Trip to Boston

The urge to shop rose up, and so I fired up the Mercury and drove down to Boston today.  Left at 7 AM, got to my first shopping stop by 9.  Talk about infrastructure.  I93 down thru NH was in good shape.  Not so in Mass. The  contractor who laid the last coat of asphalt on the Mass end of I93 and Rt 128 took some cheapcut and the whole asphalt layer was peeling up, creating suspension wrecking potholes.  Glad I'm retired and don't have to commute on that stuff anymore.  I hit the big Salvation Army thrift store on US 1 and scored four decent shirts, a drinking glass, a muffin pan and a pyrex measuring cup.  Then I got to Charles Ro, the Malden train store and scored a bunch of train stuff.  Hit the Lincoln paperback book store on the way back and scored six paperbacks.  All in all a reasonable day. 

Stand your ground.

The newsies have been talking up the Florida stand your ground law.  Zimmerman, who wanted to get into law enforcement, had taken a course in criminal law.  The prosecution dragged in George Zimmerman's old professor, who testified that Zimmerman had done well in class, gotten an A in the course, and was well versed in the Florida stand your ground law. 
   The prosecution went on to accuse Zimmerman of shooting Trayvon Martin 'cause he knew the stand you ground law would make it OK somehow.
   And they expect a jury to believe this? Zimmerman is flat on his back, with Martin beating his head against a cement sidewalk.  Zimmerman, in fear of his life shoots Martin.  Would anyone in Zimmerman's position be thinking about stand your ground, as opposed to save my life?  Would not even the most gullible juror understand that?
   What is the prosecution trying to do?

Airlines used to be cool

Being an airline was once so cool that a Florida railroad renamed itself "Seaboard Air Line".  It's stock shot up.  This was back in the 1920's or 30's when the railroad was still steam powered.
  Aviation Week did a piece on "Top Performing Airlines".   In the short list of winners, we have such flight suggestive names as Copa Holdings, Ryanair Holdings, AMR Corp, Allegiant Travel Co. and Regional Express Holdings.
   I guess Wall St thinks better of a company name suggestive of stock and bond trading, rather than a name that forthrightly announces the company's real business, supplying air transportation. 

Children are dying

The Washingtonian has a long piece on the problem.  US manufacturers of trace elements essential to intervenous feeding are failing to keep up with demand.  Premature babies in neo natal intensive care are getting sick and dying for lack of proper IV nutrition.  Fingers are pointed in a number of directions, the drug makers, the FDA, the hospitals. 
One thing the FDA could do, right now, on it's own authority, is let hospitals purchase the needed nutrients over seas, where they are plentiful.  But this would upset US drug companies who fully support the FDA's ban on importing any kind of drugs or pharmaceuticals.
   Another thing that would help is to allow the price of the stuff to rise.  FDA and the insurance companies hammer down the price of drugs, to the point where there isn't any profit in making the stuff, so the drug companies stop making it.   

FISA court upset by negative publicity

According to WAPO, the poor overworked judges of the FISA rubberstamp court are unhappy about their press treatment.  This is the court that OK'ed  all but 10 of 2000 requests to snoop. 
I feel so sorry for them.

Taking the Fifth, Lois Lerner

Nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.  They had Lois Lerner of the IRS up in front of a Congressional investigating committee.  She said " I didn't do anything wrong.  And I'm taking the fifth".
   Same committee has just decided that Lois's "I didn't do anything wrong" statement  prevents her from taking the fifth, and they plan to grill her some more.
  I don't approve.  The fifth amendment is intended to prevent judges and prosecutors from forcing defendants to confess.  As in "Sign this confession and we won't use this rubber hose on you any more."  That's an important safeguard for us plain citizens against the criminal justice system.  I'd rather let Lois Lerner slide by than give up on the fifth amendment.
   In Lois's case, we ought to fire her and cancel her pension and her government health care.  That would put the fear of God into that building full of bureaucrats.  And her sidekick, Rose-something-or-other, ought to be fired too.  That's well within the power of Congress.  And it's constitutional too.

A break in the weather

Yesterday dawned bright and sunny, and I decided to get on with a couple of household tasks that had been on hold, 'cause of days and days of rain.  I stained the deck and mowed the lawn.  Got both jobs done before sundown. 
   This morning I woke up to the sound of rain pattering on the roof.  But I felt real good about the deck and the lawn.  Rainwater is beading up nicely on the deck,  and the lawn is cut too short to assault the house, at least for a few more days.