Sunday Morning Coming Down

I had two UU moments this week.  One was to think about something I was passionate about and share it with someone in a small group at church.  I mentioned something about getting better communication.  After the group broke up I mentioned to a complete stranger from a different group that what I was really passionate about was cold beer.  The later being something about which I thought often and with a sense of anticipation regularly. The second UU moment was a UU minister trying to explain the symbolism of Steve Bartman.  Allegedly he interfered with Moises Alou catching a foul ball and continuing the Cubs streak of ineptness.  Steve had to be lead from the stadium with police protection ans became a perfect example of a scapegoat for this UU minister who was interviewed for the ESPN series 30 on 30. Last night was a good night for baseball.  The lead up to the wild card may be even better than anything the playoffs will produce unless Detro...

This is something I have been thinking about a lot.  Sometimes people need to be fired even though they work hard, you mostly agree with them, but they just don't quite get the job done.  Much has been said about leadership these days.  As an academic exercise the arguments always make sense.  You have to fire the manager because you can't fire all the players.  The sports analogy applies but the consequences are not pretty.  The facts are that leadership is a fleeting thing and sometimes what is leadership to one person also motivates an opposite reaction.  Not all followers are on the same page even though they need leadership these days possibly more than ever.  Children need functional parents to succeed.  Businesses need leadership to make produce something and make a profit.  Why should it be different with government?  The policies of government are not always as negative as those who decry taxes would make t...

I went to the second last game the Florida Marlins will play in their former home field in Miami Gardens.  There was a rain delay, it was warm, the field looked like there had been a football game a few hours ago and yet I view with some trepidation the new stadium.  Honestly there has always been something missing at JR, PP, LS and lately Sunlife Stadium. Even though the stadium has hosted several World Series Games, College National Championships in football and more Superbowls than I can remember and the place has been around for a while, it is not a place that generates a lot of excitement even though there have been exciting games there. I hope the new Marlin Stadium is comfortable, easy to attend, but most importantly I hope it can generate some excitement and make it a venue people will want to go to.  Too often JR, PP, and Sunlife have been a place where it is an easy ticket but even worse a place better appreciated on TV rather than in person. The ...

This week I has the good fortune to watch two movies that I enjoyed.  And I have to admit that at times there have been some classics on TCM that have filled some of my retired hours in the evenings. Almost a year ago I saw Secretariat at the movies.  Rewatching the movie on the small screen was almost as enjoyable as it got me back to a book about Secretariat.  Sometimes movies lose their luster if you know the story but I remember like it was yesterday watching the Belmont with my Uncle Wil in California on TV.  I knew that race was special.  I've written elsewhere that there has not been a bad movie made about horse racing.  The sport appeals to me but I think there is something about the track that would appeal to me even if you could not bet.  The second movie of the week was "The Lemon Tree", which was a story about a Palestinian women whose lemon grove was condemened to better protect the defense minister in Israel from terrorism....

Here we go again.  If you are having problems with the current tax code but don't want to raise taxes you can casually mention that 50% don't pay income taxes now. The unemployment rate is 9.1% in the nation as a whole and if it was 9% in Miami now we would think things were a lot better than they are  A lot more people qualify for food stamps and unemployment also and for all the problems in the administration of these programs the money is spent and maintains a level of demand that is helpful to the economy.  Those working part time instead of full time understates the employment problem we have. The "righteous" 50% that do pay taxes need to ask the question of themselves what is the "righteous" tax rate for the working poor family of four with two minimum wage earners and a family income of $30,000.  If you go to a grocery store or fast food establishment, the baggers or clerks are adults.  These jobs used to be filled by teenagers.  This is...

I wonder how many people fight about air conditioning.  It's either too hot or it's too cold.  I can put up with a little bit of sweat because I dislike getting electric bills beyond a certain amount.  It colors much of what I do and how I live.  Some people think I walk on my elbows to save shoe leather.  There is a lot of truth in this matter.  In fact the latest repair of my truck's ac unit was because I think I will get most of the money spent on the repair back when I trade in the car. There are some things I take religiously and that it is difficult to air condition Florida and way too many places leave their doors open to entice customers or to get you to do thing to just cool off.  After Hurricane Andrew and for a shorter period of time after Katrina or Wilma I had no electricity.  I was without power for 5-21 days.  It was a disaster for some and for others a massive inconvinience.  I made appointments to wash my clothes, I ...

The Miami Herald did a front page story on how much money public sector employees make in retirement and how it is bankrupting local governments.  This as most reporting about government will be cited to justify distrust and to vilify public employees.  And they talk about class warfare.  There are abuses in public pension plans and they take place because elected officials don't do their jobs.  This is as much a story about shoddy accounting, political corruption and self dealing as anything else. The City of Miami is financially in trouble because its police and fireman can retire making more money in retirement than they ever did while working.  AND highly paid supervisors are able to job the system to inflate their pensions by doing some unseemly things in the period just before retirement to maximize the payout.  Assigning themselves overtime and other payouts can inflate compensation levels that dramitically affect pensions. Should supervisors...