Sunday Morning Coming Down

Tuesday, I had to go to the post office to mail three applications for magnet schools that Lisvey thinks she might be interested in.  I say might because she changes her mind quite regularly.  At fourteen I don't think she has made her mind up about anything.  She is going to a competitive middle school where kids come from all over Miami Dade County to study Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Mandarin Chinese. Blackhawk Jr. High was a good school I guess and I think Fenton High School was a good school as well.  Looking back at this I guess my parents lived in a place where the schools had a decent reputation and a tax base to support them. My entire adult life has been spent in the South.  Private schools and now charter schools have certainly changed the nature of a free public education and getting a good education is strangely a little more complicated than needs be.  Folks used to complain about busing the little children.  I wish it was t...

The ACLU has had the New York Mayor Deblasio ear when it comes low level policing.  It is now said that low level policing is a thing of the past in comparison to recent history when "broken window" or aggressive low level policing was the norm. The police union's believe that recent incidents and Mayor's policies directly contributed to the recently killing of two officers by a disturbed individual. Mayor Deblasio had a significant number of officers turn their backs when he spoke at a memorial service and he was booed at a police academy graduation ceremony.  The demonstrations after the death and video Eric Garner has exposed a very deep rift in  several communities. Low level policing might include arrests for possession of a small amount of marijuana, vagrancy, disorderly conduct, curfew violations, or loitering.  In New York it might also include riding your bicycle on the sidewalk or drinking in public.  The New York ACLU has studies that show that ...

A high school friend just posted an old article from the Bensenville Banner in April 1969, celebrating Fenton High School's victory in a state wide drama contest.  I noticed the newspaper cost 15 cents and a subscription was $2.00.  The story was front page news and the return to Bensenville and the high school to get picked up by parents happened.  Sadly I missed the cast party at the Holiday Inn in Normal. It was a barn burner and it took the edge off the award performance for all to see the next day. The Romancers, by Edmond Rostand was the model for The Fantasticks which is the longest running musical in theater history and is still in production after 50 plus years. Still trying to remember some details of that weekend and Soz's party which could have been a headliner as well.

According to Nielsen data for 2014 released Tuesday, the median age of an average CNN viewer during primetime fell to 58 from 60 in 2013 -- matching 2008 as the network's youngest-skewing year since at least 1992. At the same time, Fox News Channel held steady at a median age of 68 and MSNBC skewed slightly older this year (61 vs. 60 last year).

The price of gasoline is down.  Florida has not gotten the full benefit of lower oil prices but any decrease in price is welcome.  Experts have said this could save the average household $1500 and for the average family the equivalent of a 3% bump in family income. There are more hybrids on the road, cars are smaller, more people use public transportation and as the population gets older I imagine fewer miles are being driven even with the folks that still drive gas guzzlers. The United States has increased oil production and so it seems has lowered oil usage at least on the margins through the increased use of natural gas, wind power, ethanol and solar energy and conservation. The strategic value of almost energy independence is almost as important as the extra jingle in my pocket.  Hopefully this lagniappe will be used in some ways to build up our resiliency as a people and a country. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Steve Spurrier played for the Gators, two time All American and Heisman Trophy winner is the current coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks.  He played for the 49's and the Tampa Bay Bucs, was a successful coach in the defunct USFL before coaching at Duke, UF, Washington Redskins and South Carolina.  He wasn't a hit with the Redskins but has fit in well with the more redneck fandom of Florida and South Carolina. At age almost 70, he is competitive if a little less combative than his younger days. The University of Miami beat Spurrier and the Gators in the 2001 Sugar Bowl.  If you can't beat the Gators because they aren't bowl eligible, beating their ex coach is a suitable substitute. Canes and Gamecocks meet in Shreveport, LA on Saturday in the Duck Commander Independence Bowl at  3:30 ABC, not A&E.

Miami Marlins Park was the scene of a new college bowl game: The Miami Bowl.  I guess ESPN needed to fill a few hour and the Hotel and Visitors Bureau was happy to be a major sponsor.  The weather cooperated and the lid on Marlins Park was open and they turned the AC off. Memphis State versus Brigham Young were the combatants in "The Battle of the Beach."  The Miami Herald called it the Miami Beach Brawl and that it was as the two teams mixed it up after Memphis State intercepted a BYU pass to end the 2nd overtime and win the game 55-48. You might ask why would a Canes fan visit an obviously 3rd tier bowl game between two teams he knew nothing about, when he could have watched it on cable.  The simple answer is I was invited to the game by a friend from Memphis, that now calls Miami his home. The game plan was to troll the park perimeter for a scalper, face value of the tickets were $60.  We wanted a bargain.  This was not going to be a hot ticket in ...

Just finished some blogger's  rant about Guy Fieri of the Food Channel.  I sympathize with the writer with a big caveat.  He probably more clearly reflects the way most folks eat these days.  Cooking at home is just another job that takes money for stuff that you don't use very much.  Following recipes with more than four ingredients is aimed at folks that might home cook two meals a week.  Lots of folks these days are picking up takeout food.  Lots of families need two incomes and they have outsourced cooking instead of cooking and how many times a week do you eat at a place with white table clothes.

Children in Iceland leave their shoes on their window sill for the 13 nights before Christmas Eve. This is because for the 13 nights before Christmas they will be visited by one of Icelands 13 Santas - the Yule Lads (or yulemen). If the children have been good, they may be left a small treat, a sweet or a chocolate - but if they are bad, they will be left a raw potato in their shoe. But the children of Iceland are not lucky having 13 santas. Each Yule Lad is is the son of the evil troll woman, Grýla The Child Eater  - each Yule Lad has his own speciality, and will try to steal and cause mischief for the children and their families. In addition to the 13 Yule Lads, the children should also be careful of Grýla's pet - the  Yuletide Cat , which will eat any child who does not recieve new clothing for Christmas. See the yuleads.com for more details.  

ESPN ran the sequel to the "U" last Saturday.  In retrospect, as a graduate of the school, a season ticket holder in seasons past and a guy who once waited in line while Coach Butch Davis was getting money out of an ATM at the Bank of America early on a Sunday Morning, the University of Miami has had an interesting football program. I transferred to the University of Miami in 1971.  At the time they were about the only major college team to play on Friday nights.  The evening games were cooler but it didn't matter, the team wasn't very good and there wasn't much a crowd at the games.  I remember Fran Curci, Pete Elliot, and Carl Selmer. Graduating in 1973, I didn't think too much about college football until I went to graduate school at WVU in Morgantown, WV.  The Mountaineers weren't the greatest but the games were an absolute wonder in comparison to football at ISU or the UM.  I could see down into the football stadium from my room on Lorentz Avenue....

Jay Cutler has had some real stink out the joint games this year and replacing him with Jimmy Clausen is definitely a rear guard action.  Going back in history do the names Billy Wade and Rudy Bukich mean anything.  Da Bears have been challenged at QB for my entire life  except for the Jim McMahon era. I think the NFL has a quarterback problem.  A lot of the starting QBs are bad, inexperienced, or both. The position is important and the rules now emphasize passing which makes a crappy QB or a crappy game by the QB really stand out. The Bear Defense also stinks, the coach is a CFL/NFL retread and the Bear Ownership makes Al Davis look good and he has been dead a few years.  I'm not going to brag about the Dolphins but for the moment they are light years in front of the Bears.

An FIU poll of Cuban opinion says 88% of Cuban Americans between the ages of 18-29 favor normalization, and even 41% of those over 65 favor normalization. Rubio's gut reaction is that the embargo should be even tougher, he will block money for an embassy in Havana and do whatever he can to scuttle Obama's plans for Cuba. Senator Rubio's news conference yesterday was dismissive of the Obama policy shift because he is a Cuban American and his parents were refugees from Cuba.  Friends of his parents were also refugees and some of them could have been political prisoners.  This is the way things are in Miami and it colors a lot of things that happen down here except for University of Miami Football. Senator Rubio was born in the United States in 1971 and is a kid who ate burgers from McDonald's and arroz con pollo at home in West Miami.  The kid has done well, but this rant about Cuba and the Castro Brothers is way, way, way, too personal, hardly senatorial and even l...

Buy Buy Buy!  The Russians are not fools.  After their currency collapsed they ran to the big box stores to buy what they could before the clerks could change the prices.  Once this process gets started the medicine is ugly.  Interest rates in the country were hiked to 17%. Paul Volker and Jimmy Carter can testify that these kind of problems are not good for political careers. It will be interesting to see how much the drop in oil prices affects business in the U.S.A.  Gasoline isn't like the housing bubble so far but I'm sure the folks in the oil patch will be making adjustments.

President Obama has announced that the policy of isolating Cuba will be changing.  This is a huge change for countries in the Caribbean and South America.  Ironically the drop in the price of oil and not the embargo may have been the catalyst for the change in policy towards Cuba.  Venezuela was donating 100,000 barrels of oil to Cuba.  Russia also had some kindly trade terms with Cuba.  The steep drop in oil prices has hit two of the countries that helped prop up Cuba has left those two countries in shambles over the last six months or so.  Fidel is alive but out of the picture and Raul may not have been getting his phone calls for help being answered.  The embargo has been used by the Brothers Castro to cover up their own failures to move their own people forward. Cubans have been coming from Cuba to Miami, Florida, and the United States for over fifty years and before Castro there was a lot of travel and immigration between Miami and Havana. ...

The Washington Post December 8, 2014 published a story about the effects of a "Summer Jobs Program" in Chicago. Research on the program  conducted by the University of Chicago Crime Lab  and just published in the journal  Science  suggests that these summer jobs have actually had such an effect: Students who were randomly assigned to participate in the program had 43 percent fewer violent-crime arrests over 16 months, compared to students in a control group. The study indicates that violent crime by "at risk youth" was reduced by having a short term summer job.  "Nothing stops a bullet like a job" may be a little too simple an explanation, but I think that jobs programs like this have their place in public policy. One of the biggest problems with any jobs program is that they seem expensive when compared to doing nothing and critics of these kinds of programs believe they should deliver results that approximate perfection before being funded. Proje...

If I play a slot machine, the preferred way to lose money is to play a machine called Diamond Lotto. Pick six numbers and you are off to the races.  I particularly like house numbers.  A lot of other folks that play those machine like 222... 333... you get the idea.  Birthdays are also popular.  The machine also has wild cards that are diamond or  brillantes according to the locals.  I'm partial to 4209051 or 657321. Yesterday it was 12/13/14 on the calendar.  I played those numbers because on reflection I may not be around to play that kind of combination again.  A source on the internet says it won't happen again for about 89 years. The Hialeah Park Casino is open 24 hours on the weekends.  $5.00 free play isn't worth the drive but I needed to get some steps in towards my goal of 10,000 a day.  Barn B to Casino is about 3,000 steps round trip.  Randy and the first load of horses have arrived from Ocala.  Transporting hors...

Spending a lot of money on car repairs recently.  Brake jobs, a tune up, two tires, a serpentine belt and instead of driving with confidence because I've fixed a lot of things, I'm driving and looking over my shoulder what is going to breakdown next.  They are saying that the average age cars people are driving these days is 11.4 years. Yesterday the check engine idiot light and my ears told me I needed a tune up.  Unexpected yes, junk it expensive no, inconvenient yes, manageable inconvenience yes, go ahead and fix it.  No longer am I worried about getting to and from work so just about everything with cars is a manageable inconvenience because my legs still work and the grocery store is walkable. I think the only transportation issue I have in South Miami is getting to church.  The UU Campus is a nature preserve of sorts and we are more or less tree huggers as a group.  Yet, you need a car or a ride to church for Sunday Services or other activities. ...

Generally, I think the way the Senate Report on Torture has been handled has been ham handed and that is being very kind to all involved.  I don't like the partisan nature of they way it has been handled. John McCain, who is sometimes overstates what the military can do has been right about the use of torture or other extreme measures because those same measures can be used on our own people. It has no place in policy for this nation. Bad karma is bad karma what goes around comes around is more than possible, it is inevitable. Gathering of intelligence can save lives but it is also clear that cam also make things worse if not handled properly.  In this case I can only think that the timing of its release can only be bad.  The term lame duck, isn't exactly brain dead.  Senator Feinstein is rightly concerned that the report of CIA wrongdoing would go nowhere under republican leadership, but stateside all it has done is bring out more of the same from Dick Cheney and ...

A few weeks ago the Buffalo, New York area had a record snow storm, while Miami was having some nice fall weather which is one of the reasons folks that visit South Florida for some R&R are both lovingly and sometimes derisively called "snowbirds".  This morning the 8:00 am temperature was 51 degrees.  It might have been a little cooler before sun up but the coolest hour of the morning is usually right after sun up. The Florida Panther roams in the Everglades and must worry about the car traffic not just during the tourist season but year round.  The Florida Panthers are also a hockey team and in a little holiday montage they made to entertain the hometown fans they contrasted shoveling snow and other snow related activities like digging out your car from snow drifts, clearing your roof with beach scenes bikinis and a lot of jiggling  that could have come directly from the  from "Miami Vice" or "Burn Notice".  Unfortunately, they were playing the Buf...

Overweight and viewed as a “nerd,” Oscar lives a life of loneliness, always on the lookout for an opportunity for love. Yet the  fukú  curse follows him, betraying his love and his dreams. I'm rereading this novel.  It's Oscar's story and not mine.  I live in Miami, not New Jersey, and from everything I've ever heard about about the Dominican Republic, it is not on my bucket list.   I'm rereading the novel or more particularly the footnotes in the novel and trying to put together the history the footnotes tell.  In someways the whole Island of Hispanola is a pretty sad place in a lot of ways. #1 Part 1. Trujillo, one of the 20th Century's most infamous dictators, ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961 with implacable ruthless brutality. The next is one sentence.  A portly,sadistic, pig eyed mulato who bleached his skin, wore platform shoes, and had a fondness for Napoleon Era haberdashery, Trujillo (also known as El Jefe, the Failed Cat...

I was at Hialeah Park yesterday.  They are working steadily to get the place ready for racing that starts the day after Christmas.  Last year, Thunderstruck Stable made it to the winner's circle with Stolicknaya in the 10th on December 8th, 2013.  Beaver posed for this picture shortly before the end of the meet in 2014.  Looking forward to having another fun year.  Cowboy hats, boots and the smell of hay and horses will soon be here.  I'm also looking forward to "Breakfast Burritoes" in the Jock's Cafeteria.  I like the races but the show starts early in the morning, when the track is almost silent except for the hoofs and horses and their breathing as they come rolling down the stretch to the finish line and a leisurely walk back to the barn for a little TLC. Citation Statue and Park Area View from Club House Veranda. Stolicknaya aka The Beaver

Just finished listening to the U.S. Air Force Band and a "Flash Mob" musical presentation on Facebook. It was nice hearing our folks in uniform play at the Smithsonian on the Internet.  I had a cousin who played for the Army Jazz Band for over twenty years and went and heard him play during a concert tour of Florida.  This was one of those happy accidents. I hope this doesn't sound like an angry rant, there are things that done that are fun, pretty, interesting, inspiring and then there is other stuff that you just have to do to get through the day. And then there is stuff that is just screwed up, really screwed up, and at times just bat shit crazy, that cries out for self medicating.

Ohio State became the Big Ten Champion by destroying Wisconsin 59-0.  The win was enough to put them into the college football Final Four.  OSU leapfrogged TCU and Baylor and will join Oregon, Alabama, Florida State to round out the playoffs for the NCAA Football Championship. Baylor and TCU with one loss think otherwise but the Big 12 Conference ended their season with a whimper.  Kansas State vs. Baylor was a good game, but it was clear that a game between two good teams, that played well, wasn't able to stop the momentum generated by the OSU juggernaut. As conferences go the Big Ten was weak.  OSU was lucky to be forgiven for their season opening loss to Virginia Tech.  The Big 12 seemed to be an afterthought given the conference championships that filled the tube this weekend, and so it goes. Locally, I will struggle to watch UM vs. South Carolina in the Duck Commander Bowl on December 27, 2014.  I wonder how many tickets UM was require...

Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush were their parties candidate for POTUS in 1992.  And in 2014 it is possible the Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton may face off in 2016 for POTUS.  And in the interim we had eight years of George W. Bush as POTUS and Hillary Clinton as FLOTUS, Senator, from New York, Secretary of State.  The citizens of Florida had Jeb Bush as Governor from 1999 to 2007. I hope no one is upset by this use of internet slang. On one hand all of these folks have had distinguished careers already.   If you were electing resumes, they would be finalists.  Depending on perspective, they may or may not be the best candidates for the highest office in the land.  Experience is important, the kind of experience is also important, and it seems both have sufficient administration experience to know the bells, whistles, and buttons to push. I am concerned about the term dynasty or in this case competing dynasties.  Like it or not how long should ind...

This past week" From Here To Eternity" has been all over the Cable.  Then I realized it's Pearl Harbor Day today. The following battleships were severely damaged or destroyed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, The Arizona, California, Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The Navy no longer makes battleships.  They have been replaced by aircraft carriers that for the most part are named after Presidents of  The United States. One minute Donna Reed is one of the stars in "It's A Wonderful Life" and the next minute she's playing for pay in "From Here To Eternity" and she is starring in the Donna Reed Show.

About the last five minutes of the national news on Channel 10 in Miami was preempted by local reports about groups of folks walking around and restricting normal traffic flow on Friday evening. If this is the new form of civil disobedience to replace other more destructive forms form of civil disobedience, I guess it is an improvement.  Driving in Miami is bad, this will just give us something else to blame.  The roaming folks that made the news did it during the kick off of Art Basel which is one of the first and biggest touristy events in Miami. There may be some hand wringing by the Downtown Folks and the Wynwood Folks that make some serious cash this weekend, que lastima. Friday, the Herald reported on the 110 foot tall Pegasus Statue slaying a dragon in the parking lot at Gulfstream Park. The cost of this landmark is approximately $30 million.  I hope this works for the average horse player.  I can think of a lot of other things to do with that $30 million ...

I went out walking late Thursday afternoon to test a new pedometer and stopped at the Irish Times.  On the wall, inside the bar it is written: "Madness served a pint at a time".  I noticed a beer called 312 made by Goose Island Brewing.  My cousin Phil from Bensenville was nicknamed "Goose" and it was Happy Hour.  Two thousand steps into my journey, I thought I was going to help some craft brewer that might even live near Bensenville. Beer was good, they make up adjectives which are a stretch like urban wheat, to describe not Bud Lite. Further research reveals that Goose Island Brewing has already been bought out by Anheuser Busch, that has been bought by a Belgian Brewer. And so it goes. Morning Joe breaking new/old ground this as Joe takes a page out of Mike Huckabee's playbook by going live with some country western song I don't recognize.

The Miami Herald wrote about Fastrain, a for profit vocational school. Recruiters for private for profit colleges may have taken recruiting students to the next level.  On one hand you can imagine that recruiters would make outrageous promises about jobs, pointing to distinguished alumni in the community that got training related jobs and make some high pressure phone calls to try to close the deal and get the client to sign up so the college can start getting the Pell Grant Money and loan money to the school. Fasttrain, a discredited private for profit computer training school that received over 35 million dollars in Pell Grant Money and other Federal Moneys between 2009-2012.  The owner of the school is under criminal indictment and the feds want their money back.  The Feds say the school hired strippers and told them to recruit, recruit, recruit.  I don't remember that back in the playbook when I worked for the local job training agency I remember referring ...

Hans Huseby and his wife Laurie owned Footworks on Sunset in South Miami and the traffic was screwed up this Wednesday evening in South Miami.  He passed away this weekend and they were celebrating his life and  the entire block in front of the store was closed. Footworks was the place you went in Miami if you were a runner back in the day and today.  Along with shoes, running shorts and other stuff runners bought back then, you could always find out where the next weeks' races were, pay your entry fee, get your number, and your commemorative t-shirt. For several years I visited the store on an almost weekly basis and saw a lot of familiar faces.  If there was no race, you almost always trained by doing your long run on Saturday Morning, starting at sunrise at Parrot Jungle or Tropical Park. Hans and Laurie let you run a little bit after you tried the shoes on, and if they weren't right, they would try another pair.  They were also helpful with training ti...

A few of the Trustees at "the U" are upset because the football program was mediocre this year. They are spending a ton of money on Al Golden, who until recently was recruiting players while under the cloud of Nevin Shapiro, jailed ponzi schemer and former UM athletic program booster.  If it weren't for problems in the NCAA investigation of "the U" and a really big scandal at Penn State, the school might have been subject to the full force of NCAA sanctions and possibly the dreaded death penalty. No New Year's Day bowl game this year, and the last three games were very disappointing.  The season ending three game losing streak started with FSU and continued with Virginia and ended with Pitt.  The team ended the season flat, very flatly in fact. The other UM: Big Blue just fired Brady Hoke for two reasons, they couldn't beat Ohio State and their QB stayed in a game after obviously having a concussion in retrospect.  When Brady Hoke was fired nobody sa...

The Miami Dade County Commission passed an ordinance which will ban discrimination based on gender identity.  A lot of the folks that were against the ordinance were worried about bathroom and locker room issues.  Past experience while working is that is does take a little time to get accustomed to a co-worker that goes through sex reassignment, but the bathroom/locker room issue is way over done. One of the more arcane criticism was about birth certificates.  Que pasa? In Florida: Florida Statute: Fla. Stat. Ann. § 382.016 (2006) Administrative Code: Fla. Admin. Code Ann. r. 64V-1.003(1)(f) (2006) Notes: Florida Office of Vital Statistics policy allows for the change of sex designation on birth certificates upon the provision of: a completed Application for Amended Birth Certificate and notarized Affidavit of Amendment to Certificate of Live Birth; a certified copy of a court order of name change; a sworn affidavit from the physician who performed sex reassig...

Since Saturday, I've bought a tri fold "mattress", cleaning supplies, another pedometer, and made two donations to groups.  If I did a little shopping around they would deliver food to the front door and could watch sermons on the computer.  This is in addition to wagering on horse races and getting the form on line.

I guess this was kind of inevitable.  If you play for the St. Louis Rams, I would be very careful and not drink at the Gentleman's Clubs in the area.  "The Hands Up" gesture of support for Ferguson by the players on the Rams will easily be understood and misunderstood all at the same time.  The local police union is offended and the players of the local team are expressing themselves. At this particular point I have no horse in this race.  The Miami Heat wore hoodies in support of Travon Martin, some folks at my congregation did the same.  Somewhere over the weekend I watched an episode of Cops. The police officers on the show seemed reasonable, but who really wants their front door kicked in, put in handcuffs and taken "downtown".  Most people I know don't live that way, but that is not to say that shit doesn't happen and at the same time I intuitively understand reluctance to call police if it can be avoided and why folks clam up if the police come k...

The non indictment of Darren Wilson is hardly a surprise given the presentation by the State's Attorney in the case. I served on federal grand juries twice and you never heard cases where the evidence wasn't really overwhelming.  Motion pictures of drug deals going down, airplane fights, with witnesses and more witnesses, illegal gun sales where the ATF agents testified.  And so it went. I don't remember the U.S. Attorney ever bringing in the subject of the indictment to explain his side of the story to muddy up the water or bringing in witnesses that disagreed with the case he was laying out. At the end of the presentation and laying out the indictment for the judge, you were sure the bad guy was the bad guy, the law had been broken and something was going to be done about it.  Probable cause isn't guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  This time it looks like the Grand Jury was functioning as a trial jury and the State Attorney was prosecutor, defense attorney and ...

Next week I think I am going to enroll in a class to learn how to brew beer.  More than a few years ago I bought a Mr. Beer Kit.  I followed the instructions and made eight quarts of beer.  The process took a while and after the beer was made I drank the beer.  The India Pale Ale was the wort you got with the kit.  In the end it was beer and pizza goes better with beer.  I probably could have aged the beer longer and made it during cooler weather.  It would have tasted better or maybe more like other beer I've had. I used to donate platelets at a Red Cross Blood Center.  You are not supposed to sell blood.  If you lived in a middle class neighborhood, you can made a donation and they give you a voucher for lunch at a brew pub.  Lunch and a beer was a treat.  The "homebrew" would have knocked me on my ass had I proceeded to the bogo special.  Being a pint down sort of helped I'm sure moved the process along. I have found a l...

Ray Rice, NFL Footballer,  and infamous for a videotaped domestic violence incident in a casino elevator, had his indefinite suspension from the NFL reduced virtually to time served.  The arbitrator in the case a former federal judge ruled that expanding the punishment from two games, to a virtual life sentence was basically a case of double jeopardy.  She felt the evidence showed Rice was truthful in the initial hearing and that the ruling by the league what arbitrary and an overreach by the commissioner in disciplining the player. The Baltimore Raven's fired Rice from the team.  He is now a free agent without a team, and at least for the time being and probably for a lot longer, maybe indefinitely he won't be playing football.  The ruling on his suspension will mean little unless he can get his old job with the NFL back. Adrian Peterson, NFL Footballer, has a long term suspension from the league still in force for striking his kid with a switch and raising...

Somewhere around fifty years ago my older sister called and wanted to know if I wanted to work helping in the dish room at Plentywood Farm where she worked.  It was Thanksgiving, they were going to be very busy and were short of bodies.  $1.25 @ hour cash for clearing and rinsing dishes before they were put through the dish washing machine.  I sort of became the silverware specialist sorting the utensils and rinsing them carefully after they had soaked in soapy water and down the belt where Bob Nelson put the holder through the machine.  This process went on and on.  My mentor, a very old lady would pick up scraps off the plates for her dog.  The dog never had it so good.  Where do you go after Prime Rib Scraps and Prime Rib Bones. I missed dinner with family that year, but found out sometimes the help got fed very well if they worked on holidays and was thankful because washing dishes at "The Farm" paid better than the allowance for washing the...

The  Isabella Tiger Moth  ( Pyrrharctia isabella ) can be found in many cold regions, including the Arctic. The banded  Woolly Bear  larva emerges from the egg in the fall and overwinters in its  caterpillar  form, when it literally freezes solid. It survives being frozen by producing a  cryoprotectant  in its tissues. In the spring it thaws out and emerges to  pupate . Once it emerges from its pupa as a moth it has only days to find a mate. In most temperate climates, caterpillars become moths within months of hatching, but in the  Arctic  the summer period for vegetative growth – and hence feeding – is so short that the Woolly Bear must feed for several summers, freezing again each winter before finally pupating. Some are known to live through as many as 14 winters. [1] Thank you Wikipedia and NATURE.

The Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, and Carolina Panthers all have a chance to make the playoffs with a losing record by winning the NFC South.even though their records are 4-7 There are other teams with even worse records.  Jacksonville Jaguars, 1-10 and until last week the Oakland Raiders were on a roll to be perfectly futile with a good chance to go win less for the entire season. The last Bears Packer game was beyond ugly.  Competitive teams and games are needed or the league will just be the delivery system for fantasy football leagues which is the coming method for gambling on the sport.  I remember the APBA baseball board game and remember betting 25 cents on the games which were based on previous season statistics and the roll of the dice. Attendance at live games isn't what it used to be.  The price of tickets, parking, food and time are conspiring to keep people at home where the price of everything is more manageable and if one game sucks you ca...

You might have thought that the President's ideas on immigration reform would rate fifteen minutes on nationwide tv.  It did, but the nationwide networks that interuppted programing were Univision, Telemundo, Fox, CNN, and MSNBC, and the China's English Channel way up the cable. Reflecting on the announcement by the President, maybe it could have been published in the CFR and forgotten.  How long will it take for the forms to be developed, fees determined, and background checks completed? The 113th Congress is already celebrating Thanksgiving.  The 114th Congress starts on paper January 3, 2015.  Forty days and the clock is running. Maybe the best way to deal with the immigration problem would be both a fund raiser and a fast track to reform. No fee waivers, $2,000 and a clear background check and you get an entry into a lottery, with the prize being a green card.  The number of winners to be determined.  An improved lottery would allow folks to buy...

It was originally thought that very little money would be recovered for the victims of Bernard Madoff.  The losses are still amazing but almost $10 billion dollars or 60% of the principal have been recovered by lawyers of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. The cost of recovery has been almost $1 billion.  According to the article in the Miami Herald, lawyers, accountants, and other financial professionals have needed the last six years to determine who still had valid claims on money invested: more money in the account than withdrawn and who helped with the swindle and needed to be sued for their ill gotten gain. This has taken a long time, the fraud should have been discovered before it got so big, more than a few victims will have to settle for less than full value and if you got screwed by Bernie, 150 years in jail is hardly enough punishment.

The price of jet fuel is down.  How long will it be before the price of a ticket on an airplane will go down?  Will you continue to have to pay for checking a bag?  At least if you drive a car, the price of driving is down.  If you shop around you can pay less than $2.90@ gallon. Will things change after the holiday travel season or will air travel remain less than convenient and expensive. It is anticipated that the price of oil will remain low for an extended period of time. Airline mergers have made airlines profitable, has it also made airlines less competitive?

I just finished reading an article in The Daily Beast about an MD that wanted to ban cruise ships. Living in Miami this is serious business.  The Port of Miami is known for its cruises to the islands of the Caribbean and it is a very, very, very big business generating tourists, tax dollars and jobs for thousands of people. The good doctor is reminding us that this is the beginning of the winter norovirus season for the cruise ship industry.  Better known as the 24 hour flu, you get real sick for a day or so. Vomiting, cramping up and diarrhea can be very uncomfortable and because you don't need much of the virus to get sick, it can spread rapidly. Thankfully, it isn't very deadly, however, the elderly can have more serious problems if they get seriously dehydrated.  Nursing homes worry about the norovirus and cruise ships should worry a little bit more because folks are crowded together and on some cruises the passengers are decidedly older than the general populatio...

Miami Herald Front Page: Ad Error Sets Off Budget Do Over. Proposed Tax levy in Miami Dade County was printed as $1,371,585,000, should have been $1,440,164,250.  The smaller amount is the estimate of what will finally be collected after adjustments of assessments and delinquencies on real estate property.  The more realistic number for budget purposes is the smaller of the two numbers. Tax bills have been sent out.  No changes will be made to individual bills. The budgeting review process started months ago and ended when the old commission passed the budget and established the millage rate.  Legal ads were published with the smaller incorrect number and the State of Florida pointed out the error and is requiring the budget approval process to be repeated or they could withhold some funds. New commissioners were elected.  Will the clerical error mean really new budget hearings making more changes to the budget within the $1,371,585,000? Or will the erro...

Luck and getting out of Casablanca.  Immigration issues are sort of like that.  Rick and Ilsa meet in Paris, but what if Rick had not been able to get to Casablanca and had been stopped at the border when leaving France?  What if Victor and Ilsa had not been able to get to Casablanca?  What if Captain Renault wasn't so flexible or crooked?  What about that rouelette wheel?  And what if Rick owned the Blue Parrot, instead of Ferrari. I remember my Dad saying he was an American by choice having gone through the whole naturalization process and that his kids were American by chance. I know it's just a movie, but it is still a good one.

Two Palestinians attack and kill four worshipers, a police officer, and wound five others in synagogue before being killed by police.  Violence at any place of worship cannot be tolerated, but unfortunately something seems to be happening these days where there is little left that is sacred. It seems quaint that folks would be allowed to worship in peace and quiet but that seems to be disappearing.  Religious community is.  It's not an and/or proposition.  It is a real part of freedom not only in the United States but in the world as well. Mess with this and freedom means something else. Freedom of religion requires both respect and measured tolerance by all religious faiths.  Having a worship service broken up by gunfire, violence, or even disruptive "visitors", needs to be dealt with. Sadly, it is becoming almost common place to see police cars outside places of worship on Fridays and Sundays or members of the congregation having to be stationed in strat...

According to Oxford Dictionary "vape" is the word of the year.  I guess using one of those electronic devices is gaining in popularity and there are store fronts in many strip malls selling the gadgets and refugees that must go outside to fire up a smoke now have an alternative, but the smoking habit is on the downhill slide overall. Personally, I would suggest a serious review of drugs baby boomers take after a visit to the doctor for next year's word.

The point guard for the Chicago Bulls has been tormented by injuries to his knees that have kept him on the sidelines for the greater part of the last two years.  He has been missed sorely by his team and seems to be continuing to have physical problems.  His latest comments have done him no good. “I’m thinking about long term. I’m thinking about after I’m done with basketball. Having graduations to go to, having meetings to go to, I don’t want to be in my meetings all sore or be at my son’s graduation all sore just because of something I did in the past. [I'm] just learning and being smart.” Charles Barkley, has called him out for this "stupid statement".  Obviously getting paid $20,000,000 per year makes the statement insensitive to say the least given the fact that a lot of folks go home sore and tired each day and do it for the minimum wage and that isn't the "league minimum". I can only imagine what his team mates are thinking, even if they are com...

Not being sure of the details, there is more than a little speculation in this post, but given my almost 35 years of experience working with immigration issues in the job training and public assistance and recently personal front there is a need for immigration reform. This may be the second public policy area where changes supported by President Obama will not make him any long lasting friends.  The ACA being the first. The legislation in immigration is very complicated and written for political and purposes that often have nothing to do with an immigration policy.  Economic refugees are not political refugees but in some places and times it really is a distinction without a real difference.  And with little thought about immigration as jobs move from place to place. A lot of immigration laws should have sunset provisions where they no longer apply after certain periods of time it certainly has some practical applications in the field of immigration Another area ...

Report: Stanton agrees to $325M deal, so reads the front page of the Miami Herald. Report: Salary of new UF head will top $1M. Giancarlo Stanton's contract would be the richest contract in baseball history. W. Kent Fuch, would be the highest paid university president in Florida and his salary would be comparable to presidents at Penn State, Ohio State, Harvard, and Northwestern. According to USA Today the salaries of every Big Ten Football Coach is significantly higher than the salary of the President of the University of Florida.  In fact former UF Coach Urban Meyer is paid about $4.5M for coaching the Buckeyes. Stanton's salary will be larger than contract Alex Rodriguez inked a few years back, and more than contracts given to Albert Pujols and Robinson Cano. The entire major league payroll for 2014 Marlins was estimated at $45M.  It is estimated that the team is worth about 500M by Forbes Magazine.  The cost of constructing Miami Marlin's Park north of 525M...

Countries are rather funny about their borders.  Going from one country to another is always a little bit of an adventure and these days a valid passport is the gold standard for international travel even if formal visas are not required for travel to a variety of countries. State boundaries may not require passports but they do decide who is a resident of the state and who can vote in their jurisdiction.  I just wish they were as interested about where campaign funds come from because money from out of state interests can be important factors in determining the results of various state wide and congressional offices.  Drawing districts is important but not the only factor in elections. There are estimates that between $14 and $16 million dollars was spent in the 26th district in Florida The average size of a Congressional District in Florida is about 710,000.  There were 160,000 votes cast in that district the 2014 election.  The candidates raised almost $6...

The Folks in Fort Lauderdale are taking a lot of heat for citing an old guy who has been handing out food to the homeless in public.  The issue is a little more complicated in my opinion.  Feeding the homeless makes sense and regulating where they get fed also makes sense.  Living in Miami and for more than a few years of having to pass by the Miami Rescue mission on the way to and from my car I'm aware there are programs for the homeless and in many ways they are both inadequate and at the same time encourages some less than shining behavior which gives ammunition to those that paint the homeless with a broad brush as lazy and shiftless, and criminal. The tourist businesses worry about aggressive panhandling expanding beyond intersections and busy corners to beaches and boardwalks. The homeless don't vote and the local mayors and police respond to the folks that do vote and sometimes it is hard to judge their motivation(s).

Today on Facebook a Canadian Cousin posted a vacation advertisement offering a vacation in Cuba for about $800.00 pp. including airfare from various Canadian cities.  If you are from the Upper US, this seems like a warm weather destination that might be interesting to explore and you don't need to wait till summer to get a good rate. U.S. Citizens may be able to travel to Cuba to visit relatives or if you can qualify for special visas given for educational or cultural purposes but hopping on a plane for some R&R in Cuba from Minneapolis or Duluth is frowned upon. Dennis Rodman can visit North Korea and hang out with a butcher.  If you are a non celebrity the return connections back to the United States can be pretty tricky. The embargo of trade with Cuba does not include food and medicines.  Further relaxation of embargo restrictions are awaiting the passing of Fidel Castro.  Meanwhile remittances from Cubans that have made it to the United States continue....

All sorts of progress comes with some costs.  Some folks in Florida are in favor of improving rail transportation between Orlando and Miami.  It's an engine for economic development, will reduce some road traffic and boost tourism where visitors will help keep taxes low in the Sunshine State. Looks to me that the train route will use existing right of way, there will be more train traffic, some of it will include some additional freight traffic.  Depending on who you agree with it will be either boon or bane. The Federal Railway Administration will be holding 32 hours of public information meetings in towns along the route the new high speed rail trains will travel from Miami to Orlando.  At stake is a $1.6 billion dollar loan which will be repaid with private money and increased development in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando. No tax funds are involved, According to a story in the Miami Herald, a stay at home Mom worries how it will affect do...

"U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are gathering at a moment of turbulence for them and the American church, as Pope Francis moves toward crafting new policies for carrying out his mission of mercy - a prospect that has conservative Catholics and some bishops in an uproar."  From AOL.com This posting is not about the Catholic Church, I know very little about that denomination.  It is probably a little bit about everything that has to do with membership and in a larger sense about definitions, jurisdiction, and being.  I read another posting elsewhere on the Internet that asked if the Pope was (still) Catholic. Yesterday, while on the road I had the opportunity to listen to Radiolab on NPR where they had a discussion about the framing of the U.S. Constitution and the music industry and jurisdiction. During my life I've been a member of a family, a student at various schools, a citizen of the United States, a foreigner, a neighbor, an employee, self employed, a dues paying ...

But then we decided to train A breed with a much bigger brain. This breed is in such high demand. We’re exporting more than we planned. The training—it takes many years. It’s costing us blood, sweat and tears. Norwegians just can’t get enough. Americans, too, like this stuff. It’s doctors and nurses we sell. We happily bid them farewell. They’re sold for a price that is high. We’re waving our healthcare good-bye. From Vala Hafstad Icelandic Review  11/8/2014

Trader Joe's got a visit from me on last Tuesday Morning.  I was up early for a trip to Home Depot where I bought some water based clear water based polyurethane to finish off redoing the wood floors in my apartment.  I'm not a handy man and maybe when it is all done, it may need to be redone by someone with more experience and training.  So far it is a big improvement from what is was and this may inspire me for other simple fix ups, where time isn't an issue.  One bedroom to go! I stop at Trader Joe's early am because that is when you can get a parking space.  Midday and weekends the place is mobbed.  I like the $3.00 red wine, spend $20.00 and figure I'm good for a couple of weeks.  Amazing how a grocery story that specializes in house brands does land office business. Many gas stations up and down U.S. 1 are now selling gasoline for about $2.95 a gallon.  How long this will last is any body's guess but it is a little bit of a break for the...

Did not pay too much attention to this race.  Somehow or other Ms. Ernst gets elected to the United State Senate.  Military, biker, and a woman during her first speech as Senator elect she talks about making "em squeal like a pig".  She probably thought she was talking about her days back on the farm and a campaign ad or two. Ask Ned Beatty what he thinks of when he hears that line. Alrighty.  And Tom Harkin gets blasted for calling her attractive?

Mid-Term elections usually mean problems for the president's party, they usually lose seats in congress.  Apathy is a good term for this and so it goes.  Voter suppression aside, you still have to get up, get dressed and go somewhere, show some id, read something, get back in the car and go home. If you are retired, voting is a good reason to get out of the house, costs are minimal and it can be marginally interesting.  This is one of a few reasons why older folks vote. If you have to take public transportation to work and don't vote early, or absentee, getting to your polling place can be more difficult.  Not a big thing if you are motivated but that isn't always the case and getting to work, getting home, picking up the kids at school, groceries, cooking, laundry, may be of more immediate in importance.  This is especially true if the issues are in the grey area, and you are unsure about which direction to go.  There are good arguments on both sides o...

I was saddened to hear of Tom Magliozzi's passing.  The Tappet Brothers were part of my Saturday Mornings for years and I still listen to replays.  How they were able to make a show about car repairs fun to listen to was a rare touch.  Somehow or another it is hard to believe that he was 77 years old. Folks on the radio seem ageless and in some ways they become part of your family if you are a radio person.

The Million Dollar Golden State Futurity was run on Sunday, November 2, 2014.  The winner will get slightly over $600,000 if the horse passes the drug test.  No problem there, but this time they are doing the drug test by looking for banned substances in the hair of the animal.  The test is much more sensitive and according to reports is almost impossible to mask drugs like clenbuterol which can happen if you have a crooked pharmacist and vet.  It is also used by humans who want to slim down and bulk up.  It is banned by the IOC and the Cycling Federation because it is a performance enhancing drug. The race run last Sunday was a  race with no betting.  The owner of the race track seems very serious about trying to clean up one of the more troubling aspects of horse racing. A similar race Los Alamitos Super Derby for 3yo. horses has been postponed two weeks to do the more sensitive drug tests.  One trainer qualified eight of the ten finalists f...

Maybe the reporters got it wrong or maybe she didn't want a big production number outside he house when she decided to take the drugs that would end her life.  There were reports that Brittany Maynard was delaying her decision to die as planned on November 1, 2014.  This morning it was reported that she had indeed died.  A death at age 29 or 89 is a sad event for family and friends, what it is to the person that dies still seems a mystery to me. I read about her story in a doctors office.  I watched my Mom pass away quietly in a hospice facility, where she lived her last few weeks and will always remember Arabesque #1 by Debussy which always seemed to be playing when I was leaving Hope Hospice in Fort Myers in September, 2001.

It's "Homecoming" at the University of Miami this weekend. About thirty years ago I was active in alumni affairs, went to lectures, sporting events, wore orange and bled green and even served on the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Board and made calls to other alumni raising money for scholarships for students. These activities took time.  It was interesting, and I did more than a few things that never would have happened without a connection to the University of Miami. I still watch UM sports on TV, but I haven't attended a home football game for over three years, haven't been to a basketball game since they moved on campus and only sporadically attend baseball games. This year a student called for a pledge to the College of Arts and Sciences.  She reminded me about Homecoming and asked if I ever got back on Campus.  I said yes, regularly, my doctor is on Campus, you still go to the Student Clinic, she asked?  The waiting room I visit is littered with f...

I'm generally unconcerned about the possibility of contracting ebola.  In some ways I think the reporting has gone overboard in this country but in some ways I wonder if there is any choice but to over report the best information known about the public health aspects of the disease.  Panic and hysteria are difficult to control once they get started.  If there is no drumbeat to put what is known in the best known public health perspective out in the public, politics will take over and that will help nobody.

The Federal Reserve bank says they are going to keep short term interest rates low for the foreseeable future or some similar wording which means that keeping  money in a savings account or a certificate of deposit will probably lose you money in that the price of some things will continue to go up and you will pay some taxes on whatever interest you might receive. Frankly, I'm not sure how much people should be paid for cash that they might have on hand.  Back in the bad old days of communism there was a joke that was more of a truism than humor. "We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us".  There were always shortages of food and things that people needed and that was the way the books were balanced: some kind of enforced misery for a lot of folks.  The issue is very complicated and not very rational on any level. I live in a really neat neighborhood that is gentrifying.  The housing stock, mostly one story ranch housing mixed with two bedroom apartmen...

The Giant pitcher was in such a zone during the 2014 post season it is hard to comprehend.  Series MVP without question.  52 innings pitched and an era of 1.03 and "the closer" in the seventh game of the 2014 World Series.  Bumgarner carried  his team almost single handily to their 3rd World Championship in five years.  I don't know what the guy can do for an encore.  Had I been the KC third base coach in the 9th inning last night, I think I would have hoped for a bad throw from the outfield and sent Alex Gordon home.  It would have been too much to hope for another hit to tie the game. Sandoval and Pence also played great.  Timely hitting and the guys just did what needed to be done. It was announced that the Cubs signed Joe Maddon.  The Cubs just went from pretender to contender in the NL Central.

David Brooks columnist, just wrote a piece that suggests that political beliefs may evoke an even stronger prejudice than racial prejudice, at least according to some social science surveys. In 1960 only 5% of those surveyed indicated displeasure with a mixed marriage with a democrat marrying a republican, by 2010, about 49% of republicans and 33% of democrats said they would mind. He may have a point.  I doubt a member of my UU church would get a fair hearing if he or she quoted Rush Limbaugh on anything or even admitted to having a radio accident and listened to the program.  If liberals can't listen to folks with an alternative point of view or vice versa is there any wonder our political system seems so dysfunctional. I am sure there are best practices that would benefit everyone that are ignored because they are politically impossible.  Gun control, health care reform, right sizing the military, campaign reform, growing the middle class, improving education, re...

The biggest group of slackers this election season are the non voters.  Why would you willingly throw away your right to have a say in things by not voting.  Not voting gives others power they wouldn't have if you voted. Turn out and vote.

Joe Maddon late of the Tampa Bay Rays is now a free agent.  According to reports he reached an impasse with the Rays front office and has opted out of his contract. This is an opportunity for just about any team in Major League Baseball to get a really good manager. Maddon's agent said they would be willing to sit out a year to wait for the right deal. The Dodgers and Cubs look like the main contenders from my point of view.  The Dodgers need to keep winning in the battle for fans in Southern California.  The Dodgers have hired Andrew Friedman of the Rays for a big front office job and Maddon and Friedman were like ham and eggs in St. Pete. The Cubs have a nucleus of good young players and pitchers.  Maddon took the Rays to the World Series, maybe it can happen again. Maybe the biggest pronouncement won't be who won the World Series, it might just be the Chicago Cubs have a new manager.

The Halloween Week and Fantasy Fest in Key West is a  "Superbowl" of  sorts. It gets very pricey, crowded, and from the pictures I've seen pretty raunchy, and another excuse to drink, which isn't really needed because "happy hour" never really ends in Key West. The Miami Herald wonders if it is getting too raunchy? Hello?  Me thinks the Herald doth protest too much.  For one brief shining moment, Key West, Florida has out done just about everywhere in the world for debauchery, except maybe some really drunken brawls before during and after home football games in the SEC or The Big Ten or until recently the Columbus Day Regatta and Boat Party or Spring Break on the Red Neck Riviera. It's not that it's raunchy, it's just too crowded, and a victim of it's own success at excess.

Front page above the fold in today's Miami Herald is the story of former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman.  The guy used his position to steer money to himself and his wife through manipulating various real estate deals.  $200,000 seems to have been the cost for serious access.  Convicted, the former mayor is awaiting sentencing On one hand it might be argued that lobbying for a health clinic that served poor folks in Homestead and pushing a real estate deal that benefited a private for profit school that would provide training in the medical field for South Dade residents are legitimate public policies for a mayor to pursue, but the question remains should he and his wife profit from the related lobbying and real estate deals. This kind of behavior is really ethically challenging, but it shines a light on something in a way folks need to understand.  Money and governing are often way too close to each other and campaign contributions can't be far behind in corrupti...

A new CVS drugstore, next door, and a Walgreens across the street, and the independent pharmacist at Allen's Drug Store on the corner or Red and Bird Roads calls it quits.  Allen's Drugs was a throwback Thursday with a diner, watchmaker, and a post office window almost from its beginning in 1954. A piece of my Miami history won't be taken down completely.  The drug store prescription customers have had their business transferred to the CVS Store but the diner and the medical equipment business will stay open. This blog is named after a Sunday Morning trip for breakfast after a big UM football win on Saturday Evening.  UM Football coach  Howard Schnellenberger and I had breakfast at the counter and it was very early.  He was going to work and I needed some coffee, scrambled eggs and whole wheat toast. These days urban renewal is more likely to include razing a house built in the early 50's and rebuilding something with a second floor and a garage big enough...