The III Degree

"Nevermind if it's 'impossible.' What else should we hope to attain but the 'impossible?'"

Interesting thought

I have not seen a single person that I know since I left my van pool Thursday afternoon.  I have been stuck in Fredericksburg since the snow started last Friday.  I don’t know anyone here.  While I have talked to strangers at the store, family and friends on the phone, and my dog almost constantly, I haven’t talked to anyone in person for almost a week.  Weird.

If the Senate does not act – and I made this very clear – if the Senate does not act to confirm these nominees, I will consider making several recess appointments. President Obama, bringing out his can of whoop ass on the obstructionist Senator Shelby (R-Alabama).

Crazy Heart (2009)

This is one of the two best movies I have seen this year not nominated for an Oscar (The Hangover is the other).  It is better than several that were nominated - District 9, Up are two examples. Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal are both nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.  Jeff Bridges will win.  Maggie would not be undeserving (but MoNique will and should win it).  The song will probably win, but I think they nominated the wrong song (I liked “I don’t know” better).

So, the movie is about Bad Blake - a washed-up alcoholic country singer who pays for his drinks by playing two-bit gigs in bowling alleys and small bars.  He travels by himself, getting a back-up band (and a woman to sleep with) in each town.  The movie, and Jeff Bridges, are at their best during these early parts of the film.

Despite having few redeeming qualities, Bad Blake is a performer.  He puts on a show.  He knows that the only thing he does well in life is to play music and he has fun doing it (when he isn’t running off stage to puke).  The music is good, too.  With all the music out there today, I often forget how good guitar driven music can be.  Blake’s music isn’t so much country (even though it is) as it 70’s music - when a discernible guitar still mattered in music.  You will find yourself tapping your toes.

The plot moves along when Bad meets Jane, a reporter in Santa Fe.  They hit it off and much of the movie is about their relationship.  The relationship and what happens is interesting.  It will hold your attention, but this movie is about the music.

The other relationship in the movie is the one between Bad and Tommy Sweet.  Tommy is a country music star, who got his start by playing with Bad.  Bad is clearly upset about his protege outshining him.  The best part about Tommy?  He’s played superbly by Colin Farrell.  I actually find it a travesty that he wasn’t nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

If you like music, you’ll like this movie.  Go see it.

blogonthe:

A “mystery billboard” featuring George W. Bush has appeared on I-35 in Wyoming, MN, but “there’s no billboard ownership plate” and the mayor also has “no clue” where it came from (Minnesota Public Radio).

Awesome. But no.

blogonthe:

A “mystery billboard” featuring George W. Bush has appeared on I-35 in Wyoming, MN, but “there’s no billboard ownership plate” and the mayor also has “no clue” where it came from (Minnesota Public Radio).

Awesome. But no.

It is arrogant to imagine that 100 senators are wise enough to reform comprehensively a health care system that constitutes 17 percent of the world’s largest economy and affects 300 million Americans of disparate backgrounds and circumstances.

Senator Lamar Alexander.

If Senator Alexander believes that healthcare reform is beyond his comprehension, then he should resign immediately.  Why else do we elect politicians, if not to handle the hard decisions?

think4yourself:

obamarama:

The schedule was thrown off when it took the President fifteen minutes to come up with something witty to write in the hotel comment book.


So, what did he come up with?

think4yourself:

obamarama:

The schedule was thrown off when it took the President fifteen minutes to come up with something witty to write in the hotel comment book.

So, what did he come up with?

John is undergoing a campaign conversion. McCain’s primary opponent.  Is it just me or isn’t McCain always doing this?  When was the last time McCain did anything actually Mavericky (besides his disastrous choice of Sarah Palin).

Snow Day tomorrow

I love my last week at Coast Guard

A friend of mine took this picture in Cabo.

A friend of mine took this picture in Cabo.

Sometimes its fun being a lawyer

I have complained profusely about cable companies before, but Cox Communications may take the cake.  (By the way, if any cable company should change their name, shouldn’t it be the one that lends itself to dick jokes?).  When I moved into my current apartment, it came with free cable.  That’s great, except that didn’t include internet or DVR.  Both of these have become essentials for me.

So, I had to order it from Cox Cable.  We had a great deal worked out and I asked about getting free HBO or Cinemax or Showtime.  Most companies offer it free for a few months and I am actually disciplined enough to cancel it when they start charging me.  They told me I could get practically everything free for a year with a contract.  I told them I couldn’t do any contracts.  I knew I wouldn’t be here long, so I refused to get into a contract.  My price went up a bit, but we came to an agreement.

Fast forward to today and I call to cancel my service, because I am moving again.  The first lady I talked to transferred me.  Then, the second person can’t tell me what my final bill will be because they have to calculate the breakage of service fee.  I blow up on him saying there is no contract and telling him to prove me otherwise.  He asks to put me on hold, so he can check the records.  He says the contract is an oral contract saved by their recording devices.

He comes back a few minutes later and says that he will try to waive my fees.  I tell him there is no waive because there is no contract.  I then start to get pissed about everything and ask to speak to a supervisor.  I go on hold for a few more minutes.

The supervisor gets on and I ask for copies of all communications, including voice recordings, to prove that there was no contract.  He then stated that they don’t keep the voice recordings for more than a month.  I responded that they had no records showing my agreement to a contract.  He said that their notes showed that while there was an agreement, they had agreed that there would be no fees for disconnect.

I spent 5 minutes berating him that initially they deliberately claimed I owed a fee, when their records showed I didn’t.  Only when I disputed the existence of a contract did they look at their records.  I argued that had I not disputed it, they would have charged me the fees.  I felt that they try to screw over customers who aren’t as willing to dispute the cable company.

Cox Communications eventually caved and I don’t think I will get the records.  The supervisor also tried to argue that they sent me a letter laying out the terms of the service agreement and that it provided the opportunity to dispute that within 30 days.  But the fact is that they had absolutely no agreement on my part to any contract.

I would be willing to bet some money that they do this kind of crap to most or all of their customers.  I guess that they do it because it most people don’t complain and they make more money.  But that’s wrong and someone should sue them for it under a class action.  While I had fun being a lawyer today, I’m not willing to go that far.

The House Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, put forward an alternate bill as a substitute for the Democrats’ bill that was adopted on Nov. 7.

But Mr. Boehner and other House Republican leaders acknowledged that the proposal was purposely designed to be a scaled-back measure that did not try to extend health coverage to the vast majority of the nation’s uninsured. While the Democrats’ bills would extend coverage to more than 30 million people by 2019, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the House Republicans’ bill would extend coverage to perhaps 3 million people, leaving about 52 million uninsured.

Other House Republicans, including Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and John Shadegg of Arizona, have proposed more comprehensive legislation aimed at insuring many more people. But those proposals have not been fully analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office.

In the Senate, Republican leaders made a calculated strategic decision not to put forward a comprehensive alternative to the Democrats’ legislation. Trying to draft a single counterproposal inevitably would have embroiled Republicans in the same internal disagreements and disputes that divided Senate Democrats over health care ideas for much of the past year. Putting such a measure forward and then being unable to generate broad Republican support in a vote would have been embarrassing.

Instead, the Republicans went into the floor debate over the Democrats’ bills armed with dozens of individual amendments that most if not all of their caucus supported, but that might have been totally unworkable or even contradictory if pulled together into a bill.

NYTimes on the Republican plan on health care.