A Penny For Your Thoughts

My dad called me into his bedroom one Saturday morning and handed me a butter knife and told me to dig a penny out of a lamp socket.  I was twelve at the time and the socket was on the north wall of his room and four feet off the floor and looked like a candle stick.

I walked over to it and peered into the opening in the top where the special flame-shaped bulb used to be.  There did appear to be a scorched copper Lincoln-head cent down there.  

No Banker Left Behind

Here's a little something by Ry Cooder.  I don't always agree with his political views, but this song makes me smile every time I hear it.  He is obviously throwing barbs at the Bush banker bail outs, but a few darts unintentionally stick in Obama's hide. 

He perfectly captures a 1920's Woody Guthrie depression era damn all the robber barons zeitgeist.  I dare you to listen to it and not grin ear to ear. 

Protecting The Evironment Can Kill You

An ambulance in Washington D.C., last Wednesday, carrying a gunshot victum shut down automatically on I-295 and could not be restarted. 

The cause of the vehicle stall was an EPA mandated device meant to reduce diesel emissions.  If the emissions toxicity gets too high warning lights start blinking and if not corrected, the device turns off the engine. 

Another ambulance was dispatched to offload the passenger from the disabled vehicle, but that caused a delay.  The injured person, Nathaniel McRae, 34, who was shot by D.C. police, was dead  by the time the second ambulance arrived at Howard University Hospital.