Keith B. Darrell's Blog, page 47
July 31, 2012
A Kindred Spirit
Eido Cohen won't be reading this blog tonight.
I had no idea Eido regularly read my blog until one night last month, when I was at his apartment and he displayed it to me on his large-screen "Google TV", a device that lets one surf the Web. I first met Eido online. A friend had posted seeking writing advice for a book she was working on. I made the mistake of giving my advice, which was not well received. Her response can be boiled down to "You don't know what you're talking about; who asked y...
July 28, 2012
The Lobster Thriller
In recent months, there have been unusual reports of rare bright blue, orange, calico, white, yellow, and split lobsters (one color on each side). Fishermen have no explanation for the increase in sightings of the rare lobsters.
The odds of catching a blue lobster are 1-in-2 million, while orange comes in at 1-in-10 million. Yellow and orange-and-black calico lobsters at 1-in-30 million, split-colored varieties at 1-in-50 million, and white — the rarest of all — at 1-in-100 million....
The odds of catching a blue lobster are 1-in-2 million, while orange comes in at 1-in-10 million. Yellow and orange-and-black calico lobsters at 1-in-30 million, split-colored varieties at 1-in-50 million, and white — the rarest of all — at 1-in-100 million....
July 25, 2012
Outing the Rapists
As a followup to the Savannah Dietrich story (previous post), I want to let you know the attorneys for the boys who admitted as part of a plea bargain to having raped the 17-year-old Kentucky girl after she passed out at a party have withdrawn their request asking the judge to hold Savannah in contempt of court for violating a gag order and revealing her rapists' names on Twitter. While the judge could still holder her in contempt sua sponte (on his own accord), I doubt that will happen after...
The Law Is An Ass!
"If the law supposes that," said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, "the law is an ass - an idiot." Charles Dickens, one of my favorite authors, wrote that line in Oliver Twist in 1838 and the phrase -- often quoted when the application of the law runs contrary to common sense -- remains true today.
Savannah Dietrich, 17, of Kentucky, passed out at a party. Two boys sexually assaulted her and later shared photos of the assault with their friends. In a plea bargain the vi...
July 21, 2012
The Dark Night Rises
One evening, as Dr. Thomas Wayne, his wife Martha, and their little boy walked out of a theater, a gunman accosted them, demanding their valuables. Accounts vary, but Joe Chill shot and killed Dr. Wayne, and his wife died, either from gunshots or a heart attack. The only survivor of, and witness to, the horrible events of that dark night was their young boy, Bruce, whose life would be consumed by a grim determination to protect society from those who would perpetrate such evil and senseless v...
July 20, 2012
Tax or Penalty: Does It Matter?
There's been a lot of talk about the Individual Mandate being a tax. It isn't. The debate over whether it is a penalty or a tax is merely one of semantics. The Individual Mandate is a requirement that everyone not already covered by health insurance buy health insurance. The idea is to prevent freeloaders who refuse to buy health insurance from getting routine medical services from emergency rooms that can't turn them away and passing the cost on to the rest of us taxpayers. It will bring dow...
July 18, 2012
Getting Healthcare Right
In my previous post, I explained what the Affordable Care Act is and what it does. I like most of what it does, with three exceptions:
1. The electronic health records requirement scares me. I think this is a bad idea. Health records, like financial records, should not be placed online. There is no way to protect them adequately from hackers or accidental disclosure. This is a huge privacy issue and it should be stricken from the Act. Making it a requirement with no opt-out provision is the mo...
July 15, 2012
The Truth About ObamaCare
A lot has been written about ObamaCare but you probably still don't know anything about it. So before you decide to embrace it or hate it, take the time to learn what it is, what it does, and what it does not do. In this post and the next two, I'm going to lift the hood on the Affordable Care Act and show you the truth... then, you can decide. I've broken this down into five categories: how the law affects Insurance Companies, Consumers, Rural Citizens, Medicare & Medicaid, and Taxpayers....
July 14, 2012
Is Mitt Romney A Crook?
Thirty-eight years ago, President Richard Nixon addressed the nation on TV, stating, "People have got to know whether or not their president's a crook." The same holds true for candidates running for president. This week, Mitt Romney admitted committing a felony. His only defense is to reverse his story and claim his statements this week, and during his previous campaign, were not true. I suppose having a liar instead of a felon as president of the United States is marginally the lesser of tw...
July 13, 2012
Uncivil Disobedience
In my last post about civility, I forgot to mention another aspect: the rules don't apply to everyone except you.
There is little more annoying than stepping into an elevator and finding everyone engaged in conversation -- with themselves. Unless you're in the schizophrenic ward of an asylum, you'll soon notice these people are jabbering away not into thin air but into small metal devices lodged in their ears. (I believe they're called bluetooth, which makes no sense at all since they are plac...
