Day 3 of vacation

Day 3 started out very nicely with us walking all over creation (or at least all/most of SanFrancisco). We saw a lot of touristy things, Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, etc. Alcatraz was truly booked and no chance for us to see it this week, but we brushed that off.

By game time, we were both very tired. We got to the game and found it was very, very cold. And windy. But we enjoyed the game. Late in 7th inning, Bonds struck out and it looked like he wouldn't get another at-bat. Lots of folks left and we moved down to some really good seats in deep center field. Bond came up again in the 9th, but he popped out. With the Braves winning
4-0 and 2 outs, we decided to head for the Muni (train service). Once on the train, we found we left too early. Giants came back and tied it up.

While on the train, Bonds came back up. I was nervous that we would miss one of his big home runs.

Well, if you're a ball fan, you know the rest of the story. We got back to the hotel room in time to listen to the active parts of the extra innings (game was blacked out from TV) and the Braves won 7-5. Bonds did nothing spectacular.

Lesson learned. It ain't over until it's over...

Vacation - End of day 2

Day 1 ended in a major mess (no luggage, the wrong hotel room). Day 2 started out not much better. Luggage finally arrived around 2pm. Then it got better.

We move to a better room after the luggage, got into clean clothes and made our way to the ball park. $2 for the "Muni" to get there, then enjoyed a good game. The Braves won and Bonds didn't get a homerun (actually, I'd like to see him at least tie the record, so I can say I was there).

And we heard some encouraging word about Alcatraz. We're going to go down in the morning and hopefully get to see the place.

As for the luggage, I have some serious problems with the way lost luggage is handled. They contract out the delivery to some local company. Once the delivery company picks up the luggage, it's out of their control. In my case, they tried several times to contact the delivery company with no response. They had no idea what happened after that part.

I have a nasty letter to write and hopefully it will go in the airline's file for the local delivery company..

Vacation part 2 - not off to a good start

I'm off this week on my second big vacation of the summer. The first one was all family (which was great!) and this one is just my son & I. We did this two years ago, we pick a city where the Braves are playing away from home and we go there. Last time was St. Louis, this time San Francisco. But it's not off to a good start.

Our initial flight plan included a 2 hour layover in Atlanta. However, our first flight was delayed an hour and 45 minutes, so that became 15 minutes. We made it, but I was out of breath. An old man shouldn't run that hard.

Of course the "meal" on the plane was a snack pack. 4 crackers, some cheese, 2 oreos and a small box of raisins. I was glad we ate before we left. When we got to San Fran, we found out our luggage was still in Atlanta. We were promised it would be delivered by 9pm.

Checked the web several times, our luggage finally got in around 11pm. Now it's promised by 11:30am. Still not here (7:30am local time)

Our hotel isn't what I hoped for and I'm not sure we can get tickets to Alcatratraz (I really wanted him to see that).

Hopefully things will get better. Our tickets to the game are lousy, but they're in the park. I have my camera and my binoculars, so even if I'm wearing dirty clothes, I'll be ready. And it's some personal time with my son. That counteracts all the bad stuff.

Donate encyclopedia

I have some old Funk & Wagnall encyclopedias that I want to get rid of. I hate the idea of throwing them away. They are 14 years old. It's a complete set.

I searched the web and found that at least one library won't take encyclopedias over 10 years old. I've called a few charities and no one wants them.

Any ideas on donating? Is recycling available?

Eco-Vandalism as an answer to gas guzzling

Seems some globally minded people didn't like the fact that this person wasn't globally minded. Gareth Groves bought a Hummer. No question that it's bad for the environment, he was the one who paid $38,000 for the vehicle and paid for the gas at 14 mpg, so he figured it was his problem

Some eco-friendly people thought otherwise and they decided he should be able to drive such an unfriendly vehicle. They smashed the windows, slashed the tires and scratched FOR THE ENVIRON in the side.

So I guess this is fair, Garreth now understands that his first priority is to protect the environment. He got what he deserved.

See Hummer Gets Eco-Vandalized in Washington Neighborhood

Note: In case anyone misses it, I intended for my comments in the last paragraph above to be sarcastic.

Absence

I've been out of pocket for a couple days and it doesn't look like it's going to get any better. Work has been very demanding and when I did have time to do some blog work, I've been reading Neil's blog.

Neil had the audacity to post some very long posts that grabbed a lot of comments completely blowing my theory on long blog posts. Way to go Neil! :)

I strongly recommend Neil's posts....

How much of that email did you read?

Several years ago, I heard a statistic that the average person read on about a 5th grade level. The email system we used had an option to check the grade level of the words in an e-mail. By default, it was set to flag words over 7th grade level (I guess we thought we were smarter than average). You could highlight a word that was flagged and it would tell you the grade level of that word.

During that time, I began watching the way I sent emails. I intentionally did things to make them more readable. Short sentences, paragraphs with 2-3 sentences and lots of white space. When necessary, use of bold or (less often) italics to get attention. Oh and in case you hadn't noticed, lots of (parenthesis) to denote sub-thoughts.

I've been told by many people that the e-mails I send and documents I write are very good. This often came up when we were talking about other things, so I take the comments as true. I feel I have a special talent to be able to explain complex situations up and down the management food chain (at least when it's job related).

Today I was crafting an email. The note will surprise some of the folks as they weren't aware of some activities from over the weekend. So I had to explain a complex situation from the start and reassure them that all was under control. I was proud of the job I did and at the last minute separated a paragraph into two and bolded the last one (is bold a verb?). As I did so, I thought, these people probably won't read the whole email, best to get the info out quickly and tell them which parts to read.

So, here's my thought for the day, how much of any given email does the average reader read? I'm guessing around 50%, but I'd also guess it varies depended on the sender, the subject line and the length of the e-mail. You're more likely to read all of an email from someone you know and trust with a subject line that grabs your attention and if it's short.

Surely someone has done a study on this funded by our over-zealous congress.

As a side question, I wonder if the same applies to blogs???

Quote of the day

Thanks to TV and for the convenience of TV, you can only be one of two kinds of human beings, either a liberal or a conservative. - Kurt Vonnegut

This seems so true...

You gotta love Dulles

I flew into Dulles airport this morning. It will be a short trip, in this morning, out in the afternoon. I'm probably using too many carbon credits (anyone got any to spare?).

This airport is strange. You get off at one terminal, then ride in a bus that looks like something out of Star Wars to get to the main terminal.

I did meet a pilot (while in line to get expensive eggs) and talk to him for a few minutes. I wanted his recommendations for a 17 year old who wants to be a pilot. Jet Blue may not be able to get you off the ground, but the pilot was very friendly. I hope he has an uneventful flight to Long Beach.

I'll be home tonight in time for supper. Short presentation this morning and lots of airport time this afternoon.

Evan Almighty

While on vacation last week, I went to see Evan Almighty. It was supposed to be some father-son bonding time. While we both enjoyed the movie, there wasn't a lot of bonding (a subject for another time).

The movie was impressive. Not one that you walk away from and say "MAN, I'm glad I saw that", but one that rather one that you say "I enjoyed that". Very subtle enjoyment.

Throughout the movie I kept being bothered by how they would handle the issue of God breaking his promise. After all, God promised He would never flood the earth again, yet here He kept telling Evan there was going to be a flood. How could God break this promise? I knew I was going to be upset.

Without spoiling the movie, just let me say that God is true to His word and as usual does what He says. If you've seen the previews, you know there's a flood. God manages to keep his promise and flood the earth at the same time. Even this conservative, literal minded fundamentalist was not upset.

The thing that impressed me the most in the movie was the use of signs. God doesn't speak to me in a still small voice, He knows I'm way to slow for that. Instead, He speaks to me through signs. Not just one sign, when He wants to get my attention, He sends a bunch of signs and usually smacks me in the head with them. Evan had the same problem I did. When he received a direct word from God, he still didn't believe it. So God smacked him in the head with signs, over and over. Eventually, even Evan got the sign.

Another impressive thing was the way God dealt with prayer. In the movie, God didn't just answer prayer like a magic genie released from a bottle, instead He made people work for the answers to their prayers. I think He does this in real life, in order to make us grow. As I left and revisited the movie in my mind, I was very impressed with God (both movie character and real life).

Overall, a good movie. I highly recommend it. I also suggest you see it with a friend and talk about it afterwards. Ask what they thought about it. How do they think it plays out in real life? Use it as a starting point for discussion.

Deja Vu

The newest Netflix delivery was the Denzel Washington movie Deja Vu. I had been told that it involved a lot of time travel and was sometimes confusing due to the different time lines.

Instead I found an EXCELLENT movie. The time travel was a little confusing to my wife and son (I've read enough science fiction that I decided long ago just to ignore the issue of time travel). But we all enjoyed the movie. My favorite line was "I guess I picked the wrong week to stop snorting hash."

I was thoroughly impressed!!

Some language was a little rough for the little ones, as was some of the violence. No sex to speak of, but a shower scene with some nudity. Actually the shower scene was funny.

Hope other enjoy the movie.

Lost titles.

For some reason, Blogger won't let me edit the title box. The box is there, with the familiar "Title:" in front of it, but the box isn't clickable (strange word). I've tried it when I create a post and when I edit a post, neither one works.

Sometimes, I hate PC's.....

Last week, my family went on vacation. Most of my readers are family, so they knew that and probably were there. For the outsiders, we went to Myrtle Beach and rented a house for the week.

With 5 kids, spouses, fiancee (congratulations again to Kayte and Kevin) and the one grandson, we had a house full. Each "child" took one night to cook dinner. The menu for the week ranged from stir-fry to low-country boil, from crock-pot enchiladas to burgers and dogs, from bbq chicken to chicken pasta alfredo with grilled salmon. What a feast!

Weather was good, family was great. My wife and a couple of the girls took over 600 pictures, I took about 5 rolls (I'm still on film).

I'm back now and catching up on blog reading. I'll also be blogging more this week. I know you missed it...

The steer is back!

I visited a new BiLo store today and they have a steer on the top of the store. Now to most people, that doesn't mean much. But back in my day (makes me feel good to say that), all BiLo's had steers on top. These were made out of fiberglass and were frequently the target of drunk rednecks who needed some practice, but they were there.

The number of steers on top of the store somehow related to the size. A one-steer BiLo was small, a two steer was medium and a three steer BiLo, well, that was something else. I, of course, worked at three steer BiLo (there should now be an atmosphere of hushed respect and awe in the room as you read this).

We were proud of our three steer BiLo. When the company went through a buy-out in 1977, we were the three steer BiLo closest to the main office. The buyers-to-be were slated to tour our store early on Saturday morning. We brought in specialists from all over to make sure our store was the finest. In the meat department, where I worked, all trays were stacked to a perfect 6 inches. I saw the specialist for my area measure each tray carefully.

Saturday came and, since it was the first of the month, the customers came. They liked the fact that the trays were stacked nealty and some even noticed that the meat seemed a higher grade (it was - trying to seduce the buyers). Funny thing was, they bought stuff! Which meant that the perfect 6 inch trays weren't perfect any more.

We constantly fought to keep everything looking just so. Mean time, we had extra workers so that the prospective buyers would see how good we were. From 8am until around 5 or 6 pm, we fought to keep things pristine (a losing battle). Finally, the prospective buyers came and after a fast walk through where they barely looked at my department, they went away.

Dilbert could have been there.

But the steer has always been important to me and sometime around 1981, the new owers decided to upgrade the image and get rid of the steers. I guess they all went out to fiberglass pasture (you can't let a steer go to stud).

Today the new BiLo Superstore has a steer on top. Just one, it's not the same class of store I worked at. But at least the steer is back...

Why would you do that to your ear?

At lunch today, I saw a guy with an earring. No big deal, lots of folks have those. But this earing was like a washer. Note that it wasn't a washer hanging down, it was a washer IN THE EAR LOBE!!!

The hole in this guy's ear was big enough that you could stick your big finger through the middle of it (if you wanted to stick your finger through a hole in this guys earlobe).

Why would anyone do that? You can't believe it's good for you. What does it prove?

Health Care reform

The other morning I heard about a new approach to health care reform. It focuses on using the free market system as the basis.

Anything starting with the free market system gets my attention. I've only read part of the information so far, but it looks interesting. Look for details at http://www.freemarketcure.com/. I'll be reading more...

Catholic mass

I have led a protected life. Until last night, I had never visited a Catholic mass. My nephew's son was being baptised, so I went and had a special seat up front (which is tough on a back-row baptist). The service was (I think) a normal service with a baptism at the end.

My overall impression of the service was that it was very structured. The feeling I got was much like I got at a service I used to go to by Messianic Jews. They sang a lot of the prayers, a lot of responsive reading, lots of "blessing to you", etc.

I listened to the prayers (most were in English) and can't say I disagree with most of what was said. They asked Mary to pray for them, asked John to pray for them, I'm not sure I've ever thought about a person who had died praying for me. I'll have to think of what that means.

The service was a feast for John the Baptist (I was glad they acknowledged that he was Baptist). They also talked about a feast for Mary. I never thought about feasts like that.

There were things I didn't agree with. The priest said the baptism took away original sin. I believe baptism is a sign, an outward sign of an inward change. I don't get hung up about when you get baptised, I know a lot of Baptists are very picky about that. But I feel like, if it's a sign of obedience, it really doesn't matter if you did it after you accepted Christ or even if you did it. Yes, you should, but it won't keep you out of heaven if you don't.

I would have more of a problem with someone who didn't want to do it. Why not? But then I'd have a problem with someone saying it was required. Why? Baptism doesn't save you.

All in all, it was a good service. And I saw a lot of things I had never seen before.

Florida and back

I spent the last week in and around Boca Raton Florida. One day of vacation, then a class for four days.

This is the wrong time of the year to visit southern Florida, it's very hot and subject to a lot of showers. We had heavy rain the day we arrived (Sunday) and Monday. Tuesday-Friday threatened rain and there were some showers but not too bad.

Florida is spread out. Reminds me of Dallas that way. You can't go from one thing to another without getting in a car.

We had good eating, sea food two nights (hey, we were on the ocean), steak one night, italian another.

I met a co-worker from Singapore. We talked about culture a lot and the differences.

Overall a good trip...

Plum Island

A century ago, people came to a crossroads in their lives and had to choose a direction. Today, we live inside microchips with a million paths opening and closings every nanosecond. What's worse, someone else is pushing the buttons.

That's a quote from the book, Plum Island (PI) by Nelson DeMille. It wasn't on my summer reading list, but a recent weekend trip found me without one of my books, so I bought PI. It's my third DeMille novel (Lion's Game and Nightfall being #1 & #2). Like the first two, it's a thriller.

John Corey (quoted in the first paragraph) is the main character and I'm not sure whether I like him or not. I think that's DeMille's point. I find myself rooting for him and then disgusted by him. I want him to end up with one of the ladies in the story and then find myself surprised that I can get that involved in "romance".

The language is rough, but it fits the characters. I've seen novelists who insert profanity for effect, DeMille is better than that. There's also some no-no's, illicit sex, violence, mention of drugs, but I don't recall any illegal drugs.

Overall, I give the book a B+. (I'm a tough grader). I hope others can enjoy the book.

Jobs that no one will take

The immigration thing is heating up again. Quite frankly, I'm not sure where I sit on this, but I have one hot button that everyone seems to hit. It's the comment that we need illegal immigrants because there are jobs here that no one will take. I've heard this from republicans and democrats alike so it must be true.

I have a one word answer to that argument: BALONEY.

I'm a believer in the free market. If there's a job that needs to be done, someone will sign up for it. If not, the wages are too low. Trust me, you're not likely to see me on the back of a garbage truck or digging ditches. Even if the pay matched my current salary, I probably wouldn't change jobs. However if the pay was double what I was making today, I might dig ditches on the side. (Of couse all the jobs would be taken long before that).

So, let's assume that construction jobs could no longer be filled by illegal immigrants. The wages for these jobs would go up. The cost of my next house would go up. What goes around comes around, inflation would result. That's not necessarily bad, that's always been the case.

The low inflation of the last few years and the prosperity in that time has largely been built on the backs of these illegal immigrants. I wish this had been different and yes, I personally have benefited from this behavior (not directly). I do believe we have an obligation to treat the people who are here now differently than those who are not here.

I'm not suggesting amnesty, nor am I suggesting shipping all these people back home. I really don't want to make that the focus of my point here. What I really want is for all of these politicians to stop saying that we need these people because there are jobs that Americans won't do.

City data website

Very cool website with information about your city. Information about racial make-up, crime rate, climate, economic, etc. All of the information is probably somewhere else, but I found this while looking for something eles. Go look at http://www.city-data.com/.

I'm not sure I believe all of the data, it says we average 3 inches of snow in January. Actually, if we get 3 inches of snow ALL YEAR it's considered a lot.

3 inches of snow is a major winter storm for us. The schools and businesses close. Everyone goes to the store to by milk and bread (it's required by regional ordinance). People start making hot chocolate and realize that the powder is infected with little bugs, so they throw it out.

Overall, a good site. Just not sure I believe the 3 inches of snow in January....

Man does not live by Google alone

After a brief hiatus, I'm back. Just been too busy. This morning, I'm going to do something different for me and point to some news articles. Those who know me, know I've become fascinated with the law, anything that combines law and technology is even better.

C/Net has an article about a county in Pennsylvania who looked for a person using only Google. Seems the guy was behind on his taxes and (as required by law) the county tried to find him. The taxes were on some vacant land, so the notices posted on the land went unnoticed. The county tried to send him a letter, but had the wrong address (provided by Google).

However, had they tried a phone book (remember those things?), they would have found him and he would have happily paid his taxes. Instead, the county sold his property. For those who think this is justified, the time-frame was fairly quick. The taxes were (apparently) due the first of 2004, notices were posted in July & August 2005 and the land sale took place in early 2005. For folks that own land far away, that's short. The courts thought the county should have done more than just google the man.

For the full article, look here.

In slight contrast, the courts have ruled that you SHOULD use Google to find a person. A case in Idiana (which I learned last night borders on Lake Michigan) centered on a plaintiff trying his best to find a defendant, but not trying via Google. The judge chastised him. See that story here.

So the moral to the story is a two-parter: 1) Always use Google and 2) Google alone is not sufficient. Also, I'm a little disappointed. I always say that Google knows everything, I guess it just ain't so...

P.S. If anyone is offended by my subject line, sorry, that's just my style of humor.

Oh be careful little mouth what you say (or blog)

That was a song I learned as a child. It seems all the more important today. As someone who posts his full name in blogs (many people post pseudonyms), I take a risk that someone will be offended with what I have to say.

Now it seems, that it may impact a court case. In a medical malpractice suit, a doctor was found to be blogging about the trial. Apparently, he had some negative comments about the jury. When the fact that he was the author of a blog was revealed, he settled quickly rather than have the contents of his blog revealed to the jury.

The sad thing is, nothing in his blog (apparently) implied that he was guilty or innocent. So why would his blog comments matter? I guess it goes to character, which he was changing between blog & court room. The blog showed his true character. Maybe the jury would have seen that and he would have lost. Still it seems the jury should be more concerned about facts.

Oh be careful little mouth what you say....

(Full article is here)

Blue Moon over North America

It's true! Today's a blue moon. NASA says "At 9:04 pm Eastern Daylight Time on May 31st, the full moon over North America will turn blue."

See the full article at here.

(OK, I know I'm violating my own principle by posting a few lines with out adding any real value. But hey, what else can you say about a blue moon?)

Morning in America

When was the last time you really felt good about being an American? I don't mean just because your favorite candidate won or just because you found some money in your sofa. I mean real joy. The kind that sticks with you even when bad things happen.

Reagan had a TV commercial that started out "It's morning in America". Americans (in general) like the Teflon President and felt good about America. Even when things got bad, I felt good. I felt like things were going to get better.

What was odd, was Reagan had another commercial about "a bear in the woods" that encouraged anti-Soviet fears. Even with this stirred up fear, somehow you knew things were going to get better (they did, the Soviet Union outspent itself and dissolved - when was the last time you feared an ICBM ontop of your head).

In looking at the current crop of presidential wannabees, I don't see anything to be hopeful about. Instead, all I see is candidates who want to stir up problems. I wish they would give me some hope. After all that we've been through in the last couple of decades, we need hope. It's morning in America, but is a new day dawning or just another day like yesterday?

Insurance

Lately, insurance has been on my mind a lot. Seems like we use insurance for two reasons: 1) to pay for things we don't expect and can't afford if they happen (e.g. fire in the house) and 2) to obtain privileges for mass-buying.

The second really isn't insurance. Say that you're going to go into the hospital for a procedure (an event near and dear to my back). The procedure "normally" costs $17,000, but since you have good insurance, it will only cost $10,000. Your part will be around $1,000. (yes, this is a real experience, numbers are close). So the $17,000 minus the $10,000 is discounted because of your "group buying" or discount procedures. Your insurance company has negotiated the stay with the hospital.

Why is this insurance? What if you had no insurance and were going to pay out of pocket. Or suppose your insurance company isn't a good negotiator?

The first thing listed above is real insurance. It's to pay for things we don't expect and can't afford. You have a traffic accident. You didn't mean to, that's why they call it an "accident". Otherwise it would be a purpose. You hit someone, they go to the hospital. Can you afford their hospital bill? (see the numbers above). Insurance pays.

But what about the small things? Here's an example I used recently. You go to the grocery store to buy a jar of pickles (and other things). Taking them out of the car at home, you drop the jar of pickles and it shatters. Who pays for the pickles? Well of course, you do. You are effectively self-insured against pickle-loss.

So we all have some degree of self-insurance. And most of us have some degree of other-insurance. What happens when the line blurs? Why do we expect our medical insurance to cover all (or part of all) of our medical costs? Are we just buying a block of medical coverage? We pay a flat fee per month and expect that to cover most of our costs. Sort of like paying $19.95 to AT&T and getting unlimited long distance. Or reduced cost long distance.

So, why all this rambling on insurance? I've recently seen an incident where a company was self-insured and suffered a large loss. Large is in the eye of the beholder. To the individuals who caused the incident, it's 1-2 year's pay. To the company, it's a blip. So who pays for it? No outside insurance company to foot the bill. It's sorta like the jar of pickles. If my 4 year old son had dropped the jar of pickles (my son is much older than 4) it would take several week's allowance for him to pay it back. For me, on the other hand, it wouldn't even be an hour's pay. So I would fit the bill, scold him for his carelessness and move on.

Let's hope that's what happens in the incident I saw. It was a big jar of pickles that got broke.

Cindy Sheehan resigns

I'm sure my friends on the left and the right will pick this up and there's very little "news" in this.

Cindy Sheehan has finally resigned from her self-appointed role as the 'face' of the American anti-war movement.

I confess, I never liked anything that she said or did. I am deeply sorry that her son lost his life and sincerely hope that she can learn to live with the grief that I'm sure this event has caused her. Those who know me personally, know that I can empathize with her, even if just a little, because of the grief I have experienced.

I guess I'm a little disappointed that she has finally learned the "frustration with an anti-war movement that she said 'often puts personal egos above peace and human life.'" Seems like she has finally woken up and realized that she's been used for all this time.

I hope she's wrong when she says ""Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction." I look forward to the day when our brave young men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan can return home.

Without any malice, I say goodbye Cindy and I wish you the best.

Kurdistan

A very positive report this morning on NBC by Richard Engel that contained a side of the news seldom seen. The report talked about the economy and how it was growing in Kurdistan. It showed a woman who is teaching English at a university there and raising a young baby. One comment said that NO american had been killed there since the beginning of the Iraq war.

Kurdistan is a special part of Iraq. See the article here about a small group of Kurds who have made their home not far from my home. The article explains much of the history and why these Kurds support the US.

Americans for Fairness in Lending

I checked out the Americans for Fairness In Lending website. They seem to be legit. New organization with good ideas. A little bit political, but hey, most of us are.

My biggest problem is that they were started as an offshoot of ACORN and I vaguely recall hearing some bad things about ACORN but can't remember what.

Anyone out there have any idea about ACORN? good or bad?

Maxed Out

I finished the book. I don't want to post any comments yet, I'm loaning the book to someone and don't want to cloud his judgement.

I will post a couple of interesting notes, one is a reference to another book, The Two Income Trap by Elizabeth Warren. Sounds interesting, I'm going to add it to my list. Another is a website for the Americans For Fairness in Lending. I haven't checked it out yet, but intend to do so soon. From the book, it sounded interesting.

One item of interest is the Small Business Administration role. Suppose you want to start a franchise of Burger King. You go to the SBA to get a loan, run the business for a year, then go bankrupt. Who wins and who loses? Well, you lose, because your credit is damaged. You may lose your house because you may have guaranteed the loan that way. The SBA (and taxpayer) loses, becuase they probably won't get all their money back. And Burger King wins. They sold a franchise and collected full value. They probably buy back the franchise at a discounted cost and re-sell it.

Same applies to student loans. If you borrow a lot and can't get a job to repay later, who wins/loses? Same losers as above, the winner is the college.

There's something wrong here.

(note: updated link to correct website)

Maxed out

More about the book later, but one thing I learned. There are two crimes where the statute of limitation is greater than 10 years. Care to guess which two?

Murder and failure to pay student loans.


(Not verified, but it was in the book).

Double Cycle Billing

Reading the book Maxed Out by James Scurlock. It's a tirade against credit card companies and the way that they go after people. I read a paragraph about double cycle billing (actually less than that, the focus was on something else).

So I did a quick search with a generic search engine and found what double cycle billing was all about. Turns out, I got hit with this last month!

I typically pay my credit card in full each month. I use it a lot, gas, eating out, just about any purchase over a few bucks is on my credit card. Some purchases go on my debit card, but most on credit. Last year, I probably paid under $25 in interest, probably $0, but I can't be sure

So the bill comes monthly and is typically high. No bother, I have enough to cover it, I watch the balance carefully. But a few months ago, I got overly busy and made the payment late. Ok, a late fee and interest, I expect. It was painful (over the $25 mentioned earlier), but it was my mistake.

However, the next month's bill, I was charged interest again, even though the previous balance had been paid in full. I called the credit card company and they explained that this was there policy. If you did not pay the credit card in full, you were charged interest for that month and the following month.

I explained that I switch to this card a few years ago because of some issues with my previous card and that unless something could be done about this charge, I would switch again. The phone call was transferred to cancellations who took my information and my complaint. After a few minutes on hold, I was told that the charge would be eliminated. Checking my account online confirms it has been done.

Morals of the story:
1) Pay your credit card bill in full each month and you don't have to worry
2) If you don't pay in full, know the charges well
3) If you don't like the terms, ask for them to be changed or change cards

Nobody knows it but me

Friday's beating was not as severe as I had feared. Somehow, showing up in person helped.

Saturday was a lost day. I accomplished very little of what I wanted. Everytime I wanted to get something done, the rug was pulled out from under me so that I couldn't do what I wanted. Such is life. But it is frustrating.

Sunday. First day of the week. A day to go to church and become refreshed. Only I don't feel like starting a new week. The song in the subject line came to me.

It's going to be one of those days.

Tomorrow morning I have to get up very early (4:30 or so) to catch a plane. Short flight, layover, another short flight, layover, 2 hour car ride. Stand-up straight, smile, think on your feet, take a friend to dinner, don't drink to much, say nice things, crash for the night and then reverse all of the above for Tuesday. Don't I sound excited?

A rough week ahead.

The beatings will continue, until morale improves

I'm preparing for a beating. I'll be the beat-ee, not he beat-er. Tomorrow morning, I will walk in and be severely beaten (at least verbally) for work I did not do.

This person wanted some answers and I have none. I was expecting others to care as much as me, silly expectations. I've finally gotten the attention I should have gotten a week ago, but that's going to be late. I may get answers as early as Monday, but I'm not holding my breath.

Instead, I'll sit (or stand) and say things like "yes, I understand" or "we're working on that". I always want to say "I feel your pain", but that won't do.

Wish me luck....

Testing, testing, more testing

My state is reviewing the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests (PACT), a set of tests used to measure students' progress and used as part of measurements for No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Everyone hates the test and schools spend a large amount of time preparing for the test. "Teach the test" is an often heard phrase. As someone who has seen this as a parent since its inception and a husband of a Special Needs teacher for 5 years, my I see two very different sides.

First as a parent, I have seen the time required to "teach the test" drop each year. The first few years, there was probably a month spent preparation. No one understood, the reasons were unclear, and everyone was frustrated. Now, the time to "teach the test" has dropped to about a week (admittedly, my youngest stopped taking the test 3 years ago - but I saw this when he was in the 8th grade).

As a husband of a Special Needs teacher, I sense frustration that all students are judged on the same level and some of these students are no where near that level.

To understand the reason for PACT and NCLB, one needs to take the way-back machine to the 90's. A time when parents and tax-payers were frustrated over schools. It was a time when business impacted everything, if we could just run the schools like a business, everything would be great (yeah, right). Business used terms like Return on Investment and the ROI for schools just wasn't there. We (collectively we) wanted a way to measure the ROI for schools. Goals 2000 came up (there were probably predecessors) to establish goals for schools. This evolved into what is now known as No Child Left Behind.

The question is, who measures the progress? Well it has to be the schools, the teachers and the school systems. Who designs the measuring stick? Well, as an investor (taxpayer), I should be the one who does, but frankly I (and collectively we) am not capable. So we leave this to school administrators and politicians (who could ask for anything more?)

So the result is we try to business-ize school, have un-qualified people set the standards and measure based on those standards.

So who is to blame for the mess? First, I have to lay the blame squarely at the feet of teachers and schools. Had we been getting results in the 90's, students who could read, write and learn, we would not have had the investor (taxpayer) push to "fix" things.

Second the blame needs to fall on politicians who took what started as a mess and made it worse. They should have realized that education can not be run like a business and let the educators decide how to "fix" things.

Third, the blame lies on local school boards for not pushing back on the federal government. Local districts can opt out of NCLB and forfeit federal funding. Instead, the push is for more federal involvement and that can only mess things up more. To my knowledge, only one district in SC has even considered opting out. The local boards need to be more agressive in setting standards and enforcing them.

Finally, the blame lies with me (and collectively us). I am the one who elects the local board, the state and federal politicians. I should spend more time understanding the requirements, the candidates and I should spend time at the school board meetings. I should not abdicate my responsibility to teach things outside the three R's. It's my job to teach honor, respect and yes even to teach sex education to my children (they will be horrified). It's my job to help my children with their homework (although once they get to Calculus, I'm outta here - I forgot that 20 years ago). By doing my job, I allow the teachers to do theirs.

Larry Flynt and Jerry Falwell

Interesting quote by Larry Flynt:

"After meeting him in person, years after the trial, Jerry Falwell and I became good friends."

The article is here.

Debt - good or bad?

Having just finished my MBA (I love saying that), I read with interest an article in the local paper about the average debt for a college graduate. Turns out that in my state (SC) the average is around $18,000 for graduates from state sponsored colleges.

Being an avid Dave Ramsey fan (who believes all debt is bad) and starting my new summer reading book Maxed Out, I began to wonder, how much debt is good and how much is bad.

So, here are my questions:
1) Education is seen as the answer to all of life's problems. Should debt be considered a viable way to get the education?
2) How much debt is acceptable? Or does this even matter?
3) Is debt an option for other areas? House? Car? Medical? Major lifeevents (ranging from car repair, home improvement, children, etc).Groceries?
4) When is debt acceptable? Always, sometimes, never?

I'm planning to finish my newest book (should take a couple weeks) and then report back with my ideas... For now, I'm still gathering information.

The Wisdom of the Crowds

Are crowds really wise? That's what James Surowiecki says in the first book on my summer reading list. The subtitle of the book is "Why the many are smarter than the few and how collective wisdom shapes business, economics, societies and nations." I started reading this book last summer and had to put it down for classes in the fall/spring. It was one of the optional books for a finance class, I chose to read two of the other books (The Smartest Guys in the Room and Barbarians at the Gate).

When I picked the book back up, I only had a few chapters to read. Problem is, I've forgotten a lot of what was in it. So it goes back on my reading list, but down a few entries. The basic premise of the book is that if you take a group of people, any people, knowledgable or not, you will get a better decision out of them that you do the experts. Our government is one example (politics is discussed in the last chapter).

He cites other examples, one where a group of non-scientists were polled about a missing submarine. The people were given facts and asked to guess where the sub might be based on a map. The answers were all averaged together (as I recall, by lattitude/longitude) and the search started with the non-scientific answer. The sub was soon found very close to the speculated position.

The postulates in the book are significant for business that typically attempts to find the perfect expert to solve a problem (can you say "CEO pay"?). The conclusion is that crowds can do a better job than individuals.

There were some contradictory examples cited, the Columbia disaster is one I recall. These are examples of "group-think", where the group heads on direction and won't return to "normalcy". However, he cites these as examples where a few people override the group. Groups are good.

I'm not 100% sure I agree with the book. In one example where I tried a test he suggested, the crowd I chose came up with a vastly different result than he predicted. I had students count candy in a fish bowl and, using his averages, estimated the results. I had some extremely wild guesses that blew the average. If I ignored these wild guesses, the average was close, but that seems to violate the principal of the book. My experiment may have been flawed, I want to try again.

Overall, a decent read for busines. Next time I read it, I'll focus on some of the other aspects.

The people have spoken

I'll post a note later about one of the books on my summer reading list. It had something to please everyone.

But a thought hit me this morning that I've been hearing a lot about "the people have spoken" on the war in Iraq.

Made me thing. Didn't the people speak on health care reform several years ago? Didn't we (or at least our leaders) try to reform health care? And didn't they try for several years? Seems like the people (or at least our leaders) have spoken on that issue and it doesn't need to be revisited.

Actually, there were some changes in health care in the 1990's and if you don't believe it, ask a doctor what he thinks of HIPPA. Or try to found out how "portable" (one of the two "p"s in HIPPA) your healthcare actually is.

Or, if you have an accident with injuries, compare your settlement under the new laws to what it would have been under the old laws.

But don't complain about it, the people have spoken.

Tragedy in the upstate

This week, two three-year olds were killed in pedestrian vs auto accidents in totally separate incidents. Very strange coincidences, first at a car wash in Greenville (details here) and second on a major road in Anderson (details here). The two locations are about 30 miles from each other.

No amount of finger pointing will bring either of these two little ones back. My heart goes out to the families of these little ones and to the individuals who were in the vehicles that struck the children. No alcohol involved, no tickets to the drivers of the vehicles that hit the toddlers. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. A small child pays the ultimate price for mistakes.

Parents, hold your kids tightly tonight and thank the Lord that you're not the one who lost a child. This could have been me so many times over. There but for the Grace of God, go I.

Quote of the day

I rarely do quotes, but this one struck me for the second time. It must be fate. I think I found it last summer while reading "The Wisdom of the Crowds". I picked the book back up and it's on the Delta e-ticket I used as a bookmark.

"An honest tradesman is a jewel indeed, and is valued whereever he is found" - Daniel Defoe.

A quick search this morning indicates Daniel Defoe was author of (among other things) Robinson Crusoe and was himself a tradesman. Ironically, he was sometimes not confused by being honest.

Summer reading list

Schools sometimes hand out a summer reading list and since I'm finishing school, (as if you haven't heard that enough) I've developed my own list. Most of these are books I have gathered over the last three years but haven't been able to get a round tuit. Two or three of these I actually started, but could never finish.

Comments, suggested additions or subtractions are welcome. Roughly in order of the intended reading:

1) The Wisdom of the Crowds - James Surowiecki (started twice, almost finished)
2) Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lending - James Scurlock
4) Wild at Heart - John Eldredge (started once before, but school got in the way)
4) Op Center - Call to Treason - Tom Clancy
5) Red Rabbit - Tom Clancy (true Clancy, not Op Center)
6) The 9/11 Commission Report - (I've read reports on the report, never the report itself)
7) The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown (seen the movie - hope the book is better)
8) The DaVinci Code: A Quest for Answer - Josh McDowell (seems like a good companion)
9) The Hitchhiker's Guide - Six stories in one - Douglas Adams (started one of these in High School, not sure what happened)
10) The Book of Totally Useless Information (just my style)
11) Tales From Clemson's 1981 Championship Season (the year after my undgrade degree)
12) America On Trial - Alan Dershowitz

Books I don't have, but look interesting:
13) What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture shaped the PC Industry - John Markoff
14) The Age of Abundance: How Prosperity Transformed America's Politics and Culture - Brink Lindsey
14) Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything - Don Tapscott

This should get me through the summer and more..

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

In taking my MBA courses and in helping 3 students through high school (1 yet to finish) and in helping my wife with her classes (teaching and taking) I've learned something about tests. There seem to be two types of tests: 1) tests to see how much the student knows and give a grade and 2) tests to show students what they should know and to give a grade.

These two sound very much a like, but they are very different. In the first case, the teacher/instructor/professor (TIP) may give a test with little or no preparation. A study guide may or may not be given.

The second case seems much harder. The TIP has to help students through the test. In one class I was in, the professor would give a take-home test in one class, the next class he would ask if there were questions. He would work similar problems or talk around the subject. If there weren't enough questions, he may even delay the due date so he could generate more questions.

In tests like the first case, there seems a tendency to cram for the test. You study everything in the world and then take the test quickly before you lose it. After the test, your brain drains off all the knowledge that you flooded it with before the test. The net increase in knowledge is minimal.

I like the second case much better. I think I learned better in classes that did this. Hats off to the TIPs who did this....

Insurance

I've been dealing with a major insurance company for about 3 weeks now. As a result of a small accident, my son's car is a total loss. No one was hurt, it wasn't his fault and no other vehicles were damaged. I believe in treating others the way I want to be treated, but I'm beginning to wonder if that's the right way to handle these things.

To begin with, it took almost a week to get someone to look at the car. During that time, no one could tell me WHEN they would get someone to look at it. The cable company can narrow an appointment down to 1 hour, the pizza guy can be there in 20 minutes, but the insurance adjuster can only tell you "within 4 business days."

The initial offer was low. Surprise, surprise. The adjuster told me someone would call me with all the paperwork. I asked how long to get a check, he said depending on mail, it could take up to a week. (unbelievable)

The following business day (a weekend elapsed), I called to check on the status (no one called me). Nothing got loaded into their system. After a few phone calls, I was told they could go out for Dealer quotes and was promised a call back in 24-48 hours.

Well after waiting almost 72 hours, I called back. The quotes were back and they came in about 10% higher than original. My feeling that the quote was too low was obviously justified. The new quote was higher, but still over 10% too low by my calculations. I asked for some time to think it over and looked for replacement vehicles. All the vehicles I looked for verified my estimates.

Armed with this new information, along with listings of other cars similar in value but higher in price, I went back to the company. After a few minutes of discussion, it was obvious I wasn't going anywhere, so I asked for a supervisor. After discussing with him for a while, I got nowhere.

Now let's be clear, this isn't a high priced vehicle. And the difference in my appraisal versus their appraisal is relatively small. Most of it seems to hinge on the adjustments made for condition. The car has some wear and tear on it, but I believe within normal expectations. They even faxed me a list of what is "normal" and I believe it matches. If we ignored all of the adjustments, we would be very close on price, and I'd probably ignore the difference.

But now I'm left with three choices: 1) Accept the offer and lose the 10%+. 2) Seek out a lawyer, sue the driver of the vehicle (it was one of my son's friends), probably get the same amount and lose lawyer's fees or 3) Hire an arbitrator and achieve same results as in #2.

What makes me the maddest is that I have done everything to mitigate costs and the company has done nothing. I did not use a tow truck, the car is in my driveway incurring NO storage costs and I went without a rental car for a week. The driver of the other car admitted to me that his brakes weren't very good, so he had to "jam on" the pedal and that's what caused the skid (this was a VERY STUPID thing for him to admit). In the mean time, his parents rented him a Ford Mustang to go to the prom (and I don't understand how he was allowed to drive it, he's under 18).

So what's a man to do? I feel it is morally wrong to sue in this case (there's a Bible verse about that), and I'm not sure it even helps.

I did file a complaint with the company and got a call from a manager about their lack of responsiveness. He felt bad, but there's really nothing he can (or will) do.

Very Frustrated!

(Note: updated post - corrected a couple of typos)

Republican Debate - part 2

Another thought about the debate. Why didn't the Republicans boycott all of the liberal journalists? Politico.com was there and most of the questions (see post below) came from a liberal bent.

Didn't the Democrats boycott a debate on Fox because they thought it was unfair and imbalanced? What was different about last night?

Republican Debate

OK, I didn't watch the debate. Yesterday was a long day in the pursuite of interstate commerce (11 hours from door to door + 1 hour before and about 2 hours afterwards.)

But I read some of the silly questions that were asked. That's part of why I hate the debts. So-called journalists trying to one-up each other trying to catch the candidates off guard. And forget any chance of getting a real debate going. Candidates have their one-liners (or in Biden's case at the Democratic debate one-worders) already cooked up and they try to manipulate the question to fit their answers.

Later on, I plan to submit a list of requirements to look for in a candidate. The idea will be to review the list, see where the candidate stands and from that you can decide who to vote for. I would appreciate feedback when I do, it's an experiment. Probably be a couple of weeks....

I'm famous

One of my quotes has been posted on a website "across the pond".

See http://www.swiftys.org.uk/wiz?1095.


Not that I have that many quotes....

Soon to be all over

Sometimes tomorrow (actually later today, I'm up very late) I will send in my final final via email. No more classes. Technically, I have to wait on the grades, but there's little that could happen to cause me to fail one of the two classes. In the class I finished tonite, I could theoretically make a "C", but if I get at least 23 points on the final, I'll make a B. It may take a miracle to get an A.

So all of you can start calling me "Master" anytime now, you don't have to wait on it to be official.

BTW, several people have asked and I am NOT going to commencement. It lasts over two hours and if I went, several other people would feel obligated. I don't want to put them through that.

The $2000 light bulb

California is on the verge of mandating the elimination of incandescent light bulbs in favor of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

But the new light bulbs contain mercury, a hazardous substance. Read this story about how one person tried to behave responsibly and the bulb ended up costing over $2000.

When I first read this, I thought "someone is trying to make a point. Why not just clean it up yourself?"

Then I read the line that said "The [cleanup] specialist found mercury levels in the bedroom in excess of six times the state's "safe" level for mercury contamination."

SIX TIMES the safe level? From breaking one bulb?

I think I'll stick with incandescent bulbs. (Yes, I'm still procrastinating)

Monday morning

and I'm procrastinating. I have one final final. It's a take-home (due tomorrow night) and once I start, I have a three hour time limit (I'm on my own honor). I am allowed to study, take notes, etc, then it's heads-down for three hours, writing.

My plan is to take some time this morning for the former and lock down 3 hours for the latter this afternoon (I always like saying former and latter... it makes me feel important).

I could have done some yesterday, but hey, I still have a day and a half. I just don't feel like starting...

Philadelphia Shuts Down Psychics

"City inspectors shut down more than a dozen psychics, astrologers and tarot-card readers after learning about a decades-old state law that bans fortune telling for profit."

See the article here.

Now why didn't they see that coming????

Facts are stupid things

"Facts are stupid things."

I started out to post a blog about misquotes. So using the trusty Quotations Page, I searched for a quote about misquotes. The above sentence was spoken by Ronald Reagan in 1988. Ironically, it was a misquote of John Adams who said "Facts are stubborn things." A misquote of a quote about misquotes. Or a wrong fact about facts. This will be long. Hopefully a few of you will struggle through it.

Recently, Rudy Giuliani supposedly warned of another 9/11 if the Democrats win the White House in 2008. In reality, he did not say that. When reading what he really said, he warned that the Democrats would take the US to a defensive position, the same approach that was taken before 9/11. Even reading the article at politico.com, his quotes don't match the headline. While I don't agree with all that Rudy says, and I think he generalizes WAY too much, he's on target with what he says about the approach to the war. (I don't believe all Democrats feel the way he says or that all Republicans do either)

A lot of people have said that Rudy G. politicized the deaths of 2,973 people. I don't see it that way. I read the quotes and think he's politicizing the potential death of 2,973 +/- future people. He's talking about preventing the NEXT 9/11. You may agree with his points and you may disagree with his points. But be sure you talk about his points, not what he supposedly said.

This reminds me of Murphy Brown. In 1992, Dan Quayle gave a speech about families in America. Excerpts are posted here. He was ridiculed by the press, by late night comedians, by other candidates. Trouble was, once they read what he said, they all AGREED with him!!! After all was said and done, I wrote a letter to the editor (no blogs were around then) that asked newspapers to publish speeches in entirety.

With the internet, there's little excuse not to read a candidate's speech before commenting on a headline. Politico did a lousy job of reporting. I don't believe, this is a liberal conspiracy, I don't believe in that any more than I do a right-wing conspiracy. I believe it's a simple attempt to sell newspaper or web hits.

No more classes

NO MORE CLASSES!!!

I have two take-home finals to do. One involves finishing a 250 page book (I've got about 1/2 to go) and writing a report on it. Describe the most important 4 issues, why I think they are most important, etc.

The other involves reading a case study (I'm guessing about 30 pages) and writing it up. What issues do the companies face and how would I recommend fixing them.

The last case study I did was on GM. After I wrote my recommendations, GM stock shot up. I'm hoping they will send me a check for consulting fee....

How many victims at VT?

Another post about the VT shootings, how many victims were there? Early reports were 33 deaths, including Cho. VT had a memorial service with 33 stones for memorials. But somehow, I can't see Cho as a victim.

Make no mistake, I feel deeply for Cho's family. I can't begin to imagine the pain that they are enduring. They have lost a son, that they probably cared for as much as any of the other families involved. They have the added pain of embarrasment that there brother was involved. I have no hatred towards them or even towards Cho.

I should also point out that I believe Cho was sick. The reports of his mental problems have been clearly documented. But several people at VT and other campuses have mental problems, only Cho decided to act. His choices made him the shooter, not a victim.

Make it known today that if one of my loved ones is involved in an incident like this, or if I am involved, I do not want to have a memorial placed along side the perpetrator's memorial. Do not equate the culprit with the victims. If my son/daughter had been killed at VT, there would only be 32 stones, not 33.

Who taught Cho to hate?

Interesting Blog about Cho (Virginia Tech shooter), his chosen major (English) and a sample of the department's choice of literature. Good reading.

Impeach Cheney

Word is that impeachment articles against Cheney are being prepared by Dennis Kucinich. See the article here.

It seems that the use of impeachment hearings has been over-used in recent years (including hearings against the previous president). It kind of dilutes the value of these....

I'm sure there will be cries that this time it is different, that he really deserves it. There have already been cries that Kucunich is being politcal (in the same article).

Politics at its best.

White Collar Crime

Tonight is my last class in White Collar Crime. No, I'm not learing how to commit one, I'm learing the various aspects of white collar crime and the impact. I probably worked harder in this class than in almost all of my other classes, but not becuase I had to. I learned more in this class than in any others.

The class homework was a series of analytical questions, a 4 page (double spaced) paper was written to answer each question. The goal was to stimulate thinking on each subject. I did a lot of web research, I'm not sure that all of the papers would be classified as 'fair and balanced' nor are they necessarily complete. In 4 pages, you can't do a lot.

Anyone want to do some reading? I'll send the papers on request.

Here are the questions that were asked & answered:

Analytical Question #1: Why does organized crime still flourish? How prominent of a role does organized crime play in the operation of legitimate businesses? Do you believe that the influence of organized crime will increase, decrease, or remain the same over the next decade?

Analytical question #2: Will tighter accounting rules and increased governmental regulation discourage accountants and managers from “cooking the books”? Why or why not?

Analytical question #3: Using the model of white-collar crime presented in class, delineate the major features of either the Enron case or the WorldCom case.

Analytical question #4: Why, in your opinion, do individuals (not their corporations) who commit environmental crimes usually escape severe punishment?

Analytical question #5: Describe a specific criminal case or act of corruption by a person working in the news media or organized religion. How does this case fit the model of white-collar crime and corruption discussed earlier in the course?

Analytical question #6: As a citizen and as a consumer, what scams do your fear the most? Carefully explain your reasoning.

Analytical question #7: Your close friend was recently hired as a department store manager. When she was hired, the store chain’s director of security told her that employee theft of merchandise, fraud, and embezzlement have been major problems. She asks you for your advice. What do you suggest?

Analytical question #8: What factors create a criminogenic industry in government and politics?

Analytical question #9: What makes the health care industry a criminogenic industry?

Analytical question #10: Should white-collar criminals receive sentences that are similar to those imposed on street criminals? Why or why not?

In addition to these papers, I wasasked to design a white-collar crime and submit a 15-page (maximum) paper on it.

A day of mourning

In many areas, today is a day of mourning for the Virginia Tech students and faculty killed in this weeks' massacre. At lunch time today, I plan on finding a place to quietly pray. I want to make it an intentional act, although no one will see it. But I want it intentional so that I go at least somewhat out of my way. Anything less would be disrespectful.

My son looked for something maroon and orange to wear today in memory of those. He settled for dark blue with some orange. His first choice was mostly orange with a little purple, but his concern was this was a competing college. He was worried it would look very out-of-place.

I have quickly tired of the news, but can't ignore the news on the VT victims. I have decided to ignore any news about Cho and am personally boycotting networks and radio programs that choose to focus on that. The right thing to do would be to let us mourn, then slowly revisit the "why's". Cho should be given no airtime.

My heart also goes out the Cho's family. They suffer in this as much as any other family. A news report a few minutes ago said they are under police protection. That's sad, that they need it, but understandable.

My son had an idea, that stores (he mentioned a big box store) should sell VT shirts/hats/etc and donate the profits this week to some VT charity. Has anyone heard of anything like that going on? Anyone heard of any charities set up specifically for this purpose?

Lonely days

Seems I can't get my mind focused on anything lately. The Virginia Tech issue has been on my mind and frankly I just don't want to talk about it. Too many things that are way too wrong and everyone wants to prove their point out of it.

I didn't skip my two classes this week, my plans got changed. My son was involved in an accident on Sunday. No one was hurt, but his car is pretty messed up. It's drivable, but not legally (no tail lights anymore). At 17 nothing is ever his fault. This one wasn't really and he probably couldn't have prevented it, but.... So, for at least a few days, maybe two weeks, he's diminished to bumming rides and not from other teenagers. Insurance promises they will come out this week, but I haven't heard from them yet. We'll see how they do.

Still looking for ideas/opinions on Crime & Punishment. See my post from a couple days ago. I suspect that the Virginia Tech incident has distracted everyone.

Sniper at VTU

Just yesterday, I found out one of my son's friend's brother is going to go to VTU this fall. Now this story breaks out about a sniper there.

Page 2 of the article says this is the worst such incident since a 1966 incident at University of Texas. When I read that, I immediately thought of the Harry Chapin song "The Sniper". It's on a CD that I own, along with rosey songs like "Sunday Morning Sunshine", "Cat's in the Cradle", "Taxi" and "Dreams Go Bye".

"The Sniper" (the song) is very dark. When it comes by on my jukebox, I skip to the next song. Just this morning, I was contemplating deleting so I wouldn't hear it. Very dark.

My heart goes out to the families of those involved at VTU.

Crime and punishment

My assignment for this next (and basically last) paper is the following question: "Should white-collar criminals receive sentences that are similar to those imposed on street criminals? Why or why not?"

I have to write on my own thoughts, but I can be influenced. Suggestions welcome. My initial thought is that there should be three classes of crimes: 1) Non-violent, 2) White-collar (fraud, etc) and 3) Violent.

Questions that come to mind are: What should the punishment be? Should white-collar criminals share cells with violent criminals? What about the DUI offender? What if the DUI resulted in a death?

Should the amount stolen factor in? If so, what about the guy who doesn't personally profit from a white collar crime, but his company does?

What about eco-crimes? I'm no tree hugger, but someone throws chemicals into one of the beautiful lakes around here, I don't want him to go without any punishment.

Also, what is the purpise of the punishment? Is it to rehabilitate? Deterance? Do either work? Or is it just to keep him/her from doing it again?

I have some time, but if my regular readers (and any irregular readers) want to post some ideas, I would appreciate some ideas.

2 more classes

Business is calling me out of town this coming week and I will miss two classes. It couldn't happen at a better time, this week was going to be slow anyway.

The following week I will have two classes and then I AM FINISHED!!! Well, I still have the final exams to turn in.

So the countdown is this:
Paper due this Tuesday night - Largely finished. I'll talk with my co-author tomorrow night. The hardest thing we have to do is figure out how to cut one page
Paper due 4/23 - 4 pages double spaced - last paper in White Collar Crime class
Final exam due 4/30 - Yet to be defined case study review - I expect MINIMUM of 3 hours effort.
Fianl exam due 5/1 - Short paper, I already have the requirements.

Duke Lacrosse players are innocent?

Seems to me that "innocent" is the wrong word. For those (like me) who have forgotten the timeline, here's an article. The players had a keg party and hired two strippers. One of the strippers accused the players of rape. A year later, the charges get dropped.

Lesson 1: If you go to a keg party with strippers, there's a good chance you're going to get into some kind of trouble. Listen to your mother. "Innocent" doesn't describe anyone at the party. I wonder who was checking IDs at the party? Were all participants 21?

Lesson 2: If you decide to take your clothes off in front of a bunch of young men, you're not innocent either. You should expect that at some time or another, you're going to get into trouble. This doesn't make it ok, and rape is never acceptable, but you shouldn't be surprised. If it occurred, the instigators should be prosecuted, but don't be surprised. Listen to your father.

Lesson 3: If you're on a team with a bunch of people who party like those described in lesson #, you can expect to get into trouble by association, even if you didn't participate. Listen to your parents. The Lacrosse team lost out for the whole season, just because a few of them were not "innocent". Choose your friends wisely.

Lesson 4: If you're in charge of a group and the group does something bad, you can expect to get in trouble even if you aren't with them. Call this the Truman factor. The buck stops there. If you're the guy in charge, expect to lose your job if you can't pass on some degree of morality.

I'm ignoring the prosecuting team, not because they're innocent, but because they will be chastised in other places. But looking at the four groups above, it's hard to find anyone who is innocent.

Disparity of income

From Wikipedia Disparity refers to the regional and economic differences in a country, province, state, or continent.

Ok, Wikipedia isn't the best reference material, but hey it works. Recently, I heard the phrase "disparity of income" and it was being related to CEO's. If you Google "disparity of income ceo" you get tons of hits. One of them indicates that the average CEO makes 431 times what the average worker makes. Some other sites say thuis number is higher. Regardless, it's high. Several of the hits declare that this disparity is undemocratic (another shot at republicans I guess).

But CEO/worker pay isn't the only disparity of income. The same is true in the sports world. A quick google again shows that a 2002 article finds A-rod making 125 times the lowest-paid major league benchwarmer.

It's also true in entertainment. Another google and the article says that the pay range is $75 to $75 Million. That's 1,000,000 to 1 range vs only 431 to 1 range for CEO's.

So, why all this disparity? And is it really undemocratic?

Part of the reason is disposable income. Americans have more of that than at anytime in history. When you last went to see a movie, or a ball game, did you HAVE to do that? No, of course not. But if you're going to spend $8 for a movie or $50 for a ball game, you want to be sure you enjoy it. And you can (and do) vote with your wallet. You won't go see a movie unless it has big names in it. If your team doesn't have a big hitter, you'd just as soon stay home.

Which gets us to CEO's. Stock-holders are just as picky as movie goers and baseball fans. They want the very best CEO that they can get. And they don't hesitate to pay for it.

Undemocratic, seems like we all vote with our wallets....

4 more classes

I've never been one to count down. But I'm so close to the end, I can't resist. Four more classes and I will be through.

I promise to post more articles of interest to more people within the next 1-2 days.

I just can't believe. 4 more clases. Of course, I have a 10 page paper, a 4 page paper and two exams, but the end is near....

You gotta love this weather....

.... if not wait a week, it will change.

I started to title this post "Global Warming", but then decided that would just be mean. And today, I'm not in a mean spirit (it's early yet).

Last week, global warming could be seen in upstate SC. Temperatures were in the 80's. Spring had defintely sprung. Flowers were blooming, dogwoods in full bloom, allergies in fuller bloom. It got so hot indoors, we turned on the AC (good bye ozone layer).

This week is a new week. Temperatures last night got down to around 32. Tonight and tomorrow night are supposed to get lower. Almost a 30 degree difference in temps this week vs. last week. I saw reports of snow in Maine I wonder if they had to close schools? (see my earlier posts about our snow and ice).

We turned the heat on. Actually, at one time, the heat was on downstairs, the AC was on upstairs. The AC never actually came on, but it could have. Then we'd been fighting our selves in the foyer, heat at the bottom, rising only to be air conditioned and then fall again. Could have been an interesting sight.

You gotta love this weather.

The British are coming, the British are coming

Word is that the plane carrying the British hostages from Iran has touched down on free soil. I am very thankful that these people are home and a global incident has been avoided.

However, I'm not sure we're going to be thankful in a few months. Iran seems to have come out ahead on this, all the way around. The British sailors and marines apoligized for their "error" and thanked the Iranian government several times.

While I'm a big believer in the theory that it's best to survive another day, the acquiescing in this case seems to have gone a little too far. I'm holding out comments on the individual sailors and marines until more information comes out, but I can't see anything that comes out looking strong against terrorism or against the Iranians.

It's odd that this happened so close to the 25th anniversary of the British/Argentine Falkland event.

There are several things that haven't come out completely (and may never come out). Word was that Boeing was testing a new bunker busting bomb that would penetrate. Called the MOP - Massive Ordnance Penetrator - word was it could penetrate Iran's bunkers and reach their nuclear facilities. Also, apparently, the USS Nimitz repositioned itself closer to Iran as did several British warships. Did these events have effect on the decision to release the hostages? Maybe we'll find out and I'll take back these words, but so far, it doesn't look that way.

For now, I'll steal some of the words I heard on the radio: "Margaret Thatcher was the last real man that England had"

Bush success vs. al Qaeda breeds long-term worries

Two posts from the news in one day.

According to this article, Bush has been largely successful in hurting al Queda:

"President George W. Bush's administration has crippled al Qaeda's ability to carry out major attacks on U.S. soil but at a political and economic cost that could leave the country more vulnerable in years to come, experts say."

Wait a minute, political costs associated with crippling al Qaeda? That makes no sense. It would seem that he would gain political capital by crippling al Qaeda. (I'll address the economic issue later in this blog).

The most positive statement is "If the question is why al Qaeda hasn't carried out another 9/11 attack, the answer I think is that if they could have, they would have""

So the current policies have crippled al Qaeda to the point that another 9/11 has been avoided.

"The number and lethality of the attacks have fallen off since 2004. Last year, there were five attacks and 28 deaths, according to IntelCenter statistics, which do not include attacks in Iraq, Afghanistan or other war zones."

Again, good news. al Qaeda is definitely impacted.

Now for the bad news: "(al Qaeda's plans are)very simply defined in two phrases: spread out America's forces and bleed the United States to bankruptcy. I'd argue America has been under attack successfully every day since 9/11 from that perspective."

This is the economic issue listed above. Let's see, where has this happened before? USSR in the cold war?

The article continues "If you're looking at it from the cave, or wherever al Qaeda is hiding at the moment, you have to be pretty happy with the way the world is moving."

Again, not a good sign.

So, my comment is this. Over the last 6+1/2 years, America has gotten safer. al Qaeda is weakened. Doing this has cost George Bush politically. It's also cost America economically.

Americans have two choices:
1) Step up to the cost and keep fighting al Qaeda
2) Decide that it's not worth the cost and give up.

In the 2000 election, no one had a clue what would happen on 9/11/01. In the 2008 election, no one has a clue what will happen during the following 4 years that will require decision making in areas we can't conceive. I for one, think that we made the right decision in 2000 and 2004. I hope we have some good choices in 2008.

Baghdad curfew eased after drop in violence

Am I the only one that saw this report? Why do so many people only report the negative?

According to the report "Violence in the capital has declined since the latest U.S.-Iraqi joint security operation began on Feb. 14, though there have been spectacular attacks."

The spectacular attacks are what we've been seeing on the 6o'clock news.

"But bloodshed has increased elsewhere in Iraq after insurgents and militiamen moved operations out of the capital ahead of the security crackdown."

Makes sense. The bad guys heard that the surge was coming. The bad guys decided to make like a tree and leave. Wasn't the initial plan of the surge to secure Baghadad? Now it's time for the next step?

"Since the start of the security operation, the military had enforced a 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. ban. Before that, the curfew had been 11 p.m. to 5 a.m."

In fairness, this is three steps back and now two steps forward. Curfew is not at the same time as before the surge started. But it sounds like Baghdad is more secure.

C'mon guys, at least report the good stuff when it happens.

and at other places.

Reported by Saint Louis Today. and at other places.

IBM Gives Feds $45M in Translation Tech

OK, I admit I'm prejudiced, but this is just too cool.

To Honor an Employee's Wounded Son, IBM Offers Military $45 Million in Translation Technology

See http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070402/ibm_military_donation.html?.v=8 for details.

I hope the Pentagon figures out how to keep the stuff.

Most impressive, the gift comes from the very top. President of IBM Sam Palmissano called and wrote to President Bush.

From all reports, there were no strings attached. We know you've been looking at this stuff. We want to honor one of our employee's sons, who happens to be a soldier and was injured. Here, here's $45million in stuff. Take it.

Make me very proud.

I'm not a crook!

When ever I think of that line, I think of a man with with heavy jowls, shaking his head side to side so that they flap, wearing a dark suit, with hands raised in peace signs, "I'm not a crook".

Picaso had phases, I'm in my criminal investigation phrase. My homework assignment this week was to report on what factors create a criminogenic industry in government and politics. It's only four pages (double spaced) and you only have a week to do it, so it's a little light on details. But it reviews some of the reasons that politics seems to invite crimes.

I confess, I take a couple of swipes at the most recent former president, but I talk about both republicans and democrats involved in these "events". And I include a reference to quote above. I don't feel like the paper is biased towards either party, but I'm sure I'll have people who disagree. No matter, every one who disagrees with me has a right to be wrong.

Paper available to anyone who wants to read it. Email me or respond here. When I'm famous, you can say you knew me when....

A quote

New for me - a quote:

Knowledge is not knowledge until someone else knows that one knows. - Lucilius 1st century BC


Does this mean I should brag about what I know???

8 more classes

I'm not usually one to count down, but I only have 8 more classes and then I'm through with school. For good!

Well, never say never. 26 years ago, I never thought I would go back. And this doesn't seem as dramatic as that time did. The goal this time was not a piece of paper, not some letters after my name. The goal was to learn, to see different parts of business. To gain knowledge that I couldn't gain through "regular" means.

But it feels good to be this close to the "end" of it all.

The Best Government Money Can Buy

So last night we watched a movie about politicians and corruption. It was actually a 60 minutes style documentary. The list of politicians gone astray was amazing.

Wilbur Mills (Ark) - alcohol abuse and picking up strippers - This was the beginning of the end for newspapers looking the other way in these type events. In one of his speeches, he actually sounded conciliatory, a departure from most.

Wayne Hays (Oh) - Hired a mistress with government money. She was supposedly a secretary, but had no typing skills (ok, a long time ago before word processors)

Gary Hart (Co) - Along with Donna Rice (from Columbia SC) took a boat ride to Bimini. Rice was a model. They had to stay in the harbor overnight. Trouble was, he had tempted fate and dared newspapers to follow him. They did. He never admitted the event was anything but above board (sorry for the pun). Neither did Rice. But his career was destroyed. Oh, the name of the boat - "Monkey Business".

Spiro Agnew (Md) - Accussed of taking bribes while Governor of Maryland. Payments continued while he was VP. Hey, if he has a good job, would you expect him to quit when he gets to be VP? At one time, he was 3rd most respected man in America behind Richard Nixon and Billy Graham. All charges except tax evasion dropped. He introduced the term nolo contendre to the general public. Technically it means "I don't plead guilty, but I know you can convict me." Still denied his guilt. (there's a pattern here)

Abscam brought in several:
Named after a ficticious company, Abdul Enterprises, Ltd.
- Harrison Williams (NJ) - "I did nothing wrong" - blamed government misconduct
- Richard Kelly (Fl) - Claimed he was conducting his own investigation - blamed the government of crimes
- My home state's (SC) John Jenerette - FBI released video of him stuffing money in his pants while he was running for reelection. He almost won. His wife posed nude for Playboy and gave an interview. He was quoted as saying he hoped she didn't tell them about the time they had sex on the steps of the state capital. She didn't tell, but he did.

Other non-elected officials:
Dwight Eisenhower's cheif of staff Sherman Adams - Influence peddling. Saw nothing wrong with taking expensive gifts

LBJ Secretary of Defense Bobby Baker - He resigned, but the investigation continued years. A continuing embarrassment to LBJ.

This was the sad one - Raymond Donovan, Regan aid. Allegations came because of events BEFORE his appointment. Resigned under pressure. Two years later, the trial found him and all co-defendants NOT GUILTY. "Where do I go to get my reputation back?"

Elizabeth Edwards

By now, you've probably seen the news about Elizabeth Edwards. My heart goes out to her and her family.

(Prediction) There will be those who say this is God's punishment for something or another.

Shame on them.

No human and certainly no American should point fingers at the Edwards family. For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

show and tell

I don't often post news links. Too many other people are willing to do that and the pay's no good. But this one was too tempting. A first grader took a rock of crack cocaine to school for show and tell. Seems that he knew what it was, and lots of details.

Amazing. Read the story at:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,259582,00.html

Ever had one of those days?

Have you ever deleted a file, only to realize that you needed it? Once I was shredding documents (always makes me feel like Oliver North when I do that) and I shredded somethings I needed to send to an insurance company. I ended up losing $30 or $40 because of that mistake.

Well this case was a little worse. This guy ended up deleting a file that contained details on $38 BILLION. That's right. $38 BILLION. With a "B".

Now even folks like Ross Perot and Bill Gates would miss that kind of money. To make matters worse, the guy was very thorough. He deleted the backup too! Plan B down the tubes.

Plan C would have been the backup tapes. Remember those tapes that everyone says aren't needed anymore and are too cumbersom and too expensive? Plan C.

Trouble is, they weren't usable. No idea why, the article says they were unreadable. I've seen that happen when they were stored to close to a magnet. Wiped the data right off those suckers.

Fortunately, the ultimate backup (paper) still existed. Plan D. In 300 boxes. These had to be re-scanned. Quality Control had to review (I guess the scanners aren't perfect). And then someone had to manually link the scanned images to the individuals named on the documents.

Overtime, weekends, temp help, etc. Total cost - $220,700.

When you think about it, $220,700 is cheap. That's slightly over 2/100 of 1%. That's like losing $100 and paying 2cents to get it back. But I bet it will be a long time before that guy formats another hard drive. The article says they've already done extra testing on their backup techniques.

Note the names of the companies involved. Now if they had only used a mainframe computer.....



http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-20-alaska-fund_N.htm

Am I a part of the "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy"?

I don't often comment on politics. I've always felt it was useless. Robert Heinlein write "Never try to teach a pig to sing. You waste your time and you annoy the pig." (Time Enough for Love, 1973). But this time, I think someone was talking about me.

Sen. Hillary Clinton has returned to her comments of the "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" (VRWC). In fact, she says that the New Hampshire courts have proven that it does exist. In order to reference this, I pulled a random report from http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/03/14/news/doc45f6c394a6e41539528436.txt. I have no idea if the Bloomington Pantagraph is right wing, left wing or no wing. I chose the first entry from a Google Search (well, the third actually, the first one didn't work, the second was Rush Limbaugh and I figured quoting Rush would ruin any credibility I might have).

The phrase came about just before the Monica Lewinsky incident came to the surface. After the incident, her comments were ridiculed. Now, she's using the same words.

First, let me say that this is a SMART move. I've always thought Sen. Clinton was a smart lady. By using these words she 1) fans the flames of anti-republican fires - motivates her people, 2) fans the left-wing fires - helps redeem her in their eyes after her early vote to support the Iraq war and 3) successfully brings up the Monica Lewinsky issue and puts it to bed (pardon the pun). No one can bring the issue up again.

As to the validity of the VRWC, I have to borrow a page from former President Bill Clinton's playbook: define "vast". One definition says it is "huge: unusually great in size or amount or degree or especially extent or scope". Well, I think that this definitely qualifies. The scope of this conspiracy (if there is one) is definitely unusually great in size (although one might argue that since this happens often, it isn't unusual - "is" means "is").

So the next question is, is this a conspiracy. Again my trusty Google search for a defintion says that a conspiracy is "a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act." Well the legal NH case was definitely a secret agreement, there were numerous people involved and they were performing an unlawful act. While the court decision is being appealed, by definition, the court has decided (unless overturned) that the acts were illegal.

So, I think I must agree with the Honorable Senator that there is a VRWC. And illegal acts by those involved should not be tolerated.

Now (not but), the question is, is there also a Vast Left Wing Conspiracy (VLWC)? Well, there are numerous examples that would say yes. One that comes to mind is Dan Rather using forged papers to prove his points. His points may have been right or they may have been wrong, but using forged papers blew any chance for him to be seen as unbiased. Using the points above, Mr. Rather's incident was indeed vast and indeed a conspiracy. There are other more recent examples, but this will suffice.

So, if there is a VRWC and VLWC what's the point? The point is this: illegal acts should not be tolerated. As a part of the VRWC (I confess), I can not condone or tolerate the actions of the NH branch of this group. Neither can affiliates of the VLWC condone or tolerate actions of the CBS branch of their group. I can't use actions of the VLWC to excuse the actions of the VRWC. We both need to keep each other accountable.

So, I guess in a way, I'm agreeing with Sen. Clinton. Excuse me while I go wash my hands.....

Censorship

Censorship has such negative connotations. However, I practice it regularly. I choose what TV I allow in my house. Certain channels are blocked, because I don't want them shown. I choose which magazines are allowed. If a magazine shows up in my mail box that I think doesn't belong in my house (yes it has happened), it goes straight to the trash.

I choose when and how my teenage son can access the web. I am hoping that he will learn to censor for himself.

So what if someone censors me? What if I choose to post something that someone finds offensive? Well, first, they have the right to censor me. Maybe they don't like my blogs, or my posts onto their blogs. They don't have to read my blog, and they can delete my comments from their blog. And I have the right to stop reading their blog.

However, we both lose.

Crime and punishment

This class I'm taking is making me super-paranoid. It's called White Collar Crime, but it looks at lots of other crimes too. Tonight, we saw a film about someone in a Florida jail for murder. He was stealing credit card numbers and buying stuff. He would have it shipped to a drop location outside the jail. Someone would take the stuff and sell it, he and the outside assistant would split the money.

The interviewer called the man a con artist. He said he guessed that was true. The interviewer called the man a murderer. He said "that's what they say" and "I don't like it when they say that".

Doesn't that just make you feel bad? People call him a murderer.

I hope they throw away the key....


(If I can find details about the man, I'll add them to the comments)

Daylight Savings Time

Daylight Savings Time starts tonight. This year it's earlier than in previous times. I recall that growing up in olden times, the time it started and ended changed every year. Congress took time in 1987 to fix the time it started and ended.

So we save an hour at this time and give it back in the fall. Do we save it or borrow it? Who is the banker for the extra time? And is there interest applied? If we're saving time (as the name applies), then six month's of interest should add up. For example, at a simple 4% interest rate, we should gain about 1.2 minutes. Now that doesn't seem like a lot, but if we save that much each year, it could add up over time. In my lifetime, that would come to almost an hour, if you compound the interest, it would probably be more time.

I think I'm going to use my interest time. Cash it in. Maybe take it off work and tell the boss it's time I've saved for years. If it were more time, I'd take an extra vacation. As it is, I think I'll use the time to reset all the clocks I have....

I won the lottery!!!

Ok, well, not really, I missed at least one of the numbers. I watched the news talking about the recent lottery, megamillions, powerball or whatever. Funny, right after the news story, they went to a commercial about the lottery. But not one promoting it, it was one suggestion that too much of playing the lottery was bad for you. How ironic.

The lottery really bothers me. This is a reverse robin-hood thing. The people that play the lottery faithfully are the ones who can afford it the least. The ones who benefit are the upper-middle class who send their kids to college on the Life scholarship. The others that benefit are companies that sell lottery tickets and the ones who promote the lottery. Those lottery machines cost money, the company that manages the lottery makes a good living. So we're taking from the poor and giving to the rich.

What bothers me the most about the lottery is the people that support it. Typically, liberals support the lottery. But liberals are supposed to look out for the little man. Help the poor. Feed the hungry. Conservatives on the other hand are supposed to be pro-business, anti-poor, and "let them eat cake." So why do conservatives oppose the lottery? Seems like it's tailor made for conservatives.

Two of my major problems about the lottery:
1) It promotes false hope. The idea is that someone has to win. Actually, everyone has to loose. In order for one person to win $1million, then 2 million people have to lose $1. Simple math, less than 50% of the lottery money is paid out in winnings. So even if you do win, you're cheating 2 million people out of their money.
2) The promise of something for nothing. There's something morally wrong with this. Work should be involved.

But I still wonder, why I've never won the lottery. Never even won one of the scratch & sniff games. I'm sure it's a conspiracy and it's not fair. I think they should give me a prize anyway. I'm sure the fact that I don't buy lottery tickets is not related to the results.....

Need some ideas - what scam

I have to write a paper on which scams I fear the most. I need some help on ideas. Either post your suggestions here or email me.

Thanks

Is there more to life than just politics?

OK, I've taken to reading a lot of blogs. I'd rather read blogs than do my homework. I'm not sure that it's a viable excuse, but it's a fact.

But why are so many blogs about politics (and "why are there so many songs about rainbows?" asks Mr. Kermit). Seems like there should be more to life than just Pres. Bush fighting Billiary and some conservative commentator taking a jab at one of the other candidates.

And while I'm at it, why do so many bloggers simply quote newsfeeds. Don't they think we can find the news ourselves? Do they have any original thoughts or do they just think their job is to spread the news. Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Ann Coulter used a homosexual slur!

Sure politics is important. It affects our everyday lives. It affects our future. But there are other things that are important too. Like Mr. Kermit's rainbows.....


P.S. If you miss the part about Mr. Kermit's rainbows, email me and I'll explain. It's a neat story.

The one that almost was

Back in April of 2006, I blogged about Anthony.
(See http://newfromclt.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_archive.html)

Now it's Manny's turn. Trouble is, Manny never had a chance. Something happened, we don't know what. About two months too early. Now, he will never have the chance to know how much we care.

About Anthony, I said he could teach us a lot. God can use Manny the same way. Manny has the opportunity, even though he never knew us, to teach us. In death, Manny can teach us how to deal with life. He can teach us the how to help other people. And he can teach us how to help ourselves.

Thank you Manny for what you will be doing for us. Maybe somehow, someday we can begin to understand or at least to understand what you have meant to us and will mean to us.