Midwest Ramblings 

The sham trial

From hearing some of the jurors speaking recently it doesn’t seem there was ever a chance of Michael Jackson getting convicted. There apparently was all kind of juror misconduct such as contact with Jackson’s family and outside material being brought into the deliberations. Amazing. If you are a celebrity I guess you want your trial in California. First O.J. then Robert Blake and now Michael Jackson. The celebrity culture is alive and well out there plus jurors are more interested in their 15 minutes of fame than guilt or innocence

Time for the arm twisting

Oh joy, time for the annual United Way Campaign. I wondered what that pain in my arm was. Turned out it is the anticipation of the arm twisting that is about to happen. They bring around the little pledge cards with their “suggested” contribution each paycheck. Last year I told them they would have a better chance of getting me to donate to the Charles Mansion defense fund than to the United Way. Sure, I want my money to go to pay for lavish offices and airplanes for executives there and then I would like the rest of my money to help causes I would never support. They claim you can earmark your contributions but there is no way for sure to know where the money goes. I also always wonder what the employer executives get in return for the contributions from their employees. You can't tell me there isn't some kickback there. If nothing else they get their name and picture in the paper looking important and charitable. I guess it helps assuage the guilt from the rest of the year.

They must think I came to work on the short bus

At work there has been an “anonymous” email box set up for employees to email their complaints or concerns They must think we all came to work on the short bus. Sure, a company provided email address to which you send an email from a company provided computer is going to be anonymous. Right. It will be anonymous until the first time someone in upper management gets a burr in their saddle over something that is sent. Then someone in computer support will be slapped around until they cough up the details

Knee update

My wife is going to see a specialist on Friday for a follow up on her knee. It appears to be getting better but of course it isn’t something to ignore. It is still unclear how long she will be out of her office. As a medical massage therapist she can’t work if she can’t walk. Her lease is up shortly anyway and she was going to be exploring other options. Hopefully after Friday we will have some answers

Updating the school dress code

Our local school district is going to consider an updated student dress code. That should be interesting. When I was a kid I would have hated it but that is one of those things you feel differently about later. Apparently they are going to try to ban hats, sunglasses, bare midriff shirts, baggy pants, etc. Can’t wait to hear the outrage over that. I hope they have the backbone to get it done.

Air France

It was certainly a miracle no one was killed yesterday in the crash of the Air France jet at Toronto. Some heads are going to roll though once the investigation is done. Seems there would have been other options besides landing in those conditions. Sounds like the flight crew deserves a big thanks for getting everyone out. I am familiar with that area there around the airport. The 401 freeway is right next to it and is nearly always packed. It could have been a lot worse.

On the juice

So a big name player finally gets busted for steroids. What was Rafael Palmero thinking? He testifies in front of Congress, says he never used them, apparently was using them and continued using steroids.

On a related note I would be shocked if Barry Bonds ever played again.

Notice how Sammy Sosa’s production plummeted when steroid testing started

A bitter old man

What is up with Jimmy Carter? He goes to Great Britain and starts into the Gitmo is a disgrace thing. There was a time when he was actually a model for what an ex president should be. He spent his time on humanitarian projects, wrote some books and gave some lectures. Over the last 8 years it seems like he has turned into a bitter old man spending his time lecturing George W on foreign policy. Wouldn’t you think to lecture someone you would need some history of success. This is the same Jimmy Carter that while president Iran held American hostages for over a year and he micromanaged a disastrous rescue attempt. Inflation was in double digits. Gas prices adjusted for inflation were actually higher than they are now. Unemployment was nearly 10% and interest rates were through the roof. Much of the demise of our industrial base can be traced to his time as president. His idea of leadership was wearing sweaters in the White House and turning back the thermostat. In some ways Jimmy Carter made it possible for Ronald Reagan to be president and change the direction of American politics. He needs to just go away.

Give me drugs

That seems to be what people are demanding.I saw today where 48% of American adults are taking prescription medicines, 84% of those for a long term condition. No wonder why health care costs keep rising. You can’t watch TV, listen to the radio or read anything without getting bombarded by medication advertisements. Of course there are people who need the drugs. My wife is diabetic so I certainly understand people do but there seems to be something wrong when nearly half the population is on prescriptions

The car buying experience

Anyone buy a domestic car with those “Employee Discount” program? I guess most are about to expire. Having spent 7 years previously with 2 different car dealers I bet although a lot of people went there planning on getting the employee discount that walked out of there with a lot of add ons from the dealers sliding on the extras like extended warranty’s, maintenance plans, theft insurance and the like. It is amazing what many of the salesmen and finance managers get away with. Of course the dealers will tell you they don’t train their sales people that way, but even though I wasn’t in sales I saw the pressure sales people were on to make sales and get the extras on the customers. One dealer I worked for had to settle a suit for millions of dollars because of that behavior.

Anytime I have bought a new car I always felt like I needed a shower afterwards.