History Quiz … Sorta

I’ve remarked before that Republicans use a ledger system to measure their own morality. It’s really simple and works like this: you put all the good things you’ve done in your life on one side of the ledger and all the bad things you’ve done on the other. Make a tally, and if you score higher on the good side, then you’re an upstanding citizen. You can murder people, or steal, it doesn’t matter. As long as you do more ostensible good, than bad, you’re awesome. People like Ken Lay worked this system to great advantage, as was evident from his obituary in the Aspen Daily News:

From the most junior employee to his top executives, Ken treated all with the same dignity and respect they deserved as children of God. Employees often remarked on how he recalled their names, family, and other personal details they shared with him.


"I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” Jeremiah 12:10.

For those who know and love Ken, we take comfort in the knowledge that he is in the loving presence of the one true Judge.

Great guy. He ripped off his shareholders, stole from municipalities and other jurisdictions, and siphoned endless sums from millions of 401k accounts. But he treated everyone with the same dignity and respect they deserved—as children of God. Needless to say, he couldn’t have accomplished this without the help of his Republican friends in Government.

And now for the quiz:

1. Who are the two female runners in the picture below?

2. The race was sponsored by Continental Homes. Who owned the company at the time?

Hint: Since the owner once gave Mother Teresa a million dollars, and once gave his secretary a $100,000 raise, he probably needed some meat on the positive side of his morality ledger.

Extra credit:

3. What was my time in the 10k?

Posted by poputonian on 08/22/08 at 06:14 PM • Permalink

1 - Nancy “Shoeless” Jackson and I forget the other woman’s name.

2 - Transnational Homes, Inc.?

3 - Ha, trick question!  You ran the 5K because you had a People’s Socialist Communist Liberal Muslim Committee meeting to get to that afternoon and you were the Gay Abortion Arugula Latte Sub-Committe Chairman!

Goddammit, Ripley. I knew I should have said “no googling.”

By the way, Rip ... have you been drinking already? Is it five o’clock in Iowa?

Since 10AM, buddy!  Someone’s gotta pick up the slack.

Thought so ... I better grab a bottle of wine.

Don’t wanna be ‘left behind’.

That’s Mary Decker trailing Zola Budd.  Seconds before they had to call the Waaaahmbulance for Decker.  I don’t know who owned Continental Homes but I’m thinking it must be semi-topical so maybe Charles Keating? As for your time, not as good as mine in 1985.  :-)

Damn, you’re good, Lawnguy! And the Waaaahmbulance reference shows you are a true historian. Either that or an eye witness with a good memory.

Yep, it was Keating. I was living in Phoenix at the time, and his prominence was reaching its apex. He was building the Phoenician resort at the time, at the base of Camelback Mountain, and the stories about Mother Teresa and the $100,000 raise for his secretary were all over the papers.

What wasn’t hitting the papers yet (I don’t think), was that he was also working his favorite Republican cronies for special favors.

Of course, John McCain rebuffed Keating’s push for favors.

But, unfortunately, the rebuff didn’t come until after he (McCain) was in the process of getting caught.

Oh yeah, you’re time probably was better than mine. I don’t remember, but probably something like 45 minutes.

Here’s an interesting link with some history on Continental Homes and quite a bit about Keating, even his early history and some early warning signs.

I come from a family of runners so we all watched that race with a lot of interest.  My sisters in particular loved Mary Decker but that whining she pulled after the race turned us all off.  But those were the good old days of track.  Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett (hated him) and especially in my Irish immigrant family Eamon Coughlin.  Good memories. 

I was kidding about the 10K time.  I’ve run lots of 5Ks and half marathons but shin splints forced me out of the only 10K I ever entered.  45 minutes is, if I remember correctly, a very good time though so all kidding aside I’m not sure I could have beat that.