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What if VCs were mensches?
  Last night I went to a dinner in downtown Palo Alto, and drove by Sand Hill Road, the venture capital headquarters of Silicon Valley. I thought about the last few years, the irrational exuberance, and how the chickens must be coming home to roost now in VC-land.
  If only one of the VC leaders had said this in the midst of the mania. "The stock market is over-reacting, technologists aren't delivering the kind of value you think they are."
  Sure the growth of their stocks would probably have abated a bit, but they would have credibility now.
  And to the VCs, please start investing in technology again, hardware and software, so when the next boom happens, we can be ready for sustained growth. The correction is about our drifting from our roots, our purpose. Invest in technology of all kinds. Keep it simple.
Re-finding the high road
  Last night on Larry King, former US Secretary of State Warren Christopher said something beautiful about Dick Cheney, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, who is his adversary in the struggle for the presidency.
  I don't remember the exact words, but he said he was glad that Cheney survived his heart attack and that we need him in our country. Whether we need him or not is subject to debate, but that's the kind of grace we truly do need. Why can't we be ladies and gentlemen as we disagree?
  This had occurred to me while I waited on hold to comment on NPR's Talk of the Nation on Monday. I wanted to ask former NY governor Mario Cuomo where his manners had gone. He was slamming strangers on a personal level.
  One self-described "lifetime Democrat," a woman from the midwest, who spoke quite intelligently, said that she didn't support the bloodletting on the part of Democrat leadership. Cuomo said she must not be a "real Democrat." Huh? Is that all there is? Blind allegance? What if we have brains and values? Hello.
  And thanks to Warren Christopher for re-finding the high road.
Nixon is dead
  Final political thought for the day.
  I remember Nixon and what he did to our country.
  After Nixon, it was easy to paint Republican intentions as evil.
  So the Democrats took the easy way. They owned the high road. And they used it, badly.
  Nixon is dead. Many people are too young to remember him. Watergate is over. Let's move on.
  Dave Winer
  PS: "Mensch" is Yiddish for human being.