Getting started on Netflix

I recently signed up for Netflix streaming ($8 a month, plus $50 for a streaming device for my laptop) before learning that 90% of the Netflix movies were only available on DVD.  This learning led me to sign up for one by-mail DVD at a time (another $8 a month).  Then I learned that, despite Netflix’s incredibly fast one-day turn-around time, one DVD at a time meant that the DVD was usually in transit instead of available for me to watch.  This learning caused me to sign up for two DVDs at a time (another $4 a month).  Now I’m good to go at less than $20 a month, which is a small fraction of my cable bill.

Step two in getting started on Netflix is deciding which movies to watch.  Yesterday, I was watching a movie on streaming Netflix called The Big Lebowski based on a friend’s recommendation.  After watching the movie and finding it to be great fun (some of the dialogue by “The Dude” sounded amazingly similar to Jerry Lundegaard in the movie Fargo, which was written by the same Coen brothers), I did some research and learned The Big Lebowski was #34 on Entertainment Weekly’s list of the 50 best cult movies.  Then I had my epiphany – why not review that list and find some other all-time great cult movies that I might be interested in watching.  My review of that list led me to adding several movies to my queue of streaming movies and about ten more to my DVD list. This is Spinal Tap is #1. 

While looking at the top-50 cult list, I saw that Entertainment Weekly also had a list of the 50 sexiest movies of all time.  Eureka!  I like sexy movies even more than I like cult favorites.  That list similarly resulted in me queuing-up several more streaming movies and a dozen or so DVDs.  Out of Sight is #1.  Plus, there is a list of the 100-best new-movie classics that I haven’t gone through yet, with Pulp Fiction at #1.

Looks like I don’t have to worry for a while about which movies to queue up.  This situation reminds me of the winter I spent in San Diego between graduating from college and starting law school.  I worked that winter as a Pinkerton night watchman and used the time to read many of the best 100 classic books of all-time. 

Time well spent.

 

 

Tony Powell rescues Don Imus

In 2007, Don Imus was fired from his morning TV/radio talk show because he and his side-kick Bernie McGuirk made some tacky comments about a predominantly black, girls’ basketball team with some tattooed players, suggesting that the girls looked like “nappy-headed ho’s.”  When complaints of racism came in, Imus attempted to defuse the situation by describing it as “some idiot comment meant to be amusing.”  Later he apologized:

• “I want to take a moment to apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark we made the other morning regarding the Rutgers women’s basketball team, which lost to Tennessee in the NCAA championship game on Tuesday. It was completely inappropriate and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, and we are sorry.”

But the damage was done.  First MSNBC cancelled the TV simulcast of the talk show, and shortly thereafter CBS radio cancelled the radio component of the talk show.  Imus sued CBS, arguing that their contract called for Imus to be “irreverent” and “controversial,” and therefore he shouldn’t be fired for delivering as promised.  Various news reports indicate that the suit was settled by CBS paying Imus many millions of dollars.

After a hiatus of a few months, Imus started working toward his return to the business of TV/radio talk shows.  Although he intended to bring back essentially the same team of supporting players, Imus also indicated that he would add “a black comedian to join the show upon its return to help cushion racially insensitive comments he might say on the air.”  Tony Powell was eventually selected.

Today’s show revealed the wisdom of adding Powell.  The show’s sport reporter, Warner Wolf, played a clip of last night’s star pitcher for the Texas Rangers, Derek Holland, impersonating his manager, Ron Washington, regarding their 9^th-inning conversation prior to Washington relieving Holland.

After hearing the clip for about the fourth time during the four-hour show, Imus finally asked Wolf what he found so fascinating about the clip, and Wolf replied that he thought is revealed a fascinating, behind-the-scenes glimpse of what is going on during these tense times.

Imus lamely accepted that response until Tony Powell interjected that perhaps it video was especially funny because Holland’s impersonation of Washington made his manager sound like chicken something.  I don’t remember exactly what term Powell used, but it was obvious that the player was making fun of the way his manager talked.

Imus quickly grasped the gist of what Tony Powell was saying and mildly tried to defend Wolf’s clip by saying that impersonations, including those done by Powell and the show’s other comedian, Rob Bartlett, routinely exaggerate a person’s speech pattern.  But Imus finished by asking Powell if he was offended by the impersonation.  I don’t remember what Powell said, but he is way too much of a team player to throw Warner Wolf under the bus.

Imus followed Powell’s comment with a typically witty Imus response – “More importantly, Tony, should I be offended?”  To which Tony said, “I would simply say ‘Let’s move on.”  Which is exactly what Imus did.

I have no doubt that Warner Wolf repeated the pitcher Holland impersonation of manager Washington primarily because it made the manager’s way of talking sound funny.  But Warner wanted to paint over that aspect of the clip because did not want the exposure associated with making fun of a black person’s accent.

Although that is not Warner’s subject-matter expertise, he needs to think about (be sensitive to) these issues.  The Imus show is irreverent, and as the Imus sports reporter, Warner needs to know where the irreverent line is so he doesn’t cross over it.

As Jake Spoon said in Lonesome Dove shortly before being hanged, “I didn’t know that I crossed the line.  I never even saw the line.”  Well, Imus and Wolf need to thank Tony Richmond for reminding them that there is a line, and they need to think about it from time to time.

P.S., I didn’t expect to find the Powell/Wolf/Imus video, but I did think I could find Holland’s hilarious impersonation of Washington.  Unfortunately, I
didn’t.  Lo siento.

The nutritional value of rum

Last week, when sitting around with a friend and having a couple of drinks (rum & carbonated water), we started discussing the nutritional value of the drink that we were drinking.  My friend said that he knew there were about 100 calories and no carbs or fat in rum, and I added that all calories had to have carbs, fat, or protein, so then rum must have protein.  He doubted that, too, and I was just about to bet the family farm when I remembered that I had already sold that to a brother.  Instead of betting the family farm, I made a gentlemen’s bet before we goggled an answer.

Lucky for me I didn’t bet the farm.  According to the internet:

• Calories provide energy for our bodies to function.  We get calories from carbs, protein, fat, and alcohol.  For each gram, you get a set number of calories.

1 gram	Calories
Carbohydrates	4
Protein	4
Fat	9
Alcohol	7

• Unlike macronutrients such as carbs, proteins, and fats, alcohol supplies what nutritionists often refer to as empty calories.  To make matters worse, it is the first fuel used when combined with carbs, fats, and proteins, postponing the fat-burning process and contributing to greater fat storage.

So, don’t expect anything nutritious to come from rum & water.  And be conservative about what you know you know.

Kill All The Lawyers?

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” is a line from Shakespeare’s “Henry VI,” and it is often quoted to suggest that lawyers have been a bane to civilization for hundreds of years.  But the NY Times has pointed out that the quote has been taken out of context:

• “Dick the Butcher was a follower of the rebel Jack Cade, who thought that if he disturbed law and order, he could become king. Shakespeare meant it as a compliment to attorneys and judges who instill justice in society.”

Regardless of what Shakespeare intended, there is no question that the prestige of the legal profession is not what it should be.  Proof – while surfing the net, I came across a fascinating 2006 article that ranked 23 professions in America:

1. Firefighters
2. Doctors
3. Nurses
4. Scientists
5. Teachers
6. Military officers
7. Police officers
8. Clergyman
9. Farmers
10. Engineers
11. Congressmen
12. Architects
13. Athletes
14. Lawyers
15. Entertainers
16. Accountants
17. Bankers
18. Journalists
19. Union leaders
20. Actors
21. Business executives
22. Stock brokers
23. Real estate agents

During the annual meeting of the State Bar of Texas, we were told by the new bar president that the major focus of his one-year tenure will be improving the stature of lawyers.  One of his tools for accomplishing that objective is a new video, which he demoed to us.  Unfortunately, the well-produced video is not yet available to the public.  Suffice it to say that the video describes great things done by a long list of great Americans and then closes each bio with the phrase, “and he/she was a lawyer.”  The video shows that the legal profession does more than chase ambulances or look for loopholes to crawl through, but rather it is the means for civilized people to pursue justice.

In one of the final sessions during the annual meeting, author H.W. Brands built on the theme of lawyer relevance.  According to Brands, lawyers in 19^th century America made two invaluable contributions:

1. The legal profession afforded talented people a means to rise socially and economically.  In other countries,
   mobility was severely limited because of aristocracy to those in the military and clergy.
2. The legal system, particularly the Northwest Ordinance, allowed territory to be added to the country as equals, not as subservient parts of an empire, and this policy was critical to the expansion of America.

I wish the president of the bar well in his efforts to increase the prestige with the legal profession.  But this is something that has to be marketed to the membership as much as to the public.  Historically, the profession has done much to make this country what it is today, but too many lawyers act unprofessionally.

June hiatus/sojourn

I’m leaving tomorrow for my annual trip to North Dakota for Aneta’s annual Turkey Bar-B-Que, so my blog will be on hiatus for a week or so.

Open-container laws – a primer

In cars

Ever since moving to Texas in 1987, I have been fascinated by open-container laws.  Life in Texas seemed so refreshingly open after spending my first 22 years in straight-laced North Dakota, where a person would go to a liquor store to buy alcohol.  And don’t even consider looking for alcohol on a Sunday.  By contrast, Texas allowed you to buy beer at a grocery store and even on Sunday if you waited until noon.  For a libertarian like me, Texas was heaven on earth.

But then big government stuck their nose into our affairs and said that states would be denied their highway money if they continued to allow open containers in cars.  This law was called the Transportation Equity Act for the 21^st Century (TEA-21), and it was passed by Congress in 1998.
I still remember hearing a senator from my home state of North Dakota reporting to his incredulous voters that he could legally drive from
Washington, D.C. to Texas with beer in his car.  My first thought was, “So what?”  My second thought was, “What’s it to you?”

Because Texas was unwilling to buck the federal government and lose all that highway money (actually the money would be redirected toward an alcohol-awareness campaign), Texas capitulated and made open containers illegal.  Fortunately, TEA-21 expired in 2003, and open-containers laws are in retreat.  Currently one state (Mississippi) allows a driver and passengers to have an open container and eight others (Arkansas,
Connecticut, Delaware, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia) allow passengers to have an open container.

Driving while under the influence is America’s problem; not driving while drinking.

Come on Texas; what are you waiting for?

On the streets

I had never experienced open-containers on public streets until I traveled to Progresso, a Mexican border town in the Valley.  The experience was wonderful – I loved to shop the markets while drinking a frozen strawberry margarita.  Of course, that aspect of the trip made it seem all the more exotic.

Then a few years ago, I made my first trip to New Orleans and discovered that hurricanes and frozen margaritas were allowed on the streets there, too.  Once again, the experience was wonderful and it left me with the sense of having visiting an exotic location.

A couple of weeks ago in St. Louis, my son Mikey was telling me about a trip that he took to Memphis, and he reported that he had a great time on Beale Street, partly because he was able to walk around with a drink.  That sounded so interesting that I almost detoured to Memphis on my way back to San Antonio, and I am much more likely to visit there in the future.

For future reference, I decided to find out whether there are any other cities like Memphis or New Orleans.  According to Wikipedia, all but seven states prohibit open-containers on streets – the lucky seven are Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.  Unfortunately, nearly all of the cities in those states outlaw open-containers.  But there are a few exceptions – in addition to Memphis and New Orleans, there is Las Vegas, NV; Butte, MT; Power & Light District of Kansas City, MO; the Savannah Historic District in Savanna, GA; and the Main Street Shopping District of Fredericksburg, TX.

Come on, San Antonio; what are you waiting for?

Handicapping the 2011 Kentucky Derby

A week ago I posted an entry titled “A horse-racing primer” in which I promised to handicap the Kentucky Derby as soon as I could get my hands on the Daily Racing Form (DRF).  Well, the DRF was released on Thursday, and I’ve got it, so here’s the scoop.

For those who don’t recall, the DRF gives a record of the past performances of the 20 entrants in the Derby.  By studying the DRF, a handicapper is able to assess four important qualities about each horse: speed, pace, form, and class.  Speed relates to how fast a horse run an entire race; pace concerns how fast a horse runs at different points of a race; form relates to the current condition of a horse and whether it has been running good or bad in its recent races; and class involves the level of competition a horse has been competing against.  A set of past performances provides clues that a player must decipher in order to place a smart bet. 

Based on a review of past performances, two horses stand out:

• Dialed In (#8 horse) has only four starts, but has three wins and a place (second), and he finished strong when he placed.
• Uncle Mo (#18 horse) has five starts, with four wins and a show (third).  Although the show was his most recent race, his poor performance may have resulted from a gastro-intestinal problem that is likely to have been resolved.

Six other horses have strong records:

• Archarcharch (#1 horse) has six starts, with three wins, one place, and one show, but the #1 spot has almost never won the Kentucky Derby.
• Mucho Macho Man (#13 horse) has eight starts, with two wins, three places, and two shows.
• Midnight Interlude (#15 horse) has only four starts, with two wins, one place, and one show.
• Shackleford (#14 horse) has five starts, with two wins and one place.
• Soldat (#17 horse) has eight starts, with three wins and four places.
• Nehro (#19 horse) has five starts, with one win and two places.  

The remaining twelve horses are long-shots.

Of course, a good winning record can be hollow if established against weak fields.  Part of Dialed In’s stature comes from winning the prestigious Florida Derby.  Uncle Mo faltered in the Wood Memorial, but the aforementioned gastrointestinal infection provides a reasonable excuse.  Nehro has competed well against strong fields (placing in the Louisiana and Arkansas Derbies), but we are looking for winners.   Midnight Interlude won the San Anita Derby, but against a weak field.

Other factors to be considered are the following:

• Trainer – Bob Baffert, who has won three Derbies, trains Midnight Interlude; Todd Pletcher trains Uncle Mo.
• Workouts – Archarcharch has been strong, especially with finishes.
• Surface – Mucho Macho Man has only run on fast surfaces.
• Distances – Mucho Macho Man has never run a mile and a quarter.
• Catchy name – The #4 horse is named Stay Thirsty.
• Jockey – The #3 horse, Twice the Appeal, is being ridden by jockey Calvin Borel, the winning rider in three of the last four Derbies.  Although this horse has three wins in his last four starts, the Derby represents a massive jump in quality for him.

 In handicapping a race, just like betting a football game, I like to consider what the experts think (two heads are often better than one).  The following are some predictions that I found on the internet:

• Alex Birzer, jockey: Archarcharch. I saw him win in Arkansas, and I liked his race and I like his connections.
• Lynn Chleborad, trainer: Archarcharch.  I like (trainer) Jinx Fires, and I think he has a lot of heart.
• Glenn Corbett, jockey:  Archarcharch. He won the Arkansas Derby and I like his connections, (trainer) Jinx Fires and (jockey) Jon Court.
• Jerry Crawford, owner: Twice the Appeal. He’s bred to get the distance and seems to be a horse moving in the right direction, and he loves the dirt, I love Archarcharch, but drew the one-hole.
• Jack Frost, trainer: Archarcharch.  He won the Arkansas Derby and if he has a good day, he has the potential to win it.
• Chris Hartman, trainer:  Midnight Interlude. He’s doing real well, and another horse I like is Dialed In.
• Derron Heldt, director of racing: Midnight Interlude. He won the Santa Anita Derby and I think he’s moving forward.
• John Hernandez, race analyst: Brilliant Speed. I liked his race last time out (winning the Blue Grass Stakes).
• Deb Leech, breeder: Nehro. He was second in the Arkansas Derby and he was coming at the end.
• Billy Landers, trainer: Pants On Fire.
• Steve Manley, trainer: Nehro. He’s needed more distance. He ran two seconds in a row, and he came flying.
• Dan McFarlane, trainer: Dialed In, just because of his running style.
• Glen Murphy, jockey: Nehro. I think the added ground will help him.
• Bob Nastanaovich, Equibase chartcaller: Animal Kingdom. He’ll relish the mile and one-quarter and they say he likes the track. He’ll be running at the end and that might be enough.
• Ray Shattuck, horse owner: Nehro. I like the way he finished.
• Gene Short, jockey agent: Nehro. I just think he can go that far and I’m not sure about Dialed In and Uncle Mo.
• Kenny Smith, trainer: Dialed In. He looks like he’s a man among boys.
• Ray Smith, horse owner: Brilliant Speed. I loved his last two splits (three-eighths of a mile) and I think he’ll handle an off-track if it rains.
• Terry Thompson, jockey: Archarcharch. He ran a nice race in the Arkansas Derby and I don’t know if Uncle Mo can go that far.
• Ray Tracy, trainer: Midnight Interlude. I thought he was impressive the day he won the Santa Anita Derby.
• Don Von Hemel, trainer: Nehro. He ran a big race in the Arkansas Derby. He was really coming at the end, and I think the added distance will be right up his alley.
• Kelly Von Hemel, trainer: Nehro. I loved him since he won his maiden race. I liked his (second in) the Louisiana Derby and he ran real well in the Arkansas Derby.
• Ken Washburn, jockey agent: Dialed In over Nehro. I think there’s a lot of speed in the race and both Dialed in and Nehro are closers.
• Kentucky Derby Picks:  Stay Thirsty; Dialed In; Master of Hounds.
• 2011 Kentucky Derby Predictions:  Mucho Macho Man looks to make a statement. 

As I was finishing my handicapping, I learned on the internet that Uncle Mo was scratched on Friday morning because of continuing concerns about his G-I problems.  That leaves only one standout horse – Dialed In.  Because the favorite almost never wins the Derby, I am dialing out Dialed In.  My top three horses for the win, exacta, and trifecta are Midnight Interlude, Nehro, and Archarcharch.  I would have picked Arch to win except for its #1 spot.  As an upset surprise to fill out my superfecta, I’m going with Twice the Appeal and Calvin Borel.

Those picks should win me a barrel of money.

A horse-racing primer

One of my favorite drinking buddies, Kevin Brown, is a life-long fan of horse racing.  He has been handicapping races for decades and even wrote a book on the subject that describes some of his thinking. 

The granddaddy of all horse races, the Kentucky Derby, is held annually on the first Saturday in May (next Saturday), and Kevin is having a viewing party at his house.  To prepare for Kevin’s party, I decided to bone-up on horse racing. 

Handicapping is the real essence of horse racing.  It is the art or science of predicting which horses are likely to do well in the race – win, place (2^nd), or show (3^rd).  Most handicappers rely on The Daily Racing Form (DRF), a newspaper-style publication, to handicap a race.  The DRF details statistical information about each horse entered in a race, including detailed past performance results, lifetime records, amount of money earned, odds for the particular horse in each past race, and a myriad of other information available for casual or serious study.  I will obtain and study a copy of the DRF before the party.

Aside from handicapping the race, I decided that a little well-placed research would enable me to avoid sounding like a dilettante, and I might even add something to the conversation.  For instance, I have previously asked Kevin what percentage of the parimutuel bets was siphoned off by the track, and he didn’t know.  I do now.  Tracks on average take about 17% of the betting pool, which sounds reasonable to me.  FYI – parimutuel betting differs from fixed-odds betting in that the final payout is not determined until the pool is closed – in fixed odds betting, the payout is agreed at the time the bet is sold.  Thus, the odds for the race may change dramatically in the last few minutes if an inordinate number of late betters favor a particular horse.

Kevin might not know that there are generally three types of horses that race – Thoroughbreds, Arabians, and Quarter Horses, with Thoroughbreds being the most popular.  All Thoroughbreds can be traced to three Arabian stallions and 74 foundation mares of English and Oriental blood in 17^th and 18^th century England.  They are bred to race at a distance of 5-12 furlongs (with a furlong being one-eighth of a mile).  Quarter horses, as suggested by their name, are bred to run a quarter of a mile (two furlongs), while Arabians are best a long distances – between ten and 100 miles.

(Incidentally, a height of a horse is taken at its shoulders (withers), as opposed to cattle, which are measured from their hips.  The unit of measurement is called “hands.”  A hand is equivalent to four inches.)   

Kevin has previously described to me the difference between a stakes race, maiden race, and a claiming race, but he wasn’t able to list all six categories.  Now I know:

• Handicap race.  A handicap race is one in which the runners have been “handicapped” by carrying more weight, also called an impost, according to their performance in other races. Theoretically, all horses have a chance of being competitive in a race that is correctly handicapped.
• Stakes race.  A stakes race is higher-class race for bigger prizes.  They often involve competitors that belong to the same gender, age and class. These races may, though, be “weight-for-age”, with weights adjusted only according to age, and also there are “set weights” where all horses carry the same weight. Furthermore, there are “conditions” races, in which horses carry weights that are set by conditions, such as having won a certain number of races, or races of a certain value.  Examples of a stakes/conditions race are the Breeders’ Cup races, the Dubai World Cup, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, the Belmont Stakes, and the Travers Stakes.
• Maiden race.  A maiden race is one in which the runners have never won a race. Maiden races can be among horses of many different age groups. It is similar to a stakes race in the respect that horses all carry similar weights and there are no handicapped “penalties.”  This is the primary method for racing a two-year-old for the first time, although only against other two-year olds. Three-year olds also only race against their own age in maiden races early in the year.
• Allowance race.  An allowance race is one in which the runners run for a higher purse than in a maiden race. These races usually involve conditions such as “non-winner of three lifetime.” They usually are for a horse which has broken its maiden but is not ready for stakes company.
• Claiming race.  A claiming race is one in which the horses are all for sale for more or less the same price (the “claiming price”) up until shortly before the race. The intent of this is to even the race; if a better-than-class horse is entered (with the expectation of an easy purse win), it might be lost for the claiming price, which is likely less than the horse is worth. Someone may wish to claim a horse if they think the horse has not been trained to its fullest potential under another trainer. If a horse is purchased, a track official tags it after the race, and it goes to its new owner.
• Optional claiming race.  An optional claiming race is a hybrid of allowance and claiming race, developed to increase field sizes. A horse who does not fit the conditions can still “run for the tag”, i.e. be run conditional on also being offered for sale.

They say that Thoroughbred racing is the sport of kings.  I don’t know about that, but I think I will try playing a king on May 7^th. 

btw - the Daily Racing form won’t be available for the Derby until Thursday or so.  After reviewing that form, I will try to handicap the race and post a blog entry so that my readers can make some easy money on Saturday.

Sunday morning talk shows

Sundays are special to me partly because of Sunday morning talk shows.  It’s probably a sign of the times that my three favorite shows can be found on three relatively new channels:

1. ESPN’s The Sports Reporters.  I have loved this show for at least 15 years.  I remember Tina Spencer and I often sitting in my office for too long on Monday afternoons in A Building, comparing notes about the show, which we watched religiously.  Dick Schaap was the host until September 2001, when he died unexpectedly from surgical complications, and he was replaced by John Saunders.  Although Schaap seemed the perfect host, Saunders has equaled him.  The rotating three-guest panel often includes newspaper reporters Mike Lupica (NYC), Bob Ryan (Boston), or Mitch Albom (Detroit).
2. CNN’s Reliable Sources.  This show is exceptional not only because its host Howie Kurtz is such a smart, middle-of-the-road questioner, but also because of the subject matter – i.e., the media.  I am fascinated by the role of the media in modern politics, even though the media has a generally-accepted bias toward liberal positions.
3. FOX’s FOX News Sunday.  I have only recently started watching FOX News Sunday (FNS).  As with the other three major Sunday Morning Shows – NBC’ s Meet the Press, CBS’s Face the Nation, and ABC’s This Week – they key to success is the host.  FNS’s host is Chris Wallace, and he has the same traits as Howie Kurtz – he is smart and middle-of-the-road.  (Although Wallace is the son of 60 Minutes’ Mike Wallace, he was raised by another newsman.)  

On this morning’s FNS, Wallace reported something disturbing.  He said that the Obama administration had made Secretaries Hillary Clinton and Bob Gates available to the talk shows on the other three networks, but not to FNS even though FNS often has higher ratings that two of the other three shows.  If that were true, that would indicate that the Obama administration was getting paranoid about FOX.  But I haven’t  been able to confirm that Wallace’s statement about the ratings was true.  According to the latest ratings that I could find from mid-February 2011, NBC, CBS, and ABC had ratings that were roughly comparable, while the ratings for FSN were about one-half of theirs.

Regardless of the ratings, Wallace’s show is better than his competitors’.  Some might suggest that Wallace is a conservative, but he reportedly has been a registered Democrat for many years.  I will attempt to learn whether he misspoke when he said his show was more popular than Face the Nation and This Week.

Jeremy Bernard – the fundraising social secretary for President Obama

The San Antonio Express-News reported on its front page today that the White House announced its third social secretary in two years.   The announcement wouldn’t have been on the front page except that the new secretary is a San Antonio native – Jeremy Bernard.  The announcement was also newsworthy because, as the article noted, Jeremy will be the first man and the first openly gay person to serve in the position, which is essentially the White House’s party planner.  (You may recall that Obama’s first social secretary was replaced after a publicity-hound couple crashed a White House party on her watch.)

The Express-News provided scant information about Jeremy Bernard other than noting that he attended the Texas Military Institute in Alamo Heights and his brother Michael is the current city attorney.  Plus:

• “A prominent California fundraiser for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign who served eight years on the Democratic National Committee, Bernard has served on the board of gay-rights groups including the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.”

When I read that someone is a fundraiser, I think of that as a part-time job and wonder what their real job is.  So I decided to google Jeremy Bernard to learn if he was a part of the Alamo Heights aristocracy or did he have a real job.

After reading several articles on the appointment that provided no employment history, I finally stumbled across an apparent treasure trove of information in the actual White House announcement.  Its concluding paragraph read as follows:

• “A native of San Antonio, Texas, Bernard currently serves as Senior Advisor to the Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy of Paris.  He served as the White House Liaison to the National Endowment for the Humanities from 2008 to 2010.  Previously, Bernard was a California Finance Consultant for the Obama for American campaign.  He was a Principal of B&G Associates from 2007 to 2009, Vice-President of Mapleton Investments from 1999 to 2006 and Director of Government Affairs of Falcon Cable TV from 1996 to 2006.  Appointed by President Clinton, Bernard served on the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and was a member of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2009.  He previously served as a board member of A.N.G.L.E. (Access Now for Gay & Lesbian Equality) and the National Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.  He was also a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s LGBT Advisory Committee, the Los Angeles Police LGBT Advisory Committee and the Los Angeles Mayor’s LGBT Advisory Committee.”

The paragraph included a lot of stuff, but the only apparent full-time job was as a principal in B&G Associates from 2007-2009.  What was B&G Associates? 

According to a lengthy profile in LAWeekly, B&G Associates was a business formed by Bernard and his gay partner that raised money in Southern California (primarily from entertainment and gay circles) for their selected candidates.  Fundraising was not a past-time for these guys; it was full-time.  When Obama won his election, both guys went to Washington with him, although they have now apparently broken up.

I encourage you to read the 2008 article in the LAWeekly.  It reveals the importance of raising money in presidential politics and the power granted to those who can raise the money.  

P.S., although the article doesn’t mention where Bernard went to college or how he got into this line of work, it does note that his dad Herschel was a fundraiser for the Kennedy boys back in the day.  Seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.