Sunday Morning Coming Down

Hialeah Park just closed it's most successful quarter horse meet on February 19, 2012.  I would have thought the most important thing would have been to get working on finishing construction on the slot machine part of the Hialeah Park.  This is not a small job.  The pictures of what the place will be is going to take some time.  This is not going to be a steel building(at least I hope not). Instead I hear that the most beautiful race track in the world is applying for dates to run thoroughbreds that would conflict with Calder.  Deja Vu all over again.  This might make some sense if there were enough horses to run races at both venues.  I doubt there are enough horses to fill races at either track given the state of racing these days. Calder, Hialeah, and Gulfstream need to work together.  The parimutuel industry can provide a form of entertainment and jobs beyond a blank stare that slot machines produce.  The parties involved in the...

Monday was a quiet day.  I tried to do some housework and shopping.  Laundry, dishes and cleaning the bathroom was complimented by organizing paperwork to do my taxes. I realized something else,  change was coming. How would or how should I spend next Saturday.  Hialeah Park has closed for the season.  The season lasted only 32 days but it was a fun.  A couple of really good days handicapping.  Visiting the backstretch to see how a new friends quarter horses lived and getting a live shot of horses walking in Hialeah's famous lane on their way out to the track or back to the barn was priceless. Horses and where they live have their own atmosphere.  It's smells, sounds and the people who do stuff because they like it are the background for the show that are the races and what horse racing has become.  One morning after spending some time on the backstretch I was able to see the horses working in the morning.  The silence of...

Morning Joe was discussing the issue of whether the rich are different.  Do they act differently, are they less charitable?  I'm sure they have issues.  If you won the lottery I can only imagine the problems presented by people who asked for money.  Do you become a funding agency for other people, things or issues by the fact that you have a lot of money. Wealth probably has some obligations that I will never understand. Probably is an important modifier. Even the poor or less wealthy have obligations. If you are a parent, teacher or an employer I'm sure you feel those obligations even if you have never written them down. If by means of wealth are more obligations imposed on people that are wealthy?  I think the answer is yes.  I think an honest question that needs to be asked is how well people meet obligations and if we even agree on common obligations.  I read somewhere that the distribution of wealth is more like an L curve than a bell c...

Elections are for suckers.   This is becoming a powerful argument.   As currently practiced political scientists should be revolted.   Public policy in health care, jobs, budgetary policy, wars without end, “congressional gridlock” and many other issues that “Washington” is involved with are going nowhere fast. Governing is governing.   Politics is not necessarily governing.   Too many in “Washington” spend more time raising money and gaming the system to continue their political careers than they do in governing and developing workable public policies that serve everybody. The issue of campaign financing is seriously skewed.   Incumbents short of criminal behavior which they are responsible for defining have the position to raise money to maintain their position.   The other campaign financing issue of “super pacs” providing virtually unlimited funds and maintaining the legal fig leaf of not coordinating with candidates has unleashed negative campai...

The end of the Super Bowl Game was interesting to an uninvolved observer in Miami.  Tom Brady is great and I understand the bind the Pats were in at the end of Sunday's game. A field goal with no time left would have left them losing to the Giants anyway. He did a remarkable job moving his team down the field like he did and might have with a little bit of luck might have won the game without last minute heroics. Wifey was correct in saying he can't throw and catch the ball. This points out the Patriot problem. Where is the defense? Where was the defense? What if they had been able to stop Eli before a field goal had become inevitable. The Bradshaw touchdown reminded me of RUDY or the Gator Flop against the UM, but the goal was not to get Rudy into the game or to have Reaves break a passing record. "Just win baby". The Bears beat the Pats in one of the most one sided Super Bowls of all times. The Fridge scored a meaningless touchdown and Walter Payton was left out o...

As a thirty year plus veteran on the ground administrator of  Florida "Welfare Programs" it has been a long and winding road.  The big changes brought on by "welfare reform included time limits on benefits, participation requirements, and incentives to making work pay.  The money provided to the State of Florida was conditioned on having people look for work(really), attend training classes if needed, (after failing in job search), and participating in work experience activities or educational activities to improve reading skills or language skills for speakers of other languages.  Successful participants received short term help with bus passes or gas cards, child care or in a small number of cases money to move to places where there were better job opportunities.  The goal of these programs were to get people off of public assistance and initially were successful because the economy was humming along and we probably hassled enough people that if...

My friend Patty is trying to sell some handmade dolls at the local Pulgero (flea market).  This requires logistical support which is just about a seven day operation to purchase supplies and then get the whole thing set up for the weekend. I hope she has some success and is able to cover her costs.  As with most small businesses they are under capitalized, and there has been very little marketing research.  She will have some feedback this weekend and was hopeful that all will go well and that there will be no problems.