Thoughts Day by Day

RESOLVING THE QUESTION OF VOTER FRAUD There may be a problem with voter fraud in America but it is difficult to prove.   Is there a significant number of people who vote twice (in two different voting districts) or who cast votes for still-registered voters who have either moved away or died?   We will never know until we establish a national voter registration database and also require voters to present positive ID when they vote.  After the recent Presidential election candidate Jill Stein requested a vote recount in the State of Michigan.  Candidate Hillary Clinton's people joined this endeavor.  But when it was discovered that there was extensive voter fraud in the city of Detroit and that the more accurate count favored candidate Trump, the recount was called off.  So the extent of voter fraud will never be known. When one moves from one voting district to another the new voting district officials do NOT always ask where one was previously regis...

Is anyone else as outraged as I am about the news that Flint, Michigan's water supply is polluted with poisonous lead?  This was not surprise news to Michigan politicians.  They knew about the contamination and tried to cover it up.  They should all be put in jail for life. A friend recently noted that in ancient Rome leadership was held highly accountable for their decisions.  For instance a Roman architect was required to stand directly beneath the arch of a building he had designed while the cornerstone was put in place.  If the arch did not collapse upon him his design was a good one.  If it did....  Well, I believe American politicians should be held equally accountable for their decisions.  They changed the source of Flint's water supply from Detroit's reservoirs to the Flint river - and bypassed the treatment additives in order to save money.  Everyone who was involved in that decision should be required to drink Flint's water for th...

“Cats” is returning to Broadway. This was NOT one of my favorite musicals. In fact, probably my least liked musical. I remember reading the spectacular reviews when it first opened on Broadway and then running out to pay top dollar for a pair of tickets. But even though I paid premium price we sat 2 rows from the back wall of the mezzanine. So where were the cheaper seats located? In the lobby? In my opinion the music sounded like a collection of cheap, unsophisticated TV commercial jingles. My summary of the plot line: “A bunch of alley cats dance around in a junk yard. One of them dies and goes off to heaven. The end.” And I could not understand all the fuss over Betty Buckley’s performance. It consisted of standing on the stage twice to sing ‘Memory’ and then rising up to the ceiling of the theatre while standing on a noisy fork lift in need of a new carburetor. Was she on stage for more than 10 minutes? For that she won a Tony Award. But I don’t make my living as a ...

Without a doubt this was an intriguing play filled with a lot of "what if's" and 'what might be's". All (but one) of the actors were superb. While Tim Pigott-Smith (Charles) does not actually look or sound like Charles he got his mannerisms and angst down perfectly. Befuddled and easil y distracted, unable to cry tears for his mother's passing, out of touch with his subjects. That is Charles, sadly, and that is certainly the reason for this play. The actors who played Harry, Willian and Kate  (Richard Goulding, Oliver Chris and Lydia Wilson) in particular were right on the money with their portrayals, not to mention that they looked like the royals they portrayed. There was never a dull moment. 3 hours went very fast. Beautifully staged and directed too. Very strong ending. On the negative: the actress who played "The Ghost" (i.e. Diana) was God-awful. She gave the absolute WORST impersonation of Diana ever. It was a terrible performance. I unde...

On the morning TV news there was a story about an Asian woman who had locked her baby in her SUV yesterday in the parking lot of a Costco in New Jersey.  The temperature outside was over 95F.  Shoppers in the parking lot heard the baby crying in the car, which was locked, and called the police.  The police arrived quickly, broke open the car to remove the baby who was by now soaking wet from sweat.  A few minutes later the mother arrived with a shopping cart full of purchases and another toddler in tow.  When she realized the police had just rescued her baby because of her own negligence she kept saying ‘I sorry, I sorry’ with sincerity.  But the crowd in the parking lot screamed at her that being sorry was not enough since she could have killed her baby.  They turned into an angry mob.  Part of the problem here was the language barrier.  I did not get the impression that this woman spoke English well.  That means she may not have been ...

Last night I saw a revival of "On The Twentieth Century" at the beautiful American Airlines Theatre. "20th Century" was the first Broadway musical that I saw on Broadway, 37 years ago.  I had forgotten how very funny this musical was. Kristen Chenowith was born to play Lily Garland/Mildred Plotka. In this role she fully demonstrates her magnificent voice and great comedic skills.  Peter Gallagher was a great hammy and handsome Oscar Jaffe. I've always thought the Oscar Jaffe character was based on the late impresario David Merrick.  Andy Karl was very good as the egocentric Bruce Grannit although not as agile as Kevin Kline was 37 years ago in pratfalls and comic timing.  Nevertheless he was quite funny.  Mary Louise Wilson was a scene stealer as the nutty Letitia Primrose and much better and funnier than the original Imogene Coca.  The sets were again a star of this show - as they were in 1978. Almost all the action takes place on a train traveling ...

When I arrived at work this morning there was an e-mail from 'M' to all 20 members of my department.  Our boss, a company VP, is going on a cruise to Bermuda on Sunday and 'M' says she thinks it is a good idea for everyone to kick in $20 each so we could buy an NCL gift certificate for the boss to use on his cruise ship.  WHAT???  The boss makes twice as much as I do!  Why should I subsidize his vacation trip?? I decided to ignore the e-mail.  I was not going to contribute.  Besides, solicitations for money in the office for every conceivable reason have gotten out of hand.  I know I have developed a reputation as a cheapskate because I pass on these collection envelopes without giving money.  But I am not the only one who feels that way.  My co-worker 'G' was also infuriated by the e-mail.  I told her I was going to ignore it.  She decided to do the same. End of story?  Of course not.  Around noon I received a second ...