100 Days

In late July, I was handed the news (which I wrote about on August 1, as the kick-off of my resumption of the somewhat sporadic blogging process I've participated in the past few years): that I was diagnosed as Type 2 diabetic, thanks in large part to (in no particular order) poor eating habits, poor (nonexistent) workout habits, and carrying a spare tire or two around my midsection for what seemed an eternity.

I was, essentially, mandated by my physician to do two things: (1) consume food more wisely, and (2) get my butt off the couch and into the gym. Not exactly her words, but the message was loud and clear. To paraphrase Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption, I was left with two choices: get busy living, or get busy dying.

And I'm not quite ready to do the latter.

So with the combination of research off the Internet, consultation with good friends like Tim Olson, Angela Fetzko and Chris Grindrod, and downloading a free app for my iPhone called MyFitnessPal (by which to track my daily food intake and calorie burning), I began my quest to drop some 75 pounds and lower my Glucose, Cholesterol, Triglycerides, and Hemoglobin A1c. Our plan - that is, the plan set forth by my physician - was to stay away from any sort of medication for the time being; to focus on better eating and a pattern of cardio and exercise. Some of the primary things I've done since that date include (but are not limited to):

- The complete avoidance of anything considered "fast food." The closest I've come to violating this was in August when returning from a debate coaches meeting in Orlando with several fellow coaches; we stopped on Florida's Turnpike for a lunch break, and I went with a fairly healthy (well, fairly healthy for Florida's Turnpike) grilled chicken salad option from the Chicken Kitchen. Absent from my life the past few months: the BK Lounge, Micky D's, the Little Red Haired Girl, and every other drive-fhrough icon one can present.

- The severe reduction in starches and sugars. When purchasing 93% lean ground beef from Publix (the better for making burgers on the Hamilton Beach kitchen counter grill), I don't buy the buns. Nary a bagel can be found in Casa del Gaba. I've purchased healthy Publix stoneground whole wheat bread for those occasional sandwiches (the better to have some carbs in the diet), but for the most part, bread is not a part of my life. And speaking of the HB grill ...

- Lots more grilled chicken. The counter grill has been literally worked to death (although rumors of that death have been greatly exaggerated). A regular staple has been grilled boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a side of steamed veggies; it's fairly quick to put together (less than 20 minutes), and tastes pretty good with some Mrs. Dash seasoning to boot.

- Lots more salads. This applies both at home and on the road; when at my favorite watering hole, Duffy's Bar & Grill, I've consistently gone with the Chop Chop Drafthouse Salad (sans bacon) with balsamic vinaigrette dressing. When in Baltimore, I went for a grilled chicken salad at P.F. Chang's. I enjoyed several such dishes in Gainesville this past weekend. In short, when out and about, I'm making wise decisions about what to eat.

- Working out. And by "working out" I mean "getting to Planet Fitness a few times a week and doing 30-45 minutes of cardo." I don't go as often as I should ... but I do go more often than I used to.

- MyFitnessPal. I've religiously entered meals, snacks and the sort into the iPhone app (which synchronizes with its web presence), so I can fairly accurately track how many calories I've had per meal and day, how much sugar I've consumed, carbs, protein, the works. I'm sure it's not 100 percent accurate (some of the meals I need to estimate statistics), but I'm equally sure it's pretty darn close. More important, I'm focused on what and how much I eat regularly now, which is truly the bigger picture. Additionally, the most difficult thing about this is, being single, I don't have someone around to push me daily. However, through using MyFitnessPal and posting daily updates about achieving being under my daily calorie goal (2,100) on Twitter and Facebook, and receiving supportive comments and encouragement from family and friends via those social networking sites, I am given a stronger focus and ability to stay on track.

So, what's all this mean? On Monday morning, I went in to have blood drawn, for the "three months later" review. This morning, my physician's office called with the results. Here they are, 100 days later:

Glucose: down from 119 to 108; this is still high (I'm aiming for 65-99).
Total cholesterol: down from 224 to 151; this is within range (100-199).
Triglycerides: down from 240 to 122; this is within range (0-149).
HDL cholesterol: down from 52 to 39; this is within range (albeit barely; I need to be at or above 39).
LDL cholesterol: down from 124 to 88; this is within range (0-99).
Hemoglobin A1c: down from 7.2 to 6.6; this is still a bit high (diabetes is anything over 6.4; I'm aiming for 4.8-5.6).
Vitamin D: up from 12.3 to 55.5; this is within range (I needed to get in the 32-100 range).
Weight: down from 275 to 233; aiming for 200. (OK, that wasn't part of the blood work, but I tossed it in for good measure.)

So, where do I go from here? Well, I haven't achieved my two primary goals yet: no longer being diabetic, and hitting the 200-pound mark. I will be going in for followup blood work in February (another three months), and believe I can reach the weight goal by Memorial Day weekend 2012. Meanwhile, I continue doing what I've been doing; just because I've had some success doesn't mean I can lay off now. I can't fall off the wagon; I want to continue being busy living.

Won't SOMEBODY Please Think Of The Poor, Starving Banks?

Dear Contributor:

The “Wall Street Banker Adoption Program” desperately needs your charitable assistance. With protesters marching on Wall Street, now is the time for us to show the world just how much we really care. What those CEOs are forced to endure - it’s just not right!

Hundreds of high roller bankers in our very own country are living at or just below the CEO seven-figure salary poverty line. And as if that weren’t bad enough, they may be deprived of pay for several weeks - possibly a whole year! For example, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan has seen his bank's stock halved since the start of 2011.

But now you can help!

For only about $5,000 a day, you can help keep an impoverished banker economically viable during his (or her) time of need.

$5,000 a day may not seem like a lot of money to you, but to a Wall Street banker it could mean the difference between a vacation spent golfing in bug-infested Florida or a life-renewing Mediterranean cruise.

For you, $5,000 is nothing more than two months rent or mortgage payments. But to a banker paid for by money looted through toxic mortgages, trading debacles and derivative madness, $5,000 a day won’t even replace the average CEO salary, and they certainly can’t be expected to survive on Congressional assistance anymore.

Your commitment of only $5,000 a day will enable a Wall Street tycoon to buy that HDTV home entertainment center, trade in the ratty year-old Lexus for a new Ferrari, or enjoy a well deserved weekend in Rio.

“How will I really know that I am helping?”

Each month, you will receive a complete financial report on the banker you sponsor. Detailed information about his (or her) stocks, bonds, 401-k, real estate and other investment holdings will be mailed to your home. You’ll also get information on how s/he plans to invest the $50 million and-of-year bonus s/he will receive in 2012.

“How will s/he know that I am helping?”

Your banker will be told that s/he has a SPECIAL FRIEND who just wants to help in a time of need. Although the banker won’t care to know your name, s/he will be able to make collect calls to your home via a special operator just in case additional funds are needed for unexpected expenses.

Simply fill out the form below.

=================================

YES, I want to help! I would like to sponsor a Starving Wall Street Banker. My preference is checked below:

[ ] CEO

[ ] COO

[ ] Senior Advisor*

[ ] Executive Officer**

[ ] Chairman of the Board***

[ ] I'll sponsor a banker most in need.

* Higher cost

** Much higher cost

*** Please call our 900 number to ask for the cost of a specific banker.

=================================

Please charge the account listed below $5,000 (plus all applicable taxes he may have to pay) per day for a Wall Street banker for the duration of the financial crisis.

Please send me a picture of the banker I have sponsored, along with a bank logo, a Gordon Gekko poster, and my very own Wall Street Trader ID badge to wear proudly on my lapel.

[ ] MasterCard

[ ] Visa

[ ] American Express

[ ] Discover Card

[ ] Diner's Club

Your Name: __________________________________

Telephone Number: ____________________________

Account Number: ______________ Exp. Date: ______

Signature: ____________________________________


Mail completed form to Wall Street Banker Adoption Program (dba/Greedy Wall Street Saviors, Inc.), or call 1-900-GRD-GOOD now to enroll by phone.

Note: Sponsors are not permitted to contact the banker they have sponsored, either in person or by other means including, but not limited to, telephone calls, letters, fax, e-mail, or third parties. Keep in mind that the banker you have sponsored will be much too busy enjoying his/her free time to be bothered talking to you, thanks to your generous donations.

Legal: This contract will be enforced to the full extent of the law and is binding upon your heirs for the duration of the banker's life. The IRS has ruled that these contributions are not tax deductible.

8:46 am, September 11, 2001

David Traill and I remember that morning, and all that went with it as a result. We were both teaching at South Fork High School, and the bell had just dismissed first period. I left my classroom to go to the main office, to sign in and collect whatever paperwork was in my mailbox. The office receptionist looked at me as I came in and said, "A plane just hit the World Trade Center."

I gathered my stuff and headed to Traill's room, figuring he might want to know the news. I assumed, based on the way it was presented, that a smaller plane - like a Cessna - had crashed into the building somehow, or perhaps the pilot had suffered a heart attack. As I got to Traill's room, he was standing at his door letting students in. I told him what I had heard, and he responded, "My television isn't working, let's go to your room." I said, "No problem, I'm on my planning period."

Traill, his IB History class and I made our way to my room and we turned on the television. There we witnessed the surreal events and visuals that have since become etched in the collective American soul - of the continual replay of the second airplane, of flames, of people jumping from the upper floors of the WTC to their death, of the two towers crumbling to the ground. Traill commented that Osama bin Laden and al-Queda were likely behind the attack; to the students, this may have been the first time they'd ever heard of the man - I don't know.

The talking heads on the screen never mentioned him or them; they only talked about what we were witnessing, about President Bush's presence in Florida, about the swift - and, ultimately deadly - attempts by New York's finest to try and save people. Slowly, more information began to make its way to us - a plane that clipped the Pentagon, a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. It was a numbing, chilling effect.

Soon the bell rang. The students headed to their third period; Traill to his room to teach; and my debate students slowly worked their way into the classroom, the television still showing the images. We discussed what had happened so far; shortly thereafter, I received a notice from the front office telling me to turn the television off and go back to teaching what I normally would be teaching in the classroom. I ignored the note, and for another 20 minutes or so we continued to be mesmerized by the screen ... until the television went black. Apparently, our superintendent, in her infinite wisdom, had ordered all televisions in the entire district to be shut down. Undeterred, we turned to discussing the debate topic - weapons of mass destruction - and tied the events of the morning into the lesson.

After school got out, Traill and I went back to his place and continued to watch and listen to the events of the day. Hours later, it was still a strange, empty feeling of confusion, disappointment, sadness, anger.

Traill and I religiously relive that day, and the aftermath: the coming together of South Fork to build patriotic floats for our homecoming parade, scheduled for only nine days later; the "We the People" t-shirts and paper chains and other various fundraisers we undertook for families of the victims; our superintendent's appearance on the Today show, where she tried to defend her decision and dubbed South Fork "the other school"; and the panning of our superintendent for her actions, which included a scathing newspaper story in the Palm Beach Post where I was heavily quoted (and is attached below) criticizing her for the decision.

I was criticized by some for my stance - that I was tipping the apple cart, that I was putting my tenure and job in jeopardy by speaking out. But, I rationalized, if I was to be fired for speaking my mind about such a micromanagerial decision, I didn't want to work in that environment anyway. Administration never approached me about the story or my position; I left on my own accord at the end of the year to take an employment opportunity at Wellington.

So here it is, ten years later. I won't rehash all the governmental stupidity and ineptness that has transpired since then by both Democrats and Republicans, by Congress and our presidents. But I do remember, as we all should, the significance of the moment, one of those rare opportunities for us to mourn collectively and as individuals, and to rise above the loss to strive for a new greatness. May we continue to do so.

*****

SCHOOLS' CUTTING OF NEWS FEED DEBATED
Kathleen Chapman, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 20, 2001

Paul Gaba's 10th- through 12th-graders at South Fork High were watching news coverage of the terrorist attacks around noon on Sept. 11 when they lost the picture on their classroom television.

Martin County School District officials had decided to cut the cable feed to all schools, he said, explaining that they felt ongoing news coverage would be upsetting and disruptive.

Gaba said his bright, sophisticated students, who are discussing weapons of mass destruction as their debate topic this year, were upset and insulted, as were many teachers at the school.

"Essentially, they felt it was a slap in their collective face," he said, "that it was a statement they were not old enough or mature enough or cognizant enough to be able to discuss and analyze history. It was a grave insult to their intelligence."

The debate reached national airwaves Wednesday when Katie Couric of NBC's Today pressed Superintendent Sara Wilcox about the decision.

Wilcox defended her choice, saying she felt that each parent should get to choose how to present the attacks to their children.

Since that time, many teachers have incorporated terrorism discussions into their lessons, and Martin County High held an assembly to honor the firefighters and other heroes of the tragedy on Wednesday morning, she said.

Later, Wilcox told Couric, school officials plan to meet with teachers and parents to discuss how such events should be handled in the future.

Wilcox said last week that students were not in the dark about what had happened, merely encouraged to continue daily routines instead of sitting hypnotized by television reports - some conflicting and untrue - in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.

Also, Wilcox said, schools had to consider the possibility that some of the students watching the constant replays of the attacks might have had friends or family in the Pentagon or World Trade Center.

Nearly all the students at the high school and middle school level already knew all the facts of what had happened, and many already had seen footage of the twin towers collapsing in the three hours before the cable was shut off, teachers and principals agreed last week.

"The decision was made in the best interest of the students, to keep routine, structure and calm," Wilcox said.

Nevertheless, Peggy Harowitz, whose daughter, Kathleen, is a senior at South Fork High, said teenage students deserved access to news coverage through the day.

"I think it was important for anybody that age to see it," she said. "I think they missed feeling a part of what was happening at the moment."

Harowitz, who is a substitute teacher in Martin County elementary, middle and high schools, was 10 years old when John F. Kennedy was shot in the Dallas motorcade. She is glad now that her parents let her watch the footage of the assassination and funeral, she said.

"I remember my fourth-grade teacher coming in sobbing, and we talked about it," she said. "We knew what was going on; she didn't shield us from it."

When the space shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, she explained what happened to her preschool-age elder daughter, now a student in college.

"There are people who are very gentle souls, who will always be so much more touched by things that go on in the world, but life is not always pretty," she said. "When a tragedy happens in their own life, they're more apt to be able to handle it because they've witnessed the other side of life."

Tim Black, who teaches a college-level American history class at the school, said the district's blanket decision infringed on his freedom as an experienced teacher to judge what his students can handle.

"It's called the First Amendment," he said.

In the end, teacher Gaba said, district officials' decision to pull the plug on the news had the opposite effect of what they had desired.

"The idea was that it was causing anxiety, fear and confusion," he said. "But it's not information that causes anxiety, it's lack of information or incomplete information that leads to assumptions."

The Mean (Rhymes with "Irene") Season

We're entering the peak of the hurricane season. Any day now, you're going to turn on the TV and see a weather person pointing to some radar blob out in the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic and making two basic meteorological points:
(1) There is no need to panic.
(2) We could all be killed.

(Now, before you get all "Wow, Gaba's making fun of hurricane victims after the entire freaking city of New York had to be evacuated this weekend!" snotty on me, just chill: I stole most of this commentary from an email I received when Florida was being hit by Hurricane Frances in 2004. And as the wind was whipping around at some 150 miles an hour, and the rain was pelting down at about the same speed, I thought, "This list is funny as all hell!" So just chill, y'awl!)

OK, where was I? Oh, yes ...

Yes, hurricane season is an exciting time to be in Florida. Many people in southeast Florida are originally from the northeast - New York, New Jersey, Philly, Boston - and moved to get away from the cold and the snow. Bet you never really thought about what goes on down here during the summer or autumn. (Ironically, now that Hurricane Irene has done its somewhat minimal damage - some flooding, a few deaths, lots of power outages - along the eastern seaboard, should we in The Sunshine State start worrying about blizzard conditions hitting us in December as Mother Nature's payback?)

If you're new to the area, you're probably wondering what you need to do to prepare for the possibility that we'll get hit by "the big one." Based on our experiences, we recommend that you follow this simple three-step hurricane preparedness plan:
STEP 1. Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at least three days.
STEP 2. Put these supplies into your car.
STEP 3. Drive to Ohio and remain there until Halloween.
Unfortunately, statistics show that most people will not follow this sensible plan. Instead, most people will foolishly stay here in Florida.

We'll start with one of the most important hurricane preparedness items:

HURRICANE INSURANCE:
If you own or rent a home, you must have hurricane insurance. Fortunately, this insurance is cheap and easy to get, as long as your home meets two basic requirements:
(1) It is reasonably well-built, and
(2) It is located in Ohio.

Unfortunately, if your home is located in Florida, or any other area that might actually be hit by a hurricane, most insurance companies would prefer not to sell you hurricane insurance, because then they might be required to pay YOU money, and that is certainly not why they got into the insurance business in the first place. So you'll have to scrounge around for an insurance company, which will charge you an annual premium roughly equal to the replacement value of your house (if not more).

At any moment, this company can drop you like used dental floss. Since moving to Florida in 1999, I have had an estimated 27 different home-insurance companies. This week, I'm covered by the Bob and Big Stan Insurance Company, under a policy which states that, in addition to my premium, Bob and Big Stan are entitled, on demand, to my kidneys.

SHUTTERS:
Your house should have hurricane shutters on all the windows, all the doors, and - if it's a major hurricane - all the toilets. There are several types of shutters, with advantages and disadvantages:

Plywood Shutters: The advantage is that, because you make them yourself, they're cheap. The disadvantage is that, because you make them yourself, they will fall off.

Sheet-Metal Shutters: The advantage is that these work well, once you get them all up. The disadvantage is that once you get them all up, your hands will be useless bleeding stumps, and it will be December.

Roll-Down Shutters: The advantages are that they're very easy to use, and will definitely protect your house. The disadvantage is that you will have to sell your house to pay for them.

Hurricane-Proof Windows: These are the newest wrinkle in hurricane protection. They look like ordinary windows, but they can withstand hurricane winds! You can be sure of this, because the salesman says so. He lives in Ohio.

HURRICANE PROOFING YOUR PROPERTY:
As the hurricane approaches, check your yard for movable objects like barbecue grills, planters, patio furniture, visiting relatives, etc. You should, as a precaution, throw these items into your swimming pool. (If you don't have a swimming pool, you should have one built immediately). Otherwise, the hurricane winds will turn these objects into deadly missiles.

EVACUATION ROUTE:
If you live in a low-lying area, you should have an evacuation route planned out. (To determine whether you live in a low-lying area, look at your driver's license; if it says "Florida," you live in a low-lying area).

The purpose of having an evacuation route is to avoid being trapped in your home when a major storm hits. Instead, you will be trapped in a gigantic traffic jam several miles from your home, along with two hundred thousand other evacuees. So, as a bonus, you will not be lonely.

HURRICANE SUPPLIES:
If you don't evacuate, you will need a mess of supplies. Do not buy them now! Florida tradition requires that you wait until the last possible minute, then go to the closest Publix and get into vicious fights with strangers over who gets the last can of SPAM.

In addition to food and water, you will need the following supplies:
(1) 23 flashlights and at least $167 worth of batteries that won't work or will be the wrong size for the flashlights.
(2) Bleach. (No, I don't know what the bleach is for. NOBODY knows what the bleach is for, but it's traditional, so GET some!)
(3) A 55-gallon drum of underarm deodorant.
(4) A big knife that you can strap to your leg. (This will be useless in a hurricane, but it looks cool.)
(5) A large quantity of raw chicken to placate the alligators. (Ask anybody who went through a hurricane; after the hurricane, there WILL be irate alligators.)
(6) $35,000 in cash or diamonds so that, after the hurricane passes, you can buy a generator from a man with no discernible teeth.

Of course these are just basic precautions. As the hurricane draws near, it is vitally important that you keep abreast of the situation by turning on your television and watching TV reporters in rain slickers stand right next to the ocean and tell you over and over how vitally important it is for everybody to stay away from the ocean.

Good luck, and remember: It's great living in Paradise.

There Sure Is Something Familiar About That Bowling Ball

What is it about Iowa that causes 2012 Republican presidential candidates (and potential candidates) to say such amazingly stupid things?

In June, Michelle Bachmann - while kicking off her official presidential campaign in Waterloo, Iowa - confused a killer (John Wayne Gacy) with a cowboy (John Wayne): "Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That's the kind of spirit that I have, too," she said. Oops; movie star John Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa, three hours away. The John Wayne that Waterloo was home to is notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Bachmann's camp addressed her remarks in a statement saying, "John Wayne is from Iowa, his parents lived in Waterloo." (Which is true; but Wayne never lived there.)

But a misstatement regarding patriotism and John Wayne's America (or, to be more accurate, John Wayne's cowboy hero character's America; John Wayne, the actor, was a chain-smok­ing, drinking womanizer who was married three times) is one thing. Democrats are jumping all over GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney's commentary from Des Moines on Thursday, where he demonstrated an amazing display of foot-in-mouth disease before an angry crowd:

ROMNEY: Do I believe that Social Security should take no part in deficit reduction negotiations? Social Security and Medicare are a large part of federal spending. It is about half. Not just this year, but over the coming decades, if we are able to balance our budget, we have to make sure that the promises we make for Social Security and Medicare are promises we can keep. There are a couple ways to do that: one way is to raise taxes on people. That's not the way -
VOICES FROM CROWD: Corporations! Corporations!
ROMNEY: Corporations are people, my friend. We could raise taxes and -
VOICE FROM CROWD: No they're not!
ROMNEY: Of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. So - [audience laughter] where do you think it goes?
[audience shouts and laughter]
VOICE FROM CROWD: In their pockets!
ROMNEY: Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People's pockets. Okay - human beings, my friend. Number one, so number one: you can raise taxes. That's not the approach that I would take. Number two, you can make sure that the promises we make are promises that we can keep. And in my view, the areas that you have to consider are, for higher-income people ...

Or to quote my Detroit-area attorney friend Adam Taub from his Facebook page: "Corporations are people? Holy shit, then according to the transitive property, Corporations are . . . SOYLENT GREEN!!!!! ARRRgHhhhhh!!!!"


Wait, do I really need to explain this movie? I do? Ugh. OK, in the year 2022, the greenhouse effect has poisoned the Earth. The world is grossly overpopulated and there are almost no natural food sources remaining. Street vendors sell "Soylent Red" and "Soylent Yellow" (made from soybeans), while the government controls (and hands out rations of) "Soylent Green" every Tuesday. Soylent Green is supposedly made from high-energy plankton, and is often in short supply due to high demand. Real food is unheard of. And ... you know what? I am getting off-topic; click this link to learn more about this Charlton Heston classic!

Back to Romney. Everyone - and by this I mean everyone who follows politics to some degree - knows Romney will do the candidate shuffle on this one, that he will try to tell everyone he really meant corporations employ people, who get paychecks, and so they are "people." But those who are even remotely intelligent know that's not what he meant. Not at all. After all, as CEO of Bain Capital, Romney profited while five of the companies under his firm's direction went bankrupt, and thousands of workers lost their jobs. It will be difficult for Romney to spin this positively; his opponents (whether Democrats or other GOP presidential wanna-be's, all chomping at the bit) will clamor he didn't care much about those people, but he definitely cared about a "person" in the form of Bain Capital.

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom quickly went to Twitter to defend Romney: "Do folks think corporations are buildings? They're people who incorporate to conduct business. They create jobs and hire more people."

(Sidebar: Is the heckler in the front really Romney's "friend"? A "my friend" quote from anyone who is not really your friend seems a patronizing comment. Perhaps he meant to say, "Corporations are my friends, people.")

Then again, maybe it isn't Iowa; Bachmann ran into this kind of trouble previously, when she confused Concord, N.H., with Concord, Mass., as the birthplace of the American Revolution. And 2008 GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin famously screwed up her American History earlier this year with her misquote about Paul Revere's famous ride:

"He who warned uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed."

As any elementary student can probably tell you, Revere was not attempting to warn the British when he rode around crying, "The British are coming." Nor was he ringing bells and trying to protect gun rights. And as any US historian could tell you, Revere didn't even finish the ride that came to be named after him. Revere was stopped by a British patrol on his way to Concord, and never made it. In fact, he was riding with two other men (William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott), only one of whom (Prescott) succeeded in warning the Americans in Concord that the British were coming.

Not that we should let the facts get in the way of our opinions or anything. Thank you, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, for your politically inaccurate poem.

But in the grand scheme of things, I believe Romney's commentary will do far more damage to his credibility than Bachmann's and Palin's historical gaffes will do to theirs. At least with "friends" on the short end of the tax/Social Security/Medicare scale; the (tax-free) corporate donations should keep rolling in.