A new law, recently okayed in California by Governor Moonbeam aka Jerry Brown will allow felons in County jails to vote in 2017.
Some voices on this subject - a Sheriff, "We believe that there have to be consequences to your action, and the consequences of being a convicted felon are that you can't vote." And as far as I know, part of a criminal punishment is that you lose the right to vote. Ever. Period.
A vice president of some nut group who said, "California is stronger and healthier when more people participate in the electoral process. (ed. note - Aha, this is why so many of our voters are coming out of their graves to do so.)
"Mass disenfranchisement for minor offenses is a tragic legacy of the Jim Crow era that disproportionately affects and diminishes the power of communities of color." (Ed. note - the Jim Crow laws in Kansas at least, were that a black person was not allowed to spend a night there. Blacks had to plan routes that got them out of state before sundown. Clearly this "law" had nothing whatsoever to do with voting. It was racist pure and simple.
Shirley Weber, D. San Diego: "It (jail house voting) would reduce the likelihood of convicts committing new crimes. Civic participation can be a critical component of reentry and has been linked to reduced recidivism." It might be if one were not dealing with illiterate thugs. I did wonder fleetingly if she doesn't get tired of the same view every day of her own tonsils though.
Source: LA Times California section, 9/30/16
Aside: a new bumper sticker - I wish Hillary had married OJ
Friday, September 30, 2016
Thursday, September 29, 2016
An Utterly Charming Book
And I've rarely said that about any book reviewed. "The Road to Little Dribbling" by Bill Bryson Doubleday 380 pages $28.95
Bryson is an American ex-pat living in England. He is acutely aware of the differences and, in fact, revels in them. He is not particularly pro either one of them, recognizing easily that both have their pros and cons, but he can be funny about both. He wrote, apparently in explanation, "I came from Des Moines; someone had to."
This is his 19th travel book and I was delighted to see that because it means there is more of him to laugh at and learn from. He is 64 and he and wife Cynthia have been married since 1975. As he has spent the last 20 years traveling and writing about it, they may not have seen each other that often which is frequently the reason for long and affectionate marriages.
History is an important part of his narrative and he is knowledgeable indeed about it. But more than that, he's funny. On the construction of Stonehenge, with tons of rock having to be moved 18 miles from A to B, plus the additional work of erecting them to the vertical and adding blue stone from another site, he remarks that the guy who thought it all up and got workers to do it must have been a helluva motivator.
In another book, he wrote this: "To my mind, the only possible pet is a cow. They love you. They'll listen to your problems and never ask a thing in return. They will be friends forever. And when you get tired of them, you can kill and eat them. Perfect."
Get over yourselves, PETA - he was joking which you may not have grasped being the humorless drones that you are.
Before we get into it, PETA, let me say that I would love this book for no other reason than he calls a surly shopkeeper in it a "cheerless prick." If that doesn't totally describe some humans, nothing ever will. .Carry on, old chap. Doing splendidly so far. And regards to the wife next time you see her.
Bryson is an American ex-pat living in England. He is acutely aware of the differences and, in fact, revels in them. He is not particularly pro either one of them, recognizing easily that both have their pros and cons, but he can be funny about both. He wrote, apparently in explanation, "I came from Des Moines; someone had to."
This is his 19th travel book and I was delighted to see that because it means there is more of him to laugh at and learn from. He is 64 and he and wife Cynthia have been married since 1975. As he has spent the last 20 years traveling and writing about it, they may not have seen each other that often which is frequently the reason for long and affectionate marriages.
History is an important part of his narrative and he is knowledgeable indeed about it. But more than that, he's funny. On the construction of Stonehenge, with tons of rock having to be moved 18 miles from A to B, plus the additional work of erecting them to the vertical and adding blue stone from another site, he remarks that the guy who thought it all up and got workers to do it must have been a helluva motivator.
In another book, he wrote this: "To my mind, the only possible pet is a cow. They love you. They'll listen to your problems and never ask a thing in return. They will be friends forever. And when you get tired of them, you can kill and eat them. Perfect."
Get over yourselves, PETA - he was joking which you may not have grasped being the humorless drones that you are.
Before we get into it, PETA, let me say that I would love this book for no other reason than he calls a surly shopkeeper in it a "cheerless prick." If that doesn't totally describe some humans, nothing ever will. .Carry on, old chap. Doing splendidly so far. And regards to the wife next time you see her.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Town & Country Celebrates 170 YEARS of Snobbery and Pretension
Shall we carp and make fun of them? (snigger) Why, yes, of course!
This does not bode well for noted legal fiction writer Scott Turow. In May of 2016, he married Adrienne Glazer, a senior advisor for non-profits at Wells Fargo.
They met in 1987 when she interviewed with him for a job as a lawyer. Both went their separate ways, meeting and marrying other persons. Both divorced, ran into each other in 2012 and love apparently blossomed.
"What's sinister about that?" you ask in bewilderment. Turow is 67, Glazer is 51 and she said of their nuptials, "We thought the next time our loved ones came together would likely be when one of us died."
Announced intent in my book.
A Terrible Condition Your May Have, But Take Heart! It Can Be Fixed!
This just in regarding the further evils of electronics...Tech Neck. (shudder) Their statistics say that the average person looks down at their phone 221 times a day. Neck skin is even more fragile that that on your face and these lines can become permanent! (Insert OMG! here)
What to do? What to do?
1. Keep your chin up - hold your phone up to eye level.
2. Set aside a no phone zone and enforce it. "It's a great way to interact with the world around you." (Insert "OMG, I never thought of that" here)
3. Buy vats of TL Advanced Tightening Neck Cream. Cost presumably less (but not by much) of the services of a skilled plastic surgeon..
Are Your Dinner Plates Giving You Away? Talking Behind Your Back?
And this is all 12 of them. It is absolutely mandatory to have a dozen dinner plates. Not six, nor eight or 10 - 12.
The diner will glance at any one of them and know if these plates were inherited or are they new? Will the food be fresh or -- (gasp) frozen?
My advice? If your dinner plates are enjoying ratting you out behind your back, put them in storage and buy a helluva a lot of paper plates. The manufacturing process of paper plates renders them unable to see or communicate.
This does not bode well for noted legal fiction writer Scott Turow. In May of 2016, he married Adrienne Glazer, a senior advisor for non-profits at Wells Fargo.
They met in 1987 when she interviewed with him for a job as a lawyer. Both went their separate ways, meeting and marrying other persons. Both divorced, ran into each other in 2012 and love apparently blossomed.
"What's sinister about that?" you ask in bewilderment. Turow is 67, Glazer is 51 and she said of their nuptials, "We thought the next time our loved ones came together would likely be when one of us died."
Announced intent in my book.
A Terrible Condition Your May Have, But Take Heart! It Can Be Fixed!
This just in regarding the further evils of electronics...Tech Neck. (shudder) Their statistics say that the average person looks down at their phone 221 times a day. Neck skin is even more fragile that that on your face and these lines can become permanent! (Insert OMG! here)
What to do? What to do?
1. Keep your chin up - hold your phone up to eye level.
2. Set aside a no phone zone and enforce it. "It's a great way to interact with the world around you." (Insert "OMG, I never thought of that" here)
3. Buy vats of TL Advanced Tightening Neck Cream. Cost presumably less (but not by much) of the services of a skilled plastic surgeon..
Are Your Dinner Plates Giving You Away? Talking Behind Your Back?
And this is all 12 of them. It is absolutely mandatory to have a dozen dinner plates. Not six, nor eight or 10 - 12.
The diner will glance at any one of them and know if these plates were inherited or are they new? Will the food be fresh or -- (gasp) frozen?
My advice? If your dinner plates are enjoying ratting you out behind your back, put them in storage and buy a helluva a lot of paper plates. The manufacturing process of paper plates renders them unable to see or communicate.
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
A Quiet Movie vs. a Raucous Debate
I had stated publicly (comment on whitehouseodssier.com) that I would prefer to go Under-the-House, sit in the dirt and eat raw Brussels sprouts while reading the collected works of Alfred E. Neuman rather than watch last night's debates.
Happily I didn't have to do that. Instead, we watched the movie of Richie's choice, called "Carol" adapted from the Joyce Carol Oates novel "The Price of Salt." This dubious bit of the film makers art starred Cate Blanchett as "Carol," a woman trapped in a loveless (on her side) marriage to "Hart" Kyle Chandler and young Tereza played by Rooney Mara who becomes involved with the (much) older Carol.
I was amazed to see how little acting the two women could do for 118 tediously long minutes. Blanchett limited herself to an icy aloofness (except when she went nuts and beat up her husband - several times) and Mara clearly has only two expressions - doe-eyed and not. The "not" is indistinguishable from the doe-eyed. Clearly Mara was a star student at the Olsen Twins School of the Dramatic (and Not-So) Arts.
Anyhow Cates and Mara embark on a mini Thelma and Louise run after spending 'way too much time exchanging hot-eyed "Meaningful" looks. I think someone pointed them at the camera and said, "Visualize a hot fudge sundae."
Her husband finally begins to smell a rat "She and best friend Abby sure spend a lot of time together" and takes her to court for a divorce and sole custody of their 10 year old daughter named "Rindy" which I finally figured out must be the diminutive for Miranda.
It's during these scenes in the lawyer's offices where we actually get to see Chandler, the husband. Black hair, dark blue eyes...trim, tall body...majorly hot. If this were real life, I would deeply and seriously consider the womens' mental abilities, arrange for a nice restful time in an undisclosed location and take off with him posthaste. I mean, I do have a taser in my purse and I could always make it up to him later ...
But, alas, it was only a movie. Still (eternally rosy here) it did beat watching the debate.
Happily I didn't have to do that. Instead, we watched the movie of Richie's choice, called "Carol" adapted from the Joyce Carol Oates novel "The Price of Salt." This dubious bit of the film makers art starred Cate Blanchett as "Carol," a woman trapped in a loveless (on her side) marriage to "Hart" Kyle Chandler and young Tereza played by Rooney Mara who becomes involved with the (much) older Carol.
I was amazed to see how little acting the two women could do for 118 tediously long minutes. Blanchett limited herself to an icy aloofness (except when she went nuts and beat up her husband - several times) and Mara clearly has only two expressions - doe-eyed and not. The "not" is indistinguishable from the doe-eyed. Clearly Mara was a star student at the Olsen Twins School of the Dramatic (and Not-So) Arts.
Anyhow Cates and Mara embark on a mini Thelma and Louise run after spending 'way too much time exchanging hot-eyed "Meaningful" looks. I think someone pointed them at the camera and said, "Visualize a hot fudge sundae."
Her husband finally begins to smell a rat "She and best friend Abby sure spend a lot of time together" and takes her to court for a divorce and sole custody of their 10 year old daughter named "Rindy" which I finally figured out must be the diminutive for Miranda.
It's during these scenes in the lawyer's offices where we actually get to see Chandler, the husband. Black hair, dark blue eyes...trim, tall body...majorly hot. If this were real life, I would deeply and seriously consider the womens' mental abilities, arrange for a nice restful time in an undisclosed location and take off with him posthaste. I mean, I do have a taser in my purse and I could always make it up to him later ...
But, alas, it was only a movie. Still (eternally rosy here) it did beat watching the debate.
Monday, September 26, 2016
Trash Talkin' The Debate
Back in the day, when boxing was more of a popular spectator sport, there was a ritual called "the weigh-in" which was largely a PR opportunity to give opposing fighters the opportunity to insult each other with impunity as they were weighed to make sure that they were the proper weight to fight that class.
A weigh-in for heavyweights was largely pointless because they only had to weigh 201 lbs. Anything over that was irrelevant. There were 14 categories for ranking from Heavyweight down to something called "Pin Weight" where participants had to weigh 97 to 101 pounds. The size of the average 8th grader, I would imagine.
This trash talk over the years was also a chance for the boxer to display his wit (if any) against his opponent. shortlist.com has a compilation of these if you wish to pursue the humor further.
In the meantime, I lifted some quotes ...
Mohammed Ali to Floyd Patterson: I will beat this guy so bad he'll need a shoe horn to put on his hat.
Mike Tyson: My main objective is to be professional, but to kill him.
Willy Pep to a former opponent: Lie down so I can recognize you.
And all of the above brings us to The Debate! Tonight! The Debate of the Century! 100 Million Expected to Watch!
I will not be one of them. I would rather spend the evening Under-the-House, sitting in the dirt eating raw Brussel Sprouts while reading the Collected Works of Alfred E. Newman instead.
A weigh-in for heavyweights was largely pointless because they only had to weigh 201 lbs. Anything over that was irrelevant. There were 14 categories for ranking from Heavyweight down to something called "Pin Weight" where participants had to weigh 97 to 101 pounds. The size of the average 8th grader, I would imagine.
This trash talk over the years was also a chance for the boxer to display his wit (if any) against his opponent. shortlist.com has a compilation of these if you wish to pursue the humor further.
In the meantime, I lifted some quotes ...
Mohammed Ali to Floyd Patterson: I will beat this guy so bad he'll need a shoe horn to put on his hat.
Mike Tyson: My main objective is to be professional, but to kill him.
Willy Pep to a former opponent: Lie down so I can recognize you.
And all of the above brings us to The Debate! Tonight! The Debate of the Century! 100 Million Expected to Watch!
I will not be one of them. I would rather spend the evening Under-the-House, sitting in the dirt eating raw Brussel Sprouts while reading the Collected Works of Alfred E. Newman instead.
In Which Richie is Published
Times have changed in banking institutions
Re "Wells Fargo cheating indicts management"
Dear Sirs:
Remember when bad people robbed banks? Now banks rob good people.
Richie Murphy,
Redondo Beach, CA
Re "Wells Fargo cheating indicts management"
Dear Sirs:
Remember when bad people robbed banks? Now banks rob good people.
Richie Murphy,
Redondo Beach, CA
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Some US Police Department Statistics and Opinions
Forgive an old white woman some confusion here -- Charlotte: a black Police Chief, a black police officer and a black miscreant. These are all black lives mattering, but the BLM is still not satisfied! What the hell do they want? Perhaps they aren't quite sure? Wouldn't it be prudent to leave the field of fire (so to speak) and have a nice sit-down and finalize their objectives? And then let the rest of us in on what those objectives might be? I think it would be helpful for a lot of people who are as confused as I am.
In 2013, 27 per cent of U S peace officers were black. That was 130,000 minority officers, up from 78,000 in 1987. (Source DOJ survey)
Alex S. Vitale, assistant professor, Brooklyn University said, "black officers are more likely to make arrests of black suspects than white in the same circumstances." (Source Newsweek magazine article)
Given the fact that if you obey a police officer's orders, you are 100 per cent less likely to get shot by a cop, wouldn't you think a wise person would consider this before going for a cop-assisted suicide?
Maybe if you adopted the Nike slogan "Just Do It" you'd have fewer casualties? Mingle something like Just Do It If a Cop Says So Because Black Lives Matter?
Just a thought. Carry on.
In 2013, 27 per cent of U S peace officers were black. That was 130,000 minority officers, up from 78,000 in 1987. (Source DOJ survey)
Alex S. Vitale, assistant professor, Brooklyn University said, "black officers are more likely to make arrests of black suspects than white in the same circumstances." (Source Newsweek magazine article)
Given the fact that if you obey a police officer's orders, you are 100 per cent less likely to get shot by a cop, wouldn't you think a wise person would consider this before going for a cop-assisted suicide?
Maybe if you adopted the Nike slogan "Just Do It" you'd have fewer casualties? Mingle something like Just Do It If a Cop Says So Because Black Lives Matter?
Just a thought. Carry on.
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