I'm a big believer in free speech.  I don't like political correctness and think that almost all types of speech, including hate speech, should be protected.  That doesn't mean that I support hate speech.  But, once you start drawing the line on any form of censorship, it becomes a real slippery slope.  One person's freedom cry is another person's treason.  If the government can decide which is which, then the government can't be challenged, even challenged to improve.

With all that said, this week's New Yorker cover disturbs me.  You can see a slide show of many poltical satire New Yorker covers on their web site.  In just about all of the covers, the satire is that the leaders are depicted as incompetent idiots.  The reader can decide if they agree with this.

However, the Obama cover above takes the 'terrorist fist bump' (man, is that ridiculous) and extends it to a terrorist image.  Does that mean that the reader gets to decide whether or not they think Obama is a terrorist?  And, this image includes a picture of Bin Laden over a fireplace with a burning American flag. 

No matter what you think of Obama or McCain, can you really question either one of them on patriotism?  You may not agree with where they want to take the country, but that doesn't mean that they want the country to fall.

So, as a free speech zealot, why does this cover bother me so much?  I think that it's because The New Yorker has a certain amount of credibility.  Also, the cover goes beyond satire in my opinion.  Now, I don't think that anyone should stop The New Yorker from being able to publish this.  But, Obama has decried this, and McCain agreed.  And, I hope that regular New Yorker readers express their outrage so that The New Yorker apologizes.  The only penalty that should be imposed on improper speech should be from the marketplace -- people who disagree shouldn't buy it.

Wee Willie Keeler - "Hit 'Em Where They Ain't" 

Whether it's in private company investing or public market investing, I have become more and more of a contrarian as time has gone on.  Certainly you can make money as a momentum investor following the herd, but you also have a big risk of crashing hard when the bubble bursts.  It took most VC firms years to dig themselves out of the tech bubble crash (and some are still digging).

As a contrarian, I look for opportunities where others aren't looking.  Sometimes you can be the first one to start a new trend.  Once the new trend becomes a tidal wave, it's time to get out...The beauty of being a contrarian is that competition is less, valuations are lower, and it's easier to build relationships as people are appreciative of the rare attention.

On the other hand, when you are part of the herd, you can more easily get caught up on group think, missing key issues.  Also, you have tons of competition and will definitely pay a higher price for a deal.  The upside can be high, but, as in musical chairs, when the music stops some people will be left out.

Being a contrarian brings up its own issues.  Other investors will wonder why you pursue out of favor opportunities.  You may have to wait for your target to come back into favor to have the best chance of an exit.  But, when it is time for an exit, there will likely be fewer competitors vying to be bought.  The scarcity factor can be significant.

As is the case with any type of investment strategy, the most important thing is to stick to your principles.  Don't let the market dynamics convince you to compromise your investment criteria.  Strategy drift is a big source of mistakes.

Also, I don't think I could be a day trader, moving in and out of positions very rapidly.  I focus on the long term and patience is required.  Since I'm investsing other people's money, I need them to be patient, too.

Convincing someone to go along with your contrarian strategy can be difficult, but when you turn out to be one of the only people who was right, it's all worth it.

Boston's Fox 25 interviewed Bob Kempf from Boston.com about their DoGood channel, powered by Good2gether.  It's great to see the media partners take this on as if it was their own.

I first saw this on Greg McHale's Good2gether blog.  If you want to rack up some vicarious frequent flyer miles, track Greg's travel schedule on his blog.

Disclaimer: I am an advisor to Good2gether.

As the cab driver was trying to squeeze through an intersection, he ended up blocking a crosswalk.  Definintely not a good thing, but if you've walked through New York, you know that this happens all the time.  One man who started to cross the street yelled an unbelievable string of epithets to the cab driver which included two of the "George Carlin 7 Words you can't say on TV" (both forms of the 'f-word') as well as "towel head".  My partner and I were stunned.  We just don't hear hate speech like that.  Maybe the cab driver could have been called an idiot for blocking the crosswalk, but not this.

As you can imagine, the cab driver was wearing a turban.  I'd guess that he was a Sikh.  I know from other Sikh friends I have that they are often targeted by discrimination, particularly after September 11.  Ignorant people confuse them with Muslims, although I would have no problem being confused with a Muslim.  In the aftermath of September 11, we have demonized so many people, instead of just the radicals who are the real problems.

I'm lucky that I don't hear such hatred daily, aimed at me or anyone else.  Although we made a comment to the cab driver when it happened, I wish we had something even stronger (or better yet, called out the window to the moron who insulted the cab driver).

One reason why the 'Barack Obama is a secret Muslim' rumor persists is that people believe that it would be bad (or unacceptable to the American people) to be a Muslim.  Of course, everyone prefers to be identified correctly, but it would great of Obama said something like "I don't happen to be a Muslim, but so what if I was?"  He's done a great job of deftly discussing race, and I think one thing that excites so many people about Obama is that he seems capable of bringing so many taboo issues to the fore.  That won't solve them, but discussing them in the open, clearly and rationally, is critical.

That's one reason why I like the show 30 Days on FX.  Check out this episode called Muslims & America from Season 1.  If you have negative feelings about Muslims, this will help you learn more and break down some barriers.

This is probably the first Biblical reference I have made in my life:

Proverbs 4:7 - ...get wisdom and with all thy getting, get understanding

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	We Are Keeping Netflix Profiles Dear Michael, You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles. Thank you for all the calls and emails telling us how important Profiles are. We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you. -Your friends at Netflix

Netflix had announced previously that it was killing it's Profiles feature.  As a longtime Netflix customer, I loved this feature.  It let you divide your Netflix queue into sub-queues to accomodate family members with different tastes.  It allowed my wife and I to split up our movie queue and keep our (very different) preferences in movies from mucking up the Netflix suggestions.  Each profile had its own suggestion.

Netflix had announced that they were taking this away.  The word was that only 1-2% of their customers took advantage of this, and it was adding complexity to their programming.  But, many, many customers blogged about this being taken away, and Netflix responded.

Making every customer a potential media outlet will really change how companies deal with their customers and their markets.  I think that the bloggers did a better job promoting Profiles than Netflix did!

The article describes how candidates hired firms to run their fund-raising.  The candidates were not very successful, but the fund-raising firms took 90-97% of all of the money raised for fund-raising expenses.  According to the article, 30% is a more typical number.  Even more surprising, some of the firms kept on raising money nationally for candidates that had dropped out of the race.  They were playing on people's emotions -- "Defeat Liberal Barney Frank" -- even when his opponent had only garnered 147 votes statewide and couldn't qualify to get onto the ballot.

This is a year when more people than ever have paid attention to politics.  There is a ton of fund-raising done over the Internet and via direct mail.  Our political financial system is very complicated, and people give money to causes as well as candidates.  Before you give to someone or some cause, make sure you know where the money will go.  I don't know how you could have figured out that giving money to one of these candidates would just fund the fund-raising consultants, but at least make sure your candidate is still in the race!

However, there are many other applications for batteries where more the supply chain is here, and those would be ideal areas to re-establish some American battery manufacturing capability.

Full disclosure:  I am on the Board of Boston-Power.

I was lucky enough to be in the Garden last night for the Celtics big win in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.  They won their 17th championship, and it wasn't even as close as the 131-92 score.  The photo above captures some of the excitement on the bench as the game wound down.  Luckily for me, I had a great view -- you can see me in the photo between Sam Cassell and Paul Pierce, with the baseball cap on.

The environment in the Garden was phenomenal.  The fans were cheering non-stop.  I was exhausted by the end.  I was also thrilled that they could win it in Boston, even though that meant that it was extended to six games.  Having such a blowout in Boston let the party start early in the fourth quarter when it was clear that the Lakers didn't have a run in them.  That made it the most fun for the players -- they were having a blast.

And, the best part is that the Celtics could easily have pretty much the same team next year (they need to make sure that they keep James Posey).  They could definitely be better as the young players improve and the whole team has more experience playing together.  Get ready for banner number #18!

With the advent of warmer weather, I went on a great bike ride on Saturday.  This ride was mostly on roads, with one significant trail ride near Great Meadows in Concord after circling Great Meadows in Sudbury.  The hills weren't too bad.  This route is almost 34 miles, which is longer than my usual rides.  I really felt it when I got home.

Credit to Doc Rivers for putting in his small lineup to force the Lakers to spread their defense.  Maybe even some of his doubters will agree that he's done a good job after this one.