"If you don't want a decision to be made politically, why in the world do you ask 535 politicians to make it?" -- Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass) regarding Congress's recent action to allow Federal Courts to get involved in the Terri Schiavo tragedy.

The law of unintended consequences is the only law the countdown walk/don't walk lights facilitate.  They don't help the laws meant to mediate between the autos and the people as far as I can tell. The lights have been installed all over San Francisco, and they are widely touted as an improvement in traffic safety. I wonder.  There are many intersections where the stream of foot traffic is steady.  With the seconds flashing like they're predicting a space launch, there never seems a time when pedestrians are simply supposed to stop.  Instead the signal tells the walkers if they can stroll [...]

Bob and Mary, I am sorry, but someone should have told this before now.  Someone closer to you should have given you the news.  Someone who knows how to speak to your soul should have been taken the time to explain something to you.  But, apparently they haven’t, so please sit down.  Take a deep breath.  It’s awful information.  Your daughter, Terri Schiavo, is dead. God (or “the universe” or “Allah” or whatever name is most familiar to you) took her from this life.  […]

The oppressive omnipresence of stories and commentaries on the use of steroids by professional baseball players is a perfect storm of squalid self-righteousness. The hysteria grows to a Category 5 scandal as media and political attention seekers swirl together in a cesspool of hypercritical hypocrisy. We are relentlessly fed stories with a simplistically stated, easily understood, good vs evil moral. We are treated to star gazing and star bashing: it's sport celebrity schadenfreude as an art form. The American Way of Life is threatened!  Politicians are rushing in to save our youth.  Sports reporters are vigorously moaning about our lost [...]

Devldog 's on the Senate Health Committee... of the Dead. Or, what I should have spent my time on instead of the alcohol knowledge test!

I seem unable to resist the LJ addiction to polls/quizzes/tests.  Sure, I can stop taking them and posting the results.  I just don't want to stop.  I don't have a problem.  And, it's not just that I'm competitive and see that I beat  allanh's results. Ozdachs knows about demon rum

One of my consulting engagements is to do the marketing for Geoff's CPA firm.  Sterck Kulik O'Neill accounting group is a 16-person company with the the intensity, warmth, care, quirkiness, and professionalism that illustrate to me why I like dealing with smaller businesses.  Their partners care about each marketing action because the incremental results -- even a single new client for their firm -- is noticeable.  After years of working for a large corporation where it was hard to find a budget where $100,000 made a significant impact, this more human and immediate scale of activity is simply more fun! [...]

I believe in patronizing local businesses, and we have a top quality, bright, veterinarian.  The Ozdachs pack loves her, and she seems genuinely happy to see the pack. But, she is aggressive in her pricing.  As in "ouch"!  I can rationalize paying for her excellent personal service, but she charges very high rates for medicine and for routine lab work which don't involve her at all. Since a couple of the Ozdachs have chronic low thyroid and take a pill every day, I went to PetCareRx to shop.  (I am not an affiliate or related to them, btw.)  There I found [...]