Jimmie Dale Gilmore "Santa Fe Thief"

Oh the townhouse warbler lives far apart in a song
He holds the poor in his memory he never, he never lets on
He gathers strength as he gazes at length in a joy
You cannot tell from the sound of nothings been heard from his boy

He's a thief in the night and he's stealing for light you won't know it
He's already found you, his arms all around, you won't show it
Maybe one day you'll know more of, you'll know enough to say
Look over yonder he's already coming
Look over yonder he's already coming
Look over yonder he's already coming your way

Oh the caretaker's daughter she lives near the Garden of Eden
She knows the name of each flower, she remembers which let you in
She spills the sky when she looks in your eye and her jasmine
A symphony heard from a mansion when the wind sweeps in between

She's a thief in the night and she's stealing for love you won't know it
She's already found you, her arms all around, you won't show it
Maybe one day you'll know more of, you'll know enough to say
Look over yonder she's already coming
Look over yonder she's already coming
Look over yonder she's already coming your way

Oh the old engineer stays patient high in his roundhouse
He watches his trains appearing through silent puffs of snow
And his eyes are bright as he watches them nearing the time to set the track
With a flick of his wrist he waves to let them go

He's a thief in the night and he's stealing for life you won't know it
He's already found you, his arms all around, you won't show it
Maybe one day you'll know more of, you'll know enough to say
Look over yonder he's already coming
Look over yonder he's already coming
Look over yonder he's already coming your way

Continuing the Various Lives of Keats and Chapman: Mulch

Chapman's wife had, for some time, wanted Chapman to work on their front garden.  The flower beds were overgrown with weeds and most of the plants looked sad and pathetic.


At the Zen and Tao Acoustic Café one day, Chapman told this to his friend and neighbor, Keats, if he might know of someone who could do some minor landscaping for him.  Keats said he would gladly take charge of the project.


The next Saturday, Keats showed up at Chapman's house with a load of mulch and a shovel, and he worked throughout the day to beautify the flower beds.


Chapman saw the work and thanked his friend, asking, "How much do I owe you?"

Keats replied, "You will need to bring a load of mulch to my house next Saturday and work all day on my yard."


Chapman, surprised, replied, "I thought I could just repay you for the mulch."


Keats, with a wise smile, told his friend, "My dear Chapman, to whom mulch is given, mulch is required."

Overheard at Booth 5: Poring over Pouring

g: Everyone has their racist spelling.


c: Racist spelling?


g: I said, ways of spelling. Not racist spelling.


c: You should speak clearer.


g: You should listen better.

Overheard at Booth 2: Excel Spreadsheets

When I first started that job I accidentally corrupted all the team’s spreadsheets.  We’re talking ALL of them – forecasts, budgets, rolling forecasts, actuals, P&L Summaries, everything.  Didn’t mean to.  It just happened.  Something about having two separate Excel programs opened at the same time and copying from one version to another corrupted all the hidden macros, which crashed the format.

 My boss was pissed.  When he asked me what I did and how I did it, I couldn’t think of anything to say except that I was testing them.  He said, “Testing them?”  and I said, “Yeah, I had to make sure the spreadsheets were idiot-proof.  Turns out they’re not.”

Overheard at Table 3: NPR, California, and Flood Control

"... so I was listening to NPR yesterday on the way home from work and they were talking about California and the floods that hit and they were talking about a new type of flood control, by putting more trees and greens along the rivers and letting them flood naturally, instead of all the concrete embankments and levees which deteriorate under years of constant intermittent heavy storms that just dig holes and crack them.


"Which was all a pretty good idea and they were talking with this civil engineer and he was describing their plans about going about this and then he said this one thing which just made me go 'huh?' and he said


"'Well, we're not going to displace any people.'


"and I found myself saying, out loud, TO the radio, 'DUDE!  This whole damn CONTINENT was founded on displacing people!  What the HELL are you talking about?'


"wish they could have heard me, over there at NPR.   'not displacing' my ass!"

Overread at Table 4: BDay Party Invite Reminder

Did you get the invite to the birthday party?

It was a little card, with trim, gold-coloured, a little
bow across the front, with swift cursive lettering
inviting you to the party, r ess vee pee,
see vou play,
we expect your presents
I mean your presence, oh
you know what I mean,
it’s this Saturday, bring a present,
preferably in the $20 range,
and no gift cards.
It’ll
Be
A
BLAST!

 

MR
2016-0324

 

Freedom Caucus Costs Us

Driving in today, I heard a congressman from the Freedom Caucus speaking to Steve Inskeep on NPR.   He said he was from Maryland, so I assume he's Andy Harris, although I didn't catch his name on the air.   Regarding his opposition to the Trumpcare/AHCA, he spoke eloquently of "state's rights to choose" and when Inskeep pointed out that his caucus is holding out so that "essential health benefits" such as maternity leave (among others) should be removed, he that Maryland already had such ESBs in place, with or without the ACA, and so why should he force Mississippi to continue to have them under the ACA.   State's rights to choose.


Prima facie: sounds good.   He is there to represent his district in Maryland, not Mississippi.  States should have more autonomy always is a popular selling point.


But let's peel it back a little:  Yes, he represents his district in Maryland, but he doesn't ONLY represent his district in Maryland to the detriment of all others.  He is there to be the voice of his constituents, and to look out for their interests.  But since he admits that the EHBs under the ACA are ALREADY THERE, then it does his constituents ZERO problem regardless of how he votes for Trumpcare.  Essentially, his vote is to allow other states, such as Mississippi, to kick people off their care, which he knows will happen.


As Americans and as patriots, we should be concerned for the well-being of all Americans.   Say a cop from his district in Maryland were vacationing in Biloxi and saw an attempted robbery and, using his training, stopped the robbery.   The cop's training and experience were from Maryland, but he used to help those in Mississippi.   Would this congressman say, "No!  You should only use your public service skills to help those in Maryland!"?  


The Freedom Caucus uses flawed arguments that at their core are rooted in ensuring that not all citizens of the USA enjoy the basic guarantee of life.   Life begins with a standard basic level of health care coverage ... Essential Health Benefits.