Everyone I now have a new cable television box in the living room. It works! That's the good news. What did it take to get it? 1.5 hours on the phone, being "handcuffed to the house" for all of yesterday afternoon awaiting the tech, and a lot of frustration and stress. One tech arrived. He looked at the box and the wiring in the fuse box. I had to warn him to be careful because a prior tech had knocked out the business internet while working on the cable box. When it was decided that a new cable box was required, the local Comcast supervisor showed up. I know him from past calls. He is a super nice man whose family comes from Germany.Another Comcast truck arrived. It took all of this man power to install a new cable box. What's that joke about how many people are needed to screw in a light bulb? Draw your own conclusions!
Life takes us in many strange directions and wonderful discoveries. It never turns out the way we thought it would.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Rick Perry's Indictment Reveals The Fallibility of US Justice
Rick Perry’s indictment reveals the fallibility of US justice
It would be wrong for charges against the Texas governor to be allowed through the courts
Texas governors are a local taste. Handsome, ebullient, lucky enough to govern an oil state in times of rocketing commodity prices, Rick Perry has been elected again and again since replacing George W Bush after the latter was elected president in 2000.
But a magazine once described Mr Perry as “probably not what Plato had in mind when he wrote that republics should be ruled by philosopher-kings”. His malapropisms, memory lapses and inability to read his party’s national mood (he called its stance on immigration “heartless”) made him a laughing stock when he sought the presidential nomination in 2012.
ON THIS STORY
- Charges threaten Perry presidential hopes
- Edward Luce GOP foreign policy realism
- Christopher Caldwell Obama’s border woes
- Texas governor indicted on alleged misuse of power
ON THIS TOPIC
- Analysis An unhealthy state
- Perry warms to Huawei
- Jurek Martin Reprogramming Rick Perry
- Texas governor eyes White House bid
CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL
- Uber’s tale-teller
- Christopher Caldwell The trouble with trolls
- Justice tarnished
- OKCupid’s poisoned arrow
This year there has been a reversal. He has made headway reintroducing himself to Republicans across the country, and has a chance of winding up in the White House. But, having fallen foul of legal activists, he now finds himself under indictment in his own state capital, Austin, and has a chance of winding up in jail.
The charges look weak. They arise from the arrest of Rosemary Lehmberg, Travis County attorney-general and a Democrat, for drunk-driving in April 2013. The embarrassing police video of the incident has been much viewed online. Ms Lehmberg pleaded guilty, served 45 days in jail and reportedly sobered up, but Mr Perry pressed her to resign, saying he would cut off $7.5m in state funding to her office if she did not. That is where it gets interesting.
Travis is one of 254 Texas counties but it contains Austin, home not just of the capitol (and thus of the state’s politicians) but also of the state university (and thus of its upper-crust left). The funding Mr Perry was cutting was for the county’s public integrity unit, a local office empowered to prosecute state politicians. Here we arrive at an important part of a larger problem.
The Democratic stronghold of Austin gets to police all politics in this reliably Republican state. This is a problem that well-designed constitutions take pains to avoid. It was to prevent local officials from harassing national ones that republics such as Australia and the US removed their federal capitals from the control of any state government.
An important aspect of the arrest tapes has been largely ignored in the press. Ms Lehmberg, contrary to reports, is not especially bellicose in custody, particularly considering her reported blood-alcohol level. As she begins to panic about the effect on her career, in fact, one’s heart goes out to her. The problem is that she keeps pulling rank. Ms Lehmberg reminds the officers of the Travis County sheriff’s department that she is on familiar terms with their boss, Greg Hamilton, the Travis County sheriff: “Have y’all called Greg?” These words are relevant to Mr Perry’s insistence that she quit. Ms Lehmberg has made many Republican enemies but until the arrest the governor had not been prominent among them.
His problems are only those of the wider society, set in bold relief
Texas is not the only southern state that allows local bureaucrats big prerogatives. But this indictment of Mr Perry is unusually illogical. It reveals a bizarre idea of the control that politicians can exercise over government money. Mr Perry is accused of having “intentionally or knowingly misused government property”. Penalties for that can reach 99 years. The law is clearly meant to keep politicians from selling off mineral rights or fencing the art collection in the governor’s mansion or paying prostitutes with money meant for office furniture.
In this case, the “property” is the money voted for the public integrity unit, which the governor is under no obligation to approve. He is being indicted for vetoing a budgetary bill.
He is also accused of “coercion” for his initial threat to veto the bill. Attempts by one branch of government to intimidate another, as Mr Perry is alleged to have done with his veto threat, can in theory become unconstitutional. But not here. In the Texas case, questions of constitutional theory are complicated by the fact that Mr Perry and Ms Lehmberg are operating at different levels of government, one at state level, the other at county level.
Newspapers have called for the case to be allowed to work its way through the courts. That would be wrong. While justice can be authoritative, it is never infallible. Mr Perry is in trouble, and nothing we have seen so far indicates he has committed any crime.
His problems are only those of the wider society, set in bold relief. That prosecutors pressed criminal charges is a sign that, in the US, the campaign trail too often runs through the courtroom. That a “grand jury” – a group of ordinary Americans picked to assess the merits of a case – approved the charges is a sign that Americans are losing sight of the rules meant to govern their politics in the first place.
The writer is a senior editor at The Weekly Standard
Friday, August 29, 2014
My Last Words On The Day Of My Retirement
A dear friend is having a retirement party this Saturday night. I can't be there. I retired after 8 years with a company. In those 8 years I generated $13 million in sales and had one $4,400 write-off. I never once got a thank you or well done. My salary never went above $48,000 per year. I had to rely on my dear wife for medical insurance. On my final day I thought of a book written by a US Maine Corps lieutenant who survived a tour in Vietnam. The book is A Rumor of War by Phillip Caputo, by the way. After his last patrol he gets on the helicopter for the ride back to base and the trip home. The book ended with these words: "And I had survived...but that was all that I could say." Those were my last words before I took my things and left to retire.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
A Disaster With Xfinity/Comcast
On Tuesday afternoon our Xfinity HD channels crashed. When we tuned to the HD channels a message came on the screen telling us that they were free with a subscription. I called a very nice lady and stayed on the phone one hour. She sent signals to the box and we did all sorts of reboots. Nothing work. The Comcast rep came to the conclusion that the billing department had not told the cable television department that we had paid our bill (By the way, we always pay our bill rig...ht on time.) I got another call from this lady. Yesterday while I was talking to a dear friend of 50 years with a personal crisis, another person from Xfinity called five times to talk about the problem. It was annoying. He finally agreed to send out a technician. The earliest free slot was Friday afternoon between four and six PM. This is terrible service. If you want to discontinue cable television the billing system is rigged and your internet goes up astronomically in price
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
If Someone Does You Wrong..Don't Start Plotting Revenge
A person dear in my life was badly treated by an employer some years ago. She got a call yesterday from a lawyer asking questions about this unfair lady. She answered truthfully and honestly.
I explained to her some words of wisdom that my father had given me many decades ago as follows:
"Son if someone does you wrong and is bad to you, don't get angry and start plotting revenge. Sit back and relax. They will always get their punishment."
I am almost 66 years old. Those of you closest to me know that I keep a little notebook. I write my thoughts and observations each day. One day I made a list of all of the people in my over 6 decades who had been wonderful to me,helped me, and really gone out of their way to be nice. I'm happy to tell you that the handwritten list of names covered over three pages.
I then made a list of the people who had been really bad to me and done terrible things to me. That handwritten list of names covered only 75% of one page. Those negative people had not been able to destroy my spirit,life or hold me down.
There is a saying from my native state of Texas that I love as follows:
"You can't keep a good man or a good woman down."
If you are in despair or feeling that you are in a hopeless situation, never lose your faith or your confidence in yourself.
I explained to her some words of wisdom that my father had given me many decades ago as follows:
"Son if someone does you wrong and is bad to you, don't get angry and start plotting revenge. Sit back and relax. They will always get their punishment."
I am almost 66 years old. Those of you closest to me know that I keep a little notebook. I write my thoughts and observations each day. One day I made a list of all of the people in my over 6 decades who had been wonderful to me,helped me, and really gone out of their way to be nice. I'm happy to tell you that the handwritten list of names covered over three pages.
I then made a list of the people who had been really bad to me and done terrible things to me. That handwritten list of names covered only 75% of one page. Those negative people had not been able to destroy my spirit,life or hold me down.
There is a saying from my native state of Texas that I love as follows:
"You can't keep a good man or a good woman down."
If you are in despair or feeling that you are in a hopeless situation, never lose your faith or your confidence in yourself.
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Burger King Flips Obama the Bird; BK, Warren Buffet, Greg Mankiw, Barry Ritholtz, Mish on Corporate Tax Inversion "Fairness"
Monday, August 25, 2014
Big Picture Science-My Mental Stimulation Every Monday Afternoon!
Every one each Monday a big part of my day is listening to podcast Big Picture Science presented by Dr. Seth Shostak and Molly Bentley. I have never had the pleasure of meeting Molly in person. But I have known Dr. Seth Shostak for many years. He has his PhD. from California Institute of Technology. My friends this is the finest scientific and technology university on earth. If you get any kind of degree here, you are part of the elite of the elites in science. Dr. Shostak could have had an incredible career in science including Nobel Prizes (Multiple prizes), etc. But he realized that he also had an incredible talent for taking complex concepts in science and presenting them in terms that we non-technical mortals can understand. He developed this talent working with the SETI Institute. He has enriched the lives of so many people and taught them so much about science, life in the universe, etc. Seth thank you for giving me wonderful mental stimulation and a great post graduate education every Monday afternoon. Your fans appreciate you. Keep up the good work! Molly you're doing a great job also!
Sunday, August 24, 2014
A Disaster In The Kitchen
Yesterday I came home with my hands full. A chopping board tipped over and hit a bottle of olive oil. The bottle crashed to the floor. It smashed into many pieces. The kitchen floor was inundated with olive oil. I had a mess on my hands. I picked up all the pieces of glass. I got a big mop and cleaned up massive amounts of olive oil. After all of my work the kitchen floor was still slippery with olive oil. Luah made some constructive suggestions. I used other cleaners. But the floor stayed slippery. Elena came in. She solved the problem with a garden hose and copious amounts of soap and water. The floors are the cleanest that they have been in months.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
A Cook Book From A Charming Small Town In South Africa
When I lived in South Africa many years ago I used to drive between major cities. Of course I saw things like African villages. After all, I was in Africa. But I saw something else. There were quite a number of small and charming towns. There was always the church steeple and everything looked so charming and nice. I often dreamed of forgetting all the pressures of life and going to a small town like that to live and get lost. I made an amazing discovery recently in South Africa. It was a cook book from one of those small and charming South African towns. It arrived today. It was full of excellent and high-quality recipes. It also had a good narrative about life in a small South African town. I gave it to Elena as a gift.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Jack's South America: Fernandez Support Wanes As Argentines Focus On Eve...
Jack's South America: Fernandez Support Wanes As Argentines Focus On Eve...: August 17, 2014 12:41 pm Fernández support wanes as Argentines focus on everyday concerns By Benedict Mander in Buenos Aires Author ...
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Governor Rick Perry Indicted!!!!
My dear Facebook friends the governor of Texas, Rick Perry was just indicted for abuse of power. It will be interesting to see how the case plays out. If he were a normal suspect, he would have been arrested on Friday and held in the Travis County jail over the weekend. On Monday he would have had his bail hearing. It would have been good for Perry to spend a weekend in jail. I doubt that he saw the inside of a jail. He surrendered with his attorney and was bailed out.
If "the gov" is found guilty and the jury decides that a prison sentence is called for, I have a recommendation for a job at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for him. He should be assigned to the death chamber and have the responsibility for taking the dead bodies of executed prisoner to the hearse for the final ride to the cemetery. After overseeing over 140 executions, he should see first-hand what it's all about.
What's that old saying? : "it couldn't happen to a nicer guy."
If "the gov" is found guilty and the jury decides that a prison sentence is called for, I have a recommendation for a job at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for him. He should be assigned to the death chamber and have the responsibility for taking the dead bodies of executed prisoner to the hearse for the final ride to the cemetery. After overseeing over 140 executions, he should see first-hand what it's all about.
What's that old saying? : "it couldn't happen to a nicer guy."
Friday, August 15, 2014
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Friday, August 1, 2014
Elena and I Met 14 Years Ago Today
14 years ago today Elena and I met. We both were recovering from broken relationships. For no apparent reason, Elena put her picture and profile on kiss.com (now match.com). She quickly forgot it. I was going through the profiles and saw a picture of this very attractive woman. She was in a spot in Swaziland that I knew well from my 6 years in South Africa. I did a compatibility check and we hit 5 stars. I read her profile in detail. She looked like the perfect woman for me. Then I got to the last sentence in the profile as follows: "I'm looking for a man within 50 miles of Buenos Aires." I was 7,000 miles away in San Jose, California.I decided to take a chance anyway.
Elena you are the most wonderful thing that ever happened in my life! Billy Joel sings my song for you with the words: "You're my castle. You're my cabin. You're my instant pleasure dome. I need you in my house 'cause you're my home."
These 14 years have passed so fast!
Elena you are the most wonderful thing that ever happened in my life! Billy Joel sings my song for you with the words: "You're my castle. You're my cabin. You're my instant pleasure dome. I need you in my house 'cause you're my home."
These 14 years have passed so fast!
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