Tue AM

There's not much better than getting up to a happy grandson, going for a quality run, and then getting ready to write.  OK, I must toss in laundairy [sic] somewhere in the picture, but I can stand that.

That the jury in the Kwame Kilpatrick case took so long led to a bit of a surprise that it found him and his cohorts guilty.  From all that I read and heard, they certainly were all of that and more.  Now, the sentencing.  I wonder why the judge remanded Kilpatrick and Ferguson, without bond, until their sentencing.  Hmmm.  Maybe it's because of their defiance of previous court rulings.  And how was Kilpatrick's dad convicted on only one charge?  That one has me.  Well, I forgot where I heard it, but it was from someone who claimed to do business in Detroit.  He said, "It's pay to play down there."  I hope the message isn't "just don't get caught."

Yep. the accolades for Carl Levin were in the newspaper, even the Detroit New, yesterday.  I reckon I just have a different set of values than many people.  Perhaps I expect too much.  But, as Karen always said when asked if I wanted to be an administrator, "No, he could never play the games."  I took that as a compliment about integrity and honesty.  I guess the same applies to politicians.

So, a NY judge slapped down the city's attempt to limit the sizes of sodas and other sugar-drinks.  Good for the judge!  I don't know the reasoning, but I hope it's because the government has no business and no authority to tell people what they can sell or buy.  (It's not as if soda is "drugs.")

I'm really of two minds about Detroit and the Emergency Manager.  I know the city was mismanaged for a long, long time.  I know the corruption was rampant, as noted by the Kilpatrick case and, I've heard, more indictments against more people to come.  I know the same people or types of people were elected and re-elected.  I know that if the city wants to get bailed out, it can't come without strings attached.  Yet, this really seems undemocratic, an elitist attempt to take over Detroit.  I understand the anger in Detroit.  Look at history, namely the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 24th Amendments.  Tell me another group of people who needed all this constitutional change to ensure rights of citizenship in the US.  (OK, there are women and Indians, but not nearly as much....)  And, what's this crap about Wall Street and the banking industry?  Didn't those who ran the companies there also "mismanage?"  The feds bailed them out, private companies!, because they were, supposedly, "too big to fail."  (What a crock!)  Well, isn't Detroit pretty "big?"  Where's the bailout there?  Both Emergency Managers and bailouts leave bad, very bad, tastes in my mouth.

Out to run some errands for K, who just gave me some assignments.  I'll write when I get home, since the Codester won't be home until later, after I pick up the kids from school.