-launch a new and improved brand based on the wisdom of one of its own, Abraham Lincoln who said: The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.

Thank you Senator Graham for your commitment to do your job as an elected official and to step up and help find solutions to the climate crisis.

Leadership

Been thinking a lot about leadership these days …reminded me about The Question – posed a bit ago by Steven Pearlstein and Ben Bradlee in the Washington Post:

If there was a Nobel Prize for Leadership, what would the criteria be and whom would you nominate?

Alan Webber, founding editor of Fast Company, focused on “moral authority.” He noted, “It may be the quality least in supply these days.” Howard Gardner, Harvard professor emphasized “leaders who enable others to lead.” Daisy Wademan Dowling, executive director of leadership at a Fortune 500 company noted that “we do a lousy job of recognizing people engaged in the real work of leadership: building organizations, developing people, motivating teams, working in the “white space” between bureaucratic lines, laboring relentlessly – and often thanklessly – for a greater good.” She looked to a servant leader and nominated White House Chief Usher, Rear Admiral Stephen W. Rochon.

Who would you nominate for Nobel Peace Prize for Leadership?

The Other Side

Many of us when we hear “The Other Side” think of that place beyond the here and now… the place where those that have passed on from this realm live on eternally. ‘The other side” is a place of peace and enlightenment.

Unfortunately for those of us who have also been following the climate and energy legislation this phrase has meant anything but enlightenment. There was Senator Barbara Boxer and all her Democratic colleagues referencing “the other side” continually during the Senate Environmental and Public Works committee meetings this week to mark up the Kerry-Boxer climate and energy bill. “The other side” was a row of empty seats. The "other side" was absent – boycotting the committee meetings because they wanted more EPA analysis on the bill, despite 340,000 pages of analysis from 50 modeled scenarios. Didn’t seem sufficient to the Republicans despite the fact the committee reported out the previous climate bill (the Climate Security Act, or otherwise known as Lieberman-Warner) in November 2007 before any EPA analysis was done (in March 2008).

The “other side” refused to recognize that the EPA analysis on the Kerry-Boxer bill was actually unprecedented. You could note Senator Boxer’s frustration by the number of times she reminded her colleagues this analysis was “unprecedented.”

The “other side" didn’t think the EPA economic analysis was satisfactory, and yet didn’t bother to take their seats and ask any questions when an EPA staffer appeared before the committee specifically to answer questions on the economic analysis. No Republicans bothered to show up. Evidently they were getting more satisfaction by staying away and abdicating their responsibilities. They didn't show up despite the fact that Chairwoman Boxer noted that Majority Leader Harry Reid had committed to another EPA analysis once all the related bills from numerous other committees are melded together for a final bill to be considered by the full Senate. Still a no-show by the Republicans.

Senator Boxer wasn’t intimated and she didn’t back down. She carried out her responsibilities as Chairwoman of the Committee and moved the bill out of committee on Thursday. In a statement, Senator Boxer noted, a majority of the Committee believes that S. 1733, and the efforts that will be built upon it, will move us away from foreign oil imports that cost Americans one billion dollars a day, it will protect our children from pollution, create millions of clean energy jobs, and stimulate billions of dollars of private investment. We are pleased that despite the Republican boycott, we have been able to move the bill.”

Unfortunately, the “other side” still needs to be enlightened on the reasons why a climate and energy bill is so critical to our economic and environmental security.