Insurance Claim1

Once upon a time there was a mayor named Marion Barry . Marion was a nice enough fellow except for the fact that he had a rather nasty drug habit.  In fact, while in office, Marion was arrested for possession of cocaine following an investigation by the FBI and the D.C. police. Subsequently, Marion was found guilty and was sentenced to 6 months in prison .  After his release in 1992, he was promptly elected to the D.C. Council and in 1994 he was re-elected mayor. So, to recap: convicted of drug possession (and subsequent use of illegal drugs), womanizer and still permitted to run for public office.  Fast forward a few years and move to the west (left) coast and we read how ex-Palm Springs mayor is being charged with bribery.  Yep, Riverside bribery (and violation of public trust) can get you barred for life from public office?!?  Looking at Marion's political career, you'd think he was being rewarded for being prosecuted/convicted. The dilema is that the courts are s

Typically, when I read the newspaper, I skip right to the comics section because they're (mostly) funny and free from political deceit.  Then there was the front page story about Ref Rodriguez that caught my eye (and prevented my reading of the comics).  Seems Ref (yeah, that's his real name and he's not even a referee) had been arrested and charged with three felony counts of conspiracy, perjury and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument not to mention the other 25 misdemeanor counts of assumed-name contributions.  Seems Ref took little over $24,000 of his " own money " and donated it to his "own" campaign fund in his run to be elected as the Board President of the Los Angeles School District.  On its face, it doesn't sound like much but what actually happened is that instead of saying that he was donating his "own" money, he made it sound like 24 other people were actually submitting donations. Why would someone

I'm not proud of it but rare is the month that someone doesn't get upset with something that I said or did.  Someone got upset that I'm taller than they were (by about two feet).  Someone got upset that I couldn't answer their question the way they were hoping.  Someone got upset that I wear a suit to work. Someone got upset when I didn't respond fast enough. Someone got upset with how I worded a response. Someone got upset because I was always doing something (and didn't have four hours to just sit and listen to their tales of woe).  Someone got upset that I didn't have an answer (because sometimes the answer is that here is no answer).  Someone got upset that I didn't laugh at their joke (really, it was more sad than funn y).  Someone got up set that I didn't notice they had a new h air do ( for the record, if you're not my wife, I 'm not required to notice the "new" you).  Heck, someone even got upset because I wear bo

Have you ever been in an auto accident and tried to tell the police what happened.  Problem is that there is your story, the other guy's story, and all the witnesses version(s) of what happened.  Everyone has their take on what is the true and correct version of what happened.  The question, then, is what is truth? Back when I was in law school, I'd piss everyone off discussing "truth" and the sheer fallacy of it. For those who didn't go to law school, truth is pretty cut and dried, black and white. For those who possess a legal mind, truth is whatever you want it to be. Truth is subjective and belongs to whomever has the better argument. Take, for example the couple who was in my library a while back.  Seems they were of the religious type and were particularly skittish about things relating to the occult (i.e. voodoo, witchcraft, and dead bodies). Seems, they had been in the market to buy a house and in the course of their looking, they found the house o