Stock Tip: Buy Sony (or any other electronic co. that makes micro recorders)

Earlier today I was digging through the cluttered gallimaufry that is my desk's junk drawer. I don't even remember what I was looking for because my attention was diverted. I came across my cute little Sony M-677V voice activated microcassette recorder which I bought for a journalism course back at university. It got me to thinking about how I use to carry the recorder around with me everywhere I went (as I per my J101 prof's instructions). It actually saved a higher grade for me with a different professor one time. I used it to prove to him that he had given me a specific instruction on a project when he recalled giving a different instruction.

Which brings me to my stock tip.

It seems to me that if you are a person who has even a remote chance of being interviewed by some kind of writer or journalist, it would behoove you to record it. CYA just in case you ever have to dispute what is eventually written. Misquotation appears to be becoming quite popular these days. This is a sad state of affairs but in today's charged political environment, a little pragmatism could go a long way. The following are just a few people that I imagine would be much happier today if only they had recorded their conversations with particular inquisitors:

1) Retired Maj. Gen. Bobby W. Hodges: Gen. Hodges was touted by CBS as the "trump card" in the authentication of the "newly found" Bush Texas Air National Guard (TANG) memos. Hodges spoke with CBS producers by phone about the memos. However, the fact that he never actually saw the documents didn't quite make it into the CBS reports. I can't blame Mr. Hodges for feeling misled. He later expressed that he now believes that the documents are not real. CBS responded by saying "We believed General Hodges the first time we spoke with him." Ouch! See...tape recorder...no problem.

2) Philip D. Bouffard: In a New York Times article, Mr. Bouffard stated that he was suspicious of the CBS TANG documents because of the fonts and because it would be unusual for the military to have had the kind of large IBM machine that might possibly have had that font. A couple of days later, The Boston Globe claimed that though he was initially suspicious of the documents, that after additional research, he told them that he now believed that "the documents could have been prepared on an IBM Selectric Composer typewriter available at the time." Sounds like a pretty damning source. However, Mr. Bouffard now protests that The Globe has misrepresented what he said to them and that he never gave them a positive confirmation for their story.
Doh! See...tape recorder...no problem.

3) Sharon Bush: In an unauthorized biography of the Bush family, author Kitty Kelley claims that during a four hour lunch, Mrs. Bush (the ex-wife of presidential brother Neil Bush) told her that she witnessed current Pres. Bush using cocaine at Camp David during his father's tenure as president. However, Mrs. Bush categorically denies ever telling Kelley this explosive story and we now have a she said/she said situation going on. Who's to say who's lying? Bad news! See...tape recorder...no problem.

Who knows? If enough people take my advice and buy recorders, maybe this disintegration of the MSM could have a positive effect on the stock market. Being the optimistic person that I am, I'm sure there is some kind of silver lining out there somewhere.