When all else fails, have a fake press conference! I don't have all the facts (OK, blame it on law school head) but I have heard enough--that for some reason FEMA held a fake press conference. (I did look it up later, and apparently FEMA wanted to show that they had things more together this time--after the California fires--than they did after Katrina. So they had staff members act like they were reporters asking questions.)
Oh yeah, that is smart!
I know it was the idea of some dumb PR flack. But wait a minute-some PR flacks would know better!
Oh yeah, but this is one who was appointed by the Bush administration. What more can you say.
As a former reporter, I can tell you this will ruin what little credibility with the press they had left.
Hey, FEMA PR guy--you messed up! You breached the public's trust. And you got what you deserved--no job.
************************
I am so excited that my blog now has a page ranking of 3! I have only been doing this since July, so this makes me very happy. Thanks to all who have been reading my blog. Uncork the champagne!
**************************
I was really disappointed at work today. My relative boss is reluctant to offer disability insurance and some other types of insurance, despite the fact that it would not cost him or the company anything. I asked him about this today and got pretty upset when again he seemed unconcerned. We are not an insurance agency, he said. Well, duh. But companies offer benefits. I am so disappointed. I am hoping it is not because he is selfish and unconcerned. Since he is over 65, he would not qualify for these benefits. But what about the rest of us? I dont' understand your reluctance, I told him. It would cost you nothing, and it would be such a good thing. Do you understand that under certain circumstances, if someone was hurt or ill for a length of time, that an employee, including me, could lose everything? His response was only one of non response. Very disappointing.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Good Golly! You Can Marry Your Cousin!
Well, at least you can in Tennessee. Yes, the jokes have some merit. As I study for my domestic relations final, I am learning, among other things, the prohibited degrees of relationship, as detailed in Tenn. Code Annotated 36-3-101.
Under this statute, you cannot marry
1) a lineal ancestor or descendant
2) a lineal ancestor or descendant of a parent
3) a child of a grandparent
4) a lineal descendant of husband or wife
5) a husband or wife of a parent or lineal descendant
(child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, uncle/aunt, sibling, stepchild, stepparent, adopted, son/daughter-in-law).
These requirements in Tennessee cannot be waived!
I started wondering if Woody Allen had lived in Tennessee, would he have been able to marry Mia Farrow's adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn? I think he could have because Allen never married Farrow, so Soon-Yi was not a stepchild of his. Well, that is a load off my mind.
But you can marry your cousin! Who would have thought.
Under this statute, you cannot marry
1) a lineal ancestor or descendant
2) a lineal ancestor or descendant of a parent
3) a child of a grandparent
4) a lineal descendant of husband or wife
5) a husband or wife of a parent or lineal descendant
(child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, uncle/aunt, sibling, stepchild, stepparent, adopted, son/daughter-in-law).
These requirements in Tennessee cannot be waived!
I started wondering if Woody Allen had lived in Tennessee, would he have been able to marry Mia Farrow's adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn? I think he could have because Allen never married Farrow, so Soon-Yi was not a stepchild of his. Well, that is a load off my mind.
But you can marry your cousin! Who would have thought.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
It's Been One of Those Days
I had today off from work, and it should have been a good day. But instead I felt like hell most of the day.
Why? Maybe it is that I am just exhausted. I only got about 4 hours of sleep again last night. Maybe that is the root of the problem. I hope it is--that would be an easy answer.
I have been alternatively sad and edgy all day. I was signed up to an all day research project--I had to be downtown by 7 a.m., a whole hour earlier than I normally have to be at work. I was excited about being part of a focus group, but then I got down there and was informed the computer didn't choose me. They sent me home with $50. I was glad to have the $50, but I felt like I had been rejected. I was dejected. How dumb is that?
Rather than go back to work, I decided to catch up in one of my law classes that I am really behind in. I had a pretty good day doing that, but all day I felt lonely, anxious, you name it, that I would never find love. What is the deal with that?
I was reading my statute book, and it was interesting to a point. But the problem with statutes is that the comments sections go on forever. The comments and notes are helpful to understanding the statutes, but they just go on and on.......
Basic bottom line is that I just felt very, very alone all day, which is wierd. I really wanted to enjoy my day off and make it productive. OK, it was productive, but my feelings were out of control.
On top of that tonight, I have felt sad. I never watch Fox News, but I was watching Bill O'Reilly tonight and saw the report about the 8 year old boy in Vancouver WA, who called 911 about his mother who was drunk and tryng to drive the car. The mother kept hitting the boy's hands so he wouldn't be able to talk on the phone, but he was able to get his message through and the police arrested his mother. He and his sibling are now staying with a family friend. How distressing it was to hear this story. That brave, poor little boy. I had some upheaval in my childhood--not like this--and know how scary and upsetting it can be when parents get mad and selfish and irrational. He is between a rock and a hard place--his mother has been arrested, and he may have to go into foster care. It just makes me want to cry.
Why? Maybe it is that I am just exhausted. I only got about 4 hours of sleep again last night. Maybe that is the root of the problem. I hope it is--that would be an easy answer.
I have been alternatively sad and edgy all day. I was signed up to an all day research project--I had to be downtown by 7 a.m., a whole hour earlier than I normally have to be at work. I was excited about being part of a focus group, but then I got down there and was informed the computer didn't choose me. They sent me home with $50. I was glad to have the $50, but I felt like I had been rejected. I was dejected. How dumb is that?
Rather than go back to work, I decided to catch up in one of my law classes that I am really behind in. I had a pretty good day doing that, but all day I felt lonely, anxious, you name it, that I would never find love. What is the deal with that?
I was reading my statute book, and it was interesting to a point. But the problem with statutes is that the comments sections go on forever. The comments and notes are helpful to understanding the statutes, but they just go on and on.......
Basic bottom line is that I just felt very, very alone all day, which is wierd. I really wanted to enjoy my day off and make it productive. OK, it was productive, but my feelings were out of control.
On top of that tonight, I have felt sad. I never watch Fox News, but I was watching Bill O'Reilly tonight and saw the report about the 8 year old boy in Vancouver WA, who called 911 about his mother who was drunk and tryng to drive the car. The mother kept hitting the boy's hands so he wouldn't be able to talk on the phone, but he was able to get his message through and the police arrested his mother. He and his sibling are now staying with a family friend. How distressing it was to hear this story. That brave, poor little boy. I had some upheaval in my childhood--not like this--and know how scary and upsetting it can be when parents get mad and selfish and irrational. He is between a rock and a hard place--his mother has been arrested, and he may have to go into foster care. It just makes me want to cry.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
A Convenient Truth
I am watching a documentary on CNN about Al Gore's book,
An Inconvenient Truth, and his recent Nobel Peace Prize, and I find myself again annoyed. Not at CNN. They are doing their job at examining an issue. But people keep pooh-poohing Al Gore and his environmental work.
This just boggles my mind. So far they have interviewed several scientists who say global warming is not happening. Why are they not interviewing those scientists who say it is?
But what really boggles my mind is people's disregard for the environment. OK, so maybe you don't believe or accept the evidence about global warming, or maybe you are just so selfish you don't give a shit.
But even if that is the case, why can't you appreciate the environment and want to protect it?
After all, if you don't care about the environment and work to save it, you are saying you dont' care about your children's or grandchildren's future. You are saying their future is not worth anything.
Is that what you really want to say? Really think about it!
Wake up now and help the situation, or you are part of the problem.
******************************
Congrats to the people at my school who graduated last May and passed the bar. I checked the published list yesterday and saw a few of my friends. I didn't recognize many of the names, highlighting the fact that I didn't know as many members of the class above me as I thought. We will not find out the percent of those from our school who passed for a few days yet. Our school tends to have a lesser percentage who pass, because we are a night school, and people work full time in addition to going to school. I'll cross my fingers our stats are good!
An Inconvenient Truth, and his recent Nobel Peace Prize, and I find myself again annoyed. Not at CNN. They are doing their job at examining an issue. But people keep pooh-poohing Al Gore and his environmental work.
This just boggles my mind. So far they have interviewed several scientists who say global warming is not happening. Why are they not interviewing those scientists who say it is?
But what really boggles my mind is people's disregard for the environment. OK, so maybe you don't believe or accept the evidence about global warming, or maybe you are just so selfish you don't give a shit.
But even if that is the case, why can't you appreciate the environment and want to protect it?
After all, if you don't care about the environment and work to save it, you are saying you dont' care about your children's or grandchildren's future. You are saying their future is not worth anything.
Is that what you really want to say? Really think about it!
Wake up now and help the situation, or you are part of the problem.
******************************
Congrats to the people at my school who graduated last May and passed the bar. I checked the published list yesterday and saw a few of my friends. I didn't recognize many of the names, highlighting the fact that I didn't know as many members of the class above me as I thought. We will not find out the percent of those from our school who passed for a few days yet. Our school tends to have a lesser percentage who pass, because we are a night school, and people work full time in addition to going to school. I'll cross my fingers our stats are good!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Tomorrow is D Day for Recent Bar Takers
Tomorrow at high noon, the July bar takers will find out if they passed or not. At least in Tennessee that is the situation. Tomorrow at high noon hundreds of people in TN will be hitting the Website at one time to see if their name is there. No name, no passee. I think on Saturday, the names will be published en banc in the newspaper.
I don't know why the bar examiners do it this way, in so public a fashion. Why not have everyone make their own account, log in, and see if they passed, in the privacy of their home or office. Why make it so public? Maybe that is just part of the deal????
I know that everyone hopes that high noon will result in everyone being OK in the OK Corral. I don't even take the bar until next summer and I am nervous to see the results tomorrow. I didn't know many people in the two classes above mine. But I knew quite a few in this 2007 class. I wish them the best. Here's to you! Fingers crossed.
I don't know why the bar examiners do it this way, in so public a fashion. Why not have everyone make their own account, log in, and see if they passed, in the privacy of their home or office. Why make it so public? Maybe that is just part of the deal????
I know that everyone hopes that high noon will result in everyone being OK in the OK Corral. I don't even take the bar until next summer and I am nervous to see the results tomorrow. I didn't know many people in the two classes above mine. But I knew quite a few in this 2007 class. I wish them the best. Here's to you! Fingers crossed.
Monday, October 15, 2007
In Praise of the Environment
I was going to research some topic, but didn't have time. This will be short and simple. I used to be really good about recycling but I have fallen off. So my contribution to this event today is to rededicate myself as someone interested in recycling and the environment.
I am so excited that Al Gore won that Nobel Prize. I agree that he has done more than anyone to bring attention to global warming and environmental concerns. Maybe we can all learn from him and use him as an example.
I am so excited that Al Gore won that Nobel Prize. I agree that he has done more than anyone to bring attention to global warming and environmental concerns. Maybe we can all learn from him and use him as an example.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
What's the Big Idea, Ann Coulter?
I don't know where to begin to talk about Ann Coulter. I have never agreed with her. Too conservative, too outspoken, too sarcastic. Many of her ideas are wacky or hateful. But at one point I thought she was funny. She used to appear on Bill Maher's show. Again--I never agreed with her, but thought she had the gift of the one-liner. Some of her comments were sort of witty.
But lately, it almost seems as if she is losing it. She's not funny anymore, or even very relevant. But she is mean spirited. Like when she slammed the 911 widows. Maybe she was tired of being shushed, or whatever it was when she wanted to complain about them, but she could have found a better way to complain than to say that the widows were having a good time exploiting their dead husbands, or something similar to that. Unbelievable!
She spoke a couple of years ago at Vanderbilt University. I would have liked to have been there, but had something else to do that night. But she didn't disappoint--she of course was tacky and saracastic and inappropriate as usual. Then getting into it with Elizabeth Edwards--how smart is that?
The latest is her appearance on Donny Deutsch's show, The Big Idea. I only caught part of it, but did hear the part where she was talking about how Jews needed to be perfected. Again, she caused a stir over something she didn't even need to bring up. And now she is claiming to be such a Christian? Sorry Ann, I don't see it. Maybe try acting like a Christian????
It seems like she is losing her fan base. At this point, I don't know whether to feel sorry for her (as in she is digging herself into a hole that it will be hard to climb out of) or to chuckle and just think she did it to herself.
****************************************
I have been trying to read constitutional law tonight. I have to say it is the hardest textbook I have had (except for maybe taxation last year). The editor is not very good. Other textbooks we have used in our other classes have been easier to read, and had better editors, I think.
But lately, it almost seems as if she is losing it. She's not funny anymore, or even very relevant. But she is mean spirited. Like when she slammed the 911 widows. Maybe she was tired of being shushed, or whatever it was when she wanted to complain about them, but she could have found a better way to complain than to say that the widows were having a good time exploiting their dead husbands, or something similar to that. Unbelievable!
She spoke a couple of years ago at Vanderbilt University. I would have liked to have been there, but had something else to do that night. But she didn't disappoint--she of course was tacky and saracastic and inappropriate as usual. Then getting into it with Elizabeth Edwards--how smart is that?
The latest is her appearance on Donny Deutsch's show, The Big Idea. I only caught part of it, but did hear the part where she was talking about how Jews needed to be perfected. Again, she caused a stir over something she didn't even need to bring up. And now she is claiming to be such a Christian? Sorry Ann, I don't see it. Maybe try acting like a Christian????
It seems like she is losing her fan base. At this point, I don't know whether to feel sorry for her (as in she is digging herself into a hole that it will be hard to climb out of) or to chuckle and just think she did it to herself.
****************************************
I have been trying to read constitutional law tonight. I have to say it is the hardest textbook I have had (except for maybe taxation last year). The editor is not very good. Other textbooks we have used in our other classes have been easier to read, and had better editors, I think.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)