Pete Seeger died on Monday...

...and according to his obit in the Times (my emphasis):

Mr. Seeger was a prime mover in the folk revival that transformed popular music in the 1950s. As a member of the Weavers, he sang hits including Lead Belly’s “Goodnight, Irene” — which reached No. 1 — and “If I Had a Hammer,” which he wrote with the group’s Lee Hays. Another of Mr. Seeger’s songs, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?,” became an antiwar standard. And in 1965, the Byrds had a No. 1 hit with a folk-rock version of “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” Mr. Seeger’s setting of a passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Was this guy prolific, or what?

Here's one of my favorite versions of “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” by the Byrds. (I saw Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark play this at my first concert in 1976 or '77.)

What would you say...

...was the biggest news story of the week? President Obama's State of the Union address?

The drop in emerging market stocks?

Or the appeals court verdict finding Amanda Knox guilty of murder?

I'd say it was the effort by the Northwestern football team to form a union. I think that could have the most lasting and far-reaching impact.

In case you aren't confused...

...enough about the 2016 Republican field, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll has Paul Ryan in the lead, with 20 percent. Following the Congressman from Wisconsin are:

2. Jeb Bush 18%
3. Chris Christie 13%
4. Ted Cruz 12%
5. Rand Paul 11%
6. Marco Rubio 10%

Now, if Ryan and Bush don't run (and I don't think either will) and if Christie is damaged goods (which I think he is), who does that leave, Cruz, Paul, Rubio, Scott Walker and possibly Mike Huckabee?

The GOP had better pray for another recession.

The quote of the day...

...is from Jonathan Gruber, MIT economist and Obamacare architect. When asked what he thought of the new Republican health care plan he answered:

“It doesn’t work if you’re poor or if you’re sick—other than that, it's okay."

Pete Seeger died on Monday...

...and according to his obit in the Times (my emphasis):

Mr. Seeger was a prime mover in the folk revival that transformed popular music in the 1950s. As a member of the Weavers, he sang hits including Lead Belly’s “Goodnight, Irene” — which reached No. 1 — and “If I Had a Hammer,” which he wrote with the group’s Lee Hays. Another of Mr. Seeger’s songs, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?,” became an antiwar standard. And in 1965, the Byrds had a No. 1 hit with a folk-rock version of “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” Mr. Seeger’s setting of a passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Here's one of my favorite versions of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" by, of all people, Johnny Rivers.

"Under Obamacare, there will be long waits...

...just to see your doctor!" Have you ever heard anyone say that? According to the map above, that's already the case.

There was an interesting piece in the Washington Post yesterday about the average number of days it takes to see a doctor in several American cities. From Wonkblog (all emphasis mine):

A survey of physician practices in 15 metropolitan areas across the country, which was taken before the health law expanded coverage, found that the average wait time for a new patient to see a physician in five medical specialties was 18.5 days.  The longest waits were in Boston, where patients wait an average of 72 days to see a dermatologist and 66 days to see a family doctor. The shortest were in Dallas, where the average wait time is 10.2 days for all specialties, and just five days to see a family doctor.

Nine weeks just to see a family doctor? Wow.

What the piece didn't mention, and I wish it had, is how these numbers compare to other developed countries, which all have universal health care. Are wait times in the U. S. longer or shorter than in Canada, Western Europe and Japan? I don't know.

And just so no one accuses me of cherry-picking, there was also this:

Even Boston, which has eye-popping wait times, has gotten better. The city’s average wait time dropped from 50 days in 2009 to 45 days in 2013. That’s brings it closer to its level of 39 days in 2004 before Massachusetts adopted its version of health care reform.

Will wait times get longer under Obamacare? I don't know. But they're already a lot longer than I would have thought.

What does this chart tell you?

It tells me that 40 percent of Americans live pretty much paycheck to paycheck. And that the richest one percent can't even spend half their incomes.

So what if we raised the minimum wage to, say, ten bucks or so? Wouldn't that put more money into the pockets of those who actually spend it? And wouldn't that be good for the economy?

Bright red!

The New Yorker cartoon of the day:

Pete Seeger died on Monday...

...and according to his obit in the Times (my emphasis):

Mr. Seeger was a prime mover in the folk revival that transformed popular music in the 1950s. As a member of the Weavers, he sang hits including Lead Belly’s “Goodnight, Irene” — which reached No. 1 — and “If I Had a Hammer,” which he wrote with the group’s Lee Hays. Another of Mr. Seeger’s songs, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?,” became an antiwar standard. And in 1965, the Byrds had a No. 1 hit with a folk-rock version of “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” Mr. Seeger’s setting of a passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Here's one of my favorite versions of “If I Had a Hammer,” by Peter, Paul and Mary.

Mike Huckabee is now leading...

...the pack for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. (Last week it was Chris Christie.) According to a new PPP poll, the former governor of Arkansas leads with 16 percent. Money quote:  

“Mike Huckabee’s comments last week didn’t hurt him with the GOP base,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “If anything they might have helped him in combination with Chris Christie’s implosion.”

Rounding out the field:

2. Jeb Bush, 14%
3. Chris Christie 13%
4. Rand Paul 11%
5. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan (tied) 8%
8. Scott Walker 6%
9. Bobby Jindal 5%

Huckabee? Really?

I noticed the Republicans...

...finally came up with a replacement plan for Obamacare the other day. Good for them. But from what I've read so far, it looks an awful lot like the Affordable Care Act, only not as good.* And that's the problem. Because before President Obama took office, there were essentially two alternatives out there: the Democratic plan, or single-payer, and the GOP plan, which was signed into law in Massachusetts by a Republican governor. Since the Democrats didn't think they could muster the votes for a single-payer system, they chose to pass the Republican plan instead.

Now, four years later, the horse is out of the barn. (And in full gallop.) So it's really too late for a Republican plan. Romneycare Obamacare was passed in 2010 and is already beginning to work. Something like 9 million people have signed up so far, applicants can't be turned down because of pre-existing conditions, patients can't be dropped from their insurance if they get sick, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The time for a Republican health care plan was before 2006, when the GOP controlled both houses of Congress and the White House. If not then, at least they could have proposed some of these measures back in 2009 when the ACA was being crafted. But they didn't. In fact, they chose to boycott the whole process. (Which looks really foolish in hindsight.) So now we have Obamacare and time will tell if it works or not.

But, really, for the time being, it's settled. And the GOP really needs to find another issue. (Pssst! Try immigration reform.)

* And, by the way, it could never get passed. Tax employer-provided health insurance? Yeah, that would go over well with the millions of people who currently get their insurance tax-free at work.

The quote of the day...

...is from a piece in the Times, "For Christie, Politics Team Kept a Focus on Two Bids":

Mr. Christie himself tended to the smallest of details.

I know it's early, but...

...Hillary Clinton is leading, at 7/4 odds, in the race for president on PaddyPower. Chris Christie and Marco Rubio are tied for second at 10/1, Jeb Bush is at 14/1, and Rand Paul and Paul Ryan are tied at 16/1.

I've seen ten teams...

Benet's Sean O'Mara is the most dominating player I've seen this year.

...in six games and two teams twice (Loyola and Stevenson). Here's how I would rank them:

1. Zion-Benton (18-1)
2. Loyola (16-2)
3. Stevenson (17-1)
4. Marian Catholic (15-2)
5. St. Viator (15-3)
6. St. Rita (8-5)
7. St. Patrick (12-5)
8. Benet (11-6)
9. St. Ignatius (10-7)
10. Glenbrook South (9-8)

And here are the AP rankings.

The New Yorker cartoon of the day:

The quote of the day...

...is from Harold Pollack, a professor at the University of Chicago (my emphasis):

Many Republican governors and state legislatures continue to spurn the Medicaid expansion. These politics of impunity — whereby states withhold coverage from 5 million people — is flat out disgusting. Still, there is no going back. It took about seven years for Deep Southern states to accept Medicaid. I doubt the ACA will take that long.

Pete Seeger, 1919-2014.

Who are the Top Ten...

Is Jahlil Okafor the best player in the state?

...high school basketball teams in the state of Illinois? Here are the rankings according to the three news services I follow:

Trib

1. Curie (18-1)
2. Stevenson (17-1)* 
3. Young (14-4) 
4. Zion-Benton (18-1)* 
5. Marian Catholic (15-2)*  
6. Bogan (20-2) 
7. Simeon (14-4)
8. Orr (14-2) 
9. Fremd (16-0)
10. Loyola (16-2)*

Sun-Times

1. Curie (18-1)
2. Young (14-4) 
3. Zion-Benton (18-1)* 
4. Stevenson (17-1)*
5. Marian Catholic (15-2)* 
6. Bogan (20-2) 
7. Orr (14-2) 
8. Loyola (16-2)*
9. Fremd (16-0)
10. St. Joseph (16-3)

MaxPreps

1. Young (14-4)
2. Springfield Lanphier (17-0)^
3. Stevenson (16-1)*
4. Curie (18-1)
5. Morgan Park (13-4) 
6. Simeon (13-3) 
7. Lincoln (19-2)^ 
8. Bogan (16-3)
9. Orr (13-2) 
10. Edwardsville (14-1)^

And here's last week's.

* Seen 'em.

^ Outside the Chicago area.

Martin Bergmann, a psychologist who...

...played a philosopher in Woody Allen’s 1989 film, Crimes and Misdemeanors, died at age 100. From his obit in the Times:

Mr. Allen was looking for a tweedy, white-haired, European-sounding psychoanalyst to portray Professor Louis Levy, a humanistic philosopher. In the movie, a dark comedy about marriage and its discontents, Mr. Allen plays a filmmaker at work on a documentary about Levy, who is seen only in film clips. 

When Mr. Bergmann first saw “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” he received a psychological jolt: at the end of the film, he discovered, Professor Levy commits suicide off camera.

“It was a little bit of a shock,” Mr. Bergmann told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1989. “It was essential for Woody Allen, to develop the plot. It wasn’t so nice for me. Some of my patients were quite upset.”

Katrin Himmler is...

...the granddaughter of Ernst Himmler, the younger brother of Heinrich Himmler, one of the leading figures of Nazi Germany and a principal architect of the Holocaust.

According to an article in the Times this morning, Ms. Himmler, an author, is married to an Israeli who is the son of Holocaust survivors.

At the Stevenson - Marian Catholic...

...game on Saturday night a Patriots fan was escorted out of the gym for yelling, "I can see the dry and loose skin of your elbow!" (Actually, he said something else.)

But it was one of the highlights of what I thought was a sloppy and disappointing contest.

I drove out to Glenbard East to see two of the top-ranked teams in the state of Illinois. Marian Catholic is led, of course, by the Kentucky-bound Tyler Ulis and Stevenson is the defending 4A runner-up. I had seen the Pats once before, against Zion-Benton, but, although I'd seen Ulis a couple of times in 2013, was looking forward to watching him for the first time this year.

At halftime, with Stevenson up, 27-25, Ulis had exactly two points. And all I could think was, Am I in the right place?

But according to Michael O'Brien of the Sun-Times:

Ulis’ play in the fourth quarter was remarkable. He scored or assisted on 26 consecutive points, trimming a 17-point Stevenson lead down to just three. The Kentucky recruit finished with 23 points, nine assists and five rebounds.

And yet I couldn't help focusing on another stat O'Brien pointed out:

The Patriots didn’t score a field goal for a six-minute stretch of the fourth quarter.

In fact, one of the things that struck me on Saturday night was the number of missed shots, especially from right under the basket.

After the game, Ulis was quoted as saying, “I played terrible. I didn’t come through today.” I wouldn't go that far. His numbers were nothing to sniff at, especially when covered by Stevenson guard Jalen Brunson, who accounted for 32 points. But neither player impressed me as much as Benet's Sean O'Mara did the previous night. That was a dominating performance.

So did this game live up to the hype? I didn't think so.

People are always asking me to take them to a real, high-quality Chicago high school basketball game. And if I had taken someone with me to Glenbard East I think they would have been disappointed. I know I was. Am I the only one who felt that way?

The BEK cartoon of the day:

The sun rises...

...on the school behind my house.

St. Viator came from behind...

...to defeat Benet last night, 71-68. After trailing since midway through the second quarter, the Lions regained the lead with less than a minute to go. Benet center Sean O'Mara, who had a game-high 39 points, missed two free throws with just seconds left to hand the Lions their 14th victory of the season. It was a great game! (Interestingly, the other game I considered, Fenwick at Loyola, was also decided late at the foul line.)

I had seen O'Mara at least twice before, against Whitney Young and Marian Catholic last year. But I don't remember him being as good as he was last night. The Benet senior was really a man among boys in St. Viator's gym.* To report that he had 39 points and 15 rebounds doesn't really tell how utterly dominant he was. At the risk of sounding uncharitable, if O'Mara had anyone playing with him Benet would be dangerous. (Did they graduate everyone from last year?) I bet he'll have a big career at Xavier.

St. Viator's team was a much more balanced one. In addition to Roosevelt Smart and Ore Arogundade, who had 23 points each, Patrick McNamara added 14. Also, Sal Cannella and Tom Martin, who both fouled out, had the thankless task of guarding O'Mara. I look forward to seeing these guys take on Loyola next Saturday.

P. S. A tip to anyone who's thinking of attending a game at St. Viator: If the person selling tickets asks if you're the "magic age," and you're wondering what in the heck that is, it's 60. And, no, I'm not that old yet.

* Although the gym is named after a Father Pat Cahill, it's housed within the Boler Multipurpose Athletic Center, named after a family prominent in autism circles.

The quote of the day...

...is from Arkansas Blog:

Mike "We Are All Catholics Today" Huckabee, when he was Arkansas governor, apparently signed a health insurance mandate law in 2005 that included contraception in preventive care. He was among many Republicans in many states who did the same.

The New Yorker cartoon of the day:

In his column today, David Brooks...

...says that only 57 percent of American 19-year-olds graduate from high school with a 2.5 G.P.A., don’t get convicted of a crime or get pregnant. Can that possibly be right? 

Why the American Health Care System...

...Needs Reform, Part Infinity. From a front-page story in the Times this morning, "Hospital Chain Said to Scheme to Inflate Bills":

Every day the scorecards went up, where they could be seen by all of the hospital’s emergency room doctors.

Physicians hitting the target to admit at least half of the patients over 65 years old who entered the emergency department were color-coded green. The names of doctors who were close were yellow. Failing physicians were red.

The scorecards, according to one whistle-blower lawsuit, were just one of the many ways that Health Management Associates, a for-profit hospital chain based in Naples, Fla., kept tabs on an internal strategy that regulators and others say was intended to increase admissions, regardless of whether a patient needed hospital care, and pressure the doctors who worked at the hospital.

I've often wondered about my own doctor, whom I actually like a lot. But he works for a large medical group, and it just seems like every time I go to see him -- every time -- he ends up referring me to a specialist. Coincidence? Or is it kind of like Jiffy Lube, which is always trying to sell me something else? Could it be that my doctor is under instructions to refer me to one of the specialists in his group? Or am I just paranoid? After reading the piece in the Times I'm not so sure.

Remember when Mike Huckabee...

...used to say, "I'm a conservative, but I'm not angry about it"? Doesn't he look just a little angry in this speech yesterday?

Tracys are taking over the world!

What is going on here? All my life, the only other Tracys I ever heard of were Spencer and Dick. (And, please, if you ever meet someone with the last name "Tracy," don't ask him about his brother Dick. Just don't.) But, now, all of a sudden, there are Tracys everywhere I look! (Is it because Irish Catholics breed like rats? Was it just a matter of time?)

Besides Sister Mary Tracy, above, who's in the news in Seattle, there's also a Ben Tracy at CBS, below...

...a Marc Tracy who writes for The New Republic (and is Jewish!)...

...and a Will Tracy, who edits The Onion.

And I wonder if maybe -- just maybe -- there's something bigger going on here:

But I wouldn't worry about it.

John J. McGinty III, a hero...

...of  the Vietnam War, died at age 73. I don't mean to make light of the Medal of Honor winner, but his name reminds me of that scene in The Jerk, above.

Do you suppose they got that name from "Iron Man" McGinnity, who was born Joseph Jerome McGinty?

I've now seen seven...

St. Patrick's Adrian Pierzchanowski.

...high school basketball teams this year. Here's how I would rank them:

1. Zion-Benton (16-1)
2. Loyola (14-2)
3. Stevenson (15-1)
4. St. Rita (8-5)
5. St. Patrick (11-5)
6. St. Ignatius (9-7)
7. Glenbrook South (9-7)

And here's the latest from the AP and the three news services I follow.

The New Yorker cartoon of the day:

Loyola defeated St. Patrick...

...last night, 50-48, to extend its overall record to 14-2. St. Pat's is now 10-5 and was down by as much as 13 points in the first quarter before roaring back to within one point with a minute and a half left in the contest. It turned into a great game!

The cage match was held in St. Patrick's gym on Belmont Avenue in the Portage Park neighborhood of Chicago. St. Pat's, founded in 1861, is the oldest Catholic high school in Chicago and moved to its current location in 1953. The all-boys school boasts such distinguished alums as Ray Meyer, Class of  1933 (above), the legendary DePaul coach, and five of the founding members of the '60s rock group, The New Colony Six.

Loyola, a relative newcomer on the scene, was founded in 1909 when Loyola University relocated from the Near West Side to Rogers Park. (The Academy subsequently moved to the Wilmette campus in 1957.) Formerly all boys, Loyola has been coed for twenty years now, since merging with nearby Marillac in 1994. The North Shore school is not without its famous alums, either, such as Notre Dame coach Johnny Dee, Class of '42 (above), a contemporary of Ray Meyer's, and, from the entertainment world, Bill Murray and Chris O'Donnell.

Now, I know what you're thinking: Wow! Sounds like a great match-up of two old-school Catholic League rivals. Well, kinda, but not exactly. St. Pat's, a member of the CCL since 1913, left with three other Christian Brothers schools in 1950. The Shamrocks rejoined in 1974, but left again in 2002 to join the East Suburban Catholic Conference. Still, it felt like an old Catholic League rivalry to me last night.

The St. Pat's student body turned out in full-force, wearing Blackhawks jerseys. I couldn't follow it exactly, but one of the school's alums is connected to the NHL franchise and was on hand to receive an honor. Shortly after, some random old guy (below) sang a song I didn't recognize at mid-court just before the National Anthem. It seemed to go on forever, but the crowd just sat in rapt attention. (It was all very confusing to an outsider like me.)

And then the game began. As I mentioned, the Ramblers got off to a quick start (just like last week against St. Rita) and went into the locker room at halftime with a 24-20 lead. After intermission, the Shamrocks fought back, and while never taking the lead the entire night, pulled within a solitary point near the very end.

Loyola emerged victorious, though, and now have a perfect 14-0 record against teams from Illinois. (Their two losses came on a recent road trip to Florida.) The 2013-14 Ramblers remind me a little of last year's Stevenson team, which made a Cinderella run to the finals in Peoria. Like the 2012-13 Patriots, the Loyola squad is a bunch of suburban kids, not too tall, who are well-coached and can shoot. Can the Ramblers make it to state? I don't know, but they're definitely my dark horse.

Meanwhile, according to a new...

...Quinnipiac University poll, Hillary is positively crushing her potential 2016 opponents:

Clinton 46%, Chris Christie 38%
Clinton 49%, Rand Paul 39%
Clinton 50%, Ted Cruz 35%
Clinton 49%, Jeb Bush 38%

Have you seen this?

It's all over the Internet. Here's the story:

Ashley England went to dinner at the Stag-N-Doe pizza restaurant in China Grove with her family on Friday evening, including her 8-year-old son, Riley. The family was sitting at the table when Riley, who has special needs, began to get "a little rowdy."

"He threw the phone and started screaming," she recalled. "The past few weeks have been very hard and trying for us - especially with public outings. Riley was getting loud and hitting the table and I know it was aggravating to some people."

Just when England was ready to leave, a waitress appeared.

"I'll try to do this without crying," the waitress told the family. "But another customer has paid for your bill tonight and wanted me to give you this note."

The note read: "God only gives special children to special people."

England says the kindness of the mystery diner made her cry.

"To have someone do that small act towards us shows that some people absolutely understand what we are going through and how hard it is to face the public sometimes," she said. "They made me cry, blessed me more than they know - I felt like out of all the rude negative comments that we are faced with - these outweighs them. The people who care!"

She says she wants to say thank you to the person that paid for their meal and sent the encouraging words.

"Little did he know what struggles we had been facing lately and this was surely needed at that moment," she said. "Thank you!"

I'm glad that Ms. England reacted that way. Because it would have bugged the hell out of me.

I showed the note to my wife and we both agreed that if someone did that to us we'd want to punch him in the face. And neither one of us could put our fingers on exactly why we felt that way.

Oh, sure, the agnostic in me wanted to say, "How in the heck do you know why God does anything? You don't even know if God exists, so shut up!"

But there was more to it than that.

After reading David Brooks's column in the Times this morning, "The Art of Presence," I'm getting closer to it. Brooks writes about "how those of us outside the zone of trauma might better communicate with those inside the zone."

And here's the money quote (his emphasis):

Don’t say it’s all for the best or try to make sense out of what has happened. Catherine and her parents speak with astonishing gentleness and quiet thoughtfulness, but it’s pretty obvious that these tragedies have stripped away their tolerance for pretense and unrooted optimism.

And I think that's it: Don't try to cheer me up or tell me that everything happens for the best or that "God only gives special children to special people."

Because then I'll wish for something bad to happen to you and then pat you on the head and tell you that you should be grateful or something because God singled you out for this.

News flash: I don't feel special. And I don't want to be special. The truth is, I'd rather you were going through this than me. So keep your damn money and save me the patronizing note. 

Does anyone know why we're...

...still in Afghanistan? Does anyone care?

Bob Gates is out with his memoirs; I've read some of the reviews and seen him on a few shows. And I still don't know why we're fighting in Afghanistan. Nor do I even care anymore.

Tonight, weather permitting, it...

Is Tyler Ulis the best player in the state?

...will be Loyola (13-2) at St. Patrick (10-4) for me. I could see Vernon Hills (10-7) at Lake Forest (12-4), but I think the former will be the better game.

In the meantime, here are this week's Top Ten from the three news services I follow:

Trib

1. Curie (15-1)
2. Marian Catholic (14-1) 
3. Young (11-4) 
4. Zion-Benton (15-1)* 
5. Stevenson (14-1)* 
6. Bogan (18-2) 
7. Morgan Park (12-4) 
8. Simeon (11-3) 
9. St. Joseph (14-2) 
10. Orr (10-2)

Sun-Times

1. Marian Catholic (14-1) 
2. Curie (15-1)  
3. Young (11-4) 
4. Zion-Benton (15-1)* 
5. Stevenson (14-1)* 
6. Bogan (18-2) 
7. St. Joseph (14-2) 
8. Morgan Park (12-4) 
9. Simeon (11-3) 
10. Orr (10-2)

MaxPreps

1. Young (11-4) 
2. Springfield Lanphier (14-0)^ 
3. Morgan Park (13-3) 
4. Stevenson (13-1)* 
5. Curie (15-2) 
6. Simeon (11-3)  
7. Bogan (14-3) 
8. Lincoln (14-2)^
9. Marian Catholic (17-1)  
10. Orr (10-2)

* Seen 'em.

^ Outside the Chicago area.

Don't look now, but...

...Chris Christie is even more popular in New Hampshire than he was before Bridgegate. Huh? According to a new PPP poll, the New Jersey governor leads the Republican pack with 24 percent. Here's the rest:

2. Jeb Bush and Rand Paul (tie) 12%
3. Mike Huckabee 11%
4. Ted Cruz 9%
5. Marco Rubio 8%
6. Paul Ryan 4%
7. Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker (tie) 3%

As for the Democrats, need you ask? It's Hillary at 65% to Joe Biden's measly 10%.

Pete Carroll, head coach...

...of the Seattle Seahawks, won the BCS championship in 2005 with USC. If his team wins the Super Bowl in two weeks, he'll join two other coaches who have won titles in both the college and pro ranks: Jimmy Johnson (Miami Hurricanes and Dallas Cowboys) and Barry Switzer (Oklahoma Sooners and Dallas Cowboys).

Is there anyone else I'm forgetting?

The New Yorker cartoon of the day:

Rand Paul is the...

...junior senator from Kentucky.

Paul Rand is the...

...founder, president and CEO of Zócalo Group.

Got that?

Hat tip: Kevin Gallagher.