Is this aging?

I never needed a lot of sleep.  Not until I got sick.  I went for years and years going to bed after midnight and getting up before five in the morning.  It didn't ever impair my ability to do my work or have a full, and busy life.  Last night I didn't fall asleep until fairly late (for me now) and I was up at the regular hour.  So I only got about five hours of sleep and I feel the difference.  I plan to go to bed early this evening.

My friends will be playing trivia without me (I will be at a film screening).  One of them will deliver my written, sincere apology to those I had a run-in with a couple of weeks ago.  I'm very hopeful they will accept my apology and I can put this behind me once and for all.  Naturally, as with most things in life, it probably won't work out that way.

I think Jason Collins is a very courageous man.  An outstanding individual.  But I want to make a few points about how people are "spinning" his decision to disclose his sexual orientation.  It did indeed take bravery.  Moral fiber.  But it isn't on the same level as what Jackie Robinson did when he broke the "color" line in major league baseball.  Homosexuals, while most definitely discriminated against in this nation, even in 2013, don't go into restaurants and find themselves relegated to a dirty restroom with the words "Gays Only" on the door.  They aren't less than 90 years removed from being bought and sold as property.  What Collins has done is great, but shouldn't be equated with what happened in 1947.

Also, it won't be an indictment of any kind of gay bias if Jason Collins can't land on a NBA team for next season.  He's played in the league for 12 years.  He was never a superstar.  Now he's a third-string big man and there just aren't that many jobs for that kind of player in the league.  If he doesn't sign, it won't be his sexuality.  It will be about his ability.  That's how it should be.  If he can contribute to a team, they will sign him.  I hope someone does.  I'd love to see him play another season.

Why in the heck do idiots who find themselves being followed by a police car trying to pull them over decide they will try to escape?  It's time to do something about this.  People's lives are put at risk, property gets damaged and it's a massive waste of valuable police resources.  They need to pass a law that makes failure to pull over for the police within three minutes after lights and siren are first deployed, a felony that counts as a strike toward the three strikes rule.  It is an act of implied violence and threatens public safety.

E-Verify is in the public eye again.  It is nowhere near as unreliable as the critics are trying to claim.  Yes there are errors.  Actually the worst error it was making in the early years of its use was that it would clear people who are actually "undocumented" because their forged documents were so good.  That error rate has gone down.  As for legal workers, it is accurate in more than 99% of inquiries.  One blogger who was trying to be critical of the system said that if it became mandatory for all employers, a 1% error rate could mean that 660,000 employees could be affected as those employers would be processing 66 million new employees employment verification in year one.  That's almost half of the total labor force in this nation.  So is he claiming that nearly 1/2 of the total labor force will be applying for and getting a new job in the next year??

This Date in History:

On this date in 1492, Spain gave Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration.  For those of you who have a kindergarten mindset today, on this date in history, "in 14 hundred and 92, Christopher Columbus sailed the oceans blue."
On this date in 1789, George Washington took the oath of office and became President of the U.S.
On this date in 1803, the Lousiana Purchase takes place.
On this date in 1863, 65 members of the French Foreign Legion fought against 2,000 Mexican soldiers, and fought almost to the last man.
On this date in 1900, Hawaii became a U.S. territory.
On this date in 1900, Casey Jones died trying to make up lost time on the Cannonball Express.
On this date in 1927, Alderson, West VA becomes the site of the first federal prison for women.
On this date in 1838, "Porky's Hare Hunt" introduced "Happy Rabbit", who later becomes Bugs Bunny.
On this date in 1945, Adolf Hitler and his new wife Eva Braun, commit suicide.
On this date in 1947, Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam.  Again.
On this date in 1973, President Nixon announced that several of his key staff members have resigned, due to the Watergate scandal.
On this date in 1975, the Communists finally gain control of Saigon.
On this date in 1980, Queen Beatrix ascends the throne of the Netherlands (she abdicated today in favor of her son Willem-Alexander).

Famous Folk Born on this Date:

Alice B. Toklas
Eve Arden
Al Lewis
Cloris Leachman
Willie Nelson (happy 80th, Willie!)
Gary Collins
Burt Young (source of the movie quote of the day)
Bobby Vee
Jill Clayburgh
Perry King
Jane Campion
Isiah Thomas
JR Richards
Johnny Galecki
Kirsten Dunst

Movie Quote of the Day:  From Rocky III -

Bartender:  "Hey, don't forget to give Rocky my best, huh?"

Paulie:  "You know, I've been comin' here years.  How 'bout you give me, Paulie, your best once?"

 

Tax Tip of the Day:

 

If you have a "high deductible health plan" through your employer, you should consider establishing a Health Savings Account.  HSA contributions reduce your gross income and if you don't use the money for medical expenses, when you're old enough, you can roll your HSA into a retirement account.  It's a great way to save for both medical expenses and retirement. 

 

 

Tuesday and the eye-catching headlines

At this hour (approaching 2 p.m. on the West Coast), LAPD is wrapping up yet another in the endless series of vehicle chases that end up being televised live.  The driver of an allegedly stolen van managed to crash into a number of other vehicles before finally giving up and being cuffed and stuffed.  More on this subject on the daily blog.

In the Netherlands, for more than 100 years, the ruling monarch has been female.  Now the nation's first king in a very long time has ascended to the throne. 

A second body has been discovered in the wreckage of one of two aircraft that collided mid-air to the North of Malibu.  The other plan made a "hard landing" on a golf course.

"Unclaimed" is a new documentary film that makes the startling claim that John Hartley Robertson, a Green Beret who has been thought dead for more than four decades, is alive and living in Vietnam.  Robertson was thought dead following the crash of his helicopter while on a secret mission in Laos.  Can't wait to see this film.

The case of a doctor accused of murder in four cases involving late-term abortions he performed in his Pennsylvania clinic has gone to the jury in Philadelphia.  He could face the death penalty if convicted.  Among the other charges he faces is 24 charges of performing abortions past the state's limit of 24 weeks and 227 counts of performing abortions without giving the state-mandated 24 hour waiting period.

Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones has checked into a medical facility for an estimated 30 day stay, seeking treatment for her bi-polar II disorder.  No event triggered the stay, this is part of her "treatment plan".  Good for her for being open and honest about her battle with this condition that so many struggle with.

One of the contentious issues in the immigration reform mix is E-Verify, the government's system for electronic verification of the documents workers provide to their employers in order to demonstrate that they have the right to work in the U.S.  The House version of the immigration reform bill would make use of E-Verify mandatory for employers.  The ACLU and other critics say the system makes errors and represents a risk to people's "privacy".  The concerns of restaurant owners can best be summed up by this statement from an official of the National Restaurant Association:  "Once workers hear that E-Verify is in place at certain restaurants, those who don't have proper documentation no longer apply, which can sometimes lead to labor shortages." 

A man was approached by another man wielding a shotgun on a New Orleans street at 5:00 a.m.  He quickly grabbed the man's shotgun, turning the tables.  The would-be robber fled.  A few minutes later, two men in a car approached the man who refused to be a victim.  One of the men said "give me back my gun and I'll give you back the phone you dropped."  He used the shotgun to smash the rear windshield of the car, which fled.  Police are seeking the would-be robber.

Lakers legend Magic Johnson has scolded Dwight Howard for his actions in the team's final playoff game of the year.  Howard lost his cool and was ejected, leaving an already depleted line-up unable to cope with the Spurs.

In Duluth, GA, two men were arrested for attempting to spy on women in the restroom at a movie theater, after they fell through the roof into the restroom.

A Michigan elementary school principal finds herself on administrative leave, and facing charges under the state's "super-drunk" law.  She was observed driving erratically and the breathalyzer test revealed she had a BAC more than twice the legal limit.  Police also found an open and empty bottle of vodka in her car.  She was driving back from lunch when the incident occurred.

The former fiancee of Jason Collins says she had no idea that he is gay.  Carolyn Moos, a former WNBA player says that Collins told her this past weekend that his sexual orientation is the real reason he called off their engagement.  They'd been together for eight years.  But she is supportive.  "I care about (Jason) tremendously and only want the best for him."  By the way, even now, Jason Collins is not the most famous person on his high school basketball team.  That honor belongs to actor Jason Segel, who was known as "Doctor Dunk" when the two played together at Harvard-Westlake.

Former prisoners are "reviewing" their prison and how their stay went at Yelp.com.

Why AEG should prevail in Katharine Jackson's lawsuit

How long would one have to work, to earn $40 billion dollars?  If you earned $1 million per month, it would take 3,333 years to earn that much money.  That should make it crystal clear that there was no way Michael Jackson was going to earn $40 billion from the tour that AEG was putting together, even if it did again raise his star into the stratosphere in the music/entertainment industry.

So why is she suing AEG for $40 billion?  Because she can.  I have no doubt that her team of lawyers has hired some "experts" who will advance theories on how he could have earned that much money from the tour being wildly successful and having his career 're-launched'.  But it's all a bunch of crap.  ABBA turned down a payment of $1 billion for a tour.  The fact they hadn't toured in forever is what made them worth one-fortieth of what AEG is being sued for.  Michael Jackson is not worth 40 times what ABBA is for a concert tour.

The whole lawsuit is pretty much baseless anyway, in my opinion.  Now I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on television.  Nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.  But I do have an understanding of some of the basic principles of civil lawsuits.  You have to prove who is at fault.  AEG may have agreed to take on the burden of paying Doctor Conrad Murray to treat Michael Jackson and to keep him fit to rehearse and then tour; but the choice of Dr. Murray was Michael's.  The choice to abuse propofol was Michael's.  AEG may have been aware of his drug use and his weakened physical condition, but they don't have a duty to prevent him from attempting to earn a living by saying "hey Michael, you're not well enough to rehearse.  Go home, rest up and come back in a few months when you're fit."

This is a situation I'm very familiar with.  My bosses at work depend on me to set the limits under which I can work.  If they ask me to work and I shouldn't, I need to be the one to say "no".  I can't just work when they say work, and then turn around and sue them because in making that choice I've worsened my physical condition.

So I hope that AEG prevails in this lawsuit, in short order.  It's ridiculous.  It's money-grubbing, something that the Jackson family has been doing when it comes to Michael since he was a little boy.  Even in death he can't escape his family's desire to live a better life due to his labors.

Monday's headlines that caught my eye

Jason Collins, one half of a pair of 7 foot tall twins, was never an NBA superstar, but he has had a 13 year career during which he demonstrated a strong work ethic, making the most of his abilities, and never quitting.  Now he's showing a higher level of courage and moral fiber by coming out of the closet, the first ever major sports star to do so while still an active player.  I hope a team will sign him for next season.  He still has a lot to contribute, on and off the floor.

The $40 billion trial of Katharine Jackson and her grandchildren versus AEG got underway in a L.A. courtroom today.  More on this in another blog entry later tonight or tomorrow.

Sarah Palin called the White House Correspondents dinner a "nerdprom".  What does that say about her daughter, Bristol, who attended the 2011 version of the event?  Sarah Palin is a quitter, who puts her mouth in gear before engaging what little brain she has.

The city of Victorville, an official of the city and the underwriters of municipal bonds issued by the city are in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The SEC is accusing them of fraud by inflating the value of properties to secure the bonds.

Police in Hollywood are on the lookout for Spiderman.  Well, for someone in a Spiderman costume who stole $6,000 in cash plus credit card receipts on Friday morning from a tour operator.

The West Los Angeles VA Medical Center had to be evacuated early Monday morning because someone found a grenade in the Emergency Room.  It turned out to be only a replica. 

If you have an extra $200,000 lying around, are willing to wait awhile, and don't mind that over 530 people are in line in front of you, you may want to sign up to fly to the edge of space on-board Virgin Galactic.

First Dwayne Johnson said that Mark Wahlberg beat him out for the lead in "Transformers 4".  Now it appears that "The Rock" actually was Michael Bay's first choice but wasn't available due to being committed to "Hercules" and that's how Wahlberg landed the role.

It's never good for a fight to break out.  But when you're over 22,000 feet above sea level while climbing Mount Everest, that's an especially bad place for a fight.  Three European climbers got into a fistfight with their Sherpa guides.  Peace now reigns and security will be maintained.  Nepal, which is a poor nation, is dependent on the revenue that rolls in from people willing to pay big bucks to climb Everest.

Nicolas Cage was "forced" by the director of the film "Valley Girl" to shave his chest hair off, to look younger.  So says his female co-star from the film, Debbie Foreman.

Brad Lesley, known as "The Animal" has died at a Marina del Rey hospital.  The former MLB player became an actor and was in a number of 1990s era films, including "Mr. Baseball" and "Little Big League".

In India, a daredevil died of an apparent heart attack while trying to cross a river on a zip line, suspended by his ponytail.

A 97 year old Holocaust survivor has died in New York, leaving no will, no living relatives (apparently) and an estate worth $40 million.  The state will get the money if no relatives can be located.  I think I remember him adopting me while I was in a coma.

A teacher at an Ohio Catholic school is fighting her termination, after the school learned she is gay because her partner was named in the obituary of the teacher's mother.  I worry that the courts will continue to exempt the church from anti-discrimination laws in cases like this.

Don't worry.  You won't be seeing Tim Tebow in bra and panties, if he accepts a job offer from the Lingerie Football League.  He's been offered a position as a quarterback coach, not as a player.

A teen girl in England was forced to become pregnant by her mother, who wanted one more child very badly.  The mother is now in prison serving time for child cruelty.

A 19 year old man who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome was prevented from boarding a flight at Reagan International Airport, when he said the word "bomb" more than 100 times.  He ended up missing an event he'd been planning to attend for two years.

Robin Williams is trying to sell his Napa Valley estate, and recently reduced his asking price from $35 million to $29.9 million.

The first work day of the last week

I can only wish that I was able to work full-time.  I know that the odds of me being able to do that again in this lifetime are not good.  I'm struggling to manage to work the few hours that I am working and it is taking a serious toll on me.  But, I must admit that I am very happy that when this week ends, I will not work again for two full months.

Two months during which I can focus on my health.  Two months during which I can try to catch up on rest.  Two months where I can work on the creative writing I've mostly ignored since this past November.  I wrote two film reviews on Sunday, the first time in ages I've managed to crank out more than one review on a given day.  Even that wore me out.

I also managed to sit down and watch a 40 year old movie that in my mind is still excellent.  "The Longest Yard" was on and I sat and watched it.  Everyone remembers how good Burt Reynolds and Eddie Albert were in the film, but I really enjoyed watching the late Michael Conrad and the late Harry Caesar in their smaller, critical roles.  It may not be the best prison movie ever, but it is one of the best football movies ever, and certainly the best prison football movies ever (not that there are a lot of those).

Today is the 21st anniversary of the L.A. riots.  We all remember the late Rodney King.  But I'll wager money few of you remember the name Arthur McDuffie.  The similarities are remarkable except that McDuffie was beaten to death and only three people died in the rioting that broke out after the cops who beat him to death were acquitted.  Janet Reno was the prosecutor who blew that case, although she had a fairly bad set of facts to work with.  Friends of mine lost their businesses (I was stationed in the Miami area at the time).  The Miami riots pre-date the L.A. riots by 12 years.

So why do we all know about King, and no one outside of Miami knows or remembers McDuffie?   Video.  There was no one using a video recorder to make a record of the beating death of Arthur McDuffie.

A few months ago, in the throes of boredom, I created a new profile for Match.com.  Now, I get a daily email telling me that I have 24 new matches.  Exactly 24 new ones, every single day.  Something about that just seems strange, don't you think?

Things to ponder:

Are female identical twins still identical if only one is pregnant?
Why do some traffic lights have "countdown" meters on the walk/don't walk thing, and when they get to zero, the light goes immediately to yellow and then red, while others have a ten second or longer delay from zero to yellow to red?
Why can you gain five pounds from eating a one pound box of chocolates?
How many licks does it really take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Why is it that these map programs instruct you to make a left at a specific intersection but don't tell you that you can't make a left there from X to Y hours? (sometimes they do tell you)

There's an L.A. attorney who has eaten at 6,297 Chinese restaurants, and wants to find more to try.  I wonder if he's eaten here:

It's in Florida, so he'll have to make a trip.

Former Hollywood madam, Heidi Fleiss lives in the Nevada desert with a bunch of macaws now, and doesn't have the money or time to put together her planned "stud ranch".  Maybe one of the local whorehouses has a need for a part-time pimp?

This Date in History:

On this date in 711, Moorish troops landed at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian peninsula.
On this date in 1429 Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orleans.
On this date in 1587, Sir Francis Drake leads a raid at the Bay of Cadiz, sinking at least 23 ships of the Spanish Fleet.
On this date in 1770, James Cook arrives at and names Botany Bay, Australia.
On this date in 1945, Adolf Hitler marries.  He and his new bride will commit suicide the following day.
On this date in 1967, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title, for having refused induction into the U.S. Army the previous day.
On this date in 1968, the musical "Hair" opens on Broadway.
On this date in 1970, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces cross into Cambodia to "hunt" the Viet Cong.
On this date in 1974, President Nixon announces the release of of edited White House tape transcripts related to the Watergate scandal.
On this date in 1975, the U.S. begins evacuating U.S. citizens from Saigon.
On this date in 1992, the Los Angeles riots break out, following the acquittal of the four cops accused of beating Rodney King.
On this date in 2004, Oldsmobile builds the final car in its 107 year history.

Famous Folk Born On This Date:

William Randolph Hearst
Duke Ellington
Emperor Hirohito
Celeste Holm
Rod McKeun
Luis Aparicio
Zubin Mehta
Bernie Madoff (thief)
Tommy James
Jim Ryun
Tammi Terrell
Nora Dunn
Jerry Seinfeld
Kate Mulgrew
Daniel Day-Lewis
Michelle Pfeiffer
Eve Plumb
Carnie Wilson
Andre Aggasi
Uma Thurman

Movie Quote of the Day comes from a movie released on this date in 1994, "When A Man Loves A Woman":

Michael Green: Good meeting huh? You guys drop acid or something?
Alice Green: Like I said... I'm having a really bad day and I don't mean to take it out on you.
Michael Green: What is it? You want a drink real bad?
Alice Green: That wouldn't distinguish it from any other day, Michael.
Michael Green: One of your friends fall of the wagon?
Alice Green: Nothing happened, Michael. Nothing has to happen for me to have a bad day. That's the thrilling part of all this. It just comes and hits and runs me over like a goddamn freight train.

Tax Tip of the Day: 

Did you know that here in California, you can establish different numbers of withholding allowances with your employer for Federal tax withholding, and State tax withholding?  If you break even with the Feds and get big refunds from the state, you can decrease just your state tax withholding by adding one or two additional allowances by filing out form DE-4. 

Sunday's eye-catching headlines

It looks like it was a feud between two Mississippi men and not some political thing that led to the sending of three ricin-laced letters to the President, a U.S. Senator and a sitting judge.

"Pain & Gain", the new film from Michael Bay that stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson won the weekend box office wars domestically with a gross of $20 million (actually, a somewhat disappointing number).  "Oblivion", "42", "The Big Wedding" and "The Croods" make up the rest of the top 5.  "The Big Wedding", with a star-studded cast that includes Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Robin Williams, Amanda Seyfried and Topher Grace is the bad news of the weekend.  The good news is that "Iron Man 3" opened huge overseas, bringing in nearly $200 in its first weekend of release outside the U.S.  It will undoubtedly dominate the domestic market when it opens next Friday.

The Lakers are, at this hour, losing Game 4 of their playoff series to the San Antonio Spurs.  Perhaps it is fitting that someone who works for them made an unintentional gaffe today; as they gave away towels with the team's logo on them to the fans entering the Staples Center.  Great idea, except they were made to match today's team uniforms.  On Sundays at home, the Lakers wear white uniforms, so fans are waving the white towel.  Ooops.

Michael Jordan married his long-time girlfriend and then entertained 2,000 guests at the reception afterward.  Tiger Woods was among the guests.  Would you invite that man to your wedding?

Alan Wood has died.  The career Navy officer was a veteran of WWII and is credited with having provided the flag that five Marines and a Navy corpsman raised on Mt. Surabachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

The Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer had a little problem before yesterday's game with DC United.  The big scoreboard at their home stadium caught fire.  Now we know they're trying to fire up their fans, but that's going a bit far, isn't it? (it was an accident, not planned)

The Mayor of San Diego wants to get Mitt Romney to take over the helm of the group that represents the city in its attempt to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.  One of the unique features of the San Diego bid is that events would be held in San Diego and Tiajuana, the first ever cross-border Summer Games.

A ballboy for the Oklahoma City Thunder reportedly tweeted death threats against Patrick Beverley after Beverley ran into Russell Westbrook and Westbrook suffered a season-ending injury.  Now the ballboy is claiming his account was hacked and he did not post the tweets.  Meanwhile, Jeremy Lin, a teammate of Beverley's was injured in today's game with the Thunder.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is now behind a solid steel door at the Federal Prison Medical Center at Devens, MA.

When you buy a car in the U.S., it's the pricetag for the vehicle and not the license plate that you worry about, and may have to finance.  In Shanghai, it's the opposite.  A new Z100 Minicar from Zotye Holdings is around $4,000 fully loaded, while a license plate sold for $14,530 in the city's most recent license plate auction.

Residents of Morrison, CO, are concerned about a local elk that has an automobile tire stuck around its neck.  Officials are afraid to tranquilize the animal to remove the tire as they fear the elk may be pregnant.  Maybe it's just tired.

A brother and sister who were aboard a fishing boat near Saint Lucia when the boat sank.  They swam for hours and hours before reaching a beach.  They are recovering from their ordeal.

A Utah man won't sell his 14 year old McDonald's burger, even when offered $5,000 for it.  It is perfectly preserved, with no mold, mildew or odor.  But I wouldn't eat it.

A North Carolina 19 year old is walking "patrol" in his neighborhood with a WWII rifle slung over his shoulder.  Police say he is not violating any laws, because he doesn't point his gun at anyone.

The wife of a US Army soldier who appears to be suffering from PTSD without getting any help from the Army is making a public statement, by putting all of the couple's belongings in their front yard, to sell them.  She says she needs the money, as the rage from his PTSD has resulted in three back to back demotions and that his May 1 paycheck will be only $349.  He has been on six combat deployments to Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

A family in Indiana got an unwelcome surprise in their green beans from a can, they found a dead frog among the beans.  Health department officials are investigating.

"Gossip" media is all abuzz about Clint Eastwood stepping out without his wedding ring on, while his wife is in rehab and rumors abound that their marriage is in trouble.

The mother of Jermaine Jackson's two teen children is saying he is over $30,000 behind in child support payments, and her lawyers are seeking to have him jailed if he doesn't pay up.  Then again, is this really newsworthy?

Singer Fantasia Barrino has skipped foreclosure and just signed her house over to the bank.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Look at the title phrase.  Now imagine yourself chanting it over and over, for hours on end.  That is what someone once tried to get me to do, when I was a senior in high school.  It's the mantra of a religious sect known as Nichiren Buddhism, and it was an offshoot of that sect that is known today as the Soka Gakkai that was trying to "enlist" me.  I went to a home and watched people chanting non-stop to an idol and after a few minutes, excused myself and left. 

I read more about it later in a book about the 1965 graduating class of Palisades High, written around the time of their tenth reunion.  One of the grads had been involved with this group, and with Scientology.  What he went through was the most fascinating part of that book.

An open note to Anna-Megan Raley, who was blogging under the psuedonym Claire Crawford.  Don't diss other women that you think are a bit pudgy to be working as professional cheerleaders.  Even if you are correct, it's a no-win for you.  If you want to be a cheerleader, be one.  I saw the video of you taking part in a pro cheerleader tryout, ostensibly as part of a 'story' you were doing.  The backlash you suffered was earned.

Clint Eastwood says he'd love to be directing films when he's 105.  I hope he is and that I'm around to be in the audience, enjoying those films.

I'm sure you've seen those Progressive Insurance commercials featuring "Flo".  But did you know that the comedienne/actress who plays her was in five episodes of "Mad Men" during its first season?"  Or that she had a role on the short-lived TV show about the GEICO "Cavemen"?  She's so popular now, Progressive sells "Flo" costumes for those who want to be Flo on Halloween.  $39.99 includes wig, headband, apron and shirt.

We all know that it bugs me to see people texting while driving.  I found a more egregious example of it that really drove me crazy, over the weekend.  I saw a man driving his car, texting (he had the phone in the hand holding the steering heel), and occasionally glancing back at the baby in the car seat in his vehicle's rear seat.  Bad enough to put yourself and other drivers at risk with texting and driving (at around 40 mph), but to put a baby at risk?  Whatever it was could have waited.

Among the stars making appearances during May sweeps in an effort to boost ratings, Katey Sagal will show up on "Glee".  Having heard her sing back in the day when she belted out tunes at the Great American Food and Beverage Company at 9th and Wilshire, let me assure you she can indeed carry a tune.

Some of the very fortunate few who got to watch the Rolling Stones perform on Saturday night at Echoplex are raving about how good the show was.  Amazing to think they've been rocking stages for 50 years and still have the chops to thrill audiences.  I tip my cap to them.

Are you ready for Luke Skywalker hearing Darth Vader say "No, Luke, I am your bizhe'e"??  That's the Navajo word for "father" and about a dozen native speakers of the Navajo language are being sought to work on the project to dub the film into that langauge.

Movie Quote of the Day is from "The Replacement" (2000):  "Nigel 'The Leg' Gruff":  "Let's play football, bitch." (just before kicking someone in the balls during a bar fight)

This Date in History:

On this date in 1253, Nichiren first "propounds" the phrase Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.
On this date in 1788, Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
On this date in 1789, Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors were set adrift.
On this date in 1792, France invades what is now Belgium, beginning the French Revolutionary War.
On this date in 1920, Azerbijan is added to the Soviet Union.
On this date in 1944, nine German E-boats attack U.S. and UK forces rehearsing for the D-Day landings, killing 946 Allied personnel. (FYI, the Germans referred to these craft as S-boats)
On this date in 1952, General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Commander of NATO.
Also on this date in 1952, the U.S. occupation of Japan ends as the Treaty of San Francisco goes into effect.
On this date in 1969, Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.
On this date in 1970, President Nixon authorizes U.S. combat troops in Vietnam to attack the sanctuaries of the enemy that are located on the other side of the Cambodian border.
On this date in 1986, the USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal.
On this date in 1988, a flight attendant is blown out of an Aloha Airlines flight and falls to her death, after the fuselage rips open.

Famous Folk Born On This Date:

Edward IV of England
James Monroe
Lionel Barrymore
Harper Lee
James Baker
Saddam Hussein (rot in hell)
Marcia Strassman
Bruno Kirby (RIP, we miss your talents)
Jay Leno
Barry Larkin
John Daly
Kari Wuhrer
Bridget Moynahan
Elisabeth Rohm (interesting, both Moynahan and Rohm played assistant district attorneys in Manhattan on television dramas)
Penelope Cruz
Alex Riley

And on this date in 2007, we lost "Mr. Excitement", Tommy Newsom, frequent substitute director of the Tonight Show band, during the Johnny Carson days.

Today's Tax Tip:

Did you know that if you are supporting your parent, and providing more than 50% of their total support, assuming they can meet a few other tests, you can claim them as a dependent; even if they don't live with you?

Saturday's headlines

Tonight, some lucky fans of the Rolling Stones will get to see the band live, at Echoplex (reportedly) in Echo Park.  Tickets went on sale this afternoon at 1 p.m. and were all gone within an hour.  You had to enter a lottery to win the right to buy one ticket for $20.  Cash only.

Governor Brown thinks that it is "equal" to take money from "wealthier" school districts and spend more per student in "poorer" districts.  At the same time, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified has Santa Monica and Malibu both wanted to explore the separation of the district into two separate districts.  Over money.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer fell from his bicycle and broke his shoulder, requiring surgery today. 

A karate instructor in Tupelo, MS was arrested in connection with the three letters containing ricin that were sent to a U.S. Senator from MS, President Obama and a judge. 

$17.5 million has been raised thus far for the L.A. Mayoral election.  Over $6 million of that has come from so-called "Super PACs", which negate the limits on campaign contributions the city's voters put into effect over 30 years ago.

Police in Simi Valley arrested a 52 year old man dressed as a woman for soliciting sex from a teen boy.  Police said that they couldn't tell the man, wearing skinny jeans, high heels and a tight top, wasn't female until the time of the arrest.  The man's identity was not disclosed.

A man in a wheelchair in Glendale found himself being pulled from the chair by another man, so that the other man could steal the chair.  Phillip Papineau has been charged with felony grand theft and felony petty theft with priors and has pled not guilty.  He was allegedly planning to use the wheelchair as a prop for panhandling.

David Gold, the founder of the 99 Cents Only chain of stores has died at the age of 80.

The official results were released on Thursday.  Rodney Allen Rippy did finish 10th among the 12 candidates running to become mayor of Compton.  There will be a run-off between the two top vote getters.

There is a typo somewhere in the legislation that will enable the FAA to move money around in order to stop the furloughs for air traffic controllers that is preventing President Obama from signing it.  However, the FAA is going to have them back at work at normal staffing levels, perhaps as early as Sunday.

A military couple who both served in the Vermont National Guard have won a dream wedding worth $70,000 from a group named "A Salute To Our Soldiers".  Their story is amazing.  http://www.wcax.com/story/22058414/vt-military-couple-wins-dream-wedding?hpt=us_bn7

The city council of Citrus Heights, near Sacramento is opposed to an effort underway in the California Legislator to pass a "Homeless Bill of Rights" that would allow people to sleep in public parks, aggressive panhandling and 24/7 access to "hygiene facilities" at public expense.

A Las Vegas man has given 100 meals to strangers as his latest random act of kindness.  When his wife was dying, four years ago, Marcus Mitchell promised he would dedicate his life to this.  Since then he's spent half of what he makes on the project.

A Mechanicsville, VA woman is trying to move on with her life, after a judge sentenced her to ten years in prison and then suspended the sentence.  So she will serve no jail time for having defrauded people by claiming she had cancer when she was not ill.  She was ultimately diagnosed as having a form of mental illness that caused her to claim she was sick.

Osawatomie is a town in Kansas that doesn't have a swimming pool that is usable at the moment, and the city council just turned down a donation of $150,000 to repair it.  They are afraid it will cost more than that to fix the pool and they didn't want to spend the money.

Rebecca Martinson gained instant fame when the expletive-laced email she sent to all of her sorority sisters went viral.  She was forced to resign from Delta Gamma in disgrace.  Now she has a job offer from ScoresLive.com, a "sex chat/stripper" website.  They're even offering a $10,000 signing bonus.

Saturday but not in the park

Today will be my last Saturday in the office for some time.  I'm excited at the prospect of weeks and weeks without having to go to work.  I need the rest.  I am only now realizing just how weak I've let myself become by ignoring the messages my body was sending me. 

I saw the strangest thing yesterday.  A Korean man and his young child were in line in front of me at the movie theater.  When the clerk asked him what movie he wanted to buy tickets for, he said he wanted to see the free movie.  He insisted that this theater had shown free movies befoe and he wanted to take his son to one.  I only know that he is Korean because I overheard him cursing in Korean as he walked away.  If he isn't Korean, he definitely speaks the language fluently.

The movie was pretty good.  It was also crowded.  Mostly an older audience.  Now I'm 53, so if I'm saying the audience is mostly older folks, that should paint a pretty clear picture.  I hate generalizations for the most part, but this is one that I happen to believe in.  The older the audience of a movie, the more likely that people who came to see it together will talk to one another without even attempting to whisper.  I had to shush several people, some of them more than once.  I was ready to pull out the old, trusty, "this is not your living room" but I remembered I'm trying to avoid confrontation.  So I stuck to a few strategic "shhhhhhhhhushes", said softly but loud enough to be heard.

Hopefully next Friday will be the last time for a long time that I leave here before 8:30 in the morning and don't return until after 10:00 p.m. in the evening.  It's just not healthy behavior.  Rather than insisting on squeezing in that movie between work and a social thing, I could have come home and rested for four hours.  I won't make that mistake next Friday.  Whatever movie I want to see can wait 24 or 48 hours.

A Ph.D. candidate at Rutgers had his laptop stolen from an unlocked room on campus.  He's offering the thief a $1,000 reward for simply returning some of the data on the computer.  It's five years of work for his thesis and he needs it desperately.  In reading the comments on the news story I was struck by how there are two schools of thought on this.  One filled with people being critical of the victim of this theft for failing to have backed up his work in at least one, if not multiple places.  The other filled with people talking about how awful theft is and that the victim shouldn't be blamed for not backing up the data.

He should have backed up the data.  But piling that criticism onto him in comments on this story accomplishes nothing.  He (and hopefully others) will know better next time.  But we live in a nation where theft runs rampant and worse yet, in some instances, people look the other way.  That TV show "What Would YOU Do" did a piece on people not turning in a mother shoplifting in a supermarket when she tried to excuse her theft because she had hungry children to feed.  We have food stamps, soup kitchens, pantries for the poor and more.  There are alternatives to stealing for people with children to feed.  Or themselves to feed.  If you want to look the other way at someone stealing food, just reach into your wallet and buy it for them.

I felt bad that Dionne Warwick had been forced to file for bankruptcy, due to more than $10 million in unpaid taxes.  Until I read that even though she's bringing in $21,000 a month, and that the outflow of her income includes $5,000 in housekeeping and a personal assistant she pays $4,000 monthly.  Either increase the income or decrease the expenses.  Lifestyle is a choice.

A thief who stole a bicycle to get home after getting drunk on the night they graduated from college returned it with a note and a coupon for a free dessert.  Of course the coupon was expired and the thief's not wasn't really all that apologetic.  My question is, what the hell does the phrase "straight white girl drunk" mean?

Martha Stewart considered signing up for Match.com to try to find a new Mr. Stewart?  Wow.  Did she put down "looking for a man who likes cooking and crafts but never engages in insider trading?"

This Date in History:

On this date in 1521, Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines.
On this date in 1565, Cebu is established as the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
On this date in 1667, John Milton sells the copyright of "Paradise Lost" for ten pounds.
On this date in 1861, President Lincoln suspends the writ of habeus corpus.
On this date in 1865, the steamboat SS Sultana sinks, killing 1,700 passengers, many of whom were survivors of the Andersonville and Cahaba Prisons.
On this date in 1904, the Labor Party gains control of the Australian government.
On this date in 1936, the United Auto Workers gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.
On this date in 1961, Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom.
On this date in 1974, thousands march in Washington, D.C. to call for the impeachment of President Nixon.
On this date in 1978, John Ehrlichman is released from prison after serving 18 months for his Watergate crimes.
On this date in 2002, NASA received its last telemetry from space probe Pioneer 10.

Famous Folk Born On This Date:

Mary Wollstonecraft
Samuel Morse (his birth announcement was published in code)
Ulysses S. Grant (so who was buried in his tomb when people were first asking that question?)
Rogers Hornsby (the only man to hit over .400 in the majors for a five year period)
Walter Lantz (http://free-loops.com/3300-woody-woodpecker.html)
Horace Stoneham
Luz Long
Jack Klugman
Coretta Scott King
Anouk Aimee
Sandy Dennis
Judy Carne
Cuba Gooding Sr.
Ace Frehley
George Gervin
Larry Elder
Sheena Easton
Ari Graynor

Friday's Eye-catching headlines

Just before 8:00 p.m., a magnitude 3.2 earthquake, centered in the Marina del Rey area, shook a wide portion of the Los Angeles area.

Country singer George Jones has died at the age of 81.  He lived a turbulent, difficult life and many thought he would not live as long as he did.  With #1 hits on the country charts in five decades, his singing and won him a fan base diverse enough to include both Frank Sinatra and Pete Townshend.

A piece of aircraft landing gear was discovered in Manhattan and is believed to be from one of the two planes that crashed into the Twin Towers on 9/11.

The U.S. seems unable to determine whether or not Syria used Sarin gas against the rebels.

Congress has passed a bill to allow the FAA to re-allocate funds so that furloughed air traffic controllers can return to work, to alleviate flight delays.  But other sequestration budget reductions remain in force and it appears that no progress is being made in resolving this budget mess.

A Garden Grove woman faces life in prison with the possibility of parole, for charges of aggravated mayhem and torture.  She served her husband a drug-laced dinner and then as he slept bound him to the bed.  When he awoke, she cut off his penis and put it down the garbage disposal.  Emergency surgery attempting to reattach is was unsuccessful.   She had pled not-guilty.

No word on whether or not the disparaging comments actor Angus Jones made about his hit sitcom "Two and a Half Men" had anything to do with the decision to not bring him back as a regular for season 11.

An Australian man who picked up a snake to move it off of the field hockey practice area died from a snakebite.  Seems he didn't realize the snake was venomous and when he went for a training run, he sped up the spread of the venom through his body.

Disney Parks will be open 24 hours on May 24th, to kick off the Memorial Day weekend.  Bet the line for Space Mountain is very short at 4 in the morning.  If it's working that is.

Difficult moments

I experienced a very difficult moment on Thursday.  I wasn't supposed to work, but a client could only come in on Thursday.  Actually her soon-to-be ex-husband could only come in on Thursday.  They were married on 12/31/2012 and thus their choices were to file as married filing separately or file a joint return.  Due to changes in how the IRS processes returns for those who file separately in community property states, her return was rejected.

So since I was going to be there anyway, I agreed to take on two other clients.  One was a somewhat complicated return but it didn't take that long and the client was personable and easy to talk to.  The other was someone who said they recognized me from somewhere.  At first they thought it was because we had a mutual friend named Bill.  That's a reference to people who've encountered one another through Alcoholics Anonymous.  I've never been to an AA meeting, so that wasn't it.  But when the client handed me the paperwork to check over, the name leapt off the page at me.  It was someone who'd had kids I knew go through the private school I'd worked at for many years.

So I asked how the kids were.  And learned that both had died.  I felt awful for dredging up the memory for this person, but as they reminded me, it's a memory they deal with daily.  As awful as I felt for asking about it, I'm sure that person feels a quadrillion times worse, daily.  A parent having to bury one child is too much.  For a parent to bury more than one is horrifying to even contemplate.  I only wish I'd been able to do something to ease this person's pain.  Sadly, that's way beyond my abilities and skills.

But I still wanted to just crawl away and die, for reminding this person of these tragedies.

Thursday's eye-catching headlines

President George W. Bush got misty-eyed at the dedication of his Presidential library on Thursday, as five Presidents gathered for the event on the campus of SMU.

Two of LAUSDs senior administrators and two school principals were removed from their positions, pending an investigation into how allegations against a teacher accused of sexual misconduct were handled.

Theme parks are finding that the demand for their "VIP" tours is rising and they are being forced to search for bilingual tour guides to meet that demand from international tourists.  Regular admission to Universal Studios is $80.  For $299 per person, you get an all you can eat luxury buffet, an escort to the front of the line for any and every ride, and access to parts of the studio not shown on the regular tour.  Disneyland's VIP tour runs over $300 per hour, but for up to 10 guests.

Elon Musk, founder of PayPal and Tesla, is so frustrated with the slow pace of the 405 construction project, he dug into his pocket and ponied up $50,000 to hire extra workers.  He says he may spend more.

A man was shot to death by San Fernando Police when a Taser failed to subdue him and he refused to drop the baseball-bat sized tree branch he was swinging at officers.

Police arrested three suspects in the fatal stabbing of an 18 year old Cleveland High student and gave partial credit to social media for providing valuable information about the trio.

An appellate court threw out indictments against officials from the city of Irwindale, saying prosecutors failed to provide the court with evidence that was favorable to the accused.

A member of the University of Maryland's chapter of the Delta Gamma sorority has resigned, after her expletive-filled email to all of her "sisters" went viral.  You can read the amazing email here:  http://gawker.com/5994974/the-most-deranged-sorority-girl-email-you-will-ever-read  And, as long as you're reading that, some of her tweets might be amusing as well.  Her Twitter account has been deleted, but a few choice examples can be found here:  http://www.thesportsbank.net/big-10/rebecca-martinson-sorority-girl-529/

Extra, extra, read all about it....Twinkies will be back on store shelves in July of this year!!

California lawmakers are considering a tax on "sugary drinks" in the state.

OPEC = Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.  But so far there is no official acronym for the group of potato farmers in the U.S. who are accused in a lawsuit of conspiring to fix prices, using OPEC as a model.

Looking for work?  Don't mind relocating to England?  Stonehenge is looking for its first ever General Manager, and the gig pays just under $100,000 a year.  Potential hires must be able to "maintain the dignity of the stones".

A recent episode of game show "The Price is Right" upped the ante with its most expensive prize ever, a Ferrari Spyder worth more than $250,000.  Perhaps the contestant who tried and failed to win it is better off, considering the huge income tax bill and gigantic insurance premiums that would have come with the prize.

Glenn Beck has a conspiracy theory about the Boston Marathon bombing.  Glenn Beck is a complete moron.  Both of those statements are accurate.  His contentions about a conspiracy theory are not, and they've been thoroughly debunked.  Why people continue to watch/listen to this idiot is beyond me.

Pot found on Justin Bieber's tour bus in Sweden?  That's not news.  No pot found on board, that would be news.

The O'Jays are pissed that Crown Royal has 'hijacked' a song of theirs for use in a commercial and are seeking relief in the court system.

Act in haste, repent in leisure

Months ago, I made a doctor's appointment for today.  At 8:30 in the morning.  The logic was sound at the time.  It was after the 15th of April, so I would not be working.  It gets me in and out of the VA before it gets crowded.   It minimizes the wait time because it's the first appointment of the day for this doctor.  Today is still supposed to be my day off, but I have to go to work.  I have three clients with appointments.  So I will have to go straight from the appointment with the doctor to the office.  Perhaps I should have looked at my calendar before accepting the clients for today, without considering whether or not I had another obligation.

I had one of those craving moments on the way home last night.  Suddenly, as I drove north on the 405 (so-named because during rush-hour, if you need to go from the Valley to the South Bay, it will take 4 or 5 hours), I wanted some donuts.  Fortunately for me, the donut shops near here were already closed.  I was about to drive far out of the way to get some at a 24 hour donut shop I know, but I decided to not have the donuts.  If I still want them by Saturday, I'll stop and have one.  Or two.  Or....two.  Or.......,no, no more than two.

I'm still waiting patiently for someone to quantify for me what the "fair share" is, that the wealthy should be paying in taxes.  A family with $500,000 in taxable income in 2013 in CA (that's income after deductions and adjustments) is going to pay nearly 30% of that amount in federal income tax.  Not the 39.5% that the Tea Party is prattling on about, but 29.5%.  Throw in another 11.5% for State, FICA and Medicare taxes and that family is giving up four out of every ten dollars in "taxable" income that they earn.  Let's pretend for a moment that the taxable income actually represents $800,000.  They were able to avoid tax on $300,000 of income that went for mortgage payments, charitable contributions and the like.  That still means they're paying 25% of every dollar that comes in, in some sort of income tax.  We haven't touched sales taxes, excise taxes and so on. 

Imagine your life if 25% of every single dollar you brought in was being paid out in income taxes.  For a family earning $100,000 with $70,000 in taxable income, their tax burden is less than half of that of the family earning 10 times as much as they are.  

So what is truly fair?  None of those who say the rich aren't paying their "fair share" seem able to quantify this concept with a number.

This Date in History:

On this date in 1644, the last Emperor of the Ming Dynasty committed suicide during a peasant uprising led by Li Zicheng.
On this date in 1792, Nicholas Pelletier becomes the first person to be executed by guillotine.
On this date in 1847, the last surviving members of the Donner Party exit the wilderness.
On this date in 1859, ground is broken on the Suez Canal.
On this date in 1898, the U.S. declares war on Spain.
On this date in 1901, New York becomes the first state to require license plates on automobiles.
On this date in 1916, England declares martial law in Ireland due to the Easter Rebellion.
On this date in 1944, the United Negro College Fund is inaugurated.
On this date in 1960, the U.S. Navy sub Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation.
On this date in 1975, the Australian Embassy in Saigon is closed and evacuated.
On this date in 1983, Pioneer 10 travels beyond the orbit of Pluto.
On this date in 1988, In Israel, John Demjanuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II.

Famous Folk Born On This Date:

Louis IX of France
Edward II of England
Oliver Cromwell
Edward R. Murrow (Good Night, and Good Luck)
Paul Mazursky
Al Pacino
Len Goodman
Talia Shire
Hank Azaria
Joe Buck
Renee Zellweger

Wednesday's eye-catching headlines

The suspect in the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 10 year old Northridge girl has been arrested in Mexico.  Tobias Summers was arrested by Baja California police this morning, based on information from a tip.  The tipster may get a $25,000 reward.

Police in Santa Monica arrested four suspect in a possible robbery/kidnap attempt at a beach-front hotel.

UC Santa Cruz police arrested a man with a two-foot long joint.  When I read that, I immediately thought of this lyric:  "I wanna jump but I'm afraid I'll fall, I wanna holler but the joint's too small."

Shoe manufacturer and retailer Skechers has a new audit firm, after their former auditors KPMG had one of its partners accused of leaking inside information.  BDO USA is re-auditing Skecher's last two fiscal years.  In addition to Skechers, Scott London leaked information on Herbalife, Decker Outdoor Corp (makers of Uggs), RSC Holdings and Pacific Capital.

72,000 ladybugs have been released inside the Mall of America, in an effort to combat the hordes of aphids who are making a home for themselves inside the mall, feasting on the plant life there.

Shakuntala Devi has died at the age of 83.  Known as the "human computer", she was famous for being to calculate faster than machines.  In 1977, she calculated the 23rd root of a 201 digit number in 50 seconds, beating a Univac computer.  The computer needed 62 seconds.

A lieutenant in the San Francisco Fire Department reportedly earned $221,000 in overtime last year.

Beyonce, perhaps upset by photos of her taken at the Superbowl that did not present her in the most flattering way, has banned independent professional photographers from her upcoming tour.

A state senator from Tennessee is refusing to apologize for a tasteless photo he posted on his blog.  It was a shot of a pressure cooker with the label "APC - Assault Pressure Cooker".  Another moron.

Jimmy Kimmel "punked" some of those who attended the Coachella Music event by sending a faux reporter to ask them their opinion of bands that don't exist.  One guy described himself as a "DJ" and that he played that group's music all the time.  Dude, look at the labels.  Get a fan if the haze from the joint is too thick.

Lance Armstrong is now being sued by the U.S. government, who is seeking to recoup money it provided him when he raced on behalf of the Postal Service.

Woah.  Mark Wahlberg says he is willing to reunite with the Funky Bunch in a benefit to raise funds for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.  Do it.  It would be huge.

Girls Gone Wild is in bankruptcy and the appointed trustee has just asked a judge to order company founder Joe Francis to remain at least 100 feet away from the company and its employees.  Not going to be easy, since GGW is a sub-tenant of Francis' parent company, which is not in bankruptcy.

Do you like sandwiches from Subway?  Then what you want is the little-known "black card", which entitles the holder to all the sandwiches they want, for life.  A NFL prospect just signed an endorsement deal with Subway that included his being given the card.

Good News / Bad News

I saw my cardiologist today.  When I had that angiogram last month and they told me the blockages in my coronary arteries were not as bad as expected, it had seemed like good news.  It is.  But there's an element of bad news that I received only today, more than a month later.  It has to do with something called "ejection fraction".  Mine is below 30%.  The reason for it, now that blocked arteries has been ruled out as a cause is idiopathic.  That's doctor speak for "we don't know".

So I will be scheduled for a procedure that will have to be done under general anasthesia, with the attendant risks (still very low) and if the test that will be done at the same time doesn't reveal why my ejection fraction is so low, I will probably have to have a pacemaker put in.  It's to reduce the greater risk of heart attack that is attendant with low ejection fracture.  Maybe I should go to medical school so I can understand all this stuff better.  I could be my own class project in cardiology, pulmonology, nephrology and allergy courses.

I managed to put my new resolve to suffer fools at least a little more gladly into effect today before I saw the doctor (I have a great cardiologist, btw).  They weigh you in as soon as you check in and while I was sitting in the waiting room after having hopped on the scale, the guy sitting next to me ask (totally out of the blue) "so how much did you weigh in high school?"  I was taken aback, given that's really none of his damn business and I don't need to hear yet another person giving me shit about my weight.  But I took a deep breath and this is how the rest of the conversation went.  The parantheticals are what I would have said if I weren't trying to be more patient and understanding:

"I don't understand how that's relevant." (none of your damn business)

"Well, you've gained a lot of weight since high school."

"Why do you ask?"  (You didn't know me then and you don't know me now, so it's really none of your damn business)

"Just being friendly."

"Do you really think that most people who are struggling with their weight would find it a friendly gesture to point out that they've gained weight since they were young?"  (No, jerkoff, actually you were being rude as hell)

"I guess not.  If you took offense at what I said, I apologize."

Good news is I didn't jump down his throat.  Bad news is what I should have said is simply "no offense intended, but that's really none of your business" and then just turned away.  But I'll get better at this.

I did do better a little later on, on the way home.  I was stopped at a light and there was a slightly larger than normal gap between me and the SUV in front of me, when the SUV pulled up a bit.  I didn't follow suit and some nimrod in the right lane slowly wheeled his way in front of me.  Once he was definitely inbetween me and the SUV, only then did he gesture that he was asking if I would let him in so he could go from the right lane to the left turn only lane. 

Normally I'd have fumed.  I just rolled my eyes and motioned that it was fine.

In need of anger management

The video of the driver deliberately running his BMW into a cyclist in an alley is very disturbing.  It's shown in this news story:
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/04/23/bicyclist-pinned-against-trash-bin-in-beverly-hills-road-rage-incident/

I saw it and was immediately reminded of my last two run-ins with the issue of road rage on a personal level.  My ex-wife and I were having a nice weekend drive when someone cut me off.  Without conscious thought, in my anger, when we pulled up to him at the next light, I flipped him the bird and sped off.  It was a dumb thing for me to do.  He chased us.  Nothing happened, thank goodness.

The other one that springs to mind was when I was out on a long bicycle ride.  I was on Artesia at Grant, in Redondo Beach, stopped for a traffic light.  Some a-holes pulled up next to me and one of them squirted me with a squirt gun through the car window.  So I spit on the car and rode away.  They tried to chase me, but I doubled back along a sidewalk and lost them.  I'm not proud of having spit on that car and in retrospect, it was a dumb thing to do.

Yet I allowed someone to anger me the other night and let myself be dragged into a verbal confrontation.  So maybe I learned something from all of the above and maybe I didn't.  I do know that from the moment of that confrontation last week, I've been making a conscious effort to simply ignore the things that push my buttons.  It isn't easy.  As one of my former bosses once noted (probably the favorite of all the bosses I've ever worked for), my two biggest flaws are that I don't suffer fools gladly and I have a very broad definition of what constitutes a fool.  I worked hard on that when I worked for her and I need to be working on it now.  Growth is a never ending process.

* * * * *

Yesterday I noted a news story about a woman who is suing to be allowed to stop paying alimony to her husband.  In some states, when a marriage lasts long enough (usually ten years or more), when a couple then divorces; the 'bread-winner' can be ordered to pay alimony.  Forever, or until the ex-spouse receiving the support remarries. 

Did you know that if a couple is married for ten years or longer, that in a divorce, any retirement accounts can be divided by the judge, based on the state's property laws?  That this happens often enough there is a provision in the tax code for a person to roll the portion of their former spouse's retirement account they receive into a new IRA of their own?  Must happen more than just infrequently if someone thought of that.

It's time to reform the laws that allow this to happen, but with an eye to fairness.  It is wrong that a person can continue to be supported for the rest of their life, without having to at least make an effort to become self-sufficient.  Now when someone's been out of the work force for decades, and their skills from long-ago no longer have much marketability, that's one thing.  But that doesn't mean they can't go out and acquire new skills.  A person in their early 40s or 50s shouldn't be allowed to just continue living well from the labor of their former spouse without having to try to earn their own way in the world.  Now if they can't that's another story.  If they are caring for children, that is also another story.  But someone who doesn't work, and can, shouldn't get a free ride.

* * * * *

Apparently the Republican members of the House and Senate aren't fans of Consumer Finanicial Protection Bureau, a government agency created as part of the Dodd/Frank overhaul of the regulations that govern financial institutions and the entire finance industry.  That is the only conclusion one can draw from their instranigence in refusing to allow a Senate confirmation vote on the President's nominee to lead the agency; and the refusal of the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee to allow that nominee, Richard Cordray to testify before his committee.  The excuse is that President Obama's appointment of Cordray was illegal is just a lot of "hooey".

* * * * *

I'm nervous this morning.  I see the cardiologist today which helps to put me at ease, but I'm still disquieted by something that happened this morning.  I won't gross you out with the details, but my internet research indicates that what I saw could be a symptom of my Congestive Heart Failure getting worse.  I'll keep you posted.

* * * * *

This Date in History:

On this date in 1184BC, the city of Troy fell. (the traditional date given by historians)
On this date in 1558, Mary Queen of Scots, marries Francois, the Dauphin of France.
On this date in 1704, the first regular newspaper in the U.S., the "News-Letter" is published in Boston.
On this date in 1800, the Library of Congress is established.
On this date in 1885, Annie Oakley is hired for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
On this date in 1907, Hersheypark, built by Milton Hershey for his employees, opens.
On this date in 1913, the Woolworth Building Skyscraper opens in NY.
On this date in 1916, the Easter Rising takes place in Ireland.
On this date in 1918, the first tank versus tank combat takes place.
On this date in 1933, Nazi Germany begins its persecution of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
On this date in 1953, Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
On this date in 1967, General William Westmoreland says the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope he can win politically what he cannot win militarily."
Also on that date, Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies when the parachute fails to open as Soyuz I attempts to touch back down.  First fatality in a space mission.
On this date in 1980, eight U.S. military personnel die in the Iranian desert when the mission to rescue the embassy hostages goes horribly wrong.

Famous Folk Born On This Date:

William I of Orange
Saint Vincent de Paul
Robert Penn Warren
Richard Donner
Jill Ireland
Richard Holbrooke
Richard M. Daley
Barbra Streisand
Eric Bogosian
Cedric the Entertainer
Djimon Hounsou
Chipper Jones

Headlines that caught my eye on Tuesday

Santa Monica College was evacuated on Tuesday, due to a bomb threat.  It is part of a strong uptick in the number of "suspicious" packages being reported to police after people notice they were apparently abandoned.

Speaking of SMC, their radio station, KCRW, is dropping Harry Shearer's "Le Show" that has aired on Sundays for some time.  It will continue to provide facilities for the program, but it will only be aired in syndication and online.  KCRW has also dropped Tom Schnabel's show from its over-the-air schedule.

The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing has reportedly said that he and his brother were working alone and they did not receive assistance from any terrorist groups.

The two women who were "accidentally" shot by police who mistook them for wanted fugitive Christopher Dorner have reached a settlement with the City of Los Angeles.  They will be paid $4.2 million and agree not to file future claims against the city.

Prosecutors have dropped charges against the man who was arrested and charged with sending ricin-filled letters to a Mississippi Senator and to President Obama.  New evidence has apparently come to light.

Actor Allan Arbus has died at the age of 95.  Best known for his recurring role as psychiatrist "Major Sidney Friedman" on the hit show "M*A*S*H".  He took up acting in his 40s after a successful career as a fashion photographer, working with his first wife, Diane Arbus.  RIP.

Two stories from Las Vegas today:

1.  Authorities in Los Angeles and San Francisco are saying that "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" isn't true when it comes to mental patients.  The accusation is that a hospital there is putting its mentally ill on busses for one-way trips to California.  The hospital is denying the allegations.

2.  Don't take a taxicab from McCarren International Airport to your hotel, unless you know the way.  An audit revealed that taxi drivers in Vegas overcharged airport passengers to the tune of $14.8 million last year.  Rent a car or take SuperShuttle.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson missed the premiere of his new film "Pain and Gain" last night because he was undergoing an emergency hernia surgery.

Over 89,000 employees of the IRS will be taking furlough days over the next few months.  Even those IT and security personnel who will be required to work on the days everyone else is off of work, will be forced to take other days off without pay so that no one is exempted.

Meanwhile, Apple is sharing the wealth, announcing plans to distribute $100 billion in cash to shareholders between now and 2015, in the form of dividends and buybacks.

We may see more of "Average Joe's Gym", "The American Dodgeball Association of America", and "Peter la Fleur" as a sequel to 2004's "Dodgeball:  A True Underdog Story' is in the works.

In Baltimore, 13 corrections officers and 12 reputed gang members were indicted on racketeering, money laundering and drug charges.

Burger King is expanding its delivery service to Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco.  Cities where you can already have a Whopper delivered to your door are Washington, D.C., Houston, Miami and New York City.

Hawaiian Tropic is dashing the dreams of male oglers everywhere, as it is ending its 30 year run of bikini contests.  Reason?  The contests don't resonate with women who shop for suntan products.  It took them 30 years to figure that out??

A Miami Beach woman found $36,000 in cash at the golf course where she works, and promptly turned it in.  Its owner has been located and the cash returned to him.

In several U.S. states, if you are married for more than ten years and then divorce, you may be on the hook for "permanent" alimony.  Now a woman who was ordered to pay that support to her ex-husband, she is challenging it in the courts, saying it is not fair.  More on this on tomorrow's blog.

Singer/songwriter Will.i.am has admitted to stealing the "beat" for a song from another artist, although some reports have him saying it wasn't "intentional".  Okayyyyyyyyyyyy.

Rapper Little Scrappy went to jail rather than submit a court-ordered urine test.  Apparently he studied a bit too hard for the test, as when he turned in the sample it was cold to the touch.  When asked to provide another sample, he refused.

Teachers are attending "training" at the Marine Corps Recruit facility at Parris Island, SC, in order to learn more about the Marines and why they should recommend it as a career option to their students. 

I couldn't help but feel for the guy who lost his job as a weekend anchor for the local TV news at a station in North Dakota.  Seems his first two words on the air were "f****ng s**t" and he was fired soon after.

I have a confession.  I dropped the F-bomb on the radio, not once but twice.  Once I am certain no one noticed.  I won't get into the specifics but it was after 2 in the morning and I doubt very many people were listening to yet another re-run of a talk radio program from earlier in the evening.  I think it was the second time the show was being re-run that night.  I had to do the local headlines and weather and "ooops", there it went.  The phone didn't ring, and nothing happened.  I'm assuming that no one heard it.

The second time I was on the air doing the news and the phone rang with someone making a "random" sales call.  It was a Sunday evening and those types of calls shouldn't have been coming in to a business.  I just didn't realize I hadn't muted the mic and "ooops".  But I think something else was playing at the time (maybe a commercial??) and again nothing happened.  In those days I did not "air-check" news programming because there was no need.  So I'd made no record of the show.  When I was doing the FM dj "thing" I always taped my shows so I could listen to them and analyze afterward.  I wanted to improve for some silly reason, even though the effort turned out to be a huge waste of time.  I say that because all that effort didn't get me the full-time gig when it finally opened.  I lost it to a major market DJ who'd just lost his job when a station had been sold and changed format.  Radio is many things, but unless you're a Ryan Seacrest or Howard Stern, it is not to be associated with job security.

As the student loan crisis grows and grows, some families are trying to prevent this from happening to their kids when they head off to college.  They are pouring money into "529 Plans" which is a tax-favored way of saving for college.  It's a smart strategy for them.  Start saving early enough in a child's life and you may have enough to offset a large portion of the cost of college, assuming your child isn't going to spend seven years as an undergrad and graduate student at an Ivy League school.

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that convictions for having a "small" amount of pot is not a crime serious enough to deport legals who have such convictions.   That's fair. 

It's impressive that someone like Ben Affleck is taking on the "live below the line" challenge, designed to show people what it is like to live below the poverty line.  He will spend five days living on only $1.50 per day.  Oh wait, that's just his food budget for those five days.  Truly living below the poverty line would mean giving up the mansion, the cars, the high speed internet, the big screen TV, the smartphone and all the other trappings of success he enjoys.  But at least his stomach may get a clue about what that kind of life is like.  I don't mean to sound critical of him for making the effort, but at those who think taking on this challenge gives any real insight to what that kind of life is really like.  It isn't just hunger.  It's shelter.  It's running water.  It's a restroom that isn't a port-a-potty you may have to fight just to use.

Should Shawn Kemp be worried that one of his records is in jeopardy?  He fathered seven children out of wedlock during his NBA career (at least seven, many believe the actual total is higher).  Now the internet is ablaze with rumors that the Lakers Dwight Howard may become a father for the fifth time, with five different women.  Hey, if he can afford the child support and does the right thing, who cares how many kids he fathers?  Aside from the accountants and lawyers who have to deal with it of course.

I'm not saying that Joanna Krupa is not gorgeous.  She is.  But for her to label herself as the "sexiest swimsuit model in the world" is awfully arrogant.

This Date in History:

On this date in 1348, King Edward III announces the founding of the Order of the Garter.  It wasn't until centuries later that King Frederick of Hollywood announced the founding of the Order of the Garter Belt.
On this date in 1635, Boston Latin School, the first public school in the U.S. is founded.
On this date in 1661, Charles II is crowned King of England, Scotland and Ireland.
On this date in 1910, Theodore Roosevelt makes his "Man in the Arena" speech.
On this date in 1940, a fire in a nightclub in Natchez, MS, kills 198 people.
On this date in 1945, Hermann Goering, Hitler's chosen successor sends him a telegram asking him for permission to assume command of the Third Reich.  Hitler's response was to replace Goering with Goebbels and Donitz.
On this date in 1967, Soyuz I, a manned spaceflight is launched.
On this date in 1985, Coca-Cola releases "New Coke".  It took only three months for Old Coke to return to the marketplace.

Famous Folk Born On this Date:

William Shakespeare
William Penn
James Buchannan
Max Planck
Sergei Prokofiev
Ngaio Marsh
Oleg Penkovsky (famous double-agent)
Warren Spahn
Shirley Temple
Jim Fixx
Halston
Roy Orbison
Lee Majors
Sandra Dee
Gail Goodrich
Tony Esposito
Herve Villechaize (de plane, de plane)
Joyce DeWitt
Michael Moore
Tony Miles
Jan Hooks
Valerie Bertinelli
Terry Gordy (I can just see him doing a "spinning toe-hold")
George Lopez
Timothy McVeigh (rot in hell)
John Cena
Joanna Krupa
Jaime King

Monday's eye-catching headlines

Singer Ritchie Havens has died at the age of 72.  A tremendously talented "folk" singer who never achieved the commercial success that he should have, he was still very well known.  Anyone who has seen "Woodstock:  3 Days of Peace and Music" will remember his face and his performance.  RIP.  This isn't from Woodstock, but it's still damn good:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBbXKsKXyNU

One byproduct of the hearing in court where Jamie McCourt is seeking a better settlement from her ex-husband, former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is that we now know that he paid more than $460 million in taxes on his profit from the sale of the team.

Two men involved in a "sextortion" plot invoving pro poker player Joe Sexton and others are going to prison.  One got 42 months and the other got two years for their roles in the extortion attempt.

The Supreme Court's ruling that police officer must have either permission, or a warrant, to take blood from a suspected drunk driver may allow some who are guilty of DUI to escape criminal prosecution.  But the 4th Amendment does apply to DUI, and those who refuse a test do lose their licenses.

L.A. mayor Villaraigosa's final budget is in, and it is apparently a balanced one.  The $7.7 billion plan does call for more than half of the city's employees to lose part of a previously negotiated pay raise, and freezing salaries for three years starting in 2014.  Good luck with that.

Students report having seen Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on campus after the marathon bombing.  There are also reports that his brother had been disruptive on more than one occasion at a mosque in Boston.

A.J. Clemente was excited.  It was his first on-air appearance as a news anchor.  His career started and ended within the first 30 seconds, as the first two words his mic picked up were "f***ing s**t".  He was suspended almost immediately and fired soon afterward.  See tomorrow's blog for some more thoughts on this story and a personal experience.

Fans of "Futurama" will be disappointed to learn the show has been cancelled, yet again.

Singer Olivia Newton-John was supposed to take up "residence" in the showroom at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, but she has chosen to postpone her appearance there due to her sister having been diagnosed with brain cancer.

Scott Sterling, son of L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling apparently died from an overdose of a narcotic drug.  The coroner's report indicates that the injection of a medication that was designed to be taken orally was responsible.

In Hanoi, police seized 53 king cobra snakes and arrested the driver of the car that the reptiles were found in.  King cobra meat is prized as a delicacy in Vietnam.

Porsha Stewart is married to pro-football player Kordell Stewart.  She learned that he'd filed for a divorce from her, on Twitter.  Social media strikes again.

Tara Reid, who has been in the news before for her "behavior" apparently lost control when a clothing store refused to give her a discount.  Apparently that location isn't "on Team Tara".

Do you think there's any linkage between the new Carl's Jr. Pop-Tart ice-cream sandwich and the choice to unveil it on 4/20?  I'd be more worried about linkage if it had been announced at 4:20 p.m. on 4/20.

Earth Day

Today is Earth Day.  Let's celebrate it by pledging to spend not just today, but the next 364 days in doing things to protect and preserve our planet.  Every day should be Earth day.

There is speculation today that the Boston bombers were planning other attacks to follow in the wake of the bombing last Monday.  I suspect the most terror that will take place in the suspect's life is the terror-filled moment just before they push the button to send those fatal drugs into his bloodstream.

I was surprised at how well organized the CicLAVia event was yesterday, in terms of dealing with vehicle traffic at the streets where crossings were set up.  Cars were easily able to get across Venice with plenty of traffic control people on-hand to keep everyone safe.

Christina Amphlett has died at the age of 53.  You may or may not recognize her name.  She was the lead singer of The Divinyls, the group with the big hit "I Touch Myself".  She died of complications from MS and breast cancer.  Her husband has confirmed that she died hoping that her song would inspire women to conduct annual breast examinations.   I hope it does.

A middle school student wore a National Rifle Association t-shirt to school and refused to take it off when it "caused a disruption".  It resulted in his arrest.  Free speech is not absolute, is it?  Schools can and do impose dress codes and they apparently do not violate the freedom of expression rights of students.  An interesting quandry.

Now teens are taking the "cinnamon challenge" and risking serious damage to their lungs

Reese Witherspoon is "deeply embarrassed" at her behavior that caused her arrest.  She should be, but once again we are reminded of that old adage in vino veritas.  

There's a letter in Dear Abby today from a mother who wants to know if she should try and do more to get her ex-husband to take part in his son's sports activities.  The son just took up a new sport and while the step-dad and mom are active in attending his practices and games, his father is absent.  As much as I competed in sports as a teen, my father came to watch me do that only once.  I hope that the father in this case gets the message and gets out there to support his son.

This Date in History:

On this date in 1500, explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral lands in what is now Brazil.
On this date in 1519, explorer Hernando Cortes establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico.
On this date in 1529, the Treaty of Saragossa divides the Eastern Hemisphere between Spain and Portugal.  If only Asian nations had known how presumptuous the Europeans were with their lands.
On this date in 1836, forces under the command of General Sam Houston capture General de Santa Anna.
On this date in 1864, Congress passes a law mandating the inclusion of the words "In God We Trust" on all U.S. coins. (trivia - first coin to have the motto was the 2 cent piece)
On this date in 1876, the first ever National League baseball game was played in Philadelphia.  Fans booed mercilessly.
On this date in 1898, the U.S. begins a blockade of Cuban ports.
On this date in 1906, the Olympic Games open in Athens.  These games are not recognized as being part of the "official" Olympics.
On this date in 1912, "Pravda" publishes for the first time.
On this date in 1945, Adolph Hitler says the war is lost and his only recourse is suicide.  If only 20 years earlier....
On this date in 1954, televised coverage of the Army-McCarthy hearings begins.
On this date in 1970, Earth Day is celebrated for the first time.
On this date in 1972, word that the U.S. has stepped up bombing in Vietnam sparks anti-war protests in several large U.S. cities.
On this date in 1977, optical fiber is used for the first time to carry live phone traffic.

Famous Folk Born on this Date:

Queen Isabella
Henry Fielding
Immanuel Kant
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
Nicola Sacco
Vladimir Nabakov
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Eddie Albert
Yehudi Menuhin
Charles Mingus
Aaron Spelling
Charlotte Rae
Jack Nicholson
Janet Evanovich
John Waters
Larry Groce
Peter Frampton
Paul Carrack
Chris Makepeace
Sherri Shepherd
Courtney Friel
Amber Heard

And yesterday we noted the birth of singer Paul Davis on 4/21.  Now we note that on this date in 2008, at the age of 60, he went to the big stage in the sky to give endless concerts.  RIP.

Time to change a few things....

Let's talk about a few more changes that should be made in our Federal government.

Health insurance first.  Right now, if someone is over 65 and still working at a job that makes them eligible for health insurance benefits, they can enroll in Medicare; but Medicare becomes their secondary insurer.  So they pay the full premium amount, but in essence, their employer is subsidizing Medicare by being the primary insurer.

Time to change this.  Workers who are over 65 and Medicare eligible should have Medicare become their primary insurer.  If they continue to have health insurance through their employer, the employer-provided insurance should become the secondary insurance.  People like this wouldn't need to buy a supplemental policy to cover what Medicare won't.  This will drive the cost of employer-provided health insurance lower for this age-group.

Why is that good?  Because right now, employers are seeking to get this group of workers out of the workforce.  That is due to the fact it costs them a lot more to provide coverage for people based on age.  The older a workforce is, the more expensive it is to purchase health insurance for.  These people are eligible for Medicare, they and their employers have paid into the Medicare system throughout their working histories, give them the benefits they have earned.  The more of these people that are in the "pool" of covered individuals being furnished their health insurance through employers, the lower the costs to employers (and therefore, consumers) would go.

In raising the number of people who are part of the Medicare program as their primary insurer, perhaps government might finally start setting more rigid standards for errors in claims processing and in combating fraud.

* * * * *

Right now we are the most tolerant nation on this planet when it comes to the visas of students and tourists.  This is also something that needs to change and now. 

When you enter this nation on a tourist visa, you should have a 72 hour window of opportunity to depart from the end of your planned stay.  If the tourist needs to stay longer, they need to contact the State Department and ask permission.  We need a computerized system that tracks every single person who is visiting this country on a visa that automatically flags anyone who has overstayed their visa and issues a warrant for their arrest.  Now if they've committed no crime other than overstaying the visa, send them on their way with an apology and no criminal record or record of arrest.  They were merely "detained" prior to departing.

But when someone has deliberately stayed in this nation beyond the proper amount of time, be they a student, tourist or whatever, either they get permission to stay or they have to leave.  And depending on what it takes to get them to leave, maybe we should consider banning them from re-entry.

Who is going to pay for all of this additional monitoring, the cost of the people to do it and so on?  Easy.  Raise the price for people to get a visa to enter the country.  A U.S. Department of Commerce estimate for the year 2011 predicted that there would be approximately 27 million arrivals in the U.S. that year from destinations outside the U.S. (not counting Mexico and Canada).  Add ten bucks to the cost of every visa that 27 million people obtain and you've got $270 million.  That's enough to fund 5,000 new Department of Homeland Security employees annually to track visas.

Both of these ideas have been added to the proposed platform of the Centrist Party.

Eye-catching headlines from Sunday

Bill Rodgers has won the Boston Marathon four times.  He is one of only two men alive who have won it three straight years (not counting the wheelchair division of course).  He retired from marathoning years ago, but today he announced that he will run next year's Boston Marathon in a show of unity.

At the London Marathon, over 36,000 runners at the starting line grew quiet and observed a moment of silence to honor the victims and people of Boston.  Very moving.

From the "you should have stayed quiet" file:  actress Reese Witherspoon was arrested in Atlanta for disorderly conduct after she refused to stay in the car while her husband, CAA agent Jim Toth was being arrested for DUI.

NBC Sports will not comment on whether or not the DUI arrest of longtime Sunday Night Football announcer Al Michaels will have any impact on his future with the network.  He was cited for DUI in Santa Monica this past Friday and released on a citation a few hours later.  He has a court date on June 26th.

In the wake of the big scandal in Atlanta regarding cheating on standardized tests in the public schools, a teacher at Burbank's McKinley Elementary School has been placed on administrative leave, after a third-grade student reported that the teacher helped students answer questions on a standardized test this past week.

Two brothers in their 60s who share a house in Pasadena, had an altercation on Friday.  Eventually, one hit the other with a hammer.  There were no serious injuries and the brother who used the hammer as a weapon was arrested and charged with Assault With a Deadly Weapon.

A Boston area Transit Authority policeman who was shot while in pursuit of the marathon bombing suspect lost all of his blood supply, but is now expected to survive.  Doctors resuscitated his heart and replaced the blood via transfusion.  He is in the ICU today and on a respirator, but has managed to wiggle his toes and squeeze the fingers of others. 

Estimates for the weekend box office totals show that Tom Cruise's new film "Oblivion" will win the weekend contest with $38.1 million.  Last week's champ "42" is a solid 2nd, with $18 million and "The Croods" finished 3rd with $9.5 million.  "The Place Beyond the Pines" broke much wider and did well, while a French film "In the House" brought in nearly $12,000 per screen on three screens.

My favorite cop show on TV at the moment is "Southland" and it is struggling to be renewed for another season.  Maybe the cameo appearance that LAPD Chief Charlie Beck made will help.  What's really cool is that Chief Beck donated his entire payment for the appearance (more than $1,000) to Homeboy Industries.  Nice job, Chief.

Adolphus Busch IV, grandson of the founder of Anheuser-Busch and a lifelong hunter has resigned his membership in the National Rifle Association in the wake of the NRA's change of position on background checks.  In 1991, the NRA's CEO Wayne LaPierre stated just that position.

Robert Earl Holding has died at the age of 86.  He was the owner of Sinclair Oil, and the Sun Valley Ski resort, and was worth more than $3 billion.

In Arizona, a van carrying 22 people was fleeing from the Border Patrol when it overturned, killing five of its passengers.