Monday, October 23, 2006

Updated Ramblings

Not too much to talk about the weather other than it's nice to see a little more rain with more expected this week. It appears that the weak El Nino pattern of a more active southern branch of the jetstream is verifying nicely. However, we have a LONG ways to go in eradicating the horrible drought we are in. At least we are reversing the trend. :-)

I enjoyed a fantastic show a couple of weekends ago with the Blue Man Group at American Airlines Center. It was similar to their last big tour with a few nice surprises and additions. If you have never watched a Blue Man Group show, you are missing out! It is smart, funny, clever, unique, and best of all great music! With two percussionists, a drummer, and of course the three blue men all jamming away on various percussion instruments, I was in total bliss! The other musicians (guitarists, bassist, and keyboards) were solid and blew everybody away. There is alot of clever humor intertwined throughout the show as well to completely round out a spectacular evening of entertainment.

Tracy Bonham opened up for them with a unique set. She plays guitar and violin through some neat electronic effects for a good show in her own right. Of course, her vocals are incredible as is her sense of humor. She also performed a few vocal songs for the BMG set as well. All I gotta say is that if you've never seen the Blue Man Group performance, at least rent the DVD of their concert. You just may get as hooked on them as I have. :-)

Lastly, my faith in the legal system in this country was resurrected today with the announcement that Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron chief executive, was sentenced to 24 years in prison today for his role in that famous scandal. Being that he is 52 years old, it's practically a life sentence. Of course, there is still the appeals process to go through. I'll reserve praise for our justice system if the appeals courts uphold both the conviction AND the sentence. At least we are off to a good start. The good news is that the feds have seized roughly $60 million in Skilling's assets and there is another pending $18 million in fines. Most all of that $60 million would be disbursed through civil court to former Enron employees...although a bit short of the $2 billion he cost them. Hopefully some of Kenneth Lay's ill-gotten assets will be paid out to Ernon employees as well.

He should be thankful that he isn't facing the prospect of getting his neck stretched at the gallows. That would be proper justice in my opinion for destroying thousands of people's lives. The sentencing, in my opinion, should always serve two purposes. The first of which being justice. The second of which being a clear message broadcast to other such corporate executives plotting a similar scheme of greed and lies. On both points, Skilling swinging from the end of a rope would do nicely. :-)

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